Archives for October 2018

GOD WILL MOVE IN POWER

‘I will come and proclaim your mighty acts, Sovereign LORD; I will proclaim your righteous deeds, yours alone. Since my youth, God, you have taught me, and to this day I declare your marvellous deeds. Even when I am old and grey, do not forsake me, my God, till I declare your power to the next
generation, your might to all who are to come’ (Psalm 71:16-18).

What I love about this passage of Scripture is that the psalmist is determined to declare the power of God to the next generation. To declare the power of God to others, you need to have seen or experienced it in your own life. You need to have been touched by the Lord for yourself so that when you declare His power, there is a reality to your faith that enables others to believe. In this Psalm a person saying that he is going to proclaim God’s mighty acts, marvellous deeds, His power and His might; for he has obviously met with God!

FOUR AREAS OF MINISTRY

I want to look at the four ministries of Jesus Christ in releasing His power:
1) Jesus the Saviour; 2) Jesus, the Deliverer; 3) Jesus the Healer, and; 4) Jesus the Baptizer in the Holy Spirit.

1) The Ministry of Salvation – ‘She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus because he will save his people from their sins’ (Matthew 1:21).

2) The Ministry of Deliverance – ‘He appointed twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons’ (Mark 3:14-15).

3) The Ministry of Healing – ‘He went down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coastal region around Tyre and Sidon, who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by impure spirits were cured, and the people all tried to touch him because power was coming from him and healing them’ (Luke 6:17-19).

4) The Ministry of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit – John the Baptist said
concerning the Lord Jesus: “I baptise you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Matthew 3:11).
 
God bless you as you live for Jesus, Pastor Matthew.

ENCOURAGEMENT TO PRAY FOR HEALING

There are times when we pray for the sick to be healed and it seems as if nothing is happening. Don’t be discouraged. We need to continually allow faith to rise in our hearts by focusing on God’s power, not our weakness. I hope the following Scriptures will encourage you to keep praying for miracles:

‘Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was barren. The LORD answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant’ (Genesis 25:21).

‘So Moses cried out to the LORD, “O God, please heal her!” (Number 12:13).

‘David built an altar to the LORD there and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then the LORD answered prayer on behalf of the land, and the plague on Israel was stopped’ (2 Samuel 24:25).

‘When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now my eyes will be open, and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place’ (2 Chronicles 7:13-15).

‘O LORD my God, I called to you for help, and you healed me’ (Psalm 30:2).

‘If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you’ (John 15:7).

‘The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. In a vision, he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight”
(Acts 9:11-12).

‘His father was sick in bed, suffering from fever and dysentery. Paul went in to see him and, after prayer, placed his hands on him and healed him’ (Acts 28:8).

‘Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need’ (Hebrews 4:16).

God bless you, as you seek the Lord for Him to move in power, Pastor Matthew.

GOD’S POWER WORKING IN AND THROUGH US

Today I want to give the word of God by making a proclamation of Scripture. The verses I am highlighting are all about the miracle power of God working in and through us. Here is the list of Scriptures I will be declaring:

After proclaiming these awesome Scriptures, I then want to lead us in a time of prayer. Praying the word of God helps to strengthen it in our lives. My prayer is that you will be encouraged and strengthened by God’s mighty power.

God bless you, as you live for Jesus, Pastor Matthew.

 

HOW DO WE OVERFLOW WITH FAITH TO BE HEALED?

‘In Lystra, there sat a man who was lame. He had been that way from birth and had never walked. He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed and called out, “Stand up on your feet!” At that, the man jumped up and began to walk’ (Acts 14:8-10).

Here we have a crippled man who was unable to walk, but as he heard the good news of the gospel, he was filled with faith. The apostle Paul saw it and knew that all he had to do was speak the word and this man would be healed. The question is: how do we get that kind of faith? How do we have faith for healing?

When we look at the Scriptures, we find that Stephen was full of wisdom, full of faith, full of God’s grace, full of power, and full of the Holy Spirit (Acts 6:3,5,10,15; 7:55). Speaking about Barnabas, the Bible says, ‘He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord’ (Acts 11:24).

Speaking about Saul of Tarsus, who became the apostle Paul, the Bible says that he was ‘filled with the Holy Spirit’ and then he rebuked Elymas the sorcerer, who was struck blind (Acts 13:9-12). We again see the importance of being full of faith and full of the
Holy Spirit so that miracles take place. My prayer is that God will fill us to overflowing with all these things. Let God fill you with wisdom, faith, His grace, power, and the Holy Spirit.

The Bible says, ‘Truly my soul finds rest in God; my salvation comes from him’
(Psalm 62:1). We are to rest in God with confidence that He is our source of complete salvation. The Scriptures speaks of God being our refuge and our fortress (Psalm 62:6-8). As we wait upon God, it helps us to trust and acknowledge the power that belongs to Him, as well as His unfailing love (Psalm 62:11-12).

After talking about God’s great works, Job asked the question, “Who then can
understand the thunder of his power?” (Job 26:14). That Job also said during his troubles, “I will teach you about the power of God” (Job 27:11). By waiting upon the Lord during our difficult times, we can also teach people about the power of God.

God bless you as you wait upon the Lord for Him to move in power,
Pastor Matthew.