Victory Over Spirits of Deception and Manipulation
23 DAYS OF PRAYER DAY 9
Written By Pastor Michael Heil
“Give no regard to mediums and familiar spirits;
do not seek after them, to be defiled by them:
I am the Lord your God.”
Leviticus 19:31
Years ago, believe it or not, I was a teenager and played high school football. I remember before we started practice our coach gave us a playbook. It was a condensed version of plays we would run on the field. In a grave voice, he strongly warned us not to lose it or let another team have it because you never wanted your opponent to know what you were doing. We had about four or five plays we would use all the time because they worked so well. So we would use them constantly. Our enemy, the evil one, has a playbook too; his evil spirits use it time and time again. And, like my high school football team, Satan has his favorite plays. The most basic, the one used first on this earth, is deception and manipulation. In the garden he told Eve through the serpent, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:4,5). He deliberately deceived Eve, sowing seeds of doubt, so he could manipulate her to get Eve to eat the fruit. Brothers and sisters, he has not changed; he goes back to the play of deception and manipulation time after time after time.
Then how do we, the saints of Jesus Christ, resist the spirits that bring deception and manipulation? How do we walk in victory, and bring others to victory over the evil one’s deceit? There is only one answer for lies and deceit, truth. Don’t bother debating the lies of evil spirits; don’t bother seeking the counsel of men. What always defeats the lying spirits from Satan is truth. Truth is the light that exposes the cockroach called deception. In the federal government they train agents to spot counterfeit money, not by showing them the many different types of illegal currency, but by training them to know what real currency looks like, feels like, even smells like. Once they know the real, once they know the truth, it is easy to spot the counterfeit. Brothers and sisters, it is the same with our Lord. Jesus said “I am the way, THE TRUTH, and the life; no man comes to the Father but by Me.” We need to grow closer to our Lord. We need to see more clearly His ways. We need to hear more deeply His “word of truth” (Colossians 1:5; II Timothy 2:15). We need to be able in our spirit to walk so intimately with our Lord, that even at the smallest whiff of an evil spirit’s lies, our spiritual senses are alerted and reject his deception!
The gospel of John, talking about our Lord, says “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Full of grace and truth! When you and I came to our blessed Savior, repenting of our sins, and asking Him to be our Lord, He did His part and came into our life. The Spirit of God immediately cleansed our sins and gave us a new nature, a nature like unto God and a nature “full of truth.” Meditate on this truth... You and I, in Christ, have all the truth of God in joined to our spirit, where the Holy Spirit resides! Selah! And, if that doesn’t fill our sails with joy, we also have the “word of truth” to daily study, meditate upon, and fill our heart and mind. Five times in scripture, God identifies His holy scripture as “the word of truth.” To summarize this revelation, God has given His son, so we have immediate, instantaneous revelation of truth when we need it; God has given His Word so we can “renew our minds,” which provides a perfect line of defense against the evil spirits of deception and manipulation.
As the living saints of God on the earth, as the anointed body of Christ in this world, we don’t move towards victory over evil spirits and demons, we cause them to cower in the victory our Lord gave us. Rise up boldly, set your face against the evil one and his evil army of false spirits. Do not let the lies and deceptions of the world suck you in, even if they are called by high sounding names like “social justice” or “liberation theology” or “Critical Race Theory.” Let us keep our eyes off the counterfeit, and place them entirely on our Lord and Savior, who is Truth, and we will destroy the deceptions and manipulations of the evil one. Amen, and Amen.
PRAYER: Oh, Gracious Lord, You have redeemed me with Your own blood. You have baptized me with Your Spirit; You have given me Your Word. I boldly confess “You are the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” You provide me truth so that I have victory over the evil one. Open my spiritual eyes today to see and to walk new revelations of Your truth. In Jesus' Name, Amen!
Praise & Worship: Grace Wins -Matthew West: https://youtu.be/9JXl1czvh7g