Authority and Sonship

Something that can change the life of any and every person is the understanding that following God does not mean becoming servants, but becoming sons. To elaborate if men can be the bride of Christ then I can be God's son.
It was very recently that I felt that God was placing a signet ring on my finger. A few months ago this wouldn't have meant anything, but I've learned what the importance of that ring is....

“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

   ²¹ “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

   ²² “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. ²³ Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. ²⁴ For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.

 It is the most amazing thing that the Father could have done for the son giving him that ring. The signet ring had the family seal on it, and when the son wanted to buy something he could punch the ring into wax, saying that his father would cover the cost. If you don't know the story, the son had sinned against the father by taking the inheritance that he should have gotten at his father's death and squandering it all away in a foreign land on wild living. "Put a ring on his finger" was giving him a signet ring, it was giving a limitless credit card to a son who spent all of his education fund on comic books and chewing gum.
We are all sinful sons, all of humanity has sinned against our Father and not one of us deserves to be sons of God. I was raised in a Christian home, I never smoked, I didn't go to parties, I didn't get drunk, and I am not worthy of the Love of God. I have struggled with pride, legalism, perfectionism, judgement, isolation, bitterness, anger... I am no better then anyone else, no one DESERVES the sonship that God gives. The son in the parable didn't, we don't. Thankfully it's not about us. It's about the overwhelmingly loving Father that we have who CHOSE to restore the son back to the sonship that he was created for.
For God the cost was the death of Christ, that was the act that not only offers us salvation and a ticket to heaven, but an invitation to be called son's of God, not lesser sons, not sons that God tests to make sure they are worthy. We are all co-heirs with Christ (Romans 8) To God we are as much sons of him as Christ is if we choose to have faith and live by the grace of God. Wow. Jesus himself says to his disciples that all authority on heaven and on earth is given to those who believe in him. What that means is that you and I have a room in the house of God with our name on the door, we have credit cards without limits, we can drive his cars, eat at his table, everything.
That's nice... what does it mean on earth? Well, I'll tell you something that happened to me recently. I had heard that having the authority of Christ means that I have authority over any illness I might have. A few weeks after I hear this a nasty cold starts to spread and I catch it. I have been susceptible to very bad sore throats, usually lasting a week or more and so painful I can't sleep, this was what I was catching. The day it started I prayed and didn't think much more of it, my throat was sore but not to bad. That night I woke up with so much pain in it that a part of me resigned to the fact that I would not be able to fall asleep again and that I was in for a long and painful sickness... this made me angry, I had prayed! Why was it still there? But you have to understand that you have an enemy who will try to destroy you and he doesn't give up without a fight. I prayed again, I was angry at what was attacking me and I prayed until the pain subsided, and it did. The next day my throat was well to recovery and was totally healed after two. This may seem silly to some people, you may think "a sore throat? Really?"
 Yes, really. A sore throat matters to God because it matters to me.
This is just a picture of the fact that if you have Christ in you, you do have authority. If you want to know ALL of what that means then look at what Christ did, and at what the apostles did, you can do all of it to, as can I.
So pray like you have the authority to walk right up to God and ask him for something, leave the answer to him, if it doesn't happen pray again! You can't force God to do something that isn't his will, but you can ask him for anything, be honest with him, and he CAN do anything so pray like he can and let him be responsible for the doing. Claim your sonship, watch the Father God come running to you while you are still a long way off and let him reclaim you as his son.