Greetings,
As I have already mentioned, there is a process to authority. It begins with a birthright of authority. That birthright alone doesn’t give one authority. There is also a training process involved in receiving authority. David the son of Jesse was destined to be the king of Israel, but he had to be faithful with a few small sheep before he could be chosen as the king. He was anointed to be the king, but his responsibility was that of keeping a few sheep. The anointing upon his life enabled him to do everything he did with the power of a king, but his faithfulness to each responsibility of the day enabled him to be found worthy to be appointed as the king. When the day of the giant came he was still faithful with a few small sheep, then he was sent to deliver a few small cheeses. His faithfulness in delivering the cheeses to his brothers on the battle line put him in the right place at the right time to be promoted in the process of his journey to becoming king.
You will never take the ‘BIG CHEESE’ unless you are faithful with the little cheeses and most of life is about little cheeses! Authority isn’t simply dependent upon the anointing upon your life; it is dependent upon your faithfulness in the process of authority. You must prove to be faithful to your appointed responsibilities in order to exhibit true authority.
We can never leave our present responsibilities to fulfill the next responsibility. We cannot be irresponsible in the journey of authority, but we must always increase in responsibility. When going from responsibility to responsibility we should increase in responsibility. That might mean we have to delegate our present responsibilities to others before we agree to be responsible in new areas. We cannot abandon something because it didn’t work. We must prove faithful even in what may look like a failure. We are not to leave our present responsibilities because we are looking for a way to escape. A legitimate reason for transition in life is fulfillment or completion of a responsibility, not running from it. We can only leave something because of success and success might even look like failure. It simply means that we have completed the duration of a segment of the journey and now it is time to transition forward. Authority fulfills responsibility and today’s authority is not a lesser thing than that of tomorrow, it is just as valid and essential in the journey. Our faithfulness today will set a foundation for our increasing faithfulness tomorrow.
Our authority today is based upon your present responsibility. For 30 years Jesus walked out a training process. We must be permanent students in the process of destiny. Did Jesus fall as a baby? Did He make the chair right the first time? Is it a sin to fall down, or is it a sin to have to work to improve in the midst of the process of training? The ratio of training to ministry in the life of Jesus was roughly 10 to 1. At age 12 He was found in the temple because of the passion of His birthright, but He had to grow in the process of His training. It wasn’t until age 30 and His baptism by John that the full authority of the Messiah could be seen upon His life.
At age 30 Jesus could ask for His inheritance. It was a position of authority verses the age of manhood at 12. At age 30 a Jew could be an elder or have a position of authority. At the age of 30 Jesus asked His heavenly Father for His inheritance. At the age of inheritance He left His earthly father’s carpenter shop and entered into the work of His heavenly Father. He had fulfilled the training process of authority by sweeping the sawdust from the floor of the carpenter’s shop and now it was time to do the work of His Heavenly Father. He could now be sent to sweep the Father’s house clean!
When Jesus reached the age of authority, He received His heavenly authority from His heavenly Father. In this authority He could defeat the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. More importantly, He could open the door for all of mankind to find their power, their throne, and their authority in the Spirit of God. He had learned to indulge in a relationship with God as His Father and now He could demonstrate the power of His kingdom upon the earth. Jesus had to do everything as a man in order to restore the authority to all of mankind. Because of His faithfulness as a man in the authority given Him for each season of His life, He could open the door to the WAY, the TRUTH, and the LIFE for all men. He had been proving for 30 years that the true WAY of man was to live on every expression (word or bread) that comes from the mouth of God. Intimacy with God as a man was the source of the power within Him. He had past the tests of life by worshiping God in every step of His journey and now He could stand fast in the TRUTH of loving God. He had proven faithful in every measure of responsibility given to Him and now He could know that true authority was found in living fully alive to God as a man in everything that He did.
When the heavenly witness came upon Jesus, He had the authority. He had the birthright, training, and the sound of God in His name. He could now be manifest in the full authority of His destiny as a man.
Luke 4:17-21 And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
Authority always comes from a life source and it always produces life! Jesus had to prove to be the true life source by remaining under every life-source of authority in the 30 years of His training. The 30 years of His upbringing were as essential as the years of ministry that followed. He didn’t take any short cuts. He didn’t fail by grasping for power in the journey of authority. He had to wait for the sending of the Spirit in His life. That moment was not a testament to a moment, but the testimony of a lifetime.
We cannot take shortcuts in the process of authority. Remember, Lucifer exchanged his authority for power and that is his plot against men. We will never stand in the grace for which we have been sent if we don’t remain faithful in the grace for each segment of the journey. Authority is relational and it is connected to those you are connected to. Being a prophet to some doesn’t make you a prophet to everyone! Being a father doesn’t make you a father to everyone! Being a teacher doesn’t make you a teacher to everyone. We must stay true to where and to whom we are sent. This is found in the process of authority.
Food For Thought,
Ted J. Hanson
Loved this this note on Authority. It is definitely a timely word.