By Matt W. Leach

You’ve seen the ad where the man slaps his forehead and says, “I could have had a V-8!”  I think a lot of us Christians unintentionally settle for less than a “V-8”.  This is a challenge to drink a “V-8”. 

THREE STORIES

1.  My Great Aunt Ada had some strange ideas.  My grandfather’s sister, she was an old maid school teacher and smelled of lavender.  She had a car - a grey ’37 Plymouth Coupe with a rumble seat.  Sometimes she would let me drive.  Each time I got a lecture before we started.  You’ll never guess what the lecture was about (I was 15).   

 “Don’t use the breaks!” Aunt Ada would tell me.  “You may need them in an emergency.”  She was afraid that if she used the brakes she wouldn’t have any left for an emergency.  She would coast to a stop, bump into trees or any other handy object.  Once she crashed through the back of her garage.  The garage was a mess, but the brakes were saved for an emergency!

2.  Imagine this scene:  You’re a teen-ager.  After what seemed like forever your birthday came, and now you’ve got your driver’s license and your own set of keys.  When you want to drive, what do you say to your father?  Do you say “Oh father, I’m so unworthy.  I’m so undeserving.    Someday, maybe, if I have faith enough, in your mercy you’ll let me drive.  Your will, not mine be done.”

Is that what you say to your father?  Nonsense!  You’re his kid.  You’ve got keys.  What you say is, “Move over dad, I’ve got keys.  I’ll drive.” 

How do you dare talk like that to your father? 

“Dare?  What do you mean dare?  There’s no dare about it.  He’s my father.  I’m his kid.  If he didn’t want me to drive he shouldn’t have given me the keys!  Getting to drive his car comes with the territory.”  (Matthew 16:19)

3.  Picture another scene.  You grew up with this guy.  You went to school with him.  He was a wimp from the day you met him.  He could be downright obnoxious when he was acting up.  He’d run away from a fight, laugh when anybody made fun of him.  No one respected him.  You could beat him up with one hand tied behind your back – and you’re a girl! 

Now it happens that one day you’re driving along and come to a stop sign.  You look.  No other cars are coming, so you decide to drive through without stopping.  Everybody does it.  Oh, oh!  You hear a siren.  Nuts, the last thing you need is to be pulled over by a cop.

You stop.  The cop comes up to your window.  Standing there is the wimp – the guy you can beat up with one hand tied behind your back.  But this time it’s different.  You speak politely.  You don’t argue.  You almost thank him for stopping you.  Why?  Did he suddenly turn into a bold, fearless, aggressive strong man?  No.  He is still the same wimp.  But today he has power and authority.  Today he is wearing a uniform and badge.  You don’t mess with those!

The story about my Great Aunt Ada is true.  She was very intelligent.  She taught people to think.  Her hobby was solving and writing some of the most complicated word puzzles I’ve ever seen.  If there was anyone who should have had enough sense to use her brakes it was Aunt Ada.  I could not figure her out.  Her obsession with not using brakes was illogical.  It didn’t fit her character.

The funny thing is I’ve met Christians like that.  They’ve got brakes but don’t use them.  They bump into trees (avoidable daily troubles).  They drive through the back of the garage (the destructive things that attack us).  They fit Paul’s description of people who have the form of religion but none of its power.

For <although> they hold a form of piety (true religion), they deny and reject and are strangers to the power of it….2 Timothy 3:5a  (AMP)

James put it rather forcefully:

James 1:22 (MESSAGE)  Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear!.  

This is a serious problem – to have power and authority and never use it.  If we Christians are to be victors in life and not victims, overcomers and not the overcome, the head and not the tail (Deuteronomy 28:13), we need to get straightened out on what we got when we got saved.  There is more to the package than just having our sins forgiven.  We got brakes and we’re supposed to use them!  Those brakes are power – power to stop  bumps and power to stop crashes.  Look at these three examples of power.

1.  We got Power of Attorney.  Jesus said He has given us the power of attorney to use His name to do greater things than He did: John 14:12; Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15-18; John 16:23; Acts 3:6.  We can’t earn it.  We don’t deserve it.  It comes with salvation and we’re expected to use it.

2.  We got Power over Satan.  Jesus gave us physical and mental power over all the strength, might and ability of the devil, God’s most bitter and intense enemy:  (Luke 10:19.  James 4:7).  He didn’t say “Ask Me and I’ll resist Satan for you.”  He said, “I’ve given YOU the power and authority.  YOU resist Satan.  YOU make Satan flee.”

3.  We got Power to Reign.   When you got saved you got adopted as God’s child.  You are the child of a King.  YOU have rights and privileges.  YOU have access to the throne.  Learn to use it.  Learn to control your tongue so that you too can use words as God uses words.  (Romans 5:17; Galatians 3:26, 4:4-7; James 1:26, 3:1-12; Mark 11:23-24; Matthew 12:34-37; 2 Peter 3:5; Philippians 2:13; Read Ephesians 1:3-11 in Peterson’s THE MESSAGE)

IMAGINE THE SCENE:

The kid who just got his driver’s license understands a basic fact.  He can drive the car anytime he wants because he’s got the keys.  Yes, it’s his father’s car.  But he’s got the keys.  If his father didn’t want him to drive the car he shouldn’t have given him the keys.  It has nothing to do with whether he’s a good kid or a bad kid, whether or not he has done his chores, or done his homework, or talked back to his mother and said some things he shouldn’t have.  He’s his father’s son and he’s got the keys. 

We’ve got keys too.  Ours are the keys to the Kingdom.  Jesus gave them to us.  They are ours to use.  If God didn’t want us to use them He shouldn’t have given them to us!  But He did.  He’s our Father, and we’ve got the keys.  These keys are keys of power and authority.

Matthew 16:19; 18:19-20   (MESSAGE)  And that’s not all. You will have complete and free access to God’s kingdom, keys to open any and every door: no more barriers between heaven and earth, earth and heaven. A yes on earth is yes in heaven. A no on earth is no in heaven….   When two of you get together on anything at all on earth and make a prayer of it, my Father in heaven goes into action. And when two or three of you are together because of me, you can be sure that I’ll be there.

Some of the keys are:

1.  The Key of Binding and Loosing, locking and unlocking.  By the authority of Jesus’ name we bind evil and evil activity, demons and demonic activity.  We bind and cast out sickness and disease and deny it the right to inflict us.  We loose good, health, healing, wholeness, jobs, blessings (Philippians 2:9-11).

2.  The Key Of Healing.  We lay hands on the sick and they recover (Mark 16:18; James 5:14-16).  We speak the word and it is done (Matthew 8:8; John 14:12)

3.  The Key of Winning Spiritual Warfare.   The authority that guarantees we win has been given us (Luke 10:19; Mark 16:17; James 4:7; 2 Timothy 2:7; 1 John 4:4)

4.  The Key of Having What We Say.  If Jesus spoke the truth, if we believe it, if  He meant what He said, and said what He meant, if we speak aright, and stand firm for as long as it takes, what we say will come to pass (Mark 11:23-24; James 4:3; Ephesians 6:13).

5.  The Key to Winning the World to Jesus.  We don’t do it on our own.  We do it fully equipped.  We have been commissioned to go and tell (Matthew 28:18-20).  Jesus goes with us confirming His word with signs following us wherever we go (Mark 16:20).  We have been given the power to accomplish this assignment (Acts 1:8).  The key to winning the world is to lift Jesus up for the world to see, and HE will do the drawing to Himself (John 12:32).

PICTURE ANOTHER SCENE

The man turned policeman had not changed.  What he had been before he still was.  But two significant changes had taken place.  First, he had become authorized to wear the uniform and badge when on duty.  Second, when he was on duty he got to use the power and authority that went with the uniform.  His power and authority were in the  uniform and badge he was authorized to wear. 

Christians also have a uniform they have been authorized to wear.  The authorization to wear it has nothing to do with the worthiness or unworthiness of the person.  The policeman takes an oath.  So does the Christian.  The policeman swears to uphold and enforce the law.  The Christian swears to take Jesus as his Lord and Savior and to have and serve no other gods but his Heavenly Father.

When you become a Christian certain legal things happen automatically.  First, you are adopted as God’s child (Romans 8:15-16) with all the rights and privileges thereof.  This makes Jesus your elder brother (Romans 8:29).  Next, you immediately become an heir of Abraham and all the promises made to Abraham (Galatians 3:7, 29).  You get to put on God’s armor and go to battle against the worst Satan can do (Ephesians 6:10-17).  It’s always a trouncing for Satan when you’re properly suited up.  It’s God’s armor that does the job, God’s sword (word) that cuts Satan to pieces.  And you get to wear it.

God is strong, and he wants you strong.  So take everything the Master has set out for you, well-made weapons of the best materials. And put them to use so you will be able to stand up to everything the Devil throws your way.  This is no afternoon athletic contest that we’ll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels.  Be prepared. You’re up against far more than you can handle on your own. Take all the help you can get, every weapon God has issued, so that when it’s all over but the shouting you’ll still be on your feet.  (THE MESSAGE)

I would suggest reading Ephesians in Eugene Peterson’s THE MESSAGE.  It is refreshing, and helps one to grasp what Paul is writing. 

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