Authority

What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him?

For You have made him a little lower than the angels, And You have crowned him with glory and honor. You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet. Psalms 8.4-6

When God created man, He gave him ALL His authority and dominion OVER ALL THINGS. Since man was His masterpiece, God wanted him to enjoy these things and have nothing disturb his peace.

Of course, under this authority, the devil and his demons would also have to submit to man. However, this authority was and is linked to UNCONDITIONAL OBEDIENCE to the Word of God. This was the price man had to pay: be obedient to the Voice of the Almighty, without questioning His laws.

The devil knew this, he knew that as long as there was obedience, man would dominate and not be dominated. The problem was not in Eve eating the fruit, but that she was disobedient to the Voice of God. They were giving the devil what they had. Since then, mankind has been enslaved by evil and suffered the consequences of having Satan as their master.

The coming of the Lord Jesus did not only bring hope and Salvation, but He also came to recover this authority, which had been lost. He took back the key the devil had stolen in paradise.

It is interesting that Jesus also taught this to His disciples, because when He called them, He said to them, “Heal the sick, cast out demons…”. What else would this be, but AUTHORITY?

We can see throughout His ministry that Jesus taught His followers to use Authority. He calmed the sea, commanded the wind to be still and said, “Why are you so fearful? How is it you have no faith?” Then he walked on water and told Peter to do the same. He spoke to a fig tree and it withered away, and He told His disciples they could do much more than that. He multiplied the loaves of bread and fish and said, “You give them something to eat”.

In all of these supernatural events, Jesus motivated His disciples to do the same, to show them that His Authority, which had been given to mankind since the beginning of creation, was being restored to man. And before ascending to Heaven, He said,

ALL AUTHORITY HAS BEEN GIVEN TO ME IN HEAVEN AND ON EARTH. Matthew 28.18

And He passed this authority to all of us when He said:

But you shall receive power (AUTHORITY) when the Holy Spirit has come upon you… Acts 1.8

Those who receive the Holy Spirit have the AUTHORITY to dethrone the devil from anywhere that he may be reining. We cannot turn a blind eye from this, we have to raise our hands, tie up and remove the devil, so that any situation can change.

The decision is ours: either we use our authority over the devil and overcome, or submit to the authority he stole in Eden. Which do you prefer?