I'll be honest with you. I don't know whether it's my righteous indignation that gets stirred up or whether I just get plain mad, but something rises up within me when I hear preachers teaching people to fear the devil:

"You'd better be careful! The devil might hear you."

"You'd better be careful. The devil might try to lay sickness and disease on you."

I have authority over myself and my house. If the devil ever comes knocking at my door with sickness, poverty, lack, or oppression, I tell him, "Don't come to my house. You'll have to go peddle that junk somewhere else because I won't receive it!"

But I don't have authority over the devil in your life. Ultimately you'll have to learn to stand against the devil for yourself. Of course, if you are a baby Christian, I can make my faith work for you. But in the final analysis, God will expect you to take authority over the devil for yourself.

If you've already accepted sickness or disease (or anything else the devil tries to bring your way), then you've got a mess on your hands, and you'll have to do something about it. But, thank God, something can be done in the Name of Jesus.

If you give someone else permission, they can pray for you in faith, but, really, you need to do something about taking authority over the devil for yourself. That's one way you grow in who you are in Christ.

Take authority over Satan, sickness, disease, or whatever the enemy is trying to get you to receive. Stand against it for yourself in the Name of Jesus. Believers make a mistake by accepting what the devil brings to them.

You will be defeated if you don't recognize Who is in you and the authority you have in Christ. By failing to recognize that the Greater One dwells in you, you will allow the devil to take advantage of you.

It's one thing for Satan to dominate unsaved people who are in the kingdom of darkness; they're under his authority. But Satan and his cohorts are dominating too many Christians who don't know their authority or don't exercise their authority.

That's why the believer needs to come to prayer understanding that all those spiritual forces have been defeated by Jesus. When the believer prays, he needs to pray from a position of victory because he is seated with Christ in heavenly places, looking down on a defeated foe.

When you come to prayer, pray from a seated position in Christ, far above principalities and powers, where you have joint-seating with Christ. Jesus' victory is your victory. Because of what Jesus did, you are free from Satan's dominion.

Too often Christians just hang on and try to do the best they can, not realizing what their inheritance in Christ really entitles them to. Instead of taking their rightful place in Christ as victors, they magnify the devil, and that gives him access in their lives.

You can dwell on the negative side of things and you will become what you dwell on. What you are thinking about and dwelling on is what you are believing. What you are believing is what you are talking about. And eventually what you are believing and talking about is what you will become.

This applies in the area of demons and demonic activity too. If you think the devil's thoughts, you will become depressed, oppressed, and you can get into error. Or you can think on the Word, and your thinking can become enlightened, illuminated, and flooded with light.

You can go around preaching how powerful the devil is, or you can get on the positive side where the eyes of your understanding have been enlightened to see the wisdom of God. Then you will be on the scriptural side and the victory side where you belong as a believer because of your triumph in Christ.

Because I know Jesus defeated the devil, that's what I think on and talk about. And the Greater One puts me over in life and causes me to succeed because I'm giving place to God and the power of His Word, not to the devil.