PRINCIPALITIES, POWERS, RULERS, WICKEDNESS
Friday – April 21, 2017
Greetings from Patti and me and welcome back to the Bible Study taken from the Book of Ephesians. Before I delve into our study be reminded to pray for the Church, the anointed body of Christ, in the earth, especially here in the United States since the final harvest will spread from here around the world.
I have spent considerable time talking about the wiles of the devil as we prepare to discuss taking to ourselves the whole armour of God. The wiles or tricks of the devil are not what most people point to as the work of the devil. What we point to is the results not the cause which is our believing the lies of the devil. The seeds of destruction in our lives may have been sown, accepted, and nurtured for years or decades. If we only attack the symptom then we are permitting ongoing stealing, killing, and destroying in our lives, our choice, generally through ignorance. Let’s review our primary text.
Ephesians 6:10-13 (KJV)
10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12 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.
13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
In verse twelve above the Apostle Paul reminds us that our battle is not against or even about the people around and about us. Our battle is with the evil forces influencing those people. These flesh and blood people are operating by the worlds standards which are demonically perverted standards. The purity and goodness of these standards when they were first established by God are now perversely perverted by the evil ones. Their thinking, their ideas, their high places are predominately evil, contrary to the Word of God. Our battle is to rebut (refute, disprove, invalidate, and show to be false) those ideas and give them no place in our thinking, at least not a place superior to the Truth. What the evil people (anyone not born again) see operating in us are the fruit of the spirit, what the demonic powers see is the unadulterated Word of God, the authority given us and the power given us at the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Evil persons give an evil reports just as the ten spies of Numbers thirteen gave evil reports (thoughts and words and ways) contrary to the Word of God.
The terms that the Apostle Paul uses of ‘principalities, powers, rulers, and wickedness are thought to describe different ranks of evil spirits or different spheres of operation by those spirits. When you look at the word principality from the Greek you can see the word ‘arche’ like from archangel. An archangel is the top of the angel ranks and thus a principality would be the top devil in any given area. Powers are ranks or types of demonic spirits with authority (exousia) in a particular sphere. This is not authority over any man/woman but authority to operate in a certain theatre in the demonic realm. Rulers are a level of demonic spirit operating in and responsible for the darkness of this world. They are the ones principally responsible for initiating and maintaining the lies of the kingdom of darkness. Finally but certainly not least are those evil spirits perpetuating spiritual wickedness in high places. They play a leading role with the leaders in any setting whether that be your Church or mine, or the Congress. These are also the demons who speak into our ears perversions of the Truth, their favorite venue is the Church.
Our thoughts and our words are spiritual, they can bring death or they can bring life. Evil words (contrary to Scripture) bring death and Words of God bring life. I hope that each of us as we have studied the materials presented over the last several days are developing a sense of the horrendous nature of ideas contrary to the Word of God. There are no benign or harmless words contrary to the Word of God, period. There are those evil spirits (demons) whose job is to initiate and maintain spiritual wickedness in the thoughts and words of individuals. These evil thoughts and words are designed to take a place higher than the Word of God. When there is a discussion about something in the Word of God and in that conversation you hear a “yeah but” be very aware of the operation of spiritual wickedness in the conversation.
I will pick up this study next week, the Lord willing.
Please receive the Blessing.
Numbers 6:24-26 (KJV)
24 The LORD bless thee, and keep thee:
25 The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:
26 The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.
By: Dr. David Wood, Author, Bible Teacher, and Prophetic Voice
