"I have given you authority!"

While going through morning prayer, I read the following from Luke 10:17-24:

The seventy returned with joy, saying, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name." And He said to them, "I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning."Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you.

"Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you,
but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven." At that very time He rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit, and said, "I praise You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight.

"All things have been handed over to Me by My Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him." Turning to the disciples, He said privately, "Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see, for I say to you, that many prophets and kings wished to see the things which you see, and did not see them, and to hear the things which you hear, and did not hear them." (NRSV)

If I read this rightly, then Jesus is giving a bold charge to His disciples- a charge still valid for us today. He promises authority and security. In other words, he promises us that so long as we truly act on His behalf (in His name) and by the power of His Spirit, though we may face trials, we shall overcome.

And so I ask you; if you truly believed that you wouldn't fail, what would you do for the sake of God's Kingdom?

May God grant you a vision. And may He supply you the courage to try.

Grace and peace,

John