“Authority Gained” in Ripped Off series (notes & video) by: Pastor Sarah Marie
Last week was “Authority Lost” with Pastor James.
This week is “Authority Gained” with Pastor Sarah Marie.
We have gained authority through Jesus, the second Adam. We are positioned in this authority.
How many agree with me that there is a big difference between position and experiencing the benefits of this authority.
James 4:4,6-7 Living Bible
Do you want this authority to be effective and see results? Then follow these instructions:
To experience the benefits we need to grow in the knowledge of the Word. And that is not enough. We need to practice the Word until our actions are consistent with our talk. In the meantime, we need to know that there is an enemy that opposes the process.
Ephesians 4:21-24
I went to a church that taught the Word of God like Life Christian Church.
On a Wednesday night the pastor taught about the glory of God and how Moses had experienced God’s glory. He wanted more. At one point he said, “if you don’t go with me, I will not go”.
I was so affected by this teaching that before I went to bed I knelt down and said to God “you have shown your glory to Moses, then Moses wanted more. You said you would not be partial. What you do for one you’ll do for another. Show me your glory. Come in the night season. You said to ask and I am asking right now.”
Then I fell asleep. I had an expectation that something supernatural was going to happen. I thought I would have a dream. But when I woke up at 6 in the morning and nothing; no dream.
I set up in bed holding my Bible and said “Ma, you said, to ask. I have asked. If you don’t want to show me your glory, what can I do?”
When I said that I heard a voice from near my nightstand right next to me saying, “if you strip yourself of any fleshly desire and put on Christ, you will see my glory”.
At this time I did not know that Ephesians 4:21-24 actually says this. We will get to these scriptures later.
I answered and said “how do I do that?” The voice answered and said “How did you get saved? You believed then you said some words out of your mouth then you got saved”. I answered, “It is that easy?” I started to say, “I strip myself of any fleshly desires and I put on Christ”. Immediately Jesus appeared standing in the air a foot from the ceiling. We were conversing mind to mind. He wasn’t talking and I was not talking. But mind-to-mind he was quoting scriptures and I was quoting scriptures.
We were having so much fun I told Him “Oh my, this is what it means to have the mind of Christ?” And right there a beautiful man with overhaul jeans stood in between Jesus and I. And said to me, “Don’t listen to Him, listen to me, and if you do, I will give you all this”.
Then he showed me the property I owned in Roseville, MI. And on the roof there were diamonds and gold all shining. He said “If you listen to me all this I will give it to you”. I said “what am I going to do with that, I don’t want it”.
Then he took me to the property that I own in Pennsylvania and he showed me the same; all kinds of gem and gold. I said “what am I going to do with that, I don’t want it”.
Then he took me to a building where I had an exercising business and showed me that on the roof had the same things, gems and gold. But, this time the building was multiplying. And I saw so many buildings with exercising business. He said “you can have all this”. I started screaming by this time and said “I don’t want it, you can have it”.
He got mad and threw a thick spit like the size of half an egg. It landed right on my chest and with my breath I blew that spit back to him and it went right into his face. I expected him to be angry.
Instead, he started to look at me with his eyes intensively and felt like I was being hypnotized. I was losing my strength. When this started to happen, I was a little cocky with him knowing that Jesus was right there. He was going to help me. But I was getting weaker and weaker.
I looked up at Jesus and mind to mind I said “ma, aren’t you going to help me?”. Jesus said “I can’t, you say “it is written, be gone from me”. To my surprise with Jesus I could speak mind to mind but with the devil I had to speak words.
I said “It is written, be gone…and I never finished the word “gone” and he turned from a beautiful man to this brutal ugly beast and started screeching back. He said “I’m leaving for a while, but I will be back”.
Then I was left with Jesus. And Jesus told me that if I did not resist the devil with the Word, Jesus was not going to resist him for me. Because Jesus said that I had the authority to resist him.
James 4:7
Now this sounds so easy just strip yourself and Jesus would be right there. I tried to do this other times, but Jesus did not appear. Jesus expected me to learn to keep self under control and not to give place to the devil.
Satan influences the system of this world. Satan always appeals to the flesh. Jesus stripped him of his power, but if people don’t know, he will take total advantage of them.
This is why He says to seek Him first. If we stay connected to Him we will get empowered to resist the devil and we’ll avoid many things.
Matt 6:33
This means find out how God wants things done. How He wants us to live and treat other people. How He wants us to act in certain situations. What kind of attitude we should have.
As long as we live in this world, the devil will always presents to us things that appeal to the flesh. But the key to victory is that Jesus holds it all together for us. All we need to do is put Him first.
When something happens, God is waiting to see how we are going to respond. And the devil is going to try his best to let us fall into his trap. If we know the Word, we will say “It is written”. This will determine the victory or defeat.
An example of when I fell.
