By Sidharth Mohandas

Some years back as I was traveling with my friend he shared with me how he was having horrible nightmares in a stretch after he had moved out from the hostel to a house outside. He said the first day he had a dream where is mother was tortured, the second day he had a dream of his sister being tied down and being tortured and abused, and this went on for couple of days. He said he was intimidated by these and didn’t know what to do. I told my friend that these dreams were brought about by demons. I didn’t know if my friend did believe in demons even though he was a believer in Christ. That evening before he was about to leave to this house, I stopped him and asked him if he’d like me to pray with him, to which he agreed. I prayed something like this:

“Lord I come to You in the name of Jesus. You have given me authority to trample over snakes and scorpions and over all the powers of darkness [Luke 10:19]. You said in Your Word that whatsoever I bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever I loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven [Matthew 16:18] . Lord, I bind these demons that is bothering my friend in Your name. I pray that Your peace rest on that house, and that my friend will have a good nights sleep without any bad dreams. Amen”.

And the result…my friend never had that dream again! Hallelu YAH!

Dear friends, Jesus has given us the keys that can lock the powers of darkness and unlock His power. Demonic activities and strongholds can be arrested by the authority that is available to us in His majestic name.

I’m also reminded of a move of God that is sweeping the town of Kottayam here in Kerala. Pastor Matthew Kuruvilla was called by God to start The Heavenly Feast in Kottayam in the year 1998. A year later Pastor Matthew who is also known as Brother Thangu was instructed by the Holy Spirit to go to a high place in Kottayam and bind the strong-man of the city that prevented revival from hitting the town. From the very next week they saw a breakthrough… in what was just a medium church with few members, it grew into a mammoth gathering with more than 15,000 people gather together to worship the Lord every week.

Do you find resistance in the spirit realm hindering something that you know is God’s will from being manifested in the physical? Do you see the operation of demonic forces in your life and you don’t seem to break through ? Remember, my friend, God’s authority is absolute and sovereign and Scripture declares to us that He has imparted the same authority to you and me to bind and loose the activity of satan. Submit to God today and resist the powers of darkness, and they will flee.

By Jonathan Shieh

When I first became a believer, I didn’t know anything about the authority of the believer. What I did know is that Jesus asked us to “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mk 16:15). Jesus then continued to tell us to cast out demons and heal the sick by laying on of hands.

Great! That sounds so exciting! I want to cast out demons! I want to see the sick get healed! I want to see the miracles of God!

But you know what? As much as I would like to see these miracles, my past experiences immediately rose up and stopped me. “That’s impossible. Why would someone get healed just because I put my hand on them? I don’t have any miraculous healing powers like Jesus! And I certainly don’t know anything about demons!”

Unfortunately, this mentality tends to stick with us even as we grow and get to know God better. Even when we have seen and experienced God’s power in these ways, sometimes we still have difficulty mustering up the courage to actually lay our hands on someone and pray for them!

A simple explanation of authority

There is a place in the bible where authority is spoken of plainly.

Matthew 8:5-10

“Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented.” Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him, And Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.”.The centurion answered and said, “Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, “Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!”

Here, Jesus meets a person who knows and understands authority. A centurion is an officer in the Roman army, which commands a unit of 100 men. When this particular centurion looks at Jesus and saw Him casting demons “with a word”, he recognized something! It’s authority! It’s what the centurion uses everyday. A command is issued, and it is done.

So then if that’s how Jesus performs healings, the centurion realized that Jesus doesn’t even have to come to his house! “Just say the word! I know it will be done! That’s how authority works!” Jesus commended him. No. Jesus marveled at him and said He has not met anyone among the God-chosen people with such great faith.

The disciples of Jesus were probably standing very close by. Peter, James, and John and all the others followed Jesus day-in and day-out. They saw Jesus perform miracle after miracle. They should be living and breathing miracles. And yet, Jesus often rebuked them for their lack of faith and their unbelief. Imagine how the disciples of Jesus must have felt when He made that comment.

What’s the difference between the centurion and the disciples? What makes one of “great faith” while the other of “little faith”? Jesus helps us make a connection here. A clear understanding of authority gave the centurion certain insight that resulted in what Jesus called “great faith”. And indeed, the understanding about authority, will help us receive healing, as is the case in this scripture. But more than that, it will help us to begin to move into ministering to others supernaturally, as Jesus has commanded us to do.

There is so much more to say about authority. We’ve only laid the foundation for a continuing discussion so far. Now, we can continue speaking about authority along the line of a centurion. But that seems a little far-fetched and distant from us. How many times have you seen a centurion anyway?

But I’ll bet you’ve seen a policeman… Let’s leave that until next time though.

By Sidharth Mohandas

There are two Greek words that are often mistranslated in the Bible: “Dunamis” and “Exousis”. The former means “power”, it is from this Greek word that the word “dynamite” comes from. The latter however means “authority”. Knowing the difference between these two words can radically change the way we minister.

In some regions of India, we find traffic polices to control the traffic. If this man stands in the middle of the road and shows the “Stop” signal, whether it is a truck, a car or a scooter, they have to stop. He has been delegated authority to control the vehicles. And through his authority he can administer his power. If there is a violation of the traffic rules, the traffic police can either charge the violator or imprison him. This is how he can exercise his authority. Therefore, it’s impossible to separate authority from power, as one goes hand-in-hand with the other. Without authority, power is illegal.

The primary requirement to operate in God’s authority is to know the Author. Always remember, authority comes from the Author.

When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus [Acts 4:13]

When the religious leaders saw the boldness of Peter and John, they knew that these men had been with Jesus. Spending time with the Author brought authority into their lives.

The second requirement is the knowledge of what our rights are. This is where most of us miss out. So many people are confused as to what their rights in the Kingdom of God are.

Let me show you just one area where many people are confused: the area of healing.

Jesus summoned His twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness. [Matthew 10:1]

As clear as it can be, Jesus gives His disciples the authority to cast out demons, and heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness. Few people would debate the former, but when it comes to the latter, you’ll find a large number of people saying things like, “It is not God’s will to heal everyone”. But this passage clearly says that God has given us the authority to heal the sick. No, I’m not talking about asking God to heal the sick. Jesus commanded His disciples to go and heal the sick. Now don’t get me wrong, we aren’t healers, God alone is the Healer, but God has delegated us authority to impart healing to the sick.

When Peter and John came across the cripple at the Beautiful Gate, look what Peter says, “Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee” [Acts 3: 6]. Notice, Peter didn’t pray that God would heal them. He said, “such as I have give I thee”. God had provided healing on the Cross, and it would be ridiculous to ask Him for something He says He has given us. Peter knew what was his and that authority was given to him from God to bring healing to all forms of sickness and he just operated in it in faith.

What happens if you are not knowledgeable of what authority God has given you? It will be like the person who lay down before a river and died of thirst because he didn’t know water could quench his thirst. He could debate about it, and even fight over it, but he will still remain thirsty simply because he does not know.

Friends, remember, the power is available to all of us through the Spirit baptism, all that we need is to know deep in our hearts that we are authorized by the Author to operate in that power. I encourage you today to study the Word and know your authorities in Christ. I also encourage you to share in the comment area what you have personally learned.