Authority and Distraction – Part 1: Stand in the Full Authority of Christ Within Us
In the past few months, we have faced extreme perils due to weather and natural disaster –
This is not a time to cry, to fall on our face or to beg in prayer. This is a time to STAND – to stand in the full authority of Christ within us.
James 5:16-18 says, “Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.”
Here are a few very brief nuggets from this passage:
- We have authority over the weather. If Elijah could stand in that authority in the times of visitation of the Old Testament, how much more can we stand in that authority in this time of habitation with the full, completed work of the Cross and Resurrection as our banner of authority and our position of being hidden with Christ in God!
- Confess, pray, be healed – This is a time to confess the sins of our land, pray for one another and receive the healing of our land. There are three areas of repentance I feel to draw to our attention as we pray:
(1) Sins of dishonoring the dignity of people – this includes slavery, racial/ethnic prejudice and inequality, gender inequality, socio-economic inequality and dishonor of parents and civic leaders.
(2) Abortion, both the acts of abortion that have taken place in our nation and the legislation which allows it.
(3) Dishonoring God – this includes humanism in education, removing Judeo-Christian symbols from public places, silencing prayer in public gatherings, removing the 10 Commandments from display and movements to remove phrases such as “In God we trust”, “Under God” from pledges and national identification.
Pray for a complete work of repentance in your nation – that our actions, legislation and mindset demonstrate a true turning to righteousness. Receive healing! Believe, receive and rejoice that God is our healer of our land.
- Elijah’s story demonstrates two reasons God will change weather: (1) So that people will know He is God. Pray for a full acknowledgment of God in our nation. (2) To bring fruitfulness. Believe and decree the fruitfulness/fulfilment of God’s Word over our nation.
Well, that’s enough for today. We’ll touch on Distraction another day. God bless you as you stand in prayer for your nation!