Transcription
do you understand your place of authority? you are seated with Christ in that authority position. that means there is no devil, no devil that has authority over you. you have authority over every demonic spirit, every fallen angel. that is why Jesus said, "I give you power over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will by any means hurt you."
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hey, welcome to the second lesson of breaking intimidation. you know, for years and years, I battled this spirit of intimidation. but the problem was, I didn't know what I was fighting. I was fighting the symptoms instead of the problem. and when God exposed it, then came this book. and as I was writing this book, I'll never forget, the spirit of God came on me one day and began to prophesy. and I've seen this prophetic word come true. but listen, he said, "Son, there are many called to my great Endtime Army of believers who were bound by intimidation. they have pure hearts towards God and man. however, like Gideon of old, they are held captive by the fear of man." that's Judges 6-8. "the gifts I've placed in them are dormant or inoperative. I will anoint the message of this book or this course to liberate multitudes of them. they will step out and fearlessly obey me. they shall be valiant warriors and shall bring forth great victories in the strength of their God." that's you. and I am so excited for you because, you know what, when you get free, more people get impacted. the kingdom grows, and we get to see Jesus with a big smile because he loves people.
so in this second lesson, I want to talk to you about your place of authority. now, you have to understand that you literally occupy a place in the spirit of authority. and if you don't understand that, you won't be able to effectively break things that attack your life, that try to hold you down. so let's, uh, let's begin with this.
when I was just starting out in ministry, I remember I was taking care of my pastor's personal things. it was a big church, one of the biggest churches in the United States. we had like 450 staff members, right? well, there was this guy that worked in the, they called it the art department. we would call it the creative department today. but anyway, this guy in the art department, he was from the back hills of Arkansas. and I'll never forget, he had a beard like down to here. and he was just, I love being around him because he was so full of God. but I remember he walked up to my wife and he made a statement to my wife. he said, "Lisa, I have a word from God for your husband." now, you have to understand, I was just getting ready to go be a youth pastor in Florida, right? and he didn't want to come bring me that word personally. he just said, "Lisa, you give this to your husband."
so he looks at my wife and he says this, "You tell John that if John does not walk in his God-given authority, someone else will take it away from him and use it against him." when she brought that to me, that guy had never given me a word before. never did afterwards. something exploded on the inside. I didn't really understand what he was saying until intimidation was broken in my life. but I'm telling you, this statement means a lot. now, now remember, the New Testament says we don't wrestle against human beings. we wrestle against demonic spirits. so that somebody that will take the authority away from you is a demonic spirit or somebody influenced by a demonic spirit. now, remember, if a person's influenced by a demonic spirit, God still loves that person. don't ever forget that. flesh and blood is not your enemy. it is principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this world, and spiritual wickedness in high places. God loves people so much that Jesus died for them. don't forget that. because if you listen to this message and you don't have that proper balance, you might think flesh and blood is your problem. no, they're not. it's the demonic forces that are either influencing that person, or it is a direct influence of a demonic spirit.
so all believers occupy a place in the spirit. I'm going to give you a couple scriptures that will solidify this. just out of the book of Psalms. Psalm 91:1 says, "He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." Psalm 18:19 says this, "He also brought me out into a broad place. He delivered me because He delighted in me." He delights in you. Here's Psalm 26:12, "My foot stands in an even place; in the congregations I will bless the Lord."
it's important for you as a believer to not only know that place but to also function out of that place. if you don't know your position, you can lose it. Judas Iscariot is an example. you know, when he betrayed Jesus and then he hung himself, Peter makes the most remarkable statement, and he's quoting actually the book of Psalms when he makes this statement in Acts chapter 1. he said, "For it is written in the Book of Psalms, 'Let his dwelling place be desolate, and let no one live in it.'" Judas gave up his place of authority. not only did he lose that place of authority, he lost his soul forever and ever. Jesus said it would have been better for him that he was never, ever born.
you have to understand, when God created this Earth and he put man on this Earth, he said to the man and woman, "You are to rule this Earth. You are to have dominion over everything I've created." now, when Adam sinned, when he disobeyed God and he listened to the serpent's words through his wife, what happened was not only were Adam and Eve affected, not only were their children affected, but all of creation was affected. you never would have seen lions attacking zebras in the garden. you never would have seen cobras biting people and killing them in the garden. there were no earthquakes, there were no pestilence, there were no diseases. I mean, just the one that's so prevalent in people's minds is the one on coronavirus. I mean, it put a lot of fear in people. there was no coronavirus in the garden. it was when Adam fell. not only did he fall, but everything under him was affected. this is why Romans 8:20 says, "For the creation was subject to futility, not willingly, but it was subject by Adam."
so when Adam sinned, he, in essence, God gave him authority over the whole planet. he, in essence, turned the whole planet over to Satan. this is why three times Jesus calls Satan the ruler of this world. that's John 12, John 14, and John 16. this is why Paul calls Satan in 2 Corinthians 4:4, "the god of this age" (little g). that is why Paul the Apostle also calls him in Ephesians 2:2, "the prince of the power of the air." the devil made this statement to Jesus. do you remember the temptations when Jesus was out in the wilderness? the devil said this to Jesus in Luke 4:6, "He said, 'All,' he shows them the whole world and all the kingdoms of the world, and he says, 'All this authority,' now say that word out loud right now, 'Authority.' 'All this authority I will give you and their glory, for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whoever I wish.'" when was it delivered over to Satan? when Adam fell.
so you have to understand, Adam gave up his place of authority and he gave that authority in the Earth to the devil. and that's why he's called the ruler of darkness, the ruler of this world in this age. now, a man forfeited our position of authority. God just couldn't come into the Earth and slap that authority out of the devil's hands and say, "Uh-uh, we're, we're, we're doing a reset here." no, God never takes back his word. when he gives something to someone, he gives it to them, and he doesn't go back on his word. so a man lost that place of authority. a man had to get it back. that's why Jesus had to come and to be born of a virgin because it had to be a man that got it back. so having Mary as his mother made him 100% man, but having the Holy Spirit as his father made him 100% God. so he's not under the curse that Adam brought us all under. he is free from that curse, that curse of having a nature that wants to sin.
so here's Jesus. he lives perfectly for 33 years. he goes to the cross, gives himself in our place. he suffers, he dies, he sheds his royal blood as an offering for our sin. and once he satisfied the claims of justice, God raised him from the dead because he himself was perfect. he never committed sin. but once he satisfied the claims, God raised him from the dead. and God seated him in the highest place of authority in the universe. oh my gosh, I'm preaching myself happy right now. I'm sorry. I just have to take a little break and kind of get excited.
this is why Jesus looks at us in Matthew chapter 28 and says, "All authority." yeah, I said it pretty strong, didn't I? because I want you to hear these words. "All authority." another words, "Satan, you don't have that authority anymore. You showed me that you tried to give it to me the easy way, but I went my Father's way, and now all authority is given to me." and then he looks at us and says, "Therefore, you go." you know what he's saying? "I have the authority, and now I'm telling you to go in my authority." because listen to what the Apostle Paul writes. this is so exciting. I'm telling you, I have just preached myself so happy right now.
Paul said, in regarding to what Jesus had accomplished, he says this in Ephesians 1:19-21. "He said, 'What he prays that we might know what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe.' Now, he's talking about you and me, 'according to the working of his mighty power, which he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated.' Listen to this, 'seated.' What does seated speak of? Rulership. When, when, when a king sits on his throne, he has his scepter and he says, 'All authority is mine. Whatever I speak, that is what is to happen.' He seated him at his right hand." now listen to this, "in heavenly places." doesn't say he seated him at his right hand in a heavenly place. it said he seated him at his right hand in heavenly places. now, where are those places? "Far above." listen to this. "Far above." now, when the scripture says far above, it doesn't mean a little above. it means so far above you probably can't even see below. "Far above all principality." did you hear what I just said? "All principalities and powers and might and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age but the one which is to come." that means this age right now, not only this age, but the age which is to come.
so where do we believers dwell? well, Paul goes on to tell us in the second chapter of Ephesians. "But God, who was rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive." now listen to this. "Made us alive together with Christ." so when God raised Christ, he raised you and me. "Now listen, and raised us up together and made us sit." you aren't standing in the heavenly place. you're sitting, which means rulership. "And made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus." now, where are those heavenly places? far above all principality, power, might, dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, this age, but the one to come.
do you understand your place of authority? you are seated with Christ in that authority position. that means there is no devil, no devil that has authority over you. you have authority over every demonic spirit, every fallen angel. that is why Jesus said, "I give you power over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will by any means hurt you." that is why the Bible says, "Give the devil no place." why? what is Paul saying when he says, "Give the devil no place"? he's saying, "Don't give him your place of authority. Don't you do what Judas did. Don't you do what Adam did." and the wonderful thing is, the covenant is based off of what Jesus did. so if you make a mistake, you just pray the blood of Jesus cleanses you. but you're still seated in that place. you see, that's the wonderful thing. our covenant's based on what Jesus did, not what you did. and that's why the devil can only get that place if he intimidates us. he ain't intimidating you any longer. I know I said "ain't." my English teachers would be like rolling over in their graves right now, but it's okay. he has no authority over you. don't give him your place. I hope you're getting something out of this because I'm preaching myself plum happy. okay.
so now that you know your position, it's time to exercise your authority. and in the next lesson, we're going to discuss what happens when we neglect to walk in that authority. we'll see you in lesson three.
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