By: Carrie Christmas
Carrie serves as Ministry Care Support at Mercy, where she provides spiritual encouragement and guidance to young women as they journey toward healing and discover hope and freedom through Jesus.

“Before coming to Mercy, I didn’t know one thing about spiritual authority. One chapter in Keys to Freedom called “Using Your Authority in Christ,” taught me that when we choose to follow Jesus, we become one of His own and are adopted into His family. This means we have an inheritance. Part of that inheritance is having authority through Christ to defeat the enemy. Learning about it is one thing but believing it and applying it to our lives is a gamechanger. I have learned that authority and power live in me, I just have to activate it. I now understand how powerful it is to speak the truth out loud and mean what I say.”
– Amber, 2026 Graduate

One analogy I love illustrates this idea perfectly. Imagine a police officer standing in the middle of the street, stopping a semi-truck in its tracks. Is the officer physically strong enough to hold back that massive truck? Of course not. What he has is authority. That authority is recognized through his uniform, and because of it, the truck stops.

In the same way, you and I as Christians have been given authority through Christ to stop the enemy in his tracks when he comes against us.

Unfortunately, many Christians never walk in the authority that has been given to them through Jesus. Instead, they spend much of their lives battling issues they actually have the authority to overcome.
Jesus said in Luke 10:19:

“Behold, I give you authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.”

Just as the police officer represents authority in the natural world, we carry authority in the spiritual realm. The enemy may have power, but authority overrides power. The Word of God declares that “no weapon formed against you shall prosper.” Satan may have the power to cause problems to form in your life, but you and I have the authority through Christ to overcome every tactic of the enemy.

As Christians, it is our responsibility to understand how to battle the enemy, and that battle happens in prayer. But the question is: Are we praying with understanding?

Hosea 4:6 says, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” If we do not have a revelation of how to stand firm in our God-given authority, our prayers will not produce the effect we desire.

Jesus Himself demonstrated how to pray in the middle of a storm. He simply commanded, “Peace, be still.” He spoke directly to the storm.

In the same way, we must remind the enemy in prayer who we belong to and who we stand with—Jesus, the name above every name. Scripture tells us:

“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

Jesus already secured our victory on the cross. He does not need to climb back on the cross again and again for us to overcome. The work has already been finished.

Isaiah 53:5 declares:
“But He was wounded for our transgressions,

He was bruised for our iniquities;

The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,

And by His stripes we are healed.”

Jesus paid it all.

He overcame so that we could overcome.

Often at Mercy, I ask the girls to examine their posture. Many times their heads are down, their shoulders are slumped, and their voices are barely above a whisper. Their body language communicates defeat.

Then I ask them to imagine themselves stepping into a boxing ring looking like that. What would their opponent think? Most likely, the opponent would believe they had already won—without even throwing a punch.

In many ways, we approach our spiritual battles the same way. We face Satan, our adversary, with a posture of defeat.

But that is not who we are in Christ.

So, if you are walking through a storm that feels like it will never let up, I encourage you today: ask God to open the eyes of your understanding so that you may truly know the authority you carry through Christ.

Then begin to pray from that place of authority.

Speak to the storm.

And command it to be still.

To learn more about Using Your Authority in Christ check out the free Keys to Freedom Teaching Series, and watch the video on this topic.

Mercy Multiplied offers programs and resources that help people find freedom in Christ. Find out more at https://mercymultiplied.com/.