We have been given authority and power as God’s children. Today we will be talking about how we are able to use that authority and power to further God’s kingdom. The big issue we have to deal with is how to take spiritual invisible authority to make a visible physical difference in the natural world we live in. As long as we allow the authority we have to just be theoretical and theological it will do us and those around us no good. We can believe we have authority, but if we never learn how to use it, what good is it? The vast majority of our problems in this life are actually spiritual issues. They may cause us some physical problems here on this physical earth, but the root cause can normally be traced back to a spiritual issue. And here is the key to understand: You can’t solve a spiritual problem by using earthly logic. You can’t just do what makes sense to you. You have to apply a spiritual principle to fix a spiritual problem. Spiritual principles run in the opposite direction from the worlds principals. The world says to get revenge, but God’s spiritual law says to pray for your enemy and turn the other cheek. Let’s begin by looking at a spiritual principle we have at our disposal. Ephesians 1:3 “3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ” Ok, well there it is. We have already been given every spiritual blessing. The challenge is that our blessing is in heavenly places in Christ...but we could use some help down here on earth, Right?
The big question is this: If we have every spiritual blessing, how does it move from heaven to earth? How does that happen? It happens according to the laws that God established. When God created the heavens and the earth He built operational laws into each of them. When the King establishes a law it has to be obeyed. There is no shortcut or way around it. We all know about natural physical laws like gravity and aerodynamics. They exist and function whether you understand them or agree with them...or not. You can say that you don’t believe in gravity, but that doesn’t stop it from working. What happens if you step off the roof of this building? That’s right, gravity takes over. In the same way, you may not understand how a large heavy plane can fly through the air, but it does nonetheless. So we can all agree that God designed this physical world with laws to govern how it operates. The thing we are going to talk about today is that He also created the spiritual Heavens to operate according to His spiritual laws. The first example of a spiritual law that I want to discuss is found in Hebrews 9. It’s the spiritual law that required Jesus to shed His blood for the forgiveness of our sins. This is the most fundamental spiritual law that we must understand. Hebrews 9:18-22 “18 Therefore not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood. 19 For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, 20 saying, “This is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you.” 21 And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship. 22 Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified
with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.” This passage is saying that from the very beginning a blood sacrifice was required to forgive sins. It’s the spiritual law that God set up in the first covenant. It was God’s contract for the forgiveness of sins, signed in blood. Our acceptance of His salvation is our signature on the contract. The way we accept His blood for the forgiveness of our sins is by believing that God raised Him from the dead and confessing with our mouth that Jesus is Lord. That is the spiritual law that is at work to make our salvation possible. Here’s how it worked: God created the spiritual law that says sins can only be forgiven through a perfect blood sacrifice. Jesus was that sacrifice. Our acceptance of that in the natural physical earth has now changed our eternal spiritual position. That is how the contract is written. Why am I talking about laws and contracts? This is why: The Spiritual Government of the Kingdom of Heaven operates within a legal system. Remember, what we said earlier: everything in the physical realm, and also everything in the spiritual realm has rules it must follow written into its contract. It doesn’t matter if you agree with them or understand them...they exist and function without your permission. So, if you want to be able to change your situation in the physical earth, you have to understand how to use the spiritual laws that apply to that situation. The Bible is not a religious book. The Bible should be viewed as a legal document. I realize that may sound crazy.
Does that sound crazy to you? If so, consider this. Everyone knows that the Bible contains two major parts, the old testament and the new testament, right? Do you know what the word testament means? The word testament means: Contract, covenant or agreement. The Bible is made up of the old contract and the new contract. Why would God write a contract? Because He wants us to understand the terms of His agreement with us. The spiritual laws that govern the Kingdom of Heaven are listed in this contract. The laws are used to interpret and uphold the terms of this contract. What happens when there is a dispute over a contract? Where are the terms of a contract debated and determined? In a courtroom with a judge. And here is the problem: If you don’t understand the rules of a court room, you are guaranteed to lose, every time you engage in a legal battle. The enemy wants you to remain ignorant of the spiritual rules, so you won’t understand why you keep loosing. Losing the spiritual legal battle causes believers to begin to doubt God loves them and is on their side. This is the goal of the enemy. The vast majority of Christians don’t even realize they are engaged in a legal battle. Unfortunately, ignorance of the law isn’t a valid defense. You need to be educated in the spiritual laws in order to understand what is spiritually legal in the earth. Let’s look at another spiritual law. Spirits do not have legal authority in the physical earth. This is based on God’s original dominion mandate for man in Genesis. Genesis 1:26 “26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the
fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” Man’s job was to take what God (a Spirit in the unsee heavenly realm) wanted done and move it forward in the earth (the seen physical realm.). God didn’t give the earth over to angles or other spiritual beings. He gave it to mankind. A physical man to rule over the physical earth. We are a spirit inside a physical body. And that physical body gives us legal authority in the earth. That’s how God set it up. If He wants something done in the physical earth, He wants a physical man to do it. That’s why God doesn’t just send angels to do stuff on earth. They do not have a body and therefore do not have legal authority on the earth. When God or an angel appears to someone on the earth to deliver a message, It’s done in a dream or vision. If God wants a spiritual being to do something in the earth, they need a body. The angels who visited Lot before Sodom was destroyed had bodies. The bible says that Abraham called them men when he saw them. Also, Jesus had a body. A spirit that has an assignment on the earth is given a body in order to be legal. That’s why you have one. You are a spirit who has been given a body, in order to get spiritual things done on the physical earth. If satan wants something done in the earth he has to influence a person to get it done. Or if the person is open to it, satan will have a demon possess that person.
So just like we as christians have the Holy Spirit living in us that causes us to want us to do the will of our Father God. Those who accept a demon, do so in order to fulfill the will of satan. That’s why the enemy wants to steal, kill and destroy you. Your physical presence on earth is a threat to him. He wants to steal your joy and peace, he wants to kill you physically and he wants to destroy what you’ve built. Let’s look at another spiritual law that we need to understand in order to move things from the spiritual realm into the physical realm. Matthew 16:18-19 (NASB) “18 I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.” Now, Jesus didn’t use the word church when He described what He was building. He used the Greek word Ecclesia. It’s translated here in English as church. So we need to understand what the term ecclesia meant to those Jesus was talking to when He said it. Here is the definition of the word Ecclesia: A political assembly of citizens of ancient Greek states especially : the periodic meeting of the Athenian citizens for conducting public business and for considering affairs proposed by the council. An ecclesia was a body of people who came together to consider the affairs of their jurisdiction. It functioned just like our state and national legislatures do now.
Jesus built His church with the responsibility to carefully consider spiritual issues, and afterwards, the authority to either restrain it or release it. Heaven will then back our decision by enforcing it. Jesus has given His church the “Power of Attorney”. Power of Attorney means: the authority to act for another person in legal matters. Jesus has given us the power to operate in His name and with His full authority. By now you may be realizing that Jesus did not come to establish a religious movement, He came to establish a spiritual system of government. Or better stated re-establish the original one. Isaiah 9:6-7 “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.” Jesus is the King, therefore the kingdom government rests on Him. We are the Ecclesia or political assembly of that Kingdom. That was our original mandate from God when He put Adam on the earth. We are to make spiritual government rulings that support what God wants for the earth. Matthew 16:18 “18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
The end of verse 18 says that the gates of hell cannot defeat you with power, because they have no power. Jesus took all of hell’s power away at the resurrection. So if hell can’t come against you with power, how does it come against you? Hell comes against you with legality. In the court of heaven, the enemy will bring an accusation against you of breaking spiritual laws. That’s why he is always trying to tempt you. He needs you to break the spiritual laws written into the contract. His only chance defeating you legally, is by tricking you into breaking your contract. Consider this for the next few minutes: The Bible is full of legal references. It refers to God as the Righteous Judge, it talks about Jesus as our Advocate (Lawyer) and it describes Satan as the Accuser (Prosecutor). God is the Judge 2 Timothy 4:8 “in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.” The bible lists over 75 verses that reference God as The Judge. Christ Our Advocate or Lawyer Colossians 2:14 “14 having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.” 1 John 2:1 “My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.”
Satan is the Accuser or Prosecutor Revelation 12:10 “And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brothers is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.” Zechariah 3:1 “Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the Angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to oppose him.” Let me lay out our legal spiritual contract again. We have entered into a contract with Jesus for our eternal life. He offered us the agreement and signed it in blood. When we accept His contract, we have signed away control of our life here on earth by accepting eternal life with Him after our physical death. We sign the contract by believing in our heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, and confessing with our mouth that Jesus is Lord. We now have a valid spiritual contract. So, what’s next? But just because we have a contract, it doesn’t mean that there will not be lawsuits filed against us in the court of heaven. In heaven, we have a legally binding contract, but there is still ongoing litigation over us, because we constantly try to break the terms by not surrendering to His plan for us here on earth. That’s why satan, the prosecutor, can come to the Judge and accuse us. Our enemy is constantly bringing charges against us. And as the prosecutor, the burden of proof is on him to provide evidence that we are guilty. We make his job easy, because we are probably guilty of everything he accuses us of doing.
We are sinful and broken, as well as constantly doing and thinking the wrong things. Thats why, we must bring our case to the courtroom, through prayer. Our responsibility is to come to the courtroom quoting the spiritual law that our contract lays out. Then, our lawyer Jesus presents our case for us. That’s why we pray in the name of Jesus, because only His testimony is valid in our case. When we pray by quoting His WORD, we know that we are in alignment with His will. We are quoting from the contract that He wrote for us. But you have to understand the verse you are praying. If you use it our of context, it’s not a valid contractual request. For instance, if you are in financial need and you pray “My God shall supply all my needs according to His riches in Glory.” You have both miss quoted and taken that verse out of context. Philippians 4:19 “19 And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” Paul says in the previous verses that they had well supplied him for all of his needs and because of that...God will supply their needs. If you haven’t been supplying for the needs of others, don’t quote that verse. It won’t work using it out of context. If you don’t know what the contract says or how to interpret the legal jargon you will not understand what part of the contract to bring up in your petition. So when Jesus approaches the bench and presents evidence to the Judge that our request is in line with His contract, it's an immediate pronouncement of judgment in our favor.
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