Pastor Ray shared…
I wanted to go over a few scriptures today. I wanted to read the book Balance of Grace and Faith by Andrew Wommack. It reminds me of when brother Hagin taught us about being in balance; you can’t be in a ditch where you’re just only Holy Ghost and no Word. You need to have a balance. He also talked about keeping a balance between worship and prayer. I read this last night at our prayer leaders meeting. This is about checking your receivers. It’s kind of an old-school thought.
[begin quote] Unfortunately for most Christians, their tuner isn’t working. And instead of checking to see if they’re plugged in, turning the power on, or seeing if they have the channel adjusted, the first thing they do is call the broadcasting station. “Why aren’t you transmitting? Please turn on the power and start sending a signal. I want to watch Andrew’s program.”
The first thing we do if we have sickness in our body is say, “God, why haven’t You healed me?” God is broadcasting healing 24/7. If you aren’t receiving healing, it’s not God who hasn’t released it. It’s you who don’t know how to receive it. I’m not saying this to condemn you. It takes time to get educated and learn. But you must start by recognizing that God is not the One who hasn’t healed anybody. He has already healed all of our sicknesses and diseases and that power is already on the inside of us. If we aren’t feeling it—if it isn’t manifest—it’s not God who hasn’t given. It’s us who haven’t learned to receive. We need to start working on our receiver, not questioning God’s transmitter.
Don’t call the station and say, “God, what’s wrong with You? Broadcast! Oh, God, pour out Your power. Oh, Lord, send revival!” God is not our problem. He’s been releasing His power for over two thousand years now. The reason why the Church suffers isn’t that God hasn’t been moving. It’s that we haven’t been receiving. We’ve been ignorant, and Satan has been stealing from us. [end quote]
(If you would like to purchase Andrew Wommack’s book, Living in the Balance of Grace and Faith, please contact LW Store online or call 763.315.7015.)
One other place in this book, he said he had a couple words about his son when he was small. His son would always get the same sickness on the same day every year. It took Andrew a while to wise up, but he saw his son starting to have symptoms and so he began to fast and pray. The Lord ministered to him that what he was trying to do is get His son healed when he was already healed. The Lord told him to take authority over the Devil that was trying to steal the healing. It was a paradigm.
In reading about our receivers, it reminded me of something years ago. Years ago when we were in our old building, maybe 20 years ago, Pastor Mac was preaching a message on keeping our pipes clean—in other words, our connection to heaven. Lots of things can plug that connection up. In the service, he got so free that he jumped off the platform and ran toward the back of the sanctuary. That never happened before. And it shocked some people. It’s hard to describe it, but it was an overflow… How would you describe it, Jerre?
Jerre: A volcano.
Pastor Ray: Yeah, like a volcano. I was sitting halfway back. All of a sudden, he comes running by us like a volcano, it erupted and it was so powerful. But I loved the message for us to keep our pipes clean, our connection to heaven. How do we do that? We do it by just staying connected to Him. We let Jesus be Jesus in us and through us.
Jerre shared…
The scripture that I had this morning aligns with what you’re saying. “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly” and then out of that comes the psalms and the hymns and spiritual songs. The word of Christ, it could be from the Word of God or the Rhema, His spoken word to us. I love when the Rhema comes from God. It’s like a volcano of goodness. It changes you.
Pastor Ray continued…
God is always good. If He faithful? Yes! He’s always faithful. Who mucks it up? The Devil and us. Sometimes it’s just us that plugs things up. But no one in here does that! At the end of brother Wommack’s book are scriptures on grace and faith. I wanted to read some word to you.
John 1:14, “And the Word (Christ) became flesh (human, incarnate) and tabernacled (fixed His tent of flesh, lived awhile) among us; and we [actually] saw His glory (His honor, His majesty), such glory as an only begotten son receives from his father, full of grace (favor, loving-kindness) and truth. … Verse 17, For while the Law was given through Moses, grace (unearned, undeserved favor and spiritual blessing) and truth came through Jesus Christ.”
Acts 20:24, “But none of these things move me; neither do I esteem my life dear to myself, if only I may finish my course with joy and the ministry which I have obtained from [which was entrusted to me by] the Lord Jesus, faithfully to attest to the good news (Gospel) of God’s grace (His unmerited favor, spiritual blessing, and mercy).”
Acts 20:32, “And now [brethren], I commit you to God [I deposit you in His charge, entrusting you to His protection and care]. And I commend you to the Word of His grace [to the commands and counsels and promises of His unmerited favor]. It is able to build you up and to give you [your rightful] inheritance among all God’s set-apart ones (those consecrated, purified, and transformed of soul).”
Romans 6:14, “For sin shall not [any longer] exert dominion over you, since now you are not under Law [as slaves], but under grace [as subjects of God’s favor and mercy].”
Romans 11:6, “But if it is by grace (His unmerited favor and graciousness), it is no longer conditioned on works or anything men have done. Otherwise, grace would no longer be grace [it would be meaningless].”
1 Cor. 15:10, “But by the grace (the unmerited favor and blessing) of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not [found to be] for nothing (fruitless and without effect). In fact, I worked harder than all of them [the apostles], though it was not really I, but the grace (the unmerited favor and blessing) of God which was with me.”
Matthew 6:30, “But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and green and tomorrow is tossed into the furnace, will He not much more surely clothe you, O you of little faith?”
Matthew 8:26, “And He said to them, Why are you timid and afraid, O you of little faith? Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great and wonderful calm (a perfect peaceableness).”
Matthew 9:22, “Jesus turned around and, seeing her, He said, Take courage, daughter! Your faith has made you well. And at once the woman was restored to health.”
Matthew 21:21, “And Jesus answered them, Truly I say to you, if you have faith (a firm relying trust) and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, Be taken up and cast into the sea, it will be done.”
Ephesians 3: 14, “For this reason [seeing the greatness of this plan by which you are built together in Christ], I bow my knees before the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 For Whom every family in heaven and on earth is named [that Father from Whom all fatherhood takes its title and derives its name]. 16 May He grant you out of the rich treasury of His glory to be strengthened and reinforced with mighty power in the inner man by the [Holy] Spirit [Himself indwelling your innermost being and personality]. 17 May Christ through your faith [actually] dwell (settle down, abide, make His permanent home) in your hearts! May you be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love…”
Phil. 1:27, “Only be sure as citizens so to conduct yourselves [that] your manner of life [will be] worthy of the good news (the Gospel) of Christ, so that whether I [do] come and see you or am absent, I may hear this of you: that you are standing firm in united spirit and purpose, striving side by side and contending with a single mind for the faith of the glad tidings (the Gospel).”
That is a description of the body of Christ—standing together. That means no strife, no division, no breakups, no splits. But standing together, striving together, working together and taking our place of rest in Him and doing what He’s given each one of us individually to do. Thank You for the individual plan that You have placed in each one of us. There’s a place where we fit into the body. It all works together for the good of the Gospel. Erika, come share what you have.
Erika shared…
He’s good. His Word is good. His Word is life. It’s health. It’s healing. It’s marrow. It’s healing to all of our flesh and the Word by its own inherent power performs what it says. Colossian 4:12 says, “We who are servants of Christ Jesus will always strive earnestly for these in our prayers pleading their case that they may as persons of ripe character, clear conviction, stand firm and mature in spiritual growth, convinced and fully assured in everything willed by God.” That’s good for the Church, don’t you think? Always striving earnestly for the body, for these that we pray for. Earnest prayer. The earnest heartfelt continued prayer. Pleading their case that as persons of ripe character… We need some ripe character in the Church. The world has a lot of rotten fruit. The Church needs ripe character but not rotten. Clear conviction—that the convictions in the Church would be clear.
Prayed…
Breath of God, blow
Wind of God, blow
It’s a new day and there’s a new way
That is a rejoicing and a rejuvenation in the Church of God
For the joy that is set before us
It’s in the finishing, it’s in the finishing
Oh my! Hallelujah!
Pastor Ray shared…
When you prayed “let the wind of God, blow” it reminded me of that prophecy from March 1995. Pastor Lynne began to speak and one of the parts of that was “you have to turn your face to the wind.” It’s already blowing. The wind of the Spirit of God is blowing right now.
Jerre sang by the spirit…
♪ We turn our face to the wind of Your Spirit… All the goodness blowing in the wind of Your Spirit… Blowing over us… Your wind is blowing over us right now in this place, right here… The wind of Your Spirit, blow, blow, blow… Stronger and stronger over Your people, O Lord… The wind of Your Spirit is blowing… For in the wind, blows Your peace… For in the wind, blows the joy… For in Your wind, blows Your goodness… Blowing away darkness… We turn our face to the wind of Your Spirit… ♪
All singing in the spirit…
Continued praying…
Many will be shocked, but many shall know
The wind of the Spirit, the rain of the Spirit, the oil of the Spirit, the fire…
The Church opening up eyes and ears and cooperating
Greater manifestations and changes
Translations—one minute changed and moved, speaking
Straightening things up
Barriers and obstacles moved and cleared out of the way
Pressing into the wind and staying connecting with heaven
Pastor Ray shared…
Years and years ago, brother Hagin was at our church and he was flowing by the Spirit, ministering all over the sanctuary row by row by row. Many were receiving and yielding to the wind and moving of the Spirit. But he came to one row and there was a pastor that was on the end of the row. His wife and other people from his church filled up that row. He refused to yield to the anointing. Brother Hagin waited a few moments and then he just moved on. When most of the people were yielding to the Holy Spirit and being changed and renewed and restored and filled with joy and strength, one row refused to yield to the Spirit in the middle of it all. It doesn’t work to refuse the Holy Spirit’s way. It does not work to turn away from the wind of the Spirit. But it always works to yield ourselves and turn our faces to the wind and receive every heaven-sent touch of the Spirit. It’ll renew us. It’ll restore us. It’ll change us. The Spirit of God is showing us things that are to come. He said He would. We need to keep our receivers tuned in to hear clearly.
Jerre shared…
This morning one of the Lord’s words to me was “be vigilant in prayer.” That’s what we’re talking about, being tuned into Him and then to be vigilant. I looked up that word and there are a lot of meanings but the one I remembered is the word “hawk eye.” Hawk eye. Vigilant. Tuned in. He’s speaking to us about how we hook up with the Holy Ghost, turn our faces into the wind, and be vigilant in prayer—watching, not being surprised, to know in advance, and not get behind the power curse. In advance, He shows us great and mighty things to come. Father, I’m asking You for the spirit of “in advance” for the Church, that they would be vigilant and hawk eyed, to look strongly in the face of God, to listen and be open to the words of the Spirit, to have an openness to pray and hear the voice of the Good Shepherd.
