How can a person demonstrate a strong, vibrant faith in God? Jesus displayed how in His encounters with the enemy. It’s sad, but some people think that there is no Satan. That he is just some red-suited Halloween costumed figure who only comes out in October. The Word of God teaches otherwise. Perhaps the following story will be instructive to them. Once there was a boxer who was being badly beaten. Battered and bruised, he leaned over the ropes and said to his trainer, “Throw in the towel! This guy is killing me!” The trainer said, “Oh, no, he’s not. He’s not even hitting you. He hasn’t laid a glove on you!”At that point, the boxer wiped the blood away from his eye and said, “Well, then, I wish you’d watch that referee. Somebody is sure hitting me!” ¹ There is an enemy loose on planet earth who’s trying his best to lay his gloves on you. Rebuking darkness is the path to overcoming satanic hindrances and you can do it in Jesus’ Name.

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#S4-020: Humility: How to Put On God’s Glory Suit [Podcast]

[Tweet “What’s on the other side of the valley of the shadow of death? Victory in every case.”]

Read the Notes

You can view a basic transcript of this podcast at the bottom of this section.

Accept the Challenge

Each week’s podcast contains a call to action. The Word of God will not produce in your life unless you put into operation.
This week’s call is:

Keep steady with the mission, the calling, the particular thing the Lord has you doing. All your gifts and talents are pointed in that direction. Do not allow, Satan to put hindrances in your way of fulfilling your purpose. Exercise your faith in God now that you know the power of Jesus’ Name over hindrances. It’s time to put it to use. 

Join the Conversation

Each week’s podcast also contains a question designed to encourage testimony. Testimony is vital to a believer’s life. We overcome by it (Rev. 12:11).
This week’s question is:

Question:  Please share your personal testimony of faith in God by using the Name of Jesus over hindrances. Please share your comments, in the comments section below.

Episode Resources:

You can find additional information on the Name of Jesus in the resources listed below.

1. #S3-011: What’s the Value of a Good Name? [Podcast]
2. #S3-012: Why the Name of Jesus Works for Your Life [Podcast]
3. #S3-015: How the Mighty Names of God Energize Your Life [Podcast]
4. #S3-016: How to Obliterate Temptation in Jesus Name [Podcast]
5. #S3-017: Why the Name of Jesus Is So Powerful [Podcast]
6. #S3-018: How God Reacquired Adam’s Stolen Authority [Podcast]
7. #S3-020: How Jesus Destroyed Demons in One on One Encounters [Podcast]
8. #S3-021: Want Victory? Look at Jesus Shocking Geographic Throwdown  [Podcast]
9. #S3-022: Why You No Longer Have to Be Sick Because of Jesus Name [Podcast]
10. #S3-023: Why We Can and Should Rebuke Darkness in Jesus Name [Podcast]

About Emery

Emery committed his life to the Lord Jesus Christ over 40 years ago and has served as both a full-time pastor and an itinerant minister. Both he and his wife Sharon of 35 years emphasize personal growth and development through the Word of God. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is both the focus and the hallmark of their mission. Read more about them here.

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If you enjoyed the podcast, please rate it on Stitcher Radio and leave a review. If you have a suggestion for a Bible topic you would like to see taught, or if you have a question, please e-mail me at emery@emeryhorvath.com

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Podcast Notes

Faith in God: Jesus Conquered Satan’s Hindrances to His Kingdom Mission

Luke 8:22–25 (NKJV) 22 Now it happened, on a certain day, that He got into a boat with His disciples. And He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side of the lake.” And they launched out. 23 But as they sailed He fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water, and were in jeopardy. 24 And they came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” Then He arose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water. And they ceased, and there was a calm. 25 But He said to them, “Where is your faith?” And they were afraid, and marveled, saying to one another, “Who can this be? For He commands even the winds and water, and they obey Him!”

• One day Jesus gave the order to cross to the other side of the lake.
• A storm arose after Jesus declared His intention to go to the other side.
• The disciples acted on His Word.
• They launched out.
• That’s good.
• Stepping out on God’s Word is right.
• Just as a side note, there are times in your everyday life the Spirit of God will share with you some things which are pertinent to your life, things concerning your work for Him as His disciple.
• Not all of those things are we supposed to act on, right at that moment.
• Sometimes the Lord, when He is dealing with you, is referencing your future.
• He’s telling you what’s getting ready to happen.
• What God is saying may not come to pass for years.
• It may be twenty years down the road before some of what He’s witnessing in your today unfolds.
• The same is true in other areas of your spirit walk.
• How many of you have ever asked the Lord a question but didn’t receive the answer right then?
• That doesn’t mean the Lord didn’t hear the question.
• That doesn’t mean the Lord ignored the question.
• It probably means you’re not where you could fully understand the answer.
• Some puzzle pieces may be missing.
• Some truths must be built-in you first.
• God’s Word to us is line upon line.
• Words come before sentences and sentences before paragraphs and paragraphs before chapters and chapters before we really get the plot of the story.
• The way to the answer must be leveled so you can see.
• What happened when the disciples began to act on the Word of the Lord demonstrating faith in God, to the command ‘Let us go to the other side?’
• A deadly storm arose and threatened the mission.
• The scripture we read said the disciples were in jeopardy.
• The Greek word ‘jeopardy’ is a verb and it means to be at risk, to be exposed to a chance of loss or damage.
• The storm was of such a magnitude that it threatened the mission.
• At this point, I doubt the disciples were even thinking about the mission.
• They were thinking about their very lives.
• If something didn’t change, they weren’t going to be able to go to the other side.
• Instead of going over, they were going to sink to the bottom.
• The disciples described it as ‘perishing’.
• That’s what they said to Jesus. ‘Save us, Lord, we are perishing.’
• The word ‘perishing’, the disciples used, means to die. Dying is pretty bad.
• It’s pretty final.
• Do you think that you are not going to have challenges when you obey the Word of the Lord?
• Do you think everything will just be smooth sailing, bright sunshine, looking glass blue waters?
• No, Satan is going to try to sink your calling.
• He’s going to try and shipwreck your dream, the same one God gave you years before.
• The same word the Lord gave you in the inner recesses of your spirit man.
• Your path to the fulfillment of your mission may be contested ground.
• In fact, just know if you are experiencing resistance to the Word of the Lord in your life, that is automatically Satan and you can speak to that resistance in Jesus’ Name.
• You can overcome it.
• Yes, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, the psalmist said.
• What are you doing in that kind of valley in the first place?
• It doesn’t seem like the place to be.
• Well, the Shepherd led me there.
• He’s guiding me to green pastures. He’s leading me to the other side.
• I’m following Him.
• And, I’m obeying His voice.
• I’m taking Him at His Word.
• You might think, ‘Well, I don’t like this valley of the shadow of death stuff.’
• It’s tough.
• You remember the scripture, where ‘The Spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness?’

Matthew 4:1 (NKJV) 1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

• What’s on the other side of the storm?
• Or, what’s on the other side of the wilderness?
• What’s on the other side of the valley of the shadow of death?
• Victory is on the other side.
• Calm waters are on the other side.
• Fulfillment of purpose is on the other side.
• The will of God, people being saved, healed, and helped are all on the other side.
• If Jesus said, ‘Let us go to the other side, that’s where you want to be headed.’

Faith in God: Look at How Jesus Responded

• What did Jesus do after He spoke the command of faith to go to the other side?
• He went to sleep.
• Why did He go to sleep?
• Why didn’t He help sail the ship?
• Shouldn’t He have been doing something?
• He was doing something.
• Jesus was resting.
• He was, no doubt, tired from His labors among the people.
• There are times for labor and there are times to rest from your labors.
• This is physically true and some get into trouble in this area because they don’t rest as they should.
• People bypass common-sense laws of nature.
• They overdo it, break down and get sick.
• Then they want the Lord to heal them.
• Why would He heal if you are just going to run out and do the same thing all over again?
• You cannot violate laws of nature and get God’s power to work for you.
• Spiritually there is also an application here.

Faith in God is Never in a Hurry

• Faith is a rest, never a rush.

Hebrews 4:10–11 (NKJV) 10 For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. 11 Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.

• If you enter the rest of faith, you cease from your works.
• Meaning, you’re not trying to make it happen anymore.
• Your not the one in control anymore.
• You no longer allow yourself to carry the burden for the result.
• Look at Jesus as your example.
• The storm arises. It’s a whopper and what’s He doing?
• He’s sleeping.
• He is both resting physically and resting in faith.
• All the while, the storm is raging without.
• The disciples are very very nervous about the storm they are having to deal with.
• They are having a bad night.
• Jesus is not having a bad night.
• He laid down trusting His Father God.
• People who are resting in faith, don’t have bad nights.
• They don’t worry.
• Nor do they toil.
• They don’t carry heavy burdens.
• Even when they’re facing death.
• Isn’t this the place you want to be in?
• To look Death in the face and be totally calm?
• Completely trusting. Fully at rest.

Jonah Did Not Exhibit Powerful Faith in God

• Do you remember there was another man who took a boat trip and he went to sleep and a great storm arose, and the crew feared that they would perish?

Jonah 1:4–6 (KJV) 4 But the LORD sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken. 5 Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep. 6 So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not.

• Jonah went to sleep onboard the ship but his rest was not the rest of faith.
• His rest was the rest of rebellion.
• It was the rest of a man who was running from God.
• Look at the difference in the two accounts.
• Jesus made it to the other side. He rebuked the storm. He calmed the sea with His words.
• Jonah was thrown into the sea. He was swallowed up by the waters.
• Well, the disciples are perishing.
• They believe they are going to die.
• So, they wake Jesus up with those words.
• ‘Master, we are dying.’
• That was their assessment as professional seafaring, well acquainted with the winds and waves, fisherman.
• Matthew says this was a great tempest.
• The Greek word ‘tempest’ is the word ‘seismos’.
• It’s where the English word seismic comes from.
• Seismic is a word used in connection today with earthquakes.
• When an earthquake occurs on the ocean floor, that is called a submarine earthquake.
• Submarine earthquakes lead to tsunamis.
• Tsunamis are huge destructive type waves.
• The actual Greek definition for the word ‘tempest’, the one you will find in a Greek dictionary is defined as a violent weather condition at sea; possibly with an emphasis on the wild and confused motion of the sea resembling an earthquake to those on a boat.
• Whether or not an actual earthquake occurred is not the issue.
• What I am saying is that what the disciples were looking at was an incredibly strong set of winds and waves.
• Strong enough so, that it made experienced fishermen think they were going to die.

Faith in God: The Disciples Run to Jesus

• Isn’t it good to be able to run to Jesus?
• Isn’t it wonderful to have that option?
• To know what the Word says, He will never leave you nor forsake you.
• So, we call on Jesus and He arises and answers that request.
• That’s how Christians look at this incident in Jesus’ life.
• But, that’s not what the disciples did.
• They awoke Jesus out of His sleep alright.
• And, they did it with these words.

Mark 4:38 (NKJV) 38 But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”

• The word ‘care’ is the Greek word for concern.
• It’s obvious from verse forty-one the disciples weren’t waking Jesus up so He could use His supernatural power to do something about the storm.
• They weren’t looking at Jesus the same way you look at Him.

Mark 4:41 (NKJV) 41 And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, “Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!”

• ‘Who can this be’, the disciples said?
• You see they really didn’t know who He was yet.
• You can find a clue in the way the disciples addressed Jesus.
• They called Him Master.
• ‘Master, Master, save us we are perishing.
• The word Master means superior one of greater rank or station or quality who superintends and instructs a group.
• Mark’s account uses the word Teacher instead of Master.
• They viewed Him as a teacher, not as a man anointed by the Spirit without measure full of the authority of heaven.

Faith In God: How You View the Anointed

• How you view people, how you receive those who are called and anointed of God, directly affects what you can receive from their ministries.
• How you receive your Pastor determines what you are able to receive from the pastoral anointing.

Matthew 10:41 (NKJV) 41 He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward. And he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward.

• Why does this work this way?
• Because the anointing is ‘God on a person’.
• The anointing is ‘God in a person’.
• It’s who you are either receiving or respecting.
• If you disrespect the person anointed by God especially when the anointing is in manifestation, you disrespect God directly.
• You have to respect the anointing if you expect to receive from the anointing.
• Remember it’s the anointing, it’s God, not the person.
• What the disciples did here really was to make an accusation against Jesus.
• They woke Him up and basically accuse Him of not having any concern for their well-being.
• ‘Your asleep while we’re dying. What’s up with this’, they said?

Little Faith in God — The Father God Wasn’t Real to the Disciples

• Why didn’t the disciples call upon the Name of the Lord?
• There are certainly plenty of verses to support the fact that they could have.

Psalm 69:15–16 (NKJV) 15 Let not the floodwater overflow me, Nor let the deep swallow me up; And let not the pit shut its mouth on me. 16 Hear me, O LORD, for Your lovingkindness is good; Turn to me according to the multitude of Your tender mercies.

Psalm 107:28–30 (NKJV) 28 Then they cry out to the LORD in their trouble, And He brings them out of their distresses. 29 He calms the storm, So that its waves are still. 30 Then they are glad because they are quiet; So He guides them to their desired haven.

• The disciples didn’t cry to the Lord.
• They cried to Jesus whom they viewed only as a teacher.
• But this teacher, this Jesus, knows His Father.
• This teacher, this Jesus, said the Father who dwells in me, He does the works.
• So Jesus rises and does the works of His Father.
• He rebukes the winds and the sea.
• And, the Bible says there was a great calm.

Faith in God: Using the Name of Jesus

• In a previous podcast entitled “Why You Can and Should Rebuke Darkness in Jesus Name”, we saw that Jesus rebuked demons, he rebuked sickness, and here He rebukes nature.
• The Greek word ‘rebuked means to express strong disapproval of someone, rebuke someone, reprove someone, censure or speak seriously to someone, warn someone. ²
• So sickness, if it’s being censored, must be able to hear.
• Demons can hear. they respond to rebuke.
• And, now we see that nature can hear.
• Did you know trees can hear?
• Winds, and waves, and the ocean themselves can hear?
• Everything is good now, for the disciples, right?
• The storm has ceased.
• There’s a great calm.
• With the calm, there’s a great relief.
• We are out of that mess now.
• The storm, the trial, has all dissipated.
• It’s over.

Psalm 30:5 (KJV) 5 For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.

• The disciples felt this way no doubt.
• They are on their way to the other side.
• But there’s a spiritual problem with this whole chain of events.
• Jesus put His finger right on it.
• ‘Where is YOUR faith’, Jesus asked?
• In other words, ‘Why did you wake me up?’
• ‘You could have handled this yourself.’
• ‘Why didn’t you handle it?’
• ‘Why were you afraid?’
• Jesus said, ‘Deliverance being achieved in the way the disciples went at it was a sign of little faith.’
• Why was it little faith?
• By Jesus implying this, He proved that going the direct route is the greater faith God is looking for.

#S3-017: Why Is the Name of Jesus So Powerful? [Podcast]

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