What are you doing with the authority you have been given? You may be asking yourself, what authority have I been given? Many of us do not realize we have been given authority, let alone authority to do what? I think more often than not we think of authority as ruling over, rather than releasing to. Let me explain.

When the word authority is used, many people’s first notion is to think of someone in authority over them. Police officers have been given authority over us; parents are given authority over children; managers are given authority over employees; Presidents are given authority over nations; so authority is usually seen as someone who is over us.

Jesus in Matthew 9 is in a discussion with the Pharisees about telling a paralyzed man that his sins are forgiven. This caused the religious leaders to hear Jesus’s words as blasphemy, because they believed only God could forgiven sins. So, Jesus goes on and says, what is easier to say your sins are forgiven or take up your mat and walk, so Jesus said to the man, take up your mat and walk and the man was healed instantly.

What a powerful healing, what a story, but what is often missed is the reaction of the crowd that witnessed this event. Listen to what they say in Matthew 9:8 “When the crowds witnessed this miracle, they were awestruck. They shouted praises to God because he had given such authority to human beings.”

What authority are they seeing, speaking of that had been given to human beings? They had seen many healings and never made this statement, so it was not the authority to heal. What they saw and heard was a human being given authority to forgive sins. This was revolutionary to them.

Did you know you have been given authority to forgive other people’s sins? Are you exercising the authority of forgiveness you have been given? You have been given authority, not to rule over someone else, but to forgive others as you have been forgiven. This is an authority we need to value and exercise. Www.apostolicresourcenter.org