***REFLECTION:
Mankind had lost authority to satan at the fall. Satan became the authority over man and he was buffeting the man that God created in His image and likeness to rule over His creation.
As long as satan was fallen and man was the image and likeness of God (with the mandate to exercise authority over creation as the ruler), confused order on earth was God’s displeasure. Hence, God ordained a program for the salvation of man from the curse which became his lot.


Authority is the manifestation of ‘Godness’ and any man who is not save by the priceless blood of Jesus does not have Authority. In the Old Testament, the Blessing that was the Heritage of heirs was an emblem of Authority. Heirs were those who had Authority restored or bestowed to them – with which they were to take charge of the covenant family and lineage in their generation. In the New Testament, the man who accepts Jesus as his Lord and Saviour become an embodiment of Authority. In Jesus, he regains his status as the image and likeness of God. 


The restoration of man to the status of Authority happens when he believes with his heart….. and confesses with his mouth as spelt out in Roms 10:9-10 .
Authority is the mantle that the divine Presence imparts on the blessed – even the heir of God. Wherever Abraham and his seeds went as God mandated, they reflected and represented Authority without any effort on their parts as covenant fellows. People outside the covenant just realized their uniqueness and gave them the opportunity / undeniable privilege to be their leader. Otherwise, they were sent away for heavy envy and fear of their safety with the person whose uniqueness they could not fathom.
By the God whose presence they embodied (by the Blessing they possessed), Abraham and his seeds become embodiments of exploits and the exploits they do make them mysteries to others who submit effortlessly to them for the help they (non-covenant people and unbelievers) needed to live as they would if they knew God. Such explains Dan 11:32b –‘those who do know their God shall be strong and do exploits’.


With Authority, the heir realizes his uniqueness, live his purpose, triumph in battles and safeguard his heritage as a representative of God in his generation – to keep everything within his jurisdiction under control.The same confusion that warranted the Blessing/ Redemption is still the climate of our society and world. satan through its slaves/ hirelings who have refused to appreciate the Redemption work (even Jesus as their Lord and Saviour) are still mischievously contesting for Authority (and positions of Authority) with those who have Authority as their Heritage. Some are still like fools who say ‘there is no God’. Such serve gods and some are anti-Christ: yet they meander into the path of Authority without the mantle or mandate from God to serve a purpose in his generation. They are ill-equipped and confused and work against God and His people. They are like Esau who was inspired by his father to seek what he did not deserve.

Assume means ‘to suppose as true: without proof’.
Authority is the power to enforce rules or give orders (English Dictionary).
Affirmation is an act of saying or showing that something is true (Merriam Webster.com). It also means ‘the act of affirming’.
Affirm means to state emphatically or publicly. It also means to Validate, confirm; to state positively; to state something as true.

Authority is reflected in Luke 10:19 ‘Behold, I have given you Authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you’.

Authority is the unquestionable and unbeatable power of God.

The peculiar Authority of God is manifest in creation. Everything He said happened when He said it and how He said it and how He wanted it to be. There was no force to question what He was doing or none that contended against the manifestation of His word.

His words were with power (authority) and produced desired effect without any failure.
To reflect or affirm that man was His true image and likeness, God gave man Authority and it made man to know his peculiarity as the one to rule over other creations (Gen. 2:19).

God brought all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky that He had formed out of the ground. It was man’s duty to name them.
He brought them to man to see what he would name them and whatever the man called each living creature, that was it name (NIV).

Such feat marked the Affirmation of man as a true Authority.

NLT says ‘and the man chose a name for each one’.
In Gen 2:15: “And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it’.
‘To keep it’ implies ‘to exercise Authority so that nothing steps out of its allocated bound to misbehave’.

“Whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name’ affirms the Authority of man.
God Himself named Adam (the first man He created) and being that Adam was the Image and Likeness of God, God gave him the mandate to name like God.
That is, God named the man whom He would have Authority over, and allowed man to name the living creatures that would be under his Authority.

As Eve was only a later creation; a suitable helper for Adam (as in Gen. 2:20) who did not know her peculiarity, she paid attention to the serpent and took counsel from it to the detriment of man.

The serpent assumed Authority with audacity because it knew that it was Eve’s senior in age. It was created before Eve and named by Adam not Eve. Hence, it assumed the Authority that was not part of its making because it was used by the enemy of God (satan).

Till today, satan is still active and effective at raising beings and fellows that are subject to him to dare the Authority of the redeemed man whom like Adam is insensitive to realize that he is vulnerable to satan through gullible (young) Eve.
Although satan swindled Authority from man, Redemption (Salvation/the finished work of Jesus at Calvary) has restored to man Authority – he is the Image and Likeness of God again to exercise control/ influence and Godlike power over creation: including the man who has chosen to remain in the fallen state; the man who has not complied with Rom 10:9-10 (the man who is not saved – Rom 10:1).

Adam and Eve who are fallen, Israelites who are holding unto the law of Moses and have not aligned with the Salvation that is for everyone and ‘whosoever’ are without Authority.
Satan still has theirs and they are its subjects. Refer to these Scriptures John 3:16. Rom 10:4, John 16:7, John 14:16; Act 1:8, Act 10:38, 1 John 4:13, John 16:16-17, John 14:26, John 15:5.

In a nutshell, the man without the Holy Spirit is still like Adam. He may have received forgiveness for his sins but has not appreciated the person of the Holy Spirit whom God the father sends to those that Jesus recommend. ‘Those who love Him and keep His commands’ – John 14:16-17.
According to John 14:17; “The world cannot receive Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him.’

Without the Advocate the Holy Spirit, man is without the teacher who can teach him all things and he cannot have the remembrance of all that Jesus have said to him. John 14:26. Hence, he cannot be associated with the Holy Spirit whom God anointed Jesus with to empower Him to work out the Salvation of man and demonstrate/ exemplify the potency of the man with Authority.

Jesus went about everywhere He wanted to be per time doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him (Act 10:38).
As He was adequately equipped with the Holy Spirit, He undermined all that the devil represented - bad works and oppression (the climate of curses).

The devil stayed fallen; could not use the Authority it stole from man at the presence of Jesus (with the Holy Spirit). As the same Holy Spirit empowered Jesus to resurrect, the believer rose with him to seat with Him in heavenly places far above principalities and powers. Hence, the believer and heir of God is far above the devil who fell and fell again and permanently.