Hello! My name is Betty Hadden. I believe that
the teachings presented will edify and instruct you and help give to you the
knowledge you need to be more victorious in your life! I believe with all my
heart that God, the Holy Spirit, inspired me to write them and share them with
you today!
Because some of these teachings are long, I will
be bringing them to you in parts. When I taught them in Bible Studies and/or
women’s groups at churches, I presented them there in parts also.
In order for you to benefit the most from these
teachings, I exhort you to refer to your Bible as we go along. It is very
important as you contend for what is yours in Christ that you know that you
know that what I am saying here is really "the word of Almighty
God" and not just something I dreamed up! When the battles get hard
and they will, you will have to know that it was God that said this or
that and not just a mere man or woman!
Be advised also that though
not always designated below that in addition to various translations of the
Bible, I also used either the Strong’s
Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible or Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words as my references.
CHANGING OUR IMAGE SO WE
CAN EXERCISE OUR AUTHORITY
Betty
Hadden,
Part 1
To overcome the strategies of the enemy in our
lives, there are many things we must first have foundational knowledge about:
How God promises to help us, our God-given authority and how to use it, how God
sees us and, therefore, how we must see ourselves in order to be victorious,
and how to implement and receive the promises of God into our lives, to name
just a few.
There is always a man-ward side as well as a
God-ward side to our receiving from God. We need to learn what opens doors to
the enemy in our lives, how to close them, and how to recognize the enemy’s
strategies to get us to use our own power ON HIS BEHALF.
As a new believer, one day I was coming down the
hall of my home and I found myself saying out loud, "I refuse that."
I believe I said this in response to a thought I’d had, but those words didn’t
originate with my natural mind. They came from the Lord through my spirit man.
(1 Thes. 5:23) God was revealing to me that I had authority to believe a
thought or not to believe a thought, or receive something or not receive
something as true. Up till then I had just accepted all thoughts as
"originating from myself." I was being shown by the Holy Spirit that
I could refuse negative thoughts, thoughts contrary to my will or the will of God.
To say nothing was to receive and accept them as true.
That was a great revelation to me . . . I had up
until then assumed that anything that came against me: pain, fear, poverty,
lack, sickness and disease, condemnation, blame, guilt, etc., I had to accept
-- I mean, wasn’t that "just life"?
I didn’t know I had a choice. YOU do have a
choice! Every thought that enters your mind you are responsible for judging to
determine whether it’s true or not according to the Word of God.
Luke 10:19 Behold, I give unto you POWER to tread on
serpents and scorpions, and over all the POWER of the enemy: and nothing shall
by any means hurt you.
Notice the word POWER is used two different times
in this verse and each is a different word in the original Greek. I have given
you exousia (AUTHORITY) to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all
the dunamis (miracle-working ability/force, violence) of the enemy.
Serpents & scorpions, I believe, are symbolic of demons, evil spirits.
Luke 4:1-13 describes the temptation of Jesus in the
wilderness. These scriptures show how Jesus overcame the enemy and how. Note in
verse 1, "full of the Holy Ghost." After he defeated satan using only
the sword of the spirit (the word of God) (verses 13-14), Jesus returned in the
power (dunamis) of the Spirit. This account serves as an example to us today
that we can overcome the enemy in our personal lives just as Jesus did with the
word of God!
1 Cor.
Cor. 1:21-22.
Who has anointed us? Who anointed Jesus? Acts
10:38: "How God anointed and consecrated Jesus of Nazareth with
the [Holy] Spirit and with strength and ability and power; how He
went about doing good and, in particular, curing all who were harassed and oppressed
by [the power of] the devil, for God was with Him."
These scriptures show us that because we are in
Christ that we are in the anointed one and His anointing. The scriptures in 1
John above show us that we too have an anointing or an unction from the Holy
One just as Jesus did! We are anointed also. Since the Bible also tells us in
chapter one of the Gospel of John that the Jesus is the Word made flesh, that
means that the Word of God is anointed!
In Isa. 10:27, King James version, the
Bible tells us that "the anointing destroys every yoke and removes every
burden." Also Jer.
Read Eph. 1:19-23 This is part of Paul’s
prayer for the Ephesians which gives us some insights. Eph. 1:22-23 ". . .
And hath put all things under His feet . . ."
If God has put all things under the feet of
Jesus, and He’s the head and we, the church, are the body, where are his feet?
If all things have been put under the feet of the Body, then
"positionally," where is satan?
Read Eph. 2:1-6 We can see then by this scripture, we
have been raised up together with Christ. When He was raised from the dead, we
were raised with Him. Where is He now? He’s seated at the right hand of God,
the place of authority. And where are we? We are sitting together with Him,
Hallelujah!!!!! Our feet might be standing on planet "earth," but
positionally, according to the Word of God, we are: (read again) Eph. 1:21.
Just to remind you, this teaching’s title again:
"Changing Our Image So We Can Exercise Our Authority."
Read Psa. 8:4-6, King James version. Look at verse five
again, "the angels." In Strong’s Concordance the word used here for
angels in Hebrew is elohiym (el-o-heem). In most of the
scriptures in Genesis where it uses the word "God," e.g., "In
the beginning God created," etc., the word used there in Hebrew is also elohiym.
In Psalms 8:5, this was the only time in the Old Testament that the Hebrew word
for angels was elohiym. Elohiym is the plural word used for God. It’s
time we threw out the low self-image the enemy has given us of who we are and
take to ourselves the truth of who we really are according to our Creator! A
little lower than elohiym! Who was it that said that in the beginning He
created man in His own image?
Psa. 82:1-8 In each mention of God or gods, the word
used is elohiym in the Hebrew.
John 10:34-36 In all these, the same Greek word is used
which means "deity." Heb. 2:6-7 There must be a clear
understanding of this scripture. In verse seven the Greek word used did mean angels,
but it was translated from Psa. 8:5 and there in the original text the word
was elohiym, the plural word for God! So, it doesn’t mean angels at all.
"Thou hast made him a little lower than
gods." Man was created in God’s image, in His likeness, but he was made
lower than God Himself. However, he was to be god (little "g"), or
ruler, over the earth. Adam was to have been (little "g") god of the
earth, but he fell when he bowed his knee to satan as we do now when we
"bow our knees to satan." At that point, man fell below the angels.
Look at what satan said to Jesus while he was on what is referred to as
"the mount of temptation." Luke 4:5-6: Jesus knew all things,
and if that had been a lie, he would have known it, AND it wouldn’t have been a
temptation. But Adam had turned over everything to satan when he disobeyed God,
so it was in the devil’s power to give it to Jesus and Jesus knew it!
Words have images, and as we have looked at these
scriptures, these words have been changing your image of who you are in Christ.
You will only be able to keep that image, as you continue to focus on the Word
of God.
Read Matt. 28:18-19. All power = all exousia,
all authority, in heaven AND on earth. Authority is delegated power. Jesus gave
us authority to walk in His power. After He had won back what was stolen from mankind,
then He turned around and gave it to the church. So our authority is delegated
authority based on His victory over satan for us. Now it’s our job to ENFORCE
satan’s defeat in our lives in His Name! (See Eph. 1:21, Phil. 2:9-10.) Read
Mark 16:15-20. Note verse 17!
Jesus was our substitute. Everything He did, He
did for us to give back to us the authority that was given to Adam in the
beginning. When He went to the cross, we went to the cross. When He suffered
and died on "that" cross, we suffered and died. When He went to hell
(See Matt. 12:40.) for our sins (See 2 Cor. 5:21.), we went to hell, and when
He was raised, we were raised together with Him!
Read Eph. 6:12. We need to learn that it
isn’t "people" we wrestle with but demon power behind them. We need
to pray for people and against demon power that is pressuring
them.
Read Col. 2:12-15. In reference to
"spoiled," Vine’s says in reference to this word that "It seems
to stand simply as a vivid description of His repulsion of their attack and of
the power by which He completely overthrew them." Verse 14: "blotting
out" in Vine’s says this means eradicate or totally eradicate. Eradicate
means not just to make invisible but to completely wipe away as if it never
was!!!!!
I’m told that in ancient times, victorious kings
bringing back captives would show off their conquest of them by making them
walk bound into town behind the chariots or horses or something. "To make
a show of them." It is said that Jesus did this with the devil, putting
him on display before three worlds: heaven, hell, and earth, after He defeated
him for us!!! (See Col. 2:15.)
It’s because Jesus defeated the devil and his
demons at
Read 2 Tim 1:7. We see by this verse that fear is a
spirit. It’s also a name! We can’t be operating in faith and in fear at the
same time, because they are opposites. 1 John 4:18,
1 John 1:5.
How do we exercise dominion over the devil? Jesus
on the Mount of Temptation used the Sword of the Spirit (the Word of God, Hebrews
You can’t go around seeing yourself the way the devil
says you are and still fulfill God’s purpose for you in the
KJ--Read Matt. 16:18b-19 and
And I testify to you this day once I was
the "walking dead." I used to say that I wasn’t living, I was just
existing. My mind at one time was in constant torment with bouts of depression,
oppression, wickedness, despair, and hopelessness, and I was suicidal. My mind
was a battlefield.
I’m here to tell you that what I am bringing
forth here in this column completely and totally changed who I am and
"where" I live now. I mean that now I live in peace, love, joy,
joyful expectation of good, rest, longsuffering, and I’ve been given a great
reason to live. I live for the Praise of His Name and of His Word! I can and do
continue to enforce satan’s defeat in my life. Change your image of you with
the Word of God, and then you can also enforce his defeat in yours!
