A Quick Review of How to Whup the Devil™

In Review
How to Whup the Devil™: A Spiritual Weapon’s Guide

Blessed be the LORD my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight (Psalms 144:1).

Wake up! We’re in a Battle
Apostle Paul said, “I have fought a good fight, I have kept the faith, and I have finished my course (2 Tim. 4:7). There is therefore now a crown of righteousness laid up for me, eternal in the heavens” (2 Cor. 5:1). For us to complete our course and make the same claim as Paul did, it’s imperative that we understand we’re in a battle and that we’ve got to stay in it to win it. We’ve got to know who we’re fighting; we’ve got to know how to fight, and we’ve got to know what weapons we need for a successful battle.

This book is simply a message to the followers of Jesus and others, for all to understand who your enemy is and how to defeat him. Knowing your enemy is crucial to winning any battle. It’s the bottom line of being involved in any war. The Bible says, in the last days that there would be wars and rumors of wars. It was speaking of natural wars, but there are also spiritual wars to fight. In this case we’re in spiritual warfare. How do we prepare for this type of warfare? Who are we fighting? What weapons do we use? This book will answer those questions and hopefully give you the extra ammunition you need to completely annihilate the devil, who is our chief enemy. The Old Testament speaks a lot about discomfiting [completely destroying] the enemy (Ex. 17:13). That’s what I hope this book will help you to do; completely destroy your enemy.

Far too many Christians are clueless about our chief enemy, and the tactics he uses against the people of God. People, we’re in a war and God needs warriors to fight the good fight of faith; not only for ourselves, but for our unsaved brethren also.

God called Himself a warrior. He said He was a man of war (Ex. 15:3). So it stands to reason that He wants His children to be successful warriors; able to discomfit our enemy, the devil and his troops. Far too many believers are struggling to get the victory over the devil’s works; whether it’s attacks in our homes, in our personal lives, on our jobs, in our bodies, or in our minds—we need to fight back. Too many of us allow Satan to run havoc in our lives without realizing who has the real power and authority here. Jesus left us many great illustrations on how He and others defeated Satan. Jesus fasted; He prayed; He used the Word of God; He used the gifts of the Spirit, such as the gift of discernment; the gifts of healing; the gift of the word of knowledge; and so on. And Jesus told us that the works He did, we can do also, and even greater works than what He did. Why; because He was returning to heaven to be with the Father.

Many believers cannot see themselves doing what Jesus did, because most believe that the works Jesus did are beyond their ability to accomplish for themselves. To many, Jesus is the only “begotten Son of God,” who holds special privileges over the average Christians. But, we must remember Jesus gave His disciples power to do the same works that He did according to Matthew 10:1, and later He told them, “the works that I do, ye shall do and greater works shall you do, because I go to my Father” (John 14:12). Jesus was letting His disciples that whatever we saw Him do: raise the dead; heal the sick; open blinded eyes, cast out devils, etc; He gave us the power to do these same things; and even greater things, because He’s back in heaven interceding for us. Besides His recorded miracles and victories over Satan; Jesus also left records in both the Old and New Testaments of everyday men and women who heralded successful victories over the devil. We must also take heed to their stories as examples on how to defeat Satan. Hebrews calls this group a “great cloud of witnesses.” God gave us their testimonies and experiences to show us how we too can overcome the devil and his satanic host, in every area of our lives. As we study the lives of these patriarchs, it should increase our faith to know what God did for them, He will also do for us.

Learn Your Spiritual Authority
As an introductory measure, I’d like to emphasize several points before we get into the meat of this book. First, it’s important that every reader be qualified to engage in warfare against the devil. It’s necessary that every reader understand that the battle addressed in this book is a spiritual battle and not a natural one. This battle is not against flesh and blood (people); even though Satan always uses people to come against us. The battle is still against him.

Second, we need to be knowledgeable of spiritual weapons and how to use them. Spiritual weapons are just that—spiritual; they can not be seen with the naked eye. We have to exercise our faith in order to use these weapons. Even though they are invisible, they are still effective. Spiritual weapons give us the ability (power) to destroy the works of the enemy. Weapons were invented as a means of protecting ones self against an enemy or a predator. Ours are spiritual. We need weapons to protect ourselves. We must use the weapons God gave us. Jesus left us with the same weapons He and the disciples used to whup Satan. He wants us to be victorious over the devil, in the same way He and the disciples were.

Remember, we’re in a battle. There are soldiers who make up a natural army and there are soldiers in a spiritual army. We are God’s spiritual soldiers. Just as there are good and bad soldiers in natural wars; soldiers in spiritual battles can be both good and bad. God is our commander in chief. He warned us through the children of Israel about the consequences of disobedience. One such consequence is that God would not be with them if they went to war and were in disobedience. God always assisted the children of Israel, on some level, when they went to battle against their enemy. He would not let them lean on their natural abilities. He used spiritual means to assist them. After many victories, even their enemies knew God was fighting their battles for them. He will also fight for us if we walk in obedience. We must fight according to God’s ways, which are with spiritual weapons. They are not carnal, not fleshly, and not natural, but Paul says they are mighty, powerful, and strong. They have the ability to pull down Satan’s strongholds; his wiles, his plots, his strategies, and his schemes, which are in the heavenlies, where spiritual beings operate. If something has to be pulled down then it’s obviously up; if it’s elevated then it’s above us. In other words, it’s in the heavenly or spiritual realm where principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness, and spiritual wickedness in high places are positioned. It’s in this realm that they fight against us. That’s why we need a variety of heavenly weapons, because we are fighting against invisible and powerful enemies whose chief aim is to kill, steal and destroy us. If we know our authority over our enemy; even though he wants to, he can’t succeed, because we know who we are in Christ and we know the power and authority we have as children of God.

The Word of God says “greater is He that is within us than he that is in the world” (1John 4:4). So that automatically lets me know that I have more power than my enemy; by the mere fact that the Holy Spirit resides inside of me. And if that’s not enough, the Holy Spirit gave us a host of spiritual gifts and weapons that are also at our disposal.

Just know that daily we’re in a spiritual battle. It’s either direct or indirect combat with Satan, who attacks our families, our friends, our loved ones and so on, but we’ve got all the tools needed to win. Nonetheless, we still have to fight. And some times it takes more power than we have at our disposal to defeat Satan. That’s when we need back up. In those cases we may need spiritual reinforcements. So we use the weapon of agreement where we call on two or more brethren to come together in a prayer of agreement to tear down the enemy’s barricades, with the corporate prayer of agreement and intercession.

Third, to be successful you must know who you are; your position in God’s kingdom, and what authority God has given you over Satan. God is our Father, the creator of man, and of heaven and earth. We are His children. We are made in His image and in His likeness says Genesis 1:26. We are little gods says Psalms 82:6 & John 10:34. We have His DNA—His traits; His character; His power; His ability according to Genesis 1:26-28. He calls Himself a “man of war” as stated in Exodus 15:3; and He says He teaches men to war. So that means we are men of war. As He has rulership over Satan and Satan’s kingdom, so do we have rulership over Satan and Satan’s kingdom, by means of the same weapons Jesus used against the devil. Jesus said, the works that our Father does, He does also. Jesus also said He can do nothing but what His Father has taught Him (John 8:28). God was commander in chief of all spiritual battles in the Old Testament. And if we let Him, He will also become our commander and teach us to war; and many of us will become generals of the faith.

Fourth, you MUST use the Word of God and prayer as your main weapons. There are many other weapons, but these are paramount. The Word of God and the words that we speak in prayer are powerful. God said He has magnified His Word above His name (Psalms 138:2). When speaking of the power that is in our own words, the Bible says, “death and life are in the power of our tongue” (Proverbs 18:21).

Finally, it should be noted that a prerequisite to wage spiritual warfare is to be born again and to be a believer in Jesus Christ. When we accept Him as our Lord and Savior, we become new creatures in Christ; which gives us certain rights and privileges that others don’t possess. As believers, old things pass away and all things become new in our lives (2 Cor. 5:17). Accepting Christ changes our citizenship, among other things. And it most definitely changes our access to God’s power. We know how to live in this earthly world. Now, let’s learn more about how to live in the spirit world, which has a different set of rules— kingdom rules, of which we must learn to live and to operate by. Jesus spent His three years in ministry teaching on how to live as citizens of the kingdom of God. Let’s learn those kingdom principles and use them.

Make the Spiritual Transition
In this new world of spirit, we now have instant access to the spiritual dimension where Jesus, God, the Holy Spirit, holy angels, and Satan and his fallen angels inhabit. Read Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Jesus talked a lot about the spiritual realm where Satan and demons cohabitate. He knew we needed to learn how to live and operate in the kingdom of God, so he taught about it a lot. Jesus also talked a lot about demons and angels. He said He could call them [His angels] to help Him on a moment’s notice. Scripture also tells us that we have access to angels. Paul said they are “our ministering spirits sent by God to serve those of us who are heirs of salvation” (Heb. 1:14).

Up to the point of accepting Christ as our Savior, everything we did was physical in nature, and it was based on the laws of nature. But, now we’ve transitioned into a new realm of unfamiliarity. We must learn to navigate in unfamiliar territory. We are now in a battle that is fierce and hot because we’ve changed masters. We have become an enemy to an unseen force. We’ve changed our citizenship. The transition took place in the spirit. Most of us didn’t have a clue as to the magnitude of this new change; but intuitively, we knew something changed. What changed? It was a transition that took place on so many levels. We may have begun to have strong feelings of love and affection for God, in ways we had never experienced.

As we began to talk about Him to our family and friends, they confirmed what was happening inwardly to us. They began to say; “What’s wrong with you? You’ve changed.” Only confirming what 1 Cor. 5:17 says, “if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Behold, old things have passed away, and all things have become new.” Thus, letting us know that we were no longer the same. Hence, this was a signal that our spiritual journey had begun. As we grew in our faith, we began to sense that something or someone was attacking us in strange and unusual ways. It didn’t take long to learn that it was the devil and that we had become his enemy; but knowing how to fight hin was another matter...