Remain Under What God Has Put Over Us

“So David restrained his servants with these words, and did not allow them to rise against Saul. And Saul got up from the cave and went on his way. David also arose afterward, went out of the cave, and called out to Saul, saying, ‘My lord the king!’ And when Saul looked behind him, David stooped with his face to the earth, and bowed down. And David said to Saul: ‘Why do you listen to the words of men who say, “Indeed David seeks your harm”?’ 1 SAMUEL 24:7-9

 
PONDER THIS

Some think, “You’ve got to rebel. You’ve got to stand up for yourself. If you don’t do that, you’re a weakling!” No, you’re not. You’re strong. David’s greatest victory was the victory he won over self when he submitted to his authorities, and for that reason, God made him Israel’s greatest king.

What Saul did was wrong, but David understood the principle of kingdom authority. Therefore, David learned to rule with great power and great authority. Like David, we also need to recognize kingdom authority. We are to humble ourselves even when we feel like we need to stand up and make a point.

Many of us have a spirit of rebellion. So, while we may grudgingly submit to the authorities God has put over us, we are standing up on the inside. God wants His people to live with kingdom authority, but we will never be over the things God has put under us until we are willing to get under the things God has put over us.

What authority figures do you have a hard time listening to right now? Why?
What can you do when you struggle to listen to the people in authority over you? How can God help in those times?

PRACTICE THIS

Pray for the leaders in authority over you. Ask God to guide them and help them in their leadership.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Authority is Linked to Obedience

“I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do.” JOHN 17:4

 

PONDER THIS

We need to understand the relationship of Jesus Christ to the Church. Don’t think of the Church as a business with Jesus as the president. The Church is a body with Jesus as the Head. Do you see the difference? We are organically related to the Lord Jesus Christ. His life is in us. Our authority comes from Him. In the Great Commission, He said, “All authority is given unto Me! Go ye, therefore!” Essentially, He said, “Because I have this authority, I am now giving you the power of attorney to act for me.”

You cannot have authority over anything until you get under the authority that is over you. All authority is linked to obedience. Why would a person give you authority to act for Him when you’re disobedient to Him? That’s the reason Satan tried to get Adam to disobey.

Even Jesus was under authority. He not only showed us what God was to be like on Earth; He also showed us what Man was to be like on Earth. He was God, but He lived on Earth as a man subject to His Father.

How can you submit to God’s authority? What does it look like to live apart from God’s authority?

How does Jesus’ submission to God’s authority instruct you? How can you seek to live under the authority of God like Jesus did?

PRACTICE THIS

Talk with a friend about how Jesus lived under God’s authority and how that is challenging for you.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

The Greatest Responsibility in Our Country

“Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil.”

ROMANS 13:2-4

 

PONDER THIS

We all need to pray for our leaders. You may ask, “Should I pray for my leader if he’s wicked?” You should pray all the more for him. God can change a ruler, God can remove a ruler, and God can overrule a ruler. Proverbs 21:1 says, “The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes.”

The greatest responsibility in America is not in the White House but in the church house. We’re to pray for our government. Pray for those who are in authority. We often resist this because we want to be the one in charge. We don’t want to pray because we want things done our way, but even our difference of opinion should not stop us in prayer. First Timothy 2:1-2 says, “Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.” Repeatedly in Scripture, we are called to trust God, even with leaders. Pray for them and don’t let it change your relationship with Him. This is a small part to play, but it is important to God, and it makes a difference…whether you feel like it or not.

Why is it important to pray for our leaders?

What are some ways you can pray for the leaders in your community, in your country, and in the world?

PRACTICE THIS

Pray for the governmental leaders in your area, in your state, and in your country.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

You Can’t Legislate Morality

“Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.” ROMANS 13:1-2

 

PONDER THIS

One reason God has given us human government is to restrain evil. Have you ever heard the phrase; “You can’t legislate morality”? That is absolutely true. You can’t legislate morality. There is not a law on earth that can make you moral. That’s the reason we must have laws that legislate against immorality. Law can’t make you good, only God can make you good. The government is not here to make you good.

There’s not a law on earth that can make you love me. So, I have to have one to keep you from killing me. There’s not a law on earth that can make you honest, so we have to have laws that keep you from stealing. There’s not a law on earth that can keep you from lying, so we have to have laws against perjury. Romans 7:7 says: “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, ‘You shall not covet.’” The role of government and law has its place. We have all learned from it and are called to abide by it—not to get God’s favor but to glorify God in the way we live for Him.

What are the ways you have seen the law to be helpful?

How have you seen the truth that the law cannot make you good?

PRACTICE THIS

Pray for God-honoring development and execution of laws in our country.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Do You Respect Authority?

PRAY OVER THIS

“Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.” Romans 13:1-2

 

PONDER THIS

The Word of God and the Book of Romans speak very clearly about the matter of Christian citizenship.

Paul says, “Let every soul be subject unto the governing authorities.” He is literally talking about the civil magistrate, the governmental leaders. Let every soul be subject unto the civil magistrate. “For there is no authority except from God,” that is the rulers, the leaders, the magistrates that be, “are appointed of God.” Now you might think of your minister as an ordained minister, but have you ever thought of your governor as an ordained governor? “Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God.”

Who was the authority when Paul wrote this? Caesar. The Roman government was in power. The Christians were disenfranchised. They had no political power. Still, even in that time, Paul wrote, if you resist these authorities, you’re resisting God, because it is God that set them up.

Why do we often struggle with authority?

How can you show respect to your God-appointed leaders?

PRACTICE THIS

Ask a friend who knows you well about your attitude toward authority. Give that person space to speak some critique as well as encouragement.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

How to Deal with Corrupt Authorities

PRAY OVER THIS

“Let the Lord judge between you and me, and let the Lord avenge me on you. But my hand shall not be against you.”

1 Samuel 24:12

 

PONDER THIS

Despite the tension between them, David spoke to Saul with reverence. There was respect. There was reason. There was reliance upon God. David did not vilify his spiritual authority but instead pleaded his righteous cause. What should we, as God’s children, do when we are faced with corrupt authorities? We ought to do what David did. Do you see how gentle David’s spirit was? We must obey God rather than men. If some so-called authority commands you to murder, you can’t murder. If some so-called authority commands you to commit adultery, you can’t commit adultery. But we must be careful that, when we have authority over us, we do not have a spirit of rebellion. Instead, we should have, as David had here, a gentle spirit and a pleading spirit rather than a rebellious spirit.

When do you find it difficult to show respect and reverence for the authorities in your life?

How might you show reverence and respect while also obeying God rather than man?

PRACTICE THIS

Read all of 1 Samuel 24. Note the ways David showed respect and reverence to Saul while also obeying God first and foremost.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Submitting to the True Authority

PRAY OVER THIS

“Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors...” 1 Peter 2:13

 

PONDER THIS

What is biblical submission? Submission is one equal voluntarily placing himself or herself under another equal that God may therefore be glorified. Submission is simply getting under the authority that God has established, not for that authority’s sake, but for God’s sake who established the authority.

When you submit yourself to a governmental authority, you’re not doing it for their sake; you’re doing it for Jesus’ sake. And that makes a difference. God has established authority everywhere. And God is behind all authority. So when you submit, you’re not merely submitting to a human being, you’re ultimately submitting to Almighty God. And when you do that, God begins to invest in your kingdom authority.

How does today’s devotion challenge your thinking on submission to authorities?

Where is God calling you to submit to an authority you have a disagreement with?

PRACTICE THIS

Take practical steps of submission to authorities in your life this week, remembering that you are ultimately submitting to God and not to man.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Do You Have Trouble Respecting Authority?

PRAY OVER THIS

“And he said to his men, ‘The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my master, the Lord’s anointed, to stretch out my hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the Lord.’” 1 Samuel 24:6

 

PONDER THIS

David not only recognized but also respected Saul’s authority. It’s one thing for us to grudgingly give in to authority, but it’s another thing for us to respect that authority and to respect the leaders God has put over us. Sometimes, children have parents who don’t deserve respect, but the children are to respect them anyway. If you have teachers that don’t deserve respect, respect them anyway. If you’re in a church, and your pastor doesn’t deserve respect, respect him anyway. Or if you have a government, and the government does not deserve respect, respect that government anyway.

When you do this, you’re not respecting the individual. You are getting yourself in a place under authority, and when you get to that place, then God is going to begin to work in your life in an incredible way. God is going to see that you don’t have the spirit of rebellion, and God is going to infuse you with great power and give you kingdom authority just as He did with David.

Where do you currently need to respect authority, even if it’s hard?

When we respect earthly authority, how are we actually honoring God’s authority in our lives?

PRACTICE THIS

Take time today to truthfully speak well of or to encourage the leaders in your life, even if you don’t think they deserve it.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

How do you react to, being under authority?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Romans 13:1

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Our generation doesn’t like the word authority. We don’t like to be under anybody. We stick out our chests and talk about being free-born Americans.

If you’re a baby boomer, you’re of a generation of anti-authority figures. In your lifetime you’ve gone through the hula hoop, the Barbie doll, pop psychology, Dr. Spock, Donahue, and the Beatles. It was all anti-authority! Fathers were Archie Bunker. Preachers were Flip Wilson. The anthem was, “Do your thing. If it feels good, do it.” Many of us dare not realize the vestiges of rebellion that still lurk down in our hearts.

ACTION POINT:

Give some serious thought to the question: Who is on the throne of my life today?

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

We Will Rule All Things

The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.” (Revelation 3:21)

What does Jesus mean when he says this to the church in Laodicea?

Sit with Jesus on his throne? Really?

This is a promise to everyone who conquers, that is, who presses on in faith to the end (1 John 5:4), in spite of every threatening pain and luring, sinful pleasure. So if you are a true believer in Jesus, you will sit on the throne of the Son of God who sits on the throne of God the Father.

I take “throne of God” to signify the right and authority to rule the universe. That’s where Jesus sits. “He must reign,” Paul said, “until he has put all his enemies under his feet” (1 Corinthians 15:25). So when Jesus says, “I will grant him to sit with me on my throne,” he promises us a share in the rule of all things.

Is this what Paul has in mind in Ephesians 1:22–23? “He put all things under [Christ’s] feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.”

We, the church, are “the fullness of him who fills all.” What does that mean? I take it to mean that the universe will be filled with the glory of the Lord (Numbers 14:21). And one dimension of that glory will be the complete and unopposed extension of his rule everywhere.

Therefore, Ephesians 1:23 would mean: Jesus fills the universe with his own glorious rule through us. Sharing in his rule, we are the fullness of his rule. We rule on his behalf, by his power, under his authority. In that sense, we sit with him on his throne.

None of us feels this as we should. It is too much — too good, too amazing. That’s why Paul prays for God’s help that “the eyes of your hearts [would be] enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you” (Ephesians 1:18).

Without omnipotent help now, we cannot feel the wonder of what we are destined to become. But if we are granted to feel it, as it really is, all our emotional reactions to this world will change. The strange and radical commands of the New Testament will not be as strange as they once seemed.

John Piper 

Strength Through Authority

1 After he had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum.

2 Now a centurion had a servant who was sick and at the point of death, who was highly valued by him.

3 When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking him to come and heal his servant.

4 And when they came to Jesus, they pleaded with him earnestly, saying, "He is worthy to have you do this for him,

5 for he loves our nation, and he is the one who built us our synagogue."

6 And Jesus went with them. When he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to him, "Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof.

7 Therefore I did not presume to come to you. But say the word, and let my servant be healed.

8 For I too am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me: and I say to one, 'Go,' and he goes; and to another, 'Come,' and he comes; and to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it."

9 When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, said, "I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith."

10 And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the servant well. - Luke 7:1-10

Kingdom Authority

Are you living a defeated life?

Satan is the great deceiver.

Putting you in the darkness of doubt, he will mislead you with his deceit.

And God blessed them. And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth." - Genesis 1:28

Dominion definition

To reign, to rule

God has given you His authority.

We lost it because of sin but Christ won it back.

We have been set free from sin by way of the cross.

Do you know this truth?

31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples,

32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." - John 8:31-32

17 For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.

18 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.

19 For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. - Romans 5:17-19

Are you reigning in your life?

You have been given that authority by Christ!

Authority definition

Legal right to act

The source of kingdom authority:

It comes from above.

You are under God's authority.

Your authority is backed up by God.

We pray in the name of Jesus who has been given all authority!

He is Lord over all!

By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. - 1 John 4:17

We die with Christ and we are identified with Him.

We rise with Christ and we are identified with Him.

3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.

7 For one who has died has been set free from sin.

8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.

9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.

10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. - Romans 6:3-10

17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him,

18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,

19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might

20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places,

21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.

22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church,

23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. - Ephesians 1:17-23

4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,

5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ-by grace you have been saved-

6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,

9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. - Ephesians 2:4-9

You have victory in Jesus!

Jesus destroyed death and hell.

The church is the body of Christ.

Christ is the head of the body.

18 And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." - Matthew 28:18-20

who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him. - 1 Peter 3:22

The secret of kingdom authority:

You cannot be over until you are under.

All authority is linked to obedience.

If you disobey, you lose your authority.

We are in rebellion.

Bow before the Lord and confess your rebellion.

Bow to His authority.

It will make you strong!

Thank You Pastor Rogers!!!