Every learning point in my life has taught me sth. I grew up in a household where it was 100% wrong to question an adult. So, I can say a thing or two about the authority of a believer.
In previous, study I prayed like no other to get a good grade, studied hard until it was unending. Infact the reason, I am writing is because well. I have learnt the hard way that blind obedience to authority is no way to live a godly life.
To serve God, you will have to ruffle alot of feathers. I read yesterday in the scriptures in Proverbs 9:8 “Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee.” the real question is who the fool between Jesus was and the Pharisees.
Now, the pharisees were in a majority and when Jesus rebuked them in Luke 11:37-54, he also rebuked them for turning his father’s house into a den of thieves. Matt 21:12-13, Mark 8: 33 (But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”).
The reason, why I go through these verses was I seldom used to think if I just agreed enough twill be enough until my master’s program. I endured foolishness until became wise because I did not use my authority as a believer. In my master’s I seldom use to have friend who told me that I won’t get a job, I never countered it; because I believed it is just your own you are saying. I had a lecturer who said I was no good in writing after scoring 7.0 (though in my IELTS to get to the master’s program) a host of these things happened because I did not have my authority as a believer in play (I did not know how to use). I fasted, spoke words of faith and prayed but I had already allowed words that were not of life go ahead of me. Because I could not rebuke every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God in my life; I had allowed it slide thinking it was nothing.
Words are spirit and they are life. whose report would you believe; we believe the report of the lord that says I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me; while I thought people close to me were just saying words not of life; I discovered it’s not what enters a man that destroys but what comes out of the man. It was then I realized that Jesus was right sometimes you have to tell the devil thou art an offense to me Satan, get thee behind me it’s not pride its rebuking wrong words spoken over one’s life that are not of life and are not true (Philippians 4:8).
Why am I saying this, we leave in an age of deception that you are carefully not to accept condemnation as conviction. These days condemnation is subtle, and conviction pull you to a sorry state not to condemnation. Addedly, I am writing this piece because I watched a video on YouTube where a channel was convicting people of pride and came from the angle of saying they did not want to receive correction when they were wrong.
Not to compare but even the teacher who was apparently correcting my work during my master’s program was corrected he couldn’t handle it, and took action of the student that corrected him, while it is the holy spirit that convicts, and we restore one with fault gently (correction) it is not our place to condemn.
We have the authority of a believer to refute and rebuke wrong words spoken over our life that is the authority of a believer.