Читать книгу Deliverance from Darkness, Demons, and Disease - Rod Aguillard - Страница 4

The Declaration of the Kingdom

I rejoice that in April 1968, I was translated from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of my heavenly Father’s Son. In a moment of time without moral or merit, I was spiritually born into an eternal kingdom. Micah the prophet saw this King and kingdom coming, “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting” Micah 5:2. The angel of the Lord made a declaration of this kingdom, “to the shepherds in the fields at night and, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:11.

Jesus is the Christ, meaning He is the anointed one sent by our Father to establish His rule on planet earth and to destroy the works of the devil. Kingdom refers to the King’s domain, implying the Lordship of Jesus over darkness, demons, and disease. Our Father has delegated this authority to His obedient church, to the going and giving church body. Therefore, as you and I surrender to His Lordship or rule, we have authority to deliver, to heal and to destroy all the works of the devil. Let’s do it!

“Repentance is not complete until we see the King’s domain and our dominion over demons and diseases.” (Bill Johnson)

Yes, Lord. We see it; we seize it; we say it; and we do it in Jesus’ name.

The message of the New Testament declared by our Lord Jesus is “Repent for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” Matthew 4:17. Repent means that we “turn from the rule of sin, selfishness and Satan, and we turn to the rule of God and righteousness.” Repent also means we make “an about-face and say no to the kingdoms of this world and we say yes to the kingdom and rule of our Father in Heaven.” At our Lord’s first coming, God’s rule invaded planet earth. Everywhere Jesus walked, hell broke under His feet. The sick were healed, the lame walked, the demonized were delivered and the dead were raised. One more time Jesus!

In the fall of 2008, I was ministering at a church in Bloomington, Indiana. During the night, I had a vision. Without any advertisement, men dressed in tuxedos and women dressed in elaborate evening gowns were filling up a stadium to meet a king. I stood in the midst of the stadium and realized the multitudes were coming to see a demonstration of God’s authority and power. Then a voice came to me and assigned me to preach to this great multitude on this text, “And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.” Luke 24:49.

In the dream, I had no Bible in my hand but as I looked down, I could see my oldest son running toward me to give me a Bible he had found. As I opened the Bible and was ready to declare God’s Word, the vision ended. At that point, I was somewhat frustrated that the Holy Spirit didn’t allow the vision to be completed with the thrill of preaching to such a great multitude of hungry hearts. Presently, the Holy Ghost is creating a hunger for God’s Word and a demonstration of His rule and power over darkness, demons, and diseases. They are not coming to our fine buildings or even our sound doctrine. They are not coming to our Sunday schools or church picnics. They are coming to see the power of our Lord’s kingdom. Join me. Let’s move in it!

A Brief History of the Kingdom of God

In the beginning, God gave kingdom authority to Adam to rule planet earth. “Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth, subdue it and have dominion.” Genesis 1:28 The first Adam lost it. Satan usurped it through Adam’s disobedience as recorded in Genesis 3:6. When man lost his rule and authority, he became a slave of sin, selfishness, sickness and the kingdom of darkness. Therefore, through Adam’s sin, mankind lost kingdom authority and kingdom life.

The Good News: The Lord God didn’t give up on the human race. Isaiah the prophet declared it. “…when the enemy shall come in like a flood, the spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him… and the deliverer shall come…” Isaiah 59:19. At the cross, the deliverer/redeemer came and set us free from the rule and oppression of darkness, demons, and disease. The blood of Jesus redeemed us and set us free from the power of sin and sickness. Rejoice! He set us free from the curses of the broken law – poverty, sickness, disease, mental torment, and the second death. Indeed, our Father has given Jesus a name above every name! What the first Adam lost, the second Adam has regained. He is highly exalted! He is in supreme authority! He has delegated this authority to the body of obedient believers. See it…seize it…say it…and carry it out against demons, disease, and all the works of darkness.

The Nature of the Kingdom of God —

The Four Expressions of the Kingdom of God

“For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.” Romans 14:17.

1.The kingdom of God is righteousness. The Word of God declares that He, Jesus, was made sin with our sinfulness that we would be made righteous with His righteousness. I rejoice in my state of righteousness. I rejoice in the power of the blood to keep on cleansing me from all unrighteousness. I John 1:9 declares, “That if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Sin means to “fall short of the glory of God.” I still have issues with sin. Ask my wife; she knows me better than anyone. There are moments I am impatient with her. That’s sin. There are times I am gruff in the tone of my voice when she misses the mark. That’s sin on my part. There have been slips when I have taken a wrong look at the opposite sex. That falls short of the glory of God. The super-grace people don’t believe in repentance or the confession of sin. But I do, and I am grateful that He instantly forgives me and cleanses me from all unrighteousness. Furthermore, by morning, the Holy Spirit leads me down paths of righteousness for His name’s sake, the name of Jesus. Rejoice!

2.The kingdom of God is peace. “Therefore being justified by faith (in the blood of Jesus) we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Romans 5:1. I rejoice that we serve the God of peace. I have peace with all men. Peace is power. The enemy of peace is distraction. As human beings, we are easily distracted and lose our peace. At home, during the college football season, I will watch and pull for the Louisiana State University Tigers. When they playing badly, I lose my peace. In the past, I simply would turn off the TV and go outside and worship the God of creation. Football is not worth my peace. When someone offends me, I forgive. I simply let it go and keep my peace. No one’s offense is worth me losing my peace. Peace is power!

3.The kingdom of God is joy. We serve the God of joy. “In His presence there is fullness of joy…” Psalms 16:11. Joy is the DNA of our heavenly Father: There is no sorrow in God…no anxiety in God. There is no sadness in God, just gladness and joy! Joy is not the absence of trials or problems. Joy is the absence of defeat, despair, and depression. I have discovered that in much sorrow, there is joy. There may be weeping for the night but joy comes in the morning. When our lovely Lynne (my oldest daughter) took her life at 44 years of age, marvelous Mary and I wept a river. But the comforter came. The Holy Spirit bandaged our wounds and released great joy within our hearts. We sorely miss her but we look forward with anticipation and joy that we will see her again in Heaven. The joy of the Lord has become our strength. As vessels of joy, we bring the kingdom of God to the body of Christ. As vessels of hope, we declare throughout our nation that a better day is coming. Let’s rejoice in the great goodness of our Father!

4.The kingdom of God is not in word but in power. “For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power.” I Corinthians 4:20. The kingdom of God is power to face the storms of life and to go through them. The kingdom of God is power to forgive all offenses and offenders. Yes it is! The kingdom of God is power to speak to your mountains and remove the resistance facing you. It is the power to overcome darkness and diseases, to love the unlovely, to bring Jesus to our generation. The kingdom of God is the power to stand against socialism, Islam, humanism, and the moral perversion of our nation; to engage the culture and take back our nation from the grip of principalities and powers. The kingdom of God is the power to reach the nations and win a world to Jesus; to heal and deliver the sick and the oppressed. “…But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you!” Luke 11:20. Once again, as it was written earlier, “Repentance is not complete until I see the King’s domain and my dominion over demons and diseases.” (Bill Johnson).

How to Experience or to Encounter the Kingdom of God

First of all, you must be born again, “unless a man is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God…the dominion of King Jesus…” John 3:5. In 1968, coming off an all-night drunk, I encountered divine authority. With no morals or merit, I came under the convicting power of the Holy Spirit. In the conviction, He gave me a clear choice between the kingdom of darkness and death, and the kingdom of light and life. He showed me the sins I cherished: the night clubs and drink, the party life, and the gambling habit. He gave me these as a reference point of repentance, repent ye, the kingdom of God is at hand. I hesitated because there is pleasure in sin but then comes the awful kick-back. My marriage and family were broken; my body was broken; and my finances were broken. I said to myself, “These sin pleasures are not worth it,” and I cried out, “Lord, help me! Lord, Master, Ruler help me!” I was convicted of sin, and when I said yes to divine authority and the saving power of my Savior, I was born into the kingdom of life, love, and light!

How do you keep experiencing the kingdom of God? How do you keep moving in His purity and power? First of all, it’s not for the lazy and the half-hearted. It is for the disciplined, for those who go on to know the Lord. “The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it.” Luke 16:16. We must press into the kingdom. We must take up our cross of self-denial daily and follow Jesus. The kingdom of God does suffer violence. We live in enemy territory and there is much resistance because of the darkness and demons. We must take the kingdom by force. We must enforce the victory of Calvary, the blood for sin; the crucifixion for selfishness; the resurrection for the anointing; and the scourging for healing and health.

To keep experiencing and encountering the kingdom of God, you must take time out with the Lord, morning by morning. Daily, you have to sit at the feet of Jesus and experience His presence and His grace for the day. If you have little or no communion with the Holy Spirit, you have no grace or kingdom authority to overcome the darkness and the demons. If you consistently stay around problems or keep your mind on negative circumstances, you have no power to overcome. “I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.” I John 2:14.

Hurricane Isaac caused Lake Ponchartrain to flood the community I live in. In the small town of LaPlace and Reserve, 10,000 homes were flooded and the five buildings of the church and school I founded were under water. In the midst of the devastation, I became part of the staff and assisted in the recovery and rebuilding. After three weeks, I was spiritually, emotionally, and physically exhausted. In this exhaustion, I was having serious health issues with high blood pressure. I had no rest in the mind and no rest in the body. As I lay on a couch in my secret place, I cried out and these words of life came to me: “If I live in the past, disappointment and grief will overwhelm me. If I try to live in the future, fear and anxiety will torment me. So today, let His grace and joy keep me. For this I know, God is with me and God is for me.” Following that moment of waiting and communion, peace came back into my mind and strength into my spirit man and body. In brief, if you don’t wait, you don’t win. “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” Isaiah 40:31. Let us rejoice, the kingdom of God has come and He dwells among us!