This morning as I was waking up, several puzzle pieces were starting to morph together. In dream life, downloads are rarely linear but happening all at once and it takes some effort to tease the building blocks apart to present it to another. Let’s see if I can unwrap this concept and flatten it out for simpler understanding.
Part 1 had to do with sin being the cause of disease and the healing available to us all, if we only believed. Part 2 was of the different dimensions of power Jesus gave his disciples. The sense I’m getting for WHY this material NOW is that this is what the LORD wants us to step into as a church because it’s time to GROW UP! Repentance and healing and baptisms are considered ELEMENTARY things. Yet the majority of the church body hasn’t even mastered these.
Part 1 – Healing.
Hebrews 6:1-2 – Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, 2 Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
Here we see the basics of discipleship in Christ Jesus. If you haven’t mastered these 6, you’re still in kindergarten spiritually. That’s why there are so many grown men are sitting in churches in poopy diapers sucking on pacifiers or waiting for the pastor to hold their baby bottles. Yes, there are women in that condition also, but that disturbing vision was strictly showing the men. Enable & expect the men to grow up and they will train their families and peers up also. People are drawn to true leaders.
The 6 basics are:
1) Repentance from dead works.
2) Faith toward God. (faith without works is dead)
3) Baptisms (repentance, Holy Spirit, fire)
4) Laying on of hands (healing, impartation of Holy Spirit)
5) Resurrection of the dead. (crucifying our flesh and walking in the spirit in power, imparting life to dead things).
6) Eternal judgment (being fully aware of HOW you receive eternal life and living with eternity in mind, fully convinced there is a Heaven and Hell.)
Deut 7:11-12,15 – 11 Thou shalt therefore keep the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which I command thee this day, to do them. 12 Wherefore it shall come to pass, if ye hearken to these judgments, and keep, and do them, that the Lord thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant and the mercy which he sware unto thy fathers:…. 15 And the Lord will take away from thee all sickness, and will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which thou knowest, upon thee; but will lay them upon all them that hate thee.
So who gets healed? Those who repent and obey God’s commandments. Who gets sick? Those who hate the ones who obey God’s commandments, which by nature means they aren’t obeying them either.
Psalm 103:2-3 – 2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: 3 Who forgiveth ALL thine iniquities; who healtheth ALL thy diseases;
Matthew 9: 35 And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing EVERY sickness and EVERY disease among the people.
All means all. I yelled at God one day about 7 years ago now after writing out the book of Matthew & Mark by hand, declaring that ALL means ALL so why hadn’t he healed my daughter from autism and severe allergies??? We had been faithful to demand the elders/pastor apply James 5, much to their balking that it didn’t agree with their doctrine. Me being me, like the persistent widow with the unjust judge, I refused to tolerate their disobedience of God’s word and kicked up a big stink. It was probably the immature way to go about things but they finally agreed to fast for a day and showed up at my house like condemned men before a firing squad. I provided the oil, we all publicly confessed sin, and my baby son’s severe umbilical hernia that was waiting for a surgery date was supernaturally healed. He has the cutest innie belly button now!
James 5: 14 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: 15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
But it didn’t work for my daughter’s autism. Why??? The LORD’s response was “Unbelief and demons.” We were part of a church at the time that didn’t believe in the spirit realm, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, healing and deliverance had died with the apostolic age, and we were to SUFFER with Christ in all the misery of our sin. You know what that is? An excuse for unbelief (the lack of faith) and for the demons to remain in power, rendering the church powerless! If the New Testament church had demons that needed to be cast out back then, you can be sure we still have them today that still need to be cast out!
When I got this revelation deep down into my spirit, we chased after a minister who DID believe in healing 4 hrs. away and my daughter was completely healed along with the rest of our family from a myriad of medical problems a sheet long. We got kicked out of our church shortly, thereafter, being accused of causing a church split by sharing our testimonies and for being a witch. Makes sense if you think about it. Since they believed the power of the Holy Spirit died with the apostolic age, the only one left with power is the devil, right???
Matthew 8:16 – When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick:
Mark 9:23-25 – 23 Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. 24 And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief. 25 When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him.
Mark 16:17-20 – 17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; 18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. 19 So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. 20 And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.
I’m going to make a bold statement here to preachers. If the LORD is NOT confirming what you believe is His word that you’re preaching with signs following, the LORD isn’t working with you in the fullness He desires to so you might as well quit now and go back to the prayer closet until you have received power and revelation from on high. Why settle??? Preaching a dead gospel that ISN’T the Gospel of the Kingdom is like laying down friendly fire. It does more to harm your comrades than it does to help them gain a victory. By definition, the Gospel of the Kingdom will manifest with healing the sick, cleansing the lepers, raising the dead, and casting out devils. In this new era, we no longer have the grace upon us to continue preaching a dead gospel. I strongly sense that the LORD is removing His hand of protection off those preachers who have settled for a dead gospel and you’ll start to see a distinction between the two camps if you have discernment.
Matthew 10:7-8 – 7 And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.
Acts 19: 11 And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul: 12 So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them. 13 Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth. 14 And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so. 15 And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye? 16 And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.
Now for part 2.
The whole idea of the baptism of the Holy Spirit has been percolating a lot in my mind, stirring up a lot of questions in my heart. We have been reading God’s Generals by Robert Liardon as our read-aloud for homeschooling. So many of the revivalists WERE capable of moving in signs and wonders before they received the baptism of the Holy Spirit in the manner, I consider the “baptism of the Holy Spirit.” I used to draw a distinction between no baptism = no power, but these testimonies were proving my doctrine wrong. Revivalists like John G. Lake, Charles Parham, and Smith Wigglesworth were able to operate in signs and wonders at a certain level in their anointing. However, when they finally did receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit with evidence of tongues, their ministries shot to a whole new dimension. So I had been asking the LORD to confirm their testimonies with scripture because the Bible must ALWAYS be our plumbline.
These are the 3 stages the LORD suddenly clicked together for me.
1) Jesus sent his 12 disciples out 2 by 2 with delegated power.
Mark 6:7 – 7 And he called unto him the twelve, and began to send them forth by two and two; and gave them power over unclean spirits;
Matthew 10:1 – And calling His twelve disciples to Him, Jesus gave them authority over unclean spirits, so that they could drive them out and heal every disease and sickness.
2) BEFORE His ascension, Jesus breathed on them the Holy Spirit.
John 20: 21 Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: 23 Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.
Luke 24: 45 Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, 46 And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: 47 And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 And ye are witnesses of these things. 49 And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.
3) AFTER His ascension, they were commanded to WAIT to be endued with POWER from on High.
This is what most people consider the baptism of the Holy Spirit with evidence of speaking in tongues. I believe now this is the baptism of fire that John the Baptist prophesied Jesus would bring. It was NOT guaranteed. People had to walk in obedience and wait in expectation for 7 days for God to show up. 500 were told. Only 120 stuck it out. (*Counting of the omer from Passover = 50 days. Passover & resurrection = 3 days. Jesus ministered x 40 days. That leaves 7 days before Pentecost was celebrated on the 50th day. I personally did not have to wait 7 days. I simply repented of my ungodly belief once my eyes were opened to the fact that my belief didn’t line up with scripture and asked for the baptism of tongues, receiving it immediately in my car. Another friend fasted for 30 days in his basement before receiving his gift of tongues.)
Acts 1: 8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. 9 And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.
Acts 2: And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. 3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Acts 2: 37 Now when they heard this, they were pricked (*convicted) in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? 38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. 39 For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.
Notice that it wasn’t until the baptism of fire and tongues that Peter, the fearful denier, was able to preach with such boldness and power that it brought conviction in their hearts. Peter & John were considered ignorant & unlearned men, but the Sadducees noted that they had been with Jesus. (Acts 4:13) If preachers are not releasing conviction by the power of the Holy Spirit with their preaching and calling people to walk in repentance, it’s possible they are only operating in the 1st or 2nd level but not yet reached the 3rd level.
So again, I challenge you. Why settle when this is your portion??? It’s time to go higher! If we simply try to preach to people’s minds, we won’t get very far because the gods of this world have blinded their minds.
2 Cor 4:4 – In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
We need the fiery power of conviction that is released only by the Holy Spirit on the spirit level that draws them to repentance. This is quite different than trying to scare or shame people into heaven – that kind of mind/soul control is a form of witchcraft used by dead preachers who can’t access the spirit. The purpose of Jesus coming is to bring freedom, not torment. The opportunity to draw into the loving arms of the Heavenly Father is an amazing thing, not something to be tortured into receiving.
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