Take hold of what Christ took hold of you for – Phil 3.12.
Massive potential – only you can realise it.
Are you invading as someone who has authority to do so or one who is battling for authority? Invading the promised land is about taking back or taking hold of what is rightfully ours. Israel – the land was rightfully theirs. If you were at school and someone was using your pen you’d take it back. It’s yours. Children are less sophisticated – they see it clearly right and wrong. “It’s mine I’ll take it back”. Adults get a bit more sophisticated about it!
When we are praying for healing are we saying this is rightfully ours? We should.
God’s original purpose was for adam and eve to have authority in this world. It was his purpose and instruction.
Gen 1:26
Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,— and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
That’s authority. This was God’s plan – In the fall effectively Adam and Eve allowed satan to usurp that authority and that good godly authority became corrupted by sin.
Now that didn’t result in God giving up on the idea. He sent jesus with all authority- to redeem mankind, to overthrow satan the one who had usurped authority and to reinvest men and women with the authority that they had lost.
As the father sent me I send you. Did the father send Jesus with authority? Yes
We have authority but we have to use that authority (but not abuse it)
Now we’re not talking about authority over other people. That wasn’t what God gave to adam and eve.
I want to ask a question – Do we understand the extent of that authority.
I’m going to stretch your minds – maybe I’m pushing too far!
God told Adam to name all the creatures. He gave him authority to do this.
Gen 2:19
Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals.
Question – Did Adam have to keep checking back with God if the name was ok? No – he had authority
If we have authority maybe we don’t need to keep checking back with God as much as we do.
Let’s use an illustration – I’ve got a driving licence. It authorises me to drive. I don’t have to keep checking it. I don’t have to keep checking am I a good enough driver to be worthy of a driving licence. You are qualified to have authority because of what Jesus did.
As Christians often we don’t believe the authority we’ve been given. We are fearful of being presumptuous.
We talked before Christmas about being his ambassadors. An ambassador has authority. In history they didn’t have telephone, facebook, skype, email. The king sent an ambassador. Someone who could speak with all the authority of the king. His representative. We have authority to extend HIS kingdom, his reign. Not to extend OUR kingdom. He is the king, its his kingdom.
Difference between power and authority. We need both.
We need power (you shall be clothed with power from on high) and authority. You can have loads of power but you need to know you have authority to use it.
You may have heard this illustration. Policeman has authority. The authority of the law. The policeman steps into the road and tells you you have stop. He has that authority.
So when someone is sick our attitude should be “we have authority”. That in turn should affect how we pray. I’ve said this before. It’s pushing the boundaries, but we don’t read Jesus doing much praying about sickness. He commanded it to go. That’s authority.
We read Jesus prayed a lot, but in the situations he found himself he commanded – be healed, come out, be free. Out of his relationship with the father he had authority. Same for us.
Mark 9 – boy with evil spirit the disciples were unable to deal with it – this kind can only come out by prayer. So prayer is still important! Actually the implication is that prayer was not always needed in other cases!
Some versions say prayer, some say prayer and fasting. I would suggest that our model is with sickness mainly we pray, but maybe as well as praying, as well as fasting, we need to be taking authority.
So lets use the godly authority that he has given us in taking hold of all that he has for us in termes of healing, freedom from strongholds, blessings, spiritual gifts.
Maybe you’ve never come under jesus’ authority – you enjoy the atmosphere, the worship but you’ve never allowed him to be the boss. Today you can do that.