Stephen Stanfield's Blog – July 2010 Archive (10)

When we pray we must be persistent and humble. Most of all we can't depend on our own resourses to get us through problems. We need to trust God and His strength.

One of my favorite stories concerns a bishop who was traveling by ship to visit a church across the ocean. While in route, the ship stopped at an island for the day. He went for a walk on a beach. He came upon three fishermen mending their nets.

Courious about their trade he asked them some questions. Courious about his… Continue

Many Christians wait on the Lord to drop the answer to their prayers out of the sky, and when it doesn't happen, they say God has forgotten them. But that is not the case. For the truth about God's love for us, we have to look at our choices.





God gave us free will. It is our choice to follow God's commandments, and when we do, we prosper and live under God's protection. Proverbs 10:22 tells us that, The blessings of the Lord makes one rich, and He adds no sorrow with it. On the… Continue

Many times when we surrender our life to the Lord, we are fragmented in our soul with pieces of our life scattered here and there. The power of scattering is linked with a curse that has right because of sin and iniquity in our life. When we sin, pieces of the person God intends for us to be are left behind connected to the time we missed the mark and acted in our own strength. We trade purity, blessing, health, and/or a part of God's perfect plan for our lives for a moment when something of… Continue

The seventh and last principle determining our level of authority in prayer ( or any spiritual activity, for that matter) is our assignment. This is the authority that comes from representation. Though we will all have the same level of authority when it comes to accessing our Heavenly Father and petitioning Him for our personal needs in Christ's name, we do not walk in the same level of authority when it comes to fulfilling spiritual assignments.



A good example is the scope of U.S.… Continue

A sixth principle regarding our level of authority in prayer is the decisions of others. When I am praying about the situations of other individuals, their actions can determine the authority level I possess to accomplish a breakthrough. For example, sin in that person's life or an unresolved issue between him and God may affect how much authority I have to lay hold of a biblical promise for him.

Others' actions can even at times affect an answer to prayer for us personally. (Second Samuel… Continue

The fifth principal determining our level of authority is our ability to listen to God and discern His will. Delegated authority has everything to do with representation. We receive authority from the one we represent. Obviously, we must know what he/she expects or desires of us. ( 1 John 5:14-15 ) " This is the confidence which we have before Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests… Continue

The fourth principle that will determine our authority level is our connection to and identification with God's heart. This is often overlooked. God gives authority to those who think the way He thinks and want what He wants. God allows us to feel what He feels and to identify with it at an acute level. This gives Him the ability to trust a person. If He knows we will do what He wants, and not our own thing, He can trust us with more responsibility and greater authority.

Jesus said "He who… Continue

A third principle in connection with our level of authority in prayer is our understanding of God and His Word. Without knowledge of it we will not be aware of His provisions for us or His ways through which they come. "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for me. Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children." (HOSEA 4:6) God's people can be destroyed for lack of… Continue

The second principle regarding our level of authority is called the principle of Concentric expansion. Picture a small circle with ever-expanding circles around it, much like a target with larger and larger circles around a bull's-eye. The inner circle would represent us as individuals. As the circles expand and grow larger, they include more people and greater territory. As this increases, our authority decreases, since we are sharing it with others.The second circle might represent an… Continue

There is a common misconception that all Christians have the same amount of authority to operate in Christ's name....We do not. There are several principles that determine the varying degrees of spiritual authority we operate in as followers of Jesus.



The first principle that determines our level of authority in prayer is simply ' Our relationship to Christ-- Our salvation'. While each believer moves in differing levels of authority for some activities, everyone has equal authority… Continue