The release of G.o.d"s power in your life is directly proportional to how you believe. It"s not proportional to your holiness. All of us fail and come short in different ways. The issue is faith. You get what you believe. If you believe that G.o.d has already healed you and you begin to exercise your authority, you"ll see that healing manifest. But if you believe G.o.d can heal but He hasn"t done it yet, then that healing won"t come to pa.s.s. Just because you don"t like how the kingdom works, doesn"t mean that it changes the laws. This is just how G.o.d is.
Chapter 22.
Honor G.o.d G.o.d When you cooperate with G.o.d"s spiritual laws, His power flows. When you disobey them, it stops the power of G.o.d from operating. We see this very clearly in Mark 5 in the account of the woman with the issue of blood.
A certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years, and had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse.
MARK 5:25,26.
This lady had gone to physicians for twelve years. Although their treatments had depleted every penny she had, they hadn"t helped her a bit.
DOCTORS AREN"T INFALLIBLE.
If a woman like this were to come to me seeking healing and give me every penny she had yet still not be healed, someone would be on the news accusing me of being a crook and a charlatan. Since we just expect the power of G.o.d to always work instantly, they would come against a preacher. However, we don"t have any second thoughts about giving all of our money-hundreds of thousands of dollars- to medical doctors who have been known to make mistakes and even kill people. I"m not against doctors. I"m just saying that they aren"t infallible. Still, hardly anyone ever considers this fact.
In the natural realm, people understand that there are laws and sometimes problems arise and not everything works out the way it"s expected. Yet when it comes to the things of G.o.d, people just expect them to work with ease, completely problem free. They don"t realize that there are spiritual laws that govern the kingdom of G.o.d. It"s not that the Lord has a hard time doing things-it"s us. We are dealing with things. So there may be a problem in you receiving through me-not because G.o.d is a problem, but because I don"t know everything and you don"t either.
Sometimes when I"m praying with someone, we"ll see 50 percent of their healing manifest. So I"ll go back and keep praying with them. Other people have come up and asked me, "If it"s really G.o.d, why do you have to pray for them again and again, standing and believing? If it"s G.o.d, then they"d just be healed." That"s someone who doesn"t understand that there are spiritual laws and we"re just barely beginning to scratch the surface of understanding how things work. It can take time, not because G.o.d has problems, but because I"m having a problem or the person receiving is having a problem. None of us understand everything yet.
The woman with the issue of blood had suffered many years from physicians and their treatments, yet n.o.body thought anything about it. I"m sure her friends believed she was doing the right thing. As these doctors bled her of everything she had financially without helping her one bit, they"d encourage her to go back to them and try again. No doubt these same friends called her "fanatical" and "extreme" once she had heard of Jesus and decided to pursue receiving her healing supernaturally through Him.
FAITH COMES BY HEARING.
This woman was determined. "She had heard of Jesus" (Mark 5:27), and what He had done for others, which brings us to another law of G.o.d. You cannot believe and receive from G.o.d without somehow first hearing of Jesus and His Word.
How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?... So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of G.o.d.
ROMANS 10:14,17.
Many people who are trying to believe and receive from G.o.d aren"t getting into His Word. Faith comes through the Word of G.o.d. If you want to increase and release your faith, you need to increase your revelation knowledge of G.o.d"s Word. That"s how simple it is, but there are people who violate this law all the time. They"re just expecting to get what they"ve asked for because they"re in a desperate situation. They don"t know the first thing about believing G.o.d. They don"t study the Word. They just sit in front of the television watching all kinds of junk, wondering why their faith isn"t increasing.
Both faith and unbelief come by hearing. If you listen to all of the negativity that"s on television and radio instead of seeking G.o.d, you"ll be full of unbelief and you won"t receive. That"s just a law of G.o.d. (See Matt. 6:33.) Some people don"t like that and say, "That just doesn"t fit my lifestyle." Maybe you ought to change your lifestyle to fit the Word.
I"m amazed at some of the people who come to me wanting G.o.d to intervene in their lives. Just in talking to them, it"s obvious they haven"t spent an hour in the Word in a year. They don"t pray or seek G.o.d. They haven"t been attending church, studying the Word, or listening to Bible teachings. They"re living their lives totally for themselves, bound by the discouragement and despair that comes from keeping their mind on evil things. Yet, they want all of the benefits that come from keeping their mind stayed on G.o.d. I get upset when people criticize and slander G.o.d as if He"s the One who failed. The Lord isn"t failing. We"re the ones who have failed to understand and cooperate with His laws.
SPEAK AND ACT.
This woman in Mark 5 was committed that she was going to receive something from G.o.d.
For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole.
MARK 5:28.
She spoke her faith, and then acted on it. That"s one of the laws of G.o.d. If she would have stayed on the edge of the crowd, saying, "I believe, I receive; I believe, I receive" without acting on this belief, she would not have received.
In order to act on her faith, she had to overcome what other people thought. That"s another spiritual law. Jesus said: How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from G.o.d only?
JOHN 5:44.
In other words, being a "man-pleaser" will hinder your faith. It"ll keep you from believing. Jesus said, "You can"t believe if you are seeking the honor that comes from other people instead of from G.o.d." If you"re worried about what everybody else is going to say, it"ll stop you from receiving.
FOCUS ON THE LORD.
According to Old Testament law, the Jews considered anyone with an issue of blood to be unclean. (Lev. 15:19-33.) If someone touched something that an unclean person had touched such as a saddle, bowl, basin, or clothes, they also became unclean. So anyone who touched an unclean person also became unclean. Due to this, the Jews required an unclean person to stand on the edge of a crowd and yell out "Unclean, unclean," so that people would stay away from them.
When this woman crawled through the crowd and touched the hem of Jesus" garment, she touched people. She could have suffered the wrath of these people, been condemned, and stoned to death. When Jesus pointed her out in front of all these folks, it took a lot of courage for her to come forward. This woman came to a place where she didn"t care what anybody else said. She disdained the personal risk involved in coming to Jesus. She became more focused on the Lord and what He had to say than what these other folks had to say. Many people don"t receive from G.o.d because they"re "man-pleasers."
The fear of man bringeth a snare. PROVERBS 29:25 That"s a law of G.o.d. If you are afraid of other people and what they"re going to say, it"ll hinder your faith. It"ll keep you from receiving what you"re believing for. You must come to the place in your heart where you say: Let G.o.d be true, but every man a liar. ROMANS 3:4 You must come to the place where you can honestly declare, "G.o.d, You are all I care about. I"m going to do what you tell me regardless of the flack that I receive for it." You must believe with all your heart. You can"t harbor reservations and fears.
A G.o.d-PLEASER ALONE.
I ministered to a woman once who was sent home from the doctors to die. She had three large cancerous tumors that were open and spurting blood. After prayer, they shrunk to the size of quarters and were easily removed by the doctor as an outpatient procedure.
Although the cancer was miraculously healed by the Lord without the doctors, once they saw the results, they wanted this woman to have radiation treatments just in case there was any cancer remaining. I told her not to do it. G.o.d had healed her and not the doctors. She didn"t need to expose herself to all the problems that radiation treatments would bring. But she chose to go ahead with the doctors and nearly died from the complications.
After that, once again, I encouraged her that well people don"t get radiation treatments and that they weren"t necessary. But this woman was worried about what her mother, husband, children, and church people had to say. She knew the Lord had completely healed her and she didn"t need any further medical care, but she just couldn"t bring herself to go against what these other people said. So she went in for the next round of treatments and died as a direct result of the radiation.
Fearing what other people think brings a snare. (Prov. 29:25.) This is a law of G.o.d. You can"t truly believe if you are worried about what other people think. (John 5:44.) You must be a G.o.d-pleaser alone.
These are just a few of the laws that govern the kingdom of G.o.d. As believers exercising our authority, we don"t just pick and choose and make G.o.d do certain things. All we do is enforce the laws He"s already set in place. We discover what G.o.d has already provided and how He said it works, and then we cooperate with and enforce those laws.
Chapter 23.
No New Testament Model Satan isn"t using a superhuman, angelic power and authority. He"s using mankind"s G.o.d-given power and authority that we yielded to him when we obeyed him and disobeyed G.o.d. So it"s actually nothing but a human power and authority that is being used against us. Therefore, the devil can"t do anything against us without our consent and cooperation.
Understanding these truths radically changes our view of spiritual warfare. We recognize that the devil is a defeated foe. Jesus completely stripped him of all power and authority through the cross. However, the warfare we face today is in enforcing the Lord"s victory. It"s fighting against the wiles of the devil-his deception, lies, trickery, cunningness, and craftiness. (Eph. 6:11.) All the warfare scriptures in the New Testament reveal that the battle is in our mind.
For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through G.o.d to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of G.o.d, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.
2 CORINTHIANS 10:3-5.
Notice what these weapons accomplish: They cast down strongholds, imaginations, every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of G.o.d, and bring every thought captive. All of this has to do with your thinking. The battlefield is your mind. Satan is fighting us with thoughts, and we counter him with the thoughts G.o.d gives us.
"SPIRITUAL WARFARE"
This isn"t the way most people teach "spiritual warfare." Many folks say, "There"s a system of demonic powers hovering over every city. They can block your prayers and prevent them from getting to G.o.d. Since the Lord dwells out in s.p.a.ce somewhere and the demonic powers are in the physical atmosphere, you have to get your prayers up through them." You may think this sounds silly, but it really is a prevalent doctrine in the body of Christ today. People really believe that you have to clear a hole over your house and/or city so your prayers can get through to G.o.d. This is not what the Word of G.o.d teaches.
G.o.d"s Word teaches that the Lord in all of His power and glory indwells each believer. You don"t need your prayers to get through the atmosphere, above the ceiling, or even above your nose. The reason you bow your head to pray is so that you can look at G.o.d- He lives right there inside you.
These popular, but erroneous, concepts concerning "spiritual warfare" simply don"t take into account the New Testament believer being G.o.d-possessed. He dwells on the inside of us. Therefore, we don"t have to deal with princ.i.p.alities and powers blocking our prayers from getting to G.o.d. The way these demons fight us is through our thoughts. The spiritual warfare in the Christian life is in your mind.
There"s actually a group here where I live that teaches that when they first arrived in town, the heavens were "bra.s.s"- meaning that people"s prayers were hindered and they weren"t getting through. So through this group"s "spiritual warfare" and "intercession," they "opened up the heavens" and cleared things up. They say that"s the reason their church has grown and we"ve seen great things happen in our city. They claim that"s why the crime rate dropped for a couple of years in a row. They believe that it"s all this intercession and prayer that was making all of this come to pa.s.s.
What happened the next year when the crime rate shot back up and there were more murders than ever before? Did the heavens close back up? Did they quit praying effectively? What happened? I recognize that there are many things that influence this, and that Christians do affect the world around them, but it"s not all the demons hovering over our city that make a bunch of crime and murders happen.
BATTLE FOR THE MIND.
Why are there lots of homicides in certain places? It"s because of the demonic activity in the minds of people, not in the heavenlies. They have lost the battle for their mind and have given themselves over to Satan. They are watching and listening to all kinds of hatred, violence, and murder on television, movies, and video games. Since our society as a whole no longer supports and reinforces G.o.dly moral values, we"re allowing these things to happen.
Yes, there are demonic powers in the air. Scripture plainly reveals this. But the way we deal with them is by coming against the unrenewed minds of people. Preach and teach the truth of G.o.d"s Word to people. You can"t just control demonic powers in the heavenlies through your prayers, and therefore indirectly control other people and make them not be bad because you are binding a certain demonic power. That"s not the model the Scripture presents. The way the Bible teaches us to do it is to go in and tell people the truth. As they believe and obey the truth, they are set free and come out from under the control of these demonic influences that are around us.
There are zero-not just a few, not one, but zero-New Testament precedents for the "spiritual warfare" and intercessory battles that are being promoted in the body of Christ today. Jesus never sent His disciples out to do "spiritual warfare" before He came into a place. He did send them out at times to announce His coming, but this was mainly just publicity.
Paul never called upon or encouraged the believers to do "spiritual warfare" as it"s being promoted today. He"s the one through whom the Holy Spirit wrote 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 and Ephesians 6:11. Second Corinthians 10 reveals that our weapons are for taking every thought captive to Christ. Ephesians 6:11 tells us to stand against the wiles of the devil. The wrestling mentioned in the very next verse takes place in our thoughts. (Eph. 6:12.) INFLUENCED THROUGH THOUGHTS.
In our country, morals have decreased significantly in the last generation. The s.e.xual immorality that"s being promoted today couldn"t have even been imagined thirty years ago. One of the main reasons for this decline is because our culture has become so addicted to radio, television, computers, and movies. Through these mediums, our morals have been steadily polluted and diluted.
Satan has touched individuals who control the media. Both Christians and non-Christians alike are watching the same unG.o.dly media. Therefore, the devil is exercising influence through the thoughts he is planting in us. Satan has to flow through physical things to control the way you think (Rom. 8:6; Prov. 23:7; Isa. 26:3).
Romans 12:2 says, "Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed." How? By "spiritual warfare" and binding demons? No, "By the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of G.o.d."
Demons influence us through thoughts, but they can"t just give those thoughts directly. They have to influence a person, and then that person yields to Satan. He begins to educate them, putting his lies and deception in their life, so they can go out and influence other people. The reason we see such a dominance of unG.o.dly perspectives and principles today is that-as a whole-the news media, television, radio, and the movie industry are controlled by people who are under the influence of Satan. They are demonic in their att.i.tudes and thoughts.
I read an article in which a prominent movie/television producer admitted that one of his goals is to change our country"s morals. He is purposefully using his power and influence to change the Judeo-Christian ethic and morality of our culture. Satan is gaining control and exerting influence because he"s fighting for people"s minds while the church is in their prayer closet trying to bind some demonic power. There is zero scriptural precedent for that. It"s not the way they approached this in the Bible.
"LORD, GRANT US BOLDNESS"
The apostle Paul went into terrible demonic places like Corinth and Athens. They had many different pagan G.o.ds and idols.
He didn"t counter all this idolatry by doing "spiritual warfare"- getting a bunch of Christians together and binding something. In Athens, he went into the marketplace and spoke to these people who did nothing but sit around trying to learn something new. Once he had their attention, he preached the Gospel and told them about the unknown G.o.d, the One they didn"t truly understand. Paul declared, "He"s the One, the only true G.o.d."
Paul went into Ephesus and shared G.o.d"s Word. As I mentioned in chapter 14, back then, Ephesus was the location of the famous Diana of the Ephesians. In this temple, there was a statue that they believed fell down from heaven. Paul countered these deceptions and lies by telling people the truth. So many folks responded to the truth that the worship of Diana of the Ephesians literally ceased to be. They closed the temple down and there has never been any demonic power operating through Diana of the Ephesians until the late 1900s when the "intercessors" resurrected her and made her the demonic power operating behind Islam.
A few years ago, over 20,000 people traveled to Ephesus to do "spiritual warfare" and "bind" these demonic powers.
Neither Jesus, Peter, nor Paul ever did that. They didn"t encourage it. They never gathered people together to bind all the demonic powers in an area. They put their effort into preaching the Gospel and sharing G.o.d"s Word. They prayed like the early believers in Acts 4.
Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word, by stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus.
ACTS 4:29,30.
Then the place was shaken by the power of the Holy Spirit, and they went out boldly sharing the Gospel, (v. 31.) Peter"s shadow fell on people as he walked by on the street and they were healed. (Acts 5:15-16.) Signs and wonders confirmed their preaching of the Word. (v. 12; Mark 16:20.) They saw their world changed-not through "spiritual warfare" and "intercession," but through the preaching of the Gospel.
DECLAW SATAN.
There are some Christians today who claim to be called to the "ministry of intercession." This is their whole life. They don"t do anything else. They don"t share the truth. They don"t witness. They don"t talk to people. They don"t support social action. All they do is stay in their closets and pray.
Now, every believer ought to pray. It"s an important part of an intimate relationship with G.o.d. I"m not against prayer, but there isn"t any such thing as a "ministry of intercession." We"re all supposed to pray, but we"re all supposed to go out and do something too. Some people are using "intercession" as a cop-out to keep from sharing the Word of G.o.d.
The way people are born again is through a seed of G.o.d"s Word being planted in them. (1 Peter 1:23.) If Satan can deceive us and keep us from sharing G.o.d"s Word, this is to his advantage. The enemy"s strategy is to keep us in a prayer closet, begging the Lord to do what He"s told us to do. Instead of boldly sharing the Word and preaching the Gospel, we"re afraid to tell anyone the truth because we might offend somebody.
The devil doesn"t mind you praying as long as you"re into this "spiritual warfare" and "intercession" stuff. Satan himself has inspired much of it. He has you out there fighting a ghost figure. It"s as if the devil is projecting a hologram and causing you to see an enemy coming in a certain area. So you marshal all of your forces to fight this enemy that doesn"t even exist. You exert a tremendous amount of effort and resources battling this ghost figure and it makes you vulnerable in the areas where dangers do exist. Satan has the body of Christ busy fighting battles and tearing things down that don"t even exist. Sure Satan exists and his power exists, but he"s not this all-powerful force that the intercessors have made him out to be.
Your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.
1 PETER 5:8.
Satan doesn"t have the power to control people. He"s using nothing but the same human power and authority that were given to mankind. Therefore, he can"t do anything to you without your consent and cooperation. Yes, we have an enemy who would like to destroy mankind as a whole, and each of us individually. How do we deal with this? Do we go directly to the devil and bind him? No. We deal with our thoughts. Satan can only influence us and gain our consent and cooperation through our thoughts. That"s the reason Jesus said: Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
JOHN 8:32.
The only power Satan has is in lies and deception. That"s the reason the truth makes you free. Once you know the truth, deception no longer has any power. It"s declawed. The church"s strength is in preaching the Gospel and sharing G.o.d"s Word.
DEMONS WERE PRESENT.
We do need to pray so we can be sensitive to G.o.d, yield to Him, hear clearly, and be bold to speak, but we don"t need to do fifteen to twenty hours worth of "spiritual warfare" to prepare things before. Just go in and preach the Gospel. The Word of G.o.d will change the atmosphere. As you preach the truth, the truth will cause demons to flee. Jesus would walk into a place and the demons would literally cry out, run out, and come out of people. Now, if Jesus had been doing "spiritual warfare" the way it"s promoted today, there wouldn"t have been any demons to cry out or come out. He would have already dealt with them in prayer and they would have already been gone. But the truth is, demons were present.
Demons were even present at the last supper. How else could Satan have entered into Judas Iscariot if he wasn"t already there?
And after the sop [piece of bread that Jesus gave Judas] Satan entered into him. JOHN 13:27 That"s what the Bible says. Jesus didn"t do "spiritual warfare" the way it"s being promoted today. It"s been given a status and a position that it never should have had. There"s a lot of weirdness going on in the body of Christ nowadays in the name of "spiritual warfare."
If Jesus couldn"t keep Satan out of His last supper with His disciples, then you can"t keep the devil out of your church or city by your "spiritual warfare."
If the Lord were to tarry another hundred years, people would look back on the "spiritual warfare" and "intercession" teachings of our day and think, Surely that was one of the greatest errors that has ever crept into the body of Christ. We"re so close to it right now and it"s so prevalent and popular in the body of Christ, many people don"t see it for what it is.
There is no New Testament model for this "spiritual warfare" and "intercession" belief and practice. Some of this is being taught from Scripture, but they"re using Old Testament scriptures-and there huge difference between the way things were done in the Old Testament and the way they are done in the New Testament.
Chapter 24.
One Mediator Exodus 32 is an Old Testament pa.s.sage that is often cited when people teach "spiritual warfare" and "intercession." Moses had been up on the mount receiving the Ten Commandments. He"d been up there fasting for forty days and forty nights in the presence of G.o.d. After he"d been given these two tablets that had literally been written on by the finger of G.o.d: The LORD said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves.
EXODUS 32:7.
It"s interesting how the Lord told Pharaoh through Moses, "Let My people go." Yet once the Israelites came out and started worshiping the golden calf they had made (Ex. 32:1-6), He told Moses, "This is your people." When a child does something good and wins an award, their parents say, "My child." But when the child does something that isn"t smart, one parent will say to the other, "Look what your child did." G.o.d said, "Your people" to Moses. G.o.d was ticked off at them because they had corrupted themselves. In fact, He was willing to forsake them and let them go.
They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy G.o.ds, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people: Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation.
EXODUS 32:8-10.
POWER WITH G.o.d.