The past few weeks, we have been talking about the power and the authority available to us through the death and resurrection of Jesus.  Last week, we learned that one of the keys to experiencing that power in and through our lives is simple obedience.

We learn that this was the key to the incredible success of Jesus, God in the flesh, and so it still is for us today.  He said:

John 5:19

… “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.

Obediently cooperating with God is the key to unlocking the power of God in and through our lives.  It enables us to be overcomers in life; victors and far more than conquerors!

When we more fully realize our position as sons and daughters of God, our Father, we’ll begin to see that anything is possible for us!  All of the petty things that trip us up and entangle and ensnare us will seem so insignificant as we step right out of them.

This is all made possible because of Jesus!  There is a much bigger picture regarding what is happening around us to cause our everyday struggles.  How do we overcome them?

Ephesians 6:10-12

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

This struggle began long before you and I chose to follow Jesus!  As a bit of a history lesson:

Revelation 12:7-12 (NKJV)

7 And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, 8 but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. 9 So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

10 Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. 11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. 12 Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.”

The devil was cast out of Heaven to the earth along with what are now called demons; fallen angels who joined Satan in his rebellion against God.  Now, their goal is to war against God through His creation; especially us who are created in the very image of God.

They work to prevent anyone from realizing their full potential and all that God has done for them.  They have established their kingdom of darkness here on the earth and don’t want to lose an inch of ground or a single soul to God’s Kingdom!  The wrath of Satan is being poured out onto the earth because he knows that his days are short. 

That’s the bad news.

The good news is that the devil can be overcome!  The kingdom of darkness can be pushed back by the kingdom of light!  Those held captive by the devil to do his will can be set free!  Those possessed and oppressed by the devil can be exalted from it!

Satan thought that he had won the ultimate victory of God when he had Jesus crucified and buried.  Three days later, he learned that he had been defeated! 

Fifty days later he found that not only had he been defeated, but that he just paved a way for the power of God to become unleashed throughout all the earth when the Holy Spirit was poured out into the lives of all followers of Jesus.

Now salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God