Reference: Luke 10:17-20 When the seventy-two disciples returned, they joyfully reported to him, “Lord, even the demons obey us when we use your name!”  18 “Yes,” he told them, “I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning! 19 Look, I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy, and you can walk among snakes and scorpions and crush them. Nothing will injure you. 20 But don’t rejoice because evil spirits obey you; rejoice because your names are registered in heaven.”  

Observation: What great and wonderful power these disciples were experiencing. They were seeing demons obey them in the name of Jesus. Christ himself was giving them authority over demonic powers, snakes and scorpions. Yet, He said, what is really exciting is that you get to go to heaven!!
It is easy for us to get excited about the power God wants to have working in and through us. We ought to be excited. There is much that we can do to help people and bring deliverance to their lives.

On the other hand, we need to be careful that we don’t get consumed with the power and forget what really matters: eternal life. All that we do in this world is temporary. People who are healed from the worst diseases will still someday die. People who receive deliverance from demonic oppression will face death just like the rest of us. In a temporary world, nothing can matter more than what come after, that which lasts forever.
This is a reminder in our search for power and authority to keep focused on getting ourselves, and those we touch, into heaven. In the end, it is what matters most. 

Application/Confession: As a Pentecostal pastor I want to see the power. I want to see people healed and set free. I want His church to be a place where miraculous things happen. Yet, in the midst of all that, I need to remember that people’s eternal souls are what really matter. Too great a focus on the miraculous is just another way to let this world’s mind-set get a hold of me. A mind-set that says that this is all there is and I had better make the most of it. God says it’s not"there is an eternity. I need to live with that in mind. 

PRAYER: Thank you for the power and authority you want to give me, but thank you even more for the promise of eternal life, both for me and for those I love and minister to.