AUTHORITY OF THE BELIEVER

 

                                                           AUTHORITY OF THE BELIEVER

 

What is Divine authority and to whom is it given?  Authority, according to one of the definitions is, “The right and power to command.”  Jesus said in Luke 10:19-20, “And I have given you authority over all the power of the Enemy, and to walk among serpents and scorpions and to crush them.  Nothing shall injure you.  However, the important thing is not that demons obey you, but that your names are registered as citizens of heaven.”  (Living Bible)

Jesus imparted His authority to the disciples and since we are also His disciples, as believers, this authority has been given to us as well.  The promise of the Holy Spirit was to give the disciples the strength and the wisdom and the spiritual gifts that the Holy Spirit would then impart.  We are emissaries for Christ because we represent Him on earth and as a representative, we are given authority to RE-PRESENT Him to the world.

We are also ambassadors for Christ.  An ambassador is also a ranking government representative in a foreign land.  We essentially are living in a foreign land because we get our “marching orders” from heaven.  Remember, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”  An ambassador is a high ranking officer representing the head of state with full authority to represent the government.

We are citizens of heaven, and as such, can in effect, represent the Kingdom of Heaven having been given authority from the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords---Jesus Christ!  (Authority of the Believer by Pastor Jim Feeney)

You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.  1 John 4:4 (NIV)

 

Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.  Matthew 10:8 (NIV)

 

The following are biblical examples of Christ’s authority working in the lives of believers:

Conversion and witness—The Samaritan woman came to the well because she was thirsty and little did she know that what she was really thirsting for was a touch from God.  She knew that the Messiah was coming, the Anointed One, who would tell them everything that they needed to know.   Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am He.”  (NIV)  As a result of the Samaritan woman’s conversion, she went back to her town and testified to the people that they must come see a man Who must be the Christ.

Leading a person into the Baptism of the Holy Spirit---The Lord told Ananias, a disciple, in a vision, to go to a certain location and lay his hands on Paul who had been blinded on the road to Damascus.  “Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”  Acts 9:17 (NIV)

Deliverance (casting out demons---And these signs will accompany those who believe; in my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues;  Mark 16:17  During Jesus’ ministry He cast out many demons.  We have been given this authority too.

Heal the sick---Healing the sick is part of the great commission.  Whatever Jesus did, the disciples were able to do.  It wasn’t until they received power from on high at Pentecost that they were unafraid and bold and went out to the other parts of the world and continued the ministry of Jesus.

Prayers answered---We need to have faith for prayers to be answered.   “Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them.  Mark 11:23 “ Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise.  Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵ And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. ¹⁶ Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”  James 5:13-16 (NIV)

Walking in the gifts of the Holy Spirit---The nine gifts of the Holy Spirit; prophecy, word of wisdom, word of knowledge, miracles, healing, speaking in tongues, interpretation of tongues, faith and discerning of spirits, are the tools that the Holy Spirit gives us to work in conjunction with Him to manifest His glory so that He can work through us so He can reach others through us.  (Pastor Jim Feeney)

Authority is given but if it is not accepted or used, it is useless.  We, as Christians, need to accept the mantle of authority so we can walk in it and use it for the glory of God.  It is He, working through us that can manifest the compassion and love that Almighty God is seeking so passionately to bestow on a world that is lost in the darkness of despair and hopelessness.

So accept this mantle and walk in it because, we, you and I, are ambassadors for Christ.  We are His flesh and blood.  St. Teresa of Avila said;

 “Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you are his body. Christ has no body now on earth but yours.”

FORGIVENESS PART 2

FORGIVENESS PART 2

In the last teaching we talked about forgiveness and what it means to forgive.  In this next teaching we will focus on prayers that we can pray to heal us from any soul wounds because of hurt and unforgiveness in our lives.

Listen to this prayer by Father Emiliano Tardiff and let it soak into your spirit and be a healing balm.

PRAYER OF FORGIVENESS:

Father of goodness Father of love,

I bless You, I praise You, and I give You thanks because out of love you gave us Jesus.

Thank You Father because by the light of Your Spirit we understand that He is the Light, the Truth, and the Good Shepherd, Who has come that we might have life and have it abundantly.

Today, Father, I wish to present myself.

You know my name.

I present myself to You, Lord,

So that You might fix Your loving, fatherly eyes on me.

You know my heart and you know the wounds of the past.

You know all that I wished to do and all not done.

You also know what was done and what others have done to me that have wounded me.

You know my limitations, errors, and sin.

Today, Father, I ask that by the love that You have for Your Son, Jesus Christ, that You pour out Your Holy Spirit over me so that the warmth of Your healing love might penetrate into the most intimate corners of my heart.

You Who heal destroyed hearts and Who cure my wounds, heal me, Father.

Enter into my heart, Lord,

As You entered into that house where the disciples were full of fear.

You appeared in the midst of them and said:

“Peace be with you.”

Enter into my heart and give me Your peace.

Fill me with love.

We know that love casts out fear.

Go through my life and heal my heart.

I know, Lord, that You do it always if I ask,

And I am asking for it with Mary, our Mother, who was at the wedding in Cana when there was no wine and You responded to her request, changing the water into wine.

Change my heart and give me a generous heart, an affable heart, a kindly heart, give me a new heart.

Pour out, Lord, on me the fruits of Your presence.

Give me the fruits of Your Spirit which are love, peace, joy.

Pour out upon me the Spirit of the Beatitudes,

So that I might taste and search for God each day,

Living without psychological complexes of traumas, close to my spouse, my family, my brothers, my sisters.

I thank you, Father, for what You are doing today in my life.

I thank You with heartfelt thanks because You heal me, because You free me,

Because You break chains and give me freedom.

Thank You Lord, because I am a temple of Your Spirit and because that temple cannot be destroyed because it is the House of God.

I thank You Lord, for faith.

Thank You for the love that You have put into my heart.

How awesome You are Lord!

May You be blessed and praised Lord.

Let’s pray an individual prayer for healing any soul wounds from unforgiveness or any hurts that you may have experienced.  Repeat after me…

PRAYER 

Heavenly Father,

Whose forgiveness of me

Requires me to forgive others

Send Your Spirit

To change my heart

And heal any soul wounds

That I may be free to forgive

Even as You in Christ, forgave me

And so I forgive others who have hurt me

And I forgive myself

And I place any hurts and any unforgiveness

At the foot of the cross.  Amen

Forgiveness requires action.  Jesus died on the cross to forgive us of our sins.  We need to forgive others.  Sometimes we even need to forgive God because we may blame Him.  Sometimes the first step is just to say “I forgive…..” even if you don’t feel it.  Remember forgiveness is an action not a feeling.  Don’t be afraid to reach out in reconciliation to the person who has hurt you if it is possible.  If a hurt comes back to “haunt” you because it is hard to forget, just ask God to bless that person and give that person to God.  It may take a while to heal a wounded heart but God is in the business of healing wounded souls, so lean on Him, trust Him and with His strength and healing power, you will be able to move on and be the open vessel that God wants you to be so He can fill you with more of Himself so you can be a healing balm to someone who needs God’s touch.

GRACE

                                                                                    GRACE

There is a story that is told about a train drawbridge operator whose job was to raise and lower a bridge.  The bridge would normally remain up due to heavy traffic on the seaway.  On this particular day the drawbridge operator’s son came to work with him.  The father warned the son to stay close and not go near the tracks and the bridge.  When it came time for the drawbridge to be lowered, because there was a train coming, the father looked around for the son and could not find him.  He saw his son stuck in the mud on the train track.  He knew that if he left the room to help his son, it would cost the lives of all the people coming on the train.  He also knew that if he lowered the bridge, his son would be killed.  As the train approached, he lowered the bridge turning his head away as the bridge was lowered.  The passengers got off the train and crossed safely not knowing that the drawbridge operator’s son’s life was just given for theirs. 

This is a very sad story but it represents an act of grace.  “For it is by free grace (God’s unmerited favor) that you are saved (delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ’s salvation) through (your) faith.  And this (salvation) is not of yourselves (of your own doing, it came not through your own striving), but it is the gift of God.  Not because of works (not the fulfillment of the Law’s demands).  Lest any man should boast.”  Ephesians 2:9-10 (Amp.Bible)

There is another story about the Russian Czar Alexander, who used to love to disguise himself among his people to find out what they had to say.  One day while visiting an army camp, he saw a young soldier sitting at a table with his head on his arm and sound asleep.  Curious about the paper next to the soldier, he tiptoed to the back of the chair looking over the soldier’s debts.  At the end of the list were the words, “who can pay so much?”  It appeared that the young soldier had gambled away all of his money and was going to take his own life for fear on not being able to meet his debts.   Alexander, the Czar, picked up a pen and below the young soldier’s question wrote, “I, Alexander, Czar of Russia.”  The next morning when the soldier woke up he immediately took hold of the revolver when suddenly he saw writing on his letter that he had not written.  At that very moment a messenger came to his tent with a bag of money from the Czar.  His debt had been paid in full and his life had been spared.  (Sermon by Mark Sparks)

Jesus Christ is the personification of grace.  He willingly gave His life as a ransom for us by dying on a cross even while we were still sinners.  He became a sin offering to cleanse us from our sins.  He Who had no sin, became sin so that we, who are sinful, can be made into the righteousness of God in Christ.

A.W. Tozar said, “Grace is the good pleasure of God that inclines Him to bestow benefits on the undeserving.” Grace is unmerited.  It is undeserving.  Why would God send His only Son to die for us?  He sent His Son because He loves us.  “For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He (even)  gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life.  John 3:16 (Amp.Bible)

Essentially, we don’t have to do anything to merit grace.  It is given freely.  A.T. Pierson, who is a well-known preacher, said, “However poor a preacher, I can preach the gospel better than Gabriel can, because Gabriel cannot say what I can say, “I am a sinner saved by grace.”  Yes, even angels cannot say that they have been saved by grace, only we can!

Do you believe that you are a sinner saved by grace?  Have you given your life to God and asked for forgiveness?  Are you willing to surrender your life to God?  If you are willing, repeat this prayer after me:

Salvation Prayer:

Dear God, I come to you in the Name of Jesus.

I believe that You raised Jesus from the dead.

I am a sinner and I ask You to forgive me.

I also forgive others who have hurt me.

I ask You Jesus to come into my heart.

I surrender my life to You.

I thank you for Your grace.

I will serve you all the days of my life.

Amen