| He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? | ||
| Galatians 3:5 | ||
| In the days when the healing evangelists were crisscrossing the country and drawing huge crowds under big-tops, many thousands of people were truly touched and definitely impacted by one of the biggest faith healers of all: A.A. Allen. He had the biggest meetings and the most powerful impact in the healing arena — until he died in San Francisco in a cheap motel room of cirrhosis of the liver. He was a complete alcoholic. How could this be? It is because the miracles wrought and the Spirit given are not by the works of the Law, but simply by the hearing of faith. Folks, A. A. Allen understood that what he did was centered not upon his great faith in God, but upon God’s great faithfulness to him. And once you understand that simple truth, it will affect everything you do in ministry. For years, I was under the impression that the key to ministry, to being used by God, to seeing folks saved or filled with the Spirit, was my faith. Therefore, the greater my faith, the more God would do. Not true. The key was not my faith in God at all — but His faithfulness to people. Consequently, last Monday night at Caveman Park in Grants Pass, with a couple hundred high-school kids, I gave an invitation at the end of my teaching, and I just expected kids to respond — not because of the persuasiveness of my message, but because I know the goodness of God. He wants to save people. He cares about every single kid there. It wasn’t because of my presentation or preparation that I expected them to respond. No, it was because I knew God was eager to respond to any of those kids who wanted to come to Him. So, when I said, ‘Which of you wants to receive the coming upon of the Spirit right now?’ most of them raised their hands. ‘Uh-oh,’ you may have thought had you witnessed the scene. ‘What are you going to do now, Jon? What if you pray and nothing happens? What if they don’t speak in tongues? Worse yet, what if they do?’ Folks, it’s not my job to be concerned about those things. I just have total confidence in the great faithfulness of God to touch any boy, any girl, any man, any woman anytime, anywhere who is hungering and thirsting for righteousness. When this is understood, it is so incredibly freeing. But until it’s understood, Satan will whisper in your ear, ‘You don’t have the technique down.’ ‘You don’t know enough verses yet.’ ‘You haven’t prayed hard enough.’ ‘You haven’t worshipped long enough.’ Precious people, Satan will paralyze you until you understand that every area of ministry is based not upon your faith, but upon God’s faithfulness. If you believe this, you’ll find yourself talking to people and expecting them to respond in some way. If it’s dependent upon me, my knees knock, my forehead breaks out in beads of sweat, my mouth gets dry, my lips become sealed. I am paralyzed by fear because I know I haven’t done enough. But once a I understand that the one who ministers the Spirit, the one who works miracles doesn’t do it by the works of the Law, I am free! | ||
