Understand Your Authority

Through the last Bible study, we realized that the Bible gives conditions for us to see God work through us with His healing power. The disciples in Matthew 17 had the authority to heal the sick in Jesus' name but doubted when the results didn’t come immediately. Authority is activated by obedience in faith—not by a mountain of faith, but by a mustard seed of childlike faith without doubt, even when results are not immediate.

God wants to work through us because He gave us authority in His name to pray for the sick, based on the foundation that Jesus paid for with His stripes. If you don’t understand your authority, you won’t see results. When you pray “in Jesus' name,” you pray with the authority of the One who sent you, with His full authority behind it. Imagine a king sends an ambassador to decree something for his people. No one listens to the ambassador because of who he is, but because of the king. He speaks in the king’s name, meaning on the king’s behalf. If you don’t see yourself as being sent by Jesus to pray for the sick in His name, you won’t have the boldness and faith to pray (1 John 5:14-15).

But Jesus did send us in His name to proclaim the Gospel with His power. He sent us, and He gave us authority.

In Luke 9 and 10, He sent His disciples with His authority to heal the sick and proclaim the good news. After they returned, He reinstated it for all believers in Luke 10:19.

Side note: In Luke 9:49-50, someone understood his authority as a believer and used it, though he wasn’t part of the disciples’ “exclusive” group. Jesus confirmed his legitimacy.

This authority is confirmed for all believers by Jesus in Mark 16:15-18 and Matthew 28:18-20, where Jesus commands the disciples to teach new converts to observe all things He has instructed. The book of Acts confirms it once again, showing that God wants us to use His authority to pray for the sick and proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ.