Breakthrough | Freedom | Dominion.
Ephesians 6:10-12 KJV
Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places .
For we wrestling not against flesh and blood:
To wrestle means to take part in a fight that involves grappling with another opponent by trying to throw or force them to the ground. To wrestle means to contend, to fight, to tussle, to brawl, to battle or to scrap with an opponent with the intention of defeating them.
By the definition above, one can conclude that the main objective of satan and his wicked forces is to power struggle with the followers of Christ with the intention of defeating them at any cost.
Often, when Christians are struggling to find success, they blame their failures on those close to them such as family members, friends and acquaintances even to the extent of labelling them as witches who are hindering their progress.
The book of Ephesians clearly tells us that the enemy who is trying to wrestle with you or cause you to fail is not flesh and blood. In other words, it’s not a human being. This means that the difficulties and the problems you are currently facing are caused by spiritual forces from a place unseen by the natural eyes.
The sickness in your body, that disease you have been diagnosed with that has been trying to cut your life short, the financial difficulties, the person or people who have been coming against you at your place of employment, the marital issues that has been giving you headaches and stress, the hinderances to your progress in life are a product of wicked spirits which Satan releases against the followers of Christ.
These spirits often work by influencing people close to you, with the purpose of turning them against you. So, when you are praying, you don’t pray against people. Rather, you pray against the spirit that is influencing or causing them to come against you. That’s why the Bible teaches that our fight is not against flesh and blood. If you fail to engage these evil spirits behind people’s negative actions towards you through prayer and fasting, but rather continue to confront people by attempting to resolve issues with your natural strength, knowledge or wisdom, you will have negative outcomes and encounter great oppositions.
Wrestling Against Principalities
A ‘principality’ can be defined as a small state or a state that falls within a larger state such as an empire.
Where there is a principality, there is a prince, where there is a prince there is a king and where there is a king there is a kingdom or an empire. Therefore, when the Bible talks about principalities, it’s referring to spirit beings who reside in a territory or a kingdom ruled by Satan. Principalities are often assigned to war or wrestle with those who belong in the Kingdom of God ruled by the Lord Jesus Christ.
In Daniel 10:12-13, the Bible records that when Daniel fasted for 21 days, an angel of the Lord was sent to him. The angel said,
“Do not be afraid, Daniel for the first day that you purposed to understand and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. However, the prince of the kingdom of Persia opposed me for twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia” (Daniel 10:12-13).
The purpose of a principality is to oppose you from receiving answers or blessings from the Lord. Whether its divine healing, financial breakthrough, divine wisdom to make a critical decision, breakthrough in your marriage, protection for your family, bear in mind that Satan will assign a spiritual agent to oppose you from receiving from the Lord.
Often, it will take persistency and steadfastness in prayer with fasting and a ‘never give up’ type of attitude like the prophet Daniel in order to push Satan out of your way. If not, Satan will oppose you until you become weak in faith and give up on your pursuit and request from the Lord.
The main purpose and focus of a principality is to OPPOSE which means: to be against, to be hostile to, to disagree with, to disapprove of, to resist, to take a stand against, to fight against, to challenge, to dispute or to combat with.
The word “oppose” appears in the book of Daniel and it’s used to describe the agenda and objective of a principality. When you read the definition of the word “oppose”, it provides you with what an evil spirit such as a principality can influence a person to do. They can cause someone (whether Christian or not ) to oppose your promotion, to dislike you without a cause or to fight against your God given destiny (for example, the brothers of Joseph in Genesis 37:12-36).
A Principality loves to influence people to fight against the people of God especially those chosen to accomplish an assignment for God. It was a principality that influenced the servants of Nebuchadnezzar to plot against Daniel with false claims that caused Daniel to be put in the lions den ( Daniel 6: 1-24)
Principalities are territorial and are often assigned to a specific region, a community or a nation. They can control an entire family by afflicting them with poverty from one generation to another. They are responsible for mental health within families, divorce, abuse, depression and suicide.
Principalities can control an entire community, city, state, region or country infesting it with drug addictions, alcoholism and prostitution. These wicked spirits often influence people to indulge in sexual immorality, sexual uncleanliness such as pornography, sexual addictions, masturbation,, sex before marriage, incest, sodomy and every sexual sin that is contrary to the word of God.
The Prince of Persia in the book of Daniel was in charge of the entire region of Babylon where Daniel resides. Daniel pressed in through prayer and fasting before he was able to hear from God. Often, it will take fasting and prayer to call on God to intervene when you, a family member, your community, or nation is under the influence or control of a principality.
Basic church activities or religious festivities is not going to cut it or get you through the traffic in the spiritual realm. Fasting and prayer and living a holy life sends signals to Satan’s kingdom that you have set your self apart and you are taking a stance against him and his evil spirits. It also sends signals to God that you are hungry for Him and want Him to take over the situation which seems like no human effort can handle. To defeat principalities requires a higher power which can only be found in God’s Holy Spirit which resides deeply within you which is the only source of power above any other.
My prayer is that the people of God will stand up and put on the whole armor of God and fight. The battle is the Lord’s but He still requires us to engage the enemy before He will release His angels to accompany us for the battle like He did for the prophet Daniel.
The Lord Has already granted us the victory and power which He gave us when He defeated Satan on the cross at Calvary. It’s now up to us to activate that power through faith and obedience to the word of God, then we will experience a continuous success in our spiritual warfare against the kingdom of darkness.
Author: Andrew A. Osei
Recommended reading: “Generational Strongholds” and “Locating your Hidden Blessings” by Pastor Andrew
Dear andrewaosei.org owner, You always provide great examples and real-world applications.