Blog in Audio:
Greetings,
Today I am taking an exert from by book, Authority – Control? or Release! As leaders we lead others in walking in the life-giving authority of who they are in the world in each season of their lives:
Authority and destiny are not the same. Life comes out of authority, not destiny! Dreams come out of destiny, but dreams alone are fantasy. The authority of today is not the authority of tomorrow, nor is the authority of yesterday the authority of today. The perfect will of God is for you to be who you are today.
Authority is a Testimony of God’s Kingdom:
Flesh and blood does not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 15:50). We do have flesh and blood though, don’t we? I am flesh and blood, but I want the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom. 14:17). The kingdom of God is not a natural kingdom, but when it is manifested within us it affects even the natural things of our lives. It doesn’t come by what we see in the natural, 103
but when we embrace the power of Christ’s kingdom within us it brings God’s influence into our everyday worlds. When Jesus was fulfilling the law, the kingdom of God was at hand, but now by the power His grace it is made alive within us.
Luke 17:20, 21 Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.”
If the kingdom of God is within, shouldn’t there be some form of inheritance today? There is an inheritance that comes from the kingdom of God that is within us. That kingdom within us has the power to affect the things of our lives in both spiritual and natural ways. The authority of the kingdom of God within us will influence the practical areas of our daily lives. God wants us to bring the influence of heaven into earth. He wants His kingdom to come and His will to be done upon the earth as it is in heaven. This is a daily reality and a continual advancing and maturing process in our lives.
The glory of a king is everything that is in his kingdom. King Jesus owns all of creation: visible and invisible. Flesh and blood can’t inherit the kingdom of God, but we have the power of Christ’s Spirit within us that the inheritance of God in our lives might come by the power of His Spirit and even effect the things in the natural areas of our lives. God’s kingdom is the kingdom affecting our flesh, but it is not the kingdom of seeking the life of self. It is the kingdom of His glory. When we live for God and for the wellbeing of others we are living for the kingdom of God. The power to walk that out is hidden within the power of Christ within us. The life of Christ within us empowers us to live for God and the wellbeing of others. This is a spiritual reality, but it is seen in things that appear to be spiritual and in things that appear to be natural in our lives.
If you hate who you are today, you will never be able to be who you are destined to be tomorrow. There is a glory of who you are today. We are earthly and of the spirit. We are born of the water (natural) and bornof the Spirit. It is these two things together that make us spiritual (spirit-natural) beings. Authority is in the present and not meant to be a mere promise of the future. It is present and progressive in all that we are and do. That progression is both natural and spirit and thus it is revealed in our lives as spiritual beings of life.
The former glory is not the glory of today, nor is the future glory the glory of today. There is a glory of the earthly and to neglect or reject who you are today is a denial of who you are today. The earthly is today and the heavenly is to come. In the process of our journey there is a continued increase in the mix of these two values in our lives.[1]
As leaders, we must be examples to those we lead in both the natural and the spirit. We must embrace who we are in each season of our lives and encourage others to do the same. Today is the day to give life to our world in the testimony of who we are in the responsibility of our lives.
Food For Thought,
Ted J. Hanson
Authority – Control? or Release! By Ted J. Hanson – In print, e-book, and audio on Amazon:
[1] Ted J. Hanson, Authority – Control? or Release!, (Bellingham, WA: House of Bread Publishing, Second Printing 2022), pp. 102-104.
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