The Believer's Authority

My Senior Pastor, Rev Dr Kong Hee, commended “The Believer’s Authority” by Kenneth E. Hagin in a recent sermon. That got me interested and so I purchased a copy of it from Mount Zion Christian Books & Gifts Centre Pte Ltd.

In this 76-pages book, Pastor Hagin shared on how he started on a study back in the 1940s to answer this gnawing question, “Do we have authority that we don’t know about – that we haven’t discovered – that we’re not using?”

According to him, “The authority of the believer is unveiled more fully in the Book of Ephesians than any other epistle written to the churches.” In particular, he personalized Paul’s prayers in Ephesians 1:16-20 and Ephesians 3:14-19 by saying “my” or “me” wherever Paul said “you”.

For example, he would pray Ephesians 1:17 as follows: That the God of my Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto me the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.

Having personalized and prayed these prayers more than a thousand times over a period of about six months, the spirit of revelation began to function and he started seeing things in the Bible he had never seen before!

For example, in Luke 10:19 (KJV), Jesus said, “Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing shall by any means hurt you.”

However, an accurate translation from the Greek words for “power” and “authority’ would read thus, “I have given you AUTHORITY to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the POWER of the enemy …” All the power belong to God (e.g., Revelation 5:13).

AUTHORITY IS DELEGATED POWER. Just like how a traffic policeman directs traffic with power from the government he represents and serves. Pastor Hagin also share this prophesy: The Holy Spirit says, “Power on earth invested in the name of Jesus Christ and obtained by Him through His overcoming the enemy belongeth unto the Church. Therefore, exercise that authority, for it belongs to you on the earth, and in this life ye shall reign by Christ Jesus.”

Now, this ought to revolutionize our prayer life. Instead of begging God to answer our prayer when the devil mess with us and reasoning that God’s reply might be a “Yes”, “No” or “Not now”, it’s about time we get this revelation of the believer’s authority and start exercising it.

For example, in John 14:13-14, Jesus said, “And whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do…. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it”. The Greek word here is “demand,” not “ask.”

Flowing from this, we can do something about the attacks of the enemy and we pray from a position of delegated authority with boldness in the knowledge of who and whose we are. Our prayers would no longer be wimpy and sound more like these:

“In the Name of Jesus, I break the power of the devil over my brother’s life, and I claim his salvation!” (No problem here; it’s fully in accord with God’s Word and His will.)

“Come out, thou unclean devil, in the Name of Jesus!” (Amen, to this.)

The aforesaid treasury of revelation is gleaned from Chapter 1 to 4. Invest in a copy of “The Believer’s Authority” today and revolutionize your prayer life.

It’s well worth it as we live out the Word of God shown to us by the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ.

Faith Revolution II

One my favourite Bible verse is John 10:10 (NKJV) where Jesus said, " The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly."

For the longest time I have wandered how the abundant life could materialise for an ordinary believer like me. One of the hindrance would, of course, be a lack of knowledge. Make no doubt about it that our enemy, the devil -- the Father of lies, would rejoice to see us live a hapless Christian life as he casts doubts and seeks to deceive us from believing God's word. And, horror of horrors, so many Christians have unwittingly play the devil's advocate by condemning ourselves and choosing to be imprisoned by him rather than be liberated by the truths of God's promises. What were we thinking? Do we yet not get it that GOD IS GOOD and the devil is as bad as can be? Hosea 4:6 speaks of God's people being destroyed for a lack of knowledge and John 10:10a speaks clearly of the thief's intentions to steal, kill, and destroy.

It's time for Christians to know God's words -- the sword of the Spirit, and put them into practice by faith. The more we practice, the more we prove our faith and become a skillful warrior. It's time for us to get violent in our spirit and wage a good fight of faith, believing and contending for things which are aligned with God's word and will for us.

Jesus has said, "It is the Spirit Who gives life [He is the Life-giver]; the flesh conveys no benefit whatever [there is no profit in it]. The words (truths) that I have been speaking to you are spirit and life." John 6:63 (Amp.) We can have the God-filled life when we have His words in our heart. His words are like seeds which are sown first into our minds. If we mix God's words with faith, the seeds would reach the good soil of our heart and spring forth a harvest as they are packed with God's Spirit and Life -- causing us to be a fruit-bearing vine.

Truth be told, we are, for example, heir with Christ and master of all. Yet, when we are still young in faith and feeding on milk rather than solid food, we are no different from a slave in our Master's house! Check this out: "Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all, " Galatians 4:1 (NKJV)

A corollary verse to John 10:10b would be Romans 5:17 and this is becoming a hot favourite verse for me. Pastor John Bevere has stated in one of his book (it's either 'Relentless' or Extraordinary') that this is one verse that the believers ought to know besides John 3:16.

"For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.

As we read Romans 5, the challenge for us would be whether we will choose the victorious life God has wrought for us through Jesus Christ (the second Adam) and be a champion in life or would we live in defeat by remaining under the power of sin which came through the first Adam.

Believe it: We are the righteousness of God in Christ^. "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NKJV) Righteousness, as with grace, is a gift from God through faith in Christ.

As we seek God's kingdom and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33), we will certainly be able to come to His throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16) and ask for all that we need and live life with flourish as joint heirs with Christ. We are one with Christ. When God the Father sees us, He sees the righteousness of Christ Jesus and the power of Holy Spirit working through us.

It's about time for us believers to increase our understanding of how God sees us and know more than ever before of who we are in Christ Jesus by faith! And, press in to God and do the greater things that Jesus spoke of in John 14:12-14.

Be blessed now as you listen to Pastor Ulf Ekman preaching on the Foundations of Effective Prayer (starts at 4 minutes 20 seconds after the introduction and worship song).



Bibliography:-
^ Sermon on "Righteouness In Christ" by my senior pastor, Kong Hee, at City Harvest Church on 17 November 2012. (Get hold of the CD and be edified tremendously!)