I was listening to a sermon this morning by Garry Wiggins, pastor of Evangel Temple in Jacksonville, Florida, from his series “King of Kings.” During his sermon, he had a ring of keys, and he made the comment that keys represent authority (and might I add that with authority comes power). With the key to his car, he can unlock the doors, crank the car, and drive wherever he needs to go because the key gives him that authority. With the key to the
house, he has the authority to open the door and enter. Satan has locked us in chains and has us bound to certain things in our lives, but Christ, in Matthew 16, said He has given us the keys to heaven and earth. We can use those keys to unlock the chains Satan has us bound with. At the end of his sermon, Pastor Wiggins said that we need to seek God and ask the Holy Spirit to show us which key to use on our ring to unlock our particular chain. I love hearing things in a different context than I’ve heard it before.

God pricked my heart with that. Christ didn’t say he gave us a key … quite the contrary … he gave us keys … more than one! That suggests to me that just like I have a key to my car and I have a key to my house and I have a key to my safe deposit box, that Christ has given us different keys that have a specific purpose. I don’t know how many keys are on my spiritual keyring, but I do know that I have the right ones that I need to unlock whatever Satan would bring against me. But I have to seek God for wisdom to know which key to use and when. In Mark 9:29 Jesus says that “this kind can come forth by nothing but by prayer and fasting.”

So when we are bound by chains, the only way to unlock those chains is through prayer and fasting and allowing the power of the Holy Spirit to show us which key in our arsenal to use against the enemy at that moment. I believe the keys that God has given us is speaking the Word of God in our life, in faith, believing, just as Christ did in the wilderness when tempted by Satan for forty days and nights (Matthew 4, Mark 1, Luke 4). We cannot overcome the enemy by ourselves; we can only defeat him with God, through the power of the Holy Spirit breaking those chains, but we need to use the keys Christ has given us to unlock our faith and allow the Holy Spirit to work in His power on our behalf. When we pray in the power God has given us through the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 3:20), we can pray in confidence according to Matthew 16:19 that whatsoever we bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatsoever we loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers, for there is no power but of God: the powers thatbe are ordained by God. (Romans 13:1)

And Jesus came and spake unto them saying All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. (Matthew 28:18)

And they were astonished at his doctrine, for his word was with power. (Luke 4:32)

And when he had called the twelve disciples unto him, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease. (Matthew 10:1)

And behold I send the promise of my Father upon you, but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high. (Luke 24:49)

But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. (Acts 1:8)

Now unto him who is able to do exceedingly and abundantly above all that we could ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us. (Ephesians 3:20)

  • He saith unto them, “But whom say you that I am?” And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee that thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of heaven, and whatsoever thou bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. (Matthew 16:15–19)

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