We took our family to Branson this last week to celebrate our 19th anniversary, and we were staying in a cabin that shared a wall with another unit.
That night I kept falling asleep and waking up sensing chaos in the room, even though nothing was actually happening around me. Then our neighbors got home around midnight, and almost as soon as they walked in their door, I got sick to my stomach. I ran through every natural explanation I could think of, food poisoning, something I ate, even claiming the promise that I can eat anything and it won't harm me, and none of it touched it.
Finally, I recognized what was actually going on. I said, "I bind every spirit that's in this house, every unclean spirit causing this chaos and torment, I command you to go," and my stomach ache went away instantly. I never got out of bed to fight anything. I just asked the Lord for the right scripture to apply, and once I had it, it was over.
That experience is exactly what got me back into Ephesians 6 this week, because it's a perfect picture of what it looks like to stand firm instead of fight.
Ephesians 6 tells us to stand firm against the devil's strategies, not to fight him. Spiritual warfare is a phrase we use a lot in Christian language. We talk about being in a fight with the enemy, and we've even had prayer teams go into deep spiritual warfare in their prayers.
But here's what I'm learning, and I'm thankful for this correction. Whenever we're fighting against the enemy, we've actually given in to one of his strategies, because we're not called to fight him. We're called to stand against his strategies.
Ephesians 6:10-13 (NLT)
A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on all of God's armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. Therefore, put on every piece of God's armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm.
Notice it doesn't say to put on the armor so you can fight the devil. It says to put on the armor so you can stand firm against all his strategies. Usually when you put on armor, it's because you're heading into a fight. In this case, our instruction is to stand firm, not fight.
We're not fighting flesh and blood. We're standing against evil rulers and authorities, mighty powers in the dark world, and evil spirits in heavenly places. That's a completely different posture than swinging at something.
Standing means declaring the truth and letting it be settled, instead of wrestling with the enemy for hours. We're distracted and we're expending energy we need for something else the moment we start fighting instead of standing.
I want to show you what standing actually looks like, because I lived it out on vacation. We took our family to Branson to celebrate our 19th anniversary, and we were staying in a cabin that shared a wall with another unit. I went to sleep and kept waking up sensing chaos in the room, even though nothing was actually happening in the room.
Then our neighbors got home around midnight, and almost as soon as they walked in their door, I got sick to my stomach. I went through every explanation. Food poisoning, something I ate, and I even claimed the promise that I can eat anything and it won't harm me. None of that touched it.
Finally I recognized what was going on. I said, "I bind every spirit that's in this house, every unclean spirit causing this chaos and torment, I command you to go." My stomach ache went away instantly, just like that, the moment I identified what I was actually dealing with.
I never got out of bed to fight anything. I just kept asking the Lord to show me the right scripture to apply to the situation, and once I had it, it was over. That's the difference between fighting and standing.
This is actually how Jesus operated too. Even in the wilderness, when he was starved and at his weakest and the enemy came to tempt him, there was no fight. The enemy offered a temptation, Jesus answered with the word, and that happened three times before it was over. That wasn't a battle, it was a conversation where Jesus exercised the authority he already had.
You come into agreement with the devil any time you let worry, fear, doubt, or a list of other things take root instead of resisting them. When you allow worry into your life, you are in agreement with the devil. That's not resisting, that's falling into one of his strategies.
The same is true for fear, doubt, anger, shame, addiction, anxiety, frustration, insecurity, unforgiveness, complaining, hatred, and pride. Anywhere we're in agreement with the enemy, we have to come out of agreement. If you're allowing unforgiveness in your life, you have to say, "I'm not playing around with that anymore," because unforgiveness comes at a high cost.
One important piece from last week's message still applies here. Your resisting has no effect unless you're submitted to God first. The pastor read this verse specifically in the King James Version to highlight the word "withstand."
Ephesians 6:13 (KJV)
Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
Resisting starts with our position, which is that we are not in agreement with the enemy, we are in opposition to him. We're a church that believes in deliverance, and I've learned over the years how simple it actually is to get rid of demonic influence. All the person has to do is come out of agreement with it, and as soon as they resist, whatever it was loses its permission in that person's life and it has to go, often with no dramatic scene at all.
If you're fascinated with serpents in your jewelry, art, or décor, it's time to get them out of your house and your life. There's a fascination in the world, and even in the church, with serpents. People have serpent tattoos, serpent jewelry, serpent sculptures.
Whenever Beth and I go to antique stores, I notice how many necklaces and rings have serpents on them, and every time I see one there's a red flag waving. I believe the Lord wants to bring some of you into a new place of freedom on this. If you have a serpent sculpture, serpent jewelry, or even a fascination with keeping a snake in your house, get it out.
The first way the devil is described in scripture is as a serpent, so this isn't a small thing. To show why, I want to walk through a story from Numbers 21.
Numbers 21:4-9 (NLT)
Then the people of Israel set out from Mount Hor, taking the road to the Red Sea to go around the land of Edom. But the people grew impatient with the long journey, and they began to speak against God and Moses. "Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die here in the wilderness?" they complained. "There is nothing to eat here and nothing to drink. And we hate this horrible manna!" So the Lord sent poisonous snakes among the people, and many were bitten and died. Then the people came to Moses and cried out, "We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take away the snakes." So Moses prayed for the people. Then the Lord told him, "Make a replica of a poisonous snake and attach it to a pole. All who are bitten will live if they simply look at it!" So Moses made a snake out of bronze and attached it to a pole. Then anyone who was bitten by a snake could look at the bronze snake and be healed!
I see God's mercy in that story first. I also see a way we come into agreement with the enemy when we complain, especially when we complain about God or about our leaders.
Even something God used to heal or bless you must be destroyed if it becomes an object of worship instead of Him. That bronze serpent from Numbers 21 comes back up centuries later in the story of King Hezekiah.
2 Kings 18:1-4 (NLT)
Hezekiah son of Ahaz began to rule over Judah in the third year of King Hoshea's reign in Israel. He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah. He did what was pleasing in the Lord's sight, just as his ancestor David had done. He removed the pagan shrines, smashed the sacred pillars, and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke up the bronze serpent that Moses had made, because the people of Israel had been offering sacrifices to it. The bronze serpent was called Nehushtan.
God had Moses make that serpent so people could be healed, and generations later God had it destroyed because people had turned it into an idol. Anything we make an idol, even if the Lord gave it to us, must be destroyed. If that's true of something God actually made for healing, how much more true is it of something that came from the enemy in the first place.
This is a call to a greater purity, to stop tolerating things that seem like they're no big deal. We've dealt with the big, obvious things as a church already. What we're dealing with now are the things we don't perceive to be a big deal.
A note before this section: this portion of the message was delivered in real time by another person in the service who felt led to share it, not by the lead pastor. I've kept it in the pastor's voice for consistency with the rest of the post, but you'll want to decide how to handle attribution here.
You cannot minister deliverance or authority you haven't actually walked out yourself, or the enemy will expose it. In Acts 19, some itinerant Jewish exorcists tried to invoke the name of Jesus over people with evil spirits, relying on someone else's authority rather than their own.
Acts 19:13-16 (NLT)
A group of traveling Jewish exorcists tried to use the name of the Lord Jesus in their incantation, saying, "I command you in the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, to come out!" Seven sons of Sceva, a leading priest, were doing this. But one time when they tried it, the evil spirit replied, "I know Jesus, and I know Paul, but who are you?" Then the man with the evil spirit leaped on them, overpowered them, and attacked them with such violence that they fled from the house, naked and bleeding.
These men were relying on someone else's revelation. It was Paul's authority, not their own, and the spirit called that out immediately. When you go up for deliverance, you'd better know who you actually are in Christ and what you've personally walked out, because the enemy will expose an imposter.
This connects to a deeper point. The things you refuse to lay down in small, private conversations, the enemy is watching those too, and it affects your authority when you try to minister to someone else.
You stop making excuses and simply ask the Holy Spirit to show you what to lay down, then you get rid of it out of obedience, not fear. I like detailing cars in my spare time, and it's a good picture of this process. You start by cleaning off the big, obvious dirt, and once that's gone you start noticing the smaller scratches you couldn't even see before.
The cleaner it gets, the more the small stuff stands out, and that's exactly what the Holy Spirit does in us. He gets the big one, then he says, "I've got more," over and over. Eventually, once everything is clean, you put a ceramic coat on it, which seals it so dirt and rain can't stick to it anymore.
I had a real example of this on the same Branson trip. We got the cabin TV working and a horrendous commercial came on. I turned it off, pulled the power cable, and said, "I rebuke that in the name of Jesus, I don't want that in any place I'm staying."
The Holy Spirit knows more than the enemy does, but if we're not willing to actually listen when He points something out, we stay in a form of bondage we don't even recognize. So the invitation today is simple: repent, ask the Holy Spirit to show you again, and this time actually listen.
What's the difference between fighting the devil and standing against him?
Fighting means engaging the enemy directly and expending energy in a battle, while standing means declaring the truth of your authority and letting the enemy's strategy come to nothing. The pastor taught that whenever we find ourselves fighting the enemy, we've actually already given in to one of his strategies, since our real instruction is to stand firm, not fight.
Do Christians need to fight demons to get free from them?
No. The pastor explained that deliverance is often as simple as a person coming out of agreement with whatever they were in agreement with, and once that happens the spirit loses its permission and has to leave, sometimes with no dramatic scene at all.
What does it mean to come out of agreement with the devil?
It means recognizing where you've allowed something like worry, fear, unforgiveness, or pride to take root and directly renouncing it instead of tolerating it. The pastor named worry, fear, doubt, anger, shame, addiction, anxiety, frustration, insecurity, unforgiveness, complaining, hatred, and pride as specific examples.
Is it wrong for a Christian to have serpent jewelry or décor?
The pastor taught that Christians should get serpent imagery, including jewelry, sculptures, and even fascination with keeping snakes, out of their homes, connecting it to the fact that the devil is first described as a serpent in scripture. He framed this as a call to obedience rather than fear.
What is the sin of the sons of Sceva in Acts 19?
The sons of Sceva tried to cast out a demon by invoking Jesus through Paul's authority rather than their own relationship with God, and the evil spirit called them out, saying it knew Jesus and knew Paul but did not know them. They were overpowered and fled the house naked and bleeding.
Can something God actually gave you become an idol?
Yes. The message used the example of the bronze serpent Moses made at God's instruction for healing, which centuries later King Hezekiah destroyed because the people had started worshiping it as an idol called Nehushtan. The pastor's point was that anything we turn into an idol must be destroyed, even if it originally came from the Lord.
Why does resisting the devil require submission to God first?
The message pointed back to the previous week's teaching that resisting has no effect unless a person is submitted to God, since Ephesians 6:13 ties putting on the armor to resisting the enemy in the day of trouble. Submission comes before resistance in that framework.
How can I find out what schemes the devil is using against me that I don't already recognize?
The pastor's answer was to simply ask the Holy Spirit to highlight it, since you can't stand firm against a scheme you're not aware of. He encouraged the congregation to stop dismissing the Holy Spirit's gentle nudges as "not a big deal" and instead lay things down out of obedience.
