Authority in Practice
Matt 10:1 Jesus gives His disciples authority and told them to use that authority to drive out impure spirits.
- And to heal diseases and sickness.
Luke 9:1 Here Jesus gives them authority to drive out ALL demons.
- And to cure diseases.
Mark 6:7 Here Mark only mentions impure spirits or demons.
- Notice all three passages where Jesus commissions His disciples he mentions evil spirits or demons.
- Do you think Jesus wanted us to get this and focus on this?
look at their results:
Luke 9:6 So they set out and went from village to village, proclaiming the good news and healing people everywhere.
One more thing related to this idea of authority.
Matt 10:7 Notice it does not say pray for the sick.
- Jesus did not tell them to pray for the sick. He told them to heal the sick. Authority in practice.
Luke 10:8 Again, Jesus did not say to pray for the sick. He said to heal the sick.
- Both the Matt 10 and the Luke 10 passage are tied to walking in authority.
Jesus’ authority over evil spirits.
Mark 1:23 Jesus just spoke a few words. “Be Quite” and “Come out of Him.”
- This shows authority. Jesus gave all his disciples this same kind of authority.
Mark 4:39 Again, just a few words.
- Remember in all of this Jesus is demonstrating what is possible for us.
Mark 5:11 The demons deliver themselves. Do you see that?
- Jesus just gives them permission.
How Jesus healed the sick.
Mark 1:31 Here Jesus doesn’t even say anything.
- He simply allows the authority on Him to be greater than the sickness on her.
Mark 1:40 Here Jesus touches the man. Remember how contagious leprosy was.
- And then simply said “be clean.” A two-word command.
Mark 2:9 Notice Jesus mentions His authority, but only in relation to forgiving sins.
- Then Jesus does not even address the sickness or the man’s paralysis.
- Jesus simply tells the man to get up and go home. This is authority in practice.
Mark 3:1 & Mark 3:5 Again, Jesus does not address the sickness or the paralysis.
- He simply told the man to stretch out His hand.
Putting it all together:
- Many of these healing passages and even some of the deliverance passages were just one or two words.
- We call these command prayers.
- We tend to pray, “Oh God, if you are out there anywhere, please come and heal.”
- That prayer not only lacks authority, but it also lacks faith.
- Now, we are most certainly not commanding God. DO NOT Command God!
- We are to Command the sickness or pain and evil spirits.
- Remember all those commissioning passages we looked at? Jesus gave us authority over sickness and evil spirits.
- That’s what we have authority to command.
- That’s also why I started this series by showing you that our authority goes all the way back to the garden of Eden.
- God gave Adam supreme authority over the earth.
- But also remember we are made from earth. Therefore, our authority extends to our bodies.
- We can speak in authority to our bodies, because it is made of earth.
- Jesus restored to us the authority that Adam had.