“These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” Mark 16:17-18.
Today you LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
Your body carries out what your head directs, but the head and the body are one and share the same identity and authority, although all the members of the body are different in what they do but all must work together as the head directs. But the head cannot act apart from the body and the body cannot act apart from the head. And the same is true of the body of Christ, which is all believers on earth. Christ the head is seated in Heaven and you on earth are the way that He does His works on earth, and He only does My work that I show Him, just as He did on earth.
And today as we continue our series on living your life in Christ our Life Lesson is “A Life of Authority.” I gave mankind dominion authority in the earth from the beginning. Adam gave that authority to the devil and came under the dominion of darkness, that is, sin and evil. But Jesus took back that authority, not only on earth, but also in heaven, so that every knee bows at His Name.
Just for a moment let us go back to the beginning when I gave dominion authority to mankind. I blessed them to be very fruitful, to fill and replenish the earth and to take dominion over the animals and the earth. And to do this I gave them all seed bearing plants and trees for food. Everything needed was in seed. Everything would replenish and produce by seed. I essentially gave mankind rule over the works of My hands to make it grow and produce until the whole world was a Garden of Eden. And the man took dominion by naming everything. Dominion authority is an authority that comes through knowing, speaking and obeying (doing) My Word. You are not the power but you have the authority to use the power as your own as long as you are walking in the parameters of that power.
On the earth as to binding and loosing, only those who are children of men, that is, are in a human body, possess the authority on earth to either release the power of darkness, that is, the devil’s will, through their dominion authority, or the power of Light, that is, My Will upon the earth. Neither I nor the devil have authority to act on earth without the cooperation of a man or woman. If the body of Christ will not obey the Head, He cannot act on earth. If you abdicate your authority and permit the devil to run your life, he will. You must become skillful at exercising your dominion authority, but you must exercise it IN CHRIST if you want beneficial results. You will only get the good life you want if you exercise your authority IN CHRIST. Then you can do the works He did and greater, for whatever you ask in His Name, HE WILL DO THROUGH YOU. His authority will then work through your authority.
You have Christ in you now, and He has authority, and, as His body on earth, you tap into that same authority. Whatever the head directs you to do, you can do with His authority. That is what presenting your bodies as a living and holy sacrifice unto Me as your spiritual service of worship is all about. You offer your body to be used to release My Will and purpose upon the earth to bring My dominion to the earth. As you offer your life to Me, you release My authority. In other words, I entrust you with My own authority and clothe you in it so that I release it through you.
You see this in Moses at the Red Sea and in the fight with Pharaoh to release My people in the ten plagues. He raised his staff but it was My power he authorized to work through his dominion authority. You see this at Jericho when the Israelites shouted at My direction and that released my power to take down the walls. And Joshua did this too when he prayed to Me and then spoke to the sun and the moon and they held still in the heavens. And consider also when Elijah called down fire from Heaven.
But now the release of My power through your authority takes on a new aspect. The Messiah brought a new era into being. The Messiah was to make the blind see, the death hear, the lame walk, the mute speak, the leper become clean, the poor have the good news preached to them, and to free you from your sins and the power of darkness. He was to be your Savior. He was to bring provision and favor from Me.
Jesus identified Himself as the Messiah by reading from the prophet Isaiah, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to heal the broken hearted, and to proclaim a favorable year from the LORD (a Jubilee).” Luke 4:18-19; Isaiah 61:1-2. And Jesus performed all the works of the Messiah, he made the blind see, the deaf hear, the mute speak, and the lame leap up like a stag. Jesus redeemed you from the curse and brought you the Blessing. And He did this for all people, Jew first and then all gentiles (strangers to My covenants, that is, unbelievers). And He empowered all who believe in Him to become My children, to be born again as a new creation in Him. In Him, all became NEW.
Jesus came to undo the works of the devil for I anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for I was with Him and in Him. Acts 10:38. And now you are to do the works He did and greater. And to do that you must not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may know what the will of the Head is, that which is good and pleasing and perfect. Romans 12:1-2.
And He stopped storms, healed the sick, rebuked illness and demons, in other words, He stepped into His dominion authority as a man on earth to take authority over the devil and to undo what the devil had done to people and the earth to destroy and corrupt them. It was a battle by the forces of darkness against the Light of the world. And the darkness is no match for the light. In the Light darkness has to flee. Just keep your light on and never let the devil put it out by his tactics. For your spirit is My lamp by which I search all your innermost parts. And that is for healing.
In Jesus I was able to release My Will upon the earth. And in Him I touched you in tenderness. Not in the harshness of judgment, as much of My power was released upon the enemies of My people in the Old Testament, but with the tender mercies from on High. I have visited you and accomplished redemption for you, “Because of the tender mercy of our God, with which the Sunrise from on high will visit us, to shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” Luke 1:77-79. AN ADMINISTRATION OF TENDERNESS. The tender mercy of a Shepherd for his sheep—he does not beat the lost one but finds him and brings him back in His bosom to celebrate. Or as a father has tenderness for his son, as seen in My Son’s parable of the prodigal son. A new era, a new dawn of the sun of righteousness from on High. Now righteousness and peace have kissed as righteousness looks down from Heaven and truth springs up from the earth and all mankind has seen My Salvation. And My footsteps on earth in Jesus have made a Way in which you should walk. And it is the way of authority in Him.
Jesus, when I had raised Him from the dead and He was leaving the earth to return to Me, told those with Him that all who believed in His Name would have authority in His Name to cast out demons, and among other things, to lay their hands on the sick and the sick would recover. Mark 16:17-18. He also told them that all authority in heaven and on earth was His and that now they were to go in that authority and preach the good news and make disciples of all the nations. And He breathed on them and said, “As the Father has sent Me, so I send you.”
I was in Jesus, reconciling the world to Myself, and now He has made you ambassadors of reconciliation. And to do this He has given you His authority and it is the authority of compassion. Compassion for the sheep who are without a shepherd and are being devoured by the evil one. Feed My sheep and tend My lambs. And feed them with My Word that they may grow thereby and come to know their authority and walk in it so that they are not run around by the devil anymore. You all can take up and exercise your dominion authority once more. But you must be exercising it continually and consistently or the devil will make inroads into your life.
But what is the dominion authority I gave man over the earth and that Christ gained back for you as a man on earth? I can define it in one word but it has many layers of meaning to walk skillfully in it: STEWARDSHIP.
You are a steward in charge of your Master’s household. And if you recall in the parable My Son told on that, the master went to a far distant land but he was to return at a time the steward did not know. And blessed was the steward who was found exercising his authority (stewardship) in a fruitful way that blessed all the household and gained increase for the master. The master had given him a position of power that he was to use well on behalf of the master and not squander and dissipate. And if he was a good and faithful steward, oh! How the Master blessed and prospered him, even to waiting upon him and putting in charge of larger affairs.
Stewardship. Take it up. All creation is groaning, longing for the revelation of My children to take authority once more. Calm storms, rebuke sickness, give sight to the blind, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, heal the sick, and preach the good news of Salvation. Renew and replenish the earth by sending forth My Spirit in you, bearing fruit in the stewardship of My Word on earth.
And think about the era Jesus ushered in, when the religious leaders persecuted and went after the first believers and the disciples, even flogging them for preaching in the Name of Jesus, you do not see them drowning the leaders in the Red Sea, no, you see the disciples thrown in prison for preaching reconciliation in the Name of Jesus and My angel letting them out in the night and telling them to go back to the Temple and directing them, “Go, stand and speak to the people in the temple the whole message of this Life.” And upon hearing this, they entered into the temple about daybreak and began to teach. Acts 5:20. And when they got arrested again and flogged, they did not call down fire from heaven to consume them (as Elijah had done with the troops that Ahab sent to arrest him) but instead they “went on their way from the presence of the Council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name. And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they kept right on teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.” Acts 5:41-42.
And the result? You find it by just reading a few more lines into the next chapter, “The word of God kept on spreading; and the number of the disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith.” Acts 6:7.
Actually the early believers had called down fire on the earth, but it was the fire of the Holy Spirit. Jesus baptizes you in the Holy Spirit and fire! The fire of love cannot be quenched by any earthly or devilish force.
So what is all this in your life today? Whether you are aware of it or not you are exercising your dominion authority every moment of every day and night. What you permit, what you bind and what you loose into your body, your life, and the earth around you is what is taking place in your life. You may want to argue with that but it is the way the laws of creation and of the spirit work. If you are permitting illness and pain in you and those of your household, it will stay and grow. If you are consistent in not allowing anything contrary to My Word to enter you will have success.
Think of your body and soul like your children in the matter of discipline. If you permit your children to misbehave and to talk back to you, they will and it will increase. If then after permitting it you try to rebuke that behavior and make them stop it, it will be very difficult because it has become entrenched in them as their way of operating around you since you have permitted it and may still permit it intermittently while you discipline now and then when it gets way out of hand. This will not be successful and you may just give up in weakness and let it go. But if you are on it the minute there is any sin or dishonor in your house and do not permit it, then your children know what they can or cannot do and they will respond when you rebuke them. They know the voice and manner of true authority, that is, one who is skillful at it. When Paul walked in, the demons trembled and ran, when the sons of Sceva tried to rebuke a demon the demon tore them apart. The devil and his demons recognize those who are walking IN CHRIST. No demon could stay in the presence of Jesus and get away with it. You should do likewise. Never let down your guard by letting your emotions take control of your mouth. If you are permissive about this, you will not be able to speak with authority when you need to do so. Death and life are in the power of your tongue. Watch your words by taking authority over what you say all the time.
Also, to walk in authority you must be under authority, the more you submit to Me and resist the devil, the more powerful you will become in keeping the evil one out of your territory.
I love you. IN CHRIST you have all the authority in Heaven and earth residing in you. Greater is He who is in you than he who is IN THE WORLD. But you are IN CHRIST and this is what should make your life so different from the life of the unbeliever. Refuse to put up with anything less than what Christ died to give you. Do not be timid about this. The mountain will not move unless you speak to it with faith. Take up your authority and administer My tender mercies to all in need of deliverance from the devil. Remember, I have made you ambassadors of reconciliation.
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Corinthians 5:17-21.