Chapter 38 · Section Nine, Living at a New Level
Standing on the Other Shore
Earned authority is capacity for others, not power over them.
The question this chapter asks
What capacity do you carry now that other people could use?
Practice
20 minutes
Authority you didn't announce
Write three times you carried weight for someone without being asked to, and without mentioning it afterward. Beside each one, write what you had already been through that made you able to. Notice that you did not call any of it authority at the time.
For the group
Where has earned authority shown up in your ordinary life without you announcing it? A parenting moment, a work decision, a conversation where you spoke with weight you didn't used to have.
For the leader
People often don't recognize earned authority in themselves. If someone is struggling, the group can say: "I saw it when you ___."
If your group prays together
I have learned, in whatever state I am, to be content.
Optional.