May 4th, 1991                          "I Give You Power Over All the Power of the Enemy"                            Bro. Joe Daniel

Luke 10:17-20

We must examine ourselves like C.T. Studd used to do, as to how much of the Scriptures we are not fulfilling. The Lord gives us a blank cheque. "I give you power over all the power of the enemy" Then how can the devil have power over us? Very often we are not really keen or determined about personal victory. What a failure that is! If we do not have victory in our own hearts, how can we help others? Victory consists in perfect love. Love worketh no ill to the neighbour. Love is the fulfilling of the law. Lust is selfish. Lust is of the flesh. That which is of the flesh is flesh and that which is of the Spirit is Spirit. If your heart and mind are engaged in, "How can I glorify God, how can I hallow His name?" then the devil has very little chance to attack you in the flesh. Why? You are fulfilling the Lord’s prayer, "Hallowed by Thy Name." I feel our faith is very very low. Some of you may think the Fellowship is very big and we are doing a great deal. I feel we have not done much. Demon powers, idolatrous powers have still such a control over many nations. Jesus said, "I will give you power over all the power of the enemy." We are failing in binding the powers of the enemy. In America, in India and in Germany we are not binding the powers of darkness. It shows lack of faith on our part. That night in Egypt, the powers of darkness were completely bound. They could not touch the Israelites--not even one family among them. May be God would have put it in His Book, if one family did not come under the blood. But we have no such record. The angel of death had no power over the children of Israel. That is the power of the blood. Why are we not seeing more of such power? Why? I think that we have no desire to be partakers in the sufferings in Christ. You may ask, "Well, where is that in the Scriptures?" Phil.3:10 "That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;" Amazing! Some of the Chinese Christians, African Christians, how much they have suffered for Christ! We have experienced nothing like that. St.Paul says, he wants to have the sufferings of Christ, even to the degree of likeness to His Master in His death. We should not simply want to suffer for the sufferings’ sake. The love of comfort, the love of easyway, these block our spiritual growth. We are not ready to do great exploits for God. Every country and society has its acceptable norms. You must finish your degree, you must pass creditably, you must get a good job. Then you must own a nice house. You must marry a girl who also has got a good job. When both of you are earning, you will be very happy. These are the guide-lines society impose on us. Some of our brothers are doing part-time work, so that they can use the other half of their time for God’s work.

London is a busy place and great distances. We have to get a book-stall in London. In the market, twice a week our books and Bibles are sold. Yesterday, it was very cold in London. Our brothers stood there in the cold and they sold books and Bibles in the open market. We need a centre in England. If we want to send money to England our Government will not allow and the Rupee has no value. If we send one-hundred rupees it will not be even 3 pounds. Everywhere without money in pocket, I go to look for places for our centres, even in London. What is the promise? "I will give you power over all the power of the enemy." This promise is for India, for China and Bangladesh. We have done nothing for Bangladesh. But in Shillong we are very close to Bangladesh. Thousands have lost their lives in the recent tidal waves. Is that not a terrible thing! How much do we feel for Bangladesh as we read the headlines in our papers. Read the Bible more. Then your heart will become tender. If you read more of the newspaper your heart will become harder. What a sad thing! "I will give you power over all the power of the enemy." We are not yet people ready to say, "Lord, we also want to have fellowship in your sufferings."