Wake Up

God desires for each of us to live with kingdom authority. The kingdom agenda is the visible manifestation of the comprehensive rule of God over every area of life. Thus, kingdom authority can be defined as the divinely authorized right and responsibility delegated to believers to act on God’s behalf in spiritually ruling over His creation under the lordship of Jesus Christ. In short, it’s yours and my legitimate right to rule underneath Jesus’s rule.

Yet so many individuals miss out on fully exercising this right to rule simply because they do not know or are not utilizing the key to unlocking it. They do not know the key because they cannot see the key. And they cannot see the key because they are not seeing things spiritually.

Christians who are living in defeat are doing so because they are not seeing things clearly. In fact, all of us—to varying degrees—have worn jaded-colored glasses at some time or another. That’s why we need to pay attention to Paul and what he has to say to the church at Ephesus. We need to learn from what he had to say to these believers because part of participating in God’s rule on earth comes through learning how to see things spiritually.

Paul wrote this passage to clarify the believers’ sight lines. He wanted to clean the glasses they were wearing, and ultimately the glasses we are wearing as believers as well—or, if necessary, help us to get to new ones.

For kingdom followers to unlock their kingdom authority, it is imperative that we first see things clearly. When we discover how to see things clearly from a spiritual framework, we will grab hold of the key to the authority we so desperately need.

Paul’s desire for the believers in Ephesus was that they would start seeing things as they really are, and not as they think they are. He wanted God to clarify things for them. In today’s culture, you might hear people refer to this as “waking up.” When someone tells you to “wake up,” they are stating they want you to see things clearly and not be duped by the deception all around us.

Paul wanted the believers to “wake up” and see through spiritual eyes. He wanted this so much that he prayed for this to happen. He knew they could not wake up on their own. He knew they could not strip the scales of Satan’s deceit with their own hands. Paul prayed that the eyes of their hearts would be illuminated because something that deep would need to happen supernaturally. They needed their eyes opened to gain insight into both the position and authority they already possessed. If they didn’t, they would certainly cave to the culture around them.

That’s why Paul’s prayer ought to be each of our prayers as well. Our culture, and those who nuance it, are hell-bent on creating confusion in the lives of believers—or in the lives of anyone, for that matter. So much deception swirls around us that it is difficult to tell up from down or left from right on most days.

The first step to unlocking and unleashing God’s kingdom authority in our lives is through praying regularly to God, asking Him to help us see and interpret things spiritually. We need His perspective and wisdom so we can recognize the truth from a lie.