Spiritual authority

Spiritual authority

God spoke principles / laws into creation
God governs the universe according to these laws.
One of the laws which he spoke into creation is SPIRITUAL AUTHORITY.
What is Spiritual Authority ?
Definition
Spiritual authority is delegated power.
Sadly many have understood Spiritual authority from an ungodly society based perspective, The church have followed worldly models to understand a deep theological principle.

The worldly understanding of Spiritual authority is in fact completely the opposite to the teachings of Jesus and the Bible.
Mathew : 20:25
But Jesus called them and said, You know that the rulers of the nations exercise dominion over them, and they who are great exercise authority over them. However, it shall not be so among you. But whoever desires to be great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be chief among you, let him be your servant; even as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.

Jesus is teaching his disciples about leadership.

He first describes the kind of leadership authority which the world understands and exercises.
The rulers of the nations want to have dominion over people.

Many times this understanding has reproduced itself in the church.

Church leaders want to exercise this same kind of authoritarian leadership models over church members, which cause all kinds of unnecessary pain and hurt to the sheep.

Jesus teaches that those who want to be great leaders of people must serve the people in the local church.
This does not mean the leader becomes the cleaner, or the shopper, or shoe polisher.
It means They serve the local community with God given gifting.

Romans 12 : 3-8
For I say, through the grace given to me, to every one who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think. But set your mind to be right-minded, even as God has dealt to every man the measure of faith. For even as we have many members in one body, and all members do not have the same function, so we the many are one body in Christ, and each one members of one another. Then having gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, if prophecy, according to the proportion of faith; or ministry, in the ministry; or he who teaches, in the teaching; or he who exhorts, in the encouragement; or he who shares, in simplicity; or he who takes the lead, in diligence; or he who shows mercy, in cheerfulness.
All members do not have the same function but different gifts. We use our gifting to the encouragement of one another.

So we serve each other with our God given gifting, but we do not rule over people.

Understanding Spiritual authority for every believer is extremely important if we want to successfully fulfill the call of God on each of our lives.

Remember the definition of Authority is delegated power.

Mathew 10:1 
And when He had called to Him His twelve disciples, He gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease.
Example
We don’t submit to a policeman’s authority because of his uniform or his badge.
We submit to his authority because of who he represents.

A policeman represents the highest authority in the country, IE the president, we are submitting to his authority, when we submit to the local policeman.
The policeman has been empowered by the highest authority in the land.

This is why we should understand Spiritual authority?

As believers we willingly submit to those who God has appointed to positions of authority.
Mathew 8:9
For I 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.

If we don’t submit ourselves to spiritual authority, we have no authority.

We should understand the following
Spiritual authority influences and impacts our daily lives in very profound ways.
Here are some areas of life where spiritual authority should be understood.

a.God’s mandate on our lives as people.
b.We have a spiritual enemy Satan.
c.As men are the spiritual heads of our families
d.Satan is a legalist that understands spiritual laws and operates according to them.
A.Genesis 1:26-28 
When God gave Adam and Eve their mandate, he used words like subdue and dominion.
The Hebrew word for Dominion is
râdâh
to tread down, subjugate; prevail against, reign, rule, take.
Subjugate
especially by conquest.
A conquest is going to war with the objective of overthrowing and conquering another authority.
So God gives clear instructions to Adam and Eve, Rule over creation, to manage it, to steward it, or take care of it.
God calls them as a couple to rule and to reign until after the fall, then the order changed.
The ruling and reigning is about taking care of the planet, being good stewards of what God has given us.
Genesis 3:16
To the woman He said, I will greatly increase your sorrow and your conception. In pain you shall bear sons, and your desire shall be toward your husband, and he shall rule over you.

He shall rule over you. This was a consequence of the fall of man.
At the fall both Adam and Eve lost the Spiritual authority which God had given them.
Since then man has ruled man by conquering and ruling those weaker than themselves.
Jesus came to restore the original order through his triumph on the cross
Colossians 2:15 
Having stripped rulers and authorities, He made a show of them publicly, triumphing over them in it.
When we become believers, we should enter into the truth of this restoration of the this order.

B.We have a spiritual enemy Satan and his kingdom.
2 Corinthians 4 : 4
in whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving ones, so that the light of the glorious gospel of Christ (who is the image of God) should not dawn on them.
Paul calls Satan the god of this world
Ephesians 6 10 :18 describes Satan’s kingdom and our defenses against him.
Ephesians 6:10 - 18 
Finally, my brothers, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the world's rulers, of the darkness of this age, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Therefore take to yourselves the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Therefore stand, having your loins girded about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Above all, take the shield of faith, with which you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching to this very thing with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.
C.We are spiritual heads of our homes
Spiritual heads
Ephesians 5:23 
For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body.
This is not a Title, it is a function, we love titles
We love to be honored by being called by our given status.
CEO, Boss, Pastor, Prophet, etc.
Husband is your function as the head of your wife, family
This means that we are responsible and accountable to God for the wellbeing of our family.
We have spiritual enemies that want to destroy everything which the Bible and God declare as precious in his sight.

We have a saying

The woman is wearing the pants in the home
What does that mean?

It means that woman are controlling homes, finances, children etc.
The true meaning is that we as men have not taken up our spiritual authority in our homes.

The Churches are full of women, prayer meetings full of woman,
Instead of us taking up our positions in prayer
Here is a worldwide statistic
70 % of people who go to church are woman
70 % of people who go to jail are men.

Some men try taking back the authority lost by trying to be the Boss in the Home.

Others passively submit to the wives authority because it’s just much easier.
As heads of the home, God has made provision for us to take back the authority lost .
a.Satan is a legalist that understands spiritual laws and operates according to them.
Acts 19:14
And there were seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, who did so. But answering the evil spirit said, Jesus I know, and I comprehend Paul, but who are you? And the man in whom the evil spirit resided leaped on them, and overcoming them he was strong against them, so that they fled out of the house naked and wounded.
The demon in this man knew that these sons had no authority over evil spirits.
It’s the same with people, Satan knows whether you have spiritual authority over evil spirits.

The purpose of Spiritual Authority?

Its about winning
Spiritual warfare, Spiritual Conquest. Taking back what was given away

Some people have the idea that Spiritual warfare means

Shouting at the Devil
Sprinkling Holy Oil on Everything
Quoting scripture at the Devil
Blowing Shofars in the Devils face.
Praying in tongues

Now those activities are very powerful declarations when they are used in the context of scripture.

Satan knows who we are, he knows the Level of authority which we have been given by Jesus.

He submits to this spiritual authority when it is exercised according to the measure of Authority given by God.

If we are not exercising spiritual authority, we just get beaten up.

When we know who our enemy is, and how to fight, we win.

Ephesians 6 :12 

Many of us see people as our enemy, this scripture tells us clearly who the enemy is.
The enemy is not
Wife
Children
Boss
System
We wrestle against unseen spiritual forces that have a desire to destroy our faith, turn us against God.

Satan has used the same tricks over and over since the garden of Eden

This is how he works
Lust of the eye
Lust of the flesh
Pride of life

He uses, lies, deception, people, discouragement to get us into the state of rebellion that he is in.

The way we overcoming Satan and his demonic army is by understanding who he is, and how to defeat him.

Many Christians have a small God Big devil perspective.

They have been beaten and intimidated into submission, too afraid to stand up and be all God has called us to be.

We should know that in our own strength we have no power over Satan.
Even the smallest demon, with hands tied up, with one leg, one eye, has the power to defeat the strongest man alive.

But when we understand that we have power, we have authority, we have the power to overcome the prince of demons, Satan himself.

How do we receive Spiritual Authority

Mathew 8:5-9 
Authority is delegated power

The Roman centurion had authority because he was under authority
A policeman has authority because he it has been delegated to him
Comes from a higher authority than himself.

We have authority when we are submitted to authority.

Submitted to what ?
Submitted to God appointed church eldership
Hebrews 13:17

Submit to Jesus
Submit to one another
Most of all, submit to God’s word.

When Jesus was being tempted by Satan in the wilderness, how did he overcome?

Mathew 4:4 
Jesus speaks a word from scripture
Notice he says
Man shall not live by bread alone
Live
Does not just mean to be alive or exist
It means
To :
enjoy real life
active, blessed, endless in the kingdom of God
living water, having vital power in itself and exerting the same upon the soul
be fresh, strong, efficient , active, powerful, overcomer
So man experiences true life by living out the word which comes from the mouth of God.

We have authority when we submit to the word of God

The Bible is God’s word
When it speaks to us, it is God speaking.

Example of how spiritual authority works

Satan goes all out to destroy marriages

Divorce rates around the world are crazy.
65 % of people getting married this year will be divorced in five years time.

People don’t believe in marriage anymore

Disillusioned by the idea of Marriage

Satan tempts us, when Marriage is not going well.

Why don’t you just give up
Look at all the pretty girls looking for husbands
You deserve a much better wife.
Imagine the amazing sex you could have with a nice young wife.
Your wife is always making you look stupid
Putting you under pressure to make more money.

Just give up, give up , give up.

We have two choices

Agreement with Satan, or agreement with God.

John 10:10
Remember Satan is a legalist
When we go into agreement with him, we submit ourselves to his authority.
Kill , steal, destroy.
When we reject the word, because of hard hearts
Remember the Birds of the air steal the seed

When we go into agreement with Jesus his word
Abundant life.
Now some believe that quoting scripture at the Devil fixes the problem.
No it doesn’t
Living the scriptures fixes the problem.
Scripture says
Husbands love your wives as Christ loves the church.
So what do we do?
We love our wives in that way.
1Peter 3:7
So what do we do ?
We live with our wives in an understanding way.
What does it do
It breaks the power of authority which Satan has over my marriage.
Because I am submitted to the right authority, I receive the promise of the word
Abundant life.
James 4:7 
submitting to God also means delegated authority
Stand against the devil, live the word
He will flee
Why?
Because when we are submitted, God fights for us.
When we are not submitted God doesn’t
Why not ?
Because of a spiritual principle
Agreement with Satan means he has a contract with us.
James 4:6 
Levels of authority
2 Corinthians 10:13 
God promotes
Faithfulness
Luke 16:10
Levels of authority
Me
Home
Work
Ministry
These are Spiritual principles which apply to all areas of life.
As men, We are called to stand up, fight for, and protect from our enemy the things which are precious in God’s sight.

Jesus temptation
Mathew 4:8-9 
One of the reasons why Jesus came into our world besides dying on the cross
1 John 3:8 
When Jesus went into Hell, he took back the authority which Adam had lost, he rose victoriously from the grave. and restored it to all those who would follow him.
That Authority is given to all of us by Jesus