Spiritual Authority
As followers of Christ, spiritual authority is an important concept – both to understand and to live out. If we have received salvation, we have placed our lives under the lordship of Jesus Christ. Our spiritual authority is the divine responsibility and right given to us through Jesus Christ to see heaven come to earth. Just as Jesus prayed in Matthew 6 when He taught the disciples to pray, our prayer should be to see the will and intention of our heavenly Father fulfilled on earth.
From the beginning, it was God’s intention for Adam and Eve (His son and daughter, made in His own image) to rule and take dominion over the earth. They were subject only to His word of command. Their role was to exercise authority on the earth in line with what Father communicated to them.
They had absolute dominion and therefore had the authority to give it away… and they did. They surrendered authority to Satan the moment they listened to his advice. God now had to take back the Earth from Satanic rule and influence. Here was the dilemma: God had given the earth to mankind to rule over. The authority of Earth’s dominion had been invested in mankind. Only mankind had the legal right to take it back.
Reinstating Spiritual Authority
Jesus came as a man – “the second Adam” – to reinstate the Earth under the rulership of mankind. He came as a man under the divine command of His Father. Jesus had to come as a man because only a man could take the planet back!
And Jesus did that in His humanity! He did it in the wilderness. He paid the redemptive price for humanity on the Cross but He established His kingship of the earth in the wilderness. Then Jesus passed that royal commission on to all believers! The “kingdom” in the Greek literally means “His authority to rule over”. This authority was given to you.
- “Heal the sick” – Exercise My authority to rule over sickness.
- “Cast our demons” – Exercise My authority to rule over the demonic.
- “Feed the multitudes” – Exercise My authority over poverty.
Jesus says in Luke 10:19 that He has given us authority over all the power of the enemy. He is making a royal commission: “Exercise My authority to rule over on the earth!” “Be my ambassadors”. Just as Our Father did in the beginning with Adam and Eve, so Jesus does with us.
Servant Leadership
One of the major stumbling blocks to Christ’s dominion on the earth has been that we have totally misunderstood the references of Jesus concerning servanthood. In Mark 10:45 Jesus says, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
When Jesus was addressing broken humanity, He was automatically the servant. When He was addressing the sickness or the demonic in that humanity, He was instantly the King: sent there to enforce the will of His Father.
Every reference in the New Testament to us being a servant or serving, is descriptive of our relationship with God and with other people. In contrast, any reference to us being kings and ruling (and taking dominion) on the earth is descriptive of our relationship with the demonic, with sickness, with poverty and every element on the earth that directly withstands the will and purpose of our Father.
Royal Birth
We have to come back to the simplicity of the Word of God. You and I are called to walk through life with a revelation of His Fatherhood and our royalty! Without it, we cannot accurately represent Jesus.
It is important that we understand the meaning of royal birth. A king is not a king because he is smarter than anybody else or that he is more educated than someone else. A king is a king because he’s born a king!
When King Solomon came to the throne, he had every anticipation of ruling. He didn’t try to be a king. He wasn’t elected a king; He didn’t have to pass a series of tests. He was a king because he was born of his father’s seed. He was of royal conception.
Having influence as a leader means that we will reproduce after our own kind. Father desires for us to walk in the fullness of our spiritual authority so that we can accurately represent Jesus to others.
Jesus walked this Earth clothed in humanity and servanthood but possessing the heart and authority of a King. He was born of the Father’s royal seed! And if you are a born-again Christian, so are you. If you are to accurately represent Him in this world we must once and for all accept that we are now called to walk this Earth clothed with humanity but possessing the heart of a King. Born of His incorruptible royal seed.
You are not LIKE a son, you ARE a son! You are not LIKE a daughter, you ARE a daughter! He is your Father! We don’t have to try to be a king, we ARE kings!
We have a royal commission to exercise His spiritual authority on earth to ensure His will is done. The authority you are under determines the authority you carry. You are the Ambassador of Christ. He has made you a king of the earth.
Above all else, we need a revelation in our hearts of our spiritual authority. Father so desperately wants us to see that!! Because you will never fully represent Christ the King until you do. Holy Spirit must take it from a theological understanding that we already carry in our minds and explode it with revelation in our hearts.
If you get it from head to your heart, it will disintegrate human limitations! It will blast to pieces unbelief! It will annihilate intimidation! And it will place the possession of your destiny into your hands.
Find out more about what it means to live a victorious Christian life in ‘Overcomers Born To Rule‘. In this series by David McCracken, you will learn how to exercise your spiritual authority and understand the principles that govern its operation in your daily life.
