authority | Grace and Truth

I’ve just come back after preaching on the city streets this morning with two other ladies. The thing that has impressed me most is this : there is power and authority in the Name of Jesus Christ.

The devil knows it. But he doesn’t want us to know it.

The devil was trembling and tried everything to stop us going in today. He wasn’t fearful of us. He was fearful of the gospel being preached in the power of The Name. I had horrible nightmares last night, two ladies who were supposed to come with us got sick, the road into the city was literally blocked and our usual car park closed off.

Within minutes of being there one of the young ladies with me was reduced to tears after a conversation with someone.

I knew it was the devil trying his hardest to stop this girl from preaching the gospel. I advised her not to take it personally, the devil is doing his best to stop us and her in particular. She has just recently turned from sin and God is moving powerfully in and through her. So praise God she kept going. And wow, she preached today! First time ever on the PA and she preached the gospel! Praise God.

A severely handicapped man tried to unplug me as the anointing fell. I politely told him to remove his hands from my property.

Another man tried to shut us down because we didn’t have a permit. (We don’t need a permit).

I think Satan was particularly scared because yesterday as I prayed and fasted about street-ministry today Holy Spirit gave me this scripture:

“…You are to cross over the Jordan today, and go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourself, cities great and fortified up to heaven, a people great and tall, the descendants of the Anakim, whom you know, and of whom you heard it said, ‘Who can stand before the descendants of Anak?’ Therefore understand today that the Lord your God is He who goes over before you as a consuming fire. He will destroy them and bring them down before you; so you shall drive them out and destroy them quickly, as the Lord has said to you.” Deuteronomy 9:1-3

I am here to tell you that there is power in the Name of Jesus. At the name of Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord! The devil cannot stop the gospel going forth. No man can stop it. There is no power on earth that is more powerful than the blood of Jesus Christ! Hallelujah to the Lamb! He is a great and mighty God and He is mighty to save. The devil is aware of his own defeat at the cross, but he would like to stop us from finding that out.

“Satan cannot stand against us when we dare to believe God and claim the power God has for us, the same power God showed when He raised Christ from the dead and gave Him a place above all principalities and powers.” Joshua – Victorious by Faith, Theodore Epp

Do not fear. People are just people. They are not nearly as scary as we imagine them to be. What can man do to us? Kill us? Maybe, but we will go to be with the Lord and the gospel will go out even stronger.

But God is God, and He is calling each one of us to go forth in the power of the Name of Jesus and wage war against sin.

All honour praise and glory to the Lamb!

“If Jesus had preached the same message that ministers preach today, He would never have been crucified.” (Leonard Ravenhill)

“What are you doing?”

“WHAT are you doing?”

The man was standing on my right hand side, and he was very, very close. Yesterday morning I was preaching in the city. It had been a great morning, with very little resistance to the gospel. In fact, astonishingly, people had been quite open to it. As soon as I’d started preaching some individuals had immediately come over to talk to the others and ask for tracts (I’ve never seen that before!). But then this man: he couldn’t have been standing more than a foot away from me. It made me uncomfortable.

“What are you doing?” he said to me again.

“I will talk to you when I’m finished,” I said, momentarily pausing from preaching. I could see that he wasn’t about to go anywhere soon.

I turned my back to him slightly and kept going, trying to ignore him.

I usually get nervous when I go to the streets, but I’ve never been afraid. There is a difference.

Something the Lord has caused me to see is that when I am sent somewhere by the Holy Spirit, then I am going in the authority of Jesus Christ. I am going in His Name. It is like an ambassador being sent from the US to another country. He goes with the authority of the US and with the strength of the US behind him. When we go out from Jesus’ presence into the world we go as His ambassador. We go under His authority and we have the whole of Heaven behind us, supporting us, cheering us on.

“…and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him, who fills all in all.”

JESUS IS LORD!

There is nothing to fear when we walk with the King of kings, the Lord of Lords.

Back to that man standing close to me: as I spoke with him it became obvious there was a proud, religious spirit manifesting. (…”You don’t know the Bible….You don’t know Jesus….I know Jesus…I know Him better than anyone, better than He knows Himself…“) – and, yes, he actually said that.

The Holy Spirit was grieved by this and He had me take authority over the situation. I had no choice but to tell him politely but firmly that his heart was not right, that he was wasting my time and that I was ending the conversation with him. I walked away. As Christians we are to show love to people but zero tolerance to Satan.

“I am well assured that I did far more good to my Lincolnshire parishioners by preaching three days on my father‟s tomb than I did by preaching three years in his pulpit.” John Wesley

Read more about street-preaching here