The source of spiritual authority and power is God. The activation and flowing of power and authority in our lives depends on the level of our intimacy with God. The greater the depth of our relationship with God, the greater the holiness and consecration of our lives. Spiritual authority comes from our surrender.
The time we take to spend with God reflects our desire for Him and our dependence on Him. Jesus came to demonstrate a surrendered life. Jesus said that we would do even more. “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. ” (John 14:12, NIV84)
The secret to his power was in his relationship to the Father. “So Jesus said, “I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. ” (John 8:28, NIV84) Jesus demonstrated the will of the Father to teach us, to call us, to heal us and to empower us to walk into destiny and purpose. Jesus demonstrated that the key to this power was submission to God. Jesus only said what the Father said and did what the Father did.
How did Jesus discern the Father’s will and purpose? He spent time with his Father. It seems that the more the ministry of Jesus grew, the more time he spent with his Father. “Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. ” (Luke 5:15–16, NIV84)
Great saints have also learned about the need to spend time alone with God.
“O brother, pray; in spite of Satan, pray; spend hours in prayer; rather neglect friends than not pray; rather fast, and lose breakfast, dinner, tea, and supper—and sleep too—than not pray. And we must not talk about prayer, we must pray in right earnest. The Lord is near. He comes softly while the virgin slumbers.” — Andrew A. Bonar
“Quit playing, start praying. Quit feasting, start fasting. Talk less with men, talk more with God. Listen less to men, listen to the words of God. Skip travel, start travail.” — Leonard Ravenhill
“Where there is much prayer, there will be much of the Spirit; where there is much of the Spirit, there will be ever-increasing prayer.” — Andrew Murray
“In prayer, it is better to have heart without words, than words without heart. Prayer will make a man cease from sin, or sin entice a man to cease from prayer. The spirit of prayer is more precious than treasures of gold and silver. Pray often, for prayer is a shield to the soul, a sacrifice to God, and a scourge for Satan.” — John Bunyan
What would happen if in the next few months you doubled the time you spent with the Lord? What kind of spiritual increase do you think would be possible in your life? What spiritual authority could you carry because you have spent time to learn the Father’s will?
The path to touching our world begins with us on our knees before God. The call to minister to others begins with a call from God to surrender ourselves to HIM.
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