When you take your place in Christ, you'll discover that all the powers of the enemy are under your feet.

"He (God) raised him (Jesus) from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come." (Eph. 1:20,21)

"And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." (Eph. 2:6)

In the Book of Ephesians, the Apostle Paul tells us that Christ was raised up above all the powers of the enemy. Then he goes on to say that we were made to sit together with Him. Let's look at another verse in Ephesians where Paul mentions these powers and principalities.

"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." (Eph. 6:12)

Many people read this verse, "We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against rulers of the darkness of this world, and against spiritual wickedness in high places." But they take it out of context and say, "We're going to have to get after it. We're going to have to fight. We're going to have to war. We're going to have to do this, that, and the other."

But, wait a minute. That's not all Paul said. In Ephesians 6:10, Paul said, "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might." Before Paul ever said anything about wrestling against principalities and powers (Eph. 6:12), he told us to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.

Yes, we have to deal with principalities because we're living in this world. But we are to be strong in the Lord. We must take our place in Him, no matter what the battle may be - no matter what the principalities, the powers, or the rulers of the darkness of this world may be doing. We must sit down with Jesus and keep looking down! Someone might say, "I thought we were supposed to look up!"

In Luke 21, Jesus is talking about the last days and the end of the world. He said there would be wars and rumors of wars (Luke 21:9). Jesus said there would be pestilences and famines in diverse places (v. 11). He then mentioned that men's hearts would fail them for fear for looking at the things coming to pass upon the earth (v. 26). But Jesus said that when these things come to pass, we are to lift up our heads and look up (v. 28). From that standpoint, we are looking up because we are waiting for the redemption of our bodies.

But right on the other hand, from a different standpoint, we are also to look down. In the Book of Ephesians, Paul is talking about you as an individual Christian. In your "battle" with Satan - in your spiritual warfare - if you want to have it out with Satan, keep looking down on him!

If you understood that, you would be shouting all over the place. But instead of looking down at Satan, people are looking at the problems. They're looking at the circumstances. When it comes to sickness, they're looking at the symptoms. They are talking about what the devil is doing and how something must be done about him.

No, you don't have to do anything about the devil. Jesus already did something about him. All you have to do is take your place and sit down with Jesus.

Now Jesus is not going to make you sit down with Him. In Ephesians 2:6, Paul did not say, "Someday, after awhile, in the Sweet Bye-and-Bye, God is going to make us sit down together with Christ."

No! The Scripture says, "And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." Notice that God has already done this. He has already raised us up together with Christ Jesus - far above every principality and power.

I'm glad that as a Baptist boy, before I ever became acquainted with Full Gospel and Pentecostal people, I learned how to walk in the victory that is mine and to take my place in Christ. I learned how to rise above circumstances. No matter what the circumstances look like (and I've been there when they looked bad), I take my place in Christ, look down on the circumstances, and laugh at them.

Let me give you an example. I had been healed of a heart condition for almost thirty years when I woke up at 1:30 one morning with all kinds of heart symptoms. I was struggling for breath, and it looked like every breath was going to be my last. It seemed as if my heart were beating like a T-model Ford hitting on one cylinder.

The devil said to my mind, "You're going to die. Remember, the doctors couldn't help you. They said there's nothing medical science can do. This has all come back on you and you're going to die. That's what's going to happen. You're going to die."

So I just pulled the covers over my head and started laughing. I didn't feel like laughing. I felt like everything else but laughing. But I started laughing. I was "putting it on." Do you understand what I mean when I say, "putting it on"? I made myself laugh. I just said, "Ha, ha, ha." It seemed to me that I must have laughed for ten minutes.

The devil said to me, "What are you laughing about?"

I said, "I'm laughing at you."

He said, "What are you laughing at me about?"

I said, "Because you said that I am going to die and I'm not going to get healed."

He said, "That's right. That's right. This is one time you're not going to get your healing."

I said, "Ha, ha, ha."

I still didn't feel like laughing. Now sometimes you can be inspired by the Holy Ghost to laugh; you can laugh in the Spirit. But I wasn't laughing in the Spirit. I was laughing in the flesh. I just kept laughing. It seemed to me that I must have laughed for another ten minutes.

The devil said to me again, "What are you laughing about?"

I said, "I'm laughing at you. You said I'm not going to get healed."

"That's right. That's right," he said. "This is one time you're not going to get healed.

I said, "Ha, ha, ha."

Do you understand what I was doing? I was taking my place. Remember, the Word of God says, "But my God shall supply all of your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus" (Phil. 4:19). Where are His riches? In glory! We're seated with Christ in glory. We're seated with Christ at the right hand of the Father. That's the place of authority. We are really looking down on the devil.

I took the covers off my head, turned the light on, and reached for my Bible. Then I said, "Mr. devil, I'm not trying to get healed. I don't even expect to get healed." I opened my Bible to First Peter 2:24 and said, "Mr. devil, in case you can't read, I'll just read this to you. First Peter 2:24 says, 'Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes YE WERE healed.' I am healed."

Notice from this scripture that we're not going to be healed - we were healed!

This is in the past tense. We don't expect to get healed. We're not trying to get healed. Why do we need to get something that Jesus already got for us? It's just a matter of us coming to the Word of God and taking our place in Christ.

Now how did I know the devil was speaking to me? Anything that is unbelief is from the devil. Besides that, the "voice" didn't come from within me. The devil is the god of this world, and he may attack your body with sickness or oppress your mind, but he is not on the inside of you if you're a Christian.

Some people have said, "Oh yeah, we're going to have a deliverance meeting and get all these devils out of people." No, they just need to get the people saved - get Jesus inside of them. Colossians 1:27 says, "...Christ in you, the hope of glory."

When a person is born again, he becomes a new creature. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."

Does this verse say that a few things have been made new or that a few of the old things have passed away? No, this verse says that all things have become new.

This verse couldn't be talking about the outward man, because if a person was baldheaded before he got born again, he would still have a bald head after he was born again! If he had a big nose before he got born again, he would still have a big nose after he was born again!

The Apostle Paul is talking about the inward man, not the outward man. He is talking about the spirit man that becomes a new creation. When a person is born again, the old things pass away and all things become new. If there are any devils in the person, they move out.

The devil is too afraid to get in a person who has been born again - who has Christ in him. So the devil will come from the outside and attack his body or oppress his mind in order to torment him. The devil will also try to bring about fear by getting the person to look at the negative things going on in the world where he is god. And there is nothing a person can do about the devil being god of this world.

Realize that Adam sold us out. In the beginning God made the world and the fullness thereof (Gen. 1:1). And then He made His man Adam and said, in effect, "Adam, I give you dominion over all the work of My hands" (Gen. 1:26-28). In one sense, we could say that Adam was the god of this world. But in 2 Corinthians 4:4, Paul calls Satan the god of this world. How did Satan get to be the god of this world?

Adam committed high treason and sold out to Satan. Satan, as well as all the demons, dominions, principalities, powers, and rulers of the darkness, have a right to be on the earth. But, thank God, Jesus came and defeated Satan.

When Paul says, "Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect..." (1 Cor. 2:6), he's talking about saints that are mature.

1 Corinthians 2:6 in the Moffatt's translation says: "We do discuss 'wisdom' with those who are mature; only it is not the wisdom of this world or of the dethroned Powers who rule this world."

Paul is talking about the dethroned powers that rule this world. You and I don't have to dethrone them. Jesus already dethroned them. Why are they still ruling this world if they've already been dethroned? Because people don't know it. This is the good news that we are to tell people.

Let's read what Jesus preached - the good news he shared with people.

"(Jesus said) The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised." (Luke 4:18)

Jesus was anointed to proclaim the Gospel and to preach deliverance to the captives. When God made the world and the fullness thereof, He turned all the work of His hands over to Adam. Jesus is called the second Adam, and He is also called the last Adam (1 Cor. 15:45). All the work that Jesus, the second Adam, did, God has turned over to us - the Church.

When I pastored a church down in East Texas, I had a church on either side of me. One was three miles one way, and the other was three miles the other way. They were of the same Full Gospel denomination. I had members in my church who traveled right by the other churches in order to come to mine. And then we had folks who lived near us go to one of the other churches. And none of the churches tried to steal another church's sheep - members.

One time a member of one of the other churches came to me and said, "Brother Hagin, I believe I'll start coming to your church."

I said, "No, I wouldn't if I were you. I wouldn't do it. You stay with your church. They need you over there. They just built a new church."

This person was very secure financially. I said, "They need your finances because they've got a new church building. Don't come over here. You stay where you are."

"Well, the pastors are sick," the person said.

So I went to visit them. I would stop by periodically to see them. They would sometimes talk about their situation, but most of the time they were down and depressed. Both of them would tell me, "We're going to leave here if we can get Sunday school attendance back up to where it was and the offerings back up to where they were."

They noticed that I was never down and never said anything negative. Finally, they asked me about that. I said, "It wouldn't bother me the least bit in the world if only two snaggle-toothed women showed up on Sunday morning and both put a dime in the offering plate. God told me to come here. I'm intelligent. He's intelligent. When He gets ready for me to leave, He'll tell me. Between now and then, I'll just stay happy and do the work. Glory to God!"

You see, they were looking at their circumstances, rather than looking down at the devil from their place of authority in Jesus Christ. You don't have to be governed by the circumstances of life. Instead, you govern those circumstances by taking your place in Christ, knowing that Jesus has already dethroned the powers and principalities of this world.

First published in the The Word Of Faith Magazine
Copyright © Kenneth Hagin Ministries All rights reserved.