In how much of life do you rule OR in how much of life are you being ruled over? It is quite simple, we must learn to rule or we shall, by default, be ruled over. Spiritual authority is not a given in your Christian walk. By default, our lives lean towards, submit to, and allow the authority of God’s enemy to rule in our lives. So what is the process of possessing the Kingdom of God? How do we overcome?
So far in this series we have established:
- The foundation of our authority – the Word of God
- We have been commissioned by the Lord Jesus Christ to accurately represent Him as His ambassadors
- We have established that our lives are a living declaration
For the next couple of weeks we are going to look at how we possess the Kingdom of God.
Authority is not a gift. Although the legal right to possess it has indeed been given to us as a gift, the exercising of it and the development of it are matters of our choice. Matthew 11:12 says “The Kingdom suffers violence and the violent take it by force”. The Kingdom of God is available to all, but it must be TAKEN!
Lets take a look now at the first of two things that will help us understand this process.
Firstly, a child does not rule. Galatians 4:1 “Now I say, that THE HEIR, as long as he remains a child, differs nothing from a servant, though he legally be Lord of all.” No matter how royal his blood or noble his parenthood, a small child is not given an authority that he has not earned by evidence of maturity.
Maturity is the distance between hearing and obeying. It is the amount of what you know that is evidenced in the life you live.
Most Christians today are dependent Christians. I do not mean dependent on God, I mean dependent on others for their spirituality! They have never learnt to develop their own ability to rule over carnality and their adversary, the devil.
Why? Why has this personal authority not been developed? Because we live in a quick-fix age where we expect everything to be instant, and the Kingdom of God simply does not work that way.
There is a price to pay for maturity and full sonship. It is a process and it has a price tag!
Spiritual authority is something that has to be cultivated, developed and exercised by those who have determined to grow and continue to grow until they come into full stature.
Is it a work of striving? No! It is a work of grace? Yes! But it is also a process of choice that allows you to walk in that grace.
That’s why Jesus said in Matthew 11:12 it is the violently determined ones that possess Kingdom authority because of the aggression of their attitude in pursuing it!
However it is absolutely vital that you understand that all authority, legally, is given to you at the moment you come to Christ and come under His dominion. It is the development, expression and release of that authority that is governed by:
a) Our intimacy with the Father
b) A revelation of His grace
c) Our obedience to the Holy Spirit
d) The choices we make that give evidence to that obedience
Next week we’ll look at how true authority is cultivated and developed. But for the mean-time, be encouraged that your authority to rule spiritually over life is freely available in Christ, and as we cultivate intimacy with Him, seek a greater revelation of His grace, be more determined to obey His Word, and aggressively pursue that obedience, we will become more mature and gain increasing authority in the Kingdom of God.
