The concept of authority

by Tales of 2Timothy1.7

Lately my social media accounts have been flooded with images and videos of people praying in different circumstances. This really moves me as I believe in the power of prayer and am glad to see people turning their hearts to the right direction, so I hope that all our prayers will be answered. But what does this have to do with the concept of authority you might wonder, well bear with me as I try to explain this complex concept. At the moment I am still learning to understand this myself but felt the need to share what I have learned so far about this subject.

A while ago I would sometimes crossover on a red light when walking as a pedestrian. This would happen when there was barely a car around and thus I didn’t feel the need to akwardly stand there waiting untill the lights changed to green before crossing over. I didn’t do it often and so I never worried about it. Ofcourse while driving I would always stop but as a pedestrian it didn’t seem as important when the street wasn’t busy.
I never saw it as a big deal untill I started to feel compelled while doing so. You are now probably thinking what I thought back then: “It’s just crossing a street when no one is around, what’s the big deal?” But little by Iittle I started to realise that to abide according to the law you need to apply All of it, not just the parts you feel is more important and thus even crossing over on a red light is breaking the rules even though it was just as a pedestrian crossing the street. Because when you cross over under the green light you are abiding by the rules, this means that if something happen you are covered by the law. But if you crossover on a red light, even if it is a small street, you are breaking the law and therefore you are no longer covered if something would happen.

You see like many I wanted to use my light to help others find their path, but untill then I had never understood the concept of authority. I would pray, but without fully understanding how the power of the written word gets truely established. But little by little The Creator of all things started to show me that the scriptures is ours to lean on and apply in our life but the authority that comes with the scripture is normally only given to those who live according to the rules set in the scriptures. This means that when you live outside the written rules, you can have a good life but when the time comes to cry on to The Creator, He won’t be able to back up your prayers if you do not abide according to His rules.
Just as a pedestrian who crossed over on a red light wouldn’t be able to make any claim when needed because he was outside the written law.

Understanding this was a big eye opener for me. Untill then I spent years going over and over the same mountains not understanding why my prayers weren’t answered untill I started to realise that the scriptures speaks of ten main laws that everyone should apply in their life which are found in Exodus 20.1-17. These are not just old principals that we should throw out because we now live in a ‘modern world’, but instead this should be the corner stones on which we build our lives. Besides these main 10 (which you should know by heart), there are other basic principles that most of us know but only apply when we feel like it; such as the principles of giving and of forgiving. How many of us would pray over and over for something and sometimes even fast for it but then have unforgivenis in our hearts? While the scripture clearly says in Marc 11.25 that when we want to pray we need to forgive first, so that we may be forgiven.

In James 5.16 it says “The prayers of a righteous man accomplishes much” but who is a righteous man? That is a man who lives according to the written rules set in the scriptures. Abiding by these rules gives him the ability to claim the authority given to him by The Creator of all things.

Just as we can make a claim for the authority in our country when abiding under its rules, we can claim the authority written in the scriptures when living by its rules. These are the two major forms of authorities that one has in his life. Other form of authorities are those that occur in our natural living environments such as our parents or teachers when one attends school or university or an employer in a business environment.

In all these examples applies the same rule, you respect the authority and you inherit the blessings that comes with it. But what if one comes to be under a negative authority?
Here is an illustration. Let’s say a young teenager comes to hang out around the wrong crowd and one of them the ‘leader of the pack’, pushes the young teenager to do wrong things such as selling drugs.
This teenager knows that doing this is wrong but he feels under pressure for he is now under the authority of the ‘leader of the pack’. Well in this case the teenager could recall on his parents or school for back up in order to break this negative autoritative relationship. This is a basic example of a negative authority but this can get more complexer. Even more complex than I could be able to put on a few pages. But what I want you to know is, that every form of authority needs to allign with the written word in the scriptures and be clear, open and used for the good of all. If you find yourself in a form of authority that is against this you need to break your connection to that authority in the best and most effective way as possible and as soon as you can. In the case of the teenager, this could be changing schools and in the case of an adult this could be moving to a new city. This only needs to be done when there is no other ways to end it.
You see whoever has authority over you has power over you. If that authority is a positive one, it will build you up to become your best self, but if it is a negative one it can do you alot of damage. So never settle for a negative authority, not even in a relationship.

Now that you know about the concept of authority, know that the first and most important authority that you will have in your life is over yourself and the circumstances in your life. That is why it is important to know the scripures and apply them accordingly so that you can recall on The Creator’s authority when you need it. Even when you sin, because we all sin, what you need to do in that case is repent, ask for forgiveness and make sure you abide according to the rules of the scriptures; and when you do, go and pray boldly for the victory is already yours.

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