A verse that jumped out at me: Jesus temptation

The first:

Satan to Jesus in the temptation in the desert (Luke version, which arranges the temptation in different ways from Matthew and adds a couple niceties ...and this is one of them): Luke 4:6b --

To you I will give their (the world's) glory and all this authority. FOR IT HAS BEEN GIVEN OVER TO ME AND I GIVE IT TO ANYONE I PLEASE

. Okay, Luke is the only one who says this ...and you know Luke's issues about power and rich folks. But forgetting that for a moment, think of what Satan has just said and what questions come to mind.

For me, a writer, I thought...wait a second, this is a passive sentence. "It HAS BEEN GIVEN TO ME." What the heck does that mean? Who is the one who gave the dominion and authority and glory of the world to you, Satan? God or man? I cannot for the life of me see God giving Satan the dominion and authority of the world. And technically speaking, the dominion was STOLEN. And who from? Adam and Eve. MAN! After all, the psalms tell us that "the earth has God given to the sons of men." And Genesis tells us that God gave man dominion and authority over the earth to rule it.

Okay, we Christians believe that Jesus has bought back the world's dominion for man and redeemed us out of the hand of the devil. We believe Jesus when he said "I saw Satan fall." We believe John the Revelator's vision of the lamb of God opening the seal and title deed of the Earth. But this verse really ministered to me because I felt more encouragement to speak with authority to younger son's illness and to tell the Devil he is a defeated enemy who no longer has authority. I've heard ministers talk about this but even though the Lord's prayer has "for thine is the kingdom, and the glory, and the power" I was always a might suspicious about their theology. Not until I saw it myself in this verse did I jump up. This is what the Bible means in the parable of the sower where one has "root in himself." We can accept a truth because a minister says it...but when one sees it in the Bible and understands it...then wow! One has root in one's self.