Truth Streams – JoyceMeyer.Org
This guest post comes to us from Joyce Meyer at Joyce Meyer Ministries.
Armed & Dangerous
Joyce Meyer
Walking in Authority
Some Christians are living in defeat simply because they don’t know that as believers in Jesus Christ, God has given them authority over every work of the enemy.
You and I don’t have to let the devil push us around because God has armed us with His Word, and we are dangerous to the enemy’s destructive plans.
Authorized
As believers God has given us authority to overthrow the plans of the enemy, but we need to know how to use it. Luke 10:19 tells us, Behold! I have given you authority and power to trample upon serpents and scorpions, and [physical and mental strength and ability] over all the power that the enemy [possesses]; and nothing shall in any way harm you.
Although God has given us the authority, it’s still up to us to choose to believe the Word of God more than we believe our feelings. God has given us power and authority, so even though the enemy may have power, he doesn’t have the authority unless we give it to him. It’s one thing to have power and another thing to have the authority to use it.
Also, when the verse says nothing shall in any way harm you, it doesn’t mean that nothing will come against us, but it does mean that we are more than conquerors. (See Romans 8:37.) If you and I really believe God’s Word, even before we encounter a problem we can have assurance that we will be able to conquer it.
Recognize Attacks
There are many different ways that the enemy comes against us. It was an eye-opener for me because I had been a religious person who went to church and followed the rules and regulations. I did have a love for God and had accepted Christ as my Savior, still I didn’t know anything about who I am in Christ or that the devil is a real entity or that I could reign with Christ. Because I didn’t know these Truths, I just thought that everything that happened to me was either God, circumstances or whatever. I needed to realize that some of the things that came against me were actually the enemy trying to defeat me.
One way we can be attacked is by believing the lie that we are not pleasing God. My television crew took our cameras out and asked people on the street, “If you could ask God any question you wanted, what would it be?” A common response was, “How will I know if I’m doing enough good works?” It seems one of people’s concerns is whether or not God is pleased with them.
Another way you and I can be attacked is through hopeless and negative thoughts. We can be assured that if we feel either of these, it is not from God. If we feel like there is no hope or we’re looking at what is negative about ourselves or about others, we are under attack. The enemy wants us to focus on what’s wrong with the people in our lives, what we don’t like about them, what they aren’t doing for us, and what they’re not giving us. On the other hand, God wants us to focus on believing the best and what’s right and good. As we focus on these things, we have authority to pray about the things that aren’t so right and invite God to get involved and do something about it. These are just a couple of the many different ways the enemy comes against us. But before you and I can even hope to have authority over him, we have to be able to recognize him.
As a child, I was abused and a lot of bad things happened to me. By the time I was in my early twenties, I could not remember ever being happy. But then I married a great man, was attending church, and had every opportunity to have a wonderful life. Still, every day I had something that kept nagging at me. Not being able to figure it out on my own, one day I asked the Lord, “What is this feeling I have all the time? I hate it!”
In my spirit I heard two words: evil forebodings. At the time, I didn’t even know what that meant, but then the Lord brought Proverbs 15:15 to my attention which says, All the days of the desponding and afflicted are made evil [by anxious thoughts and forebodings]…. I didn’t know that’s what it was called, but I knew that I was always expecting something bad to happen to me because I’d had so many bad things happen in my life. Because of my past, I was afraid to believe for something good, expecting instead to be disappointed when it didn’t happen. I was trapped and didn’t know what to do. But listen to the rest of this verse and what God has to say about it:
…but he who has a glad heart has a continual feast [regardless of circumstances]. Now that’s God!
Take Your Place
As a believer in Jesus Christ, you and I have authority. I don’t know about you, but I like authority, and I don’t like weakness and acting like a wimp. Plus, I don’t think anyone wants to be under something all the time and feel like they’re always at the bottom of everything. So how do we start taking our place of authority?
• By speaking the Word of God rather than talking about our circumstances
• By choosing to speak the Word of God instead of saying what we think or feel
When I really started to become a serious student of the Word of God, I didn’t have any understanding of who I am in Christ. Then I started to learn that when I received Christ as my Savior, I was actually made right with God by the blood of Christ. This means that I now have right standing with God, and I don’t have to feel badly about myself all the time. It also means that I have been given authority over the enemy in Jesus’ name and that I have the blood of Jesus to cleanse and protect me.
At first I went through a period of time when I knew in my mind that God had given me authority. But because it was only head knowledge, I walked around my house trying to take authority over everything, saying, “I take authority over you and over the devil,” and whatever else at the time I thought needed taken authority over. Then one day the Lord said to me, “Why don’t you just walk in your authority instead of trying to take authority?”
Walk in Authority
For example, when I walk into my office at Joyce Meyer Ministries, everyone knows who I am. I know I’m the president. They know I’m the president, so I don’t have to walk in and say, “Okay, now here I am. I take authority!” Why not? Because when I walk in, I already know who I am. Just like I know and my employees know who I am, we have to come to a point where our head knowledge of who we are in Christ becomes a revelation to our spirit. Then we start noticing that things begin to get a lot easier.
There comes a time in our relationship with Christ when we know that we know that we know we can walk in His authority. Then even when we go through a trial, we have authority. If we keep doing what we know to do, which is to obey, love and praise God, then things will start turning around in our favor.
Having authority doesn’t mean that you and I will never experience a trial. It means that we will come out victoriously on the other side of it. What we do, say, think, and how we behave while we’re going through the trial is largely what will determine how long we are going to be in it.
Know Who You Are
God has such a full, free, large and wonderful life for us, but we have to know who we are in Christ. The “in Christ” is the key and religious people get really uncomfortable when we talk about righteousness (who we are in Christ) because they would much rather talk about how much of a sinner we are.
I know that we all sin, but I also know that we have a brand-new identity in Christ, an identity of being the righteousness of God in Christ. It can’t just be head knowledge. It has to be in our heart.
We can learn who we are in Christ and how to use the authority that has been given to us through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. God’s desire is to work through each one of us to show Himself strong!
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