We all have them in our lives, people who love to throw a bucket of cold water on our dreams. It is why most people are too afraid to speak the content of their heart because there is always someone around to tell them how stupid their dreams are. They give them a list of a dozen reasons why it will never happen. These people also exist to dampen our faith. They themselves do not know how to believe so they dump on anyone who is strong enough to believe the impossible. These are the people who state, "I'll believe it when I see it". Here is a clue for you dreamers, believers and holders of faith: take a close look at the lives of these people. Ask yourself, "What have they achieved?" When that reality sinks in, walk away.
Jesus was dogged by a small minority of "nay sayers". Every time he raised his head above the crowd they were there to try to knock him down. Considering how much further he was above the crowd you can understand how often he got hit. However, he is the Son of God so he was not affected by these people he referred to as "you of little faith", but the ones who were affected by these "nay sayers" were those who were on the edge of believing:
Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see. All the people were astonished and said, "Could this be the Son of David?" But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, "It is only by Beelzebub, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons." (Matthew 12:22-24)
It is one thing for a person to decide to turn their back on Jesus but another for them to also try to destroy the faith of others. I believe it is a "safety in numbers" thing. If they can get a whole bunch of people to feel just like them then they can't be wrong, or some similar thought. I believe people who do not know how to dream are afraid of those who do, so they make it a point to try to pop those dreams. They go out of their way to try to keep people dragged down to their meager existence; one that is composed of only the things we can see and nothing beyond. They never achieve anything out of the ordinary because they can't see beyond the ordinary.
Followers of Jesus are no longer restricted to the ordinary because they are being transformed into the extraordinary. We are told to dream and have visions. We are told that we will do greater things than Jesus did. We are told that we will be part of God's signs and wonders. We are told that the Spirit will manifest himself through us with the spiritual gifts we have been given. But the pretenders among us, those who want to limit us to an ordinary understanding of God, scoff and tell us how wrong we are, that these things cannot be, that they are just a manifestation of our own demented thinking. But I will stand by the Word of God over their limited understanding any day. These little people do not understand that we live in the Day of the Lord. The Spirit has been poured out on us and we have become the people of the extraordinary:
And afterward,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your old men will dream dreams,
your young men will see visions.
Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days. (Joel 2:28-29)
Do not allow these limited people to darken your understanding of who you have become in Jesus and the way he operates through the Holy Spirit in you:
Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines. (1 Corinthians 12:7-11)
This is the Word of God but the "nay sayers" believe they have greater understanding than the Word when they tell us that this was only for a certain age of the Church. I guess they have had some extra Divine revelation because that is not what is said by the Word of God or the Spirit in me who teaches me the Word. In fact Jesus warned us, his followers:
It is enough for the student to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebub, how much more the members of his household! (Matthew 10:25)
There are large sections of the Church that are dying to the Spirit. They operate in an echo of the past but not possessing what has been given to us because they have been convinced it is not real. They have been convinced that the true manifestations of the Spirit is trickery or a forgery whereas they are becoming the real forgery because they are denying Christ in them. A follower of Jesus Christ is filled by the power of God by God the Spirit in us. He operates through the gifts we have been given. We have the power to lay on hands and see the sick healed. We have the power to stand before thousands of people and have the Word of God pour out of our mouth so that their hearts are freed and they are able to see Jesus. We have the power to see into the lives of people so we know how to intercede for them. God longs to speak through us into the hearts of those who are desperate for him but we allow ourselves to be robbed of our usefulness by those who are so religiously minded that they refuse to see the truth of God.
If you have fallen prey to the "nay sayers" of this age and if you have allowed fear to block you from the Spirit, REPENT! Confess both your doubt and fear to God and make yourself available to him. Give the Spirit permission to work through you and believe what you see, hear and experience as he does great and mighty things through you. The Kingdom of God is no ordinary thing and it must come with more than just words in order to change the heart of Man:
My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power. (1 Corinthians 2:4-5)
To the Thessalonians Paul wrote:
For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. (1 Thessalonians 1:4-5)
Do not allow the flame of the Spirit to go out in you. Do not allow them to strip you of the dreams and visions the Spirit has given you. Do not allow them to take away the power you have been given to impact this world for Jesus. Love shown through good deeds is a daily matter for us but we have power that goes beyond good deeds and he is the Holy Spirit in us. Dare to believe you can pray healing into your friend. Dare to believe you can speak anointed words of life into your co-workers. Dare to believe that you have the power in you to see changed provoked in this world in no ordinary matter. You, the servant of the Lord God Almighty, have been called and equipped by our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, believe!
No comments:
Post a Comment