Hi, I’m Bill Johnson from Bethel Church in Redding, California. Welcome to God Today. Jesus gave His disciples power and authority. He gave them both. It’s a unique combination, because it is different.
And then when Jesus returned and He spoke to His disciples after His resurrection, He said, “All authority had been given to Him.” Now He was giving that authority to His disciples to carry on His mission. We only walk in authority to the degree we’ve said yes to His mission. That’s how we become commissioned, but then He added a phrase. He said, “Don’t leave Jerusalem until you’re clothed with power.”
So here’s two very important concepts that we need that really help us today. Number one is, authority comes in the commission. Jesus came to earth having been commissioned by the Father to destroy the works of the evil one. But then He also was baptized in water where He encountered the Holy Spirit, immediately following that He demonstrated power. So the point is this, our authority comes in the commission, but power comes in the encounter. We need both.
We need both. Every one of us needs to say yes to the mission of God. We’re here to demonstrate His heart, His will, but we also need, in the secret place and in the corporate place, to seek deeper, more profound encounters with God because that’s how power becomes demonstrated and manifested in our life. We need both – power and authority.
Let me pray for that for you. Father, I do ask that you set everybody up. Set us up for increasing displays of authority and power in our life that there would be the yes, from our hearts to Your mission, and that there would be the profound encounters middle of the night, middle of the day that change everything about our life. We welcome that. We say yes, Lord. Yes, Lord increase the anointing of power upon our life and may you receive all of the glory. Amen.