PREACHING FOR JUNE 16, 2024:

Pastor Antonio Russo

CONQUERING THE CITY FOR GOD, Part 2

We continue our journey on the theme of "Conquering the city for God". This journey does not simply begin with our desire to see cities transformed, but begins with a profound change in our personal lives, extending then to our loved ones, to our neighborhood and finally to the whole city. How powerful is our prayer life? How effective is our intercession? Let us reflect on what King David said, described as a man according to the heart of God, who would fulfill all the will of the Lord.

2°Samuel 22:35; 35 He teacheth my hands to war; so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms.

Do you know what David is talking about? He refers to the spiritual warfare, the combat we face through our prayer and intercession.

Salm 144:1; 1 A Psalm of David. Blessed be the Lord my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight.

In the New Testament, the apostle Paul reveals us a fundamental truth about the nature of our spiritual combat. While in the Old Testament we receive only a shadow of spiritual realities, in the New Covenant Paul clarifies, especially in the letter to the Ephesians (chapter 6), that our fight is not against flesh and blood. The real conflict is not against other people, not against men, women, husbands, wives, parents or children, but against the spiritual forces of evil: principalities, powers and rulers of darkness. David, a great warrior in Israel, understood that victory in battle depended not on human strength but on God. As written in Ezekiel: "Not by force or power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts". We too, faced with situations that seem insurmountable, must take a stand with faith and believe in the Almighty God, because it is with this faith, and not with our strength or intelligence, that we win our battles, the Spirit of God being the one to determine its outcome. The Bible teaches us that the real battle is spiritual and not against people in the flesh, because behind every conflict there are spiritual forces that we must face to win, even when we think that our enemies are the people we cannot stand. Paul reminds us that our fight is against principalities, powers and rulers of darkness. In spiritual warfare, our attitude is crucial: we must face the battle with determination and determination, aware that our strength comes from God. This means that, to free people from the power of evil in their lives, in our families, in our neighborhoods or cities, we must first bond "the strong man", ie the negative influence that dominates over them.

Matthew 11:12; 12 And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.

Look at the words of Jesus, for we are often passive in our spiritual war, taking it without reacting. When we see so many believers attacked spiritually, the common reaction is lament and passivity in the face of spiritual entities that manifest themselves or oppose us. God exhorts us not to be passive to the devil or to the temptations of the evil world, but to be fierce in our faith, acting with authority in the name of Jesus, without giving up. We must persevere in what we have begun, remaining steadfast and determined in our spiritual life, for we are not fighting against people, but spiritual counterentities.

Luke 11:21-22; 21 When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace: 22 But when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils.

Jesus is describing a strong man who can be present in the life of a person, a family, a neighborhood, or a city. What should we do? As long as we keep our goods, everything is safe, but when one comes stronger than us, victory begins; in fact, the Holy Spirit who lives in our lives is greater than the strong man of darkness.

Matthew 12:29; 29 Or else how can one enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house.

Thus, we speak of combat, of spiritual warfare, with an attitude that must be courageous and aggressive against the works of the devil, facing the powers of darkness and spiritual entities. Moses, near Pharaoh, was not speaking to the physical person before him, but to the spiritual power that guided him, saying to him: "Let my people go", seven times; after 400 years of slavery, abuse and dominion of darkness; God sent a man to speak to that spiritual power. The prophets of the Old Testament spoke in a similar way, as in Isaiah 43, when they commanded the spiritual entities of the north and the south, saying: "Let the captives go"; they turned to spiritual entities. When Jesus spoke to Peter after receiving the revelation, asking them, "Who do people say I am?" and then addressing them with the question, "Who do you say I am?" Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus replied, "It was not the flesh and blood that revealed it to you, but my Father in heaven." Immediately after Jesus began to speak of His death, Peter took him aside by saying, "Lord, this will never happen to you", and Jesus turned to Peter, "Satan, go away because you are a scandal to me". It was as if Peter had told him not to die, which meant that he could not save humanity, nor free people from slavery, but Jesus did not turn to Peter as a physical person, but to what was behind him. It is crucial to know our enemy to fight him effectively; God is always on our side to give us victory, but we must understand the enemy who stands in our way. Sometimes, our worst enemy is ourselves, with our passivity, disbelief, insecurities and fears, which prevent us from fulfilling God’s promises. Soul wounds, caused by negative experiences, can paralyze our faith; however, the Holy Spirit is ready to heal us and free us if we allow it. Many believers live anchored in the past or projected into the future, but God is the God of the present; therefore, we must live in the present to experience the wonders that God has prepared for us today, not allowing the devil to deceive our lives. The devil has no mercy and aims to make us passive in the spiritual struggle, making us lay down our weapons and become people they suffer. Christianity is not simply a religion for the weak and defeated, but it is the most powerful reality on earth, and the founder, Jesus Christ, was neither weak nor incapable; he bore the cross and bore upon himself all our sins, but on the third day he rose, Death couldn’t hold him back. We cannot be passive in our spiritual warfare: the devil tries to weaken us because he knows there is more power in us than in all hell, so when we speak, demons must obey; many of us, however, We must know well our enemy, the devil, who is already defeated and wants to drag us to his very end. You know, we become effective and determined in prayer when we deeply understand how much he hates us and attacks us to get away from God. We have the name of Jesus, which is above all other names, but this is not a simple magic formula: to exercise our authority we must have an authentic and profound relationship with God, because a believer aware of his identity and his communion with God is more powerful than all hell. We imagine that an evil person enters our house to hurt us: we would not beg him to spare us, but we would stop him with determination and aggression, using every opportunity to protect us, because the wicked does not know mercy and his purpose is to destroy us. Likewise, we cannot treat the devil passively in our spiritual warfare; we must use our authority in the name of Jesus to fight him actively, for if we do not, not even the Lord can do it for us. Kenneth E. Hagin, a man of faith healed from a serious heart disease at 15, had a vision in which Jesus spoke to him, but a demon stood between them, preventing him from understanding what Jesus was saying; when Hagin asked Jesus why he had not cast out the demon, Jesus replied that he had given him the authority to do so and that if he did not, Jesus himself could not intervene. God has given us the authority to bind and melt on earth as in heaven, and therefore we must become aggressive against the devil, who seeks to destroy our lives and our families through sickness, depression, anxiety and fear. We cannot remain passive and expect God to do everything: He has given us the power to act in His name, so we must take our position of authority and actively fight against evil, just as we would firmly defend our home from an intruder.

John 10:10; 10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

The devil is like a thief who acts at night, sneaking in without warning to steal, kill and destroy, just like a thief who invades a house while we sleep and leaves it upside down. Spiritually, he acts in the same way: if he cannot physically pull us away from the church, he will try to make us fall asleep spiritually, and that is why Jesus warned us to watch and pray. He is a thief who deprives us of joy, peace, trust, economic resources, faith and communion with God and with other believers, while God, on the contrary, is a giver of life and truth, always on our side. The devil tries to steal from us the patience, the promises of God and the vision that God has for our lives, exploiting our known weaknesses, because, before being saved, we walked with him. However, we have the authority in the name of Jesus to resist and defeat evil, so we must become aggressive against his works, fortify our weak areas and remember that God is always on our side, not against us. We can defeat the devil in our lives and minds when we understand that Christ in us is more powerful and stronger than any adversity and all that surrounds us.

James 4:7; 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Through these two principles, by submitting ourselves to God and resisting the devil, we can see him fleeing terrified from our lives. When we submit, it means putting the Word of God above all our thoughts and circumstances in our lives. Jesus said that heaven and earth will pass away, but His words will never pass away. The devil has deceived Adam and Eve, making them doubt the Word of God, and will try to do the same with us, causing us to doubt what God has said. If an illness comes, we must believe in what Jesus said: "By His bruises we have been healed". Someone wrote in his Bible: "God said it, I believe it, the matter is closed", this allows us to rest like Jesus, even during the storms of life. We must confront the devil without fear or terror, resisting him in the face; this implies countering with one’s own strength the assault, the offense and the impetus of the enemy without letting ourselves be overwhelmed or overwhelmed. In the military and sporting language, resistance implies domination, remaining imperturbable and firm, without giving in to compassion towards the devil, who has no mercy on us. We must oppose him, standing firm on God’s promises and declaring, "I will not move from here, I will resist you in the name of Jesus." We conclude by using the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, while many use different weapons such as arrows, guns and more. God desires to take us to a higher spiritual level, where we enter new times and new levels, facing new spiritual entities with faith and declaring our victory. The sword is the only offensive weapon in our spiritual armor, and we must unsheathe it, use our authority and proclaim the Word of life.