Defeating the enemy in your life 

by Darryl Manning 2-03-02

 For over a year now God has been speaking these words to me. “The devil is holding up your provision.”

 I have spoken this word to our elders and to our congregation. I have encouraged people to take the devil seriously. I have encouraged people to get angry with the devil and violent toward him. Last Sunday I preached how we must take the Kingdom by force as John the Baptist did and as Jesus did.

 Today I am sharing a word about taking the Man of God seriously. Our text is found in 2 Kings 13.

2 Kings 13: ¹⁰In the thirty-seventh year of Joash king of Judah, Jehoash son of Jehoahaz became king of Israel in Samaria, and he reigned sixteen years….

¹⁴Now Elisha was suffering from the illness from which he died. Jehoash king of Israel went down to see him and wept over him. “My father! My father!” he cried. “The chariots and horsemen of Israel!”

¹⁵Elisha said, “Get a bow and some arrows,” and he did so. ¹⁶“Take the bow in your hands,” he said to the king of Israel. When he had taken it, Elisha put his hands on the king’s hands.

¹⁷“Open the east window,” he said, and he opened it. “Shoot!” Elisha said, and he shot. “The LORD’S arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Aram!” Elisha declared. “You will completely destroy the Arameans at Aphek.”

¹⁸Then he said, “Take the arrows,” and the king took them. Elisha told him, “Strike the ground.” He struck it three times and stopped. ¹⁹The man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck the ground five or six times; then you would have defeated Aram and completely destroyed it. But now you will defeat it only three times.”

 In this passage I see three keys to defeating the devil. First, no matter who we are we all need a Man of God in our lives. Sometimes God does not speak to us directly. Sometimes God wants us to be humble enough to receive His word from another person.

 In our story, King Jehoash did recognize the Man of God, Elisha.

 The second key to defeating the devil is to obey the Man of God in our life. Notice in our story the King obeyed everything Elijah told him to do. He took the arrows and the bow and shot out the east window. He took the arrows again and struck the ground with them.

 I have heard it said that our prosperity lies in the mouth of our Man of God. Elisha’s mouth had brought prosperity to many others during his life. He was the one who instructed Namaan to dip in the Jordan river seven times for healing. When Namaan obeyed, he was healed. Elisha instructed one lady who was about to loose her sons to creditors to borrow vessels and fill them with the oil she had in a small jug. The woman obeyed and filled so many vessels with oil she had more than enough money to pay her creditors.

 Sometimes the instructions given by the Man of God do not seem to relate in any way to the problem. Sometimes they even seem contrary to good reasoning.

 Over a year ago, I had severe problems with both my knees. I could hardly climb the stairs in the church to go between levels. Our church was just coming into celebrative worship and I had begun doing what I could to dance before the Lord. One of my Elders, Edd Higgins, had a word for me one Sunday morning. “Keep dancing, Pastor, and God will heal your knees.”

 Over the next few weeks, I kept dancing, though it was painful. Soon my knees were healed. I have recently started playing Basketball and have had no problems with my knees. God used the instructions of a man of God and my obedience to bring healing to my knees.

 The third principle I see in our text is to not only obey the Man of God but to do it with emotional fervor. In the story, Elisha gets angry because the King only strikes the ground three times. He tells him that with only three blows he will win against his enemy in only three battles. He tells him that if he had struck the ground five or six times he would have totally destroyed his enemy.

 As I read this part of the story it first seemed unfair that Elisha became angry with the King. Elisha had not given the King instruction as to how many times to strike the ground. How was the King to know he should have struck the ground more than three times.

 As I was meditating on this, it became clear to me that the King was not emotionally involved with his obedience to the instructions of Elisha. Perhaps he saw Elisha as just an old man and he obeyed him half-heartedly just to “humor” him.

 Perhaps the King was somewhat embarrassed to get emotional and violent in carrying out Elisha’s instructions. Perhaps he did not really believe that what he was doing would have any real effect on the situation.

 Whatever the King’s reason, it is clear he did not understand the importance of what he was doing. His kingdom’s success hung in the balance that day and he did not realize it. Elisha understood the importance. That is why he became angry with the King.

 How does this apply to us? When we receive instructions from our Man of God we need to understand that our obedience to it can mean life or death. We must get emotionally involved in obeying the command given with fervor and faith believing that God has put our prosperity into the mouth of His servant.

 So many times we respond to the instructions we are given like King Jehoash. It is no wonder we do not get complete victory over our enemy the devil. We may win a battle or two with a passive attitude but we will never win the final victory that way.

 From this point forward, please remember this story when a Man of God in your life gives you instructions. If he gives an invitation to come forward for ministry, rush forward with an expectant attitude. If he gives instructions for you to raise your hands, raise them high. If he gives instruction to shout unto God with the voice of triumph, let you voice be loud with expectancy. If he gives instructions to dance or run or get baptized again, or read a particular scripture, obey with an attitude of faith. Don’t worry about embarrassment. Don’t spend time figuring out the “proper” thing to do. Just obey with an attitude and let God’s will be accomplish through your faith and obedience to His word through your Man of God.

 May the Lord Jesus help us understand the stakes of the battle we are in. May we understand that we must become militant against the enemy of our souls. May we recognize the Men of God He has placed in our lives and be willing to respond to their directions with vigor and with faith. May the Kingdom of our Lord come to this earth in power and may we be instruments of its arrival.

 AMEN

 NOTE: When I use the term “Man of God”, I in no way mean to leave out “Women of God”. I use the term in a generic way.