"Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. "Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves. "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. "And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. "If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. John 14:10-14
The church of Jesus Christ has lost this beautiful promise by Jesus, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. "If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.” Many preachers today made the promises of God of no effect because they have based their teachings upon the things that they have observed around them, rather than upon the Word of God. But faith can only be built upon the power and success of the Word of God --- never upon our own or another’s weaknesses and failures. It is a fact that during His earthly ministry, Jesus healed “all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people” (Matthew. 4:23.) And the glorious ministry of deliverance begun by Jesus was to continue through His disciples, His followers, and His believers.
It is a fact that the early church was a powerful church because its members believed God. They believed in holy living because God said, “Be ye holy.” (1 Peter 1:16). They feared sin because they had seen sin revealed through the gift of discernment, and had seen liars stricken dead for their sin. (Acts 5). They believed that they could do miracles in the name of Jesus because He had said, “The works that I do he shall do also;” (John 14:12). And because they believed God, God worked with them, confirming the word with signs and wonders.
God has not changed. He has given those who believe, AUTHORITY over all devils and to cure diseases. (Luke 9:1). Believers have the right to use the name of Jesus in making requests to God and in giving commands to demons and to disease. God’s word is unchanging:
"Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high." Luke 24:49
"But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." Acts 1:8.
The great miracle of Pentecost was not the tongues but the transformed lives of believers, although they did speak in tongues as the Spirit gave utterance. They were clothed with supernatural power. Gifts of the Spirit were given to them but those supernatural gifts did not indicate that the possessor necessarily had spiritual maturity of character or holiness of life to the extent that they had no faults. But today the church is vastly ignorant of these gifts of the Spirit and the way the Lord works. They are for us today.
In the Old Testament they experienced divine power as the Spirit of God came upon them; in the new dispensation of grace they receive power; the Holy Ghost comes into the believer. But many have died prematurely due to sickness and disease or have lived in poverty because they were ignorant of what the Word of God said about divine health, divine wealth and divine prosperity including:
Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.3 John 1:2
A simple perusal of scripture shows us that it is not God’s will that any person should be sick, any more than it is His will that any soul should be lost. Yet not all people are well and prosperous, any more than all people are righteous. The scriptures also show that whatever we receive from God is received by, through, or because of FAITH God’s word is unchanging:
"Now the parable is this: The seed is the Word of God. "Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. "But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away. "Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity. "But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience. Luke 8:11-15
Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the Word of God which lives and abides forever, 1 Peter 1:22-23
Many of God’s people are not successful and prosperous because they have not understood that God's Word is a seed that will produce great harvest for them and they have allowed the devil to steal the word that is planted in their hearts. Most people expect God's Word to work like a stick of dynamite -- but God's Word is like a seed full of unseen life for a seed is alive: it contains life. Our physical senses are incapable of judging whether a seed is alive or not. We cannot see, feel, hear, smell, or taste the life in a seed. But we see that a seed is alive by planting it for a seed does nothing until it is planted and then in due season as it’s watered and cultivated it produces an abundant harvest. It has no value just sitting in a storage room but must be planted in a fertile soil like our hearts and lives. And one way to plant the seed of the Word of God in our life is to speak the Word. As we speak God's Word we are planting the seed in our heart for the harvest of results we desire. God’s word is true:
For with the heart one believes to righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made to salvation. Romans 10:10
In every negative situation we encounter, we must respond with an appropriate scriptural confession in order to invoke on our behalf the continuing ministry of Jesus as our High Priest. In most situations we have three possibilities: to make a positive, scriptural confession; to make no confession; to make a negative unscriptural confession. If we make a positive confession, we release the ministry of Jesus to help us and to meet our need. If we make no confession, we are left at the mercy of our circumstances. If we make a negative confession, we expose ourselves to evil, demonic forces.
It’s to be noted that there is great power in our confession of the Word of God. There is no way we can over come the enemy without saying out the promises of God. The mountains are not removed until we say them out. Jesus is High Priest of our confession and what we say is what He creates. And in our authority over the enemy it is more of the power of the spoken words that we speak out that will result in putting aside and tearing apart of the enemy. Jesus’ key was His spoken word. If we want our ministry to take off and grow into things, whatever God gives in our heart and established in our heart we need to speak them out, continually confess them, declare them over our life, declare them over our children, and declare them over our ministry. We confess it and we declare it because unless we declare and confess it the devil will not budge. It’s the power of the spoken word that is the key to tearing apart the enemy. A lot of God’s people don’t know the word or not dead to the world and they tried to confess the word and it doesn’t work. Our hearts and attitudes must be right and we must be filled with the Spirit of God in order for our confession to be powerful to literally rout the enemy and cause our mountains to move into the sea.
Whatever we need to be saved or delivered from, is what we say or confess until the need is met and the mountain is moved into the sea. Just like a seed is much smaller than the plant it produces, the problems we face may seem huge but when planted, the scripture, the Word will grow in us and will overcome the problem for a seed is powerful. As a seed begins to grow, it will push up dirt, rocks, etc. Whatever the obstacles are, God's Word planted in our heart will push them out of the way. But it takes faith to plant a seed and to know that a seed begins its growth in secret (underground). The only way to tell if a seed is growing is to dig it up, or wait for a plant to appear. If we dig up a seed, we may kill it for seed takes time to produce. No one expects a seed to produce a harvest the same day that seed is planted. Although sometimes the Word of God seems to spring up and bear fruit immediately, if we knew the details, we would understand that the fruit of the Word grew in that person's life over time.
It is to be noted that a seed is persistent. A seed never gives up, but works day and night. Even when we are sleeping, the seed we have planted is working to grow and express itself in a fruitful harvest. A seed also is not affected by other seeds. Whatever happens to other seeds does not make any difference to a specific seed. Each seed sticks to its own task. One wheat seed planted in a corn field will still produce wheat. Seed does not become discouraged, or quit, even if other seeds die. But a seed will stop growing without nourishment.
Planting a seed is not enough to assure a harvest. Seed must be protected and taken care of until harvest time. A seed which is dug up, or not watered, will not produce. And the more seeds planted produce a larger harvest. God’s word is unchanging:
But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 2 Corinthians 9:6
God’s divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these we may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust - promises that have to be sown in our hearts and lives to bear fruit.
God has also given us His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, His wonderful Counselor, the Holy Spirit, and the written Word of God, the Bible, so that we can live victoriously in a crooked and perverse generation, among whom we shine as lights in the world. But the problem is the many of God’s people ignore not only their guide and spirit of truth, the Holy Spirit, who has been given to them but they ignore and are ignorant of the Word of God and its statues and judgments which causes them to do some stupid things and be judged by God for it. Sincerity and presumption are not a guarantee of anything including salvation or avoiding judgments. God has commanded all men to repent and to walk and live in Spirit and in truth. God’s word is unchanging:
However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written: "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him."
But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. 1 Corinthians 2:6-11
Yes, those who are filled with the fullness of God speak wisdom among those who are mature. They speak of the things that God has prepared for those who love Him and have been freely given to them by God. Things that have been revealed them to them through the Holy Spirit, not by men. Things that come not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches. Mind you the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. Yet God’s word is unchanging:
And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? For when one says, "I am of Paul," and another, "I am of Apollos," are you not carnal? Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor. 1 Corinthians 3:1-8
Those who are babes in Christ or carnal ones are not spiritual people have to be fed with milk and not with solid food for they are not able to receive it. They cannot leave the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ but must lay again and again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment and go onto maturity for they are babes or carnal ones even though they might have been Christians for fifty years! They are continually spinning their wheels going nowhere. They cannot accept rebuke, correction or instruction in righteousness for they think that they know all things and have arrived. When they truth is that they are nothing but foolish little children who have to be constantly watched and cared for. They are like your typical teenagers who think that they know everything and are more the able to tell everybody how to live, walk and talk. Then they wonder why God is constantly chastening and correcting them. Yet God’s word is unchanging:
Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and depart from evil. It will be health to your flesh, And strength to your bones. Honor the LORD with your possessions, And with the firstfruits of all your increase; So your barns will be filled with plenty, And your vats will overflow with new wine. My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, Nor detest His correction; For whom the LORD loves He corrects, Just as a father the son in whom he delights.
Happy is the man who finds wisdom, And the man who gains understanding; For her proceeds are better than the profits of silver, And her gain than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies, And all the things you may desire cannot compare with her. Length of days is in her right hand, In her left hand riches and honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, And all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her, And happy are all who retain her. Proverbs 3:7-18
Just because a person has a great secular education or has graduated from the school of cemetery doesn’t make him a great man of God for it’s the Spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of Wisdom, which makes a great man or woman of God. God’s word is true:
There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, And a Branch shall grow out of his roots. The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him, The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, The Spirit of counsel and might, The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD. His delight is in the fear of the LORD, And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, Nor decide by the hearing of His ears; But with righteousness He shall judge the poor, And decide with equity for the meek of the earth; He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins, And faithfulness the belt of His waist. Isaiah 11:1-5
And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men. Luke 2:52
EXTRACT FROM Be Not Ignorant
http://walthope.tripod.com/ignorant.htm
http://walthope.wordpress.com
https://plus.google.com/u/0/100302133262254344211/posts
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