I got saved in February 2017 and I remember everything like it was yesterday. I remember when I first heard that Jesus wants to be my friend and I decided to follow Him, when I received the Holy Spirit and felt something coming out of my belly and when I got baptized in water and the words ‘you are my beloved daughter’ were playing in my mind. A few weeks after that, I remember one day when I was coming back from a prayer meeting I heard the words ‘I have chosen you’. I heard the words so clearly that I looked back to see who spoke to me. I didn’t know God speaks but I thought He might have done it. Then I started hearing words and feeling pains when I didn’t fully understand what words of knowledge are. I was, and still am like a child believing what the Bible says is true and is applicable to me. As I shared the words and asked people around me if they had any pains, I learned that what I was receiving were words of knowledge.
My hunger for God grew bigger and bigger but I was lacking confidence and boldness. This fear got broken when the Holy Spirit told me a few years ago that ‘it’s not about me, it’s about Him. I could spare someone’s life if I choose to do what he tells me to do’. I enjoy organizing outreaches and going out to pray for people but I enjoy more when I hear what the Lord wants me to do and I do. It’s scary but is so worthy. I want more of this.
As a daughter or a son of God, you can hear the Lord. “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” said Jesus as recorded in John 10:27. If you can’t hear His voice, I pray right now that your ears will be open and you will hear clearly the directions of the Lord.
God speaks through the Holy Spirit but primarily He speaks through His Word, the Bible. When you read you find that certain words or sentences are jumping up the page and make sense to you. These are the Rhema words, the words that give you the revelation you need to see things the way God sees them. When I got born again, I spent hours every day reading the Bible. I started with the New Testament to learn more about Jesus and when I read how Jesus was commanding unclean spirits to leave and people to be healed, I had no doubt that He is powerful. Later on, I read in Luke 9 that Jesus called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. As I read this I believed that, as a believer in Christ Jesus, I can do the same thing, and you can do the same thing – preach the gospel, heal the sick, cast out demons and raise the dead as it says in Matthew 10:7-8.
Healing Testimonies
I remember one day my daughter was happily playing with her dolls while I was reading the Bible when she told me that her lips were hurting. I looked at her and they were extremely dry. I commanded them to be healed in the name of Jesus and I saw how her lips and her dry and dark skin around her mouth turned back to normal. She is now almost 10 now and still remembers this moment; she was only 3 years old.
I have many more testimonies of healing but maybe other time I will share more about healing, but the Holy Spirit told me to help you see what is accessible to you today. The church lacks understanding of the authority He gave to us.
I am sharing all this to help you see that the Lord can do more than what you think or imagine through you. You can be a vessel for His power to be released. All you need to do is to believe that the Bible is true. Jesus said that he who believes in Him (this includes me and you all) can do what He did and even greater works because he will go to His Father. The Lord gave you authority and the power, the Holy Spirit, is inside of you. You are not just a believer or an evangelist, you are a king and a queen, the power is at your disposal but you need to respond. The engine of a car doesn’t start until you switch on the keys. You are a warrior and your fight is not against people. Ephesians 6:12 says that “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places”. Pain, sickness, depression, anxiety, strife, anger, and unforgiveness are not from God so when you pray you can command them to leave in the name of Jesus.
The Power of Attorney for Believers
Jesus gave us authority, but His power will only be released if we act on it. A power of attorney is a legal document that allows someone to make decisions for another person, or act on her/his behalf, if that person is no longer able to or doesn’t want to make her own decisions. Jesus gave us the power of attorney to act on His behalf but now it’s our turn to use it. When you go to a bank on someone’s behalf, you need to show a proof that you are authorised to do this. When you pray for the sick, the name of Jesus is the power of attorney.
Mark 16:17-19 says “And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name, they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; 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.”
This is not only for the healing evangelists or for people with the gift of healing. It’s applicable to all believers – these signs will follow those who believe.
John 14:12-14 says: “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it”.
Mark 11:22-25 says: “Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them”.
You have access to an unlimited power in the name of Jesus.
The Lord revealed something else to me. It’s not enough to say that you believe in Him, tell other people about Him, and heal the sick. Look what Jesus said in Matthew 7:21-23: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’“.
Draw Closer to God
You do the Will of our Father in heaven by believing that His Word, the Bible, is how you should live your life, and listen to what the Holy Spirit tells you to do. Spend time with Him, and get closer to Him. This requires more than doing evangelism and praying; it requires listening too. Samuel answered “Speak, for Your Servant hears” (in 1 Samuel 3:10). We are no longer servants but we are the father’s sons and daughters. My daughter loves spending time with her dad and hearing his funny jokes. She also asks questions and learns from what he shared. Do you ask questions? And most importantly, do you listen to what He tells you to do?
In Matthew 22:37-39, Jesus told a Pharisee, a lawyer: ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. When you love someone, you want to spend time with that person, so don’t waste the day watching news and politics. I may upset some people but life is better without any of these. Renew your mind with the Word of God and focus on what is good because what is good comes from Him.
If you are born again, filled with the Holy Spirit, your life should be a living testimony of Jesus Christ is in you. Be kind to one another and love people unconditionally. Forgive because Christ forgave you. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law”, it says in Galatians 5:22-23. Live like that and if you find it hard, pray. Soon after I got born again I asked God to remove everything that is not from him and help me become more like Jesus. He is He is always helping me and correcting me when I get wrong.
We have the Holy Spirit and we have the Word of God. “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). Go to the Word when you need help and ask the Holy Spirit to speak to you through His Word. He will do it.
Giving your life to Jesus comes with attacks from the enemy because “the thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy”, Jesus said in John 10:10. He also said that he came that we may have life and have it more abundantly. You may ask yourself ‘How can I have this? “Be strong in the Lord and the power of His might, put on the whole armour of God, that stand against the wiles of the devil” (Ephesians 6:10-11). Use the Scripture as a weapon against the enemy and learn from Jesus.
What ‘It is Written’ in the Bible?
A few years ago, I ended up in hospital with pancreatitis due to gallstones. I received painkillers and some treatment and was discharged back home after I declined the surgery to remove my gallbladder. While I was in the hospital I led a lady to the Lord and prayed for someone else to be filled with the Holy Spirit and she felt the tangible presence of the Lord. When I got back home I was confused why did I go to the hospital? I prayed when the pain started and all the way never gave up, and when I had the opportunity to talk to others about Jesus I thought I got the pain so I can go to the hospital to speak to these people. He kindly interrupted me saying that He had no part in the pain I had because that didn’t come from him. Then I ask him ‘What do I need to learn from my trip to the hospital? Then the Holy Spirit pointed me to Matthew 4:1-11 when satan tempted Jesus. The Holy Spirit showed me that all Jesus did was stand on the Word of God. Three times he said, “it is written”.
- “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ”
- “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ ”
- Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ”
What problems are you currently facing? Open up the Bible and see what it is written.
- Do you need healing? The Bible says that by the stripes Jesus took on his back you are healed (Isaiah 53:5).
- Are you struggling financially and barely making it month by month? God promised to provide all your needs according to his reaches in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19)
- Do you feel unloved or not important? God says that you are precious in His sight (Isaiah 43:4) and that he loves you.
Look out for what scripture relates to your need and meditate on that day and night until you see what God sees. He sees the end from the beginning and He sees the victory that is coming up. Be patient, be persistent and do not worry.
Jesus said, in Matthew 6 verse 25 – “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Then he continued explaining how our heavenly Father looks after the birds in the sky and how he covers the grass of the field before he encourages believers in the sermon on the mount once again not to worry, but “to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:33).
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