Submitting to Divine Authority

You ought to call Him and be aligned under Him so you have the authority of Him over the things that He has placed you over, because you walk as a victor and no longer as a victim. When my children were small, one of the things that I often did was give them piggyback rides. They would get on my back, and I’d crawl over the den and give them piggyback rides where they would be sitting their weight on me to carry them. Jesus Christ today would like to offer you a piggyback ride.

He wants to offer you the opportunity to piggyback on His authority. The passage that I have just read to you is unique. Everything about Jesus’ life and ministry is special, but Luke 7, verses 1-10 is unique. Why do I say that? Because according to verse 9, after He has the conversation with the centurion, it says when Jesus heard this, He marveled at Him. Let’s set the scene. There is a centurion. A centurion was a mid-level officer in the Roman army who oversaw 100 soldiers. He oversaw 100 soldiers in a legion of 6,000 soldiers.

So the legion, the Roman legion, had 6,000, and he was responsible for 100 of those 6,000, much like a captain or maybe a major in our army. He had a servant who got ill, he got sick and was about to die. It says that the centurion heard about Jesus. Word had gotten out that this Jesus is something else. The blind sea, the lame walk, the dumb talk. I mean, it’s just this Jesus is blowing folks’ minds with what He’s doing. So He sends a couple of Jewish leaders to ask Jesus to come and save his servant who’s about to die.

Now that’s unusual within itself, because the Jews hated the Romans. But this Roman was cut in different cloth because the Jewish leader said he loves our nation and he even went into his pocket to build our synagogue. This guy is different. There’s a great lesson there, and that is just don’t judge people because they belong to a certain group. So Jesus is now on His way to the centurion’s house who has made a prayer request. Save my servant’s life. So far so good. Jesus is on His way. He’s gotten the prayer request.

Looks like the answer is on the way. However, before Jesus gets to the house, the centurion sends the message. He says at the end of verse 6, He sends some of his friends and says, tell Jesus don’t come any closer. I’m not worthy. So one of the things we need to note as we get into this is this centurion. He may have had a lot of money, may have had a lot of clout, but in the presence of Jesus, he wasn’t nobody. The centurion says, he says I’m not worthy, verse 7, but just say the word and my servant will be healed.

Say what? Just you don’t have to come. Just talk from a distance and it’ll be equal to you coming because your words will heal my servant. And that’s the scene. So far so good, but let me show you what blows Jesus’ mind. What makes him marvel with shock and awe. It’s what the centurion says next that is at the heart of our sermon today. And that gives you and me a transformation approach to getting God to move in your circumstances and mine. The key to this whole story is verse 8. I need to read it again.

Verse 8. For I also am a man placed under authority, with soldiers under me, and I say to and he goes, and to another come, and he comes, and to my slave do this, and he does it. Now when Jesus heard this, he marveled. I am also a man under authority. Let’s back up to one word, also. I am also a man under authority. When you use the word also, you mean something else. I am like something else, or in this case, I’m like someone else. I am also a man under authority.

Well, who is he talking to, and who is he talking about? He’s talking about Jesus. He says, Jesus, I’m like you. I am just like you. I am a man under authority. Why does he say that? Word has gotten out about Jesus doing all these miracles. You are under authority. Jesus Christ, in his humanity, operated not by virtue of his deity, but by virtue of his submission. Jesus says in chapter 5 of John verse 19, these words, therefore Jesus answered and said unto them, truly, truly I say to you, the son can do nothing of himself unless it is something he sees the father doing.

For whatever the father does, these things the son also does in like manner. For the father loves the son and shows him all the things that he himself is doing. And the father will show him greater works than these so that you may catch this word, marvel. You cannot exercise legitimate authority over what you are supposed to be over unless you learn to be under what God has put over you. If you’re not under what God has put under you, you can’t ask God to help you to deal with stuff that’s underneath you.

If you are out of alignment with that which is legitimately supposed to be over you, you lose heaven’s authority to be able to boss situations that’s supposed to be under you. The point is, you cannot have authority over until and unless you are submitted under. And because most people do not understand this theological principle of authority, prayers don’t get answered, victory doesn’t get achieved, power doesn’t get recognized, changes are not made in spite of prayers being prayed. Because the prayers are being prayed out of alignment, that we’re not properly under what we should be under, or we’re not properly over what we ought to be over, or both.

And once you are misaligned in God’s kingdom program, what you have done is cut the cord of the transfer of authority. In Luke chapter 9 verse 1, we read this verse, and he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all the demons and to heal diseases. Guess how they got authority? He gave it. He gave it so they had it. They had it over the very things that were trying to have them. Many of us have things that we are trying to have, trying to own us, control us, dictate to us.

But because Jesus gave it, they had it, and because they had it, they could use it. Alignment is the key to not only answering prayer, but spiritual authority. Seeing heaven comes down into history, seeing heaven transform history, and putting the devil under your feet, instead of him boxing your head. He knew Jesus’ access to God. Jesus said, all authority is given to me in heaven and on earth, Matthew 2818. All authority. I’m in charge now. So, the alignment to Jesus Christ is critical if you want heaven to join you in history.

Thank you for joining us in this exploration of submitting to divine authority. Until next time, remember to keep the faith, stay strong, and continue to shine your light in the world. To hear these daily devotions of your daily bread, please log on to goddessgovernment.com. Goodbye, and may your faith always lead the way. [tr:trw].