As Christians, we know that our
enemy is the devil. We know that his purpose is to steal, kill and
destroy. We also know that in order to combat him, we have to submit to
God, resist the devil and then he will flee from us. But in order to go
on the offensive against the devil, we must have power. Power comes
from the Holy Ghost. In order to receive maximum power from the Holy
Ghost, we need an effective prayer life and fasting. Jesus told His
disciples that some demons would only become subject to them because they
practiced prayer and fasting. We’ll talk a little bit about sports.
Boxing is different from other fighting styles because every boxer is
taught the same four punches: the jab, the cross, the hook, and the
uppercut. I’ve heard some people say that anyone can get in the ring and
throw punches but boxing measures strength, speed, reflexes, and endurance.
Boxing is more mental than it is physical. In a boxing match, if
there is no knockout, the fight will generally go in the favor of whoever is
the most aggressive. We have to be on the offensive to be aggressive.
We cannot win staying on the defensive. When we are on offense, we
dictate the course of the fight. When we are on the defense, we are only
reactive. Praise confuses the devil and it takes us from retreating or
being on the defense to going on the offense. In boxing, the jab can be
used offensively or defensively. God wants us on the offensive. We
have the Word of God which is our sword to fight with. Jesus defeated the
devil using the Word of God. When we don’t know the Word, we are
defenseless. We must know our Bible in order to go on the offensive.
When we know what is in the Word, we understand why the devil is no match
for us. God needs us to be on the offensive because there is a battle for
the lost souls of the world. If we don’t know the Word, we can’t believe
the Word!
Sometimes it seems as though the
devil is doing a number on us. But not only do we need to know our enemy,
we also need to know our ally. Our enemy really could care less about
our money, our cars or our jobs. He wants our souls. God is not
just simply an ally. He’s our protector. So we never need to be
concerned in this war. He is never caught off guard and everything goes
according to how He has planned it. The things that we go through have
been designed for us because they don’t have the power to destroy us. If
someone else went through what you have gone through, it would destroy them.
And if you went through what some others have gone through, you wouldn't
be able to handle it. When we go on the offensive, both our front
and rear are protected. Since so many things go on in the spirit realm
and we can’t see it with our natural eyes, we have a hard time believing how
protected that we really are.
I listened to the testimony of
Curtis Kelly, a Christian who was formerly a participant in voodoo. He
told a story of how some of his neighborhood friends who were brothers had
gotten saved. They began to witness to others in the neighborhood.
Curtis became upset because he didn't want the brothers to cause others
to get saved because he would lose his customers. He was accustomed to
people coming to him to receive spells to protect them or to heal them.
One night he called up a small imp and told him to go and make trouble
for the family. The imp went off and when it returned it said that they
were protected and he couldn't touch them. Curtis became angry with the
imp and said, “I told you to go and destroy them.” So the imp left again
and returned and said, “I told you I couldn't touch them. They’re
protected.” So Curtis sent the imp away and called for a bigger imp and
sent him out to tear the house and cars up, set the house on fire and do
everything the other imp couldn't do. After a few days, this imp
returned. He asked the imp if he did what he told it to do. The imp
said, “It’s just like the other imp told you, we can’t touch them.
They’re protected.” Curtis got angry and sent the imp away and
astral projected to their house. When he arrived, he saw two eight foot
tall angels with flaming swords. He said, “They looked like they had been
working out in the gym. They were tough.” He stood behind a
telephone pole and peeked out at them and said, “Man, I see why those imps
couldn't do anything.” So he went back into his body and said to himself,
“Wow, they have some serious power. They have some power behind them.”
Part of going on the offensive is learning how to strategize. We
don’t just rush headlong into the battle. The devil strategizes against
us and we learn to strategize against him. When we learn his tactics, we
learn how to fortify ourselves and seal the weak areas. As we go on the
offensive, we need to ensure that we cover all vulnerable areas.
