If we violate the principles of God, we open ourselves up to trouble. When Solomon dedicated the Temple, he recognized that there are direct consequences to sin. So he negotiated a covenant with God the Father in his prayer: “If Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy because they have sinned against You, and they return to You and confess Your name, and pray and make supplication before You in this house, then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your people Israel, and bring them back to the land which You have given to them and to their fathers” (2 Chronicles 6:24–25).[1] When Israel later sinned, they were defeated: Babylon came in, burned down the Temple, and removed Israel from the land God had given them. That is being defeated!
One consequence of defeat today is that it renders us ineffective in the spirit realm. If we are in a place of defeat, then we do not have any leverage or authority to be effective. There must be a force in you that can remove the will of satan out of the earth and remove the will of man out of the earth before we can bring in the will of God. We cannot cry, “Your Kingdom come” without realizing that other kingdoms must be displaced first.
This is why God said, “Start praying for the United States.” But as we started praying, we realized that we were facing principalities, powers, and spiritual forces of wickedness. Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12). We are not just talking about little elemental spirits. We are talking about ensconced kingdoms. Satan has his own ruling order that is set up under principalities and powers, spiritual forces, and ranks that must all be cleared out. But if we are living in defeat, then we are incapable of doing that.
The more people who enter into a covenant of both confession and forgiveness, the more authority, leverage, and force we will have in the spirit to see things happen. We must not be afraid to recognize the consequences of our thoughts, our actions, and our hearts. God deliver us from our enemy. Deliver us where we are defeated by these principalities and powers and spirits that rule over us.
Yeshua (Jesus) accomplished very specific things on the cross, including the forgiveness of our sins. He accomplished deliverance from our enemies. But I also believe that it is all predicated on confessing our sin, recognizing it, and specifically asking God for forgiveness. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). That is the principle.
As simple as it is, these are overarching biblical principles that hold within them greater power and anointing and authority than we can imagine. Yet wherever we violate these simple things, the edge is removed from our authority and our anointing. When we go through our day and try to take authority over what is going wrong in our circumstances and nothing happens, then we should ask the Lord, “Why doesn’t it change?” We must return to Him, confess His name, and make supplication before Him to forgive us of our sins. If we confess our faults, He will bring us back to our land—and we have a phenomenal land. The Kingdom is right before us now!
[1] All Scripture references are from the New American Standard Bible 1995 (NASB1995).