The eighth chapter of Romans teaches us that creation has been subjected to futility, but in hope, that when the sons of God come forth in their manifestation, they in turn will release creation from futility. The problem is not with creation; the problem is with the sons of God being loosed from futility. They become the first fruits of the Spirit to come forth in this liberty.
Whenever we begin to contend for this liberty, great waves of depression and deception come against us. We are in satanic conflict because Satan is now trying to prolong what was first imposed by God.
Satan has already been disarmed of all authority, so we redirect our thinking upon the Lord, and the enemies power diminishes.
It is God who imposed futility upon all creation, including humanity. For God would not allow man, in his sinful condition, to continue living in a creation that was without any sin or futility.
Man was to take dominion over it. Therefore, when man was lowered, creation was lowered under him; even the earth was to bring forth thorns and thistles and other things that were to be a challenge (Genesis 3). There has been a sense of futility upon all creation.
Even with the divine order that is found in the laws of nature, there is still a futility in all kinds of life. Whether it is in the organic or inorganic realm, there remains a deep sense of futility on all creation. The time has come for us to be released. We are ready to be loosed, but Satan tries to prolong the deliverance and discourage us with a deep spirit of futility. We cast down the spirit of futility by not agreeing with it because all authority in heaven and earth has been delegated to us.
The Scriptures establish one fact that must become real to us: it is our choice to refuse futility. Creation does not have any choice; it is subjected to futility, yet with an expectation of release. This is not true of the people in the world who do not know God. Futility is a reality to them. They do not expect anything else, whether it be in their human relationships or any other area. The spirit of futility is accepted as a way of life to worldly people. Even though it is an unconscious acceptance, their responses are conditioned to it.
For the Christian there is a choice. They deliberately choose to remain under futility if they fall for the satanic illusion which comes against them. When I use the word “illusion,” I do not just mean the appearance of things. Your emotions, feelings, and everything that is within your nature responds to Satan’s attack of futility, and it can completely overwhelm you. It can bring a complete diverting of your attention from the thing that God really wants you to do.
If you want to have to eliminate battle, start blessing the things around you. Bless your automobile; bless every area where Satan is trying to come in to spoil you. When you set your heart to do this, you may have more problems than ever with accidents and things being spoiled. Why does this happen? Satan is trying to bluff you. Just break that spirit of futility and rebuke it.
There was one woman who had a very serious health problem. The ministries frequently prophesied over her and ministered to her, trying to encourage her. Every time she set her heart to walk with God, Satan would assault her so viciously that it was a struggle to keep her alive. After a while, she became conditioned; she withdrew from seeking the Lord, because every time she did, she was battled. (That is what Satan is trying to do to you: make you withdraw from the battle, which is just standing in the victory already given to you.
When you seek after God, Satan tries assaulting you, hoping that you will react to that attack and back off.) I told this woman she must press into God, even if it killed her. If it did, the ministries would believe for God to resurrect her, but she must not stop seeking the Lord. When she became determined to believe God for the victory, even though she was often near death, God gave her the victory. When she finally refused to be conditioned by Satan’s attacks, then she began to gain her victory. Because she believed God, He honored her.
As you seek to walk with God, one thing after another comes against you, until you can become very discouraged. That is Satan’s objective. He is trying to produce in you that sense of futility so that you will not accept the victory that has been given to you. God is more displeased on earth with the person who draws back than with the person who never sought Him in the first place. Such a person will find themselves slowly sinking into a low spiritual state.
In this day, you will accept one of two things: faith or futility. You will be a believer, or you will let that sense of frustration and futility overcome you. No one is exempt from this attack of futility, until nothing concerning the world of illusion we live in, no longer moves them. The more aggressively you seek God, the more you will come against the spirit of futility, which is Satan himself, until he is under your feet.
When Satan is battling the liberation of the sons of God and trying to produce a futility, often a stiffness comes in the shoulders or in the neck area. This is a sign of Satan’s efforts to come against your authority over futility. You may also feel a numbness on your head, as if someone had put a cap on you. You may feel absolutely numb with the oppression and utterly taken over by emotions, by discouragement, by a depression that is as bitter as death itself. Then you are standing in the presence of Satan himself. Satan’s presence produces just the opposite effect as that of the Lord. When you stand in the presence of the Lord, there is joy (Psalm 16:11). The solution to the heaviness is to break through to the Lord; then a joyfulness comes. That is the reason the prophecies and psalms of the Kingdom are shouted joyfully.
The kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. Matthew 11:12. You must press into the joy, into the dominion and the authority that is yours over the futility and depression and heaviness, because these things can constantly come against you.
While Satan tries to produce futility in us, God is trying to bring forth His fullness in us. We must realize what God has provided for us. The prophecies and the Scriptures speak about our being absolutely complete in Christ. Here is the area of warfare: whether we really believe in our relationship to the Lord, whether we believe who we are, whether we believe what God says we can do and what He has made available to us. This is the whole issue. We must accept what God is ministering to us and promising us. It is always a battle against the Word of God- hath God said!
Although my life has been a constant battle against the spirit of futility, I now realize it is a illusion and redirect my focus on the victory Jesus has given me.
Let us look at some of the promises the Lord has given us. For of His fulness we have all received, and grace upon grace. John 1:16.
He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come. And He put all things in subjection under His feet and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fulness of Him who fills all in all. Ephesians 1:20–23.
We are the fullness of Him who fills all in all, behind that is all authority, all power, all dominion—everything. He is going to fill all things, even the world that does not know Him. The knowledge of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea (Isaiah 11:9). God intends for us, as His Church, to be the fullness of Him who fills all in all. That may be a difficult concept for some to accept. Our natural minds do not grasp the magnitude of this truth. We are to be the fullness of Christ, it is our destiny and the reason we were born into this world.
We are the fullness of Him who fills all in all, Behind that is all authority, all power, all dominion—everything. He is going to fill all things, even the world that does not know Him. The knowledge of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea (Isaiah 11:9). God intends for us, as His Church, to be the fullness of Him who fills all in all. That may be a difficult concept to accept. Our minds do not grasp the magnitude of this truth. We are to be the fullness of Christ.
The body of Christ is the fullness of Christ in the earth.
To gain the full comprehension of what this fullness means and of His filling all things, we will read several Scriptures. Each one will help to erode away our unbelief and lead us into what God has provided. When we stand on His provision, we are given authority and power over the enemy. We are Christ’s fullness. We must believe that we are the fullness of the Lord, the fullness of Him who fills all things.
Ephesians 3: 19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.
You are filled with all the fullness of God; it is working within you. That fullness of God within you brings about His ability to do exceedingly abundantly above all that you ask or think. It is all according to the power working in you. The fullness of God can loose creation; it can even deal with some of your frustrating circumstances.
Some areas of your life yield quickly to divine order, but there are others that Satan seizes tenaciously and makes the battleground because they are keys.
The only way to get free is to see yourselves in Christ, and in those areas, you will be released. They were working to produce futility and frustration in you.
While you are getting deliverance in many areas, there will be one choice thing that Satan hangs onto and uses to discourage you so that you will not accept what God says.
Once we break free of that, there will be no stopping the overflow of the anointing that sets free everything we come into contact with.
We are to be filled with all the fullness of God. The power that is working in us will be turned loose, but to what extent? Exceeding, abundantly above all that we ask or think—that is abundant life.
He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things. Ephesians 4:10. God is making an invasion. He is going to fill everything, and He will fill you first. Then you will be a manifestation of His fullness, and that fullness will fill everything else.
In the past, devil worshipers used to worship trees, certain rocks, mountains, and sometimes even carved images. You may think that was a strange way to express worship to devils, but have you ever noticed that certain areas of your city are filled with demon powers? Have you ever discerned the demons that can actually fill forests and trees? There are different spirits controlling different areas. The book of Daniel records that when the angel was bringing an answer to Daniel, the prince of the power of Persia withstood the answer for twenty-one days (Daniel 10:13).
Do you believe that demons control territories and actually seem to possess certain areas? Do you believe that the spirit of perversion hangs over certain cities? There are some cities in which the spirit of murder prevails. Self-righteousness hangs over certain areas; and wherever self-righteousness prevails, there are also centers of witchcraft. Wherever there is a religious spirit, there Satan is also, because Satan is a religious spirit.
God is not simply concerned about getting a few churches started; He is concerned about our liberating certain areas from spiritual oppression. We are never going to move forward until we realize that these areas are held in futility.
In certain cities, no matter what work of God is started, it is perverted and ends in futility. Devil power possesses some localities and works through violent, revolutionary spirits. Even perfectly normal, spiritual Christians when they are exposed to such spirits, show the effects.
What should we do? One of these days apostolic companies will begin to move. They will not just hold meetings and teach people how to sing a few songs. They will go in and take dominion over the spirits that are hindering the churches in each area. We must agree that the spirit of futility is broken.
A spirit of heaviness rests upon the entire Midwest in the form of religiosity. People may be very alert, even after working twelve or fourteen hours a day; but when they come into a church service, they fall asleep. This happens, even if they have had a period of complete rest.
Why does not God just curse that spirit and bring an end to it. Why does He not do so? It is our job to bring the loosing. All creation is subject to futility until we, who are the fullness of Him who fills all things, come forth.
The Christ in us will never rest until every bond of futility is broken for all time. Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father, henceforth expecting until every enemy is made the footstool of His feet. Once we begin to believe that there is authority over futility, we will not accept it any longer. We stand firm in this one belief: the day of release is upon us. This is the acceptable year of the Lord.
For in Him (that is, in Christ) all the fulness of Deity dwells in bodily form (do you believe that the fullness of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit dwells in Jesus Christ in bodily form in his ministry while on the earth?) and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority. Colossians 2:9, 10.
You must understand this: in Him you have been made complete, and He is the Head over all rule and authority. That is another difficult truth to accept. You are complete in Christ. What is the first thought that enters your mind when you think about that? Do you begin to think about your inadequacy? The Scripture does not say that you are complete in what you are physically, mentally, or emotionally. It says that you are complete in Christ. Do you accept that?
You are complete in Christ. You may object, thinking that God cannot use you because you have many problems, but the Scripture does not say that you must have no problems; it says that you are complete in Christ. If you are weak, He will confound the mighty through you. If you are stupid, He will confound the wise through you. If you are base, then He will be glorified in you (1 Corinthians 1:27–31).
The Lord wants you to realize that you are complete in Him. This concept must become a part of you. You have accepted the futility on all creation and on all mankind; but when you are in Christ, you must accept the release from that futility.
You may still feel the futility, but that is only the assault of the enemy. Futility is not a reality; it is an illusion. What is the reality? Your completeness in Christ is the reality.
We must decide what is truth and what is a lie. The futility is a lie. This is the day of the sons of God. The futility is a lie. We will either have faith, or we will have futility. If we have faith, we believe with all our hearts in the completeness that we have in Christ Jesus the Lord. We are complete in Him.
For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fulness to dwell in Him. Colossians 1:19. We are complete in Him who is the Head. And we proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, that we may present every man complete in Christ. Colossians 1:28. To my way of thinking, these are some of the most beautiful truths in the Word.
Satan will move through hereditary characteristics in some families to produce certain patterns of frustration and futility which keep coming up again and again. But once we submit to the fullness of Christ, the trend will change.
Colossians 3:11 speaks of a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all. In Christ there is no distinction, but that is just the negative side of the picture. This is the positive side: Christ is all, and in all. Christ is Christ in us, whether we are Jews or Greeks, whether we are bond or free. The fullness is there.
Christ is all, and in all. It does not make any difference what kind of shell or exterior a man or woman has, because the Lord removes it anyway. He takes the Jew and makes him generous. Christ in the Jew becomes a giver. Christ in an Irishman makes him gentle. Christ in a Frenchman makes him stable. Christ in an Italian makes him long-suffering. That is beautiful. With all the different nationalities and peoples, Christ is all and in all.
He changes us and gives us a new heredity, a new disposition, a new nature. We must become accustomed to thinking that our completeness is in Christ because this is the key to the renewal of our minds. We are complete in Christ. There is nothing lacking.
You may yet see much that needs to be done in you. But you will never see it done if you look at the faults and try to correct them. Fill yourself with God, and He will invade every area of your life.
We have talked about being complete in the Lord. We have talked about being filled with all the fullness of the Lord. Then what do we do? We cooperate with what God is doing. To fill us, He first has to empty us; and it is that emptying process that we are experiencing now. One thing we must do is discard the feelings and thoughts and emotions of futility. Those must go!
Have you recently been assaulted with more doubts and delusions than ever? Do you feel that Satan is really working you over? Good! Satan would not be doing that to you if you were not ready to break through into the victory.
The spirit of futility is deep-seated, but after the first principality falls, the rest will be easy. No one has yet walked in this authority, except in a small measure. The first man or woman in Christ who reaches through and pulls down one of these principalities of futility and frustration will see a new realm loosed.
At one time, years and years would go by, and very rarely would someone speak in tongues. But after the first breakthrough came, the word got around that the experience was available; and people everywhere were filled with the Holy Spirit and speaking with other tongues. For over a hundred years there have been the outpourings of the Holy Spirit in many countries. Today there are few who doubt that it can be done. The principle applies even to the natural realm. After one man runs the first four-minute mile, another man believes he can, and then another.
We are the ones who will manifest the first fruits of the Spirit. Someone must do it. Someone must face this tidal wave of futility and frustration and stand against it, believing God for the manifestation of His sons, and for the fullness of Christ to be manifested.
Someone must believe for more than just a trickle of blessing. There must be a flood. Someone must come to Christ to drink; then out of his belly will flow rivers of living water (John 7:38). The fullness must flow, and this is the time.
Will there be casualties? I imagine there will be, but this hill must be taken, at any cost. The only reason we struggle with futility is because, we are unconsciously agreeing with the enemy.
We could settle down and be content to build a lot of churches, but we would miss the true purpose of God. We are not soldiers for parades; we are the army of the Lord to take the hill. Let us go after it! This may sound ruthless; some may be destroyed unintentionally, but a soldier recognizes that the Kingdom must be sought first.
We will stand together and do all we can to protect one another. God grant that not one be lost. But we all must be willing to give our lives if we are going to break through. At any cost, the spirit of futility must be broken within us. We must lose our sensitivity to this frustration Satan is bringing to us and walk in the faith that shouts joyfully in the presence of the Lord.
Every one of us is crying to the Lord, even if on a subconscious level. Now is the time to believe and to put into action this word about overcoming futility. We must overcome the heaviness that is upon our thinking. We must throw it off.
Satan will no longer prolong it. We take dominion over it in the name of the Lord; it is brought down by Christ’s authority. We claim all authority, all rule, all power in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We prepare our hearts right now for every good thing that the Lord has prepared for us.
There is only one way to get the victory: just stand up to what you are facing and refuse to move. Shake off the viper! Let the Lord purge you of the poison in your system. Let there be an anointing of the Lord upon you.
We prophesy in the name of the Lord that all that Satan attempts to do shall return upon his own works. Every device that he brings against us will be brought to futility. Whatsoever the enemy brings against the people of the Lord shall be frustrated as the Spirit of the Lord lifts up a standard against it.
We prophesy in the name of the Lord Jesus that there shall be no more of the abortive spirit causing us to bear no fruit and making things fall short of what God wants. We curse that abortive spirit that comes against everything the people of God attempt to do. We loose the churches in the name of the Lord. Every prophecy we speak shall frustrate all the plans of the enemy. Whatsoever device is brought against us shall not prosper.
Whatsoever the people of the Lord do shall prosper. This is the blessing upon the man or woman of God: whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. Psalm 1:3.
The spirit of fullness, that spirit of victory and release that is upon us by God, gives us the inner dominion. Then the outer circumstances will conform to the spirit that is in us. If we are frustrated and the spirit of futility fills our emotions and our thinking, we cannot expect anything else but futility in our circumstances. But we loose ourselves from that! The precious blood of Jesus Christ will be our cleansing. By the word of our testimony and by the blood of the Lamb and not loving our lifes, we will overcome everything that Satan brings against us.