We Are Kings and Priests

I love the story of the centurion, whose servant Jesus healed. Bible records that, "And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him, And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him. The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour" (Matthew 8:5-10; 13).

This story is very inspiring. The centurion certainly noticed that things happened when Jesus spoke. That stirred his faith so much that he didn't even want Jesus to come under his roof to heal his servant. He said, "Speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed." This is faith. To him, as far as Jesus talked, it was a done deal. When Lazarus died, Jesus certainly knew about it. Martha went to meet Him when she heard He was coming into the town. She didn't believe Jesus could do anything, but He said to her, "...Thy brother shall rise again" (John 11:23). When Jesus came into the city, He asked where they laid him and they took Him there. He then told them to take away the stone from the cave.

Martha told Him by now he's stinking, because he had been buried four days after Jesus came to the town. But Jesus, knowing the power in His Word, urged them to take away the stone. After He had spoken to His Father, He cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth" (John 11:43). And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face was bound about with a napkin. And Jesus said to them, "...Loose him, and let him go" (John 11:44). What do we learn from this story? No matter how bad your situation may be, don't interpret it from the way you see it. Find out what God's Word has said about it and effect the change you desire. The Word says nothing shall be impossible unto you, meaning, there's no situation you can't change.

Let's also take into account the man who was healed at the beautiful gate: "Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour. And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple; Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms. And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us. And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them. Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength" (Acts 3:1-7). Hallelujah!

At that very moment Peter had nothing to give to the lame. But then Peter was smart; if he didn't have anything physical, he had power in his mouth. He released it in the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth and it came into being. When you look around, you might think you're helpless because you have nothing to call yours. But hear me, there's power in your mouth with which you can bring something into being. Learn to use it and take advantage of it, for your words are not ordinary. People may describe you from the way they see you. But what has the Word said about you, and whose word would you take? God's Word, or that of men?

Other times you just find out things are not going the way they should. The problem is not how bad things are; the worst is when you don't even know you have the right to change them. You hear believers saying things like, "Our lives have been changing, it's been full of bitterness, we have been praying but...?" These are wrong confessions and it's not surprising that such confessions are often punctuated with a "but." The good news is that you have a right to choose. The question then is, "Have you even made a choice?" Don't procrastinate; choose right now! Don't wait for some other day. You can take a piece of paper and begin to write down what you want to see in your life and keep declaring them until they're established.

Kings rule! Bible declares, "For if because of one man's trespass (lapse, offense) death reigned through that one, much more surely will those who receive [God’s] overflowing grace (unmerited favor) and the free gift of righteousness [putting them into right standing with Himself] reign as kings in life through the one Man Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One)" (Romans 5:17 AMP). This is a clear rendering from the Amplified Bible. Which people rule? Kings of course! Peter defines grace as God's divine power, an empowerment from God (2 Peter 1:2-3). It is God's empowerment that gives us the ability to go beyond our natural ability. We reign in life, not by our own works, but by the free gift of righteousness and unmerited favour bestowed upon us by Papa God. He chose to put us into right standing with Himself, in order that we can function in His stead on earth.

As kings, we rule over sin, because holiness is not a product of the flesh. It's a product of grace. I love the way Paul puts it: "Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear" (Hebrews 12:28). Grace empowers us to live a godly life free from the domination of sin! We're superior to sin. The reason why many believers are not able to live the higher life in Christ is because they're in bondage to it sin. Meanwhile, it's not by our works but by grace. Ignorance is keeping such folks in bondage! Bible says, "For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace" (Romans 6:14). As kings, we rule over sickness and disease, lack and poverty (2 Corinthians 9:8, 11). Our kingdom cannot be moved, it stands forever!

We rule over the world's economy, no matter how bad it may be. Our source is of God: "Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God" (2 Corinthians 3:5). Our source never runs dry! Bible says we shall not be careful in the year of drought; we shall not stumble even in the midst of famine. We'll never cease from yielding fruit, for we're planted by the river of God (Jeremiah 17:8). Hallelujah! We rule in our world of influence and rise above the norm. The fact is that we're limitless! We break out of the status quo and become influencers. The grace with which we rule always shows up, and that's why we shine! Anyone can do anything, but we do them with an exceptional quality because we have an excellent spirit (Daniel 6:3).

As a king, it doesn't matter how you look like; you're a king anyhow. When you get into a company and you see the boss, no matter how smallish he might look, he's the boss. It is not in the size or material possession but it is in what happens when he talks. A king is known, not by physical appearance but by the power behind his words. You may not have a crown, and you don't need to have it before you're noticed as a king. Remember there are several imposters! It's what happens when you talk that matters. Power is released when you speak, so be careful to speak right always. If you're able to watch the kind of words you speak, your life will move from success to success because that's the will of God for your life. You have the right to take charge and dominion for God's Word is in support of it.

Talk to your body, tell it what you want. Maybe one of your legs is shorter than the other; tell it to grow out! Didn't Jesus say that all things are possible? Maybe you're highly indebted to people. You look at your life and it seems like you have no hope. Wherever you go, people are calling on you for their money. You might have some of your properties seized, all because you owe somebody. Listen, you can have that debt settled. Say with your mouth what you want and you'll be given the enablement to pay no matter what. You may even have that debt cancelled! Or are you a woman desiring the fruit of the womb? In Africa, the man would be advised to marry another wife who can give him a child but I don't buy into that. Why? Because I know I can plant the seed in my wife's womb with my mouth. Nothing's impossible!

If you're a woman desiring the fruit of the womb, always declare, "I'm pregnant, in the Name of Jesus!" If you're the husband, you can look into her eyes and declare, "Receive the fruit of the womb, in the Name of Jesus!" Or if it's the man that needs to be dealt with, woman, you can look at him and declare total healing in his body. Man, you can also take charge of your body and command it healed, in the Name of Jesus! If you also know anybody like that, you can look into his or her eyes and minister to him or her in the same way. I always say I am a child-giver; I give children to people. How? Because I know who I am! How can a child-giver lack children? I know how to deal with such issues.

Do you have a problem with your sight? No matter how hard you've been struggling with it, you can talk to it now. You may be seeing a few meters ahead of you. Hear me, if you want to see 100 meters ahead of you, speak to your eyes and say, "Eyes, from today, start seeing 100 meters ahead, in the Name of Jesus!" This is the way to exercise your right in Christ. Man is a spirit, he has a soul and lives in a body (1 Thessalonians 5:23). Your body is what contains you and you're the custodian of it. In other words, you can decide what goes on in and around your body. When you take creation for instance, it was in a mess, a chaotic mass before God said, "Let there be light" and light came into being (Genesis 1:3). God put the world in the order that He desired.

You also have your own world and it's your sphere of contact. What is going on in your world? Maybe you get into someone's home and you find everyone afflicted with sickness, saying, "We don't know what's happening; everybody's falling sick. Yesterday, it was John, today it's Peter. The other day it was their father. We don't know who'll be next but we've been praying and hoping the will of God will be done." They think that talking like this makes them appear humble. But that's not humility; it's ignorance gone on rampage. If you hear anybody talk like that, tell the person to quit talking that way. Don't sympathize with him. Even if you were somewhere far and you were called that someone was sick, tell them to set the phone to loud speaker. Begin to speak and charge the atmosphere with your words. They carry the power to heal and to mend!

If you get somewhere and they're saying things like, "Oh, there's an epidemic everywhere; it's attacking everybody!" Say, "No! I'm not one of them. It's not attacking everybody; at least you can count me out!" What does the Word of God say? It says, "A thousand shall fall at thy side and ten thousand at they right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee" (Psalm 91:7). You only need to stand on the Word. Beloved, you have the right to choose, and the right to rule. Exercise your right... now! God gave you a mouth so you can speak and effect the changes you want in your life. Your words rule your life; what you say comes to pass - whether negative or positive. To move the mountain in your life, all you need is to declare words of faith. It doesn't matter how long it takes, it shall surely come to pass.

I wonder why people come into Christianity and backslide. You see them in the religions of the world and no matter how rich they may be, you find them battling with certain diseases that even land them in the grave. Sometimes it's not their fault, but it's how Christianity has been presented to them. Bible says, "...through knowledge shall the just be delivered" (Proverbs 11:9). So it's possible to be born again but your life may be indifferent from the natural man who suffers defeat, failure, lack, poverty, disease, death etc, for through knowledge shall you be delivered. You can suffer severely in life, even though you have the power to choose to live the best of life you can ever think of.

Let's take a look at the story of the seven sons of Sceva. They saw the extraordinary miracles the Lord was performing by the hands of Paul, so they decided to give it a try, not knowing who they were. Bible records, "Then some of the travelling Jewish exorcists (men who adjure evil spirits) also undertook to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, I solemnly implore and charge you by Jesus Whom Paul preaches! Seven sons of a certain Jewish chief priest named Sceva were doing this. But [one] evil spirit retorted, Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you? Then the man in whom the evil spirit dwelt leaped upon them, mastering two of them, and was so violent against them that they dashed out of that house [in fear], stripped naked and wounded" (Acts 19:13-16 AMP).

So the devil knows you. When the sons of Sceva commanded the evil spirits to come out of those possessed, one of them asked about their identity. The spirit charged them saying, "I know Jesus as well as Paul, but who are you?" For lack of knowledge, the evil spirit jumped over them, whipped and stripped them naked. I could say the same thing to a demon possessed man, "In the Name of Jesus by whom Paul preaches, come out of him!" It'll come out because I know who I am. In case the devil asks about my identity, I could charge him out! Why? Because that evil spirit doesn't have the right to even ask me such a question. Knowledge it power! There're people who present Christianity as a religion but it's not. Jesus didn't come to establish any kind of religion. He came to give life to the full - the God-kind of life. Christianity is the life of God at work in men, it's a family.

God is not against the nice job you desire and or choose to do. For instance, when you apply for a job, no matter how good it is and you don't get it, never think it's God's will because it's not. God wants you to have and enjoy the best in life. After all, you're born again; so what next? You'd have been translated into heaven the moment you got born again, but God decided to keep you here to express His glory. Religion blinds people and you should be careful about the people who present it as such. It promises liberty, while it is itself a slave to human limitations. Jesus came to show us who God is, and His desire for man. So, if you really know Jesus, then you know who God is.

Let's take for instance the story of the man named Bartimaeus: "And they came to Jericho: and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me. And many charged him that he should hold his peace: but he cried the more a great deal, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called. And they call the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee. And he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus. And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee?

The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way" (Mark 10:46-52). Before his healing, the people kept telling Bartimaeus to keep quiet. This is because according to their religion, when one was sick or blind, it was seen as God being against him. In other words, the sickness was a reflection of your sin, in which case, you had no right to healing. Jesus and His disciples came across another blind man and the disciples asked Him, "...Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?" (John 9:2). Jesus gave the answer, "Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him" (John 9:3).

If a person falls sick, it doesn't mean that God made him so, because only "...good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning" (James 1:17). In Bartimaeus' case, Jesus gave him the power to choose: "...what wilt thou that I should do unto thee?" Bartimaeus was free to choose what he desired. Some ignorant believers say, "God put such and such sickness on me to teach me a lesson; God made me poor to make me humble." This is ignorance! It's the reason why they're not growing as Christians. "I think it's not God's will for me to have that job, I think my sickness is His will, I think... I think... I think... until they become nobodies!"