Taking Back Our Authority Part 2

A look at Deuteronomy 20:1-4

This week, I shared an example of a personal rhema word that helped me gain a new understanding of authority. Every day we wake up, the world is under the control of Satan and his kingdom. It remains that way until we decide to take that authority back from him. Today, I want to share with you another Scripture about this daily battle we face.

As we learn spiritual principles, there is a concept we must understand—everything is first in the natural and then in the spiritual. I Corinthians 15:46 says, But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual (ESV). What God’s people lived in the natural under the old covenant is what we live in the spiritual realm in the new covenant. The battles they faced in the natural are now the battles we face in the spiritual. Therefore, we can apply the instructions given to Israel to fight their enemies in our spiritual battles. We find some of these instructions in Deuteronomy 20:1-4.

Deuteronomy 20:1-4, Voice

Moses: This is how you should act during wartime: When you go to battle against your enemies, if you see their army is larger than yours and they have horses and chariots, don’t be afraid of them! The Eternal your God is with you—the same God who defeated Pharaoh and brought you out of Egypt. 2 As you are approaching the battlefield, your priest will come over to you and address you: 3 “Listen, Israel! Today you’re going to fight a battle against your enemies. Don’t be intimidated by them! Don’t be afraid! Don’t run away! Don’t let them terrify you! 4 The Eternal, your True God, has come out here with you, and He’ll fight for you against your enemies and save you.”

Let’s break these verses down to see how they apply.

Moses: This is how you should act during wartime…

As we said in the video this week, we wake up in a war every day. Until we decide to take the authority back from Satan and his kingdom, he automatically rules. It would be nice if it were different than this, but it simply isn’t. Wishing he was not in control does not make it so. Hiding our heads in the sand and pretending this is not the reality won’t change anything. If we want things to change and shift around us, we must understand we are in a war. Every single day.

When you go to battle against your enemies, if you see their army is larger than yours and they have horses and chariots, don’t be afraid of them!

This verse tells us that it is WHEN we battle against our enemies. Not if, but when. Running and hiding from the battles will not make them go away. In fact, it will keep us in the same cycle, going around the same mountain repeatedly. When we moved into the new Hebrew year 5785, the Holy Spirit told me it was time to move from the mountain of Horeb, where we had been camping. ( Click here for that teaching) We can no longer stay here where we have been. It is time we realize we are part of God’s army and are called into an epic battle of good versus evil. And the great news is we are on the winning side if we will submit and surrender to our commander!

The Eternal your God is with you—the same God who defeated Pharaoh and brought you out of Egypt.

We are not in this battle alone! Our God is with us. He is the LORD of Hosts, the warring God. He never loses! It may take a while to see the victory, but we will win if we do not give up.

As this year comes to a close, the Holy Spirit spoke to me at the beginning of this week and said there are battles His people have been in for years, possibly even decades, that are now over. We are in the Hebrew month of Kislev. The Hebrew letter for this month is the samech, which means to come full circle. There are battles in which we have come full circle, and they have been won in the spirit realm. In 2025, we will see the manifestation of the victory in the natural. We will collect the spoils where we stood and did not give up. We pressed on even in the pain and hope deferred. Because of our faithfulness to stand, we will now see the manifestation of those victories!

For you have fought the good fight. You have finished the course. You have kept the faith. Now you will receive the crown of righteousness laid up for you (2 Timothy 4:7–8).

As you are approaching the battlefield, your priest will come over to you and address you. “Listen Israel!”

The Israelites were told to listen to the priest during wartime. The book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus is our High Priest who understands every battle that we face.

Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:14–16, ESV).

Because Jesus won the battle over Satan and the powers of darkness and fully yielded His flesh to the power of the Holy Spirit, He can give us the exact instructions we need to do the same. The specific instructions we need for our lives are statutes (H2706). This word in Hebrew specifically means something prescribed. God alone knows how our souls developed apart from Him. He also knows the dynamics of the specific war environment we wake up to daily. Therefore, He knows the specific instructions to win. We must sit with Him and get those instructions. We will not be able to win if we depend on our own strategies or opinions. Human wisdom cannot defeat darkness; it will only add to it.

“Today you’re going to fight a battle against your enemies. Don’t be intimidated by them! Don’t be afraid! Don’t run away! Don’t let them terrify you! The Eternal, your True God, has come out here with you, and He’ll fight for you against your enemies and save you.”

Telling ourselves not to be afraid is easier said than done. We cannot will ourselves not to be afraid. The key is coming into a relationship with the Trinity. The Voice translation translates Elohim as True God. Elohim is the name of God we find in Genesis 1:1, In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Elohim is the plural name of God, pointing to the Trinity. As we get to know the Father as a loving parent, the Son as our Savior and Bridegroom, and the Holy Spirit as our counselor and power, fear will lose its hold on our lives. We partner with the Trinity in this intimate relationship, and our enemies are defeated.

The Holy Spirit is ending 2024 with these topics because we will need them as we head into 2025. We have been fighting personal battles, battles in the body of Christ, and battles in our nation (the United States) that are now won. We will see the manifestation of the victory in 2025. But as we see the manifestations of victory and have crossed the Jordan into the Promised Land, Jerichos are awaiting. We cannot fight like the Israelites did at Ai, or we will be defeated. Instead, we must do what they did at Jericho and follow the instructions exactly. These are great days of glory and power! Sons and daughters of God, watch and see the salvation of our God!

Blessings,

Brandee