Exercising Authority !

EXERCISING AUTHORITY: (Ephesians 1:22--23) goes on to say, "And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church [The feet of members of the body. Feet aren't members of the head], which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all." As John A McMillan pointed out, how wonderful to know that the least member of the Body of Christ Jesus--- those who are the very soles of the feet, the little toenail, or the little toe--- all far above the mighty forces we have been considering. Remember, Jesus said in (Luke 10:19) to the other 70 disciples That He sent out, "Behold, I give unto you power [authority] to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you." How much authority over the devil does the Church have ? Any less than these this ? No, thank God, no. The above text says all ! Yet if you'd listen to the average Christian talk or hear some preachers preach, you'd get the impression that the devil is bigger than everybody and that he's running everything. Yes, he is the god of this world, so he is running the world system. But we're in this world, not of this world, the Bible says, so he is not running us. He's running the people that don't know the Lordship of Jesus Christ. The devil has been walking on the believer to long that has not had the proper teaching of the Bible. These things are not joking matters. We're foolish to make like jokes about these things. A preacher once said to me as a meeting, "Well Brother Lewis, I've got the devil on the run. The trouble is, I'm running and he's after me !" Making a statement like that just shows ignorance. In the first place you haven't any business running from the devil. The Bible says he'll run from you. You need to put him on the run. Unfortunately, I think that is the picture of preachers and churches to much of the time; in fact, most of the time. We see it everywhere, and we hear it everywhere. REIGNING AS KINGS AND QUEENS: Let's look again at Romans (5:17), "For if by one man's offense death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ." The amplified Bible says we shall "rain as kings in life through the One, Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One." God's plan for us is that we rule and reign in life as kings and queens: to rule and reign over circumstances, poverty, disease, and everything else that would hinder us or hurt us. We reign because we have authority. We reign by Jesus Christ. In the next life ? No, in this life. If we're going to sing something or say something, let's be sure it's in line with the Word of God. Some people sing, "Here I wonder, like a beggar, through the heat and the cold, "or "Precious Jesus, don't forget me"--- all kinds of unbelief or in the songs that are sung in services. We're not wandering like beggars, because we're not beggars. We're children of the Most High God, heirs of God, joint heirs with Jesus Christ (Romans 8:17). We're the Body of Christ the Church. We're seated with Christ at the right hand of Majesty on high, far above all principalities and power and might and dominion, glory to God ! That doesn't sound like a beggar or "Precious Jesus don't forget me," or "if I can just make it in," or "standing somewhere in the shadows you will find Jesus," or "Lord, build me a cabin in the corner of gloryland." I'd rather hear a donkey bray then listen to such songs, but we've sung them so long we believe they're true. People shed a few tears about "wandering like a beggar" and think they're getting blessed ! Too often we Christians act like the young birds, having our eyes shut and our mouths wide open. Anybody can come along and feed us anything, and we're ready to accept it. Well, I'm not going to keep my mouth open and my eyes shut; I'm going to keep my eyes open to the Lord Jesus Christ and his Holy Word and my mouth speaking teaching and preaching the Word of God !