Has the Lord ever spoken a Word to your heart, but you did not realize the significance of it until a little time had passed? It lingered in your mind, and after an interval you realized what that Word was all about.
The lord is blessing us with wisdom.” in counseling individuals and directing churches. This wisdom has not been a natural ability, but a real gift from God.
But “That wisdom will not be the complete answer. We need a gift of faith, and faith will take priority over wisdom.” We need to be aware that no matter how earnestly we look to the Lord for wisdom, in these last days wisdom is not enough. It is adequate when it comes to dealing with controllable factors; it reveals the strategy that should be used in a given situation. But someplace, faith has to take over where wisdom is not enough.
Joshua’s long day is a good example of this. Joshua could have been using the finest strategy in the world while pursuing those Canaanites, but there was an uncontrollable factor involved: the sun was going down. He needed more time to achieve a decided victory; so through faith Joshua commanded the sun to stand still over Gibeon. He might have been the wisest general in all the world, but when wisdom was not sufficient, faith had to take over (Joshua 10). In the first place, Israel was fighting that battle only because they had made a foolish agreement with the Gibeonites without asking the Lord for counsel concerning it (Joshua 9:3–15). No matter how much wisdom a man has, it often shows up later that he did not have enough in a given situation.
There was probably no more critical time in all of the ministry of our Lord with the twelve disciples than those last days and hours before He was betrayed and crucified. Chapters 12 through 19 of the Gospel of John cover this period of time, and chapters 20 and 21 deal with the resurrection of the Lord and His appearances afterward. The Gospel of John is occupied more with that particular portion of Christ’s time on earth than with the early part of His ministry. When we see Christ coming forth as the Son of God to be manifested in us, we can read the Gospel of John, especially chapters 12 through 19, with a great deal of understanding and comprehension because we walk in that same place.
John 14 reveals our Lord’s response to the doubts and questions in the minds of the disciples. Thomas asked, “We do not know where You are going. How will we know the way?” Philip said to Jesus, “Show us the Father, and it will satisfy us.” Jesus answered him, “Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me; otherwise believe on account of the works themselves” John 14:11. You must reach the place where you do not respond to reason, but you respond to the power of God in action.
The greater works must reinforce the Living Word. If we are to find solutions, God must intervene. We must believe for more than the reasons for situations as they are; we must believe to change them. If we try only to understand all that transpires, we could possibly become bitter, because we are dealing with the spirit world, with satanic oppression, and also with the ambivalence of people who not only love God, but also seem to hate Him a little bit.
There are times when nothing that God does seems reasonable. He loves you and receives you as a son; then He starts scourging you (Hebrews 12:6). What kind of a father beats his child before he has done anything wrong? The Heavenly Father beats you before you have done anything right or wrong. He chastens you, so that you will become a partaker of His holiness. You may not like His way of doing things, but He will continue to lay it on you until you are like Him.
Apparently, God does not think the way we think, and that makes it difficult for us to go beyond the realm of wisdom and reach into a pure faith. Yet, the word of wisdom is the first gift of the Spirit named in I Corinthians 12:8–10. Even in this message an element of the wisdom of God is coming to us, saying: “You do not need answers; you need the answer.” And to attain that, you must have faith.
John 14:12–14 explains this truth. “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go to the Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.”
John 16:23–24: “And in that day you will ask Me no question.” (The King James Version says, Ye shall ask me nothing.) “Truly, truly, I say to you, if you shall ask the Father for anything, He will give it to you in My name. Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be made full.” Jesus was telling the disciples, in effect, “You have many questions and many problems now. But the time is coming in which you will no longer look for reasons or ask for answers to questions, but whatever you ask in My name, that you will receive. Faith will reach in, not to explain the problem, but to get the job done.”
As we reach in with real faith, we come to the conclusion that this wonderful day of “whosoever will” is giving way to the next step: “whatsoever you shall ask.” If we have rejoiced and felt included in the promises of God addressed to “whosoever,” we shall now be taxed with the real faith required to claim “whatsoever we shall ask in Jesus’ name.”
“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you.” John 15:7. I am always impressed with the Lord when His wisdom comes and the Holy Spirit opens up a fresh revelation of a Scripture. For years I have felt that the most important issue was to abide in the Lord like a little branch attached to a tree, drawing all of the Word and divine life into me that I could. Now I realize that this is the bottom line of John 15:7: “whatever you ask.” All of us, to some degree, are abiding in the Lord, and His Words are abiding in us.
Why then are not more miracles happening? Because we have not made the focus of our faith on “whatsoever we ask” to the extent that God wants it.
We are ready for a great exhibition of effective intercession, intercession that really hits the mark. It is good to create an explosion of faith by which we dispel every thought from our mind of the effectiveness of any demonic spirit, because we have truly triumphed in the Lord. In addition to that, there must be an explosive focus in our intercession. There is power in a firecracker, but exploding one is a rather futile gesture. Our faith, too, has a great potential but we must not allow it to be a futile explosion. Focus it on “whatsoever you shall ask.” That is the bottom line.
Abide in the Lord and let His Words abide in you; then ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. What are you believing God for? Focus on it. Do more than intercede for half an hour or so. If it is right to focus on a certain need, then stay right on it until you get the answer from God.
Time can be a great enemy, because Satan uses delays. Satan can use delays until hope deferred makes the heart sick (Proverbs 13:12). On the other hand, God uses delays for testing. But there comes that moment in which there must be a redeeming of the time and a bringing about of the will of God in the earth. A troubled situation that continues on for some time can suck those involved into a deep discouragement. Yet God could move on that situation, and in twenty-four hours or less there would be a release. What is the answer? We do not need specific answers; we just need the answer of faith that binds the matter over to God and starts praying. That is not oversimplifying it.
God has brought this Word as meat in due season (Matthew 24:45). He is ready to move upon the local churches, in individual lives, in the Kingdom schools, and in many homes. All we have to do is zero in on believing for the complete victory of Christ to be manifested for each one. Let our intercession not be like the blowing off of firecrackers.
Let us focus our faith. Let us believe the Lord to see specific things done. We can voice our prayers in general language, as long as we know in our hearts that we are believing for God’s power to be released through a specific appropriation, based on the promise that whatsoever we shall ask, He will do. I believe that since the Lord has reemphasized this Word, He will give us a greater impartation of the gift of faith.
Do you feel that you seem to have less faith now than you ever had? God’s Word says, “Tribulation worketh patience” (Romans 5:3). What happens when you ask the Lord for patience, and He promises to give it to you? You will probably have some more blowups before you learn to appropriate His patience. Tribulation will work the patience in your spirit, but there has to be an openness for God to work it in you. You may come to the end of yourself before you find an infusion of Christ’s very attributes and nature coming forth in you.
Here is an illustration: If the Rh factor in the blood of a pregnant woman is negative, and the Rh factor of her unborn baby’s blood is positive, it is sometimes necessary to replace all of the baby’s blood with a transfusion of other blood as soon as the baby is born, because the conflict of blood types could cause serious problems. A new infusion of blood brings greater hopefulness for that little baby’s life.
Instead of getting locked into the frustration of looking for an answer, let us look to the Lord to bring an infusion of Himself into the situation. We need to claim the power of God to come down on every troubled scene, and then to say by faith, “Lord, whatever we ask in Your name will be done.” May God give us the faith to believe that the works Jesus did, we shall do also, and greater works as well (John 14:12). How will we do them? When we get to this stage, it is not answering questions that will bring the release; it is claiming the power and grace of God for the situation. The Lord rebuke us when in our stupidity we still insist on knowing the reasons for everything. We appropriate the faith to believe for His perfect will in everything.
A Word in the Scriptures can have a general application, but it is up to you to make it a specific Word. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him, should not perish… John 3:16. What wonderful words those are! “Whosoever” includes everybody, but it does not work for you until you realize that it means you personally. God also said, “Whatsoever you shall ask in My name, you will receive.” Just think of all those wonderful things you can ask for in His name! But do not forget to be specific when you ask. That verse does not have any fulfillment until you nail it down and apply it to the need in your own life, demanding that by faith you will have the answer.
Let me present to you a twofold definition of faith: Faith is a continuous state of confidence in the Word of God, and it is also an individual explosive manifestation of that confidence for miracles and greater works. We will never see faith manifested in its great power until it is a continuous state of confidence in the Word of God that upon every occasion will focus and erupt into miracles and greater works. Faith must not waver; it must be constant. Faith is also a loaded gun, aimed at the devil. Let us pull the trigger!
Jesus Christ is the Lord over all of us. That revelation has been our principal point of doctrine and teaching since God called us as a people to do His will. All that we believe is based on the truth that Jesus Christ is the Lord, and it is in His name that we seek to see His Kingdom established on earth.
Repeatedly Jesus spoke of His oneness with the Father. He has given us the promise, “Whatsoever you shall ask in My name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” In John 14:9 He stated, “If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father.” We cannot exalt God unless we exalt Jesus Christ, for He is the One who exalts God in our lives. There is no relationship to the Father without a relationship to His Son. The Lord Jesus Christ is the sum and substance of everything that we believe. Do not allow the enemy to distract you or trick you into believing anything else.
The Lordship of Jesus Christ and the exaltation of His name is a greater reality in our lives now than it has ever been. There is no other motivation among us but the exaltation of Jesus Christ. The enemy subtly tries to promote lies that we are exalting man or that we are exalting relationships. On the contrary, there are no relationships unless we are all related to Christ. Because we are one with the Lord Jesus Christ, we are one with one another. On this basis, we learn how to relate and communicate, and it is only in Jesus Christ that we can do this. Christ is the Head, and we are the many members of His Body (Ephesians 5:23; I Corinthians 12:27). There has never been any other emphasis among us, and it is our very existence to exalt Jesus Christ as Lord.
We have a Living Word from Christ which must lead to the living works: “Greater works than these shall you do, because I go to the Father.” We believe that Jesus will continue His living works through us. This is our specific faith. In fact, we are being challenged not to just believe for “works” in general, but to specify exactly what we are after. Number one, the Lord Jesus Christ will have a great company of prophets. In Revelation 19:11–16, John prophesied about the army that follows the Lord Jesus on white horses. A sword, the Living Word of God, goes out of His mouth. This is the downfall of the old order, the culmination of the battle of the ages, and the exaltation of Jesus Christ as the Lord of lords and the King of kings.
The satanic witchcraft that has come against this move of the Spirit is more extensive than people have realized. It has hit at finances, at Kingdom businesses, and at some of the churches in many ways. The witchcraft on the level of politics and economics in the land is more extensive than we realize. If the United States of America is to be preserved (which we are contending for), then Christ will have to be exalted, and the lesser spirits who are trying to take over must come under His dominion.
Nephilim spirits are deeply entrenched in politics, in places of authority and influence, in industry and business.
If you could know the number of these nephilim spirits, the full extent of spiritual wickedness in high places, and how totally the prince of the power of the air rules in the spirits and hearts of the disobedient ones (Ephesians 2:2), you would realize that it will take more than just a clash against personalities to bring these powers down. Real faith must be exercised to worship God and exalt Christ-that is the first step. The exaltation of Christ creates the force that displaces the usurper, because Christ is the Lord of lords and the King of kings (Revelation 17:14), and He will reign until every enemy is made the footstool of His feet (I Corinthians 15:25).
We must proceed in the correct way. We exalt and worship the Lord Jesus first. This creates the pressure that dispels every attempt of the usurper to take over any prerogative or position of authority that belongs to Christ. When Christ said, “All authority in heaven and in earth has been given to Me,” He meant all of it (Matthew 28:18). So wherever you find the enemy exercising authority or power, remember that it is usurped and illegal, and it is to be rebuked within the Kingdom of God. Wherever Satan oppresses a child of God, it is wrong.
For a little while we may find Satan bringing retaliation against us. We are initiating the assault whereby Christ alone shall be exalted in the earth, and nothing will usurp His authority or take away His power. Everything that exalts itself against the Lord must come down.
The sons of Sceva wanted to cast out demons. So they said to a man possessed of an evil spirit, “We adjure you by Jesus, whom Paul preaches, that you come out.” The demon answered readily, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are you?” Immediately the evil spirit came against those men violently (Acts 19:14–16). When you personally submit to that wonderful name, the devils have to submit to it, too. The name of Jesus on your lips will be no more effective than the dominion which that name has in your own heart. This is why the Holy Spirit is continually teaching us a greater submission to the Lord Jesus Christ.