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About Jesus Steve Sweetman Who Has The Real Power "Jesus answered, you have no power over me that was not given to you from above..." - John 19:11 This passage reminds me of the story of Job. One day Satan came and stood before God. God asked Satan, "have you considered Job? (Job 1:8). It is interesting to see that the Lord brought Job to Satan's attention. Satan did not ask the Lord about Job. Satan felt that God had a hedge around Job and if He were to drop the hedge Job would not be such a nice guy. So God said, (Job 1:12) "very well then. everything he has is in your hands..." Do you see the correlation between the two scriptures? God gave Satan the power to hassle Job. God gave Pilate the power to free, or to execute Jesus. Neither Satan, or Pilate had this power and authority in themselves. It was only given to them when God decided to give it. Are these two isolated events, or is there a general scriptural truth here? Does Satan, man, or circumstances have authority over us as Christians? If God grants authority to Satan, man or circumstances, what difference would it make to us? First of all, we would have to recognize that God is truly in charge of our lives and has the final authority. If calamity comes by us from Satan, or the world, it would only come because God allows it. If God allows it, then it is there for a reason. Secondly, this would mean that Satan may have less power and authority than what we attribute to him. This in turn should elevate our thoughts of God to a higher level than what we presently might think, and lower our thoughts about Satan. Thirdly, this might mean we view the events of life differently, that all things, good or bad come from God, except for those things we bring on ourselves. If all events are from God, then we should act accordingly. Could the scripture in Romans 8:28 really be true then when it says that, "in all things God works together for our good...".
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