Are You Rebuking Satan the Wrong Way?

Is it enough to just rebuke the enemy?

Are we missing an important element of prayer? We've all heard people say, "I rebuke you, devil" or "I rebuked the enemy."

But, are we following up those words with an action we want the enemy to take as Jesus did? Are we binding and restricting our situation or storms and then speaking to it and declaring over our situation what it should do?

When we look at the Scriptures, when Jesus rebuked, He gave the item He rebuked a follow-up command. We are rebuking, but I believe it isn't getting us the results it should.

For years, I ministered to a couple who had an epileptic child. The wife kept saying, "I rebuked the devil." However, there were three challenges with her prayer.

1. She prayed silently. The devil couldn't hear what she was binding and restricting.

2. She prayed legalistically. She believed just praying in her mind, "I rebuke you, devil" would get the job done.

3. She didn't give the enemy a follow-up command. Once she did rebuke him aloud, if she ever followed my advice and prayed aloud, she didn't tell the enemy what to do, the disease to leave or command her child to be healed. She just kept telling me all the time, "I rebuked the devil."

When we look at the storm on the water in Mark 4, we see an example of Jesus rebuking the wind and speaking to the sea. "He rose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, 'Peace, be still!' Then the wind ceased, and there was a great calm" (Mark 4:39).

Jesus rose up and rebuked the wind, which was causing disruption on the sea. When He rebuked the wind, which is taking authority over it, He spoke to the sea and gave it a follow-up command of authority to be still. Notice, the wind ceased first. The wind and the sea, both things He took authority over, had to react in order for the stillness to come forth. It was twofold: rebuking and speaking a follow-up command.

We can discover another example of rebuking and taking authority over demons. "When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the foul spirit, saying to it, 'You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him, and enter him no more'" (Mark 9:25).

Jesus did not just rebuke the demon and it came out. He rebuked the foul spirit and said what He commanded it to do. When searching through the Scriptures for adequate spiritual warfare techniques, we need to pay attention to the filler words such as "saying," "said" and "call."

We need to look for action words in the Scriptures. Here, Jesus said to the demon, "You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him, and enter him no more" (Mark 9:25b).

Jesus not only cast the demon out, but took authority, commanded departure and also sealed in the person's deliverance by commanding the demon to enter him no more. He was rebuking and taking complete authority over every part of the demonic stronghold.

We must follow Jesus' example. I believe many people don't receive their deliverance or their healing doesn't manifest because we aren't following the biblical example of deliverance.