BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

B V O V : 2 3 Watch Rick Renner on C H A N N E L Rick Renner on C H A N N E L i Mon-Fri: 1:30 p.m. & 7 p.m. ET Spiritual Hostages There are multitudes of people in the world today who are held hostage by the devil in their minds. First John 3:8 says, "For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil." The word destroy is taken from the Greek word luo, and it refers to "the act of untying or unloosing something." It is the exact word we would use to picture a person who is untying his shoes. In fact, the word luo is used in this exact way in Luke 3:16, when John the Baptist says, "but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose." Thus, Jesus Christ came into the world to untie and unloose Satan's binding powers over us. At the cross, Jesus unraveled Satan's power until His redemptive work was fi nally complete and our liberty was fully purchased. Furthermore, Peter told the household of Cornelius, "How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him" (Acts 10:38). We know from both of the above verses that setting people free from Satan's power is a primary concern of Jesus Christ. Since this is His concern, it should be ours as well. In order to free people from demonic oppression, we must learn how to recognize the work of the enemy and how to overcome his attacks against the mind, for the mind is the primary area he seeks to attack. Satan's goal is to plant a stronghold of deception in some area of an individual's mind. If he is successful, he can then begin to control and manipulate the person from that lofty position. The Holy Spirit is obviously speaking a strong message about spiritual warfare to us in these days. Christian leaders and churches all across the nation are awakening to this reality. In light of this, we must give heed to what the Spirit is saying to the Church and proceed with the Word of God as our guide and foundation. As we seek to engage in spiritual warfare, we must be very careful to walk in balance. For one thing, we need to realize that this subject involves more than just dealing with the devil. Other major elements of spiritual warfare have to do with taking control of our minds and crucifying the fl esh. We must not forget that these latter elements of spiritual warfare are just as vital as the fi rst. The truth is, the devil's attacks against our lives wouldn't work if our fl esh didn't cooperate. If we were truly mortifying the fl esh (Colossians 3:5), living lives that were "dead to sin" (Romans 6:2) as we are commanded to do in Scripture, we would not respond to demonic suggestions and to fl eshly temptation. Dead men are incapable of responding to anything. Thus, we see the power of a crucifi ed life! Living the crucifi ed life is a critical part of spiritual warfare. If I wrote a book on spiritual warfare without mentioning this truth, I would do my faithful readers a great injustice by giving them a very unrealistic view of the subject. A person can scream at the devil all day long, but if that person has willfully permitted some area of his mind to go unchecked and unguarded—if he is aware of an area of sin but has not been willing to deal with it—he has opened the door for an attack on himself. In that case, all his prayers against the devil will be to no avail because his real enemy is not the devil. Rather, it is his own carnal mind and fl esh, which must be submitted to the control of the Holy Spirit in order to eradicate these attacks. The bottom line is this: If people focus only on the devil as they pursue the subject of spiritual warfare and fail to consider other equally important areas, their emphasis on spiritual warfare can and will be very damaging to them. Although spiritual warfare is real and we cannot ignore it, we must be careful to remember that the real battle with Satan was won at the Cross and the Resurrection. Now this same victorious Christ who single-handedly defeated the devil lives in us in the Person of the Holy Spirit! This is why the Apostle John tells us, "Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world" (1 John 4:4). Our view of spiritual warfare must begin with this basic understanding of Jesus' already accomplished victory over Satan. If we don't start out with this as our foundation, eventually we will be led to utterly ridiculous spiritual conclusions. The victory has already been won; there is nothing we can add to the destructive work Jesus did to Satan's domain when He was raised from the dead. This article is adapted from the book by Rick Renner titled Dressed to Kill. For more information, or to order your copy, go online to renner.org. Rick Renner and his wife, Denise, moved to the former Soviet Union in 1991, with their three sons, establishing churches, a Bible seminary, a pastoral association and the rst Christian television network in the former USSR. For more information go to renner.org. Watch

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