Now, have a look in Romans 7:5 – “For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death.” Notice how it says ‘something at work inside us’. Sin works in people. The word ‘work’ means ‘energise’. So, evil spirits energise people. Bring pressure, negative energy into their life; but sin also does the same thing. So, sin, when sin is working in a person, it creates negative energy in them. You notice, in trying to describe the spiritual effect of sin and demons, it uses the word ‘energise’.
When demons are operating, or sin is operating, the person experiences strong pressure and energy flow inside them that’s very negative. You can’t overcome it by willpower, because it’s a spiritual energy. Sin releases spiritual energy in us. It’s something living inside a person. It’s something that works in you, constantly demanding more and more. Demonic spirits release negative energy, it works in people. When a person is under the influence of sin, and demonic spirits, there’s this massive spiritual energy pressuring their life. So, if we’re going to deal with the demonic, we need to remove the sin, and remove all of that negative energy.
Now, look back in Ephesians 3 again, and we’ll read down to verse 20 – “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us”. Now its saying: for a believer, there is a power also, that works in us for good. It’s the same word – ‘energise’. The power that works in us is the power of the Holy Ghost. In other words, one work of the Holy Spirit is: to energise our life; to impart in us strength to overcome.
Notice what Paul’s prayer is, in verse 16 – “to be strengthened with might in the inner man through His Spirit”. So, it must be possible there, for us to be strengthened with might, in the inner man, by the Holy Ghost. The word ‘strength’ means: ‘greatly increase in vigour’. Strengthen with might - that’s the word ‘dunamis’ – ‘miracle power’. So, what he’s saying in here is this: that even though sin creates negative energy that leads to isolation from God; and even though demons create negative energy; we have something else that energises us for good! It’s the power of the Holy Spirit! So the Spirit of God can energise us, to get great victory over any area in our life.
Look what it says in 1 Thessalonians 2, we read in verse 13: “For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe.” There’s that word again – ‘work’. The word of God can energise your life! The word of God can greatly energise your life. We see now, that there are sources of negative energy – sin and demonic spirits; and there are sources of energy for victory – it’s the power of the Holy Spirit and the word of God.
So if I’m going to help someone come into freedom, I need to remove the sources of negative energy, deal with the issues of sin and the trauma, remove the demonic spirits; but willpower alone is not enough to walk in victory. It’s not enough just to exercise willpower. So often, what we tend to try and do, is we try to get people: “oh, stop doing that. Do this, do this, do this.”
What is needed is: the person needs to be energised with life. They need to know how to activate, and be strengthened, in their inner man; and they need to know how to be energised by the word of God. So whereas their lives were characterised by defeat; now their lives become characterised by the power of God, and the word of God. I always ask this kind of question: “How do you get the word of God to energise you?” The Bible says that’s what it does; but how can my life be energised by the word of God? How can my life be energised by the Holy Ghost?