Speaking with Authority

Yesterday was a beautiful spring day.  My son wanted to play outside after supper.  He got new toys for his birthday and was itching to play with them.  I needed to work on my flower beds, so we went out.  Devon wasn't walking well enough last summer to roam far away from me.  This year, he goes wherever, whenever.  I was yelling at him to stop before he went into the road.  I tried telling him in a nice tone of voice, but he ran right into the road!  I began to yell. He cried.

When I really fuss at Devon, he cries like you have broken his heart.  It doesn't happen often, but I wasn't get my point across to him.  Later in the evening, he told me he could play in the grass, but not the road.  As bad as I felt about yelling at him, I knew that by speaking with more authority, he understood I was serious.

In Luke 9, Jesus has to drive demons out of a boy after the disciples failed.  They were commissioned to go work miracles in Jesus's name, but they couldn't solve the problem of this boy.  Jesus makes it clear that they have to have full faith in God and speak with the authority of Christ's name in order to work miracles. 

Moses, in Exodus, struggles to get Pharoah to listen to him.  He keeps telling God that his tongue falters.  God understands that Moses needs help in speaking with authority.  Aaron will step up to help.  However, how many of us have sung the song as kids that says, "Pharoah, Pharoah, let my people go!"  We all learned that Moses spoke those words with authority! 

I hope that as we go through the day today, we remember that speaking with authority may hurt the feelings of some, but it also can help us work the will of God.