This is the victory that overcomes the world; even our faith. (1 John 5:4)
Do you remember the old Batman and Robin tv show from the 70’s? Probably not, if you’re younger than 30 years old. But if you do remember the show, you’ll remember that one of the primary features of the show was the way they depicted the fighting scenes. Whenever batman would throw a punch, a graphic like the one above would appear on the screen, and a sound effect would occur simultaneously. The effect was to make Batman’s punches seem larger than life.
Like Batman, your spiritual punches are larger than life. In a hand-to-hand battle, the devil has no chance of standing up to you, as long as you wage the good warfare . . . that is, as long as you fight by the name of the Lord, rather than by your own power. But if you try to take the devil on by your own power, he’ll destroy you in a New York minute!
I remember having a dream about ten years ago that I was doing battle with a series of demonic beings and defeating them one by one. But each battle became more intense, and although I was winning every battle, I was getting beat up in the process. The final battle was against a demonic being named “Deception.” In the dream, it was clear that Deception was the most powerful principality of them all. I approached him to fight him head on, as I had done the others, but instead of fighting me, he simply began to speak. I don’t even remember what he said, but every word that came out of his mouth jarred my senses and brought me into utter confusion. I felt like I was dizzy, my head was spinning, and I thought, “How can I do battle with this being?” Then the Spirit of God spoke to me in a moment of clarity: “Do not contend with him; leave immediately.” I turned and left as quickly as I could.
I woke up confused about the meaning of this dream. Does this mean that there is a demonic power that is too strong for even the elect to contend with? Does this mean that the name of Jesus is only powerful enough to defeat lower level principalities? Obviously the answer to both of those questions is a resounding “No!” So then, should I have dismissed the dream as a work of the soul, or a demonic oppression? That didn’t seem like the answer either.
After reflecting upon the dream for sometime, I came to two conclusions. First, our victory of the demonic is not based upon our warfare, it is based upon the cross. You don’t have to fight the devil to overcome him. Jesus already overcame him by his cross. Believing in the victory of Jesus connects you to his triumph over every principality. Second, although you have complete victory through the blood of Jesus Christ, there are some battles that you are just not ready to fight yet. At the time that I had this dream, I was not just strong enough in my mind to do battle with deception. That doesn’t mean that the name of Jesus is not strong enough to defeat him. Christ has already defeated him! But we must know our limitations before we charge into battle with powers that we are not ready to stand up against.
I believe in the believer’s victory over every demonic power. But I also believe in using wisdom. I’ve seen too many people get destroyed trying to face off with demonic beings that were above their pay grade. This is not cause for fear, but for discernment. The key is to be sure that whatever battle you are fighting is a God-ordained battle, and that the moment you sense the Spirit telling you to get out, you know how to get out.
The Christian life is about fellowshipping with God, not about fighting the devil. If we focus our attention there, we will grow in him until we are strong enough to fight any battle the Lord would send us to fight.
