Deborah Deanna Charles was the Vice President of a large bank, and she had worked very hard to break the glass ceiling. To say that she had been judged, isolated, and belittled as she climbed her way up is an understatement. The youngest sister of four other siblings, all vying for their very busy parent’s attention and affection, Deborah was always trying to prove herself. She detested failure, but insecurity was her Achilles heel. More than anyone else, she was always surprised by her successes. Secretly, she felt an enormous amount of pressure to be perfect, and this kept her up at night. She lacked the experience and knowledge of her counterparts, and she was willing to work herself to the bone to make sure no one ever found this out.
Deborah met Alice when she first started as a trainee at the bank 12 years ago. Alice had been there a while and had taken Deborah under her wing. She taught her everything she knew, but when it was clear that Deborah was moving up in the ranks and exceeded Alice’s position, their friendship fell apart. Alice is exceptional at her job. She’s articulate and very detail-oriented, but her negative attitude has been the blocker of her success. She’s gained a reputation for being unfriendly, arrogant, and vengeful.
When the bank was going through a merger and expanding, a regional meeting of all the managers was held. Deborah was more than ready, and so was Alice. Vengefully waiting for an opportunity to expose Deborah’s insecurities and weaknesses, Alice had become aware of things upper management had not considered. Through Alice, the devil set up the plot against Deborah during this meeting with all their peers. Deborah was taken by surprise and hurt, but she didn’t show it. She handled Alice’s questions and comments but did so with a little less than her usual quick thinking and expertise. She felt smaller because of the exchange, and she couldn’t shake this feeling.
Her mom advised her to pray about it and give it to God, but her father’s approach was a bit more forceful. He told her that he was surprised she had allowed such a thing to rattle her. “Deb, with everything you’ve been through on that job, do you mean to tell me that you still haven’t learned to walk in the authority of Christ? You know better than this. Armor up, daughter, and don’t let anyone run over you.” Her parent’s counsel came from two different spiritual points of view. This mix of faith, grace, and unyielding strength confused Deborah. It always had.
What is Authority?
Authority is the unchallenged right to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to serve others through his love, strength, and power. It is the exercise of control, and this control is gained and enforced through our motivation to please God and obey His Word. Without the components of the Gospel, service, and the motivation to please God, we cannot walk in the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We have often assumed power where there is no authority, and this is sometimes a costly mistake. We are born anew in the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, and the authority he has given us is to bring about and spread a lifestyle of faith. This is the part of our foundation in Christ that allows us to exercise his authority. Believers often think of the authority of Christ as their own to build and exercise, but none of us have any authority to call our own. It all belongs to Christ, and we can only use it as we walk and live in him and love through him.
Romans 1:5(NLT) sheds more light on the authority that we have received as children of God. The Apostle Paul declared, “Through Christ, God has given us the privilege and authority as apostles to tell Gentiles everywhere what God has done for them, so that they will believe and obey him, bringing glory to his name.” Here we see the purpose of exercising the authority of Jesus Christ. It is to do the work of Christ so that we bring glory to God, and not to ourselves.
We are given authority
We are given the authority of Christ for purposes in the Plan and Will of God, and we are not to attempt to exercise it outside God’s purpose. Mark 6:7(NLT) tells us about the commission that Jesus gave the disciples. It says, “And he called his twelve disciples together and began sending them out two by two, giving them authority to cast out evil spirits.” The disciples received power and authority not to do their own wills, but to do the Will of the Father. They were to serve the people through the ministry of Jesus Christ. This must be our motivation as well.
Stand in Authority
Alice had been waiting a long time to undermine Deborah. Everyone knew it and after the meeting, Deborah knew it too. Deborah was not a vengeful person, and she handled the situation diplomatically. Even so, she felt injured by someone that used to be her friend and confidant. She felt something had been stolen unjustly from her that day, and her need to take it back was palpable.
Her dad understood her insecurities and that she had struggled with them since she was a child. Her success was an inspiration to them all, and her dad just wanted the best for her, but we must remember that a lifestyle of faith is the goal. We can see this clearly in Paul’s teaching in 2Corinthians 2:10-11(NLT). A man had done great harm to the body of believers in the early church. When they inquired of Paul how they should deal with this person, Paul taught them, “10 When you forgive this man, I forgive him, too. And when I forgive whatever needs to be forgiven, I do so with Christ’s authority for your benefit, 11 so that Satan will not outsmart us. For we are familiar with his evil schemes.”
Most of us can understand why Deborah felt bad after Alice’s act of revenge, but we need to know the root of why she felt bad. The bad feelings weren’t so much because of Alice’s betrayal, they were because Deborah lacked the presence of mind and heart to readily forgive her and move on. We desperately need this kind of heart to stand in the authority of Christ.
Romans 8:16-17(NLT) tells us, “16 For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. 17 And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.” We can’t outsmart the devil with carnal or physical weapons, because he is a spiritual enemy and only spiritual weapons can outsmart a spiritual enemy. This is why God commands us in Ephesians 6:11 to put on His armor so that we can stand firm against the strategies of the devil. Standing firm requires us to be unmovable in faith amid the attacks that satan sends through others. We are to do so with the understanding that we are not defeated, because Christ has already won the victory for us.
Psalm 37:7(NLT) tells us, “Be still in the presence of the LORD, and wait patiently for him to act. Don’t worry about evil people who prosper or fret about their wicked schemes.” This is a very powerful piece of wisdom for us. There are times when we do have to let people know who we are in an authoritative manner, but we also must be careful to appropriately let go and let God. His grace covers us. He is a redeeming God, and what the enemy meant for bad, God will work it out toward our good if we patiently and faithfully endure.
We are not called to address every mean-spirited attack. There are plenty of them in life, and if we expend our energy worrying about how to respond to them, we are bringing ourselves equal to those the enemy uses. The best use of our resources is to give it to God, to wait on Him, and to only move according to His leadership and guidance. This is how we make sure we’re not setting ourselves up for more attacks, and that we are only motivated by what pleases God and ultimately yields glory to His name. ■
Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 601
“Standing in the Authority of Jesus Christ” written by Reverend Fran Mack, edited by Kim Times, for Sundie Morning Sistas ©2022. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord!