The Path to Freedom 631
In addition to refusing any ground to the powers of darkness, the
child of God will have to refuse all their operations. If by his volition
he maintains this antagonistic attitude the endeavors of the enemy
will be spoiled. He should ask God for light on the enemy’s exertions
so as to resist them one by one. Since the operation of the evil spirits
in the child of God is (a) to act in place of him and (b) to influence
him to act according to their will, he must (a) refuse to let them act
for him and (b) resist their influence on him. He needs to refuse to let
in the enemy spirits as well as refuse any ground that will maintain
them in him. As he resists, the foe shall contend in every way. He
must therefore battle with all his strength until he is restored to his
normalcy and freedom. When he first begins to fight he may find
himself temporarily incapacitated; but if he struggles on with all his
might, his volition will turn from passivity to activity and control his
whole being. Thus shall passivity and the enemy’s entrenchment be
destroyed in battle.
“The ‘fighting through’ period is a very painful time. There are
bad moments of acute suffering, and intense struggle, arising out of
the consciousness of the resistance of the powers of darkness in their
contest for what the believer endeavors to reclaim.” (Penn-Lewis,
WOTS, 194) In exercising his volition to (a) resist the rule of the evil
spirits and (b) reinstate his own office, the Christian shall meet stiff
opposition from his enemy. Initially he may not be aware of the
depth to which he has fallen; but once he commences, point by point,
to fight his way back to a normal state, then does he discover how far
he has plunged. Because of the resistance of the enemy he may find
at the initial stage of combat that his symptoms grow worse than
before, as though the more he fights the less strength his will has and
the more confused becomes the particular area over which the
engagement is being fought. Such a phenomenon is nonetheless the
sign of victory! Though the believer does feel worse, in reality he is
better. For it demonstrates that the resistance has had its effect: the
enemy has felt the pressure and is consequently making his last