Chapter Ten
Chapter Ten
The book of Acts is still being written, not with pen and ink, but with lives because it has never closed. It will not close until the Lord comes back again. It is still running. We are still doing what they did. I was taught that it was over and that we are just care-takers of what is contained in it, but that is not the case at all. It is not over; it is still running full bore and the most exciting place to be is acting out some of it. Now look at verse 3 in Acts 14. Paul and his cohorts are in the city of Iconium.
Acts 14:3
3 Long time therefore abode they speaking boldly in the Lord, which gave testimony unto the word of his grace, and granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands. (KJV)
The Bible says that they were speaking boldly in the Lord. That's the only way you can speak and draw any attention. If you come on like "Casper Milktoast" or some silly, limp-wristed wimp, nobody will ever pay any attention to anything you say.
If you know who you are and what belongs to you, and you speak out with real conviction from your deep, innermost spirit being, you will draw the attention of everybody that hears you, whether or not they agree with you. If you speak with conviction, they will listen to what you have to say. They may declare, "I don't agree with the words that you say, but I'm convinced that you believe what you are saying."
I've had a lot of people over the years disagree with me on some of the things I've said, but nobody has ever come to me and said "You're a hypocrite because you yourself don't believe what you're saying." Nobody has ever said that to me. I've had many things said to me, but nobody has ever made that statement to me or about me, that I know of, for one simple reason; if I believe it enough to say it, I say it so everybody knows I that mean what I say and that I believe it.
That's what this little city was up against in the persons of Paul and Barnabas. They were preaching and speaking boldly in the Lord. Not only did they have the attention of that city, they also had the attention of God because God hears you when you speak his Word with boldness.
The Bible says that they spoke boldly in the Lord. Then the next phrase says, "The Lord gave testimony unto the Word of His grace." What "Word of His Grace?" He gave testimony to that part of His own Word that they were speaking boldly. They were not there reciting the Gettysburg Address; they were not there quoting the latest article in the latest issue of Readers Digest; they were not there quoting The Saturday Evening Post nor The Houston Chronicle. They were there speaking boldly (in the Lord) the Word of the Lord.
As those guys went up and down preaching the Word, the Bible says that God confirmed the Word which they preached with signs following. God confirms His own Word when it is spoken boldly by you. If you want people to be saved, then preach salvation and God confirms that aspect of His Word because that's the Word you spoke that day. If you want people to be healed, then preach healing and God confirms that aspect of His Word. He confirms it by getting people healed. If you want people filled with the Holy Ghost, you preach on the subject "being filled with the Holy Ghost," and God fills people with the Holy Ghost, because God supernaturally confirms what you say, as long as what you say is what He has written.
They were preaching grace and people started getting saved. They could have preached on healing, being filled with the Holy Ghost or tithing, but they were preaching that day from the Word of God on the subject of grace, and since they preached on grace, people walked into the Grace of God and got saved.
When you face a need, find the answer to it in the Word of God and speak it boldly in the face of your adverse circumstance, even when that circumstance contradicts what the Word of God says on the written page. Say it with boldness. God confirms the Word that you speak boldly by changing the circumstance to fit the Word that you speak boldly. God confirms His Word spoken boldly when it comes from lips of faith. God does not confirm the words of the Saturday Evening Post, the Houston Chronicle, the Reader's Digest or what Brother So and So says about the Word. He confirms His Word spoken boldly.
The "Nervous Nellies" and the "Casper Milktoasts" never will get anything from God. There is no power in them. God confirms what you say when you are so filled with the Word of God that you dare, that you have the audacity, and if necessary, you are willing to suffer the embarrassment, to look right straight in the face of an adversity and speak boldly the Word of God to that adversity. God will confirm the Word that you speak boldly. If you act like you don't believe it yourself, and you just whisper it, you won't get God's attention or the circumstance's attention or the attention of other people.
But when you go at it like gang-busters, willing to charge hell with a squirt gun, and you boldly speak the Word of God to things that nothing but God's power can move and change and redirect, your bold Word gets the attention of Heaven. Then Heaven instructs the Holy Ghost to force that which you command, to line up with the Word of God spoken boldly right out of your mouth..
Now the above discussion says this to me:
(1) I find a Word of God that answers to my circumstance
(2) I turn on that circumstance with a vengeance
(3) I boldly speak that Word to the adverse circumstance I face
(4) I stomp my foot at it as I boldly speak out to it
(5) I say, "Mountain, be thou removed and dumped into the sea"
(6) God confirms His Word boldly spoken from my mouth
When God gives testimony to His Word, He does so by granting that signs and wonders be done by your hand, just as He did to theirs. God honors His Word by confirming it and bearing witness to it. He gives testimony to it by making it happen. That requires no less a sign and wonder today than it did when Paul, Barnabas, Peter and John were doing it. They had nothing but the spoken Word of God coupled and linked to the name of Jesus.
"Would that not require me to speak a lie?" I've heard that over and over and over. "If I am sick, and the Word of God says that by His stripes I am healed, and I say I am healed when I'm really sick with a 103 degree fever-I have lied. If the Word of God says that by His stripes I am healed, and if I begin to say I am healed when I'm still sick, isn't that going to be a lie?"
No!
Why?
It's not a matter of one or the other being true. They are both true. It is true that I am sick. But it is also true that by His stripes I am healed.
Then how can I deal with this? I have two things that are true, but they contradict each other.
It is not a matter of one or the other being true and the other being false. They're both true, but the question is which one is the most powerful, the Truth of the Word of God or the truth of that disease? They're both true but you must pick the most powerful truth and go with that one. Because the most powerful truth drives the other, weaker truth from the field. Now can that disease change the Word of God?
No.
But can the Word of God change that disease?
Yes!
So which way am I going here? It's not a matter of quoting a lie, for when you recognize you are sick, that's the truth, but "By His stripes I am healed," is also the Truth. You must decide which one has more punch per pound. That's the way you go, for the one you boldly speak is the one that will gain the upper hand. I personally intend to go with God, because the Bible says they went up and down the land, boldly speaking the Word of God, and God confirmed the Word with signs following. He has done it for me, He has done it for you. He will keep on doing it for me and He will keep on doing it for you.
So, you must determine which one you will go with. They're both true. "I am sick, but by His stripes I am also healed." Now which one has the power to change the other? That's your decision. So then, it is not a matter of speaking Scripture which contradicts reality, and therefore telling a lie. It is a matter of choosing which one has the punch to change the other. You can be sick until you turn blue in the face but that is not going to change the Word of God one bit. But the Word of God, boldly spoken, can change that sickness 180 degrees.
That's the way we must determine where we are going. When we make our choice and take our stand, when we boldly confess the Word of God, whatever aspect of the Word of His grace we boldly speak at that moment, that's what the Holy Ghost confirms. God, with His spoken Word in your mouth, changes and overpowers circumstances, forcing them to line up with His Word. So the question is, which way are you going?
Personally, I've not experienced as much as many other people. Many of you in the Spirit-filled life, and the signs and wonders aspect of the Christian walk, are way up on the totem pole, whereas I am still somewhere near the bottom. But I have experienced enough in my life to know that I like the signs and wonders business. I just like it! And I know enough about it and I have experienced enough to know that I can change anything when I can find an appropriate Scripture and boldly speak it out.
I recently heard a preacher on TV make the statement, "You must confess it even before it happens; you must confess it!" I sat there saying, "Brother, how true that is." You must learn to speak right in the face of circumstances that seem to be the exact opposite of what God's Word says. You have to face that circumstance and speak the Word boldly, because it is the spoken Word that changes the circumstance. Sometimes prayer is an exercise in futility, because sometimes God wants you to quit praying and start attacking the problem by boldly speaking His Word to it.
It is a matter of choice. It is a matter of determining which way will I go here? Which way will I choose? Which speech will I make?
"Woe is me. I'm overpowered, I'm so sick, I will never pull out of this. Medical science has given up on me. There is no hope. I have had it! I know the Bible says that by His stripes I am healed. I know the Bible says that they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover. I know all that but, nonetheless, I have had it. I'm doomed, I'm damned, I'm sick. They have thrown in the towel on my case. I have been given up". That's one choice. And if that's your choice, that is what you're going to talk; and if that is what you're going to talk, that's what you will get.
But if I choose to go the other way I will reason thus, "I know I am sick; it's terminal. I've been given up; they have thrown in the towel on my case. I only have a month to live. But I also know something more powerful than the reasoning above, the Word of God that says, By his stripes I am healed. Therefore, I will cast my lot on the side of that old ship Zion, and I will sail that ship. I will say out loud, right in the face of my disease, 'By his stripes I am healed.' I will stomp my foot at it and dare it to remain in me, because the Word of God says, By his stripes I am healed. They have laid hands on me and consequently I am recovering. No power on this earth, this disease or otherwise, has the power to overwhelm and snuff out the Word of God when it is boldly spoken to a sickness. Die at the roots and get out of my body, sickness, in the Name of Jesus!"
When you turn on that disease and boldly speak to it, when you keep your feet to the fire, throw your flesh right into the middle of the briars and endure the scratches, and hang in there with your confession, God will give testimony to His Word of grace about your healing. God will confirm your positive confession as you boldly speak the Word of God. He will confirm that Word with signs following, and those signs will include your total deliverance from that debilitating disease. That is how it is done. You must boldly speak the Word of God right in the face of your disease.
Many people won't boldly speak it out because they are scared they will be embarrassed. We must not care who we embarrass, and nobody must be able to embarrass us. There is more power in the Word of God than there is in all kinds of peer pressure. We must not give a rip what anybody thinks about us one way or the other. We must speak out the Word of God if it harelips the devil and all the people who know us. I will boldly say, "I know whom I have believed. I know that I have committed unto Him that which He is able to keep against that day." I will say that. I will shout it from the highest rooftop. It doesn't matter to me who doesn't like it. It doesn't matter to me who might get embarrassed. God confirms a boldly spoken Word, and He does it with signs and wonders following. I challenge any man to show me where the book of Acts has ever been closed. I know it is not closed because every week I myself write a brand new chapter to it. Hallelujah!
It's a matter of choosing which one has the power. If you think that the disease has more power than the Word of God, then you're going to fold up your tent and go with your disease. That one choice will take you down the tubes. But if you become convinced that the Word of God has more power than your disease, you will talk the Word of God. You will speak to that disease like it was a person and say, "You little punk! In the name of Jesus, die at the roots and come out of my body, for by His stripes I am healed!"
Do you need money? Let me tell you how to deal with that. Be sure you are tithing and giving offerings to make every good work rich. There is a money stream that God sends flowing to everybody. If it is not coming to you, the enemy has shut off the faucet somewhere between God in Heaven and you down here. God said, "I will open the windows of Heaven and pour you out a blessing so big you can't receive it." Your money flow leaves the windows of Heaven and goes right to your house. If it's not coming through, the devil has shut off a spigot somewhere in the pipeline between Heaven and your home. What you must do is boldly speak to the devil. Say, "Back off my pipeline! In the name of Jesus, open up that spigot and get out of the way because you are blocking my money flow from God. Turn my money flow loose and let the money flow in!" And when you get serious about that, God will shove that money right down the pipeline, and the devil has to open up the spigot and get his hands off that money flow. Here it comes in a torrent.
So which way has the most power? You can be overwhelmed by your circumstances or you can overwhelm them with the Word of God, but only if you're convinced that God's Word has more punch than the circumstances themselves. We just naturally gravitate toward strength. When I'm convinced that the Word of God has more power than my circumstance, I'm going where the strength lies. Once I know where the strength lies, I'm going to talk it.
When I'm convinced that the Word of God has the upper hand over my circumstances, I will choose His Word. You simply have to ask, "Which one has the power to subdue the other?" If you believe the circumstance can nullify the Word of God, you're going to pay all your attention and homage to it. You will bow down on your knees to that circumstance and beg it for mercy. When you are convinced, however, that the Word of God, boldly spoken, draws the power of God right out of Heaven and right into your life and produces the sign and wonder necessary to change your adverse circumstance, that's the way you will go. So, I'm asking you today, which way will you line up? Which way will you go? If you choose to go down with that old ship Zion, you'll find that old ship won't go down at all!
Decades ago, they spoke about an unsinkable ship called the Titanic but it sunk to the bottom of the ocean the first time it went out. I'm talking about a ship that has been on the seas for thousands of years and hasn't gone down yet! The old ship of Zion has been attacked and assailed far greater than the Titanic, but it won't sink, it won't go down! You don't have to worry about that. You can say, "I cast my all right here; I'll go down with this ship." However, that ship won't go down.
If you put your anchors in the circumstance, it will drag you right into the grave, into the poor house, break up your home and wreck your health. It'll do all that. But the old ship Zion will never go down! You can't find a storm that it can't ride out safely.
Noah's Ark was some kind of boat. Those flood waves could have been whipping around this earth at one hundred miles an hour, but the way that ark was designed wouldn't let it sink. It couldn't even capsize. If you think that was some kind of a boat, even Noah's Ark is nothing compared to the old ship Zion. It's been on the water a whole lot longer than one hundred fifty days and it hasn't gone down yet. You can't capsize it. You get on that boat and you can tell the circumstances to get out of your face, and they'll have to do it.
I don't care what you need, find a promise in the Word of God and anchor yourself to it. Start speaking it right in the face of that circumstance. If you're convinced that the Word of God has the power to upset that circumstance, then attack the problem with a vengeance with the spoken Word boldly coming out of your mouth. Say, "In the name of Jesus, by His stripes I am healed. Disease! Die at the roots and get out of my body, in Jesus' name!" That disease will capitulate; it has to. When the Word of God is coupled with the name of Jesus, every disease must capitulate. It has to! That's the way you must go.
Which way will you go? Which side will you take? What choice will you make? What, in your estimation, has the most power, the Word of God or the circumstance? Now you must make a choice. You can keep on the way you are going and just stay overwhelmed, or you can get in the old ship Zion and nothing can sink you. No storm--nothing--can come up against that ship and put it under. If you're on something that can't go under, then you can't go under. What is your choice today? Which way will you decide?
Do you know what walking in the Spirit is? In Romans, Paul teaches us that it's possible for a Christian to walk after the Spirit or to walk after the flesh. The Christian who walks after the flesh lives just like a lost man. He calculates his way with his own natural wit and ability. He plans his own thing and does his own thing, and then asks God to bless the mess he made. But a Christian who walks after the Spirit is a person who seeks the mind of God first, before he makes a move, and then he does exactly what God reveals to him to do. That's walking in the Spirit.
You can deal with circumstances by walking after the Spirit or by walking after the flesh. If you walk after the Spirit, you find the Word and mind of God concerning that circumstance. You determine what God says you need to do to deal with it, and then you do it. That's walking in the Spirit.
Or, you can walk in the flesh, Christian. That means dealing with your circumstances the same way as the average guy in the street. He doesn't get the mind of God on anything. He does what he thinks is needful and then asks God to bless his decision and his actions based on that decision. God, however, is not obligated to bless human choices and actions.
I will show you something here about walking in the Spirit. The Bible says, "God gave testimony to the Word of His grace with signs and wonders following." Other Scriptures say, "God confirmed the Word preached with signs and wonders following." Mark says, "These signs shall follow them that believe." Choosing to boldly speak God's Word to your circumstances is walking in the Spirit. The Spirit of God has more power than anything your human wits can devise.
God's Word is a spiritual force that activates itself in your life as you boldly speak it right in the face of a circumstance. Walking in the Spirit is making a choice between human ability and solving a problem God's way. Which do I believe has the most power, the spoken Word of God or the circumstance? Which one has the power to overwhelm the other? What you decide determines whether you walk in the Spirit or walk in the flesh. Which way will you go?
You have a choice. You can choose to deal with your circumstances with your own abilities and wits, or you can choose to turn the Word of God on the circumstance by boldly speaking it. Which one has the power to overwhelm the other? Get on the old ship Zion. Nothing can overwhelm it or sink it.
Finally, once you get in the war against your disease, stay with it. Do not quit after three minutes. The first one to quit -loses. Use the Name of Jesus until you are healed. You may fight it a day , a week or a month. So what? You will win if you hang in there and keep on keeping on. Stay the course until your healing comes. Many are not healed because they give up. They do not persevere. The saying that if someone is not healed after one prayer they must have sin in their life or they have no faith is nonsense. Stay the course and you will be victorious.
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Date Last Updated:
February 27, 2008
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