“But the officer said, ‘Lord, I am not worthy to have you come into my home. Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed. I know this because I am under the authority of my superior officers, and I have authority over my soldiers. I only need to say, “Go,” and they go, or “Come,” and they come. And if I say to my slaves, “Do this,” they do it.’” (Matthew 8:8-9 NLT)
Do you realize that if you are a child of the living Savior, Jesus, you have unlimited authority? How do I know that? In John 5 in a conversation with the Jewish leaders, Jesus tells them that He is the Son of God, which they rightfully understood Him to mean that He was God in human flesh. Though they rejected Him, He explained that God the Father, the same Father in whom they professed to believe, had given Him all authority – all the authority of God Himself.
His authority was so powerful and limitless that Jesus said: “… those who listen to My message and believe in God who sent Me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life.” Then, in verse 30, He shares the key to His authority: “I can do nothing on My own. I judge as God tells Me. Therefore, My judgment is just, because I carry out the will of the One who sent Me, not My own will.”
Authority is always passed down, never up. If we’re immersed in and submitted to the authority of the Lord, His authority will flow through us in powerful and miraculous ways. But we must never lose sight of the fact that it’s not our authority, but His. In John 15:5 Jesus said: “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in Me and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from Me you can do nothing.”
Just as Jesus credited the Father for the things Jesus did, we must never fail to acknowledge that whatever measure of authority we have isn’t ours, but His. An observation that I’ve made as I’ve worked in many settings in my long life: “Someone who doesn’t do well under authority usually doesn’t do well with authority.”
Think of the authority the Apostles exercised after Jesus was ascended. Peter and John healed a beggar at the entrance of the Temple who had been lame from birth. When the people responded with astonishment Peter said to them: “‘People of Israel,’ he said, ‘what is so surprising about this? And why stare at us as though we had made this man walk by our own power or godliness?’” Paul had the same attitude as he shifted honor and credit to God when the Lord used him in miraculous ways.
Could it be that we’re not seeing more miraculous signs and wonders in and through our ministries, individually and collectively, because we’re too interested in who gets the credit? Even as I write these posts, the only glory I seek is for God. If a word I write has value to you, it’s because of Him, not me. I’m the instrument, not the author.
Ideally, that should be our attitude each day as we live our life. Paul said in Galatians 2:20: “My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
In the same way, as we continually seek to walk in God’s will, His Spirit flows in and through us, using our body of clay to hear His voice; to see who and what He sees, in terms of people with whom to share; to speak His Truth; to entrust the results to Him; and to give Him all glory and honor for the results. The greater measure of dependence upon the Spirit, the greater measure of authority He exercises in and through us.
Food for thought.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 