Preface
To know that Satan is defeated by our Substitute, and that his defeat is eternal, makes our Redemption a blessed reality.
To know that that defeat was administered to him by our Substitute, and set to our credit, so that in the records of the supreme court of the universe we are the masters of Satan, and that Satan recognizes that in the Name of Jesus we are his rulers-when the heart knows this as the body knows heat and cold, then faith is unnecessary
It is simply a fact that we have come to know; and we act upon that knowledge as we act upon the fact of the ground being able to sustain our weight.
We know that God Himself put Satan and all his ability beneath our feet, and that we are looked upon by the Father and by Satan, as a master of the dominion of darkness.
We are taking Jesus’ place.
We carry out in our daily walk the things Jesus would have done could He have been in our place.
He came to destroy the works of the Adversary.
We are completing the work that He began.
Then arise and take your place; act the part of a son; assume your responsibilities.
Dare the impossible: His Name can't fail you!
You are a victor; He made you one; get used to it, so you can play the part.
Make your confession harmonize with the facts.
You are what He says you are in Christ.
Remember His Word is truth (or reality).
Launch out boldly on the Word!
Chapter 8
HE PUT ALL THINGS IN SUBJECTION UNDER HIS FEET
In the first three chapters of the epistle to the Ephesians, we have the consummation of Christ's substitutionary work in regard to Satan and demons. Paul prays that "our eyes may be opened or enlightened, that we may know what is the richness of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what the exceeding greatness of his ability on our behalf who believe." (Ephesians 1:18-23)
He fairly shouts that, "It is according to that working of the strength of his might which he worked in the Christ, when he raised him from among the dead."
He declares the same ability that worked in the dead body of Jesus when He was raised to immortality, is at work within us.
The heart can hardly take it in that the same Might, the same Resurrection Power that worked in the dead body of Jesus is ours today
"And if the Spirit of him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwelleth in you, he that raised up Christ Jesus from the dead shall also quicken (or heal or strengthen) your mortal bodies." Romans 8:11.
"And he made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenlies, far above all rule, and authority, and power, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come."
You must always keep in mind that we were raised together with Him, and He made us to sit with Him in the heavenlies; so representatively, we are seated on the throne with Christ.
He is the head of the body.
We are members of that body.
So if the head is exalted, the body is exalted with it.
If He has been given all authority, that authority belongs to the Church, His body. It is for the benefit of the Church.
If He conquered all the forces of darkness and left them paralyzed and broken before He arose from the dead, it is as though we had accomplished that mighty work.
It is all reckoned to us, set to our credit.
When will our hearts take it in, and our minds become fruitful with this mighty unveiling of what we are in Christ today!
Notice carefully the twenty-second and twenty-third verses: "And he put all things in subjection under his feet, and he gave him to be head over all things for the benefit of the Church.”
We are His body—then all these malign and wicked influences are beneath our feet.
We are masters of them all.
He did not defeat them for Himself. He defeated them for us.
He did not fight that battle for His glory, but for our good.
Adam had sold us out in his sin of high treason.
Jesus redeemed us, defeated our enemy and put him beneath our feet.
When will the heart take it in?
That knowledge should become as common to us, and as usable as the multiplication table. Someone must pioneer it; begin to teach it.
Hear the next sentence: “He gave him to be head over all things for the benefit of the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all.”
We are the fullness of Him.
John 1:16 says: “Of his fullness have we all received.”
The same thing is brought out in Colossians 2:9-10: “For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and in him you are made full, who is the head of all principality and power.”
He is not only our fullness, but we are His fullness.
The word, “fullness” comes from a Greek word that is almost untranslatable: pleroma,” which means "completeness,” “perfectness,” or any other synonym that suggests fullness.
We have received of that fullness. That fullness has filled us.
Can’t you see what masters we are of demoniacal forces?
They are beneath our feet.
"But thanks be unto God, who always leadeth us in triumph in Christ." (2 Corinthians 2:14)
That is the hallelujah chorus of the New Creation, and it never becomes real until we begin to confess it, begin to tell to the world what we are in Christ.
Hebrews 9:12 tells us that this is an Eternal Redemption. Not just a redemption for the hour in which it was done, but that Satan is as much defeated now as he was when Christ arose from the dead; that he is as much a subject to the Name of Jesus as he was when Jesus conquered him.
In writing to the Corinthian Church, 1 Corinthians 2:6 (Moffatt's Trans.): "We speak wisdom, however, among them that are full-grown; it is not a wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age who are dethroned," in their master and head, Satan. This wisdom for the full-grown is something that we need to know about.
The great body of the Church are in their infancy; they are mere babes in Christ.
Many of our leaders have never passed beyond that. They are still dominated by the senses. They are big men in the sense realm!
Sense knowledge has taken the Church captive, bound our leaders and holds them captive.
Very little is known of "spiritual wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him."
Colossians 1:9-12 is almost utterly unknown: 9 For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; 10 that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; 12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.
"That we may be filled with the exact knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding."
Let's have that. That belongs to us.
There will never be a struggle after faith again.
Your prayer life will be like the Master's.
The sense of unworthiness that comes from sin-consciousness would be destroyed in that full knowledge, that "exact and perfect knowledge," of our redemption and righteousness in Christ.
He says we need this in order "to walk worthily of the Lord unto all pleasing, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in this exact knowledge of God, made powerful with his ability, according to the might of his glory, unto all steadfastness and longsuffering with joy."
What mighty men of God that would make! Notice the twelfth verse: "We will be giving thanks unto the Father who has given us the ability to enjoy our share of the inheritance of the saints in light." (Lit.)
We have passed out of the babyhood state, out of the adolescent period, into full manhood and womanhood in Christ.
What prayer bands it would make, when we know the reality of the thirteenth and fourteenth verses: "Who delivered us out of the authority of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love; in whom we have our redemption, and the remission of our trespasses."
Notice what that means. If you are conscious of a perfect redemption from Satan's dominion, you will walk with a sureness that Jesus had in His earth walk.
That sureness comes from knowing that everything you had ever done, and all that you ever were, stopped being at the New Creation.
All of your past has stopped being. You start anew.
Then if you make mistakes, you have the intercession of Jesus.
All you have to do is acknowledge your mistake and it is wiped out instantly, and your fellowship is restored.
You have been delivered out of the authority of Satan. Satan has no authority or legal right to reign over you.
You are the absolute master of Satanic forces in the Name of Jesus.
You are now in the kingdom of the Son of the Father's love.
We are masters there.
We are conquerors.
I want you to see that you hold exactly the same position that Paul held, and you have a right to do as is recorded in Colossians 1:28-29: "Admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ." He is speaking here of the New Creation man.
Now notice the 29th verse: "Whereunto I labor also, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily."
"For it is God who is at work within you, willing and working his own good pleasure."
You see this combat is not ours. It is His combat. He did it for us.
He is doing a mighty work in us, and a mighty work through us in helping others.
In Ephesians 1:3-7 we read “3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. 7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace is a picture of a God-planned, and a God-executed Redemption and New Creation.” It is a God-sized work.
Read it again, "Blessed be the God and Father of my Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed me with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ."
Now notice: "He chose us in him way back before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blemish in his presence; having in love foreordained us into the position of sons through Jesus Christ, unto Himself."
Go over that again.
Let it soak into your very being that way back; yonder before the foundation of the world God planned to have us. We are the products of that plan.
And when the fullness of time came, He said to the great heathen world: "Whosoever will, may come and become a member of my fore planned family."
It is "Whosoever will," and you have answered that call; you are a member of that holy body that can stand in His presence without the sense of guilt or condemnation.
You have been blessed with every spiritual blessing—that was purchased in the redemptive work of His Son.
It is all yours.
These riches require no faith to enjoy.
They belong to us as much as the money that was given to us by some loved one.
He tells us in the sixth verse that: "It was freely bestowed upon us in the Beloved."
Not grudgingly, not scantily, but it was according to the riches of His grace.
Notice the seventh verse: "In whom we have our redemption through his blood, the remission of our trespasses, and it according to the very riches of His love, the riches of His glory, the fullness of His grace."
How can you be a weakling?
How can you act like the ignorant and untaught?
Can't you see your place now?
You must glorify Him by taking your place in Christ.
Never think of faith again. This all belongs to you.
Never think of your worthiness, for He is your righteousness.
Don't think of your ability, because He is your ability.
Swing free then.
Come out into all the fullness of His marvelous grace.
Enjoy your rights and take your place and fill His heart with joy.
"And he raised us up with him, and made us to sit with him in the heavenlies, in Christ." (Ephesians 2:6.)
Think of yourself as seated with Him.
We do as Paul did when he cast the demon out of the insane girl: "In the Name of Jesus, come out of her."
How we should praise Him for this ability!
We are masters.
We are overcomers.
We reign with Him.
Can't you see what a background this is for a prayer life that will shake the very throne of darkness?
Think of your enemies as beneath your feet, conquered, defeated.
Stop your trying.
This is grace. All is yours.
Take your place.
Circumstances drive us to God in prayer.
The Word gives us faith to come boldly to Him.
His Name assures us that He hears our prayer.
They are filled with malignity and hatred, and will seek to make it unpleasant for you, but you are master of them.
You don't have to fight them.
Your fight is a faith fight, described in Ephesians 6:12: "Our combat is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, the world rulers of this darkness.
We are their masters, and we conquer them with words.
Jesus cast out demons with words.
He healed the sick with words.
He hushed the sea with words.
And He gave us the ability to use words, His words, His own Name that has all authority.
Thus we do as Peter did at the Beautiful Gate of the temple: we say, "In Jesus Name, rise and walk."
FORGETTETH WHAT MANNER OF MAN HE IS
"He goeth away, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he is." (James 1:24)
The New Creation man, unless he has made a careful study of what he is in Christ, in the time of stress or a crisis will forget what "manner of man he is."
We have lived so long in the realm of the senses that it is difficult for us to realize what we are in Christ.
We unconsciously lapse into the old life, seeing ourselves as we were, and not as we are.
Ephesians 1:7-9 is not a workable reality for many: "In whom we have our redemption through his blood, the remission of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, making known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he purposed in him."
This Scripture is almost an unknown quantity.
Note the first sentence: "In whom (that is, in Christ) we have our redemption" from Satan's dominion, from Satan's authority, for "we have been translated into the kingdom of the son of his love;" and Jesus has become our new Lord, our love Master, He is our caretaker, the guarantor of our ability to reign over the forces that once dominated us.
We have (a present-tense fact) our redemption from fear and the cause of fear, and we are now not only delivered, but we have become masters where once we were held in bondage.
There has been a remission of all our past trespasses, and that remission has been according to the riches of His grace.
That is an unfathomable expression of love.
Who knows what "the riches of His grace" means to us! And He made this abound toward us in all wisdom, for Christ has been made wisdom unto us.
That is a strange expression. We have the wisdom to face life's problems with prudence, and this wisdom and prudence and ability of God is His will toward us.
At first I couldn't take it in. Then I saw it.
I am His son. I must act the part of a son. I must take the place of a son. I must do the work of a son.
Then I'll need prudence. I'll need wisdom. I'll need His ability to face every contingency
This is something I possess. I need no faith to obtain it. Prayer is not necessary, for it is mine.
How often since this possession came to me I have forgotten what manner of man I was.
For the moment I have acted like a "mere man" as Weymouth puts it; a very babe.
Sense knowledge throws her dark mantle over my spirit, and I forget Him and His ability.
I forget the Name and its authority.
I forget that "greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world."
And I question for a moment.
Then He brings back to me what I am in Christ, and I joyously take my place.
Oft-times we forget our righteousness. "He has made us to be his righteousness in Christ."
The Adversary would make us forget this, and sense knowledge would cause us to doubt our worthiness and our ability to stand in His presence.
It would make us say, "Oh, if I only had faith," when faith is not needed, for "He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ."
We are rich with His riches.
We are strong with His strength in the inward man.
We should make it a business to affirm constantly what we are in Christ. Every believer should make out a list on a little card or in a notebook of what he is in Christ. Then read it over and over.
Start with the fact that: In Him I have my redemption.
In Him I am a New Creation, and Satan has no dominion over
me.
Jesus alone is my Lord.
I am the righteousness of God in Christ.
I have as much a right in Jesus’ presence, or as much a right in the Father's presence as Jesus has in His presence.
And I have a standing invitation to the throne room to come boldly and take my place as a son. I need to remember this so that I will never disgrace Him by acting like a "mere man" or by forgetting what manner of man I am.
I should remind myself that I have fellowship with Him; that I am a sharer in the burdens He has, as He is a sharer in mine.
I should remind myself that I am a member of the fruit- bearing body of Christ.
I should never allow myself to forget what manner of man He made me.
I should remember that "It is God who is at work within me, willing and working His own good pleasure."
That takes me out of the old life. I may be in the old surroundings. There may be everything about me as it was before, but this inward man of the heart has been recreated.
The real man has been made in the image of my Father God; and I have the use of the Name of Jesus; and I have my Father's ability to meet life's problems as they are.
Questions
1. What must we always keep in mind?
2. Colossians 1:9-12 is almost utterly unknown. What happens when we know we have that?
3. What does "For it is God who is at work within you, willing and working his own good pleasure." mean to us now?
4. "He chose us in him way back before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blemish in his presence” means God knew you and planned for you BEFORE He made anything else. What did He say to the heathen world (you and me before we were saved)?
5. What does “Your fight is a faith fight” mean to you now
6. Accepting God’s generous offer to join His Family takes us out of the old life. What does it do for the real man?
To know that Satan is defeated by our Substitute, and that his defeat is eternal, makes our Redemption a blessed reality.
To know that that defeat was administered to him by our Substitute, and set to our credit, so that in the records of the supreme court of the universe we are the masters of Satan, and that Satan recognizes that in the Name of Jesus we are his rulers-when the heart knows this as the body knows heat and cold, then faith is unnecessary
It is simply a fact that we have come to know; and we act upon that knowledge as we act upon the fact of the ground being able to sustain our weight.
We know that God Himself put Satan and all his ability beneath our feet, and that we are looked upon by the Father and by Satan, as a master of the dominion of darkness.
We are taking Jesus’ place.
We carry out in our daily walk the things Jesus would have done could He have been in our place.
He came to destroy the works of the Adversary.
We are completing the work that He began.
Then arise and take your place; act the part of a son; assume your responsibilities.
Dare the impossible: His Name can't fail you!
You are a victor; He made you one; get used to it, so you can play the part.
Make your confession harmonize with the facts.
You are what He says you are in Christ.
Remember His Word is truth (or reality).
Launch out boldly on the Word!
Chapter 8
HE PUT ALL THINGS IN SUBJECTION UNDER HIS FEET
In the first three chapters of the epistle to the Ephesians, we have the consummation of Christ's substitutionary work in regard to Satan and demons. Paul prays that "our eyes may be opened or enlightened, that we may know what is the richness of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what the exceeding greatness of his ability on our behalf who believe." (Ephesians 1:18-23)
He fairly shouts that, "It is according to that working of the strength of his might which he worked in the Christ, when he raised him from among the dead."
He declares the same ability that worked in the dead body of Jesus when He was raised to immortality, is at work within us.
The heart can hardly take it in that the same Might, the same Resurrection Power that worked in the dead body of Jesus is ours today
"And if the Spirit of him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwelleth in you, he that raised up Christ Jesus from the dead shall also quicken (or heal or strengthen) your mortal bodies." Romans 8:11.
"And he made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenlies, far above all rule, and authority, and power, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come."
You must always keep in mind that we were raised together with Him, and He made us to sit with Him in the heavenlies; so representatively, we are seated on the throne with Christ.
He is the head of the body.
We are members of that body.
So if the head is exalted, the body is exalted with it.
If He has been given all authority, that authority belongs to the Church, His body. It is for the benefit of the Church.
If He conquered all the forces of darkness and left them paralyzed and broken before He arose from the dead, it is as though we had accomplished that mighty work.
It is all reckoned to us, set to our credit.
When will our hearts take it in, and our minds become fruitful with this mighty unveiling of what we are in Christ today!
Notice carefully the twenty-second and twenty-third verses: "And he put all things in subjection under his feet, and he gave him to be head over all things for the benefit of the Church.”
We are His body—then all these malign and wicked influences are beneath our feet.
We are masters of them all.
He did not defeat them for Himself. He defeated them for us.
He did not fight that battle for His glory, but for our good.
Adam had sold us out in his sin of high treason.
Jesus redeemed us, defeated our enemy and put him beneath our feet.
When will the heart take it in?
That knowledge should become as common to us, and as usable as the multiplication table. Someone must pioneer it; begin to teach it.
Hear the next sentence: “He gave him to be head over all things for the benefit of the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all.”
We are the fullness of Him.
John 1:16 says: “Of his fullness have we all received.”
The same thing is brought out in Colossians 2:9-10: “For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and in him you are made full, who is the head of all principality and power.”
He is not only our fullness, but we are His fullness.
The word, “fullness” comes from a Greek word that is almost untranslatable: pleroma,” which means "completeness,” “perfectness,” or any other synonym that suggests fullness.
We have received of that fullness. That fullness has filled us.
Can’t you see what masters we are of demoniacal forces?
They are beneath our feet.
"But thanks be unto God, who always leadeth us in triumph in Christ." (2 Corinthians 2:14)
That is the hallelujah chorus of the New Creation, and it never becomes real until we begin to confess it, begin to tell to the world what we are in Christ.
Hebrews 9:12 tells us that this is an Eternal Redemption. Not just a redemption for the hour in which it was done, but that Satan is as much defeated now as he was when Christ arose from the dead; that he is as much a subject to the Name of Jesus as he was when Jesus conquered him.
In writing to the Corinthian Church, 1 Corinthians 2:6 (Moffatt's Trans.): "We speak wisdom, however, among them that are full-grown; it is not a wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age who are dethroned," in their master and head, Satan. This wisdom for the full-grown is something that we need to know about.
The great body of the Church are in their infancy; they are mere babes in Christ.
Many of our leaders have never passed beyond that. They are still dominated by the senses. They are big men in the sense realm!
Sense knowledge has taken the Church captive, bound our leaders and holds them captive.
Very little is known of "spiritual wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him."
Colossians 1:9-12 is almost utterly unknown: 9 For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; 10 that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; 12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.
"That we may be filled with the exact knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding."
Let's have that. That belongs to us.
There will never be a struggle after faith again.
Your prayer life will be like the Master's.
The sense of unworthiness that comes from sin-consciousness would be destroyed in that full knowledge, that "exact and perfect knowledge," of our redemption and righteousness in Christ.
He says we need this in order "to walk worthily of the Lord unto all pleasing, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in this exact knowledge of God, made powerful with his ability, according to the might of his glory, unto all steadfastness and longsuffering with joy."
What mighty men of God that would make! Notice the twelfth verse: "We will be giving thanks unto the Father who has given us the ability to enjoy our share of the inheritance of the saints in light." (Lit.)
We have passed out of the babyhood state, out of the adolescent period, into full manhood and womanhood in Christ.
What prayer bands it would make, when we know the reality of the thirteenth and fourteenth verses: "Who delivered us out of the authority of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love; in whom we have our redemption, and the remission of our trespasses."
Notice what that means. If you are conscious of a perfect redemption from Satan's dominion, you will walk with a sureness that Jesus had in His earth walk.
That sureness comes from knowing that everything you had ever done, and all that you ever were, stopped being at the New Creation.
All of your past has stopped being. You start anew.
Then if you make mistakes, you have the intercession of Jesus.
All you have to do is acknowledge your mistake and it is wiped out instantly, and your fellowship is restored.
You have been delivered out of the authority of Satan. Satan has no authority or legal right to reign over you.
You are the absolute master of Satanic forces in the Name of Jesus.
You are now in the kingdom of the Son of the Father's love.
We are masters there.
We are conquerors.
I want you to see that you hold exactly the same position that Paul held, and you have a right to do as is recorded in Colossians 1:28-29: "Admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ." He is speaking here of the New Creation man.
Now notice the 29th verse: "Whereunto I labor also, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily."
"For it is God who is at work within you, willing and working his own good pleasure."
You see this combat is not ours. It is His combat. He did it for us.
He is doing a mighty work in us, and a mighty work through us in helping others.
In Ephesians 1:3-7 we read “3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. 7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace is a picture of a God-planned, and a God-executed Redemption and New Creation.” It is a God-sized work.
Read it again, "Blessed be the God and Father of my Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed me with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ."
Now notice: "He chose us in him way back before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blemish in his presence; having in love foreordained us into the position of sons through Jesus Christ, unto Himself."
Go over that again.
Let it soak into your very being that way back; yonder before the foundation of the world God planned to have us. We are the products of that plan.
And when the fullness of time came, He said to the great heathen world: "Whosoever will, may come and become a member of my fore planned family."
It is "Whosoever will," and you have answered that call; you are a member of that holy body that can stand in His presence without the sense of guilt or condemnation.
You have been blessed with every spiritual blessing—that was purchased in the redemptive work of His Son.
It is all yours.
These riches require no faith to enjoy.
They belong to us as much as the money that was given to us by some loved one.
He tells us in the sixth verse that: "It was freely bestowed upon us in the Beloved."
Not grudgingly, not scantily, but it was according to the riches of His grace.
Notice the seventh verse: "In whom we have our redemption through his blood, the remission of our trespasses, and it according to the very riches of His love, the riches of His glory, the fullness of His grace."
How can you be a weakling?
How can you act like the ignorant and untaught?
Can't you see your place now?
You must glorify Him by taking your place in Christ.
Never think of faith again. This all belongs to you.
Never think of your worthiness, for He is your righteousness.
Don't think of your ability, because He is your ability.
Swing free then.
Come out into all the fullness of His marvelous grace.
Enjoy your rights and take your place and fill His heart with joy.
"And he raised us up with him, and made us to sit with him in the heavenlies, in Christ." (Ephesians 2:6.)
Think of yourself as seated with Him.
We do as Paul did when he cast the demon out of the insane girl: "In the Name of Jesus, come out of her."
How we should praise Him for this ability!
We are masters.
We are overcomers.
We reign with Him.
Can't you see what a background this is for a prayer life that will shake the very throne of darkness?
Think of your enemies as beneath your feet, conquered, defeated.
Stop your trying.
This is grace. All is yours.
Take your place.
Circumstances drive us to God in prayer.
The Word gives us faith to come boldly to Him.
His Name assures us that He hears our prayer.
They are filled with malignity and hatred, and will seek to make it unpleasant for you, but you are master of them.
You don't have to fight them.
Your fight is a faith fight, described in Ephesians 6:12: "Our combat is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, the world rulers of this darkness.
We are their masters, and we conquer them with words.
Jesus cast out demons with words.
He healed the sick with words.
He hushed the sea with words.
And He gave us the ability to use words, His words, His own Name that has all authority.
Thus we do as Peter did at the Beautiful Gate of the temple: we say, "In Jesus Name, rise and walk."
FORGETTETH WHAT MANNER OF MAN HE IS
"He goeth away, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he is." (James 1:24)
The New Creation man, unless he has made a careful study of what he is in Christ, in the time of stress or a crisis will forget what "manner of man he is."
We have lived so long in the realm of the senses that it is difficult for us to realize what we are in Christ.
We unconsciously lapse into the old life, seeing ourselves as we were, and not as we are.
Ephesians 1:7-9 is not a workable reality for many: "In whom we have our redemption through his blood, the remission of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, making known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he purposed in him."
This Scripture is almost an unknown quantity.
Note the first sentence: "In whom (that is, in Christ) we have our redemption" from Satan's dominion, from Satan's authority, for "we have been translated into the kingdom of the son of his love;" and Jesus has become our new Lord, our love Master, He is our caretaker, the guarantor of our ability to reign over the forces that once dominated us.
We have (a present-tense fact) our redemption from fear and the cause of fear, and we are now not only delivered, but we have become masters where once we were held in bondage.
There has been a remission of all our past trespasses, and that remission has been according to the riches of His grace.
That is an unfathomable expression of love.
Who knows what "the riches of His grace" means to us! And He made this abound toward us in all wisdom, for Christ has been made wisdom unto us.
That is a strange expression. We have the wisdom to face life's problems with prudence, and this wisdom and prudence and ability of God is His will toward us.
At first I couldn't take it in. Then I saw it.
I am His son. I must act the part of a son. I must take the place of a son. I must do the work of a son.
Then I'll need prudence. I'll need wisdom. I'll need His ability to face every contingency
This is something I possess. I need no faith to obtain it. Prayer is not necessary, for it is mine.
How often since this possession came to me I have forgotten what manner of man I was.
For the moment I have acted like a "mere man" as Weymouth puts it; a very babe.
Sense knowledge throws her dark mantle over my spirit, and I forget Him and His ability.
I forget the Name and its authority.
I forget that "greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world."
And I question for a moment.
Then He brings back to me what I am in Christ, and I joyously take my place.
Oft-times we forget our righteousness. "He has made us to be his righteousness in Christ."
The Adversary would make us forget this, and sense knowledge would cause us to doubt our worthiness and our ability to stand in His presence.
It would make us say, "Oh, if I only had faith," when faith is not needed, for "He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ."
We are rich with His riches.
We are strong with His strength in the inward man.
We should make it a business to affirm constantly what we are in Christ. Every believer should make out a list on a little card or in a notebook of what he is in Christ. Then read it over and over.
Start with the fact that: In Him I have my redemption.
In Him I am a New Creation, and Satan has no dominion over
me.
Jesus alone is my Lord.
I am the righteousness of God in Christ.
I have as much a right in Jesus’ presence, or as much a right in the Father's presence as Jesus has in His presence.
And I have a standing invitation to the throne room to come boldly and take my place as a son. I need to remember this so that I will never disgrace Him by acting like a "mere man" or by forgetting what manner of man I am.
I should remind myself that I have fellowship with Him; that I am a sharer in the burdens He has, as He is a sharer in mine.
I should remind myself that I am a member of the fruit- bearing body of Christ.
I should never allow myself to forget what manner of man He made me.
I should remember that "It is God who is at work within me, willing and working His own good pleasure."
That takes me out of the old life. I may be in the old surroundings. There may be everything about me as it was before, but this inward man of the heart has been recreated.
The real man has been made in the image of my Father God; and I have the use of the Name of Jesus; and I have my Father's ability to meet life's problems as they are.
Questions
1. What must we always keep in mind?
2. Colossians 1:9-12 is almost utterly unknown. What happens when we know we have that?
3. What does "For it is God who is at work within you, willing and working his own good pleasure." mean to us now?
4. "He chose us in him way back before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blemish in his presence” means God knew you and planned for you BEFORE He made anything else. What did He say to the heathen world (you and me before we were saved)?
5. What does “Your fight is a faith fight” mean to you now
6. Accepting God’s generous offer to join His Family takes us out of the old life. What does it do for the real man?