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Authority Over Demons and Disease
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get in there and get quiet, not to wear myself out praying at the top of my lungs, but to get quiet
and just to say, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me because He has anointed me.” (Matthew 10:1)
In a few minutes, I was going to go out and minister to people, to lay hands on people and take
authority over disease, that kind of thing, so I needed to believe it. How does faith come? Well,
when I was saying it, I was hearing it, too. I would lie there sometimes for 30 minutes,
sometimes for an hour, and just say, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me because He has anointed
me. The Spirit of the Lord is on me because He has anointed me. The Spirit of the Lord is on me
because He has anointed me.” I’d say that part of the time, and the other part of the time, I would
say, “He has given me power and authority over all demons and all disease.” (Luke 9:1) Then I
would say it again. “He has given me power and authority over all demons and all disease.”
Say it out loud:
“He has given me power and authority over all demons and over all
disease.”
You hear that, and your head says, “I’ve got it. I heard that.” But faith is not of the head. Faith is
not of the intellect. That’s why I would lie there for another 45 minutes and keep saying it. And
time after time, the Spirit of God would come into that little room, and I’m telling you, the glory
of God would be so strong that when I’d come out of there, I was looking for something to
rebuke.
That is different than someone coming up and saying, “I have terminal cancer,” and you
responding by saying, “Everyone stand up and pray hard,” which means you’re intimidated by it.
You’re scared of it.
Some people say, “Well, it
is
something to be scared of.” No! Not if we have authority and
power over it. We don’t have to be afraid of it. It has to obey
us
. Most of the Church does not
believe this, and most of the Church does not see the kind of miracles that you read about in
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, either. Most of the Church still believes it might be God’s will
for them to die from this terminal disease, or that God might be teaching them something. Never
mind that they can’t find it in the Bible. People have made the Word of God of none effect by
their traditions. They have refused the Word in order to keep and hold on to a tradition.
Friend, when you get adamant about something that you think and say you believe, check
yourself, and ask yourself, “Why do I believe it? Where is it in the Bible?” Don’t check just half
of a verse. Look at two or three witnesses, multiple verses. Where is it?
As we read verse after verse, we see that it is His will for us to have authority and power over
them. Why would He give us authority and power over demons if it might be His will for them to
rule over us? Why would He give us authority and power if it might be His will for the disease to
rule over us? It’s like putting you out in the wild with a grizzly bear and putting a huge Magnum
rifle in your hands, and then saying, “Now, I’m giving you this rifle, but don’t use it. It might be
God’s will for the bear to kill you.”
“So, why did you give me the gun?”
“I just wanted you to have it. It will make you feel a little better while you get mauled.”