Revelation 3:19–22 is part of the message to the seventh church of Asia, the church of Laodicea. “ ‘Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and he with Me. He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’ ”
Follow this very carefully. Verse 19 points out the way of repentance; “be zealous, be zealous…and repent.”
That opens the door to the second stage: “I stand at the door and knock. You can open the door and I’ll come in. You can practice my presence and practice communion with Me.”
Step number three: He who overcomes. That is the natural sequence: we overcome as a result of practicing the presence of the Lord.
A little girl was giving her testimony in a service, telling what the Lord meant to her. She said, “Before Jesus came into my heart, the Devil would knock on the door and see that there was nobody home but me.
I’d let him come in and he would overcome me and I would yield to temptation. But now Jesus is in my heart, and when the Devil knocks on the door I say, ‘Dear Jesus, would you please answer the door?’ And when the Devil sees Jesus, he runs away!”
That isn’t just an idle principle. Jesus said, “I stand at the door and knock. If you open the door, I will come in and sup with you and you with Me.” Then He continues, “You overcome and I’ll grant to you to sit with Me on My throne.” When we invite Him in and we practice His presence and communion, He invites us into His victory, and to His throne.
There is a reason why this works. We are always looking for the principles behind a truth. Satan is as eager as he can be to avoid an encounter with Christ. He can evade it just so long until Christ finally confronts him and then the adversary will be no more; he’ll be put in the pit.
The principle is found in I John 3:8b: For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. This is the purpose behind it. This is the reason for His manifestation—to destroy the works of the Devil. If we can believe that His manifestation will ultimately do that to Satan, can we also believe that the manifestation of Christ in us in fullness, is going to do it now?
So we let Christ answer the door. When the encounter comes, Satan flees from it.
Another Scripture that establishes this principle is James 4:6,7,10…. “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.
Through submission and humility, the presence of Christ predominates over our whole person, so that we can resist Satan and he flees.
The encounter that he makes in the man who has humbled himself and submitted himself to God, is not with the ego or flesh of that man, but with the Christ who dwells in him.
Then he resists Satan and Satan flees. Satan can only prevail when our flesh comes out. If Satan meets that, he has no trouble overcoming us. It’s the one thing Satan wants to meet. He does not want to meet your spirit. He does not want to meet the Lord Jesus Christ within you, or the Holy Spirit within you. …greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. I John 4:4. Satan does not want to be confronted by Him that is within you; he wants to confront your flesh.
For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace; because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the Law of God, for it is not even able to do so; and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. However you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Romans 8:5–9a.
How can this help us in a very practical way in spiritual warfare? If Satan is desiring to confront our flesh, and not the Christ within us, then we must have some good practical help showing us how to walk in the Spirit.
Galatians 5:16 tells us, “If we walk in the Spirit, we won’t fulfill the lusts of the flesh.” Then Satan will never take advantage of us. He can’t!
But if we walk according to the mind of the flesh, we will reap corruption. If we sow to the flesh, we’ll reap corruption. We cannot avoid it.
But if we sow to the Spirit, we’ll reap life everlasting. This is basic to spiritual warfare. Most people enter into warfare and immediately let the flesh come up—with discouragements, old moods, and old reactions—instead of projecting Christ into the situation. Then they would have instant victory.
How can we avoid the flesh encounter with Satan and have a spirit encounter with him instead?
He’s going to come against us. How can we avoid our flesh meeting Satan and ultimately being defeated?
The first step: always be filled with the Spirit. When you see to it that you’re filled with the Spirit, it’s like taking out an insurance policy for victory.
Every morning begin your day by seeking the Lord; let Him fill you again. Speak in tongues, and glorify the Lord. Feed upon the Word, with the purpose of feeding on the richness of Christ. Let it dwell in you richly (Colossians 3:16). That’s the first step: be filled with the Spirit—always.
The second step is to magnify Christ’s presence in you by using His name. Bring Christ into the situation. As we magnify Christ’s presence we minimize the flesh force of our lives.
How do we magnify Christ’s presence? By using the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Bring that in the situation. Even the angels refused a direct encounter with Satan.
Michael, the archangel, in contending with Satan over the body of Moses, said he did not bring a railing accusation against him. He would like to have “sailed into him,” but he didn’t. Instead he said, “Satan, the Lord rebuke you” (Jude 9). This same thing is seen in Zechariah 3:1,2 where Joshua was standing before the Lord with Satan at his right hand. The Lord said, “Satan, the Lord, who hath chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you.”
You see, the rebuke must be worded in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Any authority that you have, any privilege you have is only effective when you bring Christ into the situation.
In His name we heal. In His name we deliver. In His name we come against demon powers. Always be conscious that you’re magnifying Christ’s presence and His authority in every situation.
Do you come in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ? You say, “Most of the time.” Then most of the time you’re victorious. You ought to be alert always to bring Christ’s presence into every situation.
If Satan can get at that flesh of yours, you’ll run into trouble. A walk with God is the most glorious thing that ever happened to anyone, but problems of the flesh still come up in some of the members of the Body, and I feel that we need to be alert to this.
We don’t want that flesh to come up and defeat us. It causes deep disappointment, such deep remorse when you think you really have it made, and all of a sudden, Satan hits you and knocks you down. Why does that happen? Because he was able to encounter your flesh, and not the Christ within you.
The prophecies concerning warfare have told us over and over again that we stand in His victory. When we don’t come in the Spirit, bringing Christ into the situation, then we come in our own force, as though we had to win the war all by ourselves. We can’t do it!
In the first place, I don’t think God intends for you to be victorious in your flesh. You’re not up to it. If you could be victorious in your flesh, He would have let it happen a long time ago and Christ would not have had to die.
But since Christ had to die, you will have to stand in His victory. Walk in the Spirit and you won’t fulfill the lusts of the flesh. But if you sow to that flesh, you’ll reap corruption, no matter how far along you are in God. This demands eternal vigilance. For the flesh warreth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh; these two are contrary one to the other (Galatians 5:17). It’s so simple and easy to be filled with the Spirit and to bring Christ’s presence into the situation by using His holy name.
A third way you minimize the flesh force is by invoking the covering of Christ’s blood, by dwelling under the blood of Jesus Christ. This is the great key of victory given in Revelation 12:10,11: And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, who accuses them before our God day and night. And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb” (the blood of the Lamb that sanctified their unworthy flesh and enabled them to see it crucified) “and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even to death.” They weren’t following after the things of the flesh, but wholly after the things of the Lord.
A secret of victory can be found in this, one so simple that if we aren’t careful we will miss it. I don’t think there are any complicated principles in warfare.
It becomes a very simple operation of getting your flesh out of the way, and bringing Christ on the scene. Most of the time when you are upset in your emotions, it is easy for them to trigger off prayers from your flesh.
Instead, take your need earnestly before the Lord and pray, “O God, You look upon this problem. You judge it. You deal with this circumstance. You bring victory in this situation, in the name of the Lord.” Whatever your problem, it is very necessary that it be met in Jesus Christ and not solved in the flesh.
For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. I John 3:8b. That is why the Son of God is manifested in us—that he might destroy the works of the Devil. And the God of peace will soon (King James says “shortly”) crush Satan under your feet. Romans 16:20. This is the pleasure of God.
It is very much in the plan of God that Satan come against every one of you. Warfare is not an accident that Satan creates; it is very much triggered off by God. We are not on the defensive.
The word that has come has been aggressive. It has stirred up the enemy because we’ve moved into his territory.
The God of peace will shortly bruise Satan under our feet. You will not escape warfare. Don’t say, “I hope this warfare will end soon.” It will end when it’s ended, period! In the meantime the warfare is here. You’re going to be in it, and you might as well find out what it’s all about right now.
More and more it leads up to one thing. And then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming (or “His presence”; the Parousia,); that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness… II Thessalonians 2:8–10.
This Scripture speaks of the coming of Christ and the great armies of heaven. Then the wicked one will be slain. The antichrist will be slain. Satan will be bound. Not only is this done by the word of His mouth, but also by the brightness or the appearance of His presence, the manifestation of Christ’s presence.
That’s exactly the way every victory will be won, but it will gradually intensify. Victory will be added upon victory, becoming stronger and greater until finally the end comes.
That means we are to start right now, bringing forth the manifestation and the revelation of Christ in every battle. That defeats the enemy.
We move onto the next step, then the next one, until ultimately it is crowned by Christ being revealed in a many-membered Body to the extent that the wicked one will be slain by the brightness of His Parousia, His presence.
However simple these revelations might seem, don’t despise them. They have a way of working on you, so that you start dwelling in the Spirit and living in the Lord.
When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord lifts up that standard against him. You don’t do it—the Lord does that. It’s the Lord in you who brings the victory; the Lord in you is the victory. Manifest Him. Let Him come forth.
Can you do it in prayer? Yes you can, by humbling yourself and submitting to the Lord. The more you bring down that old flesh, minimizing its force in your life by magnifying the Lord, the greater the victory. That is what we are all working for.
Isaiah 59:19b says, When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.
There’s a beautiful illustration of this in the Old Testament. When the Israelites went into battle, they called for the ark of the covenant because that represented to them the presence, the glory of God in their midst. They carried it on their shoulders right into the battle. They could go in and win a battle because they carried the presence of the Lord with them into it.
Was it the Lord or was it the Israelites who won the battle? It was the presence of the Lord in a yielded people who had faith and confidence in God that won the victory.
But when their hearts were far from God there was no victory. One time the Philistines took the ark of the covenant captive because the Israelites were using it to guarantee victory at a time when their hearts had sinned.
If you’re going the other way, the presence of the Lord will backfire, as it did with the Israelites, when the victory was given to the Philistines (I Samuel 4).
Submit yourself to the Lord. You yield yourself, “Lord, I want to really serve You.” It is not a matter of your strength—it’s a matter of the manifestation of His presence. To the degree that His presence is manifested, you have victory.
Can we carry His mighty victorious presence into our battles? Yes, we can. The next time you are in a battle, say, “Lord, I yield myself to You. I want You to fill me afresh with the Spirit.”
Your feelings and emotions won’t lead you to do that. Your spirit will have to be set on God to accomplish it.
When the enemy is attacking you, you probably will not care if you ever pray or open the Bible again. You’ll want to be rebellious. Satan will be hitting your flesh, but you must refuse to let the flesh encounter him. Instead, determine to react in your spirit.
Start worshiping the Lord. You can laugh at Satan, “Ha ha, Satan, I’ve got a surprise for you. Look who dwells within me!” This will work for you. We’ve seen it happen time and time again.
This is the basis of all warfare. It certainly doesn’t lead you to become an egotist. On the contrary, you’re always aware of that uncontrollable lawless quality of your flesh.
When the flesh is active, people often have wild crazy dreams. They wake up in the morning ashamed of themselves, hanging their heads in shame. They know that in their dreams they did outrageous things they should never have done.
If you allow the flesh to respond, and you let it get its hold on you, it is like opening the door to the enemy inviting him in, “Satan, come on and defeat me.”
But when you walk in the Spirit, and are filled with the Spirit and the Lord Himself encounters the enemy, then nothing but pure victory is manifested in that situation.
Will this simple principle work? Yes, it will. Don’t forget it. The further we go in this walk with God, the more the truths will become simple.
As the prophet said, “The Lord is going to make the way so simple that a man need not err therein, though he be a fool” (Isaiah 35:8). When this becomes so simple that the feeble-minded can grasp these truths and walk in victory, we will finally have reached the glorious message of the Kingdom.
Although this teaching is simple and easy, you find a difficulty in doing it. You have to despise the dominion that your carnal flesh has had over your life.
You must decide who is going to be in control. Be determined, “It’s not my feelings or anything else, but only the Lord who is going to sit on the throne of my heart. His will, what He wants, is the way it’s going to be.
I’ll not go by my feelings. If the word comes to press in, I’m going to be pressing in, regardless of my feelings to the contrary. I’m not going to respond to emotions, feelings, fleshly desires, a sense of dignity, or any other thing out of my flesh that parades to be good.”
Humble yourself before God. That’s why David was a man after God’s own heart. He could throw off his clothes and dance before the Lord with all his might. His wife despised him for it. How could she be respected as the queen when the king was acting like a fool? But David said, “I’ll be even more vile than this, and base in mine own sight” (II Samuel 6:22).
The Lord teaches us many lessons in the Old Testament. For example, when Samuel sent King Saul down to avenge the Lord’s cause against the Amalekites, he did it with a vengeance. However, he couldn’t resist showing the people of God what a great victory he had won, though he did glorify God in it.
He brought back Agag the king, and the choicest, fattest cattle of the enemy to sacrifice. He was told, “To obey is better than to sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.”
Beware of the carnal pets you insist on keeping. It’s the Canaanites that you allow to remain alive in the land, the little things that you condone and hide and want to keep, that will be a thorn in your side for years to come.
Let us despise the flesh. Let’s despise all of its works. Despise the thing in your life that is an offense and opposed to God.
If you don’t, you may be trying to minister to yourself spiritually from carnal means. You can’t do it. Watch the pets, the little things you keep alive, the little Agags that you want to lead in a parade, and say, “They’re not too bad.
They are just a few little things I hang on to. They really are not too bad, are they?” Condemn them! The mind that rises up to defend the flesh is your most deadly enemy.
God grant that we crucify it! Condemn it wholly in the name of the Lord? Do you want to be an overcomer? Then don’t leave these Canaanites alive to rise up and plague you.
What we are talking about is not the physical body, but the fleshly nature. It can be pampered. You can yield to its sovereignty. You can follow it. If you have a sense of dignity and pride in the old flesh you had better get rid of it. Do you have a temper that explodes easily? What will happen if you cover it over and bluff it away? The next day or two you’ll be in for a real defeat from the Devil.
The only thing you can possibly do to help you is to fall on your knees and say, “God forgive me for that.” Right there you’ve mortified the flesh.
Be an instant repenter and the flesh will never keep that sovereignty. The minute it raises its head, that is the time to knock it down.
Walking in the Spirit is the key to overcoming the enemy. In the Spirit you always have the leverage to come against him.
Take this teaching simply. Take it honestly. Walk in it. We are going to be overcomers by the simple truths God teaches us.
There’s no point in saying, “God give us rain and fill up our bucket,” until we’ve plugged the holes in the bucket. We’ll get the rain and it will leak right out.
There’s no point in looking for God to bring in more people if we don’t teach them how to walk with God. There is no point in your looking for more blessings if you can’t hold on to what you have because the flesh is an open door for losing it.
Although this will be a quick work in the earth, the progress you are going to make depends upon your listening to truths like those contained in this message. Plug up those holes where the blessing is leaking out, where the defeat manages to take hold of you.
In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be humble in our own sight. We shall abhor the flesh. We shall give it no occasion. We shall speak it down and put it down, and because we put it down, we’ll be able also to put down the enemy.
O house of the Lord, know indeed that if thou hast wrested the weapon from the hand of Satan, thou hast defeated him; for he cannot come against thee when he has no weapon in his hand. And his weapon is thine own flesh. If thy flesh is not a weapon in the hand of Satan, neither can he overcome thee. Rejoice in the Lord that the day has come that the Lord hath put the sword of the Spirit in thy hand and ye shall be able to come against the enemy and bring him down.