Faith And Authority

So Jesus went with them. But just before they arrived at the house, the officer sent some friends to say, “Lord, don’t trouble yourself by coming to my home, for I am not worthy of such an honor. I am not even worthy to come and meet you. Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed. I know this because I am under the authority of my superior officers, and I have authority over my soldiers. I only need to say, ‘Go,’ and they go, or ‘Come,’ and they come. And if I say to my slaves, ‘Do this,’ they do it.” When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Turning to the crowd that was following him, he said, “I tell you, I haven’t seen faith like this in all Israel!” And when the officer’s friends returned to his house, they found the slave completely healed. [Luke 7.6-10]

What is the real story here?

The story is that faith and authority go hand in hand. What the officer saw as authority, Jesus called faith.

Authority and faith need to be considered in context of one another! We need to consider authority when we think of faith and we need to consider faith when we think of authority.

It is one thing to say we believe Jesus. It is another thing to walk it out.

It is one thing to say God can part the Red Sea. It is another thing to raise our hands to make it do so.

Where does this authority come from? It comes only from God and is imparted only through prayer. Prayer is where God's Word comes alive to the one praying. Faith comes by God's Word.

Like faith and authority, the Word of God and prayer go hand in hand.

Father, I see the need for more prayer and more of Your Word!