Taking Back our Authority
I would say that most believers — myself included — either underestimate the spiritual authority they have, or they don’t know how to use it. Either one of those is a WIN for the enemy. It doesn’t matter if we have the power and authority to defeat the enemy, if we’re not using it. We are no threat to the enemy if we aren’t using the power and authority that Yeshua has given us.
Today, we’re going to raise the threat level against the enemy, because everyone who reads this will understand the authority we have and how to use it.
“Greater things than these”
I want to start in Philippians 2:5-8:
“In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death–even death on a cross!”
This is so powerful. This means that everything Yeshua did is possible for us to do. Do you believe that?
In John 14:12 Yeshua himself tells us:
“Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.”
Every single thing Yeshua did, another human did either before or after him — a human who wasn’t born to a virgin, a human who was not the Messiah — humans just like you and me. All the miracles he did while he was in his human body, have been done by other humans, who were not God.
Think about the major miracles he did:
- The resurrection of Lazarus – Elisha raised the Shunammite woman’s son from the dead (2 Kings 4:32-37)
- Walking on water – Peter walked on water (Matt. 14:25-29)
- Cursing the fig tree – Similarly, Moses threw a piece of wood into bitter water and it became fit to drink (Ex. 15:23-25)
- Calming the storm – Similarly Joshua told the sun and moon to stand still and they obeyed (Josh. 10:12-13)
- Yeshua caught up with the boat in the middle of the Sea of Galilee (which is 13 miles long, 8 miles wide) (Matt. 14:22-27). Elijah ran ahead of Ahab’s chariot (1 Kings 18:45-46)
- Of course, healing people, casting out demons – his disciples did these things before and after his death and resurrection. (Luke 10:17-19, Acts 2:43, Acts 3:1-9)
These were people just like us. These were people walking in spiritual authority and in faith.
James reminds us in James 5:17-18
“Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.”
We know these things happen. Let’s look at how they happen.
“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.”
That includes us — we are filled in every way. We are his physical body on earth and charged with doing what he would do if he were here.
“…made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,”
We are now there with him, at the right hand of the father – with his rule and authority and power and dominion.
Who has the power?
Many — probably most – believers (and again I was included in this) believe that when the enemy is coming against them or their loved ones that we are to pray to the Lord to rescue us, or defend us, or protect us.
I want to show you a short testimony of a pastor. If you are familiar with Paul & Luanne Wilbur, you may have seen their “Shabbat in Your Home” series on YouTube. One Shabbat, Luanne shared an excellent teaching on “The Authority of the Believer.” In this video she tells the testimony of a pastor. The testimony is 3 minutes, from 12:50-15:50, if you want to fast forward.
And then Yeshua gave the pastor these four verses:
“Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’ ”
We are not instructed to pray to Yeshua to do it. It is our responsibility to use the authority he gave us.
2. James 4:7
“Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
The word “resist” here does not mean to just ignore it. In the Greek, it’s a military term meaning to strongly oppose, take a stand against and refusing to be pushed back. The word “flee” here is to run away. It’s not that the enemy gets tired and sulks away. Resisting is taking action against him, and fleeing means he runs away. This is not from our own power – he will not run from us. He runs at the name of Yeshua Hamashiach.
Resisting the devil is using your authority to rebuke him in the name of Yeshua. Whether it’s lack of provision, fear, illness, depression, strife in your family, the enemy lying to your children or your grandchildren — you have the power to send the enemy running.
And you don’t have to feel like it. You may not feel powerful. That’s okay, you just have to believe what the word says. Believe in Yeshua’s power in you. Remember what we read in Eph. 1:18 – “the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.”
The enemy does not want us to know this. He wants us to doubt our power. He’s counting on this, it’s his only hope – that we either don’t know our power, or don’t use it – preferably both. He will tell you, “You don’t feel anything, nothing happened when you prayed, you sinned just this morning, so you’ll have to wait for another day…” If you hear anything keeping you from believing this and using your authority, you can bet it’s from the enemy.
Ask the Lord to confirm for you whether you have this power. Or maybe you’ve been asking and this is your confirmation today. I asked him and he confirmed it a few times over about a month – a couple of times physically and a couple of times where people told me specifically that I had spiritual authority. So now I have no excuse – I have authority, whether I feel like I have it or not. And you do, too.
3. 1 Peter 5:8
“Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”
The enemy is not sitting still content with the evil he’s already done. He is out for the very soul of our loved ones. He’s looking for access and a comfortable place to expand his holdings. He will stay and as long as we let him.
“do not give the devil a foothold.”
That means take action and rebuke him right away.
These were the four verses Yeshua gave that pastor to teach him about his authority. Here is one more:
“And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
This doesn’t say anything about asking Yeshua or Yehovah to do it. This tells us to do it in Yeshua’s name. Yeshua is not laying his hands on the sick, we are. This is our responsibility.
The testimony that Luanne shared was the second one like it I had heard in a couple of months. Before that, I had heard nearly the same exact story from a completely unrelated source, someone not Messianic. This man was also with Yeshua and saw demons coming at him. Thinking Yeshua would defend him, at the last minute he rebuked them in the name of Jesus Christ, and they stopped in their tracks. Then he had a very similar conversation with Yeshua, who also told him that it’s his responsibility to take authority.
After I heard this, I began to pray in this way on a regular basis.
A Case in Point
I typically pray for someone for 40 days, whomever the Lord prompts me to. Just after I had heard this man’s testimony, I began another 40-day period and the Lord had me pray for a member of my family. This woman had made some decisions in her life that lead her down a hard road, and she was stuck there for many years. Over those years she was in an abusive relationship, began using drugs, her health declined and she became trapped by poverty, fear and oppression from the man she was with. We had prayed for her and also tried to help her various times to no avail.
Finally she moved out of reach of this man and began to find herself again. There she eventually turned her life around and rededicated it to Yehovah. But the enemy continued to take advantage of her weakened state — health issues, anxiety, fear, self-doubt, condemnation, nightmares of her past, resurfacing pain and guilt. She just couldn’t get out of the enemy’s grasp over her mind.
So for these 40 days I decided to take authority over the enemy in her life. And she joined me. Our goal was for her to break through the fear that was holding her back from what’s possible with the Lord. We created a playlist of scripture songs about overcoming. We called it “Breakthrough.” Every time the Lord showed us something new, we’d find a scripture song to add, so that she could immerse herself in the word and memorize the word and turn to those specific scriptures any time the enemy tried to harass her.
And for those 40 days I rebuked the enemy. I cancelled and annulled all of his plans and access to her, I tore down everything he had built up. I declared all his lies ineffectual, so that she could discern lies from truth, and I prayed that the Holy Spirit would replace all those things with himself.
After a couple of weeks, she started feeling more and more free, like a weight was being lifted off of her. And by day 40, she was no longer under the enemy’s oppression. Hallelujah!
As that 40 days ended, I asked the Lord who I should pray for next. And he told me to continue praying for her, only now I was to pray for her new life. She was out from under the enemy’s hold and now he was going to fill her up with new life.
During that time she joined a book club at her church and a prayer group. We kept praying for those 40 days to break habits, ways of thinking, coping mechanisms, self-defeating behaviors – all of those things that you do when the enemy has you down. We discovered old notions that she had adopted out of anxiety and self-doubt, and she realized she didn’t need to think that way or do those things anymore.
By the time those 40 days ended, a lot had happened. A week later she realized that she no longer had any anxiety or fear. What had become an automatic reaction of fear and worry plaguing her every day, had now transformed into complete trust in the Lord. In her words, “I used to be in panic mode all the time, and now I don’t have to worry anymore. After the Lord cleansed me and gave me the breakthrough, I never have to go back to panic mode again. I don’t worry about anything, and it is the most freeing feeling. I don’t have anything to fear. I can be anything for the Lord I want now. All the doors are now open to me. Life is fantastic!”
By the following week, she was using her gifts in ways she had never done before. She started teaching Sunday school and also volunteered to lead a small group book study for her church (on the topic of prayer). She’s on fire and bringing other people along with her!
That’s what the Lord did in 80 days. This is possible! Every one of us has the authority to do this. In fact, Yeshua is counting on us to do this. We are his representatives on earth in our generation. I encourage you to ask him who he wants to transform and then take up your authority and do battle to stand against the enemy and send him fleeing.
In Part 2, we will look at the power that Yeshua’s blood gives us to take authority over the enemy. We tend to think of Yeshua’s death in terms of our forgiveness of sins because he shed his innocent and holy blood to atone for us. This is absolutely true. But that is just the beginning. We also know that it justified us, sanctified us, cleansed us and so many other things spiritually. It puts us in right standing before the Almighty God, so that we can be in direct fellowship with him. That is incredible and we’re beyond grateful.
And it does even more than that – much more.
Messianic Sabbath 
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