You Are Not a Victim. If you’re a Christian, you have authority over tormenting spirits
Let me just say something that I think a lot of Christians need to hear, and I mean really hear it, not just nod at it in church.
You have authority.
Not because you’re special. Not because you’ve been a Christian long enough or prayed hard enough or read the right books. You have authority because of whose you are. And until you understand that, you are going to keep living like a victim of something that Christ already defeated.
What Matthew 18:18 Is Really Saying
Jesus said it plainly. “Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
Now I know that verse gets thrown around a lot, and this verse has often been misunderstood or used without context, yet it reveals an important truth about the Authority Over Tormenting Spirits given to those who belong to Christ. So let me bring it back down to earth, because this is something I talk about with clients all the time.
When Jesus used the words “bind” and “loose,” he was borrowing language his listeners already understood. In that culture, it meant to forbid or to permit. To restrict or to release. And what Jesus was saying to his followers was this. You have been given the authority to align yourself with what heaven has already declared.
That’s the key. You’re not creating something new or conjuring up power from thin air. You are standing in agreement with what God has already said is true.
That is not a small thing. It’s actually everything.
But Where Does the Authority Come From?
This is where I have to stop people because here’s where the confusion comes in. Authority doesn’t come from you. I want to be really clear about that because I’ve seen people go off the deep end, thinking they have personal spiritual power, and it never ends well.
The authority comes from Christ’s victory. Period.
Colossians 2:15 says that when Jesus went to the cross, he disarmed the rulers and authorities. He put them to open shame. He triumphed over them. That means the enemy is already defeated. He is not equal to God. He is not even close. And when you belong to Christ, you stand in that victory, not your own.
I love this picture. Before salvation, it’s like living in someone else’s house. Luke 11 describes Satan as a strong man guarding his house. But then Jesus shows up, someone stronger, and he overpowers him, taking back what was stolen. That’s what salvation is. The moment you were transferred out of the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of Christ.
So when tormenting thoughts come, and they will come, you are not fighting from a place of weakness. You are fighting from a place of victory already won.
So, Why Am I Still Being Tormented?
This is the question I get all the time – it’s a fair question.
“If Christ won, why does it still feel like something is after my mind?”
Here is what I tell people. There is a difference between possession and oppression. If you belong to Christ, the enemy cannot own you. That door is closed. But he absolutely will harass you, accuse you, lie to you, and wear you down if you let him. And most of us have been letting him do it for years without even realizing it.
2 Corinthians 10 talks about strongholds. And when I teach this, I explain it this way. A stronghold is not a demon hiding in your brain. A stronghold is a lie you have believed for so long that it feels like truth. It’s the thought that says, You are too broken. God doesn’t really love you. You’ll never change. You are not worthy of peace.
Those thoughts often arise early, between the ages of one and eight, when children learn to cope and see the world. And if nobody ever challenged those lies with truth, they become the lens you look through for the rest of your life.
Spiritual warfare plays out every single day in the thought life.
This Is Where James 4:7 Changes Everything
Submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
I need you to notice something. The order matters.
You don’t start by rebuking the enemy. You start by submitting to God. Because the authority flows from that relationship. If you are trying to resist the enemy without being rooted in who God is and who you are in him, you are fighting in your own strength. And that doesn’t work. The Authority Over Tormenting Spirits is often exercised by recognizing lies and replacing them with truth – God’s truth.
This is why I keep coming back to those three pillars in everything I do. Who is God? Where is God? And who am I in God’s eyes? Because until those three things are settled, at least as much as they can be in this lifetime, you do not have a firm place to stand.
Once those are in place? Then you resist. And the promise is that he will flee. Not maybe. Not eventually. He will flee.
What This Looks Like in Real Life
Let me get practical, because that’s who I am. I don’t like to leave people with good theology and no action steps.
First:
Learn to recognize the voice. I say this all the time, and it bears repeating. Anything that brings chaos or confusion is not from God. God does not operate in chaos. He is not the author of confusion. So when your mind is spinning, and you can’t find peace, and you feel like everything is falling apart, that is a cue. Not to panic. To pay attention. Something is speaking to you, and it is not your Father.
Second:
Speak out loud. The enemy cannot hear your thoughts. He is not omniscient. Only God is. But when you speak the name of Jesus out loud, when you say in the name of Jesus, I reject this, that is operating in a whole different dimension. Your voice matters. Don’t just think it. Say it.
Third:
Replace the lie with truth. This is not just positive thinking, this is warfare. When a tormenting thought comes, and I always call them what they are, voices, not your thoughts – you reject it, and you replace it. Romans 8:1 says there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. When shame shows up and says you are worthless, you say, That is a lie. I am deeply loved. I am chosen. I am a child of the King.
That is your sword. Use it.
Fourth:
Do it in the community. Matthew 18:18 is in a chapter about the community of believers for a reason. We are not meant to fight alone. Isolation is the enemy’s favorite strategy. He will do everything he can to get you alone, get you quiet, and get you to believe there is nobody who understands what you are going through.
Find your people – someone who will stand with you and pray with you and speak truth to you when you cannot speak it to yourself.
A Word About Shame
I have to address this because I see it all the time.
Shame is not conviction.
People get this confused all the time. Conviction comes from the Holy Spirit and leads you toward restoration. Conviction is the Holy Spirit coming alongside you and saying, gently, like a good Father, That wasn’t the right direction. Let’s turn around. It brings humility. It brings movement. It leads somewhere good.
Is shame telling you you are the problem? Not what you did. You. And shame shuts you down. It drives you inward. It keeps you hiding in the wine press just like Gideon.
If the voice you are hearing is keeping you small and stuck, and convincing you that you are beyond repair, that is not God. That is the enemy, and you have full authority in Christ to tell it exactly where to go.
You Already Have What You Need
Here is what I want you to walk away with.
You are not fighting for victory. You’re fighting from victory. Christ already won. The defeated enemy you are dealing with is using smoke and mirrors, lies that have gotten comfortable in your thought life, voices that have been speaking so long you started to think they were yours.
They are not yours.
Ephesians 6 tells us to put on the whole armor of God. Not because we are weak, but because we are in a battle. And a soldier who knows their authority, who knows their commanding officer, who knows the enemy is already defeated, that soldier does not fight in fear. They fight with confidence.
So I am going to tell you what I tell every person I work with.
You are the son/daughter of the King! Adopted into his family. The legal transaction of salvation is done, and the enemy has no right to torment what belongs to God.
Stand in that. Speak it out loud. And trust the One who is stronger than anything that comes against you.
He has already won. And so have you.
