Devotions ... Authority of the Word of God

We know “ … there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God,” from Romans 13:1.
The worlds were framed by unseen elements we call words. (Hebrews 11:3) By the Word of God all things continue to be held together. (Hebrews 1:2 – 3) Jesus is the Word made flesh. (John 1:14)
Christ overcame temptations of the enemy by words – recognizing that man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. (Deuteronomy 8:3 and Matthew 4:4) Jesus did not speak his own words but what he heard his Father speak, he spoke. (John 15:15; 17:8) He lived the fasted life described in Isaiah 58:13 – 14.
At the beginning of Jesus’ ministry (Mark 1:22-27, Matthew 7:29 and Luke 4:36), he taught in the synagogue at Capernaum. People were astonished by his authoritative words. By words he rebuked and silenced demons demanding they come out of a man thus releasing and casting out an unclean spirit from him.
The centurion, through military experience, lived under and exercised authority. He understood chain of command and recognized authority in Jesus’ words. He said: “I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: I say to this man, Go, and he goes; and to another, Come, and he comes; and to my servant, Do this, and he does it.” (Matthew 8:9 and Luke 7:8)
Jesus empowers us by words. In Mark 13:34 He compared himself to a landowner who vested his authority in his servants. In Luke 9:1 He demonstrated division of power and authority giving his disciples power and authority over devils and illness. So thorough are the commands of the Word of God, that believers are encouraged (Isaiah 45:11) to ask the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, . . “of things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command ye me.”
Words are mighty weapons of warfare through God to the pulling down of strongholds. On judgment day, we will give account for our idle words, not just curse words but words that were never meant to be effective. Words are seeds designed to bring forth after their kind. (Matthew 12: 36 – 37) God watches over His Word to perform it. It does not return to him void. (Isaiah 55:11) We have authority to speak seed-words only as long as we are in the world. For that reason, Jesus spoke prayers for us while he walked as a man with man’s authority. (John 17:12 – 14) He had stripped himself of his authority as God (Philippians 2) in order that he might overcome by the power and authority of man to whom authority in earth had been given. God invested in mankind the ability to call things what they were and whatever he named them, they became (Genesis 2:19).
God taught Abraham to speak of things that were not as though they were. (Romans 4:17). Our words carry great authority and power. Someone must share the gospel by words for faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (Romans 10:17) Believing in God is only a first step in the experience of salvation (James 2:19). Believing in our hearts the redemptive work of Christ by the cross, through the grave and into the resurrection and our righteousness through His work bears no fruit until with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:10)
After Jesus spoke to the fig tree and it dried up by the roots, he instructed his disciples in Matthew 21:21 and Mark 11:23, If you have faith, and do not doubt, you shall do this which is done to the fig tree, but also “you shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be cast into the sea; it shall be done.”
Before Christ left this world, he described his disciples (Mark 16:17) these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; 18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
Paul understanding that power and authority came from God not from us said it a little differently,
Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. (2 Corinthians 12:9b)
(Cathy Bayert is pastor of Greybull First Baptist Church.)