“Suddenly, a man in the synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit began shouting, "Why are you interfering with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are; the Holy One of God!"
Jesus cut him short. "Be quiet! Come out of the man," he ordered.
At that, the evil spirit screamed, threw the man into a convulsion, and then came out of him. Amazement gripped the audience, and they began to discuss what had happened. "What sort of new teaching is this?" they asked excitedly. "It has such authority! Even evil spirits obey his orders!" Mark 1:23-27 NLT
Jesus taught and worked miracles with authority. This same authority has been given to those who love and follow Him. Our words, when backed up by a life touched by the power of God, will have more authority in them and more impact on those around us.
I am challenged by this to wonder how am I living by His authority and am I seeing the victory that He has promised me?
We have to remember that the source of this authority comes from God. We do not have the authority to speak into the lives of others unless we know our God, unless we have encountered Jesus and have been changed by His grace to live lives that overflow with His grace and power. Do we receive His love and pass it on? Are our lives surrendered to His authority over us? Or do we still try to do it in our own strength? His strength is made perfect in our weakness and through His power we can see change in our lives and miracles to meet both our needs and the needs of those around us?
Because of God’s grace and love for us, we do not need to be perfect for Him to use us. All we need to do is to surrender to Him, to accept what He has done for us and to allow His gospel to change us from the inside out. Here, when the gospel is at work will others see the beauty of Jesus, here we will live in authority. Jesus lived, worked and spoke with authority; you can follow His footsteps!