GREATER AUTHORITY

During challenging times, one would think it enough to wield the authority to walk out an individual, overcoming believer’s life. Yet, it is not enough. Nor, in such times, are the safe places of congregations operating in their appointed authority, generally quite enough. Recent escalations of tragic events and dire threats in the age-old battle between good and evil underscore the need for greater authority within the household of faith.

That greater authority, the authority for influence and change, within the world around us, requires “something more.” Its gates are opening through the efforts of a uniquely anointed remnant of the Body, operating beyond itself, in fine-tuned alignment for set-times established by the Father.

Indeed, from this remnant, will flow an age-old apostolic-level authority that, with precision, will pierce the realms of darkness.

At its foundations, such authority can be drawn from amassing unified corporate authority. Such are the strategies of prophetic intercession. When amassed, unified authority addresses the tide of impeding evil. It merges mature mantles of leadership and the prophetic, with an anointing to speak with one voice. It is a voice mobilizing focused and directed authority across culturally diverse boundaries of committed, seasoned servants.

With this foundation, there is yet another form of this ancient apostolic-level authority.

Root Authority for Spiritual Environment Change
Jesus spoke of the faith to move a mountain. Jesus was grooming this level of authority within His inner circle. It is the authority, deep within the spirit realm, that changes the spiritual environment. Such faith comes only at a high cost. It requires the discipline and determination of abiding in Him with a singleness of purpose.

Those we refer to as the heroes of faith paid just such a cost for the change they wielded. The book of Hebrews cites the many who operated as ones so aligned with the heart of God, yet who never realized their dream in their time.

The implication for their mantle is as one transcending individuals, individual congregations, the generations and even time.

It is why Jesus was mobilizing just such a remnant with this greater authority for change. This was and is not a call for superstar performers, but rather a remnant of prophetic leaders who truly understand: what it means to operate in community, how servant leadership functions, how the anointing for influence works, and the priority of loving not their lives unto death. It is why John gave so much focus to the secret of abiding, of operating beyond one’s self. It is the root authority for today’s toxic spiritual environment.

Among the remnant of these mature, apostolic voices for this season are those with a mantle of influence. Such mantles are not based on manipulation or hyper-persuasive sales abilities. They are driven by anointed wisdom and represent a great deal more.

These mantles of influence are designed for strategic alliances, unique strategic alliances. They are for the purpose of establishing allies and coalitions within the economic, cultural and power structures of the world with ones with whom the consistent demonstration of the reality of God will resonate and bear witness. From them will be released the combined authority of the strategic alliances.

Combined Authority of Strategic Alliances
Joseph’s tenure in Egypt is a sterling example of the prophetic wisdom required to trigger the favor of chosen people with needed worldly authority who will give heed to the reality of the Lord when truly demonstrated. These will be the modern-day Cyruses and Pharaohs.

Joseph, with little status or position upon arriving in Egypt, applied the principle of the mantle of his great-grandfather Abraham. God told Abraham that through his descendants, the nations of the earth would be blessed. In short, Joseph was an example of being a prophetic steward who served in a way that released God’s blessing on those he served. He was blessed to be a blessing. From Joseph’s role as a catalyst came this greater authority.

Joseph’s authority in God became recognized by Potiphar, then the jailer, then Pharaoh. Each recognized that the Lord was with Joseph. When that happened, each of these men in turn, who had authority over Joseph, trusted him with their authority. It should be noted that this took place progressively within the targeted spiritual atmosphere. Then, as this greater, combined authority was released, the spiritual climate shifted with the potential for great power through the prophetic being the result.

During the famine in Joseph’s day, all the kingdoms around Egypt were affected. Yet those within Egypt’s boundaries were kept safe and provided for. The unspoken message of the Joseph story was the sidelining of those among Joseph’s brethren in Goshen. They simply were not prepared to be a part of the great miracle God did through Joseph and his alliance with Egypt during the famine. While God blessed them and protected them, their short-sighted orientation excluded them from participating, which at least in part some conclude led to the many years of bondage before they were ready for their deliverance and mantle.

The significance of majoring in the important things during times of evil pivots on demonstrating the reality of God. During the days of Joseph, demonstrating the reality of God took place through trust alliances which imparted the blessings and power of God through the resulting greater authority.

When operating, this greater authority will achieve greater works for both the household of faith and the camp of those in alliance with the man or woman of God wielding the apostolic authority for the sphere and the season. Likewise, within the boundaries of the realm of the alliance — whether economic, cultural or power — are the borders of safe places, communities of refuge if you will. When discerning the safe places for the days ahead, it should be remembered that 53 of the world’s 100 largest economies are corporations.

So it is that with this greater authority, is the path, the relationships, the resources and the wisdom to being blessed to be a blessing during times of great distress and change. This apostolic-level, strategic authority will gain momentum with the mobilizing of this select remnant of modern-day Josephs and Daniels and the alliances they produce.

Mobilizing the Marketplace Remnant
1982 in the US was a time very similar to today. The forces of darkness, together with short sighted, misguided false brethren agreeing with them, were amassing against voices of truth. During that time there emerged a woman of God, a leader of intercessors with very little personal prominence, but her mantle and anointing reflected that greater authority.

She allied herself with a group of businessmen who organized four gatherings of intercessors at the four corners of the US. Not designed to draw numbers, or to network or to draw spectators, these events had as their avowed purpose to do business in the Spirit. So they did. The result was the release of agendas that started bringing tangible change in our nation after those four gatherings.

Today, there is a call for a similar gathering that avoids the flash and the spectators, while resisting religious spirits. Instead it must be committed to do business in the spirit realm, this time gathering the diversity of those whom God has chosen and prepared as modern-day Josephs, who are supported by cadres of intercessors who will apply a similar strategy.

This greater authority will be evidenced as the pressures against Israel and the church bring both Israel and the Body into its greatest hour. It will be a time in which the Body gets past its short-sighted preoccupations and matures. The components defining both this marketplace remnant and the maturing within the Body include restoring the ancient paths, the mantle of humility, Body maturity that grows beyond its fixation on the splinters discerned in the eyes of others, and upholding voices of truth.

Restoring the Ancient Paths. The Lord spoke to Moses to tell the children of Israel: “Surely My Sabbaths you will keep. For they will be a sign throughout the generations, that I am the Lord who sanctifies you.” Restoring the ancient paths, set in motion by the word of the Lord, is a premise designed to sanctify and protect God’s people. There is nothing in the Word of God changing what God established through Moses as His sanctifying day of rest.

Nor has there ever been a time of greater pressures and challenges when the Body has needed to restore the ancient protections provided by God’s Sabbath and the feast days.

The Mantle of Humility. Along with the distractions, deception represents one of the chief strategies the evil one uses to keep believers anemic, immature and lacking in the level of authority needed to trigger change. The chief snare is in thinking of one’s self more highly than one ought. It also includes the deception of the fringes.

As a young Christian, one of my mentors advised me to guard against fringes on the Kingdom pathway, which on the one side is lukewarmness and on the other is hyper-religiosity or giving prey to religious spirits. The balance required, regardless of the maturity stage of the believer, merges the mantle of humility with the discipline of spiritual maintenance — personal time spent with the Lord. Jesus underscored this truth with: “If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, you will ask whatever you will and it will be done.”

With the snare of thinking more highly of ourselves is the subtle temptation on this spiritual maturity path of going on our own efforts. This especially affects entrepreneurs. The mantle of humility is foundational to practicing the presence of God. It is reaching to know the heart of God and realigning our direction with it. It will define the servant leadership exhibited by those genuinely prepared by God as modern-day Josephs and Daniels. Greater authority is released by means of flowing in the mantle of humility.

With maturity comes the blindsiding of the snare in which coping with the overwhelming dynamic of success tempts the illusion of exclusivity and having arrived. As Joshua faced the daunting prospect of replacing Moses, the Lord instructed him with the antidote: “Remember the words my servant Moses gave you. Do not turn from them to the right or the left so that you may be successful wherever you go. Do not let My words depart from your mouth. Meditate on them day and night that you may be prosperous and successful.” With this wisdom is the truth of abiding — abiding in the Lord and in His truth. We need the mantle of humility that recognizes the necessity of a life in complete oneness with Him.

Body Maturity that Discerns the Eye-Beams. The Body, especially within the West, to our shame, is one of the most dysfunctional, fragmented groups of people among any religious or secular circles. The dysfunction which fuels the divisions is in the doctrinal clickishness that seems to run rampant among varying segments of believers. Instead of heeding the wisdom of Paul in recognizing God’s purpose for the diversity within the Body, too many tend to become proud of their brand of righteousness to the exclusion of all others. Such things impede Body maturity and should not be so.

Jesus spoke to the issue with the parable that indicated that those obsessed with finding the splinters in their brethren’s eye would do well to first take the beam out of their own eye. This premise represents a hurdle to be surmounted into the gateway to Body maturity and that greater authority needed for these times.

Upholding Voices of Truth. Within that same context are the harsh, critical appraisals of voices of truth. Amassing evil operating within the voices of the world, media-wise, politically and religiously have fuel added to their intent by distortions and the incredible short-sighted, half-cocked responses of agreement from among the righteous who instead should be collaborating and supporting one another.

Instead of majoring on the important things, too many members of the Body and people of like values, tend to be prey to distortions and spiritual myopia. They obsess with issues of minor importance and distortions of reality rather than truly hearing and encouraging voices of truth, ones designed to uncover and hold back the attacks of evil which release the needed greater authority. Those allowing themselves to be prey to the distortions and spiritual myopia will be the ones left in Goshen.

Understanding the Times
Jesus said: “When you see a cloud rising in the west you say a shower is coming. When you see the south wind blow you say there will be hot weather. So why do you discern the face of the sky and the earth and not the times.” Indeed the days have become evil. They are toxic. The propensity for distractions and becoming overwhelmed is at a peak.

So in taking closer glimpses at similar times of transitions, we should be helped by more clearly discerning what is on the horizon and what God is birthing. God indeed is birthing a new thing.

During similar times in the recent past, there has been a convergence of key events in Israel and the Church with the release of a supernatural move of God that overrides the impending evil with the dramatic change it brings.

In 1948, against all odds, Israel successfully concluded a war and became a nation. During that same year in the US alone, more than 250 healing ministries were birthed as God began restoring the supernatural to the church.

In 1967, again against all odds in a remarkably short period of time, Israel successfully concluded another war. During that same year, there began two major moves of God, the Charismatic revival and the Messianic Jewish movement. God was setting in motion the restoration of the power of prayer and the Jewish roots to the church.

Today, we are again very close to a similar juncture of mounting pressures against Israel and the Church. Israel is at a flash-point. Anti-Semitism together with anti-Christian sentiments have reached levels not previously seen within governmental circles, international progressive media outlets, mainstream entertainment messages and perverse, false diabolical narratives influencing the attitudes of otherwise naive listeners in every walk of life, including many believers within the Body.

There is a clarion call for this greater authority and the alignment needed: restoring the ancient paths, the mantle of humility, Body maturity that gets past the splinters, and upholding voices of truth. With such evidence of emerging spiritual maturity will be the release of the modern-day Josephs and Daniels who tap the combined authority of strategic alliances and release the needed greater authority.

A Mature Remnant to Do Business
God has been in the process of preparing His remnant and is now birthing a new thing. Every move of God begins with a remnant intent on reshaping their lives to do business spiritually. As noted, it will involve Israel, the Church and a move of God. Similar to the days of Joseph, at the forefront of this remnant are marketplace practitioners who God has been sovereignly grooming not as superstars, but as abiders who will create alliances in strategically positioned safe-places.

Being honored to working among the persecuted, I’ve observed ones who have faced the fire with pure hearts and against all odds have miraculously prevailed. I’ve also seen others, who having survived incredible fiery trials, have been unduly influenced by false brethren and the precepts of men, or simply have become intoxicated with their own success and righteousness.

The result has been compromised, hyper-religious, counterfeit and manipulative responses to the greater challenges of our day, rather than with pure hearts which takes their direction from God and produces demonstrations of the reality of God that the world longs to see.

In doing so, they’ve bequeathed the greater authority they might have had to impact their culture, economy and seats of power. As our Lord has indicated: “many are called, but few are chosen.” Indeed, as Jesus imparted, that for this level of authority, our lives can no longer be our own.

With this greater authority is the path, the relationships, the resources and the wisdom that changes the spiritual atmosphere. In today’s world, discerning the Holy Spirit’s guidance, then aligning our lives with the standard for this greater authority, to uncompromisingly embrace the agendas of the times established by the Father alone, represents the undivided focus needed to prevail and reverse the tide of evil.

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Morris Ruddick has been a forerunner and spokesman for the higher dimensions of business leadership since the mid-90s. As founder of Global Initiatives Foundation and designer of the God’s Economy Entrepreneurial Equippers Program, Mr. Ruddick imparts hope and equips economic community builders to be blessed to be a blessing where God’s light is dim in diverse regions around the globe.

He is author of “The Joseph-Daniel Calling;” “Gods Economy, Israel and the Nations;” “The Heart of a King;” “Something More;” “Righteous Power in a Corrupt World;” “Leadership by Anointing;” and “Mantle of Fire,” which address the mobilization of business and governmental leaders with destinies to impact their communities. They are available in print and e-versions from www.Amazon.com, www.apple.com/ibooks and www.BarnesandNoble.com.

Global Initiatives Foundation (www.strategic-initiatives.org) is a tax-exempt 501 (c) 3 non-profit whose efforts are enabled by the generosity of a remnant of faithful friends and contributors whose vision aligns with God’s heart to mobilize economic community builders imparting influence and the blessings of God. Checks on US banks should be made out to Global Initiatives and mailed to PO Box 370291, Denver CO 80237 or by credit card at http://strategicintercession.org/support/

Likewise, email us to schedule a seminar for your group’s gathering on the Joseph-Daniel Calling or on anointing the creative in business.

2017 Copyright Morris Ruddick — info@strategic-initiatives.org

Reproduction is prohibited unless permission is given by a SIGN advisor. Since early 1996, the Strategic Intercession Global Network (SIGN) has mobilized prophetic intercessors and leaders committed to targeting strategic-level issues impacting the Body on a global basis. For previous posts or more information on SIGN, check: http://www.strategicintercession.org