“And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord: and the Lord strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the Lord. And he gathered unto him the children of Ammon and Amalek, and went and smote Israel, and possessed the city of palm trees. So the children of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years. But when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, the Lord raised them up a deliverer, Ehud...” (Judges 3:12-15a)
Here, in the book of Judges, there is example after example of how God raised up deliverers to defeat the enemies of Israel. In many different ways, and with many different weapons, these deliverers conquered those who the dared defy the armies of the Living God. But there was always one characteristic that was same for each of them; they were raised up by the Lord. And it was this fact, and this fact alone, that made the difference.
In our modern church culture, there are many people today who constantly talk about defeating the devil. They talk about engaging in warfare against satan and the forces of darkness. But hear me good – talk is cheap! Unless you have the Lord God Almighty backing you, you're on your way to a fall. You can't take on the forces of darkness in your flesh. If you do, you'll lose. Not just the battle but maybe even your soul.
What we need is “devil bashing faith!" We need to have faith in our God to deliver us no matter what the situation or the circumstance is. When you put all your faith and trust in Jehovah then you have put it on a winner. Why? Because God hasn't lost a battle yet. He is the God of battles.
The many deliverers that brought victories to Israel had that devil bashing faith I'm talking about. They knew that with God for them; who could be against them and prosper? They knew what God could and would do for His people. One of these was Ehud. After the children of Israel had been in bondage to Eglon, king of the Moabites, for eighteen years, they finally had enough sense to call unto the Lord for help. When they did, the Lord raised up for them a deliverer by the name of Ehud.
Now Ehud was a crafty man, but he a man that obeyed God. Immediately he started making a double-edged dagger that was about eighteen inches long. He then hid it under his garments on his right side and went to Eglon, king of the Moabites, supposedly to offer the king a present. I want you to notice that he did all of this as soon as God raised him up. He didn't wait around for some other time - he acted immediately. This is one of the characteristics of a person that has “devil bashing faith” - they're not afraid to move out on behalf of their God instantly!
We have some people in the church today who just sit around and do nothing. Then, if you ask them what they're doing, they'll say something like, “Well, I'm just waiting on the Lord." Waiting on the Lord?!! Well, what are you waiting for? Your instructions have already been given. The clarion call has already been made. The war cry has already been sounded. The price has already been paid for on Calvary. The power is already available through the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Victory is already promised. But, yet, you're WAITING on the Lord? That makes no sense!
After Ehud had given to king Eglon the present he had brought, he told him that he had a secret to tell him, so Eglon got rid of everybody that was with them. Now, the Bible tells us that Eglon was a very fat man, made so, no doubt, by his life of ease and luxury. When everybody was out of the room Ehud said, “I have a message from God unto thee." At this Eglon stood up, leaned forward to hear the message, and as he did Ehud grabbed the hidden dagger with his left hand and thrust it into Eglon's stomach so hard that the entire knife, even the handle itself, went into the body!
He had a message of God for king Eglon alright - a message of death! And I've got the exact same message for the devil! The victory has already been won by King Jesus and the devil has been defeated. You see, I already know the future of the devil. It's found in Revelation 20:10, where it says, “And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone.... and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.” That's how to have devil bashing faith! Just knowing the future of the devil should be enough to build anyone's faith. There is victory in Jesus promised to us every single day of our lives. All the devils and demons of darkness can't stand up to the power and authority of Jesus.
After Ehud had escaped out of the palace, he then went to Mount Ephraim and blew a jubilee trumpet of victory so that the people of Israel would know that after all of those years in bondage, that their God was getting ready to set them free. Ehud then said to them in verse 28, "Follow after me: for the Lord hath delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand." Upon hearing this, they marched down that very day and slew ten thousand men. Not even one Moabite escaped with their life that day. Not one! Victory was won because one man knew the power of his God.
Oh, praise the Lord! Think what would happen if the Church of today would rise up in the power of our God just daring to believe that we are more than conquerors through Christ Jesus, our Commander-in-Chief! What a difference we could make if we all had devil bashing faith. We could pull down the strongholds of the enemy. We could defeat the powers of darkness. We could raise up a standard for our God! Church, just like Israel had deliverers to rise up, we have the greatest deliverer of all - Jesus Christ! We have the ultimate Warrior on our side. And He has given US the power, through Him, to now march against the very gates of hell and defeat every enemy in our path! Hallelujah!
Another one of Israel's deliverers was a man named Shamgar, who in Judges 3:31 had a devil bashing party. After being raided by the Philistines over and over again, he finally had enough. So, on the next raid that the Philistines made, as he saw them coming, he picked up an ox-goad, which was a wooden pole approximately six-feet long with a chisel-like blade on one end and a razor-sharp point on the other, which was used to prod the oxen along while plowing fields. With only this farming instrument Shamgar began to fight off these Philistine raiders, and as he did the very power of God came upon him and helped him to slay six-hundred Philistines! I would definitely call that a devil bashing party! Victory was won that day because Shamgar had “devil bashing faith.”
Well, let me tell you, Jesus threw the greatest devil bashing party in history on the cross of Calvary. For it was there that the devil was utterly defeated. It was there that the serpent's head was crushed. It was there that victory was won for all of mankind! So, shout the shout of victory, fellow warriors! Shout because devil-bashing faith is available to you! Shout because God has empowered us with the Holy Spirit to defeat every force of darkness that will ever rise up against us.
I want to illustrate to you just how much devil bashing faith that we can have through Jesus. Many years ago, there was a true story told by a fellow evangelist that I want to share with you. This story tells about a former Assembly of God evangelist whose name was only known as Miss Bobbie. After her salvation experience Miss Bobbie had gone to Bible school to learn how to witness to people on the mission field. But the one thing they didn't teach her was how to cast out devils. Well, after graduating from Bible school, the Assembly of God then placed her out on the mission field in a foreign country and assigned to her an interpreter by the name Matawba.
One day, as she was preaching to about five or six people, all of a sudden over the hill next to the small village she was at, came a large crowd of about 200 people. At the sight of the crowd, Miss Bobbie exclaimed, “Oh praise God! Finally, there's some people who've come to hear me preach!" But, her interpreter, Matawba, immediately told her, "Mmm, Missy Bobbie, it gonna be bad tonight." You see, Matawba saw, in the middle of that crowd, a fellow that had rooster feathers sticking up, meaning that he was the local witch doctor. At that, Miss Bobbie said, "No Matawba, don't leave. You've got to stay here and interpret for me."
Well, when that crowd got right at Miss Bobbie and Matawba, they parted like the Red Sea and here came the witch doctor marching straight up to Miss Bobbie and Matawba. When he did, he started talking to Matawba, speaking in their local language, very demonstrative. At that, Missy Bobbie got excited and said, "What's he saying? What's he saying?” Matawba shook his head with a nervous look on his face and said, “Missy Bobby, he local witch doctor and he challenges you.” At that, Miss Bobbie said; “Well, the Lord's with me. Alright, go ahead and tell him to do what he's going to do and then I'll follow him."
Upon hearing that from Matawba, that witch doctor sat down on the ground, crossed his legs and arms, and started chanting. As he did, it wasn't long before he started floating up off of the ground in the air! Bobby thought, "My God, what am I gonna do? They didn't teach me this in Bible school!” Just then, the Spirit of God spoke to her and said, "Just touch him and say Jesus.” So, Miss Bobbie walked over to him, laid her little hand on his head and said, "Jesus". When she did, right then and there, that man fell straight down to the ground! The witch doctor got up, brushed himself off, looked real mean at her, then sat back down again and started chanting once more. Pretty soon he was back up in the air again, so Bobbie touched him and said, “Jesus!” And down he came! He got up fiery mad, sat back down and rose in the air again.
This time, though, Miss Bobbie prayed, "Lord, I can't keep this up all night. What do I do?” The Lord then spoke to her, “The next time, when you touch him, and he falls down, jump on him and cast the devil out of him!" "But God, I don't know how to do that.” God said, "Well, now is a good time to learn.” So, Miss Bobbie leaned over, touched him once again, said “Jesus!” once again, and sure enough down he came. At that she jumped on top of that witch doctor, put one hand on his stomach and one hand on his head and started praying. "In the name of Jesus, I command you devil to come out of him NOW!" That witch doctor started shaking and foaming at the mouth, rolling all over that ground. But it wasn't long before something different started coming out of his mouth - he started yelling, “Jesus! Jesus! Jesus!” Well, I'll have you to know that not only did that witch doctor get delivered and saved by the blood of Jesus that day, but his whole tribe got saved as well!
Now, that's the kind of devil-bashing faith that I'm talking about! That's the kind power and faith the church should have over the devil! That's the kind of confidence we should have in our Savior! We don't need some Bible college to tell us what to do. We don't need to have some degree behind our names just to prove how smart we are. There are some things that can only be learned in the trenches doing warfare with the enemy. There are some battles that can only be fought through the supernatural power of the Almighty God! Oh God, give us some warriors in this day that will have that kind of devil-bashing faith!!!