Authority

I'm working away on my sermon about what the words 'heal, healed, cured, recover' mean (you would be surprised) and finding out that not all healings are created equal when all of a sudden the Lord starts telling me about authority. I do know a portion of the world that says when you hear God talking to you it's time for the nut house but I figure it's part of the normal Christian life. He's big on revelation but I will admit English is not his native tongue. I sometimes have to ask him to clarify things like 'give $500' because he sometimes gets his words mixed up. Sometimes. But not real often. Well...maybe never.

Anyway, the Lord reminds me that Jesus never once said 'I give you power to heal', he always said 'I give you authority to heal'. So I start going through all the authority scriptures and find out that, once again, God knows what he is talking about. He has given me and you authority to heal. Not just power, not just faith, not just the gift - Authority.

Then He points out John 10.17-18 where Jesus said he has authority to lay down his life and authority to pick it up again. His was raised from the dead by his own powerful act of authority. That was news to me, I always thought it was his Father that raised him from the dead.

That's what I like about teaching and preaching; the Spirit teaches you so much and the Word gets a chance to do some talking in your life.

Pa