Now it came about on one of those days, that He got into a boat, He and His disciples, and said to them, “Let us go over to the other side of the lake.” And they launched out. But as they were sailing along He fell asleep; and a fierce gale of wind descended upon the lake, and they began to be swamped and to be in danger. And they came to Him, and woke Him up, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And being aroused, He rebuked the wind and the surging waves, and they stopped, and it became calm. And He said to them, “Where is your faith?” And they were fearful and amazed, saying to one another, “Who then is this, that He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey Him?” And they sailed to the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. Luke 8:22–26.
Is there any explanation for the unlimited authority that Christ had to rebuke the winds and the waves and to see the storms respond to Him? This is a difficult question to answer. On the surface, we could say it happened because He was the Son of God, but that is not a satisfactory answer. Jesus said, “I can of Myself do nothing” (John 5:30). Why did He say that? Christ was as helpless as any man and as limited as all humanity.
Can you rebuke the wind and make it stop? Can you quiet a storm? Can you walk on water? Can you raise the dead? No, you cannot do those things in yourself, and neither could the Lord. He said, “It is My Father who is doing the works. I can of Myself do nothing” (John 8:28). Not one thing was He able to do by His divine nature, because He had to be as limited as you and I are; otherwise, his incarnation meant nothing.
Jesus was not a superman or God bottled up in a human body with no limitations upon Him. He was tempted in all points as we are, and He had to be as limited as we are. I think He was limited even in His knowledge of who He was. He grew in grace and in knowledge and increased in wisdom (Luke 2:40).
The Word says, And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man. Luke 2:52. By the age of twelve, He had a conscious awareness of who He was, for we find the Lord saying in the temple, Wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business? Luke 2:49b.
When Jesus met Satan, how could He have been tempted if He were not limited? Some people think that He could not possibly have sinned. If He was not able to do anything wrong, then His victory has no meaning for us.
It was necessary that He be in all points tempted like as we are, which means He had the potential of sin and failure; however, the Word says He was without sin (Hebrews 4:15). This is significant because it means that He met temptation with the limitations of a man and overcame by the same means that are available for us. When the Holy Spirit descended upon Him and drove Him into the wilderness, He met the temptations in the same way we meet them (Luke 4:1–13).
Jesus went into the wilderness full of the Holy Spirit and came out of the wilderness in the Power of the Spirit, because he had to be tested to see if He would act independently of the Father, in order for the Father to trust him with power.
How do we overcome Satan? By the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony, and not loving our lives unto the death. We proclaim, “It is written.…” We believe the Word of God, and we give testimony to it. We overcome in the same manner that Jesus did.
In this account in Luke, we see Jesus rebuking the wind and waves, and in our hearts and minds we begin to wonder how He could do this. The answer is in Philippians 2:5–8. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself (of all His divine attributes and nature), taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
We are going through the same things Christ went through. This is important for us to know, because we are dealing now with a very deep question: How do we come to the point where we take dominion over the futility that is on all creation? How can the manifestation of the sons of God in their authority and power come?
To answer this, we must study the life of Christ and see how He moved into authority. On the human level, He moved into authority by humbling Himself and becoming completely submissive to the Father, for He said, “I do always those things which please the Father” (John 8:29). It was in complete submission that He emptied Himself, came down to earth, and was obedient even to the point of death.
Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Verses 9–11. Submission comes before the manifestation of authority.
Was there ever a time when such great futility rested upon the nations and their economies as now does? In this day Satan is raging. What God first imposed upon creation, Satan is anxious to prolong. Therefore he rages against the sons of God, who will release creation from futility. Satan tries to swamp you with the spirit of futility, but you must overcome it.
It is essential that we move in authority. If we are to have authority over the spirit of futility that is raging against us now, we must get right down to the basics: we must move into submission.
Submission has always been important, but it is the truth of this hour. As we become totally submissive to the Lord in our lives, and we believe for His Kingdom to come forth, we are aligned with Christ’s authority. For that reason Satan is working to create all the rebellion he can. He is doing everything in his power to prolong the limitations which have been imposed upon the human race.
God is opening the door for us to be loosed from our limitations, and we shall be loosed by our submission to the Lord. Once we are totally submissive, we move right into the authority; then we can move just as the Lord Jesus Christ. He could rebuke the wind; He could rebuke the waves; and there was a great calm. The disciples saw only His works; they overlooked the complete, total submission that Christ had to the Father which brought about the authority.
Jesus said, Take my yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart.… Matthew 11:29. Christ possessed a meekness and a lowliness before the Father. He tells us, Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. Matthew 5:5. (This is a word that most Christians reject.) Putting it in plain terms, blessed are those who are not on an ego trip. Blessed are the submissive ones. Blessed are those who are willing to lose their own identity. Blessed are those who are willing to lose their lives for His sake, for then they will find them (Luke 9:24).
The meek are the ones who will move in God’s authority. They are the ones who will inherit the earth. The manifestation of the sons of God will come forth in a people who are very submissive to the Lord.
To the extent that you are submissive to the Lord, to that extent His authority works in you. You may think all you need to do is use the name of Jesus Christ. The name of Jesus Christ on your lips will be no more effective than it is in your heart. If you are bowing to the name of Jesus and you are submissive to the authority of that name in your heart, then from your mouth that name will be effective.
Acts 19 tells of the sons of Sceva who tried to cast out a demon by saying, “We adjure you, by Jesus whom Paul preaches, that you come out.” The devil answered, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?” and he jumped on the men and wounded them (Acts 19:13–16).
The sons of Sceva tried to use the name of Jesus plus an apostle’s name in order to cast out some demons, but they would not come out. Demons do not have to respect the name of Jesus any more than the one who is using His name. If he respects and honors the Lord’s name, the demons must honor it also.
In the spirit realm we are always emanating light, color, smell, sound or vibration. Demons know if we are walking in complete submission to the Lord. The demons said these guys down look right and they don’t smell right, let’s beat them up.
When we are walking in complete submission we radiate the glory of the Lord, and demons run to get out of our way.
When we come into complete submission, we are able to take authority over every circumstance that comes, no matter how futile it may seem. That spirit of futility has to be broken in our own hearts first. Once it is broken there, and we are no longer walking in confusion, but in complete submission to the Lord, then we can take dominion over futility in every area.
We need to understand the ways of the Lord in order to understand the ways of Satan. We need to understand the ways of Satan more clearly than we do now if we are to overcome him.
Before a man competes in a prize fight, he studies movies of his opponent in action to become familiar with every method of his opponent’s performance. Then he can beat him because he knows his one area of weakness. We should study the enemy and find out what he is doing, where he bluffs, and where he is weak.
Let me tell you something about Satan. He has power, but you do not need to be afraid of it because he has no authority. That is the reason he comes as a roaring lion (1 Peter 5:8). He has to bluff and rage because he has no authority. All authority in heaven and earth is given to the Lord (Matthew 28:18). Principalities and powers were stripped of their authority by Jesus Christ.
Satan has another weak point that you must understand. He cannot change the existing laws. He can only try to twist them and distort their use. He has to accept the world as God created it. Satan himself has to bow to things as they are.
When God imposed futility upon man at the fall, Satan set about to capitalize on that. He could not invent something new; he could only work with what existed. After death was imposed upon man, Satan preyed on the principle of death through witchcraft, murder, wars, and many other things.
The instinct of self-preservation and the striving for personal identity is born in man because he is alienated from God. Satan cannot change this, so he must prey upon it. Satan will come against you through this instinct of self-preservation, making you feel that you had better look out for yourself for no one else will. That is a lie, an instinct which Satan preys upon.
You are an individual, and in your fallen state you are, of necessity, independent. But if you will love God and serve Him and are willing to give your life for Him and lose it for His sake, then you will save it (Matthew 16:25).
You will have to go against that self-preservation instinct and be willing to lose your life for Christ’s sake. The day that you are willing to do that, you will move into the release of the Lord because of your total submission to Him.
Satan keeps trying to maintain man’s independence from God. In your total submission and subservience to the Lord, you place your life completely and totally in His hands. That is the only way to escape from the independence which man inherited as a son of Adam and Eve.
What do we do now? We have to break from every human way and move into the divine way by totally giving ourselves over to the Lord and by becoming totally submissive to Him in what He wants for our lives. When we understand the necessity of this, we can understand how Satan comes against us and sometimes succeeds.
Once you realize you must overcome the flesh, you may try to do so by an exertion of will power. Satan knows that as long as he keeps you independent from God, you will continue to struggle against the flesh.
You can struggle against lust, against greed, against habits; and you will never completely succeed. There will always be some way that Satan can get to you because he has you separated from God.
He works on you as an independent unit because that is what you are, outside of God. Just being a Christian is not enough; you must totally give yourself over to the Lord to be His. In that surrender and submission you will find the release from everything that bothered you in the old realm. This is the absolute truth.
You do not set yourself to fight your problems; the answer is in surrendering yourself to God. This puts you in a position to appropriate grace for the release and cleansing you need.
Luke 8:27–40 records what happened when Jesus and His disciples landed in the country of the Gerasenes. And when He had come out onto the land, a certain man from the city met Him who was possessed with demons; and who had not put on any clothing for a long time, and was not living in a house, but in the tombs. And seeing Jesus, he cried out and fell before Him, and said in a loud voice, “What do I have to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg You, do not torment me.” Notice the demons’ knowledge of who Christ was.
For He had been commanding the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For it seized him many times; and he was bound with chains and shackles and kept under guard; and yet he would burst his fetters and be driven by the demon into the deserts. And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Legion”; for many demons had entered him. And they were entreating Him not to command them to depart into the abyss.
Now there was a herd of many swine feeding there on the mountain; and the demons entreated Him to permit them to enter the swine. And He gave them permission. And the demons came out from the man and entered the wine; and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake, and were drowned. And when those who tended them saw what had happened, they ran away and reported it in the city and out in the country.
And the people went out to see what had happened; and they came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting down at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind; and they became frightened. And those who had seen it reported to them how the man who was demon-possessed had been made well, And all the people of the country of the Gerasenes and the surrounding district asked Him to depart from them; for they were gripped with great fear; and He got into a boat, and returned. Notice: when they asked Jesus to leave, He did so.
But the man from whom the demons had gone out was begging Him that he might accompany Him; but He sent him away, saying, “Return to your house and describe what great things God has done for you.” And he departed, proclaiming throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him. And as Jesus returned, the multitude welcomed Him, for they had all been waiting for Him.
This storm was not an accident. I have heard reports of dangerous squalls which arise on the Sea of Galilee apparently out of nowhere, and that might have been the case. On the other hand, Satan’s kingdom is well enough organized to anticipate the trip that Jesus was going to make.
Those demons had a real knowledge of Christ and addressed Him as “the Son of the Most High God.” They knew who He was, and they pleaded not to be tormented. This storm might have come because Jesus was coming to confront and cast out those demons and to loose that man.
Whenever you start to walk with God, it seems as if the enemy anticipates the deliverance that will come and does everything he can to lay something in the way, to bring some kind of storm or circumstance to distract, to hinder or discourage you from pressing on to the victory that you are about to obtain.
Satan can anticipate, but I do not believe he knows all things. There are many things hidden in the heart of the Father. As to the day and the hour of the Lord’s return, Jesus said, “No man knows this, but the Father only” (Matthew 24:36). There are things in the heart of God which Satan cannot read and which not even the only begotten Son of God is to know.
The Father has retained many things to Himself; and that could be the reason that when the prophets spoke, one prophecy might refer to many different things which God was going to do.
In the Old Testament books of the prophets, God very carefully interspersed references to the sufferings of Christ and to the glory to be revealed at His first and second comings.
The fact that these references to Christ were mingled together with references to other events shows that even the prophets themselves were not allowed by the Holy Spirit to comprehend the sequence of events in God’s plan.
Most of the prophecies in the Old Testament concerning Christ speak about the glorious Kingdom of Christ that is to come. Only a few refer to the first coming of the Lord when He would come to suffer and to be our Savior and Redeemer.
Remembering the Old Testament prophecies, the disciples asked Christ after His resurrection, Wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? Christ answered, “It is not for you to know the times and seasons which the Father has placed in His own hand. But you will receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you to be witnesses of the gospel in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and in all the earth” (Acts 1:6–8).
However, the early apostles did not anticipate that nineteen centuries would pass without the Lord’s return. They began preaching the second coming of the Lord immediately. Today there are modernists who sneer at the early disciples because they expected Jesus to return in the first century. No one knew when He would come back. The day and the hour no one knew, but they were to preach the imminent return of the Lord, for He could come at any time.
Nineteen centuries have passed instead of one, and the Lord has not returned in the clouds as the disciples saw Him leave. This does not mean He will not come. It simply means that the chronological element of these times and seasons are hidden in the heart of the Father. But we are now in the time when the books are being revealed.
In these days it is very important that we understand that God is suddenly thrusting upon us the manifestation of the sons of God. How long will it take? We are being brought right into everything that God has for us. These are the days for us to open our hearts and move forward with everything that is within us.
Satan would not be working so actively against us if it were not for the fact that he anticipates what is coming. He is aware that his time is short, so he is raging against the inhabitants of the earth (Revelation 12:12).
The intensity of Satan’s effort is not an occasion for discouragement, but one of the greatest indications of what Christ is doing. The ultimate goal of the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers is that we no longer walk as the Gentiles, in futility of the mind (Ephesians 4:11, 17).
The spirit of futility is to be broken for us who are in the restoration under divine order. It is inevitable that the restoration will lead us into a release from the futility of the mind which rests upon the whole world, so that we become renewed in the spirit of our minds and begin to walk forth in the things of the Lord (Ephesians 4:23).
Are you aware of the tactics of Satan? How he has used the natural things in your life to confuse and disturb you? That does not really matter. Just realize that Satan is greatly handicapped. He cannot invent a new law; he cannot create a new world; he cannot do a thing except try to torment and to slow down what God is doing in the earth. When you realize this, you will magnify the Lord and minimize “what’s-his-name.” Ask the Lord to help you see this and to open your heart to it.
Perhaps you are really battled by Satan, and you are wondering which way to turn next. You do not know what to do, and Jesus appears to be asleep while you are perishing.
He has authority over the winds and the waves. Wake Him up, and open your heart to Him. If you do not think He is asleep, then talk to Him. Submit totally to Him so that you can have authority over the storm that Satan is blowing up to capsize your boat. The secret of victory is in submission.
Wherever futility or confusion has been reigning in our thinking and in our hearts, we must seek the Lord to loose us from it. Let us learn again what it is to be submissive, for it is the submission that we seek above everything else. Let us repent of our arrogance and of our independent thinking and actions. We must learn to be led by the Spirit and totally submissive to the Lord in all things.
When the futility is broken, you will be surprised what liberty there will be and how free you will feel. Instead of trying to come to grips with your problems, come to grips with the spirit of futility within yourself. Lay yourself in the hands of the Lord to serve Him, and let Him take care of everything else in your life.