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Friend, authority begins with identity!

Luke 10:19-20 Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. 20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven."

As we move forward from the ground we have already taken -- beginning in November with the revelation of our identity in the Messiah, and then pressing into the responsibility that identity demands -- we now arrive at what cannot be avoided, delayed, or denied: authority. This is not a new subject. It is the inevitable consequence of truth rightly received. Identity laid the foundation. Responsibility brought alignment. Authority is the release. What God establishes within a believer, He always intends to express through that believer.

He never forms sons merely for containment.
He forms them for representation.

Identity answers the cry of the heart: “Who am I in Christ?”
Authority answers the mandate of Heaven: “What have I authorized you to enforce?”

Yeshua (Jesus) never entrusted authority to outsiders, observers, or the uncertain. He entrusted it to those who were secure in belonging. Authority does not flow to those seeking power -- it flows to those who know they are His.

When Yeshua declared, “I give you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy” (Luke 10:19), He was not igniting ambition -- He was confirming sonship. This authority was not something to be achieved, activated by volume, or proven through effort. It was a reality to be received and walked in. Authority flows effortlessly where identity is settled. Where identity wavers, authority falters. Where identity is anchored, authority stands unquestioned.

Sonship always comes before dominion.

Many believers struggle -- not because authority is absent -- but because they are striving for what Yeshua has already finished. Authority is never produced by exertion; it is released through agreement. You do not fight to obtain authority -- you stand in the authority already given. You do not pursue victory -- you enforce it.

Yeshua sent the disciples out with authority, not after long years of mastery, but after revelation. And when they returned rejoicing that demons submitted to them, Yeshua immediately re-centered them -- not on power, but on identity: "Rejoice that your names are written in heaven." Authority is powerful, but it is safest when anchored in belonging. Power without identity produces pride. Authority rooted in sonship produces freedom.

Friend, this is the posture of the Kingdom: secure sons and daughters -- unmoved by intimidation, unthreatened by opposition, unhurried by pressure -- standing exactly where Yeshua has placed them. True authority is never loud, never frantic, never striving to prove itself. It does not negotiate with darkness or ask permission from what God has already judged. Authority rests, speaks, and advances from settled identity. The moment identity is anchored in the Yeshua, authority is released to stand, to rule, and to enforce what Heaven has already declared.

George & Baht Rivka (Southern Florida)