As we prepare for Rosh Hashanah this weekend which is the Head of the year I encourage you to reflect on how you have walked throughout this past year and demonstrate your willingness to walk free of all oppression of the devil. I am sharing the first part of my reflections with the Holy Spirit gleaned from my communion time with Him.

Today the Holy Spirit wants you to look carefully at the things you must stand against and never allow to rule, dominate, or have dominion over your life affairs. There are realities of life that Jesus has already paid the price to free you from. So you have no business allowing these things to rob you, threaten you, control you, or keep you in bondage by giving them the right to master you.

The Holy Spirit is emphasising that there are things you must refuse to allow to overcome you because Jesus has already paid the price for your freedom from them. The issue is therefore not merely hoping that freedom will come someday, but walking in that freedom now. There is the finished work of Jesus that establishes the basis for your freedom, and you are being called to stand in what He has accomplished for you.

1John.3:8 gives us the foundation for this fact which reads these words: “He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.” These words make perfectly clear the difference between the purpose of Jesus for our lives and the purpose of satan against us.

Sin unfortunately was initiated into humanity through satan when Adam submitted to his lie in the Garden of Eden and ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil with Eve. From that time, sin became the dominant force working against humanity, with satan seeking through it to keep people bound, controlled, and subject to the consequences of his wicked and twisted purposes.

However the Apostle John wants us to understand this reality as a fact of life, and not merely as a promise we are hoping will eventually become a reality that the Son of God, Jesus was manifested on the earth to destroy the works of the devil. Jesus deliberately and purposefully came to deal with the works of satan.

Therefore, we must ask ourselves what are the works of the devil that Jesus went about destroying? The Holy Spirit’s instruction is very clear for us to know that these are the things we must not allow to rule us or have any place in our lives because Jesus has already destroyed them and rendered them impotent against us.

Jesus we know from scripture intentionally went after the works of satan and destroyed them. So how can we accept the idea that the One who destroyed the works of satan would then permit those same works to dominate His beloved ones? Yet unfortunately this is exactly what believers can sometimes foolishly believe and accept when satan attacks them with sickness, disease, bondage, oppression, or other forms of affliction.

The Holy Spirit is calling us to recognise the contradiction and know for a fact that Jesus destroyed the works of the devil, therefore we must not willingly surrender to those works and allow them to become masters over our lives. Peter gives us a clear picture of Jesus’ earthly ministry in action in Acts.10:38 which reads these words: “how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.”

It will do you good to look carefully at the purpose and intent of Jesus’ life which was to go about doing good, which resulted in Him healing all who were oppressed by the devil. This fact reveals something important about the source of oppression: because we see clearly that oppression is caused and initiated by the devil, and not the Lord. Therefore, there is a definite reason for us to refuse to accept any form of oppression in our lives, regardless of how it manifests itself.

Jesus demonstrated through His life that He possessed the power to destroy all the various forms of oppression established by the devil and to liberate humanity from their control. This fact remains His legacy, it remains His policy and it remains His immutable counsel which we as His followers, get to inherit here on earth. So we are not called merely to observe Jesus’ victory from a distance, but we are called to stand in the victory He has made available to and for us and to demonstrate His triumph in our own lives.

I was reminded of the day the reality of freedom from oppression became a reality in my personal life as this truth was realised in my life through this word. This was the first day I knew in reality that sickness had no power to dominate my life because when a severe headache occurred against me , the Holy Spirit prompted me to instruct it to leave my body because it had no right to oppress me and as I rebuked it in the name of Jesus it left me instantly. It was a very liberating experience to have severe pain which would last for hours unless I took pain killers leave me instantly when I spoke to it in Jesus name.

A few minutes later, as I was stunned by the new reality when the symptoms attempted to resurface, almost as though testing whether I believed that it had truly lost its place in my life. However the Holy Spirit again gave me another instruction to speak to it and declare that it had no right to trespass upon my body which settled the matter of me walking in divine healing and health.

From that point onward, the understanding became a practical way of me walking by refusing sickness and disease were the right to establish themselves in my body which is the Temple of the Holy Spirit, and all symptoms that have attempted to arise have been rebuked rather than accepted because I know my authority over sickness in the name of Jesus.

I have further come to the knowledge that my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, and therefore oppression of my body is not passively welcomed or given permission to trespass in my life. The larger principle is that the Holy Spirit teaches us the followers of Jesus how to stand in the freedom Jesus purchased for us rather than simply accepting whatever opposition comes via the devil.

Father, in the name of Jesus, I receive the truth of Your Word with my whole heart. Holy Spirit, please give me the grace to recognise every work of the devil that I have tolerated, accepted, feared, or allowed to have a place in my life and awaken me to the reality of what Jesus has already accomplished on my behalf.

I refuse to give oppression, bondage, fear, or the works of the devil permission to rule or have dominion over me. So I choose on purpose to stand in the triumph of Jesus. Holy Spirit please make me strong and courageous by teaching me to stand my ground, by resisting every scheme and strategy of the enemy, and taking territory on behalf of Your Kingdom.

I declare in Jesus name that the works of the devil have no right to rule me, dominate me, control me, or establish a place in my life. I know for a fact that Jesus was manifested in the flesh to destroy the works of the devil, and I stand in the victory He has already accomplished for me.

Therefore I refuse every form of oppression, bondage, and satanic interference. So I will not accept what Jesus came to earth to destroy. I will not give the enemy permission to trespass upon my life as I stand in the authority of Jesus and resist every work of darkness in His name from oppressing me. Amen.