The church has an identity problem. We see ourselves congregating in our homes, our churches, our Christian schools, trying to keep the big bad devil at bay. We see the world around us enacting laws that encroach upon our liberties and we feel helpless and afraid. So we boycott businesses, show our outrage in social media, and reminisce about the good ole days when we could say, “Merry Christmas”, from the safety of our Sunday morning pews.
But I don’t think that is the church God has called us to be. The fact is the world is hostile to Christians. But that fact should not surprise us because Jesus predicted it and the 1st century church modeled what it looked like. However, the truth is we are called to be a glorious church, an overcoming church, a kick Satan’s butt church, an emptying hell populating heaven church, a heal the sick-raise the dead-cleanse the leper-love your neighbor church.
When Jesus said, “the gates of hell shall not withstand us”, He meant we would storm hell’s gates and tear it down. He meant we were on the offense. We are the aggressors against evil (never against people but against evil spirits). Jesus said one of the key resources to storming hell’s gates, is the act of binding and loosing.
We take authority and command to go anything contrary to the will of God in our lives. But we also release the will of God over our lives. For instance, this morning I’m praying: “I take authority over and bind all knee pain and knee degeneration in my body. I release health, wholeness and God’s healing and restorative power into my knees.”
Begin to bind the work of the enemy anywhere he raises his ugly head in your life and loose God’s will into your circumstance. That’s how we stand as a glorious church. That’s how we storm hell’s gate. That’s how we fight!
“I will give you the keys (authority) of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind [forbid, declare to be improper and unlawful] on earth will have [already] been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose [permit, declare lawful] on earth will have [already] been loosed in heaven.””
MATTHEW 16:19 AMP