By Felix Ngunjiri Gichuri

Help those who Oppose Themselves to Recover Themselves out of the Snare of the Devil

If you want to preach the gospel, if you want to deliver people from bondage, you must have the qualities of being kind, able to teach them the truth, instructing those who oppose themselves so that perhaps God will give them repentance to the knowledge of the truth, so that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil.

“And a servant of the Lord must not be quarrelsome, but he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, and forbearing (patient). In meekness (humility or gentleness) instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure (perhaps) will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will. (2 Timothy 2:24-26 King James Version KJV)

Some people oppose themselves by not believing in themselves, believing that they are not able to achieve anything, following incorrect teachings, false beliefs (like “God helps those who help themselves” which is not Biblical because God will only help you after you reach the end of your effort and realize that it is God who matters, not your effort or ability. Read Judges 7:2, Mark 4:35-40), having low opinion of themselves and towards others thereby ending up in loss and suffering.

To Help Trapped People Recover Themselves, You Must be out of the Trap (Bondage)

You cannot liberate people from danger or from the shackles of bondage of sin or from the trap of the devil when you are in danger or trapped. You need to first of all be delivered or recovered from that danger or trap or bondage first. God had to get Moses out of the palace (a form of bondage where those inside are caged in a luxurious life, doing everything to please the king, worship and praise him as their god), a place of stagnation and a lonely place where he was not helping anybody because people were supposed to do everything for him: bowing before him, freezing at his appearance and being praised for nothing because he was a royal prince. He was very lonely up there and God reached out to him to use him to free the Israelites out of the house of bondage.

For you to help people to recover themselves from the trap of the devil, from the bondage of sin, you must first be delivered from yourself, from your people, from your enemies and from the hold the devil has on you. Before Jesus sent Paul to deliver God’s people to open their spiritual eyes so that they may turn from power of satan to God, He opened his eyes first. “And I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles— to whom I am sending you, to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.” (Acts 26:15-18 ESV)

For you to instruct people on how they can recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, you must have power from God to enable you to do it. “After this, the Lord appointed 70 others, and He sent them ahead of Him in pairs to every town and place where He Himself was about to go.” When Jesus sent them to preach the gospel and heal the sick, He was with them in Spirit and they returned with joy because devils were subject to them through His name. They went out as His ambassadors to preach the gospel. He had given them power over all the power of the enemy.

“And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and the sick shall recover.” (Mark 16:17-18 King James Version KJV)“But you shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and you shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” (Acts 1:8 King James Version KJV)

The Reason the Son of God Appeared was to Destroy the Works of the Devil

Christ gives His followers power to crush the enemy’s head, step on it, crush it as was originally intended by God before man fell into sin. “The LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (Gen 3:14 ESV2011])

We are the offspring of Adam and Eve. The serpent has been bruising our heels, our legs, our bodies and the work of our hands from the days of Adam and Eve until the time when God sent His Son Jesus Christ to crush the devil for us and show us how we shall be crushing the devil. “Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.” (1John 3:8 ESV2011])

“As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And you are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power: In whom also you are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: Buried with him in baptism, wherein also you are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them publicly, triumphing over them in it” (Col 2:6-15 [KJV])

Christ Has Delegated His Immense Power to Whoever Believes in Him

We who were dead in sin and under a curse as a result of that original sin have been born anew after being forgiven of our sins and He offered His body to bear all our sins which were nailed onto his body on the cross. That is why Jesus spoke to His followers, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)

And He delegated His immense power to whoever believes in Him when He said that “I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10:19-20 [KJV]). But He was quick to elaborate that the power He has given us is for service to God here on earth but that we should seek to have our names written in the book of life in heaven. You cannot serve God when the power of God is not in you because the devil will attack you to stop you from preaching the gospel. When you are on a mission to preach the gospel like Paul, you need the power to shake off the enemy the devil and drop him into the fire so the he does not block you in your mission to preach Christ: power to step on a serpent who will stand against you to block your way. You have the power even to recover from the poison of the devil the way Paul shook off the viper that was hanging on his hand into the fire. “Once safely on shore, we found out that the island was called Malta. The islanders showed us unusual kindness. They built a fire and welcomed us all because it was raining and cold. Paul gathered a pile of brushwood and, as he put it on the fire, a viper, driven out by the heat, fastened itself on his hand. When the islanders saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to each other, “This man must be a murderer; for though he escaped from the sea, the goddess Justice has not allowed him to live.” But Paul shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no ill effects. The people expected him to swell up or suddenly fall dead; but after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god.”

Holy Spirit of God in you gives you power to recover yourself from the snare of the enemy

The Bible in Revelation 12:9 talks of “…the ancient serpent called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world.” In the Garden of Eden, the snake deceived Adam and Eve, and they drank up his poison. People who are drunk with their immoralities have drunk the poison of the devil into their system and the Bible says that the wages of sin is death. “For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23). God gave us His Son to die on our behalf by exchanging the blessing due to Him as a result of His obedience with the curse due to us as a result of our disobedience. “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” (Galatians 3:13-14 King James Version KJV)

Isaiah Prophesied that a Day Will Come When the Yoke Shall be Destroyed by the Anointing of God

The devil will definitely resist you when you try to preach the gospel by trying to hold you captive by him at his will to destroy, steal or kill you. The good thing is that the devil does not have absolute power like God does have. There is no bondage or yoke or power that can withstand the power of God in you. That is why God said in Isaiah 10:27 that “And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.” (Isaiah 10:27)

To get the full meaning of how good that news is, it is important to realize that Isaiah did not prophesy that the yoke shall be broken because of the anointing. That is the good news prophesied by prophet Isaiah wrote 735 years before the appearance of Jesus Christ here on earth. And that is the gospel Jesus preached. “And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people” (Matt 9:35 [KJV]). If you want to know what the exact gospel Jesus preached, you can find it in Luke 4:16-19, 21

“And He (Jesus) came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up: and His custom was, He went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up for to read. And there as delivered unto Him the book of Esaias (Isaiah). And when He had opened the book He found the place where it is written, ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent me to heal the broken hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives and the recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord’…And He began to say unto them, ‘This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.’ (Luke 4:16-19, 21)

According to these scriptures, the message Jesus preached was this: ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.’ The word anointed actually means to pour on, smear all over or to rub into. So Jesus was telling the people in Nazareth that day that ‘God is poured on, smeared all over and rubbed into Me.’ He was telling them by quoting from the book of Isaiah that He had come with the yoke-destroying, burden removing power of the Almighty God all over Him.

Christ Means Messiah, Which Means the Anointed One or The Anointing

That is the gospel Jesus Christ preached. It is the good news of the anointing! Most Christians today know nothing about the anointing because when the Bible was translated into English, the translators failed to translate the Greek word Christ. And because of it, the devil was able to steal a major revelation from the Church. People began to use the word Christ as a title. Some even used it as if it was Jesus’ last name. But it is not. The word Christ is a Greek word Christos that is a translation of the Hebrew word Messiah. Translated into English, it means anointed or the Anointed One. It also refers to His anointing.

Thus when the New Testament refers to the gospel of Christ, it is talking about the gospel of the anointing, the good news of the sin-annihilating, sickness-crushing, poverty-pulverizing, bondage-removing, yoke destroying power of God. Jesus brought that anointing into our midst. That is the reason it is called The Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ!

The anointing is God’s presence. His essence. It is the thing that makes God be God. The anointing is God on flesh enabling flesh to do those things that are impossible for flesh to do: cast out devils, take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.”

His anointing destroys the yokes of the devil: demon possessions, diseases, dangers and deadly attacks. Peter preaching to people who had not heard about Jesus told them:

“How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good, healing all those who were oppressed by the devil; for God was with Him. And we are witnesses of al the things which He did both in the land of the Jews and Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree: Him God raised up on the third day.” (Acts 10:38-40) That is what it means to accept Christ. It means that once you accept Christ, you accept the Anointed One and His burden-removing, yoke destroying anointing in you. Actually, if you are in Christ, there is an anointing for everything you are called to do, no matter how small or great the task. That is what the Apostle Paul meant when he said, “I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13) Notice he did not say “through Christ who strengthens me.” He said “through Christ which strengthens me.” That means that Jesus Christ is not only the Anointed One, but also the Anointing.

When Christ is in You, No Trap can Hold the Two of You

When you have the anointing in you and on you, you can do all things through Christ the Anointing One which strengthens you. You don’t have to wait for someone to come and lay his hands on you so that you recover from sickness. You can recover yourself out of the snare or trap of the devil. The Bible says that “…that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil”. There is no other way to recover yourself from the snare of the devil except by the power of God in you or over you. When God is smeared all over you, no trap can hold you. No wonder the trap of the grave could not hold Jesus when He died and the grave gave Him back to go where He belonged: heaven.

In order to recover myself from the snare of the devil, I must deal with myself. I need to be delivered from myself so I can recover myself from the snare of the devil. If only you be a bit aggressive about finding out your greatest enemy, you might be surprised to know that your greatest enemy is yourself, always putting roadblocks ahead of you to block you from reaching your destiny or accomplishing a certain task. You doubt your abilities and have a very poor opinion of yourself. Some people pronounce curses upon themselves by predicting that they will end up poor.  Others talk problems, talk sicknesses, believe that they can’t, exaggerate ailments, talk evil of others, talk of their misfortunes and the bad things that are likely to happen to them. Eventually it comes to pass. God is reminding us to be talking positive. Talk success, good health, blessings, possibilities, victory, life and good. When you are trapped by an illness that may be unto death, recover yourself out of that trap by talking to the trap telling it that “I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the LORD” (Ps 118:17 [KJV]).

 In case you are tied or chained by the devil by a yoke or burden, just recover yourself from the trap by confessing the Anointed One in you (Col. 1:27) and with the Anointed One and His Anointing in you will destroy the yoke of sin, sickness, bondage, curse, poverty, and every work of the devil. The anointing in you will make you untouchable by the devil because the anointing redeems you from the burden of sin and from the yoke of bondage. “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.” (Isaiah 43:2 New International Version).

The Holy Spirit in You is the Anointing of God Upon You

Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit when He was baptized in River Jordan. “And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:” (Matt 3:16 [KJV])

“And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,” (Luke 4:1 [KJV])

The anointing of the Holy Spirit is given by God to people for God to demonstrate His power through the anointed person. Christ in us means that the same anointing that He had on earth we also have as demonstrated when He breathed the Holy Spirit to His disciples and by extension to us. “Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said unto them, Receive you the Holy Ghost:” (John 20:21-22 [KJV])

On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit arrived with a power and glory upon the saints in Jerusalem. Earlier, Jesus had promised His disciples that “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” (Acts 1:8 [KJV])

“And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” (Acts 2:1-4 [KJV])

When the Holy Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ is in you, you will lay hands on the sick and on yourself and they (you included) will recover if only you will believe in Jesus Christ who was anointed with the Holy Spirit to destroy all works of the devil. “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him” (Acts 10:38). You who believe in Christ the Anointed One will rebuke demons trapping you, bind them and command them to flee from you and they will flee. “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7 [KJV]). You will tell the mountain trapping you to be removed and it will be removed. “And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever you desire, when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you shall have them” (Mark 11:22-24 [KJV]). You will cast out devils trapping you or attempting to trap you and they will be cast out of your life because you have the power to cast out devils in Jesus name. “And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely you have received, freely give” (Matt 10:7-8 [KJV]). When the Holy Spirit is in you, the chains on your legs tying you by the enemy will break and fall. “And, behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison: and he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly. And his chains fell off from his hands” (Acts 12:7 [KJV]). You will then have been empowered by Christ in you to recover yourself out of the snare of the devil in Jesus name. “You are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world” (1John 4:4 [KJV]). What a great favour to have Christ in you. The Anointing in You. The Anointed One in you “To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:” (Col 1:27 [KJV])

Amen.