Daily Lift: Use Your Authority!
Titus 2:15
15 Speak these things, exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no one despise you.
“I take authority over the clouds over this place and I command you in the name of Jesus to leave. You can go to the north, south, east or west, but you can’t come over this location. This place has been declared Holy Ground, for the Lord has a plan for this retreat and you will not stop God’s plan for this time. Even you have to submit to God’s authority, so I command you to stop!” I yelled out loud at the sky.
It began to sprinkle in defiance, and I repeated my command once more and I waited. I then added “This retreat is going to happen with or without your cooperation for I will pack these women in my home, and give them the message God has given us to tell them, so you might as well back off! God is still on the throne and as His child, He lives in me, and you have to GO!”
Within minutes the wind began to blow, it stopped sprinkling, and over the meadow appeared one single patch of blue sky. The clouds swirled around the perimeter of the land, but never came close to us the rest of the day. Just as Jesus had spoken to the storm to cease, I had used my authority to do the same thing.
This is what I know: There are too many Christians walking around defeated, with a victim mentality as if we don’t have the same authority that Adam had in the garden. Adam told the ground to produce food and it did, he controlled the weather and he named the animals. It wasn’t until the fall, when they ate the apple that God cursed the ground and said that we would have to use the sweat of our brow to work the crops.
When Jesus was crucified and risen, He restored all the authority Adam lost and He exhibited all He was able to do in His three years of ministry. Everything that He did, heal the sick, raise the dead, give the blind sight, cast out demons, and calm the storm, we can also do, if we are saved. We have the authority, but we don’t use it…..why don’t we use it?
I know that I didn’t use it because I didn’t believe I could. I believed you could use it, but not me. I had too many sins, blemishes, I fell short……I didn’t deserve to use it in Jesus’ name, I was damaged goods. But as I drew close to God, He came closer……He told me over and over again how much He loved me, that He had called me to do things, big things, and I needed to walk in the authority that Jesus had died to give me or I was dishonoring and disrespecting His sacrifice, that it wasn’t enough.
Once God explained that I thought I needed to do more than Jesus had done……I began to shift my perspective. Now I accept that I am not a VICTIM…..but a VICTOR!
