Managing Evil, Ephesians 6:12

     This weekend we had such a powerful time with the messages delivered by our pastors! I'm going to share Sunday's first when Pastor Steve Gray spoke on Managing Evil. The scripture that Pastor Gray started with was 
     For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Ephesians 6:12
    The history that started this struggle was when Lucifer rebelled against God in Heaven, then he and his colleagues were kicked out of Heaven. They ended up on Earth and Lucifer established his kingdom. Jesus came to Earth and planted His Kingdom (not as an immediate overthrow of Lucifer, that won't happen completely, of course, until Jesus' return. But He did defeat Lucifer's claim to Earth). Now we are Jesus' seeds that have been planted, we are to grow and take control over our area of the world. In Luke 11:14 Jesus delivered the man from a demon of muteness, but did not destroy the demon. It is not yet time for the demons to be destroyed, but as Jesus managed them so we are also able. The demons can be herded out of our lives or we can manage them, but we are not in a position to destroy them.
     Pastor Steve shared some of the beliefs of the Jewish people, some things that we as American Christians have not all been exposed to, their culture, their traditions. He also shared some of the teachings from the Book of Enoch. (Pastor Steve is well taught in Hebrew tradition, history and culture.) Pastor also gave some history of the flood of Noah's time and God's purpose in it. He taught about the Naphilim that had been on the Earth, that they had come from the intermingling of the beings of the fallen angels(Watchers, Familiar Spirits) and of women. The fallen angels were "fallen", which gave the offspring spirits that were not like that of the normal person. They were giants, they were violent, oppressive and even cannibalistic, their nature was evil. This is what caused the need for the flood, to cleanse the land, these creatures grieved God. Noah and his sons were the only ones that had not had their blood lines contaminated by these beings.
     As Jesus has planted His spirit here in His followers, we are given the authority to manage evil and not only are we given the authority, we are expected to bring honor to God through our endeavours. We are equipped and given the power to "manage evil" as we walk and live in Jesus. We are given authority through Jesus' blood and name, but Pastor Steve cautioned that "you can't use His name if you don't lose your name".
     When we don't manage evil(demons, dark spirits, familiars, unclean spirits, troubling spirits, etc.), they manage us. So for the sake of your families, your community, your work place, your neighborhoods, your very lives, learn to manage the evil that tries to invade your life. You are empowered to run off these spirits that bring depression, sickness, divorce, disease, conflicts, arguing and various other afflictions with them. We need to take up this responsibility, the spirits are already aware of their impending doom and are in a submissive spirit. Scripture tells us that if we resist the devil, he will "flee"! If you think you are being troubled by an outside spirit, you CAN run it away! Be aware of the power that Jesus has endowed you with and use it. Be sure that the words are integrated in you, don't just use a rote memorized phrase. When you say "through Jesus name", know that you are living in Jesus. Know who you are, know who Jesus is and clean up your world, run the evil spirits out of your home, your work environment, you neighborhood, your life, your realm. Let your life bring honor to God~(The message that Pastor Steve brought was very full of teaching and information, I'm not able to post the full message here, word for word, this is my condensation of it! I would like to add a caution here, if you send the evil spirits fleeing, you have to clean up your area and secure it with the Holy Spirit or they will want to return and bring other ones with them(Matthew 12:43-45). I would encourage you to go to the archives of the World Revival Church to hear his full message if you have any questions.)