See a lot of people use the word deliverance or spiritual warfare. They think it's some weird thing and it's just for a few people... They don't realise actually this honour of bringing judgement against evil spirits, is actually an honour given to all the saints, and it requires that we worshippers knowing how to access God, and that we know how to use the word of God quite simply, and we'll show you how to do that a little bit later in one of the sessions. What a great privilege for you to bring the presence of God to wherever you are, and to change the spiritual atmosphere. I was talking to one man, and he was complaining to me about a situation at work, and I said to him well, what's the problem? He told me, well all the language and the cursing and the atmosphere, it was a horrendous place. I said is that right, what are you going to do about it? He said, well I'm going to leave. I said really? Tell me that one again - I said how many other Christians are there? He said no one. I said so - let me say this again, you're the only Christian there, and because it's all so bad, you're about to leave and resign your post? He said, well I hadn't thought of it like that but yeah, [laughter] that's it, you know? I said why don't you do something about it? He said: what on earth could I do?
I said: well the people there are under the influence of wicked spirits. They have access to their lives because their lives are unsurrendered and they run independently, but you on the contrary, you have access to heaven, to bring heaven into the earth. You could change that whole environment. I said you're thinking of it as a problem and you're wanting to get away so you can have an easier life. You're not thinking of yourself as a missionary, in a workplace, called to shift the spiritual atmosphere - and he wasn't thinking that way at all. He was thinking how can I get out where it'll be nicer - but we're not called to retreat to where it's nicer. We're called to advance, and change what's there. Can you see it's a different thinking isn't it? So what I did then was I said I'll go down with you, so we went down into his workplace, and I said I can feel it's pretty oppressive here. There's obviously spirits here. Our business is to drive them out, because God has given us authority. I said you don't have to be the boss to do that. He doesn't get to drive demons out because he's the boss. You get to drive them out because Jesus is your boss, and you represent him.
So what we did was we prayed strongly in tongues, then we began to walk around the workplace and began to address the spirits that were there. We named these particular manifestations that were happening, the various difficulties that they were facing over and over and over again; we began to speak to the spirits behind them, commanded them to go, forbade them to operate, commanded them to go out of the place, and invited the Holy Spirit to come in, and increase the productivity, and change the atmosphere in that workplace. About a week later he came back and he ran up, he was really excited, and he said we've had the best week we've ever had. I have never enjoyed work so much as I have this week. I said wow, isn't that wonderful, I wonder why [laughter], because often people don't connect the blessing and the flow of what they're experiencing, back with the things that brought it about. I said about a week ago you were about to leave this place because it was so bad; now you're saying how much you like it. I said you have had to change, in the way you approach this whole thing, you have had to deal with the spirits in the atmosphere.