When I attended Rhema Bible School, much of the teaching was focused upon the past tense because Christ’s work is finished. He is presently seated in a position of rest, at the right hand of the Father. As far as God’s concerned, you were healed and delivered 2000 years ago. He’s not going to do anything more about your specific situation. It’s up to you, to activate the promises of God, by mixing faith with God’s word and your tongue is the mixer! Tune in now to find out how…
Here is a complete transcript of the podcast…(below)
A little girl went up to her mother one day while holding her stomach saying, “Mommy, my stomach hurts.” Her mother replied, “That’s because it’s empty, you have to put something into it dear!”
Later that day when the Evangelist and her husband were over for dinner. The Evangelist began to feel bad. Holding her head she said, “I have such a terrible headache!”
The little girl looked up at her giving her the sweetest smile that any little child could give. Then she said, “That’s because it’s empty, you have to put something into it!”
Ha, Ha, Ha it’s good to chuckle now and again folks. Now today’s topic will reflect upon the fact that right now; we are located spiritually in Heavenly places at the right hand of the Father, which I touched upon in the last broadcast. In line with this, the authority of the believer is probably mentioned more in the book of Ephesians than anywhere else in Scripture. I would particularly focus your attention upon Chapters One and three in your own devotional time. As we meditate on the word of God, we can accelerate our spiritual growth. We need both milk and meat in order to grow. Once we have been weaned off of milk however, we need meat. I am a grown man; I still drink milk and have need of it but meat provides the necessary protein and amino acids my body needs. We need both meat and milk in both the physical and spiritual realm, but meat is where the real nutrients are at.
In our discussion on authority in the past several days, it’s important to understand the context of scripture and what exactly we have authority over. We don’t have authority outside of the authority God has granted us in scripture. For example, we don’t have authority over other people, like I said before. We have authority however, over the devil and demon forces. In our secular society of course most people will quip, who cares? I aint never seen a demon and never will. What is often overlooked however is that we in the west are often blind to the supernatural realm or fail to acknowledge it. I would also stress that the occurrence of demonic activity is likely to be less in these last days compared to the times of Jesus because if the number of demons are fixed throughout history, and the population of the earth is rapidly increasing, then demonic oppression per person is diminishing. But regardless of your theological stance Christ has granted us jurisdiction over these nefarious spirits that in some cases can cause us problems. Let’s look at some more scriptures on this topic, “Behold, I give unto you power (authority exousia not dunamis) to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power (dunamis) of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” Luke 10:19.
If we observe the Greek words behind this text, we discover on the surface that although power is used twice in this passage, the first usage of power should actually say authority instead of power, but the translators chose power instead of authority. The first instance of power here, is the Greek word exousia not dunamis and that term exousia which means the accompanying authority that comes with power. So the passage should really read, “ Behold, I give unto you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.”
Christ is of course not speaking of literal serpents and scorpions here, but a metaphor for demons or evil spirits. So, in this text he reveals that not only do we have Christ given authority but power over them also. Remember what I told you in previous broadcasts. We are only effective is we have both authority and power working together. We have therefore been granted authority over Satan and his cohorts and the power to resist, expel and bind him. When Christ ascended to heaven, he transferred authority to the church. He is the head, and we are the body. You cannot raise the head without the body, and we have access to resurrection power as He does, because we are joint heirs with him. Christ’s authority is demonstrated on earth through the Church. Jesus has done all he is going to do, he is seated right now meaning His work is complete and he’s not coming down for your benefit, but you must use your faith like everyone else. Through this dispensation, He is active through intercession as a High Priest. What a tragic thing for Christ to bestow so much authority to the church and for us to not use it. We are actively involved in making Christ’s enemies His footstool.
We don’t need to get into fistfights over things on this earth, why? Because we wrestle not against flesh and blood. We are in a spiritual battle, Ephesians 6:12, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” Our fight is not with people, the fight is with the spirits that influence evil people. A man is either governed by his own spirit man, an evil spirit or the Spirit of God. Murder, hate, jealousy, strife, malice, envying etc. can originate in the demonic realm but some of these are listed as works of the flesh. It starts with a decision, a decision to be free, and God will meet us there and we apply our faith to appropriate all the promises that Christ gave us. Satan unfortunately has the right to be on the earth and his influence is still prevalent otherwise Paul would not make it so clear that we still wrestle against principalities and powers. But here’s the good news:
Colossians 1:12-13 – 12 “Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:”
As far as the church is concerned, we’ve been delivered out of the power of darkness not only that, but we are also in the Kingdom of His dear Son! We have been taken out of something to be put into something, that something is the Kingdom of light. The children of Israel weren’t just displaced from Egypt to display God’s power and deliverance. They were taken out, in order to be taken into, somewhere else and that place was the land of Canaan which is a typology of our victorious life in Christ. In the same way God is taking you out of your addictions, compulsions, bad habits, strongholds, poor self-image and whatever else is holding you in bondage and He is taking you into a new place. But you must cooperate with His word. As children of light, we are positioned in light, and we bring light wherever we go. It’s important that we continue to walk in the light, abide in the light and stay clear of the darkness. We don’t want to become entangled again as the Apostles Paul and Peter warned us not to in (Gal 5:1 and 2 Pet 2:20).
So, friend, let me ask you this, do we have any less authority than the first century church? No, do we have any less authority than the apostles who witnessed Christ ascend into heaven? No…. All the authority that can be exercised on earth has to be through the church because Christ is not here in physical body and the Church age is still the same age until Jesus returns. The only power and authority we have lost is through apathy, ignorance or unbelief. If Satan can keep you in ignorance or unbelief regarding your position of authority or the privileges, you have; he will defeat you every time. The crux of our understanding of authority comes from two verses in the Epistles. Eph1:20 and Eph 2:6…
Ephesians 1:20 20 “Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him (Jesus) from the dead, and set him (Jesus) at his own right hand in the heavenly places,” Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: 22 And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, 23 Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.”
Ephesians 2:6 – 6 “And hath raised us (the church) up together, and made us (the church) sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:”
So, friend, God the Father set Jesus at His own right hand, when he was raised from the dead. And in addition, we are seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus right now, not when we die and go to heaven. We as the Body of Christ have the same authority as the head, which is Christ. Christ has been raised above all the powers of Satan’s realm and so have we. You can’t raise the head (Jesus) without the body. I say this over and over because I want you to get the point. If we are attached to Christ who is the head or better still, we are the body of Christ, then we too are far above principalities and powers as the scripture says. We too have been delivered out of the power of darkness and into the Kingdom of His dear son. Jesus has already conquered these evil forces on our behalf and it’s our job to enforce His victory on this earth as an occupying force. We need to think of the Church as an occupying army that is in place to maintain the territory after the battle is won and that battle was won by Christ himself. Until Rev 20:1-3, when the angel binds Satan and puts him in the bottomless pit, until that time, we are to enforce authority on earth, each and every day. It’s interesting to note that the very first sign as mentioned for any believer, is casting out spirits:
17 “And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.19 So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.20And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.” Mark 16:17-20
Notice that after Jesus made the statement of bestowed authority in his name, he was received up to heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. He was saying basically, my work is done here, go now in the authority of my name and these signs shall follow you when you do my works upon the earth. Friend, you might say right now, well I don’t feel like I have authority, listen you have spiritual authority whether you feel like it or not, it is exercised regardless of feelings. Your flesh is never gonna feel like exercising anything for that matter, my flesh wants me to sit on the lazy boy 24/7 eat ice cream, chocolate and donuts and convince me that is a well-balanced diet! Friends the flesh will kill you if you listen to it lol! Romans 8:17 says we are joint heirs with Christ, if we are joint heirs then as heirs, we are privy to everything that Christ won on the cross! We have been redeemed from the curse of the law; therefore poverty, sickness and spiritual death have nothing to do with us. It is not a humble act to be poor or choose pious through poverty because the Word of God outlines it as a curse! Why come back underneath something that Christ has redeemed us from already? It makes no sense whatsoever.
https://carljosephministries.com/podcast/authority-series-part-3-our-god-given-authority/
https://www.preachingtoday.com/sermons/sermons/2012/april/understandingpower.html
Title: Authority Series Part 4: Seated in Heavenly Places
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