Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits (Proverbs 18:21 ESV). Our words matter, and whether one is a believer or non-believer in Christ, his words generate either life or death. The spoken word has the power to edify or destroy.
If you’ve ever been the victim of malicious gossip or slander, you understand the devastation such accusations cause. No one loves its crippling effects more than Satan, who, as scripture points out, accuses us day and night. Then I heard a loud voice shouting across the heavens, "It has come at last—salvation and power and the Kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters has been thrown down to earth—the one who accuses them before our God day and night (Revelation 12:10 NLT). Ultimately, he will be defeated by Jesus Christ forever. Still, until that time, he actively seeks, through his hierarchy of demons and principalities, to steal, kill, and destroy as much of humanity as he can.
There are evil principalities in the second heaven, where the battle between God’s angel armies and Satan’s demonic princes wage war. These evil principalities empower demonic spirits on earth to carry out Satan’s mission. Such enemies of the Cross use people and situations to accomplish evil, making life troubling and tormenting for years and years sometimes. When such oppression from Satan settles over an individual, family, church, government, or country, hope is lost, defeat seems inevitable, and the light of God appears to be snuffed out. It is not, nor will it ever be snuffed out!
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12-13 NKJV). One such principality is Leviathan, a demonic prince that twists communication, words, and truth. It is addressed in Isaiah 27:1 (NASB): In that day the LORD will punish Leviathan, the fleeing serpent, with His fierce and great and mighty sword, even Leviathan, the twisted serpent; and He will kill the dragon who lives in the sea.
Leviathan is likened to a giant crocodile of the Nile—a 25’ long man-killer. It pulls its victims under the water and twists them until they die. Hence it is referred to as the twister. The principality of Leviathan empowers demon spirits to shrewdly twist the truth, much like the serpent in the Garden of Eden. It twists communication in words, letters, texts, social media, and phone calls—all forms of communication.
It does this through false reports, slander, misunderstandings, and misinterpretations—always challenging words. It wants to destroy the supernatural power in our mouth, which is the power of life or death, as evidenced in Proverbs 18:21. Have you ever said something only to have someone entirely twist your words and cause contention, strife, misunderstanding, or worse? Sadly, it happens in homes, relationships, churches, businesses, judicial systems, governments, and nations.
The evil principality of Leviathan is called a fleeing or flying serpent (Isaiah 27:1). The word fleeing is the Hebrew bariak, meaning dart back and forth. It goes back and forth on both sides of communication in emails, texts, social media, phone calls, and whatever means are used. It invades and seeks to destroy relationships because Satan knows how powerful we are when we are united and flowing together in a marriage, prayer, church, family, government, etc.
We don’t have physical crocodiles crawling down the aisles of churches or lurking in our homes or job sites. But probably most of us can think of people who regularly disrupt and oppose everything said or done. They twist words and have a tough time getting along with people. If we’re honest, most of us have either been victims or carriers of Leviathan-empowered spirits.
Beginning in first grade, many of us can name the class troublemaker who had an uncanny ability to tell unbelievable tales to the teacher with only a thread of truth. A twisting spirit can shrewdly and skillfully unravel truth until even the most learned and wise are deceived. One needs only watch the nightly news or the latest courtroom drama to see how expertly the truth is twisted and misrepresented.
Where’s the hope in this twisted mess? How do we combat such fierce opposition in the spiritual realm that causes such trouble in our physical world? The answer lies in God and a personal relationship with His Son, Jesus Christ.
Remarkable things happen when we yield to the love of God and allow Christ to help us do life! He gives us authority over all the power of the devil, as evidenced in Luke 10:19, Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. This verse does not mean that we should become snake and scorpion handlers. It means that because of Christ’s finished work on the Cross, we can speak to troublemaking demonic spirits and lift Satan's hand off our lives and those we love and care about.
Beyond that, we are covered by the power of God as He dictates what happens in the warfare between His holy angel armies and the demonic princes of Satan. Father God gives angelic assignments to the battles occurring in our lives, and high-ranking angels wait for instructions to carry out His will. Psalm 103:20-21 (NLT) says, Praise the Lord, you angels, you mighty ones who carry out His plans, listening for each of his commands. Yes, praise the Lord, you armies of angels who serve Him and do His will!
The most fantastic aspect of spiritual warfare is that God fights for us. Exodus 14:14 says, the Lord will fight for you while you keep silent! Our part is to humble ourselves, pray for the Lord’s help, use our authority to silence menacing, disruptive spirits (not people), and wait for His peace and victory to come. Often we are guilty of being contentious and disagreeable ourselves. (Ouch.) Asking for the Lord’s forgiveness and humbling ourselves swings the door wide open for God’s divine intervention into the most difficult, icky, messy situations.
So we do not rail against and attack people, for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Those are the troublemakers. Pursue peace with all men, but know that God and His angel armies are fiercely defending us against our enemies in the heavens.
Join me today and boldly declare this truth from Romans 8:31: IF GOD BE FOR US, WHO CAN STAND AGAINST US?!
© 2022, Chris Werre
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