We began this message by examining THE AUTHORITY OF OUR FAITH: WHAT IS IT SUPPOSED TO PRODUCE FOR US?. Kindly click on the link above for the article.
He did not say let there be light and the Bible did not say God was waiting for the light to appear. It said “and there was light”. Obedience was enforced. The power and the right we have is the same way God displayed His word and it became life, that became a good testimony, that became a good report because the Bible said and after God did all that He did and God looked and He saw that everything that He did was good. So God obtained a good testimony by faith, faith in the order He gave, the word He spoke so Hebrew 11 verse 1- 11 that we read, it said “the elders received a good testimony by faith”, they received a good testimony by the word and the bible says “And faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God”.
So, there is no faith outside the word and the authority of our faith is in the word. Until an order is given, until the word goes forth, obedience is not enforced. It is not just mere words it is the word of God. He didn’t say faith cometh by hearing and hearing the words of Mr. John. “Faith cometh by hearing and hearing the word of God”. Jesus said the words that I speak to you, they are Spirit and they are Life. That spiritual life called the word of God is what God speaks into situations, speaks into circumstances and He enforces obedience. Jesus, when He was tempted in the wilderness, the devil said ‘You are hungry, turn this stone into bread” and Jesus said” Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” meaning that our life is not a life of pity.
Our life is a life of authority, a life of dominion. It’s a life of rulership. We rule and reign over circumstances because we have the word and see what they said concerning Jesus in Mark 1 verse 27; He was speaking concerning Jesus, He spoke so much and he said this concerning Him and they were all amazed so that they questioned among themselves saying “What is this?” It is not “Who is this?” It is ‘What is this?” With the whole thing that happened, “what is this?” Whose doctrine is this? For with authority, he commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him. He enforces obedience on them with authority because He has the word.
The authority of our faith is in the word, when we speak the word of God, we must speak as one that has authority because the word of God is not an empty word, it is spiritual life and the bible says “This word is the word that framed the whole world.” This world that we are talking about is the one that gives life to everything we see, whether visible or invisible. The power and right for us to give orders, for us to make decisions and for us to enforce obedience is rooted in this spiritual life called the word of God. They said “He spoke as one that has authority”.
In Matthew chapter 7:29; they also spoke about Jesus because Jesus came to show us an example of the life we ought to live in God. It says: "for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. "
“For He taught them as one having authority”. It didn’t just stop there. They said “and not as the scribes”. The scribes didn’t have the word but Jesus is the word for He taught as one having authority. He has the word and not as the scribes. Are we living as one that has authority? Or we are living as the scribes and Pharisees? Are we living our lives as one that has authority or we are just living our lives as those part of the people that are counting numbers? There were so many people in the time of Jesus but it was only Jesus that this book spoke concerning that he spoke as one having authority.
Every time you see that word “authority” being used, understand that, that authority is not just empty. There is power and a right that backs up that authority and this why I know Jesus has so much authority. Matthew 28:18-19, it says:
18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
All authority, all the power and right to give orders. All the power and the right to make decisions, all the power and right to enforce obedience has been given to me and the same power and right he has given to us by his word. The authority that Jesus has he doesn’t have it just for himself, that’s why the bible makes us to understand that we are members of his body. He is the head and we are members of his body. The same blood that flows in the head is the same blood that flows in the body so the same authority that Jesus has is the same authority we enjoy as his body. We must understand our authority. We must not speak the word of God apologetically say “Em…. God said the prayers of the elders will heal the sick so as elders we are praying for you.” That word is not carrying power, you don’t believe it, you are not convinced about it.
You are not enforcing obedience. You are not giving orders. You are not making a decision that this sickness must leave today. This infirmity must leave this body today and I am giving you that order and I have made that decision by faith and you are coming out because I am enforcing obedience on you. So, it is not just to say I have faith, I believe God, I believe, I believe the word of God, I believe. It is not just through confessions, add the authority. Understand the power and the right you have. Authority is not just in words, your authority is in your power and your ability to give orders, your power and your ability to make decisions in the spirit.
See what Jesus said, John 20:23, so that we understand that this authority that we are talking about is not just something that we desire, it is something that we have been commanded to, Jesus was saying here in John 20:22- 23, it says: "And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." What is he saying here? You have the authority to forgive sins. You have the authority to retain sins. He went further to say this in Matthew 18:18: "Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
How do you bind something on earth by your word? and where do you source your own authority for your own word? From the word of God. Assuredly, I say to you, “whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven” that’s the authority you have and “whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” so Jesus has also given us authority, He said “Whatever you bind on earth is bound in heaven” Whatever you bind on earth, the word gives you the power and the right to enforce the obedience of that word even to heaven and whatever you loose on earth is loosed in heaven.
What Jesus is trying to communicate to us is that “whatever you allow”; Another translation puts it that way “Whatever you allow on earth is allowed in heaven”. “Whatever you disallow on the earth is disallowed in heaven”. That is the authority of your faith in God. So if you allow sickness to persist, it is permitted in heaven. If you refuse it, it is refused because you have the power and the right to give orders. You have the power and the right to make decisions. To decide the destinies of unclean spirits and you have the power and the right to enforce orders and in verse 19, he said “Again I say to you,” the first one he said “Assuredly”. When Jesus use the word “Assuredly”, “verily verily”, you will know that, that word is something important that he wants us to sink into our spirits.
He said again, I say to you that if two of you agree on earth, remember he is putting “jurisdiction” and what is another word we said works for authority; “Jurisdiction”. Jesus didn’t say whatever you allow on earth and heaven, he gave us jurisdiction and that’s why the bible says the heavens and the earth belongs to God but the earth he has given to the children of men. He said that whatever you agree on earth, this jurisdiction I have given you, this place that I have blessed you to have dominion over, whatsoever you agree; when you agree concerning anything, when two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by my father in heaven in his own jurisdiction. So for things to happen on the earth, for great and mighty things to happen on the earth, we have the responsibility to exercise our authority by faith, by the word of God.
I remember there was a time my husband and I were living in a place and we were just about to move to another place and we just looked at the whole house, it was empty and we started speaking. “We said we see a TV here, so and so number of inches, we see a freezer here, we see a fridge here, we see chairs.” We didn’t have any of those things. We didn’t have it. In fact, we didn’t know how it was going to happen. We just kept confessing. “We see this here, we see ourselves getting this, making this happen” and my brothers and sisters, I am saying this because I am convinced in my spirit to say it, it happened. We got the refrigerator, we got the freezer. God made it happen because we allowed it by our own words on the earth and it was allowed.
What are you allowing? What are you giving orders to? The Bible says, the world was framed by the word of God, both things that are visible and are invisible. You can enforce obedience on them. That’s the power of the word. That’s the power of your faith in God because you believe the word of God that is able to produce the good testimony. What is the good testimony you are trusting God for? Obtain it by your authority in faith. The Bible says concerning Abraham, it said he believed God, he believed. I will just like to round off with this; In 2 Corinthians 13:10, Apostle Paul exercising his authority said: "Therefore I write these things being absent, lest being present I should use sharpness, according to the authority which the Lord has given me for edification and not for destruction."
I believe you have been blessed.
