CONFRONTING SATAN YOUR ENEMY AND ADVERSARY By: Phillip Hayes According to Strong s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, the name Satan means: Opponent, Adversary, Withstand, Accuser, The Devil. Hollywood has glorified Satan in many ways. I am not a movie watcher or fan of movies. However, I have been horrified at some of the movies promoted through the media. Visions of witches, warlocks, werewolves, vampires, demons, antichrist villains, and so forth fill the minds of multiplied millions worldwide. These various evil entities all have their genesis in the belief in Satan, the arch enemy of God and His church. The various films portray these villains as supernaturally powerful and able to perform miracles. Films like Harry Potter are designed for young people and glorify witchcraft and warlocks. Recently I browsed some of the cartoons on the Cartoon Network. Believe me, what I saw no way resembled the cartoons I watched as a child. No Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. No Road Runner! No! Most all of them were adult in nature and filled with the occult. There is no way I would allow a child of mine to see the Cartoon Network! Cartoons are now promoting the occult. What I saw was shameful and disgusting! It is because of these kinds of movies and cartoons that people today know much about the power of Satan, but little about the power of God. Trumpet Messenger Page 1
The sad thing is many of the Christians I come into contact with seem to be afraid of the devil. Have these movies also penetrated the minds of Christians? I ask you dear reader, are you afraid of this arch enemy of God and His church? If your answer is yes, I hope to change your way of thinking with this article! The reason I believe many Christians are afraid of the devil is because I have witnessed their reactions to some of my statements during my preaching. For instance, years ago I was telling everyone that the Lord had spoken to me and said, The Devil is afraid of you. You can imagine how that went over! But I believed it! The Holy Spirit cannot lie! He said it, and I was fool enough, or crazy enough to believe it. However, I can say without hesitation that the folks that heard me did not believe it because the look on their faces gave them away. Some years back the Spirit spoke to me and said, Quit praying for revival. You are revival! Again, I rushed out and preached it everywhere, I am revival! This didn t go over very well either. I heard that some ministers actually laughed and mocked me because of this statement. Very recently, a powerful anointing came upon me while I was preaching. Suddenly, I said, I am not fighting the Devil anymore. He s running from me! Now, this surprised me as much as it did the people that were listening to me. The look on their faces spoke volumes to me. They didn t believe me! Now friends, I know you will agree, if it was really the Holy Spirit that spoke these things, then it was the Truth. And, if what He said is the Truth, it will be confirmed by the Word of God. The Spirit and the Word will always agree. Trumpet Messenger Page 2
So, let s give these statements the Word test. First, let s look at what the Spirit spoke to me about our enemy, the devil: The Devil is afraid of you! The Lord spoke this to me during a very difficult time in my life. At this time, I sure didn t believe the Devil was afraid of me. When this Voice came to me, I thought, Me, Satan is afraid of me, why? I knew if this was God, I would find it in the Word. As I searched the Word of God, the scriptures opened to me. His Voice kept prodding and encouraging me; Anyone or anything you have power over will be afraid of you. And then He confirmed it with His written Word, Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases. And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick. [Luke 9:1-2] And again with this very familiar and often quoted scripture: And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. [Mark 16:17-18] I believe the Lord is asking each of us: Do you believe what I have said? Do we really believe what God s Word says? Do you believe my friend? Do you actually believe that YOU have POWER and AUTHORITY over Satan?! The Greek word for power is, doonamis Our English word Dynamite comes from this Greek word. It means: miraculous, miracle, mighty work. Therefore, God has given YOU miracle working power like dynamite. The Greek word for authority is, exousia. It means, force, competency, strength; a legal right to do something. Trumpet Messenger Page 3
The Lord Jesus is saying, I have given my people the legal right (authority) over ALL devils! Is the Devil afraid of me? Yes, if we can believe what the Word of God has said every believer has miracle working power and the legal right to cast out all devils and to heal the sick. I believe God s Word! This is why the Devil is afraid of me. You may be a Christian, but are you a Believer? Notice, Jesus said, These signs shall follow them that believe.! The Devil is afraid of the Believer! Quit praying for revival, you are revival! I must admit that when this Word came to me, it absolutely floored me! Not only that, it scared me! Like every man and woman of God that I have ever known; we have always prayed for revival. Not only have I prayed for revival for years, I had encouraged people in my meetings to do the same. We need revival I would shout! Quit praying for something I knew we all needed was bad enough, but He said, I was revival?! This was harder to accept than His telling me that the devil was afraid of me! Was this really the Holy Ghost telling me this, or was the devil trying to deceive me? I knew the only test of what spirit is speaking to you is the Word test. As I thought about what a revival meant to me, I began thinking about other ministers and what they had said about revival. Most every time when I have asked Pastors about revival meetings their churches have had; their usual reply was, Yes! Brother so and so preached great, and we had a good revival. Well, I have had many good revivals in this respect. But, was this the kind of revival the Lord was speaking to me about? I knew it wasn t! Trumpet Messenger Page 4
The revival the Lord was speaking to me about was the kind we have all been praying for; I a real God sent, Holy Ghost, devil chasing, soul saving, healing and deliverance move of God. This is what the church and the world needs! But how could I reconcile all this? Was God speaking to me, or the devil? Of course, the Word had my answer. First, He wanted me to remember something! For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. [2Timothy 1:-7] Yes, I have power! He gave it to me! The scripture that really spoke to me was Saint John 7:38 & 39: He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive. I had read these scriptures hundreds if not thousands of times. Yet, they were more alive to me than ever before. I began to absorb the power contained in these two verses. The revelation of what Jesus said began to empower me as I realized the fullness of what He was imparting. He was talking about the Holy Ghost that would be given to every believer. He said the Spirit would rise up in our bellies and out of us would flow rivers of living water! Think about it! When drought comes, and all you have planted begins to dry up and die, what is needed? Rain! Rain is water and rain brings life to dying plants and crops. It revives! Out of our inner most being is life giving water. Living water! Jesus said this living water is the Spirit that they which believed on Him would receive. Trumpet Messenger Page 5
Suddenly, I got it! Within me is Living Water! In me was revival! It was God speaking to me! A revival is a resurrection, a restoring! Revival means to revive, to bring back to life. This is what the Spirit was speaking to me! Inside of you is life. Inside of you are rivers of living water! Praise God! We have prayed and prayed for something that we are supposed to have already! Revival! Life! It is in us! There s something on the inside! I believe wherever a truly Spirit filled man or woman goes in this old world they can bring revival. This is why the Spirit was telling me, You Are Revival! He was awakening me, and now I want to awaken you with the help of God s Holy Spirit. Now, let s look at the third thing the Holy Spirit spoke to me. I am not fighting the Devil anymore. He s running from me! This statement came out of my mouth while I was preaching. It actually came out of my spirit while influenced under the anointing. I knew it had to be God! This time, I did not need to search the Word to confirm it was God speaking to me as God immediately gave me the Scripture I needed while preaching. When I said, I m not fighting the devil anymore, I m sure everyone thought I had backslid right before their very eyes! As the congregation looked at me in unbelief that I would speak such a thing, God gave me the Word! Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. [James 4:7] Flee from us!? Have you submitted yourself to God? SUBMIT: Strongs #5259: to obey: - be under obedience (obedient). Once you have fully submitted yourself to God, you can resist the devil. RESIST: Strongs #436: to stand against, that is, oppose: - resist, withstand. Trumpet Messenger Page 6
I believe many of you have submitted yourself to God. But, you are not resisting or opposing the devil. Let me explain. I have encountered many people that truly love the Lord that have simply accepted their present condition or circumstance. They think, this is the way it is, and there is nothing I can do about it. Some accept sickness or a disease thinking they are sick for the glory of God. I have actually heard some say they were suffering for someone else! Obviously God does not receive any glory out of someone being sick. He gets glory when someone is healed! And no one is suffering for someone else. The Lord Jesus has suffered for us all that we might be saved, healed and delivered! You must make up your mind that it is not God s will for you to be sick, diseased, discouraged or poor! No, it is not! Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. [3John 1:2] There are three promises of God for you, if you can believe it! God wants you to prosper materially! God wants you to be in health! God wants your soul to also prosper! All right. Let s assume you have submitted yourself to God and you are resisting the devil. The devil must flee from you. He has no choice! You have fulfilled God s Word by submitting to God and resisting the devil. Yes, he must, because God says he must! FLEE: the word flee literally means to run away: to vanish! Do you believe that God is His Word? If you do, and if you will establish a relationship with God through Trumpet Messenger Page 7
His Word, there is no demonic power, sickness or disease that can stand before you. Just reading God s Word will not establish a relationship with Him. You must believe His Word, and that His Word is for you! Why would you have to continue fighting the devil if God s Word has said he will run from you? I ll tell you what we need to fight. We need to fight the good fight of faith (1Timothy 6:12). I truly believe God is looking for someone to take Him at His Word and turn the world upside down with the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. However, it will never be accomplished unless someone believes the Word of God. God gave the Apostle Paul a great commission on the road to Damascus. The Lord told him to Open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God [Acts 26]. Do you believe God would tell Paul to do something he was powerless to do? Of course not! The Lord not only gave him a commission, He gave him the power and authority to accomplish it. It is all in the Holy Ghost. Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing (TO SPEAK EVIL AGAINST) accusation (TO CONDEMN, ACCUSE, DAMN OR JUDGE), but said, The Lord rebuke thee. [Jude 1:9] Michael the archangel refused to contend with the devil. He didn t accuse the devil and call him names. Why should you? He simply said, The Lord rebuke thee. Quit CONTENDING (STRUGGLE, STRIVE, DEBATE, ARGUE) with the devil. USE THE WORD OF GOD AND PUT HIM ON THE RUN! You must confront the devil with what God has said! As long as you sit idly by as the devil destroys your Trumpet Messenger Page 8
life, and steals everything God has given you, he will continue to do so. It really is up to you! I love the way David challenged Goliath who is a figure of Satan. But first let s look at Goliath s challenge to David: And when the Philistine looked about, and saw David, he disdained him: for he was but a youth, and ruddy, and of a fair countenance. And the Philistine said unto David, Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with staves? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. And the Philistine said to David, Come to me, and I will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the field. [1Samuel 17:42-44] Goliath could hardly believe that Israel had sent this pretty boy to fight him! Not only that, this boy didn t have any armor, and the only weapon he had was a sling shot! Remember now, Goliath represents Satan. Satan is standing before you today and he is challenging you. He is not coming against you today with a shield and a sword, but he is battling you in your mind and in your spirit. He is pushing you around and telling you that you are not saved, and you are going to be sick and broke all your life. You can believe him if you want, but you don t have to. He is a liar! David approached and challenged Goliath the same way you and I need to approach and challenge the devil. Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. This day will the LORD deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that Trumpet Messenger Page 9
all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. [1Samuel 17:45-46] Praise God! David didn t come against Goliath in his own power and might. He came in the Name of the Lord! He came in faith believing God would deliver Goliath to him. David was a Believer! You must come against Satan the same way! I really love what David did next! This is powerful! And it came to pass, when the Philistine arose, and came and drew nigh to meet David, that David hasted, and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine. [1Samuel 17:48] He ran at Goliath! Goliath must have been totally shocked! This boy, with no armor and only a sling shot was running at him! While writing this, I can t hardly contain the shout that is in my spirit right now. Glory to God! I believe David was so excited he couldn t help but to run toward the enemy. The Lord had given Goliath to him and he was going to get the job done. Can you imagine what the devil would do if you ran at him, instead of from him? The Lord has also given the devil to us. Yes he has! Satan is a defeated foe to the believer! Are you a believer? Remember What You Are? Trumpet Messenger Page 10