MANIFESTING YOUR PERSONAL AUTHORITY

Ecclesiastes chapter 9







Today we are walking in: Manifesting Your Personal Authority







Genesis 31:29




It is in the power of my hand H3027 to do you hurt: but the God of your father spake unto me yesternight, saying, Take thou heed that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad.



















POWER







Today we look to the word-POWER-H3027 yad-- strength, power













The Torah testifies...............




Deuteronomy 32:36




For the LORD shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he seeth that their power H3027 is gone, and there is none shut up, or left.


















The prophets proclaim..................




Nehemiah 1:10




Now these are thy servants and thy people, whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power, and by thy strong hand. H3027



















The writings bear witness...........................




2 Kings 19:26




Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, H3027 they were dismayed and confounded; they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the housetops, and as corn blasted before it be grown up.









Manifesting Your Personal Authority

Inherent Purpose with the Ability to Fulfill the Intent of the Author

I once saw a television documentary about Carl Lewis, the nine-time Olympic gold medalist who was at one point the fastest man in the world. One segment showed Lewis with about twenty other runners lined up on a track about to race. As I watched, I observed the concept of personal authority perfectly illustrated. Lewis’ performance in the race demonstrated the difference between one who is authorized and those who aren’t.




When the starting gun was fired, all the other runners took off, but Lewis didn’t rush. His approach to the race reminded me of King Solomon’s statement,“The race is not to the swift” (Ecclesiastes 9:11)—especially to those who sprint too swiftly, too soon! Lewis took up a steady, cool pace down the track, and everybody else zipped passed him.




The camera suddenly switched to close-up shots of the four runners in the lead. The runner in first place was straining, as if he knew, Carl’s behind me. The runner in second place was sweating, and his chest looked as if it was about to burst. I imagine that he was thinking, I have to keep going. Meanwhile, Lewis just kept gliding along.




Suddenly, one runner dropped back, then two, then five, then ten. And then, almost all the others. The two remaining runners were killing themselves to keep going, but Lewis was still cruising. I said to myself, Those legs were born to do this.




Lewis waited until about the last fifty yards, and then it was as if something hit him—he sprinted ahead and overtook those other runners as if they were standing still.




Then, when he crossed the finish line in first place, he didn’t show off. He was humble. I liked that about him. Why didn’t he show off? Because running was natural for him. He knew it was what he was born to do. He knew he was supposed to win. The crowd went crazy, but he was as cool as a cucumber.




Five Features of Your Personal Authority




Lewis’s performance in that race exemplified the following five features of personal authority, which you will recognize in your life, as well, as you exercise your own authority with power in your personal domain.




1. Your personal authority is natural within you. It is something you were intentionally authorized and gifted to do by your Creator. You were born to do it, and as you manifest your authority, you should come to realize that it is what you’re meant to do.




2. Your personal authority is valuable. You have a gift to contribute to the world. Yet, even when you’re born to do something, you may start to think that other people are rushing ahead of you in life and that you aren’t keeping up in the way you should. Even right now, you may be feeling that others are leaving you way behind in success or accomplishments. But don’t worry; pace yourself according to your authority, and you will arrive at the finish line at just the right time. Trying to use shortcuts to personal authority that don’t reflect the Creator’s purposes and ways will cause you to be unauthorized and unauthentic. You can remain at peace and continue to pace yourself when you understand who you are and the value of your life and your personal authority to your loving Creator. Yahusha said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10).




3. Your personal authority is authentic. When you are working at something you were born to do, people will naturally become aware of you. Interestingly, they may even be afraid of you. That often happens because, if you know what you’re doing, you intimidate people who are less sure of themselves just by walking into the same room they’re in. You have to continue faithfully pursuing your authority, regardless of any negative reactions others may have toward you.




4. Your personal authority flourishes in the right environment. When you’re born to do something but haven’t fully entered into it, sometimes, all you need is to be in the right environment and something seems to “hit” you, and you take off. This environment is a place where you can run freely with your gifts as you follow the Creator’s principles for living and for exercising authority. As the psalmist wrote, “I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free” (Psalm 119:32). This environment also may be a place where others see your gifts, confirm that you have natural ability in your domain, and help move you forward to accomplish your goals.




5. Your personal authority is characterized by humbleness. When you know what you were born to do and you understand true authority, you are humble. The word humble comes from the Latin word humus, which means “earth.” This brings us full circle to the principle that authority is natural. To be humble simply means to be yourself. Lewis was natural, or “earthy,” in winning the race. As you exercise personal authority, you will be, too.




Where are you in terms of the above five features of personal authority in your life? Until you understand your authority, you are probably doing something unauthorized. That is why I want you to truly understand the priority, value, benefits, and necessity of identifying and exercising your inherent authority.




You have an Author, or Source, who has given you life and purpose, so you need to seriously, actively, and persistently ask yourself, “What is my natural personal authority? What am I authorized to do?” To help you answer these questions, we will first explore the value and meaning of personal authority. Then, we will look at each one of the above five features of personal authority in more depth.




The Value and Meaning of Your Personal Authority




Yah Gave You Personal Authority according to Order, Purpose, and Creativity




The concept of personal authority is referred to in various ways in the Scriptures, with some variations in terms depending on the translation: “call” or “calling,” “will of Yah,” “appointed,” “ordained,” “gift,” “work,” “ability,” “assigned task.”




These words reveal aspects of the meaning of personal authority. For example, Yahusha told a parable about a man who entrusted his money to his servants while he went away on a trip. “To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability” (Matthew 25:15). The Greek word for “ability” in this verse is dunamis, meaning “miraculous power” or “force.” This word implies that each servant had certain inherent capabilities to make something of the money entrusted to him, and that with those capabilities came a responsibility to exercise them. You, too, have capabilities and are entrusted with a personal authority to carry them out on behalf of your Creator.




Paul of Tarsus was operating in an unauthentic way when he encountered the living Yahusha. We will come back to this experience in more detail in a later chapter. But at the outset of this encounter, Paul asked,“‘What shall I do, Most High?’… ‘Get up,’ the Most High said, ‘and go into Damascus. There you will be told all that you have been assigned to do’” (Acts 22:10). The word “assigned” is translated as “appointed” in other Bible versions. The Greek word is tasso, which means “to arrange in an orderly manner, i.e. assign or dispose (to a certain position or lot)—appoint, determine, ordain, set.” It also means “to draw up in order, arrange.” As a Yah of purpose, order, and creativity, the Creator has assigned or appointed each person in his rightful, authorized place to function to the fullest. He has arranged everyone in a strategic position to function smoothly with others to accomplish His purposes. Within that necessary order, He gives us extraordinary freedom to express and enjoy our individual authority.




Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Most High has assigned to each his task” (1 Corinthians 3:5). The word translated “assigned” here is the Greek word didomi, “to give.” We are each assigned or given a particular task to fulfill. If Yah planned intricate, interconnected functions for the physical world (such as photosynthesis) for His own purposes, what did Yah think about when He created you?




Yah Gave You—Yes, You!—Permission and Power to Act




The concept of authority is overflowing with meaning, and that is why it is necessary to view it from many angles to fully grasp it. In earlier chapters, we defined personal authority as “the inherent gifts a person or thing possesses in order to fulfill the purpose for which that person or thing was placed on this earth.” Let’s explore the concepts of authority and authorization with a particular emphasis on how you can manifest your personal authority.




The following are some definitions of authority that I have collected:



“Power to determine/the right to control or determine your own destiny.” For our purposes, this definition refers to the power to be who you really are. You have the right to determine your own future based on your inherent authority from the Creator. The future is inside you. Yah has given you permission to be all you were born to be. That is the extent of your authority. You don’t have authority to make someone else like you or to try to make yourself like someone else.You have authority only to make you who you are. That’s the power within you that you need to determine, and this chapter, as well as the next several chapters, will show you how to make that determination.






“Delegated power or right.” You didn’t generate this power, but Yah gave it to you in order to manifest what He put within you. He gave you the right to become what He wants you to be.



“Power based on right, permission to act.” When Yah created you, He automatically gave you not only power but also permission to act out your authority; He gave you permission to be yourself.



“Sanction.” This definition is related to the last one. In terms of authority, sanction means “explicit or official approval, permission, or ratification.” Sanction is related to the biblical term sanctify, which means “to set apart for a special purpose.” Therefore, Yah has given us sanction, or official approval, in relation to a specific position He has placed us in and from which we best function. We have been selected and set apart for a specific role.




Many people are afraid, for various reasons, to step out into their personal authority and fulfill the dreams that are within them. This is why I want you to be able to clearly understand this truth: The fact that you have been given authority means that you, personally, have the privilege and power to fulfill your life’s purpose in your personal domain. You have permission to exercise the strength with which you have been endued by Yah. You have the right to exercise your inherent power. When you truly understand authority, you become free to be yourself.




Do you believe that authority was given to you before you were born to deliver something to the planet? We have seen that everything was created to fulfill the Author’s intent. What applied to the prophet Jeremiah in this regard applies to you, as well. Yah told him, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart” (Jeremiah 1:5). Yah chose you and set you apart for a reason.




You will manifest your authority when you have the right mind-set toward it. If you want to remain outside of or to move outside of your personal authority, you will not only be frustrated or uneasy inside, but you will also miss the point of your purpose in life. Paul wrote, “In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will [“according to the counsel of His will”nkjv]” (Ephesians 1:11). This means Yah set your destination before you were conceived, and to fulfill that destination is to be the authentic you.




Note that the above verse says Yah works out everything in conformity with His purposes. As His representatives, we are to do the same “working out,” under the authority He has given us. Your personal authority allows you to bring things in your life into conformity with your purposes under Him. You have the power to shape your life according to your personal authority.




Let’s now explore in greater depth the five features of your personal authority as you ask yourself some questions about your current life.




1. Your Personal Authority Is Natural within You




Whatever you were born to do is natural within you; you don’t have to “try” to do it. This does not mean that you won’t have to work hard while fulfilling your authority, that you won’t have to push yourself in certain ways to grow and accomplish your goals, or that you won’t run into challenges as you pursue your personal authority. But it does mean that, generally speaking, you will feel energized, refreshed, and enthusiastic about what you are doing and will have the natural abilities to accomplish it.




You will manifest your authority only if you start with what is natural and Yah-directed in your life. Each person has been given gifts and a domain in which to operate them. As you yield to Yah and to the dream He’s placed in your heart, your personal authority will emerge, and you will live with confidence and effectiveness.




Life Will Look Easier and Be Easier for You




Everything Yah created you to be is already on the inside of you. This is why people who have found their personal domains make life look easy.




Not only will you make life look easy by exercising your personal authority, but your life will also be easier because you will not be fighting against unnatural or unauthorized activities or environments.




Similar to the runners who strained to keep going while Carl Lewis glided along, people who are trying to function outside of their natural territories, or domains of authority, have to struggle and work extra hard because they are not meant to do what they’re doing. They may even be outwardly successful, but they're not really at rest inside; they don’t have the natural lightness of spirit and enthusiasm that come from pursuing the true desires of one’s heart.




You Will Have a Deep Sense of Satisfaction




Have you ever wondered why Yahusha frequently taught people using illustrations from nature? He based most of His teachings on the natural, everyday surroundings and operations that they were familiar with. For example, He referred to the lilies of the field and the birds of the air, to the catching of fish and the sowing of seeds. He continually used these illustrations as examples to show people how natural life would be when they were flowing in the Creator’s purposes.




In Matthew 6:25–30, He said,




Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Y et I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how Yah clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?(Matthew 6:25–30)




It took King Solomon thirteen years to build his royal palace and to fit it with cedar, bronze, and gold. He had a huge company of workers to keep his operations in order. He accumulated gold and silver, bringing wealth to his city. He built the magnificent temple. When everything was finished, notable people of other nations, such as the Queen of Sheba, came from afar to see Solomon in his glory, with his wisdom and riches. Yet Yahusha said, in effect, “This lily is here today and gone tomorrow, and its beauty is better than all the splendor of Solomon and his reign.” What makes it so easy for the lily to do its work and manifest its purpose? The lily was born to be a lily.




Many People’ s Hobbies Are Actually Their Personal Authority




Trees don’t try to grow. Birds don’t try to fly. Fish don’t try to swim. These abilities are natural to them. In a similar way, whatever you were built to do, you are authorized to do; it is normal for you. You can always tell what your authority is because it is fun while you’re doing it—or, if not always “fun,” you experience a deep sense of satisfaction from it.




On this basis, I have concluded that many people’s hobbies may actually be related to their personal authority in life. They enjoy the activities they do in their spare time more than what they do on the job. This is why they can’t wait to leave their workplaces at the end of the day or the week and get to their hobbies. Their hobbies are what they really want to do. Whereas their jobs make them feel like they are pushing a large rock up a steep hill, their hobbies make them feel like they are gliding easily downhill. Their hobbies are not difficult for them to engage in; they are exciting, pleasing, and fulfilling to do. They are natural and fun. These hobbies, therefore, reveal the true authority and gifts within these individuals.




Many people on earth are frustrated, depressed, or disillusioned every day because they go to jobs they are not authorized to do. They were not born to do them, and they feel—and are—out of place. I think this is sad.




Many “unauthorized” people drain others around them. You may work with some of them. They complain about the job, they complain about the boss, and they complain about you. They may even complain about the weather, how their cars are running—everything. Why? They are miserable because they haven’t found themselves. Miserable people are self-hating people. Sometimes, they don’t like the people around them because they are reminded of themselves—their coworkers, colleagues, or family members don’t know who they are, either. In contrast, I’ve found that people who discover their natural authority and begin to become who they were born to be suddenly fall in love with everybody and everything around them. Things that used to bother them don’t bother them anymore. They are content because they have an authentic reason for living.




When you know you are doing something you were not born to do, you will feel irritated in your current job. You won’t feel comfortable in it. Have you ever heard anyone say about a job, position, or environment,“This is just not me”? What do they mean by that? The job, position, or environment is locking them in. It is cramping their style. It is stopping them from being who they were meant to be.




It is frustrating to be in a place that you can’t wait to retire from. Most people don’t want to retire from something when they love it. Do you desire to be released from your job? Do you look forward to receiving your pension? If so, it is probably because, deep inside, you know you’re not doing what you were born to do.




In addition, when you are not operating in your true territory, other people who do naturally operate in that territory will intimidate you. Remember my encounter with the shark when I was spearfishing? The shark intimidated me because he was in his natural environment, but I was not. If you are trying to do what you were not born to do, then the people who were born to do it will threaten you without even trying, because you will feel inadequate. Again, you will have to try extra hard to do what they’re doing naturally.




To manifest your Yah-given authority, you first need to ask, naturally in my personal domain? Or am I out of place?” “Am I flowing




2. Your Personal Authority Is Valuable




Second, your life is eternally valuable to your Creator. You have been made in His image, are loved by Him, and have been redeemed by Him. Likewise, your personal authority or assignment is immeasurably valuable to Him.




Do you know—are you convinced of—your value to Yah and to His purposes for the world?




Remember that one of the principles of authority is that the intent for which a product is designed determines the design of the product itself. The author or manufacturer determines the design, capabilities, qualities, and characteristics of the product. All of these are in keeping with the purpose for which the product is created. Therefore, the author is also the originator of the value and worth of the product.




I want to give you an indication of how awesome you really are through the truths presented in Psalm 139. This psalm, written by King David, helps us to better understand the value of our unique personal authority. The reason why Yah gave up His Son Yahusha Hamachiach to die for you is that He knows the treasure within you. The authority that He put inside you is so valuable that He didn’t want you to go to your grave without manifesting it. We cannot allow the cemetery to be the burial place of the treasure Yah has put in our lives. The earth needs your purpose, your authority, and your gift!




You Are Wonderfully Made




Psalm 139:13 says,“For you created my inmost being.” Yah created your inner “circuits,” your components; He caused you to be a vital being, made in His image, and gave you purpose.




“You knit me together in my mother’s womb” (verse 13). Yah not only created your in most being, but He also created your body. After you were conceived, He knitted or wove you in your mother’s womb, according to His own design for your life.




“I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well” (verse 14). You are “fearfully” made. This refers to a positive fear, such as reverence and awe. You are “wonderfully” made. The Hebrew word translated “wonderfully” means “to distinguish,” to “put a difference,” or “to be distinct.” Yah made you unique.




You may feel that you are not perfect, but all of your physical characteristics are in Yah’s plan. When you look in the mirror, your first statement should be, “Wonderful!” because you are wonderfully made. Your temperament, your personality, your stature, your face, your skin color, even your family heritage are all used by Yah for your personal authority. Why? Because your purpose required that you be who and what you are.




The prophet Isaiah declared,

“O Most High, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand” (Isaiah 64:8). He also said, “Does the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you making?’” (Isaiah 45:9). Let us not therefore reject what Yah has done. Let us not speak against what Yah calls good. We shouldn’t compare what Yah calls good to what men call good, because men don’t know what good is. Yah made you beautiful.




You Have a Special Purpose for Your Life




“My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place.When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body” (Psalm 139:15–16). This means that your whole structure, your body, was not hidden from Yah when you were made in the “secret place.” Yah’s eye is on pregnant women and on their unborn children. This is why we have to be careful about our concept of when a fertilized egg becomes a human being. As soon as the egg and sperm unite, Yah releases an eternal spirit to take up residence in that “house.” I believe that Yah does not allow a sperm and an egg to unite unless He has a reason and a purpose for that human being.Regardless of the circumstances surrounding that conception, it is a result of preconception. Yah has already preconceived in His mind that He wants something accomplished on earth. He has something He wants to accomplish through you, and so He created you to do it.




You are not a mistake. Every time a male discharges sperm, about fifty million sperm are released. All five hundred million sperm dash toward the egg, but only one makes it. Four hundred and ninety-nine million potential humans did not make it to the egg, because what is needed on earth required you. That is why I believe there is an awesome sense of destiny deep inside every human being. There is a cry that says, “I was born to do something. I don’t know what it is, but there is something I was meant to do!”




Where does that cry come from? It comes from beyond your intellect and beyond your emotions. It comes from a place so far within you that the Bible calls it “the deep”: “Deep calls to deep” (Psalm 42:7). And what is your deep calling out to? It is Yah. Only Yah can answer your cry. The cry can be satisfied only in Yah because nobody knows a product like the one who made it. No one knows the material like the author. Nobody knows the reason why something was made better than the one who created it.




Beyond a doubt, this planet needs the personal authority you’re carrying within you. The same is true about every other human being. It is a tragedy whenever someone dies through a drug overdose or a suicide or another type of abuse to his own body. Yah weeps because those people never discovered who they truly were.




Likewise, when an unborn baby is aborted, all of heaven weeps because earth will never receive the awesome gift that Yah has sent through that child. Do you ever wonder what would have happened if Mary, the mother of Yahusha, had had an abortion? In that manger lay a child who carried within Him the salvation of the world. Or, what would have happened if Moses’ mother hadn’t protected him and had allowed Pharaoh’s soldiers to kill him? In that basket drifting along the Nile was a child who carried within him the leadership of the nation of Israel and the writing of the first five books of the Bible.




Every day, I walk with a sense of awesome responsibility, knowing that I have to do what I was born to do before I die. And so do you. You were not born just to make a living. You were born to give a unique aspect of life to this planet, to make a contribution. That area is your authority; that’s the domain in which you exercise leadership.




You Are a “Best Seller” Waiting to Be Read







“All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be” (Psalm 139:16). Before you were conceived, Yah “finished” your life. What you were meant to do was ordained and “written” before the day you were born. This means that you are a best seller waiting to be read by life. Everything that you are supposed to be and do and accomplish is already written in this “book” Yah has written as your Author. You are already predestined to reveal to the world the hidden thoughts and plans of Yah, which He has placed within you.




“How precious to me are your thoughts, O Yah! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand” (Psalm 139:17–18). I believe David was saying, in effect, “When I think about what You have done in my life, and about the plans for me You wrote in Your book, the knowledge is absolutely priceless to me, though I am not capable of analyzing all of Your amazing thoughts!” Yah’s thoughts about you are so awesome that your attempt to understand them would be like trying to count the grains of sand on the seashore—an impossibility. What Yah thinks about us is so remarkable that nobody could calculate or comprehend it.




Think about some of the people you know whom you grew up with. Aren’t there some people you thought would never make it in life but who now have successful businesses? There are people whom society had evaluated and declared would never be any good to anyone, and yet, after a while, Yah did a miracle in their lives. They got in touch with their own personal authority and their gifts, and they became tremendous assets to society. I find these types of results amazing. This is why the Scriptures say that Yah’s thoughts about us are so awesome that we can’t analyze them. To manifest your Yah-given authority, you should never write yourself off but rather discover what Yah has written about you.




3. Your Personal Authority Is Authentic




Yah created everybody with a domain of authority, and that domain is where you manifest your true self. The Author’s goal for you is to be authentic, and you are authentic when you become what you were designed to be. I have met thousands of unauthorized people over the years who were doing something they were not born and “wired” to do, and they were filled with frustration.




Many people live their lives, die, and are buried without ever having really “shown up” on earth because they were never authentic. They live for sixty, seventy, eighty, or more years, but nobody ever “sees” them—they never witness the manifestation of who these people really are on the inside. They see mere impressions of other people that they have put on like veneers. If you compare yourself with others and feel inferior to them to the point that you try to imitate them; when you try to talk like other people, look like other people, and do things like other people, you are not being authentic.




To be authentic means to manifest one’s true self and to fully exercise one’s gifts. Are you authentic? Have you recognized what is unauthentic about yourself and shed the veneer from your life?




It’s a paradox that while certain people are intimidated by or resent people who are authentic, there is also nothing in the world that attracts some people more than a person who is authentic. Authentic people draw others who see something fresh and confident in them, and who sense acceptance from them because they are no longer in competition with others.




Tell yourself, I will be authentic before I die. As I pursue my inherent authority, other people are going to be able to see who I truly am. Right now, I’m still wearing other people’s images, but living according to my authority in my personal domain will remove the veneer and let what is inside be revealed.




Once more, to be authentic is simply to be what you are naturally. Have you ever heard someone exclaim, “Look! Do you see that bird? It’s flying!”? No. Birds fly overhead every day, so that we often don’t even notice them. Birds are authorized to fly, and they are authentic when they are doing what they were meant to do.




Likewise, personal authority is inherent, natural, and right. When you find what you were born to do and function in it, it is so natural that it is not “second nature” but “first nature.”




Perhaps, when you see people in their natural domains, or functioning in their strengths, you sometimes think, I wish could play the piano like that. I wish I could write like that. I wish I could speak like that. I wish I could paint like that. I wish, I wish…. You must stop wishing and discover your own territory. That is the way to be authentic. That is the way to manifest your personal authority.




4. Your Personal Authority Flourishes in the Right Environment




Seeds become trees because that potential is naturally within them. All they need is the right environment and the right nutrients. Likewise, manifesting your personal authority requires you to nurture the right environment for it. Paying attention to this aspect of authority will allow you to flourish and to maximize your effectiveness.




Create Your Optimum Environment




You create the right environment by removing what is distracting and superfluous to your authority and replacing it with what will build you up in it. For example, if you want to develop your gift for making furniture but spend all your time watching old television programs, you will not fulfill your potential in life. Instead, you can visit and observe other furniture makers at their craft, do research on furniture design, find a space where you can work, and so on.




You can also create the right environment by seeking the support and encouragement of those who know you and will affirm your gifting, and by gaining additional knowledge, training, and skills that will help you to optimize your abilities.




In addition, your personal authority will often create an environment in which it can thrive as you operate in your personal domain. A colleague told me that during a business trip, she was in an airport going from one gate to another for a connecting flight when she saw a women’s restroom with a sign outside that read, “This restroom was cleaned by Valerie.” When she walked inside, she heard Valerie singing cheerfully,“This is a good day. It’s what you make of it”—“it” referring to life. Valerie greeted every woman who entered with a cheery, “Welcome to Valerie's happy restroom!” The place was sparkling, and so was Valerie’s personality. In the rushed, tired, and harried world of a busy airport, she lifted people’s spirits while providing a much-needed service. She created her own positive environment, and she oversaw that large restroom with true authority!




People who have discovered their personal authority and have created an optimum environment for it will work at it even if they don’t get paid. When you are doing what you were born to do, you don’t need external motivation to work long hours. People have to tell you when it’s the lunch hour or when it’s time to go home. When you find your real work, you want to stay with it all day and all night. The right authority and the right environment give you powerful motivation and satisfaction.




The “Wrong” Environment Can Be Your “Pre-Occupation”







People who are in jobs or circumstances that are not related to their personal authority don’t really have occupations; they have pre-occupations. When you find your true vocation, you will not be “preoccupied” but “occupied”—interested, absorbed, and engaged with your purpose. It would be a terrible thing never to get beyond your pre-occupation.




However, I believe that the Creator, in His wisdom, will sometimes allow us to be “preoccupied” in certain jobs for a time in order to gain experience and skills that we will be able to use later in our true occupations. In this way, your pre-occupation is your job, but your occupation is your real work.




Most people don’t go to work. They simply go to a job. If you are in a job that is not aligned with your purpose, then consider it to be only temporary. Your managers and coworkers don’t know who you really are inside, but Yah does. Every position in life is only temporary until you reach the point where you are in a position to manifest your true self.




If your present job is a pre-occupation, don’t just resign without having any specific plans. You can ease your job frustration by focusing on what it can prepare you for—on the knowledge, experience, and skills you are gaining through it. You can go to your place of employment telling yourself, I’m going to discover my authority, my assignment, and then relate this job to my true work, learning everything I can here that will help me to move further along toward where I want to go.




Patiently Await Your Manifestation




One other point to keep in mind is that you may be a “late bloomer.” It takes some people a little longer than others to manifest their latent gifts and skills, for various reasons. It may be that the combined experiences of your life, and not just your “pre-occupations, ” are preparing you for the time when you will find yourself in the right environment, among the right people, and then your personal authority will take off. Again, this will be an environment where you can run freely with your gifts, and, most likely, your progress will be exponential because you have been preparing for this moment for quite a while. Therefore, if you are still nurturing the knowledge and skills that will enable you to fully manifest your personal authority, then be patient with yourself and your circumstances and thank your Creator for authorizing His perfect timing in your life.




5. Your Personal Authority Is Characterized by Humbleness




People who know and manifest their personal authority are not arrogant about their accomplishments; they don’t throw their success in other people’s faces, as if they are superior. While they enjoy their work, they are humble about it because they know they didn’t create themselves but were given their gifts by Yah.




When you are operating in your personal authority, you will experience great personal fulfillment and the joy of working in your domain. There is nothing wrong with this. It is natural to enjoy what you are meant to do! But those who keep their personal authority in perspective don’t show off. Like Carl Lewis, they are down-to-earth. In addition, they are able to submit to others’ authority in their realms because they recognize that valuable gifts have been given to all.




Are You Maximizing Yourself? The Four Foundational Principles and You




In chapter one, I listed four foundational principles for understanding authority and entering into the power of your personal domain, which we have been exploring in this book. Let us now consider them in light of your specific personal authority.




The Principle of the Author. The only one who knows the true and original purpose and function of a product is the author. Are you connected to the Author of life, so that you can discover the purpose and authority He has placed deep within you? This is the first and most important step to manifesting your personal authority. Authenticity begins with being connected to the Creator Yah through Yahusha Hamachiach, the Authorized Dealer, and desiring to live according to His established principles and standards. He is Reality. Yahusha said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).




It won’t do much good to pursue personal authority if you are only half committed to the One in whose image you are created, the One who deeply loves you and has placed wonderful gifts and dreams within you. Even if you were to exercise certain inherent gifts and be successful from an outward perspective, you wouldn’t be truly reflecting all that He has placed within you and all that Hecould do with those gifts if they were used for His purposes and to honor Him. As Paul wrote, “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us” (Ephesians 3:20).




Once you know you are connected to the Creator, stay connected to Him by reading His Word and by talking with Him, which is also called praying. As you talk with Him, ask Him to make your personal authority clear to you. He made you, and He knows what He put inside you to do for your generation.“We are Yah’s workmanship, created in Hamachiach Yahusha to do good works, which Yah prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10, emphasis added). Then, anticipate His answer, recommit to Him everything that He has placed inside you, and see what happens!




The Principle of Authorization. Authorization is the legitimate transfer of power to a representative to be used specifically for the purpose for which it was delegated. The one who receives the delegated power is consciously aware that he does not personally own it.




The Author put something within you that He wants to see manifested on the earth. Your personal authority is the authorization that the Creator has given you to represent His image, desires, ideas, and purposes in the world. You were born with the authority to execute a specific assignment, and only you can do it the way you were born to do it. When you discover what you were created to be, then Yah expects you to use that discovery to maximize yourself. Your personal authority is to be offered back to Him with gratitude.




The power, or backing, for this authority is the unique blend of inherent gifts, abilities, and perspectives that you possess in order to fulfill the purpose for which you were created. Through the restoration provided by the Authorized Dealer, the Creator has also given us His own Spirit to live within and enable us to carry out our purposes. This is the ultimate gift of His representation in our lives, and we need to follow the guidance of His Spirit within us.




Authorization is therefore the lawful right and freedom given by the Author to His creation to exercise and manifest the ability or power He caused it to possess. Do you have the mind-set that your gifts and abilities are authorized by the Creator to be used to fulfill His purposes in the world? Until we exchange the idea of selfish ambition for selfless service, we will not be able to truly manifest our personal authority.




The Principle of Authenticity. Inherent authority is found in one’s purpose, or assignment, in the world. You may find that you have more than one assignment at different times of your life within the same domain or related domains. You must know your area or areas of authority and thus discover your authentic self so that you can be faithful to fulfill what you are authorized to do. How well do you know your area or areas of authority? If you are well acquainted with your personal domain, are you being faithful to operate within it? What might be hindering you from this, and how can you address it?




The Principle of Authority. An author naturally incorporates into the making of his product the capacity—or, the authority and the power—to perform, to produce, and to fulfill its purpose. You were born with delegated authority. Your authority is the divine gift, assignment, passion, and contribution that you were placed on this earth to deliver to humanity. No one can steal it, prevent it, devalue it, or stop it unless you let them. How will you serve your gift to the world?




The Principle of Life




The principle of life for every human being is to reconnect to the Author, discover his personal authority, become authentic, and fulfill what he is authorized to do.




I hope you will take these truths about manifesting your personal authority to heart. For me, this knowledge came about by a process of reconnecting with the Creator, studying His Word, experiencing life, reading a multitude of books, and talking with many people. I want to make this process easier for you, and that is why I have written this book. I want you to discover the freedom and joy of operating in your personal domain. Therefore, we will next explore the benefits you will receive from exercising your Yah-given authority.