Both power and authority are as necessary now as ever before in human history!
Our authority comes by Jesus’ commissioning us. Power comes by our encounter with The Holy Spirit.
Mark wrote by The Holy Spirit in Mark chapter 1:
9 One day, Jesus came from the Galilean village of Nazareth and had John immerse him in the Jordan River.
10 The moment Jesus rose up out of the water, John saw the Heavenly realm split open, and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him like a dove.
11 At the same time, a Voice spoke from Heaven, saying: “You are My Son, My cherished One, and My greatest delight is in You!”
12 Immediately after this He was compelled by the Holy Spirit to go into an uninhabited desert region.
Jesus now had both power through The Holy Spirit and authority decreed by FATHER. Next, He would be tested.
13 And He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan, and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered to Him.
After His testing:
14 Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God,
15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the Gospel.”
Luke provides further details after the testing in Luke chapter 4:
14 Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region.
Only after Jesus had received both power and authority, He publicly declares:
16 When Jesus came to Nazareth, where He had grown up, He went into the synagogue, as He always did on the Sabbath. When Jesus came to the front to read the Scriptures, He was handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found where it is written,
18-19 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, and He has anointed Me to be hope for the poor, healing for the brokenhearted, and new eyes for the blind, and to preach and proclaim liberty to the prisoners, ‘You are set free!’ I have come to share the message of Jubilee, for the time of God’s great acceptance has begun.”
20 After He read this He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. Everyone stared at Jesus, wondering what He was about to say.
21 Then he added, “Today, these Scriptures came true in front of you.”
It was only after His encounter with The Holy Spirit was He able to make this declaration. It is vital that we also rely on The Holy Spirit to walk in the same manner. We must guard our authority and not allow the adversary to pervert our authority through our ignorance of what The Word says. The adversary has no authority except what we give him.
Jesus ministered to not only the victims, but also the victimizers too. Both were and are to receive their jubilee. For the believer, every year is the jubilee; for the believer, every day is the day of rest. Jesus is the answer to troubled humanity, brokenness, fear, rejection… everything that happens to people in life.
As believers walking in both authority and power, we are called to address the issues confronting people in this day. Our mandate is:
Isaiah 61:3
To console those who mourn in Zion,
To give them beauty for ashes,
The oil of joy for mourning,
The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
As a result:
That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.”