Louie Giglio urges Christians to take authority over enemy of darkness: 'Shake it off'
Megachurch Pastor Louie Giglio stressed the importance of spiritual warfare to a crowd of young adults earlier this month, telling them they have more authority over the darkness of this world than they think they do.
The 65-year-old pastor of Passion City Church in Atlanta, Georgia, preached a Nov. 8 sermon at The Porch, a young adult ministry of Watermark Community Church in Dallas, Texas.
Giglio said that "even shipwrecks don't wreck God" because what the enemy has planned for those who trust Jesus will never prevail against the living God.
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"The message of the story is not that we're on a ship. The message of this story is that even shipwrecks don't wreck God," Giglio preached.
"When evil came against you and when evil came from you, in the pain of it all, in the brutal of it all, in the broken of it all, in the darkness of it all, He brought you through it all. And the enemy said to you, 'You will not survive.' But you did. The enemy said, 'You will not make it.' But you did."
Giglio focused on Acts 27, which describes the Apostle Paul's trip to Rome, which involved a shipwreck and, later on, being bitten by a poisonous snake that miraculously did not kill him.
"The enemy said: 'You will not live. You will die.' But you didn't die. And you're living now. And He's giving you breath. The Word says, 'He gives all things life and breath and everything else.' And He's promised you that He can't be thwarted if you put your life in His hands," the pastor continued.
Giglio told the young adults they are "part of a generation that needs to know that you have way more authority [over the enemy] than you think you do."
"When you get under God's authority, you can take authority. And you could tell the darkness, 'not here,'" he preached. "A lot of us in this room right now have stuff hanging on our hand that we need to, in Jesus' name, shake off."
There are many avenues that a Christian can take to receive deliverance from spiritual warfare, Giglio said. But he also felt that some Christians, particularly generations of younger adults, don't realize how much authority they can have over the "darkness" of "the enemy" through the Holy Spirit.
"I'm not saying that we don't need help, friends, accountability, counseling, mentorship, process, healing. I'm not speaking against any of that. But, I'm saying right here in this moment tonight, some of you have got the authority to shake things off of your life in Jesus' name, right here and right now," Giglio preached.
"You don't need a process. You just need to wake up to the fact that this thing that came out of the fire is going back in the fire tonight. Because I am on a mission. I am called by God. I am chosen and anointed by God, and I have authority in the name of the One whose authority I'm under tonight," Giglio added as the crowd erupted in cheers and clapping.
"I'm telling you, 'Dread, get off of me. In Jesus' name, get off of me. All these crazy desires of the flesh, get off of me.'"
Giglio said some Christians will allow their fears of a difficult situation caused by spiritual darkness to keep them from commanding with authority for the enemy to leave them alone.
"I think the mentality sometimes that we have is, 'Oh my gosh, a viper has come out of the fire. Do you guys see this? Is everybody looking at this? Do you realize what has happened to me? Do you understand how grave of a situation I'm in right now?'" Giglio said.
"Are you convinced of Whose and who you are? And are you convinced of the power of the name that you bear?"
Giglio said many will silently wrestle with spiritual warfare because they are under the false impression that their struggle is something that only a group of Christians or a pastor can rid their life of.
"Is there something tonight that you can speak to? You don't need a pastor to take authority over it. You need to take authority over it. You don't need your small group to take authority for you. You need to take authority. You don't need another coffee. You don't need two more lattes," Giglio said.
"You need to take authority over it and say, 'Get off of me.' And you may need to say 'get off of me' every hour for the next 45 days or 45 months. But, you won't relent, and you will stand in authority, and you will say, 'Get off of me.'"
Giglio stressed that "it's time to shake it off and let God write something new on you."
Nicole Alcindor is a reporter for The Christian Post.
