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Book: Power over the Enemy: Breaking Free from Spiritual Strongholds by John Osteen
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Authors: John Osteen
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encounter with the enemy. It went from small battles to large ones. Finally, I felt myself in the presence of that evil one. No words can describe the fear and torment I felt while there. God is love, but Satan is fear and torment. It was a stark reminder of how terrible it would be to be lost throughout eternity.
While in this state, feeling that I was fighting for my very life, I noticed that every time Satan attacked, it was in the area of my thought life. He assailed my mind and flooded my thoughts. He raged from every direction with thoughts that would come against me with a powerful force. It almost seemed like a physical thing.
Satan’s primary attack is in the mind. He begins his battle in our thoughts.
This constant barrage of thoughts brought on a weakness in my body. I came to the place where I felt as though I would never be able to preach and minister again. I felt strange. Thethoughts told me I had every disease in the book… that I was going to die… that I had failed God and highly displeased Him. The lying thoughts of Satan tried to convince me that this was God bringing judgment upon me for all my past sins. It was a fearful torment! I felt forsaken of God and man. This was the work of the devil!
God’s Counterattack
One day while in my office, I cried out to God in my suffering. I had prayed and prayed and prayed. Why did God not deliver me? In this state of mental torment and physical weakness, I asked God to help me understand.
Suddenly, He reminded me of that merciful visitation. In His gentle way, He said, “My son, don’t you remember that strange visitation I gave you several months ago?”
I began to think back, and I said, “Yes, Lord, I do.”
He said, “Tell me about it.”
Then I recounted all the events of that visitation. When I got to the part about the third phase, where I was in the enemy’s presence, the Lord said, “My son, that is right where you are now in your experience. You have gone through the other two, and the fear and torment you feel is because you are now in that third phase. I am not tormenting or condemning you. I am not sendingthis fear. It is coming from the devil. I am the One who loves you. I am the One who sent my Son to die for you. I am the One who made a way for you to escape spending eternity with the devil and his angels.”
These are some of the thoughts I had from the Lord. Then He asked me, “How did you get out of that room when the other man couldn’t?”
As I sat there trembling, weak, and defeated, I suddenly realized what I had done. I said, “Lord, I stood up, filled with courage and without fear, and I boldly said, ‘I will walk out of this room in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ!’ ”
The Lord said to me, “Then get up and do it!”
The Victory
This was the turning point in my experience. It did not happen instantly, but through the weeks to come, I learned well my lesson from the Lord. I arose early each day and began to devour my Bible. I began to get His thoughts into my mind. I fought off the lies of Satan with the Word of God.
In my weakened state, I got a map of the world and looked at it. I boldly said, “I am going to preach the Gospel all over the world!”
The devil said, “If you get on a plane, it will fall with you.”
I said, “Mr. Devil, I have some thoughts for you to think about. The Lord is going
before
me. The blood of Jesus is
over
me. The everlasting arms of God are
under
me. And His goodness and mercy are
behind me, following me all the days of my life!
”
Every day I pulled out the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, and whipped the devil with it, in the Name of Jesus of Nazareth.
When the thought came,
You are weak
, I shouted with the voice of an archangel in my spirit, “I am strong in the Lord and in the power of His might” (Ephesians 6:10).
When the devil caused me to feel fear—which is simply the evidence of his presence near us—I said boldly, “The L ORD is my light and my
While in this state, feeling that I was fighting for my very life, I noticed that every time Satan attacked, it was in the area of my thought life. He assailed my mind and flooded my thoughts. He raged from every direction with thoughts that would come against me with a powerful force. It almost seemed like a physical thing.
Satan’s primary attack is in the mind. He begins his battle in our thoughts.
This constant barrage of thoughts brought on a weakness in my body. I came to the place where I felt as though I would never be able to preach and minister again. I felt strange. Thethoughts told me I had every disease in the book… that I was going to die… that I had failed God and highly displeased Him. The lying thoughts of Satan tried to convince me that this was God bringing judgment upon me for all my past sins. It was a fearful torment! I felt forsaken of God and man. This was the work of the devil!
God’s Counterattack
One day while in my office, I cried out to God in my suffering. I had prayed and prayed and prayed. Why did God not deliver me? In this state of mental torment and physical weakness, I asked God to help me understand.
Suddenly, He reminded me of that merciful visitation. In His gentle way, He said, “My son, don’t you remember that strange visitation I gave you several months ago?”
I began to think back, and I said, “Yes, Lord, I do.”
He said, “Tell me about it.”
Then I recounted all the events of that visitation. When I got to the part about the third phase, where I was in the enemy’s presence, the Lord said, “My son, that is right where you are now in your experience. You have gone through the other two, and the fear and torment you feel is because you are now in that third phase. I am not tormenting or condemning you. I am not sendingthis fear. It is coming from the devil. I am the One who loves you. I am the One who sent my Son to die for you. I am the One who made a way for you to escape spending eternity with the devil and his angels.”
These are some of the thoughts I had from the Lord. Then He asked me, “How did you get out of that room when the other man couldn’t?”
As I sat there trembling, weak, and defeated, I suddenly realized what I had done. I said, “Lord, I stood up, filled with courage and without fear, and I boldly said, ‘I will walk out of this room in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ!’ ”
The Lord said to me, “Then get up and do it!”
The Victory
This was the turning point in my experience. It did not happen instantly, but through the weeks to come, I learned well my lesson from the Lord. I arose early each day and began to devour my Bible. I began to get His thoughts into my mind. I fought off the lies of Satan with the Word of God.
In my weakened state, I got a map of the world and looked at it. I boldly said, “I am going to preach the Gospel all over the world!”
The devil said, “If you get on a plane, it will fall with you.”
I said, “Mr. Devil, I have some thoughts for you to think about. The Lord is going
before
me. The blood of Jesus is
over
me. The everlasting arms of God are
under
me. And His goodness and mercy are
behind me, following me all the days of my life!
”
Every day I pulled out the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, and whipped the devil with it, in the Name of Jesus of Nazareth.
When the thought came,
You are weak
, I shouted with the voice of an archangel in my spirit, “I am strong in the Lord and in the power of His might” (Ephesians 6:10).
When the devil caused me to feel fear—which is simply the evidence of his presence near us—I said boldly, “The L ORD is my light and my
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