Andrew Wommack: The Believer’s Authority – Week 1 – Session 1

welcome to gospel truth with Andrew

Wommack a teaching ministry that

emphasizes God’s unconditional love and

grace and now here’s Andrew welcome to

our Monday’s broadcast of the gospel

truth and today I am really excited

about a brand new series that I’m

beginning today called the believers

Authority and what this is talking about

is that we are in a spiritual war

there’s a battle raging between the

kingdom of light and the kingdom of

darkness and we are the deciding voice

vote in this battle and it’s in us

taking our authority that either we win

or lose and most people aren’t aware of

this and let me just mention before I

get right into that that I’ve got this

brand new book this is the very first

time we’ve advertised it entitled the

believers Authority and the subtitle is

what you didn’t learn in church and I

tell you this is a great teaching we’re

going to be talking about some things

one of the things we’re going to cover

is who made Satan and the obvious answer

to that is that God made everything but

I think that there’s some things we’re

going to share here

they’re going to make a big difference

we’re going to discuss what I believe to

be a major problem in the body of Christ

today about spiritual warfare I think

it’s one of the most weird abused areas

and I know that by saying that without

any explanation I may offend people but

I encourage you to stay tuned because

there are some things here we need to

learn also we have this recorded live

this is a live DVD teaching that I did

it one of our gospel truth seminars on

the authority of the believer we’ve got

the TV programs that you can get

actually from there of course here is a

CD set that we have on that and we have

this study guide and as you can see this

is a huge study guide and it goes

through this entire teaching in a format

where you can teach other people and I

really like this this is one of the

things that we’ve been doing lately is

putting out all of our books in a study

guide form to facilitate Bible studies

or sunday-school teaching and we are

getting

some great response from that so anyway

we’re beginning this brand new teaching

talking about the believers Authority

and I believe that this is one of the

most important things that the Lord has

ever taught me of course I say that

about just about everything I teach but

I really believe that I teach just basic

things fundamental things that are

absolutely essential to the Christian

life and I really feel that this is an

area that most people are allowing Satan

to beat them in is because they don’t

know the authority that God has given us

and so there’s many believers that are

just passively dealing with their

problems and petitioning God and asking

God for deliverance for instance from

sickness and disease not understanding

that God gave the power to heal to us it

is not up to God whether or not you get

healed and whether you petition him but

you have to understand your authority

and take your authority and Bible says

in James 4:7 submit yourselves therefore

unto God resist the devil and he will

flee from you

the Lord put the responsibility on the

believer to resist the devil the word

resist means to actively fight against

and as we resist the devil he flees from

us and yet most Christians today are

asking God to get the devil off their

back asking God to heal them asking God

to prosper them and the Bible says in

Deuteronomy 8:18 that you shall remember

the Lord your God for it is he that

gives you the power to get wealth God

doesn’t give us wealth he has given us

power and the authority to use that

power and it’s not up to you praying and

asking God to give you money you need to

recognize God has empowered you and you

need to accept the responsibility take

that authority and begin to start

releasing the things of God through you

using your authority as a believer I

don’t know if you got what I just said

but that’s major if you could have

understood I guarantee you the vast

majority of people watching this program

all over the world if you could have

gotten the true

Jews out of the just those few

introductory remarks I made if that was

to make its full impact on you it would

revolutionize your life your health

would spring forth your prosperity would

spring forth you would recognize in

relationships with other people if you

truly understood the believers Authority

how that there’s a spiritual warfare

going on I guarantee it would change the

way that you relate to other people but

let me just introduce this by making a

statement that is going to shock some of

you but really most believers are very

humanistic in their dealings on a daily

basis now the word humanist our

humanistic is very offensive to most

believers of course there’s a humanist

manifesto and Alan went along Dylan is

but basically people who call themselves

human estoy

God deny that there is any spiritual

power either God or the devil they think

everything is only on a human level

therefore any problems that you have

there is no spiritual basis to any of it

everything is just physical sickness is

all physical emotional problems are all

physical relations are all physical

everything has its answer in people they

don’t believe in God or any spiritual

realm and of course that’s offensive to

believers but did you know that to a

large degree most believers live their

life like a humanist not realizing that

there are spiritual powers going on and

warring against us every day let me just

give you a couple of for instance I

won’t take time to turn over and

establish this we’ll be going through a

lot of this in more detail and looking

at it closer but there are many times

I’d say close to 50% of all of the

healings that Jesus produced when he was

praying for people were spiritual he

would cast a spirit of deafness out of a

person and instantly they would hear

dumbness not an ability not to speak was

demonic a fever in the eighth chapter of

the book of Matthew where Peters

mother-in-law

a fever he rebuked the fever in other

words implying that there was a

spiritual power behind it so a fever a

headache was something that was demonic

in origin the woman who was bent over

and couldn’t lift herself up which would

be comparable to curvature of the spine

today and things like that that was

demonic Jesus many times cast demons out

of people to affect a physical healing

as a matter of fact it says in Acts

chapter 10 verse 38 it says how that God

anointed Jesus of Nazareth with power

and with the Holy Ghost who went about

doing good healing all that were

oppressed of the devil that verse makes

it very clear that the physical healings

they were oppressions of the devil now I

don’t believe that every physical

sickness is demonic like for instance if

you cut yourself with a saw or something

I don’t believe it’s demonic that caused

your finger to fall off or if you get an

infection I think some things are

natural but there certainly are

instances in the Word of God

where sickness had a spiritual reason

and if you are trying to deal with

sickness that has a spiritual root and

you’re trying to deal with it with

physical things then that’s humanistic

you are denying the spiritual power that

is behind it and I can tell you many

instances that I’ve prayed with people

in nice they say things like well the

doctors are just baffled they’ve run

every test there’s no reason they can’t

find any reason why these things are

doing and so as I pray with them the

Lord speaks to me and shows me that the

reason that the doctors can’t find any

physical thing that’s causing it is

because it’s not physical its spiritual

and there are many times I would suspect

hundreds maybe thousands of times that

I’ve prayed with people and take an

authority over a demonic thing and

seeing people instantly delivered and

set free and it’s because there wasn’t a

physical route of this thing it was

spiritual in its nature and again see if

you I know that most of the people

probably watching my broadcast right now

all over the world what I’m saying is a

it’s kind of offensive it’s out of the

norm

and you think oh I’m not sure that

that’s so but see again to me that

reflects how you monistic we’ve become

even in the body of Christ to where we

are looking for a physical organic

reason for all physical sickness we do

the same thing with emotional things

many believers are thinking that there

is just some imbalance in their hormones

they’ve got a chemical imbalance they’ve

got all of these things they’re looking

for some organic reason when there are

plenty of examples in scripture where

things are demonic in origin origin and

see if you don’t understand this if you

don’t recognize it we’re in a spiritual

war and so you go about trying to fix

your physical body your emotions your

finances relationships I’m going to show

you some scriptures where Jesus turned

around and I mean – Peter just said get

behind me Satan and he wasn’t talking to

Peter calling him the devil but there

was a demonic power speaking through him

that was causing problems Jesus

perceived that and very clearly made the

statement that Satan was the one

inspiring why Peter had to say that’s in

the 16th chapter of the book of Matthew

we’re going to talk about that in more

detail but see if you don’t understand

this that relationships finances

physical things all kinds of things I

have as a route a spiritual origin Satan

is coming against you we are in a battle

every single day and if you don’t

understand that that doesn’t mean that

the battle isn’t raging that doesn’t

mean that you’re exempt from the war

just because you don’t acknowledge it no

it’s raging and what it means is if you

aren’t aware that many things I could

even say probably most things that we

are dealing with have a spiritual root

to it and if you don’t know how to take

your authority and resist the devil to

see him flee from you it doesn’t mean

you won’t be in the battle it just means

you’re going to lose the battle because

you can’t win a spiritual battle with

physical weapons you can’t fight in the

flesh you’ve got to recognize that there

is a demonic realm out there demons are

real they are not all in some

third-world country where they have

doctors and they’re still practicing

pagan rituals in all of the developed

countries in the United States Europe

all across the world every place that

this program has been watch there is

demonic activity and there are things

going on and you’ve got to be aware of

this spiritual warfare and recognize

that you have to take your authority and

use it to win this war it is not going

to be won automatically it is not going

to be won without your awareness and

without you dealing with it I’ll tell

you that is just so simple and yet again

I say that most Christians are not

focused on the spiritual realm they

aren’t aware of the activity of demons

and because of it that is just giving

Satan a free hand to rule and to do it e

wants to do so part of this series is

just being making you aware that there

is a spiritual warfare going on and that

we have to take our authority and use it

in order to see victory let me use this

verse out of seasons chapter 2 and in

verse 1 it says and you hath II

quickened who were dead in trespasses

and sins wherein in time past you walked

according to the course of this world

according to the Prince of the power of

the air the spirit that now worketh in

the children of disobedience notice in

verse 2 it says it before you got born

again you walked according to the course

of this world according to the Prince of

the power of the air the spirit that now

worketh in the children of disobedience

this isn’t just a statement that is made

about one person who was very given over

to the devil like the gathering demoniac

and marked the 5th chapter or something

like this this is just a blanket

statement that before you were born

again every one of you now think about

this some of you are going to struggle

with this but according to this verse

the spirit of this world the Prince of

the power of the air worked in every one

of us before we were born again now

there are many of you that would just

reject

that out of hand and say there’s no way

I wasn’t demon-possessed and I’m not

going to get into this I’m just going to

mention this and we’re going to go on

but I’m not going to debate being

possessed oppressed depressed some

people make a major deal and say a

Christian could never be possessed you

could only be oppressed and they make a

big deal in the Greek the word in every

instance where it talks about a person

having a demon it basically literally

transliterate stew being demonized it’s

just saying that Satan is afflicting you

there are varying degrees sometimes he

just inspires you as I’ve already used

that example about Peter Peter had just

made the statement that you are the

Christ the Son of the Living God a

tremendous statement that Jesus said

blessed are You Simon bar Jonah for

flesh and blood didn’t reveal this to

you but my father which is in heaven he

credited that with an inspiration from

the Holy Ghost and said that it was

through the inspiration of the Holy

Spirit that he was able to make this

great confession and in just minutes

Peter turned around when Jesus said that

he was going to be crucified and buried

and then risen on the third day and

Peter turn around says that be far from

you Lord it’ll never happen I’ll defend

you to the death and Jesus turned right

around him just minutes after he had

complimented on him on being inspired by

the Lord and he said get behind me Satan

for you and a are an offense to the

things of God and he recognized that

Satan was behind those those statements

you know I know that many of you get

shocked with this in fact well I’ve

never had the devil use me man anytime

you get into anger and bitterness and

fear and you gripe and complain and you

gossip and you do so there’s just so

many things we’re going to be expanding

on this in a lot greater way did you

know that that is yielding to the

influence to the suggestions to the

promptings of demonic things now we have

a fallen nature that of course some of

these things just seem to come normally

especially before you’re born again but

there is demonic powers that inspire

people and cause offense

and do all of these things and if you

aren’t aware of that well then you just

are missing the truth here that every

one of us every one of us not some

novice not the really bad ones not that

just terrible god haters every one of us

walked according to the course of this

world the Prince of the power of the air

the spirit that is now working in the

children of disobedience this is talking

about a spirit a spirit a demonic power

that is operating in unbelievers there

is a spirit of Antichrist that is loosed

in this world and I know that I’m

unsettling some of you because you’ve

got your life all figured out and it’s

just so simple and you don’t realize you

just have ignored the spiritual realm

you are looking at everything in a

totally humanistic way and you just

think that there’s a physical reason for

everything and I’m unsettling some idea

to bring this up but this is what the

Bible teaches and if you aren’t aware

that it is not just people that you’re

dealing with there are demonic powers

operating through people and that’s

causing a lot of things if you don’t

know that and if you’re trying to just

deal with people on a human level and

not recognizing that there is a demonic

power operating behind and through

people then you are going to be

ineffective here’s another scripture in

the book Ephesians chapter 6 and in

verse 11 it says put on the whole armour

of God that you may be able to stand

against the wiles of the devil it’s

talking here that we are resisting the

devil there is a spiritual warfare and

then in the next verse it says for we

wrestle not against flesh and blood but

against principalities against powers

against the rulers of the darkness of

this world against spiritual wickedness

in high places that’s just as plain as

you can make it we are not wrestling

against flesh and blood there are some

of you watching this program that think

boy those kids of mine and I just can’t

understand why they’re doing this and

you’re trying to deal with everything

only in a physical humanistic way even

as believers you may be praying and

asking God for intervention but you

think it’s all just organic you think

it’s there

hormones because they turned a teenager

in and something happened I’m telling

you that there is demonic intervention

and if you don’t recognize that some

things I’m not saying that everything

but some things are demonic in their

origin if you don’t understand this and

if you’re dealing with things only from

a human standpoint and thinking that

there is only a physical organic reason

just a chemical reason in there you know

as they’re changing in their body that

there’s just natural physical things if

you think everything is totally natural

you are totally in violation of what the

scripture is saying right here because

we are not wrestling against flesh and

blood you aren’t wrestling against your

children

you aren’t wrestling against your mate

you aren’t wrestling against your boss

or the person that’s at work it’s not

just physical it’s not just human there

are demonic powers operating behind the

scenes that are inspiring people and you

know the sad thing is that it seems like

that there are many more people who are

yielded to in cooperating with the devil

then there are people who are

cooperating with God I mean there are

many people that are just allowing the

devil full access to them and there is

hatred and bitterness and strife and

selfishness and criticism there are

people at work that will stab you in the

back and you look at it as well what’s

wrong with that person well some of them

have just given themself over to the

devil and there are demonic things

operating through them and you are again

let me just say that you are not going

to win a spiritual battle with physical

weapons it’s not going to be natural the

point I’m trying to get across is I

begin this series on the believers

Authority before I get to talking about

how you where you get this authority

from how you use it who you use it

against and all of the things that we’ll

be dealing with you’ve got to realize

that it is not just natural what is

going on there is demonic

there are demonic forces at work behind

the scenes now let me just balance this

as I

go through this series I’m going to

spend a lot of time trying to balance

this but let me just say today in a

balance all the things that I’ve said

that if you are just hearing this for

the first time and all of a sudden you

know you realize that some of the things

that you’ve been dealing with in just

the natural room you now realize that

there’s a spiritual power behind it

there is a danger that you get to where

you see a demon on every doorknob to

where you think that every time a person

twitches you know if they have an eye

twitch or any habit that you think that

that’s a demon controlling them I

remember those things in my own life

when I first came into this I saw a

demon everywhere I thought everything is

totally domani that’s not what I’m

saying I mean I think that sometimes the

devil actually takes notes on us you

know I believe that they might have a

manager’s meeting in Hell and boy they

were reporting there saying boy did you

see how this person screwed up their

life did you see the way that they have

totally destroyed their life and so many

terrible things have happened and

probably those demons come back and

report and the devil is taking notes on

us and saying I’ve never thought of that

I never thought of how I could destroy a

person’s life I mean I’m sure that the

demon sometimes are amazed at the way we

supernaturally destroy our own lives and

some of the things that we do I am NOT

saying that everything that happens is

demonic we live in a world that is

fallen we live among people that have a

fallen human nature and there is plenty

of bad and evil things that happen

without demonic intervention and so

there has to be some discernment as we

go through this I’m going to be talking

a lot about this and I’m going to be

talking about how you have to take

responsibility for your own actions you

can’t just blame everything on the devil

it’s totally incorrect to say well the

devil made me do it one of the major

points and I’m going to make as we go

through this series is that the devil

never made anybody do anything he can’t

force you to do anything all he can do

is tempt you he can’t do any

into you without your consent and

cooperation and so there’s abuses on

both sides of this there are many people

I would say the majority of people go

through their life really not even

understanding that there is a spiritual

war they are fighting things in the

human arena thinking that all of their

problems physical financial emotional

relational everything is just human and

so therefore they’re only using human

effort human power and they aren’t

getting the results because they don’t

recognize it’s a demonic root to the

thing I’d say that that’s where most

people err but then there are some

people that go the other direction that

put so much emphasis on the devil that

they take no personal responsibility and

they say well the devil made me do it

when that’s not true

he can’t force you to do anything

there’s a balance between these two and

I just wanted to mention that we’re

going to get into a lot more detail and

deal with that in greater depth but you

need to recognize that there is a

spiritual war and that we have the power

and the authority to use God’s power and

it depends on whether you use it as to

whether Satan is going to be overcome

now I’m out of time today but we do have

all of these brand new materials and I

encourage you to listen to our announcer

as he gives you some information about

how you can get that please call or

write today and receive these materials

the believers Authority is available for

the very first time in book form you can

receive your copy for seven pounds

request book T 327 when you contact us a

Spanish version is also available

request book t 735 the believers

Authority companion study guide is

available 417 pounds fifty request study

guide T 427 when you contact the

ministry this teaching is also available

in a six part CD album or it’s available

in a DVD album made from Andrews daily

TV broadcast each is offered for 19

pounds request CD album T 1045 C or DVD

album T 1045 d the first teaching in the

audio CD album titled we’re in a

spiritual war is also available for

three pounds but if you’re simply unable

to afford it Andrew and his partners

will provide this first CD free of

charge request teaching number TL 18

when you contact us and we’ll be pleased

to send it to you let me emphasize once

again that this is a brand new teaching

that I have out I have this brand new

book this is the very first time we’ve

offered this book and its companion

study guide and I think that this book

on the believers Authority what you

didn’t learn in church it’s going to

make a huge difference this is one of

the foundational things that God has

taught me and I tell you it makes a big

difference in my life I believe that

this is really going to help you so we

have a lot of information on this you’ve

got this book you’ve got the study guide

we’ve got a DVD that was made live from

a gospel truth seminar where I taught on

this subject we’ve got our television

programs that you can get and a CD set

so a lot of different ways that you can

take advantage of this teaching

our helpline is closed today to allow

our employees to celebrate the Easter

holiday but you can always reach us

through our website where you can order

ministry materials online 24 hours a day

seven days a week at a WME net if you

prefer to write to us our dress is a WME

that’s Andrew Wommack ministries of

Europe p.o box for 392 Walsall WS 1:9 a

our England we hope to hear from you

today we’d like to point out andrew’s

upcoming speaking schedule he’ll be an

Amsterdam for the Euro spirit conference

May 21st through the 23rd Colorado

Springs Colorado for the annual summer

family Bible conference June 29th

through July 3rd and in South Africa for

a gospel truth seminar July 21st through

the 23rd for more details on Andrews

next meeting in your area call our

helpline or visit our website at aw mi

dotnet this is aimed and I’d

like to invite you to join me on May the

21st through the 23rd in Amsterdam I’m

going to be speaking at the Euro spirit

2009 and we’re going to have a number of

different speakers I’ll be ministering

to each day the 21st through the 23rd of

May we’re going to be holding this at

the Victory Outreach in Amsterdam it’s

going to be a great time and so all of

you watching over God TV I’d encourage

you to come and be a part of this May

the 21st through the 23rd Victory

Outreach and

if you just know what God told you to do

then it’s not a challenge it’s an

adventure I wasn’t ready to make a

commitment until I really knew that this

was God so we decided that okay from

this point on we’re not gonna speak to

each other we’re not gonna write we’re

not gonna be in contact I gave up

marriage and I thought all right that’s

it I need to read the Bible I need to

find out what what it says I need to

find out who God is we could be dropped

from a helicopter anywhere on the

subcontinent of India and somehow God

was could direct us

God has given us a plan and we’re seeing

people change forever and it’s not just

surface it is in their spirit

be sure to tune in tomorrow for more

gospel truth