There are three things that are required in order to have a kingdom. There must be a king or leader. There must be subjects to rule or lead, and there must be a land, territory, or domain. A king or leader cannot rule or govern a territory by himself. So, kings or leaders must have some form of government made up of administrators, managers, officers, and/or ambassadors to represent and enforce the authority of that kingdom or domain.
Genesis 1:26-28 “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So, God created man in His own image; in the image of God, He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’” NKJ
Ephesians 1:17-23 “… making mention of you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 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.” NKJ
Isaiah 9:6 “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” NKJ
Jesus is the head and we are His body. Therefore, His government rests upon us. We are the ones He has given His authority to carry out His will.
Psalm 110:1 “A Psalm of David. The LORD said to my Lord , ‘Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.’” NKJ
Colossians 3:1 “… Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.” NKJ
If, Jesus is sitting at the right hand of God, then who is in charge of making His enemies His footstool? You and I, His Body!
Ephesians 2:1-6 “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” NKJ
Jesus gave us His authority over His domain which is over all things. He gave us back what Adam lost. Jesus’ conversation with the Pharisees makes it clear how important it is for us to recognize the Kingdom being inside us as born-again believers.
Matthew 12:28-30 “But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house. He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.” NKJ
According to Jesus’ own words, if we don’t allow the Kingdom of Heaven to work through us then at best, we are being wasteful with what God has given us. Or, at the worst, we are working against Him by not believing healing and deliverance is for us today.
Don’t wait around for God to do something He has already done through Jesus’ work on the cross. The new birth gives us the power and authority.
Matthew 16:19 “And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” NKJ
Ephesians 6:12 “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” NKJ
There are no principalities, powers, or rulers of darkness in Heaven. So, Jesus gave us power and authority to intervene in the battles that are going on right now in the atmosphere surrounding the earth.
Luke 10:19 “Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” NKJ
Jesus commissioned all believers to operate in His power and authority.
Matthew 10:7-8 “And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.” NKJ
Mark 16:14,17-19 “Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen… ’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.’ So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the Word through the accompanying signs. Amen.” NKJ
This simply means they were not doing anything in their own strength, their own power, or their own authority. It wasn’t because they were the 11 disciples who were more righteous than everyone else.
2 Corinthians 5:21 “For He (God) made Him (Jesus) who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (Jesus).” NKJ
Romans 5:6-11 “For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.” NKJ
We have been restored back to the power and authority Adam lost in the fall. God intended for mankind to be the ruler of this world.
We did not obtain anything by being good, by being religious, or keeping laws. There is nothing we can do to earn righteousness, reconciliation, or gain back what Adam lost.
Romans 3:21-26 “But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the Justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” NKJ
Hebrews 11:6 “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” NKJ
Trying to establish our own right standing with God, means we are being disobedient and insubordinate to God.
Romans 10:3-10 “’For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, ‘The man who does those things shall live by them.’ But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way, ‘Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ (That is, to bring Christ down from above) or, ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ (That is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” NKJ
