We all suffer affliction. But it is nothing compared to the Glory that will be ours, because we have a coming Kingdom! God says, 'I will be with you; through all the suffering, all the pain.'
You WILL receive a baptism of Power and Fire
You WILL receive a baptism of Fire and Power! My whole ministry has been about the Fire and Power of the Holy Ghost! I want to talk from Acts 1.8 – this is the beginning for the Church, these are Christ’s last Words before He leaves His disciples and before the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. He’s telling them, preparing them, warning them for what is going to happen.
Have Faith in God!
Have faith IN GOD! Our faith is not in people, it’s not in the preacher or the evangelist. Our faith has to be directly IN GOD! We have to emphasise this when we talk about faith. Too many people look to me, and think I’m some healer… No! God is the Healer. I explain this in every evangelistic meeting before I pray for the sick, “I am NOT a healing evangelist! Jesus is the Healer, He’s the One you have to ask!” And I teach them how to call on Him for their healing.
I’m trying to give you a wider picture about faith, and I feel I have to return to some subjects I have already dealt with. I don’t want to teach on faith as a generalisation, but look at the practicality – what effect faith will have in your life, how we can enact it, live it out, see the results. I want to show you the pitfalls, the difficulties – and the phenomenal result of faith.
God is calling us to trust Him
God is calling us to trust Him! I ask myself sometimes, which was the greater miracle, the children of Israel crossing of the Red Sea on dry land, or the total destruction of the crack troops of the elite Egyptian army, chariots and horses that raced in after them – it was like drowning tanks! So here, in Numbers 14, God is saying, “I performed all these miracles and still these people don’t trust in Me.” God is always demonstrating His Power, always calling us to trust Him – and He never, ever fails!
To me, the story of the 12 spies sent to spy out the Promised Land is a tremendous challenge to my faith. The children of Israel were still in the wilderness, and it had taken them a long time to get to this place. Now the command of the Lord to Moses is to pick twelve representatives from each of the twelve tribes, and to send them to see for themselves what the future was. I find this very interesting, because they were actually sent out to see the future! - And the level of their trust in God would affect whether they received the promise or not.
The fullness of God's love
It’s a very lovely thing the Apostle Paul is saying in Ephesians 3.17-19, “that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth, and length and depth and height of the love of God.”
This is really beautiful, it’s Paul being very expressive and very explicit. We’re so familiar with two dimensions, flat, and with three dimensions where there is some depth and perspective. But Paul’s description of the love of God is higher and greater, more enlightening, it’s wide, it’s long, it’s deep, and it’s high – four dimensions – the height AND the depth! I’m intrigued! God’s love is not just the length which encompasses the world, it’s not just the width, but it has a height – and it has a depth – it’s an almost unfathomable mystery of God. And yet Paul wants us to understand it.
Held by the love of God
We are held by love, an invisible power that doesn’t let us escape out of the Grace of God! Oh, what a wonderful description of being a ‘prisoner of God’. We are held ‘captive’ to His Love… It so binds us, so holds us… But it’s not only God’s Love for us, but our love for Him! Our love for Him acts as a lock, a guard, to prevent us from getting away! So, you and I, we’re a ‘prisoner’ of the Lord! Not in the sense of pain and suffering, but something full of Glory, full of joy! I follow the Lord because I love Him! I preach the Gospel – because I love Him! I see the miracles – because I love Him! My whole life is governed by love. Love is surely one of the most powerful forces!
The God of exceedingly abundantly
Let the faith of God come into YOU in such a way that YOU can expect MORE! Not less. With God, it’s not a partial fulfilment, it’s ABOVE what we can think! God is not only able to answer your prayers, whatever they are, but whatever you ask for, He is willing to give you MORE! And it is for His GLORY!
Our confidence is in Christ
Our confidence is in Christ! When we have faith in God, He takes away our fear. In Christ we have no fear of the past, the future, no fear of the virus, no fear of the devil – we have confidence in God! Scripture says, don’t throw away your confidence! Keep that confidence in the reconciliation we have with God – nothing can break our relationship with God, no evil can destroy what we have, we are one with God, reconciled in Christ – and that’s why Jesus Christ is so important in our lives!
Reconciled to God through Jesus
The Fire of God through prayer
Do you want to see the Fire of God? An answer to prayer? Through prayer, call for and expect an answer to the specifics of your problem. Whoever you are. We have to re-examine prayer. If we today would pray like Solomon, with such Authority and such Power so that the Glory of God would come down! I urge you to read the entirety of Solomon’s prayer in 2 Chronicles 6&7 - it is one of the greatest examples of intercession in the Bible; there is so much we can learn here.