KEYS OF JESUS’ KINGDOM
Matthew 16:19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
In this promise Jesus has given his church his authority or backing. This is no little thing. While we don’t have the power to move mountains, we influence the one that has the power to do it with words spoken. We don’t have the power to make Satan and the powers of darkness leave us alone, but we influence the one that created them and can control them with spoken words. Because we are the Bride of Jesus, we carry not only his name (Christians), but his authority through him.
Satan and the powers of darkness know who are Christians and who are not. We see this in the example of the sons of Sceva in Acts 19:13-16. It says, “Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, ‘In the name of Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.’ Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. The evil spirit answered them, ‘Jesus I know and Paul I know about, but who are you?’ Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.” The powers of darkness are not obligated to obey non-Christians, because they do not have the backing of Jesus.
Every Christian no matter how mature they may be in Christ, how old they may be, has authority over not only the powers of darkness but Satan too. A little child of three can make them do their bidding. This sounds strange but remember it is not of their doing, but who is backing them. The only chance that Satan and the powers of darkness have over the Christian is ignorance and pride. If a Christian doesn’t know they have authority over the powers of darkness, then obviously they will always feel helpless and let the powers of darkness reign over them. Or if the powers of darkness can get the Christian to try and deal with them in pride and arrogancy.
Sometimes if a demon can get a Christian to do this , the demon will actually play along with the Christian to build up their pride, and make them even more vulnerable and entrap the Christian. A Christian especially dealing with Satan and the powers of darkness must alway be in an attitude and posture of humility. Pride and arrogance can become an entrapment for sin that the powers of darkness can use against the Christian. We see in Jude 1:9 that it says, “But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring a slanderous accusation against him, but said, ‘ The Lord rebuke you!’ yet these men speak abusively against whatever they do not understand and what things they do understand by instinct, like unreasoning animals - these are the very things that destroy them.” So if God’s mighty angel Michael deals with Satan in humility, how much more so should we as mere humans!
God has used me several times to help set people free from demonic possession and oppression. Either way it can only be done in humility and the authority that Jesus has given us as Christians. Before I do this I always ask Jesus to help me, and to bind the powers of darkness from talking or coming out in the person. As I do this I continue to talk to Jesus while other people may be talking. Somethings the powers of darkness will try to bring distractions by having people talk or even phones to ring. I have even had people come to the door and knock wanting in. During this time I ask about what might be some things that are happening to make the people think that they or others are possessed or oppressed. Many things can bring it about. Usually it comes down to either rebellion from God or dwelling in occult matters. Sometimes the person doesn’t even realize what they are doing is Satanic, but Satan doesn’t care if they realize it or not. Anytime a person gets help from them that person is indebted to Satan and the powers of darkness, and only Jesus can set them free. Once I find out what has caused the problem I try to help the person understand their sin, and help them come to repentance. Then I help them to seek Jesus’ forgiveness. Then I simply command the powers of darkness to leave and go into the pit where they belong and never come out. The powers of darkness have no choice in going . What I do next is to warn the person that had been possessed or oppressed that if they return to their sin and turn from Jesus that the powers of darkness can return even seven times greater. (Matt 12:45) This is why the person needs to become reconciled with the Lord, and filled will the Holy Spirit and Jesus. Once again a great danger for the person that God uses is to become proud and arrogant because of casting out the demons. If they do they can even become endangered in being oppressed or possessed. Remember this even happened to Peter in Matthew 16:23 and Judas in Luke 22:3.
Another aspect of the keys of the kingdom is that of loosing. Far too many Christians miss God’s blessings for themselves and others. This is why we see that praying is so very important in the lives of Christians. In Ephesians 6:18 Paul says, “And pray in the spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. Paul is saying to pray in tongues, and also in the inspiration or leading of the Holy Spirit. This is important in that the Holy Spirit knows what to pray for and how to pray for it. Often we will pray simply with our own understanding and in this we do not know all the implications to the situation. Because of this I personally pray a lot in the Holy Spirit as well as my own understanding.
I pray in tongues for healings too, because sometimes sin in a person's life as well as demonic attack can make a person sick. A case of this was once a person had come several times for prayer with bad headaches that they were having. After a couple of times I was told that the person had a brain tumor. Before their surgery in St Louis the person was brought to me once again for prayer concerning the surgery. As I started praying a demon set the person into a seizure. I pegan to pray in tongues, and the seizure began to subside until it stopped all together. Then the Lord put on my heart to cast the demons from them. Next week to my surprise the family told me that when they went to St Louis for the surgery, they took one last cat scan, and the tumor had completely disappeared. The surgeon apologized and said nothing like this had ever happened before in his practice. The father simply told him that Jesus set her free and healed her. Come to find out her family had a history of native American worship of gods.
he power and authority that a Christian has in and through Jesus is wonderful and amazing. The only reason why more Christians do not do this is they are unaware of what Jesus has given them. We have not because we ask not is certainly true. (James 4:2) We can have all the power and authority associated with Jesus, but if we don’t know we have it we find ourselves at Satan and the powers of darkness’ mercy and they have none.
Every day I begin my day before everyone gets up by praying for my family and etc. I pray blessings of all kinds. I pray for my pastors, brothers and sister in Christ, our president and our other leaders. I pray for our military, law enforcement and firefighters. I pray for anyone the Lord puts on my heart. I pray that they will have a happy and enjoyable day, and that they will be kept safe from Satan the powers of darkness and the evil of this world. I could go on, but I think you have the idea. Your blessings carry the authority of Jesus. Use the authority that Jesus has given you for his honor and glory.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you for giving us the keys to your kingdom. Please help us to always use them correctly, and to always give you the honor and glory. We ask this in your holy name.
