Do you have authority?

In Mark 1:21-28 I was struck at how many times the word ‘authority’ was used.

The first use was when Jesus went into the synagogue to preach. The people were amazed by His authority. Why? Because every word that came out of His mouth had the power to go with it. Every action had an intent of power. We are to be as such; every word, every move, accompanied by the power of God.

Those people had seen people preach the word of God with no power for so long. Though they preached, there was no power, and therefore no change, no cutting, no repentance. Remember that John 6:65 says of Jesus that no one can come to Him unless the Father has enabled them. There is a power that does the drawing and enabling. And without the power, we can speak from morning till night like the Baal prophets did on Mount Carmel, and nothing happened. People find that they speak all through their lives, but little fruit of conversion can be seen, and little fruit of the manifestation of God. This is because they do not possess the authority that should go with speaking. In 2 Kings 13:20-21 Elisha had died. They had buried him. He was dead! You would have thought the authority had died too! But the anointing of God was still as powerful. And one day as the Israelites were in procession to bury a man, they came across a band of Moabite raiders. Out of their fear, they threw the man in Elisha’s grave and took off. But something special happened. The authority and power that Elisha had received was still at work. And the dead man came alive when his body touched Elijah’s bones. Note, all that was left of Elisha’s body was bones. But even in those bones was power and authority!

And so we need that authority. So how will we get the authority? How will you get the authority today?
Elijah taught us such a good lesson in 2 Kings 2 when he followed Elijah. He wanted the authority that was on Elijah’s life. Indeed he wanted a double portion of it. What did Elijah say? Did he say, ‘Yes, here it is. Take it.’ No! He said ‘You have asked a difficult thing, yet if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours—otherwise, it will not.’

Another way of putting it will be ‘You follow me closely, and look at what happens to me. If you stay close enough, and faithful enough and obedient enough – you can have it!’

You can’t put it better than that! This is the way and only way to have authority in your life. Stay close to God. Follow God. Do not be distracted by any noise. And then boom! You will receive it. Amen!

Linda Faith
Linda faith is the Editor in Chief of Jewels Magazine. She has authored eight books. She is a prolific writer and powerful speaker, inspiring many women to be all God has called them to be. She is the founder of Joy Women’s conference which reaches out to empower, inspire and motivate women in their faith walk. She was a software developer before she started writing.