Spiritual Authority and How to Use it Part 2

We established in part 1 of this blog post that we are fighting battles that have already been won. When God reconciled mankind to Himself by allowing Jesus to...

• come to earth, born of a virgin and untainted by sin;
• live a perfect life--resisting temptation;
• and then die a sacrificial death through crucifixion--

all by Himself, God redeemed mankind. With Jesus' resurrection from the dead, He proved His victory over sin and death and Satan lost his death grip on mankind.

The only thing now that separates people from their Creator is either their ignorance or their pride. Those of us who know God personally are on a mission to share the good news that Jesus saves, and to live in such a way that people who've yet to receive God's extravagant gift of grace are challenged to do so.  

As an experienced warrior writing to you from the battlefields of my life, I have to confess that sometimes I feel like a mighty warrior and sometimes I feel like a wimp. It's in the wimpy moments that I like to be reminded of this fact:

Spiritual authority is ours.

We just need to be reminded how to use it. 

I like to also be reminded of these 3 things:

1. God's Got This! 

We give away these simple rubber band bracelets when people come to the Prayer Clinic. We want them to be reminded that no matter what this  is, God's got this. (To learn more about the Prayer Clinic ministry go to www.prayerclinic.com) 

The truth of the matter is that God's got everything under control at all times. He's never wringing His hands and wondering what's going to happen next. He never turns to Jesus, who sits at His right hand, and says, "I didn't see that coming!" 

Think about it. No matter what you're going through--God is fully aware of it, AND He's willing and able to take complete charge over it when you release it to Him.

This is the part of exercising spiritual authority that involves

release...

submission...

surrender...

whatever you want to call the transaction that happens when you admit that God knows better than you what to do with the situations and people who've unsettled you.

Think about it this way: when you find yourself wringing your hands and wondering what's going to happen next; when you turn to your most trusted companion and exclaim, "I didn't see that coming!" You have a divine opportunity to either worry and fret, OR collect your fragmented wits and lay them at the foot of the throne of God.

The powerful privilege that is yours as a redeemed son or daughter of the King of kings and Lord of lords is that you are welcome and even encouraged to present your requests to Him.

Hebrews 4:16 says, "Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."

When you peel your hands off your burden and wrap them around your Savior, you receive quite enough mercy and grace to think clearly and fight effectively.

2. God's Word is True! 

The Bible is taking a beating in our culture today. As many people are deconstructing their faith, the reliability of Scripture is consistently being torn asunder by scholarly attacks on the inerrancy of the Word, and their take on difficult stories of genocide and violence riddled throughout the Old Testament. (I would be remiss if I didn't admit that some of these passages of Scripture trouble me too.) 

But once you realize that the Bible really is alive and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword (Hebrews 4:12), you begin to understand that its' truths are often hidden from the world and only revealed to the ones the world calls foolish (see Matthew 11:25-26 and I Corinthians 1:21). 

So don't let the culture's objections to the Bible diminish your confidence in it! As a child of the King of kings and Lord of lords, you get to read the Bible with your spiritual eyes and ears wide open. Your Bible is alive and active because God's given you divine insight and understanding. And you can know in your heart that God's Word is true.

When you know that God's Word is true, you begin to collect your treasure trove of over 3000 promises God's kept through the ages and continues to keep today. Out of that treasure chest, the Spirit of God assigns specific promises to you so that you can apply them to your specific circumstances.

You can bank on those promises! 

And God loves it when you do! Take your promises and post them on your walls. Seal them in your heart. Claim them audibly--shout them into the wind when you are alone, and whisper them silently in your spirit when you're in the middle of conversations where they're being challenged. 

If you have yielded your life to Christ and you genuinely believe that His Word is true, you've activated the promises that are yours to hold tight in this fight.

The promise we claim at the end of every one of our Scripture prayer cards (created for the Prayer Clinic ministry) is this: 

The Lord said to me, “You have seen correctly, for I watch over My word to accomplish it.” Jeremiah 1:12 HCSB

God will stand by His Word, His Word is true.

3. God is with you.

No matter where your battle takes you, you will be ok. 

What if my child/parent/spouse/friend dies? 

You will be ok.

What if my business/finances/dream fails? 

You will be ok.

What if they don't believe me? What if I'm made a fool? What if this never changes? 

You will be ok.

Without going into the details of my life (you can read any of my books and get a boatload of those), I want you to know that I've been in enough unimaginable places that I can honestly say no matter where you find yourself, God is already there.

You can safely say with the psalmist that no matter where you go, God is there. 

Where can I go from your Spirit?
    Where can I flee from your presence?
⁸ If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
    if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
⁹ If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
    if I settle on the far side of the sea,
¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me,
    your right hand will hold me fast.
¹¹ If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
    and the light become night around me,”
¹² even the darkness will not be dark to you;
    the night will shine like the day,
    for darkness is as light to you.  Psalm 139:7-12

And you can nod in agreement with Paul when he got carried away with himself in declaring that absolutely no-thing can ever separate you from the love of God in Romans 8:31-38. 

The really great thing about this 3rd thing is that the with-ness of God is your victory.

Wrapping this up: 

So, my friend understand this; you are winning this battle for your family, your friends, your faith, your fulfillment of the good plans God has for your life. Warrior up and stand tall.

Spiritual authority is ours.

Now you've been reminded how to use it. 

Some articles I found while working on this post are well worth sharing. Check out these:

The God Who Cannot Lie, Die or Fail

5 Common Arguments Against the Bible and How to Respond to Them

And this song by Diamond Rio: God is There