What Power and Authority Do We Have? How Should We Regard Ourselves?

 

The Christian life is one of weakness, infirmity, and dependence upon our Savior. In this world, we are an insubstantial mist, but a mist that ironically loves to boast of our power and authority:

•    James 4:13–16 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”—yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

Boasting of our power and authority, as do the Word of Faith Movement (WFM) and the New Apostolic Reformation, is to practice evil! In contrast, Jesus submitted to His Father’s will in all things, even to death on the cross:

•    Matthew 26:39 And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”

•    John 6:38 “For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.”

Jesus came to us as a servant. We too are servants! We are here, not to live a fulfilled life, but to serve our Savior. Therefore, it is wrong to believe that God has given us a blank prayer check to receive anything we want if only we have enough faith. Instead:

•    1 John 5:14–15 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.

Do we exercise power and by making authoritative declarations as Elijah had done? Instead, Elijah had been merely following the Word of God:

•    1 Kings 18:36–37 And at the time of the offering of the oblation, Elijah the prophet came near and said, “O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word. Answer me, O LORD, answer me, that this people may know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.”

God’s will is the very thing that the WFM leaves out and acts as if this life is our final resting place and reward. Instead, He honors those who honor Him through obedience:

•    James 4:8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. (James 1:6-8)

•    1 John 3:22 and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.

Let us repent of our presumption of power and authority, which had only been given by Jesus twice for a special occasion. These are things that even angels lack:

•    2 Peter 2:10–11 (NLT) He is especially hard on those who follow their own twisted sexual desire, and who despise authority. These people are proud and arrogant, daring even to scoff at supernatural beings without so much as trembling. But the angels, who are far greater in power and strength, do not dare to bring from the Lord a charge of blasphemy against those supernatural beings.

•    Jude 9 (NLT) But even Michael, one of the mightiest of the angels, did not dare accuse the devil of blasphemy, but simply said, “The Lord rebuke you!”…

Nevertheless, WFM Kenneth Copeland assures us that:

•    After you have prayed to God and taken authority over Satan, you should take authority over your physical body.  Speak to it in the Name of Jesus and command it to conform to the Word of God that says it is healed by the stripes of Jesus.  I have done this and had my body shape up immediately.  (He Did it All for You, 59)

While Copeland is correct that Jesus had accomplished all on the cross (Matthew 8:17), we have not yet received its fullness. Here is just one example:

•    Romans 8:23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

Do we have the authority to get whatever we want and when we want it? Instead, we are “afflicted in every way” to teach us to trust in God:

•    2 Corinthians 4:7–8  But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair.

Consequently, all good, including healing, comes from the Lord, according to His will, not because we are entitled or have certain rights before the Lord (Romans 6:23):

•    2 Corinthians 3:5  Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God,

Why regard ourselves in such a lowly way? According to Jesus, this is the way we must regard ourselves:

•    Luke 17:10 “So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’”

When we recognize how unworthy we are, we grow in our estimation and gratitude of our God. When I had high self-esteem, I believed that I deserved more than what I had, including my wife. However, as my self-esteem took a nosedive, my esteem and appreciation of my wife grew along with gratefulness for her. This also pertains to our relationship with our Lord and Savior, as John the Baptist had declared: “He must increase, and I must decrease!”

It is our Lord we must trust and not ourselves. It is from Him that all good things come (James 1:17):

•    Matthew 23:12 “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 14:11; 18:14; 1 Peter 5:5-6)

Paul to had to repeatedly learn the humble lesson of self-despair, lest he become proud because of the many revelations he had received. Consequently, God refused to heal him of his affliction:

•    2 Corinthians 12:9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Therefore, Paul learned to boast not in his power and authority but in his weaknesses and infirmities and the love of God to shelter him (2 Corinthians 1:8-10):

•    2 Corinthians 12:10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Our weaknesses and infirmities enable us to be strong through our reliance upon the Lord, as we push forward in our holy calling:

•    1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Instead of boasting in their weaknesses and complete reliance upon our Savior, the WFM and the New Apostolic Reformation boast in their presumed power and authority.