Three Stages and Strategies in Dealing With Demonic Attack
Have you ever been in a situation where you knew you were in the will of God, yet circumstances suggested the opposite? Have you ever been surprised by a demonic backlash?
Read on…
In Mark 4, Jesus finished teaching to a really receptive multitude. His grassroots movement was on fire! Afterwards, He sent the crowd away and entered a boat with His disciples—and in the exhaustion of His schedule, the outpouring of virtue, and rigorous prayer life, He fell into a deep sleep. As He slept, a furious storm arose with waves that overwhelmed and beat against the ship. As it took on water the disciples in near panic awakened Him crying out, “Lord, don’t you care that we’re perishing?” (Mark 4:38)
Jesus arose, quickly discerned the situation, and did something that up until now they had only observed Him do when casting out demons—He rebuked the wind! Immediately the wind subsided. Then He spoke to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And immediately there was a great calm. Then He turned to His traumatized disciples and said, “Why are you so fearful? Where is your faith?” (Mark 4:40)
So how did Jesus deal with the drowning contradiction? Here are three principles you can apply.
- Don’t accept the situation. Use your authority to change it! Sometimes you need to combine spiritual authority and discerning of spirits to deal with a high-level attack. There are several storm stories in the Bible and each one reveals a different strategy. For instance, Paul did not rebuke the storm he got stuck in because God was using it to his advantage! Instead, he used his faith to deliver himself. (Acts 27:39-44) Mark 4, however, is my favorite storm illustration. When God gives you a clear direction and a big contradiction shows up—rebuke the hindrance and keep moving.
- Rebuke the spirit. Never forget—the force behind your battle may be a spirit assigned to keep you from crossing over! God has called you to go somewhere. Don’t be surprised if the devil wants to stop you! In this passage, Jesus stands up in the ship and directly rebukes the causative spirit behind the storm. Note: the waters are not rebuked. He speaks calmly to the condition that was created by the agitating spirit and says, “Peace, be still.” There was a demonic fury that came up against the vessel that Jesus was on. It’s a two part formula. 1.) Rebuke the devil. 2.) Speak calming words to the agitated elements. Again, how do I know this spirit was demonic? Because Jesus rebuked it. Jesus’ rebuke was evidence that there was an intelligent force behind it that was resisting His will and acting out of alignment with His authority.
- Speak peace. In prophetic language agitated waters or seas symbolize people being stirred up. This shows up especially in the book of Revelation. Likewise,“winds” refer to spiritual forces. In your church or business or family you will need to deal with the devil directly in intercession. Follow it up by speaking wisely and peaceably to the agitated congregation, clients, employees, or family members who were unsettled and destabilized by the attack.
Question: When have you declared peace to the chaos around you and seen circumstances change before your eyes? Comment below!
As One!
Lance
This is an amazing strategy! I plan to implement it immediately . . . and frequently.
Appreciate you sharing your wisdom and the amazing insights the Lord shows you.
Fantastic!!
I was driving from TX to PA for some training. I stopped overnight at a friend’s house halfway to PA. There were serious storms with semis going off the road. I had a clear word from the Lord not to delay and trust Him and go forward. I literally was in a bubble of calm between two storms! God is so faithful.
Thank you for your continuing encouragement.
The Lord is indeed faithful! Thanks for sharing that story.
Jesus gave us His authority to use as we need it. He is one with us and we are one with Him. I have been a captain now 42 years. I am a yacht captain now and I have worked tug boats out of New York, the whole east coast of the U.S and Mexico. I have been in many storms over the years. I have done the same thing that Jesus did here. I rebuked the wind and spoke peace to the sea and it definitely helped. I have limited the strength of the wind with my words and it obeyed time after time. Hurricane Hugo was the biggest storm that I was involved in on a tugboat towing a 420 foot sludge barge out of New York City to the EPA dump site 140 miles south east of New York. The swells were 30 to 40 feet high and about 300 feet thick and blowing. The tow wire parted about midnight and we had to rig up a loop on the parted tow wire and then connect to the emergency towing hawser on the bow of the barge. The storm turned west a little and hit Charleston, SC and spared us. By dawn the wind had shifted NE and dropped to about 45MPH seas dropped to 10 to 15 feet. I have been through many a storm and God has seen me safely threw every one of them. Wash yourself with the Blood of Jesus, confess and repent of all of your sins known and unknown. Then take the authority of God in Jesus name and speak to your storm, mountain whatever your problem is and command it to be removed in Jesus name. It works. I have been praying for the sick for 30 years now and watching the Lord heal them in Jesus name. That works too. Nothing is impossible for God except for Him to lie. Trust God. Command your storm to calm and be removed.
I loved reading these testimonies. Thank you for making a forum for sharing. It builds my faith in our supernatural God who can do amazing things through us. I have rebuked “the devourer” once. It just popped out of my mouth. One of our llamas got over heated and was basically dying. I ran into the house to get ice and when I got back he was standing up and like nothing happened. Kinda cool! Another time I commanded an electric storm to go around us and not come near our house. It was making a b-line right for our property. The lightening bolts were humongous. It went around as commanded. Yea God!
Thanks for sharing those testimonies, Kim!! It is indeed faith building to hear from others.
Hi Lance! A few years ago my husband was between jobs and we had fallen behind in our mortage. The mortgage company told us we had to come up with a thousand five hundred dollars minimum by the end of day or they would start proceedings on us. We had five hundred dollars to our name…my husband had lost all faith and was very upset. I felt Holy Spirit say to me to ” rest in my boat” and I did …I had such an overwhelming peace that I went about my morning completely at rest…15 minutes later there is a knock on my door and it’s a lady that is just an acquaintance from my children being in the same sports as hers. She says to me ” I know this may sound strange but my husbands mom who lives in CA just passed and he received an inheritance. I was praying this morning and I felt the Lord wanted me to mail you a check ( mind you I didn’t really know her or even that she was a praying Christian) she continued by saying she got ready to mail it but the Lord said I needed to bring it right over…well you guessed it…1000.00 ..we were able to pay that to mortgage company that day and a few days later my husband started a new job that he has and loves to this day! The Lord is faithful! I will never forget in the midst of the storm…to rest in my boat!
Very good Lance. I first became aware of this dynamic whilst reading about the ferocious demonic power behind the storms affecting cities on the edge of the desert during Jesus’s temptation in the book ” When God Walked the Earth” with which I’m sure you are familiar. I have experienced weather storms being downgraded or eliminated when discernment indicated there was a large spiritual component, and appropriate action was taken. This two fold approach is critical if we are to understand the how of some of these situations. Thank you for your teaching. It is invaluable.
From The Land of the Long White Cloud
Years ago I was listening to Lindsay Roberts sharing and she said something so powerful that I had to write it in the front of my Bible so I would always remember it. She said, “When praying the peace of God – it will take out the strongholds that create chaos. Perfect soundness in all dimensions.” She said the Lord revealed this to her.
I’ve seen many respond to this prayer in a very tangible way. This can be used in many different situations.
Question…..how to discern the difference between the wind and the water….are they not both elements.
So which one to rebuke … as they both were hindrances.
Application in the market place- very deceptive, conniving & greedy marketplace influences who do not know the Lord and willingly cheat
So do I rebuke the spirit of lust in them and love them…. whilst they eat my lunch !
The water is supposed to be there- the wind is not.
?
I was driving my mother home to southern Ohio from my home in western NY and half way there we hit a major snow storm. I was having trouble seeing the road or other drivers and I was praying and the Lord spoke to me and told me that I had authority to speak directly to the weather to change it. So I took authority and began to rebuke the weather and told it to ‘cease and desist’ and it did! I would go another 30 miles and it would begin again, so I rebuked it and told it to go again and it did. This went on for the entire trip!
Another time I had to go to another city to pick up a new believer for a weekend event with Christians who had been supporting her and a storm popped up. I prayed and the Lord CUT a path out of the storm. If I turned right, there was a clear path with sun over the road, if I turned left or went straight, the path was directly over the road!!! It was the most dramatic thing I have ever seen!! I picked up this young girl who had gotten out of a gang/had a shoplifting record/participated in sex parties/was flunking out of school, etc. and drove her back to my house, and again, the cut in the clouds was dramatic. You could see the snow on either side of us, but it was totally clear and sunny over our entire drive to my house. We were both bouncing up and down with joy!!! That young girl saw how much God loved her through that event and turned her life around and became a lawyer!!!
So we have more authority than most of us realize!!!