Midweek Message from the Archive
Revealed Royalty
Some of you may remember the movie Princess Diaries. A young girl was heir to the throne of the mystical nation of Genovia. The queen went looking for her in America and found a young woman who didn’t look like royalty, didn’t act like royalty, and most importantly, didn’t think like royalty. The queen revealed the rights and responsibilities of the throne to her. Are we that princess? We know that God is King and that we are His children (John 1:12) but do we think and act like heirs to His throne?
Today I’m beginning a series on our spiritual authority. As I’ve been studying the Scriptures I have come to realize that most Christians don’t understand their God-appointed authority. If they do, they don’t use it. Authority (exousia) means we have been assigned power to influence those around us and this exclusive privilege is to be used at our discretion.
God, the Father, clearly delegated spiritual authority to His Son, Jesus Christ, while He lived on this earth. This authority gave Jesus the right, as the Son of Man, to give evidence of His deity. Miracles, signs and wonders, healings and deliverances through this power to control and influence His environment was His proof. He was Who He said He was. Jesus repeatedly confirmed His authority (John 5:27, 17:2) and was scrutinized by the religious leaders of His day. Listen to their words:
When Jesus returned to the Temple and began teaching, the leading priests and elders came up to him. They demanded, “By what authority are you doing all these things? Who gave you the right?” (Matthew 21:23 NLT)
Surprisingly, Jesus wouldn’t tell them. They didn’t believe in Him therefore that privilege wasn’t available to them. Crowds of people who listened to Him preach the Sermon on the Mount also recognized this unique power. Jesus was teaching (Matt. 7:29) them as one who had the ability to reach into their hearts and bring transformation. Isn’t that what we need today?
Since the Father assigned this authority to the Son, Jesus therefore designated His followers with the same power to control or influence their world. Wow. Think about that. Jesus called His Twelve together and sent them out (Luke 9:1-2) to proclaim Kingdom Living and to heal those in need. He increased that number to over 70 (Luke 10:1-3), and again to 120 at Pentecost. It has gone into the world for over 2,000 years now and He is still working among us.
Look, I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy, and you can walk among snakes and scorpions and crush them. Nothing will injure you. But don’t rejoice because evil spirits obey you; rejoice because your names are registered in heaven.” (Luke 10:19, 20 NLT)
You are not the hidden royalty of Genovia. You are the revealed co-heir with Christ; we need to learn to think like royalty.
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