Exercising Our Authority

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. Genesis 1:26-28 (KJV) emphasis mine

And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen. Mark 16:17-20 (KJV)

As believers, we don’t have to put up with sin, sickness, disease, poverty, storms, wars, crime, the devil, or whatever tries to get out of line. When it does, we can put it back in line by using our authority. When things get out of order, we can put them back in order- ourselves, our families, our churches, society, the government, our health, healthcare systems, the economy, and the list goes on. We have dominion, or authority to rule over, death, fear, lack, hunger, shortages, or anything that tries to come against us.

Wherever Jesus went, He cast out devils, raised the dead, healed the sick, fed the hungry, taught God’s Word, and performed miracles. God has given us dominion and authority to put things back where they belong and to uproot and remove what does not belong, just as Jesus did. We can do the same works as Jesus and even greater (John 14:12).

And the same day, when the even was come, he saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side. And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships. And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. Mark 4:35-39 (KJV)

If Jesus has authority over the weather and He has shared His authority with us, then we have authority over the weather as well. Janean and I live in the country, about a half mile east of our little Texas town. Just a few days ago, we got alerts on our phones about an approaching tornado. We went outside with some emergency supplies and opened our emergency shelter door in preparation. Then we went and stood in our front yard where visibility was the best and, sure enough, we could see the funnel cloud in the southwest, on the opposite side of town, heading northeast- in our direction and headed straight for the town. Remembering that God has given us authority and dominion, we began to use it against the tornado. We spoke to it in the name of Jesus and told it to go back up and become nothing. We kept speaking to it using the name of Jesus, and Janean kept telling it that the blood of Jesus was against it. We stood for a while, maybe 15-20 minutes, and kept commanding it to be gone. And we made a conscious decision not to be fearful. As we stood against it and did not relent, we saw the funnel become narrower and narrower and go right back up into the clouds. It dissipated and came to nothing. Standing in the rain in our front yard, we praised God and our faith was definitely strengthened by this victory. We later heard that the tornado went back up just a mile before reaching the town. The photo above is of that actual tornado as it began to narrow. What if we had not decided to exercise our authority and instead just went into our storm shelter? Only God knows.

And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:8-11 (KJV)

The devil and the trials of life will run us over if we let them. However, God gave us authority to keep everything under our feet through the use of the name of Jesus. Every knee must bow and every tongue must confess that Jesus is Lord. As we enforce our authority by the name of Jesus, we enforce Jesus’ lordship and bring all things into subjection to Him. Let’s use what Jesus gave us. He did what He did for us, expecting that we put all enemies under our feet. We are the head and not the tail; above only and not beneath. We are seated with Christ in heavenly places as kings with Him. Let’s exercise our authority in Him to rule and reign in this life.