More On Authority

"Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him, saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented.” And Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.” The centurion answered and said, “Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, “Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel! And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go your way; and as you have believed, so let it be done for you.” And his servant was healed that same hour."

Matthew 8:5-13

I need to talk more about spiritual authority. First, you cannot wield authority unless you are under authority. We reap what we sow and if we sow rebellion (by not being submitted to those in authority over us) we will reap rebellion. Believe me, the forces of the enemy that we encounter are aware of our secret rebellions and will not respond when we try to take authority over them. The answer, as I mentioned before, is to search your heart and repent. I'm going to recommend that you read a book titled Under Cover by John Bevere for a better discussion of this topic.

I talked in my last post about how, although we have general authority over all the power of the enemy, we must stay focused on the assignment we have been given. We have greatest authority within the sphere of our calling and can move with greatest confidence in that arena. Here are some examples of spheres of authority where we can move with great confidence:

• A husband/father is the head of his wife/children. If the enemy attacks his wife with sickness he has the authority to command the enemy to cease its activity. He has the authority to deal with every negative influence on his family.

• At work you have a limited spiritual authority within the area that you operate. I already talked about how I used my authority in my math classroom. One caution — do not overstep the boundaries of your sphere of authority. That can be dangerous and hands the enemy a tool to use. Be led by the Holy Spirit as you pray. Still, do not limit God. He is the one who gives us our missions and sets our boundaries. Don't set limits on yourself -- or let others set limits on you -- that are less than His limits. Then, too, it is perfectly fine for you to pray — as Jabez did (1Chronicles 4:10) — asking God to "enlarge your territory", giving you a broader spiritual authority where you work.

• In the church the pastor has great authority and responsibility. God will often show him things in the spirit that are hidden from others. A pastor, moving in the spirit, can stand as protector over his flock holding the enemy at bay. It is vital that you stay under that authority, even if your pastor has acted unwisely in the past.

So, some spheres of authority are well-defined and obvious (like in the family or at work), others are defined by the nature of your calling (like that of a pastor or elder). The Holy Spirit will sometimes, as part of a specific mission, specially define your arena of authority setting your boundaries Himself. The important thing is that we listen to the Holy Spirit, are certain of our direction, and that we know our limitations before we start blasting away with our shotgun of authority.