Chapter12

We need the fullness of God working in our life. We need the full Light of Jesus Christ shining on us if we want to be purified by that Light but we also need to be trained up by that Light. We need the fullness of God’s Holy Spirit working in our life to teach us who we are because of Jesus Christ, who we can become with Jesus Christ, and what we are capable of achieving through Jesus Christ. Satan is still at work wandering this earth looking for any opportunity by which to enter into a person’s life and bind them with his cords of bondage for it is not yet the appointed time for him to be destroyed. As long as satan is warring against Gods people we need to warfare against him. Jesus Christ’s death at the Cross of Calvary has achieved several precedented accomplishments for the Kingdom of God, one of which has empowered you and me as Christians and servants of the Lord to be apart of the work which Jesus Himself had done while He was walking this earth.

John 14:12 NIV I (Jesus) tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.

What did Jesus do when He was here on earth, and what is it that we as Christians are to do? As you read your bible look and see what Jesus Christ had done in His ministry on earth, and then think upon that scripture John 14:12 NIV I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.

It takes time for a Christian to grow into a deep relationship with the Lord as it takes time for a Christian to begin to understand what their true purpose is as a Christian, but once that Christian does get to that place then they should begin to minister unto others as Jesus had. When we first come to the Lord we need to be ministered to but the day will come when we will be delivered from the past and prepared for the future, instead of us being ministered to we will help minister unto others. Those are not my words, I didn’t make this up those are Jesus Christ’s words. This is what faith in Christ is going to do for a Christian and for the Kingdom of God here on earth we will become an extension of the ministry which Jesus Christ had begun when He was here. This is God’s will that the followers and believer’s of Christ will partake in Christ’s work.

Mark 16:15-18 NKJ 15 And He (Jesus)said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.16 "He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. 17 "And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; 18. "they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.''

James 1:21-25 NKJV 21 Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. 22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.

James 1:22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

Note what verse 22 says. It literally says that if we think that we are not to be a doer of God’s word then we deceive ourselves. There are many Christians in the body of Christ today who are deceived into thinking that they need not do anything and all darkness will be washed away from their soul. They believe that in confessing that Jesus Christ is their Lord that God snaps His fingers and “bam” all sin and darkness is washed away and they are now walking in the fullness of what God had wanted of them. It is not by a person solely confessing that Jesus Christ is their Lord that makes it so but it is by the demonstration that you have made Jesus Christ the Lord of your life and when there is some evidence that the nature of Christ lives in you.

Jesus Christ through His life and by His death has gained a power by which a Christian can draw upon and use in every situation but we need to be trained up to know how to use this power. A soldier cannot effectively wield a sword unless they are first trained to use a sword. A track and field competitor cannot effectively run a race that has hurdles in their path with an expectancy to win the race unless they are first trained up to run that race and prepared for the hurdles.

We as Christians need to know how to pray effectively when praying so that we can draw upon the power which is in the name and the blood of Jesus Christ and put that power to work (for us and the Kingdom of God) to accomplish what we are praying to achieve. We need to know how to apply the Blood of Jesus Christ for healing, when someone needs healing. We need to know how to use the name of Jesus Christ for deliverance, when someone needs deliverance. What am I getting at? In order that we “effectively” address each type of situation that needs the power of the “name” and the “blood” of Jesus Christ applied to it we need the knowledge to know how to do such things. We need to know what is effective and what isn’t in that we will always apply the Blood of Jesus Christ in a effective manner.

We need to know how to warfare against satan, for satan’s agenda is to stop anyone from gaining and utilizing God’s knowledge, truth, and light against him. Satan knows that if we reach our potential in Christ that we will effectively put the Blood of Jesus Christ against him, bind his works on a greater level and restrict him from having his way in this world. We are commissioned by the Lord to refute and rectify the works of satan here on earth and in the spiritual realm, so we need to get trained up. God wants for us to be trained up in His knowledge and satan wants for us to get trained up by man’s knowledge.

Luke 6:40 NIV A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.

Hebrews 5:14 NIV 14 But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.

Hebrews 12:11 NIV 11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

There is always a right way of doing things and a wrong way, an effective way or non effective way. For example in all that we do we need the power of our faith working in the requests of our prayers or else our requests may be ineffective. It is hard for us to call upon the name of Jesus Christ to help us in a situation if we are not totally believing that Christ is bigger than the situation which is against us. So by this example we can see that for us to be effective as Christians we need to exhibit some faith. Great faith does great things, greater faith does greater things, little faith does little, but no faith does nothing.

Don’t get me wrong this is the time that God wants to prove to us that He is real in a time of distress. God wants for us to know that Jesus Christ is bigger than our circumstances but we need to show some faith that Christ is bigger than the situation that we are calling Him into. If the spirit of fear hits you when you are in bed then the power that is in Jesus Christ will be more effective for you if you at least sit up and face the fear while you call upon Jesus, rather than if you hide under the blankets and let the fear have its way with you. A whole book can be written about faith and so I am not trying to explain all of what faith is at this moment, but I was giving an example as to how we can stop the fullness of God’s power from coming into our requests.

There is validity and truth in the scripture that says that the faith of a mustard seed can move mountains. A new Christian may have trusted to make Jesus Christ their Saviour, but they may not have the knowledge to understand how powerful Jesus Christ is in their circumstances for they have not experienced His power yet. A newer Christian’s faith to call upon Jesus for their needs may be very small at first but when they call upon Jesus to come He will show up because of their demonstration as a newer Christian to trust on Him. But when we grow older in the Lord we need to exhibit a greater faith than when we had first come to the Lord.

Matthew 17:14-20 NIV 14 When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him. 15 "Lord, have mercy on my son," he said. "He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. 16 I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him." 17 "O unbelieving and perverse generation," Jesus replied, "how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me." 18 Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed from that moment. 19 Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, "Why couldn't we drive it out?" 20 He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."