While sending out His Own to preach the gospel:
“Jesus summoned His twelve disciples and gave them authority and power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness. “And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. Do not take gold, or silver, or [even] copper money in your money belt, or a provision bag for your journey, or even two tunics, or sandals, or a staff; for the worker deserves his support.”
Matthew 10:1, 7-10 AMP
Jesus sent out the twelve disciples with authority and power over unclean spirits. They were commanded to cast them out; and to heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers and cast out demons as well. This charge to them from Jesus was carried out strictly as they were commanded. They healed the sick, raised the dead, cleanse the lepers as they went everywhere casting out the demons; that had brought those sicknesses and diseases on the people. The outcome of their act of obedience brought glory and honor to God.
They had everything that they needed to do the work of the Kingdom of God, as they obeyed the command of Jesus. As long as we are walking in obedience to the command of Jesus, as the twelve disciples did, we will always get the same outcome that they got.
The major problem with evangelizing the world today is in the believer’s use of his authority and power. Every believer in Christ has the authority and power, even though some are still ignorant of what they do have.
However, the use of the believer’s authority and power is being misapplied by some for personal benefit, instead of the expansion of God’s Kingdom on the earth.
This is why they are not getting the results that are meant, to be accompanying the declaration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Our authority and power had been given to us for the purpose that were listed above in the statement by Jesus. No where in the scriptures will you ever see the disciples of Jesus using that authority, for something else that Jesus had not commanded them to be using it for.
As believers in the name of Jesus we have been given all authority and power in heaven and on earth, to declare and decree the purposes and judgements of God over every works of the devil.
Jesus gave us the same authority and power that He had on the earth, in doing the work of the Kingdom of God just as He did it. We are just like Jesus on the earth. Everything that He is doing on the earth today, He is doing through the believers in His Name.
This is how He rules and reigns on the earth today through His Body – the Church. He cannot do anything on the earth today without the help of His Body:
“God’s purpose in all this was to use the church to display his wisdom in its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.”
Ephesians 3:10 NLT
The Body of Christ is rich in every variety of God’s wisdom. But without the proper use of the authority that Christ had given to us, there can be no display of His wisdom, to the rulers of the darkness of this world in the heavenly places.
The Body of Christ is weak when we are not tapping into all that Jesus had made available to us, for reigning on the earth with Him. That’s why Jesus is seeking for those who are committed to the Father, in their Covenant relationship with Him by His blood on the earth.
These are the ones who are walking in authority and power on the earth, against every works of the devil. Their ability to tap into the Covenant relationship with Him, is making them stronger and bolder with the use of their authority. They are unstoppable by the evil one in everything that they are doing.
Jesus is seeking for the Covenant minded believers in His name on the earth today. It’s only those who are committed to their Covenant relationship with the Father, who are really abiding in Him. They are protected by the banner of His love over them.
It’s through our ability to stay committed to Him, while keeping ourselves faithful to the Covenant with the use of our authority and power, that the Body of Christ can truly be able to do the work of the Kingdom of God on the earth.
There are however a lot of Christians who have compromised their Covenant relationship with Him. This is why they are unable to walk in authority and power, as they ought to be doing.
A double minded believer in the Covenant relationship with God will be compromised in use of the authority and power that he has. And that is why many are not advancing forcefully against the enemy. A compromised Church cannot stand in the victory which Christ had given Her.
Jesus said:
“From the days of John, the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violent assault, and violent men seize it by force [as a precious prize].”
Matthew 11:12 AMP
Those who are passionate about the Kingdom of heaven on the earth, are the ones who are exercising their faith to forcefully advance God’s Kingdom. For them everything that they are doing in the Kingdom of God, is on the basis of their Covenant with Him. God’s Kingdom is the most precious prize of the earth that they are seeking. Nothing else in the world matters to them, as long as they are walking faithfully in their Covenant relationship with the Lord God.
But when the attitude of a Christian towards God’s Kingdom on the earth is compromised, because he wants to please the world rather than pleasing God; then souls won’t get saved, the sick won’t get healed and the captives won’t get delivered.
Our attitude towards the Covenant with the use of the authority that we do possess, ultimately determines the outcome of the gospel as it is being declared.
It is impossible to serve the Lord God and the devil at the same time. You can’t be in a Covenant relationship with God and the devil or the world at the same time. It’s also impossible to be devoted to God and the world at the same time either.
You are either on God’s side, the devil’s side or the world’s side. You can’t please one and satisfy the others. Except you are really in covenant with either the devil or the world.
Unfortunately, there are many who are doing this. They are trying to satisfy the world and God at the same time. But it’s never possible.
The result is that they are not growing in faith. They are also not walking in dominion and authority against the forces of evil on this earth.
The Bible says:
“They [who teach twisted doctrine] are of the world and belong to it; therefore, they speak from the [viewpoint of the] world [with its immoral freedom and baseless theories—demanding compliance with their opinions and ridiculing the values of the upright], and the [gullible one of the] world listens closely and pays attention to them. We [who teach God’s word] are from God [energized by the Holy Spirit], and whoever knows God [through personal experience] listens to us [and has a deeper understanding of Him]. Whoever is not of God does not listen to us. By this we know [without any doubt] the spirit of truth [motivated by God] and the spirit of error [motivated by Satan].”
1 John 4:5-6 AMP
The Amplified Translation truthfully paints the picture of the lifestyle of the compromised Christian correctly here for us. They have received the spirit of error with their compromised faith. That’s why they can’t stand against their enemies.
The Apostle Paul warned us about them:
“They may pretend to have a respect for God, but in reality, they want nothing to do with God’s power. Stay away from people like these!”
2 Timothy 3:5 TPT
In other words, those who are Covenant minded needs to be careful about such people, because their polluted form of the worship of God will surely become a hindrance, to the manifestation of the power of God in their lives.
Their pretense of worshipping the living God makes them more likely to being used by the enemy, in targeting the faith of the Covenant minded believers in Christ Jesus. The enemy’s goal in their association with the Covenant minded Christians is to use them in smearing their faith, so as to make them liable for destruction.
They are dangerous to be associating yourself with. That’s why Paul said that we should flee far away from them, so as escape being defiled by them.
Twilight Christianity comes with darkness.
Apart from the compromised Christians, there are also some who are practicing a form of twilight Christianity. They are the believers in Christ Jesus who are still holding on to the darkness of this world in their Christian walk.
Their past sins which had been forgiven and forgotten by Jesus, are still being allowed to linger around in their daily walk with Jesus. They are struggling to get rid of their past sins; and therefore, are unable to move forward into the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
They are saved; but they have a more committed devotion to traditional values and a form of dead religion, instead of their Covenant with God by the blood of Jesus Christ. That’s why they cannot experience the fullness of the light of Christ Jesus who lives in them.
They feel more comfortable being in the twilight. That’s the type of Christian lifestyle that is partly being practiced in the presence of other believers in Christ Jesus, while they’re living in the world just as part of the world.
If a Christian is not allowing the Light of Christ Jesus to shine through the darkness of his life, he can’t be effective in exercising spiritual authority over the devil.
The devil is never afraid of anyone who is not fully committed to the Lord God in a Covenant relationship. To say it plainly – Satan does respects and honors covenants. It’s on the basis of our Covenant relationship with our Father in Heaven that he flees away from us, whenever we are using our authority in the name of Jesus Christ.
It doesn’t matter if the Covenant is holy or unrighteous, the devil respects any type of covenant, because he knows that it should never be broken. He knows the consequences of breaking any covenant. He knows that it only spells doom for the person who has broken it.
This is why the Satan can never repent. He has a covenant with his fallen angels which must never be broken. The only thing waiting for them is the eternal judgement of God.
People who are breaking covenants arbitrarily are suffering the consequences of their actions. Many of them may not even understand why they are suffering, or why certain things seem not to be working out for them in life. The reason can always be traced back to the covenant that had been broken in their lives.
The only Covenant that the devil is always working to destroy, is the Covenant by the blood of Jesus Christ. He knows how dangerous a committed Christian can be to him and his evil works.
Even those who are the disciples of the evil one, do respect the covenant that they have with one another. It’s disastrous for them to break covenants with each other. They know what this means. It’s only the end for them and their evil activities.
That’s why it’s so difficult to understand why a Christian who claims to be in a Covenant relationship with God, has to be compromised or living in the twilight of that Covenant relationship. In other words, such a Christian is not able to be reaping the full benefits of his Covenant with his Father in Heaven.
Jesus said:
“But if your eye is bad [spiritually blind], your whole body will be full of darkness [devoid of God’s precepts]. So, if the [very] light inside you [your inner self, your heart, your conscience] is darkness, how great and terrible is that darkness!”
Matthew 6:23 AMP
This statement by Jesus clearly explains why the Christians who are practicing their Christianity in the twilight are often sick in the physical body. The healing of the human body is based on our Covenant with God. A Christian who is committed to staying healed and healthy, has to be treating his healing as a Covenant with the Father in Heaven.
The Christian who is in darkness while deceiving himself that he is in the light, is actually struggling to enjoy all that Jesus had provided for him, based on the Covenant with his Father in Heaven.
He has the authority in the name of Jesus to bind the devil, but he cannot use it because of the darkness that is around him. He has the power to stay healed and healthy, but he is not able to use his faith to release that power, so that he can stay healed.
The absence of the fullness of the Light within them, which is Christ in them as the hope of glory, is being exploited by the devil to make them sick.
This was why Jesus said:
“What I say to you in the dark (privately), tell in the light (publicly); and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim from the housetops [to many people].”
Matthew 10:27 AMP
When we are living in the fullness of Christ’s Light, darkness will become nonexistent around us. We will know what the Lord God expects of us when we are living in the fullness of His Light.
But for those who are living in the twilight of the Christian life, the precepts of God are hidden from their understanding. They are reading the scriptures, but they cannot understand it.
No one can do the work of the Kingdom of God in the twilight. That’s why Jesus said that we have to be declaring whatever we are hearing Him say to us privately publicly.
The Apostle Paul said:
“And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.”
II Peter 1:19-21 NKJV
Every word of Jesus that is written in the scriptures has a prophetic undertone to it. Whatever He whispers to your ears is meant for your own good. You ought to be declaring it on the top of the roof. You don’t have to be silent about it, because that’s what you are to be basing your daily confession of faith upon.
Get your priorities straightened up.
In the Passion Translation of the Bible Jesus pointed to the love of money, as what is hindering the faith of the twilight Christian from being productive.
He said:
“But if your eyes are focused on money, the light cannot penetrate, and darkness takes its place. How profound will be the darkness within you if the light of truth cannot enter!”
Matthew 6:23 TPT
If your purpose of becoming a Christian is solely for making money, then your faith is faulty. Your priorities are wrong, and you are on the pathway to self-destruction, because the light of truth cannot enter the eyes of your heart. The devil will make sure that he is using that faulty understanding of Christianity to ensnare you, until you are destroyed.
Your only option out of it is to repent of this misplaced priority. Yes, God is the Owner of Heaven and the earth. He has given everything on the earth to us for our own enjoyment.
But He does not want us to be solely focused on that, while forgetting the purpose for which He has given us all the wealth of the earth. He wants us to use it to spread His prosperity across the earth. We are the only instruments that He can use to break the curse of poverty on the earth.
A Christian who doesn’t realize this cannot walk with proper authority on the earth against the devil. Money is your servant. You were not created to be serving money. Money is created to be serving you.
When you come to the realization of this spiritual truth in your Christian walk, nothing will be impossible for you to achieve on the earth. You will become that vessel through which God’s love can flow to save, heal and deliver the captives.
The problem for the twilight believers in Christ Jesus here is that they have been deceived into accepting darkness as light.
It’s possible that a person who calls himself a Christian is partially committed to God, and partially committed to the world at the same time, while also partaking of the works of darkness.
There are many people who are living like that in their Christian walk. They are however not able to be tapping into the full benefits of what really belongs to them in Christ Jesus.
If you are not fully committed to the Lord Jesus Christ in your Covenant relationship, then the access that you do have into the use of your spiritual authority is limited.
And if the Body of Christ is going to exercise spiritual authority over the devil and his works on the earth; then we must be prepared to walk in total dominion and authority on the earth, with a consciousness of our blood bought Covenant.
A compromised Christian is no match for Satan.
We therefore have the power over every works of the devil. There is nothing that he can do to intimidate you, from walking in the reality of who you are in Christ Jesus. If you know who you are in Christ Jesus, the devil and his cohorts are no match to you.
They are indeed terrified whenever they see you. That’s why as Christians we don’t comprise our faith in Christ Jesus, so as to be pleasing the world.
We have a lot of work to do on the earth for our Heavenly Father. So therefore, we have no time to be fooling around with the world.
The devil knows that the moment you are compromised, you will be defeated. The truth about this is that he doesn’t show mercy to anyone at all. There is nothing like mercy in his vocabulary.
We must therefore understand that there is too much at stake on the earth today; and that’s why we have no reason to be compromised as some are doing on a daily basis. Many people are dying and going to the devil’s hell on a daily basis. You therefore will have to be fully committed as a Covenant child of God to the Father’s business, of depopulating hell and populating heaven. And your commitment to the Father’s business on the earth has to be based on the Covenant relationship with Him.
The Father has His eyes on you. He is not interested in compromised Christians. He cannot use them against the onslaught of the devil on the earth.
The desire for the pleasures of this world has compromised the faith of some Christians. They are living for the world and not for God.
If, however, you do know that you are on the way to Heaven, then:
“Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.”
Colossians 3:2-4 NKJV
The Lord God is seeking for those who are fully committed to the Covenant by the blood of Jesus Christ. They are the ones who the devil is afraid of at all times.
And in exercising our spiritual authority over the devil on the earth, Jesus had said:
“Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. “Again, I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”
Matthew 18:18-20 NKJV
This statement by Jesus vividly explains why you can’t allow a lukewarm or twilight Christian around you, when you are binding and losing the works of the devil. You need a strong Covenant keeping believer in the name of Jesus to be in agreement with you.
That’s why it’s important to carefully pick the company of believers in Christ Jesus that you are associating with. You need Christians who are willing to stand by you in your Covenant relationship with the Lord Jesus.
When Peter and John were facing persecution from the religious leaders at Jerusalem, the Bible says they left them and went to their own company:
“After they were permitted to go, [the apostles] returned to their own [company] and told all that the chief priests and elders had said to them.”
Acts 4:23 AMPC
They didn’t go to the twilight crowd or the compromised believers in the Synagogue. They went to their own company of believers in the name of Jesus, who could stand by faith with them and who could pray along with them. They went to those who were walking in Covenant relationship with the Lord God just like them.
It’s not everyone who says that they love you, who will stand by you and pray along with you when you are in trouble. It’s only the Covenant minded Christians like you, who will be there for you. They are the ones that you need in the time of trouble.
A compromised Christian can’t stand in agreement with you, even when he says that he is. Their compromised faith will make you vulnerable to the attack of the enemy, because they are not really in agreement with you, even if they say they are.
In most cases it is the concerns of this world that has compromised their faith. But it should not have been so. That’s why Jesus said:
“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
Matthew 6:33-34 NKJV
We are to be first of all be seeking the establishment of the Kingdom of God on the earth, instead of the money to do the work of the Kingdom.
God is the source of everything that you need to do what you have been called to do in His Kingdom. You don’t need to be compromised. You need to keep looking for ways to spread the gospel across the earth. And you don’t need money to do that.
When you are committed to seeking for the ways to spread the gospel around the world, your Father in Heaven knows how to bring everything that you need across your pathway to do it. Trust Him. He will surprise you with it.
Here at Bible Vision International Ministries the Lord God does this all the time. Every opportunity that He allows us to see in spreading the gospel, He has always brought all the resources that’s needed to spread it, as we are walking by faith in obedience to do it.
The devil however knows those who are in agreement with you for every purpose of God in your life. He can’t stand before two or three Covenant keeping Christians, who are in agreement with one another. A Covenant keeping Christian will pray with you and not against you.
It is not every Christian who says that they are with you, that are really committed at heart with you. You need a strong company of believers in Christ Jesus, and not a bunch of compromised Christians who will pull you down.
That’s why you don’t need a twilight or compromised Christian to be in agreement with you, whenever you are binding the works of the devil.
This is because whenever the spiritual warfare gets tougher, they will be so quick to quit and abandon you, while breaking their oath of agreement with you. A compromised or twilight Christian will always belittle his Covenant by the blood of Jesus Christ.
And there are many who will tell you that they are in agreement with you, but as soon as persecution comes, they will leave you alone to face the enemy by yourself.
Jesus saw this type of attitude in the Laodicean Church. He declared to them:
“So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.”
Revelation 3:16 NKJV
A lukewarm Christian is basically in character like a “twilight or compromised Christian”. Such a Christian can’t effectively exercise spiritual authority over the devil, because of the lack of total and complete commitment to their Covenant oath before the Father in Heaven.
When he prays, he struggles to receive the answer to the prayer; because he can’t get into the Light of Christ Jesus, so that the darkness hindering his faith can disappear. He wants to live in his dark past, while hanging on to the light at the same time.
And this is practically impossible. As Jesus had said:
“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”
Matthew 6:24 NKJV
So, stand strong in your Covenant relationship with the Father in Heaven. Separate yourself from the compromised and twilight Christians.
They are of no use in energizing your faith. You need faith builders and not those who will pull you down, as you are exercising your spiritual authority against the wiles of the devil.
This is how you can stand strong in exercising your spiritual authority in a world that is so full of shady and false Christians.
