Playing Offense

 

 

19 I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. 20 However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven."

Sometimes I feel like I am lost at sea.  If circumstances go well that day, it is a good one.   If circumstances do not go well, it is a bad day. And  then I remember verses like this one.  I am reminded that I have authority.  I HAVE  AUTHORITY!!! I am not at the mercy of the world and what it throws at me, I am empowered by God to be on the offensive in my life, not just on the defensive all the time.  I can speak to situations, and see them change!  I can rebuke the enemy of my soul and require him to unhand me and my situation.  So can you!  Do you feel your inner man (or woman)  rising up with courage and boldness?  That is  what happens when we recognize who we are in Christ.

Jesus gave the early disciples, and later all believers, the power to go out in His Name and heal the sick, preach the gospel, and tangle with- and  defeat- dark forces.  The disciples, like us, were just human.  When they realized that it actually "worked", they were like kids with a new toy.  Woo hoo! Look what we can do in the Name of Jesus! Although that attitude is understandable, and not necessarily wrong, we can never forget that it is not about us.  It is about Him and His kingdom.  Rather than focusing on the power and authority that we have, we should, instead, focus on the fact that we are gloriously saved.  That help us remember our utter dependence on Him.  That truth causes us to recognize that there is nothing good in us that He has not provided.  He is so good to us!

Sometimes when we are given  a little authority, we have the tendency to let it go to our heads.  If we  are not careful we begin to feel like invincible big-shots.  Beware!  That kind of thinking can result in an our downfall, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."b  (James 4:6, NIV)

 

What are you facing in your life that you need to activate authority over?  Is the enemy attacking your finances?  Your marriage?  Your kids?  If you are a born-again child of God, you have the power and the right to command the devil to release your finances, your marriage, your kids and anything else that concerns you.  Do not live beneath your privilege.  Activate your faith today to be an  overcomer rather than a victim.

 

Thank you, Lord, for granting authority and power to us in Your Name.  Help me to have revelation of that authority and to use it in balance and in keeping with Your purpose for my life.  In Jesus' Name.   Amen.

 

 

Free. Indeed.

    

John 8:36

 

"Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed."  (NKJV)

 

 

There have been times in my life, I have been around some "name-droppers."  I have been told to do something on my job, "per ___"  and they would list a superior's name.  Usually, the authority had, indeed, spoken.  Occasionally, however, people use someone else's name amiss.  Using it where they do not have the right or authority to do so.

 

That is one of the things that I love about this verse.  Jesus himself is saying, "If the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed."  The Son is referring to himself.  He does not come with another's authority.  No!  A thousand times no!  He comes in his own authority and says,  "Look, if I set you free, you are definitely free."  (My paraphrase.)  There is no mistake in what is being said.  If Jesus cuts you loose from the chains of bondage, there is no power that can hold you back.  If Jesus overcomes your drug addiction, you are free.  If Jesus opens the prison doors on your child abuse and pronounces you whole, you are whole!  If Jesus washes away your sins, you are as pure and clean as the driven snow.

What Jesus says-  what Jesus does- is irrevocable by anyone else.  He knows the past, present and future.  He is the great I AM.  Who was, who is and who is to come.  He knows all, therefore He can truthfully pronounce the outcome of any situation.

 

Whatever you have struggled with, if you have given it to Jesus, you must believe that you are free just as He says.  Walk free!  He has opened the prison door- get off your cot and start marching out! You are free.  You have been released!  Walk in it, in Jesus' Name.

  Dear Lord, thank you for being my Liberator.  Thank you for freeing me from all of the bondage of sin and the lies of the enemy.   In Jesus' Name.  Amen.

Sherri