Authority

“Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases” (Luke 9:1 KJV).

The recovering of God’s way will be followed by the demonstration of His acts. This divine order and genuine reverence will be the catalyst to causing the Invisible Kingdom to become undeniably evident in our lives. Allow this truth to take root in your heart. God is raising you up for more. As with all the teachings Jesus highlighted in His earthly ministry, this topic of authority must be recovered. None of them are without significance.

Every believer’s purpose and the assignment in life will never be accomplished without both authority and power. As stated in places throughout the book, Reading Red: The Gospel According to Jesus, God is still making everything He made available to His disciples while Jesus was on earth, available to His followers now. This must become a foundational thought to which we hold tightly. Failure to realize we’ve received the same—Holy Spirit, commission, purpose, and mandate—as the early church, will have us settling for a far less rewarding Christian experience than what we read about in Scripture. I remind you again … this life with Christ is filled with adventures and endless encounters. I’ve learned that believers who live void of encounters will always find themselves needing encouragement. But with encounters comes a steadfastness and birthing of hunger to continue to pursue God for more.

As we see from the foundational text above, the first thing that Jesus gave His disciples was power and authority over ALL devils and to heal diseases. If this doesn’t awaken faith in your heart, I don’t know what will. Since my early days of being a new believer, this verse has both challenged and encouraged me. I have realized that all means all in every language. In Spanish, all means all. In English, all means all. In Mandarin, all means all. If Jesus gave His disciples authority over ALL devils, that means there wasn’t a devil in hell that any believer did not have power over. It’s encouraging because it lets us know that if any issue in our life is demonically inspired, we have the power, through Christ, to do something about it!

Jesus doesn’t just stop with giving them authority and power over devils, but He also gives them power over diseases. We must allow faith to arise from the foundation of this truth. We cannot allow previous disappointments, or unanswered prayers, to diminish our faith and lower our expectation as it pertains to ministering healing to the sick. We cannot allow our faith to drop down to the level of our experience; we must use God’s Word to raise our expectations to the level of truth which He said. I know that many have lost loved ones that they have prayed for, but we cannot become those who are discipled by disappointment.

The lingering effect of disappointment is a real issue in the life of many believers. We must be able to take an honest assessment of the condition of our heart, and ensure that we’re not allowing an isolated defeat to paralyze us into living from a defeated place. I’ve seen this more than you would expect. So before moving forward, this is a great place to stop and pray. Let’s ask the Father to heal you from all effects of previous disappointments, and awaken our faith to believe again. Because before we’ll see the fruit from understanding authority, we must first ensure our hearts are healthy enough to respond to the truth that’s being presented. We have scriptural reference from Hebrews 4:2, that many can hear the same word of faith, and it not profit them all, because of how they process the word that they heard. Well, it’s the condition of our heart that determines how we hear. Jesus said, “Take heed therefore HOW ye hear:” (Luke 8:18a KJV, emphasis mine).

It’s not just “what” we hear, but “how” we hear, that is shaping our response to the Word of God. So pray; ask God to deliver you from hurt, disappointment, and unbelief as a result of deferred promises, in the name of Jesus. Your faith is necessary for walking in authority.

Questions:

(1) What was the primary purpose for authority taught and demonstrated by Jesus?

(2) Every believer has authority over the powers of darkness. How does this change your approach to certain challenges?

(3) Authority from God requires submission to Him. Explain that correlation.

Transformative Prayer:

All I have needed, Father you’ve provided, to aid in Kingdom come. Help me to grow in confidence in what you’ve crowned me with. I’ll no longer be silent in the face of challenges, adversity, or the adversary, in Jesus’ name, amen.

This plan was adapted from Reading Red: The Gospel According to Jesus, a book and study guide by Apostle Shawn Echols, pastor of Greater Works International Fellowship in Houston, Texas. Get a copy of the book and workbook and learn more about Apostle Echols' ministry at http://greaterworkshouston.com/books/ .