Faith: God’s Gift to the Heart

Faith:  God’s Gift to the Heart (Second Edition)

Contents

Introduction                                       

Magnificent Faith                              

Great Faith                                          

Little Faith                                                                                                                   

Unbelief                                                                                                                     

A Word of Faith                                                                                                           

Strong Faith                                                                                                                           

Saving Faith                                                                                                                           

Flourishing Faith                                                                                                                  

Freestanding Faith                                                                                                                

Unsinkable Faith                                                                                                                    

The Faith Life                                                                                                                          

Generational Faith                                                                                                                

Building a Family of Faith                                                                                                     

Special Miracles                                                                                                                      

Creating a Faith Climate                                                                                                       

The If Factor                                                                                                                             

Never Act Like an Idiot                                                                                                          

Doubt is Double Trouble                                                                                                       

Value-Added Faith     

Interactive Faith

Only Believe

“Things Go Better with Jesus”

Conceiving the Miraculous

One Step Short

Signs Follow

Anatomy of a Miracle

Two Things Go Hand in Hand

Paralyzed Faith

Who Makes the First Move?

Twenty-Twenty Vision for Miracles

The Faith Breakthrough

A Tale of Two Mountains

Developing a Spirit of Faith

Facts, Not Promises

Increasing Your Capacity

Miracles Are Easy

Living the Dream

A New Touchstone of Faith

Obedient Faith

Seven Better Ways

It All Comes Down to This

Where To From Here?

Will You Be Safe in Summer?

Introduction

Faith: God’s Gift to the Heart is a refreshing look at faith. This book contains insights gained during fifty mission trips in Asia and Europe, and forty years of local church leadership. It will encourage you to do the works that Jesus did during his earthly ministry, and does to this day, through Christians who move forward in faith.

An American missionary who founded a bible college in Central Luzon once took me to a Filipino village (barangay) which had been blacked out by a power failure. Although not far from a main highway, it was a world away. Motorcycles roared through the night and dim shapes flitted through the darkness beyond our vehicle’s headlights. The venue was the grandly named “Oasis Club,” which turned out to be a rough concrete stage with unfinished rooms out back.

A hastily arranged power fix soon got the meeting started. The response was good, with some deciding for Christ and some healed. I remember climbing into the back of a heavy truck to pray for a man on a stretcher suffering from elephantiasis, a disease that swells the leg to such a size that…you really don’t want to know.

A year or so later, when I was about to teach at the bible college, a petit Filipina student approached me, her face beaming. She asked, “Do you know me?” “Sorry” I replied, “but I can’t say that I do.” She then asked: “Do you remember that night at [she named the village] when the lights were out and two girls played guitars? Yes, I did and would never forget that night. Well, she said, one of the girls who played guitar in the meeting that night was named Jina.

“I am Jina!” she exclaimed.“I was one of the two who played guitars that night!” The excited young student then told me that after reading one of my books on faith she had decided to return to the village with a friend and preach the Gospel. They believed that the Lord would use them to heal the sick, just as He had used me. “We played a few choruses and then told the people about Jesus, like you did. Then, as we prayed, the names of different sicknesses and diseases came into our minds. 

“When we called out the names of those diseases, people who were suffering from them came forward. We laid our hands on them, and when we did the Lord healed them!” Jina added that after their amazing experience she asked the Lord if He wanted her to go to Bible College. He did, and there she was – bubbling with joy and excitement! Some things boomerang, and when they do they bless you!

That young lady’s testimony of her unforgettable experience is what this book is all about. I am confident that many who read Faith: God’s Gift to the Heart will put what they learn to good use – just as Jina did. I very much hope that you will be one of them.                                      

– Peter Barfoot

Magnificent Faith

It is clear from the Gospels that the purpose of Jesus of Nazareth during his earthly ministry was not at that time to evangelize the world, but to preach the message of the kingdom of God to his own people. Only later, through the preaching of his apostles, did that message include the “whosoever”. Today, nearly 2000 years later, the message of the kingdom is preached around the globe.

Jesus was outside his own natural area of interest when he encountered the unexpected faith of a foreigner. That faith forced its way through his objections with an intensity born of desperation, and gained a miracle for a little girl. It was faith that made Jesus marvel, faith that refused to be denied. It was, in fact, the greatest faith that Jesus ever encountered. He described that faith as Magnificent!

Would you like to be remembered for nearly 2000 years as the one who had the faith to counter rejection with pleas that were too hard to ignore; faith that refused to take “No!” for an answer?

The one who had that faith was a woman from the seacoast district of Tyre and Sidon (Matthew calls her a Canaanite). She was an “outsider” who came to Jesus on behalf of her daughter, who was tormented by an evil spirit. She cried out to Jesus for mercy, but he was strangely silent. Even his disciples begged him to send her away. She was not a “daughter of Abraham” and, at the time, his ministry was to his own people.

“Then she came and worshipped him, saying, ‘Lord, help me!'” (Matthew 15:25) But Jesus replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to dogs.”

What must the woman have felt when her public pleas for help were ignored and her tormented daughter was likened to a dog? She must surely have felt hurt and rejected. Jesus appears to have been unusually insensitive toward this “outsider”! But did that stop the woman? No way!

“And she said, ‘Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs that fall from their master’s table’.”

What a startling statement! The Canaanite woman based her bold request on the very words that should have offended her! She had not approached Jesus with God’s promise to heal because she was an “outsider” who had no access to that promise. Instead, she based her argument on a thing she had observed many times. When crumbs of the bread eaten by her children fell from the table, the family dog quickly licked them up.

When Jesus called healing “the children’s bread”, he meant that it belonged to those “inside” Israel, as a covenant right. But the woman seized on his illustration and expanded it to include her own desperate need: her daughter’s deliverance.

“O woman,” Jesus responded, “great is your faith: as you will, so be it.”

It is clear that her faith was a product of desperation rather than promise. What was the result? The woman’s daughter was set free “that very hour”! The girl was not even present with her mother – she was delivered from a distance. Jesus never laid his hands on her. His personal presence in her home was not required, since he had issued a command in response to her mother’s “great faith”!

The Greek word translated “great” should really be translated “magnificent”. It is a different word from that used in the well-known account of the Roman centurion, who is also said to have had “great” faith (Matthew 8:10). The Greek word is megas – commonly known today as “mega”. “Mega” is used as a prefix in words such as “megaton” and “megawatt”.

In fact, anything that is so big that the word “great” just isn’t great enough begins with “mega”. An explosion equal to that of one million tons of TNT is a megaton blast. Think of one million watts of electricity – that’s a megawatt. Now imagine one million units of faith – that’s mega faith – Magnificent Faith!

Magnificent Faith is the greatest faith displayed in the New Testament. It was the faith that made Jesus marvel. Because of it he delivered the woman’s daughter from demons. Her Magnificent Faith – her mega faith – was released to the Lord in one short, supercharged sentence. Her desperate words were packed with faith that Jesus found irresistible!

Magnificent Faith is not a different kind of faith; there is only one kind of faith in the Bible, and that’s “the faith of God” – the faith that has its origin in God (Mark 11:22). It is not a quality of faith but a quantity of faith – so great that Jesus described it as Magnificent!

My definition of Magnificent Faith is: “The maximum amount of faith that can be released in one short burst – against all odds.” It is not a quality of faith possessed but a quantity of faith released. By now, you may be asking: “How can I receive Magnificent Faith?”

The answer is that Magnificent Faith is seen in the release of every bit of faith you possess – in an act of absolute desperation. The Canaanite woman demonstrated it in saying what she did. You must be as desperate as she was. You must believe that you can get what you need by pushing through the objections that would prevent it. In the Developing World many people do exactly that. Pagans rip off and fling away their magic charms so that Jesus will restore their sight. Sorcerers renounce their enchantments – knowing that in so doing they will lose their power over people – to be saved from sin and its terrible consequences.

These “outsiders” receive astonishing miracles! They may not know much about Jesus Christ, but they release whatever faith they possess in one, desperate, magnificent faith moment!

The farther I travel from civilization the more I find Magnificent Faith. Not in those who seem the most spiritual, or in those who claim to know the Bible backwards. Quite often I find that the more traditional the believer the greater the unbelief. In contrast, the more foreign the culture and the more ignorant the people, the more I find faith that is nothing short of superlative!

Many Christians wonder why most of today’s miracles take place in Developing Nations. Geography has little to do with it. But the enormous needs that are common to the people of those nations – and their desperate release of what faith they have – have everything to do with it.

Are you a Christian – an “insider”? Then put yourself in the place of the Canaanite woman for a moment. She cried out to Jesus – are you desperate enough to do the same? Or are you more likely to quit because your prayers to the Lord seem to fall on deaf ears?

The Canaanite woman would not take “No” for an answer. Are you that determined? If a foreigner could find a way through refusal in a day when the ministry of Jesus was limited to his own people, how much easier can you today, when Jesus is God’s “Amen!” to every prayer you pray! The woman seized words that she might have seen as offensive and used the truth they contained for her daughter’s benefit. Would you have done that? Or would you have backed away, thinking that God appears to favour some more than others?

People in the Developing World ignore obstructions to healing, such as theological explanations from some as to why they should not expect a miracle. Instead they reach out to Jesus in moments of absolute desperation. Their first and only desire is to be healed.

Meanwhile, here at home, longtime Christians major on minor issues.

Let me prove my point by drawing your attention to what took place just before Jesus encountered the Canaanite woman. Matthew states that certain scribes and Pharisees came from Jerusalem to remonstrate with Jesus about something they considered serious.

“Why do your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders, not washing their hands before eating bread?”

Consider that the last verse in the previous chapter indicates that the faith of the people who lived around the Sea of Galilee was so beautifully simple that they were healed just by touching the hem of the Lord’s garment. “And as many as touched were made perfectly whole.”

It seems incredible that the religious leaders of the day were so preoccupied with religious ritual that they ignored the miraculous cleansing of the diseased and took issue with Jesus over the unwashed hands of his disciples.

Incredible, but true!

Jesus answered their question with one of his own: “Why do you also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?” Then he pointed to the hypocrisy shown by those who dedicated their money to God so that they could say to their parents, “I would like to help you financially, but it’s God’s money – not mine.”

“You hypocrites,” Jesus said scathingly, “well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, ‘This people draw near to me with their mouth, and honour me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrine the commandments of men’.”

The Lord then spoke loudly over the heads of the religious hypocrites to the large crowd of onlookers.

“Hear, and understand; it is not that which goes into the mouth defiles a man but that which comes out of the mouth: this is what defiles a man.”

Off went the indignant scribes and Pharisees, for whom the maintenance of external cleanliness was the true indicator of internal purity!

“Then came his disciples, and said unto him, ‘Do you know that the Pharisees were offended by what you said?’

“But he answered and said, ‘Every plant which my heavenly Father has not planted shall be uprooted. Leave them alone: they are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.’”

Then Jesus scolded his disciples for their lack of understanding of what uncleanness really was. Did they not know of the filth that fills the heart of man? Did they not realize that what is in the heart is expressed through the mouth?

“But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, and blasphemies: these are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man.’ Then Jesus went from there, and departed into the borders of Tyre and Sidon.”

Jesus must have been disgusted with the scribes and Pharisees to have walked to the border of his own land. He left those legalistic leaders and their religious obsessions and walked as far away from them as he could without leaving the country!

It is not uncommon for Christians who have travelled to Developing World countries to find adjusting to life difficult on their return. Triviality is offensive to those who have just alighted from a packed jumbo jet after spending harrowing weeks amid poverty, sickness and squalor.

With the cries of the lost still ringing in their ears, the tired travellers are welcomed home, invited to share their experiences in church, and are asked to participate in the coming church picnic.

No, there’s nothing wrong with church picnics, but those who have spread their blankets on the ground in Asia or Africa, feel strange doing so at the local beauty spot. Swimming in your town’s chlorinated pool seems weird after washing your body for weeks in a waterhole. So does buttering bread rolls while your mind is still on lost souls. The short drive to the supermarket is unnaturally smooth after hours of travelling in a crowded bus through polluted streets, in search of food that’s safe to eat. 

Almost every returned mission member wrestles with the unspoken question: If I am to see miracles again, will I have to go to where the need is so much greater? The answer is no. Not if the church is so inspired by what God did though its members overseas that it says: “Let’s believe for the same miracles to happen here at home!”

“But”, you may ask, “Can God do here what He did there?” Jesus did wonders in Israel, when the sick and the diseased reached out and touched the hem of his garment. But when he tired of religious trivia he went to Phoenicia.

No wonder he marvelled when he found Magnificent Faith in a foreigner! The Phoenician woman was an unclean “outsider” – a “dog” in those days to an observant Jew. But she manifested such desperate faith in Jesus that he simply could not deny her what she needed.

Magnificent Faith remains foreign to many of God’s people, because its origin is not in religious rules but in the open attitudes of those with very real needs who are determined to receive from God. Faith that is ritualized and formalized cannot respond as the Canaanite woman’s faith did. But Magnificent Faith – mega-faith – can reach out and grab a miracle in one desperate moment! Such miracles seem almost to happen spontaneously!

I have seen this faith in action many times. More than twenty visits to Asia have shown me that whatever people there may lack, it’s not faith. I remember one tribal lady in Borneo seeking me for a miracle from God. She had travelled many hours to shop at the village market. When she heard of the miracles that were taking place she came to me between meetings, seeking healing for her heart condition. When I rebuked the condition she was instantly healed, and left glorifying God!

When I led teams into the more remote mountain villages, people came great distances to be healed. It was clear to me that the more remote the village, the greater the faith of its people. For some of them, we may have been the opportunity of a lifetime!

“Were they Christians?” you might ask. Yes, many were; but they had been exposed to the gospel of grace, rather than to religious rules. When you see cripples jump and run, and small children hearing and speaking for the first time in their lives, it changes you! When you compare the simplicity of villagers with the sophistication of city dwellers, and contrast the real faith of the first with the religiosity of the second – it opens your eyes.

No, I’m not suggesting that we all jet to Asia and head for the hills; but I am saying that the creeds and confessions that enclose beliefs can be the biggest barriers to being able to act spontaneously when the need arises.

The result is that many Christians tend to think about God, Jesus and the Bible in a restricted way. They think safely inside the “square” formed by their doctrinal beliefs. Instead of crying out, “Lord, help me!” like the Canaanite woman, they pray: “O Lord, you know that I have lived a Christian life…” Or, “Dear God, if you heal my mother, I promise to attend church/give more/pray more…”

They don’t so much believe as bargain!

The Canaanite woman had nothing to bargain with. It’s possible that the thing she had going for her was that the “children’s bread” referred to by Jesus was rarely requested by those who were entitled to it. Was that what made her faith stand out? Bread is to the appetite of a hungry person what healing is to the body of a sick believer: a matter of life.

If you think that you don’t deserve to be healed or that you aren’t holy enough for a miracle from God, let me assure you that you’re in good company: the Canaanite woman felt exactly the same. But look what the Lord did for her! Many “insiders” – those who had a “right” to be healed – missed out. But Magnificent Faith made a way for an “outsider” to get God’s supply for her daughter!

Magnificent Faith is faith in Jesus Christ the Son of God. If you want to see it work, you’ll have to relax your religious rigidity, you’ll need to be bolder in your believing; and you’ll have to determine in your heart that no one or no thing will stop you from getting your healing miracle!

The question is, are you this determined?

Great Faith

After the Magnificent Faith of the Canaanite woman, the Great Faith of a Roman centurion is next on the descending New Testament faith scale. The Centurion was a battle-hardened, authority conscious soldier. The Jews hated their Roman oppressors, but respected this centurion because he respected their religion. When his servant became critically ill, the Jewish elders asked Jesus to heal him. They were very religious in their approach to Jesus, saying that the centurion was “worthy” of a miracle. Why was he “worthy”?

“Because he loves our nation, and has built us a synagogue.” (Luke 7:6)

Observe again the attitude of the Jews. No doubt the centurion had been a gracious benefactor, and the elders were appreciative of his noble act in building them a synagogue. Perhaps they felt that through Jesus they could return the favour. But Jesus does not heal us because we are good or even because we are faithful — he heals us because we are sick!

What did the centurion think of his own “worthiness”?

“Lord, trouble not yourself: for I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof: wherefore neither did I think myself worthy to come unto you…”

Not only did he consider himself unworthy of a visit from Jesus – he also considered himself unworthy to even approach the Lord. “Speak the word only,” he said, “and my servant shall be healed. For I also am a man set under authority, having under me soldiers, and I say to this one ‘Go’, and he goes; and to another ‘Come’, and he comes; and to my servant ‘Do this’, and he does it.”

The centurion acted on his understanding of man management, which is based on submission to a recognized authority. He knew that every person who holds a position of authority must be under an even higher authority.

When Jesus heard this, he marveled at him, and turned and said to the people who followed, “I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no not in Israel.”

Great Faith, then, came from the centurion’s understanding of the military chain of command. No Roman soldier dared question the order of a superior — he carried it out to the letter! He was not expected to understand the order but to obey it!

Great Faith is explicit faith in a word of command given by a superior. The Roman soldier had made one of the greatest faith statements ever, based on the authority principle by which he lived. He judged Jesus to be the highest authority he had encountered – a commander whose word must be obeyed, even by sickness itself.

His words made Jesus marvel, for the Lord turned to his followers and exclaimed that the centurion’s faith was Great Faith. The result? A great miracle: the centurion’s servant was healed – “in the same hour”!

The servant was not even present when Jesus was asked to heal him – he was healed from a distance. No laid-on hands were necessary; no personal presence of Jesus at his sick bed was required; just a word of command, based on the ability of Jesus to do the miraculous, in response to Great Faith.

There are similarities in this story to that of the Canaanite woman. Both sought Jesus on behalf of another who was not present; both were gentiles; both used as the basis of their approach things that were a part of their everyday lives. Also, both miracles took place as a result of the spoken word of the Lord. The only real difference was in the faith revealed. The Canaanite woman showed Magnificent Faith; but the centurion displayed Great Faith.

The Greek word translated “great”, in this case, is tousoutos, which means “great in number or quantity”. Used many times in the New Testament, it is variously translated: “so much”, “so great”, “so many”, and “so long”. The Great Faith of the centurion might not have been as great as the Canaanite woman’s Magnificent Faith, but it drew the same approval from Jesus.

Magnificent Faith may be found on the margins of orthodox religion, but Great Faith may be found in the middle. Although Jesus marvelled that he had found Magnificent Faith from a person outside Israel, he also marvelled that he had found Great Faith inside Israel. But although the centurion’s Great Faith was found inside Israel, it was outside the experience of the Jewish people. In fact, it took this foreigner to show the Jews what Great Faith was.

The centurion loved the Jewish nation and religion – so much that he built the Jews of Capernaum a synagogue. Perhaps he was impressed by the Law of Moses. Almost certainly, he would have seen something unique in the lifestyle of the people. But although he wanted to preserve – perhaps even promote – their religion, his faith was not founded on the Word of God but on the Son of God. It is quite possible that he had heard of the many miracles Jesus had done in Capernaum, since people in the more isolated town of Nazareth had heard of them.

The basis of the centurion’s approach was that of a subordinate to a superior, a captain to a commander, a man under authority to a man of authority. His open recognition of that authority was described by Jesus as Great Faith – a faith that he had not found “in all Israel”.

Some people miss out on miracles because they are so busy in church that they are unaware of what the Lord is doing in the lives of people outside the church. I remember receiving a telephone call from a lady who had a strange story to tell. She had brought her mother to our home for prayer three years earlier. Did I remember them? She asked. No, I replied, I did not; but how could I be of help?

Well, it seemed that her mother had been holidaying with her, when they first came to our home. Through a person in our church, she had heard that I prayed for the sick, and that God often healed them. After I had prayed for her mother, who had suffered badly from arthritis, she was healed and returned to her home in another state.

After eighteen months, however, the arthritis had returned. Would I mind praying for her once again?

Not at all, I responded. The following day, both mother and daughter arrived, and were seated by my wife in our living room. Were they Christians? I asked.

“Oh yes,” the mother replied, “I’m a Catholic!” The daughter’s answer was “Not really.”

The mother was willing to invite Jesus into her life in a new way, however, and after praying for her, I bound the spirit of infirmity in her body, and loosed her from the arthritis, in the name of Jesus Christ.

She was instantly healed in every joint of her body! They left a short time later – the mother grateful to God, and the daughter admitting that “maybe there’s something in this, after all.”

A week passed, and I thought that probably I had seen the last of them. Then I received an unusual telephone call. The lady on the line said: “You don’t know me, but my neighbour’s mother came to you for prayer last week. I was wondering if I could bring my mother over. She is suffering from a chest complaint, and the doctors don’t seem to know what’s causing it.”

“Certainly,” I said, “bring her over. Oh, by the way,” I added, “how is your neighbour’s mother?”

“Oh, she’s gone home, completely healed. That’s why I’m calling.”

A day or two later, the second mother and daughter combination arrived.

“Are you Christians?” I asked, feeling that I had been through it all before.

“Oh, yes,” they replied, “we’re Catholics!”

After leading them in a prayer of commitment to Christ (during which I tried to cover anything I thought they might have missed out on), I prayed for the mother, and she was healed from her chest condition – instantly!

The two couples had travelled quite a distance to our home, and the Lord had healed both mothers on the spot! Neither of the ladies prayed for had known anything about the promises of God’s word in relation to healing. From my talk with them, I could tell that they were almost completely ignorant of the basis truths of the Christian faith. Sure, they believed in Jesus. Yes, they were quite happy to acknowledge him as the Saviour. No, they hadn’t heard or read that Jesus said, “You must be born again.” But they readily agreed to confess him as their Lord.

The Christian faith was not foreign to these ladies, who had great respect for the things of God. They even asked if there was a fee for my prayers! I suppose that they would gladly have contributed to the Christian equivalent of a synagogue building fund.

I call their faith Great Faith, because their attitude was remarkably similar to that of the Roman centurion, who, although a stranger to the Jewish religion, was no stranger to faith of the kind that made Jesus marvel!

My definition of Great Faith is: “The faith that works through what a person believes in most.”

The centurion believed in the military chain of command. He never would have reached his rank if he had “bucked the system” – disobeyed orders. As the commander of many tough men he expected that his orders would be obeyed – exactly as he obeyed without question the orders that came down to him from his superiors.

There is nothing to indicate that he attended the Jewish synagogue, or that he recognized Jesus as the long-promised Messiah. But he did know that Jesus had commanded all manner of diseases to depart, and they had. So the centurion placed Jesus far above what he knew worked: the Roman system of military might. Then he invited the Lord to issue the command that his servant be healed.

Great Faith was demonstrated by the centurion, who had no doubt that what Jesus said would come to pass because his word would be obeyed without question. Here was a man who did not doubt in his heart that what he said as a commander would come to pass. Jesus was yet to teach this truth to his disciples (Mark 11:23). They were “insiders” who had still to learn what this “outsider” already knew: the higher the authority, the greater the power, the sooner the result.

Most Christians view faith as a mystical thing, but this man practiced its equivalent every day! He would not have equated his command authority with faith, but Jesus did. In his recognition of Christ’s superior authority; in his application of it to his servant’s illness; and in the certainty of the miracle that would follow, the centurion showed a faith that Jesus had not seen in all Israel – Great Faith!

Three things are common to both military and spiritual authority. Jesus identified them in the centurion’s words. These things should identify “insiders” but are often quite foreign to them. When the Lord Jesus sees them in “outsiders” he cannot but respond to them – and when he does miracles take place. Things foreign to Great Faith include: 

EXPLANATION

Explanation comes from a felt need to explain why an order needs to be obeyed. This is usually based on a need for the approval of the one to whom the order is issued. Never confuse leadership with friendship. Leaders need only the earned respect of those under them, and must learn to live with resentments and criticisms. Our “Yes” or “No” should be just that; no more, no less.

Explanations diminish authority. “Just speak the word” – don’t explain it. We don’t draw up the orders – they’ve come down to us from a Higher Authority. But our responsibility is to ensure they are obeyed – to the letter!

AMPLIFICATION

Amplification is basically repetition, using more or different words. The Amplified Bible can be helpful for those who have the time and the patience to read it. The centurion’s authority was shown in the brevity of his commands. When Peter later asked Jesus to order him to come to him on the water, Jesus simply responded with a one word command: “Come.”

The Australian Army’s S.M.E.A.C. report uses a commendable economy of words:

Situation: where you are.

Mission: what your orders are.

Execution: what your plan is.

Administration: bullets, beans and bandages,

Communication: call signs; command and control.

The principle is that if you can’t repeat it you almost certainly don’t know it. Single paragraph mission and vision statements are better than multiple paragraph statements. Amplification obscures authority. Say what you mean, mean what you say, and put it briefly – don’t use unnecessary words.

INSUBORDINATION

Insubordination is the questioning of authority by those of lower rank. This takes the form of opposing arguments, usually voiced by those with negative mind-sets. The arguments suggest alternatives – supposedly ‘better’ ways than those in authority. Those who are insubordinate have insolent attitudes that are usually camouflaged in unspoken yet defiant opposition.

Not only did the centurion’s soldiers obey his public directions to “Go” and to “Come” – his sick servant, who knew him personally, obeyed his private instructions to do as he was told. He knew him closely and served him faithfully, probably over many years. In return, the centurion loved him affectionately, and sought help for him urgently (Luke 7:2). The relationship between the two men of differing ranks was one of mutual respect.

Insubordination defies authority. When Jesus gave an order, demons, disease and death obeyed. Demons knew that he could order them into the abyss! Two thousand years later they still obey without question orders given by Christians in the Name of Jesus, he who has all authority in heaven and in earth!

Great Faith honours Jesus for who he is: the Supreme Commander of humanity; the Authority over and above every other authority; the Superior whose word of command must be obeyed by demons, disease and death.

When Jesus saw the centurion’s Great Faith, he said, “I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.” Great Faith had not been seen in the synagogue, or in the elders of the synagogue – nor even in his own disciples! Is great faith in your church, in your leaders? Is it in you? Great Faith is found in the unlikeliest of people.

We need more of it inside the Church!

Little Faith

In the life of a Christian faith is something that grows, from a seed to a tree. And the tree, from first root to ripe fruit, is in the seed of faith. Someone has said that an oak tree is just an acorn that held its ground. Is your faith like that? Or is it Little Faith?

Jesus scolded his disciples on four occasions for their Little Faith. I wonder how they felt when he commended the Canaanite woman for her Magnificent Faith and the centurion for his Great Faith.

Little Faith is low on the descending scale of faith. The Greek word used in each case for “little” is oligos, and in each of the four references it is linked to pistos, the Greek word for “faith”, to form the word oligopistos.

Jesus first mentioned Little Faith in his Sermon on the Mount, when he spoke to the multitude on the subject of God’s provision for humanity. This, Jesus said, is seen in his care for the world of nature.

“So if God so clothes the grass (lilies) of the field…shall he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?” (Matthew 6:30)

The second time Jesus spoke of Little Faith was after he stilled the storm that had threatened the boat in which he and his disciples were travelling. While Jesus slept in perfect peace, they were wide awake with fear. Finally, unable to cope with the thought of themselves drowning while their Lord slept, they panicked and woke him, accusing him of indifference.

Jesus immediately calmed the storm by transferring his internal peace to the external forces by ordering, “Peace, be still.” Then he said, “Why are you so fearful, O you of little faith?”

Jesus spoke again of Little Faith when he and his disciples were crossing the Sea of Galilee on another occasion, and the disciples realized that they had forgotten to bring enough bread. Jesus began to warn them about the doctrine of the Pharisees and the Sadducees, likening it to yeast. Jesus was warning them not to allow into their lives the slightest amount of hypocrisy. But they failed to understand.

“Ah!” they reasoned, “Jesus is saying this because we have only one loaf of bread.” (Mark 8:14)

But Jesus was not reducing the doctrines of the religious leaders to the equivalent of a loaf of bread. He was saying that even in small amounts, legalism, like yeast, is all-pervasive: the smallest amount of it might affect all twelve disciples. But, as usual, the disciples related their Lord’s words to their limited circumstances.

“O you of little faith,” Jesus scolded, “Why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread? Do you not yet understand…?” (Matthew 16:8-9)

He then drew their attention to the two occasions when he had supplied their need for bread miraculously. It seems he was saying, “Why are you reducing my spiritual words to the size of your empty stomachs? Don’t you think that I could take that one loaf you have and multiply it?”

Jesus mentioned Little Faith yet again after Peter had walked to him on the water but had got his eyes off Jesus and on to the circumstances, and had begun to sink. (Matthew 14:30)

“And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, ‘O you of little faith, why did you doubt?’ “

Anxiety. Fear. Wrong thinking. Doubt. All four negatives unmistakable signs of Little Faith. Worry about what to eat, what to wear. Fear that their Lord was indifferent to their safety. Wrong thinking about what his words meant. Doubt that the command authority that got Peter out of the boat and onto the water would bring him through the wild weather.

But before thinking too critically of the disciples because of their Little Faith, we should think about how we might have behaved in the same situation, or how we might react to today’s difficulties, shortages and upheavals. Take Peter’s attempt at walking on the water, for instance. Peter started out right. After hearing that Jesus really was out there on the water, Peter prepared himself to go overboard. How else to become an overcomer?

“If it is you,” he shouted, “bid me come to you on the water.”

The word “bid” is better translated “order” or “command”. Peter was asking for a command from a higher authority. He had learned how this worked from the centurion. The Lord Jesus was Peter’s master – one with an authority recognized by the centurion, whose words, “I say unto this man, ‘Go’, and he goes; and to another, ‘Come’, and he comes”, still rang in Peter’s ears.

If one command by Jesus from a distance could heal a soldier’s servant, then another could surely enable a disciple of the Lord to walk on water!

“Come,” Jesus commanded, and Peter stepped out of the boat and onto the water. He was doing quite well until he started sightseeing! First, it was the wind – boisterous! Then it was the waves – wild! Then it was his own faith – wavering! “Lord, save me!” he cried, as he began to sink.

“And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, ‘O you of little faith, why did you doubt?’ “

The word “doubt” used in this instance by Jesus is different from that which elsewhere in the New Testament is translated “doubt”. It can be translated “think twice” or “have second thoughts”. So what Jesus said was, “O you of little faith, why did you think twice? Why did you have second thoughts?”

My definition of Little Faith is: “The faith that sinks in the face of circumstances.”

The trouble with Little Faith is that it is enough faith to get you into trouble but not out of it. It has been said that “a little knowledge can be dangerous”, and so can Little Faith!

“But surely I must start somewhere”, you might say; and it’s true: we have to begin with the faith we have. But what matters is where we invest that faith.

Jesus scolded his disciples because they displayed Little Faith when they should by that time have displayed Great Faith. You may wish you had Magnificent Faith or Great Faith, but it’s not how much faith you have but what you do with the faith you have that matters.

“To every man is given the measure of faith.” (Romans 12:3)

That measure is like that nest-egg in your bank account. It’s not much at first, but after a while it becomes too much to leave in a low interest account. So you must decide where you will invest it. How do you go about it? Well, you search the Net for a higher interest rate, coupled with good security. When you find it, you withdraw your money from the low interest savings account and invest it where it can gain higher interest.

Likewise, you need to watch for ways to invest your faith. An opportunity may arise for you to share your faith with someone – an excellent investment! Or you might pray for a sick friend or neighbour. There’s nothing like leading someone to the Lord or seeing a miracle of healing to make your faith grow!

But once you’ve invested your faith – don’t withdraw it! Peter withdrew his faith prematurely, and for a moment looked like losing the lot! Peter’s first thought was to leave the ship and walk on the water to Jesus. It was a bold thought, a courageous thought, an inspired thought.

Peter’s second thought was, What have I got myself into? His first thought was to be an overcomer, but his second thought almost made him an undergoer!

Your first thought will enable you to walk above your circumstances, but your second thought will make you sink beneath your circumstances. First thoughts are daring but second thoughts are dangerous!

Your first thought may be to do something for the Lord. If the Lord tells you to do it – step out in faith. But once “out of the boat” – committed to a course of action based on the word you’ve received – don’t think twice!

First thoughts are positive, and can bring you into new experiences of God’s power and blessing. Second thoughts are negative in that they negate what God put into your mind to do. When the Lord tells you to do something, never think twice! Don’t give thought to anything but what he has said, because if you do, you’ll go under!

Faith enabled Peter to walk on water. But Little Faith caused him to start to sink beneath the surface. That “sinking feeling” is a sure sign of Little Faith.  I remember standing on the site of our new church after the earth on the hillside had been cut away by a bulldozer. A recent church split had reduced the number of our congregation. However would we build it?

Then I heard a quiet voice in my heart: “This is no time to lose your nerve.”  “Lose your nerve”? It startled me that the Lord spoke in the American idiom! But before long a series of financial miracles took place and we never had to raise the money for the building – the Lord provided again and again!  My heart had begun to sink, but after hearing those encouraging words I never again doubted. I know what Little Faith is, and I know that Great Faith is better!   

Don’t be an undergoer – always undergoing one thing or another. Be an overcomer and get there by faith. Jesus was not the only man who walked on water – Peter did as well, and so can you if you obey the Lord’s commands without thinking twice.

Don’t let Little Faith stop you!

Unbelief

“Why doesn’t it happen at home?” Have you ever asked yourself this question? Flying home from my first trip to Borneo, I asked myself what most Christians tend to ask when returning from an evangelistic mission to a Developing Nation.

I had seen the lame walk, the deaf hear, the dumb speak – all the miracles you hear so much about from those who return from such trips. For twelve amazing days it had seemed we were back in New Testament times. But now I was the one who was returning, and I knew that on our arrival I would be asked a question I couldn’t answer: “Why doesn’t it happen here at home?”

Although no stranger to the miraculous, I had been stunned by the number of miracles that had taken place, and the apparent ease with which the sick were healed. If only our people at home had more faith, I said to myself.

“Not more faith: less unbelief,” said a “small voice” in my spirit.

But didn’t more faith mean less unbelief? No answer came, so I made a mental note to follow up that thought after my arrival.

We don’t need more faith, we need less unbelief!

That was the conclusion I reached after studying the New Testament after my return. First, the Lord led me to read Mark 16: 9-17, where I found that the disciples “did not believe” when Mary Magdalene told them that Jesus had appeared to her. “Neither did they believe” the two disciples Jesus had walked with and talked to on the road to Emmaus.

“Afterward he appeared to the eleven as they sat eating, and rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen him after he had risen.”

The disciples were not rebuked for their lack of faith but for their unbelief. Jesus had to rebuke them because he was about to commission them!

“Go into the whole world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized shall be saved; but he who does not believe shall be condemned.” (Mark 16:15-16)

So the fate of the world hung on whether it would believe or not believe. But how could the world believe when the disciples would not believe?

“And these signs shall follow them that believe…” Signs follow believers. They do not follow believers who refuse to believe! Might not the reason for the world’s lack of faith be attributed to believers who simply refuse to believe, as the disciples did when they rejected the witness of those who had seen the risen Lord Jesus?

When Thomas said, “Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe,” he was not just lacking in faith but was filled with unbelief.

Many of us have equated unbelief with lack of faith. We have thought that if only we could get more faith we would have less unbelief. But in Matthew 17:20, Jesus said that faith as small as “as a grain of mustard seed” can move mountains.

I had thought Jesus meant that the seed of faith, once planted, would eventually become fully-grown faith, which could then move mountains. But Jesus was not referring to the growth of the mustard seed (as he had done in the parable of the kingdom). He was simply stating that the smallest amount of faith can move the biggest obstacle. He could have spoken of a grain of sand and made the same point.

I say again: it was not the growth of the mustard seed that was the subject but the disproportionate power of faith. The disciples elsewhere asked, “Lord, increase our faith.” And the Lord said, ‘If you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you would say to this sycamore tree, Be plucked up by the root and be planted in the sea; and it would obey you.’” (Luke 17:5)

It is not how much faith we have that matters but what we do with the faith we have. If we have faith – and according to Romans 12:3, we’ve each been given a measure of faith, so the question is not how we can increase the amount of faith we have, but rather how we can use what we have to better effect.

“But faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God,” you might counter. Sure it does, but more faith doesn’t necessarily mean less unbelief. Faith is a positive force, but unbelief is a negative attitude that tends to undermine it. Unbelief is Thomas saying, “Unless I see…I will not believe.” Note the part his will played in his attitude.

Thomas was in a locked room when Jesus appeared to him. It seems to me that that it was easier for Jesus to get through the locked door than through Thomas’ closed mind. Unbelief does that; it locks a person into an attitude of unbelief.

The disciples refused to believe Mary Magdalene. They refused to believe the two disciples who told of their encounter with Jesus on the Emmaus Road. Thomas refused to believe what the other disciples told him. Jesus had to appear to them, physically, before they would believe. It couldn’t be said that they then had faith but rather that they were unable to deny the reality of his physical presence in their midst.

Jesus said, “Blessed are they who have not seen, and yet have believed.” (John 20:29)

From the account of the demonized boy we know that Jesus had earlier rebuked everyone present at the scene.

“O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you?”

“If you can do anything…” was the father’s desperate plea.

“If I can do anything?” Jesus said, amazed at his unbelief. “If you can believe! All things are possible to those who believe.”

The Literal Concordant New Testament translates this passage: “Why the If? You can believe.” It’s obvious from the scriptures that when it comes to believing, “the ball’s in our court”. And when we serve unbelief to Jesus we discover that he has a powerful return!

The father of the child recognized that there was a wide gap between what he believed and what he wanted to believe. “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief” is an honest confession, and contrasts sharply with the words of Thomas: “Except I see…I will not believe.”

The disciples later approached Jesus privately, asking the question: “Why could not we cast him out?”

“Because of your unbelief”, Jesus answered. (Matthew 17:20) The father of the boy had recognized his own unbelief, but the disciples had to be told that it was present in them!

Unbelief is just as much a limiting factor in our lives as it was in the lives of the people of Nazareth almost 2000 years ago. Jesus could there do “no mighty work…because of their unbelief”. (Mark 6:5) Hometown attitudes of familiarity and jealousy formed an atmosphere of unbelief that created a climate of chronic illness. Their unbelief limited their ability to receive miracles. Minor cures took the place of major miracles, because of their unbelief.

Unbelief is not just a lack of faith: unbelief is an attitude! For example, new Christians lack strong faith simply because their faith has yet to grow to its full extent. But unbelief is not usually a new believer’s problem. Why? Because unbelief is an attitude which takes time to develop; it is found in one who hears the word of God, but rejects its powerful possibilities.

It is an amazing fact that both the Canaanite woman (Matthew 15) and the centurion (Matthew 8) had a quantity of faith that made Jesus marvel. Both were “outsiders”! It is an appalling fact that the people of Nazareth had a quantity of unbelief that made Jesus marvel. They were “insiders”! What Nathaniel, from Cana, thought about them – “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” – the people of Nazareth thought about themselves. They could not – would not – believe that the Messiah had grown up in their small town. Their ‘small town’ attitude had severely reduced their self-image.

I saw a good illustration of this during a visit to a ‘Nazareth’ in the Republic of the Philippines.

“At the end of a road like this there can only be isolation and rejection” were the words that came to me as I surveyed the long, bumpy track along which our heavy-laden jeepney swayed and bounced. Over to our right, an almost dry river separated us from the outskirts of a large, expanding city. Our journey would have been much shorter if we had been able to cross the river, but our vehicle would have soon become bogged and maybe even swallowed by the wet sand.

Over to our left, dry rice fields lined by scruffy trees stretched into the dim distance. Flooded, and with green rice shooting up, the landscape would have looked lush – the picture book Orient – but now, long after the monsoon season, it was dry and lifeless. The track itself ran along the top of a levee, built to prevent flood damage during the wet season, when the river rose to a great height.

Our party of seven was being driven to the village of San Jose, and to me, hanging on as the jeepney bounced and our bodies lurched, it seemed as though we never going to get there.

San Jose. The words of the popular song came to my mind: “Do you know the way to San Jose?” The town in the song is in the USA, a far cry from the little-known village we were heading for. Not many people would know the way to this San Jose, I was thinking.

Finally, we turned off the track and descended from the levee – and the scene changed. Tall coconut trees shaded small, thatched nipa-palm huts that bordered the track. Clouds of dust followed our vehicle and there was not a blade of grass to be seen – the village chickens had pecked the dry dirt to death. The unpainted, concrete-block church building we pulled up at was no surprise. Nor were the concrete floor and simple wooden seats inside. But the faces of those who sat waiting, while not unfriendly, were weary and joyless.

Earlier, the Lord had put into my heart the words: “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” Apparently it hadn’t been the biblical Nazareth the Holy Spirit had referred to, but rather barangay San Jose. Following the usual songs and greetings, I was invited to speak. Looking in through a side doorway were six small children, mostly boys, in clothes made dirty by the ever-present dust. Their skin showed the kind of sores usually seen in the more remote villages. The children also looked a little fearful, and the thought struck me that few light-skinned people had visited this isolated village.

I began by telling the Christians of San Jose that they had much in common with the people of Nazareth: a poor self-image.

“What Nathaniel said about Nazareth, the people of Nazareth said about themselves, because when Jesus returned there his former friends and neighbours rejected him”, I told them. “They just would not accept that one of their own could succeed; that Jesus, ‘the carpenter’s son’ was the promised Messiah and reported miracle worker. So they refused to come to him for healing, except for a few sickly people, suffering from minor ailments.”

I had noticed that their pastor’s name was Jose, so I built the message around “Jose from San Jose”, which they smiled at, for Filipinos have a quick sense of humor. “When you believe that Pastor Jose is a man of God, you will believe in San Jose; when you believe in San Jose, you will hold your head up high when asked ‘Where do you come from?’ by the city people across the river.” As I spoke, I watched the faces in the church slowly change. Despair and gloom were replaced with wide smiles and happy faces.

My interpreter, a church leader from the nearby city, then invited them to come forward for prayer. There had been no emotional appeal, so what followed took us all by surprise. Those who had responded – most who were present – suddenly began to cry loudly. Sobs wracked their small bodies, and team members, moved to tears themselves, quietly embraced them.

San Jose had been battered by isolation and rejection as much as its people could bear. In fact, they had been emotionally desolate: deprived of the love that comes from acceptance by other people, and perhaps more importantly, by themselves The road to San Jose was a long one, and at the end of it had been an attitude of so much despair and so little self-esteem and self-respect that they were almost without hope. Our willingness to come to their village and our readiness to love and accept them as our brothers and sisters had opened long-closed emotional floodgates.

We left soon after and once again travelled along the rough levee track, quiet and humbled by what we had seen. The way from San Jose was as long and as bumpy as it had been to San Jose, but behind us the people of San Jose were a whole lot happier than they were when we arrived. The way to this particular San Jose had ended in self-acceptance and joy, and the beginnings of confidence and self-respect.

What we think about ourselves and about others can become an attitude. Faith is a force but unbelief is an attitude that hinders the faith that “comes by hearing…the word of God.” (Romans 10:17)

“Why doesn’t it happen here at home?” Because of our unbelief!

“But if only we had more faith …”

Faith is nullified by latent unbelief in the heart of believers. Like dirt in the fuel line of an old motor vehicle, it can be sucked up into the system and bring all forward movement to a standstill. We don’t need “more faith” – we need less unbelief.

So, let’s change our attitude, so that what we have seen overseas – the thousands saved, healed and set free – can also happen here at home! Do you believe that our attitude of unbelief can be changed?

If we can rise above unbelief, we can rise above anything.

A Word of Faith

From Magnificent Faith to downright Unbelief – what a decline! You may have been surprised to learn that Magnificent Faith was found in a Canaanite woman; that Great Faith was found in a Roman Centurion; that Little Faith was displayed by the disciples of Jesus; and that Unbelief was shown by them after God raised Jesus from the dead. It may have surprised you, but it’s what is clearly taught in the New Testament.

Christ closed his first sermon by saying that God sent the prophet Elijah to the home of a starving widow in Sidon (which was outside Israel), and had through Elisha had healed a Syrian general (another “outsider”) from leprosy. His first sermon was almost his last! (Luke 4:25-29) The people of Nazareth tried to kill him because he preached that believing “outsiders” were blessed when “insiders” refused to believe.

Let’s now look at how “insiders” can receive miracles through specific words from God – as distinct from the desperate acts of faith that bring healing to “outsiders”. We know that faith is a God-given gift, but how does He give that gift?

“Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17)

There was a time when I shortened this to “Faith comes by hearing the word of God.” That was, until I read that Jesus told his disciples that they were to let his sayings “sink down” into their ears (Luke 9:44). I wondered how words spoken horizontally could “sink down” vertically.

I came to see that the Lord was speaking of their “inner ears” – their hearing hearts, and that every Christian has a hearing heart: an inner capacity to receive spiritual knowledge. In actual fact, though, most people hear very little of what the Lord is saying to them This explains how so many can go to church, sit under good teaching, and leave none the wiser.

The verse just quoted is Romans 10:17 – “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” We know from the words “so then” that a conclusion is about to be reached, one that will be the result of a logical sequence. That sequence begins at verse 13:

“For whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him in whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent?”

The sequence is traced backward, from the effect of the word preached to who sent the preacher in the first place. But although the preacher is sent and the people hear, it is up to the hearers to believe and be saved by calling on the name of the Lord.

In spite of the promise that “whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved” not all are. Why not? Because “they have not all obeyed the gospel, for Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our report?”

When we turn to Isaiah 53:1 (the text from which this quotation is taken), we find that the prophet Isaiah is speaking of the coming Messiah’s rejection, suffering and death. Yet those who well knew that verse nonetheless crucified their Messiah! So what matters is not how often you go to church or how many sermons you listen to but how much you hear with your heart – what matters is the amount that “sinks down” into your ears.

Faith comes by hearing with the heart, and that hearing comes by the word of God. “Have they not heard? Yes truly, their sound (the sound of the preachers) went out into all the earth, and their words unto the end of the world” (Romans 10:18). The inspired apostle changes the psalmist’s picture of orbiting planets that reveal the purpose of God to preachers whose words do the same.

The point I need to make is that all heard the message but not all accepted it. Only those who heard with their hearts and obeyed were saved by calling on the name of the Lord. So faith – including that first saving faith – comes into the life of a person who has a hearing heart. “For with the heart man believes…” (Romans 10:10)

The literal translation of Romans 10:17 is: “So then, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by a word from God.” There is a difference between the word of God that everyone hears and a word from God that is heard only by those with hearing hearts. Those with hard hearts hear a preacher but don’t hear what God is saying to them through the sermon. (Many sermons fall upon deaf ears, but some find their way into the heart.) 

A word from God is a rhema that God speaks to a hearing heart. In the general sense, the Word of God is the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. But a word from God is a specific message that God speaks to the hearing heart. Words from God are relevant to the current situation, condition or circumstance of those who hear them.

“For with God nothing shall be impossible.” (Luke 1:37) Or, as The Amplified Bible puts it: “For with God nothing is ever impossible, and no word from God shall be without power or impossible of fulfillment.”

That no word from God is without power is an understatement, since everyword that God speaks is supercharged with power! The virgin birth of Jesus depended on the message that Gabriel brought to Mary, since that rhema contained the life that enabled Mary to conceive.

Aword from God has within itself the power to create what it describes. It energizes the heart that hears and receives it! There is no difference to God in the word He speaks and the thing it creates. Nothing is impossible when a word of faith, a rhema, finds a home in the human heart.

“With God, nothing shall be impossible,” said Gabriel, speaking to Mary of God’s power towardher (Luke 1:37). “Nothing shall be impossible to you”, said Jesus, speaking to his disciples of God’s power at work throughthem (Matthew 17:20).

I endeavor to study the Bible in depth and to live by every rhema that I receive. Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone but by every rhema that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4) God speaks a rhema to a person whose heart is hungry.

Living by God’s Word involves more than reading through the Bible from cover to cover three times a year (though that’s commendable). We are meant to breakfast daily on a rhema revelation (Deuteronomy 8:3). In the Wilderness the Children of Israel lived by “manna from heaven” gathered in the early mornings, six days a week. Receiving the fresh bread of God’s daily provision was for them a matter of survival. In John 6:47-51 Jesus describes himself as the Bread of Life from heaven. His resurrection life comes to us in daily portions which keep us spiritually alive.

A rhema from God not only empowers believers but also brings spiritual satisfaction to those who are hungry for words to live by.Each rhema has within it sufficient faith to enable the hearer to do what God requires on that particular day. What follows is the satisfaction that results from work well done. Our faith is refreshed by the life that comes to us through the rhema.

Years ago, I received a rhema while reading a missions magazine, when a paragraph leapt off the printed page and into in my heart. It came with such force and impacted me so greatly that I went into another room immediately and prayed about what the Spirit of God was saying to me through that word. The result was that in the following decade I made more than twenty visits to the Philippines, leading teams from our church into the provinces and through the slums of Metro Manila.

Never did I need to struggle to work up or pray down enough faith for the task: all the faith I needed for it came with the rhema. What a relief! I prayed much about those missions, of course, but never for the faith to complete them. That faith came by hearing, and hearing by the rhema from God. Because of that faith I never doubted, even in difficult and sometimes dangerous situations.

A word of warning: Don’t try to duplicate someone else’s rhema,or word of faith. If the other disciples had attempted to follow Peter out of the boat when they saw him walking on the water, they would have sunk like stones! Peter alone asked for and received a word from the Lord: the command to “Come”. In that command was the ability to walk on water. The other disciples had no such command, and therefore no such ability.

Suppose that two sisters who are identical twins suffer from the same illness. They sit together in church, listening to the same message. Suddenly, one receives a rhema that imparts faith for instant healing and “steps out” in faith for prayer.

The other twin follows, thinking that because they’ve always done everything together, she will be healed as well. But one of the twins has an inner certainty and the other is merely hopeful. The hopeful twin may well be healed as a result of the laying on of hands, but not as the result of the rhema her sister received.

A rhema is a very personal word from the Lord, so you need to get your own. How to receive a personal word of faith from God? It usually comes through reading the logos, which is the entire word of God. Don’t sit around waiting for a rhema revelation but read your bible regularly. Study it daily, in depth.

As you allow God’s word to “sink down into your ears” you will become sensitive to the voice of the Spirit of God. In time you will develop a hearing heart. God’s ways will then become your ways, and His thoughts your thoughts.

Then, one day, God will speak to your heart through a scripture. It might leap off the page, so to speak; or it may be that during a quiet time in prayer God will give you a quiet word of promise. When He does, you will recognize it as a rhema, because faith will rise in your heart to do as he has told you.

Another way to recognize a rhema is that it is harder to doubt what the Lord has told you than it is to believe it. You may feel like you are standing on a whole stack of bibles, so impossible is it to doubt. Or as though you are walking out on a word from God, much as Peter did on water, and that the words in your heart are the stepping stones for your feet. It makes a word from God not only special but also memorable.

I’m sure that right now you really want one!

Strong Faith

What does your faith do for you? Abel’s faith made his name a memorial. Enoch’s faith translated him with a testimony. Noah’s faith gave his family a new start in a “new” world.

What does your faith do for you? Abraham’s faith enabled him to see a city in Revelation from a tent in Genesis. It also made him a father at the age of one hundred years! Sarah’s faith made her the miracle mother of a boy named Laughter.

What does your faith do for you? Does it invigorate you? Does it stimulate you? Does it energize you? Does it rejuvenate you?

Faith is one of the most important subjects in the Bible. Without faith it is impossible to please God. Without faith the life, death and resurrection of Jesus mean little to life today. Faith has been preached, probed, professed and prayed for, but can never be too much practiced.

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1)

The substance (assurance) of faith raises an expectation of a good outcome. The evidence of faith creates a strong conviction. When God spoke to Abram, saying, “Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if you are able to number them…so shall your seed be”, Abram’s legs could have buckled. After all, he was seventy-five years of age, and childless.

But he “believed in the Lord” and God credited his faith to him as righteousness. (Genesis 15:5-6) Looking up at the stars in the night sky, Abram saw millions materialize, and got a twinkle in his eye! You can do it, Almighty God! I believe that you can do it! It wasn’t just a happy thought, it was a heart response.

“And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead [as to the possibility of becoming a father]…neither yet the deadness of Sarah’s womb. He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; and being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.” (Romans 4:19-21)

Note the relationship between unbelief and weakness on one hand, and faith and strength on the other. If Abram had considered his condition, his faith would have faltered, his knees would have knocked, and Sarah would have said, “You’re just seeing stars!”

Instead, his faith gave him the strength to father a son, whom he named Isaac. Abram (whom God later renamed Abraham) was strong in faith. The word “strong” can be more descriptively translated “invigorated”!

What does your faith do for you?

Does it invigorate you? Does it strengthen you to do your part in bringing a promise to pass? Remember, the supernatural happens when the “super” touches the “natural”. In other words, God did his part as the couple did their part in faith.

The Old Testament book of Numbers gives an amazing example of the invigorating power of faith – and of the debilitating effects of unbelief. When Israel rebelled against God and refused to enter the Promised Land, they were condemned to “wander in the wilderness” for forty years, and while they wandered, “bear their iniquities” – the burden of their unbelief.

“Your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness…from twenty years old and upward,” said the Lord (Numbers 14). Israelites under twenty years of age were not held accountable. But they too would wander in the wilderness, while waiting for their elders to “die off” so they could enter the Promised Land.

When I first read, “Your carcasses shall fall…” my first thought was: That’s an odd way to put it, since a carcass is a body which has already fallen. The same expression is used in the New Testament book of Hebrews, where it says that their “carcasses fell in the wilderness.” (Hebrews 3:17)

So the unbelieving Israelites were “the living dead”! Alive physically, they were dead spiritually. Once condemned, they were history. They had no future, no expectancy, and no hope. They would never see the snow-capped Mt Hermon or the tall palms of Jericho, because they had slandered the Land of Promise. They would never know true spiritual satisfaction or fulfillment –because of their unbelief.

When I was a teenager I ring-barked eucalyptus trees to turn bush into farmland. I did this by using an axe to cut a narrow band of bark from the trunk of each tree. The moment the bark was removed the tree was doomed, because its branches were separated from their life-source: the moisture in the ground. It took time for a tree to die completely, but it was as good as dead the moment the axe-head bit into its bark.

The moment God pronounced judgement on unbelieving Israel they were cut off from their life-source. They were doomed. It would take forty years for the last of them to die, but their generation, ‘ring-barked’ by unbelief, would “fall” in the wilderness, just as surely as those long-dead trees fell to the ground.

What does your faith do for you? Consider the case of the average twenty- year-old Israelite who knew that because of his unbelief he would never see the land of his dreams. Moreover, he knew that his life expectancy was, at most, forty more years, and that those years would be spent wandering aimlessly through the wilderness.

He was a “carcass” waiting for the time when he would “fall” – along with his family and friends. During his remaining years, he would bear the burden of his unbelief, a burden that would slowly drain him of strength.

Now consider Caleb and Joshua, the two men over the age of twenty who made it through to the Promised Land. Caleb was forty when God condemned Israel. He was eighty-five when he asked Joshua for permission to capture his promised mountain inheritance from a gigantic family!

The young man Joshua would go “from strength to strength” and lead his people across Jordan and his army into battle again and again – at over sixty years of age. Take note! These two men ate the same food, drank the same water, walked the same distance, brushed off the same flies, and endured the same heat and hardship as everyone else.

But not only did they survive: they grew stronger with age, until they entered their inheritance, overcame their enemies, and fully possessed what God had promised!

Take a good look at yourself. Are you strong in faith, bounding out of bed each morning to breakfast, or are you weak through unbelief, battling to make it out of bed? Is your life inspired, or is it insipid? Your faith should make you fitter, revitalizing your body, expanding your vision, renewing your mind! It should stimulate your interest in your spiritual inheritance.

The Promised Land was a land of promises. Each tribe had a title, each family an inheritance, and each person a promised portion. It has been said that there are 7000 promises in the Bible – more than enough to keep every believer busy for a lifetime. You can possess God’s promises if you are willing to exercise your faith, and walk out of the wilderness of your self-will into the will of God.

Just as each allotted portion of the Promised Land was occupied by enemies, so each promise in God’s word is claimed by evil powers. You may never receive your healing if you allow sickness to claim it. You may never prosper if you allow poverty to remain in possession of your promise! If sickness has claimed your health, poverty your prosperity, and bondage your freedom, they must be dispossessed so that your promises can be possessed (Numbers 33:53).

The fierce fight of faith begins when you hear what God has for you in Christ and determine that no matter what it takes, you will “enter into” your inheritance. You can be strong in faith or you can be weak in faith. If you are weak you will wander. If you are pessimistic you will perish. But if you are strong you will succeed. Young, old, or in between, you can be strong in faith – age has nothing to do with it.

What does your faith do for you? Does it do what Abraham’s faith did for him? Does it do what Caleb’s faith did for him? Be a winner, not a wanderer. Be a fighter, not a failure. Don’t consider your condition, instead confess your faith. Don’t stagger in unbelief but be strong in faith, giving glory to God!

Go after what God has given you. Dispossess the thing that claims it and fight it with faith. Serve notice on sickness. Run poverty off your prosperity. Go forward into freedom. Find out what your faith can do for you, for that’s where your future is.

When you do, you’ll never ever be the same again!

Saving Faith

The word “sozo” is pronounced “soodzo”, which sounds more like a brand of washing powder than a word of saving power. But in fact the ancient Greek word is one of the most important in the New Testament. Sozo means, “to save, make safe, make whole, preserve from danger or loss.”

Among the many accounts in the New Testament of people who were healed and forgiven, perhaps the most remarkable faith is seen in the words and actions of four persons who placed their active faith in Jesus and were either physically or spiritually saved.

One of them was a prostitute who after hearing that Jesus had entered the home of a Pharisee followed him inside to where he reclined. In her hand she clutched an alabaster jar of ointment (Luke 7:37). She “stood at his feet, behind him, weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.”

In those days the custom was to recline on a couch while eating, and this enabled the woman to anoint the feet of Jesus as she did.

“Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he spoke within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that touches him; for she is a sinner.”

Jesus quickly discerned his host’s thoughts, and dealt with them by contrasting the Pharisee’s cold indifference with the prostitute’s broken-hearted repentance.

In his parable of the Two Debtors, Jesus linked love shown to debt forgiven, and asked the Pharisee to judge which one of two debtors would love the most: the one who had been forgiven little, or the one who had been forgiven much. Not for a moment did the Pharisee realize that the judgement he would make would reveal the state of his own heart.

Jesus then said to the prostitute, “Your sins are forgiven.” While those who were present wondered at these words, Jesus said to her, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

“Your faith has saved you.” Jesus did not say that his power had saved her but that her faith had saved her. What he meant was that her faith had drawn his power. The faith of a known prostitute had saved her, had brought her forgiveness.

Saving Faith is personal faith in Jesus. When she entered the house the woman was a prostitute, but when she left it she was clean through and through! When Jesus said, “Your faith has saved you”, he might just as well have said, “Your faith has made you whole” because “sozo” includes both forgiveness and healing.

This is seen in the account of the woman who had hemorrhaged for twelve years, and who pushed through a crowd to touch the hem of Jesus’ garment. When she did she was healed.

Jesus said to her, “Your faith has made you whole.” (Luke 8:48)

When he healed in response to faith, Jesus said, “Your faith has made you whole.” When he forgave sin in response to faith, Jesus said, “Your faith has saved you.” But in every case, whether Jesus said “saved you” or “made you whole” the word he used was sozo.

To the leper who returned to Jesus to give thanks (after being cleansed but before a priest had confirmed it) Jesus said, “Your faith has made you whole.” (Luke 17:11-19)

To blind Bartimaeus, who refused to be silenced but “shouted ever louder”, Jesus declared: “Your faith has made you whole.” (Mark 10:52)

“Made you whole” is the better translation when healing is the subject, and “saved you” when forgiveness is the subject. But in every case, sozo is the word the Gospel writers use. “Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven” – sozo is the answer to both the sick and the sin-sick human condition.

The prostitute was forgiven. The hemorrhaging woman was healed. The leper who returned to give thanks was healed. Blind Bartimaeus was healed.

The prostitute’s saving faith was seen in her great love for Jesus.

The hemorrhaging woman’s saving faith was felt in her desperate touch.

The returning leper’s saving faith was shown displayed in his gratitude.

The blind beggar’s saving faith was heard in his persistent shouts and in his refusal to be silenced by the disapproving criticism of those around about him.

None of the four was an “insider” who had a covenant right to healing. None of them had faith that was based on the promises of the Bible. Jesus attributed the result of their acts to their own faith. That faith plugged them into God’s healing power. Are you willing to plug your faith into God’s power?

Are you willing to worship Jesus in a situation that’s foreign to the life you’ve been living? The crying prostitute did. Are you willing to thank Jesus for your healing before it is confirmed by your doctor? The Samaritan lepers were. The priests inspected the lepers in those days, and declared them healed. (Leviticus, chapters 13-15) Are you willing to raise your voice above the noise of those who tell you to be quiet? Blind Bartimaeus was. Are you willing to defy prohibitive restrictions and push through every hindrance to touch Jesus for your healing? The suffering woman was.

Jesus Christ saves “to the uttermost” – as far as is needed. Jesus saves those who believe in him from sin, sickness, demonic bondage, chemical bondage, habitual bondage, depression, obsession and oppression – from every thing that is foreign to God’s will for humanity.

Thank God for the fact that the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, has reconciled us to Him! But we need to remember that being saved is more than being forgiven, more than being healed, more than being set free, more than God’s provision or preservation – it is all of these things – it is “sozo”!

Salvation in its entirety is God’s plan for our lives, a plan which provides for every need we’ll ever have. Our personal faith in Jesus Christ will save us over and over, through and through, again and again – until we are finally saved when Jesus returns, by being raised from death to life. Until then, let’s “keep on keeping on” by having saving faith in our saving Lord!

Flourishing Faith

From time to time controversy arises due to an over-emphasis on faith, usually because of extreme teaching by hyperactive televangelists or hyped-up visiting preachers. It is generally understood that truth carried to extreme results in heresy, so any mention of extraordinary faith – as distinct from the everyday faith of all Christians – is often dismissed as “over the top”.

This is a pity, because although hyper-faith is extreme, hyper-growing faith is not. In fact, it is quite scriptural. We need to discover what the Greek word huper (in English “hyper”) actually means. In New Testament Greek manuscripts it is used as a prefix to boost certain words to new heights. A good example is the Greek word nikao, which means “overcomer” or “conqueror”. But when preceded by huper the word becomes hupernikao, which in Romans 8:37 is translated, “more than conquerors”.

These days, “hyper” is used as a prefix to English words for the same reason. For example, “media hype” is now a common expression, and means that in inflating a trivial story, the media is making “a lot out of nothing”.

Many parents would wish that their children were not so hyperactive! A Hypermart is a superstore; and hypertension is a well-known medical syndrome.

The apostle Paul, in his second letter to the Thessalonians, thanked God for their hyper-growth. “We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, and rightly so, for your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of every one of you all toward each other abounds.” (2 Thessalonians 1:3)

The Greek word translated “grows exceedingly” is huperauxano, and though huperauxano is used only once in the New Testament, the word auxano is used many times – always in relation to growth.

“Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow…” (Matthew 6:28)

“I have planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.” (1 Cor.3:6)

“When your faith is increased…” (2 Cor. 10:15)

Hyper-growing faith is flourishing faith, not hyper-faith. Your faith can grow exceedingly without becoming extreme, just as you can be a hyper-conqueror without developing an arrogant attitude. “Exceedingly” doesn’t mean “excessively”.

Paul coupled faith that “grows exceedingly” with love that “abounds”. (2 Thessalonians 1:3) Hyper-growing faith and abundant love go together – in fact they grow together! The Christians at Thessalonica were the kind of “good soil” Jesus speaks of in his parable of The Sower.

“But he that receives seed into the good ground is he that hears the word, and understands it; which also bears fruit, and brings forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. (Matthew 13:23)

The faith of the Thessalonians grew exceedingly. The hyper-growth referred to by Paul in his second letter to them was the result of their ready acceptance of the gospel he had preached and demonstrated. It was also due to their willingness to turn from idols to the living and true God (1 Thessalonians 1:10). Their faith in God was so well known that Paul had heard of it wherever he went. That faith grew because the Thessalonians were actively sharing it with others.

If your faith is growing but not growing exceedingly, then you would do well to follow the example of the Thessalonians, which is recorded in Paul’s first letter to them. In fact, the first two chapters of First Thessalonians give a graphic account of their hyper-growth.

“And you became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you were examples to all who believe in Macedonia and Achaia. For from you sounded out the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also your faith in every place is spread abroad, so that we need not say anything.” (1 Thessalonians 1:6-8)

If their faith could grow exceedingly – if it could flourish – then so can yours! Forget so-called hyper-faith and think more about hyper-growth, about your faith flourishing – even in the midst of opposition.

“How can my faith grow to that extent?” you may ask.

There is only one kind of faith in the Bible: “the faith of [from] God”: the faith that has its origin in God. (Mark 11:22, margin) Many people say, “I have faith!” as though having faith was special or unusual. But every Christian has a measure of faith, and it can be observed in their God-given gifts. (Romans 12:3)

“Faith” is a term for the precious commodity God gives to us – much the same as “money” is a word for the notes and coin that make up our currency. What we do with the faith we’ve been given determines whether or not it grows. To continue the faith/money analogy: the more we put our money to work the more it grows. But if we let it remain idle it soon loses some of its value – especially when the rate of inflation exceeds the rate of interest.

Money left sitting in a low interest account is reduced to a point where it disappears. Whose fault is that? The bank’s? To a degree, yes, because its account fees have eaten into it. The bank has profited nicely, thank you, from our poor money management, having invested our money at a far higher interest rate, and have been more than happy to pay us next to nothing for the use of it.

No, we cannot blame the bank; we have to blame ourselves for not putting our money to work.

Amazingly, many Christians are good money managers but poor faith managers! Having received their measure of faith, in the form of a spiritual gift, they don’t put it to work but allow it to remain idle. Meanwhile, doubt and ill-health eat into it. When they take stock of their poor health, they wonder where on earth their faith went. Some even blame God for their loss of faith. But God gives faith to us as a resource that needs to be developed, if we are to profit from it.

To the woman who touched the hem of his garment, Jesus said, “Your faith has made you whole.” (Matthew 9:22) Her faith was not Magnificent Faith, or Great Faith. It was simply faith. But the woman exercised her faith – she put it to good use! That made her a believer! A person who believes is one who uses the faith he or she possesses.

“Faith” is a noun, which is (as we know from our schooldays) “a naming word”. “Believe” is a verb, which we know is “a doing word”! Belief grows to the degree that faith is used. Unbelief grows to the degree that faith is not used. Hyper-growth is a product of active faith.

If a Canaanite woman could display Magnificent Faith and a Roman centurion could display Great Faith, then Christians filled with the Holy Spirit who act on the Word of God should have hyper-growth – faith that grows exceedingly, because hyper-growth is the unmistakable evidence of flourishing faith!

Free Standing Faith

There are two kinds of people in this life: those who make it to their feet, and those who don’t. Those who make it to their feet know what it is to rise up in faith and in the power of God.

Those unable to stand are people with no such knowledge. They may know the Bible, in the religious sense, but its truth has never gripped their hearts to the degree that it has lifted them to a higher level of living. God’s word in our hearts can enable us to rise up and stand on our own two feet.

The Acts of the Apostles records the healing of two crippled men. The first received healing through the faith of another; the second arose in the power of his faith to be healed. Both were lifelong cripples and both were healed, each by very different means.

The first account is found in the third chapter of Acts, where we read, “a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple.” (Acts 3:2)

For nearly forty years this man had been a dependant, a daily burden carried by others to a place where his condition might catch the eyes and prick the consciences of those on their way to worship. He was a daily reminder to them that life can be as ugly for some as it is beautiful to others.  

On this particular day, however, “seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, the cripple asked them for money. Peter, fastening his eyes on him, said, Look on us; and he paid attention, expecting to receive something from them.”

The cripple expected to receive a coin or two. What he didn’t know was that he was about to receive a miracle from God. When Peter said, “Look on us”, he was saying, “Get your eyes off goodwill gestures and look to us for a more lasting answer!”

His words attracted the cripple’s total attention.

“I have no silver or gold,” Peter said, “But what I have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” Then “he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up. And immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.”

First, the man looked. Then he was lifted. Then he leapt! Notice that Peter “lifted him up” – that was the key to his healing. The man had expected money, but Peter redirected his attention on himself and John. Having done that, Peter released his faith by taking his right hand and lifting him to his feet. His words were authoritative, and the authority behind them was Jesus Christ of Nazareth – the name, title and former address of his risen Lord.

Only when Peter lifted the cripple to his feet did the man’s feet and ankle bones receive strength; and only then was he able to leap out of his lifelong limitation.

Here we see a principle by which many are healed: the Looking to Others principle. Those who say that people in need “shouldn’t look to others, only to God” are unrealistic. Those who don’t know the word of God or the power of God must look to those of us who do, and our responsibility is to see that they are not left begging.

Those who have no power in their lives need to be lifted, and it’s our job to lift them, in the name of Jesus, through faith, by the power of the Holy Spirit. As we do our part the Lord does his part. He confirms the word with signs following. He does the miracles, as we lift people to their feet, in his name.

“And all the people saw him walking and praising God. And they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple: and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened to him.”

Glory to God! Instead of a lame man outside the temple, they had a leaping man inside the temple. Suddenly their religion was up-to-date. When the lame man got a lift they all got one!

The account of the second cripple’s healing is found in Acts chapter 14, where we read, “there sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother’s womb, who had never walked.”

An identical case! Why does Luke, the writer of Acts, include in his narrative the healing of two men with the same condition? I think it’s because God wants us to compare the two cases so we can learn something.

This second cripple sat and listened to Paul, and as he listened, faith rose in his heart. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by a word from God. The word from God, preached by a man with faith, produced faith in the heart of the hearer – a man who had never walked.

The man began to expect something from God. A voice from within seemed to say, “I believe. I believe!” If only his body could express the faith that was surging in his heart.

Suddenly Paul was silent. Looking intently at the man, he saw beyond the crippled hopes, the crippled relationships, the crippled living; he saw a man of beginning faith, a man who wanted to find his feet. He saw that inside the crippled body was a whole man, struggling to rise above his circumstances.

“Stand upright on your feet!” Paul commanded. His command activated the faith that was already at flash point. That faith suddenly broke free from the man’s lifelong limitation – and leapt! His body somehow – how, he would never know – leapt with it! He was healed. Healed! He was healed!

What had healed him? The word of God in Paul’s mouth had raised his expectation. Coming from an anointed preacher, it had created faith in his heart. When Paul’s command raised faith to its feet, the man’s body followed!

We see here a principle of being healed by your own faith. The crippled man’s faith had the potential to make him whole. All it needed was something to activate it. That “something” was Paul’s inspired command.

The difference between the two crippled men is the difference between those who know the word of God and those who don’t. Those who know the word, and who allow it to flood their hearts, have within themselves the faith to be healed. This combustible element needs only a command to ignite it.

You may hear a message that stirs your heart and creates faith to be healed. But it may take a word of command to ignite that faith so you can act on it. Paul’s message of the Gospel was for everyone that day, but only when he fastened his eyes on one man, in one moment, only when he saw that man’s faith, and only when he spoke the word of command, was that man healed.

What kind of “cripple” are you? Let me rephrase that: How dysfunctional are you? You might not be your body but your thinking that’s dysfunctional. These days, whole families depend on the goodwill of others to lift them out of their circumstances. The changes in society, brought about by increases in technology and an unpredictable global economy, have created a dependent attitude in millions of helpless people.

Like the cripple at the Gate Beautiful, they depend on the goodwill handouts that ease the consciences of passers-by. This is no criticism of those who, through no fault of their own, have found themselves dependent on social welfare as a result of sudden economic changes beyond their control. Increasingly, the church has found itself in the role of a compassionate benefactor, its conscience touched by the plight of those who have been reduced to dependency.

Like the thousands who passed by the crippled beggar on their way into the temple, churchgoers have given regularly, for conscience sake. Meanwhile, the helpless have developed a dependent attitude. They have come to expect help from those who give with their relationship to God in mind. The perception of many is that churches are extensions of government welfare programs – and many are.

But as Peter and John walked up to the Gate Beautiful on that particular day, things were about to change. Asked by the man for money, Peter suddenly felt the anointing of God rising within himself.

“I haven’t got what you want, but I’ll give you what I’ve got!” he declared. “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!”

This is the primary role of the church. It’s not wrong to give to the needy – in fact the Bible commands it. But it’s also wrong to maintain them in a state of dependency when God has given his people the power to lift them out of it.

What power does the church have that can lift the helpless out of their condition? The power of active faith! Faith for salvation. Faith for healing. Faith for prosperity. Faith for the restoration of wrecked relationships. Most people can give money to maintain the helpless who sit on the sidelines of society. But only God’s people, filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, can actually lift them up and out of their condition.

“Such as we have, we give…” It’s significant that Peter and John had no money. That placed them on the same economic level as the beggar. In fact, he may have been better off, financially, for all we know. But the anointing of God makes a Christian rich in the ability to change lives.

There’s enough supernatural power in the church to lift the whole world to its feet! But there’s an even better way, which is to minister the word of God with such anointing that faith is created in the hearts of those who hear it, to the degree that they are able to rise up and out of their circumstances.

There comes a time when faith becomes visible. The word preached builds faith in those who hear and believe it. Faith is then at flashpoint. The boldness of the preacher may then be expressed in such a commanding way that the faith of those who listen ignites them and they act – and a miracle happens.

The name of Jesus Christ on the church’s lips has the power to lift people to a new level of living. That’s wonderful. But the message of the Gospel has the power to create in those who believe faith that enables them to rise up and out of their helplessness. Those with no spiritual expectancy have to be lifted; but those with faith rising in their hearts can be commanded to stand – in faith!

If these words have ministered faith to your heart, then you have within you the faith to rise above your present level of living. You have faith to be saved, faith to be healed – faith to ‘stand on your own two feet’!

Do you have that faith? You do? Then rise up on the inside and rise to your feet in faith! Your faith can lift you to a new level of living. Don’t stay down in doubt or skepticism – the word of God now working in you is a powerful force. Instead, say “Yes! I will rise up in the name of the Lord Jesus! I will not submit to sickness! No longer will I live in this condition! I will stand on my own two feet!

Is the level of faith rising within you right now? It is? Is your faith beginning to find its feet? It is? Wonderful! Then in the name of Jesus Christ – stand up!

Unsinkable Faith

Most Israelites had a strong aversion to the sea. Psalm 107:23 refers to God’s “wonders in the deep” – the dangers that face those who go down to the sea in ships. “They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths … they reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man …” Those who have experienced a storm at sea will relate to this graphic description of the twin terrors of strong winds and huge waves.

The prophet Isaiah likened the wicked to the troubled sea “when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, says my God, to the wicked.” (Isaiah 57:20, 21)

The prophet Daniel and his New Testament counterpart, the Apostle John, had visions of “beasts” arising from the sea (Daniel 7:3; Revelation 13:1). The “beasts” were the world kingdoms that were to arise from the restless and unstable “waters” of Gentile humanity. James likens a doubter to “a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed” and warns: “Let not that [unstable] man think that he shall receive anything from the Lord.” (James 1:6)

But if the sea was a thing of dread, it was also (like so many of the things we fear) a thing of fascination. How was a small ship able to endure such terrible tossing and ceaseless pounding? How was it able to sink from sight in a deep trough, and appear again, triumphantly riding the crest of a wave? How could it disappear into the distance and reappear weeks or months later, after having safely traversed “the Great Sea” (the Mediterranean)? 

Above all, how was it that its passage through the sea left no trace? “It’s too wonderful for me” exclaimed one ancient Israelite – “How does a ship do that?” (Proverbs 30:18, 19)

The same admission is made by believers who observe those who traverse “the “great waters” of business and politics in this ungodly world. How is it possible for Christians to survive the worldly winds of falsehood (Ephesians 4:14) and doubt? (James 1:6) For that matter, how can any of us retain honesty and decency when the falsehood and corruption in life threaten to swamp our witness or swallow our reputation?

How do some overcome? What is the secret of their success? That’s what those who fear the risk of failing God in this world wish they knew. If only there was a plan they could scan or a formula they could follow. But like the “way of a ship in the midst of the sea”, the unsinkable and overcoming life is to many an unfathomable mystery.

God’s “ways” – how He does things – are inscrutable. “Your way is in the sea, your path is in the great waters, and your footsteps are not known.” (Psalm 77:19) This is a figurative way of saying that no one can trace the way God does things. Even the “footsteps” of His anointed – the way God guides them – are at times misunderstood (Psalm 89:51). Yet, as the Apostle Paul’s spiritual son, Titus walked in his father’s footsteps and did what Paul would have done in the circumstance. (2 Corinthians 12:18)

But if there is no plan to work from, no formula to follow, there are principles, and the Principle of Displacement applies not only to ships at sea but also to Christians in the world. Understanding it enables us to survive the worst storms in life, instead of being swamped by them. It is a principle that works for all believers – not just some.

“Whosoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God” and “whosoever is born of God overcomes the world.” (I John 5:1, 4) Every believer is born to overcome. “Who is he that overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” (I John 5:5) Our faith enables us to gain the victory over the world. “By faith” the believer is a world beater.

We should understand that the New Testament Greek word for “world” means “world order” – not the world of nature but the man-made system of things. We can enjoy God’s beautiful creation even while overcoming the manipulative world system.

The New Testament is quite firm on the fact that we cannot love the world and also love the Father.

“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loves the things of the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” (1 John 2:15, 16)

“Do you not know that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” (James 4:4)

Jesus told his disciples they were “in the world” but not “of the world”. Their origin was no longer the world they had been born into, but the realm above from which they had been “born again”. (John 3:7; 17:11, 16) The “world” that Jesus spoke of is the sum of the collective opinions, ideas and values promoted by the media; the cultural traditions and superstitions accepted as truth by the unsaved majority. This world system forms the unconscious attitudes of unspiritual people.

The Greek word kosmos (“world”) occurs 79 times in the Gospel of John. To understand just how concerned Jesus was about the world’s influence on his disciples, we need only count the number of times the word is used in the chapters leading up to his arrest. In John, chapter 14,”world” occurs 6 times; in Chapter 15, it occurs 6 times; in Chapter 16, it occurs 8 times; and in Chapter 17, it occurs 19 times!

The Lord’s concern intensified as his death approached. His final prayer, in John, Chapter 17, was filled with references to “the world” – 19 references in 26 verses! Chapter 18 mentions “world” only 4 times – an indication that through his prayers in the Garden of Gethsemane the burden Jesus had carried for his disciples lifted from him after he had overcome the temptation to live, and had yielded to his Father’s will for him to die.

In contrast to the frequent use of “world” the phrase “prince of this world” – meaning, the Devil – is used only twice. How many of the Christians that you know are more concerned about the world than they are about the Devil? Of course, the Devil lures Christians through the attractions of the world, just as he did when attempting to lure Jesus. Christians who would never dream of serving Satan quite willingly serve the world system. That’s why God makes it clear that we cannot love the world and love Him as well. The choice is clear, and we should make it without delay. (Joshua 24:15)

Just as the sea, with all its challenges and dangers, was feared by men of old (and is never taken lightly by seamen today), so was the world system a trial to the first Christians. They followed “that Way” – the lifestyle of Jesus their Lord – but the Roman world was a demanding, tightly-controlled system. The command was for them to go with the Good News “into all the world”, but the danger was that the world system would seduce and captivate them. In nautical terms it should have sent them to the bottom. But instead they rose to the top (Acts 17:6).

It was displacement that made those early believers unsinkable. Displacement is the quantity of water displaced by a mass, such as a ship. In simple terms, the hull of a ship at sea level displaces an amount of water equal to it – just as the level of water in a swimming pool is raised by the number of people in the pool.

Fill a bath tub to its capacity and then lower yourself into it. The amount of water that overflows onto the bathroom floor will equal the mass of your immersed body in the bath. The mess will equal the mass! The Archimedes Principle states, “Any object wholly or partially submerged in a fluid at rest is acted upon by an upward or buoyant force equal to the weight of the fluid displaced by the object.” Well, okay, Archimedes was a Greek mathematician, so we would expect him to write in technical terms. So let’s put it more simply.

Most boats and ships have displacement hulls, meaning that they are designed to move through the water – not just across the surface. Ancient ships were modeled on various kinds of fish (which may be why so many of them sank). A later and far better model was the immersed area of a duck. Surely an object that floats higher and so displaces less volume of water would have to be an improvement. A ship’s hull is equal to the water it displaces (moves aside), so the vessel is one with the water in which it floats. If the ship is watertight, and if (in the case of a yacht) the weight of its keel keeps it upright (and in the event of a roll returns it to an upright position), it’s unlikely to sink.

Most ships sink when water somehow gets inside the hull. A ship in the water is a wonder, but water in a ship is a disaster! The same thing applies to Christians: a Christian in the world is a wonder, but the world in a Christian is a disaster!

Most Christians who “go under” do so because they allow the world to get in. Despite their knowledge of the truth, they end up “swamped” by the internal weight of worldly ideas and the external forces of opposing ideas. They are meant to move through the world, rescuing lost souls, but instead find themselves sinking into it and in danger of becoming lost souls themselves. They are meant to overcome it, but end up being overcome by it. They either do not know or do not observe the Principle of Displacement.

The “way of a ship in the midst of the sea” is a way of beauty, which is why sailors refer to a ship as “she” rather than “it”. The graceful lines of a ship and the way it moves with ease through water made one man marvel. It’s too wonderful for me, he thought. Likewise, the grace and the ease with which Christians move through the world of business, politics, education, sport, communication, technology and commerce, should amaze those who observe them.

Storms of opposition toss them to and fro, but they never seem to lose direction. Waves of persecution break over them, but they emerge intact. Strong cross-currents of worldly ideas seek to throw them off course, but they stay on their biblical bearing. Sorrow may cause them to vanish from sight for a time, but soon they rise again, not fighting against the world system but steadily displacing its influence. The Bible is their chart, and if clouds of darkness obscure their present position, they know they know enough of God’s will to Dead Reckon their course until the clouds disperse and the heavens clear.

Jesus moved through the world with an ease that amazed his disciples and angered his critics. He ate with sinners and yet was without sin himself. A prostitute washed his feet with her tears and dried them with her hair – a repentant but sensual act. No lustful desire was awakened in him, because none slept in him.

Holy in thought, word and deed, Jesus “displaced” the ungodliness around him with holiness. He maintained his set course until it brought him to the Cross. At the close of his earthly ministry he prayed that we would overcome the world.

“And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to you. Holy Father, keep through your own name those whom you have given me, that they may be one, as we are. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in your name: those that you gave me I have kept, and none of them is lost…” (John 17:11,12) 

The letters of the international distress signal S.O.S. stand for “Save Our Souls.” The signal had its origin in a time when sailing ships set out into the great oceans of the world. The heroic feats of lifesavers who braved howling storms to save the passengers and crews of sinking ships are legendary. A caring church seeks to “rescue the perishing” – those whose lives are at risk – at the expense of its own comfort and well-being. God will bring us safely to our desired haven; our responsibility is to arrive with a full ship. (Psalm 107:30)  

“The way of a ship in the midst of the sea” is marvelous, but how much more marvelous is the victory of a Christian over the world! The Apostle Paul’s stormy crossing to Malta is a stirring example of how the strong faith of one can save the lives of many (Acts 27). Paul was shipwrecked three times, and once spent “a night and a day in the deep” (2 Corinthians 11:24). His body was in the water but he would not let the water into his body. A buoyant faith in God’s purpose for his life made him unsinkable. You were born to overcome, so you are as unsinkable as he was. A displacement-style hull might not skim quickly across the surface, but it will get you there safely.

Vow right now that you are an overcomer and not an undergoer! You can move through this world with assurance and purpose. Never again will you allow your heart to sink in the face of circumstances, no matter how threatening they may appear. Your faith in God will see you through. You are in the world but not of the world. Being born of God makes you spiritually unsinkable. You are an overcomer, not an undergoer.

Bon voyage!

The Faith Life

There is a scene in the movie “The Longest Day” in which two platoons, one American and one German, separated by a shoulder-high stone wall, pass by in opposite directions. Gazing up at explosions in the night sky, the Germans pass by without recognizing the Americans. (It was an actual D-Day incident.)

Two generations can pass by one another like that, both heading in the opposite direction. The Bible way is that each new generation succeeds the old and goes “from strength to strength” – eyes on the same goal and moving forward in the same direction.

There is at least one major turning point in the life of every Christian: a point where the choice is to either move forward or turn aside. The turning point of the children of Israel was when the twelve spies reported back from the Promised Land and ten of them reported that it was impossible for the children of Israel to defeat the inhabitants. 

The turning point for the Jews in the time of Jesus was when he performed undeniable miracles and the Jewish leaders accused him of doing it by the power of Beelzebub: “Lord of the Flies.” Matthew, chapter 12, records that terrible moment when they knowingly blasphemed the Holy Spirit. Matthew places the miracle healing of a man’s withered right arm just before this, perhaps to illustrate the loss of spiritual power represented by the withered right arm (in the case of most people, the strongest). Their lack of power was the result of their unbelief. 

In a synagogue on a Sabbath day Jesus told the man to stretch forth his withered hand. The setting, with its spiritually powerless leaders, was an ideal one for Jesus to demonstrate his ability and willingness to restore power to the lives of his people. 

After the Jews’ blasphemy Jesus spoke of future judgement, and began to speak in parables. He quoted a prophecy of Isaiah, and declared that it was fulfilled in their unbelief. (Isaiah 6:8, 10; Matthew 13:13) Unbelief was also behind his rejection at Nazareth, where he had grown up and was still well known. (Matthew 13:53-58) Jesus then resumed his theme of the “evil and adulterous generation” (Matthew 12:39) and stated that the only sign it would be given would be that of Jonah: his resurrection after three days and nights in the tomb (Matthew 16:4). 

It seems to me significant that soon after this incident Peter received the revelation that Jesus was “the Christ, the Son of the living God”, after which Jesus introduced the Church. (Matthew 16:16-18) It was not that the rejection of Jesus by the Jews changed God’s plan, because the Almighty had seen it from the foundation of the world. 

The next major turning point is shown in the “back to back” parables of The Vineyard and The Wedding Feast. (Matthew 21:33-43 & 22:2-14) The Parable of the Vineyard refers to the Jews’ rejection of the prophets prior to Jesus’ crucifixion, and the judgement it would bring. The Parable of the Wedding Feast refers to the rejection of the Gospel invitation by the Jews after Christ’s resurrection, and their persecution of the apostles. 

That’s worth repeating: The Parable of the Vineyard refers to the rejection of the prophets and Jesus Christ; and the Parable of the Wedding Feast refers to the rejection of the apostles and the salvation message they preached. 

The Vineyard, said Jesus, would be taken from the Jews and given to “a fruitful nation” [a new people group: the Church]. Similarly, those who rejected the Wedding Invitation would be judged “unworthy”, and others [Gentiles] would be invited instead. 

Many [Jews] would be called, but few chosen. The chosen, a Jewish remnant, would be “the Israel of God” – the Church, the Body of Christ (Galatians 6:16). But before long, non-Jewish believers would outnumber them in the church. Three categories would then be recognised: the Jew, the Gentile, and the Church of God (1 Corinthians 10:32). 

After rejecting the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Jewish nation would be virtually destroyed in AD 70, its religious leaders having become “the synagogue of Satan” (Revelation 3:9) and Jerusalem “Sodom and Egypt” – a synonym for abomination and bondage (Revelation 11:8). The carnivorous Roman “eagles” would descend on the city and tear the Jewish body politic to shreds, exactly as prophesied by Jesus (Matthew 24:28). 

Christians, who witness time and time again to the unsaved, tend to forget that the Lord offers believers the kingdom of God – the rule of God – repeatedly. But like those who reject the good news, they reject the Kingdom offer. Unwilling to become disciples (disciplined believers) they are content to live wayward lives; and after being cared for by ever-patient pastors, perish spiritually in a wilderness of their own will. 

There was a turning point in the lives of the twelve apostles (John 6:66-67). Many disciples “went back and walked no more with him” [literally, “dropped back”] because his words were unpalatable to them. Seeing this, Jesus questioned the Twelve as to their intention: did they wish to join them? 

Unlike ten of the twelve princes of Israel, however, they chose to go on, and in so doing, passed a possible turning point in their lives. They became “disciples indeed” rather than in name only (John 8:31). 

The journey from Mt Sinai to the Promised Land ought to have taken the children of Israel only eleven days, but it took them more than forty years! (Deuteronomy 1:2-3) Most of them died prematurely while wandering in the wilderness. 

Similarly, many Christians are turned aside because of their unbelief. Preferring manifestations to miracles, dependency to dominion, Sunday morning church attendance to everyday faith, they live mediocre lives, sitting in the premises when they could be living in the promises. 

You entered the kingdom of God in the spiritual sense when you were “born again” or you would have been unable to even see it. (John 3:3) As a Christian, then, the questions you need to ask yourself are: Have I allowed God to set my boundaries, or have I set my own? Am I satisfied with weekly church attendance, or do I wish to live daily in the kingdom? Am I wandering in my own will, or am I walking in God’s will? Do I wish to live a nomadic, purposeless life, or the life of a pilgrim, full of promise? 

In Numbers 14:22-38 we read of God’s judgement on the children of Israel, and in Deuteronomy 1:2-3 of the inevitable consequences of their unbelief. What ought to have been an eleven day journey took more than forty years, during which the unbelieving generation died and a new generation rose up to take its place.

What must have gone through the minds of those who knew that they would never “enter in” but would die in the wilderness? And what would have gone through the minds of the younger generation, who waited forty years for the generational change to take place?

A study of Numbers, chapter twenty-six, shows that allowing for births and deaths the net gain at the end of those forty years was only 1830 persons. Births among the dying generation – those twenty and over – must have all but ceased. One consequence of God’s judgement might have been impotence.

Think of the loss of potential soldiers, tradesmen, priests, and other persons vital to Israel’s future development. Where unbelief is present the birthrate – and in churches that means new converts – never gets ahead of the death rate of those who have given up and dropped out. Think of the loss to the present-day church of gifted backslidden members who are ‘dying’ in unbelief.

The older generation had experienced a release from Egyptian bondage through the Red Sea miracle, but through unbelief and rebellion had lost its momentum. Forward movement is an absolute must for God’s people!

A “going in” generation can learn valuable lessons from a “dying out” generation whose earlier experiences of God’s goodness will die with them. Ask those who are going nowhere how they lived in the days when they knew they were going somewhere. It will provide a clear contrast between faith and fear, courage and discouragement.

A “going in” generation needs to regain and then maintain the vision the “dying out” generation had but has lost.What was the original vision of your church? How can you regain it? Once regained, can it be maintained? A “going in” generation needs to ‘turn a deaf ear’ to the excuses of a “dying out” generation.Among the dying generation of Israelites these would have included the things Moses did wrong; why they should never have left Egypt; why defeating the giants in the Land was too much for God to ask; and why concerns based on the majority report of the ten princes seemed reasonable at the time. A litany of excuses would have (and will be) offered.

A “going in” generation needs to be obedient to the word rather than dependent on signs. The signs had marked God’s supply during the forty-year maintenance period, while the old generation died out, and ceased once the children of Israel crossed the Jordan River. The children of Israel then became a “signs following” generation rather than one that followed signs. The significance of the fall of Jericho is that it was Israel’s first word-based, obedience-related miracle.

A similar forty-year period occurred between Christ’s crucifixion and the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple by the Romans in AD 70. Those who had faith “entered in” to God’s promises in Christ, but those who refused to “enter in” died in their unbelief. They preferred Old Jerusalem to New Jerusalem. They preferred religion to a new way of living. We too must decide whether or not we will “enter in” to God’s promises. 

The Calebs and Joshuas in our churches will lead the “going-in” generation, because they have “tasted” God’s goodness, seen His miracles, and experienced His power. They have travelled to far-flung nations and seen God’s miracles. They know that the “giants” of our time can be defeated. While others ‘dropped out’ they moved forward with a strong sense of purpose. The new generation is now entering nations that the older generation would have thought closed to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. If your church is experiencing generational change – embrace it!

Don’t fret overmuch about those who have ‘dropped out’ but instead join those who are determined to ‘go in’! Don’t even think of dying in unbelief, but rather think of living an exciting and fulfilling life of faith. Make sure you pass by life’s possible turning points. You can do this by rejecting unbelief and choosing to ‘go in’ and possess your full inheritance in Christ: the ministry God has promised you.

If you have already begun to turn away from Christian fellowship, it’s vital that you get back among believers who know where they’re going and will not turn aside for anyone or anything. Your love, joy and peace will come back when you do. I wouldn’t call anyone I’ve met a loser, but over the years I have met many potential winners – and the one thing that sets them apart is their determination never to turn aside but to move “onwards and upwards” as long as they draw breath.

Does this describe you?

Generational Faith

The story of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is a story of three generations of faith (Hebrews 11:8-10, 13-16; Exodus 3:6). In the story we see Almighty God at work in the father, the son, and the grandson. Which generation do you identify with: the generation of Abraham, of Isaac, or of Jacob?

Abraham was the first of the three generations, which is why he is called “the Father of all who believe” (Romans 4:11).  

The mark of a first generation person is that he is the first to be chosen by God and “called out”. It may be from a denomination that has long been dead. A first generation person is obedient to the call, despite not knowing where it will lead. Faith to a first generation person is a journey. Abraham turned his back on the East and journeyed towards the West: a major directional shift from sunrise to sunset. Are you the first in your family to follow the God of Abraham? Then prepare for a complete turnaround!

A first generation person is a pioneer rather then a settler. Abraham had a vision for what was beyond (Hebrews 11:15-16). “For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.” (Hebrews 11:14) They sought a homeland (literally “the Father’s land”). Once having looked away from your past life, the most important thing is never to look back.

Abraham explored the land that following generations would possess (Genesis 13:17). It was not given to him for an inheritance, but he walked the “length and breadth” of the land and claimed it for his descendants. He was familiar with the Promised Land hundreds of years before they entered it. The important thing for a first generation believer is the Big Picture. That means thinking long-term, even beyond the Next Generation.

Abraham lived a transient lifestyle. In our time he would live in a campervan and travel the country as a Grey Nomad. He saw his future in heavenly terms (Genesis 15:5). He was “heir of the world” (Romans 4:13). Abraham’s future was not in the stars but in the countless earthly descendants they represented.

Abraham spoke of God’s promise, not of his or Sarah’s inability (Romans 4:17-21). His faith invigorated him! Through faith he became what his God-given name declared: “Father of Many Nations.” Do you call yourself what God’s Word calls you: a joint-heir with Jesus of the promises God made to Abraham? If you do, you surely know what it is to be invigorated! Abraham fathered Isaac, a second generation person, a child of promise, born in the land of promise.

Have you a “spiritual” son? The apostle Paul did (1 Corinthians 4:15-17). If you don’t, who will inherit the promises you’ve “walked through” and explored during your Christian life? Some of them may be inherited by the next generation and built on by the one that follows. The generations that follow should have the faith of the first generation.

Abraham offered to the LORD the outcome of his faith: the son he had believed for. After waiting for 25 years he offered Isaac without reservation or hesitation (Genesis 22; Hebrews 11:17-19). Which is more important to you: your personal satisfaction through God’s fulfilled promise, or your willingness to lay that promise on God’s altar, if that’s what He asks of you?

The second generation of faith was Isaac, the Son of Promise.

Abraham’s life fills almost twelve chapters of Genesis, but Isaac’s life barely fills three. Of these an entire chapter tells us how his servant found him a wife; and another records his secondary, albeit vital, role in the conflict between Jacob and Esau over the Blessing. Yet Isaac’s life was significant.

A second generation faith person is more than a generational bridge. Isaac’s biography may be a short one, yet it is full of interest. A second generation faith person may suffer by comparison with a pioneering, visionary, first generation faith person, but should never try to measure up to his “father” in the faith. Timothy was Paul’s son but there would never be another Apostle Paul. Jesus alone is the true measure of a ministry (2 Corinthians 10:12).

The mark of a second generation faith person is that he is not a pioneer but a settler. Isaac never once left the Land of Promise. God told him not to go down to Egypt but to “live in the land of which I shall tell you.” (Genesis 26:2) Don’t “go down to Egypt” by trying to ‘make it’ in the business world when there is a “famine” in the church. In the 1970s great harvests of souls were reaped in the Developing World by first generation evangelists who returned to the Western World and sowed the seeds of faith. These sprouted into today’s Mega-churches, and second generation ministries pastor them (while budding third generation ministries await their time).

Apostles and evangelists are agents of change, but pastors are agents of influence. Most pastors could tell you of a sermon they preached that ended “not with a bang but with a whimper” and of an evangelist who soon after preached the same sermon (not nearly as well), and it resulted in an altar call three or four rows deep!

In churches where a father is the senior pastor his son may struggle in the inherited role of his assistant. His father pioneered the church, had a vision for the land, and faith for financing the building. There it stands. What’s the son to do with it? Well, what he should not do is go out and pioneer a church to prove that he is made of “the right stuff”!

What he can do is plant seed where God has placed him, and expect to receive a “hundred-fold” harvest. He can also clean out the spiritual wells his father dug in the early years of his ministry, but which have been filled in by those who can live with pioneers but don’t want settlers.

A second generation faith person inherits promises discovered and explored by a first generation faith person. God’s blessing is on him in the land – not out of it (Genesis 26:3). The vision of a second generation faith person is not to pioneer but to plant. His goal is not discovery but productivity (Genesis 26:12). Isaac was blessed one hundred-fold in the first year of harvest! “The man began to prosper, and continued prospering until he became very prosperous.” (Genesis 26:13)

Thousands of years later, Jesus said, “But he that received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.” (Matthew 13:23) The LORD rewarded Isaac’s obedience. His soft and receptive heart was “good ground”.

Isaac cleaned out the wells dug by his father, which the Philistines had filled in after Abraham’s death. He called them by the names his father had given them (Genesis 26:18-19). Finally, he dug a well of his own that had a spring of clean, fresh water.

A second generation faith person works at restoring the spiritual values of the first generation faith person. The Philistines must have seen that Isaac was no Abraham but had the same God.

Moving on from the wells named Argument and Enmity, Isaac dug a new well and named it Room – “for now the LORD has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.”

Room to live! Many sons might stop right there. Not Isaac. Moving on from the freedom he had found, he came to Beersheba, where his father had dug a well and had sworn an oath with the Philistines, years earlier (Genesis 21:22-34).

The LORD then appeared to Isaac in the place his father had found – the place where yet another generation of the Philistines came to confess: “We have certainly seen that the LORD is with you.” (26:28) Significantly, Isaac’s servants rediscovered The Well of the Oath that same day! The record of Isaac’s life all but ends there at Beersheba. It had been the home of Abraham, his father and “the father of us all” (Genesis 22:19; Romans 5:16).

Can a spiritual son fill his faith father’s shoes? Why should he even try? He has shoes of his own to fill. Don’t try to be an Abraham if you are an Isaac. Use your gifts to redevelop what your faith father’s vision created. Recognise the accomplishments of the first generation father while avoiding his mistakes. The God of Abraham is also the God of Isaac – the God of both father and son. 

The third generation of faith was Jacob, Abraham’s grandson.

When the LORD introduced Himself to Moses as “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” He revealed Himself not only as the God of all three but also as the God of each, in turn. “God is not the God of the dead but of the living.” (Matthew 22:32) Although He established His covenant with Abraham, He was equally the God of Abraham’s son and grandson (Exodus 3:6).

“God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.” (Exodus 2:24)

If Abraham’s life was about God’s Call, and Isaac’s was about Renewal, then Jacob’s life was about Restoration. Although the third generation faith person “dwelt together in tents” with the first and second generation, the widening age gap meant that the influence of the first generation was a diminishing one.

God’s sovereignty was seen when Isaac had blindly blessed Jacob, instead of Esau. “Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated” is not a statement of preference but a statement of prejudice. The basis of God’s choice was His foreknowledge that Jacob would desire what Esau would despise (Romans 9:10-13).

Through His foreknowledge, God pre-judged Esau as unworthy of the birthright and the blessing. So He allowed Jacob to take advantage of Esau’s appetite to buy the birthright for a bowl of pottage, and to secure the blessing from his father by deception. It was because the LORD did not intervene that the craftier brother won.

Fleeing from Esau, Jacob dreamt of a staircase reaching from earth to heaven, on which angels were ascending and descending (Genesis 28:12). 

“And behold, the LORD stood above it and said: ‘I am the LORD God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac…'” The LORD then reaffirmed the covenant He had made with Abraham and Isaac, and added, “Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.” (Genesis 28:13-15) The land was still Jacob’s inheritance, even though the God of his father and grandfather was not yet his own God.

When Jacob awoke, he took the stone he had used for a pillow, and used it to build a memorial. Then he anointed it and dedicated his dream to God. “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!” Jacob named the place “Bethel”: “The House of God.”

The consequences of Jacob’s deceit began to catch up with him after he took refuge with his uncle. Safe from his brother’s murderous anger, he found himself at the mercy of his uncle’s craftiness.

To shorten a long story: during the following twenty years the LORD slowly but surely straightened out the human corkscrew that was Abraham’s grandson. After that, Jacob left his uncle and moved his large family back to the Promised Land – managing to wrestle God’s promised blessing from an angel along the way. The outmatched Jacob held on until he got what he wanted – probably because the LORD was yet to fulfill the promise He had made him at Bethel. Although a much-changed man, Jacob desired God’s blessing as much as he had at the beginning.

After Jacob was reconciled to Esau, God told him to return to Bethel, and there build an altar in the place where he had dreamed his dream and vowed his vow, twenty years earlier. It was at Bethel that the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac became the God of Jacob, as well (Genesis 32:9; 35:1-15). Jacob had named the place Bethel: The House of God. Now he renamed it “El Bethel”: “The God of the House of God.”

The third generation faith person knows a lot about the God of his father and grandfather without knowing Him personally. Many young people experience the presence of God in the House of God, and vow to serve Him. Years later, after finding that God remains faithful, they return to the House of God after having found The God of the House of God!

The third generation faith person must be restored to the faith of the first and second generations. The old saying that “God has no grandchildren” is so very true!

Each generation may be different, as Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were different, but the God of each generation remains the same. “I am the LORD, I change not: that’s why you sons of Jacob are not consumed.” (Malachi 3:6)

God’s unchanging love and mercy for His people enabled Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to build the House of Israel. Moses was a faithful servant in that House (Hebrews 3:5).

The “Israel of God” is now the church and includes all those “born of promise” under both old and new covenants. Jesus said: “I will build my church…”

The generational faith project continues!

Building a Family of Faith

Before reminding Timothy to “stir up” the gift of God in his life, the apostle Paul referred to the genuine faith that was in his grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice – “and I am persuaded is in you also.” (2 Timothy 1:5-6) In other words, Timothy was a third generation member of a family of faith.

Abraham, Isaac and Jacob dwelt together, living in tents (Hebrews 11:9). Today, we call three generations living together an extended family – an increasingly common domestic group in Western society, but nowhere near as common as it is in the provinces of the Philippines. There, three generations commonly form a single household. Grandparents care for children during the rice planting and harvesting, and so are regarded as indispensable members of the household.

In the developing countries the worldwide migration of young people to the cities is separating the generations. In the West, the desire for independent living once resulted in the Nuclear Family of father, mother and two children. Today, the rising price of housing on one hand and the cost of aged care on the other, have reintroduced the concept of the extended family, and households consisting of two and three generations are now common.

Down through the years the biblical ideal of the extended family has also been preserved in the local church, where members combine to form a household of faith. These extended spiritual families were once the backbone of their communities, and will be again, as the biblical truth of building households of faith stirs the hearts of God’s people.

How to build a family of faith? Let’s take a look at how the Apostle Paul went about it. 

After a midnight earthquake in the jail at Philippi, the awestruck jailor asked the Apostle Paul, “What must I do to be saved?” Paul’s answer was brief and to the point: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved, and your household.” (Acts 16:31) Why did the apostle’s answer include the promise of household salvation? Was it a prophecy? Or did it simply relate to the authority then held by the leader of a household, and its flow-on effect?

Paul and Silas “spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house…and immediately he and all his family were baptized… and he rejoiced, having believed in God with all his household.”

Lydia had authority over her household, which was the first household of faith established in Philippi (Acts 16:14, 15, 40). The jailor’s household became the city’s second household of faith. But the two households of faith were built in very different ways.

In the Bible, salvation is an inclusive concept; group decisions are common where authority is a household fact of life. The “house of Cornelius” was a large household. (Acts 10:1, 2, 7, 24)

When Jesus sent forth the Seventy as his advance agents, he instructed them to begin at a receptive house. “And into whatever house you enter…in the same house remain…go not from house to house.” (Luke 10:5-7)  After speaking of “whatever house” Jesus spoke of “whatever city.” The house that received the apostles was to be their base for a city outreach. Little would the owner of the house know that in opening his front door to the disciples, he would be opening his city to an offer of God’s kingdom.

The principle of “a lamb for a house” was established as the basis of family salvation at the time of the first Passover (Exodus 12:3). A family too small to eat a whole lamb was permitted to combine with one next door (Exodus 12:4). Christ our Passover Lamb is sacrificed for us (1 Corinthians 5:7), so we can say that every church is in fact a household of faith (Galatians 6:10).

The blood of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, protects the household of God from God’s judgement on sin. “And your house” (Acts 16:31) is not a promise that those who leave the house will be saved, regardless. It was not when the first Passover was kept. Those who left the house were no longer “under the blood” of the lamb. 

Why bother building a household of faith if The End really is as near as many seem to think? It’s a question many Christians are asking, in view of present world problems. Why plan long-term when the Bible tells us that Jesus might return in the short-term?

Imagine the following scenario: After a worldwide collapse of the banking industry the entire world plunges into a financial state far worse than anyone remembers. Unemployment forces workers to leave home in search of work. Millions are on the move. Governments provide food for those working on huge, labor-intensive projects.

Amidst the gloom the light of freedom flickers as strong nations, destabilized by political and economic unrest, argue over long-disputed borders, opening still unhealed wounds. In a great industrial nation, a forceful leader gains political control and secretly increases the manufacture of armaments. Stirring latent political passions and racial prejudices, he intimidates or eliminates those who oppose his ruthless rule. War threatens the world.

Seeing these events unfold, experts on bible prophecy publish books and pamphlets warning that the Beast of the Apocalypse has appeared! Then another dictator makes a pact with the Beast. His nation encloses a small but sovereign state. Ruling from a throne in that state is a religious leader whose authority is regarded by millions around the globe as not only universal but infallible.

Is this religious leader the False Prophet of the Book of Revelation? And is the church he rules the Woman portrayed in that book as “MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT”? It all seems to fit, doesn’t it? Well, no, it didn’t. I say “didn’t” because the scary scenario is taken from the events of the Great Depression and the lead up to World War II. But although dreadful and dramatic they were not prophetic; and soon those End Time books and pamphlets that seemed to so perfectly match world events to the Bible were proved wrong.

Jesus warned his disciples that “wars and rumors of wars” would be “the beginning of sorrows” – not The End. “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all nations, and then shall the end come.” (Matthew 24:6-14)

When will The End come for you and me? Referring to the Resurrection, the apostle Paul wrote: “But each one in his own order: Christ the first-fruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at his coming. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when he puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign till he has put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” (1 Corinthians 15:23-26)

The best approach to future events is to begin building now, so that whenever the end comes, you will have built an enduring household of faith.

But is the concept of a household of faith a thoroughly biblical one? In Joshua 7:14 the order is: firstly, the twelve tribes of Israel; secondly, the individual tribes or clans; thirdly, the tribal families; fourthly, the households; and fifthly, the individual.

In this selection by lot, “Joshua brought Israel by their tribes, and the tribe of Judah was taken. He brought the clan of Judah, and he took the family of the Zarhites; and he brought the family of the Zarhites, man by man, and Zabdi was taken. Then he brought his household, man by man, and Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken.” (Joshua 7:16-18)

Zabdi the Zarhite, Carmi his son, and Achan his grandson were three generations living together as one household. This extended family concept is seen also in Hebrews 11:9, where Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – three generations – “dwelled together, living in tents.” Zabdi had a number of sons, and Achan himself had sons and daughters: so the “household” would have been more a tribe than a family!

In Exodus 2:1, “a man of the house of Levi” refers to a descendant of the family of Levi. David was anointed king over “the house of Judah” – a “house” that included smaller houses (2 Samuel 2:4). A king’s “house” included his servants, as well.

The term, “House of Israel” referred to the nation (Numbers 20:29). According to Hebrews 3:5, Moses was a servant over God’s house – the children of Israel. Christ is a Son over his own house, the Church (Hebrews 3:6). In both cases, “house” refers to people rather than physical structures.  

The Hebrew word for “house” or “household” is bayith, which is commonly pronounced as “Beth”. It is used more than fifty times as a prefix to other names in the Old Testament. Bethlehem, which means, House of Bread, is a well-known example. Bethel, which means, House of God, is also familiar to students of the Bible.

Abram was commanded by God to leave his father’s house – separate himself from his ancestors and his relatives – so that the Lord could build a new house: the House of Israel. His three hundred and eighteen trained servants were born in his own house (Genesis 14:14). But one from his own body was to be his heir (Genesis 15:1-4). The sign of belonging to the household was male circumcision, the mark of the covenant (Genesis 17:10, 23, 27).

The wives of both Isaac and Jacob were drawn from the wider family to help build the household of faith begun by Abraham and Sarah (Genesis 28:1-2). Hundreds of years later, Moses was called to be a servant over that House (Numbers 12:7).

The term: “houses of the fathers” is used fifty times in the Book of Numbers. Numbers 7:2 refers to “the leaders of Israel, the heads of their fathers’ houses, who were the leaders of their tribes and over those who were numbered.” Does the Lord believe in families? He certainly does! That’s why parts of the Bible read like a telephone book. Boring? Not for a member of God’s House! If you couldn’t prove that you belonged you were out! (Nehemiah 7:61)

In his own house, a father had the power to annul a daughter’s unwise vow. A husband had the same authority over his wife (Numbers 30:3, 10, 16). Joshua, as leader of his own household, vowed publicly that he and his family would serve the Lord (Joshua 24:15). Joshua made his choice clear to all Israel, who then followed his example. His strong leadership extended beyond his household to all the tribes.

A household can become stronger or weaker depending on whether or not the head of it continues to have God’s anointing (Judges 1:35; 1 Samuel 3:1). A kingdom can be transferred from one house to another (2 Samuel 3:10). Faithfulness to God builds a stable house and brings people into close fellowship (1 Samuel 2:35).

When David desired to build the Lord a physical house (the first temple), the Lord promised that He would build David a spiritual house: a dynasty (2 Samuel 7:11; 1 Kings 2:24). The Spirit of God gave David the plans for the house that Solomon later built.

Are New Testament houses scriptural? What does the New Testament tell us about building strong households of faith? It tells us that Jesus is a High Priest over the House of God (Hebrews 10:21). It tells us that the Church is a household of faith (Galatians 6:10; Ephesians 2:19). It uses parental nurturing terms (1 Thessalonians 2:7). It tells us that God’s judgement begins at His House (1 Peter 4:17). It tells us that believers are “living stones” in a House that God is still building (1 Peter 2:5; Ephesians 2:19-22).

It also tells us that ruling one’s household (family) well is a requirement for leadership in the local church (1 Timothy 3:4-5, 15). Those who rule their households well are fit to hold positions of authority in the church. Households led by godly fathers produce outstanding spiritual sons and daughters who commit their lives to Christ at a young age. This enables their spiritual development to parallel their physical growth to maturity. The local church rightly regards these sons and daughters as its Next Generation leaders.

These young leaders draw their marriage partners from the wider church family. In turn, they build the household of God, so that the father builds a household of faith through his children and grandchildren. These all “dwell together, living in tents”; or in today’s terms maintain close ‘church family’ relationships. Not one church “tent” but many, yet all in close relationship to one another and their spiritual father.

This defines a spiritual house. This is how spiritual dynasties are founded. The spiritual father of the family becomes a grandfather, and later a great grandfather, as his spiritual descendants mature and produce children. The role of the founder within the family is a changing one.

Remember to keep in mind the Big Picture: the kingdom of God was taken from the Jews and given to a more productive, ethnic people-group (Matthew 21:43). This “spiritual house”, although a “foolish nation” in Jewish eyes (Romans 10:19), is a “holy priesthood”, a “kingdom of priests”, a “purchased people” and a “holy nation” – all that Israel might have been (1 Peter 2:5, 9; Exodus 19:5-6). The first Jewish disciples were “a chosen generation”.

The Church is “the Israel of God.” (Galatians 6:16) Within this Great House are smaller houses: generational family dynasties that excel in leadership roles. Some of them are composed of ethnic groups. These houses are not built overnight but over generations. Each house is founded when the person who will become its father is saved, and in growing to maturity in Christ begins building a household of faith.

A “faith father” has spiritual children and becomes a spiritual grandfather when his spiritual children bring forth their own children in the Lord. The unscriptural practice of moving ministers from place to place robs young Timothy’s of their Paul’s and forces them to learn from teachers, instead of fathers. Bible-based families grow together rather than apart, and grandfathers are treasured rather than discarded!

Most New Testament illustrations of spiritual growth are drawn from the family (1 Corinthians 3:1-2; Hebrews 5:13-14; Ephesians 4:14). We begin as “babes in Christ” living on the precious “milk” of God’s Word (1 Peter 2:2). As we grow, we move on to “solid food”: teaching that needs to be chewed before it can be swallowed.

We are “brothers” and “sisters” in God’s family, and, like Israel of old, we welcome “strangers” into the family. The “solitary” (singles, widows, orphans) are “set” by God in local church families, not in cold, secular or religious institutions (Psalm 68:6).

Relationships matter to God. Father, mother, husband, wife, family, sister, sisters, child, children, brother, and brethren – these relationships are mentioned more than one thousand times in the New Testament.

Noah built an “ark of faith” (a type of the church) for his household (Hebrews 11:5). He built for his family’s future. He built something unique. He built with a sense of urgency. He built strictly to specifications. He involved his family in the building project. He built a strong and visible witness to his world. And he built something that would survive the end of the world he had known. 

God’s covenant with Abraham was fulfilled in Christ, who was Abraham’s “seed”. Beginning with his relationship to God through faith, it resulted in a Father-child relationship for every believer. We are all the children of God through faith in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:6; 3:29: 4:6).

As you grow in the Lord, begin building your own “household of faith”. “And if you are Christ’s, than you are Abraham’s descendents and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:29). “And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, ‘Abba, Father’.” (Galatians 4:6)

How to build a Household of Faith? Start by becoming a faith “father” or “mother” in your family and your local church. If you have no children of your own, you can have spiritual children: those you “bring to birth” through the Gospel. There’s a productive place in God’s House for everyone! (Isaiah 56:3-7)

Special Miracles

 “They brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them.” (Acts 5:15) 

Many believers, God bless them, become almost superstitious when they read of supernatural manifestations like the healing power of Peter’s shadow and Paul’s handkerchief. Our secular society is so skeptical of God’s power that it’s not hard to work out why Christians would wish to see 1st century evidences of God’s power in the 21st century.

There’s a fine line between genuine spirituality and silly superstition, and it’s not that hard for some Christians to cross that line – especially when in pursuit of the miracle power that was so evident in the lives of the apostles Peter and Paul. Pentecostals don’t really wish to go back to the days of such power, but yearn to see it at work in today’s world as proof positive to skeptics that God works more miraculously than mysteriously.

It’s probable that you haven’t tried casting your shadow over sick people lying in a street somewhere. But if you have and it didn’t work like it did for Peter, it’s almost certain that you wondered why not. 

A shadow appears when a substantial object blocks the rays of the Sun. The more solid the substance the darker the shadow. The somewhat shaky Peter became a man of substance when filled with the Spirit of God on the Day of Pentecost. (Although a glimpse of the man he would be was earlier seen in his confession of Jesus as the Son of God.)

Peter had his faults (don’t we all?) but he used the “keys” Jesus had given him to unlock the kingdom to 3000 Jews that day and another 5000 soon after. And did so again in the household of Cornelius, ten years later (when the key was “whosoever”). Peter was one of the three disciples close to Jesus, and from the earlier chapters of Acts appears to have led the apostles.

If you desire to see the sick healed in wonderful ways, you will need to become a person of spiritual substance. It was Peter’s strong relationship with Jesus that healed the sick when his shadow passed over them. (Not that Peter’s shadow itself healed those who lay on stretchers in the streets. It was just that his apostolic leadership raised their expectancy level to a point where anything was possible.)

To add more substance or character to your life, I suggest that you study the scriptural record of Peter, whose given name Simon means Reed. Jesus renamed him Peter, which means Rock. The Gift of the Holy Spirit changed Peter from a man likely to bend with the prevailing wind of opinion to a steady and rock-solid apostle. The impetuous disciple had denied Jesus three times, but the Spirit-filled apostle “stood up” and witnessed boldly to thousands on the Day of Pentecost. Peter’s stature threw a strong shadow.

To many Christians the anointing of power on the Apostle Paul was evident in the “special miracles” that took place when his aprons and handkerchiefs were laid on the sick.

  “And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul: so that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.” (Acts 19:11-12)

In the ancient Greek of the New Testament, “handkerchiefs” is soudaria (from sudor: sweat) and means “sweat cloths, napkins”.  The Greek word for “aprons” is simikinqia, which refers to the linen aprons used by servants, artisans, and – in Paul’s case – tent-makers. Paul wore aprons and used sweat rags while making tents at Ephesus.

“You know very well that these hands have ministered to my needs, and to those that were with me. I have shown you all things, how that laboring like this you ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, who said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.” (Acts 20:34, 35)

The fact that God worked “special miracles” through Paul’s soiled aprons and sweat-stained handkerchiefs revealed His power at work through Paul’s humanity. Paul’s sweat-stains were evidence of his integrity – that he had “laboured with his own hands” during his apostolic ministry (Acts 18:3; 1 Corinthians 4:12; 1 Thessalonians 2:9; 2 Thessalonians 3:8).

Inspiration and perspiration work together in God’s kingdom!  Would you like to see “special miracles” in your ministry? Off to work then! Support others, as well as yourself, so your integrity can be seen in the work of your hands, as well as the words of your mouth. Manual work brings out the best in a good man – and the worst in one that won’t work.

Peter’s shadow and Paul’s perspiration are not so much manifestations to be marvelled at as pointers to the substance of Peter’s character and the integrity of Paul’s lifestyle.

“Surely every man walks in an illusion” sang the psalmist (Psalm 39:6). In times of spiritual refreshment and revival many Christians turn their thoughts to The Ministry. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to see the sick healed spectacularly! And since God is “no respecter of persons” – doesn’t that mean Christians everywhere ought to aspire to a Miracle Ministry?

In the decade that followed the 1986 People Power revolution in the Philippines, I travelled to that beautiful country twenty times. On every visit I saw the sick healed by the power of the Spirit of God. People were healed wherever I ministered, and miracles were the order of the day.

One evening, in a small village in Central Luzon, as I was preaching in a dusty plaza, a commotion arose in the crowd. A 78 year old grandfather had died suddenly. I tried to get close enough to pray for him, but the hundred or so villagers had become a human wailing wall. The women may have worn western dresses and sported modern hairstyles, but they were jumping up and down on the spot in an anguished dance.

After fifteen minutes had passed, I found a way to get close to the table on which the elderly gentleman had been laid. His family and friends had poured water over his face in a desperate effort to revive him. I circled around the crowd to where he was, and realized that if I were to reach under the arm of the closest onlooker, I would be able to touch the dead man’s head. After placing my fingertips on his forehead I found myself saying, “In the name of Jesus Christ, I command life to come back into this body!”

When I said these words a kind of ‘breeze’ from my wrist passed through my hand and entered his head through my fingertips. When it did the elderly man sat up, threw his legs over the edge of the table, and walked away. The crowd went wild with joy, and his adult daughter gave me one of those up-front-and-personal hugs a husband usually receives after a long absence from his very loving wife!

I‘ve seen many dramatic things around the world – not least in Cornwall and on the Channel Island of Jersey; but seeing a dead man come alive was the most spectacular. Most instant healings usually lacked the dramatic effects I first expected, so that I found myself wondering what had happened to the Hollywood-style blinding flash of lightning and following drum roll of thunder in movies showing Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead.

In the days that followed the grandfather’s return to life (he had been dead for at least fifteen minutes), I found myself wondering – what next? Thirty minutes? One hour? I returned to the nearby bible college to teach, leaving the more spectacular village ministry to others.

The miracles of Jesus are not about healing shadows, or work aprons and sweat cloths, or ‘puffs of wind’ from our outstretched fingers. They are about the Lord’s ability to touch the sick through a believer whose reputation throws a strong shadow, and whose daily life is soaked as much with human perspiration as it is with divine inspiration.

Creating a Faith Climate

Our atmosphere is formed by air trapped between the earth and space by layers of gases. The atmosphere is conditioned by heat that rises when the earth’s surface is warmed by the Sun. If the gases build up as a result of excessive carbon emissions, the heat is trapped and the atmosphere becomes overheated. This is commonly known as The Greenhouse Effect.

The overheated atmosphere then affects the environment in much the same way that the heated air in a greenhouse enables the growth of exotic tropical plants that would otherwise not survive in the colder air outside. Imagine the environmental changes that would take place if Planet Earth were to become a Global Greenhouse!

If our atmosphere were to change, so too would our present environment – and with it our present lifestyle. The way we dress, the kind of food we eat, and even the style of houses we build, would be very different. 

A similar change takes place when a person, home, school or workplace is polluted by the entry of a foul attitude. The change in the atmosphere affects the environment, and soon nothing is the same.       

The result of the emotional climate change is that those who live or work in the situation either adapt and learn to live with it or leave, hoping find a better atmosphere and environment somewhere else.

Climate Change can also take place spiritually, when unbelief enters a person, home, or town. Jesus discovered this on a visit to Nazareth, where he had grown up and worked as a carpenter. A strong atmosphere of unbelief pervaded Nazareth and prevented Jesus from doing miracles for the chronically ill or seriously injured.   

The people of Nazareth questioned, “From where did this man get his wisdom and mighty works? Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary, and are not his brothers James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? As for his sisters: are they not all with us? From where, then, did this man get all these things?” The fact that they never once mentioned Jesus by name indicates the extent of their scorn.

Jesus responded by saying, “A prophet is not without honour except in his own country, and in his own house.”

Jesus could do few mighty works there “because of their unbelief” (Matthew 13:54-58). Mark writes, “He laid his hands on a few sick folk and healed them.” (Mark 6:5) Their attitude of unbelief polluted the town’s atmosphere and environment to the degree that its level of faith dropped to almost zero.

The good news is that the same thing happens to unbelief when the entry of faith changes the atmosphere and the environment. After encouraging Jairus with the words, “Fear not, only believe”, Jesus permitted only Peter, James and John to accompany him to where his dead daughter lay.

“And when he came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, he saw the turmoil, and those who wept and wailed greatly, Jesus asked them, ‘Why all this weeping and wailing? The girl is not dead, she is just asleep.’ They laughed at him with scorn. But when he had put them all out he took the father and the mother of the girl and those that were with him, and went in to here the girl was lying. And he took the girl by the hand and said to her, ‘Talitha cumi (little girl), I say to you – arise.’ And immediately the girl arose, and walked, for she was twelve years of age. And they were absolutely astonished.” (Mark 5:36-42)

Why did Jesus take with him only three of his twelve disciples? Why did he put out from the room everyone else but the three and the father and mother of the dead girl? Jesus was replacing the atmosphere of hopelessness and despair with one of faith and expectation. In the new atmosphere he could change the environment of the home – and later the village – by bringing the dead girl back to life.

Peter learned a valuable lesson that day, and years later, when a disciple named Tabitha became ill and died, he did exactly what Jesus had done. When he saw the widows standing around the dead woman, showing the dead woman’s good works and weeping, Peter said, “Put them all out, and kneeled down, and prayed. Then he turned to the body and said, ‘Tabitha, arise’. And she opened her eyes: and when she saw Peter, she sat up. And he gave her his hand, and lifted her up; and when he had called the believers and the widows, he presented her alive.” (Acts 9:36-41)     

Just like his Master had done, Peter changed the atmosphere, and that enabled God to change the environment.

This also works in reverse, in that the atmosphere and environment of faith can be strong enough to prevent the entry of unbelief. Imagine a home or workplace so full of faith and the Spirit of God that when those who are evil enter it, they become dysfunctional! It happened in David’s day (1 Samuel 19:18-24).

The belief of some Christians borders on superstition. They attribute to evil spirits much more power than they possess. They seem to think that Satan eavesdrops on their conversations, or that demons congregate. (“If you go down to the woods today, you’d better not go alone…”) They need to relax: demonic authorities are little more than a Teddy Bears’ Picnic to those who believe that Jesus Christ is “Lord of all”!  

Six things you should refuse to believe:

1. You should refuse to believe that God will punish you for sins that you have already confessed. When God forgives, He also forgets. 

2. You should refuse to believe that poverty will make you more spiritual. Many people in the Bible were rich materially, as well as spiritually. There is no intrinsic virtue in poverty.

3. You should refuse to believe that your relationship with your heavenly Father is based on your performance. Your salvation was accomplished when Jesus Christ died on the cross. Your fellowship with the Father and the Son can become more intimate over time, but never your relationship, which is based on what Jesus did and not on anything you can do.

4. You should refuse to believe that Satan has any authority at all over you, or that evil spirits have authority to torment you, or that any person  has the right to oppress you in any way.

5. You should refuse to believe that God puts sickness upon His beloved children. Jesus said, “Healing is the children’s bread.” (Matthew 15:26)

6. You should refuse to believe that you have anything to fear from your heavenly Father. You are His dear child, and Jesus Christ, the Firstborn Son, is your Elder Brother. 

The basis of your unbelief is that these things are contrary to God’s will, as seen in the teaching of the Lord Jesus and his apostles. Persecution is another matter, and can be the will of God (1 Peter 3:17). If Jesus could do no mighty works in Nazareth because of the town’s prevailing atmosphere of unbelief, nor can the defeated enemy of your soul, because of your unbelief in his authority.

Refuse to believe that evil spirits can harm you or your family. They have only the power and authority over you that your superstitions permit. Your unbelief in their power and authority will create a climate of faith resistant to their destructive nature, and an environment hostile to any power but the power of God.

The worship of God the Father and praise of the Lord Jesus Christ creates an atmosphere of faith and an environment in which you will receive the miracles your sick or injured bodies needs! An atmosphere of worship, praise and thanksgiving will result in a spiritual climate change in your home or workplace. The new environment will be one of love, peace, joy, health and well-being. 

An atmosphere of faith and love that changes home, school and workplace is Climate Change you can believe in – Spiritual Climate Change! Change the atmosphere in your home, school or workplace from unbelief to belief, from fear to faith, and your environment will change for the better.

Increase the size of your Faith Footprint on Planet Earth; after all, you are to inherit this earth, so it’s in your interest to look after it (Matthew 5:5).

The ‘If’ Factor

“If you can do anything…” cried the father of a demon possessed child to Jesus. But Jesus replied, ‘If I can?’ If you can believe…!” (Mark 9:22-23) Almost 2000 years have passed since the Lord spoke these words, but the inability of many to believe is still a huge obstacle to the Lord’s ability to work miracles among his people.

The verb “can” means, “To possess the qualities, qualifications or resources necessary for the accomplishment of any purpose.” Have you ever thought that you could do what someone else was doing – only to find out that you couldn’t? One person cannot do everything, which is why motivational people say, “Teamwork makes the dream work.”

The Roman poet Virgil, commenting on the military successes of the Carthaginians, said: “They can because they think they can.” Henry Ford said: “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t: either way you are right.” These statements are true enough, on the human level. Christians should not dismiss them on the ground that they are psychological rather than spiritual. Why? Because what we believe and do not believe establishes invisible boundaries beyond which we cannot go.

The natural and spiritual worlds are quite compatible. The “super saint” is a false concept. We don’t need to be “super saints” when in the supermarket; simply saints with a Super Saviour who can move through us by the Spirit of God in miraculous moments. (Add this to your shopping trolley!) 

Be yourself in the Lord! Remember the scene in the movie “Superman” when Clark Kent wanted to change from his suit in a telephone booth, only to find that the old-style booths that provided a measure of privacy no longer exist? The same quandary faces those who think that some form of quick change from natural to spiritual is necessary before God can use them to work miracles. 

Does the way you dress make a difference? Which kind of dress is the more holy: white suit or T-shirt? The fact is, neither matters to the Holy Spirit. (Which dress is the more appropriate for a certain time and place is a different matter.)   

Effects sans FX: does God really need a thousand-voice choir to prepare a setting for the supernatural? High in the mountains of Borneo, the Spirit of God moved after 40-minute-long church announcements that I thought had drawn the anointing from the church. (They hadn’t.) In the Republic of the Philippines, the Lord saved and healed despite the playing of out-of-date choruses on guitars with broken strings. In Cornwall, a young woman who had been brought a long distance with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME) was instantly healed after nothing more than a quick conversation and a short prayer.

As for the Hollywood-style lightning flashes and rolling thunder that some think ought to follow commands issued in the name of Jesus: the total absence of FX out in the field, while a bit bewildering to the beginner, does not prevent the Lord from multiplying miracles. Your mindset really does matter!

A less obvious, though equally restrictive, barrier is: “I must fast forty days if I am to see the miracle-power of God in my life.” Give up on the thirty-ninth day and you won’t see it. Why? You set a goal and then failed to reach it. You’ll then have to deal with the strong sense of disappointment that will come from falling short of your own expectation; and (in your mind) God’s. Another forty days? I don’t think so. Better to reset the goal more realistically. 

Then there’s the “unworthy” obstacle. Conscience is simply a matter of moral consciousness. A Christian may have a bad conscience and a non-Christian may have a good conscience. To a great degree, conscience is simply the consciousness of what’s right and what’s wrong. You can be right about what’s wrong; but you can also be wrong about what’s right; as the Apostle Paul taught in the matter of what and what not to eat (Romans 14:14, 22-23).

A “mind of Christ” attitude of humility formed by God’s Word, and sensitivity to the concerns of others, is a good guide (Philippians 2:3-8). As Paul concluded, the kingdom of God is not a matter of food but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

It’s important to develop a New Creation consciousness, as distinct from an Old Creation mindset. You need to be faith-conscious rather than sin-conscious. Fear is one of the biggest obstacles you will face when ministering. Not fear of Satan or fear of man but fear of God. Fear that you are unworthy to minister because of personal sins or shortcomings. This is why John writes “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear: because fear has torment. He who fears is not made perfect in love.” (1 John 4:18)

The antidote to fear in general is faith; but the antidote to the fear of unacceptability to God is His love. Our love is a response to His love. “We love Him because He first loved us.” When you fully accept this fact, your personal sins and shortcomings, although undesirable, will not hinder or prevent you from ministering. (But claim the promise of 1 John 1:7-9 every day, until you win and defeat that sin.)

What we believe is so very important, because we can do only what we believe we can do. Small children operate electronic games and computers with ease, if no one tells them that doing so is difficult. Older folk think technology is complex, and for them it is – but only because they think it is.

Operating a portable electronic typewriter I bought in Singapore en routeto Borneo in the 1980s required a paradigm shift in my thinking. How could pressing the Mode button make the same keys do entirely different things? (Yes, I know, but it was back in the days when electronics were beginning to make electrical items obsolete.)

Positive Thinking is powerful, but Christians are able to do more than just Think Positive about life’s problems. Jesus said: “If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain: ‘Move from here to there’ and it shall move; and nothing shall be impossible to you.” (Matthew 17:20) Mountain-moving faith has power out of all proportion to its size. Mustard seeds (all of which are identical) are so small that in the days of the Gold Rush they were used to weigh specks of gold dust. 

Can faith sosmall move mountains? It can if you believe it can, and are willing to say so. Gabriel told Mary that “with God nothing shall be impossible.”(Luke 1:37) However, Jesus later told his disciples that with God’s faith, “nothing shall be impossible to you”(Matthew 17:20). Christians have no difficulty accepting Luke’s “with God”prefix, but Matthew’s “to you”suffix appears to intimidate those who are otherwise strong in faith.  

The New Testament approach to an obstacle is to pray to God about it and then order it to move aside. Jesus assured us that words spoken by a believer with God-given faith can move mountains – without the slightest shadow of a doubt (Mark 11:23).

A lady who wanted to immigrate to our country with her family was advised that they fell short in the points required for their entry visa. She called me from her country, in tears. “They’ve told me that we don’t have enough points to be accepted.” Since I had the Lord’s assurance the family’s application would be approved, I asked her: “Which authority is supreme in this matter: the government official’s or the Lord’s?”

Of course, the government official had the authority in the matter; but on a higher level Jesus Christ has “all authority, in heaven and in earth” (Matthew 28:18). So we prayed together over the ‘phone and I said, “In the name of Jesus Christ, I declare that the application that has been placed at the bottom of the pile will be taken out and placed on the top!”  Authority surged in my voice as I spoke.

A week or so later, the lady called me again, saying, “I am so happy – an official called and asked me if I had a qualification in childcare. I said Yes, I have. She then asked me why I had not included that in my application. I hadn’t thought that it would count. The official told me that it did, and that the extra points raised the number to the required level!”

That lady and her family now live happily in Australia. She acknowledges that it was the Lord who drew the attention of that official to the extra points that made her application successful; and she knows that God heard the prayer we prayed together over the phone, 16,000 km apart. Moreover, she knows that it was our agreed declaration that Jesus Christ was Lord over the application that assured its success. Praying and saying combined to bring about God’s will for the family!  

Thinking positively about a problem may enable you to face it, but praying and saying God’s Word will actually move it! But pray before you say, or it won’t move at all. Saying without praying is merely a mantra. On the other hand, praying without saying is dodging the issue, which is that you have been given authority to act, the name of Jesus being your scriptural Power of Attorney (Acts 3:6).

Positive thinking will limit you to your own abilities, but faith will link you to the power of the Almighty. No matter how positively you think, some mountains will never move. But “all things are possible to those who believe.”(Mark 9:23) Faith moves mountains because the faith-filled believer does not just pray about the problem but also speaks to it. Action beats inaction any day! (James 2:20)

Almighty God responds to active faith (Hebrews 11:6). When you speak to the mountain – the obstacle that confronts you – and believe in your heart that what you say will come to pass, the mountain must move. Words of faith soaked in prayer and backed with God-given authority will make it happen. The limiting ‘If’ factor has no part in the life of a true believer.

I’m sure that you’ve prayed a lot about a particular problem, but now you know that you can speak to it as well. You can say, “Get out of my way!” Praying vertically and then saying horizontally brings great results – as no doubt you’ll now find out!   

Never Act like an Idiot

We all know the power of peer pressure, but worse still is fear pressure, which, if you let it, will cause you to act completely out of character. Fear can put your faith into reverse gear and drive you in a wrong direction.

Some would say that fear is unreal – the spider in your hair that isn’t there; or how you feel when home alone, watching a Creature Feature on late night TV. (Of course, you wouldn’t do that, because it’s a sure way of opening the door to fear.)  But regardless of whether fear is a fantasy, a feeling, or a fact, it’s sure to prompt either fright or flight. Fear can make normal people under pressure act like idiots.

David, the man God had chosen to replace King Saul, knew the power of fear pressure; the king was so hard on his heels that David swore, “There is but a step between me and death.” (1 Samuel 20:3)

Even an anointed leader can be driven by fear. The conqueror of Goliath was not immune to terror at times. David’s greatest fear was not a foe he could look in the face but an enemy who dogged his steps. King Saul wanted David dead and pursued him relentlessly.

Terror causes the body’s muscles to seize, and a rigid body can lose its balance. Only the flexibility of movement produced by God’s prophetic direction had enabled David to evade his enemy.

On one occasion, the king and his soldiers were on one side of a mountain and David and his men were on the other. “Saul and his men were encircling David and his men to take them.” (1 Samuel 23:26)

It’s impossible to imagine how David must have felt when running for his life over The Rocks of the Wild Goat, or hiding in the wild forest of Ziph, or while quieting 400 unruly men in the Cave of Adullam.

Warned by Jonathan the king’s son to “Make haste, hurry; don’t delay!” David succumbed to fear pressure, and fled that day to the land of the Philistines. So powerful was the fear pressure that drove David that he sought refuge in the city of Gath, the hometown of the slain Goliath (1 Samuel 21:10-12).

“And the servants of Achish (the King) said to him, ‘Is this not David the king? Did they not sing of him to one another in dances: Saul has slain his thousands and David his ten thousands’?”

Fear pressure will drive you from a state of anxiety to a place that’s far more fearful!

“Now David took these words to heart, and was very much afraid of Achish the king of Gath. So he changed his behavior before them, pretended madness in their hands, scratched on the doors of the gate, and let his saliva fall down on his beard.”

Not the anointed David’s greatest moment! No doubt he hoped that this act would be soon be long-forgotten (like an embarrassing, away-from-home, karaoke performance). Figuring that the only way he could save himself was to act like an idiot; the usually daring David scribbled and dribbled!

Now graffiti and saliva are not really popular in king’s palaces – even Philistine palaces. So the disgusted Achish said to his servants: “Look, you see the man is insane. Why have you brought him to me? Have I need of madmen that you have brought this to play the madman in my presence? Shall this come into my presence?” (“This” means, “this idiot”.)

So David departed from Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam. And when his brothers and his father’s entire house heard where he was, they went down there to him.” (1 Samuel 22:1)

The Bible does not reveal the full extent of David’s dribbling, but I imagine that as soon as David had put distance between himself and Gath washing his beard would have been his number one priority!

Are you suffering from fear pressure? If so, you’ll find yourself doing things that are completely out of character – and that might include acting like an idiot.

You would hardly believe some of the dumb things people do when pulled over by traffic police – and the even dumber things they say! A traffic cop I led to the Lord told me that one driver first indicated that she was about to change lanes and then indicated that she wasn’t. In between, she stuck her hand out the window and waved it in a circular motion. Intrigued, he pulled her over and asked her what she had meant by the hand-movement.

“Oh, that was just in case someone didn’t know what I was doing – I was just scrubbing out the first indication!”

Although most of us act a bit strangely at times, none of us should let fear pressure make us act like idiots. When fear comes, stay in character as the man or woman of God you are!

Dogged by debt collectors? Don’t let fear pressure drive you into doing something desperate, like borrowing money from an unscrupulous lender at an insane interest rate. If you do, you’ll end up acting strangely.

“He’s just not himself,” people will say. “He’s acting completely out of character!”

Fearing Saul, David fled to Gath, and then escaped in even greater fear from Gath! The debt collector you know is better than the moneylender you don’t! Never turn your back on fear. It’s far better to look fear in the face while saying to God, “I will fear no evil, for you are with me…” (Psalm 23:4)

Lorraine and I were relaxing in a house in a Luzon village one night, when an unexpected visitor came through the door. An army soldier in his twenties, he sat down at our table, picked up a sharp knife I had been using to peel a piece of fruit, and began to question me aggressively.

“Are you worried about me holding this knife?” he asked.

“No, why would I be?” I responded.

“What do you think about the political situation in this country?” he asked.

“I would not think of making any comment on that”, I answered. “I am here as a visitor.”

I could see that he was doped out, and possibly dangerous. I kept my face friendly but began to confess in my heart, “Lord, if this man gets out of control, I believe that your Spirit will flatten him!” On the surface I was like a duck on a pond, all serene. But my confession was like the duck’s feet under the surface – busily paddling!

“I don’t think much of Australia”, he said, playing with the knife. “It is a stupid country.”

I could see where this was heading. If I agreed, he would rightly think I was afraid of him, which wouldn’t be good because it would make him more aggressive. Time for a change of tone.

“I did not make any comment about your country”, I said. “So don’t you make any comment about my country!”

I looked him in the eye. In my spirit I maintained the busy paddle rate. He would go down hard under the power of God, I believed – just like that truculent Texan who challenged the power of God’s Spirit in LA. Not just backward like a falling tree but down like a dropped log.

By this time our host was more than a little nervous. “Pastor Peter and Sister Lorraine”, she said, “Maybe it’s time to go to bed.”  What? And let this man think he had won? Not likely.

“Thank you Sister” I said, “But I am enjoying this conversation.” I had managed to keep the situation in balance: not too hard, not too soft. The soldier was stymied. He had tried hard to get me off-balance. All the while I had kept my voice firm and my face friendly but not over friendly; and my words had been as carefully chosen as his had been cunningly calculated.

Then the door opened, and in came an officer I later learned was the soldier’s elder brother. He looked sternly at the man seated at the table and said: “You – out now!” I saw that he outranked his younger brother, so it was more an order than a request. Immediately, the young soldier got up, left the table, and went to the door. When he got there he looked back, sheepishly.

“Do you mind if I leave?” he asked.

“Not at all”, I replied. “Thank you for the conversation.”

We were later told that three weeks earlier he had run across the roof of the house carrying sticks of dynamite and threatening to blow up the house. He had also slashed the kitchen curtains with a bayonet.

I have no desire to belittle a young man with a substance abuse problem, but I do want to point out the choices we have in frightening situations. David took Saul’s threat to kill him very seriously. Since David could not fight Saul (that would have pitted him against God’s anointed king), he took flight. But instead of trusting God he allowed fear to drive him in the wrong direction – and ended up acting like an idiot.

“The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” (Psalm 27:1)

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” (2 Timothy 1:7.8) In this verse “fear” means timidity. A timid spirit will make you susceptible to fear pressure.

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not to your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will direct your paths.” (Proverbs 3:5)

“Trust in the LORD and do good; so shall you dwell in the land, and truly you shall be fed. Delight yourself also in the LORD; and he shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust also in him, and he shall bring it to pass.” (Psalm 37:3-5)

Trust in God, delight yourself in Him, and commit your way to Him – three very simple, straight-forward steps that will enable you to avoid fear pressure. Take these steps and you’ll never, ever, act like an idiot.

Doubt is Double Trouble

Identical twins do things in exactly the same way, which makes them fairly predictable. Even when they grow to adulthood and are separated by circumstances they tend to live identical lives, work at similar jobs, and often choose similar marriage partners.

It’s said that every one of us has a double, somewhere. Thomas, one of the twelve disciples, was also called “the Twin”. Nicknames were common in those days, so it’s likely that Thomas had a twin brother. But even if he didn’t, we know that he had a spiritual double whose name was Unbelief.

Most people don’t know that they have this double until their unbelief displays itself at unexpected times and with unbelievable intensity. They then discover that there are two sides to their personality: a believing side and a doubting side.

“Now Thomas, one of the twelve – called “the Twin” – was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples said to him, We have seen the Lord! But Thomas said to them, ‘Unless I see the nail-prints in his hands, and put my finger into them, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe’.

“Eight days later his disciples were in the room, and this time Thomas was with them. The doors were bolted shut, but Jesus entered, stood among them, and said, ‘Peace be with you!’ Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here, and examine my hands, and take your hand and put it into my side, and be a believer, not an unbeliever’. Thomas replied, My Lord and my God.” (John 20:24-28)

Unbelief is a double that can cause real trouble. God wants us to rid ourselves of this troublesome twin. Those who are double-minded are like the man who looks in the mirror, and going away, quickly forgets what he looks like: a hearer who does nothing to establish a sense of self-identity (James 1:24). Doing is the key to self-discovery.

In Germany, this double is called a doppelganger. Although mythical it is usually regarded as something of a troublemaker, a person’s dark “other” self. Doubt is a kind of doppelganger, for it causes indecision. Walking on water in response to a command from Jesus, Simon Peter was doing well until he got his eyes off the Lord and onto the wind and the waves. After saving Peter from sinking, Jesus said to him, “Oh you of little faith, why did you doubt?” (Matthew 14:31)

The word “doubt” can also be translated “hesitate,” “think twice,” or “look two ways.” Jesus chided Peter for the lack of faith that caused his indecision. “A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.” (James 1:8)

“He who wavers is like a wave of the sea driven by the wind and tossed.” (James 1:6) There were times when double-minded Peter was as unstable as the waves he once walked on. Some things just got him tossed. Jesus could walk on water because it never occurred to him that he couldn’t. If Thomas had been single-minded the impossibility of walking of water at Christ’s command would never have occurred to him. Believers whose minds haven’t been renewed have an unbelieving ‘twin’: a double-self easily swayed by external influences, an unbelieving double that causes nothing but trouble.

Abraham was not swayed by unbelief but invigorated by faith! Being fully persuaded that God would do what He had promised, he did not consider the fact that his and Sarah’s old age made it impossible for them to have a son. The result was that after twenty-five years their son Isaac was born (Romans 4:19, 20).

When reality appears, unbelief disappears. Thomas, yielding to the undeniable reality of the risen Jesus, exclaimed, “My Lord and my God!”

“God was in Christ Jesus, reconciling the world unto himself.” (2 Corinthians 5:19) The suddenly believing Thomas saw what neither he nor the other disciples had so far seen: the Father in the Son! (John 14:7-10)

It was a revelation that Thomas would take all the way to Southern India. History records him as the farthest travelling apostle. Only a very single-minded man could have done that. Does he deserve to be tagged Doubting Thomas? I don’t think so. We should rather remember him as Daring Thomas: the one who went all the way, leaving his doubting double in the dust!

Of course, it’s possible for fear to drive faith so far out of sight that the appearance of doubt is almost welcome. In between Christ’s many miracles in Capernaum and the startling deliverance of Legion in Decapolis, the gospel narrative informs us of a stormy interlude when extreme fear entered the disciples of Jesus. So wild was a storm they experienced on the Sea of Galilee that the Lord’s fearful disciples woke him up and accused Him of indifference to their imminent fate! Their Lord’s response to their anxious words was a quiet question.

“Where is your faith?” (Luke 8:25) This question is often preached in a metaphysical way, as though the disciples had misplaced, misapplied or misdirected their faith. Something like: “What did they do with their faith? They invested it in fear!” But Mark 4:40 reads: “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” Some translations read: “Have you still no faith?” Meaning, “What, you still don’t believe – after all the miracles you saw me do in Capernaum?”

Their fear showed that their faith had vanished in the storm! “Wake up!” they yelled at Jesus, “Don’t you care about us?” Jesus would not have expected them to still the storm while he slept, since they were mere beginners. But what he did expect was that they would exercise their faith by trusting that nothing could happen to them because they were with him. The alternative would be, “Messiah drowns in Galilee, along with disciples” – a headline that could not happen.

After Jesus “muzzled” the storm (as the Greek puts it) there came a great calm. Jesus had imparted his internal peace to the external situation. The result was a sea as smooth as glass, with barely a ripple, and no sound at all from the boatload of dumbstruck disciples.

“What manner of man is this?” they questioned. The answer was: A man who knew where he was going, and who slept peacefully through the opposing circumstance.

I remember watching the movie “Twister” while flying through a storm on the way to the United Kingdom. In those days passengers viewed it on a big screen fixed to a bulkhead. As the Boeing 747 bounced around in the storm, I watched helplessly as a cow, a gas tanker, and innumerable other items flew through the air on the screen. The bucking jet-plane was giving its passengers a wild ride, but my faith wasn’t shaken because I knew that our team was going in the will of God.

On another occasion, our plane was struck by lightning over France, and the pilot put the Boeing 747 into what I can only describe as a power dive! This is interesting, I thought, the kind of dive I’d seen Spitfires do in those old Battle of Britain films. But my faith didn’t take a dive because, again, I knew that we were going to the UK in the will of God.

On yet another occasion, while flying north from New Zealand to Hawaii our plane was thrown sideways by strong winds that left us weightless for a few seconds. At such times it’s very reassuring to know that the Lord is perfectly relaxed in us! Credible prophecies spoken over our lives about things we’ve yet to achieve can also be assuring in such times.

Our faith should develop as a result of what the Lord has done, so that while en route to our next mission for God we remain completely untroubled by the crosswinds we encounter – even if (as happened to the Lord) those around us mistake our peace for indifference.

Where is my faith during storms? It doesn’t disappear but is present in the peace that Jesus supplies. The Lord of the boat that was tossed to and fro on stormy Galilee is also the Lord of the jumbo jet tossed around in the stormy sky.    

 

Value-added Faith

Remember Christ’s parable of the servant who buried the money his master entrusted to him, and in so doing wasted his opportunity to add value to it? From the parable it’s clear that our Lord deals with his people on a “use it or lose it” basis (Luke 19:11-26).

The apostle Peter writes of believers all having received “the same precious faith” and lists the virtues – seven in all – that we should add to our faith (2 Peter 1:2, 5-7). Some regard faith as the ultimate gift, but it’s really the immediate one, and given to us to use rather than to preserve.

Peter makes it clear that we are to add excellence to our faith – “and to excellence knowledge, and to knowledge self-control, and to self-control perseverance, and to perseverance godliness, and to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.” (2 Peter 1:5-7)

These virtues are not intrinsic to faith but need to be added to it, one after another, until character is fully developed. God gives us precious faith, and it is then up to us to add value to it. How to do this?

Solomon asked God for wisdom, and God gave it to him (1 Kings 3:5-12). Years later, when the Queen of Sheba heard of Solomon’s fame, she came to test his wisdom with difficult questions. Solomon answered them all. There was no question he could not answer (1 Kings 10:1-3).

But what took the queen’s breath away was “the house that he had built, and the food on his table, and the seating arrangement of his servants, and the attendance of his waiters, and their apparel, and his cupbearers, and the way he went up to worship.”

The repetitive use of the conjunctive “and” in this passageemphasizes the increasingly favorable impression these things made on the Queen of Sheba. It was not King Solomon’s wisdom alone but the virtues he had added to it that made the scene so compelling and his majesty so overwhelming.

Excellence is seen not just in the things we do, but in the way we do things.

Faith not only enables: when excellence is added to it it also ennobles. The ancient Greek word translated “virtue” in the King James Version refers to a moral excellence that is either intrinsic (already present within) or attributed (seen, acknowledged, and praised by others). Just as Christ is “formed” in us and is then seen by others in our daily conduct.

In 1 Corinthians 1:26 the Apostle Paul states that that few of Christ’s followers in Corinth were numbered among the nobility and perhaps the same could be said of Christians in society today. But although nobles are rare in the church, nobility was seen in Jesus Christ, not only in the things he did but also in the way that he did them.

“He has done all things well!” the people of Decapolis exclaimed, after Jesus had healed a deaf man with a speech impediment (Mark 7:37).

“It was never before seen like this in Israel!” was another acknowledgement of the Lord’s excellence. Jesus embodied excellence. Those who heard him teach were astonished at his authority and the way he did things (Mark 1:22 & 4:41).

We should desire to add to our lives virtues that match the precious faith we’ve been given. Why live mediocre lives when the faith we possess is so precious?

Faith does not of itself ennoble; that is, “raise to nobility, dignify, exalt, elevate in degree, quality or excellence.” It is up to us to excel so that we may be seen by others as valuable; as people who are as precious as the faith they possess.

As Jacob’s firstborn son, Reuben was entitled to a “double portion” from his father – twice as much as any of his brothers (Deuteronomy 21:17). But Reuben lacked nobility. He was a moral coward. He profaned his father’s marriage bed. Reuben ought to have been the first expression of his father’s virtues, but his immorality prevented him from realising his potential.

“Reuben,” Jacob prophesied, “you are my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power: unstable as water, you shall not excel…”

“A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.” (James 1:6)

God took the double portion from Reuben and gave it to the single-minded Joseph. Moreover, instead of a single tribe of Joseph there would now be two tribes: Ephraim and Manasseh – a double portion! (Genesis 49:3; 1 Chronicles 5:1, 2)

Reuben, the firstborn son of Leah (whom Jacob had been tricked into marrying), lost the birthright because he failed to excel. Joseph was the firstborn son of Rachel, Jacob’s true love. (In the end, it was as though the infamous bride-switch had never happened.)

Excellence is the quality we add to the faith that God has given us; and just as Reuben needed more than a birthright (he needed to excel in order to live up to his father’s expectations), so we need more than faith to fulfill our heavenly Father’s expectations. We need added excellence! Not that faith itself needs improvement, but rather that precious faith ought to be seen in precious people, Christians whose values approximate that of the faith they’ve been given.

Excellence means getting more from less: less reading, better books; fewer friends, closer friendships; less activity, increased productivity; better policy, fewer decisions; narrower vision, sharper focus; fewer pursuits, greater satisfaction.

We need a transfer of energy from the muscles to the axe blade, and for that to happen the blade needs to be sharpened, rather than our muscles developed (Ecclesiastes 10:10).

Jesus excelled in everything. Not only did he turn water into wine but the wine was the very best! In his first ministry appearance Jesus shone, not only in the things he did, but also in the way that he did them (John 2:1-11).

A nation with a vast raw mineral reserve can simply mine it and export it, or it can mine it, process it, forward it to an industrial plant, and export the products manufactured from it. The value added is the number of jobs created by the processing and manufacturing plants.

Some Christians are content with the blessing they receive from their reserve of faith. It has not occurred to them that they can add to their faith: first excellence, and after that a whole range of values. Why excellence first? The values the apostle Peter lists are progressive: each is developed from the one that precedes it.

The final product (so to speak) is love, which developed from brotherly kindness, which developed from godliness, which came from perseverance, which developed from self-control, which came from knowledge, which developed from excellence, which developed from faith.

The product began with faith and was processed (so to speak) until finally it was value-packaged as love – ready for export to a world badly in need of it. Those who view the finished product are impressed. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if they were as breathless as the Queen of Sheba was in Solomon’s palace?

Don’t just have faith but add value to your faith. It will serve you well in this life, and will enable you to enter the coming kingdom of God.

Interactive Faith

Small incidents that take place in obscure places are sometimes later seen as acts that changed our world. The assassination of Archduke Ferdinand and his wife in Sarajevo triggered the First World War, and had repercussions that those who fired the shots could never have imagined.

The memory of such an incident is usually associated with the name of the person who either caused it or was there when it happened. A shot is fired in Dallas, Texas, and the name Lee Harvey Oswald is heard around the world.

Such incidents also change the way we think. A terrorist’s threat puts fear into a politician as he speaks in public. A nation puts in place security measures that are continually revised and improved. Access to a landmark building is restricted. Somewhere in the world an unknown name suddenly becomes infamous.

On the positive side, an individual who plunges into a swollen river to rescue a helpless child is publicly acclaimed. A soldier who throws himself on to a grenade to save his squad is honoured, posthumously, with his nation’s greatest medal. The name of a scientist whose medical breakthrough has saved thousands of lives is renowned.

Not so the miracle that changed our world and the way we think. The woman who received the miracle remains anonymous, since her name is not recorded in the New Testament. How did this miracle change our world? And how did it change the way we think?

Well, for one thing, it was her faith initiative rather than Christ’s compassion. A study of most religions will show that the devotees of their god have little hope that he, she, or it will respond to their prayers, their worship, or their sacrificial offerings. Most religions reject outright the idea that their deity should respond to their pleas. Far from being familiar or approachable, their gods are remote and aloof, and the devotees regard themselves as unworthy of interest.

But the God of the Bible is revealed as a loving Father who cares for His Creation. Moreover, He responds to His children’s prayers, intervening when their enemies oppress them beyond their endurance. He is the God who responds lovingly and compassionately; and although all-powerful, He is touchingly personal.

That same God revealed Himself in the person of Jesus, who said, “He who has seen me has seen the Father.” If we wish to know what our Father God is like, we need only look at His Son, Jesus.

The Son of God responded compassionately to the cries of lepers, the pleas of cripples, and the sorrow of sinners. Even when a Canaanite woman incorporated Christ’s words into an irresistible plea for her demonised daughter, and when a centurion placed himself under his authority and asked him to issue an order for his servant’s healing, Jesus was pleasantly surprised and responded positively. Yet the granting of such miracles seemed to remain his sole prerogative.

But that all changed when “a certain woman” who had hemorrhaged for twelve years heard of Jesus, pressed through the crowd from behind him, and touched the border of his garment. She said within herself, “If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be well.”

“And immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed…and Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that power had gone out of him, turned around in the pressing crowd, and said, ‘Who touched my clothes?’”

The miracle resulted from a faith initiative by the woman, not from a compassionate touch from the hands of Jesus. This miracle changed our world and the way we think, because it showed that we can initiate encounters that will draw God’s immediate response!

What may not be new to us today was virtually unknown until the middle of the 20th Century, when the concept of a “point of contact” – a way that we can release our faith – was revealed by the Lord to a famous American evangelist. Like so many other wonderful concepts in the New Testament, it was there, but no one before him had seen it. That concept had its basis in this miracle.

The miracle happened unexpectedly, in a seized moment of opportunity! But who made it happen? Not Jesus but the woman. Healing flowed when her faith touched his power. It’s clear that Jesus had no prior knowledge that the miracle would happen.

The miracle was unique in its concept and bold in its execution. The woman’s condition should have kept her in seclusion, far from contact. But twelve years of futile searching for a cure for her condition had made her desperate — and desperate people do desperate things!

The miracle was known only by two persons, despite the fact that it took place in the crush of a crowd. The two persons were Jesus, who felt power leave him, and the woman, who felt in herself that she was healed. Both happened “immediately” – in a split second!

The miracle was spiritual in nature: a transfer of power as the result of a touch. The supernatural takes place when the super enters the natural. For the supernatural to happen, the super needs the natural as much as the natural needs the super.

Although the woman is unnamed, her faith statement – “If I may but touch his clothes, I shall be well” – has spread her fame throughout the world for nearly 2000 years! Her miracle is her monument.

The miracle set a precedent, since used by millions to receive miracles! The surprising thing about obscure miracles is that news of them travels fast! Before long, the whole world sees it happen on television and wants to see it happen again, and again, and again. Someone, somewhere, has somehow found a way to connect to God!

Is your faith connected to God’s power, or is it unplugged? Jesus said, “Your faith has made you whole” to four people (including this woman). You may believe that God’s power will heal you, and it will – if you connect your faith!

None of the four were “insiders” who had a right to healing. None of them based their faith on God’s promises. Jesus attributed their miracles to their faith. Their faith had connected them to God’s healing power. Are you willing to plug your faith into God’s power?

Many wonder why “outsiders” are more often healed than “insiders”, but the simple answer is that active faith beats passive faith anytime! Many longtime believers are not desperate enough to do what these four did. You might call all four of them opportunists who received miracles by being desperate enough to do something different, but desperate people are inclined to do desperate things.

Would you worship Jesus in a situation that’s totally foreign to your lifestyle? The desperate prostitute followed Jesus into the sanctified home of a well-known religious leader, where she wept over the Lord’s feet, kissed them, dried them with her hair, and anointed them with expensive ointment. Maybe you don’t go to church, but if you have a sickness that’s medically incurable, it’s high-time you did. Find a church where the sick are prayed for, and tell the pastor that you’ve come seeking a miracle from the Lord.

Would you thank Jesus for healing you before asking a doctor to confirm it?                                                                      The Samaritan leper returned to thank Jesus, despite being an outcast from a people group despised by the Jews because they practiced an adulterated form of Judaism. Jesus said that the sick have need of a physician. When the doctors have done their best, remember that Jesus is the Great Physician. When you’ve been prayed for, give thanks to God and then “show and tell” your doctor what the Lord has done.

Would you raise your voice above the shouts of those who told you to be quiet? Bartimaeus was a blind beggar who sat by the side of the road, but he raised his voice and shouted louder than everyone else, “Jesus, you Son of David, have mercy on me!” He did not know that Jesus would never come that way again. Don’t let your miracle pass you by!

Would you defy social restrictions and push your way through hindrances to touch Jesus for your healing, like the suffering woman did. The Law of Moses excluded her from any form of social contact, but she pushed through the crowd to Jesus, touched his robe, released her faith, and was healed of a debilitating condition she had suffered from for twelve long years.

These four plugged their faith into Jesus Christ, and were healed by God’s power! Isn’t it time to connect your faith the way they did?

This miracle has profound theological implications. A belief in a God who reserves to Himself the right to intervene or to remain aloof – to heal or to withhold healing – requires no real faith. “If it be Thy will” can be used as an excuse, and “God works in mysterious ways” as a mystical mantra.

Then there are those who seek to diminish – or even delete – the role of the human will in determining whether or not miracles happen in response to active faith.

This miracle proves that there are times when the faith of the individual believer plays a vital part in the matter. While not detracting from God’s sovereignty, this belief places more weight on the aspect of human responsibility, and in so doing weights the theological balance more evenly.

Just as “Whosoever will may come” weighs evenly with “Many are called but few are chosen,” so this one woman’s act of faith encourages us to believe that not only can we touch the Lord but that the Lord can also touch us.

Interactive faith really can change your world and the way you think! Maybe while reading this you’ve felt that a change in your world is about to begin; and you are absolutely right.

Only Believe

Life is full of coincidences. You meet an old classmate you haven’t seen for years, when only yesterday you were wondering where she is now. Or you suddenly find out that the stunning girl you’d like to ask out is your General Manager’s daughter. Or that a person you meet while holidaying in Europe has a brother who lives in your street back home. While visiting mad King Ludwig’s palaceon an island in Cheimsee Lake in Bavaria, we encountered an Australian from my home city, who promptly asked me if his football team had won a recent match.

Some coincidences make you think that certain things in life are meant to happen. Picture this: A baby girl is born to a loving couple. Highly regarded in their community, they are both very devout, and regard their newborn daughter as a wonderful gift from God. 

In the same year, a woman living nearby discovers that she has a medical problem. Her physician understands the problem, but is unable to prescribe a sure remedy. Ahead of her are years of fruitless searches, failed treatments, and endless disappointments. 

These same years fly swiftly for the little girl, whose childhood is a happy one. At twelve years of age, she is her father’s treasure and her mother’s delight. Life is sweet in their warm and happy home. 

As for the woman with the incurable condition: after twelve years of unsuccessful treatments by physicians she is physically exhausted and financially broke. 

One day the sweet life in the happy home suddenly turns sour. The twelve-year-old girl goes down with a fever. The mother is at first anxious, then distraught, and the father more concerned than he cares to admit. The fever gets worse – the girl is burning up! Her small body twists and thrashes as she groans while awake and moans while asleep. 

One day, a man called Jesus, who is from Nazareth, visits their town. The father, whose name is Jairus, and who is a leader in the local synagogue, hears that this man has the power to heal people, so he quickly goes to him and asks him to come and lay his hands on his little girl. She is now at the point of death. 

Jesus quickly agrees, but as they walk to the father’s house the woman with the twelve-year medical condition, defying convention, pushes her way through the thronging crowd, gets close enough to touch the hem of Jesus’ robe, and is instantly healed! 

However, in the flurry of excitement that follows the miracle, the time lost in the woman’s hesitant explanation and the hindrance of the thronging crowd combine to delay Jesus. Jairus is no doubt happy that the woman is healed, but is increasingly fearful for the life of his twelve-year-old girl. Time is fast running out.

Then the news that he has dreaded arrives. Messengers from home tell him in hushed tones that there’s no longer any point in Jesus coming: “Your daughter is dead.”  But it’s then that Jesus turns to Jairus, looks into his eyes, and says quietly, “Fear not, only believe.” 

“Only believe.” These words do wonders for the father’s faith. They warm away the chill of fear and encourage him to keep believing. In the company of Jesus, the word death loses its sense of finality. 

There is never a time to stop believing, as the father discovers when Jesus expels the mourners, holds his daughter’s hand, and simply says, “Little girl, it’s time to get up.” These words bring his daughter back to life. The father’s steady attitude of faith is at last rewarded. Her mother gives her some food to eat, since the power of Jesus has also restored her appetite. 

But for the miraculous incident with the woman along the way, Jesus would have arrived before the girl died. No one, not even Jesus, had known that the woman would press through the crowd, touch his robe, release her faith, and be healed in a moment. 

After twelve years the parallel lives of the two sick people have merged into one. Was it just coincidental that a dying twelve-year-old girl and a woman with a twelve-year condition were healed on the same day? Not likely! “Known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world.” (Acts 15:18) 

The woman received her healing immediately, through a fast act of faith; whereas Jairus received his miracle eventually, through a steady attitude of faith. But the faith of both was rewarded. 

Is your faith growing as you read this? Are you receiving a miracle right now? Or is the Lord encouraging you to continue to believe, until you do? Is Jesus saying, “Your faith has made you whole”? Or is he saying, “Fear not, only believe”? The woman had taken twelve years to come to the point where she could say, “If I may but touch the hem of His garment, I shall be whole.” One touch healed her, just one touch! Jairus didn’t have to search for twelve years, as the woman had, but he did have to believe that Jesus not only could but would bring his twelve-year-old daughter back to life. 

I once visited an elderly lady who lived in one of the poorer areas of London, accompanied by her son and another friend. The woman lived in a long row of terraced flats near an old gas depot. The son had told me that his mother was legally blind and wore special glasses. They were special all right: the lenses on them were as thick as the bottoms of soft-drink bottles. The lady told me that she could read the lines of a large print book only by holding it close to her face.

After laying my hands on her eyes, and commanding sight to return to them in the name of Jesus Christ, I tested her vision by holding an Australian five-dollar note more than a meter from her face. She did not know what it was, because an Australian five-dollar note is unlike its UK equivalent in both color and design. Despite this, the lady was able to see the $5 which appears in the corner. She had never before seen an Australian five-dollar note.

Although her eyesight was not fully restored, the quality of her vision improved instantly. I would say that it was a miracle of healing, although I had believed for her sight to be fully restored on the spot. (I consoled myself with the thought that even Jesus had to pray for one man twice.) While leaving I gave her the five-dollar note as a keepsake. Months later my friend told me that his mother’s eyes were still healed, and that she had placed the five-dollar note on her mantelpiece in the room where she had been healed.  

We would all prefer the “instant” healing, which is what a miracle is; but there are times when a steady attitude of faith is required for a person to be healed. It’s then that we must not give in to fear but “only believe”. And it’s then that the words of Jesus provide us with the assurance we so desperately need. 

“Only believe” – two words of immense encouragement!

“Things Go Better with Jesus.”

It was late morning on the day before we were to leave Sabah on our first visit to Borneo – a humid day that had brought sticky heat. One of our team suggested that we walk down the hill from where we were staying to the kampong store, and buy ourselves a cold Coke. “Things go better with Coke” was the slogan at the time.

As we were about to leave, a car pulled up and its driver, a young man in his twenties, got out and invited us to his kampong that evening and minister to the people of their small church. I apologized and told him that we had agreed with the superintending pastor and his leadership that the team should stay together on our last night in the country.

“Alright,” said the young man, accepting the decision; “but how about I drive you to my kampong now and show you our church? It’s only three kilometers away.”

“OK,” I said, “and on the way back we’ll buy you a Coke.”

Fifteen minutes later we turned down a dusty road and pulled up near a stile – they’re popular in Sabah – over which we climbed and made our way to a small wooden building. Inside I was surprised to see more than twenty women and two or three men seated on rough wooden planks that passed as church pews.

“They have just finished a study of the New Testament book of Philippians,” explained our young guide, who was the kampong’s primary school teacher. I gazed around the room, which in size was no larger than the living-room of the average Australian home. A small baby was sleeping peacefully, cradles in a sarong stretched between two of the plank seats.

The faces of those present showed the open, interested expression we had become familiar with over the past ten days.

“The Lord has put it into my heart to speak to them,” I said to our guide. “Would you ask the pastor for his permission?” The pastor, who was present, readily agreed, and called in the church deacons. I wondered what text I should use. Then, looking around, I saw a large sheet of cardboard had been fixed to the front of the rough wooden pulpit. On it was printed a bible text: “Rasul Rasul 4:12.”

Two days earlier I had been presented with a Dusan New Testament, and had noted that “Rasul Rasul” was the Acts of the Apostles. Taking an inspired guess, I said to our guide: “Isn’t that the text that says, “There is no other name given by God among mankind by which we can be saved”?

“Yes,” he confirmed, “it refers to the name of Jesus.”

The Lord then spoke to my heart and I turned to those present and said (through the translator): “The apostle Paul once preached at Athens and took as his text the words he had just seen on a memorial” “TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.”

“I have a different text – Rasul Rasul 4:12.” For the next five minutes I spoke on the power of the name of Jesus, and then said, “Now we will pray for the sick and you will see the power of this name demonstrated.”

I will remember the next twenty minutes as long as I live. In that short time ten of those present were healed miraculously – one a woman who fell to the ground under the power of the Holy Spirit and was saved and set free from demonic bondage.

A blind woman was struck by the power of God with such force that my brother, who had prayed for her, was thrown back two meters against the wall of the building. It took three men to hold up the woman as she staggered under the power of the Holy Spirit – touched in an extraordinary way. A man who had suffered a stroke and lost feeling in his left side was able to raise his arm above his head, unaided, after the team had prayed for him.

As we were leaving, I bent low to say goodbye to the woman who had been set free. Although helplessly under the blessing of God she raised one arm and shouted joyfully, “PUJI TUHAN!” (Praise the Lord!) “PUGI TUHAN!”

We left the small church building and its marvelous Christian congregation, reluctantly. The whole ‘incident’ from start to finish – preaching, miracles of healing, exorcism – had taken less than thirty minutes. Climbing back over the stile I thought of kampongs where the things that we had just seen could be repeated many times over – and with just as little effort on our part.

We walked back to the car, hot and sweaty but happy, now ready for that long, cold, Coca-Cola. Then someone said what all of us were thinking: “WOW! Things sure go better with Jesus!”

Conceiving the Miraculous

A baby’s birth is the result of a mother’s conception, and a project’s completion is the birth of an architect’s concept. In both cases family and friends gather to celebrate the birth. And in both cases, the one who conceived and nurtured the growing expectation has special pleasure in the happy event.

There are marvelous conceptions in the Bible. Sarah’s miracle child, Isaac, was conceived in faith (Hebrews 11:11). Hannah conceived after she was blessed and God had remembered her (1 Samuel 1:17-19). And a Shunemite woman gave birth to a son at the time promised by Elisha the prophet (2 Kings 4:16, 17). 

Mary’s conception was distinctly different from others, in that no man was involved; it was an absolute miracle. The Holy Spirit came upon her, the power of God overshadowed her, and she conceived (Luke 1:35, 31). Gabriel’s promise may have been more a pronouncement than a prophecy, but Mary received the word with a believing heart and conceived in her womb; and so began the pregnancy that in time would bring about the birth of Jesus.

You might be wondering what these miracles have to do with you conceiving the miraculous, but they are preliminaries. Now let’s move to the account of Elizabeth’s conception and her husband’s inability to conceive it.

Elizabeth would have watched sadly as Zacharias left for work at the Temple. Her husband was very diligent in his priestly duties, despite the distraction of his wife’s increasing years and inability to conceive.

Later, while pouring incense on the altar, Zacharias thought of the people who had gathered outside. Knowing that the fragrant incense represented their prayers, perhaps he wondered why his own prayers for a child remained unanswered. Being the godly man that he was, he would not have allowed his thoughts to become questions. So, as the incense ascended, he would have offered his own heartfelt prayer along with those of his people. 

Zachariah knew from the book of his namesake that God’s ministering priests walked among angels (Zechariah 3:7). But the appearance of one by his side at the altar of incense filled him with fear. 

“Do not be afraid, Zacharias”, the angel assured him, “for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.”

Barely able to cope with what his eyes were seeing, Zacharias could not believe his ears! A son? At Elizabeth’s age? And not just a son but an Elijah? 

“How shall I know this?” he queried. “For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years.” Zacharias was probably sorry that he had said these words as soon as they left his mouth; and sorrier still when the now disapproving angel identified himself as the archangel who had spoken to the prophet Daniel more than 500 years before!

“I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and was sent to speak to you and bring you this good news. But behold, you will be mute and not able to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which shall be fulfilled in their time.”

Zacharias had been unable to conceive what Gabriel had said – and that was the problem. God would enable Elizabeth to conceive, but although Zacharias would father the child, his inability to conceive God’s promise left him with nothing to say. He was dumbstruck! Words failed him. He lingered awhile in the Temple, and when he finally appeared his face said what his tongue could not – that what he had seen and heard had left him speechless!

During the entire time of his wife’s pregnancy, Zacharias must have wished that he could tell of his amazing encounter with Gabriel. But he remained speechless. Mute. Not able to testify. He had plenty of love but no loving words for his expecting wife. Elizabeth could sing the praises of God – and did when her baby leapt in her womb! But not Zacharias. He was able to prophesy at John’s birth, but that was after the event! Anyone can prophesy when a promise comes to pass, but why wait for the birth of a miracle when we can conceive the miraculous?

After the baby was born, great discussion took place as to what his name should be. Some said, “He should be named after his father, Zacharias.” But Elizabeth said, “No, he shall be called John”. So they brought a writing tablet to Zacharias, and on it he wrote: “His name is John.”

“And his mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue was loosed, and he spoke, and praised God.” (Luke 1:64)

Can you conceive the miracle God is promising? I’m not referring to Positive Thinking but rather what takes place when God makes you a promise and you say, as Mary did, “Be it unto me according to your word.” Can you grasp this concept? 

Two things can hinder the conception of a miracle.

The first is a Misconception. A misconception is the mistaken conception that follows a wrong interpretation. For example, the Jews had a misconception about where Jesus was born. “No prophet comes out of Galilee!” they scoffed, mistakenly thinking that Jesus was born there. But Jesus was born in Bethlehem, his ancestor King David’s birthplace. This was one of a number of misconceptions.

The second is a Preconception. It goes without saying that you cannot conceive what has already been conceived. John the Baptist had a preconceived idea. From prison, he sent two of his disciples to ask Jesus if he was the promised Messiah. Why? It would appear that Jesus did not fit John’s preconception of what Messiah would do when he appeared. The news Jesus sent them back with would end John’s preconception.

“Go and tell John the things that you hear and see: the blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them.”

“And blessed is he who is not offended because of me” Jesus added (Matthew 11:2-6). Offended? Why? Apparently because Jesus was doing what his Father told him to do rather than what others, including John, had thought he would do.

The Lord wants you to conceive miracles in your heart and to prophesy what you have conceived long before the miracles are ‘birthed’. As you prophesy what you have been able to conceive, the expectancy of those around you will increase as the time of the ‘birth’ draws near. If you question a concept, you are likely to be dumbstruck, figuratively speaking, while others who conceived it are busy prophesying it!

Conceive the miracle that God is promising, and then prophesy it. Then you’ll be able to name it before the event. 

One Step Short

If, as an old Chinese proverb says, the longest journey in the world begins with the first step, then that same journey must end with the last one. That last step is as important as the first, for without it, the journey would have no ending, and that first step might just as well not have been taken. 

Some journeys have their beginning in desperation: all seems likely to be lost if it does not end in health, wealth or happiness. 

If you were the disciple Peter and had rowed for hours through a nasty storm, and were getting nowhere, and then suddenly you caught a glimpse of someone or something that could change your situation for the better – wouldn’t you show some initiative and do something? 

The disciple Peter did. When he glimpsed what appeared to be a ghost in a rain-swept night on a turbulent lake, he was as scared as anyone else in the plunging, heaving, fishing boat. But what made him different from the others in the boat was that he was prepared to do something about the situation. 

So when the ghostly figure identified itself as his leader and friend, he asked for a command that would enable him to get out of the boat and walk. It would have been a short walk, given the wild storm and the low visibility. Peter received the command he had asked for, and stepped out of the boat and onto the water. 

That was miraculous in itself, simply because it couldn’t be done. But Peter was walking on more than water: he was walking on a word, because Jesus had called to him: “Come!” Peter had asked for an order, and now he had to obey it.

Anyone who has set out to do what has never been done before will have found that initiative brings with it a great sense of adventure. The wonder of those first few steps would have got Peter a certain distance before he came to his senses. When he did, his sense of adventure gave way to considerable apprehension; which is when he probably began to wonder whether this was such a good idea. 

Never mind. Don’t think. Just keep going. One step at a time. But apprehension brings hesitation, which is not good when you’re no longer sure that you have what it takes to go forward and you are too far out to go back. That’s when that “sinking feeling” starts. You hesitate, you think twice, you waver, and your heart sinks.

When your heart sinks, everything else starts to sink with it. The future of your business. The mortgage on your house. Money for the children’s education. At this stage, they all look like going under. 

That’s when you need some assistance, someone to reach out to, someone to give you a hand. When Peter cried for help, Jesus reached out, took his hands, and lifted him to his feet. Peter must have been only an arm’s length away – just one step short of success – for Jesus to have done that. When Jesus holds your hands, you no longer need to think about where to put your feet! 

You feel euphoric when your feet don’t seem to touch the ground. I know this because the captain of a large passenger jet once invited me to sit in the jump seat behind him in the cockpit while the plane landed. It was one thing to have sat and talked to him and his co-pilot for nearly an hour, but another thing entirely to be there when the plane swooped in over the bay islands and touched down. I loved the roar when the captain put the engines into reverse thrust. Alighting from the aircraft and walking to where my wife was waiting, I discovered that it really was possible to “walk on air”!

That’s probably how Peter felt as he walked with Jesus back to the boat. Sure, he had stopped short, but who hasn’t? After all, the others hadn’t even left the boat. 

The lesson is that if you are one step short of success – call out to Jesus! Through the Spirit of God he’s always within arm’s reach. 

What a story Peter had to tell his wife! Danger, Fear, Initiative, Adventure, Apprehension, Hesitation, Assistance, Euphoria, Rescue – it had the lot! Think of the story you could tell if you were to trust Jesus enough to take that very important first step – and were able to trust him until you took the very last one!

Signs Follow. They Don’t Lead

Some New Testament scholars have long claimed that the last twelve verses of Mark’s Gospel were added at a later date. Of them, some accept verses 9-14 but reject verses 15-20, which they claim are not in the “earliest” or “most reliable” manuscripts. (However the largely reliable Textus Receptus or “received text” on which the King James Version is based includes them.)

Most unacceptable to critical scholars are the final four verses of Mark’s Gospel, which begin with the promise that a number of “signs” were to follow those who believe, including exorcism, new languages, picking up snakes, drinking anything deadly without suffering harm, and healing the sick by laying hands on them.

“Who in their right mind would deliberately handle snakes?” most people would ask. Good question. The answer is No one. But neither would anyone in his right mind deliberately drink anything deadly.

On the island of Malta, the apostle Paul accidently picked up a snake when gathering sticks, and it bit him. It must have been venomous, because the natives expected him to drop dead. When he didn’t, they concluded that he was a god. They saw the “sign” and got it almost right, since it pointed to Paul being a son of God (Acts 28:1-6).

Of course, by the time the snake incident took place, all of the “signs” Jesus had said would “follow” believers had actually done so, but for believers drinking something deadly without dying. That’s not to say that it didn’t happen, just that we have no record that it did.

Jesus did not say that those who believe would follow signs. He said that signs would follow those who believe. But although signs naturally follow those who believe, those who don’t believe follow unnatural signs.

When the Philistines won a battle against Israel and carried away the Ark of the Covenant, God struck them with tumors. They moved the Ark to other cities, hoping that would help, but the population of whatever city they moved it to suffered an outbreak of tumors (1 Samuel 5:6-12). After seven months of suffering the Philistines realized that they had offended Israel’s God, and asked their priests and diviners what they should do with the Ark. Should they send it back to Israel?

Yes, was the advice, but with expensive gifts that would expunge their guilt for taking it in the first place. “Build a new cart and find two cows that have just calved – cows that have never pulled a cart. Hitch the cows to the cart, put the Ark and the guilt-gifts in it, and see where the cows pull it. But keep the calves here. If the cows pull the cart over the border of our country and into Israel, we’ll know that it was the LORD who afflicted us with these tumors. If they don’t, the whole thing was just a coincidence.”

The leaders accepted their advice and quickly acted on it. Just as the priests and astrologers had suspected, the two cows that had never been yoked together or hitched to a cart set off along the road that led to the border and into Israel. As they went they lowed for the calves they had left behind.

Cows that have just calved never stray far from their separated offspring. They will graze away from them for a short time, but will suddenly become aware of them and hurry back to where they are – mooing loudly as they return. This is a cow’s natural instinct. It is against a cow’s natural instinct for it to pull a cart away from its calf while being aware of it. For two cows to do so would be so unnatural as to be supernatural. Cows are creatures of habit and do not adapt to change. The Philistine rulers followed the cows and the cart as far as the border. Since they did not serve the God of Israel they had to follow the signs.

Jesus said, “These signs shall follow those who believe…” He did not say, “Those who believe shall follow these signs…” So why do some believers follow supernatural signs to find out which way the Lord is leading? The growing tendency to follow signs is alarming – and potentially deceptive.

The Philistine priests and astrologers recognized the God of Israel as a powerful deity. They also knew something of Israel’s history. Their advice on what should be done with the Ark included this warning to their leaders: “Why do you harden your hearts, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? When He had plagued them, did they not let the people go?” (1 Samuel 6:6)

The Philistines would not serve the God of Israel but had no desire to keep the Ark of the Covenant at the expense of their own lives!

The children of Israel followed signs for forty years – all the way from the Red Sea to the River Jordan. The first great sign was the parting of the Red Sea at the command of Moses. Manna from heaven for forty years, six days a week (and twice as much on Fridays) was a sign of God’s provision, as was water from the rock. A pillar of cloud by day that became a pillar of fire by night was a reassuring sign of God’s continuing presence among His people. They followed these signs through the Wilderness. The final sign that God was with them was the parting of the River Jordan.

From then on miracles took place when the people did exactly what God told them to do. The first miracle was the fall of Jericho’s walls, and it was one of total obedience. At God’s command Joshua ordered the army to march around the walled city once every day for six days, without saying a word. The only sound was to come from seven ram’s horns blown by seven priests, who would walk ahead of them.

On the seventh day they were ordered to march around the city seven times, and then to shout in unison as the final blasts of the ram’s horns sounded. When they did, the entire wall of Jericho collapsed. This first victory in the Promised Land was due to a sign that followed the army’s obedience to the word of God. It was an indication that from then on obeying God’s word would continue to bring victory.

The era of following signs was over; the era of signs following had begun. God’s miraculous provision had ceased at Jordan; from then on they would live on what they gained by conquest.

The Promised Land was a land of promises that were to be possessed by land claimed by standing on it. The maxim was: If you want it, stand on it! Of course, that meant driving off the enemy who was standing on it already. But the children of Israel were much like believers today, in that they were prepared to settle for less than what God had promised. Only when God told the ageing Joshua “there remains yet very much land to be possessed” did they possess all they had been promised.

It is not wrong to expect signs – it’s just wrong to seek them, for in so doing we adopt the Philistine method – “Let’s follow the signs and see where they take us.” At best this is fatalism, and at worst rank unbelief.

Apart from the reliable Textus Receptus, the case for “signs following” is that Jesus said they would and Mark 16:20 reveals that they did. “And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following.”

The words “working with” are translated from the ancient Greek word synergia, from which “synergy” – a co-operation, a working relationship – is derived. (Romans 8:28) As believers preach the word the Lord confirms it with “signs following.” We gain added insight on how this works from Hebrews 2:3, 4:

“How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard, God also bearing witness, both with signs and wonders, and various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit…”

The writer of Hebrews follows the same scriptural order as Mark, which is that Jesus said it, those who believed preached it, and God confirmed it with signs following! Of course, Mark’s record will never be accepted by critical scholars, and maybe that’s why God inspired Luke to write The Acts of the Apostles, which records the signs that followed the apostles wherever they went. 

Today a person who doesn’t appreciate art is called a Philistine. That ancient race would think this slanderous, because the idolatrous objects they carved were not unlike those seen in art galleries today around the globe. No, the real Philistines are critics of the Bible who reject the truths of God’s Word. Instead of signs following them they have to follow signs.

Anatomy of a Miracle

The apostle Peter’s preaching on the day of Pentecost and the healing of the crippled man at the Beautiful Gate caused 5000 Jews to repent. The miracle at the Beautiful Gate is to the Book of Acts had an effect that was apparent for some time afterward. The healing of the man who was crippled from his birth is the first significant miracle in the New Testament book of Acts.

This miracle required focus, which in optical terms is the adjustment of the eyes to a fixed point of concentration. In healing terms focus is not just a preliminary to a miracle but an important first step to one. Acts 3:4 describes Peter as “fastening his eyes” on the crippled beggar and saying, “Look on us.” It appears that the beggar was not looking at Peter and John when they paused in front of him. Peter fixed his eyes on the beggar and asked the beggar to do the same. The focus had to be a mutual. But what made Peter look so intently at the man on this particular day? The beggar was carried and “laid daily” at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple, so Peter and John must have passed by him often. So why on this particular afternoon did he pause and speak to him?

It may have been that Peter, now filled with the Holy Spirit, saw him through new eyes. But more likely it was God’s time for the cripple to be healed. The man’s miraculous healing was to have a startling effect on people. An automatic camera shifts and adjusts the focus of its lens. Similarly, Peter found his gaze shifting from the overall scene at the busy gate to the foreground, where the cripple sat begging. But now Peter needed the beggar’s eyes to focus; so he said to him, “Look on us.”

“And he paid attention to them, expecting to receive something from them.” It matter not that the beggar expected to receive a few coins; what mattered was that Peter had his full attention. A common problem we face when healing the sick is that people tend to focus on their condition rather than on the power of Jesus Christ. This is especially true of those who suffer from a chronic illness. Those who are sick need to shift their focus from their long-term condition to the Lord’s willingness to heal them. They can’t see the Lord but they can see us, and that’s why Peter said, “Look at us.”

Now that Peter had the beggar’s attention he was able to move to the next step, which was to speak with authority. After Peter’s words drew the man’s attention, a surge of authority rose from deep within him. I know this because I feel it often. The surge begins at the core of your being, and rises in strength and certainty until God’s will is expressed in words too powerful for illness or injury to resist. When this happens, self-doubt and unbelief cease to exist.

The name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth speaks of every victory our Lord won: victory over Satan, over evil spirits, over sickness, over sin, and finally over death itself. When exercised, the authority of the name of Jesus Christ eliminates all resistance to the healing power of God. For 2,000 years this name has been the greatest authority in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18). It was Peter’s faith in the name that healed the crippled beggar. “Then Peter said, I have no silver or gold: but I’ll give you what I do have: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.” Many believers think that words spoken in the name of Jesus are sufficient – and they are if the person has the faith to respond without help, as did the cripple Paul spoke to at Lystra (Acts 14:8-10). But the beggar at the Beautiful Gate had no such faith, and needed Peter to lift him to his feet.

“And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up …” The first step to his healing had come through his focus on Peter. The second step had come through Peter’s words of authority. The third step came from an act that matched the spoken word of authority. The beggar, who was 40 years of age, had been born crippled. He had no faith and was incapable of rising up on his own. So Peter did not just say, “Rise up and walk!” but lifted the man to his feet. Faith that speaks but does not follow through with action is dead (James 2:17-20). Peter’s faith was alive and well!

The fourth step came with a flow of God’s power, which is what always happens when words of authority are followed by actions that match them. “And immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength…” Peter’s act connected his words of authority to the Lord’s power, which is what a bold act of faith does. The healing power flowed into the crippled man’s feet. Peter did not try to get it to flow; the flow followed his words of authority and his corresponding act of faith.

The authority of the name of Jesus is the believer’s Power of Attorney, but to be effective it must be exercised. The power of the Holy Spirit is a stream that flows from the anointed believer into the body of the sick person. It is a dependable flow, available whenever needed. Those who minister in the anointing are not human pumps that need to prime themselves with hasty prayers or loud hallelujahs for God’s power to flow. God’s power is primed by the believer’s everyday life of prayer, praise and worship, and is at hand anytime. During his ministry on earth Jesus delegated his authority to his apostles so they could heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, and raise the dead in his name. But they were not clothed with power until after they received the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. The miracles they were able to do in the authority of his name amazed them (Luke 10:17).

The result was an uninhibited, first time ever, expression of total freedom. “And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered into the temple with them, walking, and leaping, and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God, and they knew that it was he who sat begging at the Beautiful Gate of the temple: and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened to him.” When uninhibited physical expression like this happens, the person who has received the miracle becomes the focus of attention. It identifies the person and the undeniable miracle. Peter had said to the beggar, “Look on us.” Now he turns to the gathering crowd and says, “Why are you looking at us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man walk?” (Acts 3:12)

Seizing the opportunity Peter preached to the people who came running to see the once-crippled but now healed man “walking and leaping and praising God.” His message, much like the one he had preached on the Day of Pentecost, called on all who were present to repent, and was a fitting end to the sequence that had begun with the plea of a helpless beggar. There is no formula for healing, but in this undeniable miracle we can see a sequence that begins with focus and in turn allows a surge of authority to rise, accompanied by a bold act of faith and a flow of power. The miracle is then seen in an uninhibited expression of praise!

I wonder if the Apostle Peter later looked back on the crippled beggar’s healing as the most amazing miracle ever. It was certainly the most undeniable. Miracles such as this not only change the life of the person healed, but also the lives of those who have seen the miracle with their own eyes. Miracles of healing within the walls of a church are one thing; miracles outside in the streets are another thing entirely! Miracles in the High Street, UK? Miracles on Main Street, USA? Miracles in the streets of cities and towns in Australia? They’re coming! 

Two Things Go Hand in Hand

 “They were all struck with amazement and kept saying to one another, “What is this message? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!” (Luke 4:36)

“One hand washes the other” says the proverb, and that’s certainly true of the authority and power that work hand in hand in ministry. Jesus performed half of his recorded healings and exorcisms by speaking words of authority.

One miracle took place when a woman touched the hem of his garment and was healed. Of the other twenty-four healings and exorcisms, twelve took place through his touch and twelve through his words. Or, to put it another way, twelve of them took place through his power and twelve through his authority.

Christians place great emphasis on power, and no wonder. After all, the flow of the anointing through a believer into a sick person is an unforgettable experience. I can remember the first time as if it happened yesterday. The Lord touched an extremely depressed woman through my hand, and compassion flowed from deep within me out through my hand and into the depth of her need. Power has to do with the Holy Spirit’s presence, which, to put it mildly, is enjoyable, and, to put it wildly, is totally awesome!

Yet it was not Christ’s power but his authority that caused the most controversy. When confronted by his miracles the religious leaders of the day challenged not his power but the source of his authority.

“And when he came into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, and said, ‘By what authority do you do these things? And who gave you this authority?’” (Matthew 21:23)

Christ’s authority was greater in scope and in effect than anything the Jews had known. His power to heal was present when four men broke through a roof and lowered their paralyzed friend to the floor at his feet. But what really amazed the crowd and antagonized the religious leaders was not the man’s miracle of healing but the Lord’s statement that his sins were forgiven (Luke 5:20-26).

“And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, ‘Who is this that speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?’ But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, he said to them, ‘What do you reason in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you’; or to say, ‘Rise up and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins, (he said to the paralyzed man,) ‘I say to you, Arise, and take up your bed, and go into your house.’ And immediately he rose up in front of them, and took it up, and departed into his own house, glorifying God.

“And they were all amazed, and they glorified God, and were filled with fear, saying, ‘We have seen strange things today.’”

The New Testament Greek word for “strange things” is paradoxos, which, transliterated into English, is “paradoxes.” A paradox is an apparent contradiction. The Jewish leaders who were present could accept the miracle of healing, but could not accept that Jesus had been given authority on earth to forgive sins. For them to acknowledge his authority would mean accepting that the man was forgiven, and to them that was just not possible! On the other hand, for them to reject would be a denial that the man was healed, and that was undeniable!

Jesus created this paradox, one that could only be resolved by them accepting that the man’s miraculous healing was proof positive that he was forgiven, and that Jesus had authority to forgive him. The miracle was not a revelation of Christ’s divinity but a demonstration of his authority.

In three out of the twelve times that Jesus used his authority to heal, he spoke from a distance, sending healing words to the Canaanite woman’s daughter, the nobleman’s son, and the centurion’s servant.

His words of authority came in the form of a command. The paralyzed man was told to rise, take up his bed, and go home; the man with the withered right hand was told to stretch it forth; the ten lepers were told to report to the priests; and the man at the pool of Bethesda was told to rise, take up his bed and walk. All were healed when they obeyed. (The Lord’s five other recorded commands were issued to demons.)

Nowhere is it recorded that Jesus laid his hands on anyone who needed to be set free from demons. On every occasion he simply ordered the evil spirits to leave, and of course they did.

Authority and power go hand in hand. A police uniform and an upraised hand can bring the biggest, heaviest truck to a screeching standstill. (The police officer holds his fingers tightly together to indicate that his authority is absolute. Spread apart they would allow some of that authority to slip through his fingers.) Along with that authority is the power to arrest anyone foolish enough to resist it.

“Summoning the Twelve, he gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases.” (Luke 9:1)

Jesus gave them not only the power to expel demons, but also the authority to act in his name. Their authority to act legitimized their power to act.

“Look, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means harm you.” (Luke 10:19)

We call the last words spoken by Jesus before he ascended into heaven: “The Great Commission.” But his command to “Go” was prefaced with the words, “All authority is given to me in heaven and in earth.” (Matthew 28:18) We have both the authority to go in his Name and the power to deal with demons!

Think of yourself as having two invisible letters on the palms of your hands. On one hand is a capital “A” for authority, and on the other is a capital “P” for power. When praying for the sick it might help if you lay both hands on them, combining authority and power to deliver their much needed miracles.

There will be times when you’ll need to decide which of the two is needed. Should it be a word of authority, a touch of power, or both? The reason why we are commanded to “lay hands on the sick” is that our hands are a point of contact for the sick person’s faith and the Lord’s healing power (Mark 16:18).

There will be times when you’ll be unable to lay hands on the sick because the sick person is not present. In that case, your spoken word of authority should bring the same result.

A word of authority, or a touch of power – which? Both are effective. It’s vital that you know your authority in Jesus Christ. But it’s also vital that you know how to minister the power of God with a touch.

Jesus said, “The one who believes on me shall do the same works that I do, and greater…” (John 14:12)

The Lord has put a lot in your hands, literally. You’ll find out how much when you speak with authority in the name of Jesus and touch the sick with his healing power – two things that very much go hand in hand.

Paralyzed Faith

“If it be your will” was not an admission by Jesus that the will of God was unknown to him. The full prayer that Jesus prayed was, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will but yours be done.” (Luke 22:42)

The Gospel of Mark reads: “And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible to you; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will but what you will.” (Mark 14:36)

Matthew’s Gospel reads: “Father, if if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will but as you will.” (Luke 22:42)

The focus of Christ’s intense prayer was that his Father would remove the “cup” of extreme suffering that his Father was asking him to drink, a measure that’s beyond our comprehension.

The words, “All things are possible to you”, related to his Father’s ability to remove the need for Jesus to “drink the cup”; that is, to suffer and die for the sins of the world. A “cup” is a measure. “My cup runs over”, David exulted, when the blessings of God exceeded his capacity to contain them (Psalm 23:5). But the bitter “cup” Jesus was asked to drink meant suffering the full penalty for our sin.

The Lord’s request had nothing to do with whether or not he knew the Father’s will, because he had long before stated, in the clearest of terms, what that will was, and that his whole purpose was to do it (John 6:38). The will of the Father and the will of the Son were one (John 5:30). The satisfaction of the Son was gained by doing His Father’s will (John 4:34).

There was no way that Jesus could avoid the spiritual separation from his Father that would come from drinking the cup. Jesus did not fear physical death: Jews were crucified regularly by the Romans. What he feared was his Father’s rejection: a pain that presently lies beyond our understanding (Psalm 22:1-5).

“Not my will [as the Son of God he would have wished to avoid that rejection] but your will” [which was that he submit to it for our sake]. The difference between the two wills turned on the ‘hinge’ word “nevertheless”. Jesus prayed, “If it be your will” not because he did not know what that will was, but because he knew that very well what it was.

Jesus was asking if it were possible for that will to be done without him being separated from his Father. Was there any other way? That was his anguished prayer! Knowing in himself that there wasn’t, Jesus accepted the cup and drank it to the full on the Cross (John 18:11).

We should pray, as Jesus taught, that God’s will be done “on earth, as it is in heaven”. But we should never pray, “If it is your will” when seeking God for forgiveness or healing, nor when we are presented with the truth of baptism in water by total immersion, or the baptism with the Holy Spirit. Why not? Notwithstanding the controversy that surrounds these truths, Jesus clearly taught that they are the Father’s will for us (Luke 11:11-13).

We also know how to pray, because Jesus taught us that as well (Luke 11:1-10). But there will be times when we don’t know what to pray for, which is a very different thing. When we don’t know what we ought to pray for, the Holy Spirit helps us bear the burden.

“For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with yearnings that cannot be uttered. Now he [Jesus] who searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, for he makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.” (Romans 8:26-27)

The Holy Spirit intercedes for us inaudibly; and Jesus, knowing what the Spirit has in mind, intercedes for us as well. When we know how but we don’t know what, our deepest needs become the subject of our Lord’s desires.

“If it is your will?” can paralyze faith when removed from its scriptural context and used to question if it is God’s will to heal. It is a matter of great amazement to me that some Christians question whether it is God’s will to heal the sick when doctors do everything medically possible to heal them! If your pastor thinks that it may be God’s will that you are sick, see your doctor – quick!

If you need to know has been left you by a person who died, you attend the reading of the dead person’s will. God’s Word is the revelation to us of His will. Jesus died in the will of God and then rose from the dead to become the Executor of God’s will.

Psalm 103:3; Isaiah 53:4-6; 1 Peter 2:24 & Matthew 8:16-17 make it quite clear that God’s promise is to heal us from physical illness, as well as from the spiritual sickness that resulted from Adam’s sin. God’s care for us is holistic, because it pairs holiness with wholeness.

Deuteronomy, chapters 27 and 28 list not only the blessings that would follow Israel’s obedience to the Law of Moses but the curses that would follow their disobedience. The promised blessings might be likened to a cornucopia overflowing with all the sweet-smelling and desirable things of life; whereas the curses might be likened to an overturned bin of foul-smelling and disagreeable rubbish.

How welcome to Christians is the Apostle Paul’s declaration that “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one who hangs on a tree [so] that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles through Jesus Christ…” (Galatians 3:13, 14)

Do you see that the contrast is between “the curse of the Law” and “the blessings of Abraham”? The inspired apostle’s words move us from Law to Faith in just two verses! The choice is no longer between the blessings and curses of the Law of Moses, because the Christian is not blessed by being obedient to law but in receiving the promise of the Spirit through faith. 

Never question the clearly revealed will of God by praying, “If it is your will”, but rather affirm, “It is your will!” Once you’ve removed the paralyzing “if” from your prayers, the changes will amaze you!

Who Makes the First Move?

Christians are becoming concerned because they are unable to receive specific promises from God: rhema promises. In recent years, much has been made of the difference between the rhema and the logos, the logos being the general word of God, from Genesis to Revelation and a rhema a specific word (message) from the word. Not one that has been spoken but one that is being spoken. 

While reading the general word of God, the Bible, many have waited in vain for a specific word to leap off the page and into their hearts. Maybe you have been taught, quite correctly, that certain passages can come alive, and that these words – words from “out of the mouth of God” – are the “daily bread” that you need to live by (Matthew 4:4). But what do you do when a word just doesn’t come? Do you wait, a little anxiously? Or is there something else you can do? 

Rhema revelations certainly are wonderful! They have within them the power to create what they describe. They assure us of God’s interest in us and His good intentions toward us. They fill us with expectancy. 

“Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by a word from God.” (Romans 10:17)

In Old Testament times, the prophets delivered God’s specific promises to Israel. Such a message was much like a rhema, in that God was speaking it through the mouth of a prophet. When the message was written down, it became a part of the logos. Eventually these messages became our Bible. 

But not all who heard those words believed them. “Lord, who has believed our report?” (Isaiah 53:1) 

Faith comes when we believe the message brought to us by God’s messenger. These days the message is most often delivered by a preacher. When he preaches “a word from God” – as distinct from a general word about God – “faith comes” as we receive it. 

In a personal, devotional sense, the “messenger” is usually the Bible itself. When a particular chapter or verse relevant to a particular need in our lives comes to us, and we “hear” it with our heart, it generates faith. That faith enables us to live expectantly, in the hope that we will see the particular promise come to pass. When received and believed, a rhema word can be powerful; it can bring with it a sense of great expectancy! 

A question naturally arises. When a believer receives such a promise, but while waiting for it to come to pass another need arises, for which he has no specific promise? Is a rhema revelation, a specific promise from God, the only means by which he can be assured of God’s power in his life? 

Thankfully, that’s not so. God’s promises – what we might call His rhema revelations – are not the only means by which He can meet our needs. Promises are the Lord’s initiatives. For example, God promised the ageing Abram (later Abraham) that he would have a son. Humanly speaking, the promise was impossible. 

Disregarding that obvious fact, “Abraham believed God” and 25 years later (when Sarah was 90 years of age and Abraham 100) their son, Isaac, was born. God’s promise had come to pass. 

Many years later the Lord promised Moses that He would bring the children of Israel out of Egypt and into the Promised Land. Little more than 40 years later, it was done. Joshua stated that of all the good things that the Lord had promised “not one thing” had failed – every promise had come to pass (Joshua 23:14). 

Nearly four centuries after Joshua’s time, Solomon echoed his words. Six hundred years later all God’s promises were confirmed in the Lord Jesus Christ, the “Yes!” and the “Amen!” to every single one of them! (2 Corinthians 1:20) 

The Hebrew word for “promise” is equivalent to the Greek word rhema. Neither word makes a difference between a word and the thing it describes; only time separates promise from  fulfillment. 

In other words, when God promises a certain thing, the thing itself is contained in the promise. When God speaks the word He speaks the thing. When we confess the word in faith we possess the thing! 

“Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1) 

When the angel Gabriel informed Mary that “with God, nothing shall be impossible”, he meant that “no word is impossible”: no rhema word; no thing (Luke 1:37). 

I have emphasized the word rhema for a good reason: I want you to understand perfectly what it means, so that I can draw a contrast to it. I want to prove to you that you can receive whatever you need from God – rhema or no rhema! 

The contrast is between the statements “Be it unto me according to your word”, and “According to your faith be it unto you.” 

The first statement was Mary’s response to Gabriel, when he brought a specific, personal promise to her. Mary believed the word of promise and conceived. All she needed to do was receive the rhema – God would do the rest. Mary did not have much comprehension, but she was willing to let the word do its work. Nine months later, the birth of Jesus Christ resulted from that one specific promise! 

The second statement was a response by Jesus to two blind men. They had cried to him for mercy, calling him “the Son of David”. This tells us they recognized him as the promised Messiah. “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” Jesus asked them. “Yes, Lord”, they replied. Jesus then told them plainly that their faith – not God’s word – had healed their blindness (Matthew 9:27-30). 

This miracle – initiated not by God but by two blind men – is similar to the miracle sought by the woman who had a hemorrhage (Mark 5:34), and by the leper who, after being healed, returned to give thanks (Luke 17:19). The miracles may have differed, but the approach didn’t. 

In both cases it was the expression of the person’s faith rather than the word of God that brought a miracle of healing. 

Many others received miracles because of their faith, including a Canaanite woman and a Roman centurion. Jesus remarked on the Magnificent Faith of the woman and the Great Faith of the soldier. The Lord had not seen such faith among God’s chosen people.

It is a fact that each of these miracles of healing was the result of a “personal faith initiative” rather than words that could have been called a rhema word. So perhaps we should reconsider the power of ordinary, everyday faith. In placing so much emphasis on God’s specific promises – on rhema words – it is possible that we have devalued faith in the more general sense. 

God’s rhema word and our faith are not mutually exclusive. Both have a place. So it’s not a matter of either/or but rather a matter of if the miracle is initiated by God through His word or by us through our faith. 

On balance, it seems to me that mature Christians receive specific promises and new believers release their faith. Who sees the most miracles? My experience has been that those who know God’s Word least receive miracles the most. No doubt this is because they are more desperate.

It seems that a kind of Law of Diminishing Returns operates in this regard. The longer we are Christians the less we are likely to need God’s direct intervention. More than likely this is because we have come to live by kingdom principles. Should we be led to adopt a more radical, “cutting edge” in our Christian lifestyle, however, we’ll be likely to need the Lord’s continuing intervention – kingdom principles notwithstanding. 

This brings us back to the issue of which it should be God’s word or our faith; His promise or our initiative? It’s a matter of who ought to move first – God or us. I’ve read that Smith Wigglesworth boldly stated that if God didn’t move him, he would move God, but I’m sure that it was God who gave Wigglesworth the faith to make that statement! 

I believe that God’s specific promises often have a time element. In other words, because God initiates them, we can only believe them, confess them, and await the time of their fulfillment. The temptation, of course, is to do that in every case, by saying, “The rest is up to God.” 

That may well be, but what then of the faith – bold faith, daring faith, persistent faith, irresistible faith – displayed by the Canaanite woman, the hemorrhaging woman, the centurion, the two blind men, and the leper? Not one of them had a specific promise, yet every one of them received an immediate miracle! 

Reading of their desperate but very effective faith, we might say: “It’s up to me then.” 

This raises the matter of God’s sovereignty, our responsibility, and the difference between the two. In saying, “It’s up to God” we acknowledge His Sovereignty, His overall authority and power. However, this can be a way of evading responsibility, or even an excuse for laziness and unbelief. If that’s the case, we need to move over into the area of our responsibility. 

On the other hand, we may have become so heady with spiritual authority and so preoccupied with power that we are in danger of intruding on God’s sovereignty. Our initial boldness may have turned into presumption. If so, we need to again draw back into God’s sovereignty. Theologians refer to this as “creative tension” because of its effect on believers who try hard to keep the proper tension between the two. 

Do you have a word from God – a specific promise? Wonderful! Believe it, confess it, and embrace it (Hebrews 11:13). Don’t let the enemy or circumstances snatch it from you. Live by the faith that came with that word, until the promise comes to pass. A good confession is saying what God has already said in the Bible. When you really believe it in your heart, it works, because you have a “spirit of faith” (2 Corinthians 4:13). 

But if you are in desperate need of a miracle, then reach out in faith and touch the Lord, as the sick woman did. Or cry out to Him, like the blind men did. Or stake your claim, regardless, like the Canaanite woman did. What you must do is up to you – faith works more for the fearless than the faint-hearted. 

“For without faith it is impossible to please God, for the one who comes to God must believe that He is, and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” (Hebrews 11:6) 

If you have received a rhema for one thing need but have another need, rest in the rhema for oneand use your faith for the other. God speaks of some things as future certainties, and gives us the faith to initiate things in uncertain situations. He gives us a word to hold on to with one hand and faith to use with the other.

The Christian life is never dull!

20/20 Vision for Miracles

“Blind unbelief is sure to err” wrote the poet Cowper. Skeptics say that faith is blind, but it’s unbelief that can’t see a miracle that’s staring it right in the face. “There’s none so blind as them that won’t see” wrote Jonathan Swift.

Ever seen those marble busts of Julius Caesar and other ancient Romans, and wondered why the sculptors left the pupils out of their eyes? In seeking to give them a timeless look they gave them a vacant one. 

The pupils in our eyes identify us. They enable others to see who we really are. When Jesus gave eyes to a beggar who had been born blind – an unprecedented miracle – his angry religious opponents questioned the man’s identity. 

His neighbours said, “Is this not he who sat and begged?” Their uncertainty was due to his new identity. They’d looked at him often enough, but he’d never looked back. It was his new pupils that made the difference.

When we’re excited our pupils dilate, and there’s nothing we can do to prevent it (which is why Middle Eastern businessmen wear dark sunglasses to hide their pupils when doing deals). Our pupils reveal our interest or lack of interest. 

Until Jesus began to minister, no person born blind had ever received sight. But the unprecedented miracle that gave this man sight revealed the spiritual blindness of the Pharisees. The man was able to see, but they continued to be blinded by unbelief.   

Isaiah had prophesied that Messiah would preach good news to the meek and bind up the broken-hearted; that he would proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of prisons to those who were bound (Isaiah 61:1). But when Jesus applied the prophecy to himself, he added, “and recovering of sight to the blind.” (Luke 4:18) Before opening the man’s eyes Jesus expanded the prophecy to include it.

In response to the Pharisees’ claim that Jesus was a sinner, the beggar simply answered: “Whether he is a sinner or not, I do not know; one thing I do know is that, whereas I was blind, now I see.” (John 9:25) He held to one firm fact – a fact denied only by those blinded by unbelief. 

God still does the unprecedented. Some say, “God can do it again!” Sure he can – and does – heal known diseases, but he heals new ones, as well. 

What this means to us is that when praying in the name of Jesus, not only should we expect the unexpected but we should also prepare for the unprecedented. The more amazing the nature of the miracle, the more promptly we should praise God for it. What we should not do is refuse to identify it as a miracle on the ground that we’ve never before seen it.

I’ve seen too many miracles of healing to join with those who claim that God can do all things but that He chooses not to do some things. I believe that He does everything His Word promises. “Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?” (Jeremiah 32:27)

Unlike the Pharisees, I’m not blinded by unbelief; and unlike Julius Caesar, my eyes do have pupils. I know a miracle when I see one – especially when it’s looks me in the face. If a 1st Century beggar could see clearly for the first time, surely Christians in the 21st Century can see with 20/20 clarity. There is nothing that Jesus Christ, who is “the same, yesterday, and today, and forever”, does not do that he did during his earthly ministry (Hebrews 13:8).

One Sunday morning while preaching in a Manila church that met in a basketball stadium, the Lord put it into my heart to pray for the sickas they sat in their seats, rather than by laying hands on them, one by one. When I announced this from the platform, the pastor of the church came over to me with a concerned look on his face and said, “If you tell them that Jesus will heal them that way, they will expect him to do it.”

“Yes, of course”, I assured him. Since the Lord had given me the faith to believe that he could, it hadn’t occurred to me that he wouldn’t. The pastor was a strong believer, but since the Lord had not given him the faith to say what I had said, he did what I would have done in his place: nodded, stepped back, and left me to it.

There’s an old saying, “Some were sent, and some just went.” It sums up the difference between faith and presumption in the things we do in the name of Jesus Christ. The words of a TV commentator at an extreme sports event who warns, “Don’t try this at home!” also applies to Christians who act on impulse rather than in response to the leading of God’s Spirit.

But there is a place where angels love to tread, and I was standing there that Sunday morning. After praying authoritatively in the name of Jesus, I invited those who had been healed to come forward and testify at the microphone. Not all that surprisingly, about ten men and women did. They gave God the glory and demonstrated how they could now do what they had not been able to do before. It was a first for me, but a surge of faith is like an adrenal rush, and only later did I think about what I would have done if nothing had happened. 

Since we cannot prevent the pupils in our eyeballs from dilating when we are excited, mine must have been huge on a number of occasions. I have been privileged to be present when the Spirit of God fell on entire meetings – during revival meetings in Australia; in a village on the island of Borneo; in Metro Manila; in a church on the Channel Island of Jersey; and throughout the southwest of England.

I’m sure the pupils in the eyes of the man healed by Jesus would have revealed how excited he was on the inside – even if (as it seems from his words) he was unruffled by the questions thrown at him by the skeptics and doubters of the day. The eyes have it, even if the doubters don’t.

To deny the Lord’s power to do what some people call impossible could be called blind unbelief. I would rather have 20/20 vision for miracles and see life through open eyes of faith – wouldn’t you?

The Faith Breakthrough

Men and women who have dared to think differently have gone out and changed the world forever, some of them by a single but significant act. They refused to quit when obstacles stood in their way but broke through from another direction – sometimes spectacularly!

Luke, himself a physician, records an account of four men who dared to do something different, and broke through to a tremendous truth. It was a truth that was not only to change the life of their sick friend, but also the lives of countless others who, since then, have benefited from their breakthrough.

Seeking to find a way to bring their bed-ridden friend to Jesus, the four found themselves unable to get through a crowd of Pharisees and lawyers who filled the house in which he was teaching.

“And when they could not find by what way they might bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the housetop, and let him down through the tiling with his bed into the midst, in front of Jesus.” (Luke 5:19)

When they could not find a way, they made a way! Their act is fairly typical of those who make new discoveries. When confronted by obstacles, they don’t give up, but use new approaches to reach their original goals.

In this particular case the obstacle was the dense mass of religious legalists who had gathered to split theological straws with Jesus over his teachings. “The power of the Lord was present to heal.” But they were not being healed; instead they were blocking the way to the paralyzed man’s healing.

There will always be barriers to new discoveries: pride, superstition, tradition and bigotry – even past successes. Throughout history, barriers such as these have hindered people from reaching their goals. But where there is no way, faith makes a way!

Tearing the tiles off the roof of a house to get someone to Jesus had never been done before. But the need was great and the men were determined not to be stopped. The four men broke through into the healing presence of the Lord, and lowered their sick friend to the floor at his feet.

The story now takes on a new twist.

When Jesus saw their faith, he said to them, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.”

“Forgiven”? The four had not brought their friend for forgiveness: they’d had a miracle in mind. Like so many others who have “broken through” they had approached the problem in a novel way, but hadn’t dreamed of what they were about to discover.

“And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, ‘Who is this that speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?’ But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answered them, ‘Why do you reason in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, Your sins are forgiven you, or to say, Rise up and walk?’”

The breakthrough by the four men on behalf of their sick friend was about to pale by comparison with the revelation that would result from it. The sick man was about to discover that as far as Jesus is concerned, there is no difference between forgiveness and healing, because the faith that heals is the same as the faith that saves.

The man on the stretcher had been brought for healing, but Jesus first forgave him. In so doing, he surfaced the latent hostility of the Pharisees. Jesus knew they would challenge his forthright statement of forgiveness. He knew they would try to deny its validity by saying to the sick man, “He may say that you are forgiven, but he can’t prove it!”

So Jesus simply said, “But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins, (he said to the sick man) ‘Get up, pick up your bed, and go into your house.’ And immediately he rose up in front of them, and took up that on which he had lain, and departed to his own house, glorifying God. And they were all filled with fear, saying, ‘We have seen strange things today.’ “

For “strange things” read “riddles” or “paradoxes”! God had never before given any man the authority on earth to forgive sins. What had begun as a compassionate act had ended in an amazing event! But only because of a breakthrough.

That physical breakthrough – the tearing away of the tiles – opened the way for a spiritual breakthrough: the forgiveness and healing of a man whose friends had broken through on his behalf. There is no difference between healing and forgiveness when faith is active!

“And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he has committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.” (James 5:15)

“…Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree…by whose stripes you were healed.” (1 Peter 2:24)

The shed blood of Jesus has the power to eliminate sin wherever it exists. The power of his cleansing blood washes our sins away. The visible effects of that invisible cleansing are remarkable! Joy takes the place of sorrow. Confidence takes the place of condemnation. Peace takes the place of turmoil. The bonus is that sick are made well, for when the root of sin is eliminated the branch of sickness withers. It’s a matter of cause and effect. Perhaps that’s why so many new believers are healed when they are forgiven.

Not all sickness is the result of a particular sin, of course, but all sickness is a result of the first Adam’s sin of disobedience. Through the sacrifice of Jesus, God dealt with both the cause and the effect.

“Who his own self bore our sins in his own body on the tree…by whose stripes you were healed” (1 Peter 2:24).

“Bless the LORD, I say to myself, and forget not all His benefits; He forgives all your iniquities, He heals all your diseases.” (Psalm 103:3)

Jesus willingly shed his blood to deliver us from the power of sin. In God’s sight, the sin of every person is washed away through faith in His Son. Every evil deed ever done was paid for in full with his precious blood.

But not all accept Jesus as their Saviour. Those who have not are still spiritually unclean because of their sins. How tragic!

How can you receive forgiveness? Simply by believing the Word of God that tells you, “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead you shall be saved.” (Rom. 10:9-10)

You can be healed the same way as you were forgiven: by confessing with your mouth what you believe in your heart: that “by his wounds you were healed.” Healing from God is a physical demonstration of a spiritual truth. Little did those four men of faith realize that they had broken through more than a roof – they had broken through into a dimension in which the two greatest needs of humanity, forgiveness and healing, are fully provided for in the suffering and death of Jesus Christ.

It was an amazing discovery, a breakthrough that has helped to bring a double blessing of healing and forgiveness to believers around the world. Those four men tore their way through to a wonderful truth, and you can benefit from their breakthrough. Accept healing in exactly the same way you accepted forgiveness. Taking God’s word for your healing is a good prescription!

The power of the Lord is present to heal you, because the message you are reading is the same one demonstrated by Jesus that day, almost 2000 years ago.

May your miracle of healing be a visible display of the invisible miracle of God’s wonderful forgiveness!

A Tale of Two Mountains

“Now it happened on the next day, when they had come down from the mountain…” (Luke 9:37) On the Mount of Transfiguration the inner light of Jesus had shone through the clothes he wore, dazzling Peter, James, and John with its brilliance. “And when he came to the disciples, he saw a great multitude around them, and scribes disputing with them. Immediately, when they saw him, all the people were greatly amazed, and running to him, greeted him.” (Mark 9:14, 15) 

The rising sun had not outshone the glory that was still visible on the face of Jesus — a glory that mingled both awe and fear on the faces of those waiting for him. “And He asked the scribes, “What are you discussing with them?” (Mark 9:16) Suddenly a man came to him and knelt down before him. “Teacher, I implore you, look upon my son, for he is my only child. And behold, a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly cries out; it convulses him, so that he foams at the mouth; and it departs from him with great difficulty, bruising him. So I implored your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.” (Luke 9:38-40) 

“Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here.” (Luke 9:41) “How long has this been happening to him?” Jesus asked. And he said, “From childhood; and often it has thrown him into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us, and help us.” (Mark 9:22) 

“If I can do anything?” Jesus was taken aback. The problem was theirs, not his. “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” (Mark 9:23) The question wasn’t and still isn’t whether Jesus can do anything, but whether we believe that he can. Unbelief always questions, but faith always answers. 

“Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, Lord, I believe: help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24) “When Jesus saw that the people were coming running, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it: ‘You deaf and dumb demon, I command you, come out of him, and enter him no more.’ The child became as one dead, so that many said he was dead. But Jesus took him by the hand, lifted him up, and he arose.” (Mark 9:25-27) “And when He came into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, ‘Why couldn’t we cast it out?’” (Mark 9:28; Matthew 17:19) 

They had certainly tried! Was their failure due to the absence of Jesus and his closest disciples, Peter, James and John? No, it was their unbelief. Unbelief is an attitude. An attitude is a fixed mental position, and a position can be changed at will. The truth was that they had shown the faithlessness of their generation in their unbelief. They went through the motions for the boy’s sake, but in their minds they didn’t really think they could do it; and because that was what they thought, they were right! 

“So Jesus said to them, ‘Because of your unbelief; for assuredly I say to you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, Move from here to there! And it will move; and nothing shall be impossible for you.’” (Matthew 17:20) It takes a minimal amount of faith to move a maximum obstacle. If you believe that you can, then you will. Your words express what your heart believes. If you doubt in your heart, it will not happen. But if you believe that the things you say will come to pass, you will have whatever you say – “mountains” included! 

From this combined account of Jesus delivering the young boy, I conclude that: 

(a) An apparent lack of spiritual authority by those who should be able to exercise it invites religious opposition — especially in desperate situations. 

(b) The glory of Christ both amazes and shocks people, so that they run to him even though terrified of him! We should never underestimate the power of the anointing to draw those who are shocked by it. 

(c) The question is never what Jesus can do, but what we can do, with the smallest amount of faith and our God-given authority: the mighty Name of Jesus. 

(d) Although we would naturally prefer to continue our mountaintop experiences with Jesus, the more pressing need is for us to come down to the level of human need, where people face obstacles that only Jesus in us can move. 

(e) The unbelief in the boy’s father was also in the disciples — who didn’t know how much they had until Jesus informed them! 

(f) When we truly believe, obstacles move aside at our command, because words of faith spoken by believers do not take into account so-called impossibilities! 

(g) The more compatible demons are with those they possess, the more care is needed, because of the “tearing” that takes place during their departure. (This is because they are unable to differentiate between their own personality and that of a demon that has lived in them for a long time.) 

(h) The Majesty of Jesus is not only seen in spiritual revelations and ecstatic experiences, but also in restorations on the lower levels of human existence, where the entry of the super into the natural introduces the supernatural.

Developing a Spirit of Faith

Most modern versions of the New Testament translate Mark 11:22 as “Have faith in God.” But a translation closer to the Greek would be “Have the faith of God.” Faith does not originate is man but is God-given.

An American preacher founded much of his work on Mark 11:22, which he paraphrased as “Have the God kind of faith.” There was more to his ministry than this one verse, of course, but this revelation of the origin of faith inspired him to found churches and bible colleges around the world. 

Jesus of Nazareth had God-given faith. That is why the fig tree began to wither from its roots the moment he cursed it. Jesus was not just miffed because the tree had leaves yet was fruitless (though a leafy tree ought to have had a few green figs); he was angry because the Jews of his generation covered their lack of spiritual fruitfulness with religious pretension.

Why do the words that we speak in faith work less effectively than the words of Jesus? Is it because we speak them with our faith instead of the faith that comes from God? We are not wrong in repeating God’s Word until we believe it, but we are wrong in speaking God’s Word before we believe it.

God commanded Joshua to “meditate” on His Word; that is, to mutter it to himself out loud, continually, day and night (Joshua 1:8). The apostles’ words flowed from God-given faith in their hearts, not from endlessly repeated words. Repetition is good for building faith in the heart; but a “spirit of faith” is necessary for speaking words that result in miracles. Anything less than God-given faith is just verbal repetition. Paul writes that the apostles had the same “spirit of faith” as the psalmist who wrote, “I believed, and so I spoke.” (2 Corinthians 4:13; Psalm 116:10)

When building “a spirit of faith” for miracles we need to remember that Jesus said we must not seek to add value to our words by swearing oaths. “I say to you, swear not at all; neither by heaven, for it is God’s throne, nor by the earth, for it is his footstool…” (Matthew 5:33-37) A speaker’s use of sacred names or planetary bodies to lend authority to his words indicates a lack of authority.

Mark 11:23 provides believers with the scriptural equivalent of a blank check. In this verse Jesus states that the “whosoever” can have “whatsoever” if he believes, without doubt, that the words he says will come to pass. The Greek word translated “doubt” means, “to make a difference”. We are not to make a difference between what seems hard and what seems easy. Jesus saw moving a mountain with words as no harder than withering a fig tree.

As well as the blank check of verse 23 there is the clean slate of verse 25, which states that “anyone” who prays must forgive others for “anything” they have done. In Matthew 5:23-24, Jesus makes forgiveness even harder when he says that we must be reconciled to a brother who has “anything” against us.

But, surely, that’s his problem! No, it’s ours. We need God’s faith to move our own lack of forgiveness out of the way as much as we need it to move aside the formidable obstacles that confront us. A heart that doesn’t doubt but forgives quickly is a prerequisite to building a spirit of faith.

The word spirit in Greek is pneuma. Like the Hebrew word ruarkh, it may also refer to “breath”, depending on the scriptural context. For example, does James 2:26 mean that without the spirit the body is dead, or that without the breath the body is dead? The answer is both, but the human spirit is more than inhaled or expelled breath.   

Reflecting today’s emphasis on psychology, perhaps, the New International Version translates pneuma in Ephesians 4:23 as attitude – “the attitude of your mind”. Although accurate, it’s more an interpretation than a translation, and will doubtless lead some to conclude that Jesus cast out evil attitudes! 

Its ambiguity makes it difficult to distinguish between the Holy Spirit and the human spirit. The KJV and NKJV translate Romans 8:10 much the same: “And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.” In this verse the context is the human spirit, which is alive because of righteousness; so the small “s” should be used. 

We know that a person can be influenced by an evil spirit (as was the female fortune-teller at Philippi) but there is a difference between an evil spirit in a person and evil in the person’s spirit; and we need to be able to distinguish one from the other.

A case study of Timothy helps clarify the matter. The young Timothy was converted through the preaching of Paul, and after accompanying him in ministry became a church leader. But it seems that Timothy had “a spirit of fear” – or was it a fearful spirit? When Paul writes, “God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind”, he is addressing the problem of Timothy’s timidity

The Greek word clearly indicates that Timothy’s problem was timidity. Despised by some because of his youth; known to have had a weak stomach; and influenced more by his believing Jewish mother and grandmother than by his Greek father (who either had not permitted his son to be circumcised or had neglected to do so). Timothy might well have been named Timidity! But Paul became to him the spiritual father the young man had never had (Acts 16:1-3; 1 Corinthians 16:10, 11; 1 Timothy 1:18; 2 Timothy 1:5-8). The “war” that Paul encouraged Timothy to “fight” was probably against his tendency to avoid confrontation.

As Timothy learned Paul’s “ways in Christ”, he began to lose his timidity. No longer “ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ” or of Paul as the Lord’s “prisoner”, Timothy grew to become a strong leader, and eventually became a bishop. 

Did Timothy overcome a demonic “spirit of fear”? No! Timothy got the victory over fear in his spirit! 

Recent versions of the New Testament have introduced “dynamic equivalence”: thought for thought rather than word for word translation. This is not new to missionaries, who have to translate “the wicked are like the troubled sea” as “the wicked are like a whirling desert sandstorm” to a nomad in the Sahara. 

I enjoy reading recent versions of the New Testament, even though they lack the thought-rhythm of the old King James Version. (No one can quote their favorite verses as well as KJV readers.) Yet despite the paraphrased language-leaps of today’s translations, they clarify Bible texts such as 2 Corinthians 4:13 (which we’ll now look at a little more closely).

When Paul writes: “We, having the same spirit of faith” does he mean the same faith in his spirit? Yes, that is exactly what he means. In explaining the meaning of“the spirit of faith”, Jamieson, Fausset and Brownrefer readers of their Expositional Commentary on the Bible to Romans 8:15: “For you received not (at the time of your conversion) the spirit of bondage,” that is, “The spirit you received was not a spirit of bondage, but the spirit of adoption, whereby – rather, “wherein” – we cry, Abba, Father.”

So “the spirit of faith” is the faith God has imparted to the spirit; just as “the spirit of adoption” is the assurance in our spirit that we have been accepted into the family of our heavenly Father. There is a lot of difference between speaking into faith – repeatedly confessing Bible texts to get truth into the spirit – and speaking with a spirit of faith – confessing truth that is already in our spirit.

Believers who “name and claim” Bible promises either have the spirit of the thing they desire – and by this I mean that their spirit is saturated in the truth of it – or they are just repeating them, mistaking mechanical repetition for biblical confession. “Naming and claiming” what we need is a lot different to “blabbing and grabbing” what we want!

Remember that “saying without praying” is mere verbal repetition, and that “mind over matter” cannot move mountains. On the other hand, “praying without saying” may improve your devotional life, but you will lack the authority of the spoken word. Jesus said, “The words that I speak to you are spirit and life” – packages of spiritual power!

If you are seeking to heal the sick you could begin with God’s revelation of Himself as “YHVH Ropheka” – “the LORD your Healer” (Exodus 15:26). You would then search the Bible for examples of those who were healed by God through the ministry of prophets, through Jesus, and through the apostles.

You could view healings downloaded to your iPod and played on the bus or train. Or listen to CDs while driving. By the time you have prayed, listened, viewed, studied and confessed the subject of healing to the point where it fills your every thought and occupies your every waking moment, you will be ready to lay hands on the sick, and can expect to see results! The same diligence is required for whatever gift or ministry you desire.

Build a spirit of faith and the rest will follow.

Facts, Not Promises

Christians love seeing God’s promises come to pass. When “standing on the promises” we are not swayed by false premises. Others may feel that a promise we’ve claimed is distant or doubtful, but if God said it we believe it, and for us that settles it. 

God has given us “great and precious promises” to assure our future and to give us hope. The children of Israel possessed the Promised Land by acting on God’s promise that “every place where the sole of your foot treads shall be yours.” (Deuteronomy 11:24) For them, every step forward was a promise claimed. Those enemies who resisted were literally trodden underfoot (Joshua 10:24). 

What the advancing Israelites did literally, we do spiritually. We claim God’s promises until we see them come to pass. This being the case, it’s perhaps no wonder that we measure our progress in the number of promises named and claimed! A promise is “a declaration made in respect to the future”. 

But some bible texts that are perceived to be promises really ought to be seen as facts. A fact is “a truth, known by actual experience or observation”. Facts are not future promises but past and present realities. That Jesus died for you is a fact. That he was buried is another fact. That he rose from the dead three days later is the greatest fact of all! 

Note the past tense. Jesus died, was buried, and rose again, nearly 2000 years ago. Those who have tried to tamper with these facts are either going or are long-gone; but the facts remain. Certain facts are evident to believers, regardless of what doubters may say. 

The fact remains: Jesus bore our sin in his own body; so we are forgiven. The fact remains: By His stripes (whip-marks and wounds) we were healed, and so are healed. The fact remains: In rising from the dead Jesus justified us; so we are pardoned. The fact remains: Jesus ascended into Heaven and intercedes for us; so we have open fellowship with our heavenly Father. 

When the dying Jesus said, “It is finished!” many Old Testament promises became New Testament facts. 

Isaiah 53 is prophetic of Jesus Christ, who was “a root out of dry ground” as far his people, the Jews, were concerned. He was, in a word, unpromising. To the townsfolk of Nazareth he was merely “the carpenter’s son”. Nathaniel’s question in John 1:46, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” conveys the thought of Isaiah 53:1-3. They would not accept the promised Messiah in one of their own people. Prophetically, Nazareth was “dry ground” indeed. 

“Surely he has borne our sicknesses and carried our pains” Isaiah prophesied, seeing beyond the horizon of his day. “He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement for our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed.” 

“We are healed” says the prophet Isaiah, more than 700 years before the event. When the Ethiopian eunuch asked Philip the meaning of Isaiah 53:7, the evangelist preached Jesus from that verse (Acts 8:32-35). Other verses in Isaiah 53 were clearly fulfilled in Christ’s suffering and death. The entire chapter speaks to us of Jesus Christ! Prophecies are promises that when fulfilled become facts. 

Isaiah, looking forward, saw healing in the atonement as a prophetic certainty. Peter, the apostle, saw the same event in retrospect. To Isaiah, it was a promise; to Peter, it was a fact. “By whose stripes you were healed” he wrote (1 Peter 2:24). 

Some object that the “healing” to which both Isaiah and Peter refer is the spiritual healing of the soul, and not physical healing. How did the apostle Matthew see it? 

“When the even had come, they brought to him many who were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with His word, and healed all who were sick: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet: “Himself took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses.” (Matthew 8:16, 17) 

These people were healed physically, not spiritually. Look at the context: first, there is the healing of a leper (verses 1-4); second, there is the healing of the centurion’s servant, who was “sick of the palsy” (verses 5-13); third, there is the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law, who was “sick with a fever” (verses 14, 15); and finally, “many” possessed and sick persons were set free and healed. 

None of the above was healed spiritually; all were healed physically. The text leaves us no room for doubt in this matter. This is not to say that Isaiah’s prophetic foresight and Peter’s inspired hindsight exclude spiritual healing from the sufferings of Christ, but rather to say that they include physical healing! All healing is in the Atonement. 

Why then, you query, does Matthew speak of Isaiah’s prophecy as having been “fulfilled” in the healing of the sick before Jesus died? 

The answer is that the entire ministry of Jesus had his death as its end goal. In Luke 9:31 Jesus spoke of it as his “decease” [Greek: exodus], which he would accomplish at Jerusalem. Through one man, Adam, sin entered the world, and the consequence was death to all. But Christ’s death for us resulted in God’s overflowing favour to us. The end goal was accomplished! 

Jesus did always and only those things that pleased his Father, and that included healing the sick (John 4:34; 5:30; 6:38; 8:29). Physical healing pleases God. Unless Jesus returns in your lifetime you will die, because your body will wear out. Some ask (though doctors never do) why we should postpone the inevitable. Why bother seeking healing when you are sick? 

Sin is the root cause of the human condition, and sickness is a consequence of the first Adam’s sin. Jesus, knowing that his destiny was to die for the sin of the world, dealt with the terrible consequences of sin until he could deal with its cause at the Cross. He healed the physically sick in anticipation of when he would heal the spiritually sick. In so doing he fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah 53. The Suffering Servant typified the sorrows of the Jews, but Jesus the Messiah was the complete epitome of the Suffering Servant. 

Sickness brings suffering and can result in premature death. Jesus conquered death by rising from it, as we shall also in the Resurrection. Until then, we can rejoice in the fact that we are healed because we were healed! If an existentialist could become famous by saying, “I think, therefore I am” then Christians should not be ashamed to confess, “I was (healed), and therefore I am (healed).”

“Healing is the children’s bread”, Jesus said. Bread is “the staff of life”, a basic necessity. So we could well pray, “Give us this day our daily healing.” 

You are forgiven because Jesus died for your sins. That’s not a promise – that’s a fact. When Jesus said, “It is finished!” he meant everything – your healing included. Don’t think of healing as a promise but instead state it as a fact! Anything less is just a compromise.

Increasing Your Capacity

It’s likely that high on the list of prayers that God does not answer are those in which believers ask for more than they are ready to receive. A zealous new convert may pray for an immediate commission as an evangelist to Africa. The damage he might do in his innocence might be incalculable. A dam may be fed by a mighty river, but it can only receive as much water as its wall was built to contain.

Yet real faith will always generate a desire for more from God, who has infinitely more for us than we have so far experienced. His supply will always be greater than our capacity. Jesus felt power go out of him when the woman touched the hem of his garment, but that power in him would not have been diminished one iota if every other person in the crowd had done the same. The question is never God’s abundance but rather our capacity to receive what He is more than willing to supply.

One of the greatest principles in the Bible may be seen in one of its greatest miracles. A widow is unable to pay her creditors, and her two sons are about to be taken away to work off the family debt; so she begs for help from the prophet Elisha (2 Kings 4:1-7).

“What have you in the house?” asks the prophet (“What have you got that I can use?” is a question often asked in the Bible, one that Jesus himself asked before multiplying a little boy’s loaves and fishes.)

“Nothing but a jar of oil,” the widow replies.

“Borrow as many jars as you can from your neighbours, and then lock yourself and your sons in your home, and pour the oil into them.”

The most amazing thing about this miracle is not that God filled every jar the woman borrowed, but that the supply of oil ceased only when the last jar was filled. I say amazing because it implies that God’s supply is limited to how much of it we can contain. His supply runs out only when the level of our capacity to receive it is reached..

The apostle Paul concludes his second prayer for the Ephesians with the heartfelt words, “That you might be filled with all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:19) The idea of a church, however large, being filled to capacity with the supply of the Spirit of God is almost beyond comprehension!

And that, of course, is Paul’s whole point. Bowing his knees to God in prayer for the church, Paul knows that he cannot quantify Christ’s love for it (any more than all the containers in the widow’s neighborhood could contain the supply of oil). So he begins with the lavish phrase, “the riches of His glory” (Ephesians 3:16).

Paul wants the reader to comprehend with the heart rather than try to understand with the mind. Where we might write, “His glorious riches”, Paul writes “the riches of His glory”. Similarly, we might shorten “strengthened with all might by His Spirit in the inward man” by using fewer words, but in so doing we would lose the expansive rhythm of the original Greek.

We could shorten the rest of Paul’s prayer, “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the length, and breadth, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that you might be filled with all the fullness of God.” But, again, we would lose something. In seeking to make it more understandable, we would make it less wonderful. The King James Version is not known for its economy of words, and neither are Paul’s prayers, doxologies or benedictions.

“Yes,” you might say, “But does not Paul then introduce the dimensions of Christ’s love, so that we can fully comprehend it?” I would question whether we are really meant to comprehend the incomprehensible and know the unknowable. Only with the heart can we know what passes knowledge. Try comprehending “the breadth, and length, and depth, and height” of Christ’s love, intellectually; the mind simply cannot grasp it!

Instead, let’s allow these dimensions to open to us Christ’s love for His church, (bearing in mind that it’s the church, not the world that Paul is addressing).

“The breadth”: how inclusive is Christ’s love for the church? It is all-embracing! It encloses every believer, everywhere.

“The length”: how infinite is Christ’s love for the church? Christians like to say that Christ is able to save “from the guttermost to the uttermost,” but Hebrews 7:25 does not refer to his undoubted ability to lift us up but to the continuing, unending, and unchanging care of our High Priest. Grasp the infinite love of Christ for you, if you can!

“The depth”: how fathomless is Christ’s love? Depth speaks of God’s hidden riches of wisdom and knowledge. (Romans 11:33) How deep is Christ’s love? How deep do you need it to be?

“The height”: how elevating is Christ’s love? It is both uplifting and inspiring! Higher than the heavens! The hymn-writer uses the descriptive phrases, “Wide, wide as the ocean, high as the heavens above, deep, deep as the deepest sea” in an attempt to convey our Saviour’s love for his church. We can see that, like the widow’s jars, the dimensions of Christ’s love far exceed our capacity to contain it. Paul does not give us these dimensions so that we can comprehend them but so our hearts can be expanded to contain more!

It is recorded that Dwight L Moody preached on John 3:16 every evening for three weeks – a daunting task for most preachers, but not a soul-winner who had plumbed the depth of the verse’s every redemptive word.

“Jesus wept.” (John 11:35) What does this shortest verse in the Bible mean to you? Is it a tiny window in a great wall, or has prayer over it and meditation on it made it a huge window in a small wall? If so, you have taken in the full extent of Christ’s compassion for those who have lost a loved one.

But Paul’s prayer doesn’t end with knowing the love of Christ that “passes knowledge” and being “filled with all the fullness of God”; it ends in a doxology: an whole-hearted exclamation of praise to Almighty God; a sudden, joyful release from within the almost bursting heart of one who had long meditated on God’s dealings with His people. (The word “doxology” comes from the ancient Greek word doxa, which means, “glory”.)

What? You still can’t comprehend the incomprehensible and you still don’t know the unknowable? But then, how could you! Christians should do what Paul does in Ephesians 3:20-21 and burst into praise to Almighty God! “Oh, the glory of it!” we ought to exclaim! Christ’s love is beyond our understanding, and cannot be quantified, not even in superlatives that seek to express its infinite dimensions!

“Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” (Matthew 12:34-35) A heart that has long dwelt on the wonderful dimensions of Christ’s love will be so full that its thoughts will overflow in words! Consider Paul’s “overflow” language:

“Now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask or think (Greek: “dare to imagine”), according to the power that works within us, to him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”

This doxology shows that Paul’s capacity to be filled completely resulted in an overflow of praise to God, in a flowing exclamation of high praise to God’s glory!

Would you like to see the glory of God in your church? Then don’t look for it to come through a “visiting ministry” because it is more likely to come as the fellowship meditates on God’s wonderful Word.

Now envisage your assembled local church as “empty vessels, not a few” (2 Kings 4:3). God wants to fill the church with the “oil” of His Spirit. There is an endless supply, so you can expect that it will soon exceed the church’s capacity to contain it. How much glory can you have? More than you can possibly imagine! Some in the church will burst into praise before others, either because they have meditated more deeply in God’s Word while at home, or because a particular aspect of Christ’s love has just caught them up and away into the glory!

More doxologies is what every church needs! What if believers in your church were so unable to remain seated because of the glory of God in their hearts that they leapt to their feet and glorified God in doxology after doxology? Many would say that it would be glorious. I’d say that it would be “it and a bit”!

Want to see the glory of God descend? Then let the praise and worship ascend! If you are limited in your capacity to receive the volume of the supply of the Spirit, then you need to increase that capacity as quickly as you can!

Miracles are Easy…

Miracles can be hindered from happening by people along the way who can’t help getting in the way. Those in need of miracles often have to wait patiently while those along the way are instructed, encouraged, or pretty much ignored. It’s clear from the New Testament that Jesus knew his Father’s intentions ahead of time, but it’s equally clear that he didn’t know the actions of everyone in advance.

Take for example the woman with the “issue of blood”. When she touched the border of his garment and power went out of him, he asked, “Who touched me?” (Luke 8:45)

Jesus had no advance knowledge that blind Bartimaeus would call out loudly to him for help. When he did, Jesus stood still on the road and said “Bring him to me.” God knew that this would happen, but we have no reason to believe that Jesus did (Mark 10:49).

Again, it’s clear that Jesus did not know beforehand that the Canaanite woman would use his “children’s bread” denial to secure deliverance for her daughter. The Lord’s exclamation at the woman’s “magnificent faith” shows how surprised he was (Matthew 15:25-27).

Miracles are easy; it’s people who are the problem. Jesus knew that his friend Lazarus would die and that he should do nothing to prevent it. He knew that people would be shocked by him bringing Lazarus back to life. Jesus appears to have known more in advance about this miracle than his other miracles (John 11:4).

The inaction of Jesus after being told of Lazarus’ sickness mystified his disciples. He did not inform them that this final and most dramatic miracle would be a preview of the future Resurrection, when every grave would give up its dead. Only a miracle of the greatest magnitude could restore a body that had already begun to decompose (John 11:39). Once decomposition has begun it matters not how long a body has been dead: dead is dead.

Some people need to be instructed – in this case the disciples. When Jesus told them “Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go to wake him up,” they thought he meant that Lazarus had begun to recover. “Lord, if he sleeps he will get well.” (John 11:12) Jesus was speaking of his friend’s death, but they thought he was speaking about Lazarus resting in sleep to recover. Then Jesus said to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead.”

Jesus had spoken words of faith to the disciples, but saw that they needed to be instructed. His instruction gave the words new meaning and enabled his disciples to understand the significance of the miracle.

Some people need to be encouraged.Martha and Mary, the sisters of the dead Lazarus, were of contrasting temperament. Martha was a worker and Mary a worshipper. That did not mean Mary was lazy and Martha didn’t worship, just that that their strengths lay in different directions.

Most churches have their Martha’s and their Mary’s: those who love to sit and listen and those who love to serve. (In the gospels, Mary is found always at the feet of Jesus.) Unfortunately, Mary’s spirituality has been stereotyped as the ideal, and Martha’s practicality has been misunderstood for spiritual indifference.

But it was Martha who “on hearing that Jesus was coming, went out and met him; but Mary sat still in the house.” (John 11:20) The practical, active Martha went out to have words with Jesus, while the teary, passive Mary stayed home and moped.

Martha’s complaint was: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died, but even now…” (John 11:21-22) When Mary later responded to the Lord’s call and came to where Jesus was, she also said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died” but added no “but even now” possibility that the presence of Jesus could now turn the situation around.

What Jesus did was bring together the two broken-hearted sisters of his dear friend Lazarus. It’s significant that Jesus waited for Mary “in the place where Martha met him” (John 11:30). Only when he had encouraged them both did Jesus go to the tomb, taking with him two sisters of different temperament, both now encouraged and united in the hope that since their Lord was now present, all was not lost,

Then again, some people need to be ignored. Many voices were heard at the tomb of Lazarus, some sobbing quietly, others wailing loudly. When Jesus wept, many of them exclaimed, “See how he loved him!” (John 11:36) It seems their loss was measured in the height of the wails and the depth of the sobs. But as sincere these things were, they contributed nothing to the faith of Martha and Mary. The two sisters needed nothing less than a miracle from their Lord.

Other voices at the tomb of Lazarus were less kind. “Could not this man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?” (John 11:37) These were the voices of recrimination. Martha and Mary’s words had expressed regret at what would have been. If only Jesus had been present, their brother would not have died. Their voices were plaintive, perhaps, yet their words had held a measure of faith.

These voices, however, were different: they conveyed cynicism and skepticism.

“Some of them said, ‘Could not this man, who opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died?’” Why had he not done for his sick friend what he had done for a man who had been born blind? (John 9:25) The voices of cynicism and skepticism are often heard at the point where faith for miracles is most needed. They must be ignored.

Some people, however, are so beyond human help that they need a miracle. Lazarus was one of them. Lying dead in his tomb, he did not need (and could not heed) words of instruction or encouragement. He was dead to the voices of cynicism and skepticism. He was dead to the impossibility of decomposing flesh instantly recomposing. Nothing’s difficult to the dead.

Miracles are not hard; in fact they are often easy; it’s the people you’ll encounter along the way who’ll be the problem. One night in a two-up, two down flat in Cornwall three ladies asked for gift of the Holy Spirit, and received then and there. All spoke in tongues, loudly. Their pastor was helpless under the power of the Holy Spirit as I gave him a word of prophecy that proved spot on. Much to my surprise, however, my ministry was seen as “over the top” – as though I had any say in what the Lord should do! Something similar happened on as island off the coast of France, when the Spirit fell on almost everyone present. It happened in Manila when the Spirit came in power and set people free – including one tribal pastor who had prayed and fasted for a breakthrough. A man who was there from the US was shocked at the power of God. “I’ve never seen anything like it!” he exclaimed.

The truth is that churches in the developed world are so lacking in the power and presence of God that when the Spirit falls in a meeting, Christians are shocked to the core!  I wonder how those gathered at the tomb of Lazarus reacted when he appeared, mummy-like, at the opening of the tomb! One person’s miracle may well have been another person’s nightmare. (But I’m getting ahead of the story.)

By the time Jesus got through the crowd and stood at the opening of the tomb, he had run the gamut of his disciples’ lack of understanding, Martha and Mary’s plaintive cries of “if only,” the mourners’ faithless questions and criticisms, and – at the very last moment – Martha’s cautionary whisper, “Lord, by this time he stinks; he’s been dead four days!”

How easy are miracles? When all was said and done, Lazarus was raised from the dead with three words: “Lazarus, come forth!” The name of Lazarus aside, just two words, in fact – in Greek, duro exo! It’s true that Jesus prayed before speaking them, but only because the people who stood by needed to know after the miracle that his Father had sent him (John 11:42).

“And he that had died came forth…” (John 11:44) The miracle itself was the simplest part of all. Now all that remained was that it be unwrapped. We don’t know whether or not Mary and Martha celebrated their birthdays, but if they did they must have felt that they had all come at once.

Miracles are easy; it’s mostly people who are the problem. Some people have problems and some people are problems! The Lord Jesus knows the miracles which are ahead of us. My part and your part – the hard part – is to deal with the problem people we’ll likely encounter along the way.

Living the Dream

Works without faith are dead. While the Bible says that in reverse, it’s true, nonetheless. The heart of the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans is that we are saved by grace, through faith. Good works aren’t good enough to save anyone from sin.

 If God’s requirement for salvation were good works, volunteer community workers would be up there with the best of those done by the local church. Their selfless works in the name of charity would at least equal those done in the name of Christ. We should not dismiss the works of non-Christians as worthless on the ground that they are done by non-believers. What would our community be like without their untiring efforts?

Good works become “filthy rags” only when presented to God as the basis for His acceptance rather than the sacrifice of the Son of God on the Cross. Some very nice non-believers find this hard to understand and some Christians aren’t all that helpful when they dismiss good deeds done by charity workers.

 Real faith is seen in what it does. The idea that faith can exist in a spiritual vacuum, idle and unseen, possessing its own intrinsic worth, is absolutely foreign to Scripture.

Biblical concepts become concrete when they are made practical. The New Jerusalem descends from heaven not as a palace of dreams but as a holy temple that earthly believers are able to enter. “Living the dream” means we work to see our dreams become as real to others as they are to us. Dreams don’t come true until dreamers wake up and live them.

“I can hear you agreeing by saying, ’Sounds good. You take care of the faith department, I’ll handle the works department.’ Not so fast. You can no more show me your works apart from your faith than I can show you my faith apart from my works.” (James 2:18 — The Message) James likens faith without works to a body without breath. Non-working faith is lifeless, a corpse dressed-up in all its finery for a funeral.

 Most dreams die from lack of exercise. Grammatically, the word “believe” is a ‘verb transitive’, which means that it’s going somewhere. When we believe we put our faith to work. “Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son on the altar? You can see how faith co-operated with his works, and by works faith was perfected.” (James 2:21, 22)

 James then adds, “And the scripture was fulfilled which says, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness [good standing].’” Abraham’s faith was made perfect when he offered Isaac to God. But many years before, God had given him good standing when he believed God when told that his descendents would be as numerous as the stars in the heavens (Genesis 15:6).

 Abraham’s obedient offering of Isaac took place 35 years later! Was Abraham’s faith made perfect when good standing was credited to him? No, it was made perfect when it was seen in his act of believing! His good standing with God had been settled long before. It is not faith passive but faith perfected in matching works that pleases God

When Lorraine and I began the church that we were to pastor for thirty years, I was an idealist. I still am, but my idealism is now tempered with realism. At first I wanted to invest the income of the church in people rather than in property. But a few years later the Lord spoke to my heart, saying, “Faith is seen in bricks and mortar.” So I began to pray about buying land on which to construct a building.

What an exciting project it was! We had lost quite a few members in a ‘church split’ when we began, and I can remember looking at the cut where the bulldozer had removed the soil from the sloping hillside. I must have entertained a doubt in my mind, because a “small voice” said to me, “This is no time to lose your nerve.”

Soon after, the couple we had purchased the land from refunded the $15,000 already paid and then donated the property. They said, “We can see that you intend to proceed with the project.” Then an elderly lady passed away and left $30,000 to the church. A church member who was builder said, “I came to the Lord in this church, and would like to oversee the construction without charge.” His uncle happened to be a bank manager, so he introduced us, and we were loaned $100,000 at a domestic rate of interest.

By the grace of God we were able to build a two-storey, double-brick church building, with a suspended concrete floor for just $100,000. Never at any time did we need to ask for money – the Lord provided! Since then He has funded numerous mission trips abroad, and more developments are now under way.

A millionaire Christian living in the US gave us $20,000 over two years for our Philippines mission fund. “Others talk about it, Peter”, he said, “but you are doing it.” True enough; we slept on blow-up mattresses on bamboo floors, bathed under pumps, ate food we were not always able to identify, and rode on overloaded motorcycles through dark clouds of diesel fumes. Guns were visible everywhere, from .38 revolvers on the hips of smiling ladies at the supermarket, to sawn-off shotguns cradled in the arms of burly security men guarding the entry doors of banks.

Jesus said the “whosover” can have the “whatsoever” if they have the faith that God gives and do not doubt in their hearts, but believe that the things they say shall come to pass (Mark 11:22-24). But money will come only when there’s work to be done; the government may pay you a pension but the Lord only pays those who work for him, and hires workers all day long in the marketplace (Matthew 20:1-7).

A rented hall offers none of the challenges a church building does! A church property needs its members to maintain it, whereas a rented hall requires little more than that chairs be stacked after the meeting. Jesus said, “I will build my church.” One pastor told me that he had all the men he needed when he pulled down an old building, but found that workers were few when it came to building a church on the same spot.   

It’s true that for more than three years Jesus put all of his time into his twelve disciples. It’s also true that many Christians today meet privately in home fellowships, rather than in church buildings. Fine, if you don’t mind meeting in a small group, week after week (and are not distracted by crying babies, energetic toddlers and flushing toilets).

Of course, this is the way I see it, and some would disagree. There are believers in developing nations who meet in private homes because of poverty or persecution. But a multipurpose building is a wonderful blessing from God for larger gatherings, and offers opportunities to interact with a wide range of people from varying backgrounds. We are blessed to own our church building, and are thankful to the Lord for providing it.

May I ask if your faith is visible in works that reveal how much of it you have and how strong it has made you; and whether it is substantial? We can’t all be as famous as those men and women in history who established phenomenal testimonies to God’s grace and power. But we can have our very own faith venture, smaller perhaps, but no less satisfying. I believe that the very best work of faith by far is the one you are personally involved in and committed to: your local fellowship.

So roll up your sleeves, spiritually, mentally and physically, and express your faith in good works, both inside and outside the church – perfecting your faith through your good works!

A New Touchstone of Faith

The Apostle Paul wrote of God’s parting of the Red Sea and the crossover of the children of Israel to freedom as a never-to-be-forgotten memory link to the Lord. It was the touchstone of Israel’s faith, and Paul used it as an example of how Christians should live (1 Corinthians 10:11).

“A touchstone is a black siliceous stone used to test the value of gold and silver by the colour of the streak produced on it by rubbing it with either metal.” —The Macquarie Dictionary.

God’s deliverance of the children of Israel from bondage in ancient Egypt was the miracle that enabled them to leave with a song of praise on their lips (Exodus 14:15-30 & 15:1-21). It was constant reminder of their covenant relationship with God (Deuteronomy 11:1-7). It was the basis of their separation from all other peoples in the earth (Joshua 24:6.7, 14-15). It was the ground of their frequent repentance and recommitment to God. (Nehemiah 9:6, 9-11, 32-38). And it set a precedent for their prayers for further intervention by God on their behalf. (Isaiah 51:10)

When the apostle Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, more than 1500 years had passed since the Lord had opened a path for the children of Israel through the Red Sea. But the miraculous event remained Israel’s touchstone, because it had tested the true value of their faith for all that time.

The spiritual event that constantly puts us back on track is our conversion crossover from the authority of darkness to the kingdom of the Son of God. The Red Sea crossing is a type of our deliverance from the enemy. First Corinthians 10:1-3 identifies two ‘baptisms’ – one into “the cloud”; the other into “the sea”. One speaks of being baptized in the Spirit; the other of baptism in water.

Experiences in the Christian life parallel those of the children of Israel. You are as free now as you were then, if you sing of that first wonderful victory with joy, as Moses and Miriam did; if the memory of your conversion to Jesus Christ renews your relationship with God, as it did Israel’s relationship with Him for so many years; if you are as separated from your old life as the children of Israel were after they were delivered from Egypt; if the memory of your conversion to Christ constantly refreshes your commitment to his cause; and if you see the willingness with which God first forgave you as the precedent for His ongoing intervention in your life.

The Israelites never forgot God’s wonderful act of power that set them free from slavery, and taught it over and over to their children. They made the miracle of the crossing of the Red Sea the touchstone of their faith: the test against which everything else was tested. But through Jeremiah the prophet God promised them a new, future touchstone.

“But the time is coming,” says the LORD, “when people who are taking an oath will no longer say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who rescued the people from the land of Egypt.’ Instead, they shall say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives who brought the people of Israel back to their own land from the land of the north and from all the countries to which He had exiled them.’ For I will bring them back to this land that I gave their ancestors.” (Jeremiah 16:14, 15)

The new touchstone would no longer be what the LORD had done – as good as that had been – but what He would do! This promise moved the touchstone from Israel’s past to its restoration as a nation, which is a continuing miracle!

The touchstone of many Christians is what the Lord did in the Azuza Street Revival of 1906, the Healing Revival of the 1950s, or the Charismatic Renewal of the 1960s and 70s. Many still see the massed Billy Graham meetings as the touchstone of evangelism and the test of every citywide crusade. But a coming touchstone will measure every revival worldwide, until the return of Christ.

This touchstone will be set in the very near future by a new outpouring of the Spirit of God that will be greater by far than anything yet experienced. It might not last long – the Great Welsh Revival lasted little more than a year – but it will be so intense, so wonderful – so memorable – that it will be the test of revivals to come.  More than 20 years ago the Lord told me: “The time is coming when it will be unusual for a person not to be a Christian.” This is the touchstone by which I test many of the things I hear, read about and see on the Internet. Do they bring those who experience them to faith in Jesus Christ?

Of course, everything that God does, everywhere, is amazing, but I believe that the coming worldwide awakening will be the touchstone of every revival until the return of Jesus.    

Obedient Faith

Things that ought to be obvious are sometimes overlooked. While waking from an afternoon sleep on the Channel Island of Jersey that followed a morning of heavy ministry and a very salty lunch, it came to me that the number 666 was an outstanding anomaly in the New Testament book of Revelation – the book with so many sevens.

The contrast between the book’s sevens (churches, spirits, candlesticks, stars, lamps of fire, seals, angels, horns, trumpets, thunders, heads, crowns, plagues, vials, kings and mountains) and the solitary 666 that is the number of a man’s name, ought to have been obvious, but somehow it hadn’t been – until that waking moment.

In the Bible the numeral seven symbolizes completion. Six stands for the best that man can achieve, which falls short of the completeness (in the sense of perfection) required by God.

The everyday faith that is so important to the believer develops over time. Unlike the spiritual gift of faith, which brings a powerful surge of certainty, faith grows; it develops.

Some people see faith as a sort of spiritual stoicism, a stubborn refusal to give in. But real faith (known as trust throughout the Old Testament) is a firm conviction that results from submission and obedience to the Lord. Believing is faith in action. Jesus said to a man who was told that his daughter had died, “Do not be afraid, only believe.” Fear would have brought the father to a standstill. But Jesus encouraged him to continue to believe until he could restore his daughter to life (Mark 5:36).

When the prophet Elisha instructed the leprous Naaman to “Go and wash in the river [Jordan] seven times and your flesh shall be clean again”, the Syrian was enraged. He was the king’s right-hand-man, and a general, no less! Yet the prophet had not even done him the courtesy of coming to the door, but had instructed him through a messenger (2 Kings 5:11).

The general was furious. “I said to myself, ‘He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the LORD his God, and smite the leprosy and heal me!’ Are not Abana and Pharpah, the rivers of Damascus, better than the waters of all Israel? May I not wash in them and be clean? ” Then he turned and away in a rage. But his servants drew near and reasoned, “If the prophet had bid you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much easier then, when he says, Wash and be clean?”   

“So he went down and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, as the man of God had instructed, and his flesh became like that of a little child, and he was clean.”

If Naaman had stopped after dipping himself six times he would not have been healed. The general’s problem was pride, and that pride could only be broken by total submission to the prophet’s instruction – no matter how foolish he felt. Six may be man’s best but seven is one better.

One evening in the mountains of Borneo, I preached that some people resist the things to which God wants them to submit, and instead submit to the things that God wants them to resist (James 4:7). The only response to my message came from a well dressed lady who came forward sobbing loudly. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she confessed in front of everyone that her problem was pride. Then and there she repented.

The next day we were driven down from the mountains to a village (kampong) near the sea, where I preached to 300 people in a packed church. I was thrilled when the Spirit of God came into the meeting in response to the conviction and repentance of everyone present. I’ll never forget the heartfelt tears, the wailing voices, and – most memorably – the roaring sound of the spiritual wind that blew into the church that night.

The revival spread from that meeting throughout the eastern side of Borneo and lasted seven years. But I believe it began back in the mountains, with the willingness of that one woman to humble herself and repent. Her obedience opened a crack in the wall of a dam that broke when 300 Christians repented two days later, and a flood of revival was released.

Faith brings obedience, and complete obedience brings revival! (Acts 6:7; Romans 16:26) Naaman’s seven dips into the muddy Jordan River submerged his pride completely. I once read of a Christian who was tormented by a desire for alcohol. His pastor instructed him to get down on his knees and crawl past every bar he came to. It must have been humiliating for him, but when he crawled past the seventh bar it broke the grip of alcohol! That man went on to become a leading missionary in South America.

“Seven times” is God’s way of saying “completely”. When the Lord commanded the children of Israel to march around the city of Jericho once a day for six days, they obeyed. How must they have felt when the jeering soldiers of Jericho looked down on them from their city’s impregnable walls? (Joshua 6:3) Foolish? Humiliated? But on the seventh day God commanded them to march around the city seven days, and when they did the walls fell down! Knowing how soldiers gripe when ordered to do things they don’t understand, Joshua commanded them to keep their mouths shut: the first miracle in the Promised Land was one of quietly obedient faith.

Elijah’s victory over the prophets of Baal would seem to have been the high point of his ministry. Was there anything better than fire falling from heaven to justify his stand for the true God? Well, yes, there was a higher point. It was Mt Carmel, and though less dramatic, it required the prophet’s persistence and his servant’s obedience.

“And Elijah said to [king] Ahab, ‘Get up and eat, for there is a sound of abundant rain.’ So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he threw himself down on the earth, put his face between his knees, and said to his servant, ‘Go up now and look toward the sea.’ And he went up and looked and said, ‘There is nothing.’ And Elijah said, ‘Go again seven times.’ And it came to pass at the seventh time, that he said, ‘Behold, a little cloud arises out of the sea, like a man’s hand.’ And Elijah said, ‘Go and say to Ahab, Prepare your chariot and go down, before the rain stops you.’ And it came to pass meanwhile that the sky was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain.” (1 Kings 18:41-45)

Naaman had to go down seven times to be healed of leprosy. The soldiers of Israel had to go around Jericho seven times on the seventh day for the walls to fall down. Elijah’s servant had to go up seven times until he saw the small cloud that heralded a downpour.

Go down again, until your pride stays down! (Acts 9:8, 18) Go around again, until your obedience is complete! (1 Corinthians 10:5) Go up again, until you actually see what your mentor has heard spiritually! Six times is never enough, because it’s the best that we can do; but seven times brings about God’s best!

As the old hymn puts it:

“Trust and obey,

For there’s no other way

To be happy in Jesus,

But to trust and obey.”

Seven Better Ways

The ‘key’ to the New Testament book of Hebrews is the word “better”, which is mentioned on an average of once a chapter. While recognizing the good points of the Old Covenant, the inspired writer expounds the better points of the New Covenant.

Likewise, the way we minister today is good but could be better. As they say, the largest room in any house is the room for improvement. Here are seven better ways of ministering:

1. Don’t be so worried about making the wrong move that you make no move at all.

Peter stepped out of the boat because he saw an alternative to rowing nowhere! “Initiative” means “the first step.” It also means “enterprise.” The enterprising Peter walked out on a word when Jesus commanded him to come. He had seen sickness obey an order from Jesus (Matthew 8). Sure, his heart ‘sank’ when he saw the wind and the waves. But Peter was only one step short of success when he “thought twice” and began to sink. The other disciples never got out of the boat. He walked out on his own until his faith faltered, and when rescued, walked back with the Lord to the boat in grace.

When you can’t rise to the height of your faith, sink to the depth of your need, and let the Lord save you.

In a luminous display of logic, four lepers considered their four options, found the only one that was viable, and took a twilight walk to the camp of their enemy more in fatalism than in faith. In so doing they saved themselves and an entire city from starvation (2 Kings 7). Not a bad effort for a tiny band of untouchables.

There are times when God moves when you do, so don’t wait for things to happen if you think you need to make them happen! You’ll fall flat on your face now and then, but that’s a good position in which to pray about where you went wrong, and to ask how to do it better the next time.

2. Don’t be so preoccupied with praying that you stop saying!

“Have faith from God. For whosoever shall say to this mountain: ‘Be removed, and be thrown into the sea’, and shall not doubt in his heart but shall believe that those things he saysshall comes to pass, he shall have whatsoever he says.” (Mark 11:22-24)

With only two exceptions, Jesus did his praying at nighttime and his saying during the day. In other words, Jesus received his Father’s orders at night and issued them during the day. If your mountain isn’t moving, maybe that’s because you are praying that it will move, instead of saying to it, “In the Name of Jesus Christ – move!”

On his way to worship Peter healed a cripple in the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Peter did not pray for him but lifted him to his feet. As he did God healed the man’s ankles so that he could not only walk but leap! The Name of Jesus “through faith in His Name” worked the miracle. But it was Peter who said, “Rise up and walk!” (Acts 3)

But don’t bother saying if you haven’t first done your praying, because it just will not work. We don’t formulate the orders: we receive them and pass them on. And if we don’t pray, we won’t hear. And if we don’t hear, we won’t know what to say. (Of course, praying is speaking to God, as well as listening, but most Christians know that.)

On the other hand, it’s not much use praying but never saying. Praying will do you good and do others good when God answers. But what if God has chosen you as the answer to your prayers? What if God not only wants to move the “mountain” but also wants you to move it by commanding it to move? Christians sometimes say, “I’ll pray about it” just to dodge an issue.

“Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is truly plentiful, but the labourers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into His harvest.’

After calling together his twelve disciples, Jesus sent them out.” (Matthew 9:37, 38; 10:1, 5) He told them to pray that God would send out workers, and then he sent them out to start working! Some of them might have preferred a “prayer ministry”.

3. Don’t ask God to do for others what Jesus has told you to do for them, in His Name!

It comes as something of a surprise to discover that when ministry is needed, you are it. “The LORD will fight for you,” Moses said at the Red Sea, and then prayed to the LORD for help. He didn’t get the answer he wanted because that wasn’t what was needed.

“Why do you cry to me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward. Lift up your staff and stretch your hand out over the sea and divide it.” (Exodus 14:14-16)

Some say, “All in God’s time.” But God’s time is now! (2 Corinthians 6:2)

Some Christians like to say, “God moves in mysterious ways…” But these words are from a poem, not from the Bible. The God who “made known His ways to Moses” also revealed His mysteries to the apostle Paul, who has passed them on to us through his epistles.

“God’s ways are above our ways…” It’s true that God’s ways are greater, but what is not true is the application of Isaiah 55:8, 9 to the righteous. In fact the preceding verse makes it clear that God is addressing the wicked and the unrighteous! According to Paul, those who are spiritual are able to discern the things of God (1 Corinthians 2:15). These things which are invisible to the eyes of non-believers, inaudible to their ears, and inconceivable to their hearts, are revealed to us by His Spirit! (1 Corinthians 2:9, 10)

Don’t ask Jesus to heal the sick – you heal them, in Jesus’ Name! Don’t pray that God will set people free, but instead order demons to leave, in the name of Jesus Christ!

4. Don’t ask God to increase your faith if you haven’t used the faith He has already given you!

Some think that God gives us “a grain of mustard seed” – a tiny bit of faith to start with – and that as we water that small seed it grows. They think that in time it becomes a fully-grown mustard tree. But Jesus was not referring to the growth of the mustard seed (as he had done in the parable of the kingdom). He was simply stating that the smallest amount of faith is powerful enough to move the biggest problem. He could have spoken of a grain of sand and made the same point. I repeat: it was not the growth of the mustard seed that was the subject, but the maximum power of minimal faith!

“If you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you would say to this sycamore tree, ‘Be plucked up by the root, and be planted in the sea’; and it would obey you.” (Luke 17:5)

It’s not that we need more faith but that we become more willing to use the faith we already have! If we have faith – and according to Romans 12:3 we’ve each been given a measure of it – then it’s not so much a matter of increasing the faith we have as it is using the faith we have. That faith is expressed through the gifts given by the Spirit of God.

Want to see faith in action? Put your gift to work! If you have gifts of healing, move among the sick. The thing that stimulates a gift is its opposite – the thing that is contrary to it. Samson’s strong anointing worked when a lion roared at him and when the Philistines shouted at him. He couldn’t help but react, smashing Philistine heads and even tearing apart a perfectly good lion.

When encountering the thing that’s contrary to your gift, challenge it, and the gift will usually work. Years ago, when I was a young preacher, I realized that things weren’t happening as they ought to. It came to me that it was because I wasn’t challenging the enemy. So I put together this sequence: 1. Challenge; 2. Confrontation; 3. Conflict; 4. Conquest! The sequence worked very well and I still use it, though more automatically than deliberately. Some might think it a bit aggressive, but it’s just assertive.

5. Don’t ask the Lord for a new anointing but rather for another gift.

Contrary to what some Christians think, there is only one anointing. But there are many gifts. The difference between the anointing and the gifts is that the anointing is not all that easy to define. We might define it as the personal presence and operational power of God. Spiritual gifts are more definable because they are tangible. They’re also practical, in that they bring about much needed change. The gifts of healing, for example, are evident in results that are quite observable.

The unscriptural concept of “anointings” could bring people seeking more spirituality into contact with evil spirits. After all, if “anointings” (plural) aren’t in the Bible, how on earth do you define them? In this age of pseudo-spirituality when New Age practitioners believe in anything and everything spiritual, the only frame of reference for true spirituality is the Bible.

Some will tell you that you need to “discover” your gift, but the Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit distributes spiritual gifts and encourages to “earnestly desire” them! (1 Corinthians 12:11 & 14:1) Others will tell you that God doesn’t actually give them but loans them, only to withdraw them after they are used. Well, if that were so, they wouldn’t really be gifts then, would they?

6. Don’t sit around waiting for a rhema revelation when you can learn the logos!

A rhema is “a speaking word” – a word or message the Spirit of God is saying, in the present tense. The logos is “the written word or message” – the word that’s been given; the Bible. A rhema is a word that is spoken by the Spirit of God to your heart – a specific word as distinct from a general one. A specific word leaps into your heart from the general word, either when you are reading the Bible or when you are considering a matter.

“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word (rhema) that proceeds from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4) We are not meant to eat stale bread but fresh-baked bread, in the form of fresh words from the Lord every morning. Mary’s words, “Let it be to me according to your word”, were spoken in response to the angel Gabriel’s message that she would conceive by the power of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:38).

Rhema words are wonderful. No word from God is void of power. In fact, every rhema carries within it the power to create what it describes.

Remember, though, that when granting miracles Jesus often said, “Be it unto you according to your faith…”

In chasing after specific words from God we sometimes forget that those who received some of Christ’s greatest miracles had no knowledge of God’s word. So rather than chasing a rhema with a kind of “Somewhere, over a rhema…” attitude, we should linger a bit longer in the logos. Logos + pneuma = rhema” is a formula that works for me. Read God’s written word and the Spirit of God will speak a special word to your heart. In the meantime, don’t sit around waiting on a revelation but act on God’s Word, the Bible.

7. Don’t allow the question of God’s sovereignty to diminish your responsibility.

God’s sovereignty and our responsibility are always in tension. What’s up to God and what’s up to us? Does “Whosoever will, may come” intrude into the Restricted Area of God’s sovereignty? Definitely not. On the other hand, does “Many are called but few are chosen” provide us with an excuse for not evangelizing? After all, if God already knows those who are His, what’s the point in witnessing to everyone? The point is that your witness may be the thing that causes some to respond to the call.

George Muller of Bristol was renowned for his trust in God.  He prayed and the Lord provided again and again. On the other hand, Dwight L Moody was known for his ability to fund his Christian work by asking businessmen in his city of Chicago for money. Muller never asked. Moody always asked.

Muller’s emphasis was on God’s sovereignty. Moody’s emphasis was on his own responsibility. Who was right and who was wrong? Well, I believe that both were right. It’s just that their faith operated in different ways. Did you know that Muller and Moody corresponded regularly? It’s an indication that the two brothers in Christ together kept sovereignty and responsibility in balance.

God enabled me to take a pragmatic approach to divine healing by putting these words in my heart: “I cannot take the glory for what God does, so I will not take the blame for what He does not do.” Preachers need such sanity-savers. “Do not look for logic where it does not exist,” was another helpful revelation. “A sign of good mental health is a willingness to accept and live with imperfection” was yet another.

If you are unable to do anything about the things you cannot change, then occupy yourself with the things that you can change. You can witness, but only the Spirit of God can convince. So focus on witnessing. Only the Father can draw sinners to His Son. So preach the crucified Christ, and leave the rest to the Lord.

There are better ways to minister, and these are some of them.

It All Comes Down to This

When I was a young preacher my father advised me to reduce every sermon to its basics. He was an excellent artist, and knew that what you leave out is as important to a watercolour painting as what you put in. It was good advice, and I made a practice of examining bible texts within their contexts and reducing them to their irreducible minimum.

John’s Gospel has a number of texts that Christians love very much. One is John 4:14: “But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will be in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” 

John 4:24 is another: “God is a Spirit, and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”

Then there’s John 7:37, and…well, as you know, there are so many others.

Those who love the words of Jesus in these texts savour them with the heart the way connoisseurs use the palate to savour food. But rather than indulging our personal tastes for those texts we have come to love so much, let’s look at the context of a few of the most loved.

The basic problems of the woman at the well (John, chapter 4) were false securities and failed relationships. The account of Jesus’ meeting with her can be reduced to four things:

1. The Well of Belonging. We all long to belong, which is why we join churches, clubs and other social groups. The Jews despised the Samaritans, a mixed group of people brought into the land of Israel by the conquering Assyrians, hundreds of years earlier. To make room for them the conquerors removed the northern ten tribes and sent them to other parts of their empire (2 Kings 17:5-6, 24). In time, this mixed group gathered in Samaria and became known as Samaritans. By the time of Jesus they had come to regard of themselves as the true descendants of Abraham.

But if the Samaritans were seen by the Jews as outsiders, a six-time-divorced woman who was currently in a live-in relationship would have been seen even by her own people as a social outsider. Probably that was why one Samaritan woman came to Jacob’s Well at midday, rather than in the cool of morning or late afternoon, when other women from the village drew water.

In her search for identity, the Samaritan woman claimed Jacob’s Well as her link to an ancient history that wasn’t hers. When Jesus spoke to her of a spiritual well that could satisfy her from within, she misunderstood him as referring to another well nearby, one better than Jacob’s.

2. The Mountain of Approval. “Our fathers worshipped on this mountain…” Mt Gerizim was where the favoured tribes of Israel shouted “Amen!” as priests from six tribes read the Covenant blessings (Deuteronomy 27). The woman didn’t lay claim to Mt. Ebal, where priests from the six other tribes shouted “Amen!” to the Covenant curses, although it was less than a mile away. But then, why would she? A mountain is a point of reference. Jesus introduced her to a time that was coming (“and now is”) when spiritual worship would replace mountains that no longer held meaning. Approval would come direct from God the Father. 

3. The Food of Satisfaction. “I have food to eat you know nothing about.” Having redirected the woman’s attention from externals to internals, Jesus spoke of His own internal values: firstly, the personal satisfaction He experienced in doing His Father’s will. Satisfaction had not only eluded the much-married Samaritan woman, but the disciples as well. If God’s Word is the Christian’s daily bread, doing His will and living in it satisfies much more than anything else in life. 

4. The Harvest of Opportunity. Jesus demonstrated that we don’t have to wait for a national revival sometime but that we can have a local one anytime. Discernment and prophecy opened the Samaritan woman’s eyes to a dimension in which the old icons of the well and the mountain had no place. Once prized for their association, they were to become valueless. Acceptance, belonging, approval – things much more personally meaningful – would be all that mattered.

After Jesus revealed his knowledge of her five ex-husbands and her “live-in” lover, she summed up his words as “everything I ever did”. No doubt there had been more to her life than that, but failed relationships were what her desperately unfulfilled life was all about.

Much preaching ministry can be reduced to a few basic points. While preaching from individual texts in John’s Gospel that have special meaning, you can gain even more by seeing the essentials in the context of human need.

We learn here from the words of Jesus that it’s always harvest-time somewhere in the world when the key of revelation knowledge opens the door of evangelistic opportunity!

Where to from Here?

“Speak unto the children of Israel that they go forward (literally, ‘that they pull up stakes’).” (Exodus 14:15)

To the natural eye Israel had come to a dead-end – a place from which there was no possible escape. In order to calm them, their leader Moses had made a statement that sounded reassuring. It contained six positive points:

1.     Do not fear

2.     Stand still

3.     God will save you today – you’ll see!

4.     Take your last look at the enemy

5.     The Lord will fight for you!

6.     Just keep quiet

Moses’ statement sounded great. It encouraged the people to believe that God (who was behind them) would intervene by turning on their pursuers and destroying them. It had only one fault: it was wrong. Well, it was half wrong. God would save them, but he would do it when Moses used his authority to open up a new access way across the sea.

The dead-end was not really a dead-end at all. It seemed so to the natural eye, but to God it was an exit from the natural and an entry through the supernatural – but only if Israel moved forward.

Trouble was, they would only move forward when Moses used his God-given authority to open the supernatural exit. Much of his statement would then prove true – but in reverse, in that they would look forward to the exit rather than backward at the enemy.

There is no supernatural exit from any problem in a backward look to bondage – only in a forward look to freedom. But more than Israel’s freedom was at stake – God’s honour was the real issue. His honour is always seen in our going forward – never in our going backward.

The Lord had removed His presence from the front of Israel to their rear, leaving Moses in an impossible leadership position – unless he used his authority.

“Why are you calling out to me – speak to the children of Israel, so that they go forward. Lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.”

Moses exercised his authority by stretching out the hand that held it – and the supernatural exit opened! Israel then exited the natural by way of the supernatural.

The Egyptians then also sought to go the same way, but were destroyed – caught in a place where they were without authority. “By faith the children of Israel passed through the Red Sea as by dry ground. The Egyptians attempted to do so, and were drowned.” (Hebrews 11:29) Once Israel had passed through, the dry ground very soon became wet ground. The pursuing enemy drowned and God’s people escaped – free from bondage forever. But only after their leader had given clear direction and had exercised his God-given authority!

Do not ask the Lord to do for you what He has told you to do for yourself! Do not ask God to get you out of a situation that you have the authority to get out of by exercising the command authority that’s available to you in the Name of Jesus Christ.

That authority will open to you a supernatural exit – it may be from the control of someone else into personal freedom of action; from debt into cash flow; from restriction into expansion; from a state of chronic ill health into one of physical well-being; from fear of past addictions into faith for future blessings.

We all have leadership positions of one kind or another – in family, in business, in education, or whatever. So stop calling on God to get you out of a situation that you have the authority to exit.  Get up, get out in front, and get going! God will be your rear guard. He has placed you in a forward position of leadership so that you can make the tough decisions – not so you can develop a ministry of intercession!

Is your ‘back to the wall’? If it is you are facing the wrong way! Turn your face to that wall and command it to fall! Your enemy may be hot on your heels but you should never allow him to stand on your toes.

The Lord stands between you and your enemy, not between you and your dilemma – that’s the position you are meant toface! To you, a “NO EXIT” sign means absolutely nothing. Turn in the direction that says there’s no way out and extend your authority by opening an exit that allows an entry – in the name of Jesus! The authority is not in your hand – it’s in your mouth.

Strong leadership requires that you get people to “pull up stakes” and move forward. If you are a leader – and every parent is – what are you waiting for? Up you get and out you go! Don’t just pray – lead the way!

Will you be Safe this Summer?

Seasons influence us more than we realize. In autumn we plant seeds without thinking of how they relate to other things we hope for. Not to plant would be not to hope, and not to hope would be unthinkable.

“While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.” (Genesis 8:22)

We wait through winter knowing that it will take time for the husks of the seeds to break down in the damp earth so the life in them can be released. But do we relate this to the personal self-doubt we feel when wondering if our investments will survive stock market slumps and corporate crashes? Unconsciously, we do.

The first sign of spring growth, freshened by spring showers, raises the hope of a summer harvest. Our expectations of future rewards in other areas of life are raised also. We extend the promise we see in what we’ve planted to other things we hope for.

The summer harvest does not disappoint. What was sown, waited for and watered is gathered in – it’s now time to enjoy the benefits that come from the work we’ve done. But if the expectations that have been with us all through the seasons do not result in an inner sense of well-being, then we’re missing out on the real reward.

“The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.” (Jeremiah 8:20) So spoke a sad prophet in one of the most haunting verses of the Bible. Jeremiah lived in a time of unreal expectations. His people were spiritually slack but assumed they could go on doing whatever they wanted, while mouthing words to God that meant nothing. (You need to read the chapter to see how badly they behaved.)

And all the while a powerful and ruthless enemy was planning to invade their country, sack their biggest city, destroy their holy temple, and deport them. Buried deep in Jeremiah’s countrymen was the thought that maybe by the time summer came and the harvest was gathered and stored, the threat of invasion would somehow have gone away. Once their crops were through the seasonal threats of fungi and bad weather, they’d be alright. Well, the crops had survived and were safely stored. But the people themselves were not alright.

The harvest had passed, and the summer had ended, but they were not safe. Although free from the anxiety they had felt about the future of the harvest, they were still very anxious about the future of their nation – and with good reason.

You might live in the best city in the best area of the best state in the best country. There are spectacular sights and stunning buildings in many, but on the whole you live in a good place. Seasons have been good overall, and you are doing as well as expected, maybe even better. Summer is not far off and the good news is that the things are improving. You should feel secure. If you don’t, it might be because you are not in the place you could be, spiritually speaking.

The way to be safe through all the seasons of life is to put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. We celebrate his birth but he’s really the Man for all seasons. Born in a stable, Jesus died on a cross for everyone’s sins. The birth of Jesus was awesome, but it was his death for us that has saved us, that has made us safe.

You may be wishing, “If only I could say that the seasons of planting, waiting and watering have passed, and now summer is here, and I am safe!”  You can if you believe (John 3:16). Here’s how you can express to God what your heart is saying:

“Dear God, I believe that Jesus died for me, and now I desire to live for him. Please forgive all my sins and cleanse me through and through. I believe that Jesus Christ is your Son. Fill me with your Spirit and lead me into Christian fellowship in a church where I can learn the truth of the Bible. In faith I humbly accept your forgiveness, and from now on will seek to serve the Lord Jesus all the days of my life. Amen.”