“But say the word, and my servant will be healed.” Luke 7:7b

So let’s talk about authority (the right and ability to control someone or something). If you’re under authority, how do you feel about that? If you wield authority, how effective are you? You see, parents have the authority to put their babies in the crib to sleep, but they certainly can’t make them sleep (without drugs!). Bosses have the authority to expect certain outcomes, but they can’t make them happen. Laws are backed up by legal authority. But those laws can’t make us obey the speed limit. Ignore authority, and consequences ensue. Baby cries (with the occasional soothing) until he sleeps. Unproductive employees are fired. Speed-demons get hefty fines.

Each scenario above involves the physical world. But Christians (and maybe even non-believers, too) know our environment also has a spiritual component. We’ve all felt a change in our environment when something just feels off. The Bible warns of demonic forces “prowling” and “seeking to devour” us (1 Peter 5:8). You may dismiss that as ridiculous, but consider this. Have you ever rehashed a bad decision over and over? You think you’ve let it go, and here it comes again to torment you. That “haunting” hasn’t come from you, so can you allow for the possibility of evil, or least negative, spiritual forces at work? Wouldn’t you like the authority to shut down those memories? I have good news for you. Jesus says we can do just that. Let’s see how.

In our passage this week, we don’t see Jesus rebuking evil spirits (although He does that elsewhere; please read Luke 4:33-36 and Matt. 17:14-20). But we do see Him commanding something beyond the physical world. When a trusted servant “is sick and about to die” (v.2), a Roman centurion seeks Jesus’s help. He has faith in Jesus’s authority not only to heal him but to heal without Jesus being even physically present. This man understands the nature of authority: “‘Just say the word, and my servant will be healed’” (v.7). Jesus exercises authority, and the forces of near-death submit: “the men returned to the house…and found the servant well” (v.10). 

As Christians, we carry some measure of His authority, but the responsible exercise of it? Well, that takes time. When the apostles tried to cast out a demonic spirit and failed (remember, Jesus gave them the authority to do so in Matt. 10:7-8), Jesus told them their faith wasn’t strong enough yet (Matt. 17:19-20). They were still learning, and we have to as well. Intimacy with and dependency upon Jesus are critical to our wielding any kind of spiritual authority. 

So if you have tried to banish those negative thoughts that deprive you of sleep, and they’ve resisted your authority, keep calling on Jesus. Stay close to Him, so that when you say, for the third night in a row, “get behind me, Satan,” you’ll feel a change in your environment. Sleep comes a bit easier. You’ve used the spiritual authority Jesus has entrusted each believer with. That authority can only grow the more you rely on Him.

This notion of spiritual forces at work and our authority over them may have you confused, questioning, even bewildered. That’s understandable. But Jesus did give His apostles such power, and we see believers later in scripture exhibiting it, too. Stay with us the next few weeks, as the team’s devotionals and the pastors’ sermons will reveal the nature of these forces and how we can speak against them.