Matthew 28:18 NASB95
And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.
That is a pretty amazing statement Jesus made concerning the issue of authority. He did not just say that authority had been given to him, but he said ALL authority had been given to him in heaven and on earth. I have been to Africa many, many times, but only on a few occasions have I been in situations where there was real danger. When I say danger, I mean the potential for harm at the hands of others. I remember one particular trip into Congo where our lives had genuinely been at risk. After our team got back home to the States, I was thinking about what happened and future trips. A little anxiety rose up in my heart, and immediately, the Lord spoke Matthew 28:18 to me. He basically told me that all authority had been given to him and that no human being had authority over my life unless he chose to give it to them. From that moment on, I’ve never known fear when doing God’s will in Africa, no matter the risks. Some years later, I found myself in a situation (not in Africa), not where my physical life would be at risk but where my situation in life could be dramatically altered by the possible decisions of others whose motives I wasn’t completely sure were clean. As a result, I would, at times, contemplate the possibilities and feel anxious because there was really nothing I could do to control what might happen unless I tried to manipulate things in the flesh, which, of course, carries no joy at all. In one of those moments when I was once again under assault with thoughts and feelings of anxiety about it, I was finally able to hear Jesus remind me that nothing that might happen would change the truth of who Jesus he is, and when I heard that that, he also spoke Matthew 28:18 into me again. It was like a Holy Ghost glory bomb exploded inside of me when Jesus said, “Chuck, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me, and therefore you have nothing to fear.” I knew that Jesus wasn’t telling me broken people were never going to make decisions over my life, but he was telling me how sovereign he actually was over me and my future regardless of what people might do or decide. This may sound very mystical to you, but for me, it is so liberating because what Jesus says is true whether we understand it or not. ALL authority is his, and he will even use broken people to position me into his plans for me. This doesn’t mean that you don’t speak truth to others or that you don’t (without panic or anxiety) confront people in love who are acting in unholy ways towards you. It simply means you don’t have to fear the outcome because ALL authority over your life is in his hands, not theirs. By the way, if ALL authority belongs to Jesus, then the devil doesn’t have any either.