Luke 4 - Given Away

⁵The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. ⁶And he said to him, "I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me...

Why do we give away authority and splendor? Satan has so much power, he is such a dangerous enemy. It seems that his ways are more appealing than God's, that they will lead to a more pleasing outcome and more luxury. But, the reason he has authority and splendor is because we as a race have given it to him. They were not his from the beginning. We say that he stole his power from God, but in reality we willingly gave it to him. And worse yet, we continue to give it to him when we choose to follow his path instead of God's path. When we forsake the truth and follow a lie, we give power to the prince of lies - not only in our own lives, but in the perception of the whole world. Darkness only has power in the absence of light.