Forgotten Authority
The Silver Chair is a book in the Chronicles of Narnia series, by C. S. Lewis. I was talking with a friend about a message I recently read that pointed out the attack from the persistent prayers of our enemies against us. As I was talking with my friend, I was reminded of the prince held captive in that Silver Chair.
During the day, he was under a curse that caused him to forget that he was a prince. At night, which was the only time he could remember who he really was; he was bound to the Silver Chair. The children, who remembered one of the signs they had been told to look for, overcame their fear of what they had been taught would happen if they set the prince free and the cut his bonds.
I believe the Bride of Christ has forgotten her authority and become bound. Like the prince in the Silver Chair, She has been cursed with the curse of her enemies. Out of this curse has come an attack, so heavy, that She cannot think past what it is that she must do to get beyond the next minute. She has lost her eternal perspective, except as a distant memory of a final place of rest. Abundant living eludes her like a butterfly, always floating just out of her grasp.
She has forgotten His power to deliver her. Psalms 97:10 reminds us:
O you who love the Lord, hate evil; He preserves the lives of His saints (the children of God), He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked. (AMP)
She has forgotten the authority that was placed in her hands by none other than the Lord of Hosts:
(12) But to as many as did receive and welcome Him, He gave the authority (power, privilege, right) to become the children of God, that is, to those who believe in (adhere to, trust in, and rely on) His name--
(13) Who owe their birth neither to bloods nor to the will of the flesh [that of physical impulse] nor to the will of man [that of a natural father], but to God. [They are born of God!] John 1:12-13 AMP
She has forgotten how to walk in the knowledge of who lives in Her and that HE HAS already defeated her enemies:
(4) Little children, you are of God [you belong to Him] and have [already] defeated and overcome them [the agents of the antichrist], because He Who lives in you is greater (mightier) than he who is in the world. 1 John 4:4 AMP
Everyone can quote verse 1 from Romans 8. It is often used to make the case for pardon from CURRENT sin:
(1) THEREFORE, [there is] now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live [and] walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit.
However, verse 1 does not stand alone. Truth is it’s foundation. It is not a pardon provided for us to be allowed to continue in sin.
In John 3:17-21 we read more comforting words, but many also ignore the foundations of the comfort and fall short of that peace that passes all understanding because they do not know the whole story:
For God did not send the Son into the world in order to judge (to reject, to condemn, to pass sentence on) the world, but that the world might find salvation and be made safe and sound through Him.
He who believes in Him [who clings to, trusts in, relies on Him] is not judged [he who trusts in Him never comes up for judgment; for him there is no rejection, no condemnation—he incurs no damnation]; but he who does not believe (cleave to, rely on, trust in Him) is judged already [he has already been convicted and has already received his sentence] because he has not believed in and trusted in the name of the only begotten Son of God. [He is condemned for refusing to let his trust rest in Christ’s name.]
The [basis of the] judgment (indictment, the test by which men are judged, the ground for the sentence) lies in this: the Light has come into the world, and people have loved the darkness rather than and more than the Light, for their works (deeds) were evil.
For every wrongdoer hates (loathes, detests) the Light, and will not come out into the Light but shrinks from it, lest his works (his deeds, his activities, his conduct) be exposed and reproved.
But he who practices truth [who does what is right] comes out into the Light; so that his works may be plainly shown to be what they are—wrought with God [divinely prompted, done with God’s help, in dependence upon Him].
The word “believes” in this passage is not a head knowledge. But it speaks in the Greek of clinging to, trusting in, and relying on Him. If we believe like this, we will come to walk in the work that was done on the cross. You cannot trust in, cling to, and rely on Jesus at the same time as you are worrying, complaining or fighting for your position. We will be able to live like people who have the authority given to us at the resurrection when we learn to cling to, trust in, and rely on God for all our needs.
Romans chapter 8 is important because we need to get this word into our spirit in order understand our place in God’s kingdom:
(2) For the law of the Spirit of life [which is] in Christ Jesus [the law of our new being] has freed me from the law of sin and of death.
(3) For God has done what the Law could not do, [its power] being weakened by the flesh [the entire nature of man without the Holy Spirit]. Sending His own Son in the guise of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, [God] condemned sin in the flesh [subdued, overcame, deprived it of its power over all who accept that sacrifice],
(4) So that the righteous and just requirement of the Law might be fully met in us who live and move not in the ways of the flesh but in the ways of the Spirit [our lives governed not by the standards and according to the dictates of the flesh, but controlled by the Holy Spirit].
(5) For those who are according to the flesh and are controlled by its unholy desires set their minds on and pursue those things which gratify the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit and are controlled by the desires of the Spirit set their minds on and seek those things which gratify the [Holy] Spirit.
(6) Now the mind of the flesh [which is sense and reason without the Holy Spirit] is death [death that comprises all the miseries arising from sin, both here and hereafter]. But the mind of the [Holy] Spirit is life and [soul] peace [both now and forever].
(7) [That is] because the mind of the flesh [with its carnal thoughts and purposes] is hostile to God, for it does not submit itself to God's Law; indeed it cannot.
(8) So then those who are living the life of the flesh [catering to the appetites and impulses of their carnal nature] cannot please or satisfy God, or be acceptable to Him.
(9) But you are not living the life of the flesh, you are living the life of the Spirit, if the [Holy] Spirit of God [really] dwells within you [directs and controls you]. But if anyone does not possess the [Holy] Spirit of Christ, he is none of His [he does not belong to Christ, is not truly a child of God]. [Rom. 8:14.]
(10) But if Christ lives in you, [then although] your [natural] body is dead by reason of sin and guilt, the spirit is alive because of [the] righteousness [that He imputes to you].
(11) And if the Spirit of Him Who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, [then] He Who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will also restore to life your mortal (short-lived, perishable) bodies through His Spirit Who dwells in you.
(12) So then, brethren, we are debtors, but not to the flesh [we are not obligated to our carnal nature], to live [a life ruled by the standards set up by the dictates] of the flesh.
(13) For if you live according to [the dictates of] the flesh, you will surely die. But if through the power of the [Holy] Spirit you are [habitually] putting to death (making extinct, deadening) the [evil] deeds prompted by the body, you shall [really and genuinely] live forever.
(14) For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
(15) For [the Spirit which] you have now received [is] not a spirit of slavery to put you once more in bondage to fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption [the Spirit producing sonship] in [the bliss of] which we cry, Abba (Father)! Father!
(16) The Spirit Himself [thus] testifies together with our own spirit, [assuring us] that we are children of God.
(17) And if we are [His] children, then we are [His] heirs also: heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ [sharing His inheritance with Him]; only we must share His suffering if we are to share His glory.
We cannot turn away just because it gets hard. This is not about us folks. The reason He raises us is given in Ephesians 2:1-7
(1) AND YOU [He made alive], when you were dead (slain) by [your] trespasses and sins
(2) In which at one time you walked [habitually]. You were following the course and fashion of this world [were under the sway of the tendency of this present age], following the prince of the power of the air. [You were obedient to and under the control of] the [demon] spirit that still constantly works in the sons of disobedience [the careless, the rebellious, and the unbelieving, who go against the purposes of God].
(3) Among these we as well as you once lived and conducted ourselves in the passions of our flesh [our behavior governed by our corrupt and sensual nature], obeying the impulses of the flesh and the thoughts of the mind [our cravings dictated by our senses and our dark imaginings]. We were then by nature children of [God's] wrath and heirs of [His] indignation, like the rest of mankind.
(4) But God--so rich is He in His mercy! Because of and in order to satisfy the great and wonderful and intense love with which He loved us,
(5) Even when we were dead (slain) by [our own] shortcomings and trespasses, He made us alive together in fellowship and in union with Christ; [He gave us the very life of Christ Himself, the same new life with which He quickened Him, for] it is by grace (His favor and mercy which you did not deserve) that you are saved (delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ's salvation).
(6) And He raised us up together with Him and made us sit down together [giving us joint seating with Him] in the heavenly sphere [by virtue of our being] in Christ Jesus (the Messiah, the Anointed One).
(7) He did this that He might clearly demonstrate through the ages to come the immeasurable (limitless, surpassing) riches of His free grace (His unmerited favor) in [His] kindness and goodness of heart toward us in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 2:14-16 tells us that there are others who are watching us. We need to shine in this darkness so that they might receive the Word of Life!
(14) Do all things without grumbling and faultfinding and complaining [against God] and questioning and doubting [among yourselves],
(15) That you may show yourselves to be blameless and guileless, innocent and uncontaminated, children of God without blemish (faultless, unrebukable) in the midst of a crooked and wicked generation [spiritually perverted and perverse], among whom you are seen as bright lights (stars or beacons shining out clearly) in the [dark] world,
(16) Holding out [to it] and offering [to all men] the Word of Life, so that in the day of Christ I may have something of which exultantly to rejoice and glory in that I did not run my race in vain or spend my labor to no purpose.
Don’t forget who you are like that prince in the Silver Chair. Remember that you are God’s Child and as such you do not have to walk in the flesh as you sorrow over your circumstances. Take up your bed and walk like somebody who has been set free from the sin and the cares of this world! In Jesus name!
Walkininthespirit
6-28-06
SEE WHAT [an incredible] quality of love the Father has given (shown, bestowed on) us, that we should [be permitted to] be named and called and counted the children of God! And so we are! The reason that the world does not know (recognize, acknowledge) us is that it does not know (recognize, acknowledge) Him.
Beloved, we are [even here and] now God's children; it is not yet disclosed (made clear) what we shall be [hereafter], but we know that when He comes and is manifested, we shall [as God's children] resemble and be like Him, for we shall see Him just as He [really] is.
And everyone who has this hope [resting] on Him cleanses (purifies) himself just as He is pure (chaste, undefiled, guiltless).
1 John 3:1-3 AMP
