The Path to Freedom 627
measures. Resistance without refusal is similarly ineffective, because
the ground originally promised to the enemy must be recovered.
In retaking surrendered territory the believer must use his will on
the one side to resolve, choose and refuse and on the other to resist.
He should resolve to fight, choose freedom, refuse ground, and resist
the enemy. He must contend for his sovereignty. This element of free
will should never be lost sight of. God has granted us an unhampered
volition that we may be our own masters, but today the evil spirits
have usurped our members and talents. They have become man’s
master; he has lost his sovereign rights. To oppose this the believer
enters the fray. He continually declares: I am not willing to let the
evil spirits encroach on my sovereign rights; I will not allow them to
invade my personality; I will not permit them to possess me; I will
not follow them blindly; I will not consent to their manipulating me;
I will not, I verily am unwilling; I intend to be my own master; I
know what I do; I resolve to control myself; I prefer to have my
entire being subject to myself; I resist all the works of the wicked
ones as well as their right to work on me. In resolving, choosing and
refusing with our will we arrest any further working of the enemy.
Thereafter we must resist with our will.
The believer commences his life anew following the recovery of
his ground. The past is over, and now marks a new beginning. What
was offered to the evil spirits has all been reclaimed. The spirit, soul
and body of the whole person are retrieved from the enemy’s hand
and are rededicated to God. Every inch of the territory surrendered
through ignorance has today, one upon another, been recovered. The
sovereign power of man is once again returned to him. And how is
this done? By rejecting what once was accepted; disbelieving what
once was believed; withdrawing from what once he drew nigh to
before; destroying what once was erected; canceling what once was
covenanted; retrieving what once was promised; dissolving what
once was joined; resisting what once was obeyed; uttering what once
went unspoken; opposing what once was cooperated with; and