ICS Daily Devotions
From the Position of Victory
Ephesians 1:19-23 And what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. And He put ALL things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
Sometimes we are concerned about the backlash that comes from the devil when we serve or minister on behalf of the Lord. But there is nothing to fear if we know whom we serve, the position that Christ holds, and our spiritual position with Him. It gives us faith, boldness, confidence and increases the effectiveness of our ministry.
And what position do we hold with Christ? He gave us the power through the Holy Spirit, and that means victory when He asks us to go and preach the gospel. We will be ministering and sharing from a position of victory!
Ephesians tells us that Jesus has been raised to a spiritual position in the heavenly order beside the Father, far above demonic powers. They are under his feet! The church is the body of Christ, and Jesus is the head of the church. Therefore, if the devil is under Jesus’ feet then the rightful position of demons should be under our feet as well! We should hold the devil down under us and not allow him to fool us or reign over us!
We are not weaklings or simply a group of Christians trying to use our own strength and loud voices to defeat the devil. We are able to enforce the victory that Christ has won because His name has been given to the church to use in order to evangelize the land. We pray from this position of victory, we preach from this position of victory, and we minister from this position of victory!
The spiritual realm is real and we need to learn about it. We need to know that we are fighting a spiritual battle, whether we are evangelizing or protecting our families against the disturbances of the devil! We need to know so that we will not be fearful, because without Christ, there is reason to be afraid. But with him, there is only victory!
As believers, we live in two worlds – our body lives in this natural, physical world and our spirit lives in the spiritual world. Satan is an interloper in the physical world, but we have spiritual authority, armor and weapons that will enable us to live free from his control. We can rule and reign in life by the grace of Christ Jesus.
Our physical bodies require natural things in order to continue to live, but spiritually we are seated in heavenly places with Christ Jesus. That means we are spiritually far above all principalities, powers, the mighty and dominions, and every name that is named not only in this age but also in that which is to come. Even the angels do not have the blessing we carry.
“In Jesus’ Name”… is a tag-line we often put at the end of prayers, and we forget how powerful it is. But, there is tremendous power in Jesus’ name! All the authority that was in Jesus is in His Name. The good news is he has given his name to the church. He has given it to you and to me to use it. Satan has no right to impose his control over us. Rather, we can use the name of Jesus to resist his attacks upon us and upon others. We need to go out and use his name to continue the work that Christ began on earth!
Mark 16:17-18 And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
But, we must remain humble and acknowledge that it is Christ who asks us to sit in such spiritual authority. It is he that wants us to enforce his victory. You and I have this spiritual position because God has graciously given it to us. It is not by our name that we minister to church members, share the gospel, cast out demons, or pray for the sick. Every sickness has a name but the name of Jesus is above every other name! Cancer is a name, arthritis is a name, flu is a name, fever is a name, but the name of Jesus is above them all. Pray in the name of Jesus and enforce his victory!
Series: The Heart and Passion of Christ
