Authority Over the Enemy

We quote this verse, and then we quietly edit its ending, because "nothing shall by any means hurt you" does not match what any of us have seen.

That objection deserves a straight answer. People who fear God are hurt all the time. The seventy who heard this sentence had also heard Jesus say a very different one: "behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves." He told them about the wolves when He sent them out, and He gave them this promise when they came back. He said both to the same men, and He was not confused.

So look at what the promise is really about: "over all the power of the enemy." That is the area it covers. The authority Jesus hands over is for one particular fight, used in His name against one particular enemy. It is no lucky charm against hard times, illness or wolves. Serpents and scorpions are the small, nasty things that strike when you are not looking, and treading on them is a plain word. It is what you do when you walk.

Then comes the part that settles it. In the very next verse Jesus moves their joy off the whole subject: "Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven." In one verse He gives them real authority, and in the next He tells them not to build their happiness on it. A man who wanted to sell them a life where nothing could hurt them would never have said that. He pointed them instead to the one thing no enemy can reach.

So use what was given, where you are standing, in the name it was given in. Pray over the house. Pray over the child down the hall. Pray over the fear that keeps coming back without a face. Authority that is never used feels exactly the same as having none. Then go back to bed and rest, because your name is written in heaven.

Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year two reading for day 324 is Clothed With Humility (1 Peter 5:5).

All 365 readings in Daily Manna