AUTHORITY AND POWER, PART 4

Matthew 28:18-20

And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying,

All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you:  and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.

Amen.

In verse 18 the word for power here is authority.

Why did Jesus tell us to go, therefore, right after He said that all authority has been given to Him in heaven and earth?  Jesus, with His power and authority, is in us.  Therefore, His authority is in us to use as He instructs and guides us by the direction of the Holy Spirit.  Jesus is assuring us here as God’s children that we have the backing of His authority in all that we do for Him.

Wherever we go, when we are obeying the Lord, and when we are doing His Kingdom business, going about our daily lives, He is there with His authority, which He has given to us, to use against the devil’s kingdom.  We are the ones who are the conquerors and the ones with the authority.  For thousands of years, the devil has been bluffing God’s people, telling them lies about their effectiveness.  It is time that we rise up to the fullness of the stature of the Lord Jesus Christ Who is in us and declare our freedom and our ability to overcome all the works of the enemy.

We are not to be cowering in some corner somewhere just waiting for the Lord to come back.  He is not coming back for a weak, passive bunch of cowards.  He is coming back for a victorious, overcoming church, one whose power and authority is made known to the kingdom of darkness.  We are the light of the world and the salt of the earth.  That’s who we are!

AUTHORITY AND POWER, PART 3

As we continue our study on the authority that God has given to us as His children, let’s look at Luke 10:19.  This verse is Jesus’ assurance to us of our authority here on this earth.

“Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy:  and nothing shall by any means hurt you.”

Jesus says:  I Myself give to you authority (the legal power or right to command or act; exousia) to tread on (crush under the foot; subdue) serpents and scorpions (demonic powers), and over all the power (dunamis; inherent power) of the enemy (satan, the devil, the deceiver, the seducer): and nothing shall by any means hurt you or harm you.

This scripture is God’s guarantee to us that He has given us His authority and power to take care of our enemy, satan, and all that he throws our way to defeat us.  That is the best news I have ever heard in my life.  Meditate on this scripture today as you are going about your daily business.

We have been given the authority of God.  Let’s use it as He directs.

AUTHORITY AND POWER, PART 2

As we said yesterday, God created the earth, created mankind and delegated authority to us to rule and reign in this earth, taking dominion and authority over the world system.  Satan, God’s enemy, came to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and tempted them to listen to him and thus give their authority over to him by obeying what he said and doubting what God had spoken to them.  They had been given free choice to make decisions concerning what they would believe.  They believed satan’s lie; they were deceived and lost their position of authority.

Now satan is the god of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4) because Adam gave his authority, dominion (given by God) over to satan by believing him and obeying the devil’s voice.  The devil and his demons have a right to be here in this world, operating this world system.  They have the right to exist here because of Adam’s treason until they are cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:10).

But we as God’s children don’t have to be under the authority of satan or his demonic realm.  We have authority over them.  Jesus came to this earth to take back what the devil had stolen from mankind.  With His death on the cross and His shedding of His blood and taking our place as our substitute, Jesus purchased for all eternity our place in the Father’s household.  That position has been restored to mankind.  Along with the position comes rights of the household and authority as Father’s child.  God through Jesus turned over all dominion, authority, rule, reign, ALL THINGS to the Church, the Body of Christ (Ephesians 1:22).  God has already done it—-past tense—-done deal.  God did all this for you—-His Church, His Body, the Body of Christ.

Jesus came to this earth for one purpose; God wanted His family back.  A thief called satan came and kidnapped Father’s family of mankind and was exercising the strong whip over them.

Jesus took on flesh and blood to become like us so that He could defeat satan forever for us and take back the authority we had forfeited in the Garden of Eden.  Oh, Hallelujah!  There was another garden called the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus came head to head with satan and committed Himself to the Father to take our place and suffer for us the penalty of death for sin.   He became sin so that we could become righteous.  He did not sin.  He became sin and conquered death, hell and the grave forever.  He stripped satan and all his demonic realm of their authority and now stands ready to offer that dominion once again to each person who chooses Jesus Christ and His Kingdom.  There are rights in this Kingdom while we are here on this earth.  It is our choice (just as Adam and Eve made their choice) to choose the loving life of Christ or the hard fist of satan and his rule.