We Have Governmental Authority

In Matthew 16:18, after Peter confessed Jesus “...is the Christ, the Son of the living God,” Jesus said “...on this rock I will build my church.” The word He uses for church is the Greek word ecclesia. I'd have guessed it meant the Greek word for the Jewish synagogue, their church of the day. But that's not what it means. It's a very strange word to use for church. Wikipedia has a great article on this word http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecclesia_(ancient_Athens).

It means the ruling assembly of a Greek city-state. It's a word about government. What?!? I know, right! Didn't Jesus know about the separation of church and state? It may come as a shock to many that some American concepts aren't reflected in the Kingdom of God.

But Jesus isn't talking about governing and being in charge like we humans think of it, He's talking about authority. He goes on to say, “... the gates of Hell will not overcome it. 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.” See? It's all about authority.

So what's the point? The point is we have governmental authority over our lives and the atmosphere around us. So if we say, “Nobody likes me, I'll never have any friends,” we are making a governmental declaration. As the Bride of Christ, we have His authority to do that. Then a demon says, “Ok, they decreed, I can make that happen.” And something always happens to drive our would-be friends away.

Or how about, “I'm fat and always will be.” A demon will carry out our decree and we will never lose weight no matter what we do. Any time we say, “That's just the way I am, I'll never be free of this ____,” fill in the blank for you, we're decreeing defeat for ourselves.

What we need to do is start believing God and declaring the opposite. If you're a women with self-image problems, start declaring over yourself verses in Song of Songs 4:1-15 where the Lover is talking about His beautiful Beloved (that's Jesus talking about you, BTW.) Denounce any negative decrees from the past and make positive ones, consistent with how God sees us. Then we will start walking in our true identity.