The last part of this verse is a strong statement that many people choke on. They can"t receive it because they think to do so would be to take authority over G.o.d and tell Him, "Lord, You obey me. I command You to do this." Certainly, that"s ridiculous.
I am not G.o.d. I"m not superior to Him. It"s not me that is the power source. G.o.d isn"t waiting on my every whim, and obeying what I tell Him to do. That"s not what Isaiah 45:11 is talking about. The Lord said, concerning the work of My hands, you command Me. This means that G.o.d has told me to command the work of His hands-which is everything He"s already provided in Christ-into manifestation.
It"s like electricity. The power company is the source-they generate the power. You aren"t the power source. You could stick a light bulb in your mouth, but it"ll never come on. The power company generates the power and delivers it to your home. You"ve signed a contract, and that power is under your command.
If you want the power to come on, you don"t call the power company and ask them to come out and turn it on. No.
They"ve already generated that power and delivered it to you. Now it"s up to you to command that power. When you go over and flip that switch, you are commanding that power. You aren"t the source, but the power is under your control. It"s under your authority. So you use that authority and switch it on.
FLIP THE SWITCH.
Now, if the power company doesn"t generate the electricity, you could flip that switch all you want, but if there"s no power there, nothing is going to happen.
If someone who wasn"t yet born again tried to speak to sickness or a demon and command them to leave, it wouldn"t work. Nothing would happen because they don"t have the power of G.o.d inside them. This is what happened to the seven sons of Sceva (see Acts 19:11-16). These lost men saw Paul expelling demons in the name of Jesus, and tried to do the same. But the demons inside the man they were trying to deliver rose up and caused the man to beat up those seven lost men and send them away bleeding. If you aren"t connected to the power source, if you aren"t truly born again, you can"t do what I"m sharing with you. But if you are truly born again and have received the power of the Holy Spirit according to Acts 1:8, then that power is in you, and it"s up to you to command it.
If you called the power company and said, "I have some friends coming over for lunch. Would you please turn on the power? I need it to cook the food, have light, and play soft music." It doesn"t matter how much you plead or how serious your need is, the power company isn"t going to send somebody out to flip the switch for you. They generate the power, but you must take your position of authority and flip the switch.
Many Christians today are praying and asking G.o.d to come over and flip their switch. They don"t realize that He"s placed that power on the inside of them. They don"t recognize their responsibility to flip their own switch. They aren"t believing G.o.d"s Word which reveals that they now have the power, authority, and responsibility to go and heal the sick. Instead of commanding and releasing this power that"s been given to them, they pray and ask G.o.d to heal the sick. That"s just as silly as asking the electric company to come over and turn on your lights!
"THE DONKEY I RIDE ON"
One of the first times a friend of mine went to Africa to minister, G.o.d dealt with him on this very issue. At his meetings, he saw all kinds of great miracles, including many people healed. As a result of this, the African people were just overwhelmed. As my friend walked through the city streets, people would run up to him screaming, yelling, and wanting to touch him. His first reaction was, "It"s not me. It"s G.o.d. Don"t look to me!" But before he could say anything, the Lord spoke to his heart, saying, "When I rode into Jerusalem, all the people were throwing palm branches and garments down in My path, singing "Hosanna-glory to G.o.d in the highest!" What would you have thought if that donkey I was riding on would have said, "Oh, it"s not me. It"s not me"?" The Lord continued, saying, "It"s not you that they are yelling about and trying to touch- it"s Me. You"re just the donkey that I ride on." Once my friend saw that, he started walking around and letting people touch him.
Some people take offense at this and say, "You just think you"re somebody special!" No, I"m n.o.body special. There is nothing special in me, but I carry the most special Person who has ever walked the face of this earth. The Lord Jesus Christ lives on the inside of me, and He"s given me His power and anointing. Just like Peter"s shadow touched people and they were healed, I"m believing for a day when my shadow will do the same. I"m believing they will lay the sick in the streets and my shadow will fall upon them and heal them. Some people might think, Well, you arrogant thing! It"s not me, it"s Who I carry. He"s the same Person Peter carried. If it worked for him, it"ll work for me.
Scores of Christians are so focused on the physical, carnal, natural side of who they are that they don"t recognize that they aren"t only human. They don"t realize that they"ve been given supernatural power and authority. That"s why they aren"t seeing the power of G.o.d.
There is a religious culture today that is against everything I"m teaching. It comes against this authority and tries to make you feel like you"re nothing, that you have no power and no authority. You come to G.o.d as a beggar, pleading with Him to do what He"s told you in His Word that He"s already done. He told you to go out and represent Him so stop begging and pleading, bawling and squalling, and asking G.o.d to do things that it"s not His turn to do. Take a stand, use your authority, and command things to come to pa.s.s.
JOE BLOW BELIEVER.
Jesus commissioned His disciples and sent them out saying: Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.
MATTHEW 10:8.
You can"t give away something you don"t have. If you don"t believe that G.o.d has already done His part and put that raising-from-the-dead power on the inside of you, then you can"t go out and heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, or raise the dead. I wish I could just make people believe these truths, but I know I"m fighting against hundreds of years of religious traditions that have made the Word of G.o.d of none effect. (Mark 7:13.) G.o.d has already healed every person that will ever be healed. That power has already been generated and is now deposited on the inside of every born-again, Spirit-filled, tongue-talking believer. You have that power. It"s not up to G.o.d to heal the sick. It"s up to us to believe, take our authority, release that power, and command these things to happen. We must give-minister-this healing power to other people.
I really enjoy watching our Charis Bible College students and alumni minister at our citywide meetings-Gospel Truth Seminars. In the past, when I ministered in churches, after I built up the people"s faith with the Word, I"d stay there praying with them for hours. The people would come to me by the hundreds and I would pray for them and see blind eyes and deaf ears open and other miracles and healings. After three or four hours of that, I was excited, but I was also worn-out. I knew I was limited. I"d see all the people lined up for prayer and know that I wouldn"t be able to make it to the end of the line. People couldn"t wait that long, so they"d leave because I just couldn"t minister to them.
Then we started going into larger venues and instead of having two or three hundred people, we started having five hundred or a thousand people come to my meetings. There was just no way that I could minister to all of them, so the Lord told me to teach these truths to our Bible College students- these truths that you have the power on the inside of you and you can command healings to come to pa.s.s. Now I have students and alumni help me minister in these larger meetings. Instead of only me being able to pray for a hundred or so people, together we"re praying for five hundred people or more per night. We"re seeing blind eyes and deaf ears open, people come out of wheelchairs, and all kinds of miracles. I"m thrilled to know that it isn"t just a supernatural gift flowing through one individual that everything has to funnel through. This is for Joe Blow Believer!
MINISTER HIS POWER TO OTHERS.
One of our prayer ministers had never prayed for another person and seen a physical miracle happen in his life. The very first night he began to pray with people, he ministered to a blind man who received his sight. This fellow who had never witnessed a physical miracle in all his life was so excited that he didn"t sleep all night. He came back the next day telling everyone on the team all about it.
I"m not against people who have a supernatural gift. There is a place for that in the body of Christ. But some folks have thought that they have to be one of these healing evangelist miracle ministries in order to be able to pray for people. As this prayer minister found out, that"s not so. Every born-again, Spirit-filled believer has been given power and authority to heal the sick, cleanse the leper, and raise the dead. (Matt. 10:8.) The Lord has commanded us to give-minister-that power to other people.
Chapter 11.
Proclaim And Demonstrate Whatsoever city ye enter...heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of G.o.d is come nigh unto you.
LUKE 10:8,9.
Jesus told us to heal the sick and preach the kingdom of G.o.d. However, so much of the church has just chosen to ignore the first part of our commission. Proclamation and demonstration should always go hand in hand. G.o.d"s Word needs to be confirmed with signs, wonders, and miracles.
The Spirit-filled side of the church desires to see miracles and healings, but the way so many of them are going about it is to beg and plead with G.o.d, saying, "Oh G.o.d, I ask You to pour out Your Spirit. Do a new thing, and send revival." That"s not the approach the people in the Bible took. They believed that G.o.d had given them the authority. They went out and brought revival, commanded revival, and released revival by seeing miracles happen.
MORE THAN JUST DOCTRINE.
Consider the disciples who had been arrested and commanded not to preach the Gospel anymore.
Being let go, they went to their own company, and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them. And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to G.o.d with one accord, and said, 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 4:23,24,29,30.
Notice how they prayed. "G.o.d, help us to preach Your Word." How? "By stretching forth Your hand to heal" (author paraphrase). This is the way that the early New Testament church preached the Gospel. It wasn"t just doctrine. There was both proclamation and demonstration in the power of the Spirit. They prayed, "Lord, help us to preach Your Word by healing the sick and seeing Your power manifest." That"s how they went out to minister, and that"s the reason they saw better results than most folks are getting today.
There ought to be a difference between how you preach and how false religions preach. They don"t accept Jesus as the only begotten Son of G.o.d, the only way to the Father. Yet, when many Christians go out and knock on a door, they are no different than the followers of false religions who go door to door to get new converts. All they have is a doctrine. Proper doctrine is important, but it"s not the only thing that should separate a true believer in Christ from those who aren"t.
A true Christian is a person who not only has a proper doctrine about who Jesus is, but they can also demonstrate it by the power and gifts of the Holy Spirit. Why isn"t this happening more? The reason is that we are praying and asking G.o.d to do what He commanded us to do.
COMMAND HEALING TO MANIFEST.
The Lord told us to go heal the sick. He didn"t tell us to pray and ask Him to heal the sick. Jesus told us to do it. G.o.d is the power source, but He"s placed that power on the inside of us.
He gave us the authority to use His name and His power. If we don"t command healing to come, it won"t happen. It"s not going to come by us begging and asking G.o.d to heal.
Perhaps you know someone who has an incurable disease. You"ve been praying and asking G.o.d to heal them. You"ve been trying to lay hold of G.o.d for healing, and you haven"t seen the manifestation yet. You"re fighting fear, doubt, and frustration. You need to recognize that you"re asking G.o.d to do what He asked you to do. G.o.d told you to go heal the sick. He told you to give-minister-His healing power. Just like Peter and John, you need to take your authority and command healing to manifest.
Cecil Paxton trains people how to receive and minister healing. He used to oversee our ministry Helpline, but now travels widely preaching, teaching, and ministering all around the world. Back when he lived in Colorado Springs, a mutual friend of ours had a stroke and went blind. Cecil went over to this man"s house and ministered to him. Cecil took his authority and commanded those eyes to open. In an instant, those totally blind eyes opened and the man could see perfectly. Cecil took his authority in Christ, commanded the healing to manifest, and it did.
Cecil"s wife, Lisa, has a powerful testimony of G.o.d"s healing power. It"s available in audio as "Lisa Paxton"s Testimony" or in booklet form as Lisa"s Story. You"ll be encouraged!
G.o.d"S WILL.
G.o.d desires for every person to respond to Him and receive salvation.
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
2 PETER 3:9.
G.o.d doesn"t will for a single person to die and go to h.e.l.l. Does that mean everyone will receive salvation? No, obviously not. Jesus said: Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
MATTHEW 7:13,14.
The Bible clearly reveals that G.o.d"s will doesn"t just automatically come to pa.s.s.
So much religion and tradition in the church today misrepresents G.o.d. It says, "Nothing happens without His direct or indirect approval. G.o.d either causes it or allows it." This is not what the Word teaches. The reason this doctrine is so popular and people latch onto it is that it gives them an excuse and frees them from all personal responsibility. In other words, you can just pray, "Lord, if it"s Your will, please heal this person. If it"s Your will, save this marriage." Then if it works- great. If it doesn"t, then it must not have been G.o.d"s will. This thinking takes us totally out of the picture. We have no responsibility or accountability in the matter. This is absolutely wrong!
PEOPLE HAVE A CHOICE.
Second Peter 3:9 clearly reveals that it"s not G.o.d"s will that anyone perish. Yet, people are perishing-lots of them. G.o.d doesn"t control or just allow these things. He"s not the One who "predestined" some people to be saved and others to be lost. There are a number of reasons why people are perishing instead of being saved.
Each individual person has a choice. G.o.d isn"t going to force anyone to be saved. He honors our free will. Some people- due to the lies and deception of the devil, or because they"ve been hurt and taken up an offense-are preoccupied with the cares of this life. They have rejected all of the invitations and interventions of G.o.d in their life. So, by their own free will, they are choosing not to make Jesus their Lord. Your faith can"t make a person get saved. That"s not what the Word of G.o.d teaches.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. ACTS 16:31 In context, this is saying, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. And as each one of your family members believe on Him, they"ll be saved too."
Each person must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and receive salvation for themselves. No one can do it for you, and you can"t do it for someone else. People have a choice in the matter.
MISREPRESENTING THE LORD.
Sometimes the problem is that we"re misrepresenting the Gospel, the Lord, and His kingdom. We aren"t telling people the truth. We"re giving them religion and tradition or our words aren"t matching our life.
For whatever reason, many people are led into false religions. Some are being told that to kill people for religious purposes grants them entrance into heaven with a harem of women throughout all eternity. That is absolute foolishness. It"s completely wrong, and violates the truth of G.o.d"s Word. Yet, there are people full of misplaced hope and zeal engaged in suicide bombings and other similar activities. False doctrines are sending lots of people to h.e.l.l.
If G.o.d doesn"t desire any of this, then why is it happening? G.o.d gave us authority and with it comes responsibility. In order to see people born again, we must preach the Gospel. It"s not because G.o.d hasn"t done everything necessary to provide salvation that people aren"t born again. It"s not because He doesn"t want them saved. One major reason people aren"t being born again is that Christians haven"t taken their authority and used it properly.
Perhaps believers aren"t preaching the true Gospel. They"re ministering religion and tradition instead. Maybe some Christians presented a negative witness with their lifestyle. Perhaps the lost person had one bad experience with someone who said they were a believer, and because of it refuses to really listen to the true claims of Christ. Some way or another, it"s people who are messing things up. Satan is inspiring it. He"s doing his best to prejudice people against the Gospel. It"s not G.o.d"s will that any person die and go to h.e.l.l, yet it"s happening.
This same logic applies to healing, prosperity, and marriages. People say, "Well, if it"s G.o.d"s will, they"ll be healed whether you or I pray for them or not." Apply the same reasoning to salvation and see how it sounds. "If it"s G.o.d"s will, people will be saved whether we minister to them or not." That"s not true. We have a responsibility. We"ve been given power and authority to preach the Gospel.
PREACH THE GOSPEL.
That"s what I"m doing. I"m sharing the Word of G.o.d with as many people as I can. There are millions of folks being touched by our daily television, radio, and Internet ministry. People are hearing the Word of G.o.d and their lives are being changed. They"re being born again, baptized in the Holy Spirit, healed, delivered, and set free. It"s always been G.o.d"s will to set them free, but they hadn"t heard the truth. Somebody had to come across their path and share it with them.
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? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent.. .So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of G.o.d.
ROMANS 10:14,15,17.
It"s not G.o.d"s will for anyone to perish, but G.o.d relies on people to minister His Word and cause different things to change. G.o.d has given us both the authority and the responsibility to preach the Gospel. If we don"t take that responsibility and use that authority, the Word won"t be preached and people won"t get saved. It"s not G.o.d"s will for our nation or this world to be in the mess it"s in. His will is for us all to reflect His values, submit to Him, and shine as a glorious church. However, it"s not working that way because people aren"t responding to Him properly.
Let"s stop begging G.o.d to do what He has told us to do.
Instead of asking Him to send revival and save people, we need to go out and preach the Gospel with signs and wonders. Let"s take what Jesus has already provided and make it manifest. It"s His power, but it"s our authority (which He gave us) that makes it work. G.o.d"s power is released as we use our authority. Go ahead, flip the switch!
Chapter 12.
Be A Witness When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.
ACTS 1:6,7.
I remember a guy who wrote a book proposing eighty-eight reasons why the Lord would return in 1988. I talked with some people who honestly believed what he said was true. With all of their heart, they were counting on the Lord coming back in 1988. Of course, it didn"t happen. So then he wrote a book detailing eighty-nine reasons why the Lord would return in 1989-and people bought that book too. The guy totally missed it, yet a bunch of folks still came out and swallowed the very next thing he had to say. How dumb can you get and still breathe?
Acts 1:6-7 is saying that you can"t know the time or the season that Jesus is coming back to fully establish His kingdom. If someone tells you that they know and they"re predicting some date, then you can just write "Ichabod" across their forehead (that"s Old Testament terminology for "the glory has departed"; II Sam. 4:21). I guarantee you they are in deception, and it"s not G.o.d.
Immediately after the Lord said, "You don"t have power or authority concerning those kinds of things because the Father has reserved them for Himself," He continued saying: But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
ACTS 1:8.
Jesus told His disciples, you will have power to be a witness. Think about it. The Lord would never give you a position without also giving you the authority to execute and accomplish what He told you to do. So with this power to be a witness comes an authority to be a witness-and all the responsibility that goes along with it.
THROUGH PEOPLE.
Peter exercised this power and authority to be a witness when he followed G.o.d"s leading to Cornelius" house.
There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band, a devout man, and one that feared G.o.d with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to G.o.d always. He saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day an angel of G.o.d coming in to him, and saying unto him, Cornelius. And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before G.o.d. And now send men to Joppa, and call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter. He lodgeth with one Simon a tanner, whose house is by the sea side: he shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do.
ACTS 10:1-6.
An angel appeared to this centurion and said, "Cornelius, you"re a devout man. G.o.d has heard your prayers. Now send to Joppa and ask for Peter. He"ll come and tell you how to be born again." Why didn"t this angel tell Cornelius the Gospel? It would have been much more efficient than sending men on a two day journey (one way) to bring Peter back. Why didn"t this angel just tell him how to be born again? The answer is simple: G.o.d gave power and authority to people to preach the Gospel, not to angels. Angels don"t have the authority to preach the Gospel-we do. G.o.d has limited Himself to preaching the Gospel through people.
G.o.d"s plan is for us to preach the truth of the Gospel, and for people to hear it and be born again through the incorruptible seed of G.o.d"s Word. However, Satan has come in through religious teaching, saying, "You don"t have to share G.o.d"s Word. Just pray them into the kingdom." So now there are all these Christians who are praying and asking G.o.d to save people, and they never share the Gospel with them.
I"ve actually met people before who say they are "prayer warriors" who never get out of their closet. Their prayer list is so long, they can"t even read it all in an hour. They diligently work through their list and pray for everybody, but they won"t witness to a neighbor. They don"t talk to people at the grocery store. They won"t speak to their mailman. They don"t share the Word with anyone, but they"re praying for a "great move of G.o.d." That"s deception. It doesn"t happen that way. You can"t pray a person into the kingdom of G.o.d.
FAITH COMES BY HEARING.
You have to be born again by the incorruptible seed of G.o.d"s Word.
Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of G.o.d, which liveth and abideth for ever.
1 PETER 1:23.
G.o.d"s Word is the seed. It must be planted in the ground of our heart. This is also like sowing a seed in the womb of a woman. You can"t conceive a child apart from this seed being sown. There was only one virgin birth, and there isn"t going to be another. You must get out of your prayer closet and sow the seed of G.o.d"s Word.
Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of G.o.d. ROMANS 10:17 ROMANS 10:17 You can"t be born again without faith, and that faith comes through the seed of G.o.d"s Word.
PLANT THE SEED.
You don"t get pregnant through prayer. You can receive healing through prayer, which may affect your ability to get pregnant, but you don"t get pregnant through just prayer. I"ve prayed with many couples who were unable to have children who later went on to conceive supernaturally, but my prayer wasn"t what made them pregnant.
One time a woman came forward and asked me to pray that she"d get pregnant. Right before I put my hands on her, I felt impressed to ask, "Are you married?" She answered, "No, I"m not." I pulled my hands back really quick. I wasn"t going to have anything to do with this lady getting pregnant if she wasn"t married. That"s not G.o.d"s will. Prayer doesn"t make you pregnant. You have to plant that seed.
Many Christians are praying for people to be born again, but they"re not praying about the planting of the seed. They"re not praying for someone to come across their path and preach the Gospel to these people. (Matt. 9:38.) They aren"t asking the Holy Spirit to bring back to their memory the words G.o.d has already spoken to them. (John 14:26.) They"re just thinking that they can pray somebody into the kingdom. That violates the power and authority G.o.d gave us when He told us to go preach the Gospel. The angel didn"t tell Cornelius how to get saved; Peter-a physical human being-had to do that. You need to understand that G.o.d gave the power, authority, and responsibility for preaching the Gospel to people.
You may have been praying for someone for many years, but you"re frustrated and wondering, Why isn"t G.o.d saving this person? It may be because you aren"t praying right. Are you asking G.o.d to save them as if there were something He could do? He"s already done His part to provide salvation through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Lord commissioned us to preach the Gospel. If that person hasn"t received salvation, it"s either because they aren"t hearing the true Gospel, or they"re choosing to reject it. It"s not G.o.d who isn"t saving that individual. There are ways you can pray to speed things up and enable the Holy Spirit to minister to this person more, but just praying and asking G.o.d, "Please save them" is useless. That"s not how the Word teaches us to do it.