This morning, my thoughts continued on the power and authority of Christ in us. This is where the spirit filled life will see the Gifts of the Spirit flow in and out of one’s life as the Holy Spirit directs. In other words, until we personally COME UNDER His authority and ownership over us, His authority can not operate THROUGH us. We see this more clearly once we realize that spiritual authority is not a power we receive BECAUSE of Jesus Christ. No. Rather, Christ Himself IS spiritual authority — Christ IN US is spiritual authority!
There is none outside of HIM. So, until we personally come under the Lordship of the Christ who is in us by the Holy Spirit, we can not operate in spiritual authority, IN Christ. We must align up in obedience to the Word of God. Acts 17:28 states, for in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, for we are also his offspring (KJV). Another version states, for in him, we live and move and exist… (NLT). Christ lives in us, and we live in Christ. Just as eternal life is not a THING or a classification. No. Eternal life is all about Christ in us. We’re living in Christ, forever.
Well, the same truth applies to power. Power is not a THING. Power is Christ in us and the working of the Holy Spirit in the believer. You could say the very power of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, flowing in and through the believer.
Are you seeing this? ALL is of Christ – Christ in us is life, light, power, and truth. Christ’s authority.
Now, what this means to me, is that, as a believer, I can operate in the spiritual authority of God, only to the extent that Christ is living in and through me. Sure. Spiritual authority is the life of Christ! But can we see that right away, there is a big problem: Me. I must change. I must be changed from a person who serves SELF, over to a person who is moving in harmony with Jesus Christ and the working of the Holy Spirit. I must BECOME someone who God can trust.
Even in human relationships and organizations, we would never give authority to someone we did not trust. We would have to trust them to do OUR will and represent OUR mind. We would have to know that they weren’t going to use our authority to serve THEMSELVES, but rather, to serve US. Otherwise, we aren’t going to give them our authority. So why in the world do people think God is simply going to hand over divine authority to people who He knows are going to use it to serve themselves.
People have been using the things of God to serve themselves for thousands of years! This is nothing new. Let me say right here that God does give gifts to His creation and does not take them back. But if used for their own agenda or financial gain, the very anointing and power of God will be stripped from them. Again, all authority was given to Jesus. When Jesus gave authority to the Disciples to go and heal the sick and raise the dead, I truly believe the authority given was gifts given to them to do His work.
Gifts given from His Father, God, to do the very works that He had done, for He was to be leaving soon to return to his Father. These signs and wonders were to bring about the very testimony of Christ in the believer. Yes, God gives Gifts, and the Holy Spirit will distribute these gifts to those whom He so chooses. For they are NOT given authority and could you imagine if they WERE given it!
So again – if God is going to give us authority, He needs to know that we have been changed from people who no longer live for themselves, but for Him. Now, God WILL know this simply because it is the job of the Holy Spirit to cause us to become people who are exactly like that. He needs to know that we will not use His authority to serve SELF – but Him.
This is the very reason for the Holy Spirit in the believer’s life…to guide and lead us into all truth. Yes, to become a matured “Christian”. In case you haven’t connected the dots, we are really talking about people who are under the Lordship of Jesus Christ – not people who merely CALL Jesus Lord, but people who are living UNDER His Lordship. Those are people God can trust.
Are you willing to lay down your life for Him? God has a MEANS by which He uses to mold us into those sorts of faithful people. It is through our faith and belief in Christ Jesus and the work of the Cross through the power of the Holy Spirit that we see great results. I may add that the power of God is truly the power of the resurrection, the life of Christ in us. But you can not have the power of His resurrection working THROUGH YOU unless that power first works IN YOU. And the power of the resurrection can not work in you unless you submit yourself spiritually to the death of the Cross.
Let me explain. This is what we call taking up your own cross that of dying out daily to your own selfish ways and carnal desires. Submitting to God through prayer and obedience of His Word will bring us into the submission of the Holy Spirit. This does not happen simply because you are saved. It will take both dedication and determination; both sanctification, that of God working in you and consecration, that of, our part in submitting daily to His Lordship. Read the epistles.
There is a process necessary. A process called dying out. I must die out daily. God must deal with me – with my SELF life. I must submit to the blood of the lamb. The blood of Jesus washes away my sin when I submit to Jesus as my Lord and Savior. Then I will be under His authority – and I will be under it with Thanksgiving! If we want authority, that is the beginning.
So, what we see is that these modern-day movements or followings are really in a denial of the Cross of Jesus Christ. You may ask, why? The process of God’s power and the authority of Christ Jesus only comes through daily dying out of self. The way of the cross is bypassed by these new movements. Their way offers a false power and false authority to the believer without the ongoing work of the Cross. It’s their power, their authority, in Jesus’ name, for their own empire.
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