“From the Heart” teaching by Drs. Rodney & Adonica Howard-Browne.

For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.  Colossians 1:9-14 NIV

Several things happened to you, at the same time, on the day that you repented of your sins, accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior and were born-again. You were redeemed by the blood of Jesus and forgiven of your sins. You were made a saint of God and qualified by God to share in an inheritance in the kingdom of light, together with all the other saints. And on top of all that your Father has delivered you and drawn you to Himself out of the control and the dominion of darkness. Sin has no more dominion over you. The devil has no more authority over you. You have been delivered from the power and control of sin and the devil. So many Christians live below the standards that God has ordained for them because they are ignorant of His will and His plan for them. They have no idea what He has already done for them and in them.

Paul prayed that the Colossians would be filled with a full, deep and clear knowledge of God’s will in all wisdom and a spiritual understanding. Many people think that God’s will is unknown, but if God wanted His will to be hidden then why does Paul pray for us all to know it? You can know the will of God. His will is His Word. The Spirit of God will instruct you and reveal God’s will for your life. As you walk worthy of the Lord you steadily grow and increase in the knowledge of God. You must live and conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the Lord – fully pleasing to Him and desiring to please Him in all things – bearing fruit in every good work.

You cannot please God if you yield to sin or the devil in any way. The tragedy is that it is the devil who harasses and torments Christians and then gets them to believe the lie that it is God’s will when all along God is telling them that He has delivered and saved them from all the devil’s power and authority. The devil’s influence over you ended on the day you were washed in the blood of Jesus.

And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.  Ephesians 2:1-10 NKJ

The disobedient (sinners) are subject to the devil and his evil influence, but not the children of God. You were once in bondage to the devil, but now you have been saved by God’s grace and His great love and rich mercy. You are raised up and seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Live and walk worthy of His great love and the grace and mercy that He has lavishly poured out on you. Don’t treat His salvation as a weak, ineffective force. You are saved and redeemed from the darkness and all the power of the enemy. Walk as a child of the light. Walk free from sin and darkness and walk all over the devil. Don’t give him any place or any attention. Take authority over him and walk in the light of the fact that Jesus already defeated him. All you have to do is enforce his defeat by reminding him of what Jesus already did. Live in the light of God!