This week, we are looking at the message entitled, “Watching the serpent of the magician."
This message is for those who are tired of frustration and those who are tired of watching unbelievers collecting what they are supposed to get. It is also for those who are determined that a transaction must happen in the heavens that would turn things around for good in their lives.
Exodus 7:9-10 says, “When Pharaoh shall speak unto you, saying Shew a miracle for you: then, thou shalt say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and cast it before Pharaoh, and it shall become a serpent. And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and they did so as the Lord had commanded: and Aaron cast down his rod before pharaoh, and before his servants, and it became a serpent.” Pharaoh was not afraid; he was not perturbed by the actions of Moses and Aaron, meaning that the conversion of things was not new to Pharaoh.
Exodus 7:11-12 says, “Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments. (That is they duplicated what Moses did but that was not the end) for they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents; but Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods,”
This is one of the most interesting passages in the Old Testament. It opens our eyes to many deep spiritual truths. It exposes certain things to us that may not be very clear to the modern man. My prayer is that God will deliver Christians from ignorance.
In Nigeria, one regular feature of street magic in the past was the public display of serpents. Many people gather and watch this magic. But most of the spectators do not know that this kind of activity is a satanic strategy to collect virtues. However, there are some intercessors and prayer warriors who pray these people out of business. All the places where these magicians normally operate lack development.
I had a friend, a young brother who took up a ministry, which was a ministry to frustrate magicians. So anytime he was passing by and saw any magician performing, he would join the spectators. As the magicians made their incantations, he would say, “I frustrate it, in Jesus' name. I trample upon it and it would not come to pass, in Jesus’ name." They would try and nothing would work for them that day. So, when they saw that they were having problems, they would stop the magic and look around the spectators, point out all the grey-headed people and chase them away. They believed it was old people who had sufficient power to stop what they were doing whereas the fellow causing the confusion was just 22 years old. It was the operation of people like that young brother that reduced the number of magicians in our streets.
Thousands of people are initiated into occultism just by watching magic. Unfortunately, many Christians do not know that the display of magic that took place in the parlour of Pharaoh is the same as what goes on in our streets, and many do not know how to counter them.
LESSONS FROM THE SCRIPTURES (Exodus 7:9-12)
1. There are three kinds of power: Positive power, negative power and neutral power. The rod of Moses was the positive power. The rod of the magicians was the negative power. And the human beings who were there represent the neutral power, meaning that it is to whom you yield yourself to obey that controls you. So, a man can be negatively or positively powered.
2. There are only two major sources of spiritual power: The power of God and the power of darkness.
3. There is something known as the power of darkness: Whether you believe it or not, it is not relevant. It is wrong to teach people that the enemy has no power. A lot of people are jumping up and proclaiming that some powers are under their feet. But the enemy can only be under your feet if your own head is under the feet of Jesus. If not, you are just wasting your time.
4. There is something known as the hour of darkness: The hour may expire but before that, the magic would have worked. By the time Moses got to a certain level, the hour of darkness expired and their magic could no longer work.
5. There are satanic intermediaries: In that scripture, we see three categories of people; the wise men, the sorcerers, and the magicians. These are human beings and not spirits. There are many of them around us.
6. The power of God can be counterfeited: A person can work signs and wonders that do not originate from God. The devil can cause healing to take place when he is the one responsible for the sickness. So, he can take it from somebody and give it to another person. Moses threw down his rod and Pharaoh’s magicians did the same thing.
7. There is a serpent of darkness and there is also a serpent of God: You can read more about the serpent of God in Amos 9.
8. These two serpents are at war: But one serpent has the power to swallow the other.
9. When a weaker power comes against a stronger power, the weaker power must bow.
10. There is something known as the mystery of serpent against serpent: When serpents were biting the Israelites in the wilderness and Moses cried unto the Lord, the solution was another serpent. That is using the coin of the enemy to pay back the enemy.
11. There is a group of people called the evil wise men: They are the people who follow people’s stars. They have evil intelligence. The Bible recommends that we should pray that such people should be turned backward.
12. There is a group of people called sorcerers and magicians: The recommended Bible prayer against them is to speak madness upon them. The Bible says, “That turneth their wise men backward and maketh their knowledge foolish” (Isaiah 44:25).
13. Spiritual warfare is not entertainment: It is real war.
14. The palace is the centre of satanic operation: That is why people who come from royal families have royal pollution and they need royal deliverance. The palace of Pharaoh was the arena of the battle of the serpents, and he was there watching them. So, the palace is a place of power as well as an axis of evil.
15. The contest of the serpents was a violent one: It ended in tragedy for the dark serpents. The result of the encounter was total destruction for the dark party. Elijah dealt with 850 prophets of Baal with violent prayers.
16. Your former colleagues in the dark kingdom will be your first confronters when you turn to God: The magicians who faced Moses were his former colleagues when he was in the palace. So, when Moses came along, they thought it was still the same kind of power they knew that Moses was still operating. But when Moses got to a higher level, they said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” They owned up that they were facing a higher power.
17. If you stand around to watch the serpent of the magician, you will die: This is a very important point. All those who watched the battle of the serpents eventually had problems. Although Moses was the one that threw down the rod, he did not get to the Promised Land. Aaron, the bearer of the rod did not get there. Pharaoh himself ended up dead in the Red Sea. So, it is a dangerous thing to stand around watching the serpents of the magicians. If you stand around to watch these serpents, you will die.
WHAT IN PRACTICAL SPIRITUAL TERMS DOES IT MEAN TO WATCH THE SERPENT OF THE MAGICIAN?
If you have ever been served food in your dream and you could not resist it, you are watching the serpent of the magician. If you cannot resist spirit spouses when they come to you in the dream; they succeed in messing you up, you are watching the serpent. If in your dream, some people were running after you with all kinds of weapons and when they used them against you, they worked, you are watching the serpent. Inability to resist spiritual arrows indicates that you are watching the serpent of the magician. It is time for you to cry out in anger that the fire of God should burst forth in your life, it is time for you to pray that God should make you hot coals of fire, too hot for the enemy to move close to. It is time to pray to receive the fire that no evil power can resist. Whatsoever affects your spiritual life negatively and leaves you helpless and you just become a spectator, is a killer. You must deal with it.
MARKS OF THOSE WHO ARE WATCHING THE SERPENTS
1. Inability to resist spiritual arrows.
2. Inability to come against dream attackers.
3. Weakness in the face of spiritual attacks.
4. Lack of knowledge of the operation of evil powers.
5. Inability to fight and win. When you are tired of evil attacks and drop your prayers because anytime you pray them, you will be attacked, you are watching the serpent of the magician.
6. Inability to fight back.
7. Lack of knowledge of the identity of the serpent.
8. When the enemy is using your body to test new spiritual weapons, you are watching the serpent of the magician.
9. When you engage in watching dangerous and strange sights, you are watching the serpent of the magician.
10. Anytime the weapons of the enemy prosper in a person’s life or the enemy disarms a person, the person is watching the serpent of the magician.
11. When you are completely ignorant of the kind of warfare that you are fighting, you are watching the serpent of the magician.
12. When your words do not carry weight in heaven or on earth, you are watching the serpent of the magician.
That is why you need to cry out and declare that the lion of your life must roar, and fear must enter into the camp of your enemies. And the fear must cause a scattering. Your life should roar and let the enemy scatter.
WHY DO PEOPLE BECOME SPECTATORS AT THE ARENA OF THE SERPENTS OF THE MAGICIANS?
1. Ignorance.
2. Worldliness: Many sisters are becoming more and more worldly. They wear transparent clothes even on Sundays. Some wear the kind of blouses that expose their chests. Worldliness makes the serpent to rage. Some threw away their giant earrings and replaced them with tiny ones. It is worldliness. If God wanted you to put on earrings, He would have punched your ears from your mother’s womb. If God wanted men and women to be smoking cigarettes, He would have put chimneys on their heads from the womb. So, God knows what He is doing. He is a God of perfection but many Christians do not understand what they are doing. Occultists would design jewelry and believers who are supposed to have knowledge would buy and put it on. And after they have put it on, they begin to sing, "Spirit husband, go back to your sender, go back to your sender.” Who is the sender? The spirit husband will not go because his material is on their body. Wearing of earrings started with slavery. An earring in one ear indicated that the wearer belonged to one slave master. Two meant two slave masters, you served one in the morning; and the other one in the evening. When slavery eased out, the slaves who were ashamed in the market place or wherever they were, began to use something to block those holes. So, Christians who use these things are copying slavery.
3. Lack of internal peace: Your peace of mind is your proof of victory. Jesus commanded peace during the storm and there was peace. That was the evidence of His authority. When the powers of darkness did their worst with Jesus at the parlour of Pilate, He was cool, calm and collected. If you do not have peace in your life, you have war and if you have victory, you have peace. That is why the Bible says, “The God of peace shall bruise satan under your feet (Romans 16:20).
4. Unbelief: This prevents a person from resting in God.
5. Lack of recognition of the authority in Christ.
6. Attack by forces of evil renewal: This is talking about the powers that wake up things that are already dead.
7. Laziness: Lazy people do not begin things. Sometimes, they will agree to do a thing only to put it off. Little by little, they surrender until it becomes total defeat. Lazy people never get going. Procrastination is the child of laziness. People who never develop a sense of urgency about life drift from one action to another. Some people are too lazy to pray, read the Bible and witness. They do not face what they are supposed to face. They do not contribute much to other people’s lives. That is why it is a disaster in marriage when one partner is lazy. The whole family may lie in poverty because one party is too lazy. The lazy man is always restless. He wants more but does not want to put in more. The lazy man is a useless person because he will not do what he is supposed to do. If you are lazy, God cannot use you in His plan. If you are lazy, you will continue to be a servant to others all your life. A lazy man is an unbeliever. He has no faith. He would say, “Ah, this is wonderful but I won’t be able to do it.” A lazy person would be poor. So, spiritual laziness is the number one factor that turns people to spectators in the arena of the battle of the serpent. When a person is spiritually lazy, he would have deep hatred for anything that would make him sit down and read the Bible or pray. He would have deep hatred for anything that would move his spiritual life forward. When a lazy man begins a spiritual exercise, all of a sudden, other things that he has left undone will begin to surface and call for his attention. When a lazy man engages in a spiritual exercise, whether Bible study or prayer, something inside him would ask him to stop. The lazy man turns about on his bed but does not get out of it. And eventually, when he is out of that bed, he would wish to go back there. The lazy man would sleep at 10.00pm and still feel too lazy to get up at 7.00am. He would sleep half the day and waste the major part of the day watching television. He is too lazy to nourish even his own spiritual life. Spiritual laziness is a great sin of the modern man. All forms of dryness in spiritual life can be blamed on laziness. Sometimes, poor attendance to church services is due to laziness. This is why you need to pray that the Lord should deliver you from anything that would sit you down in the arena of the battle of the serpents and make you a mere spectator.
If you keep watching the serpent, a time would come when the serpent would travel to your direction and bite you. Today, come to terms with yourself, confront your laziness and weakness. Pray that your zeal and fire should come to the boiling point. When you are burning hot with the fire of God, no demon can come near you.
If you have not yet surrendered your life to Jesus, then you cannot deal with the serpent of the magician disturbing your destiny. If you want to give your life to Christ, please say the following prayer:
“Father, in the name of Jesus, I come before you now, I acknowledge that I am a sinner. Forgive my sins and cleanse me with your blood. I renounce the devil and all his works. Come into my life Lord Jesus and take control of my life, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
PRAYER POINTS
1. My life, explode by fire, in the name of Jesus.
2. My life, burst forth, in the name of Jesus.
3. Thou suppressing power, die, in the name of Jesus.
4. O serpent of God, arise, kill the serpent of my father's house, in the name of Jesus.
5. My life roar like a lion and kill your problems, in the name of Jesus.
6. Every good thing that has passed me by, come back and locate me, in the name of Jesus.
7. Every foundational power sitting on my wealth, die, in the name of Jesus.
8. Every power that has vowed to die instead of allowing me to have my breakthrough, what are you waiting for? Die, in the name of Jesus.
9. Serpent of God, swallow any serpent monitoring my life, in Jesus’ name.
10. O God arise, kill every serpent of my father’s house, in the name of Jesus.
11. My spirit man, be charged with the fire of God that no enemy can touch, in the name of Jesus.
12. You lion of my life, roar by fire, pursue your pursuers, in the name of Jesus.
