Jesus said in John 5:19 He could do nothing of Himself except what He saw the Father do. Then He made it clear that we are in the same situation. In John 15:5 He said that without Him we could do nothing. Apart from him we can do nothing, and we have nothing. Jesus said this and it’s true, but the neat part is, we’re not apart from Him.
OOOHHHH someone ought to be shouting right now!!!
When you get born again and filled with the Holy Ghost, God puts raising from the dead power inside you. It’s incorrect to ask God to heal you, provide for you, give you joy, or bring you peace. It’s incorrect to ask God to stretch forth his hand, because He’s already done it.
So it is proper to thank Him for everyone of those things we just mentioned and exercise your right and authority to activate the power that’s within you. “Greater is He that is in you, than He that is in the world.” Now that’s a good saying. It should be in the bible somewhere. Oh, that’s right, it is in the bible. The power is already there. It just needs to be released by a small spark of faith, like gunpowder.
Okay. Moving on to Mark 4:35-40 (NLT).
35 As evening came, Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s cross to the other side of the lake.”
He didn’t say “do you think we can cross over”, “should we try to cross over”, He said “Let’s cross to the other side of the lake”.
36 So they took Jesus in the boat and started out, leaving the crowds behind (although other boats followed). 37 But soon a fierce storm came up. High waves were breaking into the boat, and it began to fill with water. 38 Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion. The disciples woke him up, shouting, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?” 39 When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Silence! Be still!” Suddenly the wind stopped, and there was a great calm.
Now we know this story and have heard that Jesus said “Peace, be still”. Well, you can’t give away what you don’t have, and you can’t display authority if you don’t have the authority within you. Proof that Jesus had peace is in verse 38. He was sleeping in the midst of the storm, because in His kingdom, there are no storms. Also, He was still, because He had his head on a cushion……sleeping….still….calm…..peaceful. Jesus replaced what the storm had with what He had. Verse 39 says there was great calm. Peter and John replaced what the lame man had with what they had.
40 Then he asked them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
Remember, Jesus said Let’s cross to the other side. Cross over. They’re not half way there and the storm comes up. They should have rebuked the storm. They had the power. They should have left Jesus sleeping. But since they didn’t, Jesus did. Look what He did. He rebuked them. He didn’t apologize for falling asleep and then blame himself. He rebuked them for their lack of understanding and faith. He just spent all day giving them the truth through parables that relate to the Word of God. Teaching them this truth. The trip across the water was their pop quiz, and they failed.
We do the same thing they did. Look at verse 38. Because of wrong thinking through false teaching, we ask God for finances. We don’t get them right away. We beg God for healing and it doesn’t come right away. We plead with God for our marriage to be restored, our relationship with children be fixed, and when these things don’t happen right away, we say “God, don’t you care”? Well, it’s not up to God, it’s up to us to release the power God has placed in us by the truth of His word.
Remember, it’s God’s power, not ours, but He has placed it in us. Too often we resort to works to try and get God to do something He’s already done. We perform in hopes of getting a reward from God, but God cannot give to us as a reward, that which is already ours through inheritance.
As a father to my children, the things that will be left behind when I leave this world cannot be earned by my children as a reward. These things will be theirs through inheritance. This does not just mean items of value, or money from investments, but includes values they have received as children of mine living in relationship with me. After all, my DNA is within them.
Guess what…..? The DNA of God is within us also as born again children of the Father. We are heirs and joint heirs with Jesus. Like Jesus, all authority in heaven and in earth has been given to us. So now go and release it. Jesus instructed us continually in this regard. Look at what He said in Matthew 10:7,8.
7 As you go, preach this message: “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, and cleanse those who have leprosy. Drive out demons from the possessed. You received these gifts freely, so you should give them to others freely”.
Did you see that? It said you have received these gifts freely. What gifts? The gifts of healing, working of miracles to raise the dead, power to cleanse the leper and authority over demons and all the works of the devil. You have it. You have it. Now it’s time to use it. You notice Jesus did not say beg God to heal the sick, cleanse the leper, raise the dead and cast out demons. He said you do it.
We look at this set of scripture here and think “well I can certainly go out and preach that the kingdom of heaven is at hand”, but Jesus didn’t separate them. He said preach the kingdom, heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the leper, cast out demons. Take this seed, God’s Word, and all the other seeds of God’s word and get them into you by faith so a harvest can spring forth. Grace and Peace.
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