Hearing from God Each Morning (July 15)

This blog is about today’s devotion in the book Hearing from God Each Morning by Joyce Meyer.

In today’s devotion, Meyer talks about submitting to spiritual authority. She says that so many in the church want to leave the church when they are corrected by the pastor or another spiritual leader.

That was me a few years ago. The pastor of my church didn’t want anyone under the age of 18 to talk to a certain young man in the church, since he was having legal troubles and his probation wouldn’t allow him to be alone with someone under that age. The rule was made to protect him from getting in trouble, but I saw it as forbidding a friendship that had already developed between this young man and me. I was crushed. I even remember telling my friend Caleb, “My church is the biggest obstacle in my faith right now.” He told me to change churches.

I’m glad I didn’t. I learned to accept and submit to those rules, and years later I learned that it was the best way to handle the situation. By refusing to submit to spiritual authority (I often went behind the pastor’s back and spoke to this friend), I was hardening my heart towards that pastor and not getting as much out of the sermons, if anything. During that time, my faith was weakened. I was so bitter towards the pastor that nothing I “learned” at church stuck except the bitterness.

Sometimes it doesn’t make sense to us, but we should submit to the spiritual authority of those that lead our church. Unless, of course, it is one of those rare cases that what they are saying does not come from God or His Word. We are supposed to follow God above all else, and as long as what the spiritual leaders say lines up with God’s Word, we should submit to them as well.