POWER USURPED

 

© Morris Ruddick

 

“ But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves .” 2 Cor 4:7 NAS

 

Lust for and perversion of power has been at the root of corruption, oppression and persecution since man populated the earth. In the context of society, power comes from the right or authority to influence, judge or govern. In the spiritual realm, the power of God manifests uniquely at distinctly different levels.

 

With individuals, it ranges from a focus on “signs and wonders” to the change it brings about in a person. At the societal, generational and eternal levels, the power of God reverses the curse brought by the fall of man. It touches every dimension of life and community, together with God's purpose of man ruling over the work of His hands. As such, the power of God is the progressive force behind the restoration of God's rule and authority over individuals, communities, the marketplace, nations and generations.

 

The Standard to Release God's Power

God's people are the catalysts to extend the power of God. There is a standard defining the degree by which the people of God wield this power. The Apostle Paul, in Ephesians 4:13, describes it as the dynamic in which unity and the full knowledge of the Lord are merged .

 

The plumb line, by which this criterion functions, is the maturity of the Body to operate in community . Operating in community is the lynchpin to revival and the launch pad for impacting a generation. The societal-transforming power of God originates from within the context of community.

 

As the combined standard of “ unity and full knowledge of the Lord ” is raised, so will the power to bless and transform be released through God's people, as agents of change. Acts 17:6 provides a glimpse.

"These who have turned the world upside down have come here too .”

 

This response to the power of the early Church pivoted on the word “these.” Yet, when community fails to function, as God intended, it is unfortunate that too often restoration comes as the result of pressure or when faced with outright confrontations with evil.

 

The Power to Transform

This last generation saw unusual, prolonged and broad demonstrations of the power of God at the point of revival. Yet, while revival has waned, the transition underway holds the potential for a new scope of His power. As the bar is raised for this community standard of “ unity and full knowledge of the Lord, ” the result will be a penetration of the infrastructures of society with God's authority and dominion. The outcome will be a God-centeredness or spiritual reviving that spreads like wildfire and brings meaningful change.

 

God's power to transform society is released when a combined mix of individual and community gifts and callings …are fused with community maturity. It is then that the highest-level purposes of God, to establish His Kingdom authority, are triggered. The Kingdom dynamic begins with community. Only when the Kingdom is being advanced will there be the potential to impact a generation.

 

Wielding God's power at any level is a sacred trust. It is the power to set free and then to enable. That's the bottom line. God's power is what is required to be set free from what Scripture refers to as the bondage of corruption. The enabling and mobilizing, is maximized when it conforms to the Biblical model combining the spiritual, with community and the entrepreneurial. God has given us ALL things, including the power to transform, needed to procure and become the progenitors of Life and godliness.

 

Power Usurped

To usurp is to seize another's place, authority, or influence wrongfully. It implies wrongful use or employment without authority. The world is plagued by usurped power, the impact of which the Psalmist describes as oppression, affliction and sorrow. Despite that, it is shameful that the same misuse of power, at the heart of the bondage of corruption, emerges within seats of power of God's people.

 

The seedbed for power usurped in the ranks of the righteous begins when human effort overtakes trust in the Lord. The evidence of digressing into human effort is found in the words spoken behind closed doors. Whether among followers or leaders, yielding to gossip, hearsay and slander reflects an uncertainty and fear that fills the void with an ungodly response, instead of yielding to the Spirit. It forms the basis of oppressive authority, as well as responses destabilizing the very foundations of God-centered community.

 

Management by hearsay and the rumor-mill is power usurping and self-defeating for any organization seeking to be led by God. It weakens, usurps and impedes; and falls short of the dynamic by which the Holy Spirit builds community and the movements that impact generations. The issue is power rightfully aligned and the restoration of usurped power. The goal is the creative Life of God that builds, transforms and brings restoration being extended to communities, the marketplace, the nations and the generations.

 

The calling of God is a holy thing. It cannot operate on presumption; nor can it be replicated or usurped without consequence. I recently asked the Lord about the waning of power evident within the Body. The response was sobering.

 

While the Lord has indeed given us everything that we need for Life and godliness, the power-usurpers who have ventured outside the spheres of their callings have quenched the Spirit and diverted the thrust of revival and transformation into self-serving programs. The pathway for those “called” to impact a generation becomes a perversion and diversion for those not called; who leverage and lock-in the standard of a stagnant and static program, rather than depending on the spontaneity of the Spirit.

 

Power Usurpers

Over the ages, the Bible has recorded those who have short-circuited the purposes and power of God. Far too frequently, when God's people have become reprobate, it has been due to leadership fallen-short. It has been leaders who have misused positions and authority. It has been leaders fallen short of God's purposes by acquiescing to the trappings of their positions rather than truly assuming the mantle. In more instances than not, mercy was extended and ignored, with an end marked by tragedy.

 

Shebna (Isaiah 22:15) was a bully and oppressor. He was full of his own self-importance, taking advantage of the privileges of his high office without nurturing or extending care to those he was called to serve. His removal was sovereign, abrupt, and recorded for eternity with a replacement whose leadership qualities included a “father's heart” for God's people. Absalom (2 Samuel 15:4) was an achiever who never learned to control his own spirit. He made bad situations terrible ones. His obsessions provoked him to take matters into his own hands and force issues.

 

Judas was a scorner. Scorners miss the will of God by enmeshing it with their own obsessions, thereby becoming dupes of the devil. They are distracted and blinded by their zeal for programs they try to accomplish for God. Their short-sided fervor turns their outlook into cynicism on things outside their own viewpoints and spheres. They force issues; never quite grasping the significance of the big picture.

 

Then, both the historical and Revelation Jezebels are ones who lust for control that seduces and betrays those with high callings. They are obsessed with filling personal voids by infiltrating and manipulating the power and authority of others, which brings a halt at and obsessing on otherwise valid interim steps.

 

The reason we have the warning in James 3:1 not to aspire to leadership unless genuinely called, is that there is a cost tied to the calling. Without the cost, power is usurped. Power-usurpers within the ranks of God's people, both leaders and followers, impede the process of the Body coming into that “ unity and full knowledge of the Lord .” They exhibit patterns that reflect short-sidedness, acting prematurely, being deceived by the aura of success, seeking the glory and those who walk over the backs of others.

“ Woe to them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit, and perished in the rebellion of Korah .” Jude 11

 

Judgment

Biblical judgment against God's people clears the decks of internal usurped power, as the Lord brings realignment to His eternal purposes. When God's power tied to high callings is usurped, then the potential for community and generational callings is undercut. At some point, when His purposes are stymied or diverted in this way, judgment will be triggered.

 

Judgment comes first to the household of faith. The cleanup typically begins at the leadership or “influence” levels. It then proceeds to those who are pointing the finger in scorn. When the cleansing of judgment purges the Body of the power usurpers; and the dynamic of unity and full knowledge of Him is established; it is then that the Lord will begin judging and routing our enemies.

 

Community and Generational Callings

Sometimes referred to as movements, community callings with the right shared or combined gifts are designed to bring change. It is when the Body operates in community that the change will impact and even transcend generations. Most recognize the short-term byproducts of flowing in community, such as revival, but the big picture purpose is to advance God's Kingdom dominion and bring change.

 

When community callings combine with generational callings, the dynamic brings forth God's exponential increase. It is the foundation for what Scripture refers to as “ His works .” The Gentile Church has traditionally reflected a mantle to make a difference for the generation at hand. However, the Jewish people historically have demonstrated a calling that is timeless, to bring transformation across generations. Jesus very pointedly said that: “ salvation is of the Jews .” The oracles of God, that have formed the basis of Western civilization, have come through the Jewish people. When the callings of God's people—Jew and Gentile merge, a catalyst will result, with the impact shattering the gates of hell.

 

Among God's people, the leaders who have changed the course of this last generation number less than what might be counted on one hand. Those in this present generation, whose callings parallel the biblical Josephs and Daniels, will change that.

 

Yet, tragically over the ages, the power available to God's people to enter their destinies has been diffused, by those who usurp it from within the ranks. As instruments of God's power, the 21st century, Western expression of His Body is sadly anemic. Trapped by a mix of individualism, institutionalism and intellectualism, we export “Western success” with a Christian-flavored sugar coating as the standard. It falls short. As a Body, we are fragmented and myopic to the degree that is largely void of the power that described the early church:

“So great fear came upon all the church and upon all who heard these things. And through the hands of the apostles many signs & wonders were done among the people.” Acts 5:11

 

The Choice

Paul wrote the Romans describing his own people as having “ zeal without knowledge .” So it is today with far too many within the Body. We've been gorged on the availability of sound biblical teaching, conferences, Christian entertainment and gatherings; and should wonder at the limitation to His power.

 

We are called to make a difference and change the course of history. Yet, when the risk and cost are minimal, the tendency is an increase on the reliance of human effort, a focus on superficialities and becoming intoxicated with interim successes. When human effort overshadows the level at which one's efforts are yielded to the Holy Spirit, then the results are marked by presumption, short-sidedness, overstepping boundaries and in a word, usurping and minimizing the release of God's societal transforming power.

 

As such, the release and proper application of God's power is a distinguishing characteristic for not only individual, but for Body maturity.

 

The benchmark, as already noted, is the maturity of the Body to operate in community . There is a tendency to view miracles as the ultimate in God's power; whereas miracles are only the byproduct of the authority and power to build community, bring transformation and change a generation.

 

The maturity of the Body to operate in community is the foundation on which societal transformation will be based. It bears on entering the dimension in which we truly advance His Kingdom. It differentiates those whose efforts will change eternity and those whose lives will bear the same fruit as “everyone else.”

“ Then they shall discern between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serves God and those who does not serve Him .” Malachi 3:18

 

Jesus spoke of a time when the spiritual turbulence would become such that the deception would influence even the very elect of God. Being entrusted with God's power entails a choice to progressively depend on the Lord with an eye on both community and the generation at hand. That means the humility and ongoing choice to yield to the truth in the words of John the Baptist that “ He must increase and we must decrease .” It means heeding the admonishment of the Psalmist in “ speaking truth in our own hearts .” (Psalm 15) It means lives yielded to service. It means passing the gateway into a new dimension of community. This ongoing fine-line response to our callings will determine the impact made for eternity and the difference Jesus noted between the many who are called and the few who are chosen.

 

“ Unity and knowledge of the Lord ” is not some form of agreement on doctrinal precepts. It is the combined intimacy that comes from first priority being given to spending time with Him; and as individuals, leaders and then as a community, actively serving with the overflow to bring transformation that extends to individuals, communities, the marketplace, nations and generations.

“Have mercy upon us, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; according to the multitude of Your tender mercies, blot out our transgressions. Wash us from our iniquities and cleanse us from our sin. You desire truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part You will make us to know wisdom. Purge us with hyssop, and we shall be clean; wash us, and we shall be whiter than snow. Make us to hear joy and gladness. Hide Your face from our sins, and blot out all our iniquities. Create in us a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within us. Do not cast us away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from us. Restore us as people to the joy of Your salvation, and uphold us by Your generous Spirit. Then we will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners shall be converted to You.” Psalm 51:1-13

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Morris Ruddick is the founder of the God's Economy Entrepreneurial Program, which imparts hope and equips believers in lands of oppression and persecution as economic community builders. He is also the author of “The Joseph-Daniel Calling” and “God's Economy, Israel and the Nations,” each of which address God's mobilization of the economic and community dimensions of His Word. They are available from Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com and other popular outlets.

 

2007 Copyright Morris Ruddick — info@strategic-initiatives.org

 

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