Spiritual Growth

What does the word say Jesus did to defeat the enemy? He said that it is written man will serve the Lord God and only Him will He serve.

 Satan tried to offer Him the world, money, fame, significance, recognition, power, and Jesus defeated him with the word and said I will not bow down to the things of this world only the Lord will I bow to.

Only the Father in heaven, not for one second did Jesus take His eyes off the Lord and we can’t either. There was one other thing that He tested Him with, unbelief.

The enemy tried to get Jesus to test the Lord to see if the Lord would do what He said He would do. The Lord said in Malachi – do not test me only in the area of your finances.

Malachi 3:10 says in the NIV says

¹⁰ Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.

We have to walk in the authority that God gave us from the beginning just because Adam and Eve sinned and done something other than what God had planned that does not change that God has given us authority over this Earth.

That we can speak and therefore receive. God has given us everything we need for life and godliness and if that’s not the truth we’re personally living in then we need to get a hold of that word for ourselves.

We need to be speaking it over our lives, over our situations, over our family, over our circumstances until that word manifest.

And we cannot grow tired and weary of doing good because we will reap a harvest if we do not give up, that’s what the word says.

Say it out loud and say it often – I’m going to reap a harvest because I am not going to give up I am healed in Jesus name. I was healed before the diagnosis even came out of the doctor’s mouth. Thank you Lord.

If we don’t walk in the authority that God gave us through Christ, He won’t force us to. Walking in Christ’s authority is a choice.

Seems crazy that we would choose not to walk in it but we do by allowing our thoughts to just go where they please, by allowing our actions to be guided by our flesh, and by allowing our minds to focus on whatever is in front of us.

In other words, it’s easy to just go with the flow but it’s a little harder to go against the flow but we must if we want to walk in the authority of Christ here and now. Not when we get to heaven someday but today.

When we made Jesus Christ the Lord of our life, Colossians 1:13 says we were delivered from the power of darkness. The word power is literally translated authority.

We have been delivered from the power, or authority, of darkness and placed into God’s kingdom. Jesus said, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth remember in Matt. 28:18.

That power was given to us as part of our inheritance in Christ Jesus. We have entered into this position of authority because we are in Him.

Jesus succeeded in securing all power by going to the cross, dying a horrible death, suffering the penalty for sin, and defeating Satan in the pit of hell.

He came to earth as a man for one reason: to re-capture the authority that Satan had stolen through Adam’s disobedience in the garden. Jesus was called the last Adam (1 Cor. 15:45). After securing that power and authority, He freely gave it over into the hands of those who would believe on Him–you and me.

It is not enough for us to simply accept Jesus’ work at Calvary. We are held responsible for much more. Jesus’ words were not intended for the early church alone. His words are just as vital and real today as when they were first spoken.

John 1:12 says However, to all who received him, those believing in his name, he gave authority to become God’s children,

We are the one in authority here. It is our responsibility to put off the old man–the unregenerate man that we were before we accepted Jesus.

The Holy Spirit does the actual work in us, but we must make the decision to allow Him to do it. God has never forced His will on any person.

We put off the old man. We use the Word of God to renew our mind. We put on the new man, which is created in righteousness and true holiness and we walk in the authority of Jesus Christ, not in heaven but in the here and now by speaking the word, the truth, over our lives, over our situations, and over our circumstances.

Acts 12:24 in the NIV says

²⁴ But the word of God continued to spread and flourish.

We are not lying but bringing into existence what God has already made available to us.

Blessing,

Michelle

God’s word is the substance we need to live a life of authority in His Name.

Ephesians 2:12-22 in the NIV says

¹² remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. (Now that’s the old covenant) ¹³ But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

¹⁴ For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, ¹⁵ by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, ¹⁶ and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. ¹⁷ He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. ¹⁸ For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

¹⁹ Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, ²⁰ built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. ²¹ In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. ²² And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

The new covenant is for us through Jesus. But in order to see God fully we have to be operating in His full authority.

The word “authority” is a strong word. It’s filled with meaning. When we hear the word “authority,” there’s a certain force about that word.

There may be even a certain intimidation about that word. We talk about the authorities, and we rightfully have a sense of respect, maybe a sense of awe, maybe a sense of fear.

The word “authority” signifies permission. It signifies privilege; power; it signifies rule, control, influence. When someone has authority, that means they’re over top of other people.

They have responsibility beyond the norm. They are able to determine things, to decide things, to render judgments, to exercise certain rights and privileges.

But there is One who has authority that surpasses all other authorities. In Matthew chapter 28, verse 18, Jesus said this, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” “All authority was given to Him” – that is an amazing claim to privilege.

That is an amazing claim to power, to permission, to right. And Jesus demonstrated that very well in His ministry.

And remember us in Him and Him in us. We can walk in that authority too and walk in victory in this life.

But if we take our eyes off the Lord which means, if we stop reading His word, if we stop praying, if we stop fellowshipping with other believers, if we stop being sensitive to the Holy Spirit and we start looking at the diseases, the sicknesses, the hard times, the poverty, the lack that can sometimes be all around us, we’re going to live a life that is way below what the Lord has the permission to promise us.

So in order to walk in that victory, in order to command that victory to be evident in our life, we have got to keep our eyes focused on the Lord.

And stay in His word. His truth, His promises and tells us to call those things that are not as though they are now. That’s in Romans 4:17

Listen, we’re not lying if we are speaking the word of God. We are speaking the truth even if we’re not walking in it yet and that’s still not a lie. God’s truth is truth, period.

Yes we were made complete on Calvary, yes we were healed on Calvary the same day Jesus hung on the cross and paid for our sin debt in full. He provided every single thing that we need.  

Everything! Prosperity, abundance, healing, salvation, forgiveness, grace, and mercy everything was provided on the cross that day and if we’re not living a victorious, an authoritative life it’s because we don’t believe.

We don’t believe fully in His every promise.  Religion tells you to pray more, fast more, be better, read your Bible more, go to church more. That’s religion.  

Those things are good but those things alone will not save you or cause you to live a victorious life. Our belief is what changes our life. If we believe that greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world, we are going to live above the enemy’s attacks.

He’s not going to be able to take us down with every thought, with every word, every deed that an evil person does to us. If we believe the word of God that greater is He who is in us than he that is in the world we’re going to live above the attacks.

Believing in our authority though Christ makes us more powerful than just some words that somebody spoke against us and we’re more powerful than a doctor’s diagnosis, we are more powerful than a bad report.

That is the truth so in order to live that truth out, we must know truth. Not just have read it once or twice or maybe heard it a few times but really know and believe it.

Jesus defeated the devil in the wilderness by telling him what the scripture said, right; it is written man will not live on bread alone but on every word that comes out of the mouth of the Lord.

So He wasn’t going to fill His hunger with bread because yeah He would have been satisfied physically His physical hunger would have went away but His spiritual hunger, His inner man would have still needed some substance. And that substance is the word of God, that substance is fellowship with the Lord.

Blessings,

Michelle