THE CENTURION SERVANT

Now a centurion had a bond servant who was
held in honor and highly valued by him, who was sick
and at the point of death. And when the centurion
heard of Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to Him,
requesting Him to come and make his bond
servant well. And when they reached Jesus,
they begged Him earnestly, saying, He is worthy
that You should do this for him, For he loves our
nation and he built us our synagogue [at his own expense].
Luke 7: 3-5

This passage of scripture is about the story of when Jesus went into the city of Capernaum, which is by Galilee. At that time, there was a certain centurion who had a 'favourite servant' who was sick and at the point of death. When the centurion heard that Jesus was in the city, he called some Jewish elders and sent them to seek Jesus, asking them to tell Him (Jesus) to come and heal his bond servant. When the Jewish elders sought out Jesus and found Him, they 'begged' Him earnestly to come and heal the centurion’s servant. The basis of their plea was that the ‘centurion is a worthy and good man, so much that he even build them a synagogue in their city, with his own money’.

Before I go any further and to help us understand the angle of this post, let me explain the meaning of a few key words.

• Centurion: Roman officer in command of hundred men
• Bond Servant: a person who serves in bondage; slave
• Favourite: someone something regarded with special favor or liking
• Begged: to ask humbly, begging for help
• Earnestly: serious in intention, purpose, or effort
• Worthy: having adequate or great merit, character
• Good: morally excellent; virtuous; righteous; pious: a good man
  

When most of us hear or are taught the story of the Centurion, we are taught from the angle of the great faith the centurion showed in verse 7 -9 of the same chapter, where he tells Jesus not to physically come to the his house, but to send His healing word and command, that it was sufficient enough to heal the sick servant.

However, I want to bring this passage to you from a different angle. Sometime last week, I was listening to the audio Bible (God bless the makers), whilst on the treadmill (yes, I am still fitness crazy) to this passage, God gave me new understanding. I played the whole chapter back about 10 times, if not more, and God revealed to me another dimension of this passage.

The Holy Spirit started teaching me with a series of questions which went like this - “why would a centurion, who was in charge of 100 men, pick out this particular servant? After all he was a Bond servant, a slave? Why did he love the servant so much that he was moved to the point of finding a cure for him. He was moved to seek help from the Jewish elders (highly respectable men of the city, who were then moved to favour him), and SEND THEM on an errand. He sent them to go and find Jesus and for them to bring Jesus back to his house to heal the servant”?

I was taught this: For the centurion to love his bond servant this much, the servant must have been very diligent in all that he did. He must have worked in excellence and integrity, which must have been only through the spirit of humility, for we must not forget he was slave. He must have been a trust worthy and good man, for the master to set him apart from the other men (99 others), This reminds me of Joseph, who was still diligent in using his gifts, even when he was in prison - Genesis 40: 1- 20.

Question for us all: Can your good works and your living set you apart from others in your time of need? Can your boss, your parents, your friends, your elders, or the ones in charge of you, see you in your time of need and be moved to compassion to want to go the extra mile to help you. Selah…

The lessons, however, did not end there, for another series of questions ensued … “Why did the Jewish elders take time to listen to the centurion, and why did he (the centurion) find favour in their sight? They did not only listen, but they obeyed. They WENT and sought out Jesus, and the Bible says they’ begged’ Jesus to come to the centurion’s aid.”

I was taught this: The centurion’s good work and living and his love for all things God brought him favour before the Jewish elders and before Jesus Christ.

The lesson from this passage is not complete without understanding how the Jewish elders came about to come and seek Jesus.

For you see, if the bond servant had not been a good man, he would not have found favour with the centurion. If he had not found favour with the centurion, there would have been no need for the centurion to find favour from the Jewish elders. If the centurion had not need to find favour from the Jewish elders, they would have no need to seek out Jesus, and there would have beeb no opportunity for the centurion to exercise his faith (which encourges us all today). Ultimately, thre would have been no healing for the bond servant.

Needless to say, at this point in time, I realised that I was peddling furiously on the cross trainer, mouth open and heart racing (must have been a confusing and shocking sight to the fellow gymers!)

My charge to everyone (myself included), is that in the name of Jesus Christ that, whatever we find yourself doing, we should make a decision to 'DO IT WELL'. Do it with all your mind, might, spirit and soul. Do it is as unto the Lord as we are taught in Colossians 3:23-24 which reads “Servants, do what you're told by your earthly masters. And don't just do the minimum that will get you by. Do your best. Work from the heart for your real Master, for God, confident that you'll get paid in full when you come into your inheritance. Keep in mind always that the ultimate Master you're serving is Christ. The sullen servant who does shoddy work will be held responsible. Being a follower of Jesus doesn't cover up bad work”. We do not know how, what and whom God will use to promote us to the next level, or bring to our aid in our time of need; which will surely come.

Thus, as you commence a new week, as you live out the intricacies of every second, minute, hour, day of this week, I encourage you to work in the spirit of excellence, deligence and of integrity.

I encourage you to work with a good and pure heart, clothed with humility and in so doing, by God’s grace and power, imitating the wonderful saviour, master Jesus; making the excellent God famous along your way.

Much Love

Remi

***Picture by photobucket***

Delegated Right, Power & Authority - USE IT!

"Look, I have given you authority over

all the power of the enemy, and you can

walk among snakes and scorpions and

crush them. Nothing will injure you.
Luke 10:19

Authority is defined as: a power or right delegated or given.

There is no authority except that which God has established. Our authority is established in God.

As children of God, and believers to the fact that Jesus Christ, died and on the third day rose, and resurrected to heaven and is now seated at the right hand of the father, having authority and dominion over all things and a name above every name; we have been given by God, delegated authority to use this powerful name of Jesus Christ, whilst we are here on earth.

The source of our authority is rooted in God and His power as written in Ephesians 1:19-23, it reads “ 19 I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power 20 that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms. 21 Now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else—not only in this world but also in the world to come. 22 God has put all things under the authority of Christ and has made him head over all things for the benefit of the church. 23 And the church is his body; it is made full and complete by Christ, who fills all things everywhere with himself. (NLT)

How do we understand the authority we have and use as a believer? We do this by embracing:

• Knowledge: We must have absolute knowledge of our position and meaning in Jesus Christ and Satan’s defeat. When we give our lives to Jesus Christ and become saved, we become identified in the eyes of God and of satan with the Crucifixion, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We become co-resurrected, co-ascended, co-seated, Join heirs with Jesus Christ. This means that we have delegated authority, power and dominion over satan through the name of Jesus Christ. The saddest thing is that God knows this, even satan knows this, but most believers don’t know this. It is impossible to exercise the authority you do not know you have! Hosea 4:6a reads “My people are being destroyed because they don’t know me ….”

• Belief & Faith: We must believe and have unwavering faith in God’s word. To belief and be a believer means that we have personally accepted, confessed Jesus Christ as our Lord and saviour, and therefore have eternal life in Him as described in John 3:36, which reads “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”. To declare believe in God means we have faith in Him and in His word (He and His word are one). Belief and faith is by no means passive feeling or decision it is active. The exercise of our authority through faith in the word of God that we belief is meant to produce works, through our words and actions as explained in James 2:26, which reads "Just as the body is dead without breath,[so also faith is dead without good works.Just as the body is dead without breath, so also faith is dead without good works".


• Humility: This when an individual is not proud or arrogant, and is modest. Humility is what will help us to keep exercising the power, authority and dominion we have as a child of God. There will be times when pride will dictate that we don't embrace a modest stance, or hold back the tongue. However, we must understand that with humility comes God's infinite wisdom as we are taught in Proverbs 11:2, which reads "When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom". With God's wisdom, we will know how and when to exercise our authority; when to abase and when to abound.



• Boldness: True boldness comes from realising our positions and authority in Jesus Christ and being filled with the Holy Spirit. Like David realised his true position in God, he was bold to face the Giant Goliath in 1 Samuel, 17:49, which reads “Reaching into his shepherd’s bag and taking out a stone, he hurled it with his sling and hit the Philistine in the forehead. The stone sank in, and Goliath stumbled and fell face down on the ground”.
  


• Awareness: A realisation that as a child of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ as declared in Galatians4: 6–7, which reads “6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” 7 Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ”,. As joint heirs, we are in the place of intense spiritual conflict, hence on the devil's rather, hence we must exercise our authority. If we are already on the devil’s side, he will have no reason to pay us any attention. However he will do anything to stop the believer who has a clear understanding of his or her authority, inheritance and rightful place in Jesus Christ. He is afraid and mindful of such an individual because he knows they have the wisdom and the determination to enforce and maintain the dominion Jesus Christ gave us. He knows they have the wisdom to put he and his demons in their rightful place ... permanently underfoot!
  

As you step into the new month of October, the 1st day of the last three months of the year 2009, I encourage you to awaken to the realisation of your God given authority as a believer, as a child of God. I encourage you to seek God, study His word and ask the Holy Spirit to help you understand that you do have the Right , Power and Authority over that ‘circumstance’, ‘wilderness’ or ‘issue’ that you are going through. I beseech you to rise up and actively use your authority, to change your situation and enable you to make tremendous haste and speed, both physically and spiritually.

So, to that mountain, that situation, that problem, that sickness, that exam result, that breakdown, that hindrance, or road block in your way, I command you to alter your stance, arise, point your prophetic finger at it and declare along the lines of… “In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ (The Crucifixion, burial, resurrection and seating and His victory over death and over satan) I command you to ……… (insert your victory song right there!).

Exercise your God given authority, in every area of your life, further enabling you to finish this year strong and well; whilst making God famous along the way.

Much Love

Remi

***pictures by photobucket***