Identity and authority are necessary to hope. This isn’t a quick lesson. But you’ll learn where to start today.
I go into more detail in my books and my classes and my coaching.
Hope has been a motivator in my life and I’ve learned how to hope in some really hard times. It’s not the same kind of hard times you’ve had to go through, because your journey is different than mine. But we all need to know how to battle for hope.
He led David down, and there they were, scattered over the countryside, eating, drinking and reveling because of the great amount of plunder they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from Judah. 1 Samuel 30:16
Identity and Authority is needed to hope
David and his men have lost everything in an attack on Ziklag. David strengthened himself in the Lord, he asks God what to do, he gets a plan and gets moving. Then a bunch of his men need to stay behind the rest go forward and attack. That’s where we’re at in the story.
To hope you need to make use of your identity and authority
Have you ever noticed when Jesus says something and in the next few sentences he’ll say something that is apparently quite contradictory?
He tells us,
“When you pray, don’t babble on and on as the Gentiles do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again. Don’t be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him! Matthew 6:7-8
A few verses later he says:
“Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.” Matthew 7:7-8
Those statements almost seem counter-intuitive. First, we’re not to babble like the pagans who think they’ll be heard with their many words, next we’re told to ask and keep asking, seek and keep seeking, knock and keep knocking.
What’s going on here? Jesus said both in the same message.
Identity and Authority - what I’ve discovered
What I have discovered is I don’t need to beg God for the necessities of life. I have a good Father who takes care of what I need, that’s living out of my identity.
There are things in my life that I am becoming. Who has God entrusted me to be? Those things I need to pray into existence. I need to ask and keep asking. I need to seek and keep seeking. I need to knock and keep knocking. In context when Jesus told us to do that he was talking about not judging others.
Who needs to live that out in their life?
How does identity and authority work? I have some really crazy stories about how I’ve learned about authority and identity.
I want to default to my identity. I want my Good Father to take care of me so why do I have to be worried about anything.
But there are times and seasons I need to live out of my authority. In this journey of hope there will be a time you need to press in.
How do you know when to exert your authority?
The best advice I’ve ever heard is this: “If you think it’s a season you need to use your identity and rest and nothing happens, maybe try using your authority. If you think you’re in a season to live out of your authority and you declare it and proclaim it and name it and claim it and blab it and grab it and nothing happens, maybe try resting and receiving from God.”
4 Identity and authority tips for knowing which one to use
- If one doesn’t work try the other.
- If God’s answer is a promise, it’s time for me to grow in my authority.
- If I’m moved by compassion, it’s time to use my authority.
- Peace comes from trusting God and when I trust God I move in His authority. Peace is the proof of my authority.
I don’t know what season you’re in, but I want you to remember you have a Good Father who is taking care of you AND you have a Good King who has granted you His authority in a lot of the matters you might be struggling in.
Can I help you?
Live LIGHT Rhythm (group) coaching can help you move from busyness to blessing. Learn more today https://revtrev.com/group
