The only true and lasting means of deliverance from bondage comes through the power of Jesus Christ. There are
many fine forms of “help” for those who are in bondage, but none of them is as effective or long-lasting as spiritual
deliverance. The reason for this is simple: all bondage has its root in sin and in the spiritual condition of man.
Unless the bondage is broken in the spiritual realm, remnants of the bondage will remain.
More than Confession of Sin?
Many people find themselves so much into the bondage of Satan's lies and deceit that a simple confession of
sin is not enough. They may receive God's forgiveness, but they still feel enslaved by a pattern of behavior that
has become a strong habit in their lives, such as the habit of drinking, the habit of thinking ill of others, the
habit of overspending, or the habit of seeing every person as an enemy.
Confession of sin and God's forgiveness brings release from sin's consequences in the person's relationship
with God, but it does not always bring release from sin's consequences in the person's daily habitual behavior,
environment, or circumstances.
• Cite an instance in which you know that you or another person has been forgiven of sin but the consequences
associated with past sin still linger.
Jesus Came to Set Us Free
Isaiah foretold this about Jesus' purpose and ministry on this earth:
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me,
Because the Lord has anointed Me
To preach good tidings to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives,
And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,
And the day of vengeance of our God;
To comfort all who mourn,
To console those who mourn in Zion,
To give them beauty for ashes,
The oil of joy for mourning,
The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
That they may be called trees of righteousness,
The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified. (Is. 61:1–3)
Jesus boldly declared that this prophecy was fulfilled in His life, and those who witnessed His ministry knew it
to be true (Luke 4:16–21). As believers in Christ Jesus, we are called to carry on His ministry on this earth.
The mandate given to Jesus is our mandate. Jesus said that through the power of the Holy Spirit, we would do even
“greater works” than those manifested by Him, perhaps not in “quality” of work, but certainly in quantity and application.
He said, “He who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do,
because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in
the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it” (John 14:12–14).
Jesus once sent out his disciples to engage in active ministry in His name. He sent them two by two, and He
told them to go into a city and remain with one family that would give hospitality to them, and to proclaim the
good news, that the presence, power, and peace of God were manifest in Jesus Christ. We are to do the same—beginning
in our own families. We are to proclaim the good news that Jesus has come, He is present with us now, and He will
defeat Satan at every turn.
Jesus came actively to counteract the work of Satan just as Jesus and His disciples did! And we are to
start that work in our own families.
• In what ways have you been “set free” by Jesus Christ?
What the Word Says
[Jesus said], “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may
have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10)
What the Word Says to Me
What the Word Says
For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. (1 John 3:8b)
What the Word Says to Me
What the Word Says
The Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them two by two before His face into every city and place where
He Himself was about to go. Then He said to them, “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore
pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.… And heal the sick there, and say to them,
‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ … He who hears you hears Me, he who rejects you rejects Me, and he who
rejects Me rejects Him who sent me.” Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject
to us in Your name.” And He said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I give you the
authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means
hurt you. Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because
your names are written in heaven.” (Luke 10:1–2, 9, 16–20)
What the Word Says to Me
• How do you feel about the fact that Jesus has called you to carry on His work?
• In what ways do you feel challenged to engage in the active ministry of Jesus within your own family?
A Threefold Purpose
Note specifically the threefold purpose in our binding Satan in our families:
1. Release
2. Restoration
3. Restriction
Release
We are to “proclaim liberty to the captives, / And the opening of the prison to those who are bound” (Is. 61:1).
True freedom is only found in Christ Jesus. As we read in John 8:36, “If the Son makes you free, you shall be free
indeed.” We are to proclaim the gospel boldly and without hesitation. Satan cannot operate in the presence of the
gospel. Revelation 12:11 assures us that we can overcome Satan by the “word of [our] testimony,” which is a testimony
about the power of Jesus Christ and the salvation that He purchased for us on the cross.
Restoration
Jesus' ministry is a constant example of restoring those who had been trapped by Satan—for example, those who
were trapped by sickness, troubles, depression, or demonic snares. Jesus came to restore the lost to the Father.
In Luke we read about Jesus casting a legion of demons from a man in Gadera. This man was completely delivered.
He had once lived among the tombs and the hogs, but after Jesus delivered him, he was found “sitting at the feet
of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind” (Luke 8:35). The man begged Jesus that he might go back with Him to the
other side of the Sea of Galilee, but Jesus said, “Return to your own house, and tell what great things God has
done for you” (v. 39). Jesus restored this man to his right mind, to a right relationship with God, and
to his family. When we bind Satan, we can expect the same results!
I believe there are many marriages that might be restored and many children who might return home to a right
relationship with their parents if they could only return to parents who are truly “set free” from sin, operating
in a right mind and with a right heart.
What the Word Says
[Jesus said],“Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in
the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” (John
8:34–36)
What the Word Says to Me
What the Word Says
[Jesus said], “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” (Luke 4:18–19)
What the Word Says to Me
Restriction
Jesus desires that we ask Him to restrict the power of Satan on the earth. God has given us a free will to choose
God's way or the devil's way. We must voluntarily ask God, through Jesus Christ, to keep the devil from exercising
influence on our lives and the lives of those for whom we are responsible.
God certainly can exert authority and control over anything and over all things as He wills. But God
has given us choice. He wants us to choose to ask Him to restrict the activity of the devil against us—to
move in a mighty way against the power of the enemy. This is what we call “binding” Satan spiritually.
In reality, we are not the ones who do the actual binding. Jesus is the One who does the binding. He is the
One who has won the definitive victory over Satan and who is stronger than Satan on all accounts. Satan is stronger
than any one human being, but he is never stronger than a human being who is filled with the Holy Spirit. The power
of the Holy Spirit active and working within us is always a more potent force than the working of Satan
around us. As 1 John 4:4b says, “He who is in you [the Holy Spirit] is greater than he [the devil] who is
in the world.”
What the Word Says
[Jesus said],“All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.” (Matt. 28:18)
What the Word Says to Me
What the Word Says
Then they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? What new doctrine is
this? For with authority He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.” (Mark 1:27)
What the Word Says to Me
Our Binding “Weapons”
Jesus has given us three “weapons” by which we are to bind Satan: the Word, the Blood, and the name of Jesus.
The Word
In Matthew 13:18–24, Jesus told a parable about a sower who sowed seed with four different results:
Therefore hear the parable of the sower: When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it,
then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside.
(vv. 18–19)
Jesus is saying that the first bad thing that can happen to seed is that it fails to germinate and take root—it
falls onto the soil of those who are ignorant of spiritual things. In 2 Corinthians 4:3–4, Paul wrote, “If our
gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do
not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.”
Our first prayer must always be that Satan will be restricted and will not be able to exercise his “snatching
power” over the Word of God being preached or taught. We must pray that Satan will be prohibited from blinding
the eyes or deafening the ears of those who are in the presence of the preaching of the gospel.
What the Word Says
That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation
in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of
His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness
of His power toward us who believe. (Eph. 1:17–19a)
What the Word Says to Me
What the Word Says
He who has ears to hear, let him hear! (Matt. 11:15; 13:9; 43b)
What the Word Says to Me
The Blood
Satan cannot cross the “blood line” that has been placed around those who accept Jesus Christ as their Savior
and who truly believe in the sacrificial death of Jesus on the cross—a death in which His blood was shed for our
sakes. We bind Satan by declaring to him that we have been purchased by the shed blood of Christ Jesus. In so doing,
we are declaring that we are the “property” of God, not the property of the devil. God has jurisdiction and power
over our lives, not Satan.
What the Word Says
[Jesus said to His disciples at the Last Supper]: “This is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many
for the remission of sins.” (Matt. 26:28)
What the Word Says to Me
What the Word Says
Without shedding of blood there is no remission.… so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. (Heb. 9:22b,
28a)
What the Word Says to Me
What the Word Says
If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ
His Son cleanses us from all sin. (1 John 1:7)
What the Word Says to Me
The Name of Jesus
Any time we confront Satan, we must do so in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is in His name that we have
authority over evil. After Peter and John had spoken to a lame man in the name of Jesus, the man was healed. All
who saw the man standing, walking, leaping, and praising God were amazed, and the religious officials became so
angry that they imprisoned Peter and John.
The next day the authorities gathered to interrogate Peter and John, and the Bible tells us, “Then Peter, filled
with the Holy Spirit, said to them, ‘Rulers of the people and elders of Israel: If we this day are judged for a
good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well, let it be known to you all, and to all the
people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead,
by Him this man stands here before you whole’ ” (Acts 4:8–10).
There is great power in the name of Jesus! He has given us His name to use in bringing healing and deliverance
to those who are oppressed, discouraged, and “sick” or “injured” in any area of their lives!
What the Word Says
Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of
Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that
every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Phil. 2:9–11)
What the Word Says to Me
What the Word Says
[Jesus said], “Whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you
ask anything in My name, I will do it.” (John 14:13–14)
What the Word Says to Me
What the Word Says
Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth,
rise up and walk.” (Acts 3:6)
What the Word Says to Me
A Verbal Declaration
Note that each of the “weapons” Jesus has given to us for the binding of Satan are weapons that we exercise
in the spirit realm by our spoken words. We are called to speak the name of Jesus, to speak about the blood
of Christ, to speak the Word of God as we give our own personal word of testimony. We do not bind Satan by just
thinking good thoughts or having the right attitude. Our faith is certainly at the foundation of our battle against
Satan, but repeatedly we are told that our faith must be verbalized—it must be spoken aloud.
It is in our speaking the name of Jesus, the blood of Jesus, the word of Jesus that we make the presence and
power of Jesus real, ready, and available in any situation or circumstance. To desire, wish, hope, or believe that
Jesus will deliver us from Satan is not enough. We must declare it to be so!
• In what ways are you feeling challenged today to bind Satan's influence in your life or in the life of
a family member?
From Protecting Your Family by Charles
Stanley. Copyright 1998 by Charles Stanley.
