Eph 1:17-23 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, 18 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, 19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power 20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21 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. 22 And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
This week I want to talk about each one of our personal destiny's and the true destiny of the body of Christ. So many people, I've met over the years have no idea what their personal call and destiny is, or how they fit into the body of Christ as a whole. Vrs. 18 above says, we can know the hope of our call and what our true inheritance is. So I'm going to pray right now that the eyes of your understanding would open and you would know the true hope of your calling, and you would know what your true inheritance is and you would arise and shine with the glory that has already been given! Amen! The book of Ephesians points out very clearly our personal destiny and the true destiny of the Church! Vrs. 19 says great power is given to us who believe!
Power :NT:1411 dunamis (doo'-nam-is); from NT:1410; force (literally or figuratively); specially, miraculous power (usually by implication, a miracle itself):KJV - ability, abundance, meaning, might (-ily, -y, -y deed), (worker of) miracle (-s), power, strength, violence, mighty (wonderful) work.
This word dunamis, is where we get our English word dynamite from! It's time to step out today and let the explosive miraculous power flow from you , which is more than enough to cure all sickness and disease!
Eph 1:20-23 Which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21 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. 22 And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father and so are we! He is far above all principality, power , might, dominion above every name in this age and the one that is to come. So are we! We really are both here and there! We are his body seated with Him in heavenly places and His bride preparing ourselves! This is the true essence of relationship. We are one with him. Vrs 22 & 23 tells us that everything is under His feet! We are His body and everything is under our feet!
Let's look at the destiny of the church corporately in the earth.
Rom 16:17-20 Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them. 18 For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple. 20 For your obedience has become known to all. Therefore I am glad on your behalf; but I want you to be wise in what is good, and simple concerning evil. 20 And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen. NKJV
Paul commends the Roman church for their obedience. He was telling them (And us) to know the simplicity of Good and Evil. One of the main strategies of our enemy is to use someone with impure motives to divide the brethren. The question is: Are you at peace? When we are truly walking with the Prince of Peace, we will be at peace. It is wise to not allow anyone steal your peace or let them slander someone else in your presence. This will set you up to be suspicious of the person they slander. It will most likely rob you of your peace. We need to understand the simplicity of good and evil. This is a very revealing scripture concerning the mandate of the corporate body of Christ. The God of peace is going to crush satan underneath our feet shortly! This not just a demon, but the leader of them! The God of peace is going to crush satan underneath our feet shortly! Let that sink in! Now lets look at another passage of scripture in Ephesians.
Eph 2:4-8 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. NKJV
How you see is very important. We must see from a position of authority. He has raised us up and made us to sit in heavenly places with Christ Jesus. That means every enemy is under our feet now!
Eph 5:22-33 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. 24 Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. 28 So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. 30 For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. 31For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. 32 This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. 33 Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. NKJV
This is one of the most revealing portions of scripture in the Bible. It reveals the true relationship that we have with Jesus as the church. The theological question that always comes up when talking about the end times is: Are we the Body of Christ ? Or are we the Bride of Christ? The answer to the question is: Both! In vrs. 26 and 27, we are called: "her". In Vrs. 30, we are called "members of His body!" This also answers the next question that comes up. Are we coming back as the saints with Jesus to rule and reign? Or are we His bride preparing ourselves for him? The answer again is both! How can this be? We are both here and there now! We are standing here right now, and we are seated in heavenly places now! The Lord in the Old Testament would show the prophets a vision, and then ask them what do you see? When God would ask them "What do you see?" It' s not that God did not know the answer to question. He wanted to know if the prophet was seeing correctly in what God was trying to show him. What do you see?
Eph 6:10-12 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 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.
Remember, How we see makes all the difference in how much authority we will walk in. Do we see ourselves seated in heavenly places ruling and reigning with Jesus now? Seeing correctly puts us far above principalities and powers. Everything is under your feet, when you see this correctly. This does not depend on our own strength and power. We must realize that whatever authority or power we have comes directly from Jesus. He is the author and finisher of our faith! This indeed is where authority comes from. It comes from the author. Author means originator. If we remind ourselves where our true authority originates, we will never rely on our own strength. Be strong in the Lord and the power of His might! The Lord designed our authority to function a certain way, so we would not be defeated. We must take our direction from the Head. Jesus is the head of the body and head of the church, in which we are members. We must put on the whole armor of God, so we will be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. The armor is: "Being strong in the Lord and the power of His might!" This armor is battle gear! We were not met to just survive until Jesus comes and takes us out of this evil cruel world! Our destiny is:"To exercise real authority over all the enemy and become part of a kingdom takeover in which the church begins to rule and reign and prepares for our and coming king!" We are His bride and His body! All of creation is waiting to see the manifestation of the "sons of God"
We must begin to see from a Kingdom prospective. We are called as a bride to prepare ourselves for Him! This is spending time in His presence and getting to really know Him! Then we will begin to see His vision. He wants to see the lost saved, the sick healed, the dead raised, the back slider restored, the oppressed set free, the nations discipled and His church become glorious ,pure and without spot nor wrinkle. We must see His kingdom rapidly expanding to the ends of the earth. This is going to require a battle! We first need to realize this is going to require courage in the face of dark times. But our strength is going to come directly from the Lord and power is His power released through us. We are told to put on the full armor of God, that we may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. Every piece of armor exposes those schemes!
Schemes: (Wiles) (Strongs): NT:3180 GREEK methodeia (meth-od-i'-ah); from a compound of NT:3326 and NT:3593 ; travelling over, i.e. travesty (trickery): KJV - wile, lie in wait.
Schemes: (Websters) scheme1 a systematic plan or arrangement for achieving a particular object or effect. 2 a secret or underhand plan; a plot. 3 a particular ordered system or pattern: 1 make plans in an underhand way; plot.
To sum up schemes, they are underhanded plans, plots and tricks designed to kill, steal and destroy the people of God and render them ineffective. Remember our strength and power comes from the Lord!
One of the schemes that satan uses against us are words designed to rob us of our confidence to walk forward in the destiny God has for us. These are the flaming missiles that we are to block with our shield of faith! Our faith comes from the words of love that God speaks over our lives! He loves you! No matter what any demon in hell or person has said to you or about you. God loves you! He cares about you! He has plans to prosper you! He has a hope and future for you! Do not be discouraged, rise up and take your place in His- Story! And it is His Story!
Stand therefore, having your waist girded with the belt of truth! Jesus is the way, the truth and the life! He is the truth you come to know and are set free! Receive the truth of how much He loves you and be set free! The belt of truth holds all of the rest of the armor in place. Do not receive into your head or spirit those curse words that would steal your confidence of how valuable you are to our loving Father who sent His only Son, who paid the ultimate price for you!
In the season we have just entered, you are going to have to know who you are in Christ and where you fit. It is important that you press into this now! We as a church must realize our place in His-story! We are destined to become His glorious church without spot or wrinkle! Arise and shine for this is our time! We were born for such a time as this!
Eph 5:26-27 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. NKJV
Eph 5:30 For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. NKJV
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