Authority and its Effects
Authority is the power to determine, command or control, also it is a power or right delegated or given.
Irrispective of how much authority any person on this earth have, there is always a higher authority. The highest authority in heaven, on earth or under the earth is God. In learning the value of resisting the devil, as shown by the experience of Jesus Christ who having just been to fill up with spiritual fuel (40 days and night fast) was taken and tempted by the devil, we must realize that the devil must have had some authority to do so. Just like with Job, when the Lord invited the devil (gave him the authority) to test Job.
In the animal kingdom, there is this constant show of authority both within and without the various species. There are usually clear lines of authority. Authority is exercised at every level of our human existence and sometimes it has very little to do with our abilities or training but more to do with our zeal to control others and to determine the outcome of things by virtue of our position. So in exercising our authority we can be autocratic or we can be democratic.
In the spiritual realm there is this ranking that takes place and with each rank comes greater or lesser authority. For instance God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, angels, the saints of God etc. or the devil, demons, evil spirits, devil worshippers etc. So a person at work would clearly be outranked by the top boss in the company but that same person could outrank the top boss in the spiritual realm because he is a saint of the Most High God. To put it another way, the authority that we have through Jesus Christ would be far superior to that which the top boss has in the company.
So how can this knowledge we have be used to have dominion over the pharaohs of this world or over principalities, powers, the rulers of darkness, demons and devils? We fast and pray, we intercede, we bind, we loose and we remember that the battle is the Lord’s. The battle is spiritual not physical.
Father, strip away the covering from the enemy, expose him, destroy his works completely, in Jesus Christ’s name, amen.