The Purpose of Fear 2

Read The Purpose of Fear

'When my ANXIOUS THOUGHTS multiply within me, your consolations delight my soul. Can a THRONE OF DESTRUCTION be allied with You, one which DEVISES MISCHIEF BY DECREE? They band themselves together against the life of the righteous and condemn the innocent to death.

But the LORD has been my stronghold, and my God the rock of my refuge. He has brought back their wickedness upon them and will destroy them in their evil; the LORD our God will destroy them.' [Psalms 94:19-23]

This wonderful passage shows us what's really going on in the spiritual realm.

Anxious, tormenting thoughts come from without, not from within! Evil spirits have pirated thrones of authority that were made by and for Jesus—consider Colossians 1:16...

'For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him.'

We've seen, in Job 4, how the spirit of fear comes and whispers lies and deceptions. Now we understand that these spirits are devising mischief BY DECREE! They are decreeing destruction against us from these positions of stolen authority, and these decrees cause anxiety, or fear.

The Purpose of Fear

We know that God is NOT the author of fear. Consider these scriptures...

'For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!"' [Romans 8:15

'For God has not given us a spirit of timidity—fearfulness, cowardice—but of power and love and discipline. [2 Timothy 1:7]

'There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.' [1 John 4:18]

'"Now a word was brought to me stealthily, and my ear received a whisper of it. Amid disquieting thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on men, dread came upon me, and trembling, and made all my bones shake. Then a spirit passed by my face; the hair of my flesh bristled up. It stood still, but I could not discern its appearance; a form was before my eyes; there was silence, then I heard a voice: 'Can mankind be just before God? Can a man be pure before his Maker? He puts no trust even in His servants; and against His angels He charges error. How much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed before the moth! Between morning and evening they are broken in pieces; unobserved, they perish forever. Is not their tent-cord plucked up within them? They die, yet without wisdom.'" [Job 4:12-21]

'When you lie down, you will not be afraid; When you lie down, your sleep will be sweet. Do not be afraid of sudden fear nor of the onslaught of the wicked when it comes; for the LORD will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught.' [Proverbs 3:24-26]

I find Job's description so accurate—everyone can relate to the feelings he describes so well! We clearly see from these passages that fear is a spirit, and NOT from God!

So what, then, is the purpose of fear?

The Guardian's Creed

Psalm 68:11,12 is one of my favorite scriptures, and it demonstrates the power of women for their families, their clans and their nations.

'The Lord gives the command [the word, promise, utterance]; [then] the women who proclaim the good tidings are a great host [army]: [and they say] "Kings of armies flee, they flee, and she who remains at home will divide the spoil!"' [author's comments]

He has given us His Word, both written and in the person of His Son, Jesus, Who IS the Word...Acts 12:24 calls us the Word multiplied! We are one Spirit with the Lord, with the Word Himself! [1 Corinthians 6:17]

So it appears that women are called to be warriors in the Spirit! We proclaim the word as a GREAT HOST—an army—to drive away the enemy and enforce his defeat and our victory!

With that in mind, my cousin and I met to pray over our families and over our extended clan. As we prayed, many scriptures came forth and we would stop, read them out loud, then return to prayer.

It was a wonderful experience, full of faith and hope!

We decided to be a great host, watching over our families and extended clan! Watchmen on our walls! Here is the recap of what we decreed in prayer...

We call our walls salvation—deliverance, prosperity, victory—and our gates praise!

God our Father has set our foundations in sapphires and made our battlements—our shields—in rubies and our gates of crystal! Our entire wall—territory, region, border, boundary—is made of precious stones!

We say of the Lord "He is our refuge, our fortress, our God in Whom we trust!" and all of Psalm 91 comes to pass in our lives and in the lives of our children, spouses and clan!

We have been made the righteousness of God in Christ and are descendants of the righteous. We and all of our children are taught of the Lord and our well-being—completeness, soundness, welfare, peace, safety and contentment—is GREAT!

We and our households and our clan are established in righteousness. We are FAR FROM OPPRESSION for we DO NOT FEAR, and we're FAR FROM TERROR, for IT WILL NOT COME NEAR US!

NO WEAPON FORMED AGAINST US SHALL PROSPER, and every tongue that accuses us in judgement—rises up against us—WE CONDEMN RIGHT NOW.

We are seated NOW in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, at the right hand of God, FAR ABOVE all rule and authority and power and dominion, and EVERY NAME THAT IS NAMED, not only in this age but in the one to come. He has put all things in subjection under His feet—therefore they're all under our feet! We tread upon the lion and cobra, the young lion and serpent we trample down! We have authority over all the power of the enemy and nothing will injure us or ours. No evil befalls us and the evil one touches us not! Hallelujah! We overcome the accuser of the brethren by the Blood of the Lamb and by the word of our testimony—what we testify! And we testify glory, salvation and victory this day! Prosperity, health, protection...this day! Favor, love and revelation knowledge...this day!

We are redeemed from the curse of the Law, and every promise of God is yes for us and our household in Christ Jesus.

We are one Spirit with the Lord, strengthened with all power in our inner man, rooted and grounded in love and filled up to all the fullness of God. We decree a thing and it is established for us—we believe that what we say happens, and it is granted to us. All things for which we pray and ask, we believe we receive when we pray, and they are granted to us.

We take our place in the great host of women who proclaim the good tidings...we take our places as watchmen over our clan—like God posted watchmen over the walls of Jerusalem who never keep silent and take no rest for themselves, so we are watchmen over our walls to decree the blessings and protection of God over our people. "Kings of armies, you flee—flee right now—and we will divide the spoil!"

We are born of God—from Him—and have overcome evil spirits, because greater is He Who is in us than he who is in the world. As He is, so are we in this world. We are born of God and overcome the world...and this is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith.

We expect the favor and blessing and protection of God on our households and on our clan each and every day! God is to us a God of deliverances, and to Him belong escapes from death! We are blessed with the blessing of Abraham!

Diligence
The key to success, I believe is diligence. Watchmen watch all the time, and they speak, as well.

'Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices, they shout joyfully together; for they will see with their own eyes when the LORD restores Zion.' [Isaiah 52:8]

'On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have appointed watchmen; all day and all night they will never keep silent. You who REMIND THE LORD, take no rest for yourselves; and GIVE HIM NO REST until He establishes and makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.' [Isaiah 62:6,7]

Hebrews 4:11 tells us to be diligent to enter His rest...'For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said, "As I swore in My wrath, they shall not enter my rest" although His works were finished from the foundation of the world.'

Watchmen always watch and pray...watch and decree!

In days past, sentries who fell asleep at their posts were executed. Don't fall asleep at your post! Be diligent watchmen on your walls—call your walls salvation and your gates praise! [Isaiah 60:18] Overcome the enemy with the Blood of the Lamb and the WORD of your testimony! [Revelation 12:11]

Related Posts
I Will Say...
Proclaim!
Enter His Rest Today
Speak Peace To It
Let The Redeemed of the Lord Say So
Confessions For Your Family
Yad
God's Good Will 3

Scripture References
Isaiah 60:18
Isaiah 54
Psalm 91
1 John 1:18
Luke 10:19
Ephesians 1,2
Colossians 1,2
Isaiah 52:8; 62:6
Galatians 3:9, 13,14,29
2 Corinthians 1:20
Psalm 68:11-14,20
1 John 4,5

Desire

'Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He will do it.' [Psalm 37:4,5]

This is a wonderful scripture, full of blessing, hope and joy. Unfortunately, we have heard too many sermons about how it doesn't really mean what it says, it really means something else...

Fortunately, God reveals His character consistently in His Word! He LOVES us and created us to live in an abundant, natural world. Consider these:

'...the desire of the righteous will be granted.' [Proverbs 10:24]

'He will fulfill the desire of all who fear [revere, reverence, to stand in awe of, honor, respect] Him; He will also hear their cry and will save them.' [Psalm 145:19]

'May He grant you your heart's desire and fulfill all your counsel! [Psalm 20:4]

'You have given him his heart's desire, and you have not withheld the request of his lips.' [Psalm 21:2]

'You open Your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing.' [Psalm 145:16]

'What the wicked fears will come upon him, but the desire of the righteous will be granted.' [Proverbs 10:24]

'Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but desire fulfilled is a tree of life.' [Proverbs 13:12]

'Desire realized is sweet to the soul, but it is an abomination to fools to turn away from evil.' [Proverbs 13:19]

So we see that Psalm 37:4 is not an isolated verse, taken out of context. It is His nature to bless us. Jesus said "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!" [Matthew 7:11]

Hebrews 11:6 says 'And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.'

See the Unseen

The Word clearly tells us to look at the unseen—that which is eternal—rather than at the seen, that which is temporary.

'...while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.' [2 Corinthians 4:18]

Quantum Physics is just now uncovering this phenomenon—it is called the Observer Effect.

In [very] layman's terms, this describes the effect of an observer upon sub-atomic particles...they change from a wave, or many possible positions, to a fixed position, exactly where the observer is observing.

Remember the atom and electron diagrams in school? The atom was a round ball, with electrons circling around it. Quantum Physics has proven this to be an inaccurate, or incomplete, description—the electrons actually circle the atom in a cloud, or wave, of potential locations. They only come to a fixed position when observed...

Quantum Physics has also uncovered the mystery of parallel or alternative universes—this is sometimes called the multiverse. This theory states that for each of us there are a multiplicity of universes—a universe where you're married, one where you're not, one where you have kids, one where you don't, etc. The theory is that these universes branch from each decision we make—all things are in mathematical and physical reality possible for us, and apparently coexisting! However, most of us walk around blind to these realities, bound by limiting beliefs ["I can't..." or "That would never happen for me..." etc.]

What Does This Have to Do With Us?
Of course, the Word has already told us that we walk on this physical place while also seated in heavenly places in Christ! Hebrews 12 tells us that we have ALREADY COME TO THE HEAVENLY JERUSALEM!!!

We know that God's Word is FOREVER SETTLED IN HEAVEN [Psalm 119:89]...but may be unseen here in the natural. And Ephesians 1:3,4 says 'Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the HEAVENLY PLACES in Christ, just as He chose us in Him BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.

Now let's link back to our foundation scripture, 2 Corinthians 4:18.

The Greek word used in this passage for eternal is aionios—without beginning and end, that which always has been and always will be, never to cease, everlasting. Contrast that with the Greek word for temporal—proskairos—for a season, enduring only for a while, temporary

We also know from Hebrews 4 that God has rested from His works, which were finished from the foundation of the world...this would include His forever settled Word.

So what the Holy Spirit is telling us to do in @ Corinthians 4:18 is to look at the unseen...not the non-existent! The unseen just resides in the eternal plane of God until we observe it! In this case, we are the observers!

Three States
We know from science that many things exist physically in three states—gas, liquid, solid. The matter is the same in each—it is the speed of the atoms that make the difference!

Take water, for example. When the atoms of water are moving very slowly, we call it ice, or the solid state of water. When we speed up the atoms by applying heat, or energy, the solid becomes liquid. When we continue to speed the atoms up, we get the gaseous state, or steam!

Let's apply this to the Word of God. Jesus said that His Words were Spirit and life [John 6:63]. And we know that God is a Spirit, and that He is light! We also see in John 1 that Jesus IS the Word!

So, in it's first state, God's Word is Spirit, or light!

When spoken, either by Jesus or by us, they are slowed down to sound! From Spirit, or light, slowed to sound! And when spoken out into the atmosphere, the sound becomes solid—physical reality!

Light > Sound > Solid.

Can it really be that simple?

Think about it.

I Will Say...

David really knew the key to deliverance—the words of his mouth!

Read the Psalms...take note of every time he says something [in quotes] and then how he immediately links it to God's action. He puts his faith, his trust in God, in his mouth, doing exactly what it says in Job 22:28—decree a thing and it will be established for you!

His son, Solomon, learned it at his knee. The entire book of Proverbs revolves around the wisdom of God, declared through the mouth into the earth!

The most famous example is Psalm 91. Although there is controversy as to whether Moses or David wrote it, I know Who wrote it! The Holy Spirit of the Living God, that's Who!

And knowing that, I'm pretty sure He was trying to tell us something...

'He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.

'I WILL SAY to the LORD, "My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust !"

'For it is He who delivers you from the snare of the trapper and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with His pinions, and under His wings you may seek refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark.

'You will not be afraid of the terror by night, Or of the arrow that flies by day; of the pestilence that stalks in darkness, or of the destruction that lays waste at noon.7 A thousand may fall at your side and ten thousand at your right hand, but it shall not approach you.

'You will only look on with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked. For YOU HAVE MADE the LORD, my refuge, even the Most High, your dwelling place. No evil will befall you, nor will any plague come near your tent. For He will give His angels charge concerning you, to guard you in all your ways. They will bear you up in their hands, that you do not strike your foot against a stone.

'You will tread upon the lion and cobra, the young lion and the serpent you will trample down.

Then God responds...

'"Because he has loved Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him securely on high, because he has known My name. He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. With a long life I will satisfy him and let him see My salvation."' [Psalm 91]

First, He tells us to abide in the Lord, just like Jesus told us to abide in Him in John 15.

'"Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing .

'"If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you."' [John 15:4,5,7]

Notice the consequence of abiding in Him...you will bear much fruit, and whatever you ask will be done for you!

Psalm 91:2 continues...'I will SAY to the Lord, "My refuge and my fortress, my God, in Who I trust!"' Then the rest of Psalm 91 describes the protection that is invoked by that statement!

The I WILL SAY is the how behind YOU HAVE MADE!

And please note: God didn't waver, He didn't make him wait, He didn't tell him that he didn't deserve His help. He also did NOT tell him that maybe the answer would be no to teach him something, or because he was asking for too much...read 2 Corinthians 1:20, 1 John 5:14,15 and John 14-17.

Hallelujah!

More Examples
We see this throughout the Psalms. Here are just a few examples—note that he starts with a statement, then he describes the Lord's action in response to the words of his mouth!

'"I love you, O Lord, my strength."

'The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

'I call upon the Lord, Who is worthy to be praise, and I am saved from my enemies.' [Psalm 18:1-3]

'I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart; I WILL TELL of all your wonders. I will be glad and exult in You; I WILL SING praise to Your name, O Most High.

WHEN MY ENEMIES TURN BACK, they stumble and perish before You.' [Psalm 9:1-3]

'O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth, Who have [plural] displayed Your splendor above the heavens.

'From the mouth of infants and nursing babes You have established strength [Jesus used the word praise—Matthew 21:16] BECAUSE OF YOUR ADVERSARIES, TO MAKE THE ENEMY AND THE REVENGEFUL CEASE.' [Psalm 8:1,2]

I am writing myself so happy that I can hardly sit still...

Declare, Receive, Give Thanks
Another thing seems to be a recurring trend...David starts with a declaration, then tells what the Lord has done in response to his declaration, and then finishes with thanksgiving!

What I really love is that he believes he receives WHEN HE PRAYS, a la Mark 11:24!

'"Hear, O Lord, and be gracious to me; O Lord, be my helper." You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You You have loosed my sackcloth and girded me with gladness, that my soul may sing praise to You and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks to You forever.' [Psalm 30:10-12]

This next one is really interesting...not only does David put his faith in his mouth, he asks God to shut the mouths of those who are against him and keep him safe from their words! He really believed in the power of the tongue!

'O Lord, in Your strength the king will be glad, and in Your salvation [victory] how greatly he will rejoice! You have given him his heart's desire, and YOU HAVE NOT WITHHELD THE REQUEST OF HIS LIPS.' ]Psalm 21:1,2]

'But as for me, I trust in You, O Lord, I SAY 'You are My God." My times are in Your hand; deliver me from the hand of my enemies and from those who persecute me.

'Make Your face to shine upon Your servant' save me in Your lovingkindness. Let me not be put to shame, O Lord, FOR I CALL UPON YOU; let the wicked be put to shame, let them be SILENT in Sheol. Let the LYING LIPS BE MUTE, WHICH SPEAK arrogantly against the righteous with pride and contempt

'How great is Your goodness, which You have stored up for those who fear You, which You have wrought for those who take refuge in You, before the sons of Men! You hide them in the secret place of your presence form the CONSPIRACIES of man; You keep them secretly in a shelter from the STRIFE OF TONGUES.' [Psalm 31:14-20]

It works in reverse, too...mankind reaps what he says, good or bad.

'The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, and have committed abominable injustice; there is no one who does good.' [Psalm 14:1]

There are so many more examples in the Psalms—I encourage you to read them with new eyes, to behold this wonderful truth.

I leave you with one of my favorites. I have indicated all the words having to do with the spoken word [and the hearing thereof] in caps.

'I will BLESS the Lord at all times; His PRAISE shall continually be in my MOUTH. My soul will make its BOAST in the Lord; the humble will HEAR it and REJOICE.

'O MAGNIFY the Lord with me, and let us EXALT His name together.

'I sought the Lord, and He ANSWERED me, And delivered me from all my fears.They looked to Him and were radiant, and their faces will never be ashamed.

'This poor man CRIED, and the Lord HEARD him and saved him out of all his troubles.

'The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, and rescues them.' [Psalm 34:1-7]

Hallelujah!

Created in Christ Jesus

I see dead people! [my apologies to The Sixth Sense...]

Enough of trying to lay salvation over old, dead people! That old creature is DEAD! Enough! Bury it in baptism, and let it lie!

'Therefore if ANYONE is in Christ, he is a NEW CREATURE; the old things passed away; behold, NEW THINGS HAVE COME.' [2 Corinthians 5:17]

First of all, Ephesians 2:1 says we were already dead in trespasses and sin.

Reign in Life

One Spirit With The Lord
Yes, I know I write about it constantly. But only because I believe it is one of the foremost revelations regarding the New Birth that has been largely forgotten, swept under denominational carpets [and most non-denominational carpets, too!]

Why? Because it is such an empowering spiritual fact. Once we know that we are born of God [1 John 5:1-4] and that '...as He is, so also are we in this world' [1 John 4:17] we can fully enter into our place in the earth.

What is that place? An alternative, non-religious translation of the Greek word Ekklesia, the word commonly translated as church in the New Testament, is called out to govern.* It refers to the time of Greek city states, when citizens were called outside of the city to replace a corrupt government. They were, literally, called out to govern! They were not merely an assembly without purpose, some random crowd of people. They had a distinct purpose--to govern!

An aside...I love finding non-religious translations of Greek words! They're so UN-religious and capture the true meaning of the Scriptures as opposed to some white-washed, watered-down version of the meaning.

Paul was a scholar. I'm pretty sure he knew what he was writing.

Already There

'For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority; and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.

'When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having FORGIVEN US ALL OUR TRANSGRESSIONS, HAVING CANCELED OUT THE CERTIFICATE OF DEBT CONSISTING OF DECREES AGAINST US, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

'When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.' [Colossians 2:9-15]

'But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. [Ephesians 2:4-7]

Jesus did this at a specific point in linear time—backward, for all who had their sins covered by types and shadows, like animal sacrifices and scarlet cords—and forward, for us who have received His redemptive work after Calvary.

Well-Being

'...the chastening—discipline, correction—for our WELL-BEING fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed.' [Isaiah 53:5]

The Hebrew word for well-being in this passage is shalowm—completeness, soundness, welfare, peace, safety, soundness (in body), health, prosperity, peace, quiet, tranquility, contentment, peace (from war), in covenant relationship with God. [Brown, Driver, Briggs, Gesenius Lexicon]

Shalowm comes from the root word Shalam—to be in a covenant of peace, to be at peace, to make peace, to be complete, to be sound (uninjured), to make safe—to be complete, finished, whole or restored. If you know anything about Hebrew words, you know that every word comes from a small group of root words, and you can always see the meaning of that root word in the subsequent word.

What Jesus accomplished at the cross is EVERYTHING—everything you will ever need to be be whole, in every area of your life. He took the discipline, the correction, so that we could enjoy the shalowm peace—perfect wholeness.

Ashes, Ashes

I found a great verse today regarding Satan--the enemy, the accuser. [Yes, Satan is a Bible fact—demons, too!]

Christians tend to believe that he is either 1) so powerful that they have no hope of overcoming him, or 2) he doesn't really exist. Both are incorrect—he does exist, and he is under our authority.

In Ezekiel 28:1-10, God speaks to the natural, human ruler of Tyre, a powerful city state. Then, in verses 11-19, He speaks to the spiritual, demonic ruler over Tyre. You can tell from the context that He is directly addressing Satan, the archangel formerly known as Lucifer.

He talks about how beautiful and perfect he was, until unrighteousness was found in him.

What was that unrighteousness? According to Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14, it was pride—pride of beauty, and wickedness—his intent to place himself above God.

Of course, both chapters tell us that he will be punished—he will be thrown into the pit and cease to exist forever.

But I what I particularly love about Ezekiel 28:14-19 is that it is written in THE PAST TENSE! These are quantum realities!

'"You were the anointed cherub who covers, and I placed you there. You were on the holy mountain of God; you walked in the midst of the stones of fire. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created until unrighteousness was found in you. By the abundance of your trade You were internally filled with violence, and you sinned; THEREFORE I HAVE CAST YOU AS PROFANE FROM THE MOUNTAIN OF GOD. And I HAVE DESTROYED YOU, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.

"Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor. I CAST YOU TO THE GROUND; I put you before kings, that they may see you. By the multitude of your iniquities, In the unrighteousness of your trade you profaned your sanctuaries.

"Therefore I have brought fire from the midst of you; It has consumed you, and I HAVE TURNED YOU TO ASHES ON THE EARTH IN THE EYES OF ALL WHO SEE YOU. All who know you among the peoples are appalled at you; you have become terrified and YOU WILL CEASE TO BE FOREVER."'

Hallelujah! God has finished His works and has entered His rest...from the foundation of the world! [Hebrews 4] And one of those works was the obliteration of the enemy—turned to ashes!

He's already ashes! Think of him like that, and remind him of Luke 10:19:

"Behold, I have given you authority to TREAD ON SERPENTS AND SCORPIONS, and OVER ALL THE POWER OF THE ENEMY, and NOTHING WILL INJURE YOU."

Then, of course, there's 1 John 4:4...

'You are from God, little children, and have overcome them [evil spirits, ref v.1-3]; because GREATER IS HE WHO IS IN YOU than he who is in the world.'

An aside...I think the kings He's referring to who see satan as defeated are us! Revelations 18:23 says he deceived the nations...but we are told to see the unseen and overcome him! We are one Spirit with the King of kings and the Lord of Lords, and Romans 5:17 says we are to reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ!! This is just my opinion, but who else would He be showing?

Defeated
If you've seen the movie Troy, you'll remember that after Achilles killed Hector, he dragged him around in front of the city.

This reminded me of Colossians 2:15...

'When He [Jesus] had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.'

In ancient times, this is what you did with a defeated enemy. Sometimes you dragged their dead bodies behind your chariot, sometimes you dragged them in chains behind your chariot. The point was the display—this king is defeated, there' a new king in town.

Sometimes it was a defeated foe—the display was to reassure the people that they need no longer fear him, he would never again terrorize them.

Either way, it was a show of strength and victory. And it's a perfect picture of Jesus' defeat and humiliation of Satan.

1 John 3:8 says 'The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.' Why? Didn't He already have authority over the devil? Didn't He know that he was already ashes?

Yes, but He came to transfer His authority—His Name and the power in His Blood—to us. He came to defeat him for us! He came to give us what He already had...perfect victory and authority over the enemy.

Praise God...and remind Satan that he's ashes! Take your authority over him and sweep him out of your life!

Victory!

"The LORD shall cause your enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before you; they will come out against you one way and will flee before you seven ways." [Deuteronomy 28:7]

'...and the sons of Judah conquered because they trusted in the LORD, the God of their fathers.' [2 Chronicles 13:18]

'And the LORD was with him; wherever he went he prospered...' [2 Kings 18:7]

'He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me.' [Psalm 18:17]

'I will extol You, O LORD, for You have lifted me up, and have not let my enemies rejoice over me.' [Psalm 30:1]

'You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble; You surround me with songs of deliverance.' [Psalm 32:7]

'I sought the LORD, and He answered me, and delivered me from all my fears.' [Psalm 34:4]