Overcoming Satan — Zac Poonen

New Covenant Distinctives and the Need to Search Scripture

Some of the distinctives of the New Covenant over the Old Covenant in these last four sessions, things that Old Covenant Saints could never experience or know in their lives. And it's only as we know the truth, the truth shall set us free.

And so, it's important that we look carefully into God's Word. The Bible says that the one who meditates on God's law day and night will be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, and whatever he does will prosper.

I believe that with all my heart. Very often we read the scriptures, but we don't meditate on them, we don't look carefully. I've often said to people, anything I tell you is not new, it's in your Bible, it's been there all along.

And how is it you didn't see it? It's because you didn't read carefully, you read superficially. God's made even the earth in such a way that all the valuable things are deep in the ground, gold and diamonds and oil and all, it's deep down.

What you get on the surface is usually very cheap. There's a verse in the book of Proverbs, chapter 25, verse 1, which says that it's the glory of God to conceal a matter, and it's Proverbs 25, verse 2, sorry, it's the glory of God to conceal a thing, and the honor of the King to search out that matter.

God concealed many things in Scripture. That's His glory. But that verse says that if we are kings in Christ, our glory is to search it out. God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. He does not reward lazy readers of Scripture.

So I trust that in all that we hear, we will also be stirred to study the Scriptures more deeply, because there's a lot of truth in there. I started studying the Scriptures seriously sometime in early 1961, it's nearly 40 years.

And I remember those early years when I wasn't married and I was working, but this book was my constant companion all the time. It was my hobby, my pastime, the game I played, my food, my drink, my everything.

And through these years, it's changed my life. It's strengthened me. It's given me words to bless others with. And at the end of 40 years of studying it, I even now find things in it I had not noticed earlier.

It's a mine. It's a wealth there which I feel many of us have missed, lost, things that could have—our life could have been very different, those of us who are older, if we had studied the Scriptures more carefully.

And so I say to you young people, I've always urged young people wherever I go, take time to study the Scriptures. You won't get as much time once you get married and have children. Take time in your younger days to really get into the Word, to know it, to know exactly what Scripture says.

The Holy Spirit and the Internal Work of the New Covenant

So we've looked at repentance, we've looked at grace. These are all deep repentance, like John the Baptist spoke of, was not known in the Old Testament. Grace was not known. God was not known as a Father.

And as we considered this morning, this ministry of the Holy Spirit flowing from our innermost being was not known in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit clothed people. Like it says in Judges 6 .34, the Spirit of God clothed Gideon.

It was external. The ministry was on the outside. Samson could kill a lion on the outside, but he couldn't kill the lion of lust inside his heart. The Holy Spirit couldn't do a work inside people. But now the Holy Spirit flows from the innermost being.

That's the most important thing about the New Testament. The work begins inside. It's the lions of lust that are killed inside. And from there flows out a ministry like an overflow. And that's how our ministry should be.

A lot of ministry I find is not an overflow. It's like you take a glass or a cup, fill it up, pour it out. Fill it up, pour it out. Fill it up, pour it out. That's Old Testament ministry. Moses went into the presence of God, received something, came and poured it out.

At least if people went into the presence of God, they would have something to give. But a lot of today's ministry, they don't even go into the presence of God. They just sit in their study and study some books and, I'd say, vomit out what they've taken in.

And people eat it. It's sad. That's the condition of ministry today. But New Covenant ministry is not this, filling up, pouring out, filling up, pouring out. Jesus said, I'll put a spring of water inside you.

Where we have a permanent connection to the river of God, it flows from our innermost being. It flows from the throne of God through our innermost being, and it's overflowing all the time. And that depends on our walking with God all the time, being in touch with Him, keeping a clear conscience, walking in humility, and being sensitive to everything that the Spirit says to us.

Overcoming Satan Rather Than Fighting Flesh and Blood

And this afternoon, I want to speak about another distinctive of the New Covenant, and that is overcoming Satan. Now, if you read the Old Testament carefully, they were never overcoming Satan there. They were overcoming the Philistines and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Midianites and many other ites, but not Satan.

They never confronted Satan. Their enemies were all human. And in the New Testament, as soon as you open the pages of the New Testament, you find Jesus confronting Satan. As soon as he's anointed with the Holy Spirit, the next thing is confrontation with Satan.

And unlike Eve, who was defeated when she confronted Satan, Jesus overcame. And all of us are following either Adam or Jesus. We either are defeated by Satan or we overcome Satan. There's no alternative.

There's no need for us to be defeated by Satan, now that Jesus has overcome. That's the message of the New Covenant. But there's one very important requirement for that. And before I come to this verse I have in mind, I want to show you that this other verse in Ephesians 6 and verse 12, where it says, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spirits of wickedness in high places or in heavenly places.

So there are two things here. The ones we do not wrestle with, and the ones we do wrestle with. Now in the Old Testament, we couldn't say this verse. Every man who lived in the Old Covenant, every Israelite, who was a soldier, said, we do wrestle with flesh and blood.

And we never wrestle with principalities and powers. Nobody ever did that in the Old Covenant. Even Daniel, when he was praying in Daniel chapter 10, he wasn't wrestling with principalities and powers.

Michael was doing that. There's not a single case in the Old Testament where anyone was wrestling with principalities and powers in the heavenly places. They were always wrestling with people in earthly places.

And sometimes they overcame and sometimes they lost. Then Jesus came. And his attitude was, I wrestle not with flesh and blood. Towards the end of his life, when he stood before Pilate, he said, my kingdom is not of this world.

If it were of this world, my servants would be fighting. Years later, in 1 Timothy chapter 6, Paul reminded Timothy and saying, I charge you in the presence of God and of Jesus Christ who made that good confession before Pontius Pilate, that you keep the word which I am giving you now.

What was that good confession? Paul was speaking there in 1 Timothy 6 about the love of money, and telling him to flee from the love of money. And in that connection, he said to him in 1 Timothy 6, I charge you in the presence of Jesus Christ who made the good confession before Pontius Pilate, what was that good confession?

My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight. When you fight with human beings, do you know what you are testifying thereby? That your kingdom is of this world.

When you fight for earthly things with people, you are testifying, my kingdom is of this world. When you fight for earthly position, and that earthly position may even be to be an elder in a church. That is an earthly position.

You are fighting, you are proving that your kingdom is of this world. If you really want to get into this new covenant battle, you have to make one decision first, that you will never fight for earthly things.

That you will not wrestle with flesh and blood concerning anything. I used to think that in my younger days, that all I needed to get a person to Christ or to understand victory, was to argue with him from scripture and win the argument, and prove to him from scripture that I was right.

But very often what happened was that I'd win an argument and lose a friend. So I decided that wasn't the way, and they never got Christ and they never got victory. And I realized that people's problems are not intellectual.

Problems are in the heart. And when I argue with a person, if I win the argument, I haven't proved who's right, I've just proved who's cleverer. If he wins the argument, he's cleverer than me. If I win the argument, I'm cleverer than him.

That's how it is between husband and wife. Whoever wins the argument is cleverer. He may not necessarily be right, he may be totally wrong, but he's cleverer, or she's cleverer, that's all. So I decided that even in this realm, I am not going to wrestle with flesh and blood.

I'm not going to argue. I want to lead people to see their need in their heart. And if they see their need in their heart, then I can point them to the Savior, to the one who can lead them to an overcoming life.

So there are many, many areas where we have to decide that we will not wrestle with flesh and blood. We're not going to get into conflict with people. We're not going to get into arguments over doctrine.

I want to keep that friendship and help him to come to a place of need in his life, and then he may turn and understand the truth which has gripped me. Because I discovered that many, many truths that I've shared even in these sessions came to me not just through arguments.

There was study, there was meditation, but I finally responded when I had a sense of need. I mean, I knew from childhood, in Sunday school that I used to go to, that Jesus Christ died for my sins. But I surrendered my life to him only when I was nineteen, when I came to a place of need.

It's need that drives us. If any man thirsts, it's not argument. It's not a question of being convinced. And so we're not to wrestle with flesh and blood intellectually, or for money, or property, or position, position in the church, or anything.

Prayer as the Battle Against Satan

Now, those of us who are willing to break free from all these battles on earth, you're ready to fight with Satan, and fight the real battle in the heavenlies. And I want to tell you that this is the battle that's ultimately going to determine what's going to happen here in our local church situation.

You remember that Old Testament incident in Exodus chapter seventeen, where Joshua and the army of Israel went to fight the Amalekites. And that was immediately after the rock was smitten, in the earlier part of Exodus seventeen.

The rock was smitten, the waters began to flow. That's Calvary, the flowing waters, the picture of Pentecost. And what's the very next thing after that in Exodus seventeen? It's fighting with the Amalekites.

That was with Jesus. He was anointed with the Holy Spirit in the river Jordan. He came out, and what is the very next thing? Fighting the devil. But how was that battle against the Amalekites won? In Exodus seventeen.

Joshua was there with the army, fighting the Amalekites with all his strength. But the victory did not depend on him. No. The victory depended on three people standing up on the mountain, Moses, Aaron, and Hur.

And every time Moses lifted up his hands, it says, Joshua won. But when Moses got tired of lifting up his hands and put his hands down, Joshua got defeated. And then Moses would lift up his hands again, and Joshua would win again.

And when he got tired, and he put his hand down, Joshua got defeated. And they were watching this from the mountain. And they realized it had nothing to do with the battle strategy of Joshua. It had to do with Moses lifting up his hands in prayer.

And that's what we need to understand today. We've got our strategies to build a church, and our plans, and our schemes, and for outreach, and missionary work, and so many things. Mission strategies and all types of things.

I tell you, these apostles did a lot more without all these strategies. Because they knew the power of prayer. You know, the apostles said, when they were being asked to serve the widows who were complaining about food.

Now, isn't that a very humble thing to do, go and serve the widows? Yes, it is. But the apostle Peter said, well, listen, I know it will increase our reputation for humility if we go around serving the widows, but we can't do that, because we have committed ourselves to give ourselves to prayer, and to the ministry of the word, so that the church can be built.

Now, we need spiritual people to do that, but we'll get somebody else to do that. They recognized the need to really get into the heavenlies and battle and defeat Satan, if something was to be established on earth.

Now, I think there are very, very few Christians who have understood that. Many of the problems your parents have with your children, you're not going to win by arguments with your children, exhorting them, dragging them to church, getting them to speak to this preacher, that preacher, the other thing.

It's going to happen when husband and wife kneel down before God and bind the evil spirits and the Satanic forces that are influencing your children. And for that, husband and wife have got to be united.

Otherwise, it won't work. So God sometimes brings needs in our family, so that husband and wife can come together. God brings need in our churches, so that fighting elders can come together. Otherwise, it won't work.

All that the devil needs to do to destroy a family or destroy a church is separate husband and wife. This thing which God has joined together, separate them, then he can walk right through and destroy their children, or destroy their church.

That's why he always attacks the leadership, husband and wife, elders. Then he can get through to the whole thing. Now, this is one of the things we've realized in our own work in India for twenty-five years.

The work started in Bangalore with two brothers, myself and another. And I want to tell you my testimony before God. In twenty-five years, this brother and I are totally different in our personality, in our gift, culture, race.

And God brought us together. And in twenty-five years, we've never had one day where we had a quarrel, or a fight, or where we wouldn't talk to each other. When we didn't see eye to eye with each other on something, we still loved one another.

I don't say we have to agree. The Lord never said, All men will know you are my disciples when you agree with each other. No. That's a perversion of Scripture. All men will know you are my disciples when you love one another, even when you don't agree with each other.

And so I'm not saying we've always agreed, but we've always been united. And if one of us has disagreed on something, we'll say, Okay, we'll wait till we're both agreed before we move on. And the other one can be patient.

Sometimes it's him, and sometimes it's me. But there's never been disunity. And that protected our church from the attacks of Satan for twenty-five years. Now, as our children have grown up, we have four boys, and they're all between the ages of twenty and thirty now.

And as they've grown up, there have been all kinds of difficulties in school, and sickness, and so many things that have come. There are two elders at home, my wife and I. We do the same thing. We kneel down and say, Lord, you said in Matthew 18, 19, if two of you—has to be two, by the way, one is not enough—if two of you agree, that's the important thing.

Agree. It's so difficult. The Greek word is symphonio, from which we get the musical word symphony. If two people are a symphony concerning anything, they ask. It will be granted by my Father in Heaven.

I cannot think the number of times when my wife and I have knelt down and claimed that promise, because it says—that's not the whole verse. Let me read you the whole passage, Matthew 18, 18 to 20. Perhaps we should look at that, because we are not, some of us are not familiar with it.

Matthew 18, verse 18 to 20. Speaking about overcoming Satan, by the way, Matthew 18, verse 18 to 20, one of the most misunderstood, misquoted passages of Scripture is verse 20. For the two or three have gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

It doesn't stop there. It stops there, but it ends up in verse 18, because it says four in verse 20, which takes us back to verse 19, and verse 19 begins again, which takes us back to verse 18. So verse 20 is like the foundation on which we have verse 19 and verse 18.

The ultimate purpose is verse 18, that we bind something on earth which will be bound in Heaven. Which Heaven is that? That's not the presence of God. We're not going to bind anything up there in God's presence.

Everything is free over there, but it's this other heavenlies below God's presence that's spoken of in Ephesians 6, 12. That heavenlies, we've got to bind something, and that can happen, and we've got to lose something on earth.

Something that's been bound by those satanic powers, maybe some brother in the church, your child maybe, and we've got to lose that child and bind those satanic powers up there. How are we going to do it?

We're going to do it right here on earth. Bind those satanic forces and lose this person who's bound. How is it going to be done? Minimum two people. Now casting out a demon, one person can do. In Jesus' name, get out of him, get out of her, the demon goes.

But where Satan has got a hold of a situation or a person in another way, got them entrenched in something, it may not be demon possession, but Satan gets into some situations and entrenches himself there, and to get Satan out of that situation in the family or in the church, two people must agree.

It's God's word. Two of you agree on earth concerning anything. Let the problem be anything. It doesn't matter how deeply Satan is entrenched in that situation. It doesn't matter how many years Satan has been entrenched in that situation.

Anything. Isn't that absolute? For 20 centuries, anything, anywhere? It shall be done. There's no might, maybe, perhaps. No, maybe, might or perhaps. It shall be done by my Father in Heaven, because, now here's the most misquoted version among Christians, because where two or three are gathered together, and I believe it means in this way, that means united, symphonio, symphony, in agreement, without discord, without contention.

There I am in the midst. Jesus is there, and Satan is overcome. So it's very important that we understand these principles before we move into taking a little time to study this matter of overcoming Satan.

I believe it's very, very important, because, like I said, lot of believers live as old covenant believers. Take all the areas we mentioned so far. Repentance, they have not repented deeply enough. Grace, they have not understood grace.

They haven't understood grace is sufficient for their need. They haven't understood grace to help them to overcome sin. The fatherhood of God, they live with anxiety and tension and unrest, because they don't know God is the Father.

Holy Spirit, they don't even know the Holy Spirit coming upon them, leave alone flowing out from their innermost being as rivers of living water. And fifth, what we're talking about now, they don't know anything about overcoming Satan.

They just know how to read the Bible, pray, go to meetings, and come back. They don't know how to tackle Satan. And when Satan causes a problem, they need to go to somebody else. Why? We're not in the old covenant.

You can do that yourself. He doesn't say if two apostles come together. Anyone, if two of you, it doesn't matter who you are, it can be two teenagers who love the Lord, who are united, who are determined to pray and bind Satanic forces and activities of Satan, they can do something.

If your parents are not spiritual enough, well, two teenagers in that family can do it. Sure. No respect of persons with God. No respect of age, no respect of color, no respect of culture, nationality, language, nothing.

It just requires two people who love the Lord, who are agreed, and who do not wrestle with flesh and blood, who don't have the habit of fighting with human beings, who are not fighting for earthly things, whose kingdom is not of this world, and they come together, and they are qualified.

They may not know much of the Bible, it doesn't make a difference. Those early Christians didn't know much of the Bible because they didn't have a Bible to start with. But they knew God. It's more important to know God than know the Bible.

Do you know that Bible knowledge doesn't help us to overcome Satan? Doesn't make us holy? Do you know that in the history of Christianity in two thousand years, there's never been as much Bible knowledge as today?

Oh boy, the number of translations, the number of versions of scripture, and the concordances, and we've got it on disc, and we've got it in pocket electronic Bibles, and we've got it everywhere. But the devil is more rampant than ever in Christian churches, in spite of all this.

And people are not holy. Which proves what? You cannot overcome Satan with Bible knowledge. You cannot become holy by Bible knowledge. You've got to know God. Through the Bible, we've got to get to know God.

That's the important thing. And so we see here, let's turn to Revelation chapter twelve. Revelation chapter twelve is speaking about a future day when Satan will be cast down to the earth from the heavenly.

Satan is not in hell. He's in the heavenly. He's going to be cast down to the earth. But there's a principle mentioned here, which applies to us even today. Here Satan is called, in verse ten, the accuser of the brethren.

In verse ten, the last part, the accuser of our brethren is cast down. He's also called, in verse nine, the middle, the one which deceiveth the whole world. Notice these two titles of Satan. He's got many other titles there, old serpent, great dragon, devil, Satan.

But I want you to think of these two titles. Deceiver of the whole world, accuser of the brethren. Whenever a salesman who deceives his customers with some product he's selling, is in fellowship with whom?

Sales. Right? You agree or not? Anyone who is deceiving the world, somebody in the world, is in fellowship with Satan. Okay. When you sit, now that's one title, let's go to the second title now. When you sit and accuse another brother, who are you in fellowship with?

A little more difficult to answer? The answer is the same. It may be a little more personal, but the answer is the same. We're in fellowship with Satan. Accuser, deceiver of the world, accuser of the brethren.

The one who accuses the brethren is no better than that salesman who goes around selling a cheap counterfeit product and deceives his customers. Absolutely no difference. You can be horrified with that salesman who does such a thing.

You say, oh, I am in a holiness church, I would never do that. And you can do exactly the same thing when you accuse a brother or a sister. Do you gossip? Do you speak evil of others behind their back?

You run down someone without a purpose? I think the only person to whom you can go and speak about somebody else is to an elder brother in a church where you can get him to help that person. Then it's not backbiting.

Then it's right. You go to an elder in a church and say, brother, there's a problem with so and so. I'm not able to help him. Perhaps you can and don't tell anyone else. But if you go around speaking about it all over, you are in fellowship with the accuser of the brethren.

You're not helping him. You're just tearing him down. That's just in passing. But he, this accuser of the brethren, he, it says here, the accuser of the brethren is cast down, which accused them before God day and night.

Do you know that Satan works 24 hours in this business of deceiving? He's a full-time worker, 24 hours accusing the brethren. And it says here about certain people who are the overcomers. Who are these overcomers?

The Bible speaks about the new revelation, particularly the book of Revelation speaks about overcomers. In all the seven churches, the Lord speaks to the overcomer. And in the end of Revelation, it says, he who overcomes shall inherit all things, Revelation 21, 7 and 8.

He shall overcome all things. He shall inherit. He who overcomes shall inherit all things. And I'll be his God and he'll be my son. And here it says, the overcomers, they overcame Satan. Now, this is what they are thinking of now.

Thing which they couldn't do in the Old Testament. They fought with Philistines, Midianites, otherites, like a lot of believers do today. Fight with flesh and blood, but never fight with Satan. Maybe they overcome flesh and blood, they take people to court, they sue them, they win perhaps, but they're defeated by Satan.

Maybe they do succeed, with all their manipulation and all that, to become elders in some church. But Satan has overcome them because they were fighting flesh and blood. And it says here about this group of overcomers, and they're very few, they overcame Satan by the blood of the Lamb, by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto the death.

You cannot overcome Satan if we don't begin with the blood of Jesus Christ. And a lot of people don't like to talk about that these days. They have a bloodless Christianity. There is no bloodless Christianity.

The blood of Jesus Christ is the first thing we need when we overcome Satan, because Satan is called here the accuser of the brethren. When he comes to accuse me, how can I overcome him? Everything he says is right.

I did do those things 25 years ago. I did do that 20 years ago. I did that last year. I did that other thing he mentioned last month. How do I overcome him? I can't tell him he's a liar. He's a liar, but when he tells these things to me, he's right.

I overcome him by the blood of the Lamb. I tell him, Satan, when you finish making the list, let me tell you the blood of Jesus cleansed me from all my sins. And I'm redeemed. I've been purchased. I've been cleansed.

I've been justified. And as far as God's concerned, that list doesn't exist. It's only in your mind. It's not in God's mind, and it's not in mine. It's in yours. You can keep it if you like, but you're not going to harass me with that.

The blood of Jesus cleansed me from all sins. Don't ever try any other method with Satan. Don't say I confessed it 10 times. That's not the way to overcome it. The blood of Jesus Christ. We'll need it till our dying day because we can slip up anytime.

So that's where we begin. The blood of the Lamb. And I want to say this. Don't ever join Satan in accusing yourself when he tries to condemn you. And don't ever join him in accusing others. That's Satan's business, and we should have nothing to do with it.

The Word of Testimony and the Promises of God

The second thing is the word of our testimony. What is the word of our testimony? It's not testimony to men. Remember, we're talking here about Satan. We're not talking about getting up in the meeting and giving a testimony how Jesus saved me.

No, that's not the point here. Some people have misunderstood that verse. We're dealing with Satan now. What, Satan is attacking me and I'm overcoming him? How? I may not even be in a meeting. I may be just in my room.

And he's accusing me. I overcome him by the blood of Jesus, or he's trying to discourage me or depress me. That often happens. Trying to do that. And I overcome him by the word of my testimony. And who am I giving my testimony to?

To Satan. And what am I saying to him? Testimony here does not mean when I was converted and all the sins I did, because he already knows all that. And I don't want to glorify Satan by making a big list of all the things I did in my life.

Some people give their testimony like that. I've heard people give a testimony, and 75 of the time they're glorifying the devil by giving a big list of all the wrong things they did in their life. Perhaps to show how humble they are, but they're not really being humble.

They're just glorifying the devil. And I say, I don't want to glorify the devil. Yeah, I was a sinner. I did a lot of rotten things, but Jesus saved me. I want to talk more about Jesus than about what the devil made me do.

And so the word of our testimony to Satan has got nothing to do with all that. It's got to do with what God has said. You know, when Satan came to Jesus, Jesus gave his testimony to Satan. What does that?

Not I was born in Nazareth. No, I was born in Bethlehem. I lived in Nazareth. Not that. It is written. That's all. One sentence. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

Second time, Satan came another time with another temptation. He gave his testimony again. What God's word said. That's the thing that's absolutely certain. We can be absolutely sure of, and that's what we have to confess to Satan.

And you know, if you do this, confess what the blood of Jesus did for you, that you've been cleansed, justified. Confess that God is on the throne. There are times when I am attacked by temptations to be discouraged and depressed.

It can come sometimes. You don't know why. How shall we overcome? Sometimes you kneel down to pray and you don't feel like you're getting through to God. Even after five or ten minutes, your mind is wandering here, there, everywhere.

I'm sure you've had this experience. Because I've had it. And your flesh is the same as mine, so you must have had it. I kneel down to pray and it's a struggle. And you go on and on and on and on and you know you're not getting anywhere.

But I'll tell you what I do now. I get up and I raise my hands and I say, well Lord, I don't know why I'm not able to get through here, but my sins are all forgiven, that's for sure. The blood of Jesus cleansed me from all my sins.

God is still on the throne. And he rules the universe. And it says in 1 Corinthians 10, 13, that God will never allow me to be tested or tempted beyond my ability. That's a good confession to make. God will never allow me to be tested beyond my ability.

God will never allow me to be tempted beyond my ability. Have you heard believers say, oh, this is getting too much for me. That's a lie. That means God didn't keep his word. What does it say in 1 Corinthians 10, 13?

God is faithful, who will never allow you to be tested beyond your ability, but will with the temptation make a way of escape that you may be able to endure it or bear it. Which means, I will never face a trial or a temptation in my whole life, which is too much for me.

God has got his hand on the knob to make sure that the pressure doesn't get too much. He releases it so that it never crosses into the red. He always keeps on this side. He allows it to get pretty close to the red sometimes, to the red line, but he always makes sure it's on this side.

It's true. It's always true. And God's got his hand on the knob. Don't think it's those people who are troubling you. They say when troubles come, they seem to all come together, but that doesn't matter.

God's got his hand on the knob still, and he'll make sure it never becomes too much. I confess that. I confess what it says in Romans 8, 20, that we know that all things work together for good. And in some translations it says God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God and are called according to his purpose.

I confess that. It is written that I am justified by the blood of Jesus. It is written that I shall not be tempted beyond my ability at any time. It is written that all things work together for good, for me.

It is written that all authority in heaven and earth is still in the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is, that's Matthew 28, 18. It is written in Hebrews 2, 14, that Jesus destroyed him who had the power of death.

That means even though Satan is not eliminated, his power over me is gone. And many wonderful things like that. And once I start confessing a few things like that to Satan, I find my depression is gone, pretty quickly.