God's Swat Team

Flies! Who would have them? Horrible, horrible creatures. In the fourth plague flies were not only found in the Egyptian’s soup, but everywhere. On their person, in their homes even underneath their feet. The Hebrew phrase translated “swarm of flies” literally rendered is “a mixture of noisome beasts.” What kind of noisome beasts? Jewish traditions tell us it was the dog fly, a particularly difficult nuisance, but the Psalmist tells us that these flies were not limited to one particular kind. Psalm 78:45 reads “He sent divers sorts of flies among them which devoured them.”

Flies speak to us of filth, disease, contamination and nuisance. Some species destroy crops; they live as parasites under the skin of animals, causing blindness or infestation with fly maggots; and they carry such diseases as typhoid, anthrax, cholera, and dysentery. Mosquitoes carry malaria, dengue fever, and encephalitis. Today in this 21st century, we have a plaque of the “West Nile Virus”. It is a nasty disease caused by certain mosquitoes and sometimes causes death. In the scriptures satan (also called the devil or the enemy) is referred to as Beelzebub, meaning “Lord of Flies”. This term symbolizes the myriad of demons at his command and the filthiness of his and their nature.

Growing up I remembered my grandmother baking pies. When she wanted to cool the pie, she would put it on the window sill and let the wind cool it. The only problem was there were FLIES. I remembered that grandmother would take our her fly swatter and out swinging to protect her pie investment!

Today, we need to learn to come out swinging and fighting if we are going to walk in the victorious life promised through Jesus Christ. It’s time to remember that you are part of "God’s Swat Team". Many today are crying out for deliverance from the power of the devil only their lives. But the devil is not your problem. He has been defeated by the Lord Jesus Christ. It is only through permission that he has power over us. We give him more credit than he deserves.

In Luke 4:18 it reads:

"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 broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised."

You have been given power over the enemy and now it’s time for many of us to be delivered from the mindset and close any open doors to the enemy having a foothold into our lives. In this message, I have defined three steps to lead to your personal deliverance in order for you to walk the victorious life promised through Jesus Christ.

Step 1 - Understand your “Authority As A Believer”.

Before you can understand your the authority as a believer, you must become a believer. Once you are a believer, you have certain rights because we are in the Kingdom of God.

We are far above all principality, and power, and might, dominion and every name that is named not only in this world, but also in that which is to come Ephesians. 1:21) and hath raised us up together (with Jesus) and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

The devil does not want you to know your place. Satan is under our feet if we are born again believers. Luke 10:19 says that Jesus gave us power over all demonic activity and nothing can hurt us. The word power means “authority” and authority means “delegated power”.

Since you have been given authority or delegated power through Jesus Christ, we don’t need to fight the devil, but we can exercise our authority as believers. Let’s read 1 Peter 5:8-9:

“Your adversary (opponent enemy, one irate against you) the devil wants to devour you.”

The word resist means to stand your ground or to stand. Satan has no power over you! Just stand your ground knowing that you have authority as a believer over the power of the enemy!

Step 2 - You must have “Confidence In God”.

As believers, we need to not QUIT ON GOD in the face of trials, tests, temptations, persecution, distress, famine, peril, or hard times. We need to be steadfast and unmovable. God never quits on us so why would we quit on God? We need confidence not to waver in our commitment and stay our course and be steadfast unmovable. Let’s read 1 Corinthians 15:58: “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.“

We must learn to trust, rely, submit and be led by the Spirit of God. The word confidence means “the faith we have in the testimony of God (or His Word.). The "God confidence" is not self-confidence or power within you. We have no power of our own. God will deal with you in the areas where your confidence is not in Him. YOU WILL BE TESTED! Look at how Hebrews 10:32-38 reads from the Message Bible: