Jesus had three authorities when He was ministering on this earth. He had the Priestly Authority, Prophetic Authority and the Kingly Authority. Today, these three Authorities have been given to His Body – the Church!
PRIESTLY AUTHORITY - PRAYING AND INTERCEDING
Most modern churches exercise this Priestly Authority regularly by praying and interceding. Since speaking in tongues is talking to God, it falls within this category of Priestly Authority. We DO NOT PRAY for the sick because Jesus has given us authority and power to heal the sick (Luke 9:1, 10:9). In all the records of actual healing in the Bible, Jesus and the apostles did not PRAY for the sick but they commanded, rebuked and demanded the sickness and diseases to be gone. So these have to do with KINGLY AUTHORITY rather than PRIESTLY AUTHORITY.
PROPHETIC AUTHORITY - PREACHING AND PROPHECIES
Churches are also very faithful in exercising the Prophetic Authority. The Word of God is being preached regularly in the churches. There are also prophetic utterances and prophetic interpretations. All these are part of the PROPHETIC AUTHORITY.
KINGLY AUTHORITY - HEALING AND CASTING OUT DEMONS
The only Authority that is seldom used in the churches is the Kingly Authority. This has to do with spiritual warfare and healing the sick. Therefore, whenever we heal the sick, we do not pray and ask Jesus to do the healing. We utilize our God-given authority and power to heal in the name of Jesus. In this instance, we do not speak in tongues or pray. We become Ambassadors of Christ and represent the Lord in casting out demons and heal the sick.
BIBLICAL PARADIGM
We have discovered that if we utilize the KINGLY AUTHORITY to heal the sick, our success rate is very high. However, when we pray for the sick, the success rate drops drastically. In Matthew 17, Jesus was upset with the disciples for not being able to cast the demon out a boy. Why was He upset with them? It was because He had already given them authority and power to heal the sick and cast out demons but they were not able to do so. They lacked the faith to exercise His command. Jesus later told them that their failure was because of their lack of faith.
Therefore nowadays, we do not PRAY TO JESUS TO HEAL THE SICK but OBEY HIS COMMAND and heal the sick in His name.
Hope this is helpful to you.
God bless,
Albert Kang
