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In spite of the word authority, spiritual authority really doesn’t have its basis in authority. Rather, the basis is in our character and faithfulness. Once we’ve proven ourselves faithful in the small things, served the needy while we were in need ourselves, and established covenant relationships, we have all the tools to rule and reign in authority. In Training for Reigning, Rick Godwin takes us on a journey from Bethlehem to Zion, demonstrating through the life of David the requirements for spiritual authority.

In Bethlehem, David shows us we need to be faithful in the small things. Before and after, David was anointed king, he was faithful in tending his father’s sheep. He didn’t leave them just because God had put a call on his life. Just like David was faithful in his work, we must be faithful where we’re at, even if God has put a call on our lives. Before God will give us the responsibility of taking care of His things, we must show ourselves faithful in taking care of “our” things. Then, and only then, will God put an opportunity before us for us to be noticed, just like he did for Goliath.

Even after Goliath, through, David wasn’t crowned king. Rather, he was forced to flee into the wilderness and live in the caves of Adullam by Saul, who was jealous of David’s anointing. There, men flocked around him because of what he could do for them. Sometimes God puts us in a place where it doesn’t seem like we’ll ever reach a place of spiritual authority, but people still come and put themselves under you because of what you can do for them, and God calls us to care for them, even though we may be in need ourselves.

The relationships formed in Adullam, however, aren’t generally ones we will be able to take with us when we go to take Zion. For that, we need covenant relationships. David found those in Hebron, the “place of covenant”. As Christians, we also need covenant relationships. We also need to go to Hebron. Because not only is it the place where we make covenant relationships, but it is the place where we are prepared to take and occupy Zion.

Before David took Zion, it was occupied by the Jebusites and had never been captured. But because David had been through Hebron and he delegated his authority, they took the city in just one day. We need to realize that we can’t do it all on our own. If David had attempted to capture the city all on his own, he would never have succeeded, but because he gave the task of taking the city to his men, it was taken.

Gaining the privilege of spiritual authority isn’t as easy as it might seem. It doesn’t come just because people follow you but because you have proven yourself faithful in the small things, served those around you, and made covenant relationships with your brothers and sisters in Christ. It is a right you earn, not one that is easily given. And once you have reached the place where you are in authority, it’s really not that much about the authority.

This past week in our morning devotion time, we have been studying the heart. And for me when I think of the heart , my mind automatically goes to love. But as I was reading in Lamentations I came across a passage in chapter 3 that says:

22 The faithful love of the LORD never ends!
His mercies never cease.
23 Great is his faithfulness;
his mercies begin afresh each morning.
24 I say to myself, “The LORD is my inheritance;
therefore, I will hope in him!”
25 The LORD is good to those who depend on him,
to those who search for him.
26 So it is good to wait quietly
for salvation from the LORD!

Reading this reminds me of a skit I used to do back at home, where there was a guy Bobby and this girl. (ohhhhh!) But this girl would always ask Bobby for his heart and he would always give it to her, and every time Bobby would give her his heart, she would break it. Bobby gives her his heart like 3x. And after she breaks it every time, God is right there asking Bobby if he can fix his heart. And Bobby is hesitant to give it to God.

God showed me this is how we are with him, why do we always tend to give our hearts away so easily. To friendships, a boyfriend or girlfriend but when it comes to giving our heart to God, we are hesitant. We give our heart to so many other people that don’t need it, that when it comes time to give our heart to God all we can give him is our leftovers because we already gave the rest away. So then it starts to be, we give all of our leftovers to God. Our time, our effort, our money everything we do we give God what we have left because we spend it all on other things that aren’t supposed to get so much from us.

So I bring a challenge, search your heart deep down and see who has your heart. And if it’s pleasing to Jesus, then Praise God but if not, know there are things and people and friendships that will have to go. God wants our whole heart, not half of it. It isn’t a part time contract, where he gets it on the weekends or from 9 to 5 on the weekdays. God wants all of your heart all of the time. So he can move and heal it. But not until he has your whole heart, can he begin to do stuff within you. So I say it again, WHO HAS YOUR HEART? And are you ok with the outcome? Is it bringing you closer to God?

So recently I have had the chance to do a lot of ministry with the youth here at Crossfire in the Eugene/Springfield area. My favorite part of working with our youth is when we go street witnessing. On our last time out, we talked to lots of people and the next Wednesday we saw two of the people we met at Youth Church. It was cool to see the fruits of our labor for the Lord, but it was also cool to see some of the youth guys that I had been discipling begin to tell people they have never met about Jesus. It was really inspiring.

A blog by Mike Crofford

This was my first time on a mission trip with Crossfire, we went to the Philippines and it was awesome. During the entire trip I had the chance to minister to people of all ages to people on the Island of Negros. The awesome thing is how God used me, I got to do things that not many people can say they did and that was I preached in a prison!!!!! God showed himself mighty while I was there. I would just go lay hands on people and they would get touched by the power of God. I had no idea God could use me in that way but he did. I asked God to show himself real to me and he did, he showed himself to me by using me.

We went to a couple different squatter villages while we were there. These are the poorest areas of the Philippines where people build small homes right next to each other on abandoned property. Most of these homes are no bigger than the smallest room in your house. In these areas you see so many kids running around unattended so a lot of the ministry we did in the villages was for the kids. We put on puppet shows and sang some songs teaching them about Jesus, but the thing that got me was when the kids received prayer for salvation. It made me tear up almost every time I heard it, because we were a part of bringing these kids into the saving knowledge of Jesus.

All in all I had a great trip. I made a lot of new friends and made a lot of new memories. Reading about it and seeing the pictures is encouraging, but my challenge to every one of you is this; get on the mission field or commit to supporting missions and see how you can change people’s lives and how your life will be changed.

So this was my first time in the Philippines, and let me tell you I loved every second of it. Every person I met, every toy I gave away, every picture that was taken. It all impacted me in a way I never thought was possible. One night service, while we were in Escalante I was outside talking to the kids. (That is where you would find me most of the trip, with the children)But there was one girl who stuck out to me, this whole trip and her name is Joy. She is a 3 year old beautiful girl. And as I was outside talking with the kids, she caught my attention because I noticed how big her shoes were. I notice shoes, and all the other kids had shoes that fit, but not her. So I started to ask around, ask a little about her and boy I did not expect what came out of a little girls mouth.

The girl must have been about 12 and she began to tell me the story of Joy. That when she was 1 year old, her mother passed away, she is an only child and shortly after her mother passed away her father moved to Manila to work. Joy was being raised by her aunt, who was only 11 years of age. They lived in the alley on the side of the church.

Hearing this broke my heart; I couldn’t help but cry as I was being told her story. I pick her up and just begin to talk to her, as tears run down my face I finally hear her voice. Her voice has such fear in it, she did not want to talk and it took even more effort to get her to smile. You could see in her, even though she was only three. There was so much hurt and pain in her life, she guarded her heart well and that made me even more sad. I had the chance to play with her and hold her and teach her how to fly the flyers. Most importantly I spent quality time with her, showed her love and compassion.

As we left, I handed her a purple bracelet and she wore that with pride, showing it off to all her friends around her. Getting into the van I couldn’t stop the tears, I just wanted to be with Joy. To take care of her make sure she had food and a safe place to stay. That night I lost part of my heart, because it is still there in Escalante with Joy. I pray for her every day and think about her so much. Hoping one day I will get to see her again. This is honestly a night I will never forget and a girl that probably doesn’t know it, but she changed my life, forever!

A blog by Ariel Siufua

It’s amazing to me how things can be so different and yet so much alike as we traveled through the Philippines. For instance, trees, in their varieties and differences are all alike. And fields as well, though they might yield different crops, are the same. And how the Philippines could seem to me so similar to Iowa, but still so different.

Hot and humid air, along with joyful faces that would soon become my friends, greeted us as we stepped out of the Bacolod airport, and aside from the smell, I almost instantly felt at home. Back in Iowa on a day like that, I would have been begging Mom to take me to the lake. Instead of a lake, though, I piled into the vans with the rest of the team and we drove to our destination.

In a strange way, every drive we took connected me to Iowa. I have a sneaking suspicion that if my father were to move to the Philippines he would be right at home driving there. But that’s not why the drives reminded me of Iowa. Rather, it was the sights and the blowing air conditioner that brought me back to my first home. The fields, full of green plants made me think of the endless lines of corn I see in Iowa. Something reminded me, every day, of my hometown and my family, and I managed to get quite homesick.

But even though the Philippines reminded me so much of Iowa, there were differences that constantly reminded me that I wasn’t really there. The buildings along the sides of the road don’t look like the buildings in Milford...most of the time. People pile onto motorcycles and sidecars eight, nine, and ten at a time. And the smells were different, too. I’m not sure my mind knew what to think, with the constantly clashing similarities and unfamiliarity of Negros Island.

The services we did, were also different in spite of their sameness. The God we worshiped was the same and the way we worshiped was similar, but there was something different, something new, something I’d never really experienced before. God used me there in ways I’ve not been used before. He anointed me to pray like I’d never been anointed to pray before. I don’t even really know how to even explain what God did.

I remember one night of the convention, which was held in a gym that had sides that opened up to the outside and reminded me of the Okoboji Lakes Bible and Missionary Bible Conference building, God showed up in an amazing way. His presence was so thick among us that people were falling on their faces before God before we even got a chance to pray for them. I was outside, walking back and forth, praying and thinking, and God asked me, “Have you gotten everything from Me that I have for you? Is that why you’re just kinda standing out here?”

Here in America, there’re so many times during an altar call when we’ll talk ourselves out of going down or up or whatever you want to call it because we think we’re too good. We think we’re fine. We’re leaders. Teachers. Pastors. Whatever. We think that we’re at a point that we don’t need to go to the altar to get ahold of God anymore. But that night, pastors, teachers, leaders in the churches were down at the altar seeking God, not caring about what anyone else thought or whether or not they’d still be secure in their position because they’d gone down to the altar; they just plain didn’t care about anything but getting ahold of God. They laid their pride completely aside and came humbly before God and He met them where they were at.

I think that was one of the differences that stood out the most to me: the way the Filipino people will worship with complete abandon and humility. It makes me sad to think of our churches and the way we worship; the way I worship. I can only pray that the passion that God has put in me from this trip will stick around. Forever.

A blog by Kaitlin Pederson