Divine Restraint: The Key to Spiritual Authority
Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:15-17).
Divine restraint is the key to spiritual authority. As God is the ultimate Authority, we will never understand natural or spiritual authority without looking to God. God’s favorite title is “Father” or “Abba.” Abba is a Greek word that means “Source, Provider, Sustainer or Foundation.” Abba means “Source,” so God is the Source of everything. Consequently, Father God is the source of all authority in heaven and on earth. Abba also means “Sustainer,” so it means that Father God is the sustainer of any kind of authority, both natural and spiritual. Abba also means “Provider,” so it means that Father God is the One who provides us with authority, both natural and spiritual. This explains why mankind will be held accountable for how we all responded to both spiritual and natural authority. This is due to the fact that authority is an ordinance of God (see Rom. 13).
Finally, the word Abba also means “foundation.” It means that Father God is the foundation of any kind of authority, both natural and spiritual. So it’s safe to say that authority has God as its primary foundation. This explains why Jesus said this to Pontius Pilate:
You would have no authority over Me at all if it had not been given to you from above. For this reason the sin and guilt of the one who handed Me over to you is greater [than your own] (John 19:11 AMP).
In my study of Scripture, I discovered something really amazing about authority. I discovered by revelation that it’s impossible to have authority or retain it without being under a restraining principle. This restraining principle follows authority like a man’s shadow. Let us break down Genesis 2:15-17 to understand how God embedded this restraining principle in Adam’s authority over the Garden of Eden and the entire animal kingdom. The expression, “Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it,” establishes Father God as the Source of Adam’s authority and the reason that God gave him that authority. Adam needed authority in order to cultivate and manage the Garden of Eden.
However, here comes the critical restraining principle:
And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
Before the Lord taught me about the principle of divine restraint, I was among those who asked the question, “Why did God put the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden knowing that Adam might be tempted to eat from it?” Frankly, I thought my question was brilliant. When the Lord showed me that all authority requires a restraining principle, it’s like a light bulb went on inside of me.
Think about this: If you have a housemaid and you give her this instruction: “Do not let anybody into the house while I am away,” what have you done to your housemaid? You have just given her authority over anybody who wants access to your house while you are away. In that instant, your housemaid has more authority over your house than your mother and father! Obviously, the housemaid loses that authority the moment you return. However, while you are away the restraining principle that you put her under gives her tremendous authorityover who has access to your house. I hope you’re catching the picture.
The Lord said to me, “Francis, there was no way I could give Adam authority over the Garden of Eden without putting him under a restraining principle.” Adam’s authority over the Garden of Eden was rooted in his ability to adhere to the restraining principle that God put him under. It’s safe to say that it is the restraining principle that maintains and sustains authority. God did not hide the consequences for violating the restraining principle that was connected to Adam’s authority over the Garden of Eden. God said, “For in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” In other words, true spiritual authority dies or ends when the divine restraining principle is broken. It’s important for us to understand the importance of the principle of divine restraint before we enter into the Courts of Heaven and begin to discuss the Kingdom judicial process for Issuing Divine Restraining Orders from the Courts of Heaven.
Samson’s Tragic Fall!
One of the most tragic stories in the Bible, in my humble opinion, is the fall of the mighty Samson! Samson’s tragic story brings to the forefront the critical importance of respecting the restraining order (principle) that God has placed upon our life. By all accounts, the story of Samson is a story about the supernatural. First, his mother was barren. This means that it was impossible, biologically speaking, for her to conceive. This biological impossibility ended when an angel of the Lord appeared to her and told her she would be the mother of a deliverer. The angel declared to her that heaven had just opened her womb. However, the angel immediately placed her miraculous conception under a restraining principle or order. Here is what the angel told her: “Please be careful not to drink wine or similar drink, and not to eat anything unclean.” This was the restraining order that would protect her pregnancy and guarantee the birth of her son. This means that it was not enough that heaven had opened her barren womb; she needed to couple that with adhering to the restraining order that the angel of the Lord had placed upon her life during the term of the pregnancy.
However, the angel was not yet finished giving her instructions. There was additional information about her “miracle baby” that would follow him throughout his life. The restraining order on the child’s life was even more consequential than the shorter one the Lord had placed upon the mother’s life for the duration of her pregnancy. Here is what the angel said about the boy:
For behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. And no razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb; and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.
The boy (Samson) was not allowed to shave his hair. This was the restraining principle that would be connected to his ability to deliver the people from Israel from the hands of the Philistines. The implication is obvious—violation of this divine restraining order by Samson would strip him of this supernatural power over the Philistines.
The Delilah Spirit!
One of the most surprising things about Samson is that even though he lived what most of us would consider an immoral lifestyle, he could still destroy the Philistines like they were nothing! This is both amazing and mind boggling to me. Samson would have been an absolute failure in the church’s “holiness class.” He was always entangled in some sexual affair with a woman, but if the Philistines tried to attack Israel he could destroy these seasoned men of war with a jawbone of an ass! For the longest time, Samson’s story offended my Pentecostal holiness sensibilities. “How could God use such an immoral man?” I asked.
However, when the Lord began to teach me about the restraining principle, that’s when I understood Samson. The Lord showed me that Samson’s supernatural strength was never connected to his sexual chastity, it was connected to his hair. As a Nazarite, his hair could never be cut, but the angel never said anything about his lifestyle with women. The divine restraining order was connected to his hair and not his lifestyle with women. However, Samson’s love for women would eventually be his undoing. This is essentially the moral of the story—there is a lifestyle (holiness before the Lord) that can best protect the restraining order the Lord has placed upon our life and ministry.
Afterward it happened that he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. And the lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, “Entice him, and find out where his great strength lies, and by what means we may overpower him, that we may bind him to afflict him; and every one of us will give you eleven hundred pieces of silver.”
So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me where your great strength lies, and with what you may be bound to afflict you” (Judges 16:4-6).
I am convinced that Satan always assigns a “Delilah” to any man or woman of destiny. There is a “Delilah spirit” that wants to know the secret to your anointing. God overlooked Samson’s multiple affairs and continued to use him mightily. Why? Samson had not yet violated the divine restraining order that the Courts of Heaven had imposed upon him as a judge in Israel. The Spirit of God continued to back him up with supernatural strength, but Delilah kept nagging him. The Delilah spirit is determined to discover the source of your strength in the Lord. One day she nagged him so much she wore him out. Why didn’t he just leave her? He was addicted to her sexually. My dear brothers and sisters, the devil will wear you out until he discovers the restraining principle to which your spiritual gift is connected. When he finds it, he will start tempting you to sell it out! The devil knows that spiritual authority in God’s Kingdom requires a restraining principle. Every person God uses mightily must be restrained in some way or the other. This is because God cannot use a person He cannot restrain!
Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and have not told me where your great strength lies.” And it came to pass, when she pestered him daily with her words and pressed him, so that his soul was vexed to death, that he told her all his heart, and said to her, “No razor has ever come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaven, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man” (Judges 16:15-17).
Samson should never have told her. If I were Samson’s publicist I would have said, “Why did you expose the secret of your strength to a prostitute for hire?” The Bible says:
When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up once more, for he has told me all his heart” (Judges 16:18).
The Delilah spirit knows the moment you expose the secret of your strength in the Lord. This spirit quickly moves in to destroy you by forcing you to violate the divine restraining order that God imposed on your life and calling. All divine restraining orders are issued in the Courts of Heaven, so Satan knew that violation of such an order gives him solid legal ground to attack or destroy any child of God and their ministry. Satan knew that Samson was exposed and guilty. Satan knew that Samson was now guilty of “contempt of court” in the Courts of Heaven. I believe Satan quickly called for an emergency trial against Samson and scheduled a hearing with God. His evidence against Samson was rock solid, so the mantle of divine protection that was upon Samson was removed. The devil had every legal right to move in and do with Samson as he pleased. The fact that the Philistines did not kill Samson when they finally got a hold of him means that Satan was never given the legal right to take Samson’s life. I call this the amazing mercy of God!
And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” So he awoke from his sleep, and said, “I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free!” But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him. Then the Philistines took him and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza. They bound him with bronze fetters, and he became a grinder in the prison” (Judges 16:20-21).
Delilah shaved Samson’s hair and then began to torment him. She called the Philistine lords to come and bind the great Samson. When they came, Samson tried to overpower them but tragically the Lord had departed from him. With the divine restraining order that controlled his supernatural strength was violated, Samson was easy prey for the Philistines. The Philistines took out Samson’s eyes and paraded him as token of victory before their people. Samson was then moved to prison where he became a grinder of Philistine grain. How sad and tragic! But his hair would soon grow back, restoring the divine restraining order upon his life. What a merciful God we serve!
Divine Restraint in the Life of Jesus
Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner” (John 5:19).
I want to close this chapter by showing you the active operation of the principle of divine restraint in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus does not waste time exposing the fact that this essential principle lay at the heart of His life-changing earthly ministry. Let’s hear Jesus tell it: “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do.” Jesus makes it clear that there was a restraining principle or order on His life, ministry, and calling. The expression the Son can do nothing of Himself points to Father God as the Source of the Son’s authority. This statement is followed by another equally important statement, which describes the restraining principle.
The “restraining principle or order” on the Son’s ministry is contained in the expression the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do. Wow! Jesus was very aware of this restraining principle over His life. Even during His temptation during His famous forty-day fast (see Luke 4), Satan tried to free Jesus from the restraining order that was upon His life. Every temptation of Satan (the Accuser) was designed to frustrate the restraining principle that anchored the authority of the Son of God on earth. Satan essentially tried to force the Son of man (Jesus) to act as though He was equal with God in His substitutionary role as the slain lamb. Jesus never took the bait. He knew that to be the perfect sacrifice He had to empty Himself of being fully God so He could be “fully man” in His redemptive work.
When He came to the place, He said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” And He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.” Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him. And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. When He rose up from prayer, and had come to His disciples, He found them sleeping from sorrow (Luke 22:40-45).
Even in the Garden of Gethsemane, Satan never gave up on tempting Jesus to violate the divine restraining order that His Father, the Righteous Judge, had placed upon His work as Savior of the world. In the Garden of Gethsemane, the Holy Spirit showed me that the Lord Jesus went through the most difficult fight He ever had during His time on earth to maintain the divine restraining order on His life. Luke’s account shows us the fact that the mental anguish the Son of God went through was so intense, He began to sweat blood. When is the last time you were so stressed or mentally oppressed that you sweated blood? I didn’t think so! But Jesus did. What was the fight about? It was about the temptation to violate the restraining principle upon His life. The first Adam broke the restraining principle upon his life in the Garden in order to join his bride (Eve) in her sin. Adam chose his will over God’s will. God’s will had already been declared earlier on: “thou shall not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil!”
They say history has a way of repeating itself. Over 4,000 years later the Last Adam (Jesus) was also in a Garden, wrestling with the same “Serpent” over the exact same issue—whether or not the Last Adam (Jesus) would also violate the divine restraining order on His life by choosing His will over that of His Father. Thankfully, the battle ends in glorious triumph with Jesus saying, “Nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.” The expression, “and being in agony, He prayed more earnestly” implies that praying more earnestly is one of the ways we can increase the grace to stay true to the restraining principle upon our lives. This fact is corroborated by the following statement: “When He rose up from prayer, and had come to His disciples, He found them sleeping from sorrow.” Notice how He rose up from prayer but His disciples were found sleeping in the sorrowfulness a prayer-less life brings. Come on! Get yourself together! Start praying really hard and watch God empower you to stay true to the restraining principle on your life!
