Authority In Christ

Three Things You Need To Know About Your Authority In Christ.

You and I are living in the most interesting human history in time. It’s no time to cower in fear or even allow darkness and evil to prevail it’s a time to use the authority God has given us!

In Luke 10;19 Jesus told us, “Behold, I give you authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.”

Now, I’ve known about my authority in Christ for a while, but I just don’t always remember to use it! Has that happened to you? Sometimes I just allow things to go on that shouldn’t, instead of using the authority that Jesus gave me.

I believe that the are three things we must be aware of in order to use this authority Jesus has given us:

  • We have to know what it is.
  • We have to know that it belongs to us.
  • We have to know how to use it.

What Authority Is

The authority that Jesus is talking about in Luke 10: 19 is not brute force power. It’s delegated power, much like a policeman possesses. When a policeman steps out in front of traffic and holds up his hand to stop it, he’s not stopping cars and trucks with his brute strength he’s stopping them with the delegated authority given to by God in Christ. You’re backed by all power of God.

That’s the authority you have in Christ. You’re not stopping the forces of darkness, sickness, fear, evil, or lack with your own strength your stopping them with the delegated authority given to you by God in Christ. Your backed by all the power of God.

How Amazing is that – God Almighty Himself is the power behind your authority! Ephesians 6:10 says, “Be strong in the Lord and the power of His might.” That means you can step out in front of the devil, hold up your hand and say no, backed by the power of God’s might.

It’s Belongs To Us

The Bible says that you are the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:27). Jesus is the Head, we are the Body – and His authority is perpetuated through the Body. When Jesus rose from the dead, He transferred His authority to His Body, the church. In God’s mind, when Christ was raised, we were raised also.

Ephesians 2:6 says that God “raised us from. The dead along with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus.” Both the Head and the Body are seated there, next to God, in the place of power and authority. That means you are seated there! You are seated in the power position, and you are His heir (Romans 8:17). That means that everything that’s His – including His authority – now belongs to you.

How To Use It

The door to exercising your authority in Christ hinges on Ephesians 1:20 and 2:6, the verses say we are seated with God in Christ. I encourage you to meditate on those until you fully grasp the revelation that you are seated with Him, and you are the one He moves through.

Then when adversity arises, use your authority by speaking out what His Word says, using the Name of Jesus. For example you could say, “Sickness. I command you to leave by body in Jesus’s Name according to 1 Peter 2;24 – by His stripes I am healed!” The authority is in the name,

It’s like using the name of the president of a comply – that name can get things done. It’s the same in the spirit realm, except that the Name of Jesus is higher – carries more weight – than any other name (Philippians 2:9).

Think about that! When you use the Name of Jesus believing that you’re seated with Him at the right hand of God, you are backed by all the power in heaven! Every knee must bow to that name (Philippians 2:10).

Jesus made it very clear that His name is the key to all authority: “Whatever you ask in my name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it“ ( John 14:13-14).

In Acts 3 when Peter and John encountered a lame man at the Gate, they sat, “In the name of Jesus, rise up and walk and he did it wasn’t their own anointing or power that raised the man – it was the authority in the Name of Jesus. That same authority in the Name of Jesus. That same authority belongs to us – using the Name of Jesus is how we use it.

If everyone realized the authority we have in Christ and acted on it. we could change the world.

Maybe that’s why the world is trying to stop Christians from practicing our beliefs. We are powerful and have the authority to make the world a better place through Jesus Christ. We just need to realize it and act on it.

Jesus, where are you?

Have you ever walked through something so difficult, so terrifying, that you’ve caught yourself asking ‘Jesus where are you?’ Sometimes when life gets overwhelming m and when things get difficult and confusing, it can feel like our Messiah has gone missing. That’s how the disciples must have felt in an incident that happened right after the feeding of the 5,000. They got in a boat and quickly found themselves in rough waters, being tossed by strong winds. They strained at the oars as the realities of life beat against them.

This storm was terrifying for them. The waves weren’t just ebbing, cresting, and crashing around them. The waves were bubbling up and exploding all around them in unpredictable ways. They couldn’t brace themselves or their boat. They were completely helpless and swallowed up by fear.

Someiits hard not to be completely consumed by fear amid circumstances we didn’t see coming. Especially when we feel helpless, and there seems to be no good outcome in sight.

Even when our storms cause us to lose sight of hope Jesus never loses sight of us. While the disciples were in the boat straining, Jesus was sleeping and saw them. He went to them. And they almost completely missed the miracle in the midst of their mess.

The same miracle worker who multiplied the fish and the loaves was now walking on water near them, and they thought He was a ghost. Jesus’s response to the disciples who missed Him and who cried out in fear is remarkable. The scripture says immediately He spoke to them and said, “Don’t be afraid.” (Mark 50) The word used here means, “don’t resist Me.” And He climbed into the boat with them.

He’s saying the same thing to you and me, He’s not running from our messes. He’s climbing in to be right there with us. And with His presence comes peace.

In the midst of whatever hurts and heartbreaks are disturbing our peace. I pray we will see Him coming. We no longer have to cry out in fear; we can call out in faith. Calm and trusting. Anxious for nothing. Because we know. We know He sees us. We know He’s for us. We know He’s in control. Yes. The Lord is near. And we are safe.

Mark 6 45-52

God Sees, God Knows, God Cares

Trying to control your own life is exhausting. With our mouths, we say that we trust God, but in reality, we get overwhelmed trying to fix and control things ourselves. Our trust in God becomes nothing but a statement we feel we should say rather than what we are actually living out. Distrust settles in. Self-reliance becomes our go-to. And then we wonder why we feel more and more exhausted.

If you can relate to these confessions, there are specific examples of this in 2 Chronicles14 and 15, God had given Asa rest on every side because of his dependence on the Kord. God even gave Asa victory in the face of a massive army. Yet in Chapter 16, when king Asa finds himself in a border conflict with Ki;g Baasha of Israel, Ase has a sudden and surprising shift in behavior.

Instead of crying out to God as he has before, Asa immediately turns to his own means of addressing the situation, misusing the treasures of the temple and placing his hope in an unwise military alliance. The ultimate result? Unrest for Asa and his people. This King, whose faith meant victory in the past, invited battles into his future because he refuses to trust God in the present. Just like Asa, our past declaration of faith are no guarantee that we will rely on God in the future.

When life gets hard, we can sometimes wonder if God is blind to all we’re facing. But there’s a reminder tucked into the words the prophet Hanani speaks in verse 9: “For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him.”

We serve a God who sees. He is continually aware of every detail of our lives. And not only is God aware, but He’s also looking to strengthen individuals who are willing to wholeheartedly place their trust in Him.

Are there areas where we’re inviting not only exhaustion but possibly destruction because we’re refusing to rely on God? Do our frantic and controlling actions fail to match our faith-filled declarations? Let’s not just declare we have faith. Let’s live our load that we believe God is good, faithful and trustworthy.

He sees, He knows, He cares. And we an rest in that in that today.

2 Chronicles 16: 1-9

How Can I Go Deeper With God?

One of the great joys is to find Christians who are longing for a deeper and more meaningful Christian life. We sense that the answer is found with God and that the Bible should be able to tell us how to have a deeper relationship with God. This occurs because the Holy Spirit has placed that passion within every Christian to know God and grow spiritually. Sadly, many find their church to be primarily a social gathering, and the preaching shallow or empty. Therefore. How does a Christian dive deeper into spiritual things?

Preparing For A Deeper Relationship With God

The first step is to go deeper in your spiritual life and draw close to God is to confess all known sins to God in prayer. David did this in Psalms 51;4. There we read that he confessed his sin to God and God alone. The scriptures teach that confession of our sins restores a Christian’s relationship with God.

I acknowledge my sin to you, and my iniquity I did not hide; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord” and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah.

Psalm 32:5

Confession removes guilt if we believe His promises in Psalm 103, Micah 7: 18-19, 1 John.

Who is a God like you, who pardons iniquity and pleases over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession? He does not retain His anger forever. Because He delights in unchanging love. He will again have compassion on us; He will tread out iniquities underfoot. Yes, you will cast all their sins into the depth of the sea.

Micah 7:18-19

The first step of confession repairs our sun-damaged relationship with God and prepare us for the second step.

The second step to a deeper relationship with God is to pursue Holiness by being obedient to God’s commands. This is, we seek to please Him. (Ephesians 5:10, Hebrews 11:5-6) His commands reveal His will for us. 1 Peter 1:14-16 reveals the God wants us to be holy as He is holy. In 2 Timothy 2:22, He urges us to flee sin. The Old and New Testaments provide us with commands, principles, and encouragement as to how God wants us to live. Hebrews 12:4-11 teaches us that God will discipline us when we are disobedient. His discipline is designed to motivate us to be holy. He does this because He loves us.

But God has not left us alone in our fight with sin. The Holy Spirit will help us if we followed step 1. Confession not only restores our relationship with God, but it enables the Holy Spirit to fill us or empower us moment – by -moment so that we can live a holy life and know our God deeper. The momentary filling of the Spirit is being “filled with the Spirit’ and the repeated filling of the Spirit moment after moment (Ephesians 5:17-18) is called walking in the Spirit. (Galatians 5:16)

“How to be filled with the Spirit,” “What are the signs that a person is filled with the Holy Spirit? And “Holy Spirit gives us victory over sin.”

When we are walking in the spirit, we will be having greater victory over sin, and Christ’s promise in John 14:21 will be fulfilled x. In that verse, Jesus tells us that our sins hinder us from knowing Him more. Or stated positively, obedience helps us understand the deeper truths of Christ.

He who has my commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me, and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.

John 14:21

Notice Christ’s promise that if we want to know God more and deeper, we must keep His commands. That is true because then the Holy Spirit has greater freedom to teach spiritual truths.

Not Of This World

In The World But Not Of The World

Have you ever heard of this phrase? It’s said all too often by Christians.

Home. The word stirs deep sentiment, a subtle longing, nostalgia. We can make a house a home, but the essence of home doesn’t require the support of four walls. At any moment, no matter where we are, that at – home feeling can sweep over us. The lingering aroma of a slow roasting turkey, the gentle caress of a wrinkled hand, a baby’s coos – our senses can spark the feeling of home, butt no single word in the English language can adequately capture the depth of its meaning.

What Does It Mean To Live In The World But Not Of The World?

During His final days of ministry on earth, Jesus was confronted with the question of home. The same world He had spoken into existence now screamed against Him. The vey people He had chosen to call His own chose to disown Him, Jesus stood before Pilate and declared, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.” (John 18:36)

With that powerful proclamation, Jesus turned the world upside down. Since the beginning of His ministry, Jesus had tried to convey to His followers that the time had come – that time which had been foretold by the prophets – the time when God’s children no longer needed to search for refuge in a sin-laden land that was not their own. The King had come. And with Him came the keys to an everlasting Kingdom they could now call home.

Christ’s Kingdom is the homeland for believers – it’s where we belong. In Him and with Him. We may physically reside on planet earth, “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.

What Does The Bible Say About ‘In The World But Not Of The World’?

As citizens of Heaven, our view of this temporal world matters. What we think and believe about this foreign land helps us find our proper place in it,

Can Your Thoughts Kill You?

How Powerful Are Your Thoughts?

We all know that hanging around complainers causes people to catch their negativity. Bitching, moaning, and general drama are contagious. Buts that’s apparently not the only problems you can catch if you spend too much time with the eternally pessimistic, you might also pick up a host of health problems too.

Negativity has been conclusively shown to rewire your brain, making it easier to see the bad in the world and harder to see the good. (The opposite is also true – positivity is a muscle that grows with use.) Buy science is just as certain that negative feelings like anger, hostility, and cynicism are also terrible for your body.

Negativity Can Kill You…

Take anger, for example. Being with people who tick you off wastes precious mental energy, but it can also take a toll on the body in the form of high blood pressure, stress, anxiety, headaches and poor circulation. Research also shows that even one five – minute episode of anger is so stressful that it can impair your immune system for more than six hours. All of those health issues can lead to more serious problems such as heart attacks and stroke,

Distrust is also harmful. Research shows that high levels of cynicism later in life… to a greater risk of dementia compared to those who were more trusting. A study that was done a few years ago showed data from nearly 100,000 women and found that the most cynical participants were more likely to have heart disease that least cynical individuals.

One study of Chinese Americans even found that those who believed in Chinese astrology and whose birthdays were considered “inauspicious” actually died earlier than non – Chinese Americans born at the same time taking in account lifestyle factors and other variables. It’s not because there’s anything to astrology. It’s because negativity and pessimism can quite literally hasten your death.

…And negativity is catching

All of which is completely terrifying. But it’s even scarier if you consider just how contagious these feelings can be.

The more time you spend with negative people around you, the more you will become like them. Psychologist Elaine Hatfield has done research. She has found out that we start to imitate facial expressions, posture, and even tone of voice of those we spend a lot of time with. Most importantly, we adopt their mental state as well. Since we’re empathetic people, we feel with them. If they’re in a bad mood, so will we be.

The most reasonable conclusion to reach from all this science is that it’s past time to ditch the more negative people in your life. Or if you’re pretty much stuck with some of them, take pre-conscious measures to neutralize their negativity and learn to channel your own anger in a more healthful way. Finally, if you have to complain together, opt for the only kind of complaining that’s actually good for you.

Plan Of Salvation:

What Do You Understand It Takes For A Person To Go To Heaven?

Let’s consider how the Bible answers this Question. It’s a matter of Faith.

F is For FORGIVENESS. We cannot have eternal life without God’s Forgiveness.

A is for AVAILABLE. Forgiveness is available.

I is for IMPOSSIBLE. It is impossible for God to allow sin into Heaven. Because of who He is: God is loving and just. His judgment is against sin. Because of who we are: Every person is a sinner.

But how can a sinful person enter heaven, when God allows no sin?

H is for HEAVEN. Heaven is eternal life. Here. Hereafter.

T is for TURN. Turn means to repent. Turn From something: sin and self. Turn to someone: true Christ only.

How can a person have forgiveness, heaven and eternal life, and Jesus as a personal Savior and Lord? By trusting in Christ and asking Him for forgiveness. Take the step of faith described by another meaning Faith: Forsaking All I Trust Him.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, I know I am a sinner and have displeased you in many ways. I believe You died for my sin and only through faith in Your death and resurrection can I be forgiven. I want to turn from my sin and ask You to come into my life as my Savior and Lord. From this day on. I will follow You by living a life that pleases You. Thank You, Lord Jesus for saving me. Amen.

After you have received Jesus Christ into your life, tell a Christian friend about this important decision you have made. Follow Christ in believer’s baptism and church membership. Grow in your faith and enjoy new friends in Christ by becoming part of His church. There, you’ll find others who will love and support you.

Reference Scriptures:

  • Ephesians 1:7
  • John 3:16
  • Matthew 7:21
  • James 2:13
  • Romans 3: 23
  • Luke 13:3
  • Romans 10:9
  • John 10:10
  • John 14:3

May God Bless You And Keep You.