“The creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.. the creation itself will be set free from its bondage.. and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.” Romans 8:19+21 ESV

I trust that you are coming to see that spiritual authority is all about representing The King of Kings. Today we review what we’ve been learning. Spiritual Authority is about working out His will on this earth. It is about stepping up and restoring to God’s original plan the details of our lives, our communities and this world. Walking with spiritual authority therefore first requires that we know the Heart of our King, for if our authority is to mean anything it must be aligned with The King’s priorities.

If we are to carry the weight of God into the world, if we are to impact lives and set things right in the Spirit realm, and consequently on earth, we must first grow in intimacy with The King, finding out what He likes and what He does not like. To accurately represent God we must know His priorities.

The Bible is a testament to the glory and might of our Lord. In it we are introduced to The King and to his people. We are told many stories and we are introduced to principles and ways unto life. We are also given examples of how not to live and the ways that do not work. Above all we find that God loves us and wants our best. He is passionate about each of us and has been working right from the beginning of time to continue in relationship with us.

This King is in the midst of a sweeping saga that has gone on for some time already, is happening right now all around us, and will continue into the future and eternity.

The story of The King’s heart:

Has gone on for centuries before us. 2 Timothy 1:9
Is happening right now all around us and all over the world. John 5:17
Will continue on into eternity. Psalm 30:12

Not only do we come to find that we are in the middle of this story but we are invited into important roles in the story. We are invited and in fact given meaningful work and assignments in this story.

We are key players, vice-regents even: 57

  • We are equipped with the covering of our Lord Jesus Christ. Psalm 91:4
  • We wear the armour of The King made especially for us. Ephesians 6:13-17
  • We have been given a helper, our Holy Spirit, to guide and direct our lives. John 14:6

Being a vice-regent or an ambassador of God means that we are representing Him and quite simply successful ambassadors are those who have disciplined themselves to pay attention to the heart and spirit and preferences of Their King.

Any one of us can be of service in the Kingdom of God. Any one of us can take on the work laid out for us. Any one of us can pay attention and order our lives to the heart of our Lord.

It is for any one of us to inquire and to learn:

  • How does The King do business?
  • How does The King treat his people?
  • What are The King’s priorities?

Let’s recall:

  • How does God feel about his people? Luke 12:7
  • In what way does God treat his people? Isaiah 40:11
  • What does God think about you and I? Jeremiah 29:11

Over time we find that in representing the heart of The King we come to feel His heartbeat in ours. Giving ourselves over in service to His heart we find that what makes Him weep makes us weep and what causes Him to delight causes us to delight.

We were created to be in relationship with the Lord out of the fullness of our hearts. This is one of the things we lost when sin entered the world. Instead of being open and genuine, transparent and authentic, we began to hide from God. We came to distrust him and his heart for us, and we in turn came to hide and turn away from him. Coming back into the Kingdom of God we find that our hearts have a home in the Lord, that no matter our life’s circumstances or personal situations we find Him right with us.

Now, we might think we can enter the work of the Kingdom of God without a relationship with God but we cannot. And if we try, we will be crushed by the weight of the work.

Kingdom work is meant to be an outflow of our relationship with The King.

Kingdom work was never meant to be done by our power or out of our own souls. Rather, Kingdom work is to be a manifest work of God through our spirits. The difference is profound. In our souls we carry work as a weight. In our spirits we carry work as a great privilege. Only in relationship with God are we strengthened and equipped to do the work of God.

  • Our sacrifice must be in sync with the explicit direction of the Holy Spirit. Jeremiah 7:23
  • Our actions must be according to the assignments of God. Romans 6:16
  • Our words must reflect the heart of the God. Colossians 3:8

When we first come to know God we are on our knees before him. We enter into the throne room asking and weary, needful of a cup of water ourselves. Recognizing our personal need of him we cry out and we present our requests to God.

On our knees before him we come to find acceptance and love. We feel the peace of God washing over us. We learn to relax in the presence of the Lord. We meet him daily, soaking in his goodness and finding joy in him.

Here is where we learn to worship the Lord. Here is where we come to know we are truly welcomed and loved and have opportunity to speak our hearts dreams and wishes. We learn things like, ‘bringing him our sorrows’ and ‘leaving our worries with him’. Our experience of God increases and life is increasingly good and comfortable.

At some point in time though we are called into a different position before God. It may be that he tells us to get up off of our knees. To stand tall in him. Perhaps to ready ourselves to carry a mantle of his ordaining. Maybe we are encouraged to in fact step out of our comfort zone.

When we are in position on our knees before the King, our focus is on ourselves and on God. We are looking toward the King and our line of vision looks on him alone. Intimacy begins with us gazing on the Lord and the Lord gazing on us.

But increased intimacy continues with us coming to know The King’s heart. We become moved by what moves God and we realize that the Lord is gazing at other things and people as well. We begin to understand that the broken lives and systems of this world are of deep concern to him.

And what began as love that gazes on each other, matures into love that is looking out and in the same direction as the Lord. This is moving into spiritual authority — looking in the same direction, declaring by word and action the same things as our Lord and God.

It is this process of alignment and relationship and growing into spiritual authority we find our ‘experiential position’ relative to God changes. We are not only before him but we are beside him.

In this process of coming into our authority with the Lord, seeing what he is seeing, our confidence is increased, we come to really know the Father’s heart, and our lives are increasingly leveraged for the Kingdom of God.

Here we advocate on behalf of others. Here we declare the glory of God in this world. Here we speak and act from a surety of who God is and of his love and depth of commitment.

Here in spiritual authority we proclaim God by word and deed and this world does not remain the same.

It is a process of intimately finding that we can be seated next to the Lord Jesus Christ and that because of Him we can stand against the assignments of the enemy first in our own lives and then on behalf of others’ lives.

  • To know Godly authority we must know God’s heart. 1 Chronicles 28:9
  • We grow in God personally, each one of us. Hebrews 10:22
  • The Holy Spirit teaches us. 1 John 2:24-27
  • God transforms us to reflect him. 2 Corinthians 5:17

“He will keep you strong to the end so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Christ Jesus. God who has called you into fellowship with his son Jesus Christ our Lord is faithful.” 1 Corinthians 1:8 NIV

God is always working with us and through our choices, decisions, and responses. Authority will never be increased in and through our lives without our permission. And this permission we give through faithfulness and obedience, not even so much by our words, but even more so by our actions and heart.

“The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him.” Psalm 28:7 ESV

PRAYER

“God I come to you today in the name of my Lord Jesus Christ. I enter into your presence and invite you. I welcome you today. I realize that there may be misunderstandings in my heart about you. I ask that you would show me today the lies I have believed about you, and show me the truth of who you are and of who I am. I give over the lies I have believed and I trust you to replace them with your truth God.

God I declare my gratefulness and thanksgiving. I bless your name for the work of your heart over my life. Jesus, thank-you for dying on the cross to cover over my sins and for bringing me into the glory of God, I receive your work and your forgiveness into my being. Holy Spirit, I welcome you in the fullness of your revelation deep within me. Please teach me and guide me. I offer my life to you Lord, with all thanksgiving and honor to you. I claim the glory of my life for you and you alone God, in the mighty name of my Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.”

APPLICATION

Take some time this week to go back through the earlier months of this course. Look at the previous application exercises and the work that you did in response.

As you have become more convinced that spiritual authority flows out of our relationship with God, is there a previous Application that you could now do again in a deeper way?

The depth that we go with the Lord determines the breadth that he brings to our work.

Ask the Lord, “God is there a previous application exercise you would have me do again?”

Respond to him, take the time to go even deeper with God.

SUMMARY – WALKING IN SPIRITUAL AUTHORITY

Spiritual authority flows from the depth of intimacy that we have with God. Jeremiah 33:3

God reveals himself in scripture. John 20:31

Jesus reveals to us the heart and character of God. John 14:1-14

Ambassadors represent the kingdom they work for. As ambassadors of The King we must pay attention
and orient their lives to God. 2 Corinthians 5:20

We want to have the same character of God. Psalm 51:10

Spiritual authority is for the purpose of bringing life where there has been death; for setting right everything that has gone wrong in people’s lives, communities, nations and the world. Isaiah 42:1-16

Spiritual authority is for the glory of God and God alone, and for the future delight of all humanity as we walk with him. Ephesians 1: 18-22

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57 Definition of Vice-regent: A Vice-regent is a person who acts in the name of another.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vice-regent

=> Congratulations on finishing Month Seven. Before moving on to Month Eight – Spiritual Warfare, take the Month Seven Quiz.

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