The problem is in the church we have come to a place where this cultural mindset has permeated our actions and everyone wants an equal say so authority is no longer held in honour.

In Christ we are not in the world we are in the kingdom of God.
We need to understand that the kingdom does not operate on the same principles as the world. In the kingdom God has ultimate and inherent authority. However we try to operate in the kingdom on the cultural mindset of the world rather than God’s way and so many become ineffective. As a result the provision and the protection of the kingdom that should work in our lives does not.

I like what John Bevere says in his book “Under Cover”

“ It could be likened to playing baseball in life while God is directing a football championship”

Today we may not agree with authority so we challenge it and perhaps resist it. However in doing so we accept a system that builds in us contempt for all authority. We forget the nature of the God who is walking in ultimate authority because of our limited understanding and the corruption we see in earthly authority.

In doing so we begin to deny God’s kingdom authority over our lives and His method of operating that authority.
Romans 13:1-2 make it very clear. Everyone must be subject to governing authorities because every authority comes from God. Therefore rebelling against authority is to rebel against God.
The church operates under God’s delegated authority with those He calls into that position or office. We must acknowledge God’s inherent authority so we can honour and benefit from that delegated authority.

The Will of the Father

In John 5:30 Jesus demonstrates fully the flow of authority.
His ministry on earth is to do His Father’s will or you could say to submit to His authority. Therefore Jesus has authority because he is under the Father’s authority. It is the basis of how kingdom authority works.
Jesus says He does not seek His own will but the will of the Father.

In Matthew 28:18 Jesus declares that authority is His and then He gives it to us the church under Him. We have authority in the kingdom but it is important that we recognise it is because we are under His authority. It is not a carte blanche to explode with power for its own sake. It is because we have a command to go and preach the gospel of the kingdom and we need that authority to defeat the kingdom of darkness which has the world in bondage.

Perhaps the most powerful example in scripture where a correct understanding of this delegated authority can be found is Matthew 8:5-13 with the episode of the centurion who had a sick servant. He truly understood the flow of authority. He knew he had authority in the world and he knew Jesus had spiritual authority because He was under authority and therefore sickness had to obey Jesus just as the centurion’s soldiers had to obey him. Because Jesus was submitted to authority he could command the sickness to leave with authority. Jesus understood that the centurion deeply believed that this flow of authority was enacted by a simple word of command and he called it “great faith”

If we are to operate effectively in the kingdom of God and expand the kingdom, we must catch a deep revelation of this flow of authority. With it will come a submitted heart and an increase in faith and the power of God to win this world for Jesus. We must learn it and we must act in the fulness of it