The Doxology, Psalms 8:1, 16:2, and 31:1-4

My Shepherd met me in His green pastures, pondering a question about Satan’s power (Acts 26:18).

Acts 26:18 To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.

The word translated as “power” in Acts 26:18 is exousia, meaning authority or right to rule.

Satan was the prince of this world (John 12:31, 14:30; 16:11). Jesus “cast” him out (John 12:31).  (The word cast means to be ejected, or thrown outside the bounds—in this case, out of the world!) Now Satan is the “prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:1-2). Jesus is now declared to be “The Prince of the kings of the earth” (Revelation 1:5). When He arose, He gathered His disciples to Him and declared that “All power (exousia) is given unto me in heaven and in earth” (Matthew 28:18).

Along the still waters, I reflected on what authority Satan has and what power he exercises in the earth today.

We know that he is no longer “prince of this world,” and that Jesus has been given that title (John 12:31; Revelation 1:5; Ephesians 1:12-21).*

This is why Jesus (Christ, manifest in the flesh) rebuked Satan during the temptation in the wilderness and commanded him to take his place behind Him (Luke 4:8; see also Matthew 16:23). Jesus refused to bow the knee to Satan, and Satan refused to take his place behind Christ, manifest in the flesh. Jesus defeated Satan on the Cross, removed from him the power of death, and all the power (exousia) over Heaven and Earth was transferred to Jesus (Matthew 28:18).

This does not mean Satan has no power (dunamis—energy, might), nor does it mean he has no power (exousia—authority, rule). He has been demoted to “prince of the power (exousia) of the air,” and exercises power (dunamis-2 Thessalonians 2:9)  in the earth through the children of disobedience (Ephesians 2:1-2).

Jesus Christ our Lord is over all principalities, powers, dominions, and thrones in the world now, and in the world to come (Ephesians 1:12-21, especially verse 21). Greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world (1 John 4:4). Christ Jesus rules over Satan, and He has given us power (dunamis—energy, might) by His Spirit upon us, filling us, and flowing through us into this world (Acts 1:5-8; Ephesians 5:18-21; John 7:38-39).

The King we serve is greater, and He is the ruler over all (Hebrews 1:3; 8:1). The Spirit in us is greater and more powerful than Satan’s spirit that operates in and through the disobedient. The only reason Satan gains “place” in this world is because Christ’s disciples grieve the Spirit, and even quench Him (Ephesians 4:20; 1 Thessalonians 5:19), and by that we “give place to the devil” (Ephesians 4:27).

Christ Jesus is King, even when the world rages against Him, and even when His own disciples grieve and quench His Spirit.

In the valley, my Lord Jesus met me and encouraged me to continue onward in the call He has put upon me, and all His disciples, to “wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Ephesians 6:12).

Just then, I heard His voice: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23). Not only do we not “wrestle against flesh and blood,” neither do we wrestle in the flesh, but rather, in the Spirit (Romans 8:9; see Romans 8:4), which requires that we “walk in the Spirit” (Galatians 5:16, 25). This requires that we affirm Christ and deny self.

At the table, He anointed my head with His oil and filled my cup with His grace. Goodness and mercy followed as we went into the harvest.

Praying for revival! 🙏

Going live asap:

https://rumble.com/v7ah96y-shepherds-pasture.html

[*Remember that God gave the dominion of the earth to mankind in Adam (Genesis 1:26-27). Also remember that the name Jesus identifies Christ manifest in the flesh (2 John 7; 1 Timothy 3:16; John 1:1, 14; see Matthew 1:21; Philippians 2:5-11), the Last Adam (. Christ created all principalities and powers, dominions, and thrones (Colossians 1:15-18). The world is one of those principalities, and, as Satan testified that he had “received” this power over the kingdoms of the world (power = exousia; Luke 4:5-8), Christ must have appointed Satan to be its prince.

Scripture testifies that Satan’s princes warred against the chiefest of God’s angels, Michael and Gabriel, over control of the kingdoms of men (See Daniel 10:1-14; especially 12-13). This indicates that Satan was struggling against God’s angels for control of the kingdoms of men. For Satan to be able to declare “all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them,” were given to him suggests he succeeded, finally, to obtain power over all the kingdoms of the world (Luke 4:5-8).

I think Satan usurped this title from the first Adam with Alexander, the fake “son of Zeus.” But GOD sent His only begotten Son, the “last Adam” (1 Corinthians 15:45), to save the world from Satan’s power. Satan thought to tempt Jesus (the man) to worship him to obtain the kingdoms of this world. Jesus obeyed His Father, and defeated death and hell, and the Father transferred the kingdoms of the world to His Son (Revelation 1:5), the “last Adam,” and made all in Christ joint-heirs with Him (Romans 8:17).]