Many Christians make the mistake — I did in my early days as a Christian — of thinking they must ‘feel’ the anointing of the Spirit of God to minister God’s power. Feelings are good, but the ‘invisible line’ between believing in miracles and seeing them happen disappears when we ignore feelings and simply do as Jesus commanded.
If the stripling shepherd David had not crossed the creek that separated him from the giant Goliath, the two would have exchanged insults until the sun went down. It was only when David selected five smooth stones from the bed of the creek — one for Goliath and the others for the giant’s four brothers — and crossed it that he committed.
You can preach “till the cows come home” but unless you commit by practising what you’ve preached the power of Jesus will remain potential. You may desire to minister God’s healing power to sick people, but why not now rather than “sometime”?
A visiting preacher had experienced the power of God, but was unable to ‘carry’ the anointing of power; that is, he was unable to shoulder the responsibility that goes with power ministry, which is to deliver to the point of human need, regardless of any lack of feeling. He promised much at the beginning of his message, but in the end was unable to deliver.
He asked me to pray for the sick, and then stood off to one side with a haunted look on his face, as God healed a woman from a “cracked” shoulder. I asked him privately about his problem. “That was your miracle”, I said. He had experienced a crisis in ministry that arose from his inability to sustain the powerful flow of the Spirit of God in and through his life, regardless of feelings. I felt for him; I had once been there myself.
Another man, an elderly preacher, asked me how the anointing “worked”. I told him that it only did for me when I acted in faith by putting myself “out there”. My experience has been that nothing happens until I act on the Lord’s promise that he is not just “with” me, as he was with the disciples, but “in” me by the Holy Spirit, as he was in the apostles. Jesus promised us this.
The Lord confirms the words I preach as I then follow-up by acting on them. I have no wish to stand before Jesus and have him speak of the potential I’d had that never became actual because I had not been able to bring myself to lay my hands on the sick in faith — regardless of doing so many times with no feelings at all.
What about you — are you willing to act on God’s Word? If so, then cross over from mixed feelings to none at all. When you do, you, God will do the same for you as he did for David and every believer who has “crossed the invisible line” since David crossed that creek.
Yes, there will be times when that unforgettable feel of the flow of God’s power through you will bring a desire to experience it again and again. There’s nothing else like it, but don’t depend on it. Exchanging insults with Goliaths but not “crossing the line” will leave you as just another onlooker instead of the ‘giant killer’ you could be!
“Unrealized Potential” will not be my epitaph! God’s faith in and through me will see to that!