Today's Passage - Luke 11:21-28

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Luke 11:21-28   "'When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe.  But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusted and divides up the spoils.  He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me, scatters.'"   In order for the Kingdom of God to come, not only do we need to depend on the work of the Spirit, we also need to bind the work of the devil in order to eliminate his deeds.  Spreading the gospel might seem difficult because we only see the challenges of living a victorious life, but we overlook the devil's work behind those challenges.  It's like we go to a strong man's house and try to steal his chairs; we can steal ten chairs away, but he will grab nine of them back.  In the church, we may have 30 new converts during an evangelistic meeting, but at the end only 3 or 5 of them stay and rest of them would disappear.  If we want to be victorious over the world, we must first bind the devil.  Jesus said, in Matthew 18:18-19, "whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.  Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven."  Let us once again see the importance of prayer, because when we pray together, we can bind any deeds of Satan.  Prayer is not just pleading and thanksgiving, but it's to work together with God and to fight battles with Him.   One time some people asked the disciples of Jesus to cast out demon, but the disciples couldn't make the demon leave.  When Jesus got there, the demon was quickly cast out.  Disciples asked him why, and Jesus told them that they needed to fast in order to cast that type of demon out.  That kind of prayer to bind the devil is not a casual prayer, and a price needs to be paid.  The Yoido Full Gospel Church in Korea is the biggest church in the world, and the congregation is still growing, because not only do their believers listen to the sermons and attend the meetings, they also pray feverishly.  I have been to their "prayer mountain" and I saw how many believers fasted and prayed overnight; it is not surprising that their evangelistic ministry carries powerful spiritual authority.  May the Lord help us to know how to depend on God when we serve Him; no only to depend on the power of the Holy Spirit, but also know how bind the work of Satan, and let the devil have no room to work in our life.     Pray with Pastor Tong           Dear Lord, I thank you for the authority to pray that you've given us so that we can bind the work of the devil through prayer.  You said that whatever we bind on earth, you will bind in heaven; we ask you to help us to pray for deliverance, and let our own heart and soul and those of whom we pray for will be delivered from the restraint by the enemy.  When we pray on earth, we know you will accomplish such great work in the heaven.  I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!