Luke 10:19
“Now it happened, as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortune-telling. This girl followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying, “These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation.” And this she did for many days. But Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And he came out that very hour.”
Acts 16:16-18
Two things are needed before engaging in spiritual warfare — power and authority. We have the authority to deal with the enemy because Jesus gave it to us in Luke 10:19. Whenever we encounter dark spiritual activity we do have the authority to deal with it. This is what Paul did in Philippi when he dealt with the demonized slave girl. It is interesting, however, that it seems like Paul didn't want to deal with her. It wasn't until her activities began to interfere with the ministry that he finally used his authority over the demons to deliver her and end their activity. Why? Shouldn't we always cast out demons whenever we encounter them? Wasn't Paul moved by the plight of this young girl, tormented for years by these wicked things? One would think that Paul would have delivered her much sooner simply out of compassion. Yet he didn't. Why?
I believe it is because, while we do have authority over all the power of the enemy, we need to focus that authority on the task that we have been assigned to accomplish. Remember that we are part of God’s army. As our General, He assigns specific tasks to each division, company or squad. Suppose your squad has been assigned the mission to take control of Hill number 587. The enemy also controls hills 586 and 588, but if you try to deal with them, too, you will never accomplish the objective the General has assigned you. Your duty is to focus on Hill 587 and trust that the General knows what He is doing and has a plan for conquering 586 and 588 as well. You may have the authority to shoot every enemy soldier you see, but it is far wiser to save your ammo for Hill 587.
That's how it is when we do spiritual warfare for the Kingdom of God. We have authority over all the power of the enemy, but God assigns us specific tasks and He expects us to stay focused on our objectives. In Madras, as God step-by-step defined our task for us, our authority to act grew and, more and more, we began to take on the enemy. Here in Butte, as of this writing, God has so far restrained us from doing much at all in the way of spiritual warfare. This is difficult for a shotgunner like me, but it is vital that we, led by the Holy Spirit, follow His strategy step-by-step.
Every spiritual warrior needs to be clear about this authority thing. A good example comes from my past vocation of teaching mathematics. As teacher, the classroom is mine to arrange and decorate. I don't ask permission for everything I do — I have authority there and I use it. My classes are mine to plan and teach -- I don't consult the principal about every lesson, unless I have a very good reason to depart from the norm. I have the authority to teach and I use it.
I also have spiritual authority at my place of work. I anoint my classroom and pray over it. I pray for my students, but I only take authority over those things that are directly related to my activities in the classroom. For other needs — where my authority is not so clear-cut — I make request of God on my student's behalf. (There is a big difference between “taking authority” and “making request”. Think on that some.)
So, in Madras, we now had authority to act within the Spirit-defined boundaries of the neighborhood around the New Life Fellowship church building. God was revealing His strategy to us step-by-step. He also gave us the power to accomplish the task and that is the subject of my next post.
Paul deals with this "sphere of authority" thing in 2 Corinthians 10:8 & 13. "For even if I should boast somewhat more about our authority,which the Lord gave us for edification...within the limits of the sphere which God appointed us..." We need to remember that we are not infinite -- we do not have the capacity to deal with every dark power we come across. That is why God gives us specific areas where our authority is applicable and He expects us to remain within those limits. When we step outside those boundaries, we are intruding into someone else's space and over-extending ourselves. This only hands the enemy a wonderful opportunity to attack and nullify the work we're supposed to be doing.
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