Who Is In Authority Here?

And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. (Col. 2:13-15 ESV)

I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world. (John 16:33 ESV)

And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me... Matt.28:18 ESV)

We hear now from Jesus Himself that He has complete and supreme authority, has overcome the world, and gives us peace that we can rest in His authority, in His rulership, because He is the Good Shepherd and He has authority. Like the Newsboys’ song: He Reigns!

But look what happens next.

And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. (Luke 9:1 ESV)

This sounds to me like He’s giving US, as believers, some authority also! Cool! BUT, with authority comes responsibility. To whom much is given, much is required. (Luke 12:48) Oh.

So who is in authority? Christ, of course, but we also, as HIS BODY, the CHURCH. He gave US power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases and to proclaim the kingdom, and to heal. This is a lot of responsibility, isn’t it? It’s a lot of authority, also, which means we CAN do it. It’s up to us. It’s our choice.

What is authority? According to my dictionary, it’s the “power to command”. We have been given the power to command in this earth realm, here, today! To command what? That Jesus be obeyed, and His law is: Love others as yourself; Love God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength.

One of the abilities He gave us was to resist the devil. We can, because he’s been defeated and no longer has authority over us, as we’ve seen in the scriptures listed above. What is Satan’s ability, then? His ability is to lie to us, to try to deceive us, to try to get us to believe that he’s in control, that he’s right, that we should go against our blood-bought right to stay in the light. Jesus already told us we have authority over Satan’s power and Satan operates as the ‘father of lies’. (John 8:44). (Jesus is the AUTHOR of LIFE; Satan is the FATHER of LIES.)

Satan wants to convince us to believe that what we SEE is the truth. That’s a lie, because God said that the righteous shall live by faith. What is faith? The substance of things NOT SEEN.

So while we are told in scripture to believe the Word, and often that’s what we CAN’T SEE, Satan is busy trying to get us to believe what we DO SEE. It’s physical vs. spiritual. And we are supposed to follow the power of the Spirit within us, to walk by faith -- not by sight.

WE HAVE BEEN GIVEN THE AUTHORITY TO NOT BELIEVE LIES.

WE HAVE BEEN GIVEN THE ABILTY TO RISE ABOVE OUR CIRCUMSTANCES AND STAND ON THE TRUTH OF GOD'S WORD UNTIL IT MANIFESTS ITSELF.

For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete. (2 Cor. 10:3-6 ESV) 

If we break this down, it’s easier to see what Paul is telling us:

1) We don’t fight against flesh; therefore our fight must be in the spiritual realm, against spiritual forces. (See Eph. 6:11-13 for more about this war.)

2) We have been given weapons to fight in this war; therefore we are to fight, to actively resist the enemy.

3) Our weapons are DIVINE POWER; therefore we have God’s power. Does God lose? NO! ("Love never fails")

4) We use our divine power to DESTROY STRONGHOLDS and ARGUMENTS.

5) We DESTROY ARGUMENTS set against the knowledge of God.

6) We obey Christ and take captive our wrong thoughts and opinions; therefore we CHOOSE to cast down thoughts that run counter to the Word of God, and we CHOOSE to replace the negative, Satanic thoughts with positive, True thoughts. And as many times as we have to do this, we do it, not growing weary in doing right. We stand on God’s word as truth.

Is he telling us to do something we can’t do? NO! Jesus gave us authority to cast down wrong imaginations. Jesus gave us the Truth, that we might be free from following the deceptions of Satan. We have the power to destroy lies with the TRUTH of the WORD.

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. RESIST him, FIRM IN YOUR FAITH... (1 Pet. 5:7,8,9 ESV)

So we cast our fears and anxieties onto Jesus and stand firm in our faith that God’s word is true. We CAN resist the devil because we have been given divine power and authority to do so. He only runs all over us IF we allow it. We can choose not to allow him to rule us. We can choose to walk in faith that God’s word is true.

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (James 4:7 ESV)

For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world -- our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? (1 John 5:4,5 ESV) 

We HAVE overcome the world. Let’s start acting like it. Let’s start walking in the authority Jesus died to give us. Let’s walk in faith and love, loving others and resisting the devil’s lies and temptations to go against God. Let’s do good. We’ve been given the authority and the divine power to overcome the darkness. We are light.

Find out what God said. It’s in His Word, the Holy Bible, a letter written TO YOU. It’s the rulebook for this life. It’s literally a matter of Life and Death. 

See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil... I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live... (Deut. 30:15-20 ESV)

Circle one:

Life
Death