Monday, December 3, 2012

Idoltry, Demons & the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven


By V.K. Bronz

It is only Jesus that has all authority and it is Jesus in us that causes us to walk in authority.   He that is Holy, He that is true If we lack a close walk with our lord we can end up as the seven sons of Seva who tried to cast the demons out of a man and the demons said Jesus I know Peter I know but who are you? And the demons jumped on the sons and beat them.

Even the disciples when faced with powerful demons could not cast them out. Why? Jesus said it was that particular kind of demons could only come out with prayer and fasting.

“And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
(Mt. 16:19)  Authority of Christ given to the church

King Asa went about tearing down the idols of the land and turning the hearts of the people back to god after the previous king had turned them to idolatry. When Asa did this the people prospered and there was no war, they had peace in the land.

“And he built fenced cities in Judah: for the land had rest and he had no war in those years; because the Lord had given him rest. Therefore he said unto Judah, Let us build these cities, and make about them walls, and towers and gates, and bars, while the land is yet before us; because we have sought the Lord our God, we sought him and he hath given us rest on every side. So they built and prospered. (II Chr. 14:6-7)

When we come to that place of rest in our Lord's trustworthiness and surrender our own will: That is when we can build and prosper; you’ll notice that while they were at rest they built towers, walls, gates and bars and an army for their protection, not because they didn’t trust the protection of the Lord but that they would be prepared for their enemies.

Not only is this true in the natural but spiritually. Historically we have walked away from God when we are at rest and prospering, so we must continue to be prepared and diligent to seek the lord our God watching always that the enemy would not come in and steal what God has given.

While Asa and Jerusalem were at rest the Lord allowed an invading Army, that had hundreds of thousands of troops, to come: “and Asa cried unto the Lord his God, and said, Lord it is nothing with thee to help, whether with many or with them that have no power: help us, O Lord our God; for we rest on thee, and in thy name we go against this multitude. O Lord thou art our God; let not man prevail against thee”. (II Chr. 14:11)

Isn’t that just incredible? Asa’s heart was perfect toward God. He had not let himself or his people become occupied with prospering or ministering etc., they loved the Lord and were ready when god came to test their loyalty.

It was God that allowed the Army to come (not Satan) that the people might be blessed even further; as they fought the invading army they took exceeding great spoil! Asa really believed God, that he would keep them who had no power against this enemy.

God’s eyes truly do go to and fro throughout the earth looking to bless those whose heart is perfect toward Him! Bless the Lord oh my soul and all that is within me bless his holy name.

Oh people if we would only learn, there is no other way to gain the blessing and authority of God except we follow Jesus who holds all blessing and all righteousness and all life within Him. When the enemy comes it is because God has allowed it to test our faith in his faithfulness. He will use it to bless us even further.

There is no offering we can make or promise, when we give our life to the lord that is when we have already made a vow to him to totally relinquish control to the Holy Spirit and be obedient to His promptings.
If we will set our hearts upon god and set our hearts to cleanse the land (our life) of all its filth and idolatry God will come and perform his word.

It would be as Daniel when the messenger of God came to speak to him. “And he said unto me, O Daniel, a man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak unto thee, and stand upright: for unto thee am I now sent. And when he had spoken this word unto me, I stood trembling. Than said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didest set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words. (Dan. 10:11-12)

If we set our heart to love the Lord our God with all of our heart and all of our soul and all of our might we will automatically begin to perform that which is right in the sight of God, in our relationship with God our relationship with our spouse and children and with our church and with our government

The Lord sent word through John to the church of Ephesus that he was contemplating taking the spirit of light from them. Ephesus was a wonderful church from all outward appearances; you know they were in the word, because they had discerning ability. They could discern between the real and the false prophet, the Lord himself says they had the light and he was thinking of taking it.

Ephesus also had it going in missionary works with patience and longsuffering and they kept themselves separate from the evil that they would be unspotted from the world. They were abiding within the holiness life style. This is so much more then the church today.  So why was Jesus upset with them, so much so that he was threatening to take their light from them? It is not enough that we have light; it is not enough that we preach the gospel and it is not enough that we keep ourselves unspotted from the world. Jesus wants our love at all times. All of the above must be done out of our love for Jesus or there is no life in it and it becomes just works.

We start out in love with the Lord, so much so that we follow all his precepts and involve our lives with just him and his works, but then something horrible happens, we become the Pharisees, we begin to do all the works that are required but we have been so occupied with the church life or work or family life we are no longer in love with our lord.

“Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks; I know thy works, and thy labor, and thy patience, and how thou canest not bare them which are evil; and thou has tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars: and hast borne and hast patience, and for my name sake hast labored, and hast not fainted.

Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly and will remove his candlestick out of his place, except thou repent”. (Rev. 2:1-5)

The Lord says do the first works; by saying this we can see what has happened, their walk with God has become works, things they do for God. Jesus is telling them go back to the beginning and love me, forget about the works and just love me.