The Grapevine
Number 59                                                                               
November 11, 2003
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth
not to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth. II Timothy 2:15

The Two Spiritual Powers - Part II
by Jack Northart

As we discovered in Part I of The Two Spiritual Powers, there are two distinct spiritual powers spoken of in  the Word of God. There is the power of our Almighty God and there is the power of the Devil. These powers are in the world today and affect every living human being. In Part II, we will see more about these two spiritual powers.

Ephesians 6:12
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

The epistle of Ephesians is addressed to the Church of God. It states here in verse twelve that our combat is not against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers, against world rulers of darkness. The Devil’s chief desire is to destroy humans and thereby bring sorrow to the heart of our Heavenly Father. The Devil holds sway over kingdoms, states, communities, schools, homes and individuals. Man is totally helpless without God’s aid to escape the Devil’s power. Man is not lost because of what he does, but because of what he is. Man needs the new birth – that life from God - because he is spiritually dead. Neither education nor culture can change man’s nature. Education will not make a man fit to stand right with God. The new birth is man’s only hope.

Romans 10:9,10
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

God’s plan of redemption and salvation was on absolute legal grounds. It was a legal document because Satan had legal rights that God had to recognize. If God could have disposed of the Devil when he first sinned, putting him out of dominion but did not do it, then God would necessarily be guilty of all the acts of the Devil. God cannot dispose of the Devil until man’s lease of dominion has expired which Adam delivered to the Adversary. Satan got Adam’s lease on this world and consequently Satan’s dominion will last as long as Adam’s would have lasted had he not sinned. Satan’s dominion has a time limit, and until that limit is up, he is seeking God’s place in man’s heart.

All thinking men have sought and are seeking today a solution to the sin problem and grounds whereby man can stand uncondemned in the presence of God. Man can no more approach God without the mediator, Jesus Christ, than he could approach God in Israel without a sacrifice. Nations that have embraced Jesus Christ have steadily increased. Others have sunk lower and lower.

Jesus Christ is the redeemer for all mankind. As God’s only begotten Son, he paid the penalty of man’s guilt without asking man to have any part in the awful transaction. Since all men are spiritually dead and subject to Satan, if one could be saved apart from Jesus Christ, then God sending His Son to become sin for us is the most colossal crime ever committed in the universe. If God could save one human being who rejects Jesus Christ as a personal savior, then God could save the whole human race because there would be no difference.

I John 5:12
He that hath the Son hath life; and He that hath not the Son of God hath not life.

This new life, which a person receives at the time of the new birth, gives us rights and enablements that we did not have before. We become God’s children, joint heirs with Jesus Christ.

Romans 8:17
And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

What a privilege we have to be God’s children! As His children we have the legal right to God’s power and protection. But God is limited to our believing and obedience. God is big in our lives only when we make Him big by using our divinely-given authority.  We must act on God’s Word by our freedom of will thereby freeing God’s hands to work. We must believe that He can and does work in our lives.

Ephesians 6:10-11
Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles [methods or schemes] of the devil.

Again, it is an act of the human will to do this. God does not force us to stand but rather tells us to put on the whole armor of God that we may be able to stand against the Devil’s methods and schemes.

Verses 13-17
Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.  Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;  And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

It doesn’t do us any good to ignore the truth that we have an adversary who is Satan. This verse tells us specifically how to address the issue of dealing with him. STAND! Jesus Christ defeated Satan once and for all in his death, resurrection and ascension. And since the day of Pentecost, a man who believes on Jesus Christ can claim triumph over Satan’s hold, once and for all. Although Satan would have us believe that we are defeated and downtrodden, God’s Word says that we are more than conquerors.

Romans 8:33-37
Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth.
Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

We are more than conquerors which means that we are super conquerors. We have been given power over the enemy by God Almighty. He has enabled us to reign in this life. But we must rise up and act.

Romans 5:17
For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)

The more sin consciousness that Satan can propound into the mind of the believer, the less the Christian will believe and act on the power of God that He has given to us. If we feel frustrated and defeated all of our lives, what good was it for us to accept Jesus Christ in the first place? We must “put on the whole armor of God.” That means that we must make the effort to do it. It’s not something we can set on auto-pilot and then forget about. We can’t move away to a neighborhood in another part of the world that doesn’t have Satan’s attacks. The message of righteousness is one of God’s truths that Satan has hindered people from knowing. He has continued to manifest the gospel of sin, which has done nothing but produce weakness and instability. God went to great lengths to see that we have a completed work when we accepted Christ.

There is power in the name of Jesus Christ.

Philippians 2:9-11
Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Acts 4:12
Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

There are two spiritual powers in the world today; the power of Satan and the power of God. We have overcome the power of Satan with the power of God because we believed  and received His gift of holy spirit, and continue believing His Word. When the Adversary comes at us, we keep moving ahead and we are thankful that God has given us spiritual enablements to fight the good fight.

I Timothy 6:12
Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.
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