Thursday, September 12th, 2024
God has been speaking to me lately regarding how the valleys we traverse and the demons we triumph over become the places where we have the most spiritual authority. There are some places in my personal life where I have overcome the enemy that tried to take me out. I know someday I will help others out of these same places. Often the thing that encourages me in my current challenges is knowing that the weapons God is honing in me will someday help someone else out of this same muck and mire.
Recently I was reading in Acts 13. Paul (whose name was changed from Saul in this chapter) had just met a sorcerer named Barjesus who rose up against Paul and Barnabas, trying to turn people away from the faith. Verse 9-12 says this:
9 Then Saul, who also is called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him 10 and said, “O full of all deceit and all fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease perverting the straight ways of the Lord? 11 And now, indeed, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you shall be blind, not seeing the sun for a time.”
And immediately a dark mist fell on him, and he went around seeking someone to lead him by the hand. 12 Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had been done, being astonished at the teaching of the Lord.
Saul used to be the one that was persecuting Christians. He was the one that was once blinded by the Lord. And now, by the hand of the Lord and because of the victory he had in these two areas, he was being used to turn someone else from that same sin. Now, the Bible does not say what happened to Barjesus, but it does say that the Roman deputy that was with him believed in the Lord as a result of what he saw. I have a feeling Barjesus eventually came to the same belief.
I have one more example to hopefully shed some more light on this topic. I was at a memorial service recently and the pastor that was leading the service shared about how he lived most of his Christian life with a great fear of death. He said, one night God gave him a dream and he saw heaven opened. God gave him a glimpse of the glory, peace and love that permeated out of heaven, and it completely cured his fear of dying. As he was speaking, in my spirit I heard, “You need to go up afterwards and have him pray for you.” So, I obeyed knowing that his victory over the fear of death had given him spiritual authority in that area. I asked him to pray for me believing that he would impart to me his victory over this enemy. I could feel Holy Spirit working as he was praying, and my outlook has been forever healed.
Final Thoughts…
The enemy would love to have us believe that our struggles and failures are the places that disqualify us. In reality, these are the places where we build up the most spiritual authority and can do the most damage against the kingdom of darkness. It’s not about what has tripped us up. It’s about the weapons God strengthened within us while we were flat on our face. Someday we will come across someone in the same exact place and we will have the hope they need.