And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of
their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. Rev 12:11
their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. Rev 12:11
In the demonic realm, witches and sorcerers use spells, curses, hexes, and objects such as tarot cards, Ouija boards, etc. to cast spells, and curses on people. This is Satan's counterfeit of the Christians authority in God, who have the spiritual knowledge and experience to use the word of God with skill in prayer when dealing with demonic powers, and evil circumstances that the believer encounters in their life, and know that those attacks come from the powers of darkness. Satan has lost all authority he had in heaven, when he rebelled, and was cast out of heaven to the earth. Now he attempts to counterfeit everything he has lost, and uses this to deceive people because he hates you and I, and wants to destroy us, and mock God in every way he can.
This is the realm of warfare prayer:
Eph 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Eph 6:13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
In the spiritual realm, there are evil forces of demonic powers that rule over entire nations, cities, and communities. The more a Christian grows in their prayer life, the keener their discernment will become, and they will come to see and know what specific demonic powers are controlling them. The Lord will give direction and guidance in prayer, on coming against these rulers, and how to use the word of God effectively. When you get to this place in intercession-you come to know that you have to maintain a continuous relationship with Christ, and seek Him continually for strength, wisdom, and boldness, in order to be able to see answers to prayer, and know the abiding protection and presence of Jesus. This abiding presence is what brings peace, and destroys all fear. You know the covering of His Hands, and the protection of His shed blood in your life.
If God allows someone to be harmed or killed, this doesn't mean they've stepped out of God's will. All the disciples but John were killed, and untold numbers since then, to this day. When you step into a realm of deeper service for the Lord, you come to understand that if it's His will for our life to end here-we have won our victory, we've gone home. To be absent from the body, is to be present with the Lord. It is possible to come to the place that the fear of death, has lost it's hold on the Christian. In this place, fear has no power over you.
You have to come to the place that you know your God, and have put your full trust in Him, and be fully persuaded that the word of God is the power of God in your mouth-if your using it with faith, and know your position with Christ. If your afraid, or have any doubt that this kind of prayer works, your already defeated. God knows if you believe Him or not, and so does the devil. Also, do not get the idea that this development in prayer will guarantee you a life of ease, or you will be popular with everyone. You can expect just the opposite. The closer you get to the Lord Jesus Christ, the greater the surrender, and the more you will realize His motive for using you, are not for your pleasure, but are for His purposes, and His will to be done. You will learn what it really means, to be a servant. You will learn the road your on, will get narrower, and narrower. Jesus said it would.
Paul teaches on warfare prayer extensively, but will only be touched on here. The scripture verses contained here, and the devotions will give the Christian warrior some good teaching and direction in how to use the word of God in warfare prayer. When they are used with faith, and conviction, it is very effective in defeating the attacks of the devil, and the demonic realm. I'll add-this is a life long service, and never-ending process of learning.
The weapons of our warfare are not of flesh, but of the Spirit of God:
2Co 10:4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
2Co 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
Now, let's go on, and delve into another aspect that is crucial, in this realm of prayer, and warfare in the heavenlies.
Lorna Couillard
This is the realm of warfare prayer:
Eph 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Eph 6:13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
In the spiritual realm, there are evil forces of demonic powers that rule over entire nations, cities, and communities. The more a Christian grows in their prayer life, the keener their discernment will become, and they will come to see and know what specific demonic powers are controlling them. The Lord will give direction and guidance in prayer, on coming against these rulers, and how to use the word of God effectively. When you get to this place in intercession-you come to know that you have to maintain a continuous relationship with Christ, and seek Him continually for strength, wisdom, and boldness, in order to be able to see answers to prayer, and know the abiding protection and presence of Jesus. This abiding presence is what brings peace, and destroys all fear. You know the covering of His Hands, and the protection of His shed blood in your life.
If God allows someone to be harmed or killed, this doesn't mean they've stepped out of God's will. All the disciples but John were killed, and untold numbers since then, to this day. When you step into a realm of deeper service for the Lord, you come to understand that if it's His will for our life to end here-we have won our victory, we've gone home. To be absent from the body, is to be present with the Lord. It is possible to come to the place that the fear of death, has lost it's hold on the Christian. In this place, fear has no power over you.
You have to come to the place that you know your God, and have put your full trust in Him, and be fully persuaded that the word of God is the power of God in your mouth-if your using it with faith, and know your position with Christ. If your afraid, or have any doubt that this kind of prayer works, your already defeated. God knows if you believe Him or not, and so does the devil. Also, do not get the idea that this development in prayer will guarantee you a life of ease, or you will be popular with everyone. You can expect just the opposite. The closer you get to the Lord Jesus Christ, the greater the surrender, and the more you will realize His motive for using you, are not for your pleasure, but are for His purposes, and His will to be done. You will learn what it really means, to be a servant. You will learn the road your on, will get narrower, and narrower. Jesus said it would.
Paul teaches on warfare prayer extensively, but will only be touched on here. The scripture verses contained here, and the devotions will give the Christian warrior some good teaching and direction in how to use the word of God in warfare prayer. When they are used with faith, and conviction, it is very effective in defeating the attacks of the devil, and the demonic realm. I'll add-this is a life long service, and never-ending process of learning.
The weapons of our warfare are not of flesh, but of the Spirit of God:
2Co 10:4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
2Co 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
Now, let's go on, and delve into another aspect that is crucial, in this realm of prayer, and warfare in the heavenlies.
Lorna Couillard
The Blood of the Lamb, the Conquering Weapon
I. What is this conquering weapon?
1. The blood of the Lamb signifies, first, the death of the Son of God. The sufferings of Jesus Christ might be set forth by some other figure, but His death on the Cross requires the mention of blood. The death of Christ is the death of sin and the defeat of Satan, and hence it is the life of our hope, and the assurance of His victory. Because He poured out His soul unto the death, He divided the spoil with the strong.
2. Next, by “the blood of the Lamb” we understand our Lord’s death as a substitutionary sacrifice. It is not said that they overcame the arch-enemy by the blood of Jesus, or the blood of Christ, but by the blood of the Lamb; and the words are expressly chosen because, under the figure of a lamb, we have set before us a sacrifice. Sin must be punished; it is punished in Christ’s death. Here is the hope of men.
3. Furthermore, I understand by the expression, “The blood of the Lamb,” that our Lord’s death was effective for the taking away of sin. When John the Baptist first pointed to Jesus, he said, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” Our Lord Jesus has actually taken away sin by His death.
II. I have shown you the sword; now I come to speak to the question, how do you use it?
“They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb.” When a man gets a sword, you cannot be quite certain how he’ will use it. A gentleman has purchased a very expensive sword with a golden hilt and an elaborate scabbard; he hangs it up in his hall, and exhibits it to his friends. Occasionally he draws it out from the sheath, and he says, “Feel how keen is the edge!” The precious blood of Jesus is not meant for us merely to admire and exhibit. We must not be content to talk about it, and extol it, and do nothing with it; but we are to use it in the great crusade against unholiness and unrighteousness, till it is said of us, “They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb.” Let me show you your battle-field. Our first place of conflict is in the heavenlies, and the second is down below on earth.
1. First, then, you who believe in the blood of Jesus, have to do battle with Satan in the heavenlies; and there you must overcome him “by the blood of the Lamb.” “How?” say you. First, you are to regard Satan this day as being already literally and truly overcome through the death of the Lord Jesus. Satan is already a vanquished enemy. By faith grasp your Lord’s victory as your own, since He triumphed in your nature and on your behalf. I would have you overcome Satan in the heavenlies in another sense: you must overcome him as the accuser. At times you hear in your heart a voice arousing memory and startling conscience; a voice which seems in heaven to be a remembrance of your guilt. All comfort drawn from inward feelings or outward works will fall short; but the bleeding wounds of Jesus will plead with overwhelming argument, and answer all. Still further, the believer will have need to overcome the enemy in the heavenly places in reference to access to God. The sacred name of Jesus is one before which he flees. This will drive away his blasphemous suggestions and foul insinuations better than anything that you can invent. We next must overcome the enemy in prayer.
2. It is time that I now showed you how this same fight is carried on on earth. Amongst men in these lower places of conflict saints overcome through the blood of the Lamb by their testimony to that blood. Every believer is to bear witness to the atoning sacrifice and its power to save. He is to tell out the doctrine; he is to emphasise it by earnest faith in it; and he is to support it and prove it by his experience of the effect of it. You can bear witness to the power of the blood of Jesus in your own soul. If you do this, you will overcome men in many ways. First, you will arouse them out of apathy. This age is more indifferent to true religion than almost any other. The sight of the bleeding Savior overcomes obduracy and carelessness. The doctrine of the blood of the Lamb prevents or scatters error. I do not think that by reason we often confute error to any practical purpose. We may confute it rhetorically and doctrinally, but men still stick to it. But the doctrine of the precious blood, when it once gets into the heart, drives error out of it, and sets up the throne of truth. We also overcome men in this way, by softening rebellious hearts. Men stand out against the law of God, and defy the vengeance of God; but the love of God in Christ Jesus disarms them. The Holy Spirit causes men to yield through the softening influence of the Cross. How wonderfully this same blood of the Lamb overcomes despair. Glory be to God, the blood is a universal solvent, and it has dissolved the iron bars of despair, until the poor captive conscience has been able to escape. There is nothing, indeed, which the blood of the Lamb will not overcome; for see how it overcomes vice, and every form of sin. The world is foul with evil. What can cleanse it? What but this matchless stream? Satan makes sin seem pleasure, but the Cross reveals its bitterness. This blood overcomes the natural lethargy of men towards obedience; it stimulates them to holiness. If anything can make a man holy it is a firm faith in the atoning sacrifice. When a man knows that Jesus died for him, he feels that he is not his own, but bought with a price, and therefore he must live unto Him that died for him and rose again.
(C. H. Spurgeon)
1. The blood of the Lamb signifies, first, the death of the Son of God. The sufferings of Jesus Christ might be set forth by some other figure, but His death on the Cross requires the mention of blood. The death of Christ is the death of sin and the defeat of Satan, and hence it is the life of our hope, and the assurance of His victory. Because He poured out His soul unto the death, He divided the spoil with the strong.
2. Next, by “the blood of the Lamb” we understand our Lord’s death as a substitutionary sacrifice. It is not said that they overcame the arch-enemy by the blood of Jesus, or the blood of Christ, but by the blood of the Lamb; and the words are expressly chosen because, under the figure of a lamb, we have set before us a sacrifice. Sin must be punished; it is punished in Christ’s death. Here is the hope of men.
3. Furthermore, I understand by the expression, “The blood of the Lamb,” that our Lord’s death was effective for the taking away of sin. When John the Baptist first pointed to Jesus, he said, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” Our Lord Jesus has actually taken away sin by His death.
II. I have shown you the sword; now I come to speak to the question, how do you use it?
“They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb.” When a man gets a sword, you cannot be quite certain how he’ will use it. A gentleman has purchased a very expensive sword with a golden hilt and an elaborate scabbard; he hangs it up in his hall, and exhibits it to his friends. Occasionally he draws it out from the sheath, and he says, “Feel how keen is the edge!” The precious blood of Jesus is not meant for us merely to admire and exhibit. We must not be content to talk about it, and extol it, and do nothing with it; but we are to use it in the great crusade against unholiness and unrighteousness, till it is said of us, “They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb.” Let me show you your battle-field. Our first place of conflict is in the heavenlies, and the second is down below on earth.
1. First, then, you who believe in the blood of Jesus, have to do battle with Satan in the heavenlies; and there you must overcome him “by the blood of the Lamb.” “How?” say you. First, you are to regard Satan this day as being already literally and truly overcome through the death of the Lord Jesus. Satan is already a vanquished enemy. By faith grasp your Lord’s victory as your own, since He triumphed in your nature and on your behalf. I would have you overcome Satan in the heavenlies in another sense: you must overcome him as the accuser. At times you hear in your heart a voice arousing memory and startling conscience; a voice which seems in heaven to be a remembrance of your guilt. All comfort drawn from inward feelings or outward works will fall short; but the bleeding wounds of Jesus will plead with overwhelming argument, and answer all. Still further, the believer will have need to overcome the enemy in the heavenly places in reference to access to God. The sacred name of Jesus is one before which he flees. This will drive away his blasphemous suggestions and foul insinuations better than anything that you can invent. We next must overcome the enemy in prayer.
2. It is time that I now showed you how this same fight is carried on on earth. Amongst men in these lower places of conflict saints overcome through the blood of the Lamb by their testimony to that blood. Every believer is to bear witness to the atoning sacrifice and its power to save. He is to tell out the doctrine; he is to emphasise it by earnest faith in it; and he is to support it and prove it by his experience of the effect of it. You can bear witness to the power of the blood of Jesus in your own soul. If you do this, you will overcome men in many ways. First, you will arouse them out of apathy. This age is more indifferent to true religion than almost any other. The sight of the bleeding Savior overcomes obduracy and carelessness. The doctrine of the blood of the Lamb prevents or scatters error. I do not think that by reason we often confute error to any practical purpose. We may confute it rhetorically and doctrinally, but men still stick to it. But the doctrine of the precious blood, when it once gets into the heart, drives error out of it, and sets up the throne of truth. We also overcome men in this way, by softening rebellious hearts. Men stand out against the law of God, and defy the vengeance of God; but the love of God in Christ Jesus disarms them. The Holy Spirit causes men to yield through the softening influence of the Cross. How wonderfully this same blood of the Lamb overcomes despair. Glory be to God, the blood is a universal solvent, and it has dissolved the iron bars of despair, until the poor captive conscience has been able to escape. There is nothing, indeed, which the blood of the Lamb will not overcome; for see how it overcomes vice, and every form of sin. The world is foul with evil. What can cleanse it? What but this matchless stream? Satan makes sin seem pleasure, but the Cross reveals its bitterness. This blood overcomes the natural lethargy of men towards obedience; it stimulates them to holiness. If anything can make a man holy it is a firm faith in the atoning sacrifice. When a man knows that Jesus died for him, he feels that he is not his own, but bought with a price, and therefore he must live unto Him that died for him and rose again.
(C. H. Spurgeon)
Conquering the Dragon
They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb.--
How they conquered the dragon
I. All the blessed ones who are rejoicing in heaven were once warriors and victors here below.
We too often think of the saints that have gone before as if they were men of another race from ourselves, capable of nobler things, endowed with graces which we cannot reach, and adorned with holiness impossible to us. The mediaeval artists were wont to paint the saints with rings of glory about their heads, but indeed they had no such halos; their brows were furrowed with care even as ours, and their hair grew grey with grief. Their light was within, and we may have it; their glory was by grace, and the same grace is available for us.
1. It is clear from our text that every one of the saints in heaven was assailed by Satan. How could there be a victory without a battle?
2. The glorified, in addition to having been attacked, were led to resist the evil one, for nobody overcomes an antagonist without fighting.
3. We find that these warriors all overcame, for heaven is not for those who fight merely, but for those who overcome. “I do fight against my sin,” says one. Brother, do you overcome it? Attack, resistance, and victory must be yours.
4. So, then, in heaven they all rejoice because they have overcome, for the next verse to our text puts it, “Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them.” It is a theme for gladness in heaven that they did fight and resist and overcome. There is joy among the angels, for they had their conflict when they stood firm against temptation; but ours will be a victory peculiarly sweet, a song especially melodious, because our battle has been peculiarly severe.
II. The victors all fought with the same weapons.
1. First, the blood of the Lamb: it was theirs. The blood of the Lamb will not help us until it becomes our own. It is the blood of the covenant, and it secures all the covenant gifts of God to us. It is the life of our life. So, then, they had the blood of the Lamb, and they possessed the privilege which the blood brings with it.
2. They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. Now, what is the testimony of the saints? It is a testimony concerning the blood of the Lamb. If ever we are to conquer Satan in the world, we must preach the atoning blood.
III. While they all fought with the same weapons they all fought with the same spirit; for the text says, “they loved not their lives unto the death.”
1. The expression indicates dauntless courage. They were never afraid of the doctrine of a bleeding Saviour. Let us never be ashamed of our hope.
2. These men, in addition to dauntless courage, had unanswering fidelity. They “loved not their lives unto the death.” They thought it better to die than deny the faith.
3. More than that, they were perfect in their consecration. “They loved not their lives unto the death.” They gave themselves up, body soul, and spirit, to the cause of which the precious blood is the symbol, and that consecration led them to perfect self-sacrifice. No Christian of the true type counts anything to be his own. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Note: This additional teaching by Derek Prince will give you clear examples of what this devotion speaks about, and how to appropriate the weapons of warfare we are engaged with in this world.
Casting Down Strongholds | Derek Prince--
https://youtu.be/owF24I04Da4?si=ojwbKMnmRiMyK0Nu
How they conquered the dragon
I. All the blessed ones who are rejoicing in heaven were once warriors and victors here below.
We too often think of the saints that have gone before as if they were men of another race from ourselves, capable of nobler things, endowed with graces which we cannot reach, and adorned with holiness impossible to us. The mediaeval artists were wont to paint the saints with rings of glory about their heads, but indeed they had no such halos; their brows were furrowed with care even as ours, and their hair grew grey with grief. Their light was within, and we may have it; their glory was by grace, and the same grace is available for us.
1. It is clear from our text that every one of the saints in heaven was assailed by Satan. How could there be a victory without a battle?
2. The glorified, in addition to having been attacked, were led to resist the evil one, for nobody overcomes an antagonist without fighting.
3. We find that these warriors all overcame, for heaven is not for those who fight merely, but for those who overcome. “I do fight against my sin,” says one. Brother, do you overcome it? Attack, resistance, and victory must be yours.
4. So, then, in heaven they all rejoice because they have overcome, for the next verse to our text puts it, “Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them.” It is a theme for gladness in heaven that they did fight and resist and overcome. There is joy among the angels, for they had their conflict when they stood firm against temptation; but ours will be a victory peculiarly sweet, a song especially melodious, because our battle has been peculiarly severe.
II. The victors all fought with the same weapons.
1. First, the blood of the Lamb: it was theirs. The blood of the Lamb will not help us until it becomes our own. It is the blood of the covenant, and it secures all the covenant gifts of God to us. It is the life of our life. So, then, they had the blood of the Lamb, and they possessed the privilege which the blood brings with it.
2. They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. Now, what is the testimony of the saints? It is a testimony concerning the blood of the Lamb. If ever we are to conquer Satan in the world, we must preach the atoning blood.
III. While they all fought with the same weapons they all fought with the same spirit; for the text says, “they loved not their lives unto the death.”
1. The expression indicates dauntless courage. They were never afraid of the doctrine of a bleeding Saviour. Let us never be ashamed of our hope.
2. These men, in addition to dauntless courage, had unanswering fidelity. They “loved not their lives unto the death.” They thought it better to die than deny the faith.
3. More than that, they were perfect in their consecration. “They loved not their lives unto the death.” They gave themselves up, body soul, and spirit, to the cause of which the precious blood is the symbol, and that consecration led them to perfect self-sacrifice. No Christian of the true type counts anything to be his own. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Note: This additional teaching by Derek Prince will give you clear examples of what this devotion speaks about, and how to appropriate the weapons of warfare we are engaged with in this world.
Casting Down Strongholds | Derek Prince--
https://youtu.be/owF24I04Da4?si=ojwbKMnmRiMyK0Nu
