Empower: To Give Official Authority
Luke 10:19 “I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you”
When you look at the definition of “empower” it means to give official authority or legal power to. This tells me that in Luke 10:19 God has empowered us to live a victorious life. He is letting us know that nothing that the enemy has planned for us will harm us. We need to realize that we have the power and not walk in fear. That means that we have the right to walk in victory. We have authority to say to the enemy that the battle is won. With the authority that God has given us over our circumstances, we no longer have to walk in fear or listen to the enemy's lies. For if we empower ourselves with the word of God, we will live a victorious life!
I pray that as you read this that it makes you reflect on your life and see how God has already empowered you, you just have to walk in it.
Empowerment….As I sat down and began to write, God stopped me and had me reflect on my life. As I did, he showed me all the things that I have been through. Because how can someone write about something if they haven’t experienced or lived it? So let's begin on how God has empowered me.
I have been in church my whole life and that is all I have ever known. My grandfather was a pastor and so was my father. My parents had a ministry together and throughout my childhood I have seen the power of God move in the church. Now, just because I had seen it doesn't mean that I knew who God is. See, I was baptized in waters at the age of 12 because the church that I attended required for me to be baptized. It was also something my parents expected me to do since they were active in the church. However, at that young of an age, I did not really grasp or understand why I had to be baptized. Granted, they gave us a study on it but I never really understood or appreciated the significance of it.
Now that I am older I understand and appreciate the baptism in water. The knowledge that I have now of who God is and the importance of it, has filled me with his power. Now I can tell the enemy that I was baptized in waters and that I am a new creature in Christ. Back then I did not understand, how could I have spoken them over my life? I was powerless.
As I was growing up the God that I knew was a judging God. He was a God that I feared, not out of love or respect, but a fear that if I sinned I was judged and sentenced to hell. As I got older in my teenage years, little by little God would show me his love and mercy. I started to see little glimpses of who he is. These little glimpses of him put a yearning in my heart. A seed was planted to ask for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I wanted to experience what it says in Luke 3:16 “that he will come and baptize you with the holy spirit and fire”. I wanted to experience that, and at the age of 16, he answered my prayers. I was baptized in the holy spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues, but again, I did not know what that meant. I did not have the knowledge or the tools to help me realize that God was empowering me for something bigger than me. You may ask, why did I ask for it then? Simple answer, it is a gift that God gives to those who ask with a sincere heart and I did just that.
At a young age God called me to ministry along with my sister, he was slowly empowering me to fulfil that calling in my life. At the same time the enemy did not want me to know and understand what was happening. While God was empowering me with his gifts, the enemy was destroying it with his lies. That is what the enemy does, he does not want us to know who God is because the moment that we do, it gives us the power over him. Just like John 8:32 says “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Because of the calling that was placed over my life, the enemy did everything that he could to stop it. My life had become a torment and I struggled with who I was in God. I knew scriptures by heart and I easily had a healthy bible debate with others. However, I did not know who I was in Christ. I was raised in church, I know I am a child of God, I have a calling in my life, but what did all that mean? It meant nothing to me at that time and I can honestly say that I didn't even give it much thought growing up, I can see that now.
You can have bible knowledge and be all knowing in scriptures but if you do not know WHO God is and Who you are in him, it is all for nothing. That is what was missing in my life. No one taught me how to have a relationship with God. I just knew bible verses, like Matthew 7:7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”, but what did that really mean to my life? How can I know scriptures but not really know them. This is how the enemy gets you. He makes you believe that you are a good christian just because you can recite bible verses by heart. I believed this throughout my childhood and even into part of my young adulthood. This is where I failed and strayed away from God. I felt that he had failed me, so why should I serve a God that was not there for me when I needed him most.
Boy was I wrong, he never failed me, he was there all along. I was the one that failed him. I knew bible verses, but the difference was that I did not KNOW him. He had to strip away all my past religious beliefs in order to get to the heart of the matter and start to empower me the way it was supposed to be. That is when the process started. I began to trust God, not just saying with words, but with faith and sincerity. I started to believe in what Luke 17:6 says “6 He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.” I started to seek him and surround myself in worship.
Worship was my first tool that God gave me to empower me and defeat the enemy. When the enemy would rise up against me and it would feel like I was being defeated, I would start to turn on praise and worship music. This was how I started to fight my battles. I became similar to David in the bible, fighting my battles through praise and worship. I was slowly being empowered once again without realizing it. Music was the way God would speak to me. I started to trust him more and more just through praise and worship. He would slowly once again, show me he was there with me through all of my trials.
However, praise and worship is only one way God uses to empower you to fight the enemy. Once you conquer one enemy, others will rise up against you and the battle will be different. Since the battle is different you need other tools to fight them. This is where God started to show me his truths over my life. I started to understand what it meant in Ephesians 6:11-18 to “Put on the full armor of God...”. That is one of the most powerful tools he has given to empower us. If you haven't studied the Full Armor of God, I encourage you to do so. I have read it and heard preaching’s about it, but I never really studied it and applied it until a few years ago. God has dressed me in his full armor and has given me the tools to overtake the enemy. He has given me authority to possess everything he has promised me.
He has empowered me with his truths on WHO he IS in my life. This gave me the final push to dig deeper and find out what his truths meant to me. I slowly started to see who I was in his eyes, not how I see myself but how HE sees me. This gave me power to stand up and speak life into my own life. If I empower myself and surround myself in his truths, nothing that the enemy brings can tear me down. That is how I fight my battles.
As God showed me all the things that I had overcome and how he has empowered me, I can speak with knowledge and certainty that if he did it with me, he will do it with you too. Look back at everything that you have overcome and see how the hand of God was with you and held you through all your trials.
Surround yourself with his word Joshua 1:5 “5 No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Take comfort in that verse, speak it over your circumstance today. Let it empower you in the knowledge that he will NEVER leave you. He is there with you wherever you go. I am a testimony to that. Even when I was the one that gave up, he NEVER gave up on me. I am here today to tell you and speak over you Joshua 1:9 “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” Empower yourself in the word of God, seek him in everything that you do and you will live a victorious life!
