It is important for Christians, those who believe in Jesus Christ, to know who they are in Christ and what power and authority they possess so as to establish the dominion of the Kingdom of God on earth. God needs a physical body to establish His power, authority and dominion on this earth. Unless it is spoken that which is in the spiritual realm does not materialise and manifest in the physical realm. That is why even in the Old Testament times God sent the prophets to proclaim whatever He wanted done. It is the same even now. Authority was given to Adam right at the time of creation; Adam had dominion over everything (Gen. 1:28). But that authority Adam gave it away to the devil by committing sin through his disobedience. But it was restored back by Jesus through His sacrifice on the cross and resurrection.
God gave His power and authority to Moses as he led the Israelites out of bondage in Egypt and he was able to show signs, wonders and perform miracles as he was empowered by God; parting of the Red Sea including. Even the prophets have spoken about God’s authority given to man. No weapons formed against you shall prosper and every tongue which rises against you in judgement you shall condemn… as it is written in Isaiah 54:17
During His time on earth Jesus reinforced this truth to His disciples repeatedly. Jesus called His disciples and gave them power over unclean spirits to cast them out and to heal the sick (Mat. 10:1). Behold I give authority to trample on serpents and scorpions and over all power of the enemy. (luke 10:19). He who believes in Me the works I do he will do also (John 14:12). Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven (Mathew 16:19, 18:18). These signs will follow those who believe. In My name they will cast out demons…… they will lay hands on the sick and they will recover (Mat. 16:17-18).
Jesus also demonstrated His power to the disciples through signs wonders and miracles; by healing all kinds of sickness and diseases and delivering people. He expressed displeasure with the disciples when they failed to exercise their God ordained authority due to their doubt, unbelief and fear. Once while sailing across the Sea of Galilee they came faced a severe storm and the disciples feared for their lives and woke Jesus up from sleep. Jesus commanded the storm and it calmed down. (Mat. 8:26) On another occasion seeing Jesus walk on water Peter stepped out of the boat on water but started going down after a few steps because he became fearful seeing the winds. (Mat. 14:28-31) On both these occasions Jesus chided His disciples for their “little faith”.
We believers have the same authority, power over the devil and his kingdom of darkness. Devil has no authority or power; the devil has already been disarmed and he has been defanged through Jesus’s death and resurrection (Col. 2:15). He operates through his demons and deception is the only weapon left in His arsenal. We don’t exercise our power and authority because of the fears, doubts and unbelief. That is why Jesus emphasised the importance of faith and believing without doubt to be able to receive what we pray for in Mark 11:22-24 . Another reason is lack of knowledge of the word and not knowing the truth that we have already been empowered by the Holy Spirit which is a spirit of power.(2 Tim. 1:7)
By not exercising the powers vested in us we are slowing down the establishment of the Kingdom of God; we are allowing the devil, the powers and principalities that work under him to steal our blessings, kill our dreams and destroy our lives and that of other believers in the body of Christ (Church). This is not how it is supposed to be and Jesus will not be pleased with us. Meditate on His words prayerfully and ask the Holy Spirit to give you the boldness to take a stand against the kingdom of darkness and evil. We have the assurance we will surely see our earnest prayers answered; the prayer of the righteous makes tremendous power available (James 5:13-18). Use your power and authority, in Jesus’s name. Amen.