The Power of Release

Something hit me today.

I realized I have spent years managing things I do not have authority over.

That one thought brought me freedom.

I’ve spent a lot of years learning about authority.

Praying about authority.

Standing in authority.

Teaching authority.

But today I found myself asking a different question.

What do I actually have authority over?

Not what do I care about.

Not what affects me.

Not what concerns me.

What has God actually given me authority over?

The answer was both simple and freeing.

I have authority over my words.

My attitude.

My choices.

My obedience.

My response.

I do not have authority over another person’s heart.

I do not have authority over another person’s will.

I do not have authority over another person’s choices.

I do not have authority over another person’s journey.

And if I do not have authority over it, why am I trying to manage it?

That question stayed with me.

Because management and authority are not the same thing.

Somewhere along the way, I started managing things that were never mine.

Not because I wanted control.

Not because I had bad intentions.

I simply never stopped to ask whether those things were actually under my authority.

The freedom wasn’t in learning what to release.

The freedom was realizing what was never mine in the first place.

Maybe release begins there.

Maybe release is not about trying harder to let go.

Maybe release comes from recognizing what belongs to me and what does not.

After sitting with that thought, I went looking in Scripture.

Paul wrote:

“So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.” Romans 14:12 KJV

Of himself.

Not everyone else.

Proverbs says: “He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls.” Proverbs 25:28 KJV

Authority begins closer to home than we often think.

And Peter wrote “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.” 1 Peter 5:7 KJV

Maybe some of the things we are carrying were never meant to remain in our hands.

Today I saw authority, management, and release differently.

And in that difference, I found freedom.