If you’re like me, you’re always asking God for more of His power in your life. This week, I kept hearing the Spirit say, that God’s people needed to understand what they’ve been given, and know how to use it in this hour of Godlessness and spiritual deadness.... Jesus told us in Matthew 16:19 "And I will give unto You the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."
We must begin where we all must begin, God makes no exceptions... Just because a person goes to prison, doesn’t mean they will be rehabilitated.... Just because a person sits in church, doesn’t mean they are saved. Good works, being a good person, and living a good life won’t get anyone to heaven. You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool God any of the time....
Romans 10:9-10 “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart we must believe unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation”.
We see a distinction between the mouth and the heart.... both must be involved here. We know that folks can say things with their mouth that are not from the heart. But we all know when folks are truly speaking from the heart (for the most part) the rest are called actors! When it speaks of the heart here, it’s referring to our center, where our values and priorities are located. It’s where all the principles and standards that guide our lives are located. It is our GPS tracker for truth, and integrity.... That’s where your heart is. Matthew 6:21 says it this way, “For where your treasure is, there will beyour heart also”. Where your values are, and your life standards are, it’s where the things are that motivate you and give you purpose....
Here's the first key for you, that accesses the power of God....It’s found in John 8:30 “As Jesus spoke these things, many believed in Him. v31 So He said to the Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in the knowledge of My word, you are truly My disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Jesus gives us 2 things here, that access the power of God, “Continue in the knowledge of my word, and know the truth”. Josh Mulvihill tweeted this statement: “Many are not on a truth quest, but a happiness quest. God is desiring to show us that we will be happiest when we live according to His truth. When we are diligent about God’s word, understanding begins to develop and you not only know the word, but you begin to understand the spirit of the word. This produces discipleship which is a lifestyle, not some religious system. You have a new standard for living. Then it says “Know the truth and the truth shall set you free.” This is the power of God breaking the bonds of slavery off of your mind, off of your emotions, your will, and your body and bringing about spiritual identity.... In both of these statements, the word “Know” is “YADA”.... (RIGHT?) Yada, is intimacy which produces spiritual growth, and development and demonstrations that are a reflection of God’s power in our lives. When a man and woman are intimate, change begins to happen.... The sports car is traded in for an SUV, the extra bedroom becomes the nursery.... Dad gets an extra job, because there are going to be extra expenses, the wife’s body begins to change. Intimacy with the word, and God’s truth, will produce changes... If you are the same now as you were before, you haven’t experienced “YADA”... How about this one... Daniel 11:32 “For the people that do (continually) know (YADA) their God shall be strong, and do great exploits.” The Lord is looking for ordinary Christians through whom He can display His extraordinary nature. He wants to do mighty deeds that bear witness to the reality of who He is in us. God is raising up a people who will know Him intimately, who will be transformed into His image by living for His presence, and who will demonstrate mighty acts to manifest His power for the glory of His Name. Are you a willing to be a vessel, used by God in these last days to reveal His Glory and Power to a dying world? God wants to do mighty things through your life and break off this negative thinking through which you disqualify yourself from being used by God. Some years agoa former American astronaut took over as head of a major airline. He was determined to make the airline’s service the best in the industry. One day, as the new president walked through a particular department, he saw an employee resting his feet on a desk while the telephone on the desk rang and rang with no response. "Aren’t you going to answer that phone?" the president demanded. "This isn’t my department, I work in maintenance." "Not anymore you don’t!" snapped the president.He didn’t even know who he was working for.... so he had no appreciation for what the boss needed or wanted....
Think of it like a garden hose that does no good, and has no purpose unless water is flowing through it. As it yields itself to the water, things begin to grow, the water cleanses and washes and the attention isn’t on the hose, but it’s on the water flowing through it. Tell someone, I’m just the hose, I’m just yielding to His purposes.... That’s when the fruit of the spirit begin to show up....Love, peace, joy, gentleness, longsuffering, goodness, faithfulness and self-control. And the gifts of the spirit begin to manifest, words of wisdom, words of knowledge, the gift of faith, healing, discernment, prophecy, the working of miracles, as the Spirit leads and directs. .. When we simply yield ourselves to the Divine flow....
Let’s check out another Key to accessing the Power of God.... in Mark 16:17-18 “And these signs shall follow them that believe, In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues, 18 If they shall take up serpents (this is not snake handling) and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover”. This key is the NAME OF JESUS. We now refer to this as the power of attorney. When someone legally authorizes someone else to represent them while they are absent. The words “In the name of Jesus”, used in this context is a legal, binding, contract, between the Lord and ourselves to do what He would do in the situation. What Would Jesus Do? Jesus would heal, so you will heal... Jesus would cast out devils, so you cast out devils....Jesus would work miracles, so you work miracles.... and on we could go.... Do what Jesus would do..... Power of Attorney is another way to access the power of God....And we all have been given this transfer of authority! Our next key to access the power of God is Obedience, here are a few clear promises... Deuteronomy 11:27 “You will be blessed if you obey the word of the Lord your God that He is giving you today”. What a needed manifestation of the power of God that is....the blessing of God on your life, your job, your home, each family member. I like this definition of blessing.... “theinfusion of something you could not make happen yourself, spiritual redemption, or harmony with the divine will”. John 14:23 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.” This is the blessing of walking and living in the presence of God. David wrote, let me not be far from your presence oh God. Moses said, “If You do not go with us, then we will not go, oh Lord.”
Deuteronomy 28:1 “If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth”. .....This tells us that obedience to God will bring promotion and elevation among our fellow man....
Deuteronomy 5:33 “Walk in obedience to all that the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess”..... Here we can see that first, God’s power in our lives through obedience, will bring us prosperity and we will also enjoy a long life and fulfillment with gain and not loss.
The next scripture we will see, tells us that there are two more things that work together, which will access the power of God in our lives.
James 4:6 “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he must flee from you”. God’s power shows up when we submit our will to Him....Most of our problems and our struggles can be resolved through submitting and surrendering to God. Jesus did this, so we surely need to do it as well... Father, “not my will but Thy will be done”.... He taught the disciples, to pray, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, in earth as it is in heaven.”.. Sounds like a winning combination to me. We usually don’t equate surrender to resistance, but God has said “Submit to God, resist the devil and he must flee from you...” It does no good to resist the devil, if you are not surrendered to God...
Here's another tool which accesses the Power of God.... The Power of Agreement.... “Matthew 18:19 Again I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. v20 For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them”.... Marriages fail because of the lack of agreement, Governments collapse and nations fall when this ingredient is lacking. Churches are closed and boarded up, and millions end up in hell instead of heaven, because of a failure here, in the area of agreement.
Jesus prayed about the unity which flows from agreement, and He is seated at the right hand of the Father, interceding over His church even now... Robert McCheyne once said: “If I could hear Christ praying for me in the next room, I would not fear a million enemies. Yet distance makes no difference. He is praying for me.” I’d like you to close your eyes, go ahead and close them for a moment, and picture Jesus praying for you as I read.... John 17:21-23: “That they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. v22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, v23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.”
Where would each of us be right now, if we came into agreement with everything He has said in His word that He wants for us, that He promised was already ours. What if we began to do what He said we were to do, and become what He said we were to become.... This world would know what the power of agreement could do as it demonstrated God’s power which we have accessedthrough unity!
Let me close with one more Key to accessing God’s Power... (certainly there are others) I’m going to call it the key of transference.... Acts 3:2-10 “And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple, 3 Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms. 4 And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us. 5 And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them. 6 Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have, I give unto you, In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. 7 And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. 8 And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God. knew that it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple: and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him”. Peter transferred to the man, what was transferred to him. He said “such as I have, I give unto you”. If you go to the store, and they ring up the items you have placed at the register, you don’t stand there wondering how you are going to pay. You knew that before you put the first item in the basket. You transferred to the cashier, what was transferred to your account, and took your items home. You knew you had it in the bank, or on your credit card, and it was transferred from youraccount.
How’s your spiritual account this morning? If you are a child of God, who has received Christ as your Lord and Savior, then a transfer has been made to your spiritual account...
In Philippians 4:18-19 Paul begins by saying “But I have all, and abound: I am full....” He’s checking his spiritual account.....Then he makes a transfer... v19 But my God shall supply all your needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus”. Paul is telling them and us, that God has transferred access from His account, to our account, to His unlimited riches in glory which will never run out, and will never be insufficient. Paul is in prison, with nothing but the clothes on his back, but he looks at his spiritual account and says “I have all and abound, I am full”.... How do you talk about your account? Jesus said “If you believe you have received it, then you have it”.....
Look at Matthew 10:1 “And when He had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power (transferred power to their account) over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease… And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand. v8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. God isn’t stingy with you, don’t be stingy with what He has transferred to your account. The moment you begin to act like you can’t, then you can’t... I know I’ve said it before, but the difference in the Dead sea, and the Sea of Galilee is that the Sea of Galilee gives out as much as it takes in, and the Dead sea takes in and gives out nothing.... it all evaporates.... and nothing grows around the salty waters of the dead sea. When you’re stingy and greedy, you dry up and get bitter and dead!
Check your Philippians 4:19 account ......”My God shall supply all my needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”
Somebody should be praising God that He has given you access, to the housing you need, the transportation you need, the finances you need, the job you need, the health you need, the peace of mind, and the release of conflict and division in the family you need.... My God shall supply all my needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. And they will know that “ Hehas delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the His dear Son.” (Colossians 1:13). When this generation sees the church, accessing the power of God, the way Jesus told us we were to do, they will begin to pay attention, and they will want to get in on the transfer...... Oh, Let the power of God flow through you, and out of you, to change hearts and lives around you...
