The Believers’ Authority!

There is something about the traffic warden at the intersection!

By merely beckoning at drivers with his hand, he makes them go in a direction. Alternatively, by holding up his hand, he stops them from moving further. I’ll like to think that the sometimes frail-looking traffic warden was able to wield so much control over those car users and their vehicles because of some magical or brute power he possessed. But no, he didn’t have the power to hold those car back but has the authority to do so. The men behind the wheels simply obey him because they recognise and honour that authority.

Authority is delegated power!

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Did you know that the only language the devil understands his authority?

Did you know that God has invested you with so great power/authority?

Did you now that there is nothing more that God will do for you than he already did?

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A lot of problems hold sway in our lives today because we simply permit them to; because we don’t do anything about them. In fact, we unconsciously give permission for the oppression of the devil over our lives/things when we keep quiet about them and refuse to speak against them.

Eph 1:18 By having the eyes of your heart flooded with light, so that you can know and understand the hope to which He has called you, and how rich is His glorious inheritance in the saints (His set-apart ones),

Eph 1:19 And [so that you can know and understand] what is the immeasurable and unlimited and surpassing greatness of His power in and for us who believe, as demonstrated in the working of His mighty strength,

Eph 1:20 Which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His [own] right hand in the heavenly [places],

GOD’S GREATEST DISPLAY OF POWER

I’ve always thought God’s greatest power was put on display in the beginning, at creation. Think about the minutest details that went into the making of our earth. Imagine how vast and indiscernible it is. And just to think that this huge earth is just a tiny fraction of the entire universe God created. It must have taken Him a lot to make that happen. But alas, it’s not so! The bible tells us that God demonstrated the height of his power when he raised Jesus from the dead. I mean it took God to exert all of his power to resurrect him! What an unprecedented display of force!?

But wait for the real deal… Just when I thought that was all to it, I came to know that God didn’t use up that power on Jesus. However, he deposited that magnitude of power in you when you believed on Christ. In case you still don’t get it, I’m saying that there is an exceeding degree of wonder-working power at work in you – the very same that raised Jesus up from the dead! How then can/should you ever feel you are at a disadvantage as a believer?

You need to come to terms with the power/authority God has deposited in you and exercise it.

Luk 10:19 Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

Here is Jesus speaking to his disciples, and by extension to all believers. He has given us power! Of course, you won’t take the reference to serpent and scorpions entirely literally. Those things represent a spiritual reality, i.e. the power of the enemy. You are not just a mere Christian – thank God for salvation! Much more, you are one wired to exert power over contrary things.

Remember the story of the fig tree Jesus made to wither? It’s such an apt account to teach about authority. Jesus’ disciple marvelled when they saw that the tree had dried up just after a couple of hours that he cursed it. In response to their surprise, he tells them to have the God kind of faith! What’s the God kind of faith? It’s the faith that exercises authority by speaking. It’s the faith that speaks with authority and never doubts the efficacy of what is said. It’s the faith that authoritatively says, i.e. addresses/commands mountains to move. That faith that calls forth those things that be not.

LUKE 7:1-10 – THE CENTURION

I love that blessed centurion. He understood the concept of authority perfectly. Hear him speak:

Luk 7:8 As you know, I’m in a chain of command and have soldiers at my command. I tell one of them, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and another, ‘Come!’ and he comes. I tell my servant, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.”

What a man! He recognised that Jesus could only go about doing good and healing the sick because his actions were backed up with divine authority. Instead of stressing Christ by making him walk all the way to his house, he simply asked him to exercise the authority he had by speaking the word of healing concerning his servant. If a man who wasn’t born again (not at the time at least) could come to this understanding and make it work for him, what’s gonna be your excuse as a believer; one who God indwells today; one who is an embodiment of God’s power?

Merely having a tool doesn’t make it useful for you. As a believer, you need to know what belongs to you. You need to come acknowledge the extent of God’s power at work in you. However, beyond knowing, you need to act on that knowledge. Only knowledge acted upon brings result! What’s more, the efficacy of power is dependent on the one enforcing it.

Mat 18:18 “And so I tell all of you: what you prohibit on earth will be prohibited in heaven, and what you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.

How can you complain of thirst when you are surrounded by taps of clean and drinkable water?

The lingering troubling circumstance you’re going through is not the issue; neither is it the persistent sickness, lack or pain. The issue is your inactivity. Indeed, it’s your inability to exercise the authority you have by speaking to those situations instead of speaking about them. While on earth, Jesus did mighty works. However, he told us that, upon his glorification, we won’t just do the works he did but greater.

The authority you wield is in the saying/speaking, not the wishing and hoping. It’s in your constant/consistent confession of faith concerning the situation regardless of its prevailing presence. It’s your doggedness in the place of prayer…

Listen to the Apostle James:

…The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working]. James 5:16b

How about that? When you pray, you are not just passing time or fulfilling all righteousness. Rather, you are exercising authority and supplying tremendous power towards things and situations you want a change on.

Quit talking about the problem; talk to it. Quit complaining about the situation; address it with/in faith. Quit giving room for the oppression of the devil; exercise authority and tell him to get his hands off your things.

The power at work in you is able to do superabundantly, far over and above all that you dare ask or think. Take advantage of it.

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P.S: Much of the insight for this post was drawn from the teaching of papa Kenneth E. Hagin on The Believer’s Authority

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©ayansolaibukun