As a Christian you can break sin habits and other strongholds in your life. Let me show you how. Simple salvation, church membership and spiritual disciplines are insufficient to sort out cycles of defeat in your life. What you really lack is AUTHORITY. You are not connected to the divine flow of authority. God is the sovereign authority over all things. Authority originates in Him. He gave this authority to Christ. Christ in turn distributed this authority to His disciples. The following diagram illustrates the flow of divine authority:

Every person has an authority in life that he submits to as a subordinate. And this not by compulsion but by conviction. God has created humans to live under His authority. But when they choose to live under a different rule, they sin and consequently expose themselves to demonic infiltration. God’s authority finds expression on the earth through His Church. Every local church has God’s authority structure enshrined upon it. It is imperative for every saint to discover the structure of authority in the church and submit their lives, gifts & talents to it. Authority flow in the local church is illustrated here:

There is only ONE authority structure in the local church: THE FATHER (Senior Minister or Pastor) is the source of divine authority in the local church. In his book Apostolic Strategies Affecting Nations, Dr Jonathan David says:

A person who has not submitted to the apostolic structure of authority has already violated God’s authority chain and that person is now ministering without a spiritual covering of protection.

When Christians fail to recognize this authority flow or chain of command in the local church, they open their own lives and families to demonic attacks. Why? Because they ignorantly position themselves outside of “covering” and spiritual protection. Dr Jonathan David says:

Spiritual covering is a mantle of God’s protection & presence over a person’s life because he is submitted to God’s chain of command & authority. This protects him from demonic attacks, deception and diseases.

Unfortunately most Christians are unaware of this, and most churches have replaced spiritual fathering with bureaucratic structures. This has had unprecedented consequences on the Church globally. Weakness and immaturity among Christians has become a global pandemic.

If you want to break the cycles of defeat in your own life then find your spiritual father. God has set apart a man to lead you and guide you as a father and spiritual mentor. Find him, recognize the grace he carries for your own life and submit to his authority. The positive effect this will have on your life and soul will be priceless. So find him and turn your heart to him as a son (Malachi 4:6) and the submit your life and gifts to him. In so doing you will connect to the authority flows that proceeds from God and which flows downwards to spiritual headship in the Church. After all the direction of spiritual grace and flow is always from the head downwards as Psalm 133: 2 indicates:

“It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron’s beard, down on the collar of his robe.”