Billy Joe Daugherty - Its Time to Drive Out Your Enemies

Its Time to Drive Out Your Enemies!

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Billy Joe Daugherty

Contents

"And I will restore or replace for you the years that the locust has eaten.... And you shall eat in plenty and be satisfied and praise the name of the Lord, your God, Who has dealt wondrously with you. And My people shall never be put to shame."

Joel 2:25 ,26 AMP

God's Plan for You Is Abundant Life

It is time to drive out the enemies that have tried to destroy your life. In Second Chronicles 20, King Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah faced three enemy armiesthe Moabites, the Ammonites, and the people of Mount Seir . They were coming to take the land which God had given to the people of Judah.

Jehoshaphat set himself to seek the Lord, and when he did, he began to magnify God's greatness and rehearse the victories of what God had done in the past. He remembered the promises that God had made, and he set his eyes upon the Lord and heard from heaven as to what he was to do. At that moment, Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah believed God and began to praise Him. As a result, they won a great victory.

Each of us has enemies that try to drive us out of our possessions. In John 10:10 Jesus said it's the thief [Satan] who comes to steal, kill, and destroy. Then Jesus said, "I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

For believers, the abundant life in Jesus includes a heart that has been transformed and is full of joy, zoe [or the God-kind of] life, peace, and victory; a body that is healthy and strong; a mind that is clear and concise and that is being renewed to become like the mind of Christ; a family that is in harmony and at peace; and finances that are prosperous so you can bless others.

The work of the enemy is to come with sin, torment, worry, and anxiety to drive you out of a place of peace and harmony. He comes with sickness and disease to try to take the land that Jesus bought for you when He took stripes on His back for your healing. He comes to steal from you financially so that you won't prosper and increase. He comes to create strife and disharmony in the home.

This is the day for you to rise up, like Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah, and say, "I'm going to drive back my enemies with the power of God."

Seven Key Principles for Defeating Your Enemies

I want to give you seven key principles, or divine truths, that we find in Second Chronicles 20 for defeating your enemies. These principles worked for Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah, and they will work for you because they are unchanging. They are good for all time and eternity because they are God's principles.

What do you do when you have multiple problems facing you? What do you do when you face a financial lack? A physical illness? Family troubles?

I asked our sons, John and Paul, to identify some of the enemies that try to come against them. John said, "Homework!" We began to talk about other things that come against them. One is the opinions of people. Another is the words people speak against you. Then, of course, there is peer pressure, wrong attitudes, thoughts of fear, doubt, worry, and anxiety.

Principle #1 Seek the Lord

When you are facing multiple enemies, set yourself to seek the Lord, just as Jehoshaphat did in Second Chronicles, chapter 20:

It happened after this that the people of Moab with the people of Ammon , and others with them besides the Ammonites, came to battle against Jehoshaphat.

Then some came and told Jehoshaphat, saying, "A great multitude is coming against you from beyond the sea, from Syria; and they are in Hazazon Tamar" (which is En Gedi ).

And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.

So Judah gathered together to ask help from the Lord; and from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord.

Verses 1-4

When you combine fasting with prayer in seeking the Lord, it indicates a seriousness to your seeking. Fasting has a powerful impact. The Bible says that fasting humbles us. When we fast we are admitting that we have a need.

National Crisis Causes Ninevites To Fast

When the people of Nineveh fasted, prayed, and repented, God did not bring judgment on them. Let's look at this account in Jonah 3:1-10:

Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying,

"Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you."

So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three-day journey in extent.

And Jonah began to enter the city on the first day's walk. Then he cried out and said, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!"

So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them.

Then word came to the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes.

And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; do not let them eat, or drink water.

But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God; yes, let every one turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands.

Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish?

Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.

Nineveh was spared because the entire city turned to seek God in prayer and fasting.

Demonic Deliverance Came Through Prayer and Fasting

In the New Testament a father brought his epileptic son to the disciples for deliverance. The disciples could do nothing for the son so the father sought Jesus for help. This account is found in Matthew 17:

And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour.

Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, "Why could we not cast it out?"

So Jesus said to them, "Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.

"However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting."

Verses 18-21

Great power is released through prayer and fasting. The key issue is seeking the Lord with all your heart.

Seeking the Lord Both Naturally and Spiritually

When I was a small child, my father worked in the oil fields of southwest Arkansas. There was a limited level of income he could achieve in his position, so my father decided to attend classes in the local college at night to earn a degree in accounting and expand his earning potential.

My father had to set himself to do that, but he did it. As I grew up, he worked in the accounting department of that oil company.

I share that with you because it's amazing the things people will do in the natural to increase their income, and it's commendable. But if we're going to achieve and increase in the spiritual realm, we're going to have to make an extra effort, too. By taking computer courses or other training courses, you can increase your skill level as well as your earning potential. But it is time to go to the next level in hungering and thirsting after God.

I pray that you will seek the Lord as never before. I pray you will not be satisfied with mediocrity, but that you will go to a level of excellence and increase in the realm of the Spirit. I pray for you to have the spiritual strength to stand against every plot, plan, and scheme of the devil in Jesus' name. I pray for all laziness, lukewarmness , and indifference to be ripped out of you now, in Jesus' name.