EXERCISE YOUR AUTHORITY IN CHRIST
Dear Saints,
The Bible says:
1 Peter 5:8-9 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 9 Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. NKJV
In the last few lessons of my page of our bulletin, I have emphasized the truths of your position of authority in Christ. Having been given authority by our Lord Jesus Christ and having dominion on this planet, we have a responsibility.
Many times you find Christians who, out of ignorance always pray and hope God will do something about their situation. Many depend on other people to pray for them saying things like…”remember me in your prayers…the devil has been after us.” What if they forget to pray for you? Others run from meeting to meeting looking for deliverance because they’ve had bad dreams and nightmares.
God’s plan is that YOU reign in life (Romans 5:17) and that you arise and resist the devil for yourself when he comes sounding like a “roaring lion”. We’ve found out that our Lord Jesus Christ has paralyzed him, for you. He (the devil) is like a beat up person on a wheel chair or stretcher, making a lot of noise. And you’re scared of him? He’s not a lion he’s just acting like one. The only weapon he has is to try to deceive you with his noisy wiles such as symptoms, bad news, etc.
The Bible says you’ve already been delivered from the power of darkness. (Col. 1:13) Don’t believe him when he tells you that you need deliverance. He’s trying to scare you so you can open the door to him through fear. He’s a terrorist. He loves to spread fear and terror. Remember the experience of Moses and the children of Israel at the Red sea. As the chariots of Moses approached them with deadly intentions, Moses thought to pray to God for help. But God’s response was rather stunning:
Ex 14:15-16 And the LORD said to Moses, “Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward. 16 But lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it. And the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. NKJV
Notice God didn’t says to Moses, “Pray to me and I will do something.” He said, “Divide the sea.” Moses then raised his rod over the waters and when he did, God caused a strong wind to come and it caused the sea to go back…made the sea into dry land for them to walk through. Moses rod signifies authority. He had to exercise his authority for this act of God’s divine power to happen. How much more you in this new and better covenant in which we live? The greater One lives inside you! (1John 4:4)
Nowhere in the New Testament does the Bible tell you to pray to God so He can do something about the devil. He already did something about the devil. Jesus, Peter, James and Paul all told us to do something about the devil. In James 4:7, the Bible says: “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you” The word “flee” means “run from as in terror.” It says you resist the devil and he will flee from – Jesus? No, from you! Next time the devil shows up at your door, you terrorize him instead of him terrorizing you!
