Acts 3:5-7.

You can drive, but do you have the authority to do so? Even if you have the authority to drive a Volkswagen or a Ford, you may not have the authority to drive a tractor-trailer. You may have the ability and the know-how if you’ve driven one before, but if you don’t have a license to drive one, then you don’t have the authority.

Authority is the right to control, command, or determine. It also refers to the power to enforce laws, exact obedience, and to determine or judge.

Authority is more than a motion or doing a deed. Check out Acts 19.11-16.

It’s not enough to have our names in the Book of Life. We have to walk in such a way that even Hell recognizes us. We need to live a life so committed to God that when the enemy sees us coming, he’ll know that we are children of God.

Genesis 1:28. When did this authority come to you? If a man has a son, the authority to take care of that son comes to the man when the son is first given to him. When the Holy Ghost is given to you, that’s when authority is given to you. When the Spirit of the Lord comes to you, there is an authority, a power, that comes with it.

Authority doesn’t come easy.

We have to take it. We have to stand up and let the enemy know that we have power over him. We are coming to him in the name of the Lord. When we get the real Holy Ghost, it’s more than just speaking in tongues. If we have the real Holy Ghost, when we stand up, angels will stand up with us. The power of God will stand up with us.

You are not a push-over, a use-to-be, or a has-been. You are ordained for this time, chosen for this season. This is your time to stand up, tell your past that you aren’t who you used to be, and open up a new chapter of your life. This is your day to stand up and fight!

Luke 10:19. Power means the ability or strength with which one is endued. If you are a born-again child of God, you have power. Mark 16.17-18. I keep finding the words ‘shall they.’ If we’ve never cast out a devil, we’ve not used the power God’s given us. If we’ve not laid hands on the sick and they recover, we’ve not used the power that God has given us. When the enemy comes against you with temptation, depression, and oppression, serve notice on the devil that you have authority. Take authority over him and tell him to stay away from your mind and your family, your finances, your anointing, and the call God has on your life. When God moved into your heart, authority did too.

James 4:7. A lot of the time, we are told by some people to submit and then told what we can’t do.

But this shouldn’t be just about what we can’t do, but what we can do. The reason why some people have to be told to submit all the time is because they don’t want to live right. We should have the desire to go all the way with the Lord. We are children of God, and when we are willing to be crucified with Christ then we have the right to see visions, walk in the anointing, and have the heart of Jesus. We have a right to win the lost and set the captive free, and to rebuke every power and principality in our communities.

Take a look at James 4:7 again. You cannot resist if you do not submit. Why will he flee when you submit? Because when you fully surrender and the fullness of God comes into your life, the devil can’t handle it.

John 15:7. Isaiah 61:1. The Holy Ghost was not just for the book of Acts. What good would it do me for Paul to have the anointing to lay hands on the sick, but only give me the liberty to preach what Paul had done? The Holy Ghost is not just for the book of Acts, it is for today too! You can have the power of God. You can walk in the anointing of God.

Ephesians 1:22.

The enemy will beat on you as long as you lean towards your flesh. But when you trust in the Lord and take authority over the enemy with the power that God has placed inside you, the enemy knows he cannot win. You have a greater power than worry and fear. Oppression has to break in the name of Jesus. Chains will break!

The almighty, powerful Jesus is walking with us on our journey to Heaven. We shouldn’t just barely make it through the gates. We should make it casting out devils and winning the lost. Yes, there are enemies to fight and Red Seas to walk through, but we can push those souls before us and pull those behind us, helping them make it home.

Things will try to hinder us from taking authority.

Matthew 14:29-30. We have to be careful in hard times and not focus too much on the problem. The winds of life will move our surroundings and magnify our problems like the winds made waves in the story of Peter walking on the water. If we aren’t careful, the problem will be all we talk about. If Peter would have kept his eyes on Jesus, he wouldn’t have sunk, no matter how tall the waves were.

When you get your eyes off Jesus, you lose your authority. You lose contact with God’s power. But Friend, God loves us so much! If we take our eyes off Him, He will be holding out His hand to pull us back.

We need to pick our authority back up! We can’t let our storms intimidate us. Let’s get our eyes on Jesus and take our authority back over satan in Jesus’ name!

— Pastor Anthony Wynn