What does the Bible say about submitting to authority?

What does the Bible say about submitting to authority?

Posted on May 11, 2014 Updated on May 11, 2014

  Obedience is one of the fruits of the spirit and an essential quality of every christian. What does the Bible say about being obedient  and submitting to authority?

                                                               By Pastor Enoch Adeboye 

Memorise: “O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps” (Jere 10:23)

Read: 2 Timothy 3:1-5

The spirit of self-centredness and self-adoration is becoming rife in the lives of men today. It did not just start today but from old times. In Paul’s second epistle to Timothy, the former made it clear that self government and self centredness will be a common feature in the last days. Men will be so full of themselves that everything they do will revolve around themselves.Personal convenience would be central in all they do. Personal gains must be guaranteed before they do anything. They will hurt their fellows – cheat, tell lies and manipulate just to increase their fortune. They cannot be under anybody’s control so they rebel against their parents, guardians, school, church or nation. They want to accomplish and beat their chests. Pleasure has become their god and they can do anything for pleasure. Is the spirit of the last days catching up with you?

In Genesis 3, when Satan met Eve, he lied to her. In Genesis 2:16-17, God commanded them not to eat the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil and that the day they ate of it, they would die. But when Satan came to Eve, he told her, ‘You will not really die.

In fact, that is when you will start to live. Go ahead and eat the fruit and prove to God that you have a mind of your own, and you do not need Him’. When Adam and Eve ate of the fruit, they lost the most important life they had – the spiritual life! All that was left was the physical life.

Their physical eyes opened and their spiritual sight was lost. They began to learn basic things such as clothing, eating from one’s sweat, and others. Until they took the path of independence from God, God kept them as perpetual babies. He completely cared for what they would wear and eat. They had no need to wash their clothes because they were clothed with His glory.

Independence caused them to lose everything. Everything. Are you thinking you can make it all by yourself? Are you saying you do not need to pray or take your fellowship with God seriously? Do you believe you are able to govern yourself, and do not need to wait on God for direction? That is the first mistake returning! The day you resolve to be independent of God, the real life in you dies and you are left with only the physical life. In what way are you becoming independent of God? Repent and return to Him today!

Every measure of independence from God is the degree of dependence on the devil. You cannot have both at the same time.