Have you ever wondered why it is that our minds are not in the heavenlies? Why is it that we don’t seem to be moving in God as fast as we should be moving? What is hindering us? Let us turn to Ephesians 6:12, “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.”
For most of us, this is just a bunch of words that have a bad meaning. We don’t really know by experience what this verse is talking about. Let me see if I can give you a little idea. We are fighting against spiritual forces, not physical forces, but spiritual forces. We are fighting not just ordinary spiritual forces, but we are fighting the princes of these spiritual forces.
I will tell you a story. I was having trouble in my home. I wasn’t getting along very well with my mother, neither was I getting along very well with the people who were working for me at my work place. I was an accountant in the Agricultural Department at that point in time and it just seemed to me that something was closing in around my whole life. Everything I put my hand to became a failure and I didn’t know what the reason was.
One day God said to me, “Fast for seven days.” I said, “Lord, I have to go to work every day, but I will do it.” So, I started fasting. I fasted Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. Then Wednesday night I fell into a vision. I saw myself standing in the Baptist church yard having like an X-ray vision that I could see through the walls of the church right to the back of it. I saw Satan in the back of the building where the restrooms were. He called a spirit to him and said to him, “Look here! Go and stick that man!”
When you say in a soccer game, “Stick that man,” it means you must be on him like a stick in plaster. He mustn’t get to kick the ball! Tie him up! And Satan said, “Stick that man.” So this spirit comes to me, but because I had seen him, because I knew he was of the devil, I rebuked him in the name of Jesus. Man, he was like somebody who got shot and limped crying back to the devil. When he got to him, the devil patted him on his back and said, “Never mind, I will send him a prince.” He called again and here came a beautiful, strong-looking man. His features were just perfect and he looked like a king. Devil said to him, “Stick him.” This young man started coming towards me. I was standing out there and as I saw him coming towards me, I was getting ready to rebuke him in the name of Jesus. But before I could open my mouth, something cracked behind me. I turned back and of course, it was nothing. This prince just created a distraction. By the time I turned around, he was right there beside me, and oh, he was smiling. I thought I was going to give it to him right then. I opened my mouth again, but he started saying something that interested me and I had to pause to listen to what he was saying. After I had heard it, I said to myself, “I am going to give it to him now.” However, by the time I started rebuking him, I saw the flesh of his back. I realized that I did not rebuke him at all.
Still in this vision, I went home. I lived a few hundred yards down the road from the church. When I opened the gate, I saw this prince at the corner of the porch with my mother, my aunt, and two girls we brought from the church. They were talking about me. (This is why I couldn’t get along with them.) I stood quietly at the gate and heard everything they were saying about me. Then, I walked right up behind this prince and rebuked him in the name of Jesus. When it hit him, he staggered back and out of his bosom jumped my old motorcycle on a string. I rebuked him again and out came the bicycle. I spent hours and days and days on that bicycle, riding around the whole island, having a good time. I think I loved that bicycle more than I loved anything else. It was one of those special-made racers that you were able to lift up with one finger. I would come along at any speed, jump off and just flick the bicycle up in my hand. Motorcycle, throttle was always wide open. I was a Christian, loved the Lord Jesus, preached the Word, but there were these little things that I didn’t notice. I rebuked the prince again and something else jumped out. Brethren, believe you me, it was my old radio, this, and that, and the other – these were things that were taking up my time. It was God’s precious time but I hadn’t realized it. As the prince staggered toward the gate, there was a long string that he pitched through, crying and weeping. He hauled all of this rag-tag behind him and I found out where my problems were. They were not only there, but they were in my soul.
What am I trying to share with you? There is no devil, not even a prince that can have an access to us in such a way he had to me, unless there is an opening in our soul. I encourage you to get rid of all the things that stand in-between you and the Lord, so that your heart would be pure. Then you can be sure that no power of darkness will overcome you.
