Unleash Your Divine Authority: How to Walk in Miracle-Working Power Daily
Authority is power, but not just power; it’s power that has been delegated.
The best example to demonstrate the meaning is the traffic police. When the police hold up their hand in an intersection, we know that means to stop. We follow the instructions of the police, because they have been authorized. We might say, they have the power to stop you. But really, the officer doesn’t have the power to stop you; he has the authority to stop you. He doesn’t have the power to stop any vehicle like Superman could, physically, with his own strength. If drivers wanted to, they could keep on going. But of course, there are consequences when we don’t obey and submit to delegated authority.
The badge officers wear gives them authority over us. All of us. The police can come into any situation and take over and bring order. They can come into your house in a dispute between family members, they can pull you over and go through your pockets and through your car. They can come on the scene of a crime or an accident and take control of the situation completely. They can make you leave your own house, and you have to obey them, or you can be detained or arrested. They have been authorized.
The uniform they wear sets them apart, but really the power is behind the badge. There are detectives who don’t wear uniforms, there are plainclothes police who work under- cover and don’t wear a uniform, but they still have their badge. That’s the real power and the real authority. You’ve seen movies or television shows where a detective comes to the door in a suit and tie and knocks. The person behind the door asks, “Who is it?” “It’s the police,” they say. The person opens the door a little but doesn’t take the chain lock off. The first thing they say is, “Let me see your badge.”
That badge says they have been authorized to enforce the laws of the land. We often use the words power and authority interchangeably. So does the Bible. When you see the word power in the Bible, there is a specific meaning behind what kind of power it is referring to.
The Ephesian Prayers
For instance, in the prayer Paul prayed in Ephesians 1, we see three different words for power all together in a few short verses. This is an amazing prayer, and a prayer you should be praying for yourself and for other people. Paul was praying this over the church at Ephesus in Ephesians 1:17-19.
“That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him” (Ephesians 1:17). Right off, I want you to notice, having a spirit of wisdom and revelation is not a place you have grown into after years of serving the Lord. This is not a work that you do, but this is something He gives you. It’s a gift. You could have served the Lord for years and years and not have this spirit of wisdom and revelation if you’re not asking Him for it.
On the other hand, you could have only been serving the Lord a few months and ask God to give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation, and He would give it to you! That’s the point the apostle Paul is making here. Pray this over yourself and ask God for it. You need it!
Paul goes on to say, “the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know,” and he mentions three things here that you need to know and have revelation about:
That you may know what is the “hope of His calling.”
What are “the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.”
And what is the “exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power.”
Wonder-Working Power
That last word power here comes from the Greek word kratos, which means dominion. But the two times power is mentioned in this it verse has two different meanings. The first one is the Greek word dunamis, which means miraculous power, wonder-working power, and is where we get our word dynamite. Notice this power is toward you! The next verse (Ephesians 1:20) goes on to say, referring to this miraculous mighty power, “which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in heavenly places.”
This is dunamis power, and that is the greatest power that has ever been demonstrated! It’s the same power that raised Jesus from the dead after three days! Being dead three days is impossible to overcome. That isn’t the same as someone whose heart may have stopped, and they had a paddle or a machine to get it beating again. That is amazing technology, and we are thankful for that! But there is no machine that can start a heart that has been stopped for three days!
We have never seen any way to harness that kind of power and pull it down into this natural realm! That is, until we see this dunamis power in demonstration. Notice that with the different kinds of power we are looking at here, this is the power that is toward you! Dunamis! Miraculous! Mighty power! Paul is praying here that the church at Ephesus would get a revelation about this power that is toward them! Because even though it’s true that it belongs to you, if you don’t get the revelation and walk in the light of it, it is as though that power wasn’t there at all. Without faith to activate it, it remains dormant.
Ephesians 1:21 goes on to say, “far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also that which is to come.” That word might is also the word dunamis that we have been looking at. But the word power in this verse has a different meaning than the previous two words we are examining. This power is the Greek word exousia, which means authority. Christ’s authority is over all other authority that exists or has ever existed in any kingdom.
And He put all things under His feet and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all (Ephesians 1:22-23).
Most people don’t have a problem with Jesus being the Head of the Church. They know because of the Scriptures that we are referred to as the body of Christ, but putting the Head and the body together is more difficult for them. Accepting the revelation that the Head and the body are truly one is where the problem comes in for many. We all believe God is great and God is good, yet we don’t really believe that as much about ourselves. We today are the only hands and feet of Jesus, and really, His voice on earth. Just like your head and your body are one and don’t go by different names, Jesus intended for us to be one with Him and carry out this authority that He has given us here on earth.
Ephesians 1:22 says, “He put all things under His feet.” The feet are part of the body. You don’t have feet in your head. They are part of your body. So if the enemy is under His feet, then the enemy is under our feet! We have authority over the enemy and every evil force.
According to the Power That Works in You
This next prayer in Ephesians 3 is also amazing:
For this reason, I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you according to the riches of His glory to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen (Ephesians 3:14-21).
Verse 16 says that you would “be strengthened with might.” “Might” here is the word dunamis again. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead! He is praying that they would be strengthened with that kind of power! You should be praying that over yourself.
That same word is used in verse 20, “according to the power that works in us.” You are supposed to be exercising your authority over every evil force and anything that would try to come against you. This is a well-known verse that says God “is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask or think.” But notice this isn’t automatic! It says He is able to do it—not that He is automatically doing it.
Why wouldn’t He just go ahead and do it? Because it’s not according to Him and His power. It’s “according to the power that works in us.” You have to have that power at work in you. For that to happen, the first thing you have to do is get a revelation that it belongs to you. That’s what both of these prayers are about—a revelation of the authority that belongs to you as a believer.
