And you are in Him, made full and having come to fullness of life [in Christ you too are filled with the Godhead—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—and reach full spiritual stature]. And He is the Head of all rule and authority [of every angelic principality and power]. – Colossians 2:10, AMP

It happens to every one of us. We hear the siren call of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, and like a lamb to the slaughter we follow sin’s song. We give in to temptation, and after sin has wrought it’s work, we have nothing but a broken relationship with God to show for it.

Although God is faithful to forgive us our sins when we repent and ask forgiveness, we could have avoided the trouble altogether if we had remembered a very real truth of the Christian life: we are one with the Authority which every principality and power must obey.

According to Colossians 2:10, we live in Christ and Christ lives in us.  This is a real, biblical truth that is wonderful, joyous, and almost impossible for the human mind to truly comprehend. But if God says it, it must be true, and since it is true, we have within us the very power that defeated Satan after forty days and nights of fasting, that defeated Satan in the Garden of Gethsemane, and that defeated Satan on the cross of Calvary.  No temptation can have victory over us if we will just, in a spiritual sense, reach out to God, claim His authority over sin, and command the temptation to depart.  If we do this, the temptation must flee because everything must obey the authority of God Almighty.

When we fail to claim God’s authority over sin in our lives, however, we are no match for the temptation. We have no authority in and of ourselves over principalities or powers, so both will relentlessly hammer away at us until we succomb. This is why people who try to live morally apart from God’s power cannot successfully do so over the long-term, and this is why so-called “Christians” that don’t recognize God’s authority in their lives are indistinguishable from the unsaved.

If you are truly a born-again Christian, the authority of Heaven over sin is at your disposal.  Why not take God up on His offer to use it?  The next time sin comes knocking, keep the door closed, claim Christ’s authority, and tell the temptation to flee. Will it work?  God through the Apostle James tells us:

So be subject to God. Resist the devil [stand firm against him], and he will flee from you. – James 4:7, AMP

The key is to be subject to God’s authority and not your own. If you are subject to God’s authority, then you better believe the principalities and powers will flee from you when you command them to. They have no choice but to obey!  The problem comes when we try to command them to flee without claiming God’s authority over them.  When we do that, they just laugh at us because they’ve got no reason to obey little ol’ you and me.

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