Many Christians today are unaware of the ongoing battle between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan. They are woefully ill-equipped to engage in the work of spiritual warfare and they unintentionally open themselves up to demonic forces.
Yet Sam Storms, the lead pastor at Bridgeway Church in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, says it doesn’t have to be that way for believers. Through his ministry, Enjoying God Ministries, Storms teaches Christians how to close the doors to demonic oppression so that they can experience the true joy of deliverance and the freedom of knowing who they are in Christ.
His book, Understanding Spiritual Warfare, instructs believers on how to recognize and combat the enemy’s advances to experience such freedom.
“I think one of the things I really try to focus on is the authority of the Christian because I don’t think even people within the Charismatic Pentecostal world sometimes understand the nature of the authority that Christ has given us,” Storms told Dr. Steve Greene on a recent episode of Greenelines on the Charisma Podcast Network. “Luke 10 talks about Him giving us authority over all the power of the enemy.
“Unfortunately, Christians in old traditions, when they see or sense that there is a demonic manifestation, they run for cover or they go look for somebody with a clerical collar, somebody who has been to seminary. I want to say to them, ‘No, no, you are in Christ;, the Spirit of God is in you — the same spirit that energized Jesus. You need to take authority in the name of Christ. You need to facilitate deliverance.’
“I really do my best to center the authority of the believer in the personal work of Jesus and his exaltation at the right hand of the Father and the power of the Spirit that we have within us. I think it’s probably human nature that a lot of people are drawn toward darkness sometimes just out of curiosity. Maybe it feels a little bit more sensational to them.
“But I love the imagery. Some people say, instead of shouting into the darkness, light a candle and spread the light of a gospel of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus and the indwelling power and the spirit that needs to be the focus of our approach to spiritual warfare.”
For more of this compelling interview with Pastor Sam Storms about spiritual warfare, listen to this Greenelines podcast. {eoa}
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