Praying with spiritual authority

Christ Jesus was deeply humble in his recognition of God’s supreme power. Yet the Bible makes clear that he was no pushover. According to the Gospel of Mark, his preaching astonished listeners, “for he taught them as one that had authority, and not as the scribes” (1:22). 

Nowhere is that authority more convincingly illustrated than in the Master’s quick and effective healings, which were often preceded by commands, such as “Come forth,” “Be thou clean,” “Stretch forth thy hand,” and “Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.” 

These were more than just verbal orders to a person in need of healing. They were declarations that affirmed the individual’s spiritual identity, invisible to the eye but known to God. This spiritual identity—the real selfhood of each of us—is the man described in Genesis as made “in [God’s] own image” (1:27). Just as a mirror image reflects only what is in the original, God’s image does not include anything unlike Him. It is spiritual and perfect, as God is.