You Have Authority to Drive Out What Doesn't Belong

There's a verse in Matthew that I don't think gets talked about enough for how much it actually tells us about what Jesus was doing on earth:

"Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed; and he healed them." — Matthew 4:23-24 (NIV)

Read that list again. Disease. Severe pain. Demon-possession. Seizures. Paralysis. There was no category of suffering Jesus turned away from. And He didn't just heal quietly, one person at a time in private — He went through region after region, and everyone who came to Him left healed.

The Kingdom Was Advancing

Here's what I think we miss if we only read this as a healing story: Jesus wasn't just being compassionate in isolated moments. He was preaching the Kingdom, and everywhere the Kingdom showed up, it pushed out what didn't belong. Disease left. Torment left. Whatever had taken hold of a person's body or mind had to go, because it had no place where the King was present.

That's actually how kingdoms work. When a king's territory expands, he doesn't share ground with hostile forces — he removes them, so the people under his rule can live in peace. If a king hears there's a threat inside his own borders, he sends his people to deal with it directly. That's the picture Matthew is giving us. Jesus wasn't just fixing individual problems as they came up. He was expanding a Kingdom, and expansion meant eviction — sickness, torment, and oppression had to leave wherever He went.

You Carry That Same Authority

Here's the part that should change how you walk through your week: if you belong to Jesus, you've been given authority in that same Kingdom. You're not just a bystander watching the King work. You're one of His officials, sent out with the authority to drive out what doesn't belong — in your own life, and in the lives of the people you love.

That means if you're personally under attack right now — oppressed, discouraged, worn down by something you can't seem to shake — Jesus wants to set you free today, the same way He set free everyone who came to Him in Galilee. You don't have to just endure it. You have grounds to resist it.

And it means something for the people around you too. If someone you love is being harassed by things they can't seem to escape — old patterns, destructive relationships, spiritual oppression — you have standing to step into that, not passively, but as someone acting on behalf of the King whose territory that person's life belongs in.

This isn't about pretending you have some special power of your own. The authority was never yours to begin with — it belongs to Jesus, and it's only ever exercised in His name and under His rule. But that doesn't make it any less real or any less available. The same Jesus who walked through Galilee healing everyone who came to Him hasn't changed His mind about who He heals or who He sends. He's still expanding His Kingdom, and He's still doing it through ordinary people willing to act on His authority instead of just admiring it from a distance.

Where to Start

You don't need a dramatic moment to put this into practice. Start with your own life: is there something you've quietly tolerated for too long — a thought pattern, a stronghold, a habit — that you've never actually confronted head-on in prayer? Bring it to Jesus specifically today, the way the crowds in Galilee brought their specific, named needs to Him.

Then think of one person in your life who's under real pressure right now. Pray for them by name, and ask God how you're meant to stand with them in it — not as someone who has it all figured out, but as someone carrying the same authority Jesus handed to His followers from the very beginning. Kingdom expansion has always happened one person, one prayer, one confrontation with darkness at a time. That's still how it works.

A confession worth carrying with you today: Jesus heals and delivers everyone who comes to Him. In His name, I will help establish His Kingdom.

If passages like this one speak to you, this is one of fifty-two I walk through in Miracles: 52 Bible Verses — devotionals meant to build your faith for the miraculous, one verse at a time. You can find it here: Miracles: 52 Bible Verses.

You can also find more devotional resources like this inside the Following Jesus app.