As believers in Christ who love the Lord and pursue Him, we want to be used by the Lord, so we need to see from God’s word what are the qualifications of a person who represents God with authority, that is, what are the qualifications for a person who is a deputy authority; such a one represents God and God’s authority flows through him.
Amen, Lord Jesus, we want to be those who live one spirit with You today. May Your authority flow through us. Make us the proper vessels who are one with You and who properly represent You on the earth today. Amen, Lord, may we see that in ourselves we have no authority, for God has all authority. May we know God’s will and may we deny ourselves. May we be one with the Lord and not be subjective in our own feelings. We give ourselves to You, dear Lord! Amen!
In this universe, there’s a dispute regarding authority: Satan wants to establish his kingdom, and this is directly against God and His kingdom.
Therefore, we need to take a side; we need to either stand with the Lord by being submissive to His authority, or we will be one with Satan to stand against God’s authority. Oh Lord!
If we look around us we see that Satan rebels and even more, man rebels against God and violates God’s authority. It seems that people today do all kinds of things as if there is no God, and sin prevails, wickedness is being publicised, corruption is everywhere, and injustice is present.
Even more, among the Christians, there are a lot of divisions and so much degradation. Even among us in the church life, as we receive God’s mercy to follow Him and be one with Him, even we have some turmoils, some rebellions, and some problems.
The church life is not a utopia; the church life is the paradise of God, but when we are in the flesh and when we live according to our culture and in the self, problems come in.
We need to see, however, that even though Satan rebelled against God’s authority and even though man violates His authority by joining Satan in his rebellion, God will not let this rebellion continue.
He is establishing His kingdom on the earth, and we believers in Christ cooperate with the Lord for this. We cooperate by being under God’s authority and upholding His authority. We set ourselves to submit to God’s authority and uphold it. Amen!
Qualifications of a Person who Represents God with Authority – God’s Deputy Authority
In order for God’s authority to be properly expressed and represented on the earth, He needs to gain some people who are qualified.
We need to look at the word of God, both in the Old and in the New Testament, and we need to check with church history to see what the qualifications of a person are who represents God with authority.
What are the qualifications of a deputy authority? Oh Lord, shine on us! Shine on Your word! Gain such ones!
A Person who represents God with Authority must submit to Authority
First of all, a person who represents God with authority must be one who submits to authority (Matt. 8:8-9).
When the centurion came to the Lord Jesus, he sensed that Christ was under God’s authority, thereofre He had authority, so he trusted in Him.
On the one hand, we need to know God’s authority and touch God’s authority; this needs to be the basis. On the other hand, we need to submit to authority, taking God as the supreme authority and being willing to submit to the deputy authority He has assigned over us.
A Person who Represents God with Authority must Realise He has No Authority in himself
This is very important; a person who represents God with authority must realise that in himself he has no authority (Matt. 28:18; 2 Cor. 10:8; 13:10).
We have no authority in ourselves; only God has all authority, and Christ has been given all authority in heaven and on earth. There is no inherent authority in a person.
A deputy authority must first remember that all authorities come from God. If there’s any authority in a person, that is because God flows to him as authority, and that is from the Lord. A deputy authority is one who submits to God and who represents God’s authority.
A deputy authority represents God’s authority and is a deputy to God’s authority.
There’s no authority in themselves; the elders do not have authority in themselves – God flows into them and through them as authority. The authority may flow from God into them, but it is not part of their being just because they are elders.
Lord Jesus, we submit ourselves to You. You are the unique authority. You have all authority. Praise the Lord, Jesus Christ has all authority in heaven and on earth! Amen, Lord, we want to know Your authority and even allow Your authority to flow in us and through us. May we be fully open to You from within and realise that deputy authority is something that God flows to a man. Save us, Lord, from thinking we can have authority in ourselves. May we realise that all deputy authorities can only be a deputy to God’s authority! Amen, Lord Jesus!
A Person who Represents God with Authority must Know God’s Will
God will not entrust His authority to someone who does not know the will of God. A person who represents God with His authority must be one who knows God’s will (Eph. 1:9; 5:17).
What is God’s will? Revelation 4:11 says that God created all things because of His will, and because of God’s will, all things exist.
This is the perfect will of God. According to Colossians, God’s will is that Christ would be all-inclusive to us experientially. We need to settle this.
If we want to do God’s will, we must be those learning to experience and enjoy the all-inclusive Christ.
The perfect will of God can be carried out through Christ and the church. If we want to know God’s perfect will for us, we need to know Christ and the church.
A person who wants to represent God with His authority needs to know God’s will and needs to settle in his being that he is here for God’s will to be done.
In things great and small, in decisions that are important or ordinary, we need to know and seek the will of God.
A Person who Represents God with Authority must Deny the Self and Live in Fellowship with the Lord
A person who represents God with His authority must be one who denies the self (Matt. 16:24). He represents not himself but God, so his self needs to be crossed out.
This means that, besides knowing the will of God, such a person needs to deny himself and not seek anything for himself. On the positive side, we need to know God’s authority and be clear concerning His will.
On the negative side, we need to deny the self. To deny the self simply means not to express the self, not to utter your own opinions.
We should not think that our opinions are the best and we should not express our opinions. Some people think that their opinions are the best, that God treasures their opinion, and that the brothers and sisters honour their ideas; such ones live in a dream.
May we not be so foolish as to unilaterally impose our opinion on others. Instead of expressing the self, as Peter did when the Lord said He is going to be crucified, we should exercise our spirit and deny the self.
Furthermore, we need to live in constant and intimate fellowship with the Lord.
We must have a communion and a communication that is continual with the Lord. Instead of uttering our opinions, which seem to be good to us, we should open to the Lord and fellowship with Him.
We need to bring our opinions to the Lord, open to Him, let Him shine on us, and live in constant and intimate fellowship with the Lord (1 Cor. 6:17; 1:9; 1 John 1:3).
This means that we are one with the Lord and we deny ourselves, and we learn to give up our opinions.
Instead of speaking our opinion to others and imposing it on them, we open to the Lord, we are infused with His desire, and we speak to others what is on God’s heart.
Lord Jesus, we want to properly represent You with Your authority by denying the self. Oh Lord, we love You and we abhor ourselves. We exercise our spirit and we deny the self. Oh Lord, we open to You concerning our feelings and our opinions. May we not utter our opinions to others but open them to You for You to shine on us. Expose our opinions. Expose the self. May we not express the self or the flesh but express God. We want to live in constant and intimate fellowship with You. Amen, Lord, keep us one spirit with You today. Reveal Your heart’s desire to us. May we see what is in Your heart and speak it to others also!
A Person who Represents God with Authority must Not be Subjective in His Feelings but Kind and Gracious in Dealing with Others
In order for someone to be a deputy authority, that is, a person who represents God with His authority, he must not be subjective and must not act according to his own feelings (2 Cor. 3:5).
Yes, we do have feelings, and many times our feelings are deceiving.
Instead of expressing our feelings and living according to our feelings, we need to be those who deny our feelings, not live according to our feelings, and allow the Lord to express His feelings through us.
We have certain feelings, but we open to the Lord concerning our feelings, and we allow Him to apply the cross to our feelings.
If He is the source, we want His will to be done. But if He is not the source, we let Him deal with our feelings.
Furthermore, a person who represents God with authority must be kind and gracious in dealing with others (Luke 6:35; Rom. 5:15-16; 1 Cor. 2:12).
When others treat them unkindly, they need to be kind to them, even love their enemies, do good and lend, and expect nothing in return.
This is possible only when we live by the life of our heavenly Father in our spirit, for our Father is kind to the unthankful and evil.
He was kind and gracious to us when we were evil and sinners, and He gave us the free gift of salvation and eternal life. His kindness must be expressed through us.
A Person who Represents God with Authority must Live in Resurrection and Take a Lowly Place before God
A person who represents God with authority must live in resurrection; he must be a person in resurrection, living in the resurrection life of Christ (2 Cor. 1:9; 4:14).
On the negative side, they live one with Christ in His death, and they have the response of death in themselves, not basing their confidence on themselves but on God, who raises the dead.
On the positive side, they are in resurrection and they live in the resurrection life of Christ.
The fact that God uses a person should not make that person more proud; rather, he must take a lowly place before God (see Num. 14:5; 16:3-4, 22, 45; Matt. 11:29; Rom. 12:16; Luke 14:7-11; 1 Pet. 5:5-6).
God gives grace to the humble but He resists the proud. God can never use a proud person.
A person used by God needs to be humble, even be humbled by God. As soon as a person becomes proud, God will put him aside. No proud person can be used by the Lord.
Even if someone is a little proud in private, and no one else can see him, his words will later expose him, and he will be disqualified.
We all need to humble ourselves before the Lord, realising that we are unprofitable slaves.
We do what we are supposed to do, we are not uplifted or puffed up when God flows through us as authority, and we remain humble so that we may receive grace from the Lord.
May we be conscious of our unprofitableness all the time, honestly feeling that we are unprofitable slaves.
May we always stand in the position of a slave (Luke 17:10) so that God would be able to flow in us and through us as authority for the building up of the Body.
Lord Jesus, we want to live in resurrection today. We are one with You, Lord, in Your death and resurrection. We deny ourselves and are one with You as the crucified Christ. May death operate in us and may life operate in others. Oh Lord, may we be in resurrection and live in resurrection today, as we allow Your death to operate in us. We humble ourselves before You, and we acknowledge that we are Your slaves. You are the Master and we are the slaves. We take a lowly place before You, and we consider we’re unprofitable slaves, doing what we are supposed to do. Save us from being self-confident or self-assured. We reject our pride and we gird ourselves with humility. May we learn humility and meekness!
A Person who Represents God with Authority is Conscious of his Inability and Unsuitability and Represents God Properly
A person who represents God with His authority must bear others’ offenses (see Exo. 16:7; Num. 14:2, 5, 9, 27; Matt. 6:14-15; 1 Cor. 4:6-13).
This doesn’t mean that he hides others’ sins and offenses but rather, that he is not bothered when others sin against him.
He simply bears their offenses, for he is one with the Lord, who bore our offenses.
It is Christ who is suitable to represent God with His authority, and we are one with Him. In ourselves, we simply are conscious that we are unable and we are unsuitable (Exo. 3:11; 4:6-7, 10; 2 Cor. 3:5; 1 Cor. 15:10).
We don’t judge ourselves; it’s not a matter of beating ourselves or lowering ourselves, but a realisation of our own inability and unsuitability.
Only Christ is suitable. In ourselves we are nothing, we can do nothing, and we are good for nothing, but Christ in us wants to express God.
Such a person represents God properly; God wants to gain those who represent Him properly (Num. 20:2-13; 2 Cor. 5:18, 20; Eph. 6:20).
We must beware, however, for even Moses who was the meekest person on earth, did at one point misrepresent God.
We need to open to the Lord and confess before Him, even let Him do what He needs to do in us to make us those who would represent God with authority.
Lord Jesus, we confess that we are not able and we are not suitable to represent You properly. Cleanse us. Wash us. Constitute us with Yourself. We are not able, but You are. We are not suitable, but You are. Make us those who represent God properly. Save us from misrepresenting God. We open our inner being to You, Lord; deal with us, cleanse us, and purge us. We can do nothing in ourselves. We are nothing. But You are everything. Make us those who can represent God with authority and through whom Your authority can flow today!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ron Kangas on this topic, and portions from, Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 47, “Authority and Submission,” ch. 12, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The All-inclusive Christ as Revealed in Matthew (2025 Thanksgiving Blending Conference), week 6, Christ as the One Who Has All Authority in Heaven and on Earth – day 4.
- Hymns on this topic:
– His life with His authority / Enthrones Him now within our hearts / To govern all our words and deeds / And regulate our inward parts. / The Lord enthroned within our hearts / His Kingdom doth establish there, / Assuring His full right to reign / And for God’s purpose to prepare. (Hymns #942 stanzas 2-3)
– One with Thee in crucifixion, / On the cross I died in Thee; / I am dead unto the world, Lord, / And the world is dead to me… / One with Thee in Thine enthronement, / Sharing Thine authority, / Even as I share Thy life, Lord, / I in Thee and Thou in me. (Hymns #474 stanzas 4 and 6)
– Flow through me, Lord, a weak and earthly vessel, / Cleansed by Thy blood, and quickened at Thy call. / Flow through me, Lord, all utterly abandoned, / To Thy dear service, great, or high, or small. / Flow through me, Lord, with overflowing fulness, / Make me to know Thine own deep love for souls. / Work in me, Lord, the faith that moveth mountains, / As power, Almighty power, my being holds. (Hymns #249 stanzas 1-2)
