Today we’re in week number four of our series called “Whatever.”
Throughout this series we’ve been looking at some of the most powerful promises in Scripture that begin with that simple word… whatever.
We’ve talked about things like: Whatever you do — do it all for the glory of God. Whatever you ask — ask in the name of Jesus.
Whatever you have — learn to be content in Christ.
And today we come to another “whatever” that many believers have heard.
Jesus said in Matthew 18:18 from the New International Version of the Bible today.
And I purposely did this because I feel like there are some folks who have heard this for years… but haven’t fully understood it’s meaning.
The NLT that I usually preach from uses a little different wording but the meaning is the same. But if you have heard this verse before… many of you have heard it like this.
“Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
Now when many people hear that verse, they aren’t quite sure what to do with it. Some people ignore it completely.
Some people misunderstand it. And some people take it so far that it starts sounding like spiritual fantasy. But Jesus didn’t say this to confuse us… He said it to empower us.
In this passage of Scripture Jesus is revealing something incredible about the life of a believer. He shows us that followers of His are not meant to live spiritually passive lives.
We are not just spectators watching the world spin out of control.
Through Him, we have been given spiritual authority.
Authority to stand against what the enemy is doing.
Authority to pray Heaven’s will into Earth’s situations.
Authority to resist darkness and release the work of God.
In other words, there are things in life that God never intended for you to simply tolerate. There are moments when a believer must stand up and say: “No… that stops here.”
And there are other moments when we need to open the door and say: “Yes… Lord, let Your will be done here.”
That’s what Jesus meant when He talked about binding and loosing. And today I want to show you what that really means — not in theory… but in everyday life.
Because this authority doesn’t just belong in church services.
It belongs in your home. In your relationships. In your ministry. And even in the battle for your own heart and mind.
So let’s take a look… first of all… with the foundation of it all.
1. Binding and loosing is about spiritual authority
When Jesus said, “Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven,” He was revealing something powerful about our identity.
He was saying, “If you are a follower of Jesus you are Heaven’s representative. When you speak according to My Word, Heaven backs you up!”
Now… I do want to clear something up… binding and loosing isn’t a magic formula. It’s not shouting “I hereby… bind thee!” at your problems. It’s about standing in agreement with the rule of Heaven and enforcing God’s order in a fallen world.
To bind means to restrict or forbid something on earth that Heaven already forbids.
To loose means to permit or release something on earth that Heaven already approves.
James 4:7 teaches, So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Notice the order is this… humility or submission before resistance. What I mean is this… Spiritual authority only functions under spiritual alignment.
Like what we talked about a couple of weeks ago… When a police officer raises their hand and traffic stops, it’s not because their arm is strong… it’s because of the badge and authority they represent.
When a believer says, “In the name of Jesus, stop,” the enemy recognizes the authority of Heaven’s kingdom.
A child pretending to be a police officer can wave all day long; nobody’s stopping. But when the real officer stands there, traffic halts.
The authority isn’t in the arm… it’s in the relationship with the law. Likewise, authority in prayer doesn’t come from our strength, or position or how loud we say it… it comes from our submission to Christ.
If you want to walk in authority, stay aligned with Christ:
Stay in the Word. Stay humble and prayerful. Stay obedient even when it’s costly.
Let me ask you a question… Are you operating in your full authority, or are you still acting like you’re powerless?
2. Binding and loosing happens through prayer
Spiritual authority operates through the instrument of prayer. Prayer is not a last resort; it’s our first weapon. I’ve heard it put this way… Prayer is the courtroom of Heaven where decisions get made and enforced.
Jesus said in Matthew 18:18 — “Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven.” Or as the NLT says… “Whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.”
That word “whatever” in Greek carries the sense of “whatever has already been bound.” In other words, we don’t make Heaven comply with our will; we pray Heaven’s will into the Earth.
Mark 11:23–24 says, I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart. 24 I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours.
When you pray, you’re not asking God to join your plan… you’re enforcing His plan.
Think of your prayer life like the light switch in your house. The power is available… the current is flowing from the main line… but unless you flip that switch, the lights don’t come on.
Prayer doesn’t make Heaven generate power; it releases the power that’s already available. Let me give you some practical examples of what this might look like for you.
Practical examples of binding and loosing:
• Bind fear and loose faith in your home.
Or again as the NLT puts it forbid fear in your home and permit faith in your home. This is what Jesus is saying here.
Imagine a parent tucking their child into bed at night. The child has heard something scary at school or watched something that made them afraid.
They start saying, “What if someone breaks in? What if something bad happens? I’m scared.”
Now the parent has a choice…They can let fear dominate the atmosphere of the home, feeding the anxiety… or they can bind fear and loose faith.
The parent might sit on the edge of the bed and say something like: “Hey… we don’t let fear run this house. God is with us. The Lord is watching over this home tonight. Nothing is too big for Him.”
Then maybe they pray something like this together: “Lord, we refuse fear in this home. We trust You to watch over our family tonight. Fill this room with Your peace.”
In that moment, the parent has essentially forbidden fear and permitted faith. They didn’t just talk about faith… they established the atmosphere of the home.
And that’s what Jesus is getting at. What you allow and what you refuse spiritually matters. You can allow fear, worry, bitterness, and anxiety to fill a house…
Or you can say: “Fear isn’t welcome here.” “We’re going to trust God here.” “We’re going to speak faith in this house.”
That is what it looks like to bind fear and loose faith in your home. Another practical example would be…
• Bind gossip and loose kindness in your relationships.
Imagine two ladies in the church parking lot after service. One of them leans in and says in that classic church whisper that everyone within a 40-foot radius can hear:
“Now I don’t mean to gossip… but we really need to pray for Alice.”
You know you’re in trouble when a sentence starts with “I don’t mean to gossip.”
Then she continues: “I just heard that Alice’s husband lost his job, their dog ran away, their basement flooded, and she burned the casserole at the potluck. Bless her heart.”
And the other lady just nods and says,
“Well… since we’re praying, we might as well tell a few more people so they can pray too.”
Next thing you know, the whole church is “praying” about things Alice didn’t even know were happening yet.
Now imagine someone steps into that moment and says:
“Hey… instead of talking about Alice, why don’t we go encourage her? Let’s take her a meal this week.”
In that moment, they just bound gossip and loosed kindness.
They shut down the rumor mill and opened up the kindness factory.
Because in relationships you always have that choice:
You can pass along criticism… or you can pass along encouragement. You can spread rumors…
or you can spread grace.
And sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is look at a conversation and say:
“Alright everybody… gossip meeting is canceled. Kindness meeting starts now.”
• Bind doubt and loose courage in your ministry.
Listen to me church, what you allow will continue… and what you confront, stops. Prayer is the act of drawing a line in the sand between what Heaven allows and what Hell is trying to do.
Sometimes in ministry you have to bind doubt and loose courage. Because here is a truth about doubt. Doubt will always find a microphone.
In other words, the doubt in your mind or in your life will always find a way to get louder.
Doubt says: “What if it fails?” “What if nobody comes?” “What if people don’t like it?”
But courage says: “If God called me to it, I’m going to step out and trust Him with the results.”
And sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do in ministry is look doubt in the face and say: “Thank you for your opinion… but God already made the decision.”
Is there something you’ve been tolerating that you need to start binding in prayer? Or is there a blessing you’ve been hesitating to loose?
Now… Before we run out to bind everything in sight, let’s remember this: real authority begins within.
3. Binding begins with guarding our own lives
You can’t cast out what you’re entertaining. The Bible says,
Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life. (Proverbs 4:23)
Too often we try to rebuke what we secretly harbor. We want to bind sin in the world while letting compromise live in our own house.
Imagine a security guard whose job is protecting a building. If he leaves the door unlocked, he’s an accomplice, not a guard. The enemy doesn’t need to break in when we leave the door open.
Binding begins with saying: “Lord, whatever door in me the enemy is using, I close it today in Jesus’ name.”
Here are some personal territories we must guard:
• Our thoughts: bind fear, loose peace.
• Our relationships: bind bitterness, loose forgiveness.
• Our habits: bind laziness, loose discipline.
• Our emotions: bind anger, loose patience.
Not too long ago, I got my wife Stacey and new Ford Bronco. Well, one particular morning, she was allowing me to drive it. And so I go out and get in the Bronco.
And it’s one of those cars that you just push the button and it starts… as long as you have the key fob with you.
So I push the button on the Bronco… nothing. And I’m like, Oh yeah, gotta have your foot on the brake. So… pressed the break, pushed the button… nothing.
And I’m like… are you serious? This car is brand new. And I’m starting to get frustrated… and I’m thinking… I know my dad was a Ford man his whole life… but he might have been wrong about Fords…. Or they just don’t make Fords like they used to.
And I’m thinking… what is going on? And start to go back in the house to get the keys to my car, which is a Nissan Rogue… and reached down to grab the key and get out… when I realized the key fob said… “Nissan”.
I had the wrong key! It didn’t matter how many times I pressed on the brake or pushed the start button… without the right key… that White Bronco… affectionately known as OJ… was never going to start.
Listen… we do the same spiritually. We try to start our days with anxiety or worry instead of prayer. We use the world’s key, not Heaven’s.
But when we begin with worship, confession, and gratitude, that’s the key that turns the day’s engine on!
Binding starts with personal holiness. Before we take authority outwardly, we must walk in it inwardly.
Ask yourself: “Am I trying to bind the devil at church while giving him room at home?” We can’t fight effectively on the battlefield if we’ve already surrendered at the gate.
And now, when the inside is aligned with Heaven… when our hearts are clean and our prayers are focused… then we can move to the next side of this truth: Loosing.
4. Loosing happens when we release God’s work
Binding and loosing are two sides of the same authority coin. Binding restricts the enemy; loosing releases God’s activity.
Some of us are good at saying “Stop, devil!”… but we also need to learn to say, “Come, Holy Spirit!”
In Luke 13:12, Jesus saw a woman bent over by a spirit of infirmity. He said, “Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity.”
Notice, Jesus didn’t just bind the infirmity… He loosed her freedom. Every time you speak God’s promises into a situation, you’re loosing His work.
When you share the gospel, you’re loosing salvation.
When you encourage someone, you’re loosing hope.
When you worship, you’re loosing God’s presence in the atmosphere.
This time of year is a good time to fly a kite. I’ve seen a ton of them out in the stores lately. I want you to think of a kite tangled in a tree branch.
The string is still there… the wind is still blowing… but the kite can’t rise until it’s loosed.
That’s what happens in ministry… we help people cut loose from the branches of sin and shame that are holding them down, so they can catch the wind of the Spirit and soar.
I think down through the years… we as churches have become experts at binding… we talk about what we’re against. We’re against sexual immorality, drunkenness, gambling… so on and so forth… and those are all legitimate things to stay away from… but God also calls us to loose joy, compassion, and life!
Every prayer should have both a “No” and a “Yes.” A “No” to the enemy’s plan, and a “Yes” to Heaven’s.
Loose healing by praying over the sick. Loose forgiveness by reconciling with others. Loose God’s mission by giving, serving, and going. Loose revival by worshiping passionately and living expectantly.
During World War II, the Allies dropped canisters called “Bundles for Britain”… these were supplies parachuted to those trapped behind enemy lines.
These bundles contained… food, clothing, medical supplies, tools, and utensils for cooking and various things. They were packets of life in a war zone.
That’s what happens when you pray and minister in Jesus’ name …you’re dropping “bundles of blessing” behind enemy lines in people’s lives.
You’re loosing Heaven’s resources into a battlefield known as this world.
“Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
Church… this is not just a theological statement. This is an invitation to live differently.
Jesus is telling us that the life of a believer is not meant to be passive. We are not called to simply watch darkness advance.
We are called to stand.
To stand in our homes. To stand in our families. To stand in our relationships. To stand in our ministries. To stand in our own hearts.
Because what you tolerate spiritually will continue… but what you confront in prayer begins to change.
Some of you today know exactly what you’ve been tolerating.
Maybe fear has been running loose in your home.
Maybe bitterness has been living rent-free in your heart.
Maybe gossip has been creeping into your relationships.
Maybe doubt has been whispering in your ministry.
Maybe anxiety, temptation, anger, or discouragement has been knocking at the door of your life.
And maybe today the Holy Spirit is saying to you:
“It’s time to stop allowing what Heaven has already forbidden.”
It’s time to draw a line in the sand and say: “No more.”
But the message of Jesus isn’t only about what we bind.
It’s also about what we loose. Because the Christian life is not just about shutting the door on the enemy… it’s about opening the door for God.
Loose faith where fear once lived.
Loose forgiveness where bitterness once ruled.
Loose courage where doubt once whispered.
Loose hope where despair has taken root.
And maybe the most important thing you loose in this world…
is the message of Jesus. Because there may be someone in this room today who feels tangled in the branches of sin, shame, regret, and failure.
You feel like that kite stuck in the tree. The wind of God is blowing… but you feel like you can’t rise. But the good news of the gospel is this: Jesus came to set people free.
He came to set us free from the chains of sin.
He came to set us free the burden of guilt.
He came to set us free from the power of darkness.
And the greatest freedom anyone can experience is the freedom that comes from knowing Christ.
I believe that starts when you surrender your life to Him, and you repent of your sins. And then you are baptized into Him and you start living for Him. Let’s Pray!
