ted4leaders

Today I am going to begin addressing the subject of regaining the dominion of authority. I have addressed the fact that man lost the ability to subdue and have dominion in the earth when they grasped for the power of the knowledge of good and evil. The end result was a world bound to control and manipulation as a mode of operation in the absence of the ability to subdue and have dominion as God intended men to. Our most common understanding of authority is a non-covenant authority as used in the world. People seek power, but the don’t seek true authority. They see to control, but they avoid the responsibility of giving life to others. Just as Lucifer lost his authority in a grasp for power, people are pulled out from their true destiny of authority into a quest for power. We can settle for power and not have authority. Power alone is a taking attribute, but only authority has the power to give life to others. Power satisfies self, but authority empowers others to truly live. True authority is the ability to bring life to others. Mankind was created to be agents of God’s life to the world. This is true dominion. Dominion comes when truth crumbles every lie. When we become real in the substance of who we really are we crumble every pretense and life flows from us to the world. How do we regain dominion? Dominion is the manifestation of true authority in our lives.

Isaiah 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

The sin of doing something that we were not created to do or trying to be someone we were not born to be is that of going our own way. It could be doing something we were created to do, before we become who we were created to be. We can only be who we are at any given moment. There is a process to authority. The authority of who we are today will lead to the authority of who we are meant to be tomorrow, but there is a process in authority. Who we are going to be tomorrow is not better than who we are today! Who we are today is not less valuable than who we are called to be tomorrow. The secret is to be under life and a giver of life to others in whatever stage of life we find ourselves. We must be under authority at every step of our journey in life in order to have authority in every step of our destiny. Authority is received and manifested. When we go our own way, we have no authority to receive and therefore we cannot manifest what we were created to be. To have authority we must be under authority.

The sin of our own way is doing something we weren’t created to do or something out of timing. It is the sin of not being true to who we really are at any given time in life. When we go your own way we are not in the place to receive the authority to be who we are meant to be now. As I presented in the testimony of Lucifer, he left his place of being able to receive the authority for who he was. The result was that he became profane. He became something he was not created to be. Adam did the same thing. He moved out from the spout of life. He became the administrator of good and evil, rather than receive the good that came from the One who is good. It is like a pitcher of water and an empty glass. As long as the glass is positioned under the pitcher, water from the pitcher can be poured into the glass. But if the class places itself at an equal level as the pitcher it is impossible for the glass to receive the water that is in the pitcher. The glass is still a glass, but it cannot be a glass of water. If it was meant to be a glass of water, being a glass of nothing is not what it was meant to be. It has become profane and is not a source of water to the thirsty. To have water the glass must be under water. To have life we must be under life. To have authority we must be under authority. If we remove ourselves from the proper positioning of receiving authority we lose our ability to have authority.

How can we have authority in our lives?  People are living in destruction because of a failure to fulfill the mandate given by God. Man lost the authority to fulfill it. He removed himself from the position of authority in a quest for power. He then became something different that what he was created to be. He became irresponsible with his birthright by seeking to be someone he was not born to be. Remember, we only have authority as who we are. We need the birthright. Who were we created to be?

Let’s look at God’s call to Abram. Abram was called to be “Abraham”, but he was born an “Abram”. Abram’s name meant “father of a nation”, but he was married to Sarai and she was barren (Gen. 11:27-32). He was destined to be the “father of many nations” (Abraham), but he was not even naturally able to be the father of a nation (Abram). His calling didn’t look like it matched his identity. Abram needed a “birthright” to be a father. He needed a “birthright” to be the father of many nations.

Genesis 12:1-3 Now the LORD had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, from your kindred and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

In this call, did Abram have the destiny to birth Isaac?  Yes, it was in the promise. Did he have the authority to birth Isaac? No, he was still an Abram. Isaac was the seed of Abraham, not Abram. Abram had to become Abraham before he could have the authority to birth Isaac. Abram had to embrace the process of authority in his life.  What was Abram’s authority when he was in Ur of the Chaldees? His authority was to respond to God to make a change in his life. He had to position himself to be able to believe and receive God’s promise. He had to begin a journey of going where he had not gone before. As we look at these verses in Genesis Chapter 12, we see that Abram had begun a journey of following God. God had spoken to him in some way while he was in Hebron (Neh. 9:7). His responsibility at this stage of his journey was to respond to God. He had to leave his old country and follow God. He didn’t have the authority to birth Isaac at this stage of his life; he simply had the authority to be in the process of the journey.

It didn’t matter what Abram was called to be, authority is not what we are called to be. Authority is who we are. Gift or ability doesn’t equal authority. Responsibility is not just the gift to respond, it is also the proper relationship of responding. Abram had to be in a right relationship with God, the one who would empower him to birth Isaac. Authority is received and manifested; it is not merely something we do.

We don’t get our authority from the jobs we do. We do the jobs that we do, because we have the authority to do them. Gift or ability doesn’t equate to authority. Responsibility is not just the gifting to respond. It is also the proper relationship to respond. Authority is received and manifested. If we find ourselves out of order we must simply position ourselves to receive what is supernaturally needed. We must first get out of our country spiritually. Our country is OUR WAY. We have to get out of our way and get into His way to receive the birthright that God intends for us.

The things that we do, do not give us authority. Producing children doesn’t give the authority to produce children. There are many people who grasp for the power of living with the benefits and responsibilities of marriage without paying the price of entering into the covenant of marriage. In their grasp for power children are born. The result is some form of death or dysfunction in their lives and in the innocent lives of their children. God can intervene and give His supernatural grace to make up for any deficiency, but the true authority for being a parent is in the birthright to be a parent. That birthright is found in the covenant of marriage. This is not the civil right of union, but the covenant of marriage that comes by the authority of God who has authored the testimony of a man and a woman made one flesh (Gen. 2:23,24). Without the covenant of marriage there is no birthright to parent children. The power of a sperm and egg in conception can birth a child, but it takes the authority of life to be the father or mother a child needs. Birthing a baby does not give you the birthright to be a parent. It simply demands you get the birthright. The birthright for birthing babies is the covenant of marriage. That covenant of marriage gives access to the masculine and feminine nature of God to be a father or a mother of a child. When someone grasps for the power of having children without the birthright to have them, they must find a redeemed birthright in God to be a parent to that child. I believe that God can give a single mom the ability to have the authority of a father and a mother when she finds a supernatural access to God as the source of being a father and a mother. God can take what the enemy intended for evil and He can turn it for good, but it takes an intervention and redemption of authority is some way.

Stealing money doesn’t give you the authority to have money. An unlocked car with the keys in it doesn’t give you the authority to take the car. Paying the price for the deed of the car gives one the authority to possess the car. The ability to drive and money to put gas in the tank doesn’t give you the authority to possess the car. You might have a driver’s license, but without the deed you are a thief. You don’t want me to perform brain surgery on you! I can hold a scalpel and I have cut things before. I am educated and gifted in ministry, but my unsteady hand, ignorance of medicine, and all around lack of surgical ability disqualifies me from physically touching your brain! I do not possess a legal document that authorizes any ability or confirms any process of training to undertake the task of operating on your head!

We must do the things that we do, because of our authority. We must continually move on. We must get out of our country, our old way. Like Abram, we have a journey to make before we can birth our Isaac. We have to embrace the stages of responsibility in our lives to be found able to fulfill our full destinies. Each stage our life has a different measure of authority.

John 1:12, 13 But as many as received Him (Jesus), to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

A manifested son is different than a child or the right to become a child with the potential of becoming a manifested son of God. Believing in Jesus doesn’t give us the authority of a manifested son of God. We have the authority of having the right to become a son of God. We have been born of God to become, we are becoming, and we will fully become who we are in Christ. This was true in the life of Jesus. At the age of 12 His authority was that of being 12. He was found in the Temple as a young man who desired to learn about His Father’s house. At the age of 20 His authority was that of a 20-year-old man working in His stepfather’s carpenter shop. At the age of 30 He had the authority of being a 30-year-old Jewish man asking His true Father for His portion of the family business. He was found at the river Jordon receiving the mantle of His heavenly Father for the ministry of Christ to the world. It is the same in our lives. There is an authority of every age and every stage of our lives. The authority of 12 is 12, 20 is 20, 30 is 30, 60 is 60 and so forth. We can’t go back to a previous time nor can we leap forward to a time that has not yet arrived. We would never give a chain saw to a 5-year-old and think he or she would be safe, the forest would be safe, or other people would be safe. A 5-year-old doesn’t have the authority to handle a chain saw!

We can’t have the blessing of God without first having the birthright. Calling doesn’t give us the blessing, birthright does. We are called to have dominion in life, but in order to regain dominion in our lives we must have the birthright. The first step is to get out of our old condition.

At the time you come to Jesus you are not appointed to good works, but you are called to them. At the time you come to Jesus, you are appointed to come to Jesus. Your calling might be to transform the nations, but you must first be faithful to every appointment in your journey. You are appointed to some good works, but the appointments increase and therefore good works will be the result. When Abram left Hebron his appointment was to walk through the right land. It reads like an exciting story of destiny in Scripture, but the truth is it was filled with a lot of everyday moments. In Genesis, Chapter 12 we see that it begins with Abram leaving Hebron and beginning his journey. As we see the account begin he is 75 years old. In Verse 7 of that same chapter God appears to Abram and tells him that he will give the land that he is walking in to his descendants. What land was he walking in? He had been walking for 365 days in a lot of desert sand behind a lot of camel’s buts! He had been experiencing a lot of the mundane, everyday realities of life. God was confirming to Abram that he was in the right land. It is the same in our lives. Most days look like desert sand and camel buts! Sometimes our place of authority is simply discovered by God simply confirming that we are in the right place. It is part of the testimony of our birthright in life!

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings;

Last week I began to address the difference between a grasp for power and standing in our God-given authority in life. When we remain true to what God created us to be we can know the full testimony of authority. We were created to bring life to the world and that life comes through the authority of who we are. When we grasp to be someone we were not created to be we may end up with power, but that power will produce some measure of dysfunction and death. Satan’s plan in the beginning was to take the authority of man by convincing him to make a trade. Just as Lucifer made trades in heaven in his grasp for power, Satan’s strategy with mankind was to convince them to trade their true authority for a power that was not given to them to handle. Let’s look at the fall of man.

Genesis 3:1-6 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden;  “but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” And the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.

Man was made in God’s image and likeness to have dominion over all the earth. That dominion was not to be an act of control or manipulation. It would be the order of things and the expansion of life in all things through the truth of which mankind was created to be. It was a testimony of authority and authority is the ability to release life and to increase life in the earth. Mankind was under the authority of God and therefore they would exhibit the authority of God in all of creation. It was being under the position of God that would give man the ability to be in His image and likeness. Like the pitcher of water and the empty glass, as long as the glass remains under the pitcher it can be filled with the water of the pitcher, but if the glass chooses to be in the position of the pitcher there is no water to receive. What gives man the image and likeness of God is a relationship with Him under His being.

Satan deceived man to desire to be like God, or in God’s position. God will always give us the wisdom and knowledge that we need in order to function in our God given responsibilities.  When we move outside of that boundary, we will not have the wisdom, or the knowledge to deal with the situation. We cannot receive knowledge that is beyond our own business. If we do, it will be just enough that it seems like our business, but we won’t have the authority to produce life.  We will know enough about it that it will seem like it could be our business. It’s impossible for us to be able to handle what has not been given to us by God to handle. Why didn’t God want man to have the knowledge of good and evil? He knew man couldn’t handle it. Man was created to be loved by God! He wasn’t created to be a god unto himself. Lucifer wasn’t created to handle the responsibility of a son of God. He was a covering cherub. The plot for failure of authority is always a scheme to take what we know and take it beyond what we have the ability to know.

Many years ago I was invited to speak at a church that I had never been to before. They had heard of me and asked that I would come in and speak prophetically to the church. I diligently prepared for the time of ministry. God had given me some clear prophetic direction for the church and I felt I was ready for the morning ministry. The church service began with a time of worship. As the worship progressed my thought was that the worship was not what it could be or even should be in my opinion. I began to think in regard to my messages and as to whether I should change my message to one that taught on worship. I began to think of how I could help them and bring some life to their form of worship. As I was contemplating my “spiritual strategy” the Holy Spirit spoke to me. He said, “Look at the set man”. I understood that to be the leader of the ministry. I turned to see the man standing with his hands fully extended to heaven. Tears were streaming his face and he was loving God with all of his heart. God then said to me, “This is not your house”. I learned a huge lesson that morning. I realized if the lead man was in heaven, then the whole congregation could be in heaven. My concern was over style and form, but God already had the greater measure. I was being tempted to cross the line of my God-given responsibly and I needed to mind my own business. The nurse will be tempted to be a doctor. A parent will be tempted to be the parent of someone else’s children. The prophet to one group of people will be tempted to be a prophet to every group of people. Wherever there is ability there is a temptation to go beyond that ability.

The devil wants us to grasp for that which is not ours to have. He wants to tempt us to take rather than receive. He will tempt us to be irresponsible. We can never go beyond the boundaries of our responsibility. A child does not have the responsibility to be the parent. It is a parent’s responsibility to keep them quiet. A three year old is not responsible enough to keep quiet or always follow the boundaries of order. It’s the parent’s responsibility to keep them quiet and within the boundaries of order. We must all be responsible to our God-given areas of responsibility.

Our responsibilities will change, but those changes are given as God gives the increase. When God moves us into new levels of authority we must never forsake the responsibilities of the previous level. We must always prove to be responsible. We must transition our present responsibilities to those called to receive what is being given and we must receive our changing responsibilities from legitimate sources of life. We can’t go to a new level of authority without fulfilling the previous level of authority. God rewards faithfulness, not gift. We may get by with some thing’s because of God’s mercy, but sooner or later it will catch up to us and God will make us a partaker of His grace. God always rewards character, not mere gifting. He won’t give us responsibility where we are not gifted or able to grow in gifting, but he will consider our character and that being a matter of our hearts before Him.

Satan will tempt us to give up our birthright and even be discontent with our birthright. He will attempt to make us not love ourselves as we were created.  The devil will tempt us to not like who we are. This is how he gets us to leave the boundaries of authority in a quest for power. As I have said, he will tempt the nurse to be a doctor; he will tempt the intercessor to be the pastor, or the parents to be the parents of someone else’s kids.

When man chose the tree of the knowledge of good and evil it was a grasp for power. He had the authority to eat of every tree of the garden, but one. When he ate that one he crossed the boundary of his God-given responsibility and he lost his true dominion. Man lost his God-given authority in exchange for a place of irresponsibility. His mandate of dominion was lost to the trap of the enemy. Man lost his ability to fulfill the mandate. What was that mandate?

Psalms 8:3-8 When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained, what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him?  For You have made him a little lower than the angels, and You have crowned him with glory and honor. You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen–even the beasts of the field, The birds of the air, and the fish of the sea that pass through the paths of the seas.

Genesis1:28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

The mandate was for man to rule over all of the earthly creation. That rule was to be fruitful, multiply, fill, subdue, and to have dominion. When man chose the tree of the knowledge of good and evil it was a grasp for power and that grasp for power caused the rule of man to be distorted. The aspects of subduing and dominion became perverted.  Man lost what he had been given by God. Man is still fruitful, multiplies, and even fills, but he lost the ability to subdue and have dominion. His attempts to rule are now filled with the reaction of controlling and manipulating what exists in the earth since there was no longer an ability to bring heaven’s change to the world in which they live. By loosing access to the life source there was no more life source by which he could expand the existing boundaries and bring heaven’s order to earthly realities.

Authority is not based upon our tasks; our tasks are based upon our authority. We were created in Christ Jesus and it from that creation that all of our tasks can come (Eph. 2:10). Our identity doesn’t come from the things we do, the things we do come out of who we were created to be. It is a perverted identity that comes out of a TASK FOCUS. What we do depends upon who we are. Who we are does not depend upon what we do.  Being a pastor doesn’t make me who I am. Who I am allows me to be a pastor. Good works come out of whom we are.

What we do is not who we are. Who we are determines what we do. Works will happen because of who we are. That is what authority is all about. Satan will try to get us to do works, instead of manifest works. That is how he pulls us out of authority and draws us into the quest for power.   The enemy will try to pull us into an area that is close to what we do and who we are. That makes us an expert. As a nurse he will tempt you to be a doctor. As an intercessor he will tempt you to be the pastor. As a wife he will tempt you to be a husband. As a parent he will tempt you to be the parent of someone else’s children. As a child he will tempt you to be the parent. No responsibility is less than another because each responsibility makes up the whole.  We must be faithful to be whom God created us to be. It is the place of our authority in life.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings,

I have presented that power and authority are two different things. Power will be connected to authority, but authority is not always connected to power. When we grasp to be someone we are not we may end up with power, but we will not have true authority. True authority is seen with a testimony of the fruit of inheritance. Authority produces life in others. Authority elevates others to their fullest existence, while mere power will rob from others to elevate a person beyond their measure of life-giving influence. This was the flaw of Lucifer and it is his plan in his fallen state as Satan or the Devil to influence others in a way that deceives them to venture on a quest for power and relinquish their true authority in life. He seeks to tempt people to enter a quest for power and relinquish the truth of who they are meant to be. This is what Satan did with Adam in the beginning. Adam fell for this temptation and his quest for the power of the knowledge of good and evil caused him to forfeit his birthright to the Tree of Life. Jesus was born as a human being to buy that birthright back for all of mankind.

When we grasp for a position that is not ours we may obtain power, but because we have no basis for authority in that position our end will be destruction. Lucifer became something he was not created to be because he grasped for power beyond his measure of life-giving influence. He retained power, but lost his true authority. He is still gifted, but his gifting is now manifested through a self-seeking power of death. Rather than elevate others to their true identity in life he seeks to steel, kill, and destroy them so their life-giving authority cannot reign in life.

We don’t want to just do good things in life. We want to do God things. I heard a story years ago by a great teacher and man of God. He has become a great influence of life in Russia and a great teacher to the body of Christ. He told a story of his early days in ministry. He was the pastor of a church at the time. There was a season where he would see crowns on the heads of people. One day a lady in his church came to him and in the spirit he could see a crown on top of her head. She began to express to him how much she had been praying for him as her pastor. As she professed her diligence to pray for him, the pastor thanked her and he immediately saw the crown vanish from the top of her head. He inquired of God as to why the crown disappeared and God told him that the lady had exchanged her crown in heaven for the earthly affirmation of her pastor. She had exchanged one reward for another. Several situations like this happened in the pastor’s life as God was revealing to him the crowns in people’s lives. The pastor became curious about his own crown and he prayed that he might look in a mirror and see it. When he looked in the mirror he saw nothing and he inquired why God wasn’t showing him his own crown. God responded by saying he hadn’t gotten one yet. The pastor began to think of how he had been laboring in the church and how his efforts as the pastor had caused him much work and effort. He asked God about his crown for pasturing the church and God responded by telling him, “I didn’t ask you to pastor this church”. It was a humbling experience for the pastor but a lessoned learned that it is best to be who God has called you to be rather than simply following the form of others and seek to do good things for God. Doing good things in the name of God can seem harmless, but it is at least missing the greater testimony of living in the full authority of who we are in Christ that lifts others to their fullest testimony of life.

Let’s look at the fall of Lucifer. Ezekiel’s lamentation for the king of Tyre is not just a call to the natural king of a nation, but also a prophetic declaration to the root of a kingdom’s fall. It is a prophetic declaration in the realm of the spirit to the fall of the star of the morning that the Latin refers to as Lucifer. Although the word “Lucifer” is not actually in the Hebrew texts of the Scripture, I believe that the Latin Vulgate’s use of the name “Lucifer” is an accurate description of his original creation. The name “Lucifer” means, “to refract or reflect light”. This is a true testimony of the original creation of this star of the morning.

Ezekiel 28:12-19  “Son of man, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre, and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering: the sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created. “You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; you were on the holy mountain of God; you walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you. “By the abundance of your trading you became filled with violence within, and you sinned; therefore I cast you as a profane thing out of the mountain of God; and I destroyed you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the fiery stones. “Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor; I cast you to the ground, I laid you before kings, that they might gaze at you. “You defiled your sanctuaries by the multitude of your iniquities, by the iniquity of your trading; therefore I brought fire from your midst; it devoured you, and I turned you to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all who saw you. All who knew you among the peoples are astonished at you; you have become a horror, and shall be no more forever.”

The portal of being is the heart. Discovering and being true to who you really are is found through intimacy with God through your heart. Who you are represents who God is. Abandoning the portal of your heart will make you a doer. This is what happened to Lucifer in his fall. He lifted up his heart and looked through the eyes of self to believe that he was his own source of existance. He became a self-seeker in his motivation and ventured on a quest for power by trading his true identity for something he was not created to be.

This created being was comprised of precious stones, pipes, and timbrels. He didn’t just use these things as his possessions; they were part of the make up of his being. He reflected light in many facets, amplified sound in many notes, and reverberated with rhythm in many vibrations. Visible light, audible sound, and vibration of rhythm are all expressions of light at various frequencies. God is Light and I believe that this created being was a covering cherub to the word (expression) of God in heaven. He was a refractor and a reflector of the word of God in heaven. He was a wonderful creation with an awesome authority. He was perfect in his ways and a close look at the stones in his covering reveals qualities that testify of the attributes shadowed in the tribes and testimony of Israel. Things like praise, knowing, judgment, etc were magnified through the refractions of his covering. The stones of the tribe of Manasseh (forgetfulness), Ephraim (double fruitful) and Benjamin (son of the right hand) were not among the nine stones that Lucifer walked among, however. Those stones reveal aspects of relationship found through intimacy with God. Things like forgiveness, restoration, and inheritance. Things that cannot merely be refracted or reflected but can only be known by sons of God. Things that can only be known through stars (sons) that burn with the light of Christ. Relationship with God made known through mercy and grace was not something that he understood.  It wasn’t in his creation to reflect the qualities of the end of oneself, fruitfulness, and being a son of the right hand. He had authority to be who he was, but he desired to be more than what he was created to be.

Lucifer wasn’t content with who he was. He traded his authority for a quest of power. His iniquity was that he didn’t honor who he was. He lost his authority. He didn’t lose power. He is still full of wisdom because of gifting. Because of his creation, he is full of music. He is full of all that he was created to be, but he has lost the authority to be it. He is left with destructive power. His gifting is now used to justify the existence of himself and his selfish agendas. He is now a devil. A devil strikes the souls of others to destroy their personalities and identities. He seeks to crack the souls of men to tempt them to trade the truth of who they are for the personality of his perversion. A devil of fear strikes the human soul with his personality of fear to tempt them to trade their understanding of love for a lie of fear in their own identity. They trade their trust of love for a personality of fear and they become fearful. Satan lacks the heart of his source of authority and he has lost the life flow of his created destiny of authority and he seeks to cause others to do the same. He dishonored who he was created to be. He still has all the attributes of his magnificence, but it is all perverted. He still has power and gifting. He is still full of wisdom because of gifting, but his wisdom is perverted because he is disconnected from the life source of wisdom. His wisdom is not self-preserving and self-exalting in its focus (Jam. 3:23-28).

Let’s look at another example of his failure. This is found in the words of Isaiah to the king of Babylon. The words are to a natural king but they deal prophetically with the root of that king’s flaw. They deal with the fall of the star of the morning (Lucifer). Again, the word “Lucifer” is not in the original Hebrew text, but I believe that the Latin Vulgate’s inclusion of this word is accurate to the understanding of this created being.

Isaiah 14:12-19 “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; (grasped for what was not his) I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’ (grasped for what was not his) Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit. “Those who see you will gaze at you, and consider you, saying: ‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms, who made the world as a wilderness and destroyed its cities, who did not open the house of his prisoners?’ “All the kings of the nations, all of them, sleep in glory, everyone in his own house; but you are cast out of your grave like an abominable branch, Like the garment of those who are slain, thrust through with a sword, who go down to the stones of the pit, like a corpse trodden under foot. 

Authority is never about you. It is always about someone else. Authority magnifies whom you represent and elevates those who are under you to their highest potential of identity and purpose. True authority brings dominion and that dominion is a testimony of truth. Lucifer had authority but he lost the authority that he had. Lucifer became a devil. In his perception of wisdom he became Satan. Wisdom is a sense of things for the future, but Lucifer had nothing in his created makeup that gave him knowledge or understanding of what that future meant. He was not full of knowledge or understanding, thus he twisted his understanding of wisdom through a grasp for knowledge and understanding. He became a lie and thus he became the father of lies. His plan was to take what belonged to man and to God. He was left with weapons of the soul and lost the weapons of the Spirit. His quest was one of power and thus he forfeited his true authority.

Authority comes from authority it doesn’t initiate in oneself. Authority is always about someone else. Lucifer lifted up his heart and moved into a realm that was beyond his source of authority. The entrance of authority in your life is your heart and not your head. When you have authority you are not the source of authority, but rather the vessel that contains and manifests authority. You are responsible for something and to someone. Lucifer was able to be responsible as a morning star, but not as a satan or a devil. When he grasped for power beyond his measure of rule he became a lie, a perversion of his original creation. He tried to be someone he was not meant to be. The trap of Satan is to get men to seek to become what they are not. Lucifer ended up with what he grasped for and he was not created to handle it. The result was perversion of truth. Turmoil, fear, intimidation and the like are characteristics not found in what he was created to be. They are the consequences of his failure. These things are now his because he didn’t have the basis to be what he grasped to become.  Authority brings life to others, but a quest for power will end up producing and influence of death in your world.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings;

I have been addressing the topic of authority and how authority is made manifest as the fruit of who we really are. When God created the world He bore fruit from His basis of speaking because He is who He is. The testimony of His reality was seen in the reality of who He really is. The testimony of our authority is also seen in the realities of our lives. The apostle Paul was confirmed to be whom he was through the churches that existed because of his influence. The church of Corinth was a part of the fruit of Paul’s life and a testimony of his God-given authority.

2 Corinthians 3:2,3 You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; you are manifestly an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.

The church of Corinth was the evidence of Paul’s authority. They were not only a testimony of the work of the Holy Spirit, but they were a spiritual letter of Paul’s own heart. The church of Corinth was proof of Paul’s apostleship. What was the basis of Paul’s authority? Paul’s authority was that he was light to darkness, and especially to the Gentile world God had sent him to. The writing of a spiritual letter was the evidence of His spiritual authority. Paul had an authority of life for the church of Corinth and what was in Paul’s heart was being made manifest through changed and commissioned lives in Christ.

The Devil can’t argue with who we are, but he can argue with who we are not. He can destroy who we are not, but it is truth that crumbles every lie. He will try to get us to be who we are not in order to defeat us! We must remember that authority and dominion come because you are whom we are. God has the authority to act as God because He is God! We have the authority to be whom God has created and commissioned us to be.

Authority gives out authority. A wife’s authority is connected to her husband, but she will never be her husband. She has the authority to be herself because she is under the authority of her husband. The husband’s authority is to inspire his wife and family members to become all that they are meant to be in Christ.

We must allow who we are to inspire others to be who they are.

Genesis 1:26-28 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Mankind was given dominion on planet earth. This was not the male gender of man, but the male and female expressions of mankind together. Their authority came from a partnership with God and with one another. Their authority was that of exousia (GSRN # 1849), they were to each be who they were meant to be. It was not an authority of control or manipulation. It was an authority of life. The masculine and the feminine nature of God would be made manifest through the likeness and image of God in mankind in the earth.

The measure of a man’s authority is the release of his wife! Authority is given to make things more alive. True authority activates, facilitates, and releases others to their fullest measure of life. It is about release and not control. Mankind had authority because they were birthed out of authority. Mankind had a birthright because of who they were and where they came from. Their authority was not because of the task they were given to do. Mankind was given authority to bring life to the world because they were the likeness and the image of the life of God in the earth. This made an anointing for all that was necessary to be available to them for whatever task they faced in life. As long as they remained under the authority of God they could bring the authority of life to the world in all that they did.

If someone doesn’t have authority, they cannot give you authority. I have been termed by many to be a prophet, but I am not a prophet to everyone. I am only a prophet to those that God sends me to for a prophetic purpose. It is not just about my function as a prophet. It is also about my relationship in the body of Christ. If I visit a small group in some other congregation in the city or some other city, my authority is not that of a prophet. It is the authority of invitation to a small group. The only way I can have the authority as a prophet would be to be given that authority by the God-ordained authority of that small group. I see this principle of life violated many times in the administration of the church. All of us can prophesy words of comfort, exhortation, and encouragement. Only some can give prophecies of direction, particularly when it involves governmental impartation and direction.  Direction is reserved for those who are responsible to give direction. I may be anointed to give direction in one place, but only authorized to give comfort, exhortation, and encouragement in another. Anointing to minister is not the prerequisite for ministering. Being responsible is the prerequisite and this is a relationally covenantal thing.

We speak out of our authority. Authority is intimate and relational, not about task and duty. As a prophet I may be able to identify a gift of bookkeeping, but I can’t impart to you a bookkeeping skill. If you have the authority of a bookkeeper you must be under the authority of a source of bookkeeping. It involves a birthright as a bookkeeper, a training process, and the sound of a bookkeeper in the substance of who you are. This all comes from being under authority.

Authority always includes various levels of headship. These are not various levels of control. They are various levels of responsibility. There are heads in every household. Not everyone has the ability to give direction to others. Everyone has the ability to give life to others and must seek to give life wherever they are. We can only give what we have been given to give.

Romans 1:11 For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, so that you may be established…

The apostle Paul longed to go to the Church of Rome and impart to them a spiritual gift. He longed to go to them and he had a substance that he could give to them because God had sent Him to them. He couldn’t just go anywhere and impart gifts. He could only go where he was relationally responsible. Apostolic gifting is meant to function out of relationship. Responsibility is not merely task oriented, but it is relationally intimate. We are living in a season where many how to do books are being replaced with intimacy books. I think this is relevant to the present maturation of Christ in His body.

It is on the basis of who he was that man had authority in his creation by God. Man was created in the image and likeness of God. Man had the birthright to be fruitful, multiply, fill, subdue, and have dominion in the earth based upon who he was. His disconnection with God as his authority life source forfeited him the ability to subdue and have dominion (Gen. 9:1).

Man still has the gifting to take things over, but due to the fall mankind lacks the ability to subdue and have dominion. Adam failed to be intimate with God, thus the birthright was stolen. Authority was to remain intimate with God, but Adam disconnected from God in his grasp for the knowledge of good and evil. He wasn’t functioning in His responsibility and thus he lost his full authority. Man sold his birthright and was left with power, but he lost the authority. Adam failed to be intimate with God!

The mandate and the birthright are still true today. God hasn’t changed His plan.

Jesus came as a last and eternal Adam to restore the authority to subdue and have dominion upon the earth. Our ability to have authority is directly connected to our ability to be intimate with your source of authority. Authority is connected to intimacy. If we fail to be intimate with God and one another we will fail in our ability to live in true authority.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings,

Last week I addressed the need to embrace the authority of each season we find ourselves in. Authority comes from responsibility. Who you are today is as essential as who you will be tomorrow. We are called by God to bring life to this world wherever we find ourselves in life’s journey. We are called to be people of authority in this world.

Authority is both relational and functional. Responsibility is connected to our ability to respond to authority and therefore carry the authority for which we are responsible. There is therefore a need for the right gift and the right relationship. It is like the parts of a body. If you need a lung transplant you need both a lung and a compatible lung for your body. A kidney won’t do, nor will a non-compatible lung. If it is relationally non-compatible the body will reject its DNA. If it is the wrong organ it will not accomplish the needed function. Authority for membership and function in the Body of Christ is the same. You must be the right gift in the right place. You must be relationally compatible to the congregation that God is joining you to and you must be the right gift in the right placement. You must be relationally connected to the authority over your and not merely functionally joined. Relationship is as essential as gifting. This is how a healthy body functions in true authority.

I have presented that power doesn’t equal authority, but authority will equal power. We can grasp for power and miss the God-appointed authority in our lives, but if we find our God-appointed authority we will also find God’s anointed power for the appointment. Authority will produce fruit. That fruit will bring life to others and will even increase in the lives of others. Like the placement of a relationally compatible lung, the fruit is the supply of oxygen throughout the body. Fruit is always seen as life energy to someone else’s life. Authority is evident if it is there. God will not call us to do something that He has not gifted us to do and what He has truly gifted us to do will bring life-energy to others if we embrace God’s process and plan of authority.

Sometimes God will allow us to receive a word of direction that is simply a test of who we are. I knew a person who had a word that they would be a worship leader, but the problem was they couldn’t sing. God may have said they would lead worship, but it was not for a platform ministry. It may have been to inspire others to worship God by simply worshipping God with all their hearts. God’s authority in your life will match the gifting of your life.  When God calls you to do something, He wants you to be good at it. The craftsmen of the temple were good at it! God gave them an ability to do what they were to do. Those who led in the craftsmanship were also likely those who made perfect bricks in Egypt. They had a God-given skill for their God-given appointment. No ability is better than another. Teaching, prophesying, exhorting, serving, giving, showing mercy, administration skills, or leadership are all equal in value when measured by the value of each and everyone who functions in them. Some may carry more responsibility, but each is a one-and-only value in being a unique person in Christ. They all carry different measures of authority in themselves, but they all contribute to the full authority of the corporate body.

Our identity doesn’t come from our abilities. Our identity doesn’t come from the authority that we walk in. Our identity comes from our Father.  If we are secure in our identity it will affect our authority. Authority doesn’t give us our identity. Identity comes from being in the corporate body of Christ, not our individual gifting.

The source of all authority is God. God is supreme in His authority and Jesus is the supreme Authority over all the earth. Why?

Colossians 1:15-18 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.  And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.

Jesus is the supreme authority because he holds everything together. Everything has its source in Him and He is the one who sustains all things. The proof is who and what He is. Because He is who He is He fulfills certain requirements and can accomplish certain tasks. He was born the Son of Man and the Son of God. He was the first of God substance and Man substance together without sin. He is and was the Firstborn of a new race of human beings. He is and was the first of all creation and the first Adam of eternity. Jesus had the birthright to be the savior of the world and the source of authority for redeemed humanity. This is why He was destined to manifest in the authority of King of kings and Lord of lords in all things. All who seek to rule in life must come under Jesus’ authority of life.

The first thing that we have to have for authority is the birthright. God cannot bless us apart from your birthright. We must be who you are. In the same way that Jesus has the birthright to be who He is, we must discover our birthrights in life. Just as a woman cannot produce the fertilizing seed of life and a man cannot birth a baby, a grasping for power alone will not produce the inheritance of authority. The enemy wants nothing less than to deceive us into hating who we are. His strategy is to get men and women to grasp for power and to lose their true authority. No individual is better than another and no measure of authority is better than another. The authority for thousands is not better than the authority for fifty or even five. More is not better. Who we are is best!

We cannot set ourselves up in a position that is not ours. Who we are is rooted in our birthright in life. Jesus had and has the birthright of life for all men. He was the firstborn from the dead and is therefore the source of eternal life for all who believe. Jesus was also the Word of God from the very beginning. In the beginning God “said” and what He spoke was made to be.  It wasn’t because of the words that He used, but rather the substance of who He was. Authority is a substance and not a mere theory or testimony of simply using the right words.

Genesis 1:1-3 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.

Why could God “SAY”? God is who He is! The words He said were the substance of who He is! If we were there, we could have said let there be light and there still wouldn’t be light. Why? Without God we are not the substance of light. God is the one who makes us the substance of light. Unless we are under authority we cannot receive authority to become a measure of what we are under. God is Light! Because God is who He is the substance of light has to be made manifest when He declares there to be light.

The Devil will always try to trick us to do something that we don’t have the authority to do.  He will try to make us discontent with the authority that we have. He will belittle us to make us think that who we are and what we have are not important.  He will try to make us focus on something grandiose that is beyond our measures of rule to make us ineffective with our present responsibilities.

If you are 75 years old and leading 50 people, it is not likely that you will suddenly start ministering to a congregation of millions. If you get a prophetic word about going to the nations and affecting millions, you probably need to focus on the 50 and equip them and send them for the purpose of the nations and the generations. Who you are is enough to fulfill God’s promises, but those promises might get fulfilled differently than you expect. You may be going to the nations, but it may be through the lives of your spiritual children and their children.

The Devil will try to get us to think that someone else’s authority is better than the authority that we presently have. He will try to get us to do something that we are not called to do, or that is out of timing with our calls in Christ. Tomorrow’s destiny today will only produce the Ishmaels of the flesh. Abram’s authority was not the authority of Abraham and only Abraham could produce Isaac.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings,

We have been looking at the topic of authority. Authority is not the same as power, but authority will manifest in power. You can have power without having authority, but you cannot have authority without access to the power needed to demonstrate that authority. A lot of people want power, but not so many want true authority. Authority relates to responsibility. It is a God-given substance that requires us to be responsible to God for receiving it and giving it for the life and well being of others. We need to be a people who want authority. This has nothing to do with control or power. It has to do with the ability to give life to others.

We don’t get our identity from our authority. We get our identity from being children of God. Authority is a measure of responsibility given by God to bring life to the world. Everyone has an authority. We need to learn to be who we are and we need to learn to live in the measure of authority given to us by God.

Authority is not who you will be, or who you want to be. It is who you are. We might be called to be a prophet, but today we are serving with the responsibility of a janitor. Our authority is as a janitor. We must prove to be faithful in our responsibilities as a janitor. We may be the parents of three children, but we are not the parents of everyone’s children. Our authority today is directly related to our authority of yesterday and it is paramount to our authority tomorrow.

Today some receive me as an apostle in their lives. Some people receive me as a prophet, or a teacher, a mentor, or an instructor of some kind. I have been a believer for forty years and I did not imagine that I would one day have the responsibility of bringing God’s word and life to the nations. Thinking back I can see how my responsibilities in the journey have related to my authority today. In 1974 I was a young man in a growing church and I found myself serving in many practical areas. One area was that of taking care of a dog named Smokey. He was a black chow and he belonged to an apostolic leader in the church. It was my job to make sure that none of Smokey’s dog droppings remained in the yard. I was a super-duper-pooper-scooper! There were times when I did yard work, washed the car, or even watched the man’s children. I believe that my role of service was instrumental to the apostolic call that is upon my own life. When Smokey got out it was my job to find him. I was a servant to that dog so that one day I could be a servant to men. We must be faithful in every phase of our lives in order to be faithful in the furtherance of our lives.

What is the basis of authority? The basis of authority and the basis of dominion is who you are. Authority is received and fulfilled. It‘s not who you want to be or what you decide to be. Authority is not what you do. It is who you are. You could do many things! No matter what you do, your authority is going to be seen. Others will recognize it! Your faithfulness in one area will be seen in every area of your life.

There are practical authorities as well as spiritual ones. If you are a painter, your authority is to paint. If you are a man you have the authority to be a man. If you are a woman you have the authority to be a woman. You can seek to be what you are not, but the evidence will be proven by your inability to bear the fruit of inheritance. If you cannot paint you won’t be able to bear the fruit of being a painter. You will produce the works of a mess, but you won’t bear the fruit of the necessary testimony of painting. You may be a man who wants to be a woman but you cannot bear the fruit of a woman. You can change your appearance and even your actions, but the testimony of who you are will prevent you from bearing the fruit of inheritance. The best you can attain to is a right or a power to be, but you do not carry the authority of life. If you are a man grasping to be a woman, your influence as a woman will be a measure of power for self-will, self-gratification, and a self-minded destiny.

A lot of people want power, but they are not interested in authority. If you walk in a realm of power alone it will produce death. What you are going to do to be tomorrow has nothing to do with what you are doing today, but what you are doing today will prove to be valuable tomorrow. What you are today is really for eternity!

What you are doing today is the most important thing in your life because it has everything to do with what you are going to be doing tomorrow.

Years ago I had a job delivering packages for UPS. I had the responsibility of delivering packages in a professional and timely manner. I had to be both diligent and efficient in my job. Because I was a believer I knew that doing my job well was very important. I also had a desire in my heart to understand what my spiritual destiny was in this world. One day God spoke to me, “I have called you to be an intercessor”. My first thought at His words was that intercession is something that women do. All I could think of was women who prayed with mystic sensitivity and diligence. I questioned Him about perhaps the call of an apostle, a prophet, and evangelist, a pastor, or a teacher. His confirming words to me were those of being an intercessor. I spent the next week praying and seeking God on the subject. I read a book written by Derrick Prince on the topic of prayer and fasting. At the end of the week I received a revelation that intercession was the highest call that anyone could have in life. I realized that intercession was the very job that Jesus was doing at the right hand of the Father in heaven. Intercession was what the Holy Spirit was doing in the life of every believer. I remember answering that call. It was a sunny morning in Fort Worth, Texas when I stepped out of the door of my UPS truck and said yes to the call of intercession as I walked up a sidewalk to deliver a package to a door. Today I am considered by some to be an apostle. To others I am a prophet. To many I am a teacher, a mentor, and an instructor of life. In all of these things I am still an intercessor. Even as a UPS driver I was an intercessor. An intercessor is someone who has one foot in heaven and the other in the earth and draws heaven into every earthly place he finds himself. I did that as a UPS driver. I didn’t just deliver packages. I delivered a touch of heaven to every person I delivered a package to. My attitude, words, ambiance, and every form of expression were about bringing life to those that I came in contact with. My call as an intercessor delivering packages was as essential as my role as an intercessor in the role of an apostle. I am called by God to bring the power of grace and the life of His living covenant to the barren places of this world.

If you don’t focus on today, you will be discontent, disillusioned, and disconnected.   Authority comes from responsibility. Who you are today is as essential as who you will be tomorrow. We are called by God to bring life to this world wherever we find ourselves in life. We are called to be people of authority in this world.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings,

Last week I began to address the subject of God-given authority. I revealed that the most common understanding of authority by men is seen in the Greek word katexousiazo, a word that means to take your given responsibility as an opportunity to exercise control over someone else. This is a view of authority by people who do not understand covenant and those who exercise it seek to lord over the lives of others. God’s most common word for authority is exousia. It simply means to be who we are. We have to become what and who we are in order to have exousia. Purpose doesn’t come from what we do. It comes from who we are. Authority is rooted in our substance and not merely our actions. Power can be an action, but authority is a substance of life. The enemy wants us to seek power more than we seek authority. Power implies being able to be in control, while authority requires us to lose control and become servants of others. Authority involves giving a measure of substance to others that can make them become alive in who they are. Power alone seeks to take from others in order to have control, while authority advances those within its sphere of influence.

We see this seeking for power in the societies of the world around us. When men seek to be women or women seek to be men they are seeking power, but losing true authority. Authority has the power to produce life, while power alone can produce self-satisfaction or self-gratification, it cannot produce the fruit of inheritance. It cannot produce generational life. Authority is generational, while power alone is lifetime focused. Power alone is focused on self, while authority seeks the betterment of others.

In the nature of mankind women are comparable to men, but not meant to be competitive with them. They are different. They are equal in value, but comparable in nature. While a man is to be the head of a household, a man is  never to be the controller of the house. This is a Gentile mentality. It is a mentality of people who do not understand a covenant with God. Men and women are joint heirs. Elders are not better than the saints of the church, but they are elders. Leaders are not better than followers; they are simply leaders. They are each comparable, not competitive. Elders or leaders in a congregation do not represent the people. They represent the next level of authority. The Holy Spirit is the highest authority among men. What Holy Spirit says to the human heart is the highest form of communication on planet earth and it carries the authority of life. When lesser authorities violate the greater authority of the Holy Spirit they diminish and destroy their own authority. We are who we are and this is the exousia, the authority of our lives. Exousia is the substance of true authority. It is a delegated influence. It is received and then manifested in our lives. That is the kind of authority that Jesus walked in. God says; “I Am who I Am”. It is not a lordship authority, but it is a freedom and it brings freedom to others.

In the story of the Centurion, the Centurion was a man under a tangible authority. He was who he was (Mt. 8:5-13). He had the exousia of a commander. The Centurion wasn’t a controller. He was a commander. Something in him inspired him to be a commander. He had the responsibility and he also possessed the necessary attributes and charisma to fulfill the responsibilities of being a commander. We need more privates than we need sergeants, but they have a different authority. An irresponsible private won’t be a responsible general, but a responsible private might make a responsible general some day, providing he or she also possesses the necessary attributes, charisma, and completes the appropriate measure of training.

Authority comes from ability and the ability to respond. If you are to live in authority you must prove to be responsible. If you can’t fulfill the authority of paying bills, how can you fulfill the authority of prophesying? Your unreliability in one area will eventually bleed over into the other areas of your life. This doesn’t mean we are disqualified from having authority if we face challenges in our responsibilities. It means that when we face difficulties we stand fast to work a way through our difficulty and prove to be responsible to the best of our ability.

Jesus was who He was. There was a tangible evidence of His authority (Lk. 4:31-37). He didn’t have a method, He was who He was.  There was a time when Jesus was in the city of Capernaum being who He was and manifesting the authority that He was. A man with an unclean demon was in the synagogue and Jesus rebuked the demon and cast it out. The remark of the crowd was that of being astonished with His demonstration of authority (exousia). Jesus was who He was!

The apostle Paul commended the church of Rome to submit to governing authorities for they were appointed by God (Rom. 13:1-3). Our submission is to the authorities (exousia), not the controlling ways of those authorities (katexousiazo). Submitting as unto the Lord is submission is to exousia, not domination. The exousia of governing authorities lies within the boundaries of their God-appointed responsibilities, not everything in life. A president has the authority of a president, but not a dictator in telling you what you can and cannot do in your daily life. His exousia is within the sphere of presidential responsibilities. A pastor has the exoduses of a pastor within the sphere of his pastoral responsibilities, but not in every area of your life.

The apostle Paul had authority (exousia) as an apostle to the churches God had sent him, but he did not abuse his authority in the gospel (1 Cor. 9:18). He didn’t use his authority to demand financial support, even though financial support would be an honorable thing for them to give. His authority wasn’t because they paid him. His authority was because God sent him as an apostle in their lives. Authority is not marked by domination and control. It is facilitation and release.

There is another form of authority and it is the Greek word exousiazo (GSRN # 1850).  It is the same as exousia, but in a controlling sense. It is sometimes bad and sometimes good. An example of a bad use is when the kings of the world seek to lord over their subjects and they seek to exercise their authority in a controlling sense (Lk. 22:24-26). An example of this same word in a good sense is found in the testimony of a husband and wife relationship. Because a man and a wife are in the covenant of one flesh, the wife does not have controlling authority (exousiazo) over her body, the husband does. The husband does not have authority (exousiazo) over his body, the wife does (1 Cor. 7:4). This is not a dominating, dictating, control. It is not a taking thing. It is a giving one to another for the purpose of a healthy and full life.  The issue is one of life.  Authority always produces life!

There are some other words for authority that are also presented in the subject of leading. One word is the Greek word proistemi (GSRN # 4291). It is used twice in the Scripture (1 Tim. 3:5; 5:17).  It means to stand before in rank, to preside, to practice and it comes from a word that means to be in front of, a word rooted in a word meaning to stand in various applications. There is a Scripture in James that says that if anyone is sick they should go to the elders and they will anoint them and pray the prayer of faith. I don’t believe that praying for the sick is reserved for elders, but we should be confident that elders know how to pray the prayer of faith. This is one of the reasons they are elders. They stand before the people in the practice of a Christ empowered life. To be an elder they must be able to pray the prayer of faith. Others should also know how to pray prayers of faith, but elders must be out in front of the people, standing before, leading. Like the lead goose of a flock of geese, those who lead carry the point in order to create a direction and a breaking through in the path of resistance for those that follow. It is a matter of leading and not lording. It is a leading, not a controlling or an act of manipulation. This doesn’t mean there can’t be commands. Leaders can give commands within the sphere of their responsibility, but their commands are for the freedom of those they lead and not their control. When a worship leader leads a congregation in worship they must be out in front of the people, standing before them, and leading them as the Spirit of God directs them. Leaders in the church must walk out truth, they must be walking truth, and they must present it to others who follow. This is an example of proistemi. Like us all, leaders don’t arrive they are simply leading in the process of maturity and progress in the faith.

This type of authority is a place of rank. It is not a place of being above others in value, but it is a place of being in front of others in responsibility.  A general would not likely be on the front lines in every battle, because he is the general. He would lead from behind, because his responsibility as a general must be protected to assure the safety of all of the troops. A general needs privates and privates need generals.

Elders do not represent the people. They stand before the congregation helping to carry out the vision. They represent the head. They represent God and the represent God’s appointed leader. Like Moses and the 70, authority comes from authority. No individual is the source of authority. God is the source and leaders represent the voice of God to the people. They are not the voice; they represent the voice.

There is another word that represents authority and it is the word rule in the Greek word hegeomai  (GSRN # 2233). It is used three times in the New Testament Scriptures. It means to lead, to command with official authority. It comes from a word meaning, to lead, bring, drive, or induce – like staring a car and driving.

Hebrews 13:7 Remember those who rule (lead) over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct. 

The word “remember” in this verse means, to exercise memory, to keep in your mind, to think on them, to stay close enough to keep them in your mind. 

Everyone who is part of a corporate purpose must have a vision for that corporate purpose, but some are given supervision for that purpose. Some lead in the process, but everyone must embrace the process and be a fully supporting participant of that process. We must seek to be close enough to those that lead us in order to embrace the vision of the corporate purpose. We must do what we do the way they do what they do in the corporate connection of the body.   

Hebrews 13:17 Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you. 

Here is another way of saying this above verse:

Be in relationship with and rely upon those who lead and induce you toward life, surrender yourself to them, for they are required to be awake concerning your souls, and they must give an account in thought and word for you. They will help keep you from falling into deception and will be alert to the life that God has for you. Let them do this with cheerfulness and joy and do not make them sigh and murmur because of you. Don’t put them in straits, for if they are forced to live in a tight and narrow place because of you it will only be unprofitable for you and prove to cut your purpose short. 

Enthusiastic members will inspire and bring further change to those who lead. Reluctant members will hinder the direction of the corporate purpose and flow. A leaders responsibility to lead is for the sake of those being led, not for their own personal gain.

Hebrews 13:24 Greet all those who rule over you, and all the saints. Those from Italy greet you.  

We must think with covenant minds, and not Babylonian ones. Leadership is a good thing. The word rule does not mean control. It means to induce and lead others towards a God-given purpose in life. 

Another word for rule is the Greek word poimaino (GSRN # 4165).  It is used three times in Scripture. It means to tend as a shepherd – an overlay of life. Like the Spirit of Counsel it rules by bringing light to darkness, fullness to that which is empty, hope to hopelessness, and any form of life to any form of death.

Revelation 2:26, 27 “And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations– ‘He shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the potter’s vessels shall be broken to pieces’–as I also have received from My Father;” 

Revelation 12:5 And she bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and to His throne.   

Revelation 19:15 Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.  

This type of rule is an overlay of life breaking off hiding places. It is the rule of the Shepherd and Pastor of men. It is a testimony of a rod of iron, it that it is strong and uncompromising in his protection of the nations. He doesn’t judge a sinner, He destroys sin and expunges it from the lives of men. Authority gives life! The iron rod is not to beat the sheep. It is to protect the sheep. His standard in being a shepherd never changes. It is the same today and forever. He is not judgmental, but He exercises righteous judgments. Jesus is the Shepherd who tends like a shepherd.  He is the Shepherd who is who he says he is. There is no changing of His substance or His purpose for the life of men.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

True authority submits to other authority. It then becomes authority through release. Authority to lead and authority to help are both authorities. They must submit one to another. There is an authority to lead and an authority for others to follow. Authority in the kingdom is never given to operate in control. We don’t even have authority to control devils. We have the authority of life to cast them out because we have the authority to give life to men. A spirit of fear is afraid. We don’t need to control it with fear. We need to eradicate it by the power of perfect love.

In the mid 1980s I had a vision. I was standing in my city were there is often a gathering of young people. Above me I could see a principality and he had three large chains extending from the ground to three sides of his body. The chains were each stretched tightly as the principality stretched them to his place of standing in the air. He was shouting out belligerently. He declared, “There is no God!” “There are no absolutes!” Then I heard someone say, “Pull him down”, and some began to focus on him and try to pull him from his place of standing. Then I heard God say. “I don’t want him down. I want him out of here!” I turned with my side to the principality and I lifted my hands and began to worship God. I saw thousands of young people stand with me and they raised their hands in worship to God just as I was. Jesus began to come down in bodily form in the midst of the people. As He did, I could hear the breaking of the chains holding the principality. The presence of Jesus was dispossessing the ability for the principality to be held to the ground. God was revealing to me that the way to destroy the power of the enemy was to fill the place of its standing with an expression of the body of Christ. It was not about controlling the enemy. It was about dispossessing him with the presence of Christ.

Now I have come to God’s understanding of authority. The most common word for authority in the Scripture is the Greek word exousia (GSRN # 1849). This is a word that implies that something is what it really is. When Jesus spoke He did so as one having this kind of authority.  This word means to have a privilege, force, competence, capacity, freedom, or mastery – a delegated influence. It is derived from a word that means it is right, through the idea of being out in public. It is a visible manifestation that influences the public with a tangible force that works in a complete capacity, competency, and freedom of that tangible force.

This word simply means that we are who we are. If we say we are a leader then the evidence is seen in followers. This authority would define the fact that the leaves of the tree are green in the summer. The fire is hot. The snow is cold. It is what it is. If something is green, it is green. It is what it is. If it is green, it is green. It has an exousia. If something is hot it is hot. It carries the full force of heat. If something is cold it is cold, it caries the influence of cold.

I will discuss the God-given authority of exousia in my next blog. For now, contemplate the words for authority. Remember, what makes something good or bad is in the heart of the one who possesses it. You are who you are and you don’t need to lord who you are over anyone else’s life. We must function in the exousia of who we are, but we must never exercise katexousiazo over anyone.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

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

Greetings;

I have begun to address the process of receiving authority. Within that process there is a birthright, training, and the receiving of the sound of God within our measure of rule. As we consider this process we have to consider the greatest example of all. Jesus set our example in receiving authority.

Jesus had a great birthright as a man and He still holds that birthright as our exalted Lord and King. Jesus didn’t seek to attain to power. He walked the path of destiny and His authority was witnessed by heaven and earth in the seed of who He was. He had a birthright of authority and it was witnessed by who He was.

Luke 1:30-32 Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”

Every human seed has equal value, but not every seed has equal authority. Not every seed has equal rights, but every seed has equal love and value. The birthright is in the seed. To every seed there is a natural truth and a truth of the spirit. I believe that these two things combined give every human being a great spiritual (spirit-natural) destiny. There was a natural and a spirit truth in Jesus’ birthright that testified to the greatness of His calling. His eternal throne was established in the very seed of His being.

Authority is not who we say we are or who we think we are. It is who we really are. Jesus was who He was and He still is who He is. There was an earthly, as well as a heavenly witness as to His birthright. Within Jesus there was the seed of authority! The birthright of His seed was the King of kings and Lord of lords. Who Jesus was destined to be was witnessed both in heaven and upon the earth.

Luke 2:8-11 Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”

At the birth of Jesus there were both shepherds and angels testifying of who He was destined to be. He was not some pretender; He was the real substance of His destiny. There was a drawing of heaven and earth that testified of His birthright. It wasn’t the giftedness of Jesus that heaven and earth witnessed. It was the substance of His birthright and who He was in His substance. There was a Spirit-drawn witness of who He was. He didn’t proclaim who He was, heaven and earth testified as to who He was.

I have heard some crazy teachings in regard to spiritual gifting. I have heard hyper spiritual controllers and insecure ministers brag how their spiritual gifting will make room for them before men, but this is a real misquote of Scripture. There is a Scripture that says a man’s gift will make room for him (Pr. 18:6), but the context of this Scripture is that of honoring authority. Your personal gifting doesn’t make room for you, an earthly and heavenly witness does. That earthly and heavenly witness will make you secure in who you are and it will inspire you to show honor to authority.

When King David needed provisions for his men, the unrighteous Nabal refused to honor him. When David rose to deal with Nabal for his refusal of making provisions, Nabal’s wife Abigail met David on the road and offered him gifts of provision and begged forgiveness for her husband. David turned from his assault on Nabal as a result of Abigail’s gift. God then struck Nabal with a heart attack and within a week he died. A place was made for Abigail in King David’s palace because of her honor for the king. Abigail’s honor for authority made room for her, not her personal gifting (1Sam. 25).

The environment, region, and people we are sent to will have a witness of who we are – heavenly and earthly. It won’t be something we have to force upon others. It will be an evident truth. Jesus is Christ the Lord. An awesome destiny! Just like Jesus, we are destined to be who we are. The destiny of Jesus wasn’t proved by force, it was revealed through authority.

Luke 2:39,40 So when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own city, Nazareth. And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.

Jesus grew in the strength of spirit, wisdom, and grace. There was a process to His destiny. He didn’t take any shortcuts to being revealed for who He was. This was evident even when others didn’t understand who He was.

When Jesus was twelve years old He went with His parents to Jerusalem for the Feast of Passover. When the days of Passover were complete His parents and family returned home, but Jesus remained in the temple. After a day of travel His parents realized Jesus was not with them. After a three-day search they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions.

Luke 2:47-52 And all who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers. So when they saw Him, they were amazed; and His mother said to Him, “Son, why have You done this to us? Look, Your father and I have sought You anxiously.” And He said to them, “Why is it that you sought Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” But they did not understand the statement which He spoke to them. Then He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them, but His mother kept all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.

Jesus didn’t take any shortcuts to His destiny. It is an awkward spot when destiny begins to cry out from your heart and the time is still a time of training. Joseph and Mary misunderstood Jesus, but He returned home with them and was subject to them. He continued to increase in wisdom, stature, and favor with God and men. Within you, there is a burning and a stirring to become who you are destined to be. That stirring does not negate the training process in your life. At age twelve Jesus’ heart longed for the destiny of age thirty, but He fulfilled the training process that took him to the age of inheritance. Age twelve was the age of manhood, but thirty was the age of inheritance. There is an age of authority. No one would give a chain saw to a five-year old and expect them to operate it in safety and skill. We should have a burning desire within us to fulfill our destiny in Christ, but there is a process and a timing to every phase of authority.

When the desire of your heart longs for the day of your inheritance, God will always say; More YEARS of training! What is required to see that burning desire complete? With your birthright comes a process of training. Part of your training process is to be secure in our present position and identity. It is your birthright that enables you to embrace the process of training with focus and zeal. Your birthright will empower you to grow in wisdom, stature, and favor with God and men.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson