JOSHUA GENERATION WORLDWIDE MINISTRIES, INC.

SWS Topic November 13, 2016

Exercise Your Authority in Prayer

Dr. Morris Cerullo
I.

INTRODUCTION

Many these days who fancy themselves as "deliverance ministers" are going about teaching the Church
how to be "delivered" from every demon they can dream up.
They go through their rituals, recite certain catch phrases and quote certain doctrines, all the while
making the person who is supposedly possessed go through all kinds of confession and contortion and
whatever else they can think of.
These "exorcism sessions" can last for hours on end. Sometimes, the ministers drag it out for weeks.
Many times, these ministers will leave the "exorcism sessions" tired and sweating. They'll collapse into a
chair and say, "I'm exhausted," as if they've had a tremendous workout at the gym.
God has appointed me as no man's judge. I don't and won't judge those men who call themselves
"deliverance ministers."
What I will do, however, is teach you how the Bible describes the casting out of devils.
God has called us to be supernatural people. He has called us to step out of the limitations of these
fleshly bodies we currently inhabit.
Remember, when God gave birth to this Church 2,000 years ago, He never intended this Church to know
ONE LIMIT!
All things are possible to us - we are UNLIMITED in God!
Remember also that when God gave birth to this Church, HE NEVER INTENDED FOR US TO USE OUR
NATURAL ABILITIES!
He never intended for us to preach by the power of our flesh for us to win souls by the eloquence of our
speech!
God empowered us to be His ambassadors simply through the supernatural power He infused us with!
We must rely upon Him to do any works! God never intended for us to fight our battles using the natural
abilities we came to Him with! His desire was for us to use the SUPERNATURAL abilities he gave to us!
Read:
"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."
(Ephesians 6:12).
Our battle is not in our natural abilities! Our battle is against spiritual forces, so our method of war must
be SPIRITUAL!
II.

BODY

We must step BEYOND the abilities of our natural minds and bodies! We must become dependent upon
the almighty power of God.
I have been in the ministry for more than 50 years. By the grace of God, I have had the opportunity to
preach the Gospel on all six of the inhabited continents of the world. I have faced everything from Satanists
to witch doctors, and by the power of God, I have cast out more demons than I can count.
And in more than 50 years, I have NEVER ONCE come away from a battle with a demon exhausted.
NEVER ONCE have I come away tired. I felt as new as the day I was born again for a simple reason:
IT WAS NOT MY POWER THAT CAST THE DEMONS OUT! IT WAS THE POWER OF GOD!
I hope you get that in your spirit. If you never learn another lesson, learn this - we can do no work except
by the power of God!
We have no authority in ourselves. We have no power in ourselves. We are weak, weak vessels of flesh.
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"The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of
God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ...."
Romans 8:16-17
When we rely upon the Most High God, we suddenly acquire authority! When we become joint heirs With
Christ, we inherit the authority that Jesus has. We become joint beneficiaries, of the power of God!
All the Power Jesus had access to, we suddenly also have access to.
All the authority that Jesus wielded, we suddenly wield, too!
By the same authority that Jesus cast out demons, we also can cause the forces of darkness to tremble.
Jesus said,
"Believeth thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words
that I speak unto you I speak not of Myself: but the Father that dwelleth in
Me, He doeth the works." John 14:10
Jesus did not have some kind of mystical power that we could never hope to access. Instead, Jesus
relied upon the Father to do the tremendous works...
Jesus came to give us an example...
To lead the way...
So that we could also operate in the same authority He operated on...
Not His own authority (though He certainly had authority)
Not in the flesh that He had taken upon Himself...
But in the authority of the Father...the FATHER WHO DID THE WORKS!
Jesus commanded the unclean spirits by the AUTHORITY OF THE FATHER and the unclean spirits
obeyed Him!
He did not struggle.
He did not tie them down to a chair and scream at them for hours until the possessed person finally
passed out.
He did not exert himself until He was dehydrated.
Instead of relying upon the natural abilities of His flesh, Jesus relied upon the SUPERNATURAL ABILITY
OF THE FATHER!
He commanded the demons, and when they recognized the authority of the Father, the unclean spirits had
no choice but to obey!
The demons knew who Jesus was when they saw Him coming!
Was it what He looked like that clued them in?
Was it some special facial feature that caused the devils to tremble in fear?
No, the devils recognized the authority that Jesus operated in, and they immediately knew they were
dealing with someone who meant business.
Remember when Jesus went to cast the demons out of the man who called himself Legion? The demons
said, "What have we to do with thee, Jesus, Thou Son of God? Art Thou come hither to torment us
before the time?" (Matthew 8:29)
Jesus hadn't introduced Himself. They knew who He was because they could feel the power of God's
approach!
When the devils know youre relying upon the power of God, they suddenly know who you are - they know
who to avoid.
"Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists took upon them to call over them which had evil
spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth. And there
were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, a chief of the priests, which did so. And the evil spirit answered
and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye? And the man in whom the evil spirit was
leaped upon them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so they did flee out of the house
naked."
This illustrates another important point: There is no formula you can use, no magical incantation you can
recite, to give you power over the enemy.
When some snake oil salesman comes along promising you power over the devil, you just send him
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packing on his way - there are no shortcuts!

These seven sons of Sceva used the right name Jesus! They said the right words, they used the right
name, but they HAD NO AUTHORITY!
Anyone could go around saying they were some rich man's relative. They could say they were his heir, but
if they had no relationship with the rich man, it would be easy enough for anyone to see through their ruse.
If you don't believe me, just try walking down to the local store and try to get some groceries by saying
you're Bill Gates' heir.
Most likely what will happen is the store keeper will throw you out on your ear.
Why? Because you probably didn't drive up in a car they would associate with Bill Gates, the richest man
in the world.
You probably aren't wearing clothes that would associate with the richest man in the world. Your photo has
never run in Newsweek with Bill Gates.
You probably have never been on television with him.
If the store keeper were to call someone in Bill Gates' organization, they could easily check on your claim
to be his heir.
The same goes with the Kingdom of God.
The devils will quickly see through the ruse of someone who claims to be who they are not. You can say
the right words, use the right language, but unless you have AUTHORITY, you likely will come away naked
and embarrassed.
How do you get authority? You must become His heir. You must be a son or a daughter. Not only in name.
You must become a son or a daughter in deed.
This leads us to one of the most often misunderstood verse in the Bible.
This verse has been so misinterpreted over the years.
I've been hearing ministers say, "Oh, sometimes you've got to fast and pray to get a really tough demon to
come out of someone!"
But that's not what Jesus was talking about at all! How foolish we would be if we thought that Jesus was
simply giving us a formula to follow with our flesh to get a certain type of reaction in the spiritual world.
NO!
Jesus didn't go on a quick fast before He cast the demon out! He walked right up and cast it out!
This was because He was living in a LIFESTYLE OF FASTING AND PRAYER. In other words, He had a
relationship with the Father!
The demon had to obey Him because He had authority that comes with RELATIONSHIP! It comes with a
lifestyle of dedication - in this case exemplified by fasting and prayer!
III.
CONCLUSION
That's the only way we will ever have victory over the forces of the enemy. We must live a lifestyle of
fasting and prayer - a lifestyle of dedication and relationship with God! We must rely upon His authority, His
power, His SUPERNATURAL ABILITY to win the battles we are faced with!
Only then will we be able to step into our end time destinies. Only then will we be able to teach the world
with the Gospel!
Let's win the battle in prayer right NOW.
God empowered us to be His ambassadors simply though the supernatural power He infused us
with!