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Believer's Authority: What You Didn't Learn in Church

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The controversial subject of the spiritual authority of the believer in Christ is widely discussed in the church today. Now, Andrew Wommack, host of the #1 fastest growing ministry on television, gives us a new perspective that may challenge everything we've been taught including:

* If believers have been given authority, then when, how, and toward what should it be exercised? Discover the true battleground and learn how to recognize the real enemy.
* Most people believe God created our enemy, Satan, but did He? Understanding the answer will set you free to exercise your authority as a believer.
* Is spiritual warfare, as taught in many churches today, valid? Can believers use their authority to fight the devil and his demons in the air, or is the real battle in the mind?

Digging into the Scriptures, Andrew reveals the spiritual significance of choices, words, and actions and how they affect a believer's ability to stand against the attacks of Satan and to receive God's best. Discover how the enemy works through your thoughts, interjecting his negative influence on a consistent basis. The devil can't control you outside of your will, but he can use the power of fear, jealousy, envy, bitterness, self-pity and more. A believer's lack of awareness and understanding of the battle only works to the enemy's advantage. By believing God's Word and recognizing what's happening in the spirit realm, you can begin to take the proper action to improve your situation. Learn to release God's power of blessing instead of yielding to Satan's power of sin and death.

258 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 16, 2009

417 people are currently reading
661 people want to read

About the author

Andrew Wommack

408 books425 followers
Andrew began his ministry in 1972 and is the President and Founder of Andrew Wommack Ministries and Charis Bible College located in Colorado Springs. For four decades Andrew has been teaching the Word of God. His revelation is taught with clarity and simplicity, emphasizing God’s unconditional love and grace. His daily Gospel Truth radio and television programs are broadcast domestically and internationally.

He founded Charis Bible College in 1994 and has established 70+ extension colleges in major cities of America and around the world. Andrew has produced a library of teaching materials in print, audio, and visual formats.

See his ministry website for more information:http://awmi.net/

Join the ministry on their other social media platforms:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AWMinistries/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/andrewwommack
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andrewwommack/

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews
Profile Image for Kelly Murphy.
260 reviews23 followers
December 27, 2012
I would definitely recommend this book. It is a lot to take in- especially coming from a non-charismatic background, but if you go in with an open-mind and open heart, I think there are some very important concepts here.
I think the most important thing here is for believers to get into Scripture and begin reading- a lot. I've read several books lately which have opened my mind (intelligence) to concepts which I've never been taught, but it has been such a reinforcement that I need to get into the Word myself to open my spirit to what God has to say.
This will probably be the last book I read for a while outside of Scripture, as I need time to process all of the books I've been reading recently.
Once again, I'd definitely recommend this book about the authority that has been given to believers. It's not easy. It's not comfortable. But, I do believe it is important.
Profile Image for Ben.
74 reviews2 followers
March 29, 2016
Must read for today's believers

With our life of wanting the easy way to achieve or get things we have taken short cuts in very many aspects of our lives. Our Church life is one of them. We are just hearing what we are comfortable hearing. What is convenient for us to do. Parts of the Word are not being taught that we need to hear. The power to defeat Satan is already in us. Jesus gave us that power when he died on the cross for our sins. Our Churches are not giving us the knowledge of the Holy Spirit and its gift for us to receive. Andrew helps bring many of the things we are missing out on to light in this wonderful book.
Profile Image for Selina.
137 reviews29 followers
October 4, 2014
A book to pray over and digest. It is not the same as Kenneth E Hagin's of the same title, yet has similar teaching of word-faith, except not so extreme. The author admits a lot of stumbling and mistakes along the way on his walk. What was new to me was his critique of spiritual warfare and intercession. There is also a place for that, but not to the extremes that some christians have taken it.

I would say it was an edifying book.

Profile Image for Jonathan.
Author 13 books10 followers
November 3, 2023
I picked up this book because I’m interested in studying the believer’s authority and what I can learn from Scripture about it. I am also interested in Andrew Wommack’s ministry. I have seen some videos he puts on YouTube and wanted to see what his books are like. I have mixed feelings about this book, and I will describe them in this review.

The book is 26 chapters long, so I will summarize some of the main points and give my impressions of the book. He starts by suggesting that Christians don’t realize the authority they have in Christ. This is an accurate statement as I see many studying the authority of the believer. He puts the discussion of Christian authority in the context of spiritual warfare.

I think he’s right about the way we react to situations. When we don’t understand our authority in Christ, we speak and act in ways that do not show the authority we have. He edges on Word of Faith points when he talks about how our speech can release spiritual forces. He suggests you can open inroads to the devil by the way you speak. I think this could be true in some instances and we need to be careful of our speech, but I don’t think it’s so easy for the devil or demons to get to Christians.

The author goes back to the Garden of Eden and says that God gave Adam and Eve authority over the earth but they gave it to Satan, and now he is the god of the earth. Nowhere does Genesis 3 give us this idea. He follows by saying that you have to give Satan authority over your life. The general idea he presents is that God gave us authority and we can give it to Satan. I think this is moving toward the edge of what we can understand from Scripture.

He takes it a step further when he teaches that Jesus had to become a man to take authority back from the devil. Because God gave authority to man, and man gave authority of the earth to the devil, Jesus had to become a man to get that authority back. This is outright against Bible teaching. God has authority over all of creation. He cannot lose that authority because he is its Creator. Jesus didn’t have to get authority back from the devil of the earth.

The author doesn’t address the fact that Jesus before He was crucified gave authority over sickness and demons to His disciples when he sent the 12 and a 72 out to minister. He shows His authority over the devil in the wilderness when He was tempted. He came as a human being to atone for sins on the Cross. I think the author is really off-base here.

God still has authority over the earth over Satan. It was Satan who had to present himself to God in the beginning of Job. God regularly interrupts human history and does miracles occur against natural laws throughout the Bible.

The author spends a lot of time (and repeats himself) concerning Jesus’s limited ability to do many miracles in His hometown. He says this was because the lack of faith limited His power. When I read that passage, I see that faith is important for miracles to happen. But I doubt we human beings can limit God’s power in any way.

Wommack talks about authority over sickness in some of his chapters. He says that Jesus gave authority over sickness to us and we don’t have to pray for the sick. We can just command the sickness to go and it must leave. I am a quadriplegic, so I commanded my body to move. I have tried this every once in a while with little change. By his teaching, I either don’t have enough faith or I’m not taking authority over my body seriously.

If we have Jesus’s complete authority over sickness, why does James tell us to pray the prayer of faith? I think this kind of teaching could be dangerous to believers who are sick or paralyzed like me. This also borders on Word of Faith teaching and can be dangerous to the faith of a believer. It questions whether a person has faith or uses his authority properly.

He also teaches that Jesus gave us the authority to preach the gospel. We should not pray that a person gets saved as much as we should preach the gospel to that person and let Jesus save them. I don’t disagree with this, but I would not discourage a Christian from praying for people to be saved. Perhaps we need to adjust our prayers so that we are asking God how we can tell them about Him and ask God to work through our witnessing efforts.

In the same vein, the author says praying for revival is not necessary. Instead, as we exercise our authority against the devil and preach the gospel, revival will happen. We don’t have to ask God to move in a new way because He already wants to do that. However, 2 Chronicles 7:14 has God commanding Israel to pray for their nation so He can heal their land. He might say that’s under the Old Testament, but it still applies to us today. In that sense, it is the active prayers of God’s people that move His hand to bring revival.

Another concept from the book is believing and receiving. I don’t disagree with this part of the book. The only thing I would say about this concept is that sometimes people make a disconnect between believing God for healing and receiving that healing. If a person believes that God heals them, there is no reason to think they have a problem receiving that healing.

Wommack also teaches that we must declare our authority. I think doing this in prayer is just as effective as commanding things to happen. At the very least, you should declare this authority that stems from the relationship with Jesus in His name. Your authority as a believer comes out of your relationship with Jesus. It’s not just words you speak. He calls Christians to actively resist the devil and take their authority back from him. I would point more to Jesus giving us authority than having to take it from Satan.

He describes “law enforcement” as long as God made about authority that even He will not violate. We must know God’s laws for governing in authority. He finally talks about being in agreement with God in later chapters. I don’t know how this jives with already having authority and just using it.

The author disagrees with most of what is taught or practiced in spiritual warfare. He does not think we need to do spiritual warfare prayer, but rather take authority over the devil and demons. I can understand this point of view, and for the most part agree with it. I think there are excesses in what is taught about spiritual warfare. A lot of our spiritual warfare comes from our character as described by Paul in Ephesians 6.

He often distinguishes between the way God worked in the Old Testament and how Jesus has changed that as our Mediator. There is a difference in the New Testament, but the Old Testament helps us understand some of those differences. An example he continually brings up is that authority is different in the New Testament than in the Old Testament. He especially talks about how prayer is different. You don’t have to pray about things God has already given you authority about. I don’t think praying hurts your authority.

I like his final chapter that talks about temptation and how we cannot be tempted with what we don’t allow into our minds and hearts. I agree with this. We need to be careful what we allow ourselves to take in.

Wommack repeated a lot of the same principles throughout the book. This could be his teaching style but it got old after a few chapters. This made the book longer than it could’ve been. I didn't agree with his teaching on why Jesus came as a human. I think in some ways he was trying to be abrasive in his approach. The author hinges on the edge of Word of Faith teaching. When it’s hard to distinguish between the truth and possible falsehood in his writing, I would not recommend you read it.
Profile Image for Moronke Dafiaga.
7 reviews
Read
March 19, 2017
The Believers Authority opened the eyes of my mind to deeper thing about the word of God and who Christ his.
Profile Image for Giani.
8 reviews3 followers
March 21, 2024
A great book!

What was highlighted to me in this book is the fact that God’s Word is above His Name.

for You have exalted above all else Your name and Your word and You have magnified Your word above all Your name! (‭‭‭Psalm‬ ‭138‬‬:‭2‬ ‭AMPC‬‬)

God’s name is above every other name yet His Word is above His name, this tells me that God keeps His promises.

Also the fact that we need to know God’s words( and laws) so we can act on them, using our given autority and power.
Profile Image for Nita Hutapea.
41 reviews4 followers
October 2, 2013
A book that help us to understand the authority that God has given us. But at the end of the day we have to understand that it is not us but God Himself that lives in us. We have to fully understand that we are nothing without God. But we can be a winner in every aspect of our life because the spirit of God in us will help us. This understanding will make us trust God and depend our life in Him.
Profile Image for Gina.
233 reviews178 followers
February 8, 2017
I do recommend this book. It helps us to learn about & understand the authority that God has given you and me. He gave it to us in the Garden of Eden! We can win and stand up strong against Satan as long as we know and use the authority God gave us. We are in a spiritual war! Use the armor of God that you were given to protect yourself. If God is with us, who is against us? No one! Amen.
Profile Image for Jackie Rogers.
1,187 reviews22 followers
March 21, 2017
This is a teaching book for Christians. Is about the authority given to those who believe. Andrew is right that this will not be taught in church. Study and keep the Bible alongside. Is a useful tool by Andrew Wommack.
Profile Image for Steve Oglesby.
17 reviews
January 22, 2018
I've never seen spiritual warfare and victorious living explained so succinctly!
Profile Image for Steven Ramos.
25 reviews3 followers
September 1, 2018
Awesome book on our authority in Christ . Super simple and easy read .
Profile Image for Karen.
559 reviews8 followers
September 16, 2018
This book challenged many of my long-held doctrines. I can’t say my mind was completely changed but I’m definitely contemplating. Either way, my faith was strengthened through this read.
Profile Image for Draya G..
22 reviews
April 7, 2019
Powerful read about our power in Christ Jesus!
Profile Image for Calum  Mackenzie .
629 reviews
November 5, 2025
I’m not sure what to make of this…there’s some common sense, lots of biblical references, arguments for a particular approach to following Jesus and lots of anecdotes. (Some of which were very bizarre)

I got frustrated that Wommack hardly ever explores counter arguments or scripture that argue the opposite points he’s making…it can sound a bit one sided at times.

Saying all this, he makes the point that it’s of paramount importance to share the word of God…agreed but given that point, maybe a few pointers in how to as he largely leaves the reader to find out how.

I can’t recommend this as I’m not even sure if things he says here are right…at times he contradicts either the word of God, himself or both!

I just feel a bit lost and confused by the end of this - mainly thinking that any sickness or tough times in my life are all my own fault!
Profile Image for Yinka A.
24 reviews1 follower
May 19, 2025
Absolutely life changing.

If you’re planning to read please read with questions and check every word against God’s word so this doesn’t lead you astray. I recall an idea in the book about “how we are called to preach the gospel instead of hiding behind closet praying” if we want revival. While this is true, I think it could discourage you from actually praying and demoralising you from it. I know there are times I’ve got down on my knees and I’ve seen prayers answered that reflected even in other countries or in my community. Let the Holy Spirit guide you as you read the book.

Having read this however, I believe the author has every intention to bring the truth of Gods word to the nations and that has to be the spirit with which you read this book.

God bless Andrew Wommack and may God continue to make his ministry fruitful.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
70 reviews
October 11, 2025
Andrew Wommack has truth in his words. It’s pretty repetitive, many of the chapters say the same thing as the previous but his claims are backed up by scripture. I also love that one of my own pastor’s sermons was on this topic of Satan. SATAN HAS NO POWER OVER US, DON’T GIVE HIM POWER, DON’T BE MANIPULATED OR DECEIVED BY HIM.

I like how Wommack uses scripture to also prove that Jesus is God, and he does it in an understandable way. Overall, it was a good read, we just need to apply that mindset and command God respectfully since he gave us power and authority. It’s time to use that dominion we have from Jesus. God has already moved and done what we’ve wanted, we need to believe.
Profile Image for Freda Scheffler.
36 reviews
March 16, 2024
Life changing. This presents the balance between grace (God's provision) and faith (your response to His ability) as, ultimately, your responsibility. This is an empowering message that builds your faith. Some people find it controversial because most churches are stuck, holding on to ideas and traditions that aren't biblical. You can be offended or you can be set free by the truth. But for that to happen, you actually need to hear the truth. Come and see.
Profile Image for Janice S..
Author 1 book
October 4, 2019
I learned a lot from reading this book. We miss out on so much when we don't know what we really have inside. Andrew is a down to earth writer and it always feels like he is in your home talking to you. I highly recommend this book.
Profile Image for Rachel Shallenberger.
105 reviews2 followers
February 19, 2020
I'm very picky about the Christian books I read. Most are not super helpful or memorable. This one, however, is great. It's not the first book I've read of his, but Andrew is solid. Highly recommended!
11 reviews
July 29, 2020
Eye opening

This is one of those books you have to re read. Although I have been a Christian for over 10 yrs sometimes we need teachers to come along and package the materials in such a way that it reveals Gods plan more concisely. Great read. Highly recommend
2 reviews1 follower
September 29, 2021
You have God given Authority! And You have the Faith of God!

Wow what a detailed exposition of what God the Father, God the Son and God Holy Spirit does in the life of each believing child of God! Absolute must read!Loved everything about this book. Andrew had me laughing, crying,praying and confidently ready to be the Spirit filled Spirit led believer Jesus died for me to be!
1 review
January 6, 2022
Explains and simplifies complex ideas

I appreciate Andrew Wommack's clear teaching style. This book helped me towards a greater understanding of God and Jesus' relevance in the complexities of life and confusion of religion.
7 reviews
January 20, 2023
What a knowledgeable read!

I am so excited to have found this book and learn what I have learned. The moment he wrote about the enemy using MY authority God gave to me against me....was life changing!
Profile Image for Marja Verschoor-Meijers.
Author 41 books85 followers
August 2, 2023
What to say about this book? It challenged me... a lot. Although I know most of the basic principles and beliefs Wommack tackles in this book, I found myself fighting some. Which probably means I am learning something new :)
1 review
November 25, 2024
Insightful 🔥

J'ai beaucoup aimé le côté simple des explications, qui permettent de comprendre davantage les versets qu'on lit d'habitude sans pour autant en saisir la portée. J'ai été énormément bénie !!
13 reviews1 follower
March 25, 2020
Wow!!!

Very informative ; it truly did enlighten me to alot of things I was never taught in church. It has helped me greatly with my walk with God
104 reviews
August 5, 2020
This was excellent, and I'd read it again to retain more. He makes you think about the things you've been taught and why you should look at them differently now. He provides good examples as well.
Profile Image for Shaidornell Swer.
46 reviews1 follower
April 11, 2021
Andrew Wommack, as always, clearly explains what authority a believer possesses in and through Christ and how he or she can use it to change the situation around him or her.
30 reviews
May 30, 2021
Well worth a read. Bold approach and a lot of truth. Great book for discerning where you stand.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews

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