By Kenneth Hagin Jr.
Jesus
Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
Hebrews
13:8
Thank
God for the men and women He has raised up from the Early Church to this
present hour, but what they accomplished was accomplished through Jesus and
His power, not through their power.
The
great works of God were not the works of Matthew, Paul, Peter, or the other
great preachers and teachers of the first and second centuries, including the
great Bishop Polyearp of Smyrna, who was burned at the stake because he refused
to give up Jesus.
In this
century, the great works of God were not the works of John Alexander Dowie,
Smith Wigglesworth, A. B. Simpson, Aimee Semple McPherson, William
Branham, Oral Roberts, Gordon Lindsay, Clifton Erickson, David Nunn, Jack Coe,
or others.
It
wasn't Demos Shakarian or the Full Gospel Business Men who did them. It wasn't
the Baptist church, the Methodist church, the Pentecostal church, this church,
or that church that did them. They were the works of Jesus!
Without
Jesus, none of those preachers 1 listed was anything.
Without
Jesus, Paul would have been a great scholar, because that's what he was trained
to do.
Without
Jesus, Peter would have been a good outlaw. He was a rough guy from "the
other side of the tracks," so to speak, in Galilee. He was from the lower
class. He had to fight and scrape to survive. Those kind of people grow up with
a chip on their shoulder, and you can't blame them. The devil has them in a
box. They've been shown no love; they've been kicked around all
their life. We need to show them our God who rides on the wings of love. The
power of the love of God is what delivers people.
Jesus
Christ is the answer. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever, as we saw
in our text.
The same
Jesus who rode in those little boats on the Sea of Galilee, the same Jesus who
walked the roads of Galilee and the streets of Capernaum, Jerusalem, and
Bethany is still alive today - and He's still doing the same things today that
He did then!
If He is
not, you and 1 are crazy. I'm serious! If God and Jesus are not the same today
as they were yesterday, and if they will not be the same tomorrow as they are
today, you and 1 are fooling ourselves.
It's
time that we in this Dispensation of the Holy Spirit fan the fires of revival
with the mighty Holy Spirit until we have the moving of the gifts of the
Spirit so the Word
of God will work like it's supposed to.
People
come to me all the time asking, "Ken, the Bible says that greater works
than these shall we do. Why aren't we seeing them happen?"
I
tell them, "The reason we're not seeing it happen is because people are
not moving in all the gifts of the Spirit. " They are moving in only a few
of the gifts: prophecy, tongues, and interpretation. You see these gifts in
operation every- where, to the point where you have to use Paul's teaching on
the control of the gifts of the Spirit. He talks about this in First
Corinthians:
1 CORINTHIANS 12:1
1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, 1 would not have
you ignorant.
Then
Paul lists them and discusses their use and discipline. Did you realize that he
only talks about three of them: tongues, interpretation, and prophecy? Read
through the fourteenth chapter; that's what he says. He doesn't talk at all
about the operation of discerning of spirits, does he? Do you know why? Because
that Corinthian church was doing the same thing the charismatic church of today
is doing. We're using tongues, inter- pretation, and prophecy, and letting the
other gifts lay by the side of the road.
Why?
Because it takes a greater com- mitment and dedication to God to operate
in the other gifts of the Spirit.
If
you've been filled with the Holy Spirit and you haven't prayed in a week, you
can come into an anointed service, get involved, and get all stirred up, and
the only gift that you can get involved with is tongues or occasionally
prophecy. You've got to have more commitment than that to exercise the other
gifts.
We
need to fan the fire of the Holy Spirit
until it becomes a
revival that can- not be conquered.
You talk about who you are in Christ Jesus, how much faith
you've got, and what you can believe God for. That's good, but why don't you
start doing what the Bible says to do?
You ask, "What are you talking about?" I'm talking
about the fact that Satan has blinded our eyes all these years with religious
traditions until we can't see the place God wants us to occupy in exercising
the gifts.
1 don't want to depreciate prayer and the need for prayer,
but when we rise from prayer, believing we've been heard, we must do what Jesus
did when He went to the grave of Lazarus: He commanded Lazarus to come forth;
He didn't pray. Read it in the Bible:
JOHN 11:41-43
41 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead [Lazarus] was laid. And Jesus lifted up his
eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that THOU HAST HEARD ME.
42 And I knew that thou bearest me always. but because of
the people which stand by 1 said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent
me.
43 And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice,
LAZARUS, COME FORTH.
People,
1 want you to realize that you and 1 are missing something in this age of
charismatic renewal - and it is the greatest fact from God's Word: commanding
power.
When
Peter in the third chapter of Acts looked down at that poor beggar at the gate
called Beautiful, he said, "Silver and gold have I none. . .,
" but he didn't reach down and pray, "O Lord, heal this man." He
said, "I can't give you any money, but such as 1 have give 1 you."
And 1 want you to notice he didn't pray; he commanded, "In the name of
Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk" (Acts 3.6).
I'm
telling you about a power called "commanding
power" that every Spirit- filled, blood-bought child of God is capable of
operating. But it won't operate unless we are committed and dedicated to
obeying the Word.
Today
we've got people who run from this place to that place to the other place,
wanting to hear the Word. Then they run from one prayer meeting to another and
another. Then they wonder why nothing is happening for them.
I'll
tell you why nothing is happening: After they've heard and prayed, they haven't
commanded anything to happen!
Commanding
is different from confession. 1 learned about commanding when 1 served in the
U.S. Army. In the Army, you tell men when to stop, when to start, when to sit
down, and when to eat.
I'm
very proud of the fact that 1 wore that green serge uniform. It still hangs in
my closet. 1 can't get into it, but recently 1 was thumbing through the closet
looking for
a sweatshirt and 1 saw that uniform. 1 had to stop, stand at attention, and
look at it for a moment. I'm proud of this country.
1 found
that being from Texas helped me when 1 checked into a certain training unit
after boot camp. 1 had just found a bunk, had thrown my stuff on it, and was
talking to another fellow when 1 heard somebody come in the door. He said,
"Hey, Tex!" 1 turned and replied, "Yes, sergeant. "
He
said, "I'm down here to go to this signal school, too, and they put me in
charge of this platoon. Grab that gear and get it up in the cadre room. You're
from Texas, and you're going to be one of the leaders around here."
I said
to myself, Thank You, Lord. I knew what that meant: I wasn't going to
have to pull any KP duty or guard duty because I was going to have corporal
stripes. But a responsibility and a commitment came when they snapped those
stripes on my uniform. I had 13 men under my command.
The
orders came down from the battalion to the company commander to the platoon
sergeant to us squad leaders. They told us what to tell those men to do. I didn't say to them, "Do me a favor. Get your boots on and your fatigues on
and let's go - we've got a job to do." No, 1 said, "We have been told
to do such and such and we will do it - NOW! Right face. Forward march! "
And out the door we went.
That
command meant I had a responsibility, and it meant that if 1 didn't do what I was supposed to, the sergeant had some control over me.
You and I are in the army of the Lord. 1 can prove it to you by the Word of God. There
are privates and there are generals. There are different divisions in the
Lord's army. We must learn where we are in the Body
and what our privileges are. Then we can begin to command some things to
happen.
The
private in the army might think he doesn't have any rights and privileges, but
he does. There are things he can command from those over him. There are things
he can command out of the government of the United States because he signed up
with the army. He can demand that the army live up to its agreement with him.
He doesn't have to get on his knees and ask, either; he can command it.
The
same thing is true in the Body of Christ. Although different people have
different ranks, the fellow who's the little toenail on the little toe of the
Body has every right and privilege to command and demand what Jesus said
belongs to him.
Our
problem is that we've been doing a lot of praying and a lot of confessing,
but we haven't been doing any commanding.
It's
fun to command! Satan has blinded
our eyes regarding our right to command. God is waiting for us to act. Jesus
already has paid the price for us to do it, and Jesus has made it plain that we
have the power to do it.
We have
power in the Name of Jesus to overcome sickness, demons, and disease. However,
Jesus didn't give us power for our own selfish benefit (although we can use it
for ourselves). We received power for one purpose. to set people free who have
been bound by chains of sin, sickness, and disease.
Jesus
said, "Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out
devils: freely ye have received, freely give " (Mat 10.8). Today
we've got too many people who are selfish Christians.
In
Matthew 6:33, Jesus said, "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and
his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. " I
believe this. I believe in prosperity. But some people have learned faith and
how to use it, and they're heaping it upon themselves.
Once while I was praying, the Lord said,
"Do you know why 1 have taught people to believe God and receive good
things for themselves?"
I replied, "No, Lord. Why?" He said,
"Because once somebody has received something good for himself, he knows
it works." Then He added, "What 1 really want people to do is to take
that same faith and go out and begin to apply it to those who are not born
again. They can take the same faith that they used to believe their finances in
and believe souls into the kingdom of God."
In Luke 10:19, Jesus made us this promise:
LUKE 10.19 19 Behold, I GIVE UNTO YOU POWER to tread on
serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall
by any means hurt you.
Notice
this verse says, "I give you power." "You" means whoever is
doing
God
is inviting us to enter into one of the greatest dimensions of life we could
ever know and enjoy.
John 14.14 says, "If ye shall ask any thing in my name, 1 will do it. " That word "ask" could just as easily be translated "demand to he done." Let's read it that way: "If you shall demand to be done anything in My Name, 1 will do it." We're right back at the concept of commanding again.
Everywhere
1 look in the Word of God, 1 begin to see the sick being ministered to, and 1
see Jesus walking around stating, "Pick up your bed and walk!"
"What do you want, blind beggar? You've got it!"
When
those ten lepers came to Jesus crying from afar off for Him to have mercy on
them, Jesus didn't tell them, "All right, let's get down and pray a
while." He gave a command. "Go show yourselves to the priest! "
(Under
the Old Covenant, the only way a leper could come back into contact with
society was to have himself pronounced clean by a priest. That's why Jesus told
him that.)
All
through the pages of the gospels, we see Jesus commanding. Another example is
the storm on the Sea of Galilee.
Peter's
got his foot propped up on the bow of the boat, peering through the storm.
"Go to the left a little bit," he's saying. "Go right! 1 can't
see what's in front of us. Slow down! " About that time a wave washes over
him. All the other disciples join him in wailing, "Ohhh! We're going to
sink! We're going to go under!"
Jesus is asleep. The disciples awaken Him.
"What do you want?" "Carest
Thou not that we perish?" "What are you talking about - perish? 1
said to go to the other side, didn't 1?"
"Yes, but look at this storm,
Jesus!" Did Jesus get up and hold a prayer meeting? No, He looked out across the water
and said, "Peace, be still!"
Everybody thinks Jesus always spoke in a very
low voice, but He didn't. When you're dealing with the devil, you don't. (Like
Lester Sumrall says, "The devil's deaf, and you've got to get his
attention.")
When Jesus drove the moneychangers out of
the Temple, the Bible says He picked up a whip, started kicking over tables,
and started popping that whip around. He commanded, "Get out of my Father's
house!" He was commanding something.
When
we deal with the devil, demons, and evil spirits, we must command respect. If
we don't, we'll get run over. You can't say, "Well, 1 believe I'll
meditate. Lord, here 1 am. Come by here, Lord. Here 1 am, Lord. I'm going to
sit here and meditate very quietly until You come by. You do something."
(And all the while, the devil is raking you over the coals.) Before you know
it, you are a whipping post, and after that, you're a floor mat and the devil
is doing a little dance on your head.
When I see people who are sick and afflicted, it does something to me. 1 get upset.
I would like to do something about it.
Once
we learn who we are in Christ - once we
learn how to use the gifts of the Spirit properly - once we learn how to
command - we can tell the devil when we encounter him, "Get out of here!
Desist in your operations and move on!"
We don't
need to be pushed around. We can use the Name of Jesus. We have been given the
highest Name that's ever been known to mankind. Through the power of attorney
it belongs to us.
We
don't need to be afraid of the devil.
I'm
going to tell you a little secret.. Jesus Christ is the same today as He was
yesterday! And I'm going to tell you another little secret. The gifts and
the operations of God are just as strong to operate today as they were in the
Early Church - the Corinthian church, the Ephesian church, etc.
They're
just as strong to operate today as they were at the outpourings of the Holy
Spirit at the turn of the century in Kansas and in 1906 on Azusa Street in Los
Angeles, California.
They're
just as strong to operate today as they were in 1947, when a man came out of
Indiana. He could tell people what their name was, what color their house was,
what kind of car they drove, the name of their doctor, and what the doctor had
told them. And he didn't do it through fortune-telling;
he did it by the power of God. That's what the prophet of God could do by the
Holy Spirit.
At
the same time, Oral Roberts, a fellow most of us know, came out of Enid,
Oklahoma, preaching, "Turn your faith loose! " As he walked across
the platform of a tent that was bigger than what the circus had, he carried one
of those heavy, old-fashioned microphones. And he preached about the fourth man
in the fire - he preached Jesus.
There
was another fellow, an apostle of faith, who came out of Texas. I've seen that
big, burly, black-headed guy double up his fist and hit people as hard as he
could. (Don't you try it unless you've got the gifts of the Spirit in
operation!) I'm talking about Jack Coe. Those people were healed.
It
seemed that each of the ministers who were members of the Voice of Healing
organization had a special area, or gift, of healing. They had more people healed of
that one thing than anything else. For example, my Dad had more results with
insane people than any of the other preachers, and he also had more success
with cancers or growths of any kind, including warts, hernias, and lumps.
I remember he used to say, "Anybody in
the building who's got any kind of a growth - a corn on your too, a tumor in
your body, a sty on your eye, it doesn't make any difference - come on down
here."
The people would come forward, and Dad would
say, "In the Name of Jesus, 1 command all those growths to die!" And
the growths would start drying up and disappearing.
It's time for the Church of the Lord Jesus
Christ to stand up and realize that it's our commanding power that will
bring the devil to his knees, not prayer. I'm not belittling prayer; please
understand where I'm
coming from. After you pray, get up off your knees believing God has heard you.
Then do what Jesus did: Command the power of God to operate.
Jesus is our supreme example. We saw in John 11 that Jesus believed God had heard Him when He prayed, so He walked up to the tomb and said, "Lazarus, come out"
Yes, I realize that a gift of special faith and many other things were in operation
in this incident, but in many cases of healing in the New Testament, Jesus
simply commanded the power of God to operate.
I suggest you first try this commanding power on yourself. Many people would
like to see the power of God work for somebody else, but if you can't get it to
work for you, you aren't ever going to get it to work for somebody else.
Do
you want the power of God to start working for you? Do you want the gifts of the
Spirit to start working for you? Get on your knees and make a commitment to
God. Pray. Lay on your face before God. And when you get up, act and talk like
you believe that what you've been praying for has been heard by your Father.
Then begin to do something. That's all it takes. We've got the power. And the
Bible tells me that God changes not.
God
rides over every circumstance - over all sickness, over 0 disease, over all of
your needs. God is over them all.
In
the beginning, God was. And He still is. God said, "Let there be ... and
there was." Then Jesus came. He said in the Gospel of John, "If
you've seen Me, you've seen the Father. That's the way the Father acts and
talks. And that's the way His children should act and talk."
Jesus
told His disciples it was needful that He go away and send the omnipotent power
of the Godhead in the Holy Spirit back to earth to dwell upon us and in us.
He's
present wherever you are right now. God sent Him here for one reason: So
that
after you and I have heard the Gospel, we can take what we have heard and say,
"All right, now, power of the Holy Spirit, 1 command. . . and expect it to happen.
The
problem is, all of us talk about the power of the Holy Spirit - we talk about
the great things of God - but when we begin to command, most of us wonder if
it's really going to happen.
The
Word of God tells me that if we speak with the power of God, expecting
something to happen, it will happen. Either it's true or it's not true.
Jesus
has offered us the package. What are we going to do with it? What are you going
to do with it? What are you going to do with your life? What are you going to
do with your home? What are you going to do with those around you? What are you
going to do with your ministry?
It's not up to God. God already did all the commanding He's ever going to do when He commanded the Holy Spirit to come and be the power of God on this earth. He did all He's ever going to do when He gave all power and authority to Jesus (and Jesus turned around and gave that power and authority to us).
It's up to you whether Satan rules and reigns or not; it's not up to God any longer.
You and 1 are always praying, "God do this. Jesus do this. God do the other." But the Bible says to command in the Name of Jesus; demand in the Name of Jesus.
Dear
Heavenly Father,
I come to You in the Name of Jesus.
Your
Word says, "... him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out" (John 6.37).
So I know You won't cast me out, but You take me in.
And I thank You for
it.
You
said in Your Word, "... if thou shalt
confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine
heart that God hath raised him
I
believe in my heart that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
I believe He
was raised from the dead for my
I am calling upon His Name - the Name of Jesus - so 1 know, Father, that
You save me now.
Your
Word says, "... with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made
unto salvation" (Rom. 10.10).
I
do believe with my heart, and 1 confess Jesus now as my Lord.
Therefore I am saved!
Thank You, Father!
Signed
Date
About the Author
Kenneth
Hagin Jr., Executive Vice-President of Kenneth Hagin Ministries and Pastor of
RHEMA Bible Church, writes from a rich and diversified background of more than
thirty years in the ministry.
Rev.
Hagin attended Southwestern Assemblies of God College and Oral Roberts
University, graduating with a degree in religious education.'
After
serving as an associate pastor, Rev. Hagin traveled as an evangelist throughout
the United States and abroad and was responsible for organizing RHEMA Bible
Training Center, a school which equips men and women for the ministry.
In
addition to his administrative and teaching responsibilities at RHEMA, Rev.
Hagin is senior pastor of RHEMA Bible Church, a large and thriving
congregation on the RHEMA campus. He is also International Director of RHEMA
Ministerial Association International and has a weekly radio program,
"RHEMA Radio Church," which is heard on stations throughout the
United States.
ISBN 0-89276-719-7
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