The Way
Sunday, April 26, 2026 | The Authority Is Already Yours
– 2 min read
Scripture
Luke 10:17-19
"The seventy-two returned with joy and said, 'Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.' He replied, 'I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.'"
The Story
The seventy-two did not know what they had until they went.
Jesus sent them out ahead of him, two by two, into towns they had never visited, with instructions and a mission. They went. They preached. They healed. And the demons submitted. They returned astonished — not because they had discovered a technique, but because they had discovered an authority they did not know they were carrying.
Jesus' response is not surprise. It is confirmation. I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority. The authority was always there. They found it by going out and using it.
This is the week's opening formation truth: the authority Jesus gives his people is not something to be earned or accumulated over time. It is given. Past tense. Already accomplished. The only discovery is in the going.
The Way Before You
Last week built the interior reality of a living faith: Christ lives in you, his power is in you, your life is hidden in God, you are a new creation, you carry a hope that holds, and to live is Christ. All of that was formation. This week asks what a person formed that way actually does in the world.
They go. And in the going they discover what they have been carrying all along.
The authority Jesus gives is not reserved for the spiritually elite or the theologically trained. It was given to seventy-two ordinary people sent into ordinary towns. It is given to you — in the workplace, the neighborhood, the family, the community you are already in. The rooms that feel resistant. The conversations that feel above your pay grade. The moments that seem to require someone more qualified.
You are not waiting for the authority. You already have it. The discovery is in the going.
Reflection
Where have you been waiting for more authority, more qualification, or more certainty before you go — and what would it look like to go first and discover what you are carrying?
Prayer
Lord, you gave authority to seventy-two ordinary people and sent them out. They found what they were carrying by going. I confess that I often wait for certainty I already have and permission that has already been given. Send me. Let me discover in the going what you have already placed in me. I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.
Walking in The Way — Today's Step ⭐
Today I will: Name the room or conversation I have been waiting to enter until I feel more ready — and choose to go this week, trusting that the authority is already there.
I will watch for: The moment I tell myself I need more before I can go — and let that be the signal to remember: the seventy-two found their authority in the going, not before it.
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