On August 29, 1996, I accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior. At the moment I confessed my sin and gave my life to God, He delivered me from the demons, drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, and sexual relationships I was involved in. I thought I was rid of Satan’s power for good.

It wasn’t long before fear started to overcome me. The demons I once fellowshipped with tormented me day and night. I could see them in the corner of my room while I was trying to sleep. When I was outside at night, I could feel their presence. After a while, I began to cope with it, and it became an everyday part of my life. I knew they couldn’t touch me, but I was terrified nonetheless.

Almost four years after my conversion, I was still dealing with these demonic forces. It was only when I listened to your series that I understood the power and authority I have over them. Now, instead of hiding under my blankets at night for fear of the demon in the corner of my room, I smile, say a quick prayer of praise to God, and fall asleep.

Your illustration of how we sometimes picture demons was of particular interest to me. You say that we picture them as towering beasts with claws and such, when in reality they are sniveling little things. That is so true! The only power they have is the power we give them. What a blessing to finally realize that! My outlook on life has totally changed, thanks to your willingness to be used of God. If it were not for the godly truths of your ministry, I would still be enslaved by my fear.

I am now actively pursuing the calling God placed on my life, a calling to ministry. I am excited and anxious for the future and the things that God will be able to accomplish through my obedience. My Christian walk is stronger than ever before, and my friends constantly ask what’s different about me. They don’t seem to grasp that a nineteen-year-old can be so in love with God that it’s physically evident.

Again, I thank you for your willingness to step out in faith and be used of God. God, through you, has touched my life and, I’m sure, the lives of countless others. I’m looking forward to listening to your other teachings.

—Tori from PA

The Devil’s Only Weapon

Isn’t that awesome! Praise the Lord for the power of the truth and how it sets us free (John 8:32). The only power that Satan has is the power of deception, and the worst thing about deception is that you don’t know you’re being deceived. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be deception. Once the truth is received, deception loses all its power. Therefore, Satan loses all his power when we know the truth.

Many people don’t know the truth about Satan’s defeat. In fact, many Christians are the very instruments the devil is using to foster the deception that he is still a powerful foe. “Spiritual warfare” is a hot topic in the church today. People are expending great amounts of energy constantly battling the devil in ways contrary to Scripture. In reality, Satan has already been defeated. We don’t need to defeat him again.

Enforcing Satan’s Defeat

We need to believe that Satan has already been completely destroyed (Heb. 2:14) and simply enforce his defeat. The only power he has is the power to deceive. Our battle should be against the wiles (trickery) of the devil (Eph. 6:11), not the devil himself. Any other approach is actually giving the devil authority and power that he doesn’t have, and he uses that to intimidate us. The only weapon Satan has is the power we give him when we believe his lies.

Warfare only takes place between two undefeated foes. Once an enemy has been conquered, the war is over. Satan is a defeated foe.

Triumph of Christ over Satan

Colossians 2:15 says, “Having spoiled principalties and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.”

The archaic meaning of “spoiled” here is “to plunder; despoil” (American Heritage Dictionary). This means that after Jesus defeated Satan, He stripped him of everything he had, specifically the keys of hell and death (Rev. 1:18). Satan has no power to imprison anyone.

The Greek word translated “shew” in this verse is “deigmativo” which means “to exhibit” (Strong’s Concordance). This comes from the root word “deigma” which means “a specimen (as shown)” (Strong’s Concordance).

Satan is like one of those bugs we had to capture for biology class. We caught it and then impaled it on a board with a little pin to exhibit it. You need to picture the devil nailed to the cross of Jesus like a bug on display. Hallelujah! Take that, Mr. Devil!

The Parade of Defeat

The Greek word that was translated “triumphing over” in Colossians 2:15 is especially significant. It means “to make an acclamatory procession” (Strong’s Concordance). This is specifically referring to the way the Romans had a “triumphant procession” after they had defeated their enemies.

Upon conquering an enemy, the Romans would hold a parade. They would take the conquered king, strip him naked, and drag him through the crowd behind the conquering king or commander for all to see. He would be humiliated and insulted, but that’s not all. They would also cut off the thumbs of his hands and the big toes of both feet. This was to assure the subjects that this enemy would never be a threat to any of them again. He could not hold a sword, and he would never be able to run again. There was no need to fear him anymore. Any rumor about him ever challenging Rome again would be scoffed at because the citizens had seen him in the parade.

The same thing happened to the devil. This is what the verse in Colossians is referring to. Jesus not only beat the devil, but He also held a triumphant procession to display Satan to the entire universe as a completely conquered foe. Satan should never terrify us again. Unfortunately, many Christians have missed the parade. They haven’t seen the triumphant procession depicted in God’s Word, where Satan is displayed as a totally defeated enemy. Instead, they are circulating rumors that Satan is a powerful foe to be reckoned with. That’s not so.

Breaking the Cycle of Fear

Satan is still alive, and we do have to reckon with him, but only because he has so many lies circulating about his power against us. And therein lies Satan’s power. If we believe his lies, then he uses our own authority, which our fear grants him, to work his destruction in our lives. He has no power of his own. He’s using the power and authority that our misdirected faith gives him.

When I was just beginning my walk with the Lord, I came into the knowledge that demons do exist, and they are not all in Africa. We encounter demons often, and they are the workers of much of the evil we see every day. At first, this caused fear in me that actually gave these demons inroads into my life. On one hand, I was resisting them, but through fear, I was also empowering them.

Confrontation at the Arlington Christian Center

An example of this happened to me in Arlington, Texas, where I grew up. I was in love with the Lord and wanting to minister to people. I decided to open up the Arlington Christian Center. It was going to be a home where people who were being controlled by things like alcohol, drugs, and sex could come and stay while we broke the power of the devil over them and helped set them free. I rented a two-story house on the edge of the University of Texas at Arlington campus and started fixing it up.

This house had previously been a fraternity house, and there had been a lot of demonic activity there prior to our occupancy. The people were gone, but not all the demons had left. There were some strange things about that place. One night I was working there at 1 a.m., and I was attacked by some demons. There was no one else in the house, but I was being hit and choked, and I was fighting for my life.

I ran out of the house, got in my car, and backed out of the driveway, ready to “burn rubber” and get as far away as possible. Just before I shifted the car into drive, I heard the Lord say to me, “What are you doing?” I told Him I was getting away from that place as fast as I could. He then reminded me of the Christian’s armor described in Ephesians 6:10-18, and He said, “There isn’t any armor to cover your back.”

I understood what He meant. He was saying that the armor He had given me only worked when I faced the devil, not if I turned and ran. I thought, Lord, You can’t want me to go back into that place and face those devils. He didn’t say anything else to me. I pulled back into the driveway and thought about that for what seemed to be an eternity. Finally, I got out of the car and walked back into the house. I spent the rest of the night fighting off fear and those physical attacks of the devil. When I left in the morning, the demons were gone, and there was a supernatural peace in that place.

Shifting Focus from the Enemy

During that time, I had a lot of demonic attacks against me. I had dreams where demons would attack me, and I would wake up bleeding from those encounters. These weren’t just in my mind; I was being physically attacked. The same thing happened one night in Louisiana at a Bible conference, where it felt like I was being choked to death. I won, but these demonic encounters were not fun.

Then one day as I was praying and binding every demon on every continent, it dawned on my lightning-fast mind that I was spending more time in my prayers rebuking the devil than talking to the Lord. I knew that wasn’t right.

The Lord began to reveal to me that by focusing all my attention on the devil, I was actually giving him inroads into my life, which caused all these attacks.

Freedom Through Revelation

I repented, changed my thinking and focus, and guess what? It’s now been decades since I’ve experienced another demonic manifestation in my life. I have seen demons manifest around me in other people, and I’ve cast them out, but those personal attacks stopped nearly instantly. There hasn’t been another one because the only reason Satan’s imps were able to manifest like that to me in the first place was because of the fear I released toward them. That fear is gone. Therefore, so is their power.

This is an awesome revelation. Unfortunately, it’s not the dominant theological position on Satan and demons today. This truth desperately needs to be communicated throughout the body of Christ.