Luke 9:1-2
And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.
Truth: Jesus can give us power over all authority because He has power over all authority. In the above passage and the next chapter, Jesus demonstrates and gives power to His disciples to have power over the authorities of this world. In order to give that kind of power to others you have to possess that power yourself and be allowed to give it. We should know this by numerous passages in the Scripture. In Proverbs 8 we are told that God, by Wisdom, made the heavens and the earth. In 1 Corinthians 1-2 we are told that Christ is Wisdom. The inference is plain ... by Christ the Worlds were made. In John's gospel he starts the book out:
John 1:1-4
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
Christ was the Word that made the world. Christ is the maker of the universe, therefore He has power over the authorities in the universe and can give that power to whom He will. Note what Paul tells the church later:
Colossians 2:10-15
and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
It is doubtful that most believers live there lives with the understanding of the power of God at their very finger tips. We often become subject to the most trivial of emotions, when in reality we have the very power of God available through the power of Christ living in us. In the above passage, Jesus gives power to and sends out His "apostles" (the word here is a generic description for "sent ones" vs. the title of the twelve disciples who would become THE APOSTLES). This power they had was a gift of God based upon the authority of Christ. We ought not fear the powers and rulers of this world. Satan obviously is a scary demon. All demons should be scary ... they are real powers. Yet, they have been, as Paul states to the Colossians, they are "disarmed" and we are fully "armed." Rejoice in the truth that Christ has authority, gives it to us and disarms all the others ... we ought to live victorious with that mentality and battle plan.
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