Dear One,

The Lord bless you!

“The aliens are coming! The aliens are coming!” Before I knew about any ‘drop’ of government UFO/UAP files, the Lord told me to teach on authority this week. So, here it is Friday and I’m working on this article and the government releases some of their UFO/UAP files – war.gov/ufo – and, unless you are deeply grounded in the Word of Christ, this info could be very distressing, even frightening. But we have authority to represent Christ in all His resurrected authority and power and bring the lost to Him. Doctor Jack said one time that he and I would be sent to the furthest reaches of the universe to preach Jesus one day (I never questioned him about that statement, only kept it filed). So, we have rest in Him and rest from our enemies…even the little green kind!

Love you! KRP

REST FROM YOUR ENEMIES

…when the Lord your God has given you rest from your enemies all around…Deut 25:19 NKJV

How do you teach the virtues of discipline and excellence in an increasingly undisciplined and chaotic world? Observation would suggest that most believers spend more time on social media than they do communicating with the Father of lights. Can pop culture deliver you from your enemies? ABBA can give us rest from our enemies if we take authority over all He has given us in love and wisdom. Understanding first that we can have rest is the first key to walking into that rest.

There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. Heb 4:9-10 NKJV

Who or what are your enemies? If the Philistines are ready to attack your town or crash through your front door, then you have physical enemies. But you can also have societal, cultural and spiritual enemies. Poverty can be an enemy. Chronic illness can be an enemy. Family members, people who are physically and emotionally close to you can be enemies. What exactly is an enemy? An enemy is someone or something that seeks to separate you from your God, or who seeks to hinder or eliminate the will of God in your life. Perhaps a whole other category is when God becomes your enemy, under which circumstances once you discern that you must immediately surrender.

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Matt 11:28 NKJV

Redemption has two great prepositions: ‘from’ and ‘unto.’ We see this reality in the Cross in Romans and the Throne in Ephesians. The passion of our Lord encompasses His death, resurrection and ascension which for us who believe on Him takes us FROM death unto life, FROM sin unto righteousness, FROM the power of Satan unto the power of God. This is what Romans teaches, and this is what is taught at every Sunday school and pulpit worldwide.

But rarely do we hear about the Throne in Ephesians. We teach the Cross as if it was the permanent campsite of Christianity. But it is not the campsite, it is the staging area for the trip to the Throne. The Throne in Ephesians Three is where the glory is, where the authority is, where the God who says ‘I will do exceedingly abundantly above all that you can ask or think’ dwells. The reason we as preachers and teachers don’t take people there is that we have not gone there ourselves. The Cross brings us into rest and the Throne brings us into authority.

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, Eph 2:4-7 NKJV

I think the mental picture that we have of being seated together with Christ is like seating at a baseball game – ‘Yeah! We are on the same row with Jesus!’ But that is not the picture here. We are IN Him! Think about it. When we exercise authority in His name the devil, or our other enemies, do not see us, they see HIM. Can you see that you are IN Him, with one heart, one soul, one vision, one purpose? When I go to minister healing, or cast out demons, or anytime I sense I’m called to exert spiritual authority I am laser focused that I am IN Him, and that He is speaking and decreeing through my lips and with my heart. Same truth with you. THAT is when faith erupts! THAT is why things happen…the God of all creation is declaring what is, and what will be, through us! Do you see it?

And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. Matt 11:12 NKJV

We are a violent people; we take the land and advance the kingdom of God by spiritually violent force. It’s interesting that one of the enemies of Israel today is called HAMAS. ‘Hamas’ in biblical Hebrew – its one of our vocabulary words in my Hebrew class – means ‘violence,’ and this group has proven to be a violent enemy of Israel. I wonder if we are losing the love of violence in the Church, because I equate real love with the willingness to get in and fight for people, which many times involves upholding the standard of the Word and challenging people to rise to that standard. In deliverance ministry we learn to attack the demons in that person, which is what Jesus taught. I call it the JOHN WAYNE anointing – ‘Come out, or I’m coming in after ‘ya!’ Evangelism is spiritually violent. People must SURRENDER to Jesus…

We were teaching in a Christian seminary in southern India on the gifts of the Spirit, and God was healing people. One day, a Hindu woman shows up at the door and asks to get healed. Someone on our team runs up to me and says, “This Hindu woman wants to get healed!” I say, “Bring her up in front of the class…we’ll do it up there!” She is so bound by arthritis she can’t sit down. I lay hands on her and say, “Arthritic demon, come out (or I’m coming in after you) in the name of Jesus!” Immediately the spirit comes out and we have her sit down. I say to her, “Our Jesus just healed you. Now are you ready to surrender your life to Him?” Spiritual confrontation, taking a soul for the Kingdom of God. She says, “Yes, my gods couldn’t do what your God just did!”  I turn her over to a local pastor to minister to her and she stays in the class. I turn to the class of about 150 Bible college students and say, “This is what spiritual authority is all about!” Bless God forever!

We must embrace the love of spiritual violence, taking hearts and souls and lands for the Kingdom of God, being willing to speak the truth in love with a vision and a purpose to advance the Kingdom, the reign of Jesus. The Kingdom of God is the reign of Jesus.

So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed. 17 Now it happened on a certain day, as He was teaching, that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was present to heal them.  Luke 5:16-18 NKJV

Now, let’s talk about practically operating in spiritual authority. Let’s assume that you are making the sacrifices in prayer and worship that are necessary precursors to walking in spiritual power. Most failures that I have observed in walking in spiritual authority are due to violating this principle. For example, the healing of a boy with polio was preceded by approximately eight hours of prayer the day before. I prayed until ABBA said, You are ready! I stopped praying because I knew that whatever was coming up, I was ready. Perhaps the first axiom of spiritual warfare and authority is that the physical realm is controlled by the spiritual realm.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Eph 6:12 NKJV

Let’s say you are having a problem with a neighbor in your community. Proverbs says, when a man’s ways please the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with Him. So, the first place I look is at myself, asking HS to examine me. Do my ways please the Lord? Now, if your ways please the Lord, and you still have trouble with enemies, you can be assured of peace and victory, even if you must fight a little bit. Ask the Lord to show you the spirits behind your physical enemy, provoking him and driving him. Command them to stop in Jesus name and deal with your enemy face to face in an opposite spirit. One time I was attacked by a gangbanger in Los Angeles while cleaning windows. I stopped this guy from physically attacking another guy, so the guy wanted to attack me. I wasn’t intimidated, so as he advanced, I told him God loved him, over and over. Each time I said that, his head jerked back like I had hit him in the face. I never touched him, and he ran away.

In the day when I cried out, You answered me, and made me bold with strength in my soul. Ps 138:3 NKJV

Let’s say you have violence or drugs and crime in your neighborhood. Wherever there is a drug problem, it is always witchcraft. PHARMAKEIA is the Greek word for witchcraft in the NT. Ask the HS to take you to the physical center of the enemies activity. Go there and tell the spirits to leave in Jesus name, that your community belongs to Jesus Christ. Prophesy to those you encounter. Don’t go alone; Jesus sent His men out in pairs. You may have to go more than once but keep pounding away until the enemy’s walls crumble. Pray conviction on to your enemies and be ready to bring in lost souls to the Kingdom.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Matt 5:9 NKJV

What about strategic level authority and warfare? The sons of God are called to be peacemakers, ones who go and end fights by the Spirit of God. Same principles involved! Warring nations are really warring prince demons or prince demons warring against the Spirit of God. You quietly listen to God as you pray and do what He says about the situation.

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 9 Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. 1 Peter 5:8-10 NKJV

But my horn You have exalted like a wild ox; I have been anointed with fresh oil. 11 My eye also has seen my desire on my enemies; My ears hear my desire on the wicked who rise up against me. Ps 92:10-11 NKJV

The only permanence is in eternity, so everything is this realm much be guarded, utilized and advanced. Automobiles and families, marriages and ministries always need fresh oil. The Lord told us years ago that He had given us rest from the struggle for money, but that our challenge now would be time. So, indeed we have rest from that enemy of lack as we maintain our authority in that realm, but we do everything with a sense of urgency, knowing that our time is valuable and must be stewarded wisely. To whom much is given much is required. The Lord will give you rest from your enemies if you operate from your seat on the Throne with authority, wisdom and love. Amen? Love you!

Remember dear ones, we must be about our Father’s business…