Life Power and Dead Behavior

Jesus travelled all over to preach God’s kingdom and one time came to Jericho. There was a very rich man named Zacchaeus who was supervisor over all the tax collectors in town (Tax collectors were generally thought to be crooks serving the Romans fattening their own pockets with tax money). As Jesus was passing by he tried to get a glimpse of Him. But because he was very short and Jesus was thronged by a huge crowd he couldn’t see Him over the crowd. So he climbed up a big tree to try to see Jesus.

Zacchaeus had never seen Jesus before. But when Jesus noticed him He looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come on down, I am going to stay at your place tonight.” Overjoyed, he scrambled out of the tree and led Jesus away to his home. Zacchaeus must have been astounded by the fact that Jesus could call out his name even though they had never met before. But many in the crowd were not impressed, and they said, “Look at this! Of all the people to have dinner with, He’s going to eat in the house of a crook!” (Luke 19:7 TPT)

In calling out Zacchaeus’ name Jesus demonstrated supernatural power – a word of knowledge. Imagine how you would react if you were Zacchaeus. Anyone who has his name called out by a stranger would stop to think. I believe this has a huge impact on Zacchaeus that finally led to his salvation (Read Here). The power brought life to Zacchaeus and his household.

But that’s not all to the story. I am amazed by the reaction of the religious crowd. Here they were witnessing God’s supernatural power on display, yet all they could think of was Jesus shouldn’t associate Himself with a sinner. They were very concerned about right and wrong, and that’s what they lived by. It didn’t matter to them that life has been served. They couldn’t care less if God has come on the scene. They just wanted to live by their principles and to look good.

That is how those who want to live by the Law live. In trying to fulfill God’s Law by their own effort, they found themselves estranged from God. It was like this in the Garden of Eden: Adam and Eve chose knowledge of right and wrong instead of life; they wanted to live independent from God. It was like this at Mt Sinai: Israel chose a set of laws instead of the presence of God. They didn’t want to go near God but instead asked Moses to get them a set of rules to live by. To me this is a big joke.

Paul told the Romans that he was not ashamed of the Gospel, and he said the Gospel is the power unto salvation for those who believe (Rom 1:16, NKJV). Let us not be offended by the power of the Gospel. It will surely bring life to many. It is Jesus’ method.

Scripture Link : BibleGateway.com

Power Indispensable

You cannot live the normal Christian life without a demonstration of power.

“Normal” as in being right. I recently learned a powerful paradigm: right is right if nobody is doing it; wrong is wrong if everybody is doing it.

Consider the following words form the Apostle Paul to the church at Corinth:

And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. (1 Cor 2:4, NKJV)

He is saying that you shouldn’t believe me if all I have is mere talk, but you should believe me when my message is backed up by a demonstration of God’s power – power to know of your problem before you tell me, power to heal you when you are sick, power to work miracle when you need one, power to differentiate if you are bothered by evil spirits or led by God’s Spirit, and power to prophesy into your future – speaking great things into being while they are not yet.

What is good for the great apostle is good enough for me. That’s why I insist that the gospel we preach must be backed up by a demonstration of God’s power.

What if we haven’t got it?

Then there’s only one thing to do: ask until you get it. You have not because you asked not.

The worst thing we can do is to make excuses. Paul couldn’t have meant what we read. The days of power is past with the apostles all dead. Because I don’t have it, it cannot be true. We don’t have to emphasize healing as we have good doctors now and good medicine. The supernatural only appeals to the simple and superstitious but today folks are knowledgeable and educated.

But does God’s word tell us that a day will come when our standard will be different from that of the Apostle Paul? Who gives us the right to demand faith without demonstrating God when even Paul dared not?

We are called believers, not doubters. Doubters doubt; believers believe. Every word God said. Plainly. Simply.

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power. (1 Cor 4:20, NIV)

So if we want to preach the Gospel, we must back up with power. It is that simple.

You Can Have What You Say

Living Inside Out (4)

One way to release the Kingdom is by speaking.

Jesus showed us how this is done in the Mark 4 passage. In this passage, how did Jesus calm the storm? He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm (Mk 4:39, NKJV). Jesus “rebuked” the wind and “said” to the sea – that’s how He did it, by His words.

Words carry enormous amount of power: death and life are in the power of the tongue (Prov18:21). Jesus said His words are spirit and are life (John 6:63). Words are of the spirit realm and His Kingdom is also of the spirit realm. The Kingdom could be carried by words. In fact, Jesus demonstrated that He could use words to bring the Kingdom into the world around Him. When peace replaced the storm, when the reality of heaven prevailed, it was proof that the Kingdom had come on the scene.

But just as life could be transmitted through words, so could death. Therefore it’s not the case of saying words like a formula to get what we want, but what matters is the spirit that the words carry – whether it is of the devil or of God. Only faith-filled words bring God’s Kingdom on the scene. Having said that, we could all start with being careful in what we say.

A few days ago I had an experience that illustrates the point well. Over the telephone Sister Rose complained to me about an abnormal condition: she was shivering in cold and sweating profusely at the same time. She had not been feeling well for over a month and the condition was getting worse. The doctors did not find anything serious except to say that a valve of her heart was not functioning well. The medication did not seem to help. But our sister sure believed in God’s healing power and gladly received my prayer. While I prayed the Lord led me to speak against an evil oppression on her. I rebuked the oppression and commanded the body to be well. It didn’t take long after putting down the phone that she found herself completely liberated. She went for a walk and the sweating and the “body-cold” left her. This is a classic case of speaking the Kingdom into the situation, even over the phone.

Jesus’ disciples used words too in the crisis: Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing? (Mk 4:38, NKJV) However, their words were not positioned to make a decree on the situation to change the circumstances, but merely state the fact they were facing. It’s like what the Lord told Charles Capps once (which he related in his book The Tongue – A Creative Force):

I have told my people they can have what they say, but my people are saying what they have.

Release the Kingdom - you can have what you say.