Activate Our Authority

Who is responsible for the state that America is in? You may want to blame the government, society, or even the Supreme Court, but none of that is true. People in the dark cannot attempt to operate in light unless someone shines light into their lives. In the same way, no man or government official will be able to push back the darkness we see in this world. The only thing that will push back the kingdom of darkness is the kingdom of light.

That means it’s our job as the church of the living God to rise up and be light to the world around us.

Now, we have authority in this world, which I talked about in my previous post. I want to delve a little further into that now. On the throne of God, there is a position. God has put us next to Him at His right hand. That enthroned position is a complete position of authority. It speaks of authority, authority, authority. Look at what Ephesians 1:19-21 says:

And [so that you can know and understand] what is the immeasurable and unlimited and surpassing greatness of His power in and for us who believe, as demonstrated in the working of His mighty strength, which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His [own] right hand in the heavenly [places], far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named [above every title that can be conferred], not only in this age and in this world, but also in the age and the world which are to come.

We see it again in Ephesians 2:6:

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).

By our being seated next to Jesus and by us being in Him, He gives us that authority. But that authority doesn’t automatically win us every victory. We have to activate the authority we have.

If you look back at Exodus chapter 17, you’ll notice that when Moses lifted up his rod, Israel would prevail. But when his hands were lowered and he wasn’t using that rod, the enemy would start to advance. Moses never lost his authority, but if he wasn’t using it and lifting it up, the enemy would start to advance. When he acknowledged his authority, the enemy retreated and God’s people advanced.

Once the Israelite leaders recognized this was the case, they fixed it so that Moses’ authority would be set in a constant position of being lifted up.

Where the church is concerned, we have to acknowledge and walk in our dominion and authority. If we see the enemy begin to advance somewhere, it’s because we are not using all of the authority that we have.

Now let’s transfer this over to praying for America or another nation of the world. If the church has this position that Jesus has spiritually granted to us, it’s an eternal position with our Father. If we don’t operate in the authority of that position, the spirit of lawlessness will start to advance. It will start creeping in, just as the Israelites began to lose when Moses didn’t activate his authority.

I’ve noticed that the darkness approaches subtly—never in a place where it jumps over you like leapfrog. It’s more of a subtle thing to where you look back over the years and think, Oh my goodness.

My daughter-in-law called me up one day and she was just horrified. She said, “Mimi, I cannot believe this. They are putting a mosque up in our neighborhood.”

I just said to her, “Well, whose fault is that? Who is responsible for that now?” If we don’t like what’s happening in our neighborhood, if we don’t like what we’re seeing, if we don’t like our city and some of the laws and the things that the city council is using and doing, do we just watch the news at night and pass a Kleenex and watch the enemy advancing? No, we don’t. We use our authority.

Remember what 2 Thessalonians said? The spirit of lawlessness—the antichrist—will not fully manifest while the church is here. We, the restraining force, are to go into action and hold him back by using our rod and position of authority. And it’s not just where one person has to do all the work, but everybody works together. The Church has been strategically planted throughout the world, and each and every member is to be using their authority—and that includes praying for our nation.