Quote:
Originally Posted by Pastor Poster
Hmm, maybe I asked the wrong question?
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You could be right. You might be asking the wrong question. It's not hard for God to do miracles. That's not the issue. The problem is that I believe he expects US to do them!
I'm not going to say that we're turning things upside down in my area, but we're getting there. If you read the New Testament carefully, and see the things the apostles and early church did, you'll see a pretty vast difference between what they did (and their results) and what we're doing that's failing.
There are two main words used in the New Testament that are translated in King James as "authority." They are "DUNAMIS", and "EXOUSIA". Dunamis is the mighty, miraculous power of God. Exousia is the authority of God. The church needs to wake up and see that WE HAVE POWER AND AUTHORITY. Authority without power is useless. And power without authority is suspect. I might have power because I'm aiming a gun at your head, but if I don't have authority to use the gun (power), I'm nothing more than a criminal. The baptism of the Holy Ghost and taking His Name in water baptism gives us both the DUNAMIS and the EXOUSIA.
Acts 1.8
But ye shall receive power (DUNAMIS), after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
Luke 10.19
Behold, I give unto you power (EXOUSIA) to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power (EXOUSIA) of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
If you look at how the church behaved in the Book of Acts, you'll see something amazing. You'll NEVER read of a healing in the New Testament where anyone was screaming and praying saying "Oh, gawd, heal this woman of this disease by your power!" The focus of their prayer was the disease. They spoke to the disease, using the authority and power that God had given to them. They weren't asking God to do it. They were doing it because they knew they had the power and authority to do it themselves.
I can tell you that since this revelation, we are making a difference and starting to see the fruits of it. It's intimidating, I'll admit. And sometimes we still hold back for fear of appearing to be nutty or fanatical. But in those times where we break free from that, and believe God will back us up when we follow His leading, He comes through. You'll not find anyplace in scripture where Jesus refused to heal someone because it wasn't His will. The story of Lazarus was a little different because of a specific purpose He had, but the outcome was the same. Why should we expect anything different? He's the same God! We have the same power and authority they had. Jesus said "greater works than these shall ye do."
God Bless!