We continue this week with our look at what happened with Joseph, how the integrity of the Lord operated in him even when he was a slave, then falsely accused and thrown into prison. I said this last week, and I will say it again! The authority of the Lord is not cheap! If we are going to operate in all that we’ve been designed and created for, our flesh is going to undergo pain, deprivation and occasional periods of what seems like torture.

Let’s continue today with where we were last week in our discussion. We have a ways to go with these scriptures as a part of our foundations. Let’s explore the real cost of true authority. We are going to look at the lives of some individuals in Scripture who exercised the authority given them by God. That authority did not (and does not at any time in history or the present) come without cost.

We are really goimg to take a different direction today, and possibly next week as well. I want to talk today about how we access the authority of heaven and take the rulership over ourselves, events that take place in our lives, events that take place with friends, and events that occur in this country and around the world.

When I was growing up as a child in church, I used to hear folks pray for various needs. They’d pray for some family member or some other individual’s crisis and ask for the intervention of the Lord. Invariably, they’d tack on the phrase, “if it be your will,” or the Elizabethan, “if it be thy will.”