Purpose And Power Of Authority
Read Purpose And Power Of Authority Online
Authors: Myles Munroe
Introduction: Authority Turned Upside Down
2. Sharks and Other "Role Models" of Power
4. The Betrayal and Restoration of Authority
5. A Vital Principle of Authority
6. Ten Primary Purposes of Authority
7. Manifesting Your Personal Authority
8. Benefits to Living in your Personal Authority
9. Twelve Keys to Discovering Personal Authority
10. Igniting Your Personal Authority
11. The Independent Nature of Authority
12. How to Thrive under Authority (Both Positive and Negative)
13. Twelve Principles of Authority in Relation to Your Calling
14. Keys to Reestablishing Legitimate Authority on the Earth
15. Four Basic Realms of Authority
Epilogue: Authority, the Beautiful Principle
Authority and a Word to the Third World
Principles and Examples of Authority
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, niv®, © 1973, 1978, 1984 by the International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked (nkjv) are taken from the New King James Version, © 1979, 1980, 1982, 1984 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. Scripture quotations marked (kjv) are taken from the King James Version of the Holy Bible. Scripture quotations marked (nasb) are taken from the updated New American Standard Bible®, nasb ®, © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)
Some definitions of Hebrew and Greek words are taken from Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, and the New American Standard Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (nasc). The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
Some dictionary definitions are taken from Merriam-Webster’s 11th Collegiate Dictionary, s.v., absolute, apple of one’s eye, author, authentic, authority, authoritarian, calling, constitution, God, manipulate, natural, rule, sanction, vocation, yoke.
The Purpose and Power of Authority:
Discovering the Power of Your Personal Domain
Dr. Myles Munroe
Bahamas Faith Ministries International
P.O. Box N9583
Nassau, Bahamas
www.bfmmm.com; www.bfmi.tv; www.mylesmunroe.tv
ISBN: 978-1-60374-304-4
Printed in the United States of America
© 2011 by Myles Munroe
Whitaker House
1030 Hunt Valley Circle
New Kensington, PA 15068
www.whitakerhouse.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Munroe, Myles.
The purpose and power of authority / Myles Munroe.
p. cm.
Summary: “The author dispels widely accepted but counterfeit and destructive concepts of authority, explains the nature of genuine authority and submission, reveals how one can discover and exercise one’s personal authority, and provides principles for establishing legitimate authority in the world”—Provided by publisher.
ISBN 978-1-60374-262-7 (trade pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Authority—Religious aspects—Christianity. 2. Power (Christian theology) I. Title.
BT88.M83 2011
262’.8—dc22
2010045311
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical—including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system—without permission in writing from the publisher. Please direct your inquiries to [email protected].
Dedication
To the emerging leaders and stewards of the next generation.
To my beloved wife, Ruth, and to my outstanding children, Charisa Makaria and Myles “Chairo” Jr., who allowed me to exercise my authority as a father in guiding them into the challenging land of adulthood. You continue to make me proud.
To my sister Sheila, who, even though holding the lofty position of being the eldest of eleven siblings, recognized the unique destiny on my life and chose to submit to the authority of my gift.
To my most outstanding, distinguished leadership team, who submitted to my inherent authority and who, by so doing, allowed us together to build a global organization that affects millions of lives: Richard and Sheena Pinder, Henry and Sheila Francis, Jay and Euturpia Mullings, Dave and Angie Burrows, Allan and Nyoka Munroe, Wesley Smith, Angie and the late Eme Achara, Burton and Barbara Smith, Barbara Lockhart, Gloria Seymour, and Charles and Cassandra Nottage.
I could not have achieved the measure of success to date without your understanding and submission to the authority of my gift.
Creating this book has been a personal journey of discovery, in the course of which I have met many old and new guides to help me along the way. I am always conscious that whatever we accomplish or achieve in life is the sum total of all the people, situations, and circumstances we have encountered in our lives. This book is evidence of that reality.
I would not even have started the journey without the inspiration of the leadership team, staff, and members of Bahamas Faith Ministries International (BFMI) and the International Third World Leaders Association (ITWLA). If they are the leaders of the future, then the future is in good hands.
I would not have had the courage and drive to start and complete this book without the motivational support of my publisher Bob Whitaker and his team.
Most important, words fail to express how grateful I am once again to my very dedicated, skillful, and talented editor, Lois Puglisi, for her assistance in getting this material out of my heart and onto these pages. I will forever be indebted to you for any success our collaboration achieves.
In the course of researching the material for this book, I have drawn on the time and support of many outstanding leaders and friends in the public, private, and voluntary sectors. Thank you all for your practical insights, inspiration, and education. May this book give back to you more than you invested in me.
Preface
Nothing in life is more disturbing than to interact with a counterfeit character. We have all felt the frustration, deep disappointment, and even trauma of the violation of trust we have placed in a person who was later exposed to be a fraud. It seems that in our fast-paced, plastic-driven, Web-based societies, it is increasingly difficult to find authentic people. Many people are taught—directly or through observing the general values of their societies—that it is acceptable to scheme, play games, and promote private agendas in order to achieve personal success, at the expense of honesty, integrity, ethics, moral convictions, and principled character. It’s as if everybody is performing a role in the game of life and not genuinely living life. Consequently, many don’t know whom they can truly depend on. Religious leaders, elected officials, corporate investors, various public institutions, and even spouses whom we trusted have deeply hurt us through betrayal, abuse, or abandonment.
Meanwhile, the level of disappointment resulting from our largely superficial societies is at an epidemic level. Even our so-called reality shows on television are not “real”; they are staged and edited. This lack of authenticity is not an isolated crisis but a worldwide one. People change like the weather and live lives based on expediency alone. Strangely, our cultures often openly display their defects with seeming pride and glory in their failures and immorality through television, radio, and Internet programming.
What the world needs right now are authentic people. Authenticity is not a quality one can learn through a general educational process or through experimentation. True authority is natural—it is the natural manifestation of the inherent authority in a human being. In other words, authenticity can be discovered only because it already exists. A human being becomes authentic when he discovers his true self and makes a specific and ongoing decision to reveal that self to the world.
Authenticity cannot be counterfeited. It is the true “reality show.” Being authentic means living, working, and serving humanity in your personal domain in life. An authentic person never tries to be something; he just is. Being authentic, therefore, is being yourself—not as society has dictated you should be, but what you are in your essence.
I invite you to embark on the discovery of your true self. As you do, you will find your personal authority and live it out in all areas of your life. This is the only path to authenticity.
Introduction
Industrial nations fear it, emerging nations hate it, but few understand it. The very word authority conjures up images of oppression and abuse, and yet life in the universe and on planet earth cannot function without it.
There are many benefits and opportunities connected to authority that most people have never dreamed of. I am therefore coming to believe that the greatest problem in our world today is a basic disrespect for authority with an accompanying disregard and dismissal of it. The fundamental reason for this problem is that most people harbor basic false ideas about the nature of authority. I have discovered over the years that there is much confusion and misunderstanding about this concept. Confusion comes first—people have been taught or have experienced conflicting notions of what it is. And misunderstanding is the result—they aren’t aware of its personal benefits or its value to their social institutions and nations as a whole.