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Prayer Unfiltered: Do Christians Have the Same Authority as Jesus? (Part 2) · The Father's Business Podcast

0:00
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to scare people, but I also don't want to pretend this is not serious.
0:04
SPEAKER_01: Spiritual warfare is not a game.
0:07
SPEAKER_01: The unseen realm is real.
0:09
SPEAKER_01: The battle is real.
0:11
SPEAKER_01: Authority is real.
0:12
SPEAKER_01: Order is real.
0:13
SPEAKER_01: Zeal without submission is dangerous.
0:16
SPEAKER_01: And it can lead to harm and backlash, and it can open doors God never asked us to open.
0:27
SPEAKER_01: Hey friends, I'm Kimberly.
0:30
SPEAKER_01: And I'm Elizabeth, and this is the Father's Business Podcast, born out of Sylvia Gunter's heart for people to know who God is and who they are in him.
0:38
SPEAKER_00: So wherever you're listening from today, we pray that you will sense his nearness and know that you are his beloved sons and daughters.
0:46
SPEAKER_00: We're really glad you're here with us today.
0:50
SPEAKER_01: Welcome back, friends.
0:52
SPEAKER_01: This is part two of the conversation we started in our last episode about submitted authority and spiritual warfare.
0:57
SPEAKER_01: If you have not listened to it, I would encourage you to do so before listening to this one because it laid the foundation for this conversation.
1:04
SPEAKER_01: Kimberly is still celebrating graduation with her family, and I'm so glad she's able to do that.
1:09
SPEAKER_01: So let's jump in.
1:10
SPEAKER_01: Last time I answered a listener's question about Jude 9, Luke 10, and why I often pray the Lord rebuke you instead of addressing things by name.
1:19
SPEAKER_01: The heart of it was believers do have authority in Christ, but our authority is delegated.
1:24
SPEAKER_01: It's strongest when it's most submitted to him.
1:26
SPEAKER_01: And so today I want us to keep going talking about what submitted authority actually looks like.
1:31
SPEAKER_01: Not only from a theological perspective, but from a practical one, as covenant sons and daughters of God most high, what does that even look like?
1:38
SPEAKER_01: So part of the email that sparked this conversation said, Don't I have the same authority as Christ?
1:44
SPEAKER_01: And I understand what they mean.
1:45
SPEAKER_01: We are in Christ, we are seated with him, we are co-heirs.
1:49
SPEAKER_01: That is all gloriously true.
1:50
SPEAKER_01: But then we have to look at Jesus Himself.
1:53
SPEAKER_01: Hebrews 2 said Jesus was made a little lower than the angels.
1:57
SPEAKER_01: That is talking about his incarnation.
1:59
SPEAKER_01: The eternal Son of God took on human flesh and humbled himself.
2:03
SPEAKER_01: Philippians 2 says Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking on the form of a servant.
2:13
SPEAKER_01: So Jesus never stopped being God.
2:15
SPEAKER_01: He was fully God and fully man, but in his humanity he lived in a perfect submission to his father.
2:21
SPEAKER_01: He said in John 5, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees his father doing.
2:27
SPEAKER_01: He said in John 8, I do as the Father has commanded me.
2:31
SPEAKER_01: In Gethsemane, when he was praying, not my will but yours be done.
2:35
SPEAKER_01: So every part we see about Jesus is that he had all authority, and yet in his earthly life he exercised authority through perfect submission to the Father.
2:45
SPEAKER_01: He did not act independently from his father, he did not use power to prove himself, he did not wield authority for show.
2:51
SPEAKER_01: He only did what he saw the Father doing.
2:54
SPEAKER_01: So if Jesus in his earthly ministry was full of humility, obedience, and dependence on the Father, then how could we ever imagine that our authority would be expressed differently?
3:04
SPEAKER_01: We do not have more authority than Christ.
3:06
SPEAKER_01: The example he gave for us is that true authority is submitted authority, as he was submitted to his father.
3:12
SPEAKER_01: So Jesus is not only the one who gives us authority, he showed us how to do it perfectly aligned with the Father.
3:18
SPEAKER_01: So if my authority starts looking like arrogance, mocking, taunting, self-confidence, or spiritual swagger, then I need to stop and ask, is this actually the way of Jesus?
3:30
SPEAKER_01: There's another story that I think can help us see this clearly.
3:33
SPEAKER_01: It's the story of the centurion.
3:34
SPEAKER_01: It's in Matthew 8 and Luke 7.
3:37
SPEAKER_01: You'll remember the centurion comes to Jesus because the servant is sick, and he says, Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but you just say the word and my servant will be healed, for I too am a man under authority.
3:50
SPEAKER_01: With soldiers under me, I say to one, go and he goes, to another come and he comes.
3:55
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus marveled at him and he said, He has not found such a great of a faith in anyone.
4:02
SPEAKER_01: And that phrase under authority matters.
4:04
SPEAKER_01: The centurion understood that authority comes from being rightly aligned.
4:09
SPEAKER_01: He had authority over soldiers because he himself was under authority.
4:14
SPEAKER_01: He gave commands because he represented a kingdom and an order greater than himself.
4:19
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus marvels at his faith.
4:21
SPEAKER_01: And that is such a powerful picture of spiritual warfare.
4:26
SPEAKER_01: We do not stand in authority because we are impressive.
4:29
SPEAKER_01: We do not command because we are self-confident.
4:32
SPEAKER_01: We pray and obey because we are aligned with the king.
4:35
SPEAKER_01: The centurion did not say, I am a man with authority.
4:39
SPEAKER_01: He said, I am a man under authority, and Jesus called that faith.
4:44
SPEAKER_01: That is why James 4 7 is so important.
4:46
SPEAKER_01: Submit yourselves therefore to God.
4:48
SPEAKER_01: Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
4:51
SPEAKER_01: Submission comes first.
4:52
SPEAKER_01: Resistance flows from submission, and I do not think that order is incidental.
4:57
SPEAKER_01: We resist from a place of submission.
4:59
SPEAKER_01: We stand because we're under authority.
5:02
SPEAKER_01: We push back darkness because we're aligned with the light.
5:06
SPEAKER_01: We speak in Jesus' name because we are surrendered to his lordship.
5:10
SPEAKER_01: If I skip submission and jump straight to resistance, I may not be standing in authority.
5:16
SPEAKER_01: Passion is not the same thing as authority.
5:19
SPEAKER_01: Fervor is not the same thing as maturity.
5:21
SPEAKER_01: Boldness is not the same thing as assignment.
5:25
SPEAKER_01: I can be passionate and still be out of order.
5:27
SPEAKER_01: I can be zealous and still step beyond what God has told me to fight.
5:32
SPEAKER_01: And I need us to feel the weight of that because my concern is not simply theological accuracy, although that matters.
5:39
SPEAKER_01: It is love and care.
5:40
SPEAKER_01: It's for people who are zealous for God, but who are opening themselves up to harm because they are stepping out of rightful authority.
5:47
SPEAKER_01: And I don't want to scare people, but I also don't want to pretend this is not serious.
5:52
SPEAKER_01: Spiritual warfare is not a game.
5:55
SPEAKER_01: The unseen realm is real.
5:57
SPEAKER_01: The battle is real.
5:59
SPEAKER_01: Authority is real.
6:00
SPEAKER_01: Order is real.
6:02
SPEAKER_01: Consequences can be real.
6:04
SPEAKER_01: And when I talk about caution, I'm not trying to dampen anyone's passion for Jesus.
6:09
SPEAKER_01: I'm trying to help our passion stay under his lordship and authority.
6:14
SPEAKER_01: Because zeal without submission is dangerous and it can lead to harm and backlash, and it can open doors God never asked us to open.
6:24
SPEAKER_01: So please hear me.
6:26
SPEAKER_01: I am not saying that suffering means you did something wrong.
6:30
SPEAKER_01: And I am not saying that everything negative in our lives is backlash.
6:35
SPEAKER_01: But I've also seen enough, both in scripture and in life, to know that spiritual things are serious.
6:40
SPEAKER_01: And I know stories of people who stepped into spiritual battles arrogantly or outside of rightful authority, and the backlash was devastating.
6:49
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes it's financial ruin.
6:51
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes it's deep depression.
6:53
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes it is strange physical illnesses that have no explanation.
6:58
SPEAKER_01: It can be confusion.
7:00
SPEAKER_01: It can be oppression.
7:02
SPEAKER_01: It can be a heavy feeling that just won't go away or torment.
7:06
SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of things that can show up as backlash in our life.
7:10
SPEAKER_01: And again, I don't build doctrine on stories or experiences.
7:14
SPEAKER_01: Scripture is our authority.
7:16
SPEAKER_01: But when our lived experiences, my lived experiences, line up with warnings that are already present in Scripture, wisdom says that we should pay attention.
7:25
SPEAKER_01: So I want to be careful here, because I don't want to create fear.
7:29
SPEAKER_01: And I never want to create just a simplistic formula when it comes to how God operates, because there is nothing simple about him.
7:38
SPEAKER_01: So not every hardship is spiritual backlash, not every sickness, financial loss, depression, whatever is because we prayed wrong or we stepped outside of authority, but because we live in a broken world.
7:49
SPEAKER_01: Bodies get sick, people suffer, righteous people suffer, Job suffered, Paul suffered, Jesus suffered, everybody suffers.
7:57
SPEAKER_01: And at the same time, Scripture does warn us.
8:01
SPEAKER_01: Jude warned us about people who slander what they don't understand.
8:05
SPEAKER_01: James tells us to submit first and then resist.
8:08
SPEAKER_01: And Ephesians tells us to be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might, not ours.
8:14
SPEAKER_01: Jesus tells us to abide in him because apart from him we can do nothing.
8:20
SPEAKER_01: So this is not superstition.
8:22
SPEAKER_01: It's order.
8:23
SPEAKER_01: God's kingdom has order.
8:26
SPEAKER_01: Their unseen realm has order.
8:29
SPEAKER_01: Submission matters.
8:30
SPEAKER_01: And I want you to hear my heart in this.
8:31
SPEAKER_01: I'm not saying this because I want anyone to be afraid.
8:34
SPEAKER_01: I'm saying this because I care.
8:35
SPEAKER_01: I care about the person who loves God deeply, hears a passionate teaching about spiritual warfare, and then goes home and starts yelling at beings without asking the Lord, what is my part?
8:45
SPEAKER_01: I care about the intercessor who carries a genuine burden but begins to take on assignments that God did not give them.
8:52
SPEAKER_01: I care about the young believer who mistakes volume for authority.
8:56
SPEAKER_01: I care about the weary mom who starts trying to fight every battle herself instead of running under the shelter of the most high God when it comes to her family.
9:07
SPEAKER_01: I care about the person who thinks if I'm really bold, I should mock the enemy when scripture actually calls us to submit to God, resist the devil, stand firm, and keep our eyes on Jesus.
9:17
SPEAKER_01: This is not about making people timid and it's not about keeping people quiet.
9:22
SPEAKER_01: It's about keeping people rightly aligned because alignment is protection.
9:27
SPEAKER_01: One passage that comes to mind here is Acts 19.
9:30
SPEAKER_01: It's the Sons of Skeva.
9:31
SPEAKER_01: It's not a very well-known passage, but it shows us the danger of trying to use the language of Jesus' authority without being rightly submitted to Jesus' Lordship.
9:40
SPEAKER_01: In that passage, in Acts 19, we're introduced to the Sons of Skiva.
9:44
SPEAKER_01: They saw the authority Paul carried in the name of Jesus, and they tried to use that name as a formula.
9:51
SPEAKER_01: And this is very important because there are a lot of teachers out there that might want to teach you a formula.
9:57
SPEAKER_01: They were not submitted to Jesus' Lord.
9:59
SPEAKER_01: They were borrowing spiritual language from Paul's ministry.
10:03
SPEAKER_01: It says in Acts, they said to an evil spirit, in the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.
10:11
SPEAKER_01: And the response, guys, is chilling.
10:14
SPEAKER_01: The evil spirit said, Jesus, I know.
10:17
SPEAKER_01: Paul, I know about, but who are you?
10:21
SPEAKER_01: If that happened to me, I would completely freak out.
10:23
SPEAKER_01: The man with the evil spirit overpowers them and they run away wounded and exposed.
10:28
SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh, I would just completely lose it if this happened to me.
10:32
SPEAKER_01: They were using the right name, but they were not rightly related to the one whose name they were using.
10:38
SPEAKER_01: They had language, but not understanding.
10:41
SPEAKER_01: And they were trying to operate in borrowed authority and it brought harm instead of freedom to them.
10:48
SPEAKER_01: They were trying to operate in borrowed language without a surrendered relationship to Jesus.
10:55
SPEAKER_01: So when Jesus says in Luke 10, nothing will harm you, I do not hear that as permission for self-directed spiritual warfare.
11:03
SPEAKER_01: That is not a blank check for you to go do whatever you want to do, and nothing's gonna harm you.
11:07
SPEAKER_01: The protection of Jesus is not separate from submission to him.
11:12
SPEAKER_01: And we cannot treat spiritual authority like a technique.
11:15
SPEAKER_01: And we cannot choose which battles we're gonna fight.
11:19
SPEAKER_01: We cannot copy someone else's language and assume we carry their assignment.
11:25
SPEAKER_01: Another passage that also sobers me is Acts 12.
11:29
SPEAKER_01: Herod is standing in a place of human authority, and the people began crying out, the voice of God and not of a man.
11:35
SPEAKER_01: And Herod received that glory to himself instead of giving glory to God.
11:39
SPEAKER_01: Scripture says that immediately an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give God the glory.
11:45
SPEAKER_01: Now that is not the same kind of spiritual warfare passage as Jude 9 or Acts 19, but it reveals something very important.
11:52
SPEAKER_01: God takes authority seriously.
11:54
SPEAKER_01: Authority is never meant to draw glory to us.
11:57
SPEAKER_01: Authority is never meant to make us look powerful.
12:00
SPEAKER_01: Authority is always meant to serve the purpose of God and give glory back to Him.
12:06
SPEAKER_01: When authority gets disconnected from humility and submission, the glory of God is diminished and it becomes dangerous.
12:14
SPEAKER_01: And that is part of what I'm trying to say in this whole conversation.
12:18
SPEAKER_01: I'm not trying to scare you or make you timid.
12:20
SPEAKER_01: I'm trying to keep us rightly ordered.
12:22
SPEAKER_01: And I want to connect this back to Luke 10 for a moment.
12:26
SPEAKER_01: And Luke 10 just sent out the 72.
12:29
SPEAKER_01: They returned with joy, saying, Lord, even the demons submitted to us in your name.
12:34
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus affirms that he'd given them authority over all the powers of the enemy and says that nothing will harm them.
12:39
SPEAKER_01: Remember, we talked about this last week in the last podcast.
12:42
SPEAKER_01: That is real authority and that is real protection.
12:45
SPEAKER_01: And I believe that concept.
12:47
SPEAKER_01: But Luke 10 was about a specific group of people that were sent by Jesus under Jesus' instruction, carrying out Jesus' authority, doing Jesus' work in Jesus' name for a specific assignment he gave to them.
13:04
SPEAKER_01: The context matters.
13:07
SPEAKER_01: Nothing will harm you is a promise connected to a submitted mission assigned to you by God.
13:15
SPEAKER_01: It is not permission to become reckless, arrogant, or self-directed in the unseen realm.
13:21
SPEAKER_01: Authority in the kingdom is real, but it's never independent from God.
13:25
SPEAKER_01: Let's go back to Ephesians 6, one of our most famous spiritual warfare passages.
13:29
SPEAKER_01: Paul says, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.
13:33
SPEAKER_01: Not strong in your personality, not strong in your volume, not strong in your spiritual vocabulary, in your ability to identify different types of demons, in your courage, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.
13:47
SPEAKER_01: Then Paul says to put on the whole armor of God so that we can stand against the schemes of the devil.
13:53
SPEAKER_01: So we are in a battle, and this is real.
13:56
SPEAKER_01: So I am also not dismissing at all spiritual warfare.
14:00
SPEAKER_01: And over and over in that passage, the command comes to stand, having all that you have done stand.
14:07
SPEAKER_01: And the armor of God is God's armor.
14:10
SPEAKER_01: Listen to it.
14:12
SPEAKER_01: The belt of truth is his truth.
14:14
SPEAKER_01: The breastplate of righteousness is the righteousness we have in Christ.
14:18
SPEAKER_01: The shoes of the gospel peace, it's his gospel.
14:20
SPEAKER_01: The shield of faith, it's faith in him.
14:23
SPEAKER_01: The helmet of salvation is his salvation.
14:25
SPEAKER_01: The sword of the spirit is the word of God, praying at all times in the spirit.
14:29
SPEAKER_01: Notice how God-centered the armor is.
14:32
SPEAKER_01: Ephesians 6 is not calling us to put on the armor so we can go swagger out as a sharp shooter taking shots for Jesus.
14:40
SPEAKER_01: It is calling us to stand.
14:42
SPEAKER_01: And there is a world of difference.
14:44
SPEAKER_01: Swagger says, I know exactly what I'm dealing with.
14:47
SPEAKER_01: Swagger talks too much to the enemy.
14:50
SPEAKER_01: Swagger is easily intoxicated with the power of it.
14:54
SPEAKER_01: And it's so easy to do that.
14:56
SPEAKER_01: Standing keeps our eyes fixed on Jesus.
14:59
SPEAKER_01: So let's be people who stand and not swagger.
15:02
SPEAKER_01: Now there may be times when the Holy Spirit clearly says to you, in the name of Jesus Christ, this must stop.
15:08
SPEAKER_01: But even then the posture matters.
15:10
SPEAKER_01: Am I under authority?
15:11
SPEAKER_01: Am I aligned with Scripture?
15:13
SPEAKER_01: Am I following the Spirit's leading?
15:15
SPEAKER_01: Am I walking in humility?
15:16
SPEAKER_01: Am I staying within my assignment?
15:19
SPEAKER_01: Am I keeping Jesus at the center?
15:21
SPEAKER_01: And that is why I often prefer to pray, the Lord, rebuke what is not of God.
15:28
SPEAKER_01: Or Father, push back anything that's coming against this person.
15:31
SPEAKER_01: Or Jesus cover this place with your authority.
15:34
SPEAKER_01: Or Holy Spirit reveal what needs to be revealed and remove what needs to be removed.
15:39
SPEAKER_01: It's about learning the difference between holy boldness and presumption.
15:44
SPEAKER_01: Holy boldness says, I belong to Jesus.
15:47
SPEAKER_01: I stand in him.
15:48
SPEAKER_01: I submit to God.
15:50
SPEAKER_01: I resist the devil, and he will flee from me.
15:53
SPEAKER_01: Lord, show me my part.
15:55
SPEAKER_01: Your kingdom come, your will be done.
15:57
SPEAKER_01: Presumption says, I understand this realm.
16:00
SPEAKER_01: I'm mature in my faith in Jesus.
16:02
SPEAKER_01: I can command whatever I want because all power has been given to me.
16:06
SPEAKER_01: I can stand in any battle.
16:07
SPEAKER_01: I can use spiritual authority however I choose.
16:11
SPEAKER_01: Those are not the same spirit.
16:14
SPEAKER_01: Holy boldness is rooted in humility.
16:17
SPEAKER_01: Presumption is rooted in self-confidence.
16:20
SPEAKER_01: Holy boldness asks, Lord, what are you doing?
16:23
SPEAKER_01: Presumption assumes I already know what to do.
16:26
SPEAKER_01: Holy boldness is Christ-centered.
16:29
SPEAKER_01: Presumption often focuses far too much on the enemy.
16:32
SPEAKER_01: And that is where things become dangerous because sometimes people hear caution as fear, but I'm not describing fear.
16:40
SPEAKER_01: It's reverence.
16:41
SPEAKER_01: I'm not afraid of the enemy, but I do fear the Lord.
16:44
SPEAKER_01: And the fear of the Lord teaches me not to handle spiritual realities casually.
16:50
SPEAKER_01: It teaches me to ask Father, what is mine to do?
16:53
SPEAKER_01: It teaches me to stay under his authority, and it teaches me to use the name of Jesus with reverence, and it teaches me to keep my eyes on Christ, and it teaches me not to become fascinated with darkness.
17:05
SPEAKER_01: That's a tricky one sometimes, because you can become fascinated with darkness.
17:10
SPEAKER_01: Some of you may be taught to pray in a very aggressive way in the denominations that you grew up in.
17:16
SPEAKER_01: You may have been taught to speak directly to the enemy, to command principalities, to name spirits, to bind things, to loose things, to make declarations, or to take authority over regions, bloodlines, assignments, generations, all of these things.
17:31
SPEAKER_01: And I want to be clear, I'm not saying there's never a time or place for some of those prayers.
17:37
SPEAKER_01: I've prayed them and I've been led to pray them.
17:39
SPEAKER_01: There may be moments when the Holy Spirit leads with great clarity.
17:43
SPEAKER_01: There may be moments where something truly needs to be confronted directly in the name of Jesus.
17:49
SPEAKER_01: There may be moments when we need to renounce, resist, declare truth, and stand firmly against what is evil.
17:55
SPEAKER_01: So I'm not trying to flatten all of spiritual warfare down to one phrase.
17:59
SPEAKER_01: If I am, we're in trouble because there's two large sections on warfare in our books.
18:04
SPEAKER_01: If it's just one phrase, it just needs to be one page, right?
18:07
SPEAKER_01: But I'm asking us to bring all of it back under the Lordship of Jesus because the issue is not simply whether a prayer sounds bold.
18:15
SPEAKER_01: The issue is whether it's submitted, spirit-led, biblically grounded, and aligned with the heart of the Father.
18:21
SPEAKER_01: And I'm not here to shame anyone.
18:23
SPEAKER_01: If I look back on earlier seasons of my life, I would probably phrase a lot of things differently than the way I prayed them.
18:30
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I kind of cringe to think of some of the things I prayed in my younger, zealous self.
18:35
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes it came from love or desperation or wanting to protect someone, sometimes it came from zeal.
18:40
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes it just came from lack of knowledge, and sometimes it came from teaching that I trusted that was not biblically based.
18:48
SPEAKER_01: So this is not about condemnation or shame.
18:50
SPEAKER_01: This is about an invitation to maturity.
18:54
SPEAKER_01: It's okay to grow in how we pray.
18:57
SPEAKER_01: Just like we have to learn to speak English or whatever our native tongue is, we learn how to speak it better over time.
19:05
SPEAKER_01: It's okay to say to Jesus, purify the way I engage in spiritual warfare.
19:10
SPEAKER_01: It's okay to say, Holy Spirit, teach me the difference between boldness and presumption.
19:15
SPEAKER_01: It's okay to ask, Father, is this mine to address directly?
19:19
SPEAKER_01: Or is this something I need to place into your hands and just stand firm?
19:24
SPEAKER_01: And if you are realizing I may have stepped into things I did not understand, please do not panic.
19:30
SPEAKER_01: It is okay.
19:32
SPEAKER_01: All you have to do is run to Jesus, submit to God, confess anything he brings to your mind, renounce any agreements made with darkness, ask him to cleanse you and close any door that you opened knowingly or unknowingly, and allow the fullness of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to cleanse you and cover you and bring you back under the shelter of his wing.
19:56
SPEAKER_01: And then ask him to teach you his order.
19:59
SPEAKER_01: He is merciful and kind.
20:01
SPEAKER_01: He is not waiting to condemn you because you did something wrong.
20:05
SPEAKER_01: He is inviting you back under his wing, under the shelter of the Most High, which is the absolute safest place to pray from.
20:14
SPEAKER_01: Get under his covering, which is not a place of weakness.
20:17
SPEAKER_01: It is a place of enormous safety and clarity and true authority.
20:23
SPEAKER_01: I also want to speak to those of you that might feel afraid and be like, I no, thank you.
20:27
SPEAKER_01: I'll let other people do the spiritual warfare prayer because I don't want to open a door.
20:30
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to step out of authority.
20:32
SPEAKER_01: I don't, I don't need any backlash in my life.
20:34
SPEAKER_01: I hear you.
20:34
SPEAKER_01: I'm right there with you.
20:36
SPEAKER_01: But I want to say to you, Jesus is here.
20:38
SPEAKER_01: He has already won the victory.
20:40
SPEAKER_01: You do not have to run to fear.
20:42
SPEAKER_01: You can run into submission and you can say, Jesus, I belong to you.
20:46
SPEAKER_01: I submit myself to you.
20:47
SPEAKER_01: Teach me how to stand.
20:49
SPEAKER_01: Teach me how to pray.
20:50
SPEAKER_01: Teach me how to resist the enemy in a way that honors you.
20:54
SPEAKER_01: The safest place in spiritual warfare is not silence.
20:57
SPEAKER_01: The safest place is submission to him, standing in his strength.
21:01
SPEAKER_01: So we're going to end this podcast with some practical prayer language, just some modeling of how I would pray from a place of authority.
21:07
SPEAKER_01: But before I do that, I want to make sure that we are not just cautioning you against presumption, but we're encouraging you to stand in your full authority.
21:15
SPEAKER_01: There's a phrase we use around the Father's business a lot.
21:18
SPEAKER_01: I'm a covenant daughter of God most high and I am on kingdom business.
21:21
SPEAKER_01: So for the men, I'm a covenant son of God most high and I am on kingdom business.
21:25
SPEAKER_01: That is identity, that is belonging, that is authority.
21:29
SPEAKER_01: And there is another part of that that is often implied, but sometimes I say it out loud.
21:34
SPEAKER_01: I'm a covenant daughter of God most high.
21:36
SPEAKER_01: I am on kingdom business, and God is entirely responsible for me.
21:41
SPEAKER_01: If I am his covenant daughter and if I'm on kingdom business, then I'm not standing alone.
21:46
SPEAKER_01: I'm not acting independently.
21:47
SPEAKER_01: I'm not trying to make something happen in my own strength.
21:50
SPEAKER_01: I'm standing under his authority and his care.
21:52
SPEAKER_01: That phrase is not spiritual swagger.
21:55
SPEAKER_01: It's not me saying, look how powerful I am.
21:58
SPEAKER_01: Look, it's me saying, look who I am.
22:00
SPEAKER_01: Whose I am.
22:01
SPEAKER_01: It is putting the focus back on God.
22:04
SPEAKER_01: And, you know, we sell t-shirts and mugs on our website that say I'm a covenant daughter of God most high and I'm on kingdom business, or I'm a covenant son of God most high and I'm on kingdom business.
22:14
SPEAKER_01: And one of the main reasons we sell it is because I need to be reminded of it.
22:17
SPEAKER_01: And so there are days when I need to look down at my shirt and just be able to read it right there or look at my coffee mug or my sticker.
22:24
SPEAKER_01: Now the shirt has no power.
22:25
SPEAKER_01: Please hear me.
22:26
SPEAKER_01: The shirts are not anointed cotton and putting on the shirt does nothing for you.
22:30
SPEAKER_01: It's the truth that matters.
22:32
SPEAKER_01: But sometimes we need to be reminded.
22:34
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes we got to preach to ourselves.
22:36
SPEAKER_01: So whatever helps me get back into agreement with who God says I am, that's what I'm going to do.
22:42
SPEAKER_01: Because darkness is going to press in and try to tell me I'm less than.
22:47
SPEAKER_01: And when it does, I'm able to say I'm a covenant daughter of God most high.
22:52
SPEAKER_01: I'm on kingdom business, and God is entirely responsible for me.
22:56
SPEAKER_01: And that pushes back darkness because it agrees with heaven.
23:00
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't exalt me.
23:01
SPEAKER_01: It exalts the God I belong to.
23:03
SPEAKER_01: And it does not make me free to make my own choices.
23:06
SPEAKER_01: It says I'm choosing to be under his authority with his assignments and his protection and his care.
23:13
SPEAKER_01: That's the kind of authority we want to walk in, not presumption and swagger, but covenant confidence that we belong to God, we are sent by God, we are held by God, we are guarded by God, and we stand under his complete authority and care.
23:29
SPEAKER_01: So as we learn that is who we are, then we begin to pray from that place.
23:36
SPEAKER_01: I think that's what submit to God means first.
23:39
SPEAKER_01: I want to mention something to you that we shared on an audio podcast in November of 2022 when Kimberly and I had a conversation with my mom, Sylvia Gunner, on spiritual warfare.
23:48
SPEAKER_01: One of the teachings that mom and I have used for the years in spiritual warfare is the idea that we want to pray to the fullness of our authority, but we do not want to pray beyond it.
23:57
SPEAKER_01: That is the whole idea we've been talking about last week and this week about submitted authority based on our identity in Christ.
24:03
SPEAKER_01: And that matters because sometimes when we talk about standing firm, it can feel passive.
24:08
SPEAKER_01: But it was military language.
24:09
SPEAKER_01: It was put on the armor, stand, withhold, hold your ground.
24:13
SPEAKER_01: This isn't for wimps, people.
24:15
SPEAKER_01: There is strength required to remain standing firm.
24:19
SPEAKER_01: And standing firm doesn't mean you don't do anything.
24:21
SPEAKER_01: It's refusing to move from the place that Christ has placed you.
24:25
SPEAKER_01: And for you stand in the truth of who he is.
24:28
SPEAKER_01: And you say the Lord rebuke you if you need to.
24:31
SPEAKER_01: That is warfare.
24:32
SPEAKER_01: But there's an order to it, and we don't chase every shadow, and we don't spend all of our energy chasing the enemy, trying to identify every demon.
24:40
SPEAKER_01: Honestly, I think the enemy is perfectly happy to distract us with that.
24:44
SPEAKER_01: If he can get us our eyes off of Jesus and focused on the darkness, then we lose some of our strength and our ability and our authority because we're no longer focused on him.
24:53
SPEAKER_01: So there's a Hebrew word called pagah.
24:56
SPEAKER_01: That means to touch as far as.
24:59
SPEAKER_01: It's a word used for boundaries in the Bible.
25:02
SPEAKER_01: You know, so-and-so's land went to the paga of his territory.
25:07
SPEAKER_01: So in prayer, we don't want to pray less than the authority that God has given us, but we don't want to go farther than the boundary that God has established for our authority.
25:17
SPEAKER_01: So in prayer, I can pray.
25:19
SPEAKER_01: Lord, I am not praying this from my own desires or understanding.
25:23
SPEAKER_01: I'm praying as far as the paga of my righteous boundaries in you.
25:28
SPEAKER_01: That keeps me from praying too small, but also keeps me from praying beyond my delegated authority.
25:34
SPEAKER_01: Because sometimes we do pray too small.
25:36
SPEAKER_01: We back away from the authority that God has actually given us.
25:39
SPEAKER_01: We forget who we are in Christ.
25:40
SPEAKER_01: We forget we are covenant sons and daughters of God most high.
25:43
SPEAKER_01: We forget that we're on kingdom business.
25:45
SPEAKER_01: But sometimes we pray beyond what God has assigned us.
25:48
SPEAKER_01: We step into territory that is not ours.
25:51
SPEAKER_01: We name things that He has not told us to name.
25:54
SPEAKER_01: We command things that He has not told us to command, and we take responsibility for things that are not ours to carry.
26:00
SPEAKER_01: So Pagah gives me language for that middle place.
26:04
SPEAKER_01: Father, allow me to push back everything that is not of you to the Pagah, to the righteous boundary you have given me in this situation.
26:14
SPEAKER_01: I don't know where the boundary is.
26:16
SPEAKER_01: I also don't know what needs to be rebuked, healed, established in your kingdom purposes, but I ask you for the fullness of the authority you have given to me to be expressed in this place.
26:28
SPEAKER_01: So it's fully standing, fully submitted, fully confident in God, and fully aware that authority is safest and strongest when it stays within the boundaries of my assignment.
26:41
SPEAKER_01: So what are some practical prayers that we can pray that fit that?
26:45
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna give you some examples.
26:46
SPEAKER_01: These are not magic words, and just like we said earlier, I don't want you to copy my language just to copy my language, but this is the heart of it.
26:53
SPEAKER_01: Father, I submit myself to you.
26:55
SPEAKER_01: I resist the enemy in Jesus' name.
26:57
SPEAKER_01: Lord Jesus, exercise your authority over this situation.
27:00
SPEAKER_01: Father, push back anything that is not of you to the full paga of my authority.
27:05
SPEAKER_01: The Lord rebuke anything that is coming against me that is not part of your will, your purpose, and your peace.
27:11
SPEAKER_01: Father, close every door I have opened, knowingly or unknowingly, that does not belong to you.
27:17
SPEAKER_01: Jesus, let the power of your crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, your name, your authority, your victory cover this person, this home, this ministry, this family, whatever I'm praying about.
27:26
SPEAKER_01: God, send your angels according to your command.
27:29
SPEAKER_01: Lord, align me with your order, keep me humble, keep me under the shelter of the Most High.
27:35
SPEAKER_01: In the name of Jesus, let every work that's not of him be cut off according to your will.
27:40
SPEAKER_01: Your kingdom come, your will be done.
27:42
SPEAKER_01: And here's another kind of prayer I've come to love.
27:44
SPEAKER_01: Father, I do not know everything happening here, but you do.
27:47
SPEAKER_01: So I ask you to rebuke what needs to be rebuked, heal what needs to be healed, expose what needs to be exposed, comfort what needs to be comfort, and remove what needs to be removed, restoring what needs to be restored.
27:59
SPEAKER_01: That prayer gives God room to be God.
28:01
SPEAKER_01: It does not require me to correctly name anything.
28:04
SPEAKER_01: It trusts him to see what I cannot see.
28:06
SPEAKER_01: Those prayers are strong.
28:08
SPEAKER_01: They are submitted authority prayers.
28:11
SPEAKER_01: They're submitted authority to the kingdom authority that we say that we belong to.
28:16
SPEAKER_01: So as we close, do we have authority in Christ?
28:18
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
28:19
SPEAKER_01: Are we seated with Christ and co heirs?
28:21
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
28:21
SPEAKER_01: Are we called to resist the devil?
28:23
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
28:24
SPEAKER_01: Did Jesus give his disciples authority over the power of the enemy?
28:28
SPEAKER_01: Yes, he did.
28:29
SPEAKER_01: Did Jesus say believers would do greater works?
28:32
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
28:32
SPEAKER_01: But do we possess Christ's authority in the same way he possessed it?
28:38
SPEAKER_01: Christ's authority is inherent.
28:41
SPEAKER_01: Ours is delegated, his is supreme, and ours is submitted.
28:45
SPEAKER_01: He is the head and we are the body.
28:48
SPEAKER_01: Christ is Lord, and we are his servants, his sons, his daughters, his ambassadors, and his friends.
28:55
SPEAKER_01: Christ is the source, and that is why I'm cautious with taunting spiritual beings.
29:02
SPEAKER_01: That is why I do not want us speaking arrogantly about things we do not understand.
29:08
SPEAKER_01: Because in the kingdom of God, authority and humility are not opposites.
29:13
SPEAKER_01: They belong together.
29:14
SPEAKER_01: We are submitted sons and daughters, carrying delegated authority in the name of the risen Christ.
29:21
SPEAKER_01: So friends, don't be afraid.
29:23
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is one, the enemy is defeated.
29:26
SPEAKER_01: You belong to Christ.
29:28
SPEAKER_01: You are filled with his spirit.
29:29
SPEAKER_01: You are held by the Father.
29:31
SPEAKER_01: You are not powerless.
29:33
SPEAKER_01: But also hear this.
29:34
SPEAKER_01: You do not need to be reckless.
29:36
SPEAKER_01: You do not need to enter spiritual warfare lightly.
29:39
SPEAKER_01: You do not have to prove your authority by sounding aggressive.
29:43
SPEAKER_01: You do not have to taunt darkness to stand in the light.
29:46
SPEAKER_01: You do not have to understand every layer of the unseen realm to pray effectively.
29:52
SPEAKER_01: You do not have to name everything for God to deal with everything.
29:57
SPEAKER_01: And you do not have to turn every wound into a warfare moment.
30:01
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes the Father wants to heal.
30:03
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes Jesus wants to comfort, the Spirit wants to expose a lie, repentance is needed, deliverance is needed.
30:09
SPEAKER_01: Maybe just rest is needed.
30:11
SPEAKER_01: Maybe truth is needed or wise counsel, maybe practical medical care.
30:16
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes it's deep inner healing.
30:18
SPEAKER_01: And God knows the difference.
30:20
SPEAKER_01: So we ask him.
30:22
SPEAKER_01: We submit to him.
30:24
SPEAKER_01: We listen to him.
30:25
SPEAKER_01: We choose to stand until we hear some other command from him to do something.
30:30
SPEAKER_01: We pray the truth of God's word.
30:32
SPEAKER_01: We stand in Christ, we submit to God, and we can resist the devil and we can put on the armor of God.
30:38
SPEAKER_01: We can say the Lord rebuke you.
30:40
SPEAKER_01: We can ask the Father to push back anything out of him.
30:43
SPEAKER_01: We can ask Jesus to rule and reign in the situation.
30:47
SPEAKER_01: We can ask the Holy Spirit to show us what is ours and not just what is ours, but for how long and how do I do it?
30:54
SPEAKER_01: And we can trust that the Lord of hosts is on our side.
30:58
SPEAKER_01: So let's pray together as we close.
30:59
SPEAKER_01: Let me pray for you.
31:00
SPEAKER_01: Father, we come to you in the name of Jesus.
31:02
SPEAKER_01: We thank you that Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth.
31:06
SPEAKER_01: We thank you that through him we are not powerless.
31:09
SPEAKER_01: We thank you that we are your children united with Christ, seated with him, filled with your spirit.
31:14
SPEAKER_01: But Father, we also humble ourselves before you.
31:17
SPEAKER_01: Forgive us for any way we have handled spiritual authority carelessly.
31:21
SPEAKER_01: Forgive us for any of our zeal that has outrun our submission.
31:24
SPEAKER_01: Forgive us for any time we have spoken about things we did not understand.
31:29
SPEAKER_01: Forgive us for any way that we have become more focused on darkness than on Jesus.
31:34
SPEAKER_01: Forgive us for any time we have tried to cast out things that you did not tell us to cast out.
31:39
SPEAKER_01: We submit ourselves to you.
31:40
SPEAKER_01: Teach us to resist the enemy from a place of submission and humility.
31:44
SPEAKER_01: Teach us to walk in authority that is fully surrendered to Jesus.
31:47
SPEAKER_01: Lord, rebuke what is not of you.
31:49
SPEAKER_01: Push back every work of darkness that is coming against your children, your purposes, and your kingdom.
31:54
SPEAKER_01: Father, where our prayers have hurt others, will you bring your healing?
31:58
SPEAKER_01: Would you bring your comfort?
32:00
SPEAKER_01: Would you remove what needs to be removed and restore what needs to be restored?
32:04
SPEAKER_01: Father, I ask for you to close every door that has been opened outside of your will, that you would cover us with the full power of Jesus' death, burial, resurrection, and ascension.
32:15
SPEAKER_01: Fill us with the Holy Spirit.
32:16
SPEAKER_01: We declare that Jesus is Lord.
32:18
SPEAKER_01: Please keep us in your order.
32:20
SPEAKER_01: Please keep our eyes fixed on you.
32:22
SPEAKER_01: In the name of Jesus, we pray.
32:24
SPEAKER_01: The powerful name of Jesus we pray.
32:26
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
32:27
SPEAKER_01: Okay, friends.
32:27
SPEAKER_01: Next week Kimberly will be back.
32:29
SPEAKER_01: I'll be grateful.
32:30
SPEAKER_01: So submitted authority is not weak.
32:32
SPEAKER_01: It is kingdom authority.
32:34
SPEAKER_01: And that is where we stand, not in fear or presumption, but in Jesus.
32:38
SPEAKER_01: Always in Jesus.
32:39
SPEAKER_01: So I look forward to being with you next time with our dear friend Kimberly back in the studio with us.
32:45
SPEAKER_01: And until then, I am praying for you to stand in the fullness of everything God has given you to stand in.
32:51
SPEAKER_01: This podcast is made possible through donations by people like you.
32:55
SPEAKER_01: To donate, go to www.thefathersbusiness.com.
33:00
SPEAKER_01: Be sure to follow us at the Father's Biz on Instagram and Facebook.