Authority

“See, the enemy is puffed up; his desires are not upright— but the righteous person will live by his faithfulness— indeed, wine betrays him; he is arrogant and never at rest. Because he is as greedy as the grave and like death is never satisfied, he gathers to himself all the nations and takes captive all the peoples. “Will not all of them taunt him with ridicule and scorn, saying, “ ‘Woe to him who piles up stolen goods and makes himself wealthy by extortion! How long must this go on?’ Will not your creditors suddenly arise? Will they not wake up and make you tremble? Then you will become their prey. 

Habakkuk 2:4‭-‬7

Read this again from the perspective that God's talking about Satan here. I'll wait. 

Verses four and five talk about what he is trying to accomplish here. "Puffed up; his desires are not upright". Everything he does is to suit himself, further his agenda, and distract or destroy. Our focus should be on God and God alone but that crafty booger uses things that seem okay to cause confusion, division, and harm. 

"He's arrogant and never at rest" He stops at seemingly nothing to drag us down and halt any attempt at getting out of his mirey pit. 

"Because he is as greedy as the grave and like death is never satisfied" He keeps picking and poking and causing grief because he knows we're weak. He knows on our own strength, we're going to fall. "he gathers to himself all the nations and takes captive all the peoples" His goal is to halt the advancement of God's plan and is willing to take on the world's chaos to achieve that goal. 

But let's look at verses six and seven. 

"Will not all of them taunt him with ridicule and scorn, saying, “ ‘Woe to him who piles up stolen goods and makes himself wealthy by extortion! How long must this go on?’ Will not your creditors suddenly arise? Will they not wake up and make you tremble? Then you will become their prey."

We have the authority to step up and take the reigns back from the destructive path Satan has this world on currently. 

"Will not your creditors suddenly arise? Will they not wake up and make you tremble? "

Wake up! Step into the authority we have as Christ followers. Step into the armor you've been given and walk like the warrior you are. 

I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.

Luke 10:19

For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Colossians 1:13‭-‬14

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Ephesians 6:12 

All the people were amazed and said to each other, “What words these are! With authority and power he gives orders to impure spirits and they come out!”

Luke 4:36 

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

2 Corinthians 10:5

Walk in your authority, my friend!!