When Jesus calls us He gives us authorities to execute the
work that He commands us to do. Many believers do not exercise these
authorities and many of them don’t have these authorities. We read in Mark
16:15-18 Jesus said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to
all creation. 16 “He who has believed and has been baptized shall be
saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned. 17 “These signs will
accompany those who have believed: in My Name they will cast out demons, they
will speak with new tongues; 18 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.”
Now why is this not happening? There is a very specific reason
why this is not happening. The reason is that believers refuse to put
themselves under the authority of Christ. They refuse to obey Christ. They
refuse to get rid of their sin they don’t repent of sin properly. Many of them
refuse to be baptized, they refuse to do what Jesus said, they say that Jesus’
Words are impractical, it doesn’t work. They will quote you the scriptures,
Paul said this and Paul said that. The amazing thing is that the WORDS OF JESUS
nobody can TWIST, so because they can’t twist them they DISREGARD them. What is
the result of this? They’ve got no power in their lives, because Christ isn’t
in their lives. If we submit ourselves to Christ then the power of Christ
exercises through us but if we don’t submit to Him, His power will not exercise
through us.
We read in Acts 19:14-17 “Seven sons of one Sceva, a Jewish
chief priest, were doing this (they were casting out demons). 15 And the
evil spirit answered and said to them, “I recognize Jesus, and I know about
Paul, but who are you?” 16 And the man, in whom was the evil spirit,
leaped on them and subdued all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled
out of that house naked and wounded. 17 This became known to all, both
Jews and Greeks, who lived in Ephesus; and fear fell upon them all and the name
of the Lord Jesus was being magnified.”
Why did these demons grab hold of these guys? Because you
can fool men, you can tell another guy you are a Christian and you can quote
your verses at him, you can tell him which date you were saved but you cannot
fool satan. The devil knows who has got the power of God in him. These demons
knew. The demons in that man knew that these guys were just taking a chance.
Many Christians are taking a chance.
They say: “In the Name of Jesus!” but they don’t have Jesus inside of
them. If you do not submit yourself to Christ and obey Christ the devil knows
it and you have no authority over him. That is why many Christians have no
authority over sin they are living in sin, they are partners in crime with
satan and the devil knows it. If you are partying with the devil today you
cannot chase him away tomorrow, he is going to laugh at you like these guys.
You can quote him scriptures. He knows them too, he knows the scriptures but
satan knows where the power of God is. Unless you submit yourself to Christ you
are not under the authority of Christ. Many Christians refuse to submit
themselves to Christ they’ve got no power in their lives, no authority, because
it is not our own authority it is the authority of Jesus Christ. It is only
when we lay down ourselves and obey Christ that the authority of Christ can
work through us. In us we have no power but Jesus in us has overcame satan and
he knows it. So you can take a chance at him, you can say: ”I will smite you
with the sword of the Word satan, in the Name of Jesus get out of here,” like
so many of these TV preachers do. But when they come up to the real devil they
will be running like the seven sons of Sceva my friend. You need the power of
Jesus in you to overcome sin. The reason why people are not overcoming sin and
the devil is because they have not repented of their sins. They are still
living in sin. they are accomplice with satan, they know scriptures, o yes, but
they don’t know Christ.
It is only when you obey Christ and do exactly as Jesus said
that the power of God comes into your life and then only are you a son of God.
Just by believing in Jesus doesn’t make you a son of God, it makes you a
believer and satan is also a believer, but he is not a follower and neither is
he obedient to Christ.
So how do you get the power of God into your life so the
power of God will work through you and satan recognises the authority of Christ
in you?
We read in James 4:7-10 “Submit therefore to God. Resist the
devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near
to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you
double-minded. 9 Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be
turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the
presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.”
That’s how it works. Many people say that they are
born again they have never cried before God for their sins they have never
mourned before the Lord in repentance and said: “Lord I am so sorry for what I
have done wrong, Lord I need you in my life please save me Lord Jesus please
deliver me from this wickedness inside of me,” No, they want to be one foot in
the world and one foot in heaven. You cannot be like that, satan knows you and
he is your mate. But he is not really your mate because he is going to tear you
to peaces and you will be disappointed my friend when you come to heaven’s door
and Jesus says to you: Go away I never knew you. God knows and the devil knows
but many people are blind folded, they think they are saved but they are not
saved. They don’t have the power of Christ in them nor do they have no
authority over the devil because they have never submitted themselves to Jesus
Christ. Submit yourself to Christ, resist the devil and he will flee from you.
Then you will have power over satan.
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