From time-to-time, I will hear a simple phrase in my spirit that I know is the Lord speaking. This morning, I heard the words “keeper of the keys.” When I heard those words, I also received an expanded application. The phrase is a reminder for each of us who carry the keys of God’s Kingdom that those keys have a purpose. Jesus described the keys to Peter, “And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you forbid on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven” (Matthew 16:19).

We have some unlocking to do. This unlocking will take place in what Paul described as the second heaven, the realm between earth and the highest Heaven where Jesus sits enthroned alongside the Father. Jesus gave us the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven to do our most significant form of spiritual warfare in the realm of the second heaven and ultimately take the fruit of that battle into the realm of earth to declare (forbid) the works of darkness.

Some of us are trying to insert our heavenly keys into natural locks in the first heaven – earth, and we wonder why nothing is opening up. The keys we possess have the power and authority to confront the activity of the dark powers at work in the second heaven that hold individuals and cultures in a place of bondage in the first heaven. 

The “forbid on earth” part of the Lord’s instruction is our declaration of a victory that takes place after a lock has been turned in prayer and spiritual warfare in the second heaven. Once we turn Heaven’s key in that realm, we will be able to confidently declare a victory on earth as it is in Heaven.