Watch out all... this has the potential to change you life.
Totally not kidding... this revelation has totally changed my life for the better.
I'll start by saying that this is a blog about authority.
Touchy subject I know.
Oh how misused authority can be.
And yet how blessed when it is properly understood.
Many times when discussion turns to authority, the focus is placed on the authority you have over something, or how you should respect authority. That is great, and totally legit. But that is not the discussion I have been having with the Lord and with a few people close to me for the last couple of months.
This discussion is on giving authority.
I just want to clarify before I get into this that I am completely an advocate for respecting authority and believe that authority is important and God-given. Leaders, pastors, teachers, lawmakers and law-enforcement... But this is not the type of authority I am talking about at all.
Wether you realize it or not, you assign different levels of authority to everyone around you.
What authority? You ask.
The authority to speak into and over your life.
Who you are.
What you are worth.
What your gifting are and how you should use them.
How you view others.
How you view the world.
How you view God.
It has come to my attention in the last couple of months, that for years, I have given certain people authority to speak into my life, who (nicely stated) have no business whatsoever to speak into my life.
I have allowed these people to shape the way I see myself and my worth in a negative way. I have even allowed them to project their own insecurities into my heart, causing me to cling to them as my own. Though before this authority was unknowingly and unwisely given, I was never insecure in those areas.
Some of these people have been close to me, some have been completely unknown to me, some have even been in a position of authority over me.
Again I want to clarify. Respecting authority is vitally important. But that does not mean that the person in authority over you should be given this authority to speak into your life. that is a totally different type of authority.
"Do not give dogs what is sacred; Do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces."
matt. 7:6
Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.
prov.4:23
All to often, we allow people to speak into our lives when they have no business doing so. We allow them to speak their insecurities (that we have no part of) into our hearts. And tragically we begin to believe them, and accept these hurts and insecurities as our own. We blindly give authority where it should not be given and forget to guard our hearts. The results can be detrimental and they can effect EVERY area of our lives.
ABOVE ALL ELSE.... GUARD YOUR HEART!
This cannot be emphasized too much!
For heaven's sake! Guard your heart!
Do not be blind. Carefully examine where and on whom you have placed authority to speak into your life. How has this effected what you believe about yourself, others, the world, even God?
Here I would like to tell a story.
Once upon a time there was a nation who was enslaved for hundreds of years. God decided to have mercy on them and bring them out of slavery and promised to give them an amazing land of their own. Now this land had people inhabiting it already. But their loving God, who had performed the impossible for them time after time, had promised to deliver it into their hands. They sent out 12 spies into this new land to see what kind of land it was, and what kind of people were inhabiting it. The land was perfect. But there were giants living there. 2 of these spies believed the promises of God so strongly that they didn't even think twice about the giants. They were ready to go in and get what God had promised them. The other 10 allowed those giants to get to their hearts. Now as the story goes, said giants never even shared their views with these spies, but they made themselves believe that these giants saw them a certain way, and ended up believing some pretty ridiculous things about themselves.
"We seemed like grasshoppers in OUR OWN eyes, and we looked the same to them"
num 13:33b
And so they persuaded all the people to fear the giants and give up on their promised land. They roamed in the desert for 40 years until their entire generation was dead. Not one of them ever lived in the promise, it was given to their children instead.
How many times do we make up things about the way WE THINK people must view us?
HOW STUPID!
I find myself doing this constantly.
And so I am giving the enemy authority to use someone who I may or may not have ever even met before to speak into my life and make me believe something about myself.
To be completely honest. I have allowed others to negatively effect my view of these things too many times to count. But because I have realized this, and have begun to repeal and redirect this authority, I have begun to heal. I have realized that certain insecurities that I had are not even mine. Certain views I held are not mine. And that a lot of pain and frustration could have been avoided. I have had to break some words and beliefs and thoughts off of my life and reject them from my heart.
I have begun to heal.
Most importantly I have begun to let God love me.
And am learning to love myself simply because of how relentlessly He loves me.
Oh how He loves us...
We must remember that God... and ONLY God, should have complete and unquestioned authority to speak into our lives and tell us who we are.
Only once we have allowed Him to show us His view of us (which is pretty mind blowingly awesome!) and have learned to place our heart completely in His capable hands. Will we have the wisdom to properly guard our hearts, and wisely bestow this authority on worthy, godly individuals.
I am who He says I am. Period.
I think of this kind of authority in the form of a diagram. Think of a target. You are in the very center, and the Lord is in there surrounding you, telling you who you are. in the next ring you have your inner circle of people you have prayerfully given authority to speak into your life, but they still have to get through God to do so. Then the circles get farther and farther from the center. They are layered. That is how I now assign authority in my life.
There are a few people in my life who now have authority to speak into my life (all of which is filtered through the word of God, because, although I trust them, they are human and imperfect). That doesn't mean that I completely disregard everyone else, it just means that there are layers of authority that I have given. With some people, the filter does not need to be very strong, because these people are secure in the Lord and love me unconditionally. And from there the layers get more and more filtered until finally I have had to deny any authority whatsoever to some.
I would like to clear up something again.
People mess up. Even people with the best intentions will hurt you. This does not mean that you should not forgive them. By all means, to be able to heal at all, you MUST forgive them. By forgiving them you are removing the authority they had to keep hurting you through your own unforgiveness. Even some people in your inner circle of trust and authority will do and say things that hurt, but when this authority is properly placed and filtered through the word of God, you will not allow these mistakes to shape your views.
The people should who have authority in your life are God-given ambassadors. They are not determining who you are, simply reminding you of who God says you are.
Let me say that again. It is key.
The people who should have authority in your life are God-given ambassadors. They are not determining who you are, simply reminding you of who God says you are.
Those are the kind of people who you need to have in your inner circle of authority.
So friends,
Above all else, guard your heart.
Know and embrace the passionate, relentless, unconditional love that God had for YOU!
Learn who you are in Christ.
For a list of verses that tell you who you are in Christ click here.
You are loved with an everlasting love.
Please let God love you.
Please give authority wisely. It will change your life.
Go in peace.
-N
