Why The Devil Viciously Attacks You | David Diga Hernandez

There is a spiritual battle that's taking place in our world, and this conflict goes beyond what we can see with the natural eyes. There is a supernatural realm. And you might be wondering why the enemy is so relentlessly attacking you and your family, why the enemy is so ruthlessly assaulting your mind and emotions, why it seems you're constantly coming up against spiritual warfare. I pray that today your spiritual eyes would be open and that you would see what is happening in this world and in your life. And as you come to understand the supernatural, as you come to understand the conflict that is taking place in the heavenly realm, and as you come to understand your identity in Christ, everything is gonna become crystal clear. Let's begin. Acts 26:18. Remember this, it begins with dominion.

Amen.

Acts 26:18, to open their eyes so they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God.

Then they will receive forgiveness for their sins and be given a place among God's people, who are set apart by faith in me.

So first we see that when you are born again, you are extracted from the kingdom of darkness You are pulled away from the power of Satan, and you come under subjection to the kingdom of God. Now, as you come under the authority of God, you step into that authority. I cannot operate in an authority I am not under. And so, when you were born again, the darkness dissipated; the light began to shine. God pulled you from destruction and set your feet on solid ground. He saved your soul, changed your nature, redeemed. He transformed your mind and your heart, and he restored your soul, and now you stand in heavenly places. You see this battle also referenced in Ephesians chapter 2, verse 2.

Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, or that is, you used to be like the world. You used to think like the world, embrace worldly philosophies, embrace worldly behavior.

Embrace worldly culture, wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. Now I'm gonna make a side point just for a moment. We're gonna save this as a mental reference for later. Notice that in Ephesians we see it written that that spirit works in the children of disobedience. So Satan does not have unlimited reign within the earth. Satan does not own this world.

He works specifically in the children of disobedience. Colossians 1:13, please.

Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son. So you've been delivered from the power of darkness. Before you knew Jesus, you were a slave to sin. Before you knew Jesus, the devil was your master. You didn't have a choice in the matter. Either you're serving Satan or you're serving Jesus. You may say, well, I'm serving myself. Well, those selfish desires are rooted in sin, and sin subjects you to the rule of Satan.

Amen. Praise you, Lord.

It's only when we die to self and live to Christ that we come into the kingdom of God. And so there are only 2 kingdoms: the kingdom of darkness, the kingdom of light; heaven versus hell; angels versus demons; light versus darkness; God versus Satan. Now, they are not equal in power, but nonetheless, there is a conflict raging in the realm of the supernatural beyond what you can see and feel in the natural world. Now something happened that was the catalyst for this conflict. Go to Revelation chapter 12, please. I'm gonna show you where this spiritual war began. And understanding how this began will help to bring understanding, as I said, not just to the world around you but to your own identity.

Revelation 12.

Things will begin to make sense. You may notice that in the education system, it seems that darkness is advancing, and you scratch your head, saying, how is it that wicked people can have so much influence?

Amen.

You may look at the entertainment industry and the way that they try to slip things into your kids' videos, and then you scratch your head and go, how is it that that these perverts got so much access to influence and power?

Amen.

You look at the political structures. Most people wanna go in one direction, but it seems like a few who have hold of the power take us in a direction of destruction that just doesn't seem to make any sense. Why is that? And why is it that not only do we see these attacks on the macro level, but on the micro daily level, where I'm coming up against a battle, a war. Now, I'm not saying that as a Christian you need to walk around defeated and negative and paranoid and constantly living under the weight of the idea that the devil is trying to attack you. No, we live victoriously. We have righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.

Amen.

But we have to be aware that this battle's taking place. You can't be ignorant.

of the way that the devil works.

The Bible wouldn't describe the way the devil works if God didn't want you to know the way the devil works.

Right.

So, awareness, not paranoia. Revelation, not obsession. Revelation 12:7-9, then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail. Nor was there a place for them in heaven any longer. The great dragon was cast out, the ancient serpent called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world. He was cast down to the earth, and his angels were cast down with him. So there was a conflict that took place in the heavenly realm where Satan attempts to overthrow the Heavenly Father. Obviously, he did not prevail. He was cast down with a portion of the angelic hosts, he was able to deceive them though they had seen God.

I want you to think about that.

These angelic beings had seen God, witnessed his power, existed in the heavenly realm, yet Satan was still able to deceive them. How arrogant we are to think that we cannot be deceived.

Amen.

So when did this occur? This conflict and the fall of Satan had to have occurred after the creation of the earth.

I'm gonna show you that with Scripture in just a moment. And it's important to understand when this occurred so that we can see why this occurred. Think about it.

Eternity is that constant state of existence. And the devil lived in this—

or Lucifer lived in this state of worship.

He was an angelic host. What then was the catalyst that would turn his heart? Revelation 12:9, as we just read, tells us that Satan was thrown down. Where did he go? Down to the—

Earth.

So it had to exist for him to be thrown there.

Right.

So this is after the creation of the world. Now watch this. Satan was present singing with the angels celebrating the creation of the earth. Job 38:4-7.

Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me if you know so much. Who determined its dimensions and stretched out the surveying line?

What supports its foundations, and who laid its cornerstone? As the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy. So Lucifer was present among them, shouting for joy as God formed the world. Now, this also must have occurred after the creation of man. Now, I know that might be a little confusing. Because when we read in Genesis chapter 3 about Satan's interaction with man, he's in his fallen state trying to tempt them. But there is no indication given to us about how long Adam was in the garden— Adam and Eve were in the garden before they fell. So watch this now. God creates the earth, then God creates man, and in Genesis 1:31, we read, God looked over all he had made, And he saw that it was very good.

God would not have called creation good had there been a fallen Satan running around in the earth.

Amen.

So we know that the fall of Satan had to occur after the creation of the world, or after the creation of the earth, because there had to have been an earth for him to be thrown to. And so this also must have taken place after the creation of man, because right after man was created, God said, the earth is good. Now, more on the fall of Satan can be found in the book of Isaiah, Isaiah 14:12-16. And this is a message to the king of Babylon from the prophet Isaiah, and this is what you would call a prophetic parallel. In other words, the prophet is comparing the king to Satan to reveal a couple of things. One, the power in which that king was actually operating, and two, to hold up a mirror to the behavior of that king and say, you're acting like Satan.

Hmm.

So it's a prophetic parallel. Yes, it's an address to a king, but there are parallels there to Satan to have that message delivered, that message being, You're of the devil, and you're acting like him. Isaiah 14:12-16. How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend to heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, In the sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the Most High. Notice here he's making references to the earth also. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.

They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms? So again, prophetic parallels, some of it delivered to the king of Babylon, but in that delivered message to the king of Babylon, there are references to Satan from the past. We see this again in Ezekiel chapter 28. Go there, please. Ezekiel 28. This is a message to the king of Tyre. Ezekiel 28:12, another prophetic parallel tells us, Son of man, sing this funeral song for the king of Tyre.

Sing, O son of man, sing this funeral song for the king of Tyre.

Give him this message from the Sovereign Lord: You were the model of perfection, full of wisdom and exquisite in beauty. You were in Eden—

Stop there. Was that king actually in Eden?

No.

Is this a mistake? No. Again, prophetic parallel.

You were in Eden. The garden of God ordained and anointed you as the mighty angelic guardian.

You had access to the holy mountain of God and walked among the stones of fire. You were blameless in all you did from the day you were created until the day evil was found in you.

So, a couple of things we see there about Satan is that he had access to the throne of God. Oh, remember Job chapter 1 and 2?

Satan was travelin' around the earth, and then he came to present himself to God.

So he had access between heaven and earth.

Now watch this. We see also, and this is very important, that Ezekiel here is describing Satan in his unfallen state because he's describing him as the model of perfection, his beauty, walking among the stones of fire. Notice here he says, you were in Eden.

Eden.

So Satan was in Eden even before he fell, and he had access to the garden and the heavenly throne, and he was able to go back and forth. I believe he lost this ability after the resurrection of Jesus because we see him doing this in the book of Job. You were blameless in all you did from the day you were created until the day evil was found in you.

What changed? Where did Satan get it in his heart that he wanted to be like God? Where did Satan get it in his heart that he would ascend and be like the Most High? What a strange idea. I'll show you where he got it.

It's in the Bible. Genesis 1:26. And God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. The catalyst for the fall of Satan was his jealousy for the dominion that God gave to you. This beautiful angelic being seeing this lowly creature being given divine authority, made in the image of God. Jealousy began to stir in his heart. Then war broke out in heaven. Satan is cast down to the earth. Now watch this. Satan is cast down where? To the earth. Who had dominion there?

Man.

So now he's subject to the authority of man. What a punishment. He's jealous that God gave him authority, says, I'm gonna be like you, tries to overthrow him, and God says, okay, now you can go be under his dominion.

So we had dominion over Satan since the beginning.

Amen.

Now watch this. Satan knew that he could not ascend again.

So the only hope he had at gaining dominion over man was not in his own ascent but in man's descent.

Amen.

Genesis 2:15-17.

The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. But the Lord God warned him, you may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.

Now, one might ask, isn't God just setting man up for failure right here? After all, if man doesn't know at this point the difference between good and evil, how could he know it's evil to eat of that fruit? How could he know it's evil to disobey God? Well, that's to misunderstand what that fruit is. You see, the tree of life, as we'll read about later, was exactly that.

It was a literal, physical tree, and when they ate of it, it gave them eternal life.

The tree of the knowledge of good and evil wasn't necessarily the moral compass that we think it is. In other words, it's not as though Adam and Eve did not know right from wrong, Until they ate from that tree, that term good and evil is what you call a merism. So if I lose something and I say I searched far and I searched wide, I'm using two extremes to convey an idea of completeness or totality. So if I say I searched far and wide, what I really mean is I searched.

everywhere.

If I say, ladies and gentlemen, I'm addressing everyone.

Well, not according to the culture of this world, but according to biblical theology, yes, when I say, ladies and gentlemen, I'm addressing everyone.

Amen.

So, knowledge of good and evil wasn't knowing the difference between right and wrong. Adam and Eve already had that. If you know God, you know goodness.

If you know goodness, you have a moral compass.

So really what this is, you could put it this way, is that the tree of knowledge of good and evil is simply vast amounts of knowledge—

technology and medicine and science. You name it, it's vast amounts of knowledge.

And so they knew that if they ate of this, they would be given vast amounts of knowledge.

And Satan says that they would be godlike in that way because, of course, the Lord, very knowledgeable. Now, go to Genesis 3, please. Verse 1. After the war in heaven, Satan was cast down to the earth. He's now subjected to the authority of man. He's still jealous of their dominion. The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden? First he questions the word. He will question it before he contradicts it. Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, the woman replied.

It's only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said you must not eat it or even touch it.

If you do, you will die. You will not die, the serpent replied to the woman. God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil. There's that merism again. The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. Notice there that she saw the tree was beautiful— lust of the eye. The fruit looked delicious— that's the craving, the lust of the flesh. She wanted the wisdom it would give to her— the pride of life. All that's in the world— the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it too. At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. This is because their nature had changed. They now had a corrupted flesh, which is why they suddenly became ashamed of their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves. There's the first religion. Now we have to understand the consequences here.

They felt shame at their nakedness. They weren't evil to begin with. Their beings only became shameful when they fell into a sinful state.

Now watch this. Look at what the Lord does. And this may seem cruel, But I'm gonna show you that it's actually because of his mercy. Go to Genesis 3:22 now. Then the Lord God said, look, the human beings have become like us, knowing both good and evil. What if they reach out, take fruit of the tree of life, and eat it? Then they will live forever. So the Lord God banished them from the Garden of Eden, and he sent Adam out to cultivate the ground from which he had been made. After sending them out, the Lord stationed mighty cherubim to the east of the Garden of Eden, and he placed a flaming sword that flashed back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

Some might ask, well, why didn't God just allow them to have eternal life?

Wouldn't that have restored them?

No.

Imagine the consequences of a man who lives in a fallen state, knowledge and lives forever. It was God's protection because before he could again grant eternal life, he first had to make the way through Christ for man to be restored. In Christ we stand in God's righteousness. Those who are born again have been rescued from the powers of darkness, and he's translated us to the kingdom of light.

We are seated in heavenly places at the right hand of the Father with Christ Jesus.

Amen. Adam took from a tree and brought about a lower state of being. Christ gave himself upon a tree and restored us to dominion.

Amen.

It was for dominion that God created you.

Let them have dominion.

And still the devil fights you today. That is why there is conflict in our world. That is why there is conflict in your mind. That is why there is conflict in your home. That is why we read in the book of James, submit yourselves, therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee. Because only in the position of Christ can we stand in that dominion and resist the powers of darkness. So the devil is fighting you for dominion.

Take dominion.

Amen.

Take dominion over your mind and stop allowing just any thought to rule you. Take dominion over your emotions and stop being driven by your anger or your sorrow. Take dominion over yourself and stop giving in to that temptation.

Take dominion over your body and take care of the temple of the Holy Spirit.

Take dominion over your marriage and stop allowing things to enter it that destroy it. Take dominion over your children. and stop setting them in front of programs that corrupt their minds. Take dominion over your home and allow the peace of God to fill it. Take dominion over your life and allow it to be subject to the nature of Christ. Take dominion in the city and take over for the kingdom of God what the enemy has tried to rule. Take dominion in the entertainment world.

Take dominion in the education system.

Take dominion in the political spheres. Take dominion in the finance world. Take dominion in your business. Take dominion in your life, my friend. The enemy might be resisting you, but greater is he who is in me than he that is in the world. Jesus declared, "I saw Satan fall like lightning." He was taunting the powers of hell through the cross and his resurrection. Jesus put to shame.

the powers of darkness.

When God created you, he had always intended that you would walk in victory. He always intended that you would be fruitful. He always intended that you would prosper, that you would live with joy and peace and love and clarity of mind. Some of us have chosen that lowly state because religion taught us that misery pleases God.

I'm here to prophetically declare to you that you need to remember who you are in Christ and who Christ is in you.

He blesses the work of your hands.

He gives you the words to speak.

He backs you with his authority. He's deposited gifts within you. He's given you time and energy and relationships and influence. He's given you breath to breathe that you might take dominion. We need to stop looking at our lives as if life is something that's happening to us and begin to step into what God created you for. Recognizing that you are to shape your life through the power of God.

Husband, wife, parent, business owner, minister, Christian—you were built for something more.

You may say, "Well, those people over there are talented, gifted." empowered. Those people over there are the ones that God is blessing and favoring.

But don't you recognize that the same Holy Spirit in them is the same Holy Spirit in you?

Stop blaming your circumstances.

Stop blaming the devil. Stop blaming the corrupt world in which we live. Because the devil can only work in the children of disobedience.

It's God who works in you. So today, take dominion.

Let that righteous indignation rise within you and say, I was created for something more. I was created to be the head and not the tail. These demonic powers that harass me, God put them under my feet.

All right.

And I'm now seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

No longer I live, but Christ lives in me. And he's restored man, you, to your dominion. Father, in the name of Jesus, I pray you give this revelation to your people by the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, stir that righteous indignation.

Remind them of who they are in you. Give them that holy boldness. Give them that faith to believe what your word declares about the world around them and about themselves.

We pray this in the mighty name of Jesus, and let there be a fresh touch of your power.

Amen.

Today, we come against every attack of the enemy in the mighty name of Jesus, and we pray for complete and total liberty, for your word declares, where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. We claim that today in the mighty name of Jesus, and the church said—

Amen.

Well, I pray that you receive that word and that you will take dominion in your life. In the name of Jesus. Now I want to invite you to be a part of what God is doing through this ministry. If you've been blessed by what God is doing through this ministry, either a sermon, maybe you've come to one of our events, maybe you've received prayer, read one of our books, whatever it may be, if God's impacted your life through this work, then I want to invite you to do your part right now. Pay it forward by becoming a monthly ministry supporter. In order to do so, you can go to davidhernandezministries.com/partner. Your monthly gift of any amount is going to help our ministry continue to grow and expand all of the work that we're doing. You can also give a single gift by going to davidhernandezministries.com/donate. Now, listen, when you watch a video like this, sometimes it can feel like maybe you're disconnected and you say in your heart and mind, well, David has his donors, he has his supporters. Someone else will take care of the needs. Someone else will give. All the people watching, surely they will all do their part. But don't say someone else. Don't say some other time. Take responsibility and be a part of it. I'm telling you, as your brother in Christ, I need your help. The ministry is expanding and the need is urgent. We don't want to say no to any of the open doors that are coming our way. We want to seize this opportunity that God might be glorified, that souls might be saved. and that believers might have encounters with the precious Holy Spirit. So again, you can partner with us by going to davidhernandezministries.com/partner. You can give a single gift by going to davidhernandezministries.com/donate. Do that today. Thank you so much. And until next time, remember, nothing is impossible with God.