The Truth About Spiritual Authority

Written by Jarred Rushing

(6 minutes)

How we respond to spiritual authority has everything to do with how we respond to Abba. 

In my opinion, the above statement is the main reason God asks us to come under authority. Because it will be a witness to us. A witness of what? If we're actually willing and able to come under His authority.

Let's take these scriptures to heart:

Beloved children, our love can't be an abstract theory we only talk about, but a way of life demonstrated through our loving deeds. (1 John 3:18)

Anyone can say, "I love God," yet have hatred toward another believer. This makes him a phony, because if you don't love a brother or sister, whom you can see, how can you truly love God, whom you can't see? For he has given us this command: whoever loves God must also demonstrate love to others. (1 John 4:20-21)

John the Beloved steps in and reminds us that just because we say something doesn't mean it's a reality in our life. We all have tons of abstract theories we only talk about, but Abba is after His truth becoming our way of life, demonstrated in our love towards others, even those in authority over us. 

All of our relationships serve as witnesses to our relationship with Abba. They are mirror reflections of our heart posture with Him. 

So if this is actually true, then what does it mean when we resist and refuse to come under any spiritual authority in our lives? What does it say about our heart posture towards Abba when we can't submit or yield to spiritual authority? How we respond to spiritual authority (that we can see) has everything to do with how we respond to Abba (who we can't see).

We have God's truth concerning the matter.

But I know that facts sometimes override and can even take the place of truth in our hearts. I know that so many of us are letting the hurts, traumatic experiences, childhood wounds, and abusive leaders in our past shape our opinions and ideas concerning authority. To be abused literally means to be "abnormally used." We've all been burned, misused, mishandled, and let down by leaders in our life. We've seen the news stories, the documentaries, and we've heard the first-hand accounts of friends and family who have had horrific encounters with manipulative, un-loving authority figures.  And unfortunately, these encounters have shaped our theology over the years more than Abba's truth. 

So now we've grown calloused and hard. Like Jezebel, we've made internal vows to never be controlled, deceived, or led astray ever again. We've decided that the best way to protect ourselves from leaders is to never have one over us. We get triggered anytime we hear one of the following words:  spiritual authority, leadership, submitting, obedience, and surrender. Run for the hills. Resist. Resist. Resist. We can't get hurt again.

I warned you that these walks with Abba had the potential to pull down some significant strongholds in our heart. These wilderness walks with Abba are going to redefine what we've come to believe about authority. Abba is coming after everything that hinders love. 

Do you know what our resistance to spiritual authority is actually holding us back from? Being fathered by God and the spiritual authority He's planted in our life. 

We all internally crave the safety, security and freedom that comes from being fathered. When Abba peels back the hard, calloused layers of our heart and frees the innocent, inner child in us, we're going to discover that that child desperately wants to come underneath the spiritual authority of a father. That child isn't scared of submitting to God-given authority. That child believes that it's actually dangerous to be anywhere else. 

Some of us lack confidence.
Some of us don't feel safe to go play in the world. 
Some of us don't feel like we're maturing like we should be.
Some of us don't know who we are and what we're called to do.

Do you know the root of all of these things? They all stem from not being under spiritual authority. They all stem from not being fathered the way Abba intended for us to be fathered. 

I don't know about you, but I think the worse thing that could happen is for us to walk around quietly convincing ourselves that we're submitted to spiritual authority when, deep down in our heart, we're actually not.

The most painful thing for a father to witness is a son or daughter believing a lie. One of the deepest emotions I have felt as a father was seeing my daughter believe something about herself that wasn't true. If I had to give that emotion a name, I would probably call it "wrath." It was my absolute determination to utterly remove and destroy the lie that she was believing. I have no doubts about this. If we are harboring lies in our heart concerning something as close to Abba's heart as fatherhood and spiritual authority, then you best believe He is coming after that lie with everything in Him. 

The question is: will you let Him? 

Will you allow Abba's perfect love to cast out all fear?

Will you let Abba redefine what it means to submit to spiritual authority?

Will you open up your heart and let Abba heal all the hurt that came from being abnormally used by leaders in your past?

Will you let Abba restore the innocent, tender, inner child that craves the presence and covering of a father?

There is a grace available today to inherit a "better" way. As you walk with Abba today and feel the stirring in your heart to surrender to His truth, make these declarations:

Abba, I let go of the lie that I can't trust or submit to any authority figure because they will just hurt me and cause me pain. I let go of the lie that I need to protect myself by never being connected to spiritual authority ever again. And I let go of the lie that I do not need spiritual fathers in my life to grow and mature in Your perfect love.

Abba, I embrace Your truth today that I can trust the spiritual authority that YOU have planted in my life. I embrace the truth that the innocent, inner child in me craves the presence of a father. I embrace the truth that being submitted to spiritual authority will unlock a confidence, a freedom, and an authority inside of me that will allow me to step into the fullness of all I am called to be. 

The enemy does not go to war where there are no spoils. If there is any area of our life where we feel tension or what some may call spiritual warfare, like we are simultaneously being pulled in two different directions, like we are being fought over by two opposing forces, then we can almost always know that it is an area of extreme importance. I feel this tension when it comes to addressing spiritual authority. That must mean there is something Yahweh wants for us that they enemy is trying to keep from us. 

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Worship: "Reckless Love" by Cory Asbury

Honor:  Give Online to The Wilderness Place

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