The believer’s authority is a truth, without the knowledge and application of which the life of a godly believer will be no different from the life of unbelievers or Christians living a worldly life. This is a rather broad topic, so I will only touch upon its immediate aspects. However, I suggest you to read “The Believer’s Authority” by Kenneth Hagin, which goes into much detail about the authority over the demonic world that the Lord has given to believers.
From time to time, in people’s lives, – and constantly in the lives of some, – tragic incidences take place – loss of a loved one, a disease, unemployment, loss of property, etc. At the first glance, it seems the reason of all this are hostile people, natural disasters or something else, while the devil is behind all this. “The thief (the devil) does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I (Jesus) have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (Jn. 10:10). Ephesians 6:12 says, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” A believer must resist all this with prayer and practical steps by the leading of the Holy Spirit. But before proceeding to any actions, it is necessary to fast, to humble oneself before the Lord and learn from Him the reason of the tragedy that happened.
The reasons can be different. Perhaps a person is reaping what he sowed in his life, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap” (Gal. 6:7). Perhaps, through his deliberate or unknowing actions, he opened a door for the devil. Also, it is possible that he did nothing wrong, and it happened, so that the Lord might be glorified. “As Jesus was walking along, He saw a man who had been blind from birth. ‘Rabbi,’ His disciples asked Him, ‘why was this man born blind? Was it because of his own sins or his parents’ sins?’ ‘It was not because of his sins or his parents’ sins,’ Jesus answered. ‘This happened so the power of God could be seen in him’” (Jn 9:1-3).
The Lord alone can show a person the reason of his situation and the way out of it. “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Ps. 119:105). When a person, by the leading of the Holy Spirit, receives a word, which enlightens his path, showing him his further actions, he must follow closely the command of the Lord in order to achieve results. In His earthly life, Jesus did many miracles, because He was obedient to the Father. He said, “I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge… because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.” (Jn. 5:30).
I will use an illustration from the Bible. By the Lord’s command, Joshua led the people of Israel across the Jordan River through a supernatural miracle: “…[as] the feet of the priests who bore the ark dipped in the edge of the water (for the Jordan overflows all its banks during the whole time of harvest), that the waters which came down from upstream stood still… Then the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan; and all Israel crossed over on dry ground, until all the people had crossed completely over the Jordan” (Jos. 3:15-17). After that, again due to obedience to a word from the Lord, the walls of Jericho fell (this story is related in Joshua 6).
Right after that, at the command of the Lord, Israeli army moved to the offensive. However, during the siege of the city of Ai, Israelis were defeated. “Then Joshua tore his clothes, and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord… And Joshua said, ‘Alas, Lord God, why have You brought this people over the Jordan at all – to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us?” (Jos. 7:6-7). The Lord ordered Joshua to stand and told him that there was a disobedience in the camp of the Israelites, and it had been the reason of Israel’s defeat. When Joshua, in obedience to the Lord, found the trespasser and passed a punishment on him, removing the sin from the midst of the people, God continued to speak to him and showed him how to win an absolute victory in the coming battle (Jos. 8). As you can see, when a person comes to know God’s will, it is necessary to have faith to act according to the word received from the Lord. “But without faith it is impossible to please Him…” (Heb. 11:6).
Another necessary condition for prayer with the believer’s authority is to know about the authority Jesus gave to the Church – to have a revelation about it and live according to that revelation. God the Father raised Jesus Christ from the dead, “and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body” (Eph. 1:20-23). Note that not only Jesus Christ is seated above the whole kingdom of the devil, but we godly believers are there as well, because of the victory of Jesus the Savior on the Cross at Calvary, His death and resurrection: “and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:6). Jesus says, “Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you” (Lk. 10:19).
Another important condition is that going to war against the demonic world, a person must have his spiritual armor. “Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints” (Eph. 6:13-18).
In prayer, a believer cannot bind the devil, but he can bind the plans and works of the devil and destroy them in the name of Jesus Christ. Only Jesus will one day bind the devil. “Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years” (Rev. 20:1-2).
In prayer, a believer cannot bind demons as well. Jesus and His disciples cast demons out!
A believer must always be alert: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Pet. 5:8). An alert person is the one who has a daily fellowship with the Lord, who not only reads the Word of God every day, but also prays, and his prayer is not a monologue, but a dialogue. A godly believer must realize that when he says, “Lord, protect the borders of my country”, “Lord, please heal”, “Lord, let families be strong and let there be no divorces”, he is simply proclaiming the desires of his heart, which oftentimes have no ground. Why are they groundless? Because through His crucifixion, Jesus has already done everything and has already given the authority to believers so that they, through the name of Jesus, can manifest it all in this physical realm.
In his book “The Believer’s Authority”, Kenneth Hagin writes, “In 1952, the Lord Jesus Christ appeared to me in a vision and talked to me for about an hour and a half about the devil, demons, and demon possession. At the end of that vision, an evil spirit that looked like a little monkey or elf ran between Jesus and me and spread something like a smoke screen or dark cloud. Then this demon began jumping up and down, crying in a shrill voice…I couldn’t see Jesus or understand what He was saying… I couldn’t understand why Jesus allowed the demon to make such a racket. I wondered why Jesus didn’t rebuke the demon so I could hear what He was saying. I waited a few moments, but Jesus didn’t take any action against the demon. Jesus was still talking, but I couldn’t understand a word He was saying – and I needed to, because He was giving instructions concerning the devil, demons, and how to exercise authority.
I thought to myself, Doesn’t the Lord know I’m not hearing what He wanted me to? I need to hear that. I’m missing it! I almost panicked. I became so desperate I cried out, ‘In the Name of Jesus, you foul spirit, I command you to stop!’ The minute I said that, the little demon hit the floor like a sack of salt, and the black cloud disappeared. The demon lay there trembling, whimpering, and whining like a whipped pup. He wouldn’t look at me. ‘Not only shut up, but get out of here in Jesus’ Name!’ I commanded. He ran off. The Lord knew exactly what was in my mind. I was thinking, Why didn’t He do something about that? Why did He permit it? Jesus looked at me and said, ‘If you hadn’t done something about that, I couldn’t have.’ That came as a real shock to me – it astounded me.”
Then Jesus the Savior explained why He couldn’t do anything: “Not one single time in the New Testament is the Church ever told to pray that God the Father or Jesus would do anything against the devil. In fact, to do so is to waste your time. The believer is told to do something about the devil. The reason is because you have the authority to do it. The Church is not to pray to God the Father about the devil; the Church is to exercise the authority that belongs to it. The New Testament tells believers themselves to do something about the devil. The least member of the Body of Christ has just as much power over the devil as anyone else, and unless believers do something about the devil, nothing will be done in a lot of areas.”
Jesus reminded Hagin some New Testament Scriptures confirming His words, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth” (Mt. 28:18). He said, “I… delegated my authority on earth to the Church, and I can work only through the Church, for I am the Head of the Church.” After that, Jesus pointed to Mark 16:15-18: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
A person who uses the authority given to the Church by the power of the cross of Jesus Christ, must be obedient not only to the Lord, but also to the authority over him. The demonic world will not submit to the commands of a disobedient person. What was the reason Jesus marveled at the words of the centurion: “Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed” (Mt. 8:8)? Because the centurion realized that Jesus was obedient to God the Father, so the demonic world was submitted to him. The centurion was obedient to the authority over him, so his soldiers caried out his orders as well. “For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes… and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it” (Mt. 8:9). He was confident that if Jesus, even without coming to his home, said, “Be healed”, his servant would be healed.
A person can command both the devil and his demons, and to the natural phenomena, situations and even things that disturb him. Jesus commanded the fig tree not to bear fruit anymore. On the next day, the fig tree already withered up. The Lord says, “If you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you” (Mt. 17:20). Some preachers say that the ‘mountain’ is the problem that disturbs a person. This means that a person can command his problem. In Joshua 10:12-13, it is written, “Then Joshua spoke to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel: ‘Sun, stand still over Gibeon; and Moon, in the Valley of Aijalon.’ So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the people had revenge upon their enemies”. Jesus rebuked the storm: “Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, ‘Peace, be still!’ And the wind ceased and there was a great calm” (Mk. 4:39).
There were many instances in my life, when I commanded a certain thing, phenomenon or disease, addressing them by their names. I want to tell one of such stories that happened around 20 years ago, but it is very memorable for me.
I served the Lord as the leader of the Social Ministry and an assistant to the Pastor. One day, I woke up in the middle of the night, because my bed was shaking. I thought it was an earthquake. I looked at the other things in the room; every other item was in place; nothing was moving, but my bed continued to go up and down and shake. I understood that it was not an earthquake. Still puzzled and afraid, I felt an invisible touch on my hand. I was afraid even more and I started to pray, “Lord, have mercy, Lord, help…” No help came. I started to beg more passionately, calling out to the Lord. First nothing changed, but then everything calmed down. My bed was again in its place, and I sensed no danger anymore. On the next day, in the middle of the night, this terrible incident took place again just as the day before. Again, I prayed and pleaded, and in a little while, everything calmed down. I started to fear when the night came; I was afraid to go to bed. This happened four or five times.
I had to share this with a man who served in our Church and knew the Word of God better than I. She concluded that quite possibly I committed a sin or some sins, which gave the demons the right to come to my home and do those things to me. On that day, I was back home, and before going to bed, I knelt down and called out to the Lord. I asked Him to forgive all the sins I unknowingly committed; I told Him that I would tell Pastor all about that and would leave my ministry. I would continue attending the Sunday Services, though, and would still ask the Lord to show me what sins allowed those demons to come to my home.
While I was sobbing, the Holy Spirit spoke to me. In a very tender and wonderful way, He said that I needed to continue serving Him. He also explained that in my prayers, I use the authority in the name of Jesus very rarely, and in particular, during those night incidents, I never used the authority in the name of Jesus and the power given to me. I was happy and I went to bed in peace.
Again, I woke up in the middle of the night, because my bed was shaking badly. Afraid, I started to pray again, but suddenly I remembered the words of the Holy Spirit. Fear vanished. Immediately, I commanded, “Devil, in the name of Jesus Christ, I command you to go out of my home! In the name of Jesus Christ, I declare that your plans and actions are destroyed and rebuked! You have no authority over my life! The name of Jesus the Savior guards me and protects me from your actions!” I repeated it several times without any fear, with a heart full of faith. From that day on, nothing like that ever happened in my life.
The Heavenly Father gave to those who believe in Him the Holy Spirit, Who is greater than he who is in this world. “You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world” (Jn. 4:4). The Father also gave us authority to use the name of Jesus: “And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (Jn. 14:13). In the original language, it is written, “And whatever you demand in My name.” God gave us authority to address the demonic world and the phenomena that disturb us. We only need to obey Him and do His will.