3.3.1 Spiritual Authority 1 Motivation and Authority to Serve

3.3.1 屬靈權柄1服侍動機和權柄

Shared by: Ming

Many of the prophetic words spoken to me had been fulfilled, so when I receive a new revelation or words from God, I am voluntarily willing to obey the words and receive training to prepare myself for walking into the new callings.

To serve God, I do many services to take care of people, spend long hours for ministry works, and prayers, I even cut my sleep time and work extra hours to do what God has entrusted to me. When many people came to me for help, I saw them getting healed, their lives changed, their family's relationships experiencing breakthroughs, and their faith increased, and all of these good results happened a few years ago. However, despite those “achievements”, I found that there were some obstacles in my own relationship with God, and I was often unable to move forward in my life.

At that time, I tried very hard but could not see the favor come upon myself. I thought that God cared more about those who were being served, and  God raised up apostles and prophets because of the needs of His people, not for the sake of the one who provides ministries.

I was under the false impression that my identity was centered on the gifts God had given me, and pride came to me without knowing. After I was born again, I could naturally prophesy to others, see the other person's life situations in the spiritual realm, see visions and have dreams, and supernaturally know other people’s secrets when God allows me.

God originally used people like us to bless the needy, but I have an unconscious thought in my heart that I have never said before, but it will come out unconsciously and take root very deeply without me realizing it: All of my church members are very blessed because I am among you.

Sometimes I don't even realize the pride and arrogance in my own life.

Many people know me through my gifts, not through the characteristics of my life. Spiritual gifts are from God, and God usually doesn't take them back. He just gives them to us, but the Favor of the Lord is a different thing. Favor increases according to the growth of our spiritual life.

So, at that time, I had gifts in my life, but I never truly repented. I knew I was willing to obey God and pursue Him, and I was very serious about it, but the motivation was hidden in the deepest part of my life:  I want to fulfill God's calling in my life because I cared about the benefits that He would give me. Fulfilling God's destiny and purpose started to become my ambition.

There is nothing wrong with pursuing a personal destiny, but if there is ambition, the motivation is wrong. We can obey God and serve Him all day long, but if the hidden motive is to serve our own interests, we may still operate the gifts and anointing, and we can still prophesy, receive visions and dreams, heal the sick and cast out demons, and do a lot of things,  only I know that God's favor has left me because I have not repented for the wrong motivation.

At that time, I felt like Saul: still wearing the crown, but God's favor had left.

To understand the favor of God, we can use the example of Esther the queen, who received the favor through the golden scepter stretched toward her. Once in Shenzhen, China, a big typhoon hit and it was raining hard, the favor of God came upon me when I stepped out of the hotel, and the rain stopped immediately. After I left the area, it continued to rain. Favor means: we are the apple of God's eyes, and before we start to do things, God has already sent messengers to go before you and even get the works done, the results and successes are there waiting for us to collect. Not having favor in our lives is a very scary thing.

At that time, I wanted to experience a breakthrough in the ministry and relationships with others. So, I prayed harder and even used spiritual warfare because I knew there was a force that was resisting me, and I mistook it for an enemy attack, but in fact, it was the favor that had left.

At that time, I taught a course on understanding God's will and listening to God's voice, and I knew very well that I had to seek God's will in everything, so I tried to think and find solutions. I even tried to do other things and hoped those things might help, such as adding more connections with other churches or ministries, but it was very foolish because only God has the answer and solution to my life.

After I tried and found that those things didn't work, I began to seek good ideas from my co-workers. I was good at listening to suggestions: collecting advice, taking them to God, and praying about them, but I soon realized that I was listening to people's suggestions more than seeking God's will. I almost started to do something foolish: copy the successful methods from other ministries and use them in our own. Thank God that he closed all the doors for me.

I was still faithful and worked hard, served more patients in the healing services, and saw them get healed, but the breakthrough and favor I needed didn't come back. I felt there was a powerful barrier holding me back, so at that point, I cried out to my Abba Father for a breakthrough and victory over such a powerful force of darkness; I even went to the spiritual realm to find out if this power was transparent or invisible, or if I simply didn't see its trace and manifestation. I struggled hard until I was exhausted and frustrated.

One day, my Heavenly Father came to me in my prayer time and told me not to struggle, that this resistance was from Him. I’m sure you're as shocked as I am to hear that it was the Father who stopped me from entering into my destiny and calling.

I was also shocked when I heard this revelation. God is not taking away my identity as His child and bride of Christ, but He put a barrier to stop me from entering into my destiny and calling because I am full of pride, arrogance, and ambition. Although I could still help many people through my ministry, and God was willing to use me in this way,  I was using my gifts and anointing in the wrong ways, and the Father decided to rise against me in order to protect the other children.

So that night, if it wasn't for the Spirit of God pointing out my problem, I wouldn't have realized how wrong I was in my ministry. The only way to make a breakthrough in my ministry and get out of this wrong situation was to agree that only God can help me, I was willing to repent, allowing God to break and reshape me into a new vessel.

Then I realized a deep lesson: even though we received the prophetic words from God, and we want to respond and walk into our destiny and calling, if our motivation is wrong, God will still stand against us from entering into the calling.

We are created out of love, and God is love, we are also called to love others, but we find ourselves further away from this calling, more ambitious to fulfill our destiny and calling than the traits and character of loving people.

It may take a long journey from someone initially called by God to the final fulfillment of that calling, it took 40 years for Moses and 17 years for Paul. We long for anointing, gifts, and spiritual authority, but it is not easy to love others and build character in our lives, our hearts and character need to be transformed first.

Later,  God began to strike and deal with me, and I could only ask him to help.  I began to serve some very lowly people that I would never come into contact with before. At the beginning of this new journey, I felt humiliated, but later on, these people whom I helped began to love me, not because of my spiritual gifts, but because of my heart and my character.

In the process, I was reshaped and broken by God until my ambition left me. Before that, my ambition would tell me that I should be looking more spiritually and anointed, and something or someone was not worthy of my time and energy.  Until I only focused on the visions that came from God, without any ambition, the favor of the Lord came back, and things started to change, and soon breakthroughs came and doors began to open for me.

For every brother and sister who wants their name to be mentioned more often by the saints and angels before the throne of God's grace, then their life, character, and hearts need to be transformed: genuine repentance and humility. Examine the motivation for everything you do, and the lesson I've learned is that the motivation behind everything you do should be to make other people mention Jesus’ name more instead of mentioning you. You are just a server.

The first thing we must understand before discussing authority is the motivation for serving. It is because God trusts us that He uses us to serve His children, and for the sake of His children, He increases His favor on us. It is because these people need help that God raises apostles and prophets to help. God is not manifested because of those who can serve, but because of the children of God who need to be served.

There is also one case of those who are in a hurry to gain spiritual authority and are not waiting for the characteristics of their lives to match the authority, especially the intercessors in the church and those who are full of gifts.

Sometimes, the pastors of the church do not see visions or receive revelations, but the intercessors often receive them quickly. Some intercessors receive special callings, but they do nothing to equip themselves; some intercessors may receive some equipment and training, but they rush to do things without maturity. So, God sometimes puts a person in a situation where the pastors don't have gifts to see and hear, don’t have a close relationship with God like you, but that person without gifts is the leader of the church and you must learn to be humble.

When the leaders of the church don't make room for these new prophets or apostles in training to have a platform, they can't even wait to go out and start a new ministry.

These are people who want to be parents first, not to be sons and daughters first. Those who have not yet learned how to be a son to someone, but just want to be a parent to someone else, find it hard to be thankful that God is helping them prepare for their calling through the church or ministry they are currently in.

They may even feel that the church or ministry owes them a debt because they put in a lot of prayer, time, and energy, but they don't seem to see the leaders making room for them to serve or to be recognized. If someone was called by God, but not paying the price, and as a result, that person wouldn’t be sent by God the Father. If God truly sends someone, that person will surely carry the authority, and be recognized by others. Of course, some people can pretend, they might send themselves, claim to be sent by God, and try to find room to serve, but they cannot serve with authority.

One of the most important lessons to understand is that the motivation behind our actions decides if we can receive authority.

Jesus gave authority and commanded His disciples to exercise it, and that authority empowered them to fulfill the Great Commission that Jesus commanded. We expect to do ministries with authority and power.

The proper use of God-given authority in the ministry requires a proper understanding of authority. Authority and power come from the Greek word exausia, which refers to the power of authority and the ability to rule or govern, which is the freedom to do one's own will.

Satan also has powers, the first of which is to blind the eyes of Christians, so that in 2 Corinthians 4:4 In whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they will not see the light of gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

Satan will blind the minds of Christians and lead them away from Christ to a point where there is no way to turn back.

Hebrews 6:4-6

It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age 6 and who have fallen[c] away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace. (NIV)

The second is the power to steal, kill, and destroy.

John 10:10 

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

The third is the power to disturb the servants and children of God.

2Corinthians 12:7 

And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.

God allowed Satan's servants to torment Paul, lest he become too proud. And so it was with King Saul, 1 Samuel chapter 16, 18, and 19, where the Spirit of the LORD left Saul and demons came from the Lord to disturb him.

Ezekiel 38 mentions Lucifer had powers, he was created perfectly, and he had a deep knowledge of God. He was one of God's angels, he was very beautiful. 

Authority is given in a specific way from one person or organization to another. The authority we are talking about is given by God.

Genesis 1:26 

And God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creep upon the earth.

Luke 10:19

I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.

Authority is given to us, not something we work for. When God gave authority to Adam and Eve, it consisted of four parts:

First, it gave Adam and Eve the authority to bear the image of God;

Secondly, their offspring also bear in the image of God.

Third, dominion over all creation;

Fourth, the ability to trample on the serpent and scorpion and overcome all the power of the enemy.

God gave Adam all this authority when He created him as the first man in the Garden of Eden. The source of authority is God, and it is the highest authority. When Adam stood with the Father, all the creatures in the Garden of Eden fell under him. If Adam chose to submit to the enemy, Satan, he and mankind would fall under the hand of the evil one. Adam is not a name, the meaning of Adam is man, so God called him man. We can see the authority that God has given to man, in Psalm 8:5-7, which says, For you have made him a little lower than the angels, and has crowned him with glory and honour.  You made him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and the beasts of the field;

This is the authority that God has given to man. After Adam sinned and ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, man's disobedience to God caused mankind to lose the legitimate right to rule on earth, and his authority was lost. At that time in the Garden of Eden, God had asked mankind to do two things: to guard and to watch over them. After man failed in those duties, they lived in a powerless religious life, and a vulnerable situation.

Where does Lucifer's power come from?  Satan, who was originally one of the archangels, later betrayed God and left the face of God. He was created with authority.

First, as an archangel of worship, he had authority as a leader;

Secondly, He was serving God in His presence, he stayed close to God before.

But when he became proud in his heart, he immediately lost the authority to stay in front of God's throne. He did not have the authority to remain in front of God's throne and he fell from heaven.

Let's use a police officer as an example: a police officer has authority given by the state, but once the state takes away the status, then this person is no longer a police officer, but that person still has the abilities and skills from the previous training, and he still knows how to fight.

Satan knows many secrets of creation, it knows why God created mankind, and God's destiny for mankind. Therefore, the devil can also operate in the spirit realm and know the hidden things of man. He has not lost these abilities, but he has lost his relationship and authority and cannot stand before the throne of grace.

The same thing happens in our lives. When God gives someone a gift, that person doesn't necessarily have a close relationship with God, but he can still use the gift. If you receive and use your gifts, it is easy for others to think that you have a good relationship with God, but in reality, only you know if your relationship with God is good or not. Because the gifts and powers will not be taken back, we need to be careful and not use other people's gifts to judge their relationship with God.

That's why we see a lot of famous preachers fail suddenly because they don't have an intimate relationship with God, the Holy Spirit doesn't walk with them, and yet the gifts still bring out a lot of power. Just like we see Satan still has the same power that God created him with in the first place. Satan knows how God wants to use you, so he knows how to block your relationship with God.

Why do you think sometimes Satan has more power than man? It is because we humans have given him authority.

Satan wants power as well as authority.

Why Satan can get authority over people? In Exodus 1:8, Pharaoh who ruled Egypt at that time did not know Joseph and did not feel any obligation to follow the agreement signed by the previous Pharaohs to treat the Israelites well.

If all the Pharaohs were willing to honor the agreement of their forefathers to treat the Israelites well, there was nothing Satan could do.

However, if one of the pharaohs turned his back on the agreement, the enemy could take advantage of it.

So, the amount of power Satan can use depends on the amount of cooperation he receives from mankind.

In the beginning, God authorized Adam to manage the earth, to represent God in the place given by God, which was one of God's purposes in creating Adam, and this authority was delegated by God to man. This authority should be a spiritual dominion above the powers of darkness. However, this authority cannot operate independently. Later on, when Adam fell into Satan's trap, everyone under Adam fell together. This is the great dragon mentioned in Revelation 12:9, And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceive the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

Isaiah 14:12

How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

He was haughty in his heart because of his beauty, and he was corrupted because of his glory. This is a reminder to us to be aware of what kind of leaders we are in agreement with. When he falls, the people under that leader would fall with him, and that is a spiritual principle.

God gave Satan a high position before he fell, and other spiritual beings who were led by him fell with Satan together because they were of one heart. Lucifer fell from heaven because of Ezekiel 28:15-17 You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you.

That's why I began my first lesson by sharing what is the motivation for your ministry.  There's an important spiritual law: who do you walk with together in the ministry?  Satan falls from heaven because he exercises his power outside the authority boundary and breaks lawful order. His power is not taken away, but he loses the authority. If you keep using powers and gifts outside of your authority boundaries, you might encounter problems.

Every authority has its proper boundaries. The police have their own jurisdictions. For example, the traffic police can only have the authority to control traffic, unlike the National Security Bureau which can arrest people; Likewise, each authority has an appropriate boundary.

When you use power under legitimate authority, the spiritual principle is that you are already under God's cover and protection.

One of the things we must be careful of is that when God has not given you authority, it is very dangerous for you to operate your power.

Many of us are very enthusiastic about casting out demons and doing the delivery services, and some people even go to temples and try to destroy the idols.

There is an example. A pastor had a problem with his leg and he had been seeking God to heal him. I didn't know him personally, but I was asked by a friend to pray for him. When I prayed, the Holy Spirit took me to a courtroom in heaven and I saw a demon accusing that pastor, saying that: “he had come into our territory and smashed our temples and idols.”

This pastor had power, but God did not give him the authority to do that, so the disease was on him. Sometimes we don't discern and blame all our sins to the devil's attacks. We have to ask God if He has given us the authority to pray for some people or do services in our church groups.

We also need to seek the timing to use the authority properly. Often, many people were zealous to do things and didn't wait for the right timing. The Bible indeed says: that God wants the whole world to come back to Him. We often have the misconception that this is what the Bible says, so we can be zealous, we can go anywhere to do spiritual warfare, or tear down idol worship places. When we use our power outside of the realm of authority, we are leaving God's protection.

These are two main points that I would like to share today.

The first is the motivation of our ministry. When we talk about spiritual authority and spiritual warfare, the first thing we need to realize is that there is a very important lesson to be learned before we get authority. We need to have the right motivation. Have you examined your motivation before God?

The second key point is the concept of authority and the concept of power. What kind of authority has God given to man? What is our power? What is Satan's power? Why do you see that sometimes Satan is given authority? What are the reasons?

Answering questions:

1. How can we know whether God allows us to do something?

Answer: If it is not clear, you need to go back to God to discern. In the next lesson, we will share the importance of using our authority within the boundary and the effects in our lives. None of us wants to abuse the authority like Satan. He exercises powers outside authority and order. We need to build a closer relationship with God.

2. In a small group, does the leader have the authority to do all the ministry, such as the healing services?

Answer: First of all, the leader has authority. We seem to have very little understanding and training in this area. Many of us are in a hurry to get authority and ask the church to make room for us to do ministries. We have to wait for the characters to grow and match our callings.

It is very important for us to establish a relationship with God, but at the same time, we have to keep serving others. These two parts should complement each other, and we cannot just emphasize one part, because service helps us to receive power; intimacy with  God brings about a relationship, and because of that relationship, we receive authority and power.

3. Someone asked about favor, anointing, and grace.

Answer:  I will add this part in future lessons. Favor is the position of the bride of Christ. The English word “favor” is mentioned 449 times in the Bible. God wants to give us special favors. Favor includes grace, mercy, blessing, joy, kindness, and other parts, and the scope is bigger than grace.

Anointing is completely different and is a different subject: the power of the Holy Spirit working in man.

4. Some people think that when a pastor just finished his sermon,  there should be more anointing and power for the pastor.

Answer: Power is given by God Himself, and anointing is the presence of God's power, which appears because of the one being served. The anointing is also related to someone’s life situation and the condition of the vessel.

5. How do you know if God is sending you to serve?

Answer: we will teach about listening to God's voice and understanding God's heart. 

6. If I can see visions but the church I attend is very traditional. Can I leave and join another church or ministry?

Answer:  God has the highest authority, If you have been sent, or if you have been made to understand,  of course you can.

7. How can we tell if a pastor has a good relationship with God?

Answer: Only he knows whether he is close to God. Many people recognize this person through his abilities and gifts, but it is only through long-term relationships with him that we can see the fruits of his life.

8. If the fire of the Holy Spirit is gone after a church service, but there are people who still want me to pray and serve them, should I continue to serve after the meeting?

Answer: Of course not. Therefore, the minister needs to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit.  We do not have to follow a certain formula, like only pray for people after the sermon.  Sometimes we can pray as soon as the anointing of the healing comes in the worship.

For example, once I was leading a dance group in a free worship service, and when I was praying, I saw red dancing shoes. Originally, there was no dancing in that meeting, but because I saw the red dancing shoes, I told the church that I had seen this vision, and that I might bring the dance group in, and they agreed.

The speaker shared with me that he began the healing services right after our worship and did not preach because the Spirit of God was already working. Before I went here, I did not receive from God that there would be healing at this event, but when I entered the meeting, I saw the dance group bringing down a stream of healing water, so God had a special plan. Then we can see that this part needs to be trained and understood.

9. Do parents have the authority to discipline their children?

Answer: Parents have authority over their children, and their authority is higher than their children. Each authority has a spiritual dimension. When your children are rebellious, you can read what the Bible says about disciplining children.

10. If we have a sick person who needs to be healed, do we need to pray about whether God will let us heal him or not?

Answer: This part requires prayer before God. Some people will rush to pray for the sick because they love the sick ones. Others teach that we need God's power and authority, and I agree with the latter.

I agree with the latter because love alone is not bad, but sometimes love without boundaries can create a problem. People with their spiritual eyes opened see many things, but usually we don't notice our own problems.

I once went to visit a patient in the hospital, a terminal cancer patient, who was already very depressed and worried because he thought he was going to die. When I went into the room, I saw a sister in the church was serving him. When I saw this, I felt unsettled inside, because this girl has her own problems, she often had thoughts of death because she was in a divorce situation, and she had bitterness towards her husband.

Because I saw with my spiritual eyes that this problem in her life was wide open in front of the sick person, and every time she finished counseling this patient, he would lose more confidence and want to die. Sometimes we need to be wise even with love, and when we share authority, we know that there is an appropriate boundary. If someone goes beyond the boundary, the actions might lead to witchcraft and other situations.

11. In the last days, will favor still exist? Will it increase and decrease?

Answer: Favor increases and decreases because of God's people. If people are still longing for God, the favor will still be there.

(To be continued.)