I Give You Authority: Practicing the Authority Jesus Gave Us by Charles H. Kraft

Author:Charles H. Kraft
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Religion, Cults, Pentecostal & Charismatic, Christianity
ISBN: 9780800795245
Publisher: Baker Books
Published: 2012-03-14T22:00:00+00:00

7

Authority In Families

I will call him Robert. He is a committed Christian who, like many fathers, has had great difficulty getting his children interested in family devotions. For years Robert tried everything he could think of, from enticement to coercion, to motivate his children to spend a bit of time each day with him and his wife reading the Bible and praying. But their cooperation was always grudging at best.

Then, in one of my seminar sessions at a church, Robert heard me suggest that fathers let the evil spirit world know they are in charge of their families by making a statement such as, "If you want my wife or any of my children, you have to go through me. And I'm not going to allow that."

Robert went home and spoke those words. Apparently the enemy kingdom heard them, for something changed.

A couple of days later, in a follow-up meeting to the seminar, I asked if any of the participants would like to share anything. Robert stood and, with tears in his eyes, said, "Many of you know how fervently I've been praying that my children would willingly participate in family devotions, and how resistant they've been. So the other day, when Dr. Kraft taught us to take authority over our families by forbidding the enemy to go around, over or under us to get to our children, I tried it. And this morning my oldest son came to me asking if we couldn't get together for family devotions. It's a miracle!"

The Authority of the Husband/Father

There is an ordering in the human world (as we have pointed out) that has spiritual significance. God is a God of order. And just as He has structured the universe in an orderly manner, He has structured the family so that each member has his or her place with its own privileges and responsibilities. As with the way gifting is intended to function in the Church (1 Corinthians 12:12-30), the purpose of differences within the family is that the members will work complementarily for the good of the unit. And, as with the body called the Church, so with the body called the family, different members have different authority (1 Corinthians 12:28).

We have to be careful, though, not to attach more value to greater authority or visibility. Difference of function or status in no way makes one person worth more than another. In God's sight all humans are of equal value, whatever their position on the human scene. To God the poorest, least significant person (humanly speaking) is just as valuable as the president of a country or head of a bank. Likewise, in a family, the youngest child with the least authority is just as valuable to God as the father (to whom, according to Ephesians 5:23, God has given authority over the whole family).

Differences in authority have important implications, however, for what God expects of a person. Those with great authority carry great responsibility, as well as risk of harsh judgment, if they misuse their authority.

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