Delegated Authority

What would change in your life if you truly understood the authority Jesus has given you?

Look, I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy, and you can walk among snakes and scorpions and crush them. Nothing will injure you. But don’t rejoice because evil spirits obey you; rejoice because your names are registered in heaven. - Luke 10:19-20 NLT

Authority in His Name

Jesus appointed and sent seventy of His disciples out into the “harvest” fields of mankind. When they returned, they rejoiced, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name” (Luke 10:17). Jesus explained that it was because He had given them authority over the power of the enemy.

This was not something they had earned or produced on their own. It was delegated to them by Jesus and exercised in His name. True authority is found in Jesus because all authority belongs to Him. Yet what He entrusted to His followers came at a very high cost. Jesus would ultimately lay down His life on the cross, conquering sin and death and making a way for us to live under His authority. What we have is not something we possess apart from Him. It is found in who He is and what He accomplished for us. Therefore, when we go out into the world in the name of Jesus, we are standing in what He has given us.

Understanding this should change the way we live. As followers of Christ, we now walk in what He has entrusted to us as we go out in His name. We do not go in our own strength, but under the leadership of the One who has sent us.

The enemy does have power, and Scripture tells us that he seeks to deceive us, tempt us, accuse us, oppress us, and destroy us. But the enemy does not have ultimate authority, and that is an important distinction. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Jesus (Matthew 28:18). Because we belong to Him, we do not have to live in fear of evil or be intimidated by the power of the enemy. We go out in His name and confront darkness without fear because we belong to the One who has all authority.

This means we can walk into the world with confidence, not because we are powerful in ourselves, but because we belong to Jesus and carry His name.

The assignment is now ours. But if we are going to step into the world in His name, we need to understand what He has entrusted to us and how we are called to walk in it. Perhaps one of the greatest problems of our generation is that too many believers know they are saved but do not understand what it means to live as people under the authority of Jesus Christ.

Authority Through Submission

Biblical authority does not mean doing whatever we want. It means coming under the authority of Jesus so completely that His will becomes our purpose. Jesus demonstrated this perfectly in John 6:38: “I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of Him who sent me.”

The greatest authority is not found in self-will but in submission to God. Before we tell the enemy to flee, we are told in James 4:7, “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” Our authority flows from our relationship with Christ, not from our own confidence.

We must remember that our power is connected to the resurrection of Jesus Christ and His exaltation above every spiritual authority. God raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms, “far above all rule and authority, power and dominion” (Ephesians 1:20–21).

We are united with Christ, and our battle is real against the enemy. People are not the battlefield; the real battle is spiritual. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds (2 Corinthians 10:4). So we need to stop fighting people and put on the full armor of God so we can stand firm against the enemy’s schemes.

Stop Watching and Start Obeying

We pray to God to do things He has already commanded us to participate in. We ask God to resist the enemy while Scripture tells us in James 4:7, “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” We ask God to bring light into the darkness while Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:14 that we are the light of the world. We ask God to reach the lost while Jesus commands us in Matthew 28:19 to go and make disciples of all nations.

There comes a time when we must stop merely watching and start obeying.

Jesus has given us an assignment. The question is, will we step into it?

The Harvest Is Waiting

Are you ready?

Proclaim the name of Jesus. Become deeply rooted in Christ. Know the Word. Know the Shepherd. Know your identity in Christ. Know your authority under Christ and stand firm. Our greatest victory is not that the enemy submits to us — our greatest victory is that we belong to Jesus.

Jesus delegated His authority to us so that we can accomplish His mission. The harvest is still waiting. What am I doing with the authority Jesus has entrusted to me?

As a Christian, you are not called to sit on the sidelines. You are called to follow Jesus, pray, love, speak truth, make disciples, resist the devil, stand firm, carry the light, and go into the harvest!

Love your sister in Christ,

Amy