The Authority is Yours As Well

Week 1 – The Authority of the Believer by Pastor Mark Cowart

And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth…..’
Matthew 28:18a NKJV

As a born-again child of God, that authority is yours as well, through faith in Christ. This means you, too, have the power to cast out demons, overcome temptation and walk in total victory. Studying what God’s Word reveals regarding your spiritual authority, spiritual warfare and the Great Commission will equip you to rise up and take your rightful place in His plan, unlocking the victory you’ve been searching for.

Completing the passage begun above, Matthew 28:18-20:
…’All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’ Amen.

With this verse, the gospel account of Matthew ends. The Lord Jesus ascends into heaven. This “Great Commission” is repeated in every gospel as well as stated this way in the book of Acts:

But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.
Acts 1:8NKJV

This command the Lord has given us, and we must study this “commission” He has assigned. Why is that important? There is a part that God plays in this, and there is a part that we play in this as we labor with the Lord.

For we are God’s fellow workers; I Corinthians 3:9a NKJV

Therefore, they stayed there a long time, speaking boldly in the Lord, who was bearing witness to the word of His grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands.
Acts 14:3 NKJV

And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen. Mark 16:20 NKJV

With this statement, the gospel of Mark ends, immediately following Jesus’ pronouncement in this book of the Great Commission, the description of the supernatural anointing to be on His followers and, finally, His physical ascension into heaven. Then, they went and did their part, and He did His.

How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will? Hebrews 2:3-4 KJV

But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated to them. When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, ‘All AUTHORITY has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’ Amen. Matthew 28:16-20 NKJV

What then is this authority? Basically, it is the power to enforce laws and exact obedience to commands, to determine or to judge. Wait a minute. We know that the Lord said this:

Judge not, that you be not judged. Matthew 7:1 NKJV

By this we know that we, as believers, are NOT given the authority to pronounce life or death over a person. That is reserved for the Lord. We are, however, given the authority to enforce God’s laws and exact obedience by command in the spiritual realm. This is where we deal with the forces of darkness which are set against us and God’s kingdom.

In Matthew 28 above, the Greek word translated authority is exousia. The King James version renders it as “power”. Strong’s Concordance defines it as “privilege”, “delegated influence”, “jurisdiction”. So, this word exousia encompasses both the right to exercise power and the power itself.

Jesus said, “All authority…”, not some, not a great deal, but all authority has been given to Him “in heaven and on earth”. Jesus Christ is Lord of all. There is no greater Name in all creation.

You might wonder what that has to do with you. As a born-again Christian, you come into the Kingdom of God. You are in Christ. He is in you. That means you, the individual you, are recognized with Him in heavenly places.

And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,…
Ephesians 2:6 NIV

This is the position of authority that He occupies, and you with Him, as you lay hold of what has been bestowed upon the believer.

…what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. Ephesians 1:19-21 NKJV

That is very good news for you and me! If we don’t know this, we can suffer loss unnecessarily.

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Hosea 4:6 NKJV

For example, we are authorized to cast out demons. Not to pray to God to get rid of them, but to operate in faith, walking in the Spirit and the Name of Jesus, commanding them to leave. The Lord said so plainly.

These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons,… Mark 16:17 NASB

Earlier in His time on earth, the Lord told this to His seventy chosen disciples when they returned from going out two-by-two as He directed:

Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Luke 10:19 NKJV

In this arena of spiritual warfare, it is important to remember also what Jesus said to them next:

Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven. Luke 10:20 NKJV

I have seen individuals and ministries crash as a result of being careless when engaging darkness. One must be very sober, very alert, as the enemy will be trying to set you up to hurt you. You must stay humbly connected to the vine. You must keep the focus on heaven’s victory over demonic powers, not thinking it is personally yours, as you walk and function in the authority of Christ.

“The believer’s authority exists before he or she seeks or realizes in any special way the Spirit’s presence.”
–The Authority of the Believer by John McMillan (missionary in the 30’s and 40’s)

What does that mean? It means the authority of the believer is yours and mine right now, no matter how long you have been walking with the Lord. It is critical that we study what the Word says about this, because many people are being harassed by the devil, and all the while, they have authority over all the power of that evil spirit. You are the one who can shut down the operation of demonic forces in your life.

Authority is only as good as what’s behind it. What’s backing you and I, when we are operating in our authority in Christ, is God’s very throne, His power and authority. By the resurrection of Jesus, Satan is defeated. There is no place you can go, heaven, earth or hell, and find authority superior to Christ Jesus and His followers.

To further explore the concept of authority, consider a police officer. He or she has the right, the responsibility and the power to enforce the laws of the land. When a traffic cop holds up his hand, why does traffic stop? He wears a badge representing the authorization of the jurisdiction where he is working. The people obey his signals in traffic, not because he has the power in his hands to stop them, but because he is backed by the rest of the police force and the courts of that jurisdiction to arrest and penalize them if they do not obey.

The police officer also has a gun at his side, in most cases, just in case an “outlaw” happens along, refuses his authority and needs to be stopped from harming others. This is part of God’s plan to keep order in the earth.

For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Romans 13:4 NIV

You, as an individual, do not have to go to Bible school to walk in the authority of the Great Commission as outlined in Mark chapter 16. You need faith and obedience.

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Romans 10:17 NKJV

As you study this and as you meditate on the Word of God you are reading and studying, faith will begin to arise. And then, you can see yourself casting out devils, laying hands on the sick so that they recover and speaking in other tongues. There is also a back story to this preparation. I want you to embrace the power that you have individually. The thoughts you think, the words you speak and the actions you take can be a tremendous power for good. What comes out of you can literally set people free or bind people up.

“The preacher’s (or believer’s) throne is the pulpit. He stands in Christ’s stead: his message is the word of God; around him are immortal souls; the Savior, unseen, is beside him; the Holy Spirit broods over the congregation; angels gaze upon the scene, and heaven and hell await the issue. What associations, and what vast responsibility.”
— Matthew Simpson, Lectures on Preaching, 1897

The authority of the believer has some heavy backing, and a lot is stake in how we exercise it. Our operations must be in proper context. Consider how the Body of Christ, His active, visible presence on earth now, is described in I Corinthians chapter 12 in terms of the human body (v. 12-30).

The apostle Paul starts describing the Body of Christ and he uses the human body as an analogy. It has all these parts. They’re varied, they’re different. Some are seen, some are unseen. Some you’d bestow more honor upon, some are less comely, less attractive. But the bottom line is every part of the whole body is important. For example, people rarely see our toes. We put them in a sock and shove them down in a shoe most days. And yet, they say if you lose a toe, it’ll affect the way you walk from then on.

Why did I share the Simpson quote above with you? Because, you, as a believer, have influence. Every single believer has influence. Just the ripple effect of any person’s interactions with their closest contacts affects the “human fabric”. It is thought that we are only six people away from anyone in the world – “six degrees of separation”.

If every believer could get the revelation of the authority that they have and walk faithfully in it, think of the impact. Your very life is like your pulpit. With Jesus enthroned in our hearts, we become the hands and feet of the Lord. We become His ambassadors and representatives. Notice the quote above says, “He stands in Christ’s stead.” You might be the only Bible someone ever reads.

You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart. II Corinthians 3:2-3 NKJV

Paul also talked about how people can believe on the Lord. How can they be born again unless preachers, missionaries and people like you are sent? And, we know that we are sent, we are commissioned to “go out” and do just this.

How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!’ Romans 10:14-15 NKJV

Mr. Simpson also states in the quote above, “His message is the word of God.” That is the KEY to victory in the Christian life. We get into the Word until the Word gets into us. This happens when you READ the Word, STUDY the Word and MEDITATE the Word. As you apply this discipline, revelation will flow. The quote goes on to say, “Around him are immortal souls.” Think about it. You go to the grocery store, you go to class, you go to work out in the marketplace. There are immortal souls all around you, and, trust me, people are reading you more than you know. That is why Jesus said the following:

You are the salt of the earth….You are the light of the world…. Matthew 5:13-14 NKJV

“The Holy Spirit broods over the congregation.” He can brood over the people in your sphere of influence outside a church building. “Angels gaze upon the same. Heaven and hell await the issue.” You know, life (or death) is voice-activated.

Death and life are in the power of the tongue, … Proverbs 18:21a NKJV

Demonic powers are looking for words, negative words. They’re looking for words of doubt and unbelief, murmuring and complaining. But angels hearken to the voice of God’s word.

This brings us back around to the practical application of your authority in Christ. I have seen, over the years as a Pastor, that people would be harassed by the enemy or their children, and they would be praying for God to do something about it. As born-again Christians, living in this earth, we have the authority and the ability to exercise that authority over the powers of darkness. As we speak the Word and as we obey the Word, by the same authority, angels of God are sent to minister to you and I. Think about that.

Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation? Hebrews 1:14 NIV

Pray this over your life:
Thank you, Lord, that you purchased this authority for us with your precious blood and you give it to us freely. Help us to walk in it and see victory over darkness in our lives to honor and glorify you. Amen.