GIVE NO PLACE TO THE DEVIL

You can give place to the devil by giving him more credit than God. In church, some people give more praise to the devil than to God. Born-again, Spirit-filled people praise the devil more than they do God. Some people say, "I'll tell you, the devil is here."

At a place where I preached one time, the pastor got up and said, "The devil is here. He's got us all bound up. I don't know how in the world Brother Hagin is going to preach in this kind of atmosphere. We're going to hurry up here — and turn him loose."

When I got up I said, "No, you're not going to turn me loose. I haven't been bound to begin with. I'm already loose! Now it's been said, 'The devil's here.' " (You see, the more they talked about the devil, the more frightened they got. They had been saying, "The devil's here, the devil's taken over, the devil's got it." The devil, the devil, the devil — that's all they talked about.)

I said, "The devil will come to church more regularly than most faithful saints. But what of it? Jesus is here, God is here, the Holy Spirit is here. Greater is He that's in me than he that's in the world!" The people started straightening up in their chairs when I started talking about God. I said, "I don't know if Jesus came with you, but He came with me. Even if you didn't bring Him, I did.

He's here. What do we care about the devil?" Before long, they were jumping and shouting all over the place. Many people talk about what the devil is doing and how he's keeping them sick and unsuccessful. They give the devil dominion over them. But if you'll talk about what God's Word says, the devil will run from you in terror. You have authority because of the Name of Jesus! (Kenneth Hagin)