WE ARE combating demons and disease with the Word. The Word is the sword of the recreated spirit. That Word can slay disease, and that Word can heal the sick. The man who walks by faith in the Word requires no evidence of the senses. He has proof that the thing he is praying for has come. You understand that there are two kinds of faith: Sense Knowledge faith that demands physical evidence to satisfy the senses before he can see that he is healed or that he has the thing for which he prayed; and the other kind of faith that depends upon the Word alone. He finds a passage that covers his need and he makes that his own.
Prayer based upon the Word rises above the Senses and contacts the Author of the Word. 2 Corinthians 10:3-7 is a vital scripture: “For although living in the flesh (or senses), my warfare is not waged according to the flesh (or senses). For the weapons which I wield are not fleshly weakness but mighty in the strength of God to overthrow the strongholds of the adversary” (Conybeare).
The Word Versus Sense Knowledge
The mightiest enemy of the prayer life is Sense Knowledge. And the weapon that we use against Sense is the Word of God. It is the Word of the recreated spirit.
Ephesians 6:17 tells us how we overthrow reasoning of the disputer and we pull down all the lofty bulwarks. “And take the helmet of Salvation, and the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.” We show the world that we are absolutely masters in Christ.
We have never as a church realized the authority and might of the Word.
This Pauline Revelation takes the place of the absent Christ and we act upon the Word as Jesus acted upon the Word of His Father. Jesus used the Father’s words to defeat the adversary, to heal the sick, to raise the dead, and to feed the multitudes. We use the Word of God to defeat the enemy. When we approach the Throne we come with our mouths filled with His Word. Then when we go before the world we make our public confession. We cast down reason based on the senses. The senses have evidence of fever, pain, and cancer. These things exalt themselves against the Word of God. As though the cancer spoke, it says: “You cannot unseat me. I have authority over this body. I am holding this one captive. I have filled his heart with fear, and his mouth with a confession of my strength and my ability to slay him.” (Read Ephesians 6:10-18 carefully.)
Now you bring the Living Word of God to combat the reasonings of the Senses. You are not swayed by the things you see- an empty purse, a weak body, or a lack of work. You must never think of your combat as against the thing that you can see or hear or feel. Your combat is with the prince of the power of the air that rules people’s feelings and fills them with fear. You are a master. When want faces you, you read Psalm 23:1-3, “Jehovah is my Shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures and He leadeth me beside the waters of gentle stillness.”
You see, I am by the waters of plenty. There is no need that He cannot supply. You say it over and over again, “The Lord is my Shepherd-my Bread-Provider, my Rent-Payer.”
The world’s lord may lead one into want, into pain and heartache; but my Lord leads into green pastures. Isaiah 41:10, “Fear thou not for I am with thee; be not dismayed for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; I will uphold thee with the right hand of My Righteousness.” Go over that carefully. “Fear thou not for I am with thee.” He is with you-the Creator of the Universe, the Master Who conquered the storm. Who is in you? The great, mighty Spirit Who raised Jesus from the dead.
Don’t you know John 15:5, “I am the Vine and ye are the branches”? Don’t you realize that you are the fruit-bearing part of Christ today? Hear Him whisper, “I am thy God.”
That settles it. He opened the Red Sea (Exodus 12). He held the Jordan back by the word of His power. He sent His beloved Son here in the form of a babe to grow up so that He would be tempted in every point like as we are that He might learn the awful lessons that the bride, or the church, has to learn. And He said, “Lo, I am with you always”; and, “All authority has been given unto Me” (Matthew 28:18-19).
“I am backing you to the limit.”
From: Advanced Bible Study Course