Are you begging or declaring truth?
We all know how to ask God for things.
Did you know that there are some issues God wants us to address ourselves?
We can do it using delegated authority.
This week Steve Backlund from Bethel Church in Redding California explains how to upgrade our prayers.
To live a transformed life you need to use your delegated authority.
Now I want to hear from you
What results have you experienced when you used your spiritual authority? Â Just leave your comments in the box below.
To  learn more about Steve Backlund and subscribe to his newsletter click here.
To see more of my interviews with Steve Backlund click on these titles:
Do you want to stop negative thinking?
Would you like to meet with me personally to discuss areas in your life where you feel stuck?
I am now able to take a very limited number of online or phone appointments. If you want help living a transformed life, just click here for more information.
Do you have questions about depression, anxiety, mood swings and Christian mental health?
Click here to find the answers in our Q&A Forum.
Donât miss a video! Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter, click here
Iâll talk to you next week,
Grant
Comments 7
I have been declaring the promises of God over my finances for a number of years and I totally agree with this teaching, yet I am in more financial difficulty than when I first began. I believe God is my provider and He has always taken care of me. A number of years ago I realised that I did not have to live with the debt and believed Him for that.
I made the mistake of believing that I should return to my country to help the suffering as I had successfully done in the past. Lack of continuous work (which was a sure thing) has resulted in my husband and I finding ourselves even more in debt and not being able to serve in anyway let alone financially.
I still believe , but sadly am not a good example.
Debbie,
I would like to share this with you. Believing God for More…. Provision (2 Kings 4:1-7)
How God Erases Our Faith – The Lord erased the widow’s faith through two questions asked by Elisha.
1. What do you need? and
2. What do you have?
By those two questions this woman was made to see the size of her need and the smallness of her own resources. She needed everything and she had very little. She needed much, but she could not possibly meet her own needs.
Often God will use the trials, heartaches and burdens of life to bring us to the place where we can honestly see our need and our own inability to meet it. Think about it, as long as we think we can handle things, why should we look to the Lord? If we have all the answers, why should we turn to Him with our questions:
But, when we stop and honestly answer those two questions, we will realize that we need more than we will ever be able to supply by ourselves. God does this to erase our faith. He isn’t trying to erase our faith in Him; He is trying to erase our faith in ourselves. As long as we think we can, He won’t.
Faith moved in that widow’s heart. She obeyed the Lord; she borrowed the vessels and she and her sons shut themselves up in the house and trusted God to do what He had promised to to. Can you imagine the scene in that home that day? She fills up one after the other and oil just keeps pouring out of that little bottle until every vessel was filled. When that day ended, there was a mother and some boys who had learned a valuable lesson. There in the privacy of that home, they learned that God was all-powerful and able to meet every need. Again, when the Lord shuts us up in a place of total dependence, His people will see Him come through for them time after time. This was Elijah’s experience, 1 Kings 17. This was Daniel’s experience, Dan. 6. This was Shadrach, Meshack and Abednego’s experiece, Dan. 3. This was the experience of the 5,000 who were fed with the loaves and fishes, John 6. This was the experience of the disciples on the stormy Sea of Galilee, Mark 6 and there are others.
This is the experience of every child of God who is placed in a position of total trust and dependence. He will keep all of His promises to you too! Not a single word in a single promise will fall to the ground unfulfilled! God will do everything He had promised to do. (Heb. 6-18; Matt. 5:18; 24-35; Psa. 138:2; John 10:35) He meant everything He said! He will do everything He has promised.
God’s provision knew no limits in the widow’s case and it knows no limits in your case! God is able to meet every need, move every mountain, and solve every problem. His provision is limited by nothing but our faith. God stands ready to give all that you make room for in your life, no more and no less!
Get your vessels to Him and watch Him fill them all.
I just wanted to share this with you as the Lord laid it upon my heart.
May the Lord Jesus bless you.
Thank you Dr. Grant for sharing with us to declare the truth and stand on the promises of God and to speak to your mountains. It is a blessing to know such truths from the Living Word.
GB
Certainly I agree that we have delegated authority. However, having been exposed in the last year to new age teaching and people who follow teachings like “The Secret” I have a work of caution. I know I could show this blog to friends who follow those teachings and they would say – see our words have power to shape our destiny- he’s teaching the same think as the teachings I’ve been watching. So, a couple of clarifications on the difference:
-First, even with finances we need to ask God what he wants us to be doing and how he wants us to be living. Is he asking us to be content with less? to get rid of some expensive toys? to not eat out so much or spend as much on recreation? drive a more fuel efficient car? These are questions of stewardship and I believe as christians we need to ask these questions first. Then if we feel God has affirmed how we are leaving of course we can believe that he will provide.
-Second – it is not really the power of our words that affect change, or our belief as new age would teach — it is who we believe in!
It is delegated authority – really God’s words, God’s will, through us.
And I do find it interesting that in both new age teaching and this teaching the subject matter is always about finances. Yes we all struggle in the area of finances-it is very real for many.
But maybe we could use our delagated authority to provide affordable housing for people, stop child sexual abuse, prostitution and some other broken parts of our society too. How do we apply our delegated authority there?
For Debbie Mortlock – I think you are an excellent example of what Paul was trying to teach in Phillippians 4: 12-13. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ who gives me strenght. (NLT). You took a risk and trusted God. He will restore you. You have given receive from Him and don’t walk in condemnation, please. You used your blessings to help others and God will honour you for that. It’s just not always in our time or in the way we expect. The Lord be with you.
That’s an excellent point Cheryl.
We must separate this teaching from ideas like The Secret.
It’s not our words that do anything but God working through our words. And, we are not “claiming” anything either or bossing God around.
We are speaking God’s will and his promises into situations. These are very subtle differences that are easily misunderstood and exploited.
I’m so glad to hear about someone else with this teaching. I’ve been listening to Andrew Wommack (awmi.net) for the past year and this is exactly what he teaches as well. I’ve taken authority over my health and have commanded sickness to leave my body. It’s the thief who comes to steal, kill & destroy. God gives abundant life. (John 10:10)
THANK YOU GRANT FOR YOUR INTERVIEW WITH STEVE BACKLUND. I AGREE WITH THIS NOTEWORTHY TRUTH THAT ENCOURAGES CHRISTIANS TO SPEAK OUT GOD’S WORD OVER SEEMINGLY IMPOSSIBLE SITUATIONS OR CIRCUMSTANCES THAT WE FIND OURSELVES IN.
WE MUST ALWAYS REMEMBER, IN OUR FAITH JOURNEY WITH THE LORD OF LORDS, THAT GOD IS ALWAYS FAITHFUL TO HIS OWN WORD THAT HE HAS SPOKEN TO US ! WE MUST ALSO RECALL THAT JESUS CHRIST IS ” THE WORD OF GOD. ” HE IS LOVING , KIND, AND MERCIFUL AND NOTHING, AND I MEAN NOTHING, EVER CATCHES HIM ‘ OFF GUARD. ‘ (JOHN 1 : 1 – 5)
I GUESS WHAT I AM TRYING TO SAY IS THAT WE CAN COMPLETELY TRUST OUR ETERNAL FATHER , HIS SON JESUS OUR SAVIOUR, AND THE LORD HOLY SPIRIT . THEIR COMMON GOAL IS TO LOVE US AND TO ABIDE WITHIN OUR ” INNER MAN ” THAT OUR JOY MAY BE ABUNDANT.
THE PEACE OF THE SHALOM BLESSING BE ALWAYS WITH YOU , GRANT AND YOUR WIFE KATHY.
YOUR FRIEND IN CHRIST,
LARRY