Summary: Understanding power and authority and the difference between the two will cause your prayer life and ministry to become more effective.

Difference between power and authority. The KJV USES POWER AND AUTHORITY INTERCHANGEABLY AND THIS CAN BE MISLEADING. They are two different words in the Greek with two different meanings.

1. Power and authority are two different things

2. Power and authority, to be effective and legitimate, have to work together.

3. Power is the strength or force needed to rule.

Authority is the right to rule.

4. Authority without power is meaningless.

Power exercised without authority is morally wrong and evil.

When Satan fell from heaven he did not lose or gain more power.

1. But he lost his authority in heaven.

2. And he sought to gain it in the earth, through Adam.

3. He accomplished this by getting Adam and Eve to disobey God and listen to him.

4. And so through man’s sin, Satan took authority over man.

Luke 4...particularly verse 6

5 The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6 And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendour; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. 7 If you worship me, it will all be yours.”

Important to understand:

When Jesus died on the cross, he did not take any of Satan’s power away from him.

1. Jesus dealt with sin.

2. By overcoming sin, and by paying the price for sins judgement, which ultimately was death, Christ removed the power of sin and death over humanity, and thereby stripped Satan of his authority over humanity.

3. So when John sees Jesus in the vision recorded in Revelation...Jesus says I am the alpha and omega.....I was dead by now am alive and I hold the keys of death and hell.

4. So whilst Jesus did not take away Satan’s power, he took away his right to use that power.

In other words, Jesus stripped Satan of his authority.

5. That is why Matthew 28:18 reads in the original Greek:.....all authority has been given to me.....not all power as the KJV says.

Dutch Sheets:

“If Jesus stripped Satan of his power, as some teach, then we no longer need to concern ourselves with him....he becomes a non-issue. And if we have been delivered from his power then he can no longer affect us. We would be able to ignore him completely, which is precisely what many Christians do.

If on the other hand Jesus dealt with Satan’s authority, the right to use his power or ability, then we would need to deal with him as a usurper, a rebel, a thief, that has no right to steal, kill, and destroy, but will if not stopped.”

John 10:10.

Colossians 1:13

We have been delivered from the AUTHORITY of darkness. Not the POWER of darkness as King James Version says.

We have been delivered from Satan’s authority and given a higher authority in Christ’s name

We must therefore exercise that authority over the devil’s works and power

When we do, God’s awesome power will back up our authority

Luke 10:19 Behold I Give you Authority (exousia) to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power (dunamis) of the enemy, and nothing shall injure you.

Why? Because when we operate in God’s authority, his power will manifest.

KEYS:

Matthew 16:19....I give you the keys of the kingdom.....what you bind

We have KEYS (authority) to bind the forces of hell.

Keys....lock doors and keys open doors....

BIND:

Word for bind is deo, and means to fasten or tie, as with a chain or cord.

The word is also used in legal terms to mean LEGALLY or CONTRACTUALLY BINDING

VIP

What determines victory for us is understanding and exercising authority.

We can use authority to rebuke death, sickness and disease.

Stop premature death.

When Jesus said all authority....

Go into all the world....

He was saying: Take my authority and tell the world they can take back their lives...their freedom from sin....from sickness and disease....their destinies....

Jesus as Author and Creator of the earth, always maintained his ownership and authority.

The authority he won back at Calvary was what Adam lost, not His own.

Little wonder that Satan through his theories of macro evolution and other forms of humanistic thinking wants to dispel belief in God as Creator, for is he is the author of all creation then he has authority over all creation even human kind.

We have the power and authority to change circumstances.

Take sickness and disease for example.....

A condition

A circumstance that governs a person’s life

That controls a person’s life...their finances...their activities....their time

Women with the issue of blood for 12 years

All her money was spent on doctors

She grew worse

The woman with a back problem for 18 years

Jesus said Satan has bound this daughter of Abraham

Even though she was part of the covenant

Even though God loved her

And she loved God

If you read Deuteronomy 30:6..a true Israelite was one who was circumcised by heart...and this meant loving God with all your heart

This is that kind or person

Even though she was loved

God needed someone to take authority over the situation

To break the power of the devil that was binding her

Jesus had

The keys to bind what bound the lady

The keys to loose the power of God so that the demon could loose his hold

He’s given those keys to us

Some come out by prayer and fasting

When the circumstances don’t change.....

We have to employ a weapon that enforces our authority....

It may be fasting, or whatever else the Spirit of God leads you to do.