We continue our 'Freedom' series of articles to understand and defeat every attack of Satan and his demons. This is important because we do not want to be naive about Satan's impact on our lives. He wants to kill us whether we are Christian or not and sometimes, in his craftiness, Satan can make you feel good while he is slowly destroying your life.
Satan and his demons bring various levels of oppression on our lives. Just look around - families are in turmoil, children are being attacked and Christians experience opposition for their beliefs. The good news is that on leaving Earth, Jesus imparted divine authority and established a powerful church to defeat the enemy.
The word 'authority' means 'the power or right to give orders and make others obey, or to take specific action'. We need to realise that we have 'Spiritual Authority' through Jesus Christ. "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds ..." 2 Corinthians 10:4 NKJV.
Jesus Christ defeated Satan over 2,000 years ago when He paid the penalty for sin on the Cross. "When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having cancelled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross." Colossians 2:13-15 NIV.
Every person who believes in their heart and declares with their mouth that "Jesus is Lord" is a believer and has this same spiritual authority to defeat the devil the moment they make this confession. But the devil knows that when we exercise our God-given authority we can defeat him, so he tries to keep us in ignorance.
Demons understand authority and when someone of greater authority confronts them, they know and obey. In the book of Mark, we read about Jesus' contact with a demon,
"Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an impure spirit cried out. 'What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are - the Holy One of God!' 'Be quiet!' said Jesus sternly. 'Come out of him!' The impure spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek. The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, 'What is this? A new teaching - and with authority! He even gives orders to impure spirits and they obey him.'" Mark 1:23-27 NIV.
Jesus exercised authority over this and other demonic spirits and they obeyed Him.
Jesus also gave this same authority to His disciples, when He said: "I have given you (speaking to His disciples) authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you." Luke 10:19 NIV.
Initially, Jesus delegated His authority only to the Twelve Disciples ... "Then He called His twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases." Luke 9:1 NIV. As the disciples obeyed, exercising their newly received authority, God backed up their speech and actions with power.
Jesus then delegated His authority to 72 other disciples: "After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him..." Luke 10:1 NIV. Again, the Lord backed them up, "...Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name."" Luke 10:17 NIV.
Finally, Jesus transferred this same authority to all believers when He said, "... And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons ... and the Lord worked with them ..." Mark 16:17, 20b NIV.
In our own strength we can't defeat our spiritual enemy, but we have a greater power through the authority that Jesus delegated to us. So we can defeat Satan and his demons just like Jesus did. Join us next week, when we learn how to use this powerful authority.