Ignorance is one of the most deadly weapons that have destroyed many people more than some of the weapons of mass destruction that we hear about. Most believers are not even aware of their identity in Christ and it is like a situation where princes are walking on foot while slaves are riding on horses due to ignorance.
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Most of us are not even aware of the authority we have as believers. We think it is only the man of God who is “invested with anointing” like one brother once retorted.
While it is true that we have to honour our men of God because they shepherd us, we should never worship the men of God. Instead, we should worship the God of men.
This is why I was so blessed when I saw a tweet from one of the men of God I dearly love and respect, Dr Mensa Otabil which stated that we “should stop running after the anointing and pastors. Go to God and believe Him for yourself. If you put your faith in man and do not believe God for yourself you will prolong your captivity”. What an awesome counsel!
The main reason why we find most of us are restlessly chasing the anointing is because we are ignorant about our authority. The Bible says my people perish because of lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6). This is why Apostle Paul prayed in (Ephesians 1:16-23) that God would give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him and that the eyes of our understanding being enlightened…” We are blessed with ALL spiritual blessings (Ephesians 1:3). The bible never says that only the men of God have been blessed with spiritual blessings but all of us. God is no respecter of persons. The reason why some people look more blessed than others is that they are just taking advantage of what they know belongs to them.
We need to know what belongs to us. However, knowledge not acted upon is useless. It is only the knowledge that is acted upon that will bring results. It is the devil’s desire to obscure this knowledge so he continues to dominate you.
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We should recognise our authority and stand our ground. Authority is delegated power and our Father in heaven has delegated this authority to us.
Ephesians 6:10 says: “Finally my brethren, be strong in the Lord and the power of His might.”
This scripture does not say to be strong in yourself but in the Lord. This is where most of us miss it. The bible encourages us to be strong in the Lord.
The value of authority depends upon the force behind the user. God Himself is the force behind the authority. If you do not know how to use your authority, you will remain powerless and will not have any impact.
In Luke 10:19, Jesus stated that “Behold, I give you authority to trample on serpents and scorpions and over all power of the enemy and nothing shall by any means hurt you”.
This is one of the best verses in the Bible. These are the kind of scriptures we ought to meditate on day and night until we become conscious of what we have through the finished works of Christ.
The believer who is thoroughly conscious of the divine power behind him and his own authority can face the enemy without fear or hesitancy. We are of God and we are overcomers because He who is in us is greater than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4). We just have to believe what the Word of God says and that should settle it. When you are armed with this knowledge, you do not have to run around looking for anointing, like Dr Otabil stated.
Our problem is that most of us Christians are very lazy to read the Word on our own and know God for ourselves and yet this is what eternal life is (John 17:3).
According to Ephesians 1:22, He has put all things under His feet and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church. We are the body of Christ and He is the head and so we are part of the feet under which He has put all things. We waste a lot of time fighting the devil who is already under our feet and defeated.
Many people don’t know the truth about Satan’s defeat. In fact, many Christians are the very instrument the devil is using to foster the deception that he is still a powerful foe. “Spiritual warfare” is one of the hottest topics in the church today. People are expending great amounts of energy constantly battling the devil in ways contrary to Scripture, but in reality, Satan has already been defeated. We don’t need to defeat him again.
We need to believe that Satan has already been completely destroyed (Hebrews 2:14) and simply enforce his defeat. The only power he has is the power to deceive. Our battle should be against the wiles (trickery) of the devil (Ephesisans 6:11), not the devil himself. Any other approach is actually giving the devil authority and power which he doesn’t have, and he uses that to intimidate us. The only weapon Satan has is the power we give him when we believe his lies.
Warfare only takes place between two undefeated foes. Once an enemy has been conquered, the war is over. Satan is a defeated foe. Colossians 2:15 says, “And having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.” The archaic meaning of the word “spoiled” here is “to plunder; despoil”. This means that after Jesus defeated Satan, He stripped him of everything he had, specifically the keys of death and hell (Revelations 1:18). Satan has no power to imprison anyone.
Upon conquering an enemy, the Romans would hold a parade. They would take the conquered king, strip him naked, and drag him through the crowd behind the conquering king or commander for all their subjects to see. He would be humiliated and insulted, but that’s not all. They would also cut off the thumbs of his hands and the big toes of both feet. This was to assure the subjects this enemy would never be a threat to any of them again. He could not hold a sword and he would never be able to run again. There was no need to fear him anymore. Any rumour about him ever challenging Rome again would be scoffed at because the citizens had seen him in the parade.
The same thing happened to the devil. That’s what this verse is referring to. Jesus not only beat the devil, but He had a triumphant procession to display the devil to the universe as a totally conquered foe. Satan should never terrify us again.
Unfortunately, many Christians have missed the parade. They haven’t seen God’s triumphant procession that was pictured in God’s Word where Satan was displayed as a totally defeated foe. They are circulating rumours that Satan is a powerful foe to be reckoned with. That is not so.
Satan is still alive, and we do have to reckon with him but only because he has so many lies circulating about his power against us. These are all lies, and therein lies Satan’s power. If we believe his lies, he then uses our own authority, which our fear grants him, to work his destruction in our lives. He has no power of his own. He’s using the power and authority that our misdirected faith gives him.
We just have to know the truth and this will set us free (John 8:32). Isn’t that awesome! Praise the Lord for the power of the truth and how it sets us free. The only power that Satan has is the power of deception, and the worst thing about deception is that you don’t know you’re being deceived. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be deception. Once the truth is received, deception loses all its power. Therefore, Satan loses all his power when we know the truth.
We have to know the “exceeding greatness of His power towards us who believe” (Ephesians 1:19). We are seated with Him far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name….” (verse 21). This is our rightful position in Christ.
Unfortunately, this fact is overlooked by most Christians today because we do not know our authority.
Dr Doug Mamvura is a graduate of Charis Bible School. Feedback: [email protected] or Twitter @dougmamvura
