Weakness, the Way to God’s Power

David Eells

Unleavened Bread Publishing Inc.

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Unleavened Bread Publishing Inc.

www.ubp1.org

Copyright © 2011 David Eells. All Rights Reserved. Permission is given to copy and quote portions of this book, provided the context is given, along with copyright notice and contact details.

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IMPORTANT NOTES:

Scriptures are taken from the American Standard Version (ASV) of the Holy Bible because of its faithfulness to the ancient manuscripts and Bible Numerics.

Numerics is a system designed into the Bible by God to prove authenticity. The Greeks and Hebrews used their letters for numbers.Therefore, the whole Bible is also written in numbers which show perfect patterns as long as the God-inspired original words are not departed from.It mathematically proves the original text and where it has been added to or taken away from. The Numeric English New Testament (NENT) is based on the numeric pattern and is quoted from when necessary.

We have departed from the ASV only in the name Jehovah and Lord Jehovah which we replaced with Lord and Lord God, respectively. Neither represents the original YHWH but Lord is less confusing to many and we did not want this to distract from the teaching. The vowels were added by men to make the name “Jehovah.” We apologize for sometimes using partial texts but this book would have been much larger had we not. Rarely, where italicized words were added to the text and changed the original meaning, we left them out.

Father we dedicate this book and its fruit to you for your glory. Without you and your Word we could do and say nothing of eternal value.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

May our Father bless those whom He used to create this book from transcriptions of David Eells’ teachings:

- Dwora Jawer, who compiled the teachings, took the manuscript, and refined it.

- Brad Moyers, who then proofread the manuscript.

- Doris and Kaile Hamilton, whodid the formatting and final proofread.

- Michael Duncan, who created the book cover.

- Many brothers and sisters who have worked on this book but do not wish any credit.

Books of the Bible Abbreviation List

Old Testament                                             New Testament

Gen.                Genesis                                  Mat.                 Matthew

Exo.                 Exodus                                  Mar.                 Mark

Lev.                 Leviticus                                Luk.                 Luke

Num.              Numbers                                Joh.                 John

Deu.                Deuteronomy                       Act.                  Acts

Jos.                 Joshua                                    Rom.               Romans

Jdg.                 Judges                                    1Co.                 1 Corinthians

Rth.                 Ruth                                       2Co.                 2 Corinthians

1Sa.                 1 Samuel                                Gal.                  Galatians

2Sa.                 2 Samuel                               Eph.                 Ephesians

1Ki.                 1 Kings                                    Php.                 Philippians

2Ki.                 2 Kings                                  Col.                   Colossians

1Ch.                 1 Chronicles                         1Th.                   1 Thessalonians

2Ch.                2 Chronicles                         2Th.                  2 Thessalonians

Ezr.                 Ezra                                       1Ti.                     1 Timothy

Neh.               Nehemiah                              2Ti.                   2 Timothy

Est.                 Esther                                     Tit.                   Titus

Job                 Job                                         Phm.                  Philemon (1 Chapter)

Psa.                Psalms                                  Heb.                    Hebrews

Pro.                Proverbs                              Jas.                      James

Ecc.                Ecclesiastes                         1Pe.                     1 Peter

Son.               The Song of Solomon        2Pe.                    2 Peter

Isa.                 Isaiah                                   1Jn.                    1 John

Jer.                Jeremiah                              2Jn.                   2 John (1 Chapter)

Lam.              Lamentations                     3Jn.                    3 John (1 Chapter)

Eze.               Ezekiel                                 Jud.                     Jude (1 Chapter)

Dan.              Daniel                                  Rev.                      Revelation

Hos.              Hosea

Joe.               Joel

Amo.            Amos

Oba.             Obadiah (1 Chapter)

Jon.              Jonah

Mic.             Micah

Nah.            Nahum

Hab.            Habakkuk

Zep.            Zephaniah

Hag.            Haggai

Zec.             Zechariah

Mal.            Malachi

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. As Weak As a Little Child

2. Being Weak Gives All Glory to God

3. Man’s Insurance or God’s Assurance?

4. True Faith Looks Back

5. Confess and Believe

6. Walking As a Child Is Walking By Faith

7. Let Jesus Take You by the Hand

8. Learning to Walk in Your Faith

9. Choose to Be Blessed

10. The Fiery Trial to Overcome the Flesh

11. Pleasing the Lord Brings Forth Fruit

12. Trusting in Our Own Provision Is Idolatry

INTRODUCTION

To all those who have struggled to please the Lord and do His Will, this book will be good news. It will be a rest and refreshing, a casting down of the burden of salvation, in all its many facets, by self-works. It is not in ourselves to do these things but in Him. Personal strength and determination will not be enough. As a matter of fact, it will get in our way and His. He will wait until we give up so that He may give the free gift through faith that He also supplies.

Gideon was faced with an army that was “like locusts for multitude.” He gathered together all the manpower at his disposal. All of this human strength stood in the Lord’s way of doing a miracle for His glory. Man would certainly take the credit and then others would not see the true source of our physical and spiritual salvation. {Jdg.7:2} And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me. At this point, the Lord proceeded to chose only 300 men and then gave them trumpets for weapons. In the natural, there was none weaker than this army. Now the Lord could show that His “power is made perfect in weakness.”

And what of David, who was naturally the youngest, smallest and weakest of Jesse’s sons? When Samuel anointed him with the power of the Spirit, he went on to slay Goliath with a sling in the very next chapter. How often is this scenario repeated through the scriptures so that we might know that weakness is a true strength when it qualifies us for the Lord’s power. We should refuse to size up the opposition, knowing that when the “odds” are against us they are in our favor. Our victory is assured by the fact that it was accomplished already at the cross. So read on and be encouraged, saints.

Love from your servant in Christ,

David

CHAPTER ONE

As Weak As a Little Child

What we each have to do is become as a child because we can walk with the Lord if we become as a child. The thing about grownups is they’re self-confident, self-sufficient, self-dependent. All of those traits the world thinks of as being positive, but in the Kingdom they’re not considered that way by God. The Lord says the only way you can enter into the Kingdom is to be a child. Jesus said, “suffer the little children to come unto me; forbid them not: for to such belongeth the kingdom of God (Mar.10:14). Forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God, is what it said in the original. Of such is the kingdom of God. (15) Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall in no wise enter therein. (16) And he took them in his arms, and blessed them, laying his hands upon them.” Now we tend to think of the Kingdom as someplace that we’re going to so that we can enter into it, but actually we’re entering into the Kingdom here. In reality, the Kingdom is every place in your life. The kingdom of God is within you (Luk.17:21), Jesus said. The Kingdom is every place in your life where God is able to rule.

God is not able to rule until you’re in agreement with Him. To be a child is to be confident in your Father, not self-confident. It’s to be dependent upon your Father, not self-dependent. This is valuable to God. As He said, “my righteous one shall live by (“from” in the Numeric) faith: And if he shrink back, my soul hath no pleasure in him” (Heb.10:38). What pleases God is that we live from faith, that we not live from our self-confidence, or our self-sufficiency, or our own ability, or the strength of the arm of the flesh, but that we put our trust in God and walk with Him like a little child walks with his father. In other words, there’s no other way to enter into the Kingdom. We must give up being grownups. We must become as children. In order for God to be able to rule everywhere in our lives, we have to become as children.

(Mat.18:1) In that hour came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven? (2) And he called to him a little child, and set him in the midst of them, (3) and said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye turn and become as little children, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven. And these were His disciples that He was telling this to. These were not the lost Pharisees; these were the disciples of Jesus, those who were learning and following Him. He said you will not enter in unless you turn and become as little children. The process of the Christian life is this process of turning and becoming as little children and becoming God-dependent, God-sufficient and God-confident. (4) Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. (5) And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me. You see, Jesus was a little child. That’s Who He was. He says, if you receive one of these little children, you receive Me. That’s somebody who’s in My likeness; you receive Me. He was a child. He really was. He wasn’t a grownup in the ways of the world, in the ways of confidence in the world, the strength of the world. Grownups are known for making their own way, making their own living, being self-sufficient, being great providers, but the Lord wants to wash all that out of us. He wants us to put all of our confidence and our trust in Him and become as little children. If you receive one such little child, you receive Jesus. That’s the way He was. He was confident in His Lord. I’ll tell you, the best way we can help ourselves is by walking by faith in God’s Word. You’ve probably heard the old saying that, “God helps those who help themselves,” but that’s not found in the Bible. That saying is credited to Benjamin Franklin in his Poor Richard’s Almanac. No, the best way to help yourself is walking in faith in God’s Word.

(Rom.14:22) The faith which thou hast, have thou to thyself before God. That’s what the Bible says. You can help yourself. You can help yourself to everything that God has for you through faith in His Word. (Luk.10:21) In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou didst hide these things from the wise and understanding, and didst reveal them unto babes: yea, Father; for so it was well-pleasing in thy sight. What was He talking about? Reveal what things to the babes? Well, the disciples had just come back from being sent out by the Lord to take authority over the works of the devil. They came back rejoicing that God had given them authority over the power of the devil and that they had done the works of Jesus, and they saw that the spirits were subject unto them. But why did Jesus call them babes? Well, it was babes who received this revelation of the authority of Jesus and it was babes who received this revelation of how to use the authority of Jesus. Let’s back up a little in this chapter. (3) Go your ways; behold, I send you forth as lambs in the midst of wolves. (4) Carry no purse, no wallet, no shoes; and salute no man on the way. So we see they were babes because Jesus sent them out totally dependent upon the Lord.

(5) And into whatsoever house ye shall enter, first say, Peace [be] to this house. (6) And if a son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon him: but if not, it shall turn to you again. And so he said, “salute no man on the way” because you really don’t know people but you find out later who people are. We’re going to find out before the end of the tribulation who people really are and who His children are. God sent these disciples out as children, as totally dependent upon the Lord, not self-sufficient, not able to take care of themselves. He deliberately took away their ability to take care of themselves when He sent them by not letting them take any kind of insurance with them. The only thing they took was His assurance because He said, “the laborer is worthy of his hire” (7), meaning, if you just go, God will always pay His workers. You don’t have to worry about it. God is that way. He wants us to go without our own sufficiency or our own insurance so that we can see His provision on the way.

I really truthfully believe that Jesus never changed this way of sending out people. Many times, if God says, “Go,” you may go. It doesn’t matter if you have the wherewithal to do this. If God says, “Go,” you may go. He will never fail you. He will meet you on the way. He’s done it many, many times with me when He said, “Go,” and I’ve noticed, “But, God, I don’t have this” or “I don’t have gas” or “I don’t have money.” But God doesn’t take “no” for an answer. If He says, “Go,” you can go because He will be there. He’ll put gas in your car. He’s done it to me several times. Or He’ll make it run without gas. He’s done that, too. Or He’ll put money in your pocket somehow or another. He’ll do it. Or He’ll make your money stretch. He can surely multiply it. He can do all things. He’ll have you meet-up with people whom He has put there specifically to supply your needs, if you go by faith and be obedient to Him. If you go as a child, just trusting in your Father.

In America, there are far too few children. Everybody in America seems grown-up. Everybody in America wants to insulate themselves against anything that could happen, as though they don’t believe in a sovereign God. The Bible says, “A man can receive nothing, except it have been given him from heaven” (Joh.3:27). God, Who is Sovereign, will make sure that He blesses you, if you go by faith in Him. Believe me, the time is coming when everybody is going to have to go by faith in God because He’s going to take away all the things that people have insured and insulated themselves with from the things that might happen in the world. But God is God. He never goes to sleep. He’s never fallen off the throne. He’s there always. He is going to make sure that His Word comes true. And we can be just like little children. We can cast ourselves on His mercy. Children never even think about where the next meal is going to come from. Little children don’t worry about those things; they just know that it’s Momma and Daddy’s responsibility; they’ll take care of that. And you know, that’s the way God is with us. He wants that kind of relationship with us. God’s not happy with anything less. (Heb.10:38) My righteous one shall live from faith: And if he shrink back, my soul hath no pleasure in him. God doesn’t have pleasure in self-sufficient people. He has pleasure in people who walk by faith, talk by faith, live by faith. And it is a pleasure to live by faith. I don’t yet know all of what living by faith is; God’s only shown me the little parts that He’s shown me, but I would love to live by faith in every direction. Some directions I’ve never even thought about and other people will come and say, “Oh, did you try this?” For example, a sister in the Lord once told me that she and some other people just picked up some instruments and started playing them by faith and pretty soon they got better and better at it. They were surprised at how God blessed them. Well, that led us to pray over our children, Nathan and Jennifer, by faith, and God answered that prayer. I tell you, it was just the very next week after that when they started playing music, picking it up quite naturally, by ear. So there isn’t anything God won’t do for those who put their trust in Him.

There is nothing that God can’t do and won’t do for those who put their trust in Him. I believe this is the reason that He said He revealed these things unto babes. God reveals the authority of God and God reveals the power of His name to people who will become children, people who will cast care to the wind and put themselves in His Hands, just trusting in Him, believing in Him. (Eph.3:20) God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think. God loves it when we are weak but we don’t see it that way. We like to be strong and we do our best to make sure that we’re strong in every situation that we can get in. As I said, we do our best to insulate ourselves from any possible mishap, but that doesn’t please God. It doesn’t please God that we put our trust in the gods of this world, the saviors of this world. The apostle Paul learned that lesson. He was caught up to paradise and he said, “On behalf of such a one (the man who was caught up to paradise) will I glory: but on mine own behalf I will not glory, save in my weaknesses” (2Co.12:5). The King James Version translates that word “weaknesses” there as “infirmities” because they had the idea that the apostle Paul had some kind of sickness or infirmities, but a closer look at this reveals that’s not the case at all. Those translators believed the apostle Paul had an eye disease or something like that and that God said, “my grace is sufficient for thee” (9), meaning, “You just keep that because you need that; you need that to be an overcomer; you need that to humble you.” But obviously that would be contrary to a lot of rest of the Word. The Bible says, “by whose stripes ye were healed” (1Pe.2:24). It doesn’t say that we’re healed only when we really need it and it doesn’t say that we’re healed only sometimes. You were healed all the time.

Let’s read on. (2Co.12:6) For if I should desire to glory, I shall not be foolish; for I shall speak the truth: but I forebear, lest any man should account of me above that which he seeth me [to be,] or heareth from me. (7) And by reason of the exceeding greatness of the revelations, that I should not be exalted overmuch, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, that I should not be exalted overmuch. So we see that he said what the “thorn in the flesh” was. He said it was a messenger of Satan, an angelos. The word there is angelos, which is translated 181 times in the New Testament as “angel” and the other few times as “messenger,” but it means the same thing. It’s the same Greek word, angelos. Here was an angel of Satan that was sent to buffet Paul so that he wouldn’t be proud. Paul didn’t say it was a sickness that was sent to buffet him. And, by the way, to “buffet” is not just one blow, like a sickness. It’s to beat over and over and over. It’s many blows. That’s what buffet means. But a thorn in the flesh, in this case, was an angel of Satan that was sent to buffet Paul. In the Old Testament, for every verse that talks about a thorn in the flesh, never, not once, is it ever a sickness. It was always referring to the enemies of God’s people that came against them and in this case it’s the same thing. An angel of Satan was sent to buffet Paul so he wouldn’t “be exalted overmuch.” (8) Concerning this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. (9) And he hath said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for [my] power is made perfect in weakness. The King James here has that this word is “weakness,” but this word and the word up in verse five are the same Greek word, so one of them can’t be “infirmity” and the other one “weakness.” They have to both be the same thing and the truth is they are because using the same Greek word in talking about Jesus, the Bible says, “for he was crucified through weakness” (13:4). Now, nobody would have put “infirmity” there. Jesus wasn’t crucified through infirmity, so they had to put the truth there and the King James did use “weakness” in that case. (4) For he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth through the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him through the power of God toward you. See, when you are weak in Christ, you’re going to live through the power of God. It’s when you are not able. It’s being weak in ability to save yourself, being weak in ability to deliver yourself, being weak in ability to heal yourself. He says when you’re in that condition, then God’s power is going to be with you.

This is the same thing Paul said back in 2 Corinthians 12:9. I’m pointing out this verse because in the King James they used the word “weakness” here and it could not be possibly put in as “infirmity” because we can’t read anywhere in the Scriptures that Jesus was infirm, nor was He crucified because He was infirm. Now, that’s the same word that’s being used over here and over in 2 Corinthians 12:9. He said, “My grace is sufficient for thee: for [my] power is made perfect in weakness.” You know, if we will be weak as a little child, God’s power will be there. Most often, God’s power is not there because we refuse to be weak. We want to be strong in a circumstance. We see what we think needs to be done and we run to do it, and we are not ceasing from our works. We are not entering into the Sabbath (Hebrews 4:11). We’re not refusing to be strong. If we will refuse to be strong and we will put our trust in God, we will see His power there every time.

It reminds me of a vision I had years ago, in which Mary and I were sitting in some lawn chairs in front of our house in Louisiana. While we were sitting there, we saw this power line hanging from pole to pole. The strange thing about it, as we were looking at this and studying this, was that the power line was almost touching the ground in the middle because it was sagging so bad. And while we were watching that, a tornado came over that power line and sucked us up out of our chairs. Then the vision changed and I feel like we were over in Florida and the Lord was showing us something about our ministry over there. But what He showed me about that always stuck with me. As we were sitting there, ceasing from our works and resting in lawn chairs, watching the power of man come to an end (that’s the power lines), as we watched the power of man come to an end, then the power of God took over. Man’s extremity is God’s opportunity. God’s not ready to move until we do cease from our works because we have faith. Every time you have faith, you can stop, you can cease from your work, you can cease from your struggling, you can cease from trying to save yourself because the Bible says you are saved. It doesn’t say He will save you. If it said that, you’d wonder what method He wanted to use, but since His method is past tense and you believe it, you have to stop, you have to cease. And so God’s power is made perfect in our weakness.

Paul said, “most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my weaknesses (not “infirmities” because it’s the exact same Greek word), that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (12:9). Glory in our weaknesses so that the power of Christ may rest upon us. That’s the way a child is. They have all the power of Daddy because he is the provider, he is the deliverer, he is the savior. He takes care of it all and they don’t think it should be any other way and we should be that way, too. We’ve been trained-up to think otherwise, to be grownups, but you know, we shouldn’t be thinking in any other terms than what a child thinks. This is the way God wants it.

Well, I think that we can see by now that the ‘verse,’ “God helps those who help themselves,” is not Godly at all; it’s antichrist. It will never allow you to enter into the power of God. It will never allow the Spirit and the power of Christ to rest upon you. So Paul says he glories in his weaknesses so that the power of Christ may rest upon him. (10) … I take pleasure in weaknesses…. King James says “infirmities.” Nobody takes pleasure in infirmities. That’s ridiculous. The word here is the same Greek word again. It’s not “infirmity”; it’s “weakness.” Yes, we take pleasure in weaknesses. It’s great to be weak. It’s great to not have the ability to deliver yourself because then you get to see the miracle of God. And he went on to say, in “injuries,” or actually the word there is “insults,” according to the ancient manuscripts and the Received Text and several others; it’s “insults,” not necessarily “injuries.” You don’t take pleasure in injuries, but “in insults, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong” (10).

Now, what was this buffeting that this angel sent his way, this angel of Satan? Some people say there are no such things as angels of Satan. You know that the demons are angels. Some people say the demons are not angels, but no, that’s not what the Bible says. The demons are the angels of Satan, so just forget about that theology. Whoever brings that to you, don’t believe it; don’t go down that road because it’s wrong. Michael and his angels fought with Satan and his angels (Revelation 12:7), the Bible says. Demons are all fallen angels. That’s where they came from. They are the fallen angels, the non-elect angels. So what is this buffeting? What are these many different blows that the angel of Satan brought Paul’s way in order to make him weak, in order to bring him into a position of weakness? Well, Paul gives a list of them. (11:21) I speak by way of disparagement, as though we had been weak. Yet whereinsoever any is bold (I speak in foolishness), I am bold also. (22) Are they Hebrews? so am I. Are they Israelites? so am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so am I. (23) Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as one beside himself) I more; in labors more abundantly, in prisons more abundantly, in stripes above measure, in deaths oft. He’s talking about the places where he was weak to save himself. You know, when we get into places where we don’t see any possibility of saving ourselves, that’s wonderful because we get to see the power of God. If we walk by faith in those places, then we get to see the miracles of God. That’s what God wants to teach us. He brings us into those places. Remember, God was the One Who sent this angel of Satan to humble Paul.

Why do we need humbling? We need humbling because we’re grownups and we need to become children. We need to be humble. We need to not be self-sufficient; we need to be God-sufficient. We need to be trusting in our Lord because His promises are in there to save us in all these situations. So God brings us into these places and Satan’s angel brings us into these places where we’re weak, where we need the power of God. If we will be weak, we will see the power of God. Many times we want to look for man’s help, man’s way, man’s wisdom. Let’s continue reading Paul’s list. (24) Of the Jews five times received I forty [stripes] save one. (25) Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day have I been in the deep; (26) [in] journeyings often, [in] perils of rivers, [in] perils of robbers, [in] perils from [my] countrymen, [in] perils from the Gentiles, [in] perils in the city, [in] perils in the wilderness, [in] perils in the sea, [in] perils among false brethren; (27) [in] labor and travail, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. He was in all these places in order to be weak so that he could see the power of God. God put him in those places, like He brought the Israelites into those places in the wilderness so that they could see the power of God. Being weak is not a time to be anxious or worried; this is a time when you should expect to see the power of God.

It’s God’s purpose to bring us to weakness in order for us to see His power. This is His plan. Don’t ever be cast down because of what you see because what you see is these places that make you weak. It’s God’s plan for you when you get into these places that you put your trust in Him and that you see His power. This is the place where God’s power rests upon you. This place of weakness, the place of your own inability to save yourself or deliver yourself, is the place you can look for the promise of God and trust in God. Paul went on, “besides those things that are without, there is that which presseth upon me daily, anxiety for all the churches (28). (29) Who is weak (that’s the word “weak”), and I am not weak? who is caused to stumble, and I burn not? (30) If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things that concern my weakness.” That’s another place that the King James calls it “infirmity.” It’s the same word! In the same text, if a word is translated one way in one part of the text and another way in another part of the text, that is dishonest. That is deceiving. That is wrong. It either has to be one or the other. If you look at this word in other parts of the Bible, the conclusion is that it’s talking about weakness, not infirmity. Weakness.

Thank God for the places that He brings us to where we’re weak! That’s the only place we ever see miracles. Do you realize that? It’s the only place we ever see miracles and yet that is the place we’re most tempted to throw up our hands and be anxious or worried or troubled. That is the place where all miracles are given, right there, in a place of weakness, the place where you’re unable. Now, if you have the mind of a child and you get in that place, you just expect Father to take over from then on. This is something that He normally does. God normally supplies your need, like in the teaching Jesus gave about the birds and the flowers. He said they don’t labor and they don’t toil to clothe and to feed themselves (Matthew 6:26,28). You mean, the Lord is saying you don’t have to work to bring about this clothing and feeding? You don’t have to toil? That’s exactly what He said. Go back and read it. It’s so clear. That’s exactly what He said. He knew that you’d get yourself in a situation and He even ordained these situations to come, where you wouldn’t be able to provide for yourself. And He said, “are not two sparrows sold for a penny? and not one of them shall fall on the ground without your Father (Mat.10:29). (30) But the very hairs on your head are all numbered. (31) Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.” Look, not even a hair falls out of your head, can you imagine, that God doesn’t know it! He knows us so intimately that not one hair can fall out of your head without Him knowing it. I mean, your hairs are always falling out and growing back. How can He number the hairs of your head? That is an intimate God Who can number the hairs of your head. He knows a lot, so how could we possibly get into a situation that He doesn’t know about and hasn’t planned for? He is our Jehovah-jireh, the Lord our Provider. (Php.4:19) And my God shall supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

You can’t get so far out that God can’t reach you. You can’t get in so-impossible a situation that He can’t take care of it. He can pay your taxes out of a fish’s mouth (Matthew 17:27). He can do anything. Think about some of the things that God has done in the Scriptures and He really did do them. He stopped the solar system for a day so Joshua could defeat his enemies. God can do anything. And, you know what? The great thing about it is He’s “the same yesterday, and to-day, [yea] and for ever” (Heb.13:8). He is the same. He will still do anything to meet your needs, if you will be weak and have faith. Be weak and have faith. Now, the time when you ought to have faith is when you’re weak because God doesn’t need to meet your needs when you don’t have needs. You don’t need a miracle until you need a miracle. Don’t think that you can avoid a trial of your faith by receiving the miracle before you need it. No. God tries your faith. The miracle doesn’t come till the miracle’s needed. Trust in Him between here and there because He will be there. He will do what you need. Be confident in Him. Be children in Him. This is what we need to learn and it’s not an easy lesson. It demands the death of self, but religion has trained us up with the mind of the beast because religion has taught that God helps those who help themselves and it trains us to take care of these situations. Religion trains us to trust in the arm of the flesh. They even changed God into a god which He has never been so that they can trust in the arm of the flesh. “Now God does it this way,” they say, as if Jesus doesn’t heal the same way He always healed, by laying hands on the sick or by speaking the word of faith. That’s the same way He’s always healed and He still does it that way but, you see, they’ve changed God so that you can trust in the arm of the flesh, so that you can be strong. You can run out and get the strength of the world, make your alliances with the world, get your insurance from the world. They’ll change God and go to any extent to let the flesh live. But we have to become as a child, otherwise, Jesus says, you’re not entering into the Kingdom of Heaven (Luke 18:17). To become as a child is entering into the Kingdom of Heaven. The Kingdom of Heaven is where God rules, God reigns, God saves, God delivers. He hasn’t changed. We have attempted to change Him.

God put us here in this weak position. He planned for us always to be in a weak position, so that He could be our Savior. (2Co.4:7) But we have this treasure (the treasure Paul is talking about is the light of the knowledge of the glory of God) in earthen vessels, that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God, and not from ourselves. God put this treasure, this knowledge of God, in such a weak vessel so that when anything happened, it would have to bring glory to Him and not to us. He could have put us in a strong vessel. He could have put us in a very knowledgeable, very wise, very strong, very healthy vessel and we wouldn’t have needed His help. He wouldn’t have needed to be God, would He? We would have been our own gods. If we watch all the children’s superhero shows, we’ll notice the thing that’s super about them is they’re their own gods. They do what they want to do. They are able. That’s not what God ever wanted. God didn’t choose us because we are able. He chose us because we’re not able. He wanted to give us freely His ability through grace and that’s unmerited. You can’t earn it, you can’t pay for it. He wanted to give it to us freely. When you get yourself in an impossible situation, think about it. God put you there and He put you there so that you could see how great He is. So God put this wonderful treasure in an earthen vessel, a very weak vessel. (8) We are pressed on every side, yet not straitened; perplexed, yet not unto despair; (9) pursued, yet not forsaken; smitten down, yet not destroyed; (10) always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus (which is the death of self), so that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body. God wants Jesus to live through us, but we have to be weak for Him to do that. The power of Christ will rest upon those who are weak. We’re powerful only because we have faith in God. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us (Philippians 4:13) but He doesn’t strengthen until you’re weak, you see. We have to cease before He will start. We have to keep the Sabbath and cease from our works and enter into His works through faith.

God not only put us in a world that was bigger than us and with an enemy that was a lot bigger than us, He put us in a vessel that was weak to begin with, so that when the salvation came, we would know it was from Him and not from ourselves. We think we’re so great and we’ve been trained to be self-sufficient. Mommas and daddies train-up their children to be self-sufficient. That’s not what God wants. He wants a child. He’s always chosen the weak (1 Corinthians 26-29). Never has He chosen the strong and this gives you hope. This gives you hope that when you get in impossible situations, God planned for you to be there so that He could show you His power, so that He could show you His deliverance and His salvation. This is God’s plan. It’s been His plan from the beginning and He’s done it over and over. (Deu.7:6) For thou art a holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples that are upon the face of the earth. And did you know that God still does that? God has still chosen you above all the peoples that are upon the face of the earth. Did you know that? If He chose you, He chose you above someone else, but He didn’t choose you because you’re wiser or smarter or more able or mighty because “not many mighty, not many noble, [are called]” (1Co.1:26). God chose the weak. God called the weak “above all peoples that are upon the face of the earth.” (Deu.7:7) The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all peoples. And it’s still that way, isn’t it? God chose “the fewest of all peoples.” Why did He do that? Certainly, if He was fighting battles with all the Canaanites, He would want the greatest number, wouldn’t He? No, because when the battle was won, He didn’t want anybody to say, “Look what we did!” And when the battle is won in our lives, He doesn’t want anybody to be able to say, “Look what we did!” “Look how powerful we are!” “Look how wise we are!” Or, “Oh, we were smart enough to follow God.” You know, all these things that people could say. No. God said He didn’t choose us because we were the mightiest but because we were the fewest. It’s still that way today. The true Christians are few.

Don’t think that the Christians in this country are the many. What do they call them? The “moral majority.” That is just totally ridiculous! The proof of that is to look at the people we have in elected office. If there was a moral majority, believe me, you would always have a government that was moral and good because that’s the way democracy works. There’s no moral majority. Never was. God chose us because we were the fewest of all peoples. (8) But because the Lord loveth you, and because he would keep the oath which he swear unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, and from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. (17) If thou shalt say in thy heart, These nations are more than I; how can I dispossess them? (18) thou shalt not be afraid of them: thou shalt well remember what the Lord thy God did unto Pharaoh, and unto all Egypt; (19) the great trials which thine eyes saw, and the signs, and the wonders, and the mighty hand, and the outstretched arm, whereby the Lord thy God brought thee out: so shall the Lord thy God do unto all the peoples of whom thou art afraid. And so shall the Lord thy God do to all of the curse that you come against, and to all of the flesh that you have to conquer, and to all the principalities and powers that you have to conquer. They are made strong and you are made weak for a purpose, so that you can see the power of God move against them.

We never need to count on our own strength. David did that and brought a curse on Israel (2 Samuel 24; 1 Chronicles 21). He counted the people of Israel and brought a curse on them because God sent a pestilence that killed 70,000 men, just so David couldn’t count on his own strength (2 Samuel 24:15; 1 Chronicles 21:14). When you count on your strength, look out because you have trouble coming. God’s going to humble you. God’s in the humbling process with us. He wants to deliver us from trusting in the arm of the flesh. You know, in almost every battle that Israel won, they were outnumbered. Isn’t it amazing that God demanded that they be outnumbered before He would give them the victory? For example, in Judges we’re told that the Israelites had an army coming against them that the Bible says were as the sands of the sea for multitude (Judges 7:12). The Midianites, the Amalekites and the children of the east were coming against them and all the men of Israel who could be gathered together weren’t enough to do the job and they knew it. At first they were counting on their own ability and the numbers that they had but they were ridiculously outnumbered. (Jdg.7:2) And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me. Now therefore proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whosoever is fearful and trembling, let him return and depart from mount Gilead. And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand; and there remained ten thousand. Well, that was just the beginning of God whittling down the people and those people who are fearful will not be the ones who have the victory over the enemy. Being weak is one thing but being fearful is quite another. Being fearful is not trusting in the power that God has given us to come against our enemy. Being fearful is judging by your own ability. It’s looking at your own ability or your own inability, but that’s where God is putting us on purpose. This is God’s plan to put us in a position of weakness, to make our enemy look big. He sent the Israelites into a promised land where the enemies were giants and they were vastly outnumbered. It was God’s plan for it to look like an unfair contest. In every trial that we go into, it’s going to look that way so that when we get the victory, we know it’s God’s power, not our own.

CHAPTER TWO

Being Weak Gives All Glory to God

If you’re thinking, “Yeah, but God chose Gideon, a great man of valor, to bring this about.” Well, let’s go back and look at Gideon. (Jdg.6:12) The angel of the Lord appeared unto him, and said unto him, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valor. The Lord tells you the same thing. He’s with you. His authority is behind you whenever you walk for Him. Whatever we do, we do in the Name as representing Him. His power and His authority are behind us when we act on the Word. (13) And Gideon said unto him, Oh, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where are all his wondrous works which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt? but now the Lord hath cast us off, and delivered us into the hand of Midian. Have you ever thought, “Where are the mighty works of God?” Well, I’ll tell you where they are. They’re waiting on people to be weak. If people won’t be weak, they won’t see them. As long as we’re strong to save ourselves, we don’t need God. There’s no faith involved in that. So now Israel had just gotten itself into a position of weakness and do you know what? God chose just as weak a man to lead them. (14) The Lord looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and save Israel from the hand of Midian: have not I sent thee? “This thy might”? What is the Lord talking about? He’s talking about because God sent Gideon. This kind of reminds you of Peter. “Lord, you just bid me to come to You on the water.” And when the Lord said, “Come,” Peter stepped out of the boat. The Lord said he could do it and just on the word of the Lord, Peter did it (Matthew 14:28,29). He stepped out of the boat by faith. Nobody else stepped out of the boat. He did. You know, if the Lord told you in the Word, that’s all you need. “In this thy might.” God’s always going to be behind His Word. If you step out on His Word, exercising faith in His Word, then His might is going to be there. You’re always going to be weak but His might is going to be there. “Have not I sent thee?” It’s the same thing the Lord did to Moses, when he protested, “O Lord, I’m not an eloquent speaker” (Exodus 4:10) and God answered him with, “Who hath made man’s mouth?” (Exodus 4:11) God chose Moses not because he was great; God chose him because he was weak.

(15) And he said unto him, Oh, Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is the poorest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house. Gideon wasn’t listening, was he? “My family is the poorest in Manassah, and I am the least of my father’s house.” There it is. God chose the weakest and the least. Don’t expect God to send superman. That’s not what He’s looking for. This will not accomplish the purpose that He has. God is going to send someone who’s weak, someone who is like a child. That qualifies some of us. You know, we can be as a child. We are unable in so many things. Sometimes we’re forced into a position of being unable. But I tell you that what Jesus wants for us is not that we be forced into a position of weakness, but that we walk in that position of our own free will, refusing to be strong. This is the great thing. If we will learn to refuse to be strong, we will see the miracles of God now. And when we get forced into that position later, it won’t be a big thing. It was no big thing for Moses to go through the wilderness with the children of Israel. They were being tried. He wasn’t being tried. He’d already been in the wilderness. He’d already gone out into that wilderness and lived in that wilderness by faith in God. And God sent him because he had been there. He sent him back to bring the rest of the Israelites through that wilderness. It wasn’t a big trial for him; he’d already been there. And if you’ve been there, it won’t be a big trial for you, but you’ll be able to show others.

This is very important for the times that are coming. People who are weak are going to be strong in the times that are coming and others are going to be fearful. This wilderness experience that’s coming is going to weed out the strong from the weak. The ones who are strong, who’ve always trusted in their own strength and who refuse to do anything else, they’re going to fall by the wayside. It’s going to be the babes who are going to go through the wilderness and make it to the other side. And God’s always planned it that way. God will not permit salvation to come any other way but by grace. Some people look around and they say, “Look what God did here,” and, “Look what God did there,” but if you look carefully, it’s what a man did. They’re giving credit to a man. (Exo.7:3) And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt. It’s funny but you see God on both sides of this thing. It was God who hardened Pharaoh’s heart, as it says here, so that the miracles that came would be mighty miracles. God gave the Israelites a strong enemy who would not let them go. (Psa.105:25) He turned their heart to hate his people, To deal subtly with his servants. The Egyptians brought the people of God into bondage because they hated them. And in Psalm 106, God made them set His people free. First God hardened the Egyptians, then He made them set the Israelites free. It was God’s plan to put them in an impossible situation so that they would know how great God’s salvation was. “I hardened Pharaoh’s heart and multiplied my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt.” (Exo.7:4) But Pharaoh will not hearken unto you, and I will lay my hand upon Egypt, and bring forth my hosts, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments. (5) And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch forth my hand upon Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from among them. It is God’s plan to put us in an impossible situation. We think it’s the devil’s plan. We think it’s the devil fighting against us. No, it’s God’s plan for us to be in impossible situations. A man can receive nothing, except it have been given him from heaven (Joh.3:27), the Bible says, so God puts us in these impossible situations full-well planning to do a miracle for us.

When we get in these situations, we shouldn’t look at the impossibility of the situation and then look at our strength and say, “Woe is me!” because we can see from history this has been God’s plan all along. When we get in that kind of situation, we should figure that the odds are in our favor, if you figure odds. See, when a situation is impossible, that’s when the odds are in your favor. It’s just the opposite for the world because they count on their strength and not God’s strength, but when you look with your eyes and you see the situation is impossible and you see the promise of God, that’s when you should be confident in God. He put us in this situation so we could see what a great savior He is. He hardened Pharaoh’s heart, He turned the Egyptians’ hearts to hate His people, to bring them into bondage so that He could do mighty miracles to deliver them. It was His plan all along to do mighty miracles to deliver them. Instead, people want to be strong. The Egyptians wanted to be strong. Pharaoh called for their wise men and sorcerers and magicians to see if they couldn’t do the same curses that Moses was bringing. (Exo.7:11) Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers: and they also, the magicians of Egypt, did in like manner with their enchantments. (12) For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents: but Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods.

So the curse is sent by God upon the earth. The whole chapter about the curse, Deuteronomy 28, says that it came by the Hand of God. I know that we’ve been talking about the hand of the devil but that’s not what the Scripture says. God said He sent the curse. But men, in whom we put our trust, they also propagate the curse. In this instance, Moses brought this curse, but also the magicians brought this curse. And the magicians, the sorcerers, never took away a curse, not one time. (Note that the word in the New Testament for “sorcery” or “witchcraft” is the word pharmakia.) According to this, they can’t take away a curse. They can bring a curse, but they can’t take one away. Moses was the one who always took the curse away, both the one that he brought (from the Lord) and the one that the magicians brought. Moses was always the one who took away both curses (Exodus 7:12; 8:13). And it wasn’t until the sorcerers came to the end of their ability that God made a division between Goshen and Egypt. The sorcerers couldn’t duplicate any of the curses from the plague of lice onward (Exodus 8:19) and that’s when God made a division, right there. When they failed to duplicate the plague of lice, when they came to the end of themselves, their ability, then God made this differentiation.

By the way, we are called to walk in health. For instance, God said, “I will put none of the diseases upon thee, which I have put upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee” (15:26). When did He do that? Well, right here is where God did that. When the sorcery came to an end, when the witchcraft came to an end, then God made a division. From then on the curses always fell upon the Egyptians and not on the Israelites. So what are we here for? We are here to be weak in the ways of the world. The carnal church is not weak in the ways of the world. They have absorbed and taken hold of the ways of the world; that’s why they’re called the “harlot.” And we’re called to step out by faith, to put our trust wholly in God, not just in the area of healing, but of deliverance in circumstances. The Lord came to deliver us from everything that involves the curse of sin and of death. In fact, in Ephesians where he says, “by grace are you saved (sozo) through faith,” the word “saved” there is used in the Scriptures for salvation of the soul, for salvation regarding healing, for salvation in circumstances (when they were in the boat that was filling with water, for instance) and for deliverance from demons. The same word is used in all of those instances. Sometimes it’s translated “made whole.” (Eph.2:8) For by grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, [it is] the gift of God; (9) not of works, that no man should glory. God will not permit us to have His salvation where we can earn it or where we are strong enough for it. He doesn’t permit it. He puts us in situations where we’re not strong enough, not wise enough.

But the world and the worldly Christian will try to convince you that you can be wise enough, you can gain enough strength to take care of this thing and they will give you all their worldly wisdom so that you’ll come against it but, ultimately, because God loves you, He will see to it that you fail. In all of your efforts to save yourself, because He loves you, He will see to it that you fail. Men can’t take one curse off, although they can sure shove it around. Only God can take a curse off because these curses come to try us, to get us in the position of being saved by God. Therefore, if you fail in this point, then you’re going to go around the mountain again and you’re going to come into the same trial again. This is why men can’t ever deliver you because, if you do it man’s way, well, you’re just going to bump into it again down the road. You’re going to go around that mountain, you’re going to bump into the same trial and you’re going to go around that mountain, you’re going to bump into the same trial, and you’ll just keep going around until you get it right. This is why they can’t ever deliver you; all they can do is put more curses upon you, you see. It’s because you’re going to go around and you’re going to come back to the same trial until you get it right, until you do it God’s way. How many times did God run the Israelites around out in that wilderness? And they cried and they moaned and they groaned and they wanted to go back to Egypt (Exodus 14:11-12; 16:3). That’s what the worldly church leadership is teaching people. “Go back to Egypt. Go ahead. There’s nothing wrong with that. That’s the way God does it now. Go on back to Egypt. Go back to the ways of the flesh. Go back to the strength of man, the arm of the flesh,” and so on and so forth, you know. They want you to put your trust in the arm of the flesh but, no, don’t do it because there’s a curse in that. The curse is here, if nowhere else.

You see, we’ve been given a certain amount of time to run this race and to bear fruit, and if all you do is run in circles, you’re never going to finish the race. You’ll just run in circles. You never finish the race running in circles. We’re running a race against time and at the finish line, we have to have the fruit. And God puts these trials in our way so that we go through them His way and overcome His way. He puts them in our way because they’re much bigger than we are. We can cry about going back to getting the strength of Egypt, or we can walk by faith in Jesus to overcome and have that strength for the next trial. Every time you overcome you have that strength from Him. You can remember. You can look back. You can see what God did and that’s His plan. It was God Who brought the Israelites out into that wilderness into some impossible situations. When they first came out of Egypt and they were going south, they were free, they were delivered; it was nothing but open country in front of them. (Exo.14:1) And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, (2) Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn back and encamp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, before Baal-zephon: over against it shall ye encamp by the sea. (3) And Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in. (4) And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he shall follow after them; and I will get me honor upon Pharaoh….

Whom do you think Pharaoh might be? He was the ruler over the Egyptians, but I’ll tell you another thing that can be seen here. If you remember, Paul likened the Israelites going through the Red Sea to them being baptized (1 Corinthians 10:1,2) and, of course, going through the Red Sea the old man dies, but the new man is given life. So the old man was the Egyptian and the new man was the Israelite. When they went through the Red Sea, they were baptized in the Red Sea, in the water and in the cloud, and the old man, the Egyptian, died. Well, Pharaoh was the Lord, the god of the Egyptians. In fact, that was what his name meant – “The God.” Now, who is the god of the flesh? Satan. The devil is the god of the flesh and has been given power and authority to do what he does. Jesus said, “all authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth” (Mat.28:18). “All of it. All of it’s been given unto Me.” Therefore, what the devil has, God gives him. And what the devil has, we give him. You can make “Pharaoh” bigger or you can make him smaller. You can take away his authority and power by agreeing with the Word or you can give him authority and power by believing in him, believing in his strength and believing in his might. You can do that. Well, God made Pharaoh strong. He hardened Pharaoh’s heart and He made him strong. He made Pharaoh’s people strong so that the salvation would be from God.

God gave us an enemy to conquer that appears to be so much stronger than we are and that’s the flesh. You look at your flesh. You look at the old man, the Egyptian, and you say, “Oh, Lord!” You get worried. The more you look at him, the more worried you get. “How am I ever going to beat this giant?” But God puts you in those positions on purpose. He has you there with enemies that appear much bigger than you are, but in actuality they’re just bread for you. I like what Joshua and Caleb said about the people of Canaan: “they are bread for us” (Num.14:9). They’re just something that is made for you to eat up and get bigger and stronger. God put them there so that His power would totally conquer them. He wasn’t counting on your power. The Israelites had no power against the Egyptians. The Egyptians were a mighty, well-armed army and God put the Israelites in that position so their salvation had to come from God.

Back where we left off, Pharaoh wanted them to serve God in Egypt and God told Moses what to say to Pharaoh. (Exo.7:16) And thou shalt say unto him, the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, hath sent me unto thee, saying, Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness: and, behold, hitherto thou hast not hearkened. And then later, when Pharaoh was starting to give in a little bit, he called for Moses and said, Go ye, sacrifice to your God in the land (8:25); in other words, in Egypt. You know, that’s right where a lot of Christians are. They’re sacrificing to God in Egypt. In other words, they think they’re doing it God’s way, but they’re doing it in Egypt. (26) And Moses said, It is not meet so to do; for we shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to the Lord our God. See, we can’t serve God in Egypt. We can’t do it the Egyptians’ way. If you’re copying the world in any way in your salvation, then you’re missing God because that’s not the way God does it. Pharaoh’s going to tell you, “It’s okay. You can serve your god but just do it in Egypt, don’t do it in the wilderness.” In Egypt they trusted in the strength that they received from Egypt and lived off the flesh-pots (Exodus 16:3); in other words, they lived off the flesh. But God wanted them in the wilderness where they couldn’t have any help from anything else but Him. The power came from God, His ability. And the devil’s going to tempt you the same way. He does it all the time. “It’s okay, serve God, but do it this way. Just do it the way the Egyptians do it.” But God is doing it in such a way that we’ll never be able to put our trust in the arm of the flesh again. It’ll be a total victory over the flesh.

So God brought the Israelites out there into that wilderness and He put them in this neat little trap between Migdol and the Red Sea to see what they would do. They didn’t handle it well. They cried out, “Whoa! We wish you would have left us in Egypt to serve the Egyptians!” (Exodus 14:10-12) But God brought them there to part the Red Sea and do the greatest miracle of deliverance for them. He brought them to that situation and we ought to see our situations that way. We, too, are in a wilderness experience going through this world. God is bringing us to all these impossible situations so that He can prove how big a God He is. His whole purpose is to prove how big a God He is. And the more impossible the situation, the bigger He becomes, in our mind anyway. That’s what He wants. He wants us to glorify Him for what a great salvation He brings us to. And so God brought the Israelites from this trap to other traps. He brought them to the bitter waters (Exodus 15:23) and He had Moses throw in a tree that made the bitter waters sweet (Exodus 15:25). And I personally believe that the “bitter waters” symbolize our tongue because James talks about the sweet and the bitter waters that come from the same well and he says it shouldn’t be this way (James 3:10,11). (For a deeper understanding of this, read my book titled “The Tongue Conquers the Curse.”) God delivered us at the cross. That was the tree that was cast in that made the bitter waters sweet. God delivered us from the bitter waters of our own tongue because “death and life are in the power of the tongue; And they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof” (Pro.18:21). “Death and life are in the power of the tongue.” We have the ability to change things in this wilderness that we’re in with our tongue. God gave us that ability at the cross. He made the bitter waters sweet at the cross.

The very next thing God did was make an ordinance. (Exo.15:26) If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his eyes, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases upon thee, which I have put upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee (Hebrew: Jehovah-Rophe). And God brought them to the place in the wilderness where there was no food (Exodus 16:3) and He gave them the food. He met their need of the food. And He brought them to the place where there was no water (Exodus 17:1) and He brought water out of the rock (Exodus 17:6). God brought the Israelites to impossible situations, one after another, and He brought them against enemies who were much bigger than them. It was one impossible situation after another and, in every case, God planned a great deliverance for them, if they would just put their trust in Him. We see over and over in the Scriptures that God did this.

Look at what God did with Gideon’s army. The Lord whittled them down from 32,000 men to 10,000 and then from 10,000 down to 300 (Judges 7:7) to come against an army that was as many as the sands of the sea (Judges 7:12), so that Gideon’s army couldn’t say “mine own hand hath saved me” (Jdg.7:2). There were too many Israelites for God to give the Midianites and Amalekites and children of the east into their hand, and He would have to whittle them down so that they would know that this was a mighty miracle from God. And how did He do it? He sent those 300 men out there with pitchers and torches, and when they broke the pitchers, the torches shone forth (Judges 7:20) and put the enemy in a fright (Judges 7:21). I believe those torches are likened to our spirit and that those pitchers are likened to our carnal vessel, our earthly vessel. The torch is like the spirit-man, so that when we’re broken, the spirit-man is able to shine forth and the enemy is put to flight. What a simple thing! No swords, no cannons, no nothing! God made it ridiculous. He put a fright in those Midianites and Amalekites so that they feared and they ran, and they killed each other because of 300 torches. God’s plan will work when reason just never will. You wouldn’t think that would reasonably work. Nobody would make a plan like that except God, Who has the ability to put fear, total devastating fear, in your enemy. I’ve seen Him do that. It’s so wondrous how He can do that, make them turn and run.

God wants us to trust Him alone. (Jer.17:5) Thus saith the Lord: Cursed is the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. God calls this “departing from the Lord” when you trust in the arm of the flesh. That’s departing from the Lord. When you do it the way the world does it, when you don’t have any difference, any separation, any sanctification between you and the world, that’s departing from the Lord. (6) For he shall be like the heath (or like a tumbleweed) in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, a salt land and not inhabited. (7) Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose trust the Lord is. (8) For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, that spreadeth out its roots by the river, and shall not fear when heat cometh, but its leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit. Now that sounds like the wilderness that’s coming, doesn’t it? And he’s telling you who it is who’s going to make it through, and prosper and be blessed going through it. It’s the person who puts his trust in the Lord. But the person who trusts in the “arm of the flesh” is going to be blown away like a tumbleweed. That’s why we’re preparing to get in the ark now. There’s a flood coming that’s going to take a lot of people away and it’s not only the fault of the teachers, it’s the fault of the people who will listen to them because it’s the easy way. There’s no death in it, there’s no death-to-self in it, there’s no becoming like a child in it.

God is preparing to show you that there is a difference between His method and the method of the world. (2Ch.16:11) And, behold, the acts of Asa, first and last, lo, they are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. (12) And in the thirty and ninth year of his reign Asa was diseased in his feet; his disease was exceeding great: yet in his disease he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians. (13) And Asa slept with his fathers, and died in the one and fortieth year of his reign. (14) And they buried him in his own sepulchres, which he had hewn out for himself in the city of David … What offended God here is that Asa sought his help from the physicians and not from the Lord, meaning that there is a difference. They’re not one and the same. But the problem that Asa had was not just in that area. He began to trust in the arm of the flesh in so many things. When Asa was the ruler over Judah, Judah was at war with the northern 10 tribes. (1) In the six and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa, Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah, and built Ramah, that he might not suffer any one to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah. (2) Then Asa brought out silver and gold out of the treasures of the house of the Lord and of the king’s house, and sent to Ben-Hadad king of Syria, that dwelt at Damascus, saying, (3) [There is] a league between me and thee, as [there was] between my father and thy father: behold, I have sent thee silver and gold; go, break thy league with Basha king of Israel, that he may depart from me. Judah was bribing the Syrians to break their league with the northern 10 tribes of Israel, so that they could whip them.

Well, Asa made a big mistake because he robbed God in order to bribe these people. He looted out of the Lord’s treasuries and hired himself some insurance. He took God’s money to do this. And you know, we do the same thing a lot of times. If the enemy seems too big, many times we’ll take God’s money to try to whittle him down a little bit. That’s not permitted and it wasn’t here. God rebuked Asa for it. In the first place, Asa was bowing down to the god of fear because the enemy was bigger than he was. But, throughout history, the enemy was always bigger than God’s people when they won, so he shouldn’t have bowed down to fear in the first place. In the second place, Asa should not have used God’s money. Did you know that all of your money is God’s money? It’s not our money, so Asa shouldn’t have used God’s money to buy insurance against his enemy or to strengthen himself against his enemy. He made a mistake there. But he didn’t know God’s plan. Let’s read on down. God had a great plan. (4) And Ben-Hadad hearkened unto king Asa, and sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel (the northern 10 tribes); and they smote Ijon, and Dan, and Abel-maim, and all the store-cities of Naphtali. (5) And it came to pass, that when Baasha heard thereof, that he left off building Ramah, and let his work cease. (6) Then Asa the king took all Judah; and they carried away the stones of Ramah, and the timber thereof, wherewith Baasha had builded; and he built there with Geba and Mizpah. Look! He had success! He bribed the Syrians to break their league with his enemy and it worked. You’d say, “Well, he accomplished what he wanted to do. In a way, he won the war.”

But God didn’t see it that way. Asa used God’s money to do something that actually worked; he hired insurance and it worked but God didn’t see it that way. (7) And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said unto him, Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria, and hast not relied on the Lord thy God, therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thy hand. You see what God was planning? God was planning to give to Judah both Israel and Syria. He was going to let Judah conquer both of them. Instead, Judah got worried and they bribed Syria to break their pact with Israel, so that they would only have one to conquer. However, God said, “You’ve made a mistake. I was going to give them both to you. It would have cost you nothing. It wouldn’t have cost you anything and I was going to give them both to you.” That’s the way it is when we run for our insurances and our assurances of the world in our strengthening ourselves. See, God wants to give it all to us. He makes the enemy great so that only He can give the whole enemy to us to conquer them. Look. (7) ... Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria, and hast not relied on the Lord thy God, therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thy hand. (8) Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubim a huge host, with chariots and horsemen exceeding many? yet, because thou didst rely on the Lord, he delivered them into thy hand. (9) For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect towards him. Herein thou hast done foolishly; for from henceforth thou shalt have wars. Do you understand what God was saying here? He was saying, “Look, if you’d have done it My way, you wouldn’t have had to conquer this problem again. This would have been the end of it. But, okay, since you did it your way, you’re going to have wars from here on.” So we won’t necessarily have to fight, if we’ll just do it God’s way the first time. God would have given the whole enemy, vastly out-numbered as Judah was, He would have given all of them to Israel, but Judah used money to make themselves strong.

CHAPTER THREE

Man’s Insurance or God’s Assurance?

God said He would have given them all and it wouldn’t have cost them anything. God gives you His help for free, but the alliance that you make with the world using your money is costing you something. When you go out, you make yourself strong with the strength of the world with your money, which is really God’s money, and it is taking from God. Think about it now. It’s not your money, it’s God’s money. You’re taking God’s money and you’re giving it to the devil’s kingdom to make yourself strong against an enemy that God would give you anyway and give you for free. An alliance with the world is not God’s method and it wasn’t His plan for Asa. That was Asa’s problem. Asa had fallen into this trap of putting his trust in the arm of the flesh and it made Asa angry when God rebuked him. (2Ch.16:10) Then Asa was wroth with the seer, and put him in the prison-house; for he was in a rage with him because of this thing….

Many of God’s people are doing the same thing with their money. They’re bowing down to the gods of insurance. Stop and think about it. What are you doing when you buy insurance? Isn’t it because you don’t believe the Word of God? “Oh, we need insurance,” you say. Oh, really? Think about why we need insurance. Is it not because you are trusting in the security that the insurance companies provide with their large financial reserves? You’re trusting in them in case something happens, as if God isn’t on His throne. God knows things are going to happen. He also knows He’s going to provide. So what you’re doing is you’re robbing God’s money and giving it to another god. God always provides for His children. I’ve hardly ever seen a greater miracle than when God told me to get rid of my insurance. And, let me tell you, when I called my insurance man and got rid of my house and car insurance, it really shocked him.

But I don’t think it was maybe a week or two later that I saw one of the biggest miracles I’ve ever seen and God proved to me that dropping my worldly insurance was His way for me because He blessed me so abundantly. I had pulled my car into this little old quickie supermarket and gone inside when I heard this big crash. The whole front of the store, all the glass in front of the store, just shook. A car had run up in that parking lot and slammed right into my car and I had just gotten rid of all of my insurance. It slammed right into my little Datsun station wagon that wasn’t but a little tin box anyway. Just slammed into it. I knew something had happened when I looked out of that store, but when I went out there, I tell you what, I was just totally awed by the power of God. This big old Buick had just wrapped itself around the corner of my Datsun station wagon. I mean hit it right on the plastic tail lens of my Datsun and it just notched the front of that Buick from top to bottom. The hood, the grille, the bumper, they were all caved-in about a foot. The plastic tail lens of my Datsun had caved-in that car from top to bottom. It was an old Buick, too – an old heavy car built like a tank. And it hit my car and it literally wrapped around my car.

When I went outside, the driver had backed up about a foot and was out there looking at it with his eyes just as big saucers. I said, “Oh, man!” If I hadn’t seen that, I’d have never believed it because it just totaled out the whole front of his car. And there wasn’t a scratch on my car. While he was standing there looking at it, I took my thumbnail and I scraped the paint off of the plastic tail lens where his hood hit my wrap-around tail lens on the corner of that Datsun station wagon. That was the only mark on my car! No, He couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe it, either. But you see, I didn’t have any insurance. I’d put myself in the hands of the Lord. You know, I’d become like a child, in a way, because I put myself in the hands of the Lord.

Now we have to obey the law, but at this time in Louisiana, we didn’t have to have any insurance and I didn’t have any insurance. Nobody ever collected off of me but, boy, I collected off some other folks. In this particular case, well, I don’t say that to be bragging, I’m just saying God did it. He did miracles for me because of that. In every way that I didn’t have insurance, He was my assurance. Well, I wasn’t even thinking right when I saw this; I was just awed. I mean, the guy got in his car and took off, you know, and after he left, I thought, “Boy, I missed the best chance in the world of witnessing to somebody,” so I jumped in my car and caught him at the next red light. I got out and I witnessed to him. I told him that was God. I said, “God did that because I didn’t have any insurance.” When I said, “It’s a miracle,” he said, “It must be.” I remember the first thing he said when I went outside and looked at the car. He said something like, “Boy, they sure must build them better than they used to.” You know, that was totally stupid. His car would have cut a path right through the middle of my car and he wouldn’t have been scratched. It would have been the other way around. Those old Buicks were tough and mine you could dent with your elbow. A Datsun station wagon? You could knock the car tail lens out with your elbow. I’m telling you there’s just nothing there. This was one of those positions I was put in where I was made so weak and the situation I was facing was so strong, that it was totally ridiculous. But, I’d just gotten rid of all my insurance. When you put yourself in the hands of God, He takes that very seriously. Whatever you do and however it turns out, when you put yourself in the hands of God, you’re going to be the blessed one.

There was another time where I got in a wreck and God didn’t protect my vehicle, but I was so glad He didn’t. I had a little Toyota truck that I loved. I was going down the interstate on my way to work and I saw the car in front of me slowing down. The whole line of traffic was slowing down because there was somebody stopped in the middle of a bridge and I was slowing down, but the fourth guy back, he was looking off down the river instead of looking at the bridge and he just scooped us all up. Bang! Bang! Bang! It was just one right after another. Well, the guy in front of me was hurt really badly. He had slammed into the steering wheel and it jammed up in his chest and he had lung blood just gushing out of his face. I’ve shot enough deer to know what it was. It was lung blood. It was bright red because it has a lot of oxygen in it. So I got up in his cab and I pulled him out and I laid him down on the concrete there beside his truck, with his head on the curb like it was a pillow. And the lung blood literally piled up from the road up to his face. That’s how it was coming out of him. It came out jelly-like. I’m just telling you what a miracle God did. I knelt down right there beside him and I prayed for him, and I commanded him to be healed in the name of Jesus. And there were people all around me just looking at me doing that. Then they came and got him and put him in the ambulance. I immediately left there and went home to call the hospital and they told me there was nothing wrong with that man. The nurse said, “We turned him loose. He went home.” I said, “Lady, if you’d seen the pile of blood out there on the concrete, you’d know there was something wrong with him.” She said, “Well, I don’t know, maybe he had a scratch in his nose or something, but there was nothing wrong with him we could see. We turned him loose and he went home.” Praise the Lord!

Now, even though my truck was totaled out and that was a time I didn’t have any insurance, I got my truck fixed and I still had $1500 in my pocket. It was a real blessing. I wouldn’t have missed it for anything. Not only that, what really tickled me the most was this: While I was standing there beside the highway with that man’s blood on my arms, because I’d picked him out of the cab, somebody from work came by. It was a Christian guy and he knew I’d preached walking and speaking faith. He saw me standing there with that blood on my arms and said to me, “You’d better go to the hospital.” I kept saying, “There’s nothing wrong with me,” but he thought I was speaking faith. He insisted, “You better go to the hospital!” I told him again, “There’s really nothing wrong with me,” so he drove off and he went and told my boss. And when I came to work, he and my boss and a bunch of people were standing around waiting for me to get there. They were giving me the once-over with their eyes. They were looking me up one side and down the other and I told them, “Look, I told him there was nothing wrong with me. It wasn’t me. It’s the other guy who got hurt. There’s nothing wrong with me.” It was really hard to convince them. They thought I was just speaking faith. Well, anyway, that time God fixed my truck. The next time, of course, we didn’t have any insurance either and God bought my house with their insurance money. He plundered Egypt right on down and bought my house and car with their insurance money.

I have been asked if it’s possible that we could plunder Egypt by taking out worldly insurance. For example, I had a sister tell me what happened to her and her husband. She said, “When we came back from Italy, my husband and I bought a house. Well, he had cancer in Italy and he had surgery and a doctor said he was cancer-free. So we came back and bought a house. We decided to take out insurance on just the cost of the house. So we bought the insurance. We told them that my husband had had cancer. We had to get a waiver from them, riders, and we got the insurance. A week to a month later we found out that he had terminal cancer. He died a few months later, but the house was paid off. I got the money from Egypt and paid the house off. That was a tremendous blessing and to me that seemed like it was God.”

You know, even in our ignorance sometimes God blesses us, right? Sure, there is a method that is a worldly method that can bring success. Didn’t Asa get success by bribing Assyrians to break their pact? But God didn’t believe in his method. He didn’t agree with his method. Asa’s method worked. He conquered his enemy and, in fact, it broke the war off totally. But even though it was successful, Asa used God’s money to do it. He used God’s money to buy insurance. God didn’t agree with it. This is not to condemn anybody. This is just so that we know for the future what God can do. God doesn’t appreciate insurance because it’s a false God. It’s something that we’re counting on for our salvation in the future.

And here’s something we really ought to think about: Sometimes what we’re doing is we’re getting the cart before the horse. Suppose things come on us because we have insurance. I’ll give you a good example of that, too, which the Lord showed me that just stuck with me so well. I was working with this guy when I worked at Exxon. We were working on pumps in the field and this guy’s name was Melvin. We were working one day on this old, slurry pump. It’s an old crude pump. Crude is real bad about staining. It’s almost like paint. If it gets on you, it will stain you almost permanently. And so I was working with him and we were working on this old pump, and the gauge on the top of the pump showed that it was empty, no pressure. The bleeders were open to make sure that there wasn’t pressure, that when we broke into it, we wouldn’t come into pressure. The bleeder was plugged and the gauge was broken, so when we were breaking into this thing, we were breaking into a pump that had pressure on it and it was pressurized crude oil.

So, he and I were working on the head of this pump and we’d taken all the bolts out but the gasket was holding the head stuck onto the thing. I tapped on it a little bit but it wouldn’t break loose and Melvin was standing right there beside it. I walked away from the pump to go get a bigger hammer so I could rear back and hit that plate and it would break the gasket surface. The minute I walked away, the thing popped off and blew crude all over him. Just all over him. And I’d been talking to Melvin about the Lord a lot. In fact, he’d been converted to the Lord by my testimony to him. But he said, “You planned that, didn’t you?” It was like I just walked away and all of a sudden BOOM! and it was crude oil all over him. He was black from top to bottom, clothes and everything. And he said, “Well, don’t worry about it bit. I have a change of clothes in my locker.” I said, “Oh, that’s the reason you got it and I didn’t get it. I don’t have a change of clothes.” So God knew I couldn’t afford to get that way because I didn’t have a change of clothes. You get the point? Melvin prepared for a disaster and he got one. He had full faith that he was going to have one and he got what he believed for.

See, we don’t realize that God is sovereign. If we prepare or we insure for disaster, He can bring one. Sometimes we think, “Oh, thank God I prepared!” But actually, we could have brought on the disaster in the first place. Remember how the engineer who built the Titanic said, “We built a boat that even God couldn’t sink. We don’t even need life boats on this Titanic.” He literally said, “We built a boat that God couldn’t sink” and God sank it on its maiden voyage. Well, believe it or not, Melvin and I left this pump and after he had his clothes all changed and everything, we went to another pump. This is a very rare thing. We went to another pump that was the same kind of pump and almost the same thing happened. And I was standing right beside him this time, right beside him, when the flange broke open. It was amazing to me how two things in a row could happen like this. The flange broke open and it squirted out of one place from that thing and drowned him from top to bottom with crude oil. But you know what Melvin had said just before that? “You’re never gonna get me like that again.” I said, “Melvin, you better watch those positive statements. God is listening.” We left right there and went over to work on this other pump. Sure enough, we had checked that one even with a rod, but evidently it was plugged up somewhere else, the bleeder with a rod and everything, and the plate just backed up just a little bit. It squirted a stream and hit Melvin and squirted him from top to bottom with crude oil. I said, “I told you about those positive statements, Melvin.” This was the second time. It was a good thing he was a good-natured guy. He really was a real good-natured guy but he got it twice in a row. Well, I’m sure he learned something from that because that was impossible for something like that to happen twice. It was just impossible for us to be working on the same kind of piece of equipment because we worked on everything from turbines to motors to pumps to drivers and here we were working on a reciprocating pump. There weren’t even that many of them out there and we worked on one right after another and he got it on both of them.

Well, sometimes you can insure yourself and God takes offense at that and He causes you to lose the battle. In the last case we looked at, it seemed like they made the right decision because what Asa did worked. The only thing is he robbed God to trust in a false god. God even gave Asa temporary victory in it but then the prophet came and prophesied to him that he wasn’t going to get out of wars because of that. In other words, he didn’t do it right that time, so there was another war coming. We have to understand that if we don’t do it God’s way, we haven’t gotten out of anything. There’s another trial just like it right around the corner because these trials are put there for us to be overcomers and to overcome something in us that’s wrong. And trusting in the world is wrong. It’s offensive to God. (20:35) And after this did Jehoshaphat the king of Judah join himself with Ahaziah the king of Israel; the same did very wickedly: (36) and he joined himself with him to make ships to go to Tarshish; and they made the ships in Ezion-geber. (37) Then Eliezer the son of Dodavahu of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, Because thou hast joined thyself with Ahaziah, the Lord hath destroyed thy works. And the ships were broken so that they were not able to go to Tarshish. (21:1) And Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David…. So we see that Jehoshaphat lost his life because of his insurance and Asa lost his life because of his insurance. They trusted in something other than the Lord.

You know, our help does not come from anything that we can do or anything that we can eat. (Exo.15:26) … I will put none of the diseases upon thee, which I have put upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee. Help comes from God. Divine help comes from God. It doesn’t come from anything we can eat. In fact, whatever you eat, God says it’s good and to be received with thanksgiving, if it is sanctified through the Word of God and prayer (1 Timothy 4:4,5). See, God sanctifies your food. He makes it what you need. Whatever you eat, God will make it what you need, if you sanctify it through the Word of God in faith. As a matter of fact, I want to show you something. See, there are all kinds of insurance. We think, “Well, we’re not getting enough vitamins.” That’s not what the Bible says. Now we’re not putting anybody under laws about vitamins; this is just an example. (1Ti.4:1) But the Spirit saith expressly, that in later times some shall fall away from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons, (2) through the hypocrisy of men that speak lies, branded in their own conscience as with a hot iron; (3) forbidding to marry, [and commanding] to abstain from meats…. Why do they command to abstain from meats? Because they say they’re unclean. They say they’re not healthy. Why does the world say that pork, for instance, is not healthy? Because they have the statistics to prove that pork is not healthy. But who is that talking about? It’s talking about the world. We are not the world. The statistics that work for them don’t work for us. Paul says this is a doctrine of demons to us. Now, they have the statistics to prove that for the lost world, pork is not a healthy meat, but that’s not us. Read what it says to us. We are Christians. We are the ones who are delivered from the curse. They are not delivered from the curse. We are delivered, so he calls it a doctrine of demons “to abstain from meats, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by them that believe and know the truth” (3). See, if you know the truth, you can eat those meats because you’re free from the curse, if you know the truth. If you really believe what he’s saying, you can do this; it will have no bad effect upon you. He said they are “created to be received with thanksgiving.” God created them for that purpose for those who love the truth and know the truth. Only those. Those are the only people it won’t hurt.

These doctrines of demon teachers are going to tell you they’re not all good, that there are some of them you better stay away from and they take that from Old Testament doctrine about unclean meats. But what did those unclean meats signify? Remember that Peter saw the unclean animals coming down out of Heaven on a sheet (Acts 10:11,12) and God said, “rise, Peter; kill and eat (Act.10:13). (14) But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common and unclean. (15) And a voice [came] unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, make not thou common.” And God did this to Peter three times (Acts 10:16) to make sure he got the point. The sheet came down out of Heaven. God said, “What I make clean, don’t you make unclean.” Then three men showed up at his door, inviting him to come and preach the Gospel to the Gentiles (Acts 10:19). And when Peter went before the Gentiles, he said he perceived that they were acceptable to God (Acts 10:28) because of the revelation he had just received about the unclean animals. You see, men are beasts. Gentiles represent unclean animals in the Scriptures. We’re not to partake of unclean animals. You know what, if you listen to unclean people, to Gentiles, pagans, their thinking gets into you and, in a way, you’re eating what they’re saying. Jesus said you’re supposed to eat of His Body (John 6:51). His Body is clean. His Body represents the Word, right? He was the Word made flesh. If you eat His body, it goes into you and becomes you. It becomes a part of you. If you do that with an unclean person, you partake of their thinking, their word, it goes into you and it still becomes a part of you. So God said not to partake of these unclean people, whom the unclean animals represented. That’s the revelation that God gave to Peter.

(1Ti.4:4) For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be rejected…. Nothing. Because He said it’s good. If God said it’s good, it’s good: “What I make clean don’t you make unclean.” Remember what God said to Peter. “If I say it’s clean, it’s clean.” In fact, when the disciples were talking about eating of only certain things, Jesus said, “not that which entereth into the mouth defileth the man; but that which proceedeth out of the mouth, this defileth the man (Mat.15:11). (18) But the things which proceed out of the mouth come forth out of the heart; and they defile the man. (19) For out of the heart come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, railings: (20) these are the things which defile the man; but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not the man.” Out of his thinking are unclean thoughts. These defile man. It’s not what he eats. It’s not his unwashed hands. It’s not that. It’s what comes out of your mouth, what comes out of your thinking that defiles you. Worry about that. Don’t worry about eating pork, is what He’s saying here. (1Ti.4:4) For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be rejected, if it be received with thanksgiving: (5) for it is sanctified through the word of God and prayer. It is to be received with thanksgiving, for it is sanctified through the Word of God and prayer. “Sanctified” means “set apart unto God.” Can the world do that? No, they’re under the curse. They can’t do that. Jesus told the disciples, And into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you (Luk.10:8). Eat what is put before you. (3) Go your ways; behold, I send you forth as lambs in the midst of wolves. (7) And in that same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give: for the laborer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house. (8) And into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you. Boy, some missionaries wish he hadn’t put that in there. Eat what’s put before you. I’ve done that before. Somebody came over to eat at my house and I was playing with them, you know. I said, “The Bible says you have to eat what’s put before you.” And they ate it, too. They didn’t want to but they did. But God said it’s sanctified, set apart, and that means it can’t possibly be a curse unto you. It’s set apart from the curse unto God.

(1Ti.4:6) If thou put the brethren in mind of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished in the words of the faith, and of the good doctrine which thou hast followed [until now:] (7) but refuse profane and old wives’ fables…. And that’s what these rules of men are. “Don’t do this, don’t do that; take this and take this” and all that other garbage. That’s not God’s plan. That’s just like the insurance. That is going after other gods. That’s putting your trust in other things. You don’t need that. Where does our health come from? It comes from the fact that Jesus became cursed for us so that we could be blessed (Galatians 3:13,14). He bore the whole curse. If I’m blessed and He took all of my curse, then I have to be healthy. I have to be delivered. That’s where my faith should be. I am healthy. I don’t have to go looking for health by listening to a bunch of quacks who think this drug or this herb or this vitamin is going to heal or keep me. No, that’s just crazy and it’s just not Biblical. Our health comes from what Jesus did on the cross. In other words, it’s past tense. It’s something that you accept because of what happened, past tense. But people don’t believe that’s enough and so they think, “I have to do something else. The cross is not enough. We have to get our health. Jesus is not a good enough provider, so I’d better get insurance.” Stop and think about these things that we’re doing. We are trusting in false gods. It is offensive.

Insurance is common sense to the world, but look at how many times the very insurance is the thing that caused God to bring the curse. And everybody says, “Oh, praise God! Thank God I had that insurance!” No. The curse came because you have the insurance. Read here carefully and see if you get the point Jesus is making. (Mat.16:5) And the disciples came to the other side and forgot to take bread. They didn’t provide for themselves. (6) And Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. (7) And they reasoned among themselves, saying, We took no bread. (8) And Jesus perceiving it said, O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have no bread? (9) Do ye not yet perceive, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? (10) Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? I want you to do a little arithmetic in your mind here to figure this thing out. (11) How is it that ye do not perceive that I spake not to you concerning bread? But beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees? (12) Then understood they that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. See, before we look at this carefully, what was the teaching of the Pharisees and the Sadducees? Their teaching was the Law, salvation by works. In everything, salvation was by works to the people under the Law. Now, the disciples thought, “Well, we don’t have provision, we didn’t bring bread. We should have stored up some bread and brought it with us.” That was what they were thinking but Jesus wasn’t talking about that. He said, “Don’t you remember the five loaves of the 5000 and how many baskets you took up?” And that was 12. Remember, there were 5000 people to feed. They had five loaves to feed them and they took up after the miracle 12 baskets of leftovers. That’s a miracle, right? Jesus wants you to compare these two miracles. In the next miracle, He says, “the seven loaves of the 4000.” There were fewer people to feed and they started with more to feed them. They had seven loaves and the baskets they took up were only seven.

In other words, when they put in more, God put in less and there was less left over. Jesus is saying to the disciples, “Look at these two miracles carefully. Don’t you remember? When you didn’t put in, God made a bigger miracle. When you put in, God made a lesser miracle and there was less left over. Understand the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Their problem is, they think it’s by their own strength.” And that’s how the Law worked, by the way. God just gave them the Law and said, “Okay, you keep it or else.” It was only by their strength. The strength of the Law was the individual’s own strength. But what Jesus was saying is, “Don’t worry because you didn’t bring bread. God’s still here. This is not the problem. Don’t you understand? Don’t you remember what happened?” Look, when you put in less, God puts in more. The less that you have to put in, the more God puts in to show you that it was Him. But the more you put in, the less God puts in. It’s that way in everything. The more of self that goes into something, the less of God is going to be there. We must decrease so that He may increase. Remember John the Baptist? (Joh.3:30) He must increase, but I must decrease. That’s the truth. That’s for all of us. The more we decrease, the more God will increase.

Remember what God wants. God wants it to be by grace – unmerited and unearned, not of your wisdom. He wants every bit of salvation to be of grace (Ephesians 2:8). God is not dealing with us the way He deals with the world. Don’t look at the world and think that’s the way God wants to deal with you. He’s not going to do it. It’s totally different. He wants all of our salvation, deliverance, prosperity and blessing to come by grace. We can’t pay for it. It has to come freely. It has to come because of the promise of God. God’s going to deal differently with us. He’s called us out of this world (1 Peter 2:9) and He’s dealing differently with us. When this life is over, we’re going to see how great God is and how little we are. This is the whole point. (Rom.4:4) Now, to him that worketh, the reward is not reckoned as of grace, but as of debt. See, if you could earn it, God would owe it, but God will not permit that. Think about it again now. “To him that worketh, the reward is not reckoned.” In other words, your works, right? “To him that worketh, the reward is not reckoned as of grace.” This is a salvation that would not be a salvation by grace. “To him that worketh, the reward is not reckoned as of grace, but as of debt.” You’d be making your way to Heaven and God would owe it to you. Think that’s ever going to be possible? It’s not possible. He’s sovereign and He’s not going to permit it. Your own works will never save you.

Even where God permits the world’s works to save them, He won’t permit your works to save you. He’s dealing differently with you than with them. He’s saying you’re going to be saved by grace or you’re not going to be saved. (5) But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is reckoned for righteousness. You see, God calls a person righteous because they walk by faith. (17) (As it is written, A father of many nations have I made thee) before him whom he believed, [even] God, who giveth life to the dead, and calleth the things that are not, as though they were. (18) Who in hope believed against hope, to the end that he might become a father of many nations…. See, it looked hopeless. God made a promise and then He waited 40 more years until Abraham and Sarah were ancient, to where it couldn’t possibly come to pass. God waited until it couldn’t possibly come to pass because, if He were to have done it right there, everybody would have said, “Oh, it’s possible; maybe Abraham did that.” No. God waited until Abraham couldn’t do that and then God brought it to pass to prove it was Him. He wanted all the credit. In our circumstance, it may also become more and more impossible. Don’t lose faith, because the more impossible it gets, the more possible it is for God. Why? Because you’re getting into a position of weakness and when you’re in the position of weakness, that’s what God likes. It’s where He wants you to be. It’s where He gets all the credit for the miracle. It makes Him greater in the eyes of the world when the happening comes. (18) Who in hope believed against hope, to the end that he might become a father of many nations, according to that which had been spoken, So shall thy seed be. (19) And without being weakened in faith he considered his own body now as good as dead (he being about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb; (20) yet, looking unto the promise of God, he wavered not through unbelief, but waxed strong through faith, giving glory to God, (21) and being fully assured that what he had promised, he was able also to perform. Now, there was one time when Abraham and Sarah decided to have a little insurance (Genesis 16) and God permitted them to do that but, ultimately, it brought a great curse upon his seed.

God’s plan and what He is doing is so wonderful. You should have more courage and more faith when things get impossible than when they’re not because every time in the Bible, that’s where they were when the miracle came. You should be so encouraged when you see the odds against you, so to speak, as the world calls it, because that’s when they’re in your favor. When the odds are against you, that’s when they’re in your favor.

You know, back when I was in the world I had a deficiency that was passed on to me from my daddy. His daddy and all of my folks had this really bad sinus problem. And my daddy used to pack around this bottle of Neosynephrine. It opened up the sinuses and he carried it year-round. Growing up, I had the same problem. My sinuses were continually closed up on me and so I used that stuff to open up my head, but eventually it will eat the lining right out of your nose, and then I would have to use it even more. Well, when I saw that Jesus healed me at the cross, I threw that bottle down and my nose hasn’t stopped up to this day. That’s been over 20 years ago. My nose was stopped up every day of my life before that. When I threw that bottle out by faith, I got such a healing that my nostrils together haven’t stopped up to this day. And I’ve had colds. I’ve had bad colds, but my nostrils haven’t stopped up. When I threw that bottle out, that honored God so much that He just took it out and I had had a natural problem with colds and sinuses, chest congestion, all that. The doctors gave me so much penicillin that it wasn’t doing me any more good. Then I caught on to vitamin C and I started taking that vitamin C and, let me tell you, it did twice the good that the drugs and Neosynephrine had done. It did more good opening up my chest, my colds – it did all that. So I saw it did so much more good than the shots, medicine and stuff, but you know what? When I found out what Jesus did for me, I stopped taking vitamin C and I got deliverance from the whole curse of colds, congestion and sinuses. And even though the vitamin C worked better than the drugs because my system totally just was ignoring them by that point, I threw the vitamin C out, too. It was like, when I’d get a cold and we’d have orange juice in the ice box, God would say, “Don’t drink any of that; just totally avoid it.” He wanted to prove to me that the deliverance that I was getting was from Him; it didn’t have anything to do with vitamin C and, listen, I got delivered of something I had all of my life. It was so bad that the infection would get in between my ears, then my ear drums would burst and I had fluid draining out of my ears. When God delivered me, I had to throw out the Neosynephrine and I had to throw out the drugs and I had to throw out the vitamin C, and I got total deliverance from that. That is not a problem that I have anymore.

CHAPTER FOUR

True Faith Looks Back

We can’t look at one another and see what it is to walk by faith. Yes, we can pick up parts of walking by faith by looking at one another, but we need to get an image of what God’s faith is. Look at Mark 11:22. Most versions read, “And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.” But in the original version, it says, “Have God’s faith” and the Numeric Bible says that, too. You know, I thought about that and I felt like the Lord told me that God’s faith is not the faith of man in God, but the faith of God inside of man. It’s hard for us to work up enough faith in God, but it’s our right and our privilege from the Scriptures to have God’s faith in us, which is what salvation is all about. (Php.2:13) For it is God who worketh in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure. And you know it’s our right because that’s what Jesus did. He made reconciliation.

Reconciliation is an exchange. Jesus took our unbelief, He put it on the cross and He gave us His faith. You have to reckon yourself to be dead unto sin (Romans 6:11). Self is the unbeliever. Do you know your spiritual man does not have the ability to walk in unbelief? He is born again. He’s born of God. The problem is our old carnal man gets in the way. From the time we are children, our carnal man is being trained to be our savior, to be a grown-up, but Jesus taught us that we have to become as children or we won’t enter into the Kingdom. Now, we know that we’re entering into the Kingdom because Jesus said “the kingdom of God is within you” (Luk.17:21) and some translations have “among you” instead of “within you.” So we are entering into the Kingdom but we can’t enter into the Kingdom without being a child, according to what Jesus said. And that means we are weak. That’s not a grownup, right? The qualities that the world calls “grown-up” are not considered to be qualities in the Kingdom of Heaven. Casting all our cares upon Him (1 Peter 5:7) and putting our total trust in Him to be our supplier (Genesis 17:1), our Savior (Ephesians 5:23), our Healer (Exodus 15:26) – these things please God. (Heb.11:6) Without faith it is impossible to be well-pleasing [unto him]; for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and [that] he is a rewarder of them that seek after him. So what we need is what He says in Mark 11:22. We need God’s faith in us; we need to “have God’s faith.”

You know, when you get a picture of Jesus, you may get a picture of a faith that you don’t have, that you don’t have by manifestation. Let me say that you can have that faith. The Bible says, We all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory…. (2Co.3:18). You have to see it as an accomplished fact. You have to see the fact that Jesus has already given you everything that He is and that includes His faith (Romans 5:10,11). And that’s the way faith works. It calls the end from the beginning. It calleth the things that are not, as though they were (Rom.4:17). When we look in the mirror and we see Jesus, the Bible promises us that we’ll be transformed into that image, from glory to glory, so we need to get a picture of His faith because that’s our faith. It is the faith of God inside of man, not the faith of man in God, because man, the carnal man, has no ability to walk in faith. We try, we try, we try to work faith up in ourselves and that is the faith of man in God. But the faith of God inside of man is the Father’s gift given to us by grace. It’s by grace we are drawn to the Father; that’s His gift given to us. And He will keep us in the same faith that He put in us to cause us to come to Him at the beginning, if we walk in faith and He’s given us that. He’s given us the faith that we need. He’s given “us all things that pertain unto life and godliness” (2Pe.1:3). He’s given us all things. His divine power hath granted unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness (3) and faith is the victory that overcomes the world (1 John 5:4).

(Eph.2:8) For by grace have ye been saved through faith…. “Have you been saved” is what it says in the original and that’s what the Numeric says and that’s what the Nestles Text says. I believe the Received Text says that, too. “By grace have ye been saved through faith.” And, by the way, if it’s not that you’ve been saved, then it’s not by faith, because faith always looks back. Faith believes you have received. It’s always past tense. Hope is future tense. Hope is looking forward to something, confident that you will receive something, a firm expectation. Strong’s says the Greek word elpis, meaning “hope,” is “a favorable or confident expectation.” But faith is not looking forward to anything; faith is looking back at something. It’s something that you have already received. It’s calling “the things that are not, as though they were” (Rom.4:17). So whatever salvation is, whatever salvation incorporates, it comes by grace through faith and it comes by looking back. And since our salvation is past tense, it makes being weak of primary importance. If you obey the Word of God, if you obey the principles of Jesus, you will be weak in yourself. You will cease from your struggling to save yourself in situations; you will enter into the sabbath and cease from your works so that God can do His.

Some time back, I ran into this one woman over in Louisiana and she had been to who’s-who in the healing circuit. She had gone to everybody. She had two very large, inoperable tumors and she gave me a list of all the people she had gone to. She said, “David, I just don’t understand why I haven’t been healed.” And I said, “Well, I believe the reason just came out of your mouth as to why you haven’t been healed. You know, you’re looking forward to healing and the Bible teaches us to look back at healing, for by His stripes you were healed.” (1 Peter 2:24) Faith is always in the past. The sacrifice of Jesus was at the beginning of this Testament so that we would always look back and accept what was done there, accept it as ours, because it is past tense. If we accept it as past tense and done, then it causes us to be weak because it causes us to cease from our works and enter into the sabbath rest. If you believe it’s done, then you don’t have to work it out, you don’t have to keep working, working, working to try to bring it to pass. If it’s in the future, you’ll never know what method God wants to use to bring it to pass, but since it’s in the past, you can accept it as a free gift. (Eph.2:8) For by grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, [it is] the gift of God; (9) not of works, that no man should glory. (10) For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works…. So we do have works to do, only they’re not our works, they’re the works of God.

Whatever God’s work is between here and the manifestation, our work is to believe what the Bible says and the Bible says, “by whose stripes ye were healed” (1Pe.2:24). We should never be moved away from that by any kind of reason that would say, “Maybe not, maybe not in this case,” because we’ll never be able to have faith if we’re not convinced that what the Bible says is true about our healing. See, Jesus came to reveal the Will of the Father and He did that by healing every one who came to Him. Our problem is we can’t come to Jesus physically and touch Him, but we can all come to Him by faith. We can confess our sins that we may be healed. (Jas.5:16) Confess therefore your sins one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. We can get things out of the way. We have the ability to get things out of the way that are in the way. So we confess our sins that we may be healed, as the Bible says, and then we can “touch” Jesus by faith. He healed everyone who came to Him. He came to show us the way and to be an example.

Everybody who came to Jesus was healed, so why isn’t everybody healed today? The number one reason is that it’s not being taught that by His stripes you were healed (1 Peter 2:24). You, as a Christian, were healed. This is not something you have to look forward to. That’s hope. See, that’s the problem with many Christians – they’re looking forward to something that they need to be looking back to. We were healed. Not one of us, not two of us. All of us were healed. How do we enter into that? We enter into that by ceasing from our own thinking and our own reasoning and our own thoughts, and saying, “God, I repent. Your Word is true.” What does it mean to “repent”? It means to “change your mind.” The Word is true. If it says by His stripes you were healed, then change your mind; you were healed.

What we need to understand here is this word “salvation” or sozo. The Scripture says, “for by grace have ye been saved through faith” (Eph.2:8). Now, I point out to you that faith is past tense. It’s always believing for something that you’ve received. When you pray, believe you have received and you shall have it (Mark 11:23,24). That’s the way that faith works. That identifies how our salvation is going to come, our sozo, our “saved” is going to come. Grace is another thing that identifies God’s method for bringing you sozo, “salvation,” “saved.” Let’s look carefully at this example. (Rom.4:4) Now to him that worketh, the reward is not reckoned as of grace, but as of debt. It says, if it’s grace, it’s not your works. If it’s grace, you have to cease from your works. See, many people are seeking healing because they have hope. Many people are seeking deliverance because they have hope, but hope will not get you healing and deliverance. Faith will. If you have to work for it, if you have to pay for it, if you have to earn it, it’s not something that’s coming through grace because “grace” is “unmerited favor.” Much of the church is caught up in their own works. They say, “You’re not saved by your works,” but they believe that only refers to their soul. When the Bible talks about salvation in other areas, when it talks about “deliverance” or sozo in other areas, “saved” in other areas, it’s, “Oh, well, let’s get back to our works because now God does it this way.” So he says here, “To him that worketh, the reward is not reckoned as of grace, but as of debt.” In other words, God would owe it to you, if you could work it up in yourself. But it’s not grace, if you have to work for it because God would owe it to you. It would be a debt. He refuses to cooperate with you in that. If you like, you can work for it and call it God’s salvation, but that’s not God. (5) But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is reckoned for righteousness. But to him that worketh not…. Grace comes “to him that worketh not.” Here’s another example. (Rom.11:6) But if it is by grace, it is no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. Whatever salvation is, salvation is very big. It’s much bigger than your soul going to Heaven when you die. It’s much bigger than that. Salvation is here and now. Salvation covers everything that Jesus did on the cross. It covers everything that has to do with the curse of sin and of death. We’ve been delivered from the curse of sin and of death (Romans 8:2), and that’s what salvation is all about. But if any part of that salvation is by works, then that’s not salvation through grace.

Do you know that there are deliverances out there that are not God’s method for His people? There are salvations out there that are not God’s method for His people. The world would just love to save you from Christ’s salvation. The world always wants to be your savior. The arm of the flesh always wants to be your savior. “Let me do it my way, Lord. I know how to take care of myself. I’ll do it.” There are ways of deliverance out there that don’t cause us to grow closer to God, nor do they cause us to manifest Christ, nor do they cause us to grow in faith. And they are salvations that are of the world. When the children of Israel were brought out into the wilderness, they wanted to run back to Egypt for their salvation (Exodus 16:3). “Let’s go back to the flesh-pots.” God said, “No, you stay in the wilderness. Your salvation is coming out of Heaven.” But they continued to murmur. “Well, we would rather have Egypt’s salvation; it’s easier on the flesh; it’s not so much of a trial. Let’s go back to Egypt.” Every time the Israelites got into a tight spot, every time they lacked water, or food, or whatever, God put them in that spot. He brought them there and He put them there so that they would come to the end of themselves and put their trust in Him.

Instead, they kept crying, “Let’s go back and get Egypt’s salvation.” Egypt had a salvation. Do you know the world has a salvation for you? It has a deliverance for you, but it’s not an eternal deliverance and the end is always a curse. The Bible says cursed is he who trusts in the arm of the flesh (Jeremiah 17:5). Let me tell you that, in some way, maybe you don’t see it, but in some way, whenever the world saves you, there’s always a curse in it. Maybe you don’t see it yet, but there’s one there. When Christ saves you, it is eternal. It causes you to grow in faith. It causes you to grow in manifesting Him. It’s an affront to Him to think that you can pay for them. You remember when Peter and John were praying for people and they were receiving the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:15,17), that Simon the magician also received the Holy Spirit but he wanted to pay Peter and John for this ability. (Act.8:20) But Peter said unto him, Thy silver perish with thee, because thou hast thought to obtain the gift of God with money. (21) Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right before God. Simon wanted this gift to be able to lay hands on people to impart the Holy Spirit. That’s all he wanted but we need to see that the principle here covers a lot more than just this gift of imparting the Holy Spirit. Peter said, “Thy silver perish with thee, because thou hast thought to obtain the gift of God with money”; in other words, it’s not something that you earn or something that you pay for.

The gift of God doesn’t come through your ability, nor does it come through your earning it. You cannot pay for it. It has to be free. Do you know what happens when you go and pay for the world’s salvation and call that God? Because it’s not God, it’s Egypt. It’s going back to Egypt. You get an answer and you grow, too, but you grow in the world, you don’t grow in God. You see, the Lord explained something to me about the image of the beast and that is that the image of the beast is being manifested in this world right now. I’m not going to deny what anybody else has to say about the image of the beast in the future, but the Bible says that Christ was the image of God (Hebrews 1:3) and that His body is made up of saviors. The Bible even says, “and saviors shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau” (Oba.21). “Saviors” plural. God’s body is made up of people (1 Corinthians 12:27) whom He has gifted in different gifts (1 Corinthians 12,13,14) to enable them to do the work of Jesus in this earth, works that Jesus wanted done of deliverance, of saving, of healing, of providing. But, you know what? First of all, God’s administering these gifts; He’s ministering these gifts through Spirit-filled believers. Don’t twist the Word, as many Christians do, and say, “Well, now God administers these gifts through pagans.” No. Not so. Although God can give you many gifts through pagans and although the Holy Spirit does not have to go through a man, these particular gifts He’s talking about only come through Spirit-filled believers. None of these gifts can be bought. If you go and buy, if you have to go and pay for something that you call “God’s salvation,” it’s not grace and faith. Grace and faith cause you to be weak, cause you to cease from your trusting in Egypt and in the ways of the world. God’s gift is free. You can’t pay for it, you can’t earn it, you can’t be good enough for it; it’s free. It comes by faith. Faith is believing you have received. You know, when you believe you have received, it causes you to stop from seeking. Stop and think about it. If you believe you have received healing, are you going to keep running after it? No, because it cuts off the works and the methods of men. Faith always cuts off the works and the methods of men. When you believe you have received, you can rest, you can cease from your works, you can enter into rest. Everything can come from God that way. Everything will come from God that way. It’s the most perfect way to receive from God.

You say, “Well, doesn’t God keep Egypt going?” Sure He does, but God wants Egypt for the Egyptians. God has planned the wilderness for Christians. Does God give strength to Egypt to keep running? Of course. (Act.17:28) For in him we live, and move, and have our being…. He gives you your very breath. The world gets its breath from God but the world is not God’s method for Christians. God’s method for Christians is receiving everything that comes from Christ through grace and faith. That’s His method. It is offensive to God to think that you would want to buy from Him any gift that He wants to give you. He wants it to be a gift. He has chosen it to be a gift. (Eph.2:8) For by grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, [it is] the gift of God. Note the word translated “saved” here is the word sozo. “For by grace have ye been saved.” Sozo. That word is used over and over in the Scriptures. If we can find the places where this word is used, then every place this word is used it should come by grace through faith. That means not of your works, a free gift of God, exercising faith in God. That’s what pure faith is. That is what God’s faith in man is, you see. The other is not real faith.

I want to give you an example of what salvation encompasses, one probably every Christian would agree on. This was the sinful woman who anointed Jesus and Jesus pronounced her forgiveness of sins. (Luk.7:47) Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, [the same] loveth little. (48) And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven. (49) And they that sat at meat with him began to say within themselves, Who is this that even forgiveth sins? (50) And he said unto the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace. Now I believe everybody who is a Christian would agree with me that forgiveness of sins is salvation and it comes by grace through faith. As we look at some of the other places where the same word, sozo, is used, you may question whether that salvation still comes by grace through faith, but I can assure you, any kind of salvation that comes from God is a free gift that comes by grace through faith. Wherever this word is used, it fits into Ephesians 2:8. Everywhere this word is used, it fits in there, no matter what we identify as being this salvation.

I once asked a Greek man, who spoke Greek as his native language, “What does the word soteria mean to you?” Soteria is the noun of sozo in the Greek and is the word in the Scriptures for “salvation.” He said, “Well, it means to us Greeks, ‘all of your needs supplied like a little baby; all of your needs supplied.’” See, we have such a narrow, narrow idea of what salvation is. Most of the churches that we’ve been raised in have taught us that salvation is getting to go to Heaven when this life is over. But when we look at that word and we identify it in the Scriptures, we find out it’s very big, very broad and that every bit of it is incorporated in these promises concerning being saved. (Eph.2:8) For by grace have ye been saved through faith…. This woman was saved by grace through faith. This was where her sozo came from. All her needs supplied like a little baby. A little baby needs his needs supplied. We have to come as a child to Jesus in need of our needs being supplied.

Grownups are used to going out and supplying their own needs; they’re used to taking care of themselves, but God desires this sozo kind of relationship with us. He desires that we would keep the sabbath, cease from our works, enter into the rest through faith in the promises of God, as the Bible says. (2Co.7:1) Having therefore these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Now, that’s a broad promise, but that’s how big salvation is – very, very big. Let me give you another example of this word sozo and let’s see if “by grace have you been saved through faith” still applies. This is the story of the 10 lepers. Remember the one leper who returned and gave glory to God (Luke 17:15)? Here’s what Jesus told him. (Luk.17:19) And he said unto him, Arise, and go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole. And the word for “made thee whole” here is the word sozo, “saved.” “Thy faith hath made thee whole.” What that leper received from God you can only get one way, if you’re going to get it in the wilderness and not in Egypt. Sometimes there is a salvation in Egypt but, just like the mark of the beast, there are two marks. There is a mark of the beast and there is the mark of God.

In Exodus 13:16, it talks about the mark of God in the forehead and on the back of the hand, and the mark of God was to have the Word of God. The Israelites would write the Word of God, put them in these little boxes and then they’d tie them right across their forehead and put them on the back of their hand (Deuteronomy 11:18). But, guess what? The corresponding verse in Revelation 13:16 is talking about the mark of the beast. So, if it’s the Word of God being manifested in your mind and in your works, that’s the mark of God. In contrast, the mark of the beast can be the word of the flesh, the word of the devil, the word of the world, the thinking of the world being manifest, the mind of flesh being manifested in your mind and in your works. That might be just a spiritual revelation of it, but accept it because it’s still Scriptural. See, if we walk after our own thinking and after our own works, it’s because we’re trusting in our own ability. We’re not walking by faith in Jesus. We’re not being renewed by the Word of God. Your mind is not being renewed by the Word of God. You walk as a beast. I don’t care if you walk in church, you still walk as a beast, if you walk after the mind of the flesh and if your salvation comes from the world. So we have the image of the beast being manifested in the world, while the image of Christ is being manifested in the Church. Christ’s body is made up of people, each of whom has been given gifts to serve the rest of the body. Do you know the world is made up the same way? Jesus said there are only two men in the earth (Matthew 24:40) – there’s Christ and there’s antichrist. The world works the same way. The only difference is the saviors who make up the image of the beast want to save you from Christ’s salvation, and Christ wants to save you from their salvation. He has a salvation that is free. Theirs is not free; theirs is very costly.

God has a better way. Jesus had a better way. He showed it to us in the Gospels. What Jesus gave in His provision was free; it didn’t come through the works of man, the ability of man, the money of man. When you have to pay for it, believe me, that’s not salvation by grace through faith. This leper found that out. What did he have to pay for this sozo? He received a sozo that came by grace through faith. You know, a third example can be found in the story of the blind man. (18:38) And he cried, saying, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. (40) And Jesus stood, and commanded him to be brought unto him: and when he was come near, he asked him, (41) What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? And he said, Lord, that I may receive my sight. (42) And Jesus said unto him, Receive thy sight: thy faith hath made thee whole. Sozo, “saved.” “Thy faith hath saved thee.” That’s what He’s talking about that saves you. Salvation covers healing and it’s always covered healing, even in the Old Testament. The word right here is sozo. It’s “saved.” The leper was “saved” of his leprosy. The blind man was “saved” of his blindness. See, they’ve translated the same word different ways. They’ve translated it “saved,” they’ve translated it “made whole,” but the original word is still only one word; it’s the same word. I have the three most ancient manuscripts and it’s the word sozo. Sozo is the word in the Scriptures for “saved.” Everywhere Scripture uses the word “saved” in talking about our eternal salvation, it’s the word sozo. And now we see it’s also used for healing, which tells us that healing is involved. Remember what Jesus came to deliver us from. We are saved from the curse of sin and of death (Romans 8:2). Sin brought death. What was incorporated in death? Sickness, disease, everything else was incorporated in death.

Our salvation is double, it’s dual. It saves us from not only the sin, but it saves us from the penalty for sin. What is the penalty for sin? The curse. At Deuteronomy 28, God expounded the penalty for sin and He gave us the curse there. When you go back and read it, you’ll find out that the curse covers not only sickness, but everything detrimental that ever happened to man because of his sin. Everything that came against man from the beginning because of his sin is a part of the curse. And you know what? Jesus became accursed for us that we might have Abraham’s blessings. He became a curse on that cross. Everybody who’s put on a cross is accursed (Galatians 3:13). What Jesus bore was not only the sin, it was the curse for that sin. Why would God say, “I’m going to take away your sin,” but not take away the curse? So now we see this word sozo covers all of that. It covers not only the sin, but also the curse. We’ve just looked at three people who were delivered of the curse of sin and they were delivered of it because it was by grace through faith. Let me give you yet another example to show you the difference between God’s salvation and the world’s salvation. Let’s not change the Scriptures. What we see in Jesus is still the truth. He’s the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8). He is our Salvation. What He did was to prove to us what He wanted to do. What He did in the Gospels, He does today to everybody who believes. You know, the Gospel is the power of God to save everyone who believes (Romans 1:16). What’s the Gospel? It’s the Good News. It’s the promises of God. And it doesn’t matter if you’re a “Christian.” What matters is, are you a believer? Do you believe what the Gospel says?

There are Christians who are unbelieving Christians because they only believe what they want to believe. We have to believe in a Jesus of the Bible and that He really is the same yesterday, today and forever. You know that Jesus still heals everybody who comes to Him. Let’s not make another Jesus. Paul talked about those who would come to you with another Jesus. No, we don’t need another Jesus. We need this Jesus. The problem is not with God. People blame the problem on God. The problem is not with God because God has already healed you. It’s not a matter of God deciding whom He’s going to heal and whom He’s not going to heal. That’s not what the Bible says. The Bible says that by His stripes you were healed (1 Peter 2:24). He doesn’t have to make this decision. This decision is your decision. (Rom.1:16) For I am not ashamed of the gospel: for it is the power of God unto salvation (soteria) to every one that believeth…. Look, the condition is on you believing. The condition is not on whether God wants to heal you. The Bible says all of the promises of God are “yes” (2 Corinthians 1:20). Don’t believe the people who say, “Sometimes it’s ‘no.’” No, all the promises of God are “yes” and through him is the Amen (2Co.1:20). That means “the so be it.” That means it will come to pass. Through Him it will come to pass. What we have to do is renew our mind and get back to a Jesus Who’s the real Jesus. The real Jesus of salvation covers your body and your circumstances.

Now let’s look at this example. (Luk.8:43) And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, who had spent all her living upon physicians…. You know what? She was trying to buy salvation here. She was trying to buy sozo. The word “saved” is used in this text. She was trying to buy it. This is not God’s method for you to receive it. God’s method for you to receive this comes the same way as it did in the Scriptures, through the laying on of hands (Mark 16:18) and the confession of faith (Romans 10:10). That’s His method. You know why? Because it excludes all of man’s glorying in it. Nobody but God can take credit when you do it God’s way. (Jas.5:14) Is any among you sick? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: (15) and the prayer of faith shall save him that is sick, and the Lord shall raise him up … This doesn’t say it “would” or it “might”; this says it “shall” raise them up. The Bible says if any two of you agree as touching anything, it shall be done (Matthew 18:19) and I consider that to mean the person being prayed for and the person doing the praying. That’s two, right? Let’s continue with our example. (Luk.8:43) And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, who had spent all her living upon physicians, and could not be healed of any. Some of you have been there. I’ve been there, too, only to find out that God gave it freely when I gave up. God gave it freely. Look at what the story says in Mark. (Mar.5:25) And a woman, who had an issue of blood twelve years, (26) and had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse … I just wanted to point that out to you that she spent all that she had. She came to the end of herself. I’ve been there and, you know what? You can start out there. You don’t have to try everything but God. You can start out with God. God is faithful. He is faithful that promised (Hebrews 10:23). He will not fail you.

There is no “maybe,” folks. You can’t exercise faith if you think, “Maybe God will, maybe He won’t.” The Bible doesn’t say “maybe” He will, “maybe” He won’t. It says He’s already done it. When this woman was healed, it didn’t have anything to do with Jesus’ faith because she came up and touched Him but Jesus didn’t know it until after it was all over. I do want to make a point here, though. This salvation that she had been looking for was not sozo because it was not grace through faith. It was not. Why? Because if it’s grace, it’s no more works. If it’s a gift of God, you can’t pay for it. And if it’s faith, it’s past tense. She was looking for it in the future. She sought to receive it. But if it’s faith, she was looking the wrong way, just like this lady I told you about who had those two tumors. I told her, “Turn around and look the other way; you’re looking the wrong way.” That’s when God gave this to me, this thought of “You’re looking the wrong way. Turn around and look at the cross.” Back when the serpent on the pole was raised up in the wilderness, everybody who got their eyes on that serpent on the pole was healed (Numbers 21:9). You had to get your eyes off the snake bite and on the serpent on the pole to be healed. I told her, “Turn around and look at the cross. That’s where your healing happened. You’re looking in the future.” Tomorrow never comes. Faith never works that way. Faith believes that you have received (Mark 11:24). Faith turns around and looks back at the cross because the Bible says by His stripes you were healed (1 Peter 2:24). It’s certain. Your healing is certain. It is accomplished at the cross. Reconciliation was accomplished (Colossians 1:20). What is that? Exchange. You know what Jesus gave you at the cross? He gave you His healthy body and He took your old, unhealthy one. He gave you His clean, pure soul and He took your old, unclean one. He gave you His righteousness and His blessings, and He took away your unrighteousness and your cursings. The exchange was made. This is how faith works. (2Co.5:17) Wherefore if any man is in Christ, [he is] a new creature: the old things are passed away; behold, they are become new. Now our old things have become new. What are we? New creations. New creatures in Christ. This is how faith works.

CHAPTER FIVE

Confess and Believe

Faith sees the end from the beginning and faith accepts it and holds it and grasps it. That’s why this particular method is God’s method. You ask, “Can God do it?” Sure. God keeps all the Egyptians alive until they come to know Jesus. Do you understand that when we come out of Egypt and go into the wilderness, we still need “Egyptology” to come out of us? Of course. When we come out of Egypt and go into the wilderness, we need to be delivered of Egypt. I’m not talking Law here, I’m talking about a privilege. It is our privilege to accept our salvation in Jesus Christ as an accomplished fact and what I’m telling you is just how big the salvation is.

(Luk.8:43) And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, who had spent all her living upon physicians, and could not be healed of any, (44) came behind him, and touched the border of his garment: and immediately the issue of her blood stanched. (45) And Jesus said, Who is it that touched me? And when all denied, Peter said, and they that were with him, Master, the multitudes press thee and crush [thee]. (46) But Jesus said, Some one did touch me; for I perceived that power had gone forth from me. By the way, I know the King James says “virtue” here, but the word is “power,” it’s dunamis. In fact, the King James does translate it “power” in other places in the Bible, like over in Luke 10:19. The word “power” there is the word dunamis. So it was power that came out of Jesus, but if it was power that came out of Jesus, it didn’t have anything to do with His faith. In this particular case, all that was necessary was for this woman to touch Him by faith. It wasn’t a matter of Jesus making up His mind whether to heal this woman or not. Jesus never turned anybody away anyway and He’s not going to tell you “no.” In fact, if there’s a “no,” the “no” is going to be in you, it’s not going to be in Him. The problem with us is we listen to the devil, we listen to the flesh. We don’t listen to the Bible. Confess your sins and believe. That’s all you have to do. Now, if you have a willful disobedience in your life, it will come between you and healing because you’re not going to have faith toward God. The Bible says, “if our heart condemn us not, we have boldness toward God” (1Jn.3:21). That’s why you have to confess your sins to get them out of your way. But Jesus always said, “Yes.” Do you think that there were some of those people who came to Jesus who needed something worked out in their life? I guarantee you that all of those people who came to Jesus had something that needed working out in their lives, but that didn’t stop Jesus from healing.

You know what did stop Jesus from healing some? When He went to His own home town, their unbelief stopped Him. He could not. It doesn’t say he would not. (Mat.13:58) And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief. Now, we need to have the faith of God in us. This salvation has been accomplished. It’s not a matter of you asking Him to accomplish it; “it is finished” (Joh.19:30). I have overcome the world (16:33). This is not a matter of Jesus doing something in the future. Ask Him, “Will You do it?” He’ll tell you just what the Bible says. “I did it.” He won’t say, “I will do it.” He never says that. The Bible doesn’t say that. He’s going to agree with the Word. He’s not going to tell you something contrary to the Word. I knew a man one time who was asking God to heal his wife of cancer and God told him, “She’s healed.” You know what? His wife died. He was sure God told him that she was healed and He was angry with God. I said, “Bud, God told you exactly what the Bible says. He’s not going to disagree with His Word. The problem is, do you agree with His Word? He’s going to tell you to believe the Bible every time. He’s going to tell you, ‘You are healed.’ By his stripes you were healed. What else is He going to say? Are you going to ask Him to tell you something besides what the Bible says? He’s only going to tell you what the Bible says.”

I know calling “the things that are not, as though they were” (Rom.4:17) appears like a lie to the world, but it’s not a lie because you’re in agreement with the Scriptures. You’re in agreement with God Almighty, the One Who does not dwell in time and what He says goes. (3:4) … Let God be found true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy words, And mightest prevail when thou comest into judgment. You know what you need when you come into judgment? When you come under the judgment of the curse, what you need is justification. Justification is God calling you righteous. And He calls you righteous when you come under the curse, if you agree with the Bible concerning what Jesus did about the curse. Can you agree with the Bible about what Jesus did? Let me tell you what He did. He became accursed for you so that you could have the blessings of Abraham. (Isa.53:5) But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. Do you agree with the Bible? See, if you’re not agreeing with the Bible, you’re going to consider, “Well, I need this.” Or, “I’ll have to handle it. The crucifixion of Jesus was not enough, I’ll have to handle a little bit of it myself.” The worldly teachers are going to convince you of that and you will be a double-minded person because you are not agreeing with God’s Word. Jesus only preached to those people who had eyes to see and ears to hear (Matthew 13:9-11). He wasn’t talking about the physical ones. They all had them. He was talking about spiritual eyes. (2Pe.1:3) Seeing that his divine power hath granted unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness…. Do you see that? Do you see with your spiritual eyes that God has already given you everything that pertains unto life? It’s not a matter of Him accomplishing it. He did that almost 2000 years ago. Now the problem is, are you going to agree with Him? Two can’t walk together except they be agreed (Amos 3:3). You can’t walk with Jesus except to the extent you agree with Him.

Now, how are you going to agree with Him? I told Bud, “The Lord told you what the Bible says. The problem is you didn’t believe in it. You were waiting to see something. That is not the way faith works. Faith accepts it as a fact before seeing it. If you walk by faith, you’ll see it, but if you walk by sight, you’ll never see it because that’s not the way it works. That’s not faith. Faith is looking back at the cross.” And, of course, Bud was angry at God because God didn’t do what He said He was going to do. But it wasn’t God’s fault. See, we enter into the Covenant. The Bible says that the Gospel “is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth” (Rom.1:16). Listen, the power of God has already accomplished. What He’s done is already accomplished. What’s the other part? You enter into that Covenant by your faith. That’s what brings it to pass. God’s part is sure, it is finished and it is final, and now we enter into our part of it by faith. That’s our part of keeping the Covenant. When the disciples asked Jesus, “what must we do, that we may work the works of God?” (Joh.6:28), He said just one thing: “believe on him whom he hath sent” (29). All we have to do to do the works of God, whatever they are, is “believe on him whom he hath sent.”

Does everybody have to die under the curse? Does everybody have to leave this life under the curse? The world has taken for granted that you’re going to die of something. Do you have to die under the curse or can you keep believing all the way up to the end, until you leave this life? Has everybody died of the curse? No, they did not. In fact, I have some books describing people who died on their death beds and there was absolutely no pain in their body and they couldn’t find anything wrong with them; they just went to be with the Lord. This is not to condemn the ones who do die, but we have to get our sight and our vision on Jesus. You can’t go somewhere that you can’t see, you know. If you can see Jesus in the mirror, you can go there; the Bible says you can. Of course, everybody’s not going to go there to the same amount. Look, one person received one talent, another two and another five (Matthew 25:14-30). Everybody doesn’t get the same gift. Everybody doesn’t manifest the same fruit, do they? There’s 30-, 60- and 100-fold fruit (Matthew 13:8,23).

Do you want to enter into only what you see other people entering into or do you want to enter into everything that God has for you? That’s the point. We’re supposed to be looking at Jesus, not looking at our neighbor. Who cares what they enter into? Get your eyes on Jesus. He’ll show you what you can enter into. God is going to do a special thing in these days. Did you know that He’s going to do something He’s never done before? The Bible says He’s coming “to be glorified in his saints, and to be marvelled at in all them that believed (because our testimony unto you was believed) in that day” (2Th.1:10). Oh, glory to God! The apostle Paul said there was a day in the future where his words would finally be believed and that Jesus would be glorified in those people in that day because they did believe that word. You know, God gives grace for us to enter into believing just as much as we can believe. God gives grace for us to reach out to places people have never reached out to. In this day there is more grace to believe more than there’s ever been. Do you understand what that verse says? He said “in that day.” Paul was saying that they weren’t believing it in his day but that’s what we’re seeking right now. We don’t want to stop with what religion has accepted; we want to go on and get everything God has given us. (Eph.2:8) By grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, [it is] the gift of God; (9) not of works, that no man should glory. That’s one work. Now, here’s another work: (10) For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works…. The first is talking about your work, the work of the flesh, the efforts of man, the efforts of self, the buying of God’s gift, all those things. The second is talking about God’s work.

So let’s just use healing again as a “for instance” because we’re talking about it already. Do you know what? When you have faith that Jesus healed you, that Jesus healed you, which is the only one that’s a Scriptural faith, that faith is going to be walked-out by your feet; it’s going to come out of your mouth; it’s going to be seen in your actions. That is a work that comes from faith. You know what the other work is? It’s a work that comes before faith. Works of the flesh come before faith; works of God come after faith. When you believe, you’re able to walk just like you received and do you know what happens when you do that? You do what the 10 lepers did. Jesus said to them, “go and show yourselves unto the priests” (Luk.17:14). Well, they understood that because in the Law of Moses, when a person was healed of leprosy, he went to show himself to the priests. Then the priest inspected the person and took his turtle dove and gave his offering. But these lepers went to show themselves to the priests before their healing was manifested. Their walk was a walk of faith.

But you know what would be the way of the world? The world would stand right there and say, “Well, I’m not healed.” Those lepers would look at themselves and say, “Well, I’m not healed yet. It’s not the time to go show myself to the priest.” That’s a carnal walk. It’s a walk that’s according to sight and not according to faith. So there is a work that follows faith. Faith without works is dead. If you believe that you’re healed, let me see it come out of your mouth and let me see it in your feet. And if you believe that Jesus delivered you from sin, let’s see that come out of your mouth and let’s see it in your feet. Do you understand? When you believe something, your actions have to agree with that belief. Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself (Jas.2:17), or it’s incomplete. It’s not real faith until it’s put into works that agree with what the Bible says, but don’t agree with what the world says. The world says, “I can see you’re not healed,” but your feet keep on saying, “I’m healed. Look at me walk,” because your works are going to agree with faith. So as long as you’re just healed by faith, you know you’re not healed by manifestation. As long as you’re healed by faith, you’re believing for something that you don’t see. That’s the way faith works. And if you don’t do it there, you’ll never see it by manifestation.

We have to repent of our worldly thinking. We have to repent of our Babylonish doctrine that’s been given to us. We have to change our mind. We have to say, “God, You’re right.” You have to say that before you can enter into it. (Rom.3:4) Let God be found true, but every man a liar…. Justification comes from agreeing with God. Agree with God; even if you’re failing, agree with God. God’s not going to condemn anyone. You don’t condemn your child if your child is a toddler and stumbles and falls. There’s no way you would condemn that child because that’s the way they learn to walk. That’s the way children are. They don’t always get it right the first time. Now, when they’re getting older and they’re stumbling, you start asking what’s wrong with them. So when we start out on a faith walk, we stumble and we fall, but we get up. If you don’t get up, you’re not overcoming. You get up, you walk a little farther, you stumble, you walk a little farther. Every time you get up, you’re walking on farther.

But if you decide, “I’m just going to sit right here because it’s too dangerous to stand up,” then you’re going to be an unprofitable servant (Matthew 25:30) because you’ve been given knowledge and you’re doing nothing with it, you see. Remember, it’s God’s faith inside of you, it’s not your faith in Him. You’ll fail as long as it’s just your faith in Him. It’s God’s faith inside of you. Remember that God has given you His faith. Accept it as a gift. Reconciliation has given you this gift. Unbelief was taken away from you at the cross. Did you know that? All your sins were put on that cross, including the one that’s at the foundation of every sin – unbelief. But that’s at the cross and you’ve been delivered. The Bible says, “reckon ye also yourselves to be dead unto sin” (6:11). That means to reckon your old unbelieving self to be gone, dead and gone. “I’m delivered from unbelief.” Do you understand? That’s not a confession of faith in yourself; that’s a confession of faith in God. We are new (2 Corinthians 5:17). You have been made free from sin (Romans 6:22). You’re free from unbelief. Believe it. Accept it.

Don’t get anxious when you fail God because of your unbelief and don’t let anybody put a guilt trip on you. Don’t let anybody put you under the Law to do what they expect you to do. Don’t be moved by peer pressure because somebody else has faith. Don’t look at any of that. Get your eyes on Jesus. He will give you the faith that you need to do these things. It’s His free gift. You don’t have to be anxious and try to work it up. You can’t pick yourself up off the floor by your bootstraps. It’s just not possible. It has to come from the outside in. It’s nothing that you can do from the inside out. It’s a gift from God. So don’t be condemned, if you’re not able to do everything that you see Jesus do or that you see others do. Don’t worry about it. It’s God Who started the good work in you and it’s He Who’s going to finish it (Philippians 1:6). This is a gift from God. Those people who put others under legalism cause a lot of people hurt. This is wrong. And, I’ll tell you what, they ultimately get hurt, too, because what you sow, you reap (Galatians 6:7) and you can’t sow that legalistic thing without it coming back on you. You can’t judge others without being judged (Romans 14:4).

I’m just offering you the knowledge. I’m trying to put the picture of Jesus up there in front of you. Look at Jesus and you’ll be transformed into that image from glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3:18). And don’t put any religion up there and don’t let anybody put another Jesus up there because, believe me, you can be transformed into any Jesus. Religions do it all the time. The only Jesus we want to reflect is the One the Father sent. Look in your Bible. The only way you’re going to find out about the true Jesus is to look in this Book. Look at Him. This is Him. He’s the same. He hasn’t changed. Men try to change Him. Men have made a comfortable Jesus, a Jesus that the flesh could be comfortable with, a Jesus that wouldn’t bring you through any kind of a trial of your faith. It’s easy to have the Jesus that religion has. Let’s have the Jesus of the Bible. I tell you the reason we’re not seeing the works of Jesus in this earth is because they’ve made another Jesus and they’re being transformed into that image from glory to glory. That’s our problem. Let’s get back to the Word and believe it. Jesus sent His disciples out to do the same things He did. How can you do the same things He did unless you agree with Him?

So now let’s read the rest of the story from where Jesus perceived that power, sozo, went forth from Him. I really want to get beyond healings being included in salvation because I believe a lot of people already understand that and I want to show you how broad salvation is. And it’s all going to come by grace through faith. All of it. The rest of it, let me tell you, is man’s works. That is going back to Egypt, the rest of it is, because the salvation given to us by what Jesus did on the cross is God’s gift. You can’t buy it, you can’t earn it, you can’t be good enough for it. It’s God’s gift. (Luk.8:47) And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling, and falling down before him declared in the presence of all the people for what cause she touched him, and how she was healed immediately. (48) And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath (my Bible says “made thee whole” but the word there is sozo) saved thee; go in peace. He saved her. This is a part of salvation. She was saved. You know, she sought the physicians. The Bible here clearly shows you the difference between seeking deliverance from the physicians and seeking it from Jesus. (2Ch.16:12) And in the thirty and ninth year of his reign Asa was diseased in his feet; his disease was exceeding great: yet he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians. (13) And Asa slept with his fathers…. The Scripture makes a difference between seeking the salvation that normally comes from the world and the salvation that comes from God.

By the way, did you know that those Jews received their healing from God for many, many years. They started getting drawn away from that when Solomon brought in all of his pagan wives, who brought the physicians into Israel. Up until that time, they got their healing from God. And when they went to Babylon, they started falling into many of the things of the world that weren’t Scriptural. And the word in Scripture for “healing by the use of medicine” is the word pharmakia – just what we use today. Pharmakia is the word for “sorcery” or “witchcraft,” depending on which Bible you have, and is where we get our word “pharmacy.” Jesus has a better way and it won’t cost you anything. Believe me, you’ll get out of so much trouble. If you live a life of the carnal Christian, by the end of your life you will have spent a lot of money on Egypt, but I tell you, God will get you out of that. God will give you a free gift. Don’t say, “I have to do this.” No, it is a privilege. God gives you a privilege. You don’t have to earn it; He’s given it to you. It’s free. This is His sozo. This is a part of His deliverance.

Years ago, way back at the beginning of our Christian walk, my wife, Mary, and I were riding motorcycles up in Mississippi. And this was a real hilly area, just hills. We were on two dirt bikes and this was new territory to us, so it was kind of crazy what we did. She was on one bike and I was on another. We came over this hill and she turned one way and I turned another way. Well, on her side it was almost a cliff. It just went near straight down. And I heard her screaming all the way to the bottom of that hill, “MOMMAAA!” And she was mashing the foot peg as hard as she could, but I don’t think that she ever mashed on the brake because I never saw the wheels skid or anything. I mean, she was flying when she hit the bottom of that hill. It was painful for me to watch. I saw her bounce off a few trees and I went down in there and scraped her off those trees and put her on the back of my bike. And then I took her out of there and got her to a hospital.

This was during the same time that Mary was taking some medicine to try to clear up an infection, so the doctors were talking about operating on her kidneys. But a friend of ours told us about the promises in the Scriptures, you know, about healing, and we went to this church that believed in healing and they prayed over her. She went down in front of the church and they prayed over Mary. Well, nothing happened. Nothing physical happened. We went home and it was probably a week or two later when she was meditating and thinking on it and the Lord spoke to her. And you know what He said? He said, “If you believe that I have healed you, why are you taking all that medicine?” Because that’s what the Bible says; it says He has healed you. And you know what? When Mary ran into the bathroom and started pouring her medicine down the commode because of that voice of the Lord, she was instantly healed. And not only was she healed of the kidney problem from hitting the tree, but she was healed from a natural kidney deficiency that she’d had since she was a little girl. She was healed of always having infections. God did a miracle. He did it freely. The doctors were going to charge us an awful lot to do that but God did it for free.

God is going to ask you the same thing one day. He says, “If you believe that I have healed you …” God expects us to believe, not because of what we see or feel, but He expects us to believe because of what the Scripture says. We need no other grounds. Peter stepped out of the boat because of what Jesus said. “Bid me to come unto you, Lord” (Matthew 14:28). And when Jesus said, “Come,” that’s all Peter needed to step out (Matthew 14:29). All Peter needed was the Word of God and he stepped out on that Word and the water held him up. This is us. If you’re walking by sight, you’ll never be able to walk where we’re talking about walking because you’re calling the things that are as though they are, instead of calling the things that are not as though they were (Romans 4:17). God chose the things that are not, to bring to nothing the things that are (1 Corinthians 1:28). Think about it again now. God chose the things that are not, to bring to nothing the things that are. How does He do that? What are the things that are not? The promise. “By His stripes you were healed” (1 Peter 2:24), when you look at yourselves and say, “Well, I don’t see myself healed. I still feel sick. I still look sick.” See, the things that are not are these promises that are not manifested yet.

So how do you translate that into this present physical time? It’s very simple. We do it the way the Bible tells us to do it, by calling “the things that are not, as though they were” (Rom.4:17). Please understand. If God chose the things that “are not” to bring to nothing the things “that are,” then He did not choose the things “that are” to bring to nothing the things “that are.” Did you get that? Read it again. He chose the things that “are not” to do away with the things “that are.” What are the things “that are”? The curse. What are the things that “are not”? The promise. Don’t say, “God chose this method” or “He choose that method,” when you’re talking about the things that are because the Bible says He didn’t choose that method. He chose the things that are not, to bring to nothing the things that are. That’s the promise. And when you don’t see the promise and you say, “Well, now God chooses doctors or lawyers or bankers or going in debt” or just all these, if you say that God uses or chooses the things “that are” to bring about the promise, you’re contrary to the Scriptures. In the Scriptures, the men of God used faith to bring to pass everything.

Do you understand what I’m saying? The world will tell you, because it’s very convenient, very comfortable for them, they’ll tell you, “Well, now God uses this method, now God uses …” No, He doesn’t now do anything. That’s not Scriptural. He uses the things that are not. He still uses the things that are not. Jesus doesn’t have to heal you because He already healed you. You can prove it for yourself. Find one place in the Scripture, find just one place, where anybody who ministered healing to anybody else stopped and prayed and asked God to heal somebody. Find it. They didn’t do it and do you know why they didn’t do it? Because it was already an accomplished fact. You know what they did? “Be healed in the Name of Jesus.” They laid hands and they commanded them to be healed. They commanded healing. They had the authority of God. “As the Father sent me, so send I you,” Jesus said (John 20:21). So what do we do? We do the same thing Jesus did: We command healing in the name of Jesus. The reason we can do that is because there shouldn’t be any question in our mind that it’s already an accomplished fact. None of the disciples in the book of Acts ever stopped and prayed, “Lord, will you heal this person?”

Now God gave us conditions. He said, for instance, it’s “the children’s bread” (Matthew 15:26). It’s the children’s bread. That’s us. He called deliverance from demons and healing the children’s bread. It’s ours. Is God ever going to deny the children their bread? No. May they go hungry? They might go hungry but it won’t be because He’s denying them their bread. That lady, who was not one of the children, she said, “Well, even the dog can eat the crumbs from the children’s table” (Matthew 15:27). She exercised faith. She proved herself to be a believer. And, you know, I’m not saying that God can’t do more than what it says in the Scripture. He won’t do less but I’m not saying He can’t do more. When Paul was shipwrecked on the island of Melita (Acts 28:1), it didn’t say anybody there believed him, but he prayed for the sick and God healed them (Acts 28:8,9). He prayed for a bunch of pagans and you have to get God’s permission to do that because Jesus said it’s not right to cast the children’s bread to the dogs. You have to get God’s permission to do that. He might give it to you. He might do it as a witness. He may do it as an evangelistic tool. He may do it for those reasons but He doesn’t have to because you can’t hold Him to any Scripture for that. The Bible says it’s the children’s bread.

You may question, “What about the mercy ships and the mercy planes that have doctors and nurses specialized in a lot of the surgeries they do for cleft palates and so on?” Well, is it using the things that are or using the things that are not? I’m sure not going to condemn them but let’s get our eyes just on Jesus and look at His perfect way and His perfect Will. Did you ever see Jesus doing that? No. Did you ever see any of His disciples doing that? No. Wasn’t Luke a physician? Yes. Did you ever see him practicing that? No. Not after he came to Christ, you don’t see him practicing that. So we don’t have an example, we don’t have a foundation to do it that way. I’m not condemning them, I’m not going to come against them. I’m just trying to get back to the Scriptures. I’m just trying to get back to God’s method, God’s way. You can make a mistake trusting in man because he can sure fail you. It can be dangerous to trust in man because he can sure fail you. But it’s never dangerous to trust in God. He never fails. He’s never failed to heal me in over 20 years and I’ve gotten in some places where I needed healing. I’ve had broken bones and He’s healed them and I’ve had cancer and He’s healed me. God has never failed me. It didn’t matter if it was a cold or a hangnail. It didn’t make any difference. It doesn’t make any difference. You see, it doesn’t matter how big it is. It didn’t matter to Jesus how big it was. He just knew that He had the authority of the Father to come against the works of the devil and destroy them. And you know what? That’s the same authority He gave us.

CHAPTER SIX

Walking As a Child Is Walking By Faith

What about when you know you’re healed and you’re confessing you’re healed, but the symptoms remain? In other words, let’s say you have a rash. You know you’re healed but the rash persists for days and weeks and months. Well, what I would examine is, first of all, have you confessed your sins? Is anything in the way? If there’s something in the way, you’ll know it. You don’t have to do a lot of introspection; you don’t have to examine your life and all that. If there’s something in your life, you’re going to know it. You’re going to know it already. It’s something that’s going to be right there. Get that out of the way first. Once you get that out of the way, our job is to believe in what we do, not what we see. That’s what faith is. God’s job is to manifest it and He will. He will not fail. If we believe and we walk the walk of faith, He will manifest it. I’m not going to say He’s going to do it right away because there would be no such thing as a trial of your faith if He did it right away. We don’t take care of God’s job. Our job is the faith. We give Him our part of the Covenant. The other part was manifested – the healing – at the cross and it will manifest in you. Exercise the faith and let Him take care of it. He will. He will never fail, although sometimes you may have to walk it out in faith for a while.

Some people think because it’s not manifested right away, God didn’t hear it, but that’s just not true. That is totally false. There have been many things I’ve had to walk out for a long time before I saw the answer. This is why we’re studying the Scriptures. We need to be convinced that Jesus is the same today (Hebrews 13:8) and we have to be consistent in saying, “Yes, I am healed.” (Jas.1:2) Count it all joy, my brethren, when ye fall into manifold trials (or “temptations”; it’s the same word); knowing that the proving of your faith worketh patience. So you see that if your faith has to be proven, then the healing is not going to manifest right away. And if it takes patience, it’s something that’s not going to manifest right away. I’ve received some things right away, immediately. Immediate manifestations. Other things, the more I walked it out, the more my faith grew. Have you ever had that happen? It happened to Abraham. Hebrews 11 talks about the faith of Abraham. Well, let me tell you, he didn’t start out that way believing for his son, did he? And he even laughed, too, didn’t he? He sure did. Not only Sarah laughed, he laughed. And they had their Ishmael (Genesis 16:15), too, didn’t they? Abraham had his Ishmael because he wasn’t walking in faith, but he didn’t stay there. The Bible says that “he waxed strong through faith” (Rom.4:20), which means he became strong through faith. He did not start out there. There are some things that the Lord worked patience in me in believing God for. I’ve never seen God fail.

The devil will try to get us to walk by what we see and feel. Remember the motorcycle wreck that my wife, Mary, was in? She was healed from that but she had some surgery and there were some problems and some complications later, and the doctors wanted to schedule another surgery. It was during the time between the first surgery and the second that we really came before the Lord and sought healing and got prayed for. Since our insurance didn’t cover the next surgery for a certain time period, the doctor had Mary on medication and pain killers and antibiotics while we were waiting to the date where we could do the next surgery. But Mary threw the medicine away because that was when we came to the Lord. And after that, she forgot about it. Then there was a day she was going to take our little girl to go get some things since she was starting school. So she planned to go shopping but when she got up that morning, there were symptoms again. And she just started rebuking and praying all that day and saying, “I don’t accept it; I was healed at Calvary. I’m not taking this back on me.” And when she went to record the checks that she had written, she saw the date on the calendar was when she was supposed to go in for another examination because the doctor was going to schedule the second surgery. That one day only was the day the symptoms came back and then, after that, they were gone. It’s like the devil was trying one last chance to convince Mary to walk by what she saw and felt.

The real problem in receiving healing is that God’s people don’t walk by faith. Yes, there are gifts of faith and I’ve had gifts of faith before, but what I’m talking about to you here is not a gift of faith. Do you know what a gift of faith is? It’s when your whole consciousness is convinced, when you are convinced and you’re not wrestling with your flesh. It’s a gift that overwhelms your flesh. But waiting for a gift of faith won’t always work for you, where walking by faith will always work. 90% of the people who look for healing through a gift of faith wind up the same way they started. But we know that the Lord is no respecter of persons. If we exercise faith, God will meet us by meeting our need. The problem with expecting healing only through the gift is you can’t count on it because you never know when the gift is going to manifest and when it isn’t.

But faith always works, if you exercise it. I’ve prayed over people before and seen instantaneous miracles. Then they’d walk away from there and the devil would convince them of what they saw and what they felt and they’d fall right back into their illness. That is because God expects us to walk by faith. A baby Christian may go into a church and people will pray over him and see an instantaneous miracle, where people who have been in the Lord for 40 or 50 years at that same church go down to the altar and go down to the altar and go down there to get prayed for but, you know what? There comes a time when God expects you to exercise your faith. For a baby in a crib, everything is spoon-fed. You’re not expecting anything from him; you just give it to him. Baby Christians get that. Once you’ve been in the Lord for a while, if you don’t abide in the things that are written and you don’t ever exercise your faith, you’ll stay a baby; you’ll just be a baby with a beard. Remember Brother Bolivar’s vision of babies with beards? They were old in the Lord but they hadn’t grown in Him. God expects you to use your faith and, if you don’t use it, you’re going to get into trouble. He’ll push you out in that wilderness where your salvation is going to come from Heaven or you’ll die in the wilderness. There are a lot of people who are dead in the wilderness because they went out into the wilderness and they wouldn’t trust in the salvation that comes from God. They kept wanting to run back to Egypt. Well, you can’t always trust Egypt’s salvation, folks. It’s not always there. I’ll give you two good examples of how there’s always a curse in trusting in the arm of the flesh (Jeremiah 17:5).

My daddy smoked for 50 or 60 years; I don’t know exactly. He had a lung taken out and the doctors started giving him some Cortisone to try to get more oxygen into the lung he had left, but Cortisone destroys the muscles. The muscles just turn to mush. Well, you know, the funny thing is, when they did this, they gave him an examination. He went to a doctor he really respected and this doctor said, “Mr. Eells, there’s one thing you’ll never die of. You have the heart of a much younger man and you’ll never die of a heart attack.” You know what happened? He started taking that stuff and a month later he had a massive heart attack. It’s not a good trade-off sometimes, folks. It wasn’t for my momma. My momma was taking a medicine for many years that she thought was good for some kind of a psychiatric thing and one day she got to looking in this Reader’s Digest Side-Effects of Medicine and the two side-effects of this medicine were breast cancer and glaucoma. She had them both. Is that a good trade-off?

Trusting in the arm of the flesh is cursed. The Bible says you’re cursed. Don’t think you can get out of it. Don’t think you can keep running back to Egypt. God will push you out into that wilderness, where your salvation must come from Heaven. Water comes out of a rock in the wilderness. That’s not normally where it comes from. Manna came out of the sky in the wilderness; it didn’t come out there in boxcars from Egypt. Well, there’s a price to be paid, if you get salvation from Egypt – a big price. A friend of mine out at the plant went to Fatima and he was healed of cancer. And I have to admit to you, I don’t know where the line is. I do know that God is weak to the weak. If you believe, I don’t care how you’re convinced. If you believe that if I anoint you with oil that you’ll be healed, then you’ll be healed. You know what Jesus said? (Mat.9:29) According to your faith be it done unto you. Some people believe in just the laying on of hands and some people believe you have to have the oil. I don’t care what you believe. Whatever will help your faith, do it, accept it.

Let me give you an example. A sister who lived next door to me over in Louisiana asked God to fill some of her teeth. She wanted God to put a filling in her teeth. You know what? God did that. He put a filling in her teeth. Now, I had a really bad cavity over the top of two of my molars. I could shove my fingernail up in there on top of it. I could feel it with my tongue. I rebuked that thing and commanded it to be healed in the name of Jesus. You know what God did? He healed those two molars. He didn’t put a filling in there. He healed them. He put the tooth enamel back in there. And you know what it is? It’s “be it done unto you according to your faith.”

God is weak to the weak. Many times He’ll meet you where you are. If you have faith that when a particular person prays for you, that you’ll get healed, then go to that person. If you have faith, by all means go because, if that helps your faith, go do it. But if you have faith to be healed by just staying home and confessing it, then do that. “Be it done unto you according to your faith.” What I’m trying to tell you here is something that is consistent. I believe there are some famous men who have gifts of healing. I think they’re doing some things that aren’t right, but I believe they have some gifts of healing. But what I’m telling you always works. It always works because the Word of God says it always works, not because of my experience. Baby Christians can go in there to one of their services and get healing, but when they start growing a little bit, it’s going to take two to agree (Matthew 18:19). They’re going to have to go down there with faith and have somebody to pray the prayer of faith over them to get it because, you see, “to whomsoever much is given, of him shall much be required” (Luk.12:48). The more you walk on with God, the more He expects you not to be as a child, who keeps falling and getting up, but to get up and stay standing and to walk out your faith. So that’s why I believe a lot of people aren’t getting their healing. The people of God are not being taught faith. They’re not being taught that you can trust God. You see, if you think that God’s a “maybe” God, that “maybe He will,” “maybe He won’t,” you never know whether He will or whether He won’t, and then you’ll never exercise faith. You have to be convinced it’s God’s Will to heal you before you can get healed because the only way you can exercise faith is to believe you have received. It works consistently, folks.

There’s one thing that can get in the way of having faith and receiving and that’s willful rebellion. (Heb.10:26) For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more a sacrifice for sins, (27) but a certain fearful expectation of judgment…. So a person who walks in willful rebellion is not walking under the blood; they are walking where they’re going to get a chastening and there isn’t anything you can do for that person until they repent. In fact, the Bible says don’t pray for them for life (1 John 5:16). Don’t pray for them for life. You know, you have to pray for people to repent. Sometimes people have to repent or they’re not going to get what they need from God. What about if you come upon an accident, like the time I told you about with the wreck on the bridge, where the man was bleeding out his lung blood and was unconscious? What about if the person you would be praying for is a stranger and they might even be an atheist? Would God still heal them? Well, you know, there is such a thing as being led by the Spirit. That’s what happened to me with the wreck on the bridge. I knelt down there and prayed over him and God healed him. That will happen in every case where you’re led by the Spirit of God.

You see, you can always depend on the Word of God, but when you’re getting outside of what you know is your foundation in the Word, like, for instance, the children’s bread. If you get outside something that you know is your foundation in the Word, you have to be led by the Spirit. There was this doctrine going around years ago that you had to get a rhema from God before you could move. God had to talk to you out of Heaven and say, “Hey, you’re healed,” before you could believe that by His stripes, you were healed (1 Peter 2:24). That’s hogwash. Don’t ever believe that. You don’t have to do anything. Every time you believe any Scripture verse, it’s a rhema to you. Every time. The problem is, are you humble to what that verse says? If you’re humble to what that says, that’s a Word for you.

I believe that God so much wants to teach you the ways of faith so that He may permit you to lay hands on somebody and exercise your faith, and God might heal them. They may not keep it because they are not walking under the blood, but He may let you do it for many reasons. He may let you do it in order to exercise your faith, to show you that faith works, to show them that faith works, to be a witness. So He may do it for many reasons, but they probably won’t be able to keep it. You cannot go beyond the principles of the Word of God with your faith. You’ll fail. People try all the time and they fail. The Bible says the devil comes immediately to steal the seed which has been sown in their hearts (Matthew 13:19). You know, when you get a healing from God, the devil is going to come and try to steal that. He is going to come and try to convince you by feelings, by symptoms. The devil is a minister of symptoms, you see; he manipulates the physical realm.

That’s why God wants you to walk by faith, because the devil can’t manipulate what the Word of God says, other than to deceive you. But he manipulates the physical realm. He tries to get you to walk by sight and not by faith. He can make you feel things but that feeling can go away immediately when you stand firm on the Word of God. That’s the reason we have to have our spiritual senses exercised to know what’s right and wrong (Hebrews 5:14). We have to have spiritual eyes, we have to have spiritual ears. We have to hear what the Word says and ignore everything else; we have to see what the Word says and ignore everything else. Jesus did that. Jesus would have looked like a fool and He knew it, if He had said some of those things He did and God didn’t answer. But, you know what? God is not going to let that happen. God never lets that happen. I’m saying that sometimes you may not be in the perfect Will of God, but God is so interested in teaching you faith, in teaching you that it’s working, in teaching you that you can trust in Him, that He will manifest that healing. It might be lost later, but He’ll manifest it. It’s up to us to keep what God’s given us because the devil is going to come and try to steal it. When I see something like that, I’m in prayer. It may not come out of my mouth, but I am thinking and I am praying and I’m asking, “Lord, do you want me to do something? Will You permit me to do something?” Maybe you don’t know if this person is a Christian, maybe you don’t know if they have a right to God’s blessings. Maybe you don’t know if they have a right to the Covenant. Pray. Ask God. God can show you what you don’t see and what you don’t know. The principles of God are to lead us to know in this conscious realm, but the Lord sees what we don’t see and He can lead us to do something that we would think would be contrary.

I love to pray for baby Christians because, I’ll tell you, you see the best results. Christians in this country are so worldly, so running after the world; they’re so uninterested in growing in the things of God that many times it’s hard to pray for them because they’re so double-minded. There was this girl in a mission when I lived in Pensacola and, I tell you, this miracle that happened really stuck to me; it was so wonderful. Well, she had come to the Lord at the mission. She’d just gotten saved and another minister and I were ministering to her, and we prayed for her to receive the Holy Spirit. I’ll tell you, she just got filled with the Holy Spirit. She was a really quiet little girl, but there she was, just jumping around and praising God. Oh, it was really just wonderful! See, what had happened to this girl was she had been raped and she had beaten herself in the abdomen to try to kill the baby. When she had gone down to the public health clinic, they checked her out with the sonogram and with the heartbeat monitor and they told her, “The baby’s dead; you need to have a D&C.”

Well, she was supposed to go back and do that but, meanwhile, she came to this mission and got saved. And when she got saved, we prayed for her to receive the Holy Spirit. And I felt to ask her, “Is there anybody whom you have not forgiven?” She said, “Yes. I have never forgiven this doctor whom I felt aborted one of my children purposely with drugs.” I said, “Wow! You just did the same thing. You’re judging him for something, but you just did the same thing; you just killed your baby.” And I said, “Don’t you see, you have to forgive that man.” So she did. She prayed the prayer and asked God to forgive him and she prayed for his soul and asked God to save him. Then I just felt, there wasn’t any booming sensation or anything, but I just felt led and I told her, “Well, I don’t see any reason God can’t resurrect your baby right now because you’re a new creature.” She was a born-again Christian that day, filled with the Holy Spirit, not guilty of the thing that the person the day before was guilty of.

Then I called my wife to come over to us. And, by the way, when I said this to the girl, the room cleared out. Everybody left the room, including the preacher. They just went right out the door. And so Mary came over, laid hands on the girl’s abdomen and we commanded the spirit of life to come back into this baby. I also gave her a few little exhortations, such as, “Now faith works like this. When you pray, you believe you have received and you shall have it.” That’s what I told her. And I walked out into the hall and the preacher grabbed me by the arm. He dragged me over into the next room and closed the door and they were all in there. And he said, “Listen, God’s not going to do that for that girl. She killed that baby.” But I said, “Well, please don’t try to destroy my faith. I believe He’ll do it. I really don’t believe you understand grace. This is a new creation; she’s not guilty and, besides, that’s where my faith is. Don’t destroy my faith.” And I opened the door and left them all in the room.

So the girl called me the next day and told me, “Nobody over here will take me down to the health unit.” I said, “Well, I’ll come take you down there,” and I went and picked her up. And while we were going, I preached faith all the way down there. I said, “Now listen, you remember what the Word of God says, that when you pray, believe you have received and you shall have it.” She was just a simple-minded baby Christian, full of the Holy Spirit, and she said, “Okay.” When we got to the public health clinic, she went in there and she said, “I want y’all to check me again,” so they did. They put the heartbeat monitor on her and they put her on the sonogram and there was nothing, it was dead. And the technician said, “Well, ma’am, you’re going to have to have a D&C. This is over three days and you’re going to be blood poisoned. You have to get a D&C.” But she said, “I don’t accept that. I just don’t accept that.” And when she said that, that heartbeat monitor kicked on, the baby’s heart started pumping and the baby started moving all around. That unbelieving technician looked at that and he said, “That’s a miracle!” And her baby was born and it was the baby of her common-law husband; it wasn’t the one she thought it was when she was raped by this other man who was of a different race.

Here’s a baby Christian who said, “I don’t accept that.” Why didn’t she accept it? Because it was not what the Word of God said. We don’t have to accept the curse when the Word of God says differently. We’ll get out of a lot just by not accepting the curse. And her faith is supposed to keep growing from that day on. She’s supposed to be maturing in her faith. That’s what all Christians are supposed to do. (1Ti.6:12) Fight the good fight of the faith, lay hold on the life eternal…. This is continual warfare. You don’t fight, you don’t win. In fact, if you don’t fight, you lose. We’re here to bear fruit. We’re here to bear the fruit of Jesus. We’re here to walk the walk of Jesus. (1Jn.4:17) … As he is, even so are we in this world. We are here to do the work of God. And let me say that it doesn’t stop with salvation of your spirit, nor salvation of your soul, nor salvation of your body. It doesn’t stop until it goes through salvation of all of your circumstances. Anything around you that has to do with your life that’s part of the curse, the Scripture says you were saved from that by Christ. (Gal.3:13) Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us; for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree. He became accursed for us. When you go Deuteronomy 28 and read the curse, you see that most of the curse is circumstances surrounding a person’s life. We are saved from circumstances. When you get into detrimental circumstances that are a part of the curse and you remember that you’ve been saved from that, you can exercise your faith and you can change it. Did you know that? You can change it. Sometimes it may not look like anything that’s all that important. For example, your grass might have a blight on it; it doesn’t have to be that important. I found out God wants to do something just because you’re exercising your faith. God will even heal animals.

As a matter of fact, He heals animals more quickly than He heals humans because there’s no faith necessary from the animal; it’s only you who has to have the faith. Your faith counts. God heals animals and I’ve seen Him raise them from the dead. I’ve seen Him heal their bones. The only thing is, don’t do what I did one day and call an unbelieving Christian over there to pray with you because that’s the last thing you want to do. I did it one day. Now we’ve had many dogs be healed, their bones and legs healed. We prayed over them and God would heal them. We even found a bunch of puppies that were frozen solid and God resurrected them from the dead. They were frozen solid and God resurrected them. And there was this old dog, well, you could just tell it was a Christian dog. It had such a good spirit. Have you ever seen a good spirit in an animal? This old dog had a broken back out in the road right in front of our house and I went out there and carried that old dog over into our shed. Then I saw my neighbor come up next door to me and I said, “Hey, come on over here and help me pray for this animal,” because he knew what I was doing. But, you know what? As I was saying, “Hey, come on,” the Lord said, “Don’t do that! Don’t do that.” But my neighbor was already walking toward the shed. And when he got there, I just said, “Well, we need to pray for this animal that God will heal his back.” Now I’ve seen God heal lots of animals, but it didn’t always happen immediately. Let me tell you, the next day that guy went out there and shot that dog. And the Lord said, “I told you, don’t do that.”

We see in Scripture that when Jesus went in to pray for people, He brought certain people into the room with Him and put other people out of the room, according to their faith (Mark 5:40). He doesn’t want to honor anybody’s unbelief. He doesn’t want people around who are agreeing with you but are unbelieving because they’re going to get in the way. I tell you, I have come to not like the term “Christian.” I like the terms that they used in the Scriptures. I like “believers” and I like that they called it “the way.” It was the pagans who used the term “Christian,” but I don’t like the term because it doesn’t identify people. The thing that identifies people is, “Are you a believer?” It’s the whole thing that keeps you in the Covenant. In fact, you’re going to be broken off from the vine, if you don’t abide in faith (Romans 11:22). The Jews were broken off because they fell into unbelief. Paul says, “and they also, if they continue not in their unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again” (Rom.11:23). You’re out or you’re in, according to faith. It doesn’t have anything to do with a label that’s called “Christian.” This is doing God a disservice. What identifies us as God’s children is faith. If you lose your faith and start walking in the world, believe me, that’s not going to save you. That’s what the Lord taught me when I was a young Christian. I was going through the hospitals and I would let the Lord guide me through what door. I started asking people, “Are you a Christian?” And, guess what? They all said, “Yes.” So that just did not work and I had to start figuring out better ways to ask people. I’d ask them, “Well, look, was there ever a time in your life when you just really turned your heart to God and you decided you wanted to please Him and you had a hunger for God?” I’d try to identify people that way.

Anyway, here’s another good example of sozo in circumstances. (Mat.8:23) And when he was entered into a boat, his disciples followed him. (24) And behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the boat was covered with the waves: but he was asleep. (25) And they came to him, and awoke him, saying, Save (that’s the same word, sozo), Lord; we perish. (26) And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? And in Luke 8:25, He asked, “Where is your faith?” In other words, He was really expecting them to do something. Where is your faith? That was His rebuke. He was saying, “Why don’t you do something?” He had given them authority to do this, you see. (26) … Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm. (27) And the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him? This is obviously a sozo that has to do with circumstances around your life. All the curse in Deuteronomy 28 that doesn’t have to do with healing and your nature, has to do with the circumstances around your life. Jesus bore that curse. He became accursed. You can’t be much more accursed than what happened to Him on the cross. That was a circumstance. In your circumstances, you have a right to come against the curse because of what Jesus did. We are delivered from the curse.

In fact, every sickness and disease is listed in the Bible here: (Deu.28:61) Also every sickness, and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, them will the Lord bring upon thee, until thou be destroyed. So they’re all listed, every sickness, disease and circumstance. Anything detrimental to your life is a part of the curse, but crucifixion, spiritually-speaking, is not detrimental to your life. That’s not a part of the curse; that’s a part of the blessing. We’re here to be crucified, so don’t get mixed up. Don’t mix up the curse with the crucifixion that we go through in life. We’re here to turn the other cheek, for instance, because God’s put people here to come against us. You have to distinguish between the curse and what God’s doing through the wicked to put you to death. We’re here to die. We have to take up our cross and follow Jesus (Matthew 16:24). For instance, when Jesus was going to the cross, He made no attempt at deliverance from it. He turned the other cheek (Matthew 5:39; Luke 6:29). He wouldn’t defend Himself. He knew He was there to go to the cross. Jesus knew that these men were there to do the Will of God and put Him on the cross. In our lives, too, there are people whom we can’t consider a part of the curse. God put them there to put us on our cross. The Bible says, if any man speaks, let him speak as an oracle of God (1 Peter 4:11). What they don’t say is what Jesus said. Jesus said, if they slap you on the one cheek, turn the other one (Matthew 5:39; Luke 6:29). He said, “resist not him that is evil” (Mat.5:39). Jesus said that. A lot of churches try to make that into something that you have to obey in the millennium, but why would you need to obey it in the millennium? This doesn’t make any sense. No. Jesus gave that to us because when you obey that, you’re going to be crucified.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Let Jesus Take You by the Hand

Concerning these circumstances, God has delivered you. Sozo. In circumstances, you are going to be saved, sozo, by grace through faith. And, of course, all of this is to show you that “my power is made perfect in weakness” (2Co.12:9). What God really wants from us is to be weak in ourselves. You know, dead men are weak, right? They don’t handle things themselves; they’re just dead men and that’s the way we have to consider ourselves to be. (Rom.6:11) Even so reckon ye also yourselves to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus. Salvation isn’t from self; it’s from God and it’s by grace and it’s through faith (Ephesians 2:8). (Mat.8:23) And when he was entered into a boat, his disciples followed him. (24) And behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the boat was covered with the waves: but he was asleep. (25) And they came to him, and awoke him, saying, Save, Lord; we perish. (26) And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? (26) … Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm. (27) And the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him? Well, no matter what the wind and the waves are in our life, I believe Jesus would ask the same thing: “Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?”

Generally, we’re fearful because we get our eyes on the circumstances, instead of on the Savior. In verse 25, where they said, “Save, Lord,” that’s the word sozo. It’s the same word they use here: (Eph.2?8) By grace have ye been saved through faith. There is one thing we do have to fear and that is fear itself because fear is not faith. And when you’re in the midst of turmoil, when you’re in the midst of circumstances that you need God’s salvation in, only faith is going to bring it to you. I believe God wants to take us by the hand and show us some things. Years ago, when I was a baby Christian, I felt, “I’m a disciple of Jesus. I am a disciple of Jesus.” And I always felt that Jesus wanted to take me by the hand and guide me and show me how to walk in His Kingdom. Do you ever have that feeling, like the Lord wants to talk to you about circumstances and situations and teach you things? I’ve had Him say things to me that made me realize that about circumstances. We’re not to be moved by circumstances. If you remember, Scripture says, “so long as the heir is a child, he differeth nothing from a bondservant though he is lord of all” (Gal.4:1). So, as long as the servant is in bondage to the principles of the world, he’s a child, right? Or, in other words, the child is a servant. But that’s not sons. We are here to manifest God’s sonship in us and we’re not to be in bondage to the principles of the world. Circumstances shouldn’t be able to stop us from doing what we need to do for God.

Whenever circumstances get in our way that seem to be stopping us from doing what we feel is God’s Will, we have authority over them. In this case in Matthew, the disciples exercised authority over their circumstances. The disciples never would have thought to do that, but this is what Jesus was doing. He was taking them by the hand He was teaching them. He brought them into those circumstances so that they would understand that they weren’t to be ruled by the circumstances, nor any other kind of curse, but they were there to change the circumstances. Has God ever done that with you – just taken you by the hand and shown you what to do in the circumstance? Has God ever shown you how to change the circumstance so that you could keep on going and doing God’s Will? Understand that God put the disciples in this little lesson.

He did that with me one time when I was a baby Christian, but it stuck with me. God asked me a question: “Why don’t you do this?” It’s like, “Well, I could have done it,” but I had to wait for Him to tell me. “Why don’t you do this in this circumstance?” Has he ever done that to you? He’s done that with me quite a few times. It’s, “Okay, let Me take you by the hand. Let Me show you how to do this. Let Me show you what to do.” Jesus asked, “Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?” Like they naturally and normally wouldn’t be fearful in a circumstance like this. If we think naturally, of course, we’re going to be fearful in a circumstance like that one. When your eyes see things that are terrible, you’re going to be fearful in a circumstance like that. But Jesus acted as though you weren’t supposed to be. “Why are you fearful in this storm and with the boat filling up with water? Why are you fearful? Don’t you know I’ve given you authority?” In fact, in another Gospel, He asked, “where is your faith?” (Luk.8:25), in the same situation. “Where is YOUR faith?” In other words, “Well, why didn’t you do something?” And why would Jesus ask that question? He was saying, “Why didn’t you take care of this?” God takes us by the hand to show us these lessons. He did that with Peter. Remember when Peter stepped out of the boat (Matthew 14:29)? What was the purpose in that? Everything has to have a real need or a purpose. What was the purpose in that? God did something only for the purpose of teaching Peter. That was the sole purpose of it.

Some of you know my testimony of when my oldest daughter, Deborah, was a little girl, and I was going to pick her up from school. We had put her in a Christian school one year. We homeschooled her all the rest of the time but we put her in school one year. I was going to pick her up but God decided He was going to teach me a lesson. And, do you know, I got about two or three blocks from that school and my car just shut down; it just died. I tried to start it and tried to start it and I ran the battery down trying to start it. Just revved right on down to nothing. So I got out and started walking. And, I tell you what, the sky had just turned totally black. I mean, I could tell that it was about to dump on me. It was just dark and black. So, when I was walking along, the Lord spoke to me at the moment it had just started to rain and I knew I was going to be soaking wet before I made another 20 feet. The Lord spoke to me. He asked, “Why don’t you command that to stop?” And I said, “Okay.” I was sure enough God had spoken to me that I did it immediately. I mean, He asked, “Why don’t you command that to stop?” like, “Why don’t you do it?”

Normally, in our religious thinking, we might ask God to do it, but really that’s not God’s plan. Jesus asked, “Where is your faith?” He is here as the Master. We are here as the disciples to learn to walk like Him. Ask Him to take you by the hand and show you what He wants done, in order to put faith in your life in circumstances and show you how to change circumstances. So I said, “Okay, I will.” And I rebuked that rain. I commanded, “Rain, stop in the name of Jesus!” I even waved my hand. “Stop in the name of Jesus!” And boy, I’ll tell you, it just stopped like I cut it off with a knife. Not another drop fell on me and I walked for a block or more and I picked up my daughter. And we were walking back and I was telling her what happened and she was just all giddy and laughing. And I said, “Well, if God can do that, He can take care of that car, can’t He?” And she said, “Yeah.” Well, when we were getting close to the car, I said, “You know what? When we get to that car, we’re going to lay hands on that car and God’s going to start that car.”

God taught me another lesson about weakness when I got to that car. I got to that car and we got in, and we laid our hands on that dashboard. Then we commanded that car to run in the name of Jesus and I turned the key. Now, you can run a battery all the way down, but if you stop a few minutes, that battery will partially build back up. And it had. It built back up a little bit. And I turned the key and it started turning over kind of wiggly, but it started turning over. But I still just held the key on and it went all the way down to nothing until I was totally weak and the machine was totally weak. If a miracle came, it had to come from God. I wouldn’t let off the key. I ran it all the way down. You know, as soon as that thing went all the way down to whump, whump, whump, then it started up like a shot. I knew it was God. You run the battery down on a vehicle and it won’t start like that. God showed me that it wasn’t the power of that vehicle but it was the power of faith that would change things, and the power of weakness. There’s a power in weakness because God doesn’t want to share His glory with this world. We have the funny idea that God needs us or He needs men to handle these situations, that He needs their ingenuity and their figuring everything out. No, God’s already figured it out and His method is faith. Faith is the victory that overcomes the world (1 John 5:4). But when you get a few of these little experiences of the Lord taking you by the hand and showing you these things, you begin to quit doubting you can handle anything.

That’s not to say that you can’t have a miracle one moment and doubt the next. You sure can. Remember that even after the loaves and the fishes (Matthew 16:5-12), the disciples still wondered the next time, “Well, what are you going to do, Lord? Here we’re all hungry again.” Somehow it’s like they didn’t remember what He just did the last time. Sometimes we have really short memories, too, don’t we? Sometimes we forget the great miracles God’s done for us in the past. He doesn’t ever want to stop that. He never wants to stop that. He wants to be our provider and He wants us to know that He’s our provider. He wants to be our deliverer and He wants us to know He’s the deliverer. He does not want us to share that glory with anybody else. He wants to be our healer and He wants us to know He’s the healer, to know that He doesn’t need man to heal. Find that in the Bible. God uses the hand and the faith of His believers to heal, but He uses the word of faith out of their mouth to do that. He has not changed. Men have changed Him, but He hasn’t changed. His methods are the same because they are the methods that take the glory from man and give them rightfully to God, where they belong. He doesn’t want to share His glory with another (Isaiah 42:8). This is our thinking, that God needs the help of the flesh. He doesn’t need the help of the flesh.

You know what we are? Do you know who the hand of God is? The believers. The Bible says, “to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed?” (Isa.53:1), and that’s obviously Jesus. He’s the arm. But the Bible also says that we are the hand (Isaiah 53:10). Don’t expect God to do something that He’s told you to do. This is the problem. Everybody’s praying to God to handle this or handle that, but where can you find in the Scriptures that any of the disciples, when they were ministering to someone else, asked God to heal or deliver them? You can’t find that. The disciples realized that was what they were there for, not to ask God to do it. God was manifesting this situation in front of them so that they would do something about it. Did you ever notice this? (10) Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin…. What happened when God made Jesus’ soul an offering for sin? He died, right? Jesus entered into eternity. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see [his] seed, he shall prolong his days…. Do you see that? “He shall see [his] seed, he shall prolong his days.” This is the 42nd generation. There are 42 generations in Matthew, but there’s one missing. It says “unto the Christ” (Mat.1:17) is the last one, but there’s one generation missing. That’s His seed. The body of Christ is the 42nd generation because there’s one missing in the list. Count it as many times as you like. There’s one missing and God revealed to me that the 42nd generation is His seed; it is the body of Christ. “He shall see [his] seed, he shall prolong his days.” Jesus went into eternity. There are no days in eternity. But you know where He’s “prolonging His days”? In you and in me. Jesus lives in you and in me. (Isa.53:10) … He shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. It’s God’s people, it’s you and me, who are the hand of the Lord.

When the angel came to Cornelius (Acts 10:3), why didn’t that angel preach the Gospel? He knew the Gospel better than Peter did. But the angel wouldn’t do it, would he? He told Cornelius to send for Peter to preach the Gospel because that’s God’s method. God wants to use His people as His hand to do His work in the earth and yet they’re steadily begging God, “Will You do this? Will You do that?” Now, wait a minute. When Jesus left, He delegated authority and He said, “as the father hath sent me, even so send I you” (Joh.20:21). “As the Father sent Me, so send I you.” We’ve been delegated authority to do this, but unless we understand the Lord’s methods, we’re not going to agree with Him in the process. We have to know God’s method. God’s method always gives all the glory to God. It’s not of our works, lest any man should boast (Ephesians 2:9), for in Christ Jesus we were created for good works (Ephesians 2:10). Sounds like schizophrenia, doesn’t it? But it’s not because one work is talking about your works and the other work is talking about God’s work through you. And there’s only one way we can get an understanding of how God works through us. The truth is in the Bible. Acts and the Gospels are the revelation of how God works through us and He does it that way. I don’t care what men say; that’s His method. And He chose that method because it takes the glory away from man and gives it to Whom the rightful owner is and that’s God. He’s the One Who’s doing this. It’s His power. (Rom.8:13) … But if by the Spirit ye put to death the deeds of the body…. He said, “If you by the Spirit.” “If you.” “IF you.” There’s an “if” in front of “you.” “If you by the Spirit.” See, it’s God’s power, it’s His Spirit and it’s His power, but it’s still an “if” on you.

The Bible commands us to take the promises of the Word of God and cleanse ourselves (2 Corinthians 7:1). Everybody’s praying to God to cleanse us. No. Look at what the Bible says. (2Co.7:1) Having therefore these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit…. That’s heresy in most churches, but it’s what the Bible says. God gave you a weapon. It’s a two-edged sword (Hebrews 4:12) to go into your promised land and to put to death the old man, to cut him up and live in his house (Deuteronomy 19:1). God gave us the weapon. If you stand outside the promised land and don’t win this battle, it’s nobody’s fault but yours. God gave a weapon that the enemy could not stand up to. He told Joshua, “there shall not any man be able to stand before thee” (Jos.1:5). No man will be able to stand before you, but guess who has to fight that battle? If you don’t fight that battle, you lose. If you don’t fight, you lose. This is not one where you can stand on the sideline. If you don’t fight, you lose and you can’t afford to lose this one. The stakes are too high. We can’t afford to lose. The most important thing that we’re in this earth for every day is to put to death that old man and do the work of God.

So, as we’ve seen from Isaiah 53, we are the hand of the Lord. And since it was by the hand of man that this earth was turned over to the curse and the devil, God determined that it’s going to be by the hand of man that this earth is going to be turned back. The Bible says it plainly in Daniel. Did you know that? I want to show you this because a lot of people don’t believe this, but God is going to do what He said He’s going to do. And He’s going to use man to do it. Notice that everything that came to pass in the Old Testament was manifested through the mouth of the prophets. God first spoke it through the mouth of man. Man confessed what God was going to do and then God used man to do it. God did it; it was His power all along. (Dan.7:25) And he (this is talking about the beast) shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High; and he shall think to change the times and the law; and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and half a time. (26) But the judgment shall be set, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end. (27) And the kingdom and the dominion, and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High: his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him. (28) Here is the end of the matter. In the book of Revelation, there’s a great similarity between those curses that are poured out on the earth and those that were poured out in the past, such as those spoken through Elijah and Moses. Did you ever notice that? Well, those that were poured out in the past came out of the mouth of men and, I’ll tell you, the ones in the book of Revelation will come that way, too. They’ve been spoken by faith.

You know, we’ve been taught by the Scripture to turn the other cheek (Matthew 5:39). We are like lambs in the midst of wolves (Luke 10:3), Jesus said. But there’s a time coming when things aren’t going to be the same because grace is going to be taken away from the Gentiles. Do you know why these curses are spoken in the book of Revelation? They’re spoken because grace is being taken away from the Gentiles. Yes, there are going to be people speaking curses, just like in the Old Testament. I don’t know what you understand about the two witnesses in Revelation 11. (For a detailed study of this subject, read chapter nine of my book “Hidden Manna for the End Times.”) If you only understand them to be two men, that’s fine, but notice that they spoke curses. The two witnesses brought some of the exact same Old Testament curses in the New Testament. God spoke it through the two witnesses and then those curses came to pass because they brought judgment out of their own mouth.

At any rate, the curses are going to be spoken. A brother had a dream or a vision of me and he saw me walking across this country speaking judgments. He said everywhere I spoke one, they fell. And I prayed, “Lord, if you want me to speak the judgments, okay, but I’d love to speak the grace first. I’d love to see people delivered. I’d love to see your blessings poured out.” But, you know, there’s coming a time when, as much as you would like to do that, the Bible says “the night cometh, when no man can work” (Joh.9:4). That was spoken in Jesus’ day because shortly after Jesus there came a time when no man could work. What was He talking about? Well, primarily He was talking about how He came to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matthew 15:24), but God was turning out the light to Israel. God was taking away their grace. There came a night when nobody could work on Israel anymore. It was a waste of time for you to witness to the Israelite. That was what they call the “early rain” (James 5:7). Now you know what’s happening? We’ve come into the “latter rain” (Hosea 6:2,3) and just the opposite is about to happen. God is going to pour out His power in a great way, but we’re coming to a night when no man can work. Work while you have the light because we’re coming to a night when no man can work.

Right now, you can still witness to the Gentiles, but also right now, at this very time, God is withdrawing His grace from the Gentiles. In the past three years there have been as many Gentiles saved as there were in the previous one year. God is withdrawing His grace from the Gentiles, so work while you have the light because “the night cometh, when no man can work.” I recently had a vision in which I was preaching to the Jews and explaining to them a judgment that was falling on the United States and I never before had a dream that I was preaching to Jews. God is fixing to turn to the Jews and you’ll be wasting your breath on the Gentiles. God is doing a special work in these last days of the last hours of this light. You know what that work is? I’ll tell you right now. He’s expending much energy. He is sending His angels and He is putting a special emphasis on bringing in the children and relatives of the believers. He showed me that. But “the night cometh, when no man can work.” Work while you have the light. Who else is going to do it? Who’s going to preach the Gospel? Angels can’t do it. The Bible won’t let them (Hebrews 1 and 2).

When the fullness of Gentiles comes in, God is going to turn back to the Jews (Romans 11:25). He’s going to turn back to the Jews and I’ve received my own revelation of when that was going to be from studying the book of Acts. The book of Acts was called the “early rain” (Hosea 6:3) but in the book of Acts, what happened during the early rain was that God was even then in the process of turning away from the Jews to the Gentiles. Now we’re coming to the latter rain (Hosea 6:3). And, guess what? It’s the same in reverse. God will be in the process of turning away from the Gentiles to the Jews. And great power is going to be poured forth, great miracles are going to happen, the same as in the early rain, except far greater. There will be many more people involved and much greater miracles. We’ve heard that the latter rain is the Pentecostal revival in this country, but it’s not the latter rain. The true latter rain is about to begin with the Biblical gifts being restored to the Church. Of course, a lot of Pentecostals call their revival the latter rain but I’m convinced it’s not because there are too many signs given to us from the early rain that show us what the latter rain’s going to look like.

And besides, Solomon said, “that which hath been is that which shall be; and that which hath been done is that which shall be done” (Ecc.1:9). Everything that’s happening in these days has happened before. Everything. You can go back in the Bible and find out what’s going to happen because it’s happened in the past. If you want to know what’s going to happen in the latter rain, just go back and look at the early rain. That is what’s going to happen. The only thing is the cast of characters was much smaller in the early rain. So look at what happened to Jesus in His days when He walked the earth. That’s going to happen again. This was a revelation of the end time. He said that Jesus and the children whom God gave Him were for a sign (Isaiah 8:18). A sign of what? A sign of the future. What happened there is going to happen again, even up to the destruction of Jerusalem. All that, that’s all going to happen again. That was a sign, a parable, if you will, of what’s going to happen.

Also, if sometimes a prophetic word doesn’t fit into that sign, you can throw that prophecy out because it’s wrong. The end time fits in the Gospels. We have every character there in the Gospels. We have Christ and we have the Christ on the earth today, which is His body. The cast of characters is much bigger, but the sign is there. We have Judas among the disciples and still today we have the Judases. “A man who is a city” is what “Judas Iscariot” means. He represents a group of people. We have the harlot, which was the Judaistic religious system in Jesus’ day and we have the apostate religions of today. We have the beast that was the Roman government back then. Everything that happened there is happening right now. It’s beginning right now. Get ready for it and watch. When you read the Gospels, let God show you these signs because they’re in there so clearly. Then the book of Revelation is just a fulfillment of it. That’s all it’s going to be; it’s a fulfillment of it.

But to return to our original topic, Jesus took me by the hand, when I asked Him to when I was a baby Christian, and He’s still doing it. He’s still taking me by the hand and showing me things. Ask Him to do that for you, too. Have a relationship with Him. If you are a disciple of Jesus Christ, that means you are a learner and a follower of Him. He is taking you by the hand, He’s leading you through the earth and He’s teaching you. Why do we get in these circumstances and situations? Why did the disciples end up out in a boat in the middle of a storm on a very dangerous lake? Why? They got into that situation because God wanted to teach them something.

When you get in a situation, don’t fear; just remember God is your guide. You’re there for a reason. He wants to take you by the hand; He wants to teach you something. And, believe it or not, you have authority over the situation and the circumstances because Jesus paid for that on the cross. But people don’t understand. “Saved.” “Sozo.” It’s the same thing. (Eph.2:8) For by grace have ye been saved…. “By grace have you been.” That’s what it says in the original. “Have you been” means it’s already accomplished. How do you enter into it? You enter into it through faith. (8) For by grace have ye been saved through faith…. Hebrews 3 says the same thing. Listen, “the works were finished from the foundation of the world” (Heb.4:4). The thing that remains is for us to enter into those works through faith. What works? Well, for one thing, Jesus became accursed for you (Galatians 3:13)). And when you go back and read the curse in Deuteronomy 28, you’ll discover that it means just about anything detrimental that ever happened to man. If Jesus became accursed for you, does that mean that God wants you to escape that? Yes, it does. Will everybody escape it? No, they won’t.

We can look at our lives right here and we can see that in a measure, each one of us has learned with the faith that we have to enter into parts of God’s deliverance, God’s salvation, God’s sozo. Some of us have more faith in some areas than others, but when we get together, when we share things, we begin to receive understanding from other people’s gifts and it encourages us. And sometimes we can even use someone else’s faith to add into our faith to help us to overcome a circumstance or a situation. Now Peter had guts. He stepped out of the boat, didn’t he? He knew God wanted to teach him. What was the purpose? You know, we think that there has to be a reason. No, there doesn’t have to be any reason but one. God wants to show you what He has invested in you. The Bible says “that the fellowship of thy faith may become effectual, in the knowledge of every good thing which is in you” (Phm.6). The word “fellowship” means “sharing,” it means “communicating,” it means “using it,” or “sharing it with one another.” (6) That the fellowship of thy faith may become effectual, in the knowledge of every good thing which is in you, unto Christ. Do you know what God has invested in you? The seed of Christ. And God didn’t put it in there for nothing. He put it in there so that Christ could live in us and do what He did in us. That’s why He put it in there. We should expect God to do that. We should expect God to use us to destroy the works of the devil.

Jesus came here to destroy the works of the devil. Am I saying we’re going to get out of going to our cross? Absolutely not. We have to go to our cross. You won’t be any use to God unless you, daily, will bear your cross. No, no, deliverance from the curse does not include deliverance from your cross, so don’t get mixed up with that. That’s the teaching of the “prosperity” folk. They want to use the faith to get rid of their cross, but you can’t do that. (1Jn.2:15) Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. If you love this world, the things of this world, the love of the Father is not in you. We’re not here for that purpose. We came here to die. We came here to lose our life. And it’s conditional. Jesus said, “If you lose your life, you will gain your life” (Luke 17:33). Now, this isn’t talking about you dying at the end of your sojourn down here. He’s talking about the death of the old man. Every day God brings us into circumstances where we can say no to the old man and yes to the new man, and that’s crucifixion. This is what we’re here for. Don’t waste your time. It’s a race to get through that door before it closes. Every one of our lives is that way. I shared Mary’s vision with you about how God showed her it’s a race to be won and the treadmill is picking up speed going in the opposite direction. You’re going to have to run to go through the door. This is what we’re here for. Don’t waste any time with fear. Don’t let the devil use fear, is what I’m saying. Fear is the thing you have to fear. It is faith that’s going to get you there.

God brought you this far to bring you there. Just count on it. And He also made the world so strong that they would look like giants to you, but guess what? They’re supposed to look like giants because it’s supposed to be impossible for you. God put you in an impossible situation. He gave you “this treasure in earthen vessels, that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God, and not from ourselves” (2Co.4:7). But instead, what do we do? We try to do it with these earthen vessels, we try to do it ourselves. God’s methods that He wants us to use make everybody to know that when the answer came, it didn’t come from us, it came from Him because His methods are “weak” to the world. His methods are foolish to the world. He just spoke it. He just commanded it. And, when you get in situations, remember, God put you in that situation for you to do something about it, not for it to do something to you. God put you there for you to do something about the situation. And there doesn’t have to be a reason for the situation. I’ve been tempted like this and said, “There has to be a reason; I mean, “I have to accomplish something.” You may not be accomplishing much in what you do, other than learning something from God.

It’s very important that we overcome this flesh. If the only thing we do in overcoming a circumstance is to cause our spirit man to grow, there’s something accomplished there. I shared with you one time about how the Lord brought us to the beach. We didn’t get to go to the beach very often and so we prayed a prayer to the Lord. “Lord, we’re asking you to give us a nice day at the beach. Nice, sunshiny day. And we ask You to find us a place on the beach where there’s not a lot of naked people and we ask You to …” I prayed three things. I don’t remember what the three things were. Now I only remember two of them, but there were three things I asked of God. So when we went out there, we just kept driving down the beach and driving and there were cars, cars, cars. I said, “Well, I don’t know how the Lord’s going to fulfill this,” but I prayed the prayer, right? Don’t forget that Jesus said, “all things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye received them, and ye shall have them” (Mar.11:24). Don’t forget. It may look impossible, but you believe you have received because God is all-powerful. And so, we finally picked a spot. There were still cars there, but we went over the dunes and we went on out to Pensacola Beach. We looked up and down the beach and, boy, I’ll tell you, it was just loaded. It was packed from end-to-end with people. We hadn’t been there very long before another one of those big, black storms was just rolling in from Pensacola toward the beach.

It was just a big old black storm rolling toward the beach. And I didn’t see God’s hand in it at the time, but He had taken me by the hand and He wanted to show me something. We’re so ignorant but God wants to use us to change circumstances. We’ve been delivered from the curse in circumstances in Christ and God wants us to change things in this world. Listen, God is always going to use a very small force to overcome a very big force. He’s always done that. You go back and look at Gideon’s army (Judges 7). Look at just about every battle Israel ever won. If they weren’t outnumbered, they couldn’t win the battle. If they said, “We’re not outnumbered,” (Joshua 7:3) God wouldn’t let them win. He told Gideon, “Look, you havet too many people for me to give this bunch into your hand” (Judges 7:2,4). Wait a minute now! I mean, the Amalekites, Midianites and the children of the East were coming as the sands of the sea against Gideon (Judges 7:12). This was a lot of people. They had them vastly outnumbered, but God said, “Gideon, you have too many people. You’ll be bragging about what you did. I’m going to have to whittle you down.” So God whittled him down to 300 men. God makes it impossible on purpose. He wants you to know that the battle is not yours; it’s His and He has already won the battle.

Well, anyway, out on the beach was this big black cloud racing toward us and I think maybe even a few drops fell. And lightning was popping and crackling and it was lighting up the sky and everybody cleared out. I stood there and watched, and Mary was saying, “We better get outta here! We better get outta here!” And I was looking up and down the beach and pretty soon there wasn’t a dog on the beach. What I prayed came perfectly to pass. There wasn’t a dog on the beach. There was nobody on that beach as far as the eye could see from end-to-end, nobody was there. And then God spoke to me. He didn’t command me, but He said, “Why don’t you go blow that storm back?” I looked over at Mary and I walked away from her a little bit because I didn’t want her to see me blowing. That’s exactly what I did. I’m telling you the truth. I’m bashful as I can be. And I walked away from her because I didn’t want to look like too big of a fool and I started blowing. I turned toward the storm and I started blowing.

And that storm came up and it was coming real fast, the clouds moved really, really fast, and the storm just stopped dead when I was blowing at it. I mean it backed up and backed up. It stopped right in its path and backed up and it stood right there over Pensacola. The sun broke through and shined on us the whole time we were there. It was a beautiful day. It was everything I prayed for. All the naked people were gone and I was out there in the sunshine and we had a beautiful day. And when we got in our car to come back to Pensacola, we got halfway to the bridge and it was storming. We could barely see out of the car windows because it was storming. After we got back home, we learned that a tornado had passed through right at our corner. It hit the Western Auto, knocked a bunch of trees down on the golf course and knocked the neighbor’s back fence out. I told my kids, “I blew too hard.”

But, you know, you can’t count on your power; it’s nothing. We have to count on His power in us. What we’re going through right now is mostly education and there’s going to come a time we’re going to need this education. Did you know the Bible says we can walk as He walked? (1Jn.1:6) If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in the darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: (7) but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanseth us from all sin. He said, Ask, and it shall be given you (Mat.7:7). He also said that “ye have not, because ye ask not” (Jas.4:3). Don’t put anything beyond God. If it’s a part of the curse (Deuteronomy 28), it doesn’t matter what the circumstance is when things come against you. Our property belongs to God. You don’t own anything. Nothing’s yours. If you’re doing with it what you want, then you’re still the owner of it; you haven’t learned anything yet because it doesn’t belong to you. We are stewards, not owners, and that includes this tithing business. You’d better look more closely at the New Testament because Jesus said you have to renounce it all (Luke 14:33). All. “If you don’t renounce everything, you cannot be My disciple.”

A disciple is a learner and a follower of the Lord. He did not possess and own the things He had. It was only a stewardship entrusted to Him. So what we have belongs to God and if it belongs to God, then the devil can’t destroy it. Jesus has already bound the strong man and He gave you the command to go and spoil his goods (Matthew 12:29; Mark 3:27). What good is a great outpouring of God’s power if you don’t believe that you can do anything with it? What God is doing to us now is He’s preparing us for a great outpouring. Remember the vision I had about the rabbit and the turtle, and the anointing oil that fell on the rabbit who was on the edge of a wilderness. Well, we’re on the edge of that right now. Right now. The anointing oil of God is going to fall on a rabbit to run through that wilderness. Power is going to come on God’s people. And right now, we’re going through a little education stage. God is just showing us how to walk. If the lesson doesn’t appear real important, it’s enough for God if it educates you and it causes you to overcome the old man, the old, unbelieving old man. That’s enough reason for it. Don’t think you have to have a big reason for it because it could be something really, really simple. It doesn’t matter what your need is, for “my God shall supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory” (Php.4:19). It doesn’t say “greed”; it says “need.” God said if you had a need, it would come in and if you didn’t have a need, it wouldn’t. That’s good. Praise the Lord! Why would you want to store up treasures on earth? All you need is your need met. But having food and covering we shall be therewith content (1Ti.6:8). Why would you need more than that? We don’t. Isn’t it so wonderful that it doesn’t matter what the need is? God brings it in according as you have need.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Learning to Walk in Your Faith

Don’t ever fear to make a bold statement of faith. You may think, “Well, is this God?” Don’t worry about it. If it’s to meet your need, if it’s to overcome the curse, don’t worry about it. I remember once when I called Sid and we were talking about what happened the time that my washing machine seal had gone out. The sand had gone in it and ruined the seal. Sid had volunteered and said, “Oh, I have a friend who works on those things. I’ll get him to come by there and get it.” So I said, “Okay.” So he came by and picked it up and took it off, and Sid called me back a few days later. He said, “Look, he fixed this and he fixed that, and it’ll just cost you $70.” I said, “Fine. Bring it on over.” Well, I knew Sid was coming over the next day to drop off the washing machine and I only had $20. And so I prayed a prayer. I said, “Father, you said You supply my every need according to Your riches in glory and I thank You for it.” Then I stuck my finger out there and I pointed at the mailbox. I said, “And in the name of Jesus, that $50 is in that mailbox.”

Do you know, I went out to that mailbox and there was $50 in that mailbox in a check, and there was a note. It read, “God wouldn’t let me go to sleep. It’s now after midnight and God wouldn’t let me go to sleep until I sent you this check for $50.” And the funny thing was, I don’t ever look at postdates, but I looked at the postdate on the check and the thing had been sent two weeks before this day, a full two weeks before this day when I stuck my finger out and pointed at the mailbox. That envelope had been hung up in the mail somewhere for two weeks, wandering around, and it didn’t make it into that mailbox until the right time. But God wouldn’t let this poor guy sleep until he went out there and wrote the check and stuck it in the mail, even though it wandered around in the mail. I don’t know what the reason for it was, but it didn’t come there until it was time for it to be there. God answers before we call (Isaiah 65:24). Do you realize that? God does not dwell in time but we do.

Don’t think it’s too late because it’s never too late for God. God has the answer coming when you speak it and I’ve seen the biggest miracles happen when a bold statement of faith is made. The devil is telling you all the time, “Nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah,” in your ear, saying, “Boy, you’re going to look like a fool!” But God won’t let you be put to shame. The Bible says that He won’t let you be put to shame (Romans 9:33). Anybody who puts their trust in Him shall not be put to shame, the Lord says. (Rom.10:10) For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. You need to actually say it. That was an education for me because there have been other times when I just prayed over a leaking washing machine seal and God sealed it up. And there have been times when I’ve prayed over a carburetor and God fixed it. Then there have been times when I decided I would take that carburetor off and fix it, like one time with my daughter’s car. I took the carburetor off there and I tore it down. And I’m not bad at working on carburetors. So I tore it down, checked it out, cleaned it up and put it back in there, but it did the same thing. I took it back out. It wasn’t easy to get out either, but I took it out and went back through it. I said, “Nothing’s wrong with this car. I don’t see a thing wrong this carburetor,” and I put it back in but it still did the same thing.

Finally, the revelation came to me of, “The devil is messing with you; he’s robbing your time.” And so I rebuked the devil off that carburetor. I commanded the devil to loose it. Do you know that there doesn’t have to be something wrong with a piece of equipment? The Lord showed me that many times. There doesn’t have to be anything wrong with a piece of equipment. The devil is real and he can manifest himself in this realm and he can take advantage of you. Until you take the Word of God and fight him, he can take advantage of you. He was doing that to me. He robbed my time twice to fix that carburetor. And you know what? Just because you don’t see something manifest immediately doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened. The Bible says, “all things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye received them, and ye shall have them” (Mar.11:24). So I commanded that carburetor to be healed in the name of Jesus. Then Mary went and got in the car, but when she cranked it up, it was doing the same thing. I said, “Just go; it’s healed.” She said before she got to the end of the street, it straightened right out and I never had another problem with it. You know, sometimes you have to walk it. If you believe it, you confess it, walk it. It’s like the 10 lepers who were doing according to the Law (Luke 17:12). They had to go show themselves to the priest healed (Leviticus 14). But when they were walking they weren’t healed. It didn’t come until they walked it out that they got healed (Luke 17:14).

So you have to walk it out. Faith without works is dead (James 2:17). Just remember that. Some of Jesus’ miracles didn’t happen immediately. And He didn’t even pray twice. We are disciples of Jesus now. We can’t see Him, but we’re walking with Him and He wants to take us by the hand and show us the way through every problem and situation we come to because it’s already been provided for. It says in Scripture, my God shall supply every need of yours…. (Php.4:19). It doesn’t matter what the need is. Why does it say that? Why did Paul say that? He said that because he knew it was taken care of at the cross. The curse was put upon Jesus. You can’t imagine what this world would be like if there was no curse. Can you imagine what it was like in the Garden of Eden with tomato plants growing 20 feet tall, everything working, nothing breaking, including you, without the curse? Now I realize nobody is totally entered into whatever this means about being delivered from the curse, but individually God’s people are entering into different parts of it. The body needs one another because sometimes other people have faith that we don’t have in a situation that we’re in and we need to pray for people and exercise our faith over one another. But don’t think it’s not possible. We’re going to see God do things in the next few years that we would have considered impossible, that we would have just wondered, “Is that real?” Yes, God’s going to do things we haven’t seen. This outpouring of the Holy Spirit, this outpouring of power has never been on this earth that God’s getting ready to do. People are going to walk on water again. They’ve done it in these days, in these years. I don’t know if any of you ever read Like a Mighty Wind or Gentle Breeze of Jesus. They are about the Indonesian revival where many times, many people saw people walk on water. Those little islands out there where they were trying to get the Gospel to, in some cases it was the only method. It was necessary and they didn’t let the circumstance stop them from doing the Will of God. The Will of God was to go and so they went. They did not let the circumstance get in the way. They walked on the water and there were a lot of people who saw it.

Yes, the day is coming when you may have to drive a car that doesn’t have any gas in it. I’ve done it quite a few times and it works. When you’re going by faith, it works. Or you may have to command some gas into that car and God put some in it. He’s done that for me, too. Listen, circumstances can’t stop you. Circumstances didn’t stop Jesus from doing the Will of God. Did you notice that? It’s the same Jesus Whom we have that your “faith may become effectual, in the knowledge of every good thing which is in you” (Phm.6). Wait a minute! He was talking to the saints, people on this earth. That’s right. But that’s Jesus Christ in the heart of the believer. He has all the power that He ever had. But if you limit Him, you won’t let Him speak that word out of your mouth, you won’t walk that walk with your feet, you won’t do those things. This is not the most important thing in the world that I’m talking about. The most important thing, of course, is to overcome sin, and we’ve studied on that in other teachings but right now we’re talking about not limiting God in this sozo and seeing just how big it is. It doesn’t matter what your need is. God has promised to meet your need.

Do I say you won’t be tried? Absolutely not. You’re going to be tried. How do you get tried? By lack. You get tried by lack. God suffered the Israelites to lack so that He might know what they would do (Deuteronomy 8:2,3). What are you going to do when you lack? Do you never get sick? No, you get sick sometimes, but the Bible says by His stripes you were healed (1 Peter 2:24). It’s a trial of your faith. God’s wanting to see, “What are you going to do with this?” We are being tried. We are going through the wilderness just like the Israelites went through the wilderness. When they went through the wilderness, they suffered lack in this kind of a way and then in that kind of a way and then in this kind of way, and God answered miraculously. Right now, the righteous, just like always, shall live from faith (Galatians 3:11). The life of faith is an exciting walk with the Lord. You’ll see many miracles, if you walk the walk of faith. That’s our purpose for being here. God considers a person who walks by faith and speaks faith and uses faith in the circumstances they get in, to be righteous. He calls them “righteous,” like Abraham when he believed God about his seed. That didn’t have anything to do with salvation. God called Abraham righteous because he believed God in that point and, you know what? God calls you righteous every time you believe the Word of God. Every time you believe in the prayers that you’ve prayed, whenever you pray believing you have received (Mark 11:24), when you keep on holding onto that in faith until you see it manifested, then God calls you righteous.

Look at it as if Jesus is taking you by the hand. He’s going to show you something tomorrow. He is going to do a miracle through you tomorrow. Big or small, He’s going to show you how to walk by faith. Jesus walked by faith. His disciples walked by faith. People who are in the world are under bondage, but people who walk by faith are not under that bondage. When Jesus sent out His disciples, He told them “Don’t take anything with you, don’t take any money” (Matthew 10:9,10; Luke 10:4). He sent them out in total weakness and later He asked them, “Well, when I sent you out without all these things did you lack anything?” and their answer was, “No, Lord” (Luke 22:35). They found out what it was to walk by faith. They didn’t need to bring their own supply because God was there. He did it on purpose. Now in this day, the church is supposed to be doing the same thing. If you obey what Jesus said, you’ll be weak, because Jesus made some statements in there that put you in a position of weakness; but every time you’re going to see miracles.

When you obey the principles of Jesus, you’re going to see miracles because you’re always in a position where you can’t do it, you can’t handle it. He does that on purpose. (Mat.14:25) And in the fourth watch of the night he came unto them, walking upon the sea. (26) And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a ghost; and they cried out for fear. (27) But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid. (28) And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee upon the waters. (29) And he said, Come. And Peter went down from the boat, and walked upon the waters to come to Jesus. (30) But when he saw the wind, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried out, saying, Lord, save me. That’s the word sozo right there. By grace are you saved through faith (Ephesians 2:8). (31) And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and took hold of him, and saith unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? (32) And when they were gone up into the boat, the wind ceased. (33) And they that were in the boat worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God. You know, the Lord saved Peter here even in his failure, didn’t He? Every trial is from God. Every trial. God is sovereign. (Joh.3:27) … A man can receive nothing, except it have been given him from heaven. The circumstances you get in are not by accident. There’s no such thing as an accident or luck. That’s for the pagans to believe in. When Peter took his eyes off Jesus and saw the wind, then he judged by the circumstance instead of judging by the Word. If he would have judged by the Word, when the almighty God said, “Come,” then Peter must have been able to do it, since He said it. That’s the way we have to look at these promises. We must be able to do it because He said it. It’s really simple. Peter believed if Jesus said it, he’d be able to do it and he stepped out of the boat, but then he got his eyes on the circumstances.

You always get fearful when you get your eyes on the circumstance because you don’t have any hope. Get your eyes on the Savior. You can walk on water when you get your eyes on the Savior. Listen, the laws of faith are totally above the laws of nature; they’re always above the laws of nature. You just can’t fathom how God could do some of these things. You can’t fathom how the lot can come up like it does. Can you think about flipping a quarter up in the air and it coming down exactly the way God wants it to come down? The lot worked. Go back and study it. The lot worked. Why? That wasn’t gambling because they believed in a sovereign God. That might have been gambling to some people, but it wasn’t to the Israelites. They believed in the sovereignty of God and they believed God would answer that way and He did. He did consistently, even to the extent of finding one man out of all Israel and that happened quite a few times. Saul was picked out that way (1 Samuel 10:21). Saul’s son was picked out that way when he made a mistake with eating the honey (1 Samuel 14:32). Jonathan was picked out of all Israel. You know they took the lot by the tribe, then they went to the lot by the family, then they went to the lot by the house. They cast lots several times. But you know what? If you believe in luck, what are the chances of the thing coming out to pick one guy out of all Israel? That’s phenomenal. That’s a lot of numbers. But God is sovereign.

Well, it can be done in our day, like I said, with a quarter. I don’t recommend that people lead their life that way, but I have seen mighty miracles come to pass that way, where the answer had to be from God. But I’m just pointing out that there’s no such thing as luck. The world believes in luck and chance, but everything that comes to you is by the Hand of God, even if it comes through the hand of the devil. If you remember from reading in the book of Job, there was no luck involved in that. God was sovereign, even over the devil, and He’s still sovereign, even over the devil. God sends the devil against you so you can ‘whoop him real good.’ Did you know that? God will send him against you so you can whip him, so that you learn how to walk by faith and not by sight. The devil is the one who, in most cases, administers the curse.

Who sent the curse? The Bible says that God sent the curse (Deuteronomy 28). I don’t care what men say; the Bible says God sent the curse. Who administers it? The devil does. He loves to do it. It’s his nature to do it. But, I’ll tell you, God sent the curse and God sent Jesus to deliver from the curse. He’s working from both sides. God sent the curse to cause people to repent and turn to Him. He sent Jesus to those who will repent. And in the circumstances that we get ourselves into, God wants to show us how to give the devil a bloody nose. He wants to show us how to overcome in the circumstances, just like Jesus did. Jesus wants to move through His hand. (Isa.53:10) … The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. That means God is going to be successful in doing what He did through Jesus through you. That’s what it means. God is going to do that. We should consider it done. He did this for Peter, but what was the whole point? You may think there has to be some real reason for this, that you had to be saving souls or something. No. It didn’t do anything for Peter to get out of the boat, except he learned a lesson. We should ask God to bring us these lessons. It’s really valuable to have these lessons that we can look back on and tell to other people to encourage them in the faith and so on. God wants to do miracles through us. Right now we have a short time left for learning some lessons from God. We have a short time left for this and then great trouble is going to come, greater trouble than this land has ever seen. And people who walk in Psalm 91-type faith and who understand about the curse, those are the people who are going to be saved through the midst of this great trouble. A lot of the people are not going to be saved. A lot of Christians, the majority, are going to die through this trouble because the people coming against this land don’t like Christians.

Let’s look at the story of the Gerasene demoniac. (Luk.8:36) And they that saw it told them how he that was possessed with demons was made whole. And the word there is sozo. For Christians, for God’s people, this has been accomplished. It’s part of sozo. It’s by grace. It’s not by grace you will be. It says by grace you have been saved through faith (Ephesians 2:8). By grace have you. So it’s not a matter of, “Let’s see if we can convince God to deliver this person.” It’s not that. Jesus never tried to convince God to heal or to deliver anybody. By grace have you been. It’s all past tense. Everything’s past tense. Now there are some places where the people whom we want to deliver are not in covenant with God. And it’s strange but most of the church does not even believe that Christians can have demons. I’m going to show you that’s not true from the Scriptures. I’m going to show you that it’s a lie and anybody who has discerning of spirits knows that it’s a lie. I can truthfully tell you almost all the people that I’ve ever cast demons out of were Christians. When I’m talking discernment of spirits, I’m talking about the Biblical gift and that is when you see the demons. You see them manifested in their face, you see them manifested in their eyes, you see them in their body. The gift is manifested in different ways, but the discerning of spirits is to be able to see those demons. Anybody who has that gift doesn’t buy that garbage about Christians not having demons. And I’ll tell you what the Lord showed me about it. Those who don’t believe that Christians can have demons quote “My spirit will not dwell in an unclean temple,” but there’s no verse like that in the Bible. It’s not there. What the Bible actually says is that the flesh is an unclean temple (Galatians 5:19). Did you know that? It’s an enemy. It’s at enmity with your spirit. It is the enemy of your spirit (Galatians 5:17).

The covering over the tent of the tabernacle in the wilderness was animal skins and guess what kind of animal skins they were? Goats. Who were the goats? The goats were those who were set on the left while the lambs, the sheep, were on the right. Well, that was goats’ hair covering it. Why? Because the flesh is the enemy of God. The flesh can’t go to Heaven. Flesh never goes to Heaven. (1Co.15:50) … Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God…. You either get a new body or you don’t go. You either go in spirit and in soul, or you don’t go because this body doesn’t go there. You get a new one. The flesh is the enemy of God. God showed me this years ago. I had to have a theological reason because I was casting demons out of Christians and everybody said you can’t do that. So I went to God and said, “God, show me in the Scriptures.” And God brought me back to the tabernacle in the wilderness and He showed me, as I read about the tabernacle in the wilderness, how it represents us because we are the tabernacle in the wilderness. The holy of holies, of course, is your spirit because that’s where God dwells. He dwells in your spirit. And then there’s the holy place representing your soul. And there’s the outer court which represents your flesh. What God showed to me I’ve never forgotten because I learned what the Christians told me was the difference between oppression and possession. They say that oppression is when the devil’s on the outside and possession is when he’s on the inside, but the Lord showed me that’s not true.

When we look at the outer court in the wilderness, we see that many wicked men went into the outer court. In fact, wicked men even came near unto the holy place and some were even killed in the holy place because they went in. But no wickedness ever entered into the holy of holies because the high priest had to be in good shape with God or he’d better not go into the holy of holies. They even tied a rope onto the foot of the high priest so if he went in there and he wasn’t walking in right covenant with God, they could drag out his body. They weren’t going in after the high priest because you’d be smitten dead if you didn’t walk in right covenant with God. The tabernacle in the wilderness represented a Christian because God Almighty dwells in the holy of holies. We have examples in the Scriptures of wickedness coming into both the outer court and the holy place, but not into the holy of holies. God was showing me that in your holy of holies dwells the Spirit of God and only Jesus, Who is the High Priest, can go in there. By the way, ministers don’t have a right to get into your holy of holies. They have to stay without. The One Who is the head of your being is the Lord, always the Lord. If a minister becomes your head, you become a disciple of him and you, in a way, put him in your holy of holies. That’s dangerous for him and you because then he’s between you and God. Remember from our example that wickedness did enter into both the outer court and the holy place.

Now here’s what the Lord showed me about oppression and possession. Did you know that God seeks to possess you? He just comes from a different direction, that’s all. He comes from your spirit seeking to possess. The thing He really wants to possess is your soul. He wants to possess your soul, which is your actions and your nature. That’s your walk. He wants to possess your soul. But the demons come in through the flesh and they also seek to possess your soul. They want to come into the holy place. They want to rule in the holy place because that’s the control over your actions, that’s the control over your thinking, that’s the control over your life. They want to control your life. But the fallacy of the view that the worldly church gives us is that oppression is without, possession is within. However, the demons can dwell in your flesh and as long as they’re just in the flesh but not in the holy place, not in the soul, they’re still in, they’re just not in possession. Possession is when they reach into your soul. If you watch people who are demon-possessed, you’ll see this happen. One moment they’ll be totally normal but don’t think the demon left. He hasn’t left; he’s still there. I’ve had this experience with Christians. Everybody who is led by the flesh is not led by the Holy Spirit and there can be Spirit-filled Christians who are led by the flesh. The flesh is made in the image of the devil and you’re a son of the devil, if you walk after the flesh. You’re manifesting being a son of the devil. That’s what you’re manifesting. But here’s the point. If you walk after the flesh, you’re opening yourself up to let the devil in.

You are the one who either permits or forbids. (Mat.16:19) I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Those demons can come into your flesh. If you give in to some sin, they can come into your flesh, but what they want to do is reach into your soul. Your soul is your nature; it is the controlling factor of your life. When the demons reach into a person’s soul, that’s when everybody says that a person is possessed. But, you know what? They’ll back out of the soul into the flesh and the person will be relatively normal. Then they’ll come in again; they’ll manifest and they’ll back out. We’ve seen people who look totally normal. Then, all of a sudden, when you’re right in the middle of preaching the Gospel, demons manifest in these people and they start crying out. The demons are crying out. Why? Were they there all the time? Yes, they were there all the time. Did they leave the person? They never lever left the person; they were there all the time. So you can be oppressed as long as the demon is in the flesh, but when he reaches into your soul, then that is possession.

Who has a right to having demons cast out? Well, let me give you a few examples. First of all, what we have in the New Testament is Jesus dealing with His Covenant people, which was Israel. That was the type and shadow of what God does today. Jesus was dealing with Covenant people and He even said, “I was not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (15:24). Who was He dealing with when He cast out demons? It was the lost sheep of the house of Israel. When the pagans came, such as in the instance of the Syrophoenician woman, then Jesus said, “it is not meet to take the children’s bread and cast it to the dogs” (26). Well, what was He talking about? He was saying that the lost have no right to God’s provision. The biggest proof to me is my experience. The only time God ever let me cast demons out of a lost person I had to get permission to do it. You have to have permission to do it because you can destroy someone by casting demons out of them. The Bible even says they’ll come back with seven worse. (Luk.11:26) Then goeth he, and taketh [to him] seven other spirits more evil than himself; and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man becometh worse than the first. So casting demons out of a lost person is not good business unless you have God’s permission, since they have no right to God’s provision. God’s provision of deliverance and healing and other blessing is for Covenant people. We are Covenant people; they are not. They have no right to it. Don’t try to give God’s pearls to the swine (Matthew 7:6); they have no right to it. I’m going to prove it to you now from Scripture. (Mar.7:25) But straightway a woman, whose little daughter had an unclean spirit, having heard of him, came and fell down at his feet. (26) Now the woman was a Greek, a Syro-phoenician by race. And she besought him that he would cast forth the demon out of her daughter. (27) And he said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children’s bread and cast it to the dogs. He’s calling casting out demons “the children’s bread.” It’s not for the world. No, it’s only for the children.

Now not only did this woman’s daughter have a demon, she also had a spirit of infirmity. We know this from the same story in Matthew. (Mat.15:28) … And her daughter was healed from that hour. So her daughter was healed at the same time that Jesus cast out the demon. The children’s bread is deliverance from demons and healing in the body and all these things. Why? Jesus said that His Body is our bread. Were there any demons in Jesus’ body? Was there any sickness in Jesus’ body? The reconciliation was that He gave His body for your body. See, we have a right to have a holy, delivered body. We have this right. The world does not have this right. (Mar.7:26) … And she besought him that he would cast forth the demon out of her daughter. (27) And he said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children’s bread and cast it to the dogs. (28) But she answered and saith unto him, Yea, Lord; even the dogs under the table eat of the children’s crumbs. (29) And he said unto her, For this saying go thy way; the demon is gone out of thy daughter. (30) And she went away unto her house, and found the child laid upon the bed, and the demon gone out. And in Matthew, it says she was healed.

So we can see as a revelation from this example by Jesus, that someone who is a Jew according to the flesh is not necessarily a Jew according to this New Covenant. Those who are Jews in this New Covenant are those who walk in the faith of Abraham. You can’t recognize the Jew according to the flesh anymore; it’s whether they are a believer or not. It’s according to your faith or your unbelief as to whether you’re grafted in or broken off (Romans 11) – totally according to your faith. If you have faith, you’re a child. You have a right to the children’s bread. The world has no right to the children’s bread because they are not in covenant with God. Our part of the Covenant is faith. God’s part is supply. We enter into it by faith and God enters into it with supply. It’s kind of a lopsided covenant, but that’s the way He designed it. We got a good deal and that’s why it’s called the Good News.

I’ll show you a few more verses so we can see if this is the Covenant people or the world who’s getting healed or delivered here. Now remember what Jesus believed. He showed you His doctrine, that He didn’t come to the lost people, He came to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matthew 15:24). Why did He call them the “lost sheep of the house of Israel”? He called them that because, like sheep, Israel had gone astray. He wasn’t talking about the world there. And just like sheep, Israel in this day has gone astray, too. The Lord told me one time, “I sent you to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” He wasn’t talking about physical Israel, He was talking about spiritual Israel, the lost sheep, because they are lambs who have lost their way. The Way is the Word. In fact, in the book of Acts, they called it the Way (Acts 9:2; 19:9,23; 22:4; 24:14,22). It is a Way. We’re supposed to be walking in the Way. And that doesn’t mean in the way of God, it means in the Way of God. (Mat.8:16) And when even was come, they brought unto him many possessed with demons: and he cast out the spirits with a word (Matthew is talking about the children here), and healed all that were sick: (17) that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our diseases. He didn’t say “the world’s infirmities”; he said “our infirmities, and bare our diseases.” Who has a right to deliverance from demons and who has a right to healing? We do. They do not. In fact, you don’t have a right to give it to them, except by the permission of God. I asked God and received permission in a vision to cast a demon out of a lost person.

We did that recently in this house. God does give permission, but He doesn’t have to. Here’s the difference: God has to give deliverance to somebody who’s in covenant because the Bible says it and He’d be a liar if He didn’t. He has to give all the promises of God. The Bible says all the promises of God are “Yes.” (2Co.1:20) For how many soever be the promises of God, in him is the yea: wherefore also through him is the Amen, unto the glory of God through us. So I don’t care what others may say. Now sometimes God says “No,” but if it’s concerning a promise, He says “Yes.” There is no promise in the Bible for deliverance for the world from a demon, even though we can ask God and He might give permission, but that is totally grace. That’s totally mercy. But we have a guaranteed right of deliverance, we who are in covenant with God; we have a guaranteed right. The Bible says by His stripes you were (1 Peter 2:24). It’s not even a matter of convincing God; it’s an accomplished fact on the cross. It’s not as though God is going to change His mind. It’s an accomplished fact on the cross that we were delivered. So, who’s He casting these demons out of here, that He says is a fulfillment through the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 53:4)? If it’s a fulfillment of Him taking away our infirmities, then He’s talking about deliverance of Covenant people.

Let me give you another verse. When Jesus sent out His disciples, He limited them specifically as to where they were to go. Evangelization is to the world, but we’re not talking about evangelization here, we’re talking about dealing with “the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Mat.10:5) These twelve Jesus sent forth, and charged them, saying, Go not into [any] way of the Gentiles, and enter not into any city of the Samaritans. That’s even the half-breeds. He’s cutting out the half-breeds here. Or, a Samaritan also can be a pagan who’s acting like a Christian because of how Samaria was populated. It was populated when God took away the Samaritans, the northern 10 tribes. He took them away and repopulated the area with pagans (2 Kings 17:24). And when the pagans in Samaria started dying because of the curses of the land (2 Kings 17:25), the prophet said, “Well, it’s because they don’t know the God of the land.” So then they brought Israelites in there to train these pagans about the God of the land (2 Kings 17:27). That means, in amongst the people of God, there are some pagans. They’ve been trained in Christianity, they know all the lingo, but they’re still pagans, not Covenant people. I’m not saying God can’t heal them, I’m just saying they’re not Covenant. We need to have discernment and pay attention to what Jesus said. I’ve had the Lord tell me, “Don’t lay hands on that person for healing.” I’ve had Him tell me and I thought they were Christians, but God just said don’t do it. I don’t know whether it was because they were in willful disobedience and they couldn’t be healed because they were in rebellion against God or whether they weren’t in covenant with God. I don’t know. I don’t have all the answers. I just know that God has told me not to do that before.

But God has healed nonbelievers and He does it for evangelistic reasons. What I’m saying is there’s a difference, though. The difference is you have no promise and there’s no guarantee. For that, you have to be led of the Spirit. But as a Christian walking by faith in God, repented up of your sins and so on and so forth, you’re guaranteed to be healed, if you will stay in covenant by faith. Every one of us has to stay in covenant by our faith. That’s what keeps us in covenant with God. If you don’t have faith, you can’t have that part of the Covenant. It doesn’t matter that you’re saved in another part. If you have sozo over here, it doesn’t mean you have sozo over there. The Covenant is very big and the sozo is very big, but you might be able to enter into only parts of it because of your faith. We enter into as much as we can receive through our faith. (5) These twelve Jesus sent forth, and charged them, saying, Go not into [any] way of the Gentiles, and enter not into any city of the Samaritans: (6) but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. (7) And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. (8) Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons: freely ye received, freely give. He was saying, cast the demons out, but only cast the demons out of Israel. We don’t have to think too much about this casting demons out. We have another good example from the apostle Paul. (1Co.5:1) It is actually reported that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not even among the Gentiles, that one [of you] hath his father’s wife. (3) For I verily, being absent in body but present in spirit, have already as though I were present judged him that hath so wrought this thing, (4) in the name of our Lord Jesus, ye being gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus, (5) to deliver such a one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Paul turned this man over to the devil for the destruction of his flesh. He used the devil to chasten this guy to bring him to repentance. You’re probably going to waste a lot of breath trying to deliver that guy.

CHAPTER NINE

Choose to Be Blessed

However, let me say that I’ve seen, too, that you can cast that demon out and he’ll go right back in there. God might honor your faith; the demon may come right out but he goes around the corner and he’s right back in there. (Heb.10:26) For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more a sacrifice for sins, (27) but a certain fearful expectation of judgment…. A person who’s under the judgment, you can’t deliver them. Or, if you do, it won’t last. Sometimes God wants to teach you something, so He will permit it to happen, but it won’t last. The judgment will be right back. For example, you can pray for somebody and God may heal them. But what they have sown, they are reaping (Galatians 6:7). They have walked in sin and brought a curse upon themselves and you may pray for them and they may be healed, but the healing won’t last. Why? Well, two possible reasons are willful rebellion against God (Hebrews 10:26) or unbelief (Hebrews 3:12). They’ve never learned to walk by faith for themselves. There are a lot of reasons why people don’t keep what God gives them.

Let me tell you an experience I had. In a United Pentecostal church I was filled with the Holy Spirit. My doctrine was wrong, but I was filled with the Holy Spirit and I spoke in tongues and the gifts were being manifested, but I was caught up in a doctrine of demons and I converted a lot of people to my doctrine. And one day I ran into a man, Brother Bolivar. We were arguing doctrine back and forth and I was sitting across from him and trying to attack what he was saying. I was involved in “Jesus only” and that was the Oneness doctrine. We were casting these verses back and forth and the Lord just really tricked me. Up to this point, I had been converting people to my doctrine or else just blowing them out of the water, but this guy was better than I was and he knew more verses than I did. And every time I threw one argument out there, he had an answer for it. Not only that, but he had an answer for my verse. This was the secret. He had an answer for my verse. People are used to fighting like, “I take this group of verses and you take this group,” but brother Bolivar not only had his verses, he was explaining mine.

And then the Lord tricked me. The thought came to me, “Well, I’m going to have to set down my doctrine just for a minute. I’m going to have to get around there and look through his eyes and try to see what he sees. If I can do that, I can attack this thing.” This is the thought that came into my mind so clearly. And when I decided, “Yep, I’m going to do that,” a demon went right out of the top of my head. I felt the presence go right out through the top of my head and I had an instantaneous revelation. And the instantaneous revelation was that Jesus is the Son of God. Not only that, I lost something else when that demon left. I don’t know the name of the demon, all I know was it was a demon. I actually physically felt his presence go up out of me. I instantaneously knew that Jesus was the Son of God and I immediately lost a sectarian spirit because we were the most sectarian bunch you’d ever want to run across. “We’re saved and none of the rest of you are saved. You all are all lost. You’re all going to hell and you’re gonna split hell wide open.” Well, that was my experience. My experience since then has been casting demons out of Spirit-filled people.

Let me tell you about Tubby. He was a Spirit-filled brother and I cast four or five demons out of him. They had even spoken to him before they were cast out. They spoke to him, physically spoke and physically threw him on the bed, told him they were going to kill him and then they turned the stereo on and opened his windows and his doors; physical manifestations were happening in his house from those demons that were in him. Well, Brother Tubby had just gotten saved and filled with the Holy Spirit. He came to my house and told me the story of what was happening. It was awful. And so anyway, to make a long story short, I cast the demons out of him and he was free.

I’ll tell you another example about this guy named Jim. He’d come to a mission right down the road here. He had gotten saved. In fact, he was so saved that he came in there stoned drunk and became sober immediately when he got saved and was filled with the Holy Spirit. Now one of the deacons of that church was telling me about Jim getting filled with demons, but the deacon himself wasn’t filled with the Holy Spirit. So I told him, “If I were you, I’d mind my business until I got filled with the Holy Spirit because you don’t want to mess with demons until you get filled with the Holy Spirit.” He didn’t pay any attention to me. He went on over there and he ended up in the hospital because the demons manifested in the guy. They ran that deacon right through one of those thick plate glass doors. He went through it. He was laying out in the street all cut up and he was screaming for somebody to get the demons off of him. And a baby Christian walked by and said, “Loose him in the name of Jesus!” And that’s how he got free. He cried out to that Christian, “Get these demons off of me!” I personally knew Jim. He was miraculously saved and filled with the Holy Spirit and this is what happened to the deacon after I told him not to go over there, but he did.

Then the preacher went over there and what I found out was his girlfriend, but she was supposed to be his secretary, she went over there with him and these demons were manifesting in Jim. Did you know demons can actually change your physical appearance? Some of those demons have the ability to make you like a werewolf. Werewolves are not fantasy. And not only that, there are many other manifestations. They can physically change your body. Some levels of demons have the ability to do that. First, let me tell you what happened to this preacher. This preacher and his girlfriend went in there and they were going to command the demons to come out, but the demons in Jim ran them out of there. If the door had still been there, he probably would have run them through the door, but the door was busted. He ran them out into the street.

So they called me and asked me to come over there. I think I was probably the only one there who had any experience at all in casting out demons. I’m not saying I have that much now, I’m just saying I was probably the only one there who had any. So when I went over there and I walked into the room, the preacher and his secretary were standing at the door, peeking around the corner. They weren’t even going to come into the room. When I came in the room, this guy jumped up and it was just like he was a big old bear. His eyes were wild and his features were all contorted. And he came at me. But just the calmness of Jesus was in my heart and I said, “Sit, in the name of Jesus.” He obeyed me immediately; he sat down just like a whipped little puppy; he just sat there. He was growling at me, making all kinds of noises and noises were coming up out of him and so on and so forth. As the Lord was giving me word of knowledge concerning the demons, I started calling them out, then they started giving me their names. They spoke out of him. They asked permission to enter into the secretary and I told them, “No, you can’t,” but I became suspicious, of course.

When they wanted to enter into the secretary and wanted my permission, I figured there was something wrong with her. They were also glorifying the preacher and I knew something was wrong with him because demons don’t like to do that. They just thought he was so great and so wonderful. I later came to find out those two were in fornication. I didn’t know it at the time, but I got suspicious that something was wrong. Anyway, I commanded the demons to come out. I think 10 of them came out. One of them asked if he could go into a dog, but I couldn’t see a dog in the room. I didn’t find out until I left the room that there was a dog behind the wall in the next room. Some lady was visiting her husband in the mission and she had a little dog there. Then they all asked to enter into the dog. I said, “No, you enter into the nearest cockroach you can find.” That’s what I told them. I don’t know whether that’s Scriptural or not; I just felt like saying it. But anyway, they came out giving their names.

Then, because God spoke and told me, “They came in through the TV set,” I asked, “Jim, what were you watching on this TV set?” And he showed me. It was a skin flick he was watching on the TV set and those demons came into this baby Christian, a Spirit-filled Christian. They came into him because he opened himself up watching pornographic movies and I’ll tell you, it’s a dangerous thing to do. Anyway, I can’t explain everything that happened there, but the Lord told me there were two demons left and to leave them. So I left them. The next day we had a church service in that mission and Jim was there and he came down for prayer. And the Lord taught me something there because the preacher was one of those who said if he couldn’t knock you out on the floor, there was something wrong with you. So he laid hands on Jim to knock him out on the floor. I don’t know what good that would have done him because he really needed deliverance. And I didn’t know why God told me to leave the last two demons in there until this next day when the Lord showed me something.

When the preacher laid hands on Jim and Jim’s eyes rolled back in his head, and he started to fall out on the floor, well, the Holy Spirit just took control. I reached out my hand, stuck my hand behind his back, stood him back up and started commanding the demons to come out. I didn’t even think about what I was doing and there was no reasoning in me whatsoever; I just did it. After it was all over, I thought about it and I said to God, “You don’t want everybody so-called ‘slain in the spirit,’ do You?” Sometimes it’s a hindrance, isn’t it? You know, sometimes the devil would rather have you slain in the spirit than to be cast out. Don’t believe “slain in the spirit” is always God. It’s just not always God. I don’t care what they say, it’s not always God. He showed me right there because it was not my thinking or my ingenuity that did that. God stood him back up and I commanded the demons to come out of him. I don’t care what they call it. We have examples in the Scriptures of pagans being slain in the spirit, don’t we? Preachers want to call it “slain in the spirit”; I don’t know about the terminology. But they came up to Jesus and they all fell backwards in the garden (John 18:6). We have quite a few examples of that happening to pagans, but it’s not always God.

What’s Scriptural about knocking everybody on the floor? Find it in the Bible. If you can’t find it in the Bible, suspect it. Something’s wrong because, while it might be a good tingly experience, what is the good in it? What we have to do is look. If we can find it one time in the Bible, that’s fine; that means God will do it, but look at the emphasis in Scriptures. If a preacher is having whole services where they’re knocking people on the floor, suspect something’s wrong. That’s not the emphasis of the early church. Our emphasis ought to be the same as their emphasis. In other words, when they came together, the most important thing was for people to receive the Word of God, not all the manifestations. And if the manifestations don’t look like the manifestations in the Scripture, then suspect something’s wrong. The devil is out to delude people into just tingly experiences. These are just flesh-tingling experiences.

Most of the time in the Scriptures, it wasn’t somebody who went out and said, “Come out in the name of Jesus” that caused a person to get deliverance. You know what causes you to get deliverance? Repentance. In every situation you get into, you’re faced with the truth and you’re faced with your flesh. If you follow your flesh, you give the permission to the devil to live in you. If you follow the Spirit, you put him to death. Some demons are doctrinal demons, like the one I had. You know how that doctrinal demon came out? The truth drove it out. Some demons are physical demons; their manifestation is in sickness or something like that and they come out through the laying on of hands or through commanding them to come out.

However, some of them are spirits of the lusts of the flesh and when we look at the Scriptures, we see that most often these were not the kind that came out by, “Come out in the name of Jesus.” You know how they are overcome? It’s when you get into a situation and you’re offered the chance, for example, to become angry or bitter, but you say, “No, I don’t choose that; I don’t accept that.” You refuse to feed your flesh. The Lord has said there’s a spiritual fast and it’s stopping from doing what your flesh wants. The Bible talks about that in Isaiah 58. If you don’t feed the flesh, God has promised you deliverance (Isaiah 58:8-12,14) and He puts obstacles in our way to give us opportunities to overcome our flesh. If you don’t feed that flesh, it’s going to die. You know what the power of the devil is in Christians? It’s their flesh. He has a right to stay there as long as they want to live and to serve that flesh. I’m not talking about the body. I’m talking about the flesh. So, you know what? Christians give demons a right.

Now you may want really badly to save someone and deliver them, but God wants you to rest and cease from your works. You see, once we pray and we believe that God hears our prayers concerning our parents or whatever, we have to cease from our works. If we believe He’s heard our prayer, we have to stop. That’s where the weakness is. It’s just as much a part of a miracle as the power, the weakness is. But our weakness is that we have to stop. If we believe God heard, we have to stop, we have to confess, we have to accept that it’s accomplished. (Luk.13:11) And behold, a woman that had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years; and she was bowed together, and could in no wise lift herself up. (16) And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan had bound, lo, [these] eighteen years, to have been loosed from this bond on the day of the sabbath? Oh, by the way, it’s on the day of the Sabbath, the day of ceasing from your works, you know. So here was a daughter of Abraham who had demons and, according to the Covenant, deliverance was her birthright. It’s still birthright, by the way, but it’s not according to nationality. You have to be born again. You have to be born into this right. I want to give you one more verse. (2Co.7:1) Having therefore these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit … “Of all defilement of flesh and spirit.” Defilement. You mean we can be defiled by flesh and spirit? Of course, and we have the promises in order to take care of that. If we believe the promises, we can have that. We have a right to God’s deliverance the world does not have. You can do a very dangerous thing by giving God’s deliverance to the world.

While my mother was in my house, she stayed delivered in my house. When she decided to leave, though, the demons came back. Why did they come back? Because she, according to the Covenant, had no right to have the deliverance. The curse has a purpose. The purpose of the curse is to make you so stinking miserable that you’ll turn to God. There’s a good purpose in a bad curse. You can say, “Well, hitting somebody with a stick is wrong,” unless you consider it’s a chastening. And the curse is the stick. It’s wrong, if you look at it from a carnal viewpoint and the carnal people say, “Oh, it’s so wrong! God can’t be doing that!” They should read Deuteronomy 28. God sent the curse. (Exo.4:11) And the Lord said unto him, Who hath made man’s mouth? or who maketh [a man] dumb, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? is it not I, the Lord? You say, “Well, the devil does it.” Yes, I agree. He’s a bad devil and he hates you very much, but the curse has a purpose and the purpose is to drive you to God. How many of you came to God because of a curse? Stop and think about it. You got so miserable that you decided you needed a Savior and He was waiting.

I’ll tell you about this sister who was asking for deliverance. First we prayed and asked God to give us a discerning spirit. Sometimes it’s very useful. Her revelation was that she had a lot of anger and self-will outbursts. And the Lord gave me a dream about going into her backyard. I don’t remember all the details, but there were some beasts in her backyard. One of those beasts came up to me and he had a pitchfork, a three-fingered pitchfork in his hand and he was striped, kind of like a zebra, black and white, but he was a lion. I looked up and he had a head that looked like one of the Roman gods and I researched it. And the one with the three-fingered pitchfork was Neptune, the god of the sea. So I thought about it and asked, “Lord, what are you trying to tell me with this god of the sea?” Well, this was the leader, the ruler in her backyard. And there was something else. Spiritually, in the Scriptures, not only is the sea the wicked people, like in Revelation, but the sea represents the curse. (Deu.30:1) And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind…. The Word was called the water (Ephesians 5:26). The Word saved Noah, but it killed all of the wicked. So this was the god over the sea, over those who are under the curse. Well, that’s what I thought about when I was thinking about this dream is that that’s what Neptune represents. He’s the god of the flesh. He’s the god of that which is under the curse. He’s the god over the curse. Well, let me tell you what happened. I snatched this pitchfork out of his hand and stuck him in the leg and he died. The leg represents the walk.

CHAPTER TEN

The Fiery Trial to Overcome the Flesh

You know, we have to make decisions. Every day we’re faced with a decision. If you decide the easy way, which is the flesh way, then you say, “Okay, devil, you can rule over this flesh.” That’s what you’re really saying. Of course, we can see it across the country, too – people who are so-called Christians rising up against the government and actually being used of the enemy who is going to invade this country. But God said, My power is made perfect in weakness (2Co.12:9). (9) And he hath said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for [my] power is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. (10) Wherefore I take pleasure in weaknesses, in injuries, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong. We’ve been talking about how the power of God comes to those who will enter into weakness. The promises, or let’s say the commands, many of the principles, but also the commands of Christ, are to put us into a position of weakness. If you obey the commands of Christ, you will be weak and you’ll cease from your works. You will not be able to handle the situation yourself. You will have to trust in God to do it, if you obey His commands. (13:4) For he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth through the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him through the power of God toward you. Weakness brings the power of God. Weakness brings crucifixion in the flesh, but it also brings the power of God to bring resurrection. Resurrection life is what we’ve all wanted from God, but many times we won’t pay the price for it. We ask God for the fruit of Jesus to live in us, but before you can have the fruit, you have to give up the lust. The two war against one another, they seek to occupy the same territory in your life. They can’t both live together. The lust must be crucified in order for the new man to live in you and for the fruit to be borne. Anger and forgiveness can’t be in the same place. You can do one or you can do the other, but you won’t do both.

Christ was crucified through weakness. He obeyed God’s word to Him. As a matter of fact, it appears to be a command to Him and He passed on that command to us. To me, it’s the most important command in all of the Scriptures for those who want to bring forth fruit. (Isa.50:5) The Lord God hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away backward. (6) I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair; I hid not my face from shame and spitting. (7) For the Lord God will help me; therefore have I not been confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame. You’ll recognize this as a prophecy about Jesus. But His ears were open to the Lord’s command and His command to Jesus was that He was to give His back to the smiters and His cheeks to them that plucked off the hair. That command has been passed on to us. It wasn’t a request; it was a command. (Mat.5:38) Ye have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: (39) but I say unto you, Resist not him that is evil: but whosoever smiteth thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. (40) And if any man would go to law with thee, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also. (41) And whosoever shall compel thee to go one mile, go with him two. (42) Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away. The reason I say that this is such an important command of Jesus is because of our human nature. The overwhelming majority of the lusts of the flesh rise up against a person who wants to obey these Scriptures. You can imagine in your mind turning the other cheek, either in word or in deed or in action of some kind, and you know what kind of lusts rise up inside of you when you try to do this. There’s a war that goes on inside you when you do this. Jesus fought that war. (Gal.5:19) Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are [these:] fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, (20) idolatry, sorcery (from here on you can identify these as having to do with this command), enmities, strife, jealousies, wraths, factions, divisions, parties, (21) envyings (maybe some of these don’t apply so much), drunkenness, revelings, and such like; of which I forewarn you, even as I did forewarn you, that they who practise such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. These things must be put to death.

You know, the Lord has given us a method to put these works of the flesh to death. He spoke to me one time and He said, “You don’t get resurrection life before you get death.” That was at a time I was trying to bring some people into resurrection life and they weren’t entering into the death part. If you want fruit, these lusts have to die. They have to die on this side of Heaven. That’s the purpose of God. God’s grace delivers from sin; it doesn’t just cover sin. Yes, it’s wonderful that it covers sin, but that’s just for the meantime so that you can have fellowship with God until it manifests its full deliverance. And that is deliverance. Jesus came to do away, to destroy the works of the devil and that’s what we’re talking about here. Most of these lusts are affected by just one command of Jesus and they’re put to death by obedience to just one command of Jesus, and that is, “Resist not him that is evil.” It’s one of the most important and most neglected doctrines in all of the Scriptures.

Let’s read on. (22) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, (23) meekness, self-control; against such there is no law. (24) And they that are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts thereof. Well, the Lord said that we had to take up our cross and follow Him (Matthew 16:24). We just read that “he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth through the power of God” (2Co.13:4). If we’re going to enter into the resurrection life of Jesus in the earth, we have to enter into this death. We have to take up our cross. I don’t think many people realize that Jesus always bore a cross. It wasn’t just at the end of His life that He bore the cross. He bore a cross His whole life by denial of self. He “hath been in all points tempted like as [we are, yet] without sin” (Heb.4:15). And “each man is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed” (Jas.1:14). Jesus was “of the seed of David according to the flesh” (Rom.1:3). I know a lot of people don’t believe that, but I’m just quoting what the Bible says. According to the Spirit, He was the Son of God (Romans 1:4), but according to the flesh, He was of the seed of David. You know what? He was tempted. That flesh Jesus had was real flesh. He was a great God because He came down in the likeness of sinful flesh and overcame sin in the flesh (Romans 8:3).

But He bore a cross all of His life and that cross was to deny self, to deny the old man to live through Him. He wouldn’t permit the lusts of the flesh to speak or to live through Him. And we have to take up our cross and follow Him or we cannot be His disciple. Taking up our cross is to walk as He walked. We probably won’t be called upon to bear the physical cross of Jesus, but we’re definitely called upon to bear this spiritual cross that He always bore as to the denying of self. The commands of Jesus put you in a position of weakness. If you obey them, your flesh is going to squirm and it’s going to writhe and it’s going to try to rise up on the inside of you. It’s going to tell you, “No, don’t believe that doctrine,” but it’s just too prevalent, too common in the Scriptures to deny it. Jesus said, “resist not him that is evil” (Mat.5:39). I tell you, your flesh rises up on the inside of you and it says, “No, no, no! Hit back, talk back, do something, get even!” That flesh just doesn’t want to die. It’s a crucifixion.

You can always tell when the flesh is in trouble because it squeals like a stuck pig. If you don’t ever go against it, you don’t ever hear it squeal, but I can tell you that the commands of Jesus are going to put you at variance with the flesh. They’re going to cause the flesh to be seen by you very plainly. It’s easy, before you read the Scriptures, to think you’re doing pretty well, that everything’s alright. Then you start reading the Scriptures and you see commands like this and, if you start to obey them, you’ll find out what lives in you. You’ll find out what’s way down inside of you when it shows its ugly head and when you go against it, that’s where the power of God takes over. We want the fruit of the Spirit, but before the fruit of the Spirit comes the crucifixion of the lusts. Jesus taught us. He was an example to us. A lot of people think He was an example so that we wouldn’t have to die. No, Jesus didn’t die so that we wouldn’t have to die. Jesus died so that we could die. I’m talking about dying spiritually, dying to self, not about dying physically, but dying to self. He died to make it possible for us to die.

Those who refuse to take up their cross and follow Him, those who refuse to obey His commands, are refusing to be disciples. It doesn’t matter that they call themselves Christians. I want to show you that Jesus turned the other cheek, but He did it as an example to us. When Jesus was before Pilate and the Sanhedrin (Matthew 27:12-14), He resisted not the evil. He did turn the other cheek. He had the power to say “No.” He had more power than the disciples understood He had because they thought they were going to save Him with the sword. (26:52) Then saith Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into its place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. He said, “Don’t you know I could call more than 12 legions of angels (Matthew 26:53)?” Look, Jesus had power they didn’t know of to keep from going to the cross. He didn’t have to resort to man’s arm of the flesh. One angel in the Old Testament killed 185,000 men (2 Kings 19:35) and Jesus is talking about calling 72,000 angels here. That’s power! Christians need to realize that their power is not in the arm of the flesh. Their power is in the Kingdom of Heaven, but that power shouldn’t be used when you’re going to the cross. That power should be used to fulfill God’s Will. In the very next verse after Jesus said, “Don’t you know I could call more than 12 legions of angels?” He said, “how then should the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be” (54)? We want the Scriptures to be fulfilled in us, which is the manifestation of Christ; however, they won’t be fulfilled, if you refuse to go to your cross. Just as Jesus had a free will and He could have called the 12 legions of angels, we have a free will and we could, in many cases, walk away from our cross. But that doesn’t mean we won’t be faced with it again. We’ll be faced with it again and again because God is merciful. And we’ll be faced with it until we get it right or just run out of time because we are running out of time. We’ve been put here to bear fruit and we’ve been given a certain amount of time to do that. There’s a door closing on the other end of this life. My wife saw a vision like that, on a treadmill. The door ahead was closing. We had to run faster and faster in order to get through the door before it closed. The treadmill was imperceptibly picking up speed going in the opposite direction and we had to run faster and faster. That’s the way the world is. The world is picking up speed going in the opposite direction, but there’s a door closing.

We’re running a race but, let me say, this is not a race against one another; this is a race against time. There’s a door closing. You have to bear fruit or else you’ll be called what the Scripture and Jesus called an “unprofitable servant” cast forth into outer darkness (Matthew 25:30). There’s no such thing as bearing fruit without the cross. I’m going to point out just a few of Jesus’ commands and show you that when you obey them, they put you in a position of weakness. You cannot defend yourself. You cannot hit back. You cannot do any of the things that your flesh wants because, if you do, your flesh will live and it will get stronger. (Rom.8:13) For if ye live after the flesh (in other words, if you walk in the flesh), ye must die; but if by the Spirit ye put to death the deeds of the body, ye shall live. We want the new man to live and there’s only one way that can happen – the old man has to die. They live in the same house. The spiritual man was supposed to go into the Promised Land and kill that enemy and live in his house and we are, in one parallel, that promised land. That spiritual man is Christ in us and He’s the spiritual man in every one of us Who seeks to take over this vessel.

(1Pe.2:18) Servants, [be] in subjection to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward. (19) For this is acceptable (the literal translation is actually “grace”), For this is grace, if for conscience toward God a man endureth griefs, suffering wrongfully. Grace? That’s right. God sends us through grace down here on this earth. Sometimes we don’t look on it as grace, but it’s wrongful suffering. He calls it grace. That’s the original word there. We have to go through suffering. (Act.14:22) … Through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God. We must go through suffering because the flesh doesn’t die without suffering. If you’re not suffering, then you’re not ceasing from sin. Peter said, He that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin (1Pe.4:1). That’s because when you’re suffering, when the flesh is suffering – and I’m talking about that entity of the old man in you, the mind of the flesh in you – when that old man is suffering, it means that he’s not getting his way. I’m not talking about this physical flesh suffering, you understand. I’m talking about that entity that lives in here that wants to gratify self. If he’s not suffering, you’re not bearing the cross; you’re not obeying the commands of Jesus, if the old man is not suffering. So Peter called it “grace” here. (2:20) For what glory is it, if, when ye sin, and are buffeted [for it,] ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer [for it,] ye shall take it patiently, this is grace with God. The last thing we want is to do right and to have wrong done to us in return. We want justice. We want our rights. The flesh demands its rights, but the flesh is a dead man. We reckon the old man to be dead unto sin (Romans 6:11) and dead men don’t demand rights. Dead men don’t have rights. You can slap them on one cheek and they’ll turn the other one, too. That’s the way Jesus commanded us.

If you want that old man to die, then don’t feed him. Just don’t obey him and he’ll die. This is grace with God. (21) For hereunto were ye called…. We were called to suffer wrongfully, to suffer in what the world would call “wrongfully.” In other words, we’re called to suffer when we do right. (21) For hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that ye should follow his steps: (22) who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: (23) who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, threatened not; but committed [himself] to him that judgeth righteously. In other words, Jesus left judgment, wrath and payback; He left all that in the hands of God. Peter said Jesus left this example to us so that we should follow in His steps. Every day we’re going to have an opportunity to do this. There’s just no way you could live in this life without having an opportunity to do this. Don’t waste your time. Redeem the time (Ephesians 5:16), the Scripture says. This is what we’re here for. Suffering is one of God’s greatest methods, I feel, to put to death your flesh so that Christ can live in you.

(3:13) And who is he that will harm you, if ye be zealous of that which is good? (14) But even if ye should suffer for righteousness’ sake, blessed [are ye:] and fear not their fear, neither be troubled; (15) but sanctify in your hearts Christ as Lord: [being] ready always to give answer to every man that asketh you a reason concerning the hope that is in you, yet with meekness and fear: (16) having a good conscience; that, wherein ye are spoken against, they may be put to shame who revile your good manner of life in Christ. (17) For it is better, if the will of God should so will, that ye suffer for well-doing than for evil-doing. (18) Because Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God; being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit. We can see a spiritual type there in the life of Christ. When he resisted not the evil, he was put to death in the flesh, but he was made alive in the spirit. This is a spiritual type for us because, if we want to be made alive in the spirit, we must be put to death in the flesh. (4:14) If ye are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed [are ye;] because the [Spirit] of glory and the Spirit of God resteth upon you. (15) For let none of you suffer as a murderer, or a thief, or an evil-doer, or as a meddler in other men’s matters: but if [a man suffer] as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God in this name. (17) For the time [is come] for judgment to begin at the house of God: and if [it begin] first at us, what [shall be] the end of them that obey not the gospel of God? (18) And if the righteous is scarcely saved, where shall the ungodly and sinner appear? (19) Wherefore let them also that suffer according to the will of God (That doesn’t fit the prosperity doctrine very well, does it?) commit their souls in well-doing unto a faithful Creator. Commit your soul unto a faithful creator. Jesus obeyed His own command in Matthew 5:39 and He was crucified for it. I can imagine several places where He could have interjected just a little bit of truth and totally turned the situation around, such as when He talked about, “destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (Joh.2:19). Of course, he spake of the temple of his body (21), but that’s not what was brought out at the trial by the Sanhedrin and I never saw Him even objecting to it, though He knew what He was meaning. He didn’t bother to stick up for Himself.

There’s one person from the Old Testament who really impressed me with his understanding of not resisting him that is evil and that’s David. He obeyed this. I’ve seen probably a half-dozen to a dozen good examples of where David obeyed this doctrine. He seemed to be way ahead of his time in an understanding of what it was that pleased God. He seemed to be almost walking in New Testament revelation in some areas of this resisting not evil and it definitely bore fruit in his soul. (Psa.38:12) They also that seek after my life lay snares [for me,] And they that seek my hurt speak mischievous things, and meditate deceits all the day long. (13) But I, as a deaf man, hear not; And I am as a dumb man that openeth not his mouth. (14) Yea, I am as a man that heareth not, And in whose mouth are no reproofs. (15) For in thee, O Lord, do I hope: Thou wilt answer, O Lord my God. David put his trust in God to bring about justice, just as the Lord did (1 Peter 2:23), and not in his own tongue, nor in his own strength. In fact, as we read on here, you’ll see that David knew and understood God’s purpose.

You know, it’s a fiery trial when you resist not the evil, no matter what form it is. This so-called righteous indignation rises up on the inside of you wanting justice, but listen, folks, we can’t afford justice. Nobody reading this can afford justice. We want mercy. With the merciful thou wilt show thyself merciful (18:25). If you get justice, you’re in trouble. Did you know that? God gives justice to some and He gives mercy to others (Romans 9:21-23). Christians get mercy. The world doesn’t always get mercy. But, I’ll tell you what, the only thing we better show to the world is mercy because God’s going to be merciful and forgiving to those who are merciful and forgiving. And to those who are not merciful, He’s going to give justice (Matthew 18:35). Justice is not what we can afford. None of us here can afford the justice of God. Everybody doesn’t even get a revelation of God in this world, but they get justice because every man is going to reap what he sows (Galatians 6:7). People ask, “What do you do with the wicked who never hear the name of Christ?” No problem. They’re going to get justice. Everybody in this world is going to at least get justice, but the Christians, the true Christians, are going to get mercy and grace.

God’s not doing wrong by doing that because He’s at the very least giving justice to people. But we better pray that we don’t get justice because that means we’ll pay for what we’ve done and what we are doing is wrong. David understood this and Jesus understood this. So David says, “for I said, Lest they rejoice over me: When my foot slippeth, they magnify themselves against me” (38:16). (17) For I am ready to fall, And my sorrow is continually before me. (18) For I will declare mine iniquity; I will be sorry for my sin. (19) But mine enemies are lively, [and] are strong; And they that hate me wrongfully are multiplied. (20) They also that render evil for good Are adversaries unto me, because I follow the thing that is good. (21) Forsake me not, O Lord: O my God, be not far from me. (22) Make haste to help me, O Lord, my salvation. (39:1) I said, I will take heed to my ways, That I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, While the wicked is before me. (2) I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good; And my sorrow was stirred. (3) My heart was hot within me; While I was musing the fire burned; [Then] spake I with my tongue: (4) Lord, make me to know mine end, And the measure of my days, what it is; Let me to know how frail I am. You know, when David resisted not the evil, when he kept his mouth shut when he was really being pressured to speak up, he said the fire burned in him. Have you ever felt that fire? I have. It’s just like a real fire burning in you. It’s a fiery trial that’s come to prove you and to burn up the wood, hay and stubble.

You know, we’ve been told that the fiery trial is in the next life, but that’s as big a lie as has ever been told. (1Co.3:12) But if any man buildeth on the foundation gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, stubble; (13) each man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it is revealed in fire; and the fire itself shall prove each man’s work of what sort it is. Here is where you go through the fiery trial to burn up the wood, hay and stubble, not in the next life. The Bible says “the day shall declare it.” There are no days in eternity. This is where the fiery trial comes. But you can avoid the fiery trial very easily. All you have to do is not obey the commands of Jesus. If you don’t obey Him, it’s easy to avoid those kinds of trials and quite often we’ll go around them, but what we’re doing is putting off the day of crucifixion and the day of bearing fruit. God wants to motivate us with many, many Scriptures that today is the day of salvation. Today is God’s day of deliverance (2 Corinthians 6:2).

I found many places where David understood this. One of them is when Nabal’s herds had been protected by David and his men out in the wilderness (1 Samuel 25:16). By the way, Nabal means “fool.” And David’s men were sent to Nabal to get some supplies for his men, who were living in the wilderness, and Nabal answered them very roughly and sent them back without any help (1 Samuel 25:10,11,14). So David had decided, “I’ll just go over there and take his head off” (1 Samuel 25:22). Meanwhile, Nabal’s wife, who was a very understanding and wise woman, decided she was going to go meet David and ask his forgiveness and she did (1 Samuel 25:24). And one thing she said is, “Thank God that the Lord has withheld you from avenging yourself at your own hand” (1 Samuel 25:26,31). She said that twice. Then David thanked her for her part in bringing that to pass (1 Samuel 25:32,33). You know, there’s something wrong about us avenging ourselves with our own hand. (Rom.12:19) Avenge not yourselves, beloved, but give place unto the wrath [of God:] for it is written, Vengeance belongeth unto me; I will recompense, saith the Lord. He said, if you do this, “thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head” (20). In other words, it’s God’s job to repay. If we repay, then God has to whip us because we’ve been commanded over and over not to repay. If we do it, He’s going to whip us, but He doesn’t have to whip them.

I’ll give you an example. If you have two kids and you tell them, “Now, look, don’t you hit back. If so-and-so does something to you, you come and tell me; I’ll take care of it. If one of them hits back, then the other one has already gotten his punishment. In that case, why should I hit him again? I’m going to have to hit you since you’re the one who needs the whipping because you disobeyed me.” Here’s the point. This is the way God does things. If He tells us. “Don’t do it,” there’s a purpose in it. (Eph.6:12) For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual [hosts] of wickedness in the heavenly [places]. What we can do must be done in the spirit; it must be done through the power of faith. It can’t be done in the flesh.

Let me show you a really good example of this from David. (2Sa.16:5) And when king David came to Bahurim, behold, there came out thence a man of the family of the house of Saul, whose name was Shimei, the son of Gera; he came out, and cursed still as he came. (6) And he cast stones at David, and at all the servants of king David: and all the people and all the mighty men were on his right hand and on his left. (7) And thus said Shimei when he cursed, Begone, begone, thou man of blood, and base fellow: (8) the Lord hath returned upon thee all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose stead thou hast reigned … Well, I don’t know if Shimei knew it or not, but David had opportunity about three times to kill Saul. It was in his hand to do it and he wouldn’t do it. He wouldn’t resist the evil. He wouldn’t repay. He left that to the Lord and the Lord took care of that. The Lord used the Philistines to take Saul and his whole family out (1 Samuel 31:6), but He didn’t blame David for it. David even had to dodge some of Saul’s spears and his evil spirits (1 Samuel 18:11, 19:10). … And the Lord hath delivered the kingdom unto the hand of Absolom thy son; and, behold, thou art [taken] in thine own mischief, because thou art a man of blood. (9) Then said Abishai the son of Zeruah unto the king, Why should this dead dog curse the lord my king? let me go over, I pray thee, and take off his head. (10) And the king said, What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah? Because he curseth, and because the Lord hath said unto him, Curse David … Do you see that? “The Lord hath said unto him, ‘Curse David.’” David wasn’t wrong here. The Lord works all things after the counsel of His Own Will (Ephesians 1:11). He sends wicked people to us to crucify this flesh. It’s His purpose to do that, just as He sent and used the hand of wicked men to crucify the Lord. (Act.2:23) Him, being delivered up by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye by the hand of lawless men did crucify and slay. God used these vessels of dishonor. He used the people of Israel and He used the wicked Roman empire to crucify the Lord, as the Scripture says.

It’s the same way with us. He put us here in the midst of a bunch of wolves. Jesus said, “I send you forth as lambs in the midst of wolves” (Luk.10:3). We have been put here for crucifixion and the world is designed to crucify us. If you don’t understand that, you don’t understand the sovereignty of God. God designed this world to crucify us. Jesus was the lamb slain from the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8). Stop and think. The lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Before Adam fell, God designed a Savior. Do you think we’re in Plan B? Nope. We’re in Plan A. There never has been a Plan B because God is sovereign. He designed this world to manifest sons and to manifest sons, you have to have a fallen nature to begin with. You have to have somebody who does not deserve God’s goodness. That’s where you have to start out because God wasn’t creating angels. If He was creating angels, He wouldn’t have had to make man at all. God didn’t want angels. He wanted somebody who was fallen and picked up by the grace of God. You remember what Jesus said to one of the Pharisees? (7:40) And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he saith, Teacher, say on. (41) A certain lender had two debtors: the one owed five hundred shillings, and the other fifty. (42) When they had not [wherewith] to pay, he forgave them both. Which of them therefore will love him most? (43) Simon answered and said, He, I suppose, to whom he forgave the most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged. (47) Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, [the same] loveth little. In other words, “Who is forgiven much, loveth much.” See, we’re going to know how to love God because we don’t deserve anything. We have fallen and have been picked up by grace, not by our works, by grace. We don’t deserve anything. We deserve justice, but pray you don’t get it because God’s grace is far above justice. His mercy is far above justice. That’s why we have to be graceful with other people. Don’t give them what they deserve; you may get what you deserve. (Mat.7:2) For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured unto you.

Don’t think that you’re going to give somebody justice because you’ll get it back. Give them mercy. Give them grace. God will judge them. God may even judge them out of your mouth, but understand that it won’t be with your flesh. The prophets spoke judgments. In the book of Revelation, prophets speak judgment (Revelation 11:6). I’m convinced that everything that happens in the book of Revelation comes out of the mouth of God’s children. Many of the curses today that are coming upon this world are coming out of the mouth of God’s children. In fact, I’m convinced that all of them do. God is bringing judgment and He’s doing it through His people. They’re speaking that judgment, but they’re not doing it with the arm of the flesh. You know, we can’t rise up against this government (Romans 13). If you do, God promises, “all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword” (26:52). But, we can tear down this government because God has a Kingdom that’s coming. The saints are going to possess the Kingdom and they’re going to take it from the beast. And they’re going to do it in the spirit realm. They are not going to do it in the flesh. In the flesh, they must be crucified. In the flesh, you must cease. You must desist. You must resist not him who is evil.

In the spirit realm, we can do many mighty things. God has planned it that way so that your spirit man will be strong, but your flesh will be weak. That’s the way God’s salvation, God’s deliverance, is going to come. David understood that the Lord had commanded this and we need to understand this, too. All we have to do is read Job to see that circumstances are the same today as they were back then. (Job2:10) … What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?…. And you know what? Job repented after God answered him in chapters 38-40. He repented of his self-righteousness. He repented (Job 42:1-6) and God gave him back what he’d lost (Job 42:10). But God used crucifixion in Job’s life. Job wasn’t physically doing wrong things; he wasn’t in outward immoral disobedience. His problem was self-righteousness. He had to repent and God brought this against him to bring him to repentance. David, too, was put in a position of crucifixion by God. God sent this enemy against him and David understood that. I think very few people in the Old Testament had wisdom like David concerning this. And he said, (2Sa.16:10) And the king said, What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah? Because he curseth, and because the Lord hath said unto him, Curse David; who then shall say, Wherefore hast thou done so? (11) And David said to Abishai, and to all his servants, Behold, my son, who came forth from my bowels, seeketh my life: how much more [may] this Benjamite now [do it]? let him alone, and let him curse; for the Lord hath bidden him. “The Lord hath bidden him.” Think about that the next time people come against you and want to put you on the cross but you keep wanting to climb down. We do want to climb down off that cross, but you can’t drive the nails. God has designed the wicked to put the cross in the ground and drive the nails. That’s their calling in this world.

God has vessels of honor and vessels of dishonor. He has vessels of grace and vessels of wrath. They’re all going to do His Will, one way or the other. All things serve the Lord and He works all things after the counsel of His Own Will (Ephesians 1:11). If you understand this, you can walk in grace and peace in this world, no matter what comes against you, because God put you there for a purpose. He put you there to be crucified and He put you there so that you would learn to use the weapons of your warfare (2 Corinthians 10:4). You know, sometimes the Lord sends the devil against you just so you can defeat him. He’ll send him against you. He’ll send the enemy against you but He doesn’t want you to go against him by wrestling with flesh and blood (Ephesians 6:12). Remember that the Bible says, “resist not him that is evil” (Mat.5:39). On the other hand, it says “resist the devil” (Jas.4:7). “Resist not him that is evil” is talking about man. We don’t wrestle with flesh and blood. When they wrestled with flesh and blood in the Old Testament, that was a type and shadow of them wrestling with principalities and powers. Go back over there and read the names of those kings and the names of those tribes that were conquered and study in the Hebrew what those names mean. You’re going to find out they’re all the lusts of the flesh and demon spirits. That’s who the Israelites were spiritually wrestling with and everything that happened to them was a type and a shadow for us. (1Co.10:11) Now these things happened unto them by way of example; and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages are come. So go back to the Old Testament and look at it carefully. You’ll see what they wrestled with. Today we think we’re supposed to carry on an Old Testament-type warfare in the way we war with people, but you can’t grow if you do that and God will chasten you if you do that because you’re rebelling against His Word. And David said, “the Lord hath bidden him” (2Sa16:11). (12) It may be that the Lord will look on the wrong done to me, and that the Lord will requite me good for [his] cursing of me this day. David is saying that the Lord will pay him back good for his resisting not evil. If the Lord’s going to bless you for it, go ahead and let them curse. Didn’t Jesus say you’d be blessed when men would curse you? Absolutely (Matthew 5:11). Didn’t He say the spirit of grace and the Spirit of God would rest upon you? Have you ever experienced that? I have. When I first learned of this doctrine, the Lord put me in situations where I did, by His grace, turn the other cheek and I felt the power of God on me for going through that. It’s just a great anointing that comes upon you when you obey God in the place where you want to defend yourself and you refuse to do it. You, instead, leave it in the hands of God and you won’t defend yourself.

If you do defend self, then the old man will live; he’ll climb down off that cross. Even though he’s crucified, he’s not totally dead yet, so he can still climb down. It’s true that we have to reckon him dead (Romans 6:11), but until he is dead, don’t let him live; don’t feed him. Do you know what fasting is a type of? Well, when you fast, you’re not feeding the flesh. What does it do when you don’t feed it? It gets weak. What does that do? It makes the spiritual man strong. There’s a reason for fasting and there’s a spiritual type. The whole chapter of Isaiah 58 is talking about spiritual fasting, about denying yourself, so we see that they had a revelation of that in the Old Testament, too. (13) So David and his men went by the way; and Shimei went along on the hill-side over against him, and cursed as he went, and threw stones at him, and cast dust. (14) And the king, and all the people that were with him, came weary; and he refreshed himself there. Well, that wasn’t the end of the story. David never did do anything to Shimei but his son Solomon had him killed because he rebelled against his commands and left the city. It’s hard to comprehend why Shimei was so against David. My guess is he was a low-life who just didn’t want to understand the situation here. Anybody who was on Absalom’s side and saw righteousness in Absalom and not in David, and saw righteousness in Saul, and not in David, was in trouble. He was a sick son of the devil.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Pleasing the Lord Brings Forth Fruit

Leaving our recompense in God’s hands will do a work in you that nothing else will do because we would like to get the last word. And the last place you’ll usually overcome in doing this is in your family. You can do it pretty well with the world and with the Christians around you, but one of the last places you’re going to do it is with your family. It’s really so well taught in the Scriptures. The Lord says, “bless them that persecute you; bless, and curse not” (Rom.12:14). (17) Render to no man evil for evil. Take thought for things honorable in the sight of all men. (18) If it be possible, as much as in you lieth, be at peace with all men. We’re to be at peace with all men. I once had a rather strange thing happen to me when I was in that state between dreaming and waking up. I was faced with an enemy that had come against this country. I saw an invasion force and I was in the midst of it, and I was saying things to them in this dream like, “You’re not my enemy.” The world may have enemies but the world is not our enemy. Did you know the world is not our enemy? He said, ”I will be his father, and he shall be my son: if he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men” (2Sa.7:14). See, the rod is not your enemy; the rod is God’s method of creation.

When what we call our “enemy” is through doing their work, God’s going to destroy them. They have a work to do that we have to cooperate with God in. They are the rod of God who come against us, but they’re not really our enemy. We are to resist not that evil because that evil is what crucifies this flesh, which is our true enemy; it’s the enemy of our eternal life. So they’re doing a work in us that nothing else could do and we need them. And God says, “as much as in you lieth, be at peace with all men” (Rom.12:18). (19) Avenge not yourselves, beloved, but give place unto the wrath [of God]. “Give place unto the wrath.” That “of God” wasn’t in the original, folks. Just cross that out because it’s not in there. It says, “give place unto the wrath: for it is written, Vengeance belongeth unto me; I will recompense, saith the Lord” (19). (20) But if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him to drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head. (21) Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. The method that we have to bring the Gospel to people around us is to overcome evil with good. And Paul said always leave the vengeance up to the Lord.

Now I’ve heard for years that this heaping coals of fire upon their head were coals of conviction. Maybe so. But if you don’t take vengeance, the Lord will because He said to Israel, I will bless them that bless thee, and him that curseth thee will I curse (Gen.12:3). The Bible says we’re the Israel of God. That verse is about you. It’s not about a bunch of pagan Israelites who don’t know God. No, it doesn’t have anything to do with them. It has to do with the Israel of God. For as many as are of the faith of Abraham, these are the sons of Abraham (Romans 4:16). (Rom.2:28) For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh: (29) but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart…. God’s going to bless those who bless you but He’s going to curse those who curse you. (Psa.140:9) As for the head of those that compass me about, Let the mischief of their own lips cover them. (10) Let burning coals fall upon them: Let them be cast into the fire, Into deep pits, whence they shall not rise. So this burning coals upon the head business, it could mean a lot more than just the convicting power. There are some people who will be totally convicted when you resist not their evil and God can overcome evil in people who can be convicted because the drawing power of God is in them. But there are some people who have no desire toward God. They’re not being drawn of God, as a matter of fact. The Scripture doesn’t say God draws everybody. (Joh.6:44) No man can come to me, except the Father that sent me draw him…. It’s just not in there. And this won’t do anything for them, but the Bible does say God’s judgment will fall upon them. If you resist not the evil, God’s judgment will fall upon them, so those burning coals can mean the judgment of God.

(Rom.13:1) Let every soul be in subjection to the higher powers: for there is no power but of God…. Did you know that there is no power but of God? If somebody has power over you, guess Who gave them that power? Jesus told Pilate, “thou wouldest have no power against me, except it were given thee from above” (Joh.19:11). It’s the same situation with us. God puts us in positions where physically we don’t have the power; the enemy, the wicked, have the power. How many times have you ever seen a Christian government over a country? Daniel said that God gives the kingdom to whom He will and He sets up over it the basest of men (Daniel 4:17). Did you ever wonder why God does that? Did you ever wonder why, in the days of Jesus, there were the Neros and the Caesars, and since then the Hitlers and the Mussolinis? God does that because we need crucifixion. God is in the process of creating sons and there has to be a crucifixion for sons. The people in the power most often are the wicked. The Bible says here in Romans 13 that when they’re put in power, God puts them there. So it says, “let every soul be in subjection to the higher powers: for there is no power but of God; and the [powers] that be are ordained of God” (Rom.13:1). And that was written in the days of the Herods and the Caesars and the Neros!

God put them in there and they crucified the Christians. They brought the Christians through trouble and all that was God’s purpose. (Act.14:22) … Through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God. God hasn’t failed. God hasn’t missed. He hasn’t fallen off the throne. Everything He’s doing is to bring to pass the purpose that He had before the foundation of the world, when He chose you in Christ before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4). If Adam had never fallen, would God ever have had to choose you in Christ? No. You mean, God knew that the fall was going to happen and He went ahead anyway? Yes. The Scripture teaches that very clearly. So we’re not here by accident. This is not Plan B. We were each put here like a seed sown in the earth. But then, among those seeds, the evil one came and sowed another seed, the tares (Matthew 13:25). We’ve been sown in the earth to bring forth fruit. When you take a seed and you shove it down in the earth, of course there’s dirt all around it.

Don’t be surprised to look around you and see dirt. That’s God’s plan. It’s just the natural way. It’s quite natural for a seed to grow in dirt, but it doesn’t grow very well if you leave it sticking out on top of the ground, or put it in the rocky places, or put it in the highways and byways (Matthew 13:4-8). A seed only grows well in the dirt. We don’t like the dirt, but take heart and rejoice because we’ve been put here to bear fruit. Where God has you is the most natural place for you to bear fruit. The only thing is you have to learn to agree with God in the process and not fight His process. He has a process. He has a method. His method is going to be manifest by your obedience to Scriptures that you don’t like, such as this one. Our flesh fights against it but it’s the most important commandment of Jesus to crucify the flesh. It will put to death the old man, to bring to life the new man.

(Mat.10:16) Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. A dove is a pretty harmless critter. So is a sheep. Sheep are really pretty stupid, too. You know, I’m not real familiar with sheep. I’ve been around them a little bit but I understand that when a wolf goes after them, they just hunker down and die. There’s no biting, there’s no kicking, there’s none of that. No fight at all in them. They just hunker down and die like it’s what they were created to do. Well, that’s the way we’re supposed to be. (16) Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. (17) But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to councils, and in their synagogues they will scourge you; (18) yea and before governors and kings shall ye be brought for my sake…. “For my sake.” This is what He’s talking about. In order for Christ to live in us, we have to obey His command here. You have to be like sheep in the midst of wolves. It’s for His sake that we’re delivered up. (Rev.13:10) If any man [is] for captivity, into captivity he goeth: if any man shall kill with the sword, with the sword must he be killed. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints. The real saints are going to be able to obey this.

The violent people who lift themselves up are going to die a quick death because God has an enemy coming against them that’s not going to lose. If they fall on their own sword, they’re not even going to be wounded because God’s sending them. They’re coming to accomplish their purpose and that is to destroy Babylon. That’s not to destroy you, it’s to destroy Babylon. The people of God are going to be set free through the destruction of Babylon. But there’s also a little Babylon in us that has to be destroyed, too, and that’s why we’re going to go through this experience. Not only Babylon corporately, but Babylon individually has to go and God’s sending an enemy that’s fully qualified to take care of that. But He says it’s going to take patience and it’s going to take faith for you not to take the sword because when you take the sword, you’re going to die.

My wife had a dream about this, about a younger brother who was out of his mind with getting vengeance on the world. God was showing us that there is a young brother out here in the world, a young Christian brother corporately-speaking, that’s going to rise up against this country and think to take things in their own hands. People don’t understand this because their teachers didn’t teach them this and their lives are going to be cut short because the enemy that’s coming against them is not going to lose. God has a purpose in everything. God is sovereign and everything He does is right; even if He does it through a wicked vessel, it’s right. When He crucified the Lord, He used wicked vessels to do it (Acts 2:23) and it was right. Today, there are these militant anti-abortionists who are trying to get abortion outlawed by force. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m against abortion. It’s murder and there’s no way you can call it right. But God is so sovereign that He will use abortion to take babies out of this world because if those same babies were raised up in this world by this wicked generation, they’d split hell wide open. He’s taking them out of this world through this wicked device so they can go to be with Him.

God is no fool; everything He does is right. When you look at circumstances, just remember God’s in them. He’s doing after the counsel of His Own Will (Ephesians 1:11). He doesn’t ask the devil anything and He doesn’t have to back away from the devil. The devil just happens to be a vessel of dishonor who is, believe it or not, doing God’s Will. He’s wicked, he’s evil, he’s wrong and the people who follow him are wicked, evil and wrong, but he will fulfill the Will of God. The devil is here for people to make a choice. He’s here to bring judgment upon the sons of God who do wrong. As a matter of fact, the devil is here to give them an opportunity to do wrong. This is part of our creation. We have to have an opportunity to do wrong. We’re going to find out through this process who the sons of God are. There are many who claim to be the sons of God, but before it’s over we’re going to find out who they really are because the creation is awaiting the manifestation of the sons of God (Romans 8:19) and we’re going to see that. They’re going to look just like the first Son of God, Jesus. God says there’s no power but of him (Romans 13:1). If there’s a power raised up, God put it there and He wants you to submit to it, even when it’s evil. Remember, Paul wrote Romans 13 in a day when all the rulers over God’s people were evil. (Rom.13:2) Therefore he that resisteth the power, withstandeth the ordinance of God: and they that withstand shall receive to themselves judgment. (3) For rulers are not a terror to the good work, but to the evil. And wouldest thou have no fear of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise from the same: (4) for he is a minister of God to thee for good…. Actually, the word “minister” there is the Greek word diakonos, meaning “deacon,” so these wicked worldly rulers are deacons. … But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is a minister (“deacon”) of God, an avenger for wrath to him that doeth evil. (5) Wherefore [ye] must needs be in subjection, not only because of the wrath, but also for conscience’ sake. (6) For this cause ye pay tribute also; for they are ministers (“deacons”) of God’s service, attending continually upon this very thing. (7) Render to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute [is due;] custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor. The Bible says, be subject to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake. And, yes, there will come a time when they will say to you, “Deny Christ.” They will want you to trust in the arm of the flesh and submit to the authority of the beast. Of course, you have a higher authority, but when man doesn’t cross that higher authority, God says we should submit and obey. The reason is, He put them in there. Remember whom He put in when this was written. It was wicked rulers. Daniel was in the same situation but he said that God raises up over the kingdom the basest of men (Daniel 4:17). He puts them there on purpose and He puts them there to crucify us, if we will permit it. But God gives us His Word so that we learn to cooperate with Him in the process.

We must cooperate with God in the process of crucifixion and the way to crucifixion, as we just read, is weakness. A person who will not resist evil is a weak person, but the power of God to give them life is going to be there for people who are weak in the flesh. (Jer.17:5) Thus saith the Lord: Cursed is the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm…. If your strength is physical and not spiritual, then you’re cursed. Any part of God’s salvation works that way. Any place where you trust in the arm of the flesh, run to the help of man, run to the help of the flesh, there’s a curse in it somewhere. It will be there. You can’t escape it because God’s Word is never wrong. God didn’t design for Christians to trust in the arm of the flesh for healing. That wasn’t His plan. God always heals. Did you ever see anybody come to Jesus whom He didn’t heal? He always heals. Apostate Christians say He doesn’t but they’re wrong. It’s because they don’t believe. We must believe.

Trusting in the arm of the flesh always has a curse in it. My momma and daddy had a good revelation of that. My momma had been taking some kind of medicine for years and one day she looked in the Readers’ Digest side-effects of medicine book. It said the side-effects of her medicine were breast cancer and glaucoma, and she had them both. It was a bad trade. And my daddy ultimately died of what the doctors did to him. It was another bad trade. God is the only One Who can deliver from the curse. Man tries, but all man does is shove it around a little bit. He can’t deliver you from the curse. God’s the only One Who can do that because God is the One Who sent it. If man could deliver you from a curse that God sent, then man would be stronger than God. No, man can’t do it. Look what they found out about penicillin. All they did was breed stronger and stronger germs that they can’t kill. They didn’t do away with it. What I’m saying is, look for the curse whenever man trusts in the arm of the flesh. It doesn’t matter whatever science it is, even psychiatry, which a lot of preachers are preaching now. If you have a problem, there are some full Gospel churches that will send you to a psychiatrist and they’ll do it quickly. Nevermind the Gospel. They don’t know about the power of the Gospel. They trust in the arm of the flesh for their power.

I’ll tell you, if you resist not the evil, you’ll see God stand up in front of you. You’ll see Him do miracles. I’d much rather be left in the hands of God (2 Samuel 24:14) than in the hands of man because that’s where you are when you resist the evil – you’re left in the hands of man. But God will do miracles. Do you know He can change men’s minds? He can give you favor. (Pro.16:7) When a man’s ways please the Lord, He maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him. God can change the heart of an enemy in a moment. It’s no problem for the Lord to change their mind. It’s no problem for Him to totally confuse them in their purpose, too, in a moment. I’ve seen Him do it, totally confuse them. They wonder what in the world are they doing there. (Jas.5:6) Ye have condemned, ye have killed the righteous [one]; he doth not resist you. The righteous do not resist in the flesh. The wicked do that. This is not talking about Jesus. I know they put the word “one” there, but it’s in italics. It’s not talking about Jesus because it says “he doth not,” present tense and future tense – “he doth not resist.” God’s command is plain and it’s always been plain. I know that people have taught that this doctrine is only true for the millennium but that is totally stupid. Why would you need this doctrine in the millennium? (Heb.9:27) … It is appointed unto men once to die, and after this [cometh] judgment. Now is when we need to do this. (Pro.20:22) Say not thou, I will recompense evil: Wait for the Lord, and he will save thee. Wait for the Lord. He will save you.

You say, “Well, He didn’t save Jesus.” That’s right because He wasn’t supposed to save Jesus. When Jesus died in the physical, He delivered us in the physical, but He died so that we could die in the spiritual. He died so that we would have the ability to go against this flesh and win, so that this flesh would die. He made that possible. You’d never go against your flesh, if it weren’t for His sacrifice. In fact, if you don’t exercise faith in His sacrifice, you won’t go against your flesh because it’s like picking yourself up by your own bootstraps and it’s just not possible. You do what you are. The only way you can be something other than what you are is for God to reach in from the outside and put something there that wasn’t there naturally. Otherwise, you really are trying to pick yourself up by your own bootstraps. Christians always try that first; they try to save themselves first. God wants that and that’s part of His plan. He steps back and says, “Go ahead,” and He watches you wrestle with yourself. When you finally discover, “Oh, it’s by grace,” then He steps in and does something. But first He wants you to get the revelation that you cannot save yourself. And if you keep saving yourself, or thinking you’re saving yourself, God will get you into the place where you can’t because He wants you to understand that salvation is by grace. Your deliverance comes from Him by grace. He says to wait for Him. He’ll do it. He’ll save you.

Don’t say within yourself, “I will do it.” Don’t even think it. This is where it has to stop. The battleground is in the mind. It’s won or lost right there. You have to cast down every principle that exalts itself against the knowledge of God (2 Corinthians 10:5). Everything. And one thing is this “my rights” business. We don’t have any rights. We just don’t have any rights. We were crucified with Christ. (Gal.2:20) I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me: and that [life] which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, [the faith] which is in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me. You are not your own. (1Co.6:19) … Ye are not your own; (20) for ye were bought with a price: glorify God therefore in your body. You don’t belong to you. Your life doesn’t belong to you. Your money doesn’t belong to you. Your house doesn’t belong to you. (Luk.14:33) So therefore whosoever he be of you that renounceth not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. That means your right, your will, your money; if you don’t renounce it, you are not a disciple; you are in rebellion against God. Think about it. We have to learn what this means to be a disciple. Renounce your rights. Dead men don’t have rights. Renounce your rights. Renounce your will. Renounce your material possessions; they are not yours. If they’re yours, you’re a thief because you stole them from God. He bought them; they’re His. If you’re doing with them what you want, you’re a thief. Do you realize that? That’s why we were given the Holy Spirit. God is our Lord.

Let me show you another command of Jesus, another place where He wants us to be weak. The worldly church looks upon these as, “Well, that’s nice, you know.” But these are commands. If you’re a “disciple,” a mathetes, then you’re “a learner and a follower.” That’s what a disciple is – a learner and a follower. If you don’t obey these commands, you are not a disciple. If you have no desire to obey these commands, you’re probably a tare in the midst of the church. You know, Jesus said, “if ye love me, ye will keep my commandments” (Joh.14:15). This is how we’re going to prove who really loves God. They’re the ones who desire to keep His commandments. They are mathetes; they are disciples. (Mat.6:19) Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal. Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth. Jesus commanded that. That’s not a request, but we plan for a rainy day, when He tells us, “be not therefore anxious for the morrow: for the morrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof” (34). Even the preachers have their retirement savings accounts, as if they’re supposed to retire. I never saw anybody in the Bible ever retire; they just died. They didn’t need IRAs. They had the power of God. (10:9) Get you no gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses; (10) no wallet for [your] journey, neither two coats, nor shoes, nor staff: for the laborer is worthy of his food. Jesus sent the apostles out in weakness. When they came back, He asked them, “when I sent you forth without purse, and wallet, and shoes, lacked ye anything? And they said, Nothing” (Luk.22:35). So they didn’t have to store up to have their needs met. They didn’t have to be their own supplier in order to have their needs met. God has shown me this. He’s made me go through this, too.

Now a lot of people use the next verse to justify trusting in the arm of the flesh. They say, “Well, Jesus told us to take a sword.” By the way, did you know that people who store up are numbered among the transgressors, just as people who take the sword are numbered among the transgressors? Yes, they are. And since this verse covers both principles, it’s good that we look at it right here. (36) And he said unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise a wallet; and he that hath none, let him sell his cloak, and buy a sword. Why did He say, “sell his cloak and buy a sword”? Why would you have to sell a cloak to buy? Why couldn’t you just buy without selling something first? And why, in particular, a cloak? We know that the Bible tells us to put on the Lord Jesus Christ. We’re putting on his righteousness. (Rom.13:14) But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, [to fulfil] the lusts [thereof]. He said, put away, as concerning your former manner of life, the old man (Eph.4:22). Put off “the old man,” which he called “your former manner of life.” Put off the old man and put on Christ. Jesus is saying that you have to sell your cloak in order to buy a sword. Stop and think about it. You’re selling something. You’re selling something that God gave you in order to buy a sword. And not only that: (Luk.22:37) For I say unto you, that this which is written must be fulfilled in me, And he was reckoned with transgressors…. Underline “transgressors” because that’s the whole point He’s making here. What’s He talking about? Well, the person who takes his own supplies, who is his own supplier, and the person who takes the sword are both transgressors. So they may say, “Jesus told us to bring a sword,” but it’s contrary to what He said after they used it. (38) And they said, Lord, behold, here are two swords. And he said unto them, It is enough. One translation says “that is enough.” It’s enough to prove you’re a transgressor because this is not what Jesus taught the whole way.

The people who supplied their own need, and they do it today, the ones who supply their own need, may put you under the Law in order to give to them and to give to their ministry. They do that because they’re afraid to stand by faith in God and, if they did, He would let their little kingdom crumble. That’s what He’d do because, if people gave according to the Holy Spirit, a lot of kingdoms around us would crumble. If you gave when God told you to give where God told you to give, the kingdoms of men would crumble and they know it. So they put you under the Law. “You have to give to us. We’re the storehouse. Bring your tithes into the storehouse.” No. We don’t need to supply our own needs. The power of God will be manifest in our weakness. If you put yourself in a place of weakness, God will be there. He will see that you never do without. The apostles went out and God was always with them. He’s no different with you.

If you have to go in your strength, you’re in trouble. And everything that you use in your own strength you’re going to lose because the world is going to plunder you. But, if you go in God’s strength, then He is your supplier, He is your Jehovah-jireh and He’s never going to fail you. That’s where miracles are. You’ll see miracles if you do that. Well, He said, “lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal” (Mat.6:19). Why did He say that? I’ll tell you one very good reason. Because He likens this to people who serve mammon and not God. (24) No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. You’re going to hold to the one and hate the other, and that means hold to the mammon and hate God. You can’t serve them both. He said, “for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Luk.12:34). The word “mammon” means “confidence” and it means “that which is trusted in.” It doesn’t just mean “money”; it means “treasure.” In fact, the Hebrew word for “treasure” is matmon and it means “that which is trusted in.” You know what? You can’t have it and not trust in it. I’ve heard them preach it for years and they’re lying. Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” You can’t have it in the bank or however you have it stored up, and not trust in it. It’s just not possible. When a person gets in trouble, they’re going to run to their god and then you know who their god really is. That’s why Jesus said that. He said it’s not possible to serve both God and mammon. (Mat.6:22) The lamp of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. (23) But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness…. In other words, get your eye only on the Lord because, if your eye is double, your whole body is going to be full of darkness. But He said, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth.” What is wrong with doing this? For one thing, God has designed this earth to support the life that’s on this earth and “when goods increase, they are increased that eat them” (Ecc.5:11). So, if somebody is storing up, somebody else is doing without. And, if somebody’s storing up, then, of course, they are trusting in that.

Did you know that storing up was called “covetousness” by God? Do you know that the covetous will not inherit the Kingdom of Heaven (Ephesians 5:5)? The covetous were separated in the early church. Now they’re not separated because it doesn’t make any difference; everybody is covetous. But in the early church they were separated from among God’s people. Paul says that if any man who is called a brother is covetous (1 Corinthians 5:11), then the church was to judge them (1 Corinthians 5:12). He put the covetous right in there with the fornicators. There was no difference. Jesus said, Take heed, and keep yourselves from all covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth (Luk.12:15). A covetous man, the Bible says, is an idolater (Ephesians 5:5). Why is the covetous man an idolater? Do you know what the word “covetous” means? It does not mean “desiring what belongs to somebody else.” The Greek word means “desiring more.” Not being content but desiring more. And the Bible says, “but having food and covering we shall be therewith content” (1Ti.6:8), not desiring more. A person who is covetous is an idolater. “Idolater” comes from the Greek eidololatres and it means “a servant to that which is seen.”

Stop and think about it. Have all the luxuries of life given you any more time to spend with the Lord? You’d think so, but it seems that they just rob your time more than they make free time for you. You become a servant to that which is seen, an idolater, an eidololatres. In the old days, before they had all this stuff, they had more time for the Lord. A materialistic society robs Christians. Christians are strong when they get out of materialism, when they’re content to lead a simple life and they don’t need all the luxuries to make them happy. If you need all that to make you happy, you’re sick. Those things shouldn’t make you happy. It’s the Lord Who should make you happy; its righteousness that should make you happy. The Lord knew this.

(Luk.12:15) And he said unto them, Take heed, and keep yourselves from all covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. (16) And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: (17) and he reasoned within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have not where to bestow my fruits? (18) And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and I will build greater; and there will I bestow all my grain and my goods. In other words, he didn’t have any place to bestow his grain and his goods on anybody but himself. That’s the problem. He didn’t want to bestow them on anybody but himself. “I’ll get prettier. I’ll get bigger. I’ll get better.” (19) And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, be merry. (20) But God said unto him, Thou foolish one, this night they require thy soul of thee. That’s what it says in the original Greek: “They require thy soul.” What requires your soul? The riches require your soul. The Bible teaches that in other places. (20) But God said unto him, Thou foolish one, this night they require thy soul of thee; and the things which thou hast prepared, whose shall they be? (21) So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.

Here’s the point: “They require thy soul of thee.” (Psa.49:16) Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, When the glory of his house is increased: (17) For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away; His glory shall not descend after him. (18) Though while he lived he blessed his soul (And men praise thee, when thou doest well to thyself), (19) He shall go to the generation of his fathers; They shall never see the light. (20) Man that is in honor, and understandeth not, Is like the beasts that perish. He said they’ll never see the light. What is He talking about? Remember what was told to the rich man? (Luk.16:25) But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things: but now here he is comforted, and thou art in anguish. See, obviously things are going to be turned around in the next life. The Kingdom of Heaven is so totally opposite to this world. Things are fixing to be turned around. “Up” is “down” and “down” is “up” in the next life. Did you know that? He who humbles himself shall be exalted. Everything is going to be the opposite. It’s not going to be those whom the world has considered the great Christian leaders. It’s going to be the obedient, the fruitful. If you’re famous with the world, even the worldly church, you’re sick and you’re in trouble. That was not the way the wicked treated the prophets and Jesus. If you are walking with God, then the world will treat you the way they treated the prophets and Jesus, which means you’ll be hated.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Trusting in Our Own Provision Is Idolatry

(Pro.13:7) There is that maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing (This is talking about having nothing toward the Kingdom.): There is that maketh himself poor, yet hath great wealth. (8) The ransom of a man’s life is his riches; But the poor heareth no threatening. What is a ransom? Isn’t it a price that must be paid for someone’s freedom from bondage? Look at what the price to be paid for freedom from bondage is: it’s the riches. It’s the treasures that are stored up. It’s the things that you don’t need. It’s the things that you’re trusting in. That’s not the only place in the Scriptures it says that. Isn’t that amazing? They talk about this “eye of the needle” over there in the Middle East. Of course, they called it the “eye of a needle” after Jesus preached this (Matthew 19:24; Mark 10:25; Luke 18:25), but you can’t shove a camel through there. (Luk.18:25) For it is easier for a camel to enter in through a needle’s eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. He meant what He said. That which is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God (16:15). Jesus said this to the Pharisees because they were lovers of money and they were scoffing at what He was saying. You know, God’s going to try us. God tries every one of us with money and with material goods. We’re going to be tried to see what we’re going to do with them. God made a command in the Old Testament concerning the manna (Exodus 16:18) and Paul used it in the New Testament to show us something. Look what Paul said in the New Testament. Why is it wrong to store up? Because, if you’re storing up, you’re a thief and I’m going to prove it to you from the Scriptures. (2Co.8:13) For [I say] not [this] that others may be eased [and] ye distressed; (14) but by equality: your abundance [being a supply] at this present time for their want, that their abundance also may become [a supply] for your want; that there may be equality. See, that’s what your store should be used for. Am I coming against your flesh? I hope so.

In the New Testament, the rich are exhorted to be ready and willing to distribute. That’s their job when they come into the Kingdom and the reason is so “that their abundance also may become [a supply] for your want; that there may be equality: (15) as it is written, He that [gathered] much had nothing over (Underline that: “had nothing over.”); and he that [gathered] little had no lack.” See, God has a plan for the poor of the Kingdom, the people who are in need in the Kingdom, and His plan is “equality.” No, everybody’s not going to drive nice cars, I know that. But if you have your needs met, that’s the point. God wanted equality and when the Church started in the book of Acts, that’s immediately what they set out to do. The people who had material possessions sold them and gave the money to the apostles for distribution to those in need.

I tell you, the spirit of this is going to come back into the Church and there’s going to be equality, but what’s going to happen first is God’s going to take everything away. He’s going to take everything away because Christians are in idolatry in this country and they’re serving the things that they can see. All those things are going to pass away. In the judgment that God’s sending against this country, He’s going to take it all away, all that store and all those pretty things. It’s just like a sister named Verna’s dream about all the valuables being held over a deep pit. God showed her it’s all going to be taken away because God’s going to deliver His people from idolatry. This is not going to bother people who don’t have a lust of things. They could care less, as long as they can see the power of God and the work of God. God wants equality and He wants your excess to meet somebody’s needs, so that their excess will meet your need. Think about it, folks. Most of you believe that we have hard times coming. If your excess now will meet somebody’s need, then their excess later will meet your need. That’s what it says there. The people who are going to have the hardest time are the people who are idolaters, the people who are serving things. If something is not yours, then God has to tell you what to do with it and, if you’re a disciple, it’s not yours.

Every time God’s ever told me to do something great, He was there with grace in me to do it and He’s always done something greater for me. He has never failed. Never. And He never will fail you. If He tells you to do something, don’t worry about it and don’t fear. It’s His and He can do with it what He likes. If He tells you do something with it, do it because He’s going to bless you. Jesus said, “give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, shall they give unto your bosom” (Luk.6:38). When you need, the way to get your needs met is not by storing up and it’s not by borrowing; it’s by giving. God made me prove that. There have been times when God didn’t supply my need until the last minute and when I looked at what I had and looked at my bills on the other side, there was no way. Do you know what God told me to do? He said, “Give it. Get rid of it. Get it out of your hand.” As soon as I did that, He met the whole need and He did this to me time after time. You see, the way to receive is to give. This is God’s method. And I’m not preaching that so that you give to me because I don’t care if you give to me. That’s not my problem. I don’t have to worry about that. I found God is never going to fail me. Never.

Now I know in this day that it’s almost impossible to live without having a bank account, without putting money in the bank to pay the bills. But Scripture tells us not to store up our treasure. Well, where is the line? I’m not trying to draw one. That’s between you and God. I’m not going to say anything that He didn’t say. But get alone with God and your conscience and find out what He means to you when He’s talking about that. I’m not going to put anybody under a law. Some of you may be thinking, “How could I pay my bills if I just gave everything away?” Oh, believe me, that’s happened to me many times. Many times I had to give everything away before my bills got paid. God never failed me. I never got late in my bills but I had to get rid of whatever I had for Him to do it. And what I had wasn’t enough to cover the bills anyway, so I’d might as well get rid of it. It’s a place of being weak. See, when you are weak, He’s going to be strong. It’s an act of faith to give when you need, like the woman with the two mites, because God doesn’t measure your giving by how much you put in; it’s what you have left after you put in. The woman with the two mites gave more than all those rich Pharisees (Mark 12:42-44). They put in and put in and put in. Jesus didn’t mention them. They were putting in under the Law anyway. She wasn’t putting in under the Law. That was all she had. She was totally under grace and totally in faith in God and she figured, “This won’t meet my need, it might as well meet somebody’s,” and she just gave it. And I’ll tell you what, that woman didn’t go away without being blessed. I’ve experienced it. I know it’s true.

Some people try to say that the way the early church met the needs of the saints is just communism, but there’s a big difference. See, there’s a difference between socialism or communism, and Scriptural socialism or communism, because one of them is from the heart worked by God and one of them is by law. And there have been groups that have this legalistic way of communism. They had communism in the early church; they had it but it was not the kind of communism we’re used to in the world. That is forced and it’s forced upon men who have wicked hearts because of law. And, as you know, the Law cannot make perfect (Hebrews 7:19). The Law does not have the power to bring things to pass, but grace does. When they gave in the early church to meet one another’s needs, down the road God made sure that it was going to come back. Anything that goes out comes back. There will be a time when your needs will need to be met and they will be met because you met others’ needs. That’s what 2 Corinthians 8:14 says. And you know, I’m not trying to draw a line there about how much. You figure that out. Only you know if it’s something that you’re trusting in. The only reason a lot of people I know have a bank account is so they can write checks to pay their bills. It’s awful handy to pay your bills. I have one, too, but I don’t store up. In fact, a lot of times I have to run and put money in the bank so that I can pay my bills.

Okay, maybe you aren’t storing up money, but you’re storing up groceries. Are you doing that for convenience so you’re not running to the store all the time? Or are you trusting in what you’ve stored up for yourself? God left some things between you and your conscience and Him, and that’s the way this is. Let God deal with you when you read that in 2 Corinthians because I don’t think we should make any laws or regulations. That’s kind of how the Bible teaches modesty, but some churches have decided they’re going to tell you what modest is. That’s where they go wrong because they have no right to do that. The Bible doesn’t tell them they can do that. They’re going beyond what’s written. They say this is modest, that your hair has to be here, that your dress has to be this length and so on. No. That’s a bunch of law is all that is. God wants to talk to you, He wants to lead you and, if you humble yourself to that Scripture, He will show you what it means for you. And that’s the way we ought to leave it and not go beyond the things which are written (1 Corinthians 4:6).

Listen, this world is set up for the rich to plunder the poor and this has always been true. The whole system is that way. It’s totally wrong. God did not ordain this system we have in this country. You know the people who are behind the wars in the world, who are behind the governments, who are raising up and destroying governments, have been the rich? It’s always been the rich. The rich are ruling this world and the devil, of course, is using them to do it. He’s the god of this world. They worship him and they serve him. They’re in the physical realm ruling this world, although they don’t know God is over everything. (Jas.5:1) Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you. And they are coming for this country. This is a pertinent word for this day. (2) Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. He’s talking about your spiritual riches are corrupted and your spiritual garments are moth-eaten. (3) Your gold and your silver are rusted; and their rust shall be for a testimony against you, and shall eat your flesh as fire. (4) Ye have laid up your treasure in the last days. (5) Behold, the hire of the laborers who mowed your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth out: and the cries of them that reaped have entered in the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth (or “hosts”). (5) Ye have lived delicately on the earth (Does this remind you of the rich man and the beggar, Lazarus?), and taken your pleasure; ye have nourished your hearts in a day of slaughter. (6) Ye have condemned, ye have killed the righteous [one]; he doth not resist you. That was true in Jesus’ day and it’s true in this day. We should seek God for contentment. (1Ti.6:6) But godliness with contentment is great gain: (7) for we brought nothing into the world, for neither can we carry anything out; (8) but having food and covering we shall be therewith content. The Bible says we should be content with the simple things of life, a simple life. I’m sure you’ve read some of the stories of some of the great men of God and how they were just so content, so happy with so little. They didn’t need material things to be happy. They led a simple life. How much more time do you have for God if you are obedient and lead a simple life, if you don’t lust after the world and run after the things of the world? (Act.20:35) … It is more blessed to give than to receive. And be obedient, as far as seeking equality among the brethren. God wants equality. God wants to bless His people and He’s going to bless them with equality. God even promises “His righteousness abideth for ever” (2Co.9:9) for the person who seeks this. That’s a tremendous promise.

Another thing to look at is tithing. You may not agree with me, but God didn’t ordain for His Church to stop at tithing. Tithing was when 90% belonged to you and 10% belonged to God. But there’s no such thing in the New Testament. We are totally stewards in the New Testament. God came along with something much greater than tithing and here it is, right here. I’m telling you to look. You will not find tithing taught in the New Testament. You say, “Oh, yeah it is, in Matthew 23.” No, it doesn’t say that. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees. (Mat.23:23) … Ye tithe mint and anise and cummin, and have left undone the weightier matters of the law…. Jesus said tithing is of the Law. He never preached tithing. You can’t find one verse where He did. The New Testament talks about tithing they did in the Old Testament, that’s true, but this is what superseded tithing. This is what makes you a steward, when it all belongs to God, not just 10%. You don’t and you can’t find 10% in the New Testament. Read it carefully. And if you’re under the Law, you’re doing business with God according to the Old Covenant. Don’t try it because, if you do, He’ll do business with you according to the Old Covenant.

I learned that when I first came into the Kingdom and started tithing. God blessed me when I tithed because I hadn’t been giving anything. But it wasn’t long until He showed me that He had something better. Everything in the New Testament is better. The great blessings are much better than the Law. (2Co.9:6) But this [I say,] He that soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he that soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Now, there’s no 10% there, folks. He just says, the more you give, the more you’ll get to give. And he does say to give, as you’ll see, if you read on. (7) [Let] each man [do] according as he hath purposed in his heart…. That’s not the Law, is it? There’s no Law there. I tell you, most preachers will rebuke you, if you say that nowadays. It’s as if they didn’t know it was in the Bible. (7) [Let] each man [do] according as he hath purposed in his heart: not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver. It’s not of necessity? That’s right. You read it. So that delivers you from the Law right there. Not of necessity. You got that? “For God loveth a cheerful giver.” In other words, He wants it from the heart. He doesn’t want you under the Law. He’s not interested in that kind of a sacrifice.

The sacrifice He wants is a cheerful giver. And look at His promise for doing this. Now this promise is not for tithers. I’ve had tithers say, “Well, I give my tithes. Why doesn’t this promise come true to me?” It’s because this promise is not for tithing. It is not for tithing because, if you’re under the Law, you can only reap a harvest that’s under the Law. By the way, God never made the Law with the Gentiles. He never made tithing with you. He made the Law with the Jews. He did not make it with you. Not one place did He ever make that covenant with you. You don’t have to figure out what part of the Old Covenant you’re under. You’re not under any of it. It’s all types and shadows to be fulfilled in your life but you’re not under any of it. He didn’t make that covenant with you. You know what? There’s a moral law over there in the Old Testament that’s always true. It’s true for you and it’s true for anybody. But I’m talking now about the ceremonial laws, like animal sacrifice, tithing or circumcision. All these things have been superseded by something greater. For example, Paul told us that baptism represents circumcision (Colossians 2:11,12). We’re still being circumcised, except it’s not the cutting away of the flesh of the foreskin, it’s the cutting off of the whole old man. That’s what baptism means.

So, everything, when you bring it from the Old Testament to the New Testament, is magnified. The tithe has been magnified. It’s not 10% anymore; it’s 100%. And the Sabbath is not a day anymore; it’s every day. See, everything has been changed. Listen, the Sabbath is being fulfilled in the New Testament by those who cease from their works and enter into the rest through faith (Hebrews 4:3). Jesus didn’t say you had to obey the Law. He said you’ll fulfill it. There is a difference. Now, a person who does this will fulfill the tithe. If you sow bountifully, won’t you fulfill the tithe? Absolutely. But you’re not doing it because of the Law. It’s a totally different relationship with God. Now, look at this promise. This is a fantastic promise. (8) And God is able to make all grace abound unto you…. You mean just for giving bountifully? That’s what He said. … All grace abound unto you; that ye, having always all sufficiency in everything…. (8) That’s a promise. I tell you, there are few promises like that in the Bible that are so inclusive, and He’s giving it for people who are bountiful givers. (8) And God is able to make all grace abound unto you; that ye, having always all sufficiency in everything, may abound unto every good work. Now that’s a promise! (9) As it is written, He hath scattered abroad, he hath given to the poor; His righteousness abideth for ever. See, God imputes righteousness to a person who doesn’t give under the Law but gives under grace – and gives bountifully.

Sowing bountifully doesn’t mean we should throw it to the wind just to be giving it. He wants us to be good stewards and He doesn’t want us to pour sand down a rat hole because that’s what you’re doing in a lot of ministries – pouring sand down a rat hole. You’ve heard the saying that you can’t out-give God, and that’s true. But I know preachers many times use it to make themselves rich. You’re not supposed to keep what He gives back to you. He still wants equality. The materialistic preachers, the prosperity preachers, they think this is a means to get rich, but you’re not being content with food and raiment if you’re doing that. (10) And he that supplieth seed to the sower and bread for food, shall supply and multiply your seed for sowing…. So it’s not supposed to stick in your hand. That’s the problem. You see the preachers riding around in their Cadillacs and living in their million-dollar homes. What happened? Is there equality in their church? No. That’s not equality. And it’s stuck in their hand. He said he multiplies your seed for sowing. In other words, God multiplies what you give. He multiplies it back to you so that you can give it again.

The problem with most people is when it comes back, they give only 10%. You can get fat and filthy rich on this 10% business. I mean, in a worldly way you can do that. But if you have it stuck in your hands, you’re robbing God because that’s not His plan. It’s supposed to keep on flowing through you and meeting needs. When you do that, then you’re storing up treasures in Heaven. If you store them up on the earth, they’ll get stolen, but if you store them up in Heaven, you can reach up there and get them anytime you want them. They do not corrupt and they cannot be stolen. It’s just like when God supplied the manna and He told them to only gather enough for one day. If they took more, it bred worms (Exodus 16:20). They were storing up and it corrupted. That wasn’t what God wanted. He took those omers and he leveled off an omer. He said anything that fell out went in somebody else’s omer (Exodus 16:18). Everybody had their needs met and nobody had excess. If anybody had a heaping omer, then he had what belonged to somebody else.

Well, the tithe was given for the Levitical ministry. I’m not denying that. The problem is there are a lot of people who went and weren’t sent. There are a lot of people out there who are receiving this and they have no business doing it, and they’re not doing with it what God told them to do in the Bible. When Jesus gathered together the sheep and the goats in front of Him (Matthew 25:32,33) and He separated them, He separated them by what they did with what they had. (Mat.25:35) For I was hungry, and ye gave me to eat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me in; (36) naked, and ye clothed me; I was sick, and ye visited me; I was in prison, and ye came unto me. (37) Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee hungry, and fed thee? or athirst, and gave thee drink? (38) And when saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? (39) And when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? (40) And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of these my brethren, [even] these least, ye did it unto me. In the Old Testament, the storehouse, by the way, was in the midst of the temple and the people of God are the temple. Jesus didn’t ask one time, “Did you pay your tithes?” He did ask, “Did you meet My brethren’s needs?” That’s how He judged them to be either a sheep or a goat. “Did you meet my brethren’s needs?” The reason is that there has to be a fulfillment of what happens in the Old Testament. So, in the New Testament, the treasury is still in the temple, but it’s not a building. But preachers will tell you to bring your tithe into the storehouse which, conveniently, is them, while people in the church are starving and can’t pay their bills. Instead, they keep building bigger and bigger churches, and some of them are just half-empty mausoleums.

(2Co.9:10) And he that supplieth seed to the sower and bread for food, shall supply and multiply your seed for sowing, and increase the fruits of your righteousness: (11) ye being enriched in everything unto all liberality, which worketh through us thanksgiving to God. Wow! There are some tremendous promises in here for giving according to the New Testament. If you have a need, if you’re in trouble and you need your needs met, let me tell you what to do: Don’t ever stop giving. Give more than you’ve ever given. Remember what Jesus showed us, that the storehouse in the midst of the temple is the people of God. The very first thing God wants you to do is meet the needs of the people of God. The second thing He wants you to do is “make to yourselves friends by means of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when it shall fail, they may receive you into the eternal tabernacles” (Luk.16:9). He’s talking about using your money to bring souls to the Lord because they’ll have an eternal tabernacle, if you use your money to bring them into the Kingdom, won’t they? I’m saying that God wants you to use what you have as a steward, so that in the hereafter those people whom you used your money for will be able to receive you into eternal tabernacles. That’s what the Scripture says.

God’s purpose here on the earth is for us to be a blessing and to bring people into the Kingdom, and seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. The purpose of the Kingdom is to bring in others. (Mat.6:33) But seek ye first his kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. He said all these other things will be added to you. Don’t worry about them. That’s what the Gentiles seek after. You don’t have to seek after these things. Look at the birds. (26) Behold the birds of the heaven, that they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not ye of much more value than they? Look at the flowers. (28) And why are ye anxious concerning raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: (29) yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. You don’t have to seek after these things. He literally means that. Look, there’s going to come a time when you may not be able to work and make your own living, but God is your Jehovah-jireh. It doesn’t matter that you can’t work. Don’t worry about it. Just seek first the Kingdom and His righteousness and God is going to make sure that your needs are met. He’s going to prove it to you. The birds don’t sow. Look at the point He’s making; go back there and look at it and meditate on it.

Okay, suppose you can’t work. Suppose you’re put into such a position of need. Suppose this country falls all apart and money isn’t worth anything and you don’t have a job. Does that mean God can’t supply your needs? No, just the opposite. If you continue giving right there, you’ll find out God will bless you right there. He has bound Himself by His Word to be your Jehovah-jireh; He will meet your needs. Look at the birds. They don’t store up in barns. Your Father feeds them. Look at the flowers; they’re clothed. They don’t labor to be clothed. Father clothes them. So, He says to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. This is an important principle. If you have a need, don’t ever stop seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness because He said it’s going to be met. See, the problem is that when people get a need, they start seeking the need instead of seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. They get turned around. That’s the worldly way. If you have a need, seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and what you need will be added unto you. When I agreed the Lord was going to give me a house in Florida, one of the first questions that came to us was, “Well, how’s God going to do this?” And Mary asked me, “Well, what do you think we ought to do, start saving our money? Should we sell our house?” You know, God told me the opposite for everything there. He told me, “Don’t save anything; just keep giving, keep giving, keep giving.” And that’s what we did. We never saved a nickel. We just kept giving and giving. I was making plenty of money and we just kept giving. And we didn’t sell our house either. He made us give it away.

God’s Word is true. He doesn’t tell you to gain any other way. He doesn’t tell you to store up to meet your need. He tells you, don’t store up. He wants to show you He can do a miracle. He wants to prove to you because in your weakness He’s made strong. You want to see a miracle? You have to be weak to see a miracle. You have to be in a position of weakness. The commandments of Jesus are designed to make you weak. He said, “Don’t store up.” And the thoughts will come to you, “What if I have a problem?” “What if I get sick?” “What if ...” Don’t worry about tomorrow. (34) Be not therefore anxious for the morrow: for the morrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Obey His command and do not worry about tomorrow. The devil will give you trouble by worrying about tomorrow because it will be a self-fulfilled prophecy. Listen, if you don’t have it, God will see to it that you get it. If you have it, you have your own need supplied, so why does He have to do a miracle? You don’t get to see miracles that way. Besides, you’re rebelling against God. (Luk.16:12) And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own? Do you see that? What we have is another’s.

If you see a brother in need, you should try to meet that need because we already have some principles in the Bible and God wants us to obey them. He said, “give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away” (Mat.5:42), and “release, and ye shall be released” (Luk.6:37); and He means it. And He’s talking about wicked people there, too, by the way. But what happens nowadays is Christians will pass up their brother in need or people who ask them and say, “No, I can’t do that. I have to bring my tithe into the storehouse.” What they’re doing is rebelling against the principles of Jesus to give, or lend, or release, in order to obey the Law that they were never under. Preachers are putting them under the Law so that they rebel against every principle Jesus ever spoke. You don’t need a word from God, if you see a brother in need. He’s already given you a word.

Now if a person is doing okay financially and you know they’re making it, they’re getting by, you wouldn’t do that. And you’re not supposed to meet a person’s greed. Why give it to a preacher who has a $300,000+ home and a Cadillac? Does he need it? Obviously not. Something’s wrong there. The Bible says, “he that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord” (Pro.19:17) but “he that giveth to the rich, [shall come] only to want” (22:16). Number one in God’s priority is His children, not the world. I’ve seen people skip over His children and go straight to the world because they wanted to or maybe because it was kinfolk or something like that. No, you can’t do that. That’s not Scriptural. Remember what we read; it’s “inasmuch as ye did it unto one of these my brethren, [even] these least, ye did it unto me” (Mat.25:40). Now, if you do give it to family, does God count that, if they’re in need? Well, that could fall under the category of what He said about being a wise steward and gaining those people and bringing them into the Kingdom, so that they have an eternal tabernacle (Luke 16:9). It could fall under that category because sometimes the Lord wants you to do that, to meet the need of some poor, lost person because God’s going to use it as a testimony to them. He’s going to use it to bring them to the Lord.

God can guide you to do all kinds of things. The thing is, in the Old Testament, they needed a law because they didn’t have the Holy Spirit. We’ve been given the Holy Spirit because He is a law unto Himself. You follow the law of the Spirit. And the Holy Spirit has been given to us to guide us. God didn’t tell us 10%. He didn’t tell us how much here, how much there, but He gave us the Holy Spirit. The church has actually put us into bondage. At the same time, those who really have a need go without. People in the church who are in real need can’t get their needs met. I’ve heard so many testimonies, you have, too, of people who try to get their needs met in the church and couldn’t do it; and yet the hierarchy in the church were living pretty well. And the churches still will receive the 10% when a person could be saying, “Enough is enough. I’ve been giving to this doggone building fund and these people who are human – flesh and blood – are freezing and starving in the church.”

But there are people who prey on churches. They just want handouts, are just being leeches instead of trying to find work. They think it’s easier to have the church give them something. So where do you know where to draw the line? I know I’ve shared this experience with you before, about when I was an elder over in Louisiana. We had this couple who came in there and that’s the way they were. They were strictly Gimme, gimme, gimme; they were leeches. We’d give to them and they’d be eating steak. We hardly ever ate steak. Well, the Lord showed me something and He gave me wisdom there because we had just taught, “give to every one that asketh thee” (Luk.6:30), and the text there is talking about the wicked. When they ask you, give to them. I understand there are cases whereby you don’t want to be a partaker in other men’s sins. If a man’s an alcoholic, you don’t give him a buck to go buy another one, but you can use wisdom. You can meet his need with wisdom. You don’t have to meet it with money. That’s true. But after we had taught these people this, then this couple came.

And God showed me that He sent them there. He sent them there to try everybody in that church to see if they were going to obey the Word that they’d heard. Were they going to submit and were they going to give, and were they going to lend and were they going to do what the Bible said to do? I think that a lot of people did overcome there. They actually entered into more of God there because they did obey that. But there came a time when the Lord told the elders what to do with that couple, after they had tried the church. I mean, God spoke to me just as plain as could be when I asked Him what to do about them because they were tormenting the church. He spoke to me and said, “Kick the baby bird out of the nest.” That’s what He told me. In other words, they were just leeches. They were just soaking everybody dry. It was, “I need this, I need that, I need this.” They had no responsibility. The guy would lose his job because he wouldn’t get up in the morning and go to work, you know, and things like that.

And the Lord does try people to know, “Are you going to obey?” See, if you will obey God’s Word, He will take care of things. It may not look reasonable to you, but you come against your flesh when you do things just because the Bible says it. Your flesh is saying, “No, no, no, no, no,” and you’re saying, “Yes, I’m going to do it just because the Bible says it.” It may look unreasonable to you, but when you obey it, you’re crucifying your flesh. Finally, there was a time when God wouldn’t permit the church to be tried anymore. You know, the Bible says “God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able” (1Co.10:13). And I’ll you what happened. This is something I hardly ever do. I wouldn’t even think about doing this, unless God told me to do it, but He told me to call that woman up in front of the church and cast out a spirit of graft because she was using her position to gain from the people of God. When I did that, I’ll tell you, it was an eye-opener because when I commanded that spirit to come out of that woman, she hit the ground and she was wiggling around down there just like a snake.

As fat a woman as she was, there’s no way she physically could have done that. And the spirit came out of her. Well, she lasted only about a week until she went back to doing her same old tricks again. God sometimes will cast a spirit out because the people need it, but if that person has not repented, it isn’t going to be gone for long. But when it came back, that’s when the Lord said, “Kick the baby bird out of the nest.” When the momma kicks the baby bird out of the nest, they either fly or hit the ground, and that was this case. But it didn’t last long. There was a preacher from a Philadelphia church in New Orleans who called me and asked, “Do you know these people?” I said, “Yeah.” He said, “Well, we’re having a little problem.” I said, “Yeah, I can guess what it is.” So he asked for my advice and I told him what I did. “Well, it sounds like good advice. We’re going to do that, too.” I said, “Fine,” but I know God sent them there to see if they were going to obey His Word. Sometimes you don’t want to do that. You don’t want to obey the Scriptures. You think there’s somebody more deserving of this. But it says, “give to every one that asketh thee” (Luk.6:30) and He’s talking about the wicked. He’s talking about sharing with the wicked.

(Mat.6:19) Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal: (20) but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth consume, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. The emphasis here is that it can’t be corrupted. When you lay it up in Heaven, you can use it and it’ll be there for you. (Gal.6:7) Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. In other words, you have to sow it to reap it. Some people don’t understand why they’re not reaping. Did you sow it? The Bible says, “give, and it shall be given unto you” (Luk.6:38). There are principles in the Word of God. Again, I say the amount doesn’t matter. I’ve never given as much as God’s given to me. Never. It doesn’t matter the amount; it matters what you have left, like the widow (Mark 12:42). It mattered what she had left (Mark 12:44). She was a giver and God met her needs.

And God will meet your needs, if you’re storing it up in Heaven where it cannot corrupt and where the interest is greater. When we gave a house, God gave us a much better house. When we gave a car, God gave us a much better car. The interest is great. It’s “good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, shall they give into your bosom” (38). That’s not to make you rich. It’s supplying seed to the sower (2 Corinthians 9:10), so God just wants it to keep on going. God will do miraculously. If you give abundantly, according to what you have, He’ll give abundantly, according to what He has. But you have to store up your treasures in Heaven. How do you store up your treasures in Heaven? (12:30) For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: but your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. (31) Yet seek ye his kingdom, and these things shall be added unto you. (32) Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. It’s not as if you have to talk God into it. He wants to do miraculously. But many people will not put themselves in a position of weakness where God can do this. It is, “my power is made perfect in weakness” (2Co.12:9). It’s faith and, if you have faith, you don’t need to store up. (33) Sell that which ye have, and give alms; make for yourselves purses which wax not old (In other words, it’s not something you stored up and you’re keeping it for a long time.), a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief draweth near, neither moth destroyeth. (34) For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Lots of Christians are storing up on earth when they should be storing up in Heaven. They point to Joseph and how he stored up grain in Egypt (Genesis 41). Well, I really believe what Joseph was storing up there in type, the grain that he was storing up, is the grain of the Word of God. Because, if Jesus said it, He’s never going to change His mind (Matthew 5:18). His commands to us are His commands to us. If He said it, it’s always going to be that way. What God is going to do in the future is going to be miraculous. I mean, I found out when God moved me to Pensacola that when I didn’t have, that didn’t have anything to do with God’s supply. Nothing. I saw God multiply food. I saw Him put food in our stomachs when we didn’t have any food. And I know that God will never let you do without when you have a need. It has nothing to do with your supply; it has to do with what you’ve been doing. There’s going to come a time when you need some treasure stored up, right? Have you been storing it up in Heaven?

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Table of Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

As Weak As a Little Child

Being Weak Gives All Glory to God

Man’s Insurance or God’s Assurance?

True Faith Looks Back

Confess and Believe

Walking As a Child Is Walking By Faith

Let Jesus Take You by the Hand

Learning to Walk in Your Faith

Choose to Be Blessed

The Fiery Trial to Overcome the Flesh

Pleasing the Lord Brings Forth Fruit

Trusting in Our Own Provision Is Idolatry