Then the apostle adds that men are to account of us as stewards, and it is about that office that I am going to speak to you: “It is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.” Although my text no doubt refers, in the first place, to those who labour in word and doctrine, to whom it is a life’s vocation, yet all the people of God are stewards, and each child of God, in his own way and in his own place, should reckon that whatever of gift he has should be used for the Lord Jesus Christ, and laid out for him; and he should also recollect that he is made one of the Lord’s stewards, and that it is required of him that he be found faithful. And I may even add that every unconverted man has a stewardship to fulfil. As God’s creature, he is bound to be God’s servant; and at the last great day he will have to give an account of every opportunity and capacity for service which God has given to him, and woe unto him if he be found an unfaithful steward in the day of his Lord’s reckoning!
If I should seem to speak rather more about ministers than about anybody else, I will ask you kindly to pick out all that belongs to yourselves, you who are private Christians, and you who are not Christians at all. I pray the Lord to make use of what I say to myself, and then to you who are his people, and to those also who are not his people, that they may be pricked to the heart, and made to fool how ungenerously they have acted towards the great Lord of the house. To begin, then, I will first ask, — how are we stewards? Secondly, if stewards, how are we to behave? Next, how are we in danger of misbehaving? And, lastly, what will be the result of right behaviour or of misbehaviour in those who are stewards?
I. First, then, now ARE WE STEWARDS?
Well, God’s ministers are stewards, first, as appointed to look after other servants. You know, dear friend, if you are a servant, you have enough to do to mind your own work; but if you happen to be an upper servant, such as a steward is, you have not only your own work to mind, but it is a part of your own work to look after the work of other people. There are some who are so foolish that they look only at the honour of this position; whereas, if they were wise, they would look more at the responsibility of it. Brethren, if I had my choice, I would rather look after a horse than look after a man. The second is much the more difficult animal to manage; and to look after many men, — oh, this is indeed a difficult task! I had an old friend, who was for forty years a shepherd, and after that he became a minister; and he lived to be forty years a shepherd in a spiritual sense. I asked him once, “Which was the easier flock to manage?” “Oh!” he replied, “the second flock of sheep was a deal more sheepish than the first.” I understood what he meant. They say that sheep have as many diseases as there are days in the year; ay, but men have as many complaints as there are minutes in the year; it is not long that they are free from one malady or another. I mean, men and women, all those that belong to the spiritual flock of which the minister is the shepherd; there is a certain form of trouble arising out of each one. True, there is a certain amount of comfort and joy arising out of every Christian; yet there is a measure of difficulty that must come to the steward from every one of his fellow-servants. It is by no means a position which any man who understands it might desire for himself. The real steward is one who has been appointed to the position; and if he is not appointed, why, he has no right to be a steward at all! It is the great Master of the house who calls this one or that to look after the other servants, and it is from this calling that he has the right to interfere in any respect with them.
Next, notice that the servants of God — whether called ministers or not, — those who are really so, are stewards because they are under the Master’s near command. An ordinary servant in God’s house may take his orders from the steward, but the steward takes no order from anybody but the Master; and hence, he is in an evil case, and the household is in an evil case, too, if he does not often resort to the Master, if he does not distinctly recognize his position as an underling of his Master, and if he does not so keep up his daily fellowship with the Master that he himself knows the Master’s mind, and is able to communicate it to his fellow-servants. There are many of you, dear friends, who have around you your children, your servants, your fellow-workers. Well, in that respect, you are a steward to them; they have to do a good deal that you tell them. Then do, I pray you, — and I speak this to myself as well as to you, — do let us wait upon the Master; let us come forth to speak to our fellow-servants, not our own words, but the words of him who is Master and Lord to the whole household. How beautifully Jesus, the greatest of all stewards, did this! How constantly he said, “The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.” He was always referring those who were his brethren back to the great Head of the family, and he did not speak without his Father’s authority. Having taken up the position of a subordinate in order to work out our redemption, he continually declared that he was his Father’s servant. It is an ill day for us when we begin to think that our thoughts are to be given out in the house instead of the Master’s thoughts. It is not for us to deliver our own speculations, but to go straight away to the Word, and by the teaching of the indwelling Spirit to come forth to the people with what we have received, not what we have invented. You shall find no power, my brothers and sisters, in doing Christian work unless you keep on doing it as receiving your mission and commission from the great Lord of all. I recollect how McCheyne says, “It is God’s Word that saves, not our comment on God’s Word.” And I am sure that it is so. It is God at the back of the steward who blesses all in the household; but when the steward does not go to the Master, and get his orders from him, he soon puts everything into confusion. He loses his own standing, and he is apt to do desperate mischief to all who are round about him.
Then, the true steward is called upon to give in an account; and if he does it often, so much the better. I am persuaded that, in the things of God as well as between man and man, “short reckonings make long friends,” and that, if we will often go to our Master with our service, and present it to him, and overhaul it under his divine guidance, confessing our shortcomings, and blessing him for every particle of success that has attended it, we shall do much better than if we go on for a long stretch without a reference to him. Brothers and sisters, you who are teaching your classes of boys or girls, bring your Sunday work to the Lord at the end of the Sabbath; and when we have finished a sermon, those of us who stand up to preach, let us not be satisfied until we have brought that piece of our work under our Master’s eye. I am sure that, if the steward can get to the side of his Master every evening, or every morning say to him, “We did so-and-so yesterday, and there is so-and-so which we propose to do to-day,” that is the way for the house to be well-ordered. Things go right when there is no absentee landlord, but when the great Master is always close at hand, and the steward constantly goes to him with an account of all his work. Oh, brethren, let us constantly act thus! We do not live near enough to God, do we? I know that some of you do wait upon him day and night, and you abide under the shadow of the Almighty; but I fear that there are some workers who forget to do this. We should work with the hands of Martha, but yet keep near the Master with the heart of Mary; we want a combination of activity and meditation. When we get that, when we inwardly retire for consultation with our Lord, and then come out actively to labour for our Lord, then shall we be good stewards in the little part of the great house with which he has entrusted us.
Further, a steward is a man who is put in trust with his master’s goods. This is the main point of his stewardship; nothing is his own, it is all his master’s. When he begins to open an account of his own, it is wonderful how apt he is to mistake what is his master’s, and to call it his own; and by-and-by he gets into a muddle, and cannot distinguish his master’s accounts from his own. Oh, it is a glorious thing when you have not any “own”; when you do not live for yourself at all, but wholly for Christ! Then you will not make any blunders; there will not be any of Christ’s property getting into your cash account, so that you will have a difficulty in disentangling it. “No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life,” for he can say, —
“’Tis done, the great transaction’s done,
I am my Lord’s,”
“and all the business I have here below is his. I have no sub-ends or secondary objects, but all I have and am is for him.” Then it is easy to keep our accounts, and to make no mistakes in them.
The true steward is put in trust with his master’s property, first, to protect it. Oh, with what earnestness ought we to guard the gospel of Christ! With what holy valour ought we to contend earnestly for the faith once for all delivered to the saints! “Hold fast the form of sound words,” wrote Paul to Timothy; not only the words, but the particular form of them which the apostle had delivered; not merely sound doctrine, but the very words in which those doctrines had been made to take shape. The true steward is to defend his master’s treasure with his very life. The Lord has put us in trust with the gospel, and all the people of God, in their measure, have also become trustees of those inestimably precious doctrines wherein will be found the glory of God and the salvation of the sons of men. So we are to defend our Master’s property.
And next, we are to dispense it. It is the steward who provides for the table of the household; he brings out of that treasury things new and old. He never forgets, when the table is spread, to put the bread and the salt on it; the bread is Christ himself, on which we feed; and the salt is the grace of which we cannot have too much. The true steward does not starve the children, but he sees that each one is fed with food convenient. To one he brings milk, for he is a babe; to another, he gives strong meat, for he is a man who has had his senses exercised to discern between good and evil. The steward keeps his master’s stores, and sees that they are not wasted; but he takes care also to magnify his master’s liberality by seeing that none of the household know any want. I have known some who pretended to be stewards of Christ who evidently did not understand the business. There was an old fable of a man who gave bones to the sheep, and grass to the dogs, but neither of them did well on such fare; and some preaching seems to me just like that. The preacher assumes, in his opening prayer, that all his hearers are converted, and the whole service goes on as if everybody was a Christian; and yet, if you listen carefully, you will hear that there is an undertone implying that nobody is really saved, and that everybody is saved in imagination. Brethren, if we cannot discern between the righteous and the wicked, we shall never be as God’s mouth to our hearers. If we have not a javelin for God’s foes, as well as butter in a lordly dish for his friends, he will never make use of us as stewards in his house. There is much grace needed in the dispensing of our Master’s goods, — the rightly dividing the Word of God, and bringing out every truth in due proportion and in duo season.
These are two parts of the steward’s business, to protect his master’s property, and to dispense it.
Besides this, he is to use his master’s property for his master’s benefit. The goods entrusted to him are to be put out to interest, or used in business to bring in profit for his master. I trust that there are many of us here present who are using the gospel for the glory of Christ. What little we know, we try to tell out, that sinners may be converted, and that the Saviour may be glorified. It is a wonderful thing for us to have the Bible, is it not? But oh, to use the Bible every day so as to bring glory to God!
It is a good thing to be even a tract-distributor, or to do the least service in the kingdom of Christ; but the one point for us to aim at is to do it so that the profit of it may come, not to us, but to our Master. The steward must not get trading on his own account. As I have said before, if he does that, there is apt to be a lot of mistakes made in the reckoning; but everything that the steward does is for his master. Abraham said, “The steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus,” and Abraham trusted him to go and find a wife for Isaac. So does our Lord use us, and trust us, as his stewards; our great God trusts us to go and find a spouse for Christ, and our business is to go and discover her, to find her out, and ask her to come with us, that she may be joined to that blessed Lord of all, the Son of the great Father, to whom he hath left the inheritance. Happy are we, when, like the steward of Abraham, we can bring back the beloved one for our Master’s Son. This is a part of our work, to make use of everything that the Master entrusts to us for his own dear Son, and to look upon the church with which we have to deal as the bride we are to bring to Jesus, that she may be married to him for ever.
I will say no more upon the first part of my subject except this: a steward is charged with the general care of the family. He has not merely to look after the stores, but he has to take care of all the family. The steward of the olden times used to reckon all that belonged to his master as if it were his own, and he got into the habit of talking of it in that way. His lordship once asked his steward, “What is that coming up the drive?” “Oh!” he answered, “it is our horse and carriage, my lord.” “Our horse and carriage?” exclaimed the nobleman, “and who may be in it?” “Oh, my lord!” replied the faithful servant, “it is our wife and children!” Exactly so; the man had come to look upon everything that belonged to his master as belonging to himself; and that is the spirit which our Lord would have us cultivate. Those children of his, they are our children. Those that are newly converted to God, oh, they are specially ours, and we love them dearly! And this great church, — well, it is a bride to us even as it is to Christ. Our whole self is given up to the blessed service to which Christ has given up himself. Oh, that we could come anywhere near to this ideal of what a true steward should he! God help us so to do!
II. Our second enquiry is, now ARE WE WHO ARE STEWARDS TO BEHAVE?” Our text supplies the answer: “Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man he found faithful.”
Note, the apostle does not say, “it is required in stewards, that a man he found brilliant.” No minister will be blamed if he does not prove to be brilliant, nor even if he should not be successful. We shall not be condemned, even if the seed does not spring up, provided that we sow it. You are responsible, not for the result of what you do, but for doing it honestly, sincerely, devoutly, prayerfully, believingly. I do not think that, in such a case, you will ho unsuccessful; certainly not as God judges success. Still, the apostle’s point is that “it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.” What, then, should each one of us he with regard to faithfulness?
First, faithful to our Master. Oh, whatever we do, let us not he traitors to him! Let us not be apparently doing his work, yet not really doing it. Let us not be preaching without praying, let us not be talking about doing good without always trusting in him without whom nothing can he good, or strong, or right. O God, may we each of us be able to say at the last, “I am clear of the blood of all men”! If we have dealt truly with our Master, if we can feel that we are sincerely seeking, not our own glory, but his glory, and working not for men, but for him alone, it is well with us.
Next, we must each one be faithful to our office, whatever that office may he. If you, as stewards of Christ, are called to be ministers, be faithful to your ministry. If you are called to have substance, and to give it away, give it with cheerfulness, and he faithful in your office. If you are called to teach half-a-dozen children, and no more, it is quite enough to give an account for at the last; so he faithful to your office. Do not run about finding fault with your fellow-servants, and thinking that you could do their work better if you had it to do; but oh! for Christ’s sake, and for the sake of his great grace, do what you have to do with all your heart, and mind, and soul, and strength. Make full proof of your ministry, whatever that ministry is.
Then, next, be faithful to the goods committed to you. I have already dwelt upon the necessity of earnestly defending the faith. Oh, do not, I pray you, tolerate in yourselves any cavilling at God’s Word, any picking and choosing out of the great truths of inspiration! Endeavour to know the Lord’s way, the Lord’s truth, the Lord’s life; and in way, and truth, and life, follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. Search the Scriptures, and follow whore the Scriptures lead you. Let no book composed by the wisest of men dictate to your conscience. Remember that the Bible, and the Bible alone, has the stamp of infallibility upon it. Follow its guidance, and so be faithful to the treasure that is entrusted to your hands. Had good men, in past ages, been but faithful to the Word of the Lord, there had not been so much of schism, and heresy, and false doctrine in the world; and if all professing Christians shall ever he faithful to the pure Word of God, then will come the days of the true unity of the Church of Christ, and the conquest of the world by Christ.
Next, we are bound to be faithful to every person in the household. This is a difficult work, but let us try to accomplish it. All of us, according as we are put into the stewardship, must labour for the good of all our brethren and sisters in Christ. We sang just now, —
“Hast thou a lamb in all thy flock
I would disdain to feed?”
and I hope that our answer is, “No, great Shepherd of Israel, there is not a single lamb in all thy flock which we do not reckon to be better than ourselves.” Do you not sometimes feel as if, if you could be as sure of being right as the very least of the Lord’s family, you would be perfectly content? We long to rise to the greatest heights of holiness and consecration; but yet, if we are allowed to wash the saints’ feet, it will be a great honour for us. To do anything for Jesus, to be a door-mat at the temple gate, is a high privilege for any one of us. Let us try, then, to do all that we ought to do in love and kindness to all the members of our Master’s household.
And then we must be faithful to the outside world as well. You see, a steward who looked to everything indoors, and then allowed people out of doors to cheat his master, and run away with his goods, would not be a faithful steward; and you and I have much to do with the souls of men outside the Church of Christ. Oh, what a world this is! What a world it is! Shall we be clear of the blood of all these millions in London? Hide or walk from one end of this great city to another, and see if you do not feel a mountain of granite pressing on your soul! O Lord, what can we do? “Who is sufficient for these things?” Living in such an age as this, and in such a thronged city as this, oh, how shall we be faithful to all the people? When George Fox was dying, he said, “I am clear, I am clear.” I have envied him a thousand times, for I believe the Quaker was clear of the blood of men. He said many odd things, and some things he had better not have said; but he never kept back anything that seemed to come from his soul. It mattered not to whom he spoke, — whether it was to the king or to a beggar, — he said what he believed, without fear of mortal man. Think of brave John Knox, of whom they could say when they buried him, “Here lies he who never feared the face of man.” O stewards of God, — and I have already said that all you Christians are, in your measure, stewards of Christ, — may this be said of you! “It is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.” I have shown you what a wide field that one requirement covers; only the grace of God can be sufficient for us that we may be found faithful.
III. Now, very briefly indeed, I want to answer the third question, HOW ARE WE, IN OUR STEWARDSHIP, IN DANGER OF MISBEHAVING? Well, we can very readily misbehave by acting as if we were masters. You know the tendency of Jack in office; let us avoid anything like that. Remember what our Lord said about the man who began to domineer over his fellow-servants, and to beat them. This is not the way for a steward to behave, for he is himself only a servant. He has to look after other servants, but his master will look after him; and if he gives himself great airs, he must beware lost his master should dismiss him from his service, and say to him, “Thou shalt be no longer steward.”
Next, a great deal of misbehaviour is caused by endeavouring to please men. If the steward begins to try to please his fellow-servants, and to curry favour with them that they may speak well of him, he will very soon be a traitor to his master. O dear friends, seek to please men for their good to edification; but never forget that he who is the servant of men cannot be the servant of God, for “no man can serve two masters” May the Lord help us to feel that we are not judged of men’s judgment, but that we are going to do our duty as under the great Taskmaster’s own eye!
Next, we can very much injure our stewardship by idling, or trifling, or growing careless, or leaving our hearts out of our work. We can do this in the Sunday-school, and we can do this in the pulpit. When a man’s heart is in his service, he does not need to tell you that it is, for you can soon see it; and I believe that there is more power in downright sincerity than in all the talent that God over gave to men. A simple, humble, lowly speaker, who only says what the Holy Spirit prompts him to say, and who is quite indifferent about how he says it so long as he can say it in a right spirit, he is the man who will reach the hearts of other men. Brothers, if we begin turning over our words, so as to find out comely syllables with which we may please and tickle human ears, we shall lose all power over our hearers. I think that the very best nosegay we can ever give to our friends may be made by plucking a handful of field flowers just as we find them, and then saying, “These grew in God’s garden; we have not arranged them very prettily, for their innate beauty is such that anything artificial would but injure them.” Oh, let us see to it that we live wholly and alone for this great work of winning souls and glorifying our Master, and let us ever speak with the accent of conviction! If you do not believe the gospel, do not toll it to others; but if you do believe it, say it as if you meant it. I read, the other day, the story of a minister, whose boys came to him, and asked if they might go to a certain show, and he said, “Well my dear boys, I,— I,— I,— I hardly like it; I will show’ you by-and-by the objections there are to it; I do not decidedly forbid you,” — and the boys were out of the room in a minute. They ran off to their companion, and said, “Jack, we may go.” Yes, their father’s hesitation was quite enough for them; he was going to say, “I do not decidedly forbid you, but, but, but,” — only the boys did not care about his “but.” So, there are some ministers who, in preaching, say that a false doctrine is true to some extent, only there are certain objections, and difficulties, and so on. People do not wait to hear the objections and difficulties, but off they go at once with a bit of bad doctrine. It is often so, and it is a pity that it should be so. Ah, me! this trifling with divine truth, this playing with God’s Word, will be sure to do an infinite deal of mischief, and mar the stewardship of any man who yields to it!
Next, we can prove ourselves unfaithful stewards by misusing our Master’s goods, employing what he entrusted to us for some other end than his glory; or by neglecting some of the household. We may so preach that there is never any milk for babes; and, on the other hand, we may so preach that there is never a morsel of meat for men, and the milk may be so watery that it is not even good enough for babes. It is a sin to neglect any one member of the household, for we must be found faithful to them all if we would be judged to be faithful at all.
We can also misbehave ourselves as stewards by conniving at whatever is wrong in our fellow-servants. “Anything for a peaceful life!” is the motto of the unfaithful steward. “Let men live as they like; we cannot rebuke them, because then they might quarrel with us.” Ah, dear me, if we are not prepared to bear a little of that sort of reproach! Even if reproof of sin must bring unkindness in return, we must not withhold that reproof; but must administer it with all the more prayerfulness and kindness. It must be given lest, as it was with Eli, a curse shall come upon our house because our sons made themselves vile, and we restrained them not.
And, dear friends, there is one other thing that any steward may do, and thereby spoil his stewardship; that is, prove unfaithful by forgetting that his Lord will soon come. He may come before we begin our next piece of work, he may come while we are in the middle of it, or he may come just as we are closing it, and may there and then require an account at our hands. Oh, how earnestly we should live if we were sure that Christ would come to-night! What family prayer you would have to-night if you knew that, ere the morning dawned, Christ would come! Some of you, perhaps, would want to give something extra to his cause, if you knew that it would be the last opportunity you would have of doing so. Some of you would go and wake your children up, and talk to them about Christ, if you knew that he would come before the morning light. There is a great deal left undone by most of us; we are not all like Mr. Whitefield, who could say when he went to bed, “I have not left even a pair of gloves out of their place; if I were to die to-night, everything is right.” It is a beautiful thing so to live, and that is how God’s stewards should live. “Ready, aye, ready,” to live or to die, to go on or to leave off, to stop here or to go to heaven, just whichever the Master appoints. This is good stewardship; but if we forget that he will come, we shall get into a loose and slovenly way of acting, and that will be to our own discredit, and to our Master’s dishonour.
IV. Now, finally, WHAT WILL BE THE RESULT OF OUR STEWARDSHIP? Supposing we are good stewards, what will the result be? A reward from our Master’s own lips. In the day of account he will say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Now, after that, you do not want a crown, do you? You do not want any ruling over many cities. You will have all that; but I think that this utterance of our Master is quite enough for any steward of his, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Oh, if he should ever say that to us, there is enough in it to make for us a whole eternity of bliss!
But suppose that, at the last, we are found unfaithful, what will the result be? Punishment from the Lord’s own hand. If it be so, that we have never washed our robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb; if it be so, that our hearts have never been renewed by divine grace; if it be so, that we have never been saved from our sin, and consequently have never been saved from our unfaithfulness; if it should turn out that we have never been saved from living to ourselves, never been so saved as to live honestly and faithfully to God, — then what will the result be? I mean, for you who profess to be Christians? Here are our Lord’s words; I am not going to enlarge on them any more than I did on the other words: “The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers,” — as if that was the worst punishment that could be meted out to him. God grant that none of us may over have that portion!
But oh, you who are unbelievers, do you not see that your portion is that which God will appoint to those who are unfaithful, and only worthy of condemnation? What is your portion? It is something truly terrible, for it will be that which God appoints as a punishment for the worst of sinners, the treacherous and the unfaithful. O unbelievers, I would not be in your place five minutes for all the world! As the Lord liveth, there is but a stop between you and hell! Only a breath, and you may be gone. If I were in your place, I should be afraid to eat a morsel of bread to-night, lest a crumb should go the wrong way, and by causing my death should land me in everlasting misery. One might be afraid to shut his eyes to-night as an unbeliever lost, as he closed them on earth, he shut them for ever to all light, and hope, world without end.
“Ye sinners, seek his grace,
Whose wrath ye cannot bear;
Fly to the shelter of his cross,
And find salvation there.”
Oh, fly to Jesus at once, for ho has said, “Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” God help you to trust to Christ to-night, and to go out of this Tabernacle saved men and saved women, for Jesus Christ’s sake! Amen.
C. WHAT IS THE GOAL OF STEWARDSHIP? The principle of stewardship within God’s Kingdom is less a physical test concerning our goods and resources and more of spiritual reality: God wants all of us. He wants our hearts, our lives, and utmost devotion. As we realize that God alone is worthy of our praise, honor, and worship, we are demonstrating that God is sovereign over every area of our life – including our finances, our time, our property, our talents, and decisions. We are called to “be” stewards through our yielding of everything to God as sovereign Provider and Owner of all things; stewardship is our spiritual expression that God alone has the right to direct us in managing HIS money, resources, and talents toward His kingdom purposes. - The spiritual discipline of stewardship consists of our willingness to embrace God’s absolute sovereignty in every area of our life and we can “prove” that in how we handle (manage) our time, finances, and resources for His glory and others’ benefit. - God’s heart for stewardship can be summarized through four biblical principles:
1. The principle of ownership. We have already read that God is the owner of everything in the world, and all who live in it (Ps. 24:1). In the beginning of Genesis, God creates everything and puts Adam in the Garden to work it and to take care of it. It is clear that man was created to work and that work is the stewardship of all of the creation that God has given him. This is the fundamental principle of biblical stewardship. God owns everything, we are simply managers or administrators acting on his behalf. Therefore, stewardship expresses our obedience regarding the administration of everything God has placed under our control, which is all encompassing. Stewardship is the commitment of one’s self and possessions to God’s service, recognizing that we do not have the right of control over our property or ourselves.
A steward is one who manages the possessions of another. We are all stewards of the resources, abilities and opportunities that God has entrusted to our care, and one day each one of us will be called to give an account for how we have managed what the Master has given us. This is the maxim taught by the Parable of the Talents. God has entrusted authority over the creation to us and we are not allowed to rule over it as we see fit. We are called to exercise our dominion under the watchful eye of the Creator managing his creation in accord with the principles he has established. Like the servants in the Parable of the Talents, we will be called to give an account of how we have administered everything we have been given, including our time, money, abilities, information, wisdom, relationships, and authority. We will all give account to the rightful owner as to how well we managed the things he has entrusted to us.
All conversation surrounding voice must begin by acknowledging that our voice is a gift from God. His equipping us with our voices has everything to do with his good pleasure and purposes and nothing to do with our own merit. Whatever measure of influence we have is because of him, not because of us.
Our enemy is happy to convince us of our own awesomeness. And we are all too ready to believe him. We are glory stealers by nature. We must fight to remember Paul’s words to the church in Corinth, “What do you have that you did not receive?” (1 Corinthians 4:7). God gives us our voice. This leaves no room for boasting.
And he gives us this gift for a reason. Our voices are unique to us, and God is creative in how he wants to use them to advance his kingdom. Our job is stewardship. We walk through the doors he opens for us. We communicate the message he gives us for each opportunity. We speak up.
We are responsible for using this gift. Remember the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30). Our English word, “talent,” meaning special ability, is derived from this parable. The master gave his three servants talents, which he expected them to use. Two servants invested their talents to gain more and the master was pleased. The third servant, out of fear or laziness, refused to do anything with his talent and suffered the displeasure of his master. The master took his talent away and gave it to the two servants who were using their talents.
Your voice is a gift given to you by God. Are you using it?
Use your voice to benefit others.
God has given us the gift of voice and we must use this gift to build up the church (Ephesians 4:12). Your voice, while helpful to many, is specific to you. He gives you credibility to speak into issues based on what he’s taught you and what he’s exposed you to. He shows us things for a purpose. Are you being a good steward of what he’s shown you?
The first time God exposed me to the global orphan crisis, I realized that I couldn’t unsee what he allowed me to see. My awareness was now a part of me. As he began to teach me how to show neighbor love to vulnerable people, I wanted to share my knowledge with others. In grace, he opened my eyes. In response to that grace, I now advocate for his people to join his work among the vulnerable.
What has God exposed you to? What do you know? Maybe it’s grief, trials, parenting, marriage, singleness, adoption, pastoring, biblical exposition or hospitality. God has given you knowledge of and experience in things that will benefit the church. Use your voice to build others up. Encourage, inform, teach and inspire, based on what you know.
We know that God transforms rebels into adopted sons and daughters. Martin Luther said, “We are all mere beggars telling other beggars where to find bread.” With your voice, show others where to find the bread. Use your voice to tell the world about your father.
As good as this is, if we only use our gifts to help others, we fall short of God’s ultimate purpose for our lives.
Your voice is powerful. It can be used for good or for evil.
Use your voice to glorify God.
The first question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism asks, “What is the chief end of man?” Answer: “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.” God created us to bring him glory (Isaiah 43:7).
We need to be eternally focused. Jonathan Edwards said, “Stamp eternity on my eyeballs.” We use our voices with eternity in mind. When he gives his children gifts, like the gift of voice, we respond in gratitude by using our voices to tell of his greatness. We exalt Christ to all who will listen. We exist for his glory; our voices should too.
Bring God glory by advancing his kingdom. Tell others of his great rescue of rebels. Use your voice to praise him even when he slays you (Job 13:15). Glorify him by boasting in your weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). Use your voice to bless the name of the Lord. Bless him with the stories you tell. Bless him by teaching others his word. Bless him by boasting of his goodness and grace towards you. Glorify him by confessing your sins (James 5:16). Bless his name as you share about your trials and grief. Use your voice to comfort the suffering. Speak up for those who can’t speak for themselves (Proverbs 31:8).
Your voice is powerful. It can be used for good or for evil. I humbly encourage you to think intentionally about how you will use your voice. Be strategic with it. God has given you this gift. Steward this gift by building up the church and bringing glory to our father. Don’t waste it.
We are the voice of the Lord on the earth as we positively declare his will through our prayers. God many times is waiting for something to be done on earth, but He needs someone to pray his will. We become God’s voice on the earth for breakthrough by praying His will as we listen and obey. He wants us to be His mouthpiece on the earth. We can accomplish great things as His mouthpiece. Heaven responds to our prayers -- God listens and acts on our behalf -- good things happen in the spirit realm when we learn the secret of positive confession.
The atmosphere changes -- we change -- our life changes.
Think of what Jeremiah accomplished after he became God’s mouthpiece. He was called to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant (Jeremiah 1:9-10). That’s a powerful calling. Through our prayers we can do the same. We need the Lord to touch our lips and put His Words in our mouth. So often we can have negative words flowing from our mouths rather than positive words that confess God’s truth. But God’s Spirit wants to flow through us as rivers of living water (John 7:38). We must believe this, and as the days darken we must learn to be His voice and speak His truth!
If ever there was a need for being God’s voice on earth, it is now. God’s voice is powerful and accomplishes great things. Let’s look at some Scriptures to put into perspective how mighty our God is. Psalm 29:3-9 says:
“The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the Lord thunders over the mighty waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is majestic. The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars; the Lord breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon. He makes Lebanon skip like a calf, Sirion like a young wild ox. The voice of the Lord strikes with flashes of lightning. The voice of the Lord shakes the desert; the Lord shakes the Desert of Kadesh. The voice of the Lord twists the oaks and strips the forests bare. And in his temple all cry, 'Glory!'"
This Authority/Power Dynamic is Characterized By Three Things
The authority/power dynamic of the Kingdom is characterized by three things. This authority/power comes only
1.) By submission to His reign. We enter into Christ’s authority by faith, submitting to His reign. We participate in this authority by submitting our lives to it. If we step out of this radical dependence upon Christ in the Spirit, His power and authority is gone. But when we come together as a people in submission, a social space is formed. His authority ‘breaks in.’ The reality of the Kingdom becomes visible. This social space is the church.
2.) Via No Coercion. There is no coercion in this authority of Christ. Indeed this authority is given as a part of mutual participation in God’s life and work in the world. If one seeks to usurp, again His authority is lost (Matt 23:8-12). This pattern flows through the entire Bible from the garden, to Babel, to Davidic Kingdom to Christ. If power is exercised in autonomy from God (apart from faith and dependence upon Him), then his power becomes mute. The authority in Christ’s Kingdom is always exercised in mutuality with others (1 Cor 14: 26-36), never in autonomy from others. It is always exercised in relationship. It of course is never possible in autonomy from God.
3.) As a Gift, in total dependence upon God, always exercised in mutual submission. This authority always comes as a gift from God, in dependence upon Him, never to be possessed for our own agendas/purposes, and always exercised in mutual dependence and submission to others in the Kingdom. When we set ourselves up above the community or in autonomy from God, this authority becomes something to be grasped (the opposite of Phil 2:5) and it turns ugly eventually. When we usurp we are in essence reenacting the fall and the sin of usurping God in the garden. The abuse and coercion of hierarchy eventually wields its ugliness. But when we exercise our gifts in the Spirit under His authority in mutuality with others (how this works is explained in say Eph 4), His power and authority becomes manifest. God works. It is this power and authority that is so lacking in the world today (and in our churches as well).
This way of the authority/power of Christ’s rule, via submission to Christ’s reign, no coercion, as a gift in mutual submission, is the way God shall work in the world. It is how His power works. This implies that we Christians cannot exercise authority in the ‘world’ on the world terms and still have it be Kingdom. We can only participate in God’s Kingdom in the world via the authority in Christ’s rule (the Kingdom authority dynamic). This is what I think perhaps Andy Crouch has missed in his latest book Playing God (review forthcoming).
This Authority is a Dynamic First and Only Then Becomes A Structure
I propose this authority should be seen in terms of this dynamic first, and only then as a structure. If we somehow skip the dynamic of God’s authority in Christ and move right to the structure of this authority in the church we shall in essence bypass God’s presence and authority in Christ. We will end up locating the authority in the structure itself becoming just another human organization. We must therefore maintain the difference between the dynamic of Christ’s rule in this in between time and the structure which often results from the exercise of such authority and makes possible a space for this authority.
Often we institutionalize authority in the church apart from the manifestation of it in the gifts of the Spirit. We give authority via the institution separate from the charisma (we rationalize it via Max Weber’s old categories). Office, or structure is good when it follows the authority of the Spirit in the community (and in the world when we cooperate with God). But this structure can never become a structure unto itself. Because once the authority becomes ensconced in structure, separate from the Spirit, once it becomes coercive, autonomous from God, all power and authority of Christ is lost. In other words, when authority is preserved in structures via hierachical offices, we in essence have made a step away from the Kingdom. The rudiments of power may continue. Out of sociological habit people may still obey, but it loses the power and authority of God the inbreaking Kingdom. We often then enter maintenance mode as an organization. Worse, coercion and antagonism rules our lives. And the organization loses its force for the Kingdom and becomes grounded in other purposes (money, ego aggrandizement etc.)
How many of us have seen churches self-destruct in these ways? How many businesses, if we ran them according to the ‘new dynamic of authority of the Kingdom’ would flourish in ways unimagined? …
Ephesians 4 as an Example of This Authority Dynamic
Ephesians 4 :7-16 is a fine picture of this dynamic of Kingdom authority in Christ fleshing itself out in the church. In this text we notice that this authority granted in the gifts of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers is given from the seat of Christ’s Lordship as ascended (vs.8-10). This authority is an extension of Christ’s rule into the community. But this authority is not exercised over the community by one office holder over the others, but in mutual relationship. Notice how each gifted person is to stay within his or her gifted place (vs. 7, vs11, according to the measure – within the boundaries of his her said gift.) These are gifts received by ‘grace’ (vs 7) exercised in mutual submission. They can only be exercised out of dependence upon that activity of God for the church and world. In Rom 12:6,7 Paul says these same thing. The gifts are limited by faith, dependence upon God. When we exercise this authority in mutuality, submission one to another, the fullness of Christ becomes manifest among us (vs 13). As opposed to one superman pastor, the fullness of Christ, the ‘mature person’ comes only out of a plurality of gifted leaders submitting to each other.
One of the biggest tricks that the enemy does to deceive us, is to have us devalue our authority (2 Cor 2:11, 1 Pet 5:8). A big part of that is to get us take our words lightly (James 3:10). I.E.; If you would say you were going to be somewhere at 7:00 and did not show up until 7:30 (no excuse/no call didn’t leave until 7) your words would fall short of the truth (Ex 20:16, Prov. 12:19). If you would tell a half truth, exaggerate, misdirect to make yourself feel better or hide a matter (Prov. 12:22), these things not only give the hearer an inaccurate and potentially confusing report, but it also makes it more challenging for you to pray for yourself or others because you do not take your words more seriously (Prov. 10:21, Matt 12:36). When someone is conforming to the world with a natural humanistic spirit (1 Peter 5:8); this could make easy pickings for the enemy and cause him to hang out instead of running when you resist his devaluing process (1 Sam 3:19, James 4:7).
It is easy to take for granted or forget that we are supernatural, new creatures in Christ (2 Cor 5:17, 2 Peter 1:9). If we have worldly friends, pay attention to the light of the secular TV more than the light of the world; if the music we hear isn’t building our faith, but keeping us idle (Prov. 17:4, Matt 13:25, 1 Cor 15:33), the enemy can make a good estimate on who is building up and winning battles and those who are just trying to ‘hang in there’ (1 John 5:4, Jude 1:20).
We see Christians who are getting sick and some who take vows ‘till death do us part’ on the same percentage of failure to those outside the body of Christ (Ps 15:1-4). When we are in the natural, when we settle for only being human, this kind of unbelief has been prevailing in Christianity. When we do not exercise our power in word, such as speaking to small things like headaches, warts or sniffles, if bigger things come, we can find ourselves struggling, short-circuiting our faith (Heb 5:14). If you want to have success in lifting weights, you’ll start with smaller weights and eating good each day (Heb 12:1). The gates of hell will not prevail against us because God is teaching His people to increase in His word (1 Cor 3:6, Dan 12:4).
When we listen to the Spirit to imitate God (Eph 5:1), we recognize it’s impossible for Him to lie (Heb 6:18), His promises are always yes (1 Cor 1:20) and we don’t fall into ungodly things or conversation (Matt 5:37, Gal 5:16). When we grow more confident and absolutely sure that we can speak to our fig tree, mountain or circumstance brought on by the enemy (Matt 21:21, 22, 1 John 3:21), we don’t have to see it done in the natural right away. We know because of our Voice of the Kingdom, we have what we say, instead of saying what we have (Mark 11:23,
24). The Word shows us that demons (Luke 10:19) and nature (Luke 8:25) know that we have authority over them; as they wait for our solid unwavering confidence and obey as a defeated foe (Heb 10:35). We take the Word of the Kingdom as fact and don’t expect any other outcome but victory.
To build ourselves up or edify ourselves, we can use to gift of speaking in tongues (1 Cor 14:4). This refreshes us and gives us rest from the world (Prov. 16:24). Each Holy Spirit guided syllable is free from contamination and selfishness and helps our awareness of God (1 Cor 12:31, 14:39). You can further grow by desiring the gift of interpretation (James 1:5, 1:17, 1 Cor 14:13). Using this voice helps you know the Truth that will make you free (John 8:32).
When we break up the party of compromising demons of mediocrity that we have allowed to hang around, we can began to resist the sneaky ones who attempt to give us a shadow of doubt and experience true greatness (Matt 20:26). Even if we had excuse giving ministers that have tried it and wasn’t sure it would work, the Spirit keeps feeding us to know who we really are in Christ. The dad will get out of the norm to stop the storm. The born again mommy will stop the tsunami. The child will make the devil run wild. Jesus promises us 100% victory 100% of the time. When we show impossibilities the bottom of our feet; all of the world will know that there are those who take the Voice of the Kingdom seriously as the bride makes herself ready for Christ’s return (Rev 19:7). I write this to give you hope of a sure and expected end of victory (James 1:22). Peace and victory is with you (Prov. 10:21).
As a Christian, the power of attorney gives you the authority to do the works of Christ, and greater works than He did. It opens everything up that God has promised. Every need in this life and that which is to come. The danger we (all) are facing today is how little we see the activation of this authority. Many are trying to cast down demons, but they themselves are permitting much to happen for the sake of entertainment, cultural acceptance, and influential tolerance. We would rather partner with the world for the sake of fame rather than to activate His Name for the sake of salvation. Much of the modern church doesn’t want to hear it, but we must take a stand against every form of evil. The enemy that hinders us must be resisted. You cannot command an enemy to flee that you find comfort in. Sons and Daughters of God must understand that we are representatives of God, who take our place before The Father through His Son, so that we will represent Jesus on the earth. We are not only the representation of the Son, but we are the manifestation of His Spirit upon the earth. You are called to rebuke, cast out demons, and heal the sick. We are in Christ, and Christ is in us. You have the right to legally represent Him on Earth.
The resurrection of Jesus guarantees the continuance of His Name, His authority, His power, salvation, baptisms, signs, wonders, and miracles. Every new birth, every prayer prayed, every answer to prayer, and each victory we obtain is the manifestation of His Glory. One of the problems that hinders this reality is that we naturally crave the supernatural moves of God so much that we can easily be swayed by the counterfeit of the demonic. When we remove the power of God from our walk, we only have a form of godliness. An outpouring of Holy Spirit in any region will produce a revival of miracles. And yet, miracles cannot become the affection of our heart. No man will ever be satisfied until they find the reality of God in their life. With that should come the reality that He has not left you without power and authority to overcome.
The name of Jesus represents justice, love, righteousness, holiness, peace, power, influence, joy, life, light, salvation, and all that is good. The truth for us all is that it is free and without limits for you and I to carry on the work of The Lord on the earth. You’re not saved in order to maintain until you can be rescued. You have been given the full power of attorney to act in the place of God throughout the entire world. God desires for you and I to fully represent Him with the power and authority of Jesus. The purpose of activating your power of attorney is to reveal and confirm the Word of God to all men. Not to only speak of Christ, but to fully demonstrate the Kingdom. Whether in the marketplace, home, or any gathering, you have been given the authority to represent the fullness of The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
John 16: 23-27 “And on that day you will not question Me about anything. Truly, truly I say to you, if you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you. Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full. “These things I have spoken to you in figures of speech; an hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech, but will tell you plainly about the Father. On that day you will ask in My name, and I am not saying to you that I will request of the Father on your behalf; for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came forth from the Father.”
Romans 8:32
Introducing Works of the Kingdom
Doing what the Holy Spirit says to do demonstrates the kingdom. Believers demonstrate the kingdom according to the power that works within them. “The kingdom of God does not consist in words but in power” (1 Corinthians 4:20). While authority is delegated by the Lord, power has to be activated. You are only able to demonstrate the kingdom according to the power that works within you. The Holy Spirit waits patiently until an individual has received his power and has activated it by faith and then he is able to use that person as a vessel for kingdom works.
Spiritual Fruit
In order to demonstrate the kingdom, a person must bring forth spiritual fruit. For the kingdom is not built on carnal things but on spiritual things. Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36). The world knows not his kingdom for it is spiritual. The fruit of the kingdom is “righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17). The kingdom is made up of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Righteousness is about the Father. The kingdom is demonstrated God’s way which is righteousness. Peace is about Jesus who is the Prince of Peace. In the midst of chaos, Jesus will bring peace. The Holy Spirit is the one who brings the joy to believers. Demonstrate righteousness, peace, and joy and you will be demonstrating the works of the kingdom.
God’s Ways
To demonstrate the kingdom, one must know the ways of God by the renewing of the mind. Renewing the mind means to come in line with God’s thinking. Study God’s word to renew the mind and then do what the word says. “Prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves” (James 1:22). When believers are demonstrating the kingdom, they are showing the acts of God. Your servants will speak of the glory of your kingdom and your power to make known your mighty acts (Psalm 145:11-12). “Be imitators of God, as beloved children” (Ephesians 5:1). Show forth his glory on the earth.
When believers are demonstrating the kingdom, they are doing what God is doing and speaking what he is speaking. Jesus demonstrated the kingdom because he did exactly what he saw the Father do. “Whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner” (John 5:19). Demonstrating the kingdom is not just doing good things for there are many doing good things, but not kingdom works.
Stephen knew how to demonstrate the kingdom. “Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people” (Acts 6:8). Even though they stoned him to death, they could not destroy the kingdom within him.
Jesus Demonstrated the Kingdom
Jesus did only the works God ordained for him to do. He followed three powerful concepts in doing these works. First, Jesus knew that he could do nothing by himself (John 5:19). Second, he only did what he saw the Father do (John 5:19). Third, he only spoke what he heard the Father say (John 8:26-28). For example, when Jesus told the lame man to rise up and walk, he had already seen the Father heal him and heard the Father say that he could walk. Jesus was acting on the healing being performed in the supernatural realm.
Jesus saw immediate changes in the lives of those he encountered. After Zacchaeus met Jesus, the tax collector was so changed that he gave half of his possessions to the poor (Luke 19:2-8). After meeting Jesus, a woman of ill repute spread revival fires among the men in her city (John 4:7-42). A man possessed by demons was delivered and restored to his right mind by Jesus, and he began evangelizing several cities (Mark 5:1-20). These are just a few of the people who were changed dramatically by encountering Jesus.
Applying these same concepts to your life will cause you to demonstrate the foreordained works of the kingdom. Jesus told his disciples that they could do nothing by themselves. He said, “apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). Once you realize that you can do nothing by yourself, you can begin to rely on the Christ within you. “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me (Galatians 2:20). By the Spirit of God, see what the Father is doing and do only what he has already accomplished in the supernatural realm. Also, hear the Father speak and speak only what you first heard him say. Then you will be able to lay hands on the sick and see them recover. You will be able to say to those who are lame to rise up and walk and they will walk away glorifying the Lord. Everything in your life will glorify your heavenly Father. Imagine the impact that you will have on the lives of others by allowing Christ to operate in you and through you.
4 Ways to Demonstrate the Kingdom
God’s kingdom is built on the revelation of Jesus Christ and who he is. Demonstrating the kingdom is all about the Father’s work. At the age of 12, Jesus sat among the leaders doing what leaders do. He said, “I must be working for my Father” (Luke 2:49 VOICE). The following sections discuss some practical ways for kingdom leaders to do the works of the kingdom.
Sharing the Truth and Healing
Once believers have received the power of the Holy Spirit, they have the power to become effective witnesses for Jesus. “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8). Three dear friends, who are sisters in their 90s, have spent their lives sharing the truth and God’s love with others all over the world. They teach God’s word wherever doors are open to them, but they intercede for the people and love those who are not yet ready to hear the word. They carry the presence of God with them and call what they do presence evangelism. Many have seen a tall angel, called the Teacher, with them to protect them.
The kingdom exists wherever the truth reigns. Jesus proclaimed the kingdom and demonstrated the kingdom by healing all who were sick. “Jesus was going through all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness” (Matthew 9:35). Healing is a powerful way to get people’s attention so they can be drawn to God.
The core of Jesus’ message on the kingdom is about how the Spirit empowered him to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom and demonstrate the kingdom. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord” (Luke 4:18-19). He healed the sick, raised the dead, and performed works that no one else had ever done. The messages taught and preached by Jesus caused faith to arise in the people, and they expected God to heal them and set them free. Then God did what the people expected him to do.
Paul’s teaching and preaching were with the power of the Spirit. “My message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in a demonstration of the Spirit and of power” (1 Corinthians 2:4). Like Jesus, Paul performed miracles and raised the dead.
Kingdom leaders follow the examples set by Jesus and Paul to bring hope to the people that God will heal them and set them free. They can lay hands on the sick and see them recover. Also, they can operate in the power gifts of faith, healing, and miracles to bring healing and other miracles.
Praying and Interceding for the Kingdom
Do not think too small or pray for too little. “I exhort, therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men” (1 Timothy 2:1). If believers are praying only for their own families, then some families and some things the Father wants to be done are not being addressed by prayers. Kingdom prayers bring the Father’s will into all the earth. The Lord’s prayer is a kingdom prayer (Matthew 6:9-12). In that prayer, Jesus taught believers to pray for the Father’s kingdom to come and his will to be done on the earth. When believers are led by the Holy Spirit, they are praying for the Father’s kingdom to come and his will to be done.
Kingdom prayers and intercession are a part of the Father’s business. Who is taking care of the Father’s business? It is the role of kingdom leaders to bring the Father’s will into the earth in families, governments, and nations. Their prayers and intercession help accomplish his will.
Praying in the spirit releases a person’s control of the prayer to the Spirit, but the person still has control over when to pray. Praying without ceasing and praying in the Spirit completely releases the control of prayers to the Holy Spirit. “The Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words” (Romans 8:26).
Kingdom prayers and intercession promote the good of the kingdom. Intercession is the manifestation of Jesus being the head. When he is being lifted up as head of the body, there will be prayers going up from his body. Jesus ever lives to intercede (Hebrews 7:25). Without prayer, the kingdom will not increase.
Intercession, which comes straight out of the love of God, pours out his love on the body. Intercessors are like farmers who break up the fallow ground and get it ready to receive the seed. With prayers and intercession, they plow the ground and plant the seed of God’s word. God watches over his word. He waters it and brings it forth. The time will come to plant the seed and see it grow into maturity. God wants his word to grow in his people. Plow with your prayers, and plant the seed in those who are ready.
Intercessors stand in the gap for those who are being attacked by the devil and who feel alone. The wolves seek to separate out the sheep who are lost and wandering. They will kill them unless an intercessor stands between the wolf and its prey. Intercessory prayer will stop the attack and keep the believer safe. As an intercessor, one can speak the word of God into the situation and bring deliverance.
Prophetic intercession is a special endowment which includes the ability to pray and the gift of prophecy. As the intercessor is praying, the Spirit may begin to show what is happening in another person’s life and give the intercessor scriptures to speak out over the person and the situation. This type of intercession carries a weightier amount of power and glory than the prayers of others who are not being led by the Spirit.
Freeing the Oppressed
Kingdom leaders confront evil and its consequences to heal those who are broken by external calamities or by their own sinfulness. They do not bring condemnation for in Christ Jesus there is no condemnation (Romans 8:1). Let the power of God flow through you to present every person complete in Christ (Colossians 1:28-29). It is only by the power of God that you are able to bring forth redemption, restoration and reconciliation.
Redemption
Redemption means deliverance from sin and freedom from bondage. Redemption is made possible by the blood of Jesus which was shed for all mankind (Ephesians 1:7). Truth with love brings redemption. Do not compromise the truth but embrace it, speak it, and live it in God’s love. The men who brought the adulteress to Jesus for judgment used the truth to condemn but offered no love (John 8:2-11). They only brought judgment. On the other hand, love without the truth causes deception and compromise to creep in, but Jesus offered both truth and love. He offered redemption to the adulteress, as well as everyone else.
Many are in bondage to addiction, poverty, sickness, etc. Spiritual judgment brings forth the righteousness of God and deliverance. Those who are spiritual judge all things by the Spirit and the truth of God’s word. “The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments” (1 Corinthians 2:15 NIV). These judgments lead to victory (Matthew 12:20).
Restoration
Restoration means returning something to its original condition. Anything which has been destroyed by man or the devil can be restored by the Lord. He is the restorer of those things which are broken. The earth groans for his sons to show themselves (Romans 8:19-23). When his people are in their rightful position, they will have authority and power needed to bring restoration. He is placing his people in key positions to rule and restore that which is broken.
The Lord desires to bring restoration to each life. He will lead a person by the still waters and restore his/her soul (Psalm 23:1-2). Believe that the Lord will use you as a vessel to discern what is in the hearts of others to cleanse and restore righteousness. “If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother” (Matthew 18:15). Even if he will not listen at first, God has a plan for reconciling that person to himself and to you (Matthew 18:16-17).
Those who are responsive to the guidance of the Spirit can restore those who have fallen. “If anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness” (Galatians 6:1). Provide the same gentle restoration that you would want to receive if you fell.
Reconciliation
Reconciliation is salvation or peace between man and God, as well as among men. If a person has been injured or hurt by the words or deeds of others, the Lord will heal him/her. Let the Lord use you to pour the anointing oil into his/her wounds and bind up the brokenness in order to bring reconciliation of relationships.
Reconciliation is the message and ministry of kingdom leaders. God covers the body of Christ with reconciliation. Jesus by his death and resurrection has reconciled each of us to the Father. God “reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:18). You have been given the ministry of reconciliation which enables God to move and pour out his blessings through you. Forgiveness is the first part of reconciliation and blessing the other person is the second part. Both forgiveness and blessings are important.
Empowering with All Power
Empowering other believers to do the work of the kingdom and to reach their destiny is a major responsibility of kingdom leaders. In this section, you will discover how God uses kingdom leaders to empower believers with all power. Paul prayed to God for the believers at Colossae that they would “be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding” (Colossians 1:9). With spiritual wisdom and understanding, a believer knows what to do to fulfill God’s will and when to do it. As a result of being filled with knowledge, wisdom, and understanding, the believers would be “strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might” (Colossians 1:11). Literally, this phrase means empowered with infinite power.
Empowering others comes from teaching them the truth and how they can operate with God’s indwelling presence through the Holy Spirit. This continuous empowerment of the Spirit is essential for a victorious and fulfilling life. By operating in the empowering gifts, kingdom leaders can help others learn to follow the Spirit. For example, prophecy and words of knowledge and wisdom can be used to give people direction and let them know that they are hearing from the Spirit themselves. Do not let others become dependent on you for directions from God, but help them learn how to be led by the Spirit themselves.
Let the believers know that purity and humility must be in the heart of believers in order for them to fulfill destiny. Teaching others to believe what God says about them and to cast their cares over on the Lord will help them stay humble before him. Great power lies within the heart of a humble person. Paul prayed for the believers at Ephesus that they would know God’s “incomparably great power for us who believe” (Ephesians 1:18-19 NIV).
Having a vision and goals will help empower believers to reach their destiny. God is able to do above what a believer envisions according to the power that works inside of him/her (Ephesians 3:20). Without a vision, God’s people wander astray (Proverbs 29:18). It is God that gives the vision and puts the desires into the believers’ heart and then helps them accomplish the goals. The goals for accomplishing the vision come through prayer and spiritual counsel. As a kingdom leader, you can help kindle the faith of believers and encourage them to complete their vision. Destiny is all that matters to God! “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?”
God has given us the ability to move in a realm of the Spirit where “nothing is impossible.” He has given us every dimension of His power, might and strength. The most difficult part is our willingness to believe that all heaven now backs us. God has freely given us this unimaginable blessing and gift – the life and authority of Christ! If we are going to grow and develop into the fullness of the ministry of Jesus, there must be a complete surrender and consecration to His will. We must give ourselves over entirely to the mentorship of the Holy Spirit who will lead us and guide us. The Holy Spirit will teach us how to do the works of Jesus just like He did them. He will train us in all the conduct and manner of His life. Through the training and guidance of the Spirit, the power of God will flow through us with the demonstration of great wonders and miracles; every yoke will be broken and every criminal of hell stopped!
We would be making a big mistake if we failed to look at the opposition that we face. Satan’s chief enemy is the anointing that destroys his work and makes his power ineffectual. Just as he set out to kill Jesus before He could mature, he would also destroy or neutralize anyone that would walk in God’s anointing. All the hosts of hell are devoted to stopping the yoke-breaking power of the anointing and working of the Holy Spirit through the saints. Satan will put up every hindrance possible and persecute the anointing to destroy it in every way that he can. We must realize the spiritual wickedness that we confront and understand how to leap over every wall and run through every troop of opposition. It is upon this battlefront that we come to understand how to be strong in the strength of the Lord and the power of His might.
We cannot weary in well doing, but instead remain bold and confident that what God says in His word is true. We must be willing to let God teach us to look past our senses and all the natural realm and rise up in the authority of Jesus. Satan is determined to achieve his goals and we must engage his armies with all the authority that has been given to us. Satan is full of pride and rebellion, and has come out to defy the armies of God. Just as he screamed back at Jesus and said, “I demand you by the Most High God leave us alone,” he will scream at us as well. In his rebellion and pride he refuses to obey God and therefore must be forced by the power that is greater than his own. He will use every trick possible to convince us that he does not have to listen, but if we will not back down, the anointing will destroy his yoke. His craft and power are great and his tactics very subtle, but we have been given authority to crush him under foot. We have been given all power and authority to liberate all mankind from the treachery, torments and slavery that he works. God has given His saints all power over every unclean spirit to cast them out and to stop their works. We pray that this generation will fully discover the fullness of the ministry of Jesus and do the same works that He did and even greater works.
The Authority of the Kingdom of God
“This gospel of the kingdom must be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and then the end shall come.” Matthew 24:14
The Kingdom of God is forever and ever. There is no greater realm, nor higher authority. It is the expression of the absolute and sovereign reign and authority of the Everlasting God. Although the prophet Enoch prophesied of it and Abraham sought for it, the power of the kingdom first began to be expressed through the nation of Israel under the leadership of Moses. When God separated a people to live under His dominion and rule, He stepped into the earthly realm of man – and the kingdom of God was revealed. He entrusted those whom He called out with kingdom authority, and displayed His sovereign power by overthrowing the greatest empires on the earth. When God began to reveal that He ruled in the kingdoms of men, He did so with mighty signs and wonders. The power of His kingdom was wielded through the shepherd’s staff of a seemingly defeated and ruined man named Moses. When the kingdom of God stepped in, His heavenly power over the elements and over the course of nature was demonstrated. The proof was provided that nothing existed outside the absolute dominion of God and His representatives; those to whom He had entrusted His authority. By this authority the Red Sea was rolled back, the Jordan River stacked up into the heavens, and Joshua, who was once a mere slave, commanded the sun and the moon to stand still. It was proven by His mighty acts that kings and nations, nature and its elements, even life and death were subject to the sovereign commands of the Almighty God.
All of these things were only preparation for the greatest event of all: in the fullness of time, Jesus Christ came to reveal the fullness of the kingdom. The King of the kingdom came when the time had finally come to declare ultimate war on the kingdom of darkness and to liberate men. The kingdom of God stepped into the world through Jesus Christ the King. Though He came humbled as a servant, the mandate of His ministry was to declare the kingdom of God and demonstrate the authority of the kingdom. Jesus went everywhere preaching the kingdom of God, and casting out everything that belonged to the realm of darkness. All-out war had begun against every demon spirit who had taken over the lives of men. The King of the kingdom came proclaiming deliverance and salvation to all those who had been held in the spiritual prison of death. Every demon had to relinquish its hold on those whom they had controlled and tormented. The authority of the kingdom of God was invading the lives of men, and no darkness could resist. Jesus was the true light that was shining, for a new day had dawned. The devils had no choice but to go, and every prisoner who would believe was set free. The declaration by the Captain of our salvation that the Kingdom of God had come was sounded out definitively when Jesus said, “If I work miracles and cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you
[1].” The mission of Jesus Christ the Messiah was to destroy the works of the devil; and everywhere His gospel is preached unto this day, Satan has to go! Under the dominion of the ministry of Jesus, all demon spirits lose their claims on all who would seek refuge in the kingdom of God and of His Christ.
The Works of the Kingdom
Everyone has to agree that when Jesus preached the gospel of the kingdom it was with mighty signs and wonders. His style of preaching was to cast out every devil that He encountered and to heal all manner of sickness and disease.[2] When the light of life began to shine, the kingdom of darkness could not remain! Jesus demonstrated that when the kingdom of God was present, there would be a display of the power of God. It was impossible for the liberator of men to come and do anything less than deliver men from the power of sin and death. His works were the proofs that He was sent from the Father and came in the power of the kingdom.[3] Whenever the ministry of Jesus was encountered, those same works were always present.
When John the Baptist had a moment of uncertainty of who Jesus was, it would be the works of Jesus’ ministry that would settle all questions. When John’s disciples came to Jesus, they watched as those who had plagues and diseases were cured and those possessed by devils were set free. He told the disciples to go and tell John, “the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached[4].” This was the poof of Jesus’ ministry then. It was the proof of Jesus’ ministry in the book of Acts and it is the proof of Jesus’ ministry today – it is the gospel of the kingdom!
The Kingdom Revealed
The first request that Jesus had of those who would be a part of His kingdom was to come and follow Him.[5] Jesus would teach them and train them to function in the authority of His ministry. The first things Jesus trained His disciples in was how to destroy the works of the devil[6] wherever they encountered Satan afflicting and tormenting men. As the representatives of the kingdom of God, they were given authority over every demon spirit to cast them out. As the fighting men of David were invincible against the Philistines, even more invincible were those who had been entrusted with the authority of the Kingdom under the ministry of Jesus. The reign of Christ was only beginning, and those who had joined in to follow Him were made invincible against all their foes; and, nothing within the realms of darkness could harm them.[7] It was their assignment to do the same works of Jesus, and declare through their works that the Kingdom of God had come.[8] Never had such power been given to men. Jesus had come to cast out Satan and to destroy His dominion,[9] the demonstration of His absolute power and authority over all of the works of darkness had begun, and the means by which it took shape was through the preaching of the gospel.
The mission that was assigned to the disciples of Jesus was exactly the same as that of their Lord. They were given the assignment to go and cast out devils, heal the sick, and raise the dead. They were to go everywhere and render the power of Satan ineffectual, and restore and make whole those things that the powers of darkness had ruined. They were to do all of this in the authority of the kingdom of God. The proclamation of the gospel was the announcement that the kingdom of God had come – through the demonstration of the Spirit and power. The gospel both announces and proves the undeniable and absolute authority of God over all things. It is the declaration that Satan will no longer be allowed to execute His will unchallenged by the armies of God! Therefore, we are given the authority to bind on earth any power of darkness that we encounter. In the authority of the kingdom we are able to loose every prisoner and open every prison door, proclaiming liberty to all mankind everywhere.[10] The message of the kingdom is this: the days of your captivity are over! As we bind on earth, God in cooperation with us will bind in heaven; and whatever we would set free on earth, God will set free in heaven – so that the ministry of Jesus through us will look the same today as it did then.
The authority of the kingdom was not limited to the 12 apostles or to the 70 other disciples, but given for the entirety of the church age – to whoever would believe.[11] The church was not a first century phenomenon, but the very expression of the power of the kingdom of God on earth. So long as Christ Jesus reigns, the kingdom of God will be shown to be the supreme power; and of His kingdom there shall be no end. The supreme authority of Christ was forever finalized when He through His death, burial, and resurrection destroyed the power of the devil. Satan and all his host were stripped of all their authority and were shown to be absolutely defeated by Jesus.[12] That authority and supremacy of Christ was transferred to the church, which upholds and enforces all of His vested interest. The authority of the church, which Jesus purchased with His own blood and baptized in the Holy Spirit, will remain effective and powerful; and not even the gates of hell can prevail against it. The church is unstoppable and undefeatable, for it is the fullness of God on the earth, and its head is the King of Kings. The church finds itself collectively and individually seated together in the highest place of authority with Christ Jesus: at the right hand of the Father.[13] We have been given the absolute authority to execute His judgments in the earth.
The Power of His Might
All of the power by which God created all things, the might by which He in His sovereign power threw down everything opposed to Him, and the strength that He has possessed within Himself for all eternity has been given to the saints to be effective in this war.[14] Through this vested authority, we throw down and stop all spiritual wickedness, and all mights and powers that oppose the will of the King of kings and Lord of lords. The Holy Spirit desires to open our eyes, so that we can understand the exceeding greatness of God’s power that was given to us when He raised Christ Jesus from the dead and set Him at His own right hand, far above all principalities and powers.[15] Paul, expressing the authority of the Kingdom given to him, said that he was commissioned to turn people from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God.[16] We must be equally focused on what we are called to do, and certain that we have been given the same authority to preach the gospel of the Kingdom.
The kingdom of God, which was first entrusted to Israel, is now witnessed through the church.[17] It is in the midst of the church that the fullness of God dwells and the manifestation of the glory of God is revealed. The church is inseparable from Christ. It is the body or being of Christ, the head over all authorities and powers.[18] It is from the church that the prophets now come; that the apostles, teachers, miracles, and gifts of healing flow out. Even as Israel once had the supreme honor of representing God in the earth and having His presence dwelling among them – that same honor and glory has been poured out upon the church. The church is the company of the kingdom of God, the citizens of heaven made up of both Jews and Gentiles, for now all covenants and promises are fulfilled only in Christ Jesus.
The Revelation of the kingdom
God showed Abraham the glory of the heavenly and allowed him to see the framework of the kingdom. His grandson Jacob received the revelation of just how close the kingdom of God was when he discovered that he was in the house of God and knew it not. Elisha’s servant’s eyes were opened so that he could understand that the sphere of the earth was filled with the heavenly host. Nebuchadnezzar thought that his authority was superior to all others, but when brought to his senses he realized that God ruled in the kingdom of men. When Jesus stepped into the world, He rent the veil of the heavenly and everyone was allowed to witness a greater dimension of this truth – beholding the glory of the Father through the Only Begotten Son. The mystery of the kingdom came embodied in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ who came to invite all men everywhere to enter into this realm of God’s eternal life. His power and dominion is an everlasting power and dominion, and His rule and reign is forever and ever.
Above all other things the saints must seek the kingdom of God. We must earnestly desire the kingdom of God to be revealed in our lives, in our ministries and to the world around us. As much as we are to seek the kingdom of God, we are to receive it. We not only pursue it, but find its life and goodness in Christ Jesus, for the abundant life is the life of the kingdom. Although the kingdoms of this world have not yet become the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, all who have believed have been translated into the kingdom of the Son and are entrusted with the authority to demonstrate it.[19] As much as God was King over Israel, He is King over the church today. We must realize that the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is the gospel of the kingdom, which comes with the demonstration that God is in our midst and that Jesus is ruler over all things.[20] It was for this cause that we were endued with power to be His witnesses. The gospel of the kingdom must be preached in all the earth and then the end will come. To think that the kingdom of God is less powerful and authoritative than it was in the days of Old or in the times and ministry of Jesus is a serious error, for now all the fullness of Jesus’ ministry has come, with these works and greater!
The day of the Lord is about to explode upon the landscape of time. The kingdoms of this world shall soon become the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ. Today we are to lift up our voices and cry out to all men to flee from the wrath that is to come. We have been given the ability to stop the lies of Satan and the ability to deliver men from his power. Do not delay, for the day of the Lord is coming: “the Lord is coming forth out of His place, and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth. And the mountains will melt under Him, and the valleys will be cleft, like wax before the fire, like waters poured down a steep place” Micah 1:3-4. “Prepare to meet your God…” Amos 4:12
The Gospel of the Kingdom
There is a risk that many who have been given access into the realms of the kingdom of God will fail to enter into it. Satan sets a trap of religion and ritual to snare all those who would desire to come into the kingdom. Israel fell into this trap and made their traditions more valuable than the will of God and through their traditions and ritual made void the word of God. The same problem exists today. Many come in the name of the Lord ardently insisting that they are speaking the word of God faithfully, yet they are constantly making void the word of God by their traditions. They falsely proclaim, without any scriptural proof, that much of what the Bible says is not for today, but only belonged to the first century church. They think that they can replace the demonstration of the Spirit and power with liturgy and programs. They fail to realize that there must be a witness of the Holy Spirit in their lives now and without that witness they have no proof. As the champions of their denominations and dogmas, they forsake the very principles of the gospel of the kingdom.
Are we really to believe that the gospel of the kingdom died with the apostle Paul? That Paul was the last one entrusted with the demonstration of the Spirit and power? To believe this, one will inevitably have to alter almost every word of the New Testament. Every dimension of the power and authority expressed by the activity of the Holy Ghost, from prophecy to the gifts of the Spirit, would have to be removed. The gospel would no longer truly be about what God the Holy Spirit does through the church to represent the will and kingdom of God, but rather what man can do. In this case the witness would no longer be heavenly but earthly. It would not be the Son speaking from heaven but an earthly voice of humanity now heard. If we remove the element of signs and wonders then we have to remove Jesus the miracle worker from the midst of the church. How could we expect to believe that Jesus is present in our assemblies if He is to be a different Jesus now? He would no longer be the Jesus who heals the sick and delivers men from the oppression of the devil. He would be a silent Jesus who is there to hear us sing and pray. If we remove the element of divine power from the prayers that we pray how is it anything more than vain repetition? Petitions brought before God that require His intervention and His own working power can be classed as nothing less than signs and wonders. I assure you that the gospel of the kingdom is being preached today and anything else is another gospel.
The Authority of the Spirit
The Holy Spirit has come. His glory and grace has been poured out upon all flesh. He has come to take the place of Jesus as the supreme authority on the earth. Although Jesus is head of the Church, it is the Holy Spirit who executes all of His will.[21] He was sent by the Father to be our teacher, mentor, and our guide. Although the early apostles and disciples had the Lord Jesus to show them how to walk in the power and authority of the Kingdom they still needed the accompanying presence and revelation that only the Holy Spirit could bring. Until the Holy Spirit came they could not fully understand nor function in all that the Father had planned for them to have. The Holy Spirit has come to show us how to do the works of Christ and represent the kingdom. He has come to reveal Jesus to us and to also reveal Him in our lives. Everything He does is about glorifying the risen Christ.
It is an awesome thing to consider that God would want to display His mighty power and authority through us, but it is even more wonderful to know that He has come to live and dwell in our lives.[22] All we need to do is learn to be obedient to the leadership of the Holy Spirit and all the glory of Christ Jesus will be realized. God is dedicated to training us in all the ways of His majesty and power. It is His will that His glory be expressed through our words and deeds. The beauty and splendor of God’s life will be revealed in us as we walk in the ways of the Holy Ghost.
The Holy Spirit was given to us as a sacred gift from the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.[23] God ordained that we should have the same baptism that Jesus was baptized with – that same divine power and authority. In His love and affection for us, He poured out His best: the gift of the Holy Ghost. Through the Holy Spirit we have been given the glory of the Father and of Jesus Christ. Now by the Holy Spirit the glory and majesty of His way flow through us like rivers. Our lives have become like the garden of God where every good thing grows. In this fellowship divine with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, God would show us how to be overwhelmed with His goodness by taking in the currents of His life.
The special anointing that Jesus received was the unlimited supply of the power of the Holy Spirit. When Jesus ascended up on High, the same works that He did and even greater works as well were promised to all who would believe. There was no one in the history of man that had the mantle of the Holy Ghost like Jesus. He was given the unlimited ability to reveal the glory and majesty of the Father.[24] Jesus, who was compelled to be like us in all things, also gave us everything He had. He gave us that same glory, that same mantle, so that we may be shown to be in Him. Our heavenly calling and divine purpose is to walk even as He walked and demonstrate the power and authority of His resurrection.[25] For this purpose, Jesus baptized us in the Holy Ghost and power.[26]
Jesus did not step out and begin to demonstrate the will of the Father and reveal the kingdom of God until He was baptized in the Holy Spirit. How much less can we? And, if we are to have His ministry, then we must have His baptism! The Holy Ghost is the first-fruits of our salvation and God’s divine life restored to man; He is also the One who empowers us to bear witness of Jesus and gives us everything that belongs to Him. Those who had been with Jesus, who were developed under His ministry and sent out with His divine power, had to wait until they received power from on High before they could preach. How could we possibly think that things would be any different for us today? If anything, we are in greater need of the same outpouring from on High. If the apostles could not be His witnesses without this baptism, how much less can we?
The same encounter with the Holy Spirit is for every generation! The outpouring of the Holy Spirit is not just for the day of Pentecost and for the apostles but for every house like that of Cornelius, for the Holy Spirit has been poured out upon all flesh.[27] The anointing of Jesus and the baptism in the Holy Spirit is for as many as the Lord our God shall call. The Holy Spirit has not left us, He is here on the earth right now. To forsake the working and the manifestation of His power is to forsake the ministry of Christ. All we must do is recognize that this is God’s command, and then begin to cooperate with His will. We simply cannot be proof-providers of who Jesus is until we receive this power from on High. Let your faith soar by believing that this is the Father’s will and receive the Holy Ghost right now!
Jesus the Baptizer
One of the first things revealed about Jesus was that He would be the great baptizer who would baptize those who would believe in the Holy Ghost.[28] Jesus being the first one baptized in the Spirit without measure would be the One that would release God’s gift upon the redeemed.[29] Jesus ushered in the age of the Kingdom and was anointed to throw down all opposing forces. The King of Kings and Lord of Lords also empowered us to bring an end to Satan’s works. The one who torments men with sin, sickness and disease would be destroyed through the operation of the Holy Ghost. The mantle of the Spirit of the Lord was poured out upon His church to overthrow the powers of darkness that exist in every generation. It is only by the Holy Ghost that the works of the devil can be stopped. The baptism in the Spirit fills us and surrounds us with the kingdom authority of Jesus. Without the Holy Spirit, Jesus will not be seen and we will be powerless to do anything.
Before Jesus, men only received the Spirit by measure. The measure of the Spirit that they received supplied them with a limited ability to do the work of God. By the Spirit, Elijah was caught away, did miracles, called fire down out of heaven and heard the plans of the foreign kings which they had spoken in their secret chambers. Elijah received an anointing by the Holy Ghost and the measure that he received was doubled for His servant Elisha. Their works were mighty and glorious but they were still limited by the measure of the Spirit that they were given. The portion of the Spirit allowed Elijah to raise one man from the dead. The double portion given to Elisha empowered him to raise two men from the dead.
It was by way of a special yet limited anointing that the prophets of old prophesied and delivered to us the word of God. By a measure of the Holy Spirit, Moses spoke to a rock and water came out and the stone of flint became a pool of water. Moses imparted a measure of the portion that He received to Joshua his servant. Then by the Spirit of the Lord Joshua commanded the Sun and Moon to stand still. By the anointing of the Holy Ghost, Samson and the judges worked their mighty works. By the Spirit of the Lord, David threw down the enemies of Israel, sung his songs and was found to have a heart like God. Today the anointing that we have received is not by measure but the unlimited one of Jesus. Christ Jesus is our Master and as His servants we must obey. It is in His ministry that we walk and not one of our own. Our dedication to Him should be far greater than Elisha’s dedication to serve his master Elijah. Should we not rejoice in the call and with complete abandonment give up everything to follow Him?
Many have come up with different ideas about the baptism of the Holy Spirit and what it should produce. One thing should be obvious to everyone: it produced the ministry of Jesus in those who received it.[30] To believe that the same baptism would result in anything different than the ministry of Jesus is out of line with what Jesus said.[31] We must not represent a different Jesus than that same Jesus who turned the water into wine, raised the dead to life again and walked upon the stormy sea. It is His authority that we have received, who by the Spirit commanded the unclean spirits and they obeyed. This is the gospel that must be preached: the gospel of Jesus that proclaims liberty.
It was by this special baptism of the Holy Spirit and authority that John identified Jesus and gave witness that He was indeed the Christ. All of John’s concerns were satisfied by the unlimited display of power in the ministry of Jesus. There was no need to look for another, because the crippled walked and the blind were made to see. The unlimited authority of the Holy Ghost that was poured out to set every person free was demonstrated by Jesus who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed by the devil. This is the ministry of Jesus: the baptism in the Holy Ghost. The last days anointing of Jesus is the power from on High to cast out devils and preach the gospel to the poor. This is the gospel of the kingdom that must be preached and with bold authority we must say, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He hath sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord Luke 4:18-19.”
Co-inheritors In an Unlimited Gift
“The One that God sent speaks the words of God for God gives Him the Spirit without limits. The Father loves the Son and has placed all things in His hand. The one that believes in the Son has ageless (immeasurable) life” John 3:34-36
Although Jesus was the Word and the eternal God, He laid aside all of His glory and became the Son of Man.[32] Jesus was God made flesh who became a man to reveal the Living Word. He not only came to pay for our sins at Calvary, but also to show us how to live our lives in the flesh. He was the pattern Son who condemned sin in the flesh and has given us an understanding so that we may know how to please the Father. It is His life that we have now inherited through this so great a salvation. We are not to live our own lives or have our own ministries, but rather that of Christ Jesus! God was incarnated into flesh the day that Christ was born, but His ministry did not begin until He received power from on High. Jesus’ ministry began that day when He was baptized in the Holy Spirit and the voice came from heaven.[33] At that time He was given the special anointing to preach the gospel of the kingdom. By the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon His life He was given the fullness of divine power to preach and reveal the Father’s will.[34]
The most remarkable thing is that God in His love has given to us this unspeakable gift that we should be co-inheritors with Jesus.[35] We have been given all His fullness and made complete in Him.[36] Every person who will believe has been given the opportunity to live in the fullness of Christ Jesus: in relationship with the Father, baptism in the Holy Ghost and the authority to preach the gospel. In our fellowship with Him we can comprehend with all the saints every dimension of the love of Christ and be filled with all the fullness of God.[37] God not only gave us this amazing opportunity – He demands it of our lives. We are called to follow Jesus; yes, even to live His life! We must not draw back but receive this call to walk in oneness with Him in His anointing.
Each one of us really has only one of two choices: we will either accept the call to the fullness of Christ and mature by the Spirit into the full measure of His ministry or we will remain as defeated and incapable infants (nepios) that have no stability.[38] If we will believe what Christ Jesus said and believe what He has given, then we will receive the ability to move in His unlimited authority and power and oneness with God. Through the Holy Ghost the flood gates of heaven are released within our souls to flow out into a dry and thirsty land as rivers of life. These living waters are the expression of God’s own immeasurable and unlimited life. We may confidently say that through Christ Jesus we have received an immeasurable and abundant life by an unlimited supply of the Spirit.
God dwells in us
All these things that God has done for our lives are too wonderful for us! The good news is that we do not have to rely upon ourselves to accomplish all of these great things in God for it is Christ in us that will do the work! God walks in us, lives in us, speaks through us and acts through our lives. We can say that He sees through our eyes and hears through our ears. We may be insensitive to the living presence of God in us, but if we are willing to yield ourselves completely over to the instruction of the Holy Spirit we will become aware of all that God would do in and through our members.[39] We have been given the mind of Christ and the Spirit of the Son.[40] The foundation of the faith is that Christ dwells in us. He is the greater One that is in us. He is the One who has come with the Father and they’ve made their dwelling in us.[41] It is Jesus who dwells in us by the Holy Spirit, who He has given us. He is both with us and in us and we are to walk in Him, live in Him and conduct ourselves by His desires. We are joined to the Lord and are One Spirit with Him.[42] We are called the temple of the Holy Ghost. We have received the same glory that Father gave to Jesus and are made one with Him just as He is One with the Father: Jesus in us and the Father in Jesus so that we can be perfect in this oneness.[43]
One of the absolutes of the New Covenant is that we are to be those that represent God and stand in the place of Jesus. So in order to fully represent Jesus, we have been given the power and authority that we need; Christ in us our confidence of glory. It was by the Holy Ghost that Jesus was incarnated into the womb of Mary and it is by the same Spirit of the Lord that we have been born again. Jesus was baptized in the Holy Spirit to preach the gospel of the kingdom and so we too have been baptized with the same Spirit to preach this gospel of the dear Son. We are both commissioned and empowered to represent the kingdom. We are not of this world and are just like Him because we have been translated into His kingdom and baptized in His power.[44]
Strengthened by the Spirit
If we are going to walk in the authority of the Spirit, then we must learn to be strengthened by the Spirit. Paul’s instructions to the church were to be continually filled with the Spirit in order to be the witnesses that they should be.[45] They were to have the life of Christ, His righteousness, peace and joy by the Holy Ghost.[46] They were to abound in faith and expectation by the power of the Holy Spirit. To have these things we must learn how to put up the sails and yield to Him. As the wind, He will take us where we are to go. He will teach us to master even the smallest whisper of His inspirations that takes us where He leads. There can be no oar or rudder on this river for God must be fully in control – all we need to do is relax and yield and He will take us where we are to go. He will show us and fill us with everything that belongs to Jesus and the Father as we learn to walk with Him.
Fundamental to the New Covenant is the outpouring of the Holy Ghost upon the church. Through this baptism in the Holy Spirit, God will strengthen you and empower you with a continual infilling. He will make you strong simply by cooperating with Him as the word of God describes. You will discover that through praise and thanksgiving it is easy to enter into that place of being completely yielded. As you begin to sing and make melody in your heart, the Holy Spirit will fill you up and as you’re filled the flow just continues to get stronger. As you pray in the Holy Ghost, He will build you up and establish you in this communion.[47] When you are in need of love, joy and peace, He supplies it freely when you ask and depend on Him for what you need. Walking in the Spirit and living by the Spirit is a life committed to relying on the Holy Spirit and not yourself. God sees those who turn to Him and depend on Him and He rewards us with His presence and His abundant life. The supply of all these good things is like a river flowing from our hearts and there are no limits or restrictions on the one that will yield to Him. The hookup with the Spirit was made at Pentecost. It was there that we observe what happened when the Teacher came to lead and to guide. A divine connection was made when the Spirit began to speak through those who simply obeyed and waited for God to fill them.
To this end we are strengthened that we might live and move by Him. Just like Paul, we will preach by the power of the Holy Ghost with the demonstration of the Holy Spirit and power. His testimony was that he had fully preached the gospel with mighty signs and wonders and by the power of the Spirit of God.[48] If we take the working of the Holy Ghost out of the gospel that Paul preached we are left with no living relationship with Jesus. There would be no power to advance the gospel and bring people to salvation. There would be no authority of the church to function in. Without the Holy Spirit that Paul gave witness to, there would have to be a new design and pattern for the way that the church is to operate. Instead of the manifestation of the Spirit given to every man, there would be only the manifestation of men. The words of knowledge, miracles, and gifts of healing would no longer exist. The Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors and Teachers would not be able to function without this special anointing. There would be no more prophecy. There would be no more utterances of the Spirit; heaven would be silent. The rivers of God would no longer flow from our bellies and we would live in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water.
The Utterance of Authority
“Then I remembered the words of the Lord when He said, ‘John truly baptized with water but you shall be baptized in the Holy Ghost.’” Acts 11:16
The witness of the Holy Spirit in the salvation of the Gentiles was paramount. Without the outpouring of the Holy Ghost and the evidence of speaking in the heavenly language, there would have been no way for there to be the certainty that the Gentiles were also granted the same gift of salvation that had been given to Israel. When the Holy Ghost was poured out, everyone who received on the day of Pentecost spoke with these heavenly tongues of fire. John the Baptist gave witness to the Holy Ghost and fire that Jesus would baptize in. These are the rivers: God’s special gift. Man’s opinion should be of little value. The baptismal ministry of Jesus looks like Pentecost with tongues of fire and prophecy.[49]
The ministry of Jesus and the gift of the Holy Spirit are inseparable. Jesus began His ministry through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon His life, and He started His church by pouring out the Holy Spirit upon it. As much as Jesus is the Savior, He is also the Baptizer. His ministry as Baptizer did not begin until He ascended to the throne of God. Jesus told all of Jerusalem that the gift of God was available, but it was noted that the gift would not come upon them until after He was seated at the right hand of the Father and glorified.[50] Just before He was about to leave for the final time after His resurrection, Jesus reminded His disciples of what John had said about His ministry.[51] When Peter referred to the Gentiles receiving the Holy Ghost, it was in the context of that same baptismal ministry which they received on Pentecost – proving that the gift of God was available to all.[52] Paul also made the same connection to the baptismal ministry of Jesus in his address to the disciples at Ephesus; and by-and-large left them without choice in the matter.[53]
There are two primary gifts highlighted in the New Testament: the gift of salvation and the gift of the Holy Spirit.[54] The New Testament does not make an argument for them being divided between two different classes of Christians. Why would anyone, after giving their life to Jesus and receiving the transforming work of grace, refuse to receive the baptismal ministry of the One who saved them? How can anyone believe that the ministry of Jesus is different today than it was yesterday, or that the working of the Holy Spirit has changed? To dispute that the baptismal ministry of Jesus is accompanied by anything other than the gift of tongues, one must argue from the traditions and philosophy of men –the scripture establishes its certainty. Paul, who was the chief defender of the gift and the one who spoke in tongues more than them all, did not in any way detract from this truth. Paul’s rhetorical question on the gift of tongues in 1 Corinthians 12:30 may be applied in several ways, and clearly does not disqualify any or all believers from functioning in this gift. Besides, no one can make a doctrine out of one single verse of scripture, especially when its supposed application would be in direct contradiction to other witnesses.
The witness of the Holy Spirit in our life should be more important to us than the witness of men. The confirmation that God brings should be more important than the confirmation of a denomination. The baptism in the Holy Spirit should be more precious and sought after than the baptism in water. The house of Cornelius had this witness, confirmation, and baptism; which were the proofs that Peter used to convince the church at Jerusalem that God had also extended all grace to the Gentiles as well as to the Jews. Peter so integrates the baptism in the Holy Spirit with redemption that He applied it to the prophesy of Joel, with regards to what would be poured out upon all flesh – making the baptism in the Spirit and its prophetic witness something that belongs to everyone. Peter made the baptismal ministry of Jesus available to everyone when He coupled it with the call to salvation, saying: “Repent everyone of you, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost” (Acts 2:38).
Greater Works
“These works which I do shall you also do and greater works than these because I go to my Father” John 14:12
There is a divine hookup with God through the Holy Ghost, an authority to do these works that Jesus did and greater works as well. One may argue that the disciples had an advantage over us: they had Jesus to model heaven before them every day and to show them how to walk in this unlimited authority. It was faith-building being around Jesus, watching as He ministered the things of the Spirit and did the works of the Father. Yet Jesus told His disciples that He had something better for them. He was going to send them the Holy Spirit so that they could learn the things of heaven more effectively.[55] Jesus would go to the Father and be exalted to the position of absolute authority and send the Holy Ghost. They would be baptized with the same Holy Ghost and fire that He had and would continue to do His works and even greater works. These works testify that Jesus did not die. They testify that He was raised up from the dead and given all authority in heaven and in earth. Should we believe that there is no reason for Jesus to be so glorified today?
If these works are to be done through our lives, then we must give ourselves to the things of the Spirit. We will grow and mature into every dimension of the ministry that Jesus described if we are willing to pay the same price, deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him. All we need to do is begin to give the Holy Spirit the proper place of leadership and no longer walk after our own interest. We must be willing to learn how to submit our hearts and mouths to the things that He is saying. If we yield our emotions and our passions to His divine inspirations we will find that we have the most personal Teacher who will give us spiritual understanding. We can begin to live in Spirit knowledge rather than human reasoning. Our eyes can see what eyes have never seen before and our hearts understand what has never entered into the heart of man.[56] The influence of the Holy Spirit will have more impact on us than the influences of the world if we are willing to mind the things of the Spirit. If we will live our lives by the Holy Spirit, then the light of His glory will shine through us – the power and authority that witnesses that we are in Him and He is in us, and that it is Christ that does the works, not us. If we refuse to lay our hands on the sick, then how will we ever be strengthened in that faith? If we refuse to stand up boldly in the authority of the Spirit and command the devils to go, then how will we ever be strengthened in the authority that comes by doing what God commands?
These works that God ordained are the testimony of an intimate relationship with Him. The works that Jesus did were the works that the Father did through Him. They were the testimony of the oneness that He had with the Father. They proved that He was the Christ the Savior of the world. The works that Christ Jesus desires now to do through us are the testimony that He dwells in us and we dwell in Him. The proof is that He is the Redeemer who fully ransomed man, that we are not our own but bought with a price and now live our life by Him. These works of Jesus are the testimony that He is the exalted King of kings and reigns supremely over all. These works are the testimony of our oneness with Him, of the love that the Father has given us through Him that “whatever we ask” He will do that the Father may be glorified in the Son.[57] This kind of relationship that produces the works and ministry of Jesus is only possible by the power of the Holy Ghost. The testimony of Christ Jesus’ unlimited authority is the authority of the Spirit revealed in us today. By the authority of the Spirit we testify that Christ Jesus is the Savior of the world who has conquered everything.
The Authority of the Word
The word reveals everything that we know about God. God has exalted His word above His name and it is forever settled in heaven.[58] The word of God may be understood as the supreme authority of both His will and His plan. It was by the authority of the word that all things were created.[59] It was also by the authority of the word that we have been redeemed. The “Word was made Flesh” that we might behold the Living Word Christ Jesus who revealed the fullness of all divine power. The word of God is the life changing power of God that makes all things new.
The word of God is the expression of all divine authority. It declares the sovereign will of God. There is no power in heaven or hell or upon the earth that can stop the authority of God’s word. The word of God is living, it is Spirit and life and it is by the word of God that we live too. Just like the manna that came down from heaven to feed the children of Israel, the true bread of life, Christ Jesus, has come that we may live by Him. We are taught of God that we live by every word that proceeds out of His mouth. This is the word that we are to preach by the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven.[60] As we meditate upon the word and give ourselves to its study we are built up and established to do the works of Jesus.[61]
The word describes our life and what God has created us to be. It defines our expectations and describes reality. Our circumstances cannot be defined by our own perceptions, for only the word of God is truth – everything else is a lie of deception. The word of God is the absolute and final authority on every issue that we encounter. It is the means by which we look into the realms of the spiritual and understand what God is doing. It declares to us the truth that the Holy Spirit brings to life. It describes the actions that God takes by His Spirit in our hearts.
If we fail to believe the word, we will be deprived of the blessing that God has supplied. For the word to work mightily in us we must believe.[62] God’s word must be mixed with faith! God has given us an absolute guarantee that His word is true. It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for any of His promises to fail.[63] If we speak God’s word, not mixed with our opinion and ideas, then we will get God’s results. “Well done” will be the words heard by everyone who is willing to not only hear, but also be obedient and do what God has spoken.[64] Let Jesus become the darling of your heart so that no matter how impossible the situation may be, all you need is to hear His word that bids you to come. The word of God gives us the authority to supersede the laws of nature. The word of God is powerful, expressing the faith that calls those things that are not as though they were and they come into existence![65] The word of God is sharper than any two edged sword, revealing the thoughts and intents of the heart, exposing everything. It is in our hearts and in our mouths; just believe it and speak it.[66] The word is the truth; it is sanctifying and, like the washing of water, it cleanses.[67] It is the incorruptible seed that lives and abides forever. All else will pass away, but the word will remain; it is the final judgment now and in the future.
Speaking the Word
“The centurion answered and said, ‘Lord I am not worthy that you should come under my roof but speak the word only and my servant shall be healed’” Matthew 8:8
The centurion presented a case for authority and described how to place a value on someone’s word. He described a word as only being as good as the authority of the person who gave it. When it comes to God’s authority, we can be certain that there is none greater. The centurion understood authority because he had been vested by the Roman Empire with the position to command men. The centurion, being a man of authority and being subject to men with great authority, was able to recognize the authority that Jesus had. He may have heard Jesus speak the words of life that day on the mountain. He may have also heard Him tell the man with leprosy that he was healed and then watched the immediate transformation. Whatever the situation was in which this man had encountered Jesus, he recognized an authority that was greater than any authority that he had ever seen before. He recognized that Jesus had authority that extended beyond the ordinary and whatever He said would result in the miracle that he needed. For the centurion, all that Jesus had to do was “speak the word only.”
When the apostles found their lives in peril, Peter rose up with confidence in Christ and only needed the word to be spoken: Jesus’ command to come.[68] His life was threatened by a terrible storm, but he found certainty and confidence in Jesus. When He saw the Master of the wind and the waves, he was no longer in peril or gripped with the fear of death. Like the centurion, all that Peter needed was for Christ Jesus to speak the word and he would master what had threatened his life. Through the word, Peter was empowered to do what no man had ever done before and by the word of Christ he too stood with Jesus over all the earthly realm. Christ Jesus bids us to come and walk with Him, but His word alone must be enough. He has invited everyone who will hear to come and walk in the heavenly supernatural realm.
We Speak the Word of God
“Because of this also we give thanks to God continually that when you received the word you heard from us you received it not as the word of men but as it is in truth the word of God which also works mightily in you that believe.” 1 Thessalonians 2:13
Everything that we know about the will of God and the authority that He has given us is revealed through His word that was delivered to us as a Bible. If we fail to believe the word of God, we are left powerless and faithless. God has given us the authority of His word to speak and then from that word of faith have signs, wonders and miracles. We cannot rehearse our doubts and fears and have the display of the power of God. If we speak His word and declare those things that God will do, then we will discover that God is in our midst bringing His word that we speak to life by His Holy Spirit.
Some people choose only to believe parts of the word of God, but if we will believe everything that God has said in His word, all that He has promised will be ours! The seed of God’s word has been planted in us and will bring forth its fruit if there is an obedient and yielded heart. So many people fail to yield; instead they stand around all of their lives questioning instead of acting. When the word of God came into our lives it produced the greatest miracle of all: a new heart and a new spirit that made us one with God.[69] That same word of God spoken through our mouths will transform others too. Can there be any greater miracle than a transformed life? Can there be any greater faith than to believe that we will be raised from the dead to life eternal? Why then would we fail to believe all those other signs, wonders and gifts of faith and power?
If you will believe, then the same miracle-working power of God’s word that was in the mouth of Jesus will be in your mouth too. You will speak those things which God has spoken and the miracle will take place. When you command what God commands, then demons will have to flee. When the word of God is spoken with the authority that He has given, the crippled will walk, the blind will see and the dead will be raised to life again. It is God’s word that is working mightily in you – just step out and start doing that which seems impossible. God’s word is verifiable and we can safely risk everything by believing and doing what it says. It can never pass away – it is powerful and living, so speak it now! We may have to confront many things that would oppose the word of God but if we stand and refuse to back down we will surely see it work in and through our lives.
The word of God produces within us the works of God. The word of God produces more than just those works that the natural man can do, but it produces the mighty works that only the power of God can bring to pass.[70] If we think as mere men, then we will never step beyond the boundaries and limits of a natural world and what we as men can do.[71] The word of God will not be of profit to us for the healing of our bodies if we fail to agree with it and do not allow faith to work through it.[72] It will never be the word of authority in our mouth that commands demons to go and deliverance to come.[73] Mountains will not be moved, storms will not be calmed and the dead will not be raised to life again. The fruits of, “whatsoever we ask,” will never be witnessed through our lives and the will of God will not be accomplished in us. Joshua spoke with the word of authority and the sun and moon stood still. Jesus spoke and the wind and the waves obeyed. Paul spoke and commanded the crippled to walk and they stood upright on their feet. We believe and speak, for Christ Jesus has given us His word of authority to do His works.[74]
God Confirms His Word
“And they went and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them establishing the word through the miracles that followed. Amen.” Mark 16:20
Preaching the gospel can only be accomplished by declaring the word of God. The word of God is proven to be indeed the word of God by miracles. Jesus, the miracle worker, still goes everywhere with those whom he has sent, confirming His word with miracles. Jesus spoke the words of God and miracles were the proof that the Father gave.[75] The gospel is the word of deliverance: deliverance from sin, sickness and disease. When the word of life is preached by the gospel, the miracles of God will take place as people are saved, healed and set free. This is what we must expect if we are moving in God’s faith. The word of God is the announcement of God’s will for men and if anyone hears that word and believes, they will receive the blessings it describes. The word must be preached with authority and not mere recitals like the scribes.[76]
The Lord Jesus is passionate about bringing all men to salvation. He is the one who upholds all things by the word of His power and He is the one that is present wherever the gospel is preached. He is present to work the miracles that the gospel declares if there is someone who will believe.[77] While it is true that many will not believe unless there are miracles, it must still be understood that the gospel is all about miracles taking place.[78] How can we believe that a person can receive salvation without a miracle? How will the strongholds of demonic power be broken unless there is the miracle-working power of Jesus present?[79] Surely when we preach we expect that men will be saved? Why should we believe that the miracle to save the soul is present yet the miracle to heal the body is absent? What proof has anyone that the gospel that Paul preached is any different today? Why are men so willing to believe another gospel, one that is absent of the working of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit? This is not the word of God, and where the word is not believed there is no authority! Men make their experiences of greater importance than God’s word. Just because they prayed or preached and did not get the results that the word of God testifies of, they call it “passed away.” We must believe the word of God and count God faithful who has promised no matter what we see. We must be willing to stand firm in those things which God has spoken and press in for the maturity that is needed so that the works of Jesus might be fully realized. How can we believe that one single word of God will fail us? How can we believe that we are following Jesus when we do not do His works? If we preach Jesus, then we must preach that He is the Savior, Healer, Deliverer and Baptizer– that He is the same yesterday, today and forever! If not, then we are preaching another gospel.
The Testimony of the Word
“So then they spent considerable time speaking boldly in the Lord who bore witness to His word of grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands.” Acts 14:3
God, who upholds all things by the word of His power, gives witness to His word with signs and wonders.[80] The gospel is not the word of men, but it is the word of God and the Lord is committed to proving it. Although these words of God come out of our mouth, they are not our words but God’s. When we speak as the oracles of God, we speak with the same authority that Jesus used when He commanded the unclean spirits with His word and they came out.[81] It is not dependent upon us to perform the works that the word describes; we are just responsible to do it. It is Christ Jesus who dwells in us that does the works. We announce to men that they must be saved and those who believe are transformed by the Holy Ghost. We lay hands on the sick and it is the power of God that is present that causes them to recover. God has put this word of life in our mouth – all we must do is speak!
By the hands of God’s ministers many signs and wonders were done so that faith could be established in the hearts of the people who heard the word. They preached the word of God that said, “these signs shall follow them that believe” and so the signs were there to give witness to the word. They spoke the word, which Jesus said could not pass away and when they spoke, the miracles of the word took shape. They preached that where two or three were gathered in His name, He would be in their midst and Jesus was there to prove it. They told the people that Jesus had commanded them to do the same works that He had done and even greater works, so God confirmed the word because there was a faithful man to speak it.
Wherever the word of God is preached, God watches over His word to perform it. We can be confident that what God has declared in His word He will also do. Those things that God did in the days of Paul, He will also do today because the gospel has not changed. Paul fully preached the gospel in the city of Iconium, declaring the whole counsel of God with mighty signs and wonders and He will do the same in whatever city you preach in as well. When the word goes forth, all the hearer must do is allow it to be mixed with faith and then the power that created the heavens and the earth will be released upon their life. Let the word of life give you insight and revelation and see what God will do through you as you proclaim His word.
The Authority of the Name of Jesus
“And Jesus came speaking to them saying, ‘All authority is given to me in heaven and in earth.’” Matthew 28:18
The authority that Jesus displayed in His earthly ministry was like none that had ever been seen before. He cast out devils with His word, and commanded the stormy winds and waves and they obeyed. There was no sickness or disease that could defy His authority. He was God manifested in the flesh, baptized in the Holy Ghost and nothing was impossible for Him. Yet when He stepped into His resurrected glory, an even greater authority began. All authority in heaven and earth was given to Him when God raised Him up from the dead and set Him at His own right hand.
Jesus took hold of His authority and poured it out upon His church. The Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of grace and power, came to testify that all authority in heaven and earth was placed in Jesus. The unlimited and absolute authority of Jesus was given to all who would believe and it was released through His name. God will open up the eyes of those who will believe and show them the exceeding greatness of His power that has been given through the One that He has raised up from the dead.[82] In His name and through faith in His name, every power in heaven and earth must obey. Every form of death and pain must flee away when the authority of Jesus’ name is believed upon and applied.
It is by the name of Jesus that the miracle of salvation is given unto men.[83] When a person calls on the name of Jesus they are delivered from every evil thing, brought into the family of God and given the blessings and protection of His household. God created Adam in His image and likeness and by the name of Jesus, a new spirit and a new heart is created in those who will believe.[84] The person who once was dominated by the power of Satan is given the divine nature by the washing of regeneration.[85] By the name of Jesus everything must change – for nothing can resist His power.[86] All powers and authorities, whether in nature, in the realm of men, in the realm of demon spirits, in heaven, or in earth are subject to His name and must obey what Jesus says. When we speak in His name, it is the same as Jesus speaking.
Whatever We Ask in the Name of Jesus
Our heavenly Father has made a pledge through His Son, that whatever we ask in the name of Jesus, He will do. The Father will grant the petition and show His outstretched hand because He is devoted to glorifying Jesus. He glorified the name of Jesus during the time of His ministry as a man and He is all the more devoted to glorifying the name of Jesus now. We are to ask and when we realize the relationship we have been given with the Father, our joy will be full. The display of God’s grace upon us will be witnessed in our lives, for this is the fruit that God ordained for us to bear. The fruit of our lives must be asking for what we will and having our request granted by the Father.[87] In that day, when Jesus rose and ascended and the Holy Spirit was given, a new kind of authority was displayed in the life of all God’s servants. The event would be so radical and so life changing that we would know that Christ is in us and that the Father is in Him. The name that the Father gave Jesus would be glorified by the greatest display of power the world had ever seen in men. It would be shown that as the Father was with Jesus even so He would be with us. It was by the Father that Jesus did His works and it would be by the Father and Christ Jesus that we would do these works and greater works than these. The name that is above all other names would be glorified as those redeemed by the blood of the Lamb would ask and the Father in heaven would answer.
The Father has highly exalted the name of Jesus and at His name every knee must bow. The reign of Jesus has begun. He was crowned 2000 years ago when He ascended up on High. He is seated on His throne at the right hand of the Father until all His enemies are made His footstool. Of the increase of His government there will never be an end. The authority of His name will never lose its power! Jesus was glorified with the glory that He had with the Father before the world began. And when we speak that name, all heaven is mobilized to answer our request – for there is no higher power.
God the Father is devoted to showing the world that we are His people that are ransomed by His Son. He wants to glorify the name of Jesus through our lives in view of everyone. The kind of relationship that has been given to us is that of a Father and a son. The riches of the inheritance are in us because Jesus brought us into the family. There is a proof that Jesus is the first begotten of many brethren and that is the witness of His ministry and His relationship with the Father in us. It is Father’s good pleasure to give us the kingdom now that we are His heirs and coinheritors with His Son. He wants us to ask in the name of Jesus so that this relationship may shine as a light unto the world. This is a relationship of love where we take pleasure in obeying His commands and He takes pleasure in doing whatever we ask. Through this relationship, we know that Jesus is in the Father and we are in Christ Jesus.[88] It is from this kind of relationship that the greater works are done.
Miracles in the Name of Jesus
“In the name of Jesus” is the most powerful utterance that can be heard through the mouths of the saints. Through His name, authority and power to do miracles has been given. Jesus said, “These miracles (signs) shall follow those who believe: in My name they shall cast out devils, they will speak with new tongues. Should they take up a snake or drink something deadly, they shall not be hurt. They shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover.” Mark 16:17-18. The authority and faith that comes by the name of Jesus gives us the power to speak, and devils must obey. The power to cast out devils was always first in the list when Jesus described the authority that He had given to His servants. The authority that is in the name of Jesus causes us to speak out of a whole new dimension of the Spirit as He gives us the miraculous utterance of “new tongues.” The name of Jesus is power against the deadly bite of a serpent, or the poisons that may exist in food or water. In Jesus’ name we lay hands on the sick and they must recover. Why do miracles follow those that believe? Because the salvation that God has sent us to preach delivers men from every oppressing and evil thing. It’s the name of Jesus that possesses all authority and in His name the gospel must be preached.
The miracles that come by the name of Jesus were observed throughout the book of Acts. When Philip held an evangelistic meeting in Samaria, the power that is in the name of Jesus was at work, for the unclean spirits cried out with a loud voice and came out of those who were possessed by them. Paul spoke in the name of Jesus when he encountered a woman with a familiar spirit, saying: “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ, come out of her;” and the demon left.[89] When Paul was building a fire after having been shipwrecked on the island of Malta, a deadly snake bit him; and the authority that Jesus had prescribed kept him from suffering any harm.[90] The poisons in nature are all part of a demon-cursed world, and Jesus came to destroy every influence of Satan. The power and authority that is in His name destroys the strongholds and effects of Satan, wherever they are and in whatever form they are encountered.
The new tongues that have been given were poured out on the day that the church was born. The language of the Spirit is the Holy Ghost testifying that Jesus has been crowned with all authority. It is the sign of the New Covenant – a miracle work of grace of the baptism of the Spirit and fire. Through this special gift, the saints are empowered to speak as the Holy Ghost addresses the Father.[91] The miraculous utterance of the Spirit is the proof that the Holy Spirit was poured out. Every time the language of the Spirit is heard, a testimony is given of the exalted Christ. The new tongues given by the name of Jesus is the evidence that the new teacher has come to lead us and to guide us. The gift of tongues was proof that the Spirit was poured out on both the Jews and the Gentiles. It is the evidence that Jesus has been given all power and authority, glorified and exalted. When He purged us of our sins, He sat down at the right hand of God and poured out the rivers of the gift of God. The gift of tongues was for all men everywhere, for the Spirit was poured out upon all flesh. The gift of tongues was established as a part of every local church so that Jesus would be glorified, and it was a boast of the Apostle Paul’s spiritual life.[92]
The authority of the name of Jesus releases heaven upon every person’s soul. Wherever men call upon the name of Jesus, His miracles are present. Through mighty signs and wonders, the believer testifies of the name that has all power. The church will never be about what man can do, but rather what God will do through those who will believe. It’s the name of Jesus that must be glorified and God has established His works in the midst of His church to glorify that name. These things that God has established by the name of Jesus exist for every generation and will not pass away for any reason.[93]
Faith that is by the Name
Peter’s and John’s understanding of the use of the name of Jesus was demonstrated when they commanded the lame man to walk. The authority of Christ Jesus that they had been eyewitnesses of for more than three years was still present and released through them as they spoke in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. It was not just a delegated authority that they used, but rather authority and power that was resident in the name itself. Peter said that it was by the Name and through faith in the Name that the crippled man had received power to walk (Acts 3:16; 4:10). Jesus told His disciples that whatever they asked in His name, He would do it (John 14:13-14; 15:16; 16:23). They were not just asking in His name – they were speaking in His name and the results were the same as if Jesus had been standing there. The name of Jesus gave them the ability to function in divine authority and it is by that name that we to can do these works.
When God revealed His name to Moses, miracles commenced that had never been seen before. Moses went to the greatest kingdom on earth and through the revelation of the name of God, he spoke and creation turned to his defense to fight against those who refused to obey the word of the Lord. Signs and wonders that were never seen before began to take place through the one who knew the name. Water was turned to blood, darkness was over the face of the earth and hailstones burned with fire. The strongholds of a world of darkness that had opposed the things of God were subdued by the one who was sent.
By the name of God’s Holy Child Jesus, great miracles are revealed as God stretches forth His hand to perform signs and wonders. Great boldness is imparted as every hindrance to the gospel is thrown down through the name of the One who reigns on High (Acts 4:30). Jesus manifested the Father’s name in all of the works of power that He did (John 17:6,26). Today, His saints reveal the name of Jesus through mighty signs and wonders that He does through us. This authority in the name of Jesus gives witness that God has raised Him from the dead and set Him at His own right hand.
The Authority of the Blood of Jesus
We must believe that we have the right to stand before God as His ministers, otherwise we will never walk in the authority that is ours. If we think that we are still in some measure unacceptable to God, we will draw back from our position of authority in Christ Jesus. The blood of Jesus must be the cure for all of our sin and offense and supply us with the miracle of change. That change must be a cleansing of ourselves; a conscience void of offense, cleansed by the blood of Christ. We cannot stand before God in shame and iniquity– the blood of Jesus Christ is the only remedy. Sin produces separation from God and only faith in the blood removes it.
Fellowship with God is interrupted by a sense of sin, but faith in the blood is the cure. Boldness to come in before His presence, knowing that we are pure and free from all of our sins, is ours when we have to deal with any opposing circumstance. The authority of the blood that takes away sin and stops the powers of darkness must first be applied and believed on by each person before each one can be a minister of God. We must be willing to be convinced by the faith of God that the same authority of the blood that gives us access to the throne room of the Most High is equally our assurance that we have the right to expect the things that the Bible describes. The blood is our assurance that all of our petitions have been granted and whatever we ask Him, He will do.[94]
The blood of Jesus represents the whole life of Jesus. When we apply His blood we apply His whole life to ours. Christ Jesus took our place on the cross that we might take His place with Him in the throne room of heaven. The blood of Jesus is our evidence that we no longer live! We are crucified with Christ and we are now in Him and He is in us; this is faith in the blood that results in an unshakable authority from God.
Apply the Blood of Jesus
“And by Him reconciled all things unto Himself, making peace through the blood of His cross, whether they be upon the earth or in the heavens.” Colossians 1:20
The two most powerful forces that we are given are the name of Jesus and the blood of Jesus. When we pray in the name of Jesus and by the blood of Jesus, we pray on the basis of the highest authority that exists. We have the authority to apply the blood of Jesus to every situation in which Christ Jesus applied His blood – and we can expect the same results. When His blood was applied to sin, it was removed; therefore we can be confident that when we apply His blood to sin, then it must go as well.[95] It was the blood of Jesus that broke the power and effect of Satan’s dominion over us; when Satan would attempt to enforce his will upon us, it is the authority of the blood that demands that he take his hands off of the property of God.[96] The blood of Jesus destroyed every power of the demonic realm. Through the death of Jesus and the blood of His cross, Satan’s power was destroyed, and all of his host was stripped of their abilities to command the actions of men. Through the blood of Jesus, death was abolished, the law of sin and death were broken, and light and immortality were brought to light. When we apply the blood of Jesus against any work or activity of Satan, it renders every demonic power completely powerless.
The blood of Jesus is the boundary between heaven and hell. There is no power of hell that has the right to cross this boundary of God’s redemption and protection. When Jesus stripped all principalities and powers of their authority, He did so by His death on the cross.[97] The blood of the cross is therefore both our reminder and theirs – that they have no right to afflict or torment those who have been redeemed by the blood. We have the double cure for sin and disease; we must have confidence that what God has supplied is remedy enough for all we need – just have faith in His blood.[98] We all must proclaim loudly, “Redeemed, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb!” Satanic powers would attempt to impose their will upon the people of God;although they have no right to violate the blood barrier, unless the saints of God stand up and take the authority that has been given, they will overrun the absence of such authority and impose what they have no right to do!
Sins Washed Away
“Who shall accuse God’s elect? God makes us righteous.” Romans 8:33
The blood of Jesus gives us the authority to come into the presence of God and stand before the throne of grace. Are you washed in the blood – in the soul-cleansing blood of the Lamb? Are your garments spotless – are they whiter than snow? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? There is no power that can wash away sins other than the blood of Jesus Christ. If we accept what Jesus has done for us through the blood of the cross, then we can know that all of our sins have been washed away and that we stand spotless before the Lord.[99] We have been given authority to boldly proclaim that sin is completely removed by the blood of Jesus Christ.[100] There is no other remedy for sin and death, only the blood of Jesus. Anyone who takes the blood of Jesus for their cleansing from sin has been given the authority to walk in the purity of God and union with Jesus Christ. By the authority of the blood, Satan has no right to accuse us.[101] If we sin, the authority of the blood provides us with the power to be cleansed from any sin that we may commit. Although God has made a way that we should never sin again; if we sin we have an unlimited supply that will cleanse us from all sin.
As the Mediator and the One who testifies of the power of redemption, Jesus forever lives to make intercession for us.[102] He is our Advocate with the Father who is faithful and just to cleanse us from all unrighteousness through the blood that He has poured out. Therefore no one can lay any charge to God’s elect, for it is Christ Jesus who has made us righteous by His own blood. When we stand before the highest seat of judgment, we are found faultless and blameless because of the blood. One of the questions that we must deal with is: do we agree with His judgment concerning those who have been washed in the blood of the Lamb? Do we believe that such life and purity has been provided through the blood of God? God has made everyone who will believe righteous by the blood of Jesus.[103] Through the blood we are no longer common or unclean.[104] It is His judgment that through the blood of the everlasting covenant every stain of sin is removed and the soul and spirit of man is made pure and holy. The testimony of God to us is simply, “Come let us reason together, though your sins be as scarlet – they shall be white like wool; though they be like crimson, they will be whiter than snow”[105].
The Ability to Repent
“When they heard this they were silenced and glorified God, saying, “Well then, unto the Gentiles also God has granted repentance unto life.” Acts 11:18
Repentance only works when the blood of Jesus is applied. Without the blood of Jesus, a person can be sorry all day long for his wrongdoing, but it will accomplish him nothing. The deep desire to have a change of life and do what is good and pleasing in God’s sight can neither remove the penalty of death, nor change the nature of a man. Repentance is only granted through the death of Christ Jesus, who bore our sins away at Calvary. He is the One who tasted death for every man, and bore our sins in His own body on the tree. Only through His blood can His life now be supplied. Without the shedding of the blood of Jesus, man is still subject to the law of sin and death.[106] The blood of the Old Testament offerings could offer a substitute until the Seed should come – the Lamb, the offering of which all those sacrifices testified. Now their value is lost forever, for the fullness of time has come; the offering was prepared and Christ Jesus was crucified. All the Old Testament offerings were only like a play pointing to the offering God Himself would make – offerings which have now been done away with since His blood has now been given. Now when His blood is applied to a repentant heart, that repentance brings a change and the power of the life of Christ is imparted. We have been liberated from the curse of sin and death by the blood of our Passover Lamb.[107] The sins of all mankind have been sent away, and the testimony of that sin and its penalty of death have been removed from before the presence of God forever.[108] We now have the commission and authority to command all men everywhere to repent and to turn to the Living God. The gift of repentance has been granted to us with all its rights and benefits by the blood and through the name of Jesus.[109]
Equally, God, who loves the whole world, has no opportunity to forgive anyone without the application of the blood of Jesus. Through Jesus Christ alone has forgiveness of sins been granted. There may be many good people in the religions of the world who sincerely seek God’s forgiveness, but their religions have no authority to grant forgiveness; for that power can only be found in the blood of the Lamb, Christ Jesus. The blood of Jesus must be applied if the stain of sin that pollutes the soul and spirit is to be removed. It does not matter whether one is a Jew or Gentile, without applying the blood that was shed for the sins of the people there is no remission of their sins. The only sacrifice that matters, the sacrifice that forever provides a cleansing from all sin – is the blood of Jesus. If we refuse this redeeming sacrifice, and if we do not take His blood and apply it to our lives, then we will die in our sins; and eternal death will be the consequence. If we take His blood and confess our sins, He is just and faithful to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Confession alone cannot do it, and even a sorrowful and contrite heart comes up short; but when the blood of Jesus is applied, every sin and every one of its effects are forever removed.
Communion through the Blood The Altar of God
“The word of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but to us who are saved the power of God.” 1 Corinthians 1:18
The one thing that represents the Gospel of Jesus Christ more than anything else is the cross. We must recognize that when we speak of the cross of Christ we are referring to that altar on which the blood of Jesus was offered.[110] What was purchased for us on the cross was purchased by His shed blood. The preaching of the cross is the power of God and the power of the New Covenant because it is where the blood of Jesus was supplied. It does not matter who you are; whether you are a Jew or a Gentile there is only one way to be changed and brought into relationship with God and that is through the cross of Christ.[111] If this redeeming work is emphasized – if Christ Jesus is lifted up in those things which we proclaim, then all men will be drawn to Him.[112] It is by faith in the blood that we have faith to see the lost saved. Faith in the blood gives us faith to break every stronghold of Satan and chain of addiction.
The authority of the cross is witnessed through our lives because we are crucified with Him. By the miracle of salvation His death became our death so that His life might be our life. The blood of the cross has become our testimony of a redeemed and transformed life. It is the token of our new life that we now live by the power that is in His blood. At the cross, where the bread of life was broken and the cup of communion was supplied, the veil between earth and heaven was ripped in two; and all who would believe are invited to come and step inside.[113] It was at the cross that the fountain of redeeming blood was poured out to supply a cleansing now and forever for all who put their trust in Him.
In the cross we see how Father feels about sin and His demand that it be put to death. Who can begin to comprehend the travail of Father’s heart at the sufferings of Jesus on the cross and also His ecstatic joy that redemption’s price had paid our access back to Him.[114] It is through the cross that we can comprehend how desperately God loves us, for it is here that He gave His Only Begotten Son so that if anyone would believe they could be saved. In knowing that He spared not His own Son to redeem us, we can be certain that He will continue to do for us what no other power can do.[115] We may be confident that Father will freely give us all things that belong to the authority and power of heaven! It is in the cross that we should gain great confidence with God, for here we were released from everything that could stop the abundance of God’s blessings, authority and dominion in our life. Therefore we may boldly proclaim, “If God be for us, who can be against us!”
Through treasuring the cross and laying down our lives, God’s glory is revealed in us. If we are to follow Him in all of His power and authority, then we must deny ourselves so that the life of Christ Jesus might be seen. The great exchange took place on Calvary’s hill, Christ Jesus took our place to die for all our sins that we might take His place in standing before men with all heaven’s glory and authority. Our confession and manner of life must be, “I am crucified with Christ and Christ now lives, not me.”[116] Our judgment must be just and reasonable that if Christ Jesus died for all then all are dead, and that we should from this time forth only live for Him.[117] When we live for Him, then it is that same Jesus that will be seen – the One who caused the blind to see and lived in oneness with the Father in unlimited glory.
“For this is My blood of the New Testament, which is poured out for many for the removal of sins.” Matthew 26:28
Through death, the Lord Jesus poured out the power of our communion. His blood supplied us with an unlimited forgiveness – not only for our sins, but also for the sins of the whole world.[118] His body and blood are the elements of His sacrifice for our sins. It was not just by His life that we live, but also by His death. For the New Covenant is established by the death of the testator, and remission of sins is granted through the blood, which represents His death.[119] When we consider the activity of communion in which we partake of these tokens of the blood and body of Jesus, we are testifying of our personal application of His blood to our lives and of our faith in the blood of Jesus.[120] Through His blood, we are granted repentance and are forgiven of our sins. Through His blood we are made a new creation in which Christ Jesus lives and dwells. Through the body of His flesh we are presented holy, unrebukable, and unreprovable because all our offenses have been removed.[121] Communion is a testimony of the blood of Jesus being applied to our lives. It testifies that we are daily living by His blood and body. We apply His blood to everything that is dead and it lives, everything that is wrong so that it may be made right, and all trespasses and offenses so that we may forgive just like we are forgiven. Jesus who is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness by His blood supplies us with the same ability to forgive and show mercy to everyone else as well.[122]
We must recognize that all of our communion and fellowship with God is found only in the body and blood of Jesus. When we worship or when we pray, any interaction that we have with God is through the body and blood of Jesus. Our participation in the communion (of eating and drinking the elements that represent His body and blood) is an acknowledgement of the means by which we were made acceptable to God, and are allowed to enter into His Holy Presence. Therefore, just as the High Priest would take the blood of the sacrifice and come into the Holy of Holies, we take the blood of Jesus in our day-to-day and minute-by-minute interaction with Him, and come with all boldness into the Holiest place of all.
When we partake of the juice that represents the blood of Jesus, we are testifying of how the life of Jesus came into us. We are testifying of how our sins were washed away and how they are removed (if we commit such an act again). When we partake of communion, it is a testimony of how we were sprinkled with the blood and brought into the relationship of the New Covenant, which takes away sin and creates the life of Jesus within us.[123] It is the testimony of how He dwells in us and how we dwell in Him and live by Him.[124] Just as in the first Passover in which the blood was applied to the house of those who put their trust in God’s salvation, the blood of Jesus, our Passover Lamb, is applied to our lives – and we continually live in Him and by His blood.[125]
Jesus served this communion to His disciples, and established the practice of the communion service when He said: “This is my body, take it and eat it,” and “This is the blood of the new covenant; drink it all.”[126] This was not to be done just once, but often. Unlike the Passover celebration which took place only once a year, this communion was to be continually observed. Although there was no clear definition of how often this kind of communion service should take place, Paul simply said that as often as you do it you show His death until He comes.[127] The larger issue that must be understood is our need to recognize that communion extends beyond the table of a communion service, and it is a token and a reminder of how we are to continually live. It sets the tone for the quality and intimacy of our interaction with Christ Jesus. The life of Jesus and His blood are inseparable, and all our life in God is found in oneness with the Lord.[128] Just as Jesus lived by His union with the Father, we live by our union with Jesus. Our union with and through the life of Christ Jesus was made possible by His blood, and by our reception of it and faith in it.[129]
The Authority of the Covenant
The blood is the means by which the New Covenant was established and therefore it is the authority of the covenant. A covenant is a contract that is the testimony of the agreed upon relationship between all parties involved. It is the authority that describes the obligations and interactions of all those involved in the agreement. Every part of the covenant functions by the power of the blood. God has provided for us a means by which every claim of sin and death can be removed. Every power of Satan, sickness, and death can be broken by the means of this blood-covenant. The authority of the covenant is based upon the power of the One who made it to enforce its privileges, protection, and blessings. There is no power in heaven or on earth that can ever revoke the authority of the blood of Jesus. It is for this reason that we sing,
Would you be free from your burden of sin?
There is power in the blood, power in the blood.
Would you over evil the victory win?
There’s wonderful power in the blood.
Would you do service for Jesus your King?
There is wonderful power in the blood.
It is through the blood that we are supplied with all the provision, protection and perfection of heaven. The blood is the power and authority of every dimension of our life in God. When the blood of Jesus is applied, the Holy Spirit comes rushing in, and all of heaven is mobilized. There is no power in heaven, or in earth, or under the earth that can stand against the authority of the blood of Jesus. Throughout the ages to come, all mankind will sing songs of praise for the blood of Jesus. Every tribe and every tongue, kindred, and nation will lift their voice in praise to the One who redeemed us with His own blood.
Our lives are bound together with Jesus through the blood of the everlasting covenant. Through this covenant we have been made bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh. Through the blood of the covenant, His nature and identity were imparted into us. In every generation, both in the Old Covenant and the New Covenant, God made provision to dwell with man through the blood of the covenant. All of those sacrifices from Abel until Jesus only represented God’s true redeeming sacrifice: the Word made flesh, the Lamb of God to take away our sins. The blood of God is applied to our hearts so that we might become His temple. The blood which He gave was a purchase in full for the spirit, soul and body of men that are now made one with Him. The blood of the New Covenant is the final and everlasting covenant of God with man. There will never be any other remedy for mens’ sins and no other means of access to God. The central theme of all of man’s interaction with God is the blood of the covenant, and through His blood we forever dwell in Him. Ten trillion years from now we will still be singing out:
Redeemed, Redeemed, Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb!
Eternal Redemption
“Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by with His own blood He entered once into the Holy Place: having obtained eternal redemption for us.” Hebrews 9:12
The blood of Jesus that is presented to us by Jesus, our great High Priest, must produce certainty and confidence about our relationship with God, and authority over all things that would oppose us. Out of this certainty and confidence, an absolute authority will arise within us to crush every scorpion and serpent, and every power of sin and the demonic realm. In this authority, no power of darkness can harm us, and every demon is subject to us. Every mouth is stopped and every power of condemnation is silenced when the blood of Jesus Christ is applied. If we apply the blood of the covenant properly, then we will apply it with faith and authority: knowing that nothing is more powerful than the sacrifice that Jesus made. Our confidence in the blood of Jesus causes us to know that what God has promised is ours today, that the power of the blood covenant cannot pass away. Through this we refuse all intimidation, and with the authority that the Spirit of the Lord commands, we speak and everything must obey. It was with this confidence and authority that Jesus entered into heaven with His own blood to obtain an eternal redemption. It is with this same confidence and authority that He has entrusted unto us the ability to minister in His place, as priests of our great High Priest, Christ Jesus.
The blood of the Passover lamb was applied to every house of God’s covenant people in Egypt that first Passover night. Death could not trespass against the blood and claim the lives of those who were under its protection; for wherever the blood is applied, there the power of redemption and the power of God’s life resides.[130] It is the sacrifice for sin that stops the plague and provides deliverance from every curse and claim of Satan.[131] The power of the blood of Jesus can never pass away. It is more effective than those sacrifices that were only representative. It’s not our houses that have been sprinkled with His blood today. It’s not the blood of an animal sacrifice that has been applied to our lives, for we were sprinkled with His blood; it is on us now.[132] Our great High Priest has applied it to our lives.[133] Its undiminishing power will never pass away, it’s a covenant that is just as effective today as when it poured from Emmanuel’s veins at Calvary. Now as His priests, we present His blood to all who would be saved.[134] We apply it as the cure for sin, for sickness, and for disease. In every way that the blood of the Old Covenant was used, we apply the blood of Jesus just the same today. With the word of authority and a command in Jesus’ name, the blood takes hold of all who will believe – and everything unlike God must flee away.
Heaven’s Currency
Heaven’s currency, the currency that purchased us, was the blood of Jesus. We were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver and gold, but by the precious blood of Jesus, as a Lamb without spot or blemish. A value was placed upon the soul of man, and the price was the blood of Jesus. There was no power that could break the Satanic claim other than the blood of the Redeemer. The blood is the evidence and token of the life that contained it, its value only equal to the value of the One who shed it and its authority only as powerful as the One from whom it came. The One who had all authority and had created everything was able to break every unholy claim with the power of His blood. His life was more powerful than death, His righteousness more powerful than sin and His love able to liberate those imprisoned in hate. The power of sin, and all its twisted desire, was erased by the righteousness of God and through His divine nature. The Father’s devotion and jealous love, with all of heaven’s power and authority, will work to ensure that the power of the blood of His precious Son is enforced. God, who paid such a high price for our sins to be washed away, will most certainly enforce the results of that price! God purchased us, so we are His, and in His jealous love He watches over us to perform His word.
Jesus purchased the church with His own blood. All that has been purchased by the blood of Jesus belongs to Father. The price He paid is the measure of how valuable we are to Him. Nothing can possibly be more sacred and precious to the Father than the life and blood of Jesus. We must be careful to understand the sacredness and power of the blood of Jesus, lest we should count the blood of the covenant as some unholy thing, misuse it, and end up walking over that sacred thing by which we have been redeemed. The blood of Jesus must become as sacred to us as it is to the Father, lest we outrage the Holy Spirit. When the blood of Jesus is given its proper place in our thoughts and actions, then we will discover more fully the life-giving authority that was granted unto us. The life of Jesus was poured out so that the fullness of the life of God might be poured into us. His blood is the sum total of His life, and we now live by Him.
The Love
To dwell in the love of God is to dwell in God. To know the love of Christ that passes knowledge is to be filled with all the fullness of God. The love of God was defined in the way that Christ laid down His life for us. It was defined in the cross, where Jesus bore our sins and tasted death for every man. God commended His love towards us, and Christ died for us, while we were yet sinners. Now He will all the more freely give us all things by Him, and of this we must be confident. We are freely supplied with every dimension of God’s grace, power and authority, and we can be confident that there is nothing that God has promised that He will fail to do.
Through His love, He gave His life as a ransom for us. God so loved us that He spared not His own Son in order to win us, and as we engage in His affairs, contending for the souls of men, every dimension of the power of the kingdom will be seen. The blood is the testimony and the proof of God’s great love and unlimited commitment to give us all things. The blood of Jesus is the most precious subject in the bible. It was poured out to us through the deepest affections of God’s love for us, and it is released through our lives to a lost and dying world through the same compassion. He did all these wonderful things for us so that that He might bring many sons into glory through the blood of His sacrifice.
Healing in the Blood
The blood of Jesus will always and forever retain the healing power and cure for all of man’s sin and disease; it will never lose its power. Those who take hold of faith in the blood of Jesus are given the authority to execute the double cure that flowed from Emmanuel’s veins. The One who has cleansed all our iniquities is also the One who has healed all our diseases and pains. Jesus bore our sins in his body on the tree so that we might have the authority and ability to live unto righteousness (the life of God); by His stripes we were healed. Our authority is found in our confidence that these things are absolutely true! And therefore, we insist upon them and will not have it any other way. When we stand up to proclaim this good news, we do so in the power of the cross. Our divine commission is to proclaim what the cross of Christ has purchased. We can be certain that with this proclamation the authority and power of God will be revealed.
The Authority of Sonship
“But to as many as received, to them He gave authority to be sons of God even to as many as would believe upon His name.” John 1:12
There could be no greater honor than to be born into the family of God and called a son. Yet we are not just called sons, but also given the authority of the Son, Christ Jesus. We now have the same authority that Jesus has over all the powers of darkness and every physical and natural element. A new dimension of faith has been unveiled, the faith to function as a son. Jesus came and demonstrated the authority of the Son, with all power and authority. It was seen in Him that which the psalmist described: “For you have made Him a little lower than the angels and have crowned Him with glory and honor. You made Him to have dominion over the works of Your hand and You put all things under His feet” (Psalms 8:4-6; Hebrews 2:6-8).
Though the prophets of old were mighty in their exploits, they could not attain to the status of a son. Moses was used like no other, but he could not boast of such a right. Though Abraham was the father of faith, he had to wait until the promise was fulfilled and Jesus came and purchased our redemption before he would be a son. Through redemption, what God had formed Adam to be was restored to man again. A spiritual resurrection took place by the Spirit of the Lord, and we were given the power to live as one with Jesus Christ the Son.
In Christ Jesus we have this unspeakable gift. His Son is now revealed in us through this great salvation. Now, in the greatness of God’s own good pleasure, which has been given unto us, and through the greatness of His love, we are called the sons of God (1 John 3:1). Sonship is the gift of the new creation that we receive when we are born again through the One who transformed our lives. When we have received what He has freely given, then we are born as the sons of God. We are not just subjects of His kingdom, nor are we only friends, but we are sons: those begotten of the Father. He has not just given us a position, but His authority, the authority of a fully matured son. The only issue now is: who will believe our report that they might live by the faith of Jesus Christ?
Christ’s Sonship
“Therefore, you are no longer a servant but a son, and if a son then also an heir of God through Christ.” Galatians 4:7
A child has limited authority in the Father’s house and is no different from a servant when it comes to having the right to make decisions. However, once the child matures and steps into the appointed role as the heir, then as the son he is the recognized owner and functions with the same authority that belongs to his Father. It is this authority that Paul refers to in Galatians 4:7 – the authority of sonship (hiouthesia) that belongs to all New Testament saints. We are no longer to act as mere children in Father’s house, but as matured sons! Through the power of the Holy Ghost we are given the ability and insight to function as those who are of full age. Through the faith of Jesus Christ we are called to take our position of authority over the things that we have inherited in our Father’s house.
Why would we draw back through unbelief and take less of a position than the one Father desires for us to have? We must be willing to believe what God has said and step up boldly into the responsibility that He has given. Unfortunately, many are fearful to take such a step; many are more comfortable living as a child. To many, the idea of sonship seems to be more than just an unspeakable gift; it seems to be one that is unthinkable. For many, the joys, benefits and blessings of faith are placed somewhere in the future and the life of Christ only religiously pursued. Imprisoned by religious ritual, the gospel is modified and tailored to fit more comfortably to each person’s strengths and abilities. John Wesley, reflecting on this verse, spoke of his life that had been bound by his religious beliefs, saying, “I had even then the faith of a servant, though not that of a son” (Journal [London, 1872], I, 76n.).
Sonship is only understood in the context of the life of Christ Jesus. Jesus, as the only begotten Son, showed us how to walk as the sons of God and do the works of the Father. It was not a position given only to an elect few, but a call to everyone who would believe. Anyone, both then and now, whoever will receive, to them He has given the authority to be the sons of God.[135] The Spirit of the Son testifies of this and cries out within our hearts saying, “Abba Father.”[136] Why should it matter what we want when God wants to crown us with His glory and show the world that we are co-inheritors with Christ. There is no room for another classification of Christian; there are only those who are in Christ and those who are not, and those who are in Christ are sons and heirs of God![137]
The only way the life and ministry of Jesus will be realized in our lives is for each one of us to believe what God has said and then begin to live it! Through the confessions of our mouths and the actions of our life, we must resolve ourselves to be that which God described. To demand it our own way and refuse to accept what God has provided for us to be can only be classified as, at best, unbelief. To hide behind our own ideas and to cowardly retreat to the dens of our own beliefs and then proclaim that we are doing the will of the Father is make-believe. The word of God calls us all to come forward – to believe and receive what God has freely given. We have been given the life of the Spirit so that we can walk in God’s divine glory and power. The proof that Jesus has been raised from the dead and has sat down at the Father’s right hand is revealed through the sons that He has brought into this glory. Will we refuse Gods plan and opt out of such authority and responsibility? We have been invited into a fellowship with Jesus and given an opportunity to enjoy His relationship with the Father so that all men might know that we are the sons of God.[138] It is this relationship that we were born into when we were born of His Spirit. Come, let us walk in the Spirit so that the life of Christ Jesus the Son may be revealed in us.
The Glory of the Son
“In bringing many sons into glory it was appropriate for Him (for whom and by whom all things are) that the Captain of their salvation should be made perfect through suffering.” Hebrews 2:10
Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us; look at what the Captain of our salvation has done! He has brought us into sonship, an inheritance beyond what we could ever ask or think. A whole new dimension of faith is now revealed to the sons of men; we are heirs of God joined together with the One who suffered for our sins, Christ Jesus the Only Begotten Son!
Jesus has brought us into His own glory.[139] He has given us the glory that the Father gave to Him. By His own great power, through His own good pleasure, He has made us like His Son. We may say that we are not of this world, but that as He is, so are we now in this world today.[140] We are transformed and transfigured by this work of grace, but if we are going to walk in the authority and power of it we must believe God’s report. This is the record that God has given of His Son: the One who has the Son has life – the life of God in us![141] We walk in Him and live in Him and we are empowered and immersed with His identity.[142]
Each one of us must be willing to be conformed to the image of the Son, who is the express image of the Father. We are to understand that God has chosen to reveal His Son in us; this is the faith that now has been spoken into our hearts by the word of God.[143] We are to believe what God has done and be conformed to the image of His Son, so that it might be shown that Christ Jesus is the firstborn among many brethren.[144] We must be willing to accept this grace that has provided oneness with both Jesus and the Father so that the world may know that the Father sent Jesus.[145] There is boldness and glory that we must allow to arise and shine through our lives, boldness and glory that only comes by the willingness to step out in sonship faith. As the sons of God, we must be willing to follow Jesus into every dimension of His authority – not in a different way than He has modeled for us in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, but in the same display of Father’s will being done through our lives.
Manifested Sons
“For the creation eagerly awaits the manifestation of the sons of God.” Romans 8:19
The ministry of sonship has begun. As the sons of God we are taught by the Holy Spirit how to function in the power and authority that Christ Jesus now has; to do His works and greater works, and to set the captives free. Although all this fullness is available, there is still more to being sons than what we can have right now. The full revelation of all that God has made us to be will not be manifested until we receive a glorified body.[146] When we put on our resurrected body we will see Him as He is, for we shall be like Him. When we step into that heavenly tabernacle and then ultimately into the resurrected body, a whole new dimension of sonship will begin.[147] J.B. Phillips put it well when He translated Romans 8:19,”The whole creation is on tiptoe to see the wonderful sight of the sons of God coming into their own” (Mounce, p. 184). Although we are not yet in this unspeakable glorified state, we are still the sons of God with the authority of the Son: Christ Jesus. There is a great liberating work that must be done right now so that men might be saved. If we walk in the Spirit and live in the Spirit, then the glory of sonship will be seen and the benefits of this abundant life enjoyed.[148]
Jesus is the model of sonship. We must walk in His footsteps if we expect to live His life![149] As the Son, Jesus brought many sons into this glory, and showed us by example the kind of life that we must have. The only way to live the life that we have been called to is to imitate God and do what Jesus did.[150] Jesus showed us how to live the heavenly life (the life of doing the Father’s will), and He showed us how creation would be liberated through the ministry of the Son. He came to set men free from the bondage of darkness, and to bring all who would believe into His glorious liberty. All creation now waits for the day when it will be liberated from the influences of Satan, and experience the glorious liberty of the sons of God. When God creates a new heaven and a new earth, all creation will be affected, and everything in it will be instantly changed. In that day, all creation will be liberated from every evil effect of sin and death.[151]
However, we must recognize that the time of the reign of Christ has already begun. As His representatives, we have been commanded to proclaim the liberating, conquering power of the Spirit that is found only in Jesus’ Name! Wherever the gospel is preached, creation (and especially men) will experience the benefits of the presence of the Lord. The glorious liberty of the sons of God, which is found in the Holy Spirit, has authority over the curse of sin, sickness, disease, pestilence, and all oppression. Every spiritual blessing that is in heaven belongs to those who will believe; they will have power over all the works of the devil, his curse, and poverty. When the gospel is preached, it is a joyful sound. When those who have the authority of the Son proclaim the gospel, the creation is set free. The prophet Isaiah described the effect of the sons of God (the redeemed) upon creation when he said, “They will go out with joy and be led forth with peace, and all of the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands” (Isaiah 55:12). When the glorious liberty of salvation is experienced, then sorrow, sighing, and mourning must flee away.[152] What a glorious time we live in, for the reign of Christ Jesus has begun!
The Authority of Faith
“And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.” Matthew 17:20
Theologians and laymen alike have given many definitions of faith, but none should mean as much to us as the one that Jesus gave. Jesus did not define faith as a religious belief or an ideology; He defined faith as the supernatural authority of God released through those who would believe.[153] Faith is not what a person thinks about life or God, but it is the power of God at work in us by the Holy Spirit. Faith is miracle-working power that produces the miraculous life of Jesus. Faith is the power to move mountains and command sycamine trees to be planted in the sea. The authority of faith is the power that enables the son of God to command the winds and the waves and have them obey.[154] Those who function in faith receive the dead to life again, and command the moon and the sun to stand still in the sky. By faith a nation passed through the Red Sea and the walls of Jericho came down. The authority of God’s word produces the power of faith in those who will believe. Faith makes the invisible things visible, and creates everything from those things that are unseen. Through faith kingdoms are subdued, righteousness is worked, promises obtained, the mouths of lions are stopped, the violence of fire is quenched, men escape the edge of the sword, are made strong out of weakness, wax valiant in fight, and turn the armies of the enemies to flight.[155] Faith is the authority of God displayed in acts of power!
There were many great signs and wonders done by faith, but the greatest miracle of faith is the power that changed man’s hearts. By faith a new heart and a new spirit were created, and the bodies of men were made the temples of the Holy Ghost! Through God’s work of grace the word of faith became a part of our being and now resides in our hearts and mouths. From the word of faith we speak the word of God and the Holy Spirit creates everything new. In our heart there is a belief and from our mouth there is a confession that brings forth righteousness and truth.[156]
Faith is the miraculous life of Christ in us. Faith is the abiding presence of the Father and the Holy Ghost in our lives. By the miracle of faith we were crucified with Christ and by the miracle of faith we were raised up together with Him. The word of faith that is in our mouth is, “I am crucified with Christ and it is no longer I that lives but Christ who lives in me. And the life that I now live I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.”[157] The faith of God reproduced the life of Christ within us and gives to us the proofs that we are in Him and that He is in us.[158] We have His faith, not some faith of men; we have the faith of Jesus, God’s faith by the Holy Ghost. We have the miraculous life of divine union with God and in this we discover the authority of faith. Having received the same Spirit of faith we now speak. When we speak we do not speak out of our own beliefs, instead we speak those things that God has spoken.[159] It is Christ who speaks the word of faith in us by the Holy Spirit.
Great Faith
Jesus’ definition of faith was characterized in the confidence that a Roman Centurion had in Him. The centurion recognized who Jesus was, and laid hold on the power and authority which Jesus possessed. The centurion was in such awe of Jesus that he did not feel worthy to even have Him come to his house. The centurion’s faith was born in His awe for Jesus. The centurion, so captivated by the person of Jesus, was certain that He could do anything. The centurion saw in Jesus the greatness of a kingdom that was greater than Rome and knew that the authority of Jesus was absolute. The centurion did not need much from the King of kings, he only needed Jesus to speak the word and he knew that he would have the things he needed. The centurion did not need to be convinced because the Living Word, Christ Jesus, had already captivated his heart. The centurion only needed to hear this One of great authority “speak the word” and he knew it would be done. He needed no other proof, his eyes did not need to see the miracle because the word of authority was enough for him to call it done. Jesus said, “this is it; this is the faith!” Jesus was calling to every generation declaring, “this is how it works!” He said, “I have not found so great of faith in Israel” (Matthew 8:10).
The authority of the word, and our willingness to accept it and act on it, is a theme that runs throughout the scripture. To move in this faith, we must be struck with awe at the power of God who has authority to do anything He chooses. We must hear His word telling us that He cares for us, and that He will do whatever we ask. In knowing Jesus and the authority of His word we can call it done![160] We have been given the unlimited provision of the Holy Spirit, a revelation of Jesus that the centurion could not have known. All we need to do is lift up our eyes towards heaven and see Jesus. We must look unto the author and finisher of our faith and know and believe His love. When we look at him, our hearts will be filled with awe and we will have great confidence in His love. In this relationship of love, knowing how much He loves us, we will also know that He will do whatever we ask.
The centurion was not of the household of faith, and had no rights to the covenant or promises. He was from a pagan race that did not know God. He was a gentile oppressor, and that meant he was unclean to the Hebrew race. Even though Jesus was sent specifically to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, He still could not ignore this kind of faith. It was the kind of faith He had been looking for in Israel. It was the kind of faith that pleases God. He did not find it in Israel; he found it in a centurion’s heart. Faith arose in the heart of this sinful man because he adored the Son. The centurion’s faith created an access into the realms of the Kingdom that had not yet been made available to him. The centurion’s faith, a faith that lays hold on the promises of God, removed the wait and he was immediately provided access and his petition was granted. Unlike those in Israel, the centurion did not have to wade through a myriad of doctrinal questions before he could believe. His eyes saw Jesus, and his heart was filled with love. He had a need, and his heart was filled with confidence that he would not be rejected. He knew that this loving Savior would respond to his request.
Today, if we will only have faith in God, God’s faith will be released through us. If we will believe God, then we will see the great things that He has promised become a reality in our lives. If we will have faith that Jesus is exalted above all authorities, with everything subject to Him, then we can be certain that nothing can prevent what He has said. We can know and believe the love that God has for us and be filled with confidence that He has accepted us and will grant our request. We can have the same confidence that the centurion had in the word of Christ. We do not have to wait until we can see it with our eyes in order to believe, because His word is evidence enough! Confidence in Christ Jesus and the assurance of His love will produce great faith. Your heart cannot condemn you when you know that His blood has made you right. The thoughts of rejection cannot withhold you when you gaze upon His love. The Living Word calls you and beckons everyone to come. “Have the faith of God,” He says; now call it done. Don’t hesitate – recognize who Jesus is and let Him meet your needs.
Faith Produces Miracles
A woman, in desperate need for her daughter to be healed, came to Jesus even though she had no right. In her initial interaction with Him it looked as though she would be rejected. This woman had a desperate need that compelled her to lay hold on eternal life. It did not matter what anyone said, she knew that Christ Jesus alone had her answer and the help that she needed. She came to Him and never took her eyes off the One who was the Savior of the world. Somehow, His love had seized her heart and she was able to realize that He could not refuse her request. His faith had captivated her and nothing could dissuade her. The harsh words that Jesus spoke would have caused others to be offended, but all it did for her was make her more determined. Her willingness to be broken and humble only ensured the answer to her request. The faith of Jesus that flowed out as he spoke about the children’s bread caused her to realize that all she would need was a single crumb to work her miracle. She had no access to the promises; she was a Syrophoenician woman who was unclean, with a daughter who was demon possessed. How could she expect that Jesus would not just pass her by? When Jesus saw her faith, it could not be denied. It was the faith that God was looking for, the faith that would lay hold upon the Son. It was the faith that would acknowledge who Jesus was: the Savior of the world. All Jesus could say was, “woman, great is your faith” your daughter is made whole (Matthew 15:28).
One of the Jesus’ most radical statements produced one of the most radical displays of faith in the New Testament: “Jesus said to her, ‘let the children be filled first: for it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs’” (Matthew 15:26). One thing is for certain; this Gentile woman of Syrophoenicia had nothing in her theology that dissuaded her from believing in miracles. Her daughter was demon possessed, she was desperate, and Jesus was the Man of miracles. Jesus made this radical statement to define who His miracles were for, when He said: “[I]t’s the children’s bread.” The children’s bread belonged to those Israelites that God had made a covenant with, and this unclean woman had no right to eat it. However, this woman could hear the love of God, even in the harsh words, and found reason to hope in the possibility of a crumb. In her humility she behaved herself with the utmost respect, and Jesus said, because of what you have said, here is the children’s bread, and she partook of what had not yet been made available to her race. Her faith in who Jesus was laid hold upon the miracle. It was a faith that worked in her by His love, and by her humility. It was a bold faith that could not be denied.
The Hearing of Faith
The Holy Spirit reveals the Word of God to us. If we will open up our eyes and look, then we will recognize that there is nothing that we could ask that He would refuse. The Holy Spirit not only reveals the word, but also speaks faith into our lives so that, by that faith, we may live in the supernatural supply of heaven. When we behold the word of God and are captivated by what is said, then the Spirit supplies the faith. When the word is mixed with faith, then we have all the promises of God. Some would argue for different kinds of faith; but in truth, there is only one kind of faith, and that is the faith that comes by the Word, Christ Jesus.
Faith produces different kinds of miracles, but there is only one kind of faith. The one kind of faith that we have received is God’s faith, which is supplied to us by Jesus Christ and flows to us by the Holy Spirit.[161] The faith that is given to us by the Spirit is saving faith and miracle faith. This faith comes to us as the fruit of the Spirit, and as the gift of the Spirit. The person who works miracles by the Spirit through the hearing of faith also received salvation by the Spirit through the same faith.[162] Faith is the active agent by which the Holy Spirit produces the miracle in and through us. It’s God’s faith, the faith of Jesus Christ spoken into the lives of all who will believe. It is this faith that we are to contend for; the faith that was once delivered unto the saints. It is by this faith that we were born of God and it is by this faith that we are now perfected.[163] It is no less a miracle of faith to grow and mature into all the glorious things that God has chosen for us to be than it is to cast out devils and cure disease. All of these things happen by the working of the Holy Spirit through the activity of faith.
Paul speaks of faith as a unique manifestation of the Spirit, distinguishing it from miracles and gifts of healings.[164] It must be understood, however, that all miracles and gifts of healing take place by faith. It does not matter what gifts of the Spirit that we may refer to, they can only function by the operation of faith. So what does Paul specifically mean when He refers to this special manifestation of faith as a gift? The manifestation of the Spirit that is often termed the “gift of faith” would be more accurately called, simply, “faith.” To begin with, this mention of faith must be understood in light of all the other things that are said about faith. The topic of faith is not only outlined in hundreds of verses, but faith is one of the primary subjects of scripture. It would be unwise to create a unique kind of faith from one verse of scripture. We must understand that faith touches every aspect of the spiritual.
Healings, miracles and revelatory speech were everyday occurrences in the Church. Therefore, in this case, Paul emphasizes a unique function of faith that may not have the same overt display of power as these other manifestations of the Spirit. However, great champions of faith testify that, through this activity of faith, God drops an impossible undertaking into our hearts and we know that we can accomplish it, or, similarly, He gives us the certainty that something has been done. The same thing happened to us when we were saved; we knew that all we had to do was respond and the miracle of salvation would take place. When the Holy Spirit ministers faith to us, then it becomes a word of faith in our mouth and a certainty of faith in our hearts that has no shadow of doubt. With this faith we have the assurance of salvation, and the same Spirit that assures us of salvation also speaks faith so that we can go and subdue a nation with the gospel of Jesus Christ. In this faith we find a special authority to do very specific things that the Holy Spirit gives us to do. It is certainty for a special work, not a different kind of faith. The ministry of the Spirit that speaks faith will take us far beyond all that we can think or ask. By the supply of the Spirit we are empowered to function in special works of grace and divine abilities. Therefore, we can understand that the faith that comes by hearing the word is the same faith that is supplied to us by the Holy Spirit.
The faith that began in our life when we were saved is meant to grow and mature. Faith grows and increases in our lives as we fellowship with God and do those things that He commands us to do.[165] Faith can grow to the place that one is full of faith; just like Steven was full of faith, who then because of that faith did great wonders and miracles. Faith can also remain dormant and not be activated in our lives because we fail to obey the word of God and step out and do those things that He commands. We can confine and limit this faith through fear and self-reliance. If faith is to be activated in our lives, then we must step out as Abraham did and trust God. If we will turn our ears away from hearing the suggestions of the world around us and give ourselves wholly to walking in the Spirit, then a great flood of divine ability will be realized in our lives. The opportunity to live in a whole new world, a heavenly realm, is available to those who will walk by faith. We have received the same Spirit of faith and there is no reason to hesitate to speak the words of God, with confidence and boldness, in our everyday walk of life. We must give ourselves to the instructions and inspirations of the Holy Spirit and be taught how to function in faith through the practical application of the word of God. As we fellowship with Jesus in this walk of faith and obedience, faith will increase and the fullness of the faith of Jesus Christ will be seen in us.
Believing for the Impossible
Faith makes the impossible possible. “Jesus said to him if you are able to have faith nothing is impossible for the one who has faith” (Mark 9:23). There are too many people who think that great faith only belongs to the spiritually elite, but this is not true. God has made faith available to anyone who is willing. The father of the demon possessed boy that Jesus gave this opportunity to was of no importance. He was an ordinary, everyday person, yet Jesus revealed to him that he could take hold of a faith in which everything would become possible!
Faith calls forth the miraculous. It was faith that would make everything possible and enable an unknown man to be empowered to do anything. It was faith that made the woman with the issue of blood completely well.[166] When Jairus heard the news of the death of His daughter, Jesus demanded faith from him if he was going to see his daughter alive again.[167] It was the blind man’s faith that caused him to regain his sight.[168]
We must understand that if we are going to realize all of the promises and blessings, then we must also have the faith that only comes by Jesus Christ. Jesus never looked at any faithless person and said “oh that’s alright, not everyone has faith.” Rather, when he saw people without faith He said, “Oh faithless and perverse generation how long must I be among you? How much longer must I put up with you (Mark 9:19)? He rebuked His disciples for not having it.[169] He didn’t say, “oh guys it’s alright, I know it takes time to develop faith;” rather, it is that which God expects to find in those who will walk with Him. The absence of faith stands in the way of God and limits the miraculous expression of His love that would otherwise heal and deliver those bound and oppressed with sickness and disease.[170]
We can be certain that Christ Jesus demands faith from us today! If an unknown man in Israel can be expected to have faith that would empower him to do every impossible thing, how much more does God expect of us who have been both born of the Spirit and baptized in the Spirit? If the unbelief expressed in the town of Nazareth limited the power of Jesus, how much more will an unbelieving church hinder the works of grace! Every person must realize that faith only begins where human ability ends. We cannot say that we are waking in faith if we are living within the limits of human ability. We must be willing to step out and believe God for what only God can do. We must be willing to live like Jesus is in charge of everything, because He is. We must be willing to see that His authority is absolute and place our confidence in Him. We must allow the Spirit of truth to lead us into the truth where we believe that everything is possible to those who have faith.
The Spirit of Faith
“But we have the same Spirit of faith according to the scripture, I believed so I have spoke, we also believe and so we speak.” 2 Corinthians 4:13
It is the Holy Spirit who is the supplier of faith, and this passage of scripture should be rightly understood as referring to that which proceeds from the Holy Spirit, and therefore, the “Spirit of faith” should be understood as a synonym for the Holy Spirit.[171] Matthew Henry says in his commentary regarding this verse, “faith which is the operation of the Spirit;” therefore that which comes from the Holy Ghost and not from man. We have the same Spirit of faith that was given to Jesus, which is the same Spirit of faith that has operated in those in the past. The Spirit of faith will display great power and authority in those who will believe.
Paul, like the psalmist, is faced with death and affliction. However, because of the Spirit of faith, he, like the psalmist, was inspired to testify of the glory and power of God that rested upon him. Paul makes it clear that for the word of God to work, it must be spoken: “for with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:9-10). When Paul spoke the word of faith by the Spirit, he was doing so out of the treasure that was placed in his life.[172] There is a power at work on the inside of every believer, inspiring us to believe God – and that power is the Holy Spirit. It is out of this treasure of the new creation that the power of God brings forth His glory in us. Our spirit is joined unto the Spirit of the Lord, and as we yield to Him the things that He possesses are ours.
The Holy Spirit has placed the word of faith in our hearts and upon our lips so that we may declare the wonderful works of God. He has given us the authority of faith that calls those things that are not as though they were, and from such faith we inherit blessings and do the works of God. Through faith we become the beneficiaries of all the blessings that God has poured out upon His church.[173] The same Spirit of faith that prophesied through the psalmist of old was speaking through Paul, declaring to us that we have also been entrusted with the authority to speak and declare the promises of God.[174] Walk in the Spirit, and speak by the Spirit as the oracles of God. Let the word of Christ dwell in you, and speak those things that God believes. The Spirit of faith will arise within you and you will confidently proclaim that all of His promises are yes and amen! When the Spirit of faith speaks, the promises of God are received and the riches of God are revealed through our lives.[175]
The Word of Faith
“But what does it say, “The word is near you in your mouth and even in your heart;” this is that word of faith that is proclaimed.” Romans 10:8
God’s people have the power that framed the universe within them. The word of God will work mightily through you and accomplish great things if you will agree with God. All we must do is believe in our hearts and confess with our mouths those things that God has said, and then we will begin to participate with God’s miracle. When Christ Jesus came into our hearts, the miracle power of the Living Word was established there. The Spirit of the Living God wrote His words of faith upon our hearts and minds. As we speak His words of faith by the Spirit, all of His will begins to take place through our lives. We made a confession of salvation and we believed in our hearts,and then the miracle of His life began in us and His righteousness was established. This is not only how we begin this miracle life with God, but it is also how we continue on in this walk of faith.
When we hear the word of God, we are hearing the faith of God. This testimony of faith was first announced at Sinai. All of Israel audibly heard the words of the Almighty at the first Pentecost in the wilderness.[176] As the mountain shook with His presence, the earth was filled with the sound of His voice declaring and revealing His word. They knew first-hand that God had spoken and not man.[177] All they needed to do was simply agree and all of the blessings that He had promised would have been theirs.
Today, the word of God is present in our hearts and in our mouths (if we have been transformed by the word of His grace).[178] All we need to do is to speak out those things that the word of God proclaimed and we will be speaking faith! As we speak faith, the blessings of heaven described in the word will be revealed through our lives. It was the word of faith that created the vast expanse of the Universe, it was the word of faith that brought forth our salvation, and it is the word of faith that will cause us to possess all those wonderful things that God has promised.[179]
Too many of God’s people speak things that have nothing to do with the word of God and therefore nothing to do with faith – and whatsoever is not of faith is sin! They agree with disappointment and speak out a future of failure and demise. We must learn to speak only those things that God has said and not agree with our adversary or the disappointing circumstances that we may find ourselves facing. We live our lives much too earthly, so when things are going well we are happy, but when things go badly we are sad and begin to declare reproachful things that belong to the spirits of doubt and unbelief. God desires to turn all the bad around and fill you with a sound of continual thanksgiving. So, keep your tongue from evil and do not allow your lips to speak out words of doubt and disappointment, depart from evil and pursue His peace.[180] Only speak the truth, the word of faith, which God has spoken, and forever forsake the damnable heresy of murmur and complaint. God’s word is forever settled in heaven, so hold fast to what He has said. Say with the men of faith and wisdom, “All of the words of my mouth are in righteousness; there is nothing arrogant or perverse in them” (Proverbs 8:8).
The Authority of Faith from the Authority of the Word
God is a God of faith and without faith we cannot please Him. There is no good thing that He will withhold from those who walk uprightly. The upright life is found in believing the promises of God. So be in expectation that all that God has promised will be fulfilled in you.[181] Do not faint, nor grow weary.[182] Rather, let the words of your mouth and the meditations of your heart be acceptable in the sight of the One who is your Strength and Redeemer.[183] It is by our words that we are condemned and it is by our words that we are justified. Therefore, we must be careful to only speak the words of truth and the words of faith.[184] Our confession must be what God has said. Those who are born of the Spirit must learn to walk in the Spirit of truth as it is revealed by the word of God, and not by anything else!
God makes faith easy for us to understand by giving us models of faith like Abraham. Faith comes from a direct interaction and fellowship with God: He speaks and we believe and then obey! “As also it is written, ‘I have made you a father of many nations – before God whom you have believed: who gives life to those that are dead, and calls into existence the things that do not exist’” (Romans 4:17). The foundation of faith is an absolute trust in God. Abraham trusted God, left the protection of his homeland and family and followed God even when he did not know where he was going.[185] Abraham stepped into a relationship with God, and that brought into his life a certainty that God’s promises were true. Abraham was convinced that what God said, He would also do.[186] Abraham became the father, and an example, of faith to all who would follow after him. Even when everything was against him and it appeared that the promise had passed him by, he did not stagger at the promises of God, but remained strong in faith.[187]
God makes operating in faith easy; all we need to do is rely upon the Holy Spirit. The word of God declares to us what God has promised, and the Holy Spirit supplies us with the boldness and confidence that it will be done. The Spirit of truth speaks faith so that we can have all that God has promised. If we do not live in the realm of faith, then we are left to those things that only the arm of flesh can do.[188] To have the supply of faith that God has provided for us demands that we have a personal relationship with the Holy Spirit and yield ourselves to His influence. We need to recognize His place in our life and allow God to develop within us a dependency upon Him. Faith is not something that we can do on our own; it is something that we depend upon God to give us.
Faith enables us to see the results that God has promised, and causes us to rejoice as though it was already done! Childlike faith is all that is needed for God to do great works for us and through us. Men depend on their wisdom, insight, and maturity to accomplish things; God just wants us to trust Him and allow the Holy Spirit to fill us with the authority of mountain-moving faith!
The word of God is the word of faith, and when we hear faith we are positioned to do the impossible. If we delay or refuse to step out, then the miracle will not come. Many listen to the word that produces faith, but for many different reasons do not do what God commands and find themselves left out. Our lives should only be about doing the will of the Father, and it is His word alone that describes what He has willed. There is no reason to be lost in the meaning of the Greek words, whether it is the ‘logos’ or the ‘rhema,’ because both may be used interchangeably. Besides, the written word immediately becomes the spoken word as soon as the preacher begins to speak.[189] When we hear the word of God and obey, then faith is activated by the Spirit to produce God’s divine results.
We are to walk by faith, and whatever is not of faith is sin! The walk of faith is lived out through obedience to the word of God. The walk of faith that we must have is walking in the Spirit. The walk of faith is doing the will of the Father, and it is this life that we must live! The faith that comes by hearing what the Spirit of God speaks will always produce the results that the word of God describes. When Peter heard the word of faith that Jesus spoke, he immediately began to do what he had never done before. He heard the word, and then stepped out and walked upon the water.
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