Dear Friend,

When God created the universe, He established a principle to govern it—the principle of authority. God Himself is the highest authority. The angelic beings created by God were under His authority. When man was created, he, too, was under God’s authority.

Authority is the right to be obeyed.

As the Creator, God has the right to be obeyed by every intelligent creature in the universe. But all of God’s intelligent creatures have not obeyed Him. The Bible tells us about two major rebellions in God’s universe.

The rebellion of the angels.

The first rebellion in God’s universe involved the angels. Among the countless angels which God created was the archangel Lucifer.

Apparently, Lucifer was over all the other angels. But a time came when he was dissatisfied. He decided that he should be above God. Lucifer said in his heart,

“I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God…” (Isaiah 14:13).

Lucifer rebelled against God’s authority. As a result of his rebellion, his name was changed to “Satan” which means enemy or adversary. One third of the angels in Heaven followed Satan in his rebellion against God. These fallen angels are called “evil spirits” or “demons.”

Satan, along with his fallen angels, set up a kingdom opposed to God and His kingdom. Since that time there have been two kingdoms at war in the universe—the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan.

The rebellion of man.

God created the first man, Adam, and placed him in the Garden of Eden. Then God created a wife for Adam. Her name was Eve.

God wanted a race of people in His image and after His likeness. God wanted them to love Him and to be loved by Him. Satan wanted to put his spirit of rebellion into Adam and Eve. Satan deceived Eve into disobeying God.

When Adam knew what Eve had done, he chose to disobey God. In his heart, Adam said, “I will do what I want to do!” By Adam’s rebellion, sin entered the world. Adam passed his sinful, rebellious nature on to his children and to the entire human race. We are born with this sinful spirit of rebellion in our hearts. The Bible says,

“…we have turned every one to his own way…” (Isaiah 53:6).

God’s great plan.

It seemed as though Satan had defeated God’s purpose, but God cannot be defeated. God had a plan. He would send His Son into the world to be our Savior.

What kind of man was Jesus? He was perfectly obedient to His Father at all times. The principle of His life was obedience. The Bible says,

“Being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:8).

Because Jesus Christ was obedient unto death, God raised Him from the dead and exalted Him to the very throne of the universe. Jesus Christ is “Lord of all”! God made Jesus Christ the Head of His new family.

There are now two families in the world—the children of Adam and the children of God. The Bible says those in Adam’s family live their lives “according to the prince of the power of the air [Satan], the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:2).

Those who have been born again into the family of God have the Spirit of Christ—the One who said, “Not My will, but Yours, be done.” They are called “obedient children.” This does not mean that they never sin. Christians do sin, but their heart-attitude is to obey God.

God delegates His authority.

All authority belongs to God, but God has two ways in which He exercises His authority:

• Direct authority. This means God tells us by His Word or by His Spirit what He wants us to do.

• Delegated authority. This means God delegates His authority by putting certain people to represent His authority here.

When God puts someone over us, that person is God’s delegated authority. Since this person represents God’s authority, he or she must be obeyed. Some examples of God’s delegated authorities are:

• Parents
• School principals
• School teachers
• Police officers
• Your boss at work

God’s delegated authority in the home.

In the home God has delegated His authority to the parents. God’s plan is that the father is the head of the family under God. The father is to be under God’s authority. The wife is under God’s authority, but she is also under the authority of her husband. The Bible says,

“Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord” (Ephesians 5:22).

Children are likewise under God’s authority, but they are also under the authority of their father and mother. The way you treat your parents is an indication of the way you treat God.

The relationship between children and their parents is so important that God made it the subject of one of the Ten Commandments. In this commandment, God promises a good life and a long life to children who honor their parents. The Bible says,

“Honor your father and mother; that your days may be long…” (Exodus 20:12).

God’s Word says, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right” (Ephesians 6:1). There are times when children would like to change God’s Word to excuse their disobedience. They would like for the verse to read: “Children, obey your parents…

If you want God’s blessing on your life, do not rebel against your parents. Rebellion is the principle of Satan. Wise parents set limits on their children and tell them not to do certain things. When they do, it is because they love their children and want what is best for them. It is spelled C-A-R-I-N-G.

God’s delegated authorities.

In your school the principal is God’s delegated authority. Since the principal represents God’s authority in the school, he or she is to be respected and obeyed.

In the classroom the teacher represents God’s authority. Because this is true, the teacher is to be respected and obeyed. To disobey your teacher is like disobeying God. To be disrespectful to your teacher is like being disrespectful to God.

You may say, “But suppose I do not like my teacher. Do I still have to obey her?”

Yes, you do. Your teacher is in a position of authority over you and you must obey your teacher, whether or not you like that teacher. The Bible says,

“Obey those who have the rule [authority] over you…” (Hebrews 13:17).

This means that we are to obey the people God places over us. You may or may not like a certain teacher, but that does not affect that teacher’s position as God’s delegated authority over you. You cannot say, “My teacher told me to do something, but I did not do it because I do not like her.”

If you really want to please the Lord, you will study hard and try to do your best in your schoolwork. The Lord Jesus wants you to do your work as though He Himself were your teacher!

The Bible says,

“Whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men” (Colossians 3:23).

Throughout our lives, we will always be under God’s delegated authorities. The way we treat these delegated authorities will determine if we are living our lives on the principle of obedience or the principle of rebellion.

The right way to obey.

There is a right way and a wrong way to obey God’s delegated authorities. Many times children grumble and argue with their parents when they are told to do something. This is not pleasing to the Lord. In His Word, God says,

“Do all things without murmurings and disputings [arguing]” (Philippians 2:14).

We please the Lord when we obey in the right way. The right way to obey those whom God puts over us involves three things:

How to change your attitude.

Perhaps you are thinking, “I know my attitude has not been right, but how do I change my attitude?” You change your attitude by changing the reason you do things. Instead of pleasing yourself, you choose to please the Lord. You choose to do things in a way that pleases the Lord.

If the Lord Jesus Himself appeared to you and asked you to do something, no doubt you would obey Him with a good attitude and in a way that would please Him. The Lord is saying to us, “I want you to obey those I put over you as if you were obeying Me.” The Bible says,

“Whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men” (Colossians 3:23).

It is easy to say, “I love the Lord and I want to please Him,” but the test of my love is this: Am I obeying those whom the Lord puts over me in a way that pleases Him?

Will you choose to please the Lord in all that you do? Begin to do this now and you will see that the Lord will bless you and make you a happy child of God. Jesus said,

"If you know these things, blessed [happy] are you if you do them” (John 13:17).

The Bible tells about two young men who faced strong sexual temptations. Samson disobeyed God and suffered terrible consequences. Joseph obeyed God and was blessed by God.

God chose Samson to be a deliverer of His people. The children of Israel had done evil and God had allowed them to be defeated by their enemies, the Philistines. God raised up Samson to deliver His people.

In himself, Samson was like other men, but when the Spirit of God came on him, he had incredible, superhuman strength. But Samson had a fatal weakness—he did not control his desire for sex.

After his capture by the Philistines, Samson spent the rest of his life, blind and in chains, grinding grain for his enemies.

The lesson God wants us to learn from the life of Samson is this: When we choose to disobey God, there are always bad consequences.

Through no fault of his own, Joseph ended up as a slave in the house of a wealthy Egyptian named Potiphar. Joseph was diligent and he served his master well. Soon Potiphar made Joseph his overseer and put him in charge of all that he had.

Joseph was a strong, handsome young man. Potiphar’s wife was attracted to Joseph, and she determined to have sex with him. She said, “Lie with me.” But Joseph refused.

Day by day, Potiphar’s wife begged Joseph to have sex with her, but he refused. He would not be alone with her. One day, when there were no other servants in the house, she caught him by his coat and boldly commanded him, “Lie with me!” Joseph ran out of the house.

Potiphar’s wife was furious! She called the other servants together and told them that Joseph had tried to rape her. When her husband came home, she told him the same lie. Potiphar put Joseph in the king’s prison.

Again, through no fault of his own, Joseph was in terrible circumstances. But God was with him. In time, Joseph was exalted by Pharaoh to be made ruler over all the land of Egypt. Pharaoh gave Joseph a beautiful bride who bore Joseph two sons. Later, Joseph brought his father, Jacob, and his whole family to Egypt to save them from a famine.

Joseph chose to honor God, and he ended up with a beautiful family and a lifetime of happiness with God’s blessing. The lesson God wants us to learn from the life of Joseph is this: If we honor God, God will honor us. God says,

“…those who honor Me I will honor…” (1 Samuel 2:30).

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