Shield Yourself from the Powers of Darkness: How to Call on God’s Protection

The thief [satan] does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I [Jesus] have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly (John 10:10 NKJV).

Jesus made it very clear in His statement recorded in John 10:10—satan is your enemy.

Jesus is your Savior. The enemy, the devil wants nothing more than to steal preservation from you. He does it by stealing, killing, and destroying. The life that Jesus promised is an abundant life walking in the anointing of preservation. We must take authority over the enemy and not allow his tactics, we must resist him and he will flee—resulting in preservation.

To resist the devil and his attempts to steal, kill, and destroy, we identify his tactics and know who is out to get us. The Bible (NKJV) reveals the enemy throughout the Scriptures, labeling him:

• accuser (Revelation 12:10)          

• adversary (Job 1)

• antichrist (book of Revelation)

• baal (Judges 2)

• beast (book of Revelation)

• beelzebub (Matthew 12:24)

• Belial (2 Corinthians 6:15)

• deceiver (book of Revelation)

• demon (Matthew 8:31-33)

• dragon (Revelation 12)

• enemy (Matthew 13:39)

• evildoer (Isaiah 1:4)

• wicked one (1 John 5:19)

• fallen angel/morning star (Isaiah 14:12-15)

• lawless one (2 Thessalonians 2:8-9)

• liar, father of lies (John 8:44)

• lucifer (Isaiah 14:12)

• murderer (John 8:44)

• prince of the power of the air (Ephesians 2:2)

• roaring lion (1 Peter 5:8)

• satan (book of Job)

• serpent (Genesis 3) thief, robber, destroyer (John 10:10)

• wicked one (Matthew 13:19)

I believe that it saddens God when we blame Him for tragedies, calamities, sickness, or death that is actually caused by the devil. This is why in John 10:10, Jesus clearly distinguishes between the goodness of God and the evil of satan.

In clear terms, Jesus states that the devil is responsible for killing, stealing, and destroying while expressing that He is the Source of abundant life. As we have discovered in the biblical references in this book, by calling upon the name of the Lord, we can experience blessings, healing, protection, rescue, and preservation. Remember, this is our covenant rights package and the free gift given upon salvation, also known as sozo. Asserting your sozo rights, which come as part of your salvation, establishes you as a favored child of God, who must be aware of the enemy’s attacks.

The enemy uses many things to lead people astray. The devil wants nothing more than for us to not know what Jesus paid for and what is legally ours in our covenant. If he can gain access in our lives and we open our hearts or lives to him, he gains access to steal the preservation of a blessed covenant life and all it entails. A good example would be with Judas, one of Jesus’s disciples. He had every benefit as the others, but opened the door of his heart to the devil and his life was cut short. The anointing that preserved his life while serving under Jesus was sadly shortened as he took his own life.

Now the Festival of Unleavened Bread, called the Passover, was approaching, and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were looking for some way to get rid of Jesus, for they were afraid of the people. Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of the Twelve. And Judas went to the chief priests and the officers of the temple guard and discussed with them how he might betray Jesus. They were delighted and agreed to give him money (Luke 22:1-5 NIV).

Judas’s life was stolen from him by his own greed, affecting the anointing of preservation upon him. The enemy fears who we know, being Jesus, and what we know, being our covenant rights. He seeks to challenge both and look for an open door, seeking whom he may devour. Keep speaking the power of what Jesus provided, continue to boldly say, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. I am anointed,” and you invite the power of God’s Spirit into your life and activate the anointing of preservation. With this anointing present, you raise up a standard against the attacks of the devil, who will be restrained from laying his hands on you. Indeed, when you are anointed, you are shielded from the thief’s schemes.

But in that coming day no weapon turned against you will succeed. You will silence every voice raised up to accuse you. These benefits are enjoyed by the servants of the Lord; their vindication will come from me. I, the Lord, have spoken! (Isaiah 54:17 NLT)

By “no weapon,” it means absolutely none—not even the devil’s most insidious tactics will succeed against you. We must not only believe this but claim it, declaring it in faith boldly! In addition, your detractors will be rendered speechless. I believe it can also mean that we should be wise and avoid getting into heated arguments, particularly on social media.

Jesus willingly endured ridicule, taunts, and misunderstandings but always stayed in the Spirit of love and truth, preserving His life until He laid it down. As representatives of God on earth, we can also deflect the devil’s arrows and avoid getting into the flesh that opens us up for attacks from the enemy. Jesus specifically informed His disciples and us:

I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it! (John 14:12-14 NLT)

If we want to see powerful results in our lives and concerning others, we must be like Jesus as Christians and believers in Him. Being a Christian means being Christlike and anointed. When we are saved, walking in the spirit, we become an anointed person, like Christ. We then are able to perform extraordinary works that bring honor to the Father, like Jesus did. We must be vigilant and able to recognize the enemy to avoid turning away from God’s Word and living a life that affects the anointing of preservation upon us.

By His Spirit

A vital way to protect us from the onslaughts of the enemy is for Christians to establish and maintain a connection to the anointing of God on our lives. One way we do this is through His Word, but also in regular fellow- ship with other believers under the guidance of anointed leadership. It helps to bring the anointing of preservation against the schemes and deceptions of the enemy. This is because whenever two or more gather in God’s name, His presence is there with them (as demonstrated in Matthew 18:20, Ecclesiastes 4:9-12, Hebrews 10:25, Luke 8:4, among others). This presence comes because of our agreement, and God releases His spirit to go forth in power and demonstration. It is what the enemy fears as it exposes and destroys his assignments not in our ability, but by His Spirit.

So he answered and said to me: “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts” (Zechariah 4:6 NKJV).

When we try to do things in our own efforts or power, we will not succeed in overcoming the attacks of the enemy. Zechariah prophesies, essentially stating, “Take heed, you cannot succeed by mere human ability. Your victory comes not from your own power, nor strength, but through the Spirit.” To be able to combat the devil, we must possess an anointing—it’s that straightforward and miraculous. It is all about God and His Spirit. This was what caused Jesus to minister in such power and destroy the works of the devil, especially seeing many healed and touched by the anointing.

And you know that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. Then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him (Acts 10:38 NLT).

The Holy Spirit is the ultimate Source of the anointing that preserves us. When His Spirit rests upon us, we become anointed for action demonstrated with His power. Jesus spent much of His time performing good deeds through the anointing of the Holy Spirit and healing those oppressed by the devil. It was the devil, not God, who was responsible for inflicting sickness and oppression upon people. Jesus was bold in His assignment to speak up and bold about His assignment to expose darkness and release an anointing to preserve the betterment of those He touched.

We as believers, especially leaders, need to do as Jesus did. He took a stand against evil by speaking up and distinguishing right from wrong. There is such a need for that today, especially in preserving the truth, maintaining a standard of righteousness and morals. Sadly, many people, even Christians, take a neutral approach or a cowardly approach to taking a stand against darkness and the things the enemy is trying to do, especially in our culture. Yet, we have an anointing to make a difference and to help pre- serve not only our lives but a generation.

This anointing is a power that does not come from our own selves but from the Holy Spirit, in His boldness. It is what is making a difference that we are seeing in this hour. Yet, there are always those who adopt the belief that “we should not confront darkness or the evils of our day” and especially they say, “avoid politics.”

As I mentioned from the start of this book, we can- not remain silent or inactive or we will greatly hinder the anointing released to preserve our generation. We must refuse to be silent as I believe we are being summoned by God to stand boldly, courageously, and without fear in His anointing that destroys the works of darkness.

Do Something

I believe more than ever now is the time for Christians to act, or evil will prevail. In addition to prayer, we must stand up and declare our faith in Jesus as Lord. The more we expose the darkness and speak truth concerning the many lies of the devil, an anointing is released to bring preservation. The devil loses his strongholds and righteousness prevails.

It’s critical that we understand and recognize the tactics of the devil. Lawlessness, lies, and deceptions are how he is trying to steal, kill, and destroy today.

The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved (2 Thessalonians 2:9-10 NIV).

In my conviction, had Jesus been present on earth today, He wouldn’t be silent as some are, especially His preachers. I strongly believe if He was operating in His ministry during the years 2020-2022 as we saw many lies and attempts of the enemy to destroy the innocent and even our nation, He would have made the statement, “I came to do good and heal those oppressed by the devil, which is what I shall continue doing today. You will not close down My church, nor My ministry. You won’t censor Me—and for the record, I will be performing good and healing tomorrow, the day after, and the next day as well.” This would have been His message, and it should be ours as well—today and every day.

We are powerfully anointed by His Spirit to go about doing good and destroying the works of the devil. We are key to releasing the anointing of preservation that makes a difference in our lives. This is how our families, cities, regions, and nations will be gloriously changed and preserved. It is when we work with the Holy Spirit as His anointed vessels.

And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen (Mark 16:20 KJV).

Anointed Words

As already explained, we usually associate the concept of the anointing solely with the laying on of hands or the transmission of physical mantles, as with Elijah and Elisha. However, in Matthew 8:5-13, we can see that Jesus was able to heal the centurion’s servant by speaking the word only. This denotes that we, too, can unleash the power of the anointing through our words.

This is why I can’t stress the importance of continuing to declare, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, I am anointed,” to bring God’s anointing into your life. We need to adopt the same faith standard and understanding of the centurion in the Bible that knew the power of words to make a difference. It not only healed his servant but preserved his life!

And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him. The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed (Matthew 8:7-8 KJV).

I promise you, if you make a continued habit of saying and believing this truth, you will certainly see the benefits. Just think how much the enemy is fearing your words about the revelation concerning the anointing of preservation!