When God Is Present, but We Do Not See Him

Second Kings, chapter 6, beginning with verse 8, tells us the story of the prophet Elisha, a man who was clearly used mightily by God. God used Elisha in miracles of resurrection, miracles of knowledge, miracles such as taking an ax head that had fallen into the water and making it float, purifying bitter, poisoned waters by means of the symbolic act of throwing in salt, and miracles of uttering a prophetic word that acted upon reality, as when he said, “Tomorrow at this time—in the midst of an incredible famine—tomorrow at this time there will be food at a ridiculously low price,” when there was no way it could happen. But the word uttered in faith changed the circumstances and compelled that prophecy to come to pass somehow, and it happened in a way that was easy for God, as things always are.

God used Elisha in many ways. And in this passage we are told that God also used him to warn Israel whenever plots were being devised against it and armed bands were going to set out from Syria. God gave Elisha revelation, and in that way the king of Israel could protect himself and set an ambush for those armed bands that came like terrorist groups to inflict specific harm somewhere among the people of Israel. Why? Because the prophet of God was there, receiving revelation from God, and he knew how to move and how to neutralize those works of the enemy.

And it occurs to me that there we have an idea of what we so often need in our lives: for God to bring revelation into our lives. Because Syria and these armies are often symbols of enemy powers, demonic powers that want to harm our lives. Just as the people of God in Scripture, in the Old Testament, were always at war against these enemy powers that symbolized demonic persecution, so we too are continually wrestling in our lives with principalities and powers.

It is not that we should go around seeing demons even in our soup, as many people do. I have a headache: the devil is attacking me. My stomach hurts: it wasn’t that you ate too much and ought to take an Alka-Seltzer—it would help you—or go on a diet. But there are times in our lives when we truly are engaged in spiritual warfare, and the Bible says, “Be sober and vigilant, because your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”

Yiye Ávila did not say that; the writer Peter says it. It is true: we are continually struggling against armed bands that want to harm our lives and are organizing terrorist operations to enter our marriages, our children, our finances, our health, our human relationships, our jobs, our homes, our sleep, and our emotional state, and that want to destabilize our lives, cause harm, and wreak havoc.

By the way, how many of you are in a hurry and have to leave right away? Do you have time to listen to this teaching? Give me a little while to develop it properly, without worrying too much, because if the Lord wants to give you something, then receive it; it is worth it.

The world is full of evil spirits, like germs. To me, demons are like germs. Right now, millions of germs are entering through your nostrils and your mouth, and millions of germs are coming out. Did you know that? This air is contaminated with germs right now. Nevertheless, here we are, perfectly calm, enjoying our time together, even though the world is unclean by nature. Yet there are continually cells and processes within us that are battling those germs, and you are essentially healthy; you do not have to worry about those germs because your body is going to wage war against them. There are times when the invasion is very strong: an infection comes, a cold comes, a serious illness comes whose origin is often some kind of infection and some kind of invasion.

And so it is with demons as well, I believe. No one has taken a census of the world’s demonic population, but there are probably millions upon millions. And they are everywhere; perhaps there are some here right now, smoking a cigarette while sitting in one of these seats. May the Lord rebuke them. And why not? If they can approach the throne of God, they can be anywhere, brothers and sisters. That does not make me lose any sleep. I walk through the streets, I lie down to sleep, and if I see one, I turn over and say, “Good night; I’ll see you tomorrow.” We do not have to be afraid of demons; the world is fallen and populated by spirits.

If we are in good spiritual health, we can counteract it, but we do have to understand that the enemy is always prowling around, trying to harm your life, and it is good and necessary for you, first of all, to remain spiritually healthy. That is why we must always keep our spiritual temperature high; we must read the Word, listen to good worship music, keep our minds nourished by the Word of the Lord, gather together, and have good, edifying conversations instead of constantly texting on our phones. And in that way we keep ourselves strong so that we can neutralize the enemy’s attacks.

Nevertheless, attacks will sometimes come against our lives. God often warns me when times of attack are coming into my life. He generally does it through dreams, and I know that during that time I have to spring into action again and strengthen myself because something is coming; the enemy is devising some plot. And many times God speaks to me through dreams, and through dreams I even process demonic situations as well. And God delivers me from many things.

The fact is that this can also happen in our lives: those armed bands from Syria were coming and wanted to cause harm, and revelation from God had to come to an anointed man; and that man, that woman, can be you in your own life. You must discern what the enemy is trying to do; ask the Lord for wisdom and discernment. Do not simply assume that what you are dealing with is purely a psychological, emotional, or circumstantial matter. On many occasions you must ask the Lord for conviction and clarity and wage war: rebuke, fast, confront the powers that are trying to harm your life, repel and counteract them with declarations of the Lord’s grace over your life, bind those powers, declare Christ’s lordship over your life, and invoke the blood of Christ, the power of Christ, and the name of Jesus.

We have weapons in our mouths with which we can neutralize the works of the devil. How many of you believe that? Amen. The power to counteract the enemy’s initiatives is in our mouths and in our spirits, and sometimes God will want to inform us and give us intelligence in the military sense of the word, just as He gave it to Elisha.

And notice how interesting it is that God did not send bolts of fire to destroy the enemy; rather, He warned the king where the enemy was going to be so that the king could cover those openings and wage war against those powers himself. God does not do everything for us, you know? Many times God will inform us, and then it is up to us to fight the battle. Do not go to the Lord saying, “Oh, Lord, the devil is coming after me. Deliver me from him.” No. Speak to the enemy directly. Confront him with the words and the authority God has given you. Use your mouth; use the authority of the children of God.

The Bible says that we are to put on the whole armor of God because the enemy wants to do… Our struggle, it says, is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, powers, the enemy’s forces, authorities in the heavenly realms, and rulers of the industry of darkness in this world. And that is why we have to use that armor of God, the armor that includes faith, includes the Word of God, includes invoking the truths of the Gospel, and includes keeping our heads protected by the helmet of salvation—our minds covered by the principles of the Word of the Lord.

These are the tools God gives us to counteract the enemy. And God says, “Hey, do not ask Me to deliver you from the devil; fight him yourself. I have given you power, I have given you authority, I have given you the Word, I have given you resources, I have given you the armor; use it in My name.” It is like when little boys come to their father and say, “Dad, so-and-so is bullying me at school.” And the father says, “No, deal with him; fight him yourself,” because otherwise people will keep hitting the boy all the time if he does not learn to defend himself.

God is a very strong God, and He wants to make warriors out of us. He calls us: “Use your power; use what I have given you. I will warn you, I will give you wisdom, I will give you intelligence, I will give you the resources, but you have to fight.”

In spiritual warfare, one of the most important things is for you to understand that God is not going to do all the work for you. If you do not do your part, you will always be getting hit in the back. And God will be there saying, “Well, until you learn.” “How long, Lord?” “Until you learn, dummy, to use what I have given you.” Use the armor of the Spirit. That is why there are so many people in the church who are so battered by the devil: they are still in the same condition they were in when you met them 10 or 15 years ago because they are not doing what they need to do. They are not getting their act together; they are not living a life of filling themselves.

The Christian life, brothers and sisters, is a life for warriors; it is for athletes of the spirit. The Christian life is not a stroll through a flower-filled garden; it is a struggle against powers that will oppose us until the day we die, and it requires us to put on the armor again every day, every day; to seek new strength in the Lord and in the things He has given us; and to clothe ourselves in the Lord’s power and in His mighty strength.

There is a part that we have to play in our lives. Tonight I was going to speak to you about the passage where James talks about the Word and about being doers of the Word and not hearers only. One of the most important things in the struggle against the enemy is applying the Word to ourselves, allowing the Word to destroy us and remake us, to reconfigure us. Submitting to the Word of the Lord, brothers and sisters, is not simply a lot of jumping and a lot of show; it is allowing the Word to cut you and remake you, and submitting to the struggle of the Word in your life. That will give you authority, and it will cover you; it will be a covering over your head. The enemy will not have as much power.

Now, the devil can attack a righteous person, but it becomes much more difficult for him if that righteous person is walking in the righteousness of the Lord. These are different weapons, different resources that God wants us to use to remain healthy. When the enemy sends his armed bands into Israel—into our land, into our lives—we must be prepared to receive wisdom from the Lord through a dream, through a revelation from God, through a message, through a word from someone with authority, or through something that comes at that moment and through which God tells us, “Look, this is what I want you to do.”

Just now, I was here and already had everything prepared, but the Lord gave me discernment, and I have to believe that what I was receiving at that moment was not a suggestion from my flesh, but that it was… And you saw that I had to go downstairs because I could not find the blessed passage. I had to look for the concordance in that Bible, which is better than the one I have up here. The thing is, I have so much material that I need two Bibles in order to preach.

You have to discern in the moment and then allow… And that is how God is always trying to inform us. The point is that God gives Elisha wisdom, he informs the king, and then the king of Syria finally becomes frustrated and says, “What is going on? It seems that these people have an incredible intelligence service. How do these people know exactly where to wait for me every time I send out an armed band?”

And someone there tells him, “My lord the king, the reason is that there is a man in Israel named Elisha who is better than the CIA and better than the FBI. This man continually receives revelation from God and informs the king.”

Brothers and sisters, how wonderful it is when there are churches, congregations, and individuals who are filled with the power of God and can receive wisdom from God and share it with others. That is what we must ask the Lord for more and more: that we may move and live in that supernatural power of God so that we may know what God is saying and at what moment, and so that we may share that revelation with others.

Then, when the king discovers that Elisha is the source of his problem, he sends an armed band to capture Elisha and neutralize him. Verse 14 says:

“…Then the king sent horses and chariots and a great army there. They came by night and surrounded the city to capture Elisha. And early in the morning, the servant of the man of God arose and went out, and behold, the army had surrounded the city with horses and chariots…”

Sometimes, brothers and sisters, our lives may be surrounded by horsemen, chariots, and great demonic powers that want to harm our lives, and a conspiracy is formed against our well-being and stability. At such times, we can do one of two things. Elisha’s servant represents one of the ways we can react to crises: the kind of believer who has no insight into the spiritual world and does not have God’s anointing.

Many times, we are going through situations in our lives, and when problems come, what we do is panic, become depressed, stop praying, stop crying out to the Lord, and stop seeking the resources of heaven. If you are going through a difficult situation in your life right now, I advise you: do not turn your back on the devil, do not let down your guard, do not stop gathering with the church, and do not stop seeking the Lord. Quite the opposite: it is time for you to put on the whole armor and then fight harder, serve more, attend more, give more, glorify more, worship more, gather with the church more, and seek the Lord more in your life instead of losing heart. That is the time to go to the Lord and cry out.

Bring your complaint to the Lord. Present your need to the Lord. Pour out your complaint before the Lord. Ask the Lord questions. He is willing to listen to you. He is not frightened by your cry, your weeping, or your shout; on the contrary, the Lord is pleased when we come before him and bring our tears and our need before him.

So, when this man sees that great army surrounding him, he panics and says, “Oh, my lord, what shall we do?” He is looking only at the physical realm, only at the realm of circumstances, and that is often the problem: we do not have glasses that we can put on to see into the other dimension what is happening in the spiritual world, and so we see only the problem, the difficult situation, the obstacle before us. And it is just as we were praying.

I was preaching this morning at a pastors’ meeting, and God gave me a word for these servants of the Lord, both men and women. I was telling them that many times, when we look around us at the world right now—as you were praying, Fanny—it seems as though the devil has been let loose, and this nation seems to be ruled by a bunch of fools and crazy people who have no sense of reason or of what is best for the well-being of this nation. I believe that politicians, unfortunately, beginning with our President, have lost their minds.

That is why the Bible says that God gave them over to a depraved mind, a defective mind, a failed mind—a mind like a computer that has gone crazy—so that they produce things that are not fitting, things, it says, that ought not to be done. And this country is producing truly insane laws that work against the well-being of our children, as you were praying. Schools have become places of danger instead of places of refuge and opportunity for our children. And schools are being governed by insane laws that work against the emotional, mental, and spiritual health of our children, and they have become nests of demons.

Behind all of that is precisely this: a demonic, satanic, spiritual movement. I was telling them, if one were to look... and my sermon was based on Psalm 2, where the psalmist speaks about... and one day I am going to bring that message here to the church, perhaps very soon. The psalmist speaks of why the nations rage and say, “Let us cast God’s yoke off us; let us break his chains; let us free ourselves from this grumpy old man who only wants to spoil our fun.” And the Bible says that God will laugh at them and then assail them in his wrath. For he has said, “I have anointed my Son, and he is the owner of the earth; he is the owner of all the nations.”

So, I was telling them that we have to understand that, because sometimes we look only at the circumstances. Right now, this swarm of evil, this flood of filth that has invaded our nation—and if we let ourselves be guided only by what we see, we are going to become depressed and lose heart, and we might even join the enemy so that he will not harm us, as is happening with so many churches that are going after doctrines of filth to see whether people will come to their church, insane doctrine, because heresy too has penetrated into the heart of the church.

But I was telling them that what we have to look at is the other reality: the reality of a God who wrote that psalm thousands of years ago for our benefit, so that we would read it and understand that evil can never prevail against the laws God has written into history, and that for a time people may rebel against God’s law, but sooner or later those sandcastles come crashing down and disintegrate, because God has said, “No one will be able to free himself from my lordship. History must go where I lead it, and for a time I allow people to do whatever they want and believe that they have been freed from me, but I laugh at them and then rule them with a rod of iron,” as it says, “and I shatter the nations with the power of my justice.”

So I was telling the pastors that we have to keep our eyes on that dimension, not on the dimension of what is happening now, because that may change at any moment, and it has to change, because God is not going to allow it. The Bible has said that the gates of hell will not prevail against the children of God, against his church. So we have to keep our eyes on the true reality, the intimate reality, the hidden reality of God, who is always working behind the scenes to accomplish his purposes despite all the schemes, all the madness, and all the foolishness of humanity.

And that is also what happens in the spiritual world. In this case, Elisha’s servant saw only what was around him: the physical circumstances, this multitude of powerful men, chariots, armies, and swords, and he panicked. Because when you see only your problem, your need, and your situation, and you are not consuming good food so that your eyes can see as well and your spirit can instinctively discern the other dimension, then, when the water is rising to your neck, something within you says, “But do not worry; I am with you. The fire will not burn you, the rivers will not flood you, because I am with you; I will bring you through.”

When you are filled with that grace, you can hear God’s voice; you can hear God’s counsel. I ask you tonight to renew your strength. If you are going through some difficult situation tonight, do not listen to the devil’s whisper saying, “I am in control; I am going to do whatever I please with you.” The devil is defeated in your life. God’s grace is more powerful than every power of the enemy. No matter what you are going through, take courage. Do not look at the devil’s reality; do not look at the storm raging around you; do not listen to the wind. Like Peter, walking on the water—when he stopped looking at Christ and fixed his gaze on what was happening around him, he immediately began to sink.

When the disciples saw the storm raging around them and did not look at Christ sleeping confidently in their boat, they panicked and doubted the Lord’s mercy. The Lord simply got up, looked at the storm, and said, “Peace, be still,” and the storm immediately became like a mirror. Because the Lord was in the boat, and sometimes the Lord allows the winds to roar and the boat to seem as though it is going to sink in order to test our faith and teach us, “No, I am with you; I will be with you every day until the end of the world. I neither sleep nor slumber.” Those who trust in the Lord will not be disappointed; they will not be put to shame.

God never allows the enemy to get his way in our lives. No matter what you are going through in your life, always tell yourself, “There is a solution, there is a way out, there is an answer, there is a victory, there is a provision beyond my struggle.” Believe it in the name of the Lord; declare it with your mouth; confess it; affirm it in your heart; take on new strength; gird up your loins to wage spiritual warfare and drive back those hosts of wickedness that want to harm your life, and the Lord will give you the victory. No matter what you are going through. Listen to me. No matter what you are going through, with God you are the majority in every situation in your life.

This man could only see—again, he is a symbol of a church, of a Christian who can see only what is happening at that moment. But Elisha tells him, “Do not be afraid,” verse 16, “for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Underline that. The Bible says that he who is in us is more powerful than he who is in the world. The angels around you are more numerous than the demons that want to harm your life. Believe it in the name of the Lord. God’s promises are more powerful than any lie of the devil that seeks to engulf your life. Believe it in the name of the Lord.

God’s power is always x plus 1: x being your need, your problem, your crisis, your situation, your sin, or your limitation; God’s power is always greater. Where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more, says the word of the Lord. Where there is a great crisis, God’s solution is super-great. And if the crisis grows greater, God’s power grows greater. God has no limits. Everything depends on you and your capacity to believe.

And Elisha tells him, “Hey, take courage; those who are with us are greater and more numerous than those who are with them.” And this man must have said to himself, “But my lord is crazy. Does he not see this entire army? Where are the soldiers of the king of Israel? Where is the great army that is going to get us out of this predicament?” Then Elisha prayed and said, “I pray, Lord, open his eyes so that he may see.”

I ask the Lord tonight, if you are going through some difficult situation in your life, I ask the Lord right now to open your eyes, so that you may leave tonight knowing that you know that God is involved in your situation, and that if he is allowing the storm to last a little longer than you would like, it is because there is some need, some reason, something in some situation that he wants you to overcome first, and he is going to glorify himself through what you are going through.

But there is another power working in your favor. And what we need is to see, to ask the Lord to give us X-ray eyes so that we can see beyond superficial, external reality and see God’s reality in our lives. Because, brothers and sisters, that is what so often happens—you know that if you become filled with fear, if your perception of life, of the world, of the situation you are going through is a limited, material, defective perception, then the perception you have and the confession you make are what have the power to perpetuate what you are going through.

Many times, all that is required is for our understanding to change so that our situation may change as well. Pay attention to this: it is your perception that governs the intensity and duration of your problem. That is why a large part of the Christian’s struggle is the renewal of the mind, the renewal of understanding, and a change of perspective. As your perspective changes, your reality changes as well. Perspective itself—the analytical lenses through which you view the reality you are living—has an active power of its own; it has the power to perpetuate, increase, and strengthen what you are experiencing.

If your mind changes, your reality changes as well. He does not even have to give a word; if your mind changes, that change in mindset will make it possible for God’s power to flow through your life. It is all in the mind.

You remember the case of the centurion who sends word asking the Lord to heal his servant, who is very sick, and the Lord agrees because this man is an honest, good, and noble man, even though he is a Roman centurion. And the Lord says, “All right, amen, I will go to your house; I will heal your servant.” And suddenly it is as though the Holy Spirit enlightens this man, and he says, “Lord, wait just a moment. You know what? I am a centurion”—that is, the equivalent of an army captain or major; a centurion commanded 100 men and was an officer over 100 men—and he says, “Lord, look, I am an officer, and I know what authority is. I order my men to do something, and they do it. I give a word; I am not there forcing and pushing them. I tell one, ‘Do this,’ and he goes and does it. And I command him, ‘Do not do that,’ and he does not do it. My word is all that governs. So you have authority; you do not need to go to my house, Lord.”

He said, “No, man, do not trouble yourself; simply say the word. You are a man of authority; say the word, and everything will be resolved.” And the Lord marveled and said, “Wow, I have never seen such faith—not even in Israel have I seen faith like that of this pagan Roman soldier.” And he told him, “Amen, look, if your faith is enough for it to happen that way, then I can save myself the taxi ride and the money I would have had to pay to get there.”

And the Word says that at that very moment, God knows how many miles away, his servant was healed instantly. If this man had not had a change in perception and understanding, the Lord would have had to go there. The man would have been healed, but it would have been less economical. But because this man’s perspective enabled him to believe that the Lord was powerful enough to do the work with a word that He sent, that was sufficient, and the man was healed instantly.

Our perception, our understanding, makes possible either a very laborious task and a long, arduous, and difficult process, or an economical and easy process. That is why sometimes you do not have to be fighting with demons, or warring with them, or suffering because of them; a demon simply flees when you know that the power of God is in you and that it has no power to remain in your life. It is all in your understanding.

Why does the apostle Paul say that I can go to a banquet where all the food has been offered to demons, and I give thanks to the Lord, bless it, neutralize any bird that may be in there, and eat it with all the pleasure in the world? Paul says, what are demons? They are nothing. Christ is everything. So I eat in the name of the Lord. Sometimes I go to a Thai restaurant around here, or to a Chinese restaurant, and there is an enormous Buddha with a big belly out front to welcome me. You know what? I say, “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus,” I go in, eat my good Chinese food, go home perfectly content, and give thanks to God.

Now, if you see a Buddha and say, “Oh, I’m getting out of here. Where can I find a Chinese restaurant that doesn’t have a Buddha?” then you will never eat Chinese food. If your perception enables you to believe, bless the Lord and partake.

Now Paul says, “Look, if you are a squeamish person and you see something, do not eat it, because then you are eating in fear, and that is dangerous, because if you are afraid of the devil, the devil will get you.” The devil thrives on our fear, our ignorance, and our lack of divine perspective. When you are filled with the divine perspective, when your mind is renewed and transformed, when you know that the power of God is overwhelmingly greater than the power of the devil, you do not even need to fight the enemy, because you neutralize him preemptively.

I say to Him, “Lord, increase my faith so that my faith may neutralize all evil and I may not even have to keep battling.” To the extent that our faith is partial, to that same extent we have to keep battling, and all of us have partial faith. But when you are filled with the power of God, God’s perspective, divine understanding, and understanding of the Word, you can see into the spiritual world, and your perception, your understanding of the secrets of God, neutralizes the enemy, and you are always powerful in your life.

Right now, if your faith enables you, you can undo that depression, undo that compulsiveness in your mind, right now in the name of Jesus. Tell that depression, that anxiety, that misunderstanding, “Leave. You have no power; you have no reality. My reality is the reality God has declared over my life. I acknowledge no legitimacy whatsoever for you in my life.” Right now, in an instant, you can spare yourself a great many sessions with the psychiatrist, right now in the name of the Lord.

Say to the Lord, “Father, I renew myself in You. My mind, my understanding—these thoughts have no reality; I set them aside.” When you have some obsession in your life, do this: simply set it aside in the name of the Lord. Simply continue walking in the power of God; that is all. Make some gesture in your life.

I have my own gestures that I make in my mind and my heart when I need to rid myself of a thought, a fear, something I do not like—in the name of the Lord, simply; that is all. Renew your mind, renew your understanding, because that renewal and that fullness of awareness that God is with you, that the power of God is upon your life, is all you need right now. That is the way to wage war in your mental life.

The enemy wants to fill us with bad thoughts—compulsive, repetitive, obsessive, harmful thoughts—and they are going to come. What you have to do is simply cast them aside; separate them from yourself. They will come from time to time; that is your biology, that is your body deceiving you, it is your nervous system refusing to submit to the Word of God, and until you die you will be struggling with it. But when it comes, simply set it aside and keep moving forward. Those are insanities of the mind and body; they have no reality in God.

Do not be afraid. Then Elisha says, “Lord, open his eyes, open his perspective, change his mind so that he may see.” It says that then Jehovah opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked, and behold, the mountain was full of horsemen and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

Brothers and sisters, that reality was there all along; the only difference was that he did not see it. And when the Lord allows his eyes to see what Elisha—a man of faith, anointing, and power—sees, he too can see: “Wow, I am not alone after all. The situation was not as difficult as I thought; it was not so desperate. All around me are the power of God and the grace of the Lord.”

And when that perspective changes, then Elisha gives the word: “Lord, strike them with blindness.” Oh, I ask the Lord, “Oh, Father, give us that word of authority that undoes the powers of the devil, that drives away the works of Satan in our lives.” Speak the word; declare it persistently until those powers submit to the Word and the purpose of the Lord.

The Lord struck them with blindness, and then what had seemed like a desperate situation with no solution was transformed. Many times God will change you from being a victim to being a hero and in control, from being controlled to being in control, from being a victim to being victorious. For suddenly Elisha strikes these men with blindness—his word strikes them with blindness—and Elisha leads them like meek little kittens into the very center of City Hall, right into the middle, suddenly surrounded. This armed band, as though blind in their understanding, is meekly led into the very center of Israel, and there the king of Israel is waiting with his soldiers, and they capture them.

And that is what God does in our lives; that is what the Lord can do in your life when your perspective changes, when you can have God’s authority and perspective. The change in the situation is so radical that the king says to Elisha, “What should I do? Should I kill them? Should I execute them all?” Elisha says, “No, man, spare them, send them back, give them food, and humble them by sending them home. If you have captured them, they are already defeated; do not kill them. An army does not kill its captives.”

That is to say, in this case the authority he possesses is so great, so immense, that he can forgive and show grace rather than merely kill; it is a luxury he allows himself. For that is how it is: when God gives you victory, He gives it to you superabundantly in your life. God gives you food so that the entire multitude may eat and twelve full baskets may be left over. When God does the work, He does it completely and overwhelmingly. Believe that God has something for your life tonight. If God has given me that word for you, receive it in the name of the Lord.

Stand up right now and arm yourself with faith in your life right now; confess it—I want to do it too, right now. The power of God is in you and is in me. Your situation has a solution; your need has an answer. Visualize what you are confronting right now—your battle, the army, the armed band that has come against your life—and believe the Lord right now; believe that God has the power to neutralize any evil. Because of this word that I have declared, I believe that God can perform miracles in the lives of His children—deliverances, provisions, healings—in the name of Jesus. Father, use this word as a conduit of Your power, and we send Your grace, Lord, right now into the lives of Your servants, Your sons and Your daughters, Lord.

We arm ourselves with new strength, new vision, new perspective, new courage, hope, joy, and celebration. Oh, Lord, we rid ourselves of that cold, damp cloak that the devil wants to throw over our shoulders, Lord. We clear away the clouds so that the sun of Your righteousness and Your goodwill may flood our minds, Lord, in the name of Jesus.

Right now we strip ourselves of all evil, every weight, all timidity, all negativity, in the name of Christ. These people arm themselves, Lord, with new strength, new vision. We believe in Your power, Father; we believe in Your power. No cunning scheme, no trick of the enemy will prevail against us. We believe that You have power, Lord, in the name of Jesus. Fill us with Your power, Lord. Fill us with Your power. Pour out Your Spirit, Lord, upon these people now. Fill us, Lord; let us leave here with new strength, Father.

Flood us with Your power, Lord. You are more powerful than every scheme of the devil. Satan, we declare that you are defeated and must retreat from our lives. The people of God will always emerge victorious. In these struggles God is glorified. Hallelujah!

Lord, You are in control. You are on Your throne, Father; Satan has no power whatsoever. Tonight we declare, Lord, that You are victorious in us. Renew us, Lord, renew us, Lord. If we have sustained any inner harm, any trauma in our spirits because of this struggle, Father, we rid ourselves of it right now. You heal wounds, Lord. You heal traumas in our hearts. All depression leaves, Lord. When we go out through that door, Father, the enemy will have no power to place his burden upon us again, in the name of Jesus.

Our sleep will be good, and we will be at peace because our God will not disappoint us or fail us. We have victory in our hands, in our lives, Lord. Our homes are refuges, places that are impervious and impenetrable to the devil. Our children are covered with the blood of Christ. Their hearts, their minds, cannot be penetrated. Our homes, our marriages, our families are protected, Lord, by Your power tonight.

Your waters refresh us and bless us. You take part in every situation in our lives, every process we are going through, Lord, every struggle, every need, every lack, every deficit, Father—financial or whatever it may be. In the name of Jesus, we will move forward; we will cross over to the other side, Father, because You are with us, and Your power is renewed in this church, in my life, in our lives, our homes, our neighborhoods, Lord.

In the name of Jesus, we clothe ourselves with Your renewing strength tonight, Lord. We bathe in Your strength, Lord. Hallelujah! Thank You, Lord. Fill us, immerse us in Your waters tonight, Lord; renew our minds, Father. Fill us with joy, with expectation of the great things, Lord, that You are going to do—Your good purposes, Father, the feast You have prepared for us.

Hallelujah! We remove every hindrance, every obstacle from before Your children, Lord, and we receive a word to move forward and take the city, Lord, and tear down the walls in the name of Jesus. Bring us, Lord, into the intimacy of Your presence, where we can eat and receive what we need.

I bless these people tonight, Father. Hallelujah! This congregation, Father—Satan will not get his way; he is defeated. Satan, we inform you tonight that you have no power. You are already defeated. The Lord has said it; He has declared it. The power of the Lord—hallelujah! The good purposes of the Lord, the feast He has for us. Hallelujah!

Thank You, Lord, thank You. Thank You. Thank You. Fill us with Your perspective tonight, Lord. We bless our surroundings, Father, this neighborhood, this community; the devil has no power over it. These souls belong to the Lord; they belong to Your church. Your church is in control; Your church has the first and the last word because the authority of the Son is upon it and with it.

Oh, Lord, renew us. Thank You, Lord. Hallelujah! Thank You, Lord, thank You. We worship You; we bless You, Lord. Glory to Your name. Glory to Your name. Glory. Fill us, Lord, with reserves for what lies ahead, Father. We fill our baskets from the treasure of Your church, Father, right now—reserves, Father, reserves for Your glory, Lord, reserves for Your glory, Father.

We fill our storehouse of blessing; we will distribute to the right and to the left, to seven and also to eight, because You give to us so that we may give, Holy Father—not merely to satisfy our own need, but to give to others. We receive, Lord, Your treasure tonight, Your storehouse of blessing, Father, for our lives and for this congregation, Lord. We thank You, Father. Thank You, Lord. Thank You, Jesus. Thank You. Hallelujah! Thank You, Lord. We bless You, Lord. Hallelujah!