Saturday, 25 February 2012

Effective Prayer

Lord: Prayer is a very powerful tool for the Christian to wield. I want you to encourage all My children to enter more whole heartedly into prayer!
 
Prayer is not about instructing Me, or informing Me about needs and situations. I know everything and I know all mankind and all his needs, long before he knows about them himself or even dares to ask Me.

Much of what is taught about prayer and methods of prayer is elementary, and geared to get children into a habit of prayer. But it is also largely detached from the relationship with Me aspect. Children and adults alike are taught to pray in a detached way. Many grow up believing that the once-a-month, or at best once-a-week, diet of community prayer 'in church' is all that is required. Sadly, a very high percentage of such prayer is unbelieving and half-hearted, and thus virtually ineffective. I won't even say it's better than nothing, because it is so luke-warm that I find it distasteful and would spew it out of my mouth. Oh I don't reject it all, for even in the greyest area of prayer, there are pure thoughts, pure hopes, and heart-felt desires, but this is not the sort of prayer that is going to change the world, or bring in the Kingdom! To do that you need dynamic prayer!

Q.    So, what is dynamic prayer?

A.    Well son, dynamic prayer begins with a love relationship with Me! In order to make the sort of dramatic changes in the world, you have to talk to the Creator who designed and made everything. The reason for this, is that the changes needed to bring My kingdom in, require the undoing of centuries of wrong teaching , deceit, and mis-direction. The human heart has been corrupted and beguiled by the Evil One, and needs healing and repairing. This is a job that can only be carried out by Me. It is a job for love!

Take an example: In human society, if an individual wants to change society, he has to work his way into the political system, and come under the eye of those who wield power. Becoming a friend and colleague of the Prime Minister, means that you are able to talk to him about the things that are dear to your 'political' heart. Learning about the process of decision-making, and catching the wider picture, helps you to see what changes are required, and are best for society. This takes a lot of effort and cannot be effective if you are uncommitted or half-hearted.

If that is true in a human political arena, it is also true for the Christian. To change the world and bring in the Kingdom, you need to get to know the Creator of all things, as a friend!

Did you realise that it is easier to get to know Me than it is to get to know the Prime Minister? Well, it is! The big difference is, that I want to be known, and I want to be your close friend, more than the Prime Minister does. And even better, I am available to you 24-7!

However, as in the human political arena, to understand the situation and catch the wider picture, a great deal of effort is needed. You need to spend time in conversation with me,  listening and asking questions. Our prayer relationship must move on from, 'Dear God, please bless Mummy and Daddy..... ," to a more adult conversation, in which we engage each other in deep conversation, about the necessary big issues that need to be dealt with. As I have told you before, I do not withhold anything My children need, and as a father is pleased when his children seek his help and understanding, so I am pleased when you engage with Me and I can teach you!

This sort of intercourse requires a commitment of time and attention and cannot be achieved by a once a month or once a week brief encounter. It requires regular practical workshop sessions and classroom work. Oh I'm not talking about a college course or a university degree, I am talking about time spent with me. watching me at work, learning how to, and when to, use the tools and gifts I want to give you.

This is why I have, over the last few years, built up our relationship from one of comparative strangers to close friends, from a short daily quiet-time, to a much longer period of deep conversation, Bible reading, wider reading and study, through to journaling. This is your training for the next stage, which is the real field-work of bringing in the Kingdom.

Field work is not sending you out on your own. Field work is going out into the mission field with Me, and doing the things I direct you to do. It is far more effective and much safer that trying to do it on your own. Son, I never send any of my servants out on their own. I am always with you. Even when Michael or Gabriel go out from the throne room on an errand for Me, they do not go alone. I am with them as I am with you.

Real, effective prayer is pro-active, fully engaged and fully involved, full-time communication with your very best friend, Me. I want our relationship to be deeper than a friendship, for I love you and I want you to love Me.

Friday, 24 February 2012

The Brotherhood of Man

Lord: Do not make judgements about other people, that could in your mind place them outside the Kingdom of Heaven! There are far too many prejudices, that exclude men and women from being accepted into the body of Christ, from man's point of view. As far as the evangelist is concerned, all men, women and children of every race, clime or creed, are to me reached by the Gospel and should be treated equally.

I created the human race from one created man. Male and female, both came from the first man Adam. Ignorant man can argue as much as he likes about this, but it does not alter the facts one little tiny bit. I created man out of the basic building blocks of the earth that I had created. There was no previous hierarchy, no previous evolutionary chain, stretching back into a past which never existed. When I created man, he was created man and has remained man throughout the ages. A man today could father a child from Eve, and a woman today could be a mother to Adam's child. This is an immovable fact. Therefore all men and women alive today are brothers and sisters, and direct and equal descendants of Adam and Eve. Nothing man can say will ever change that. Hold on to it.

Many of your brothers and sisters have been brought up in a totally different, and almost alien, culture from yours. Some of the races of man have been isolated from their brothers and sisters, and now behave differently and hold different standards and values. This does not devalue them or make then sub-human! All men are equal. Some races of man have been subject to the influence of evil for generations, and are taught evil ways from birth. This does not make the men and women caught in that culture sub-human, or outside the reach of the gospel. Indeed the gospel is desperately needed by them!

No man, woman or child shall be excluded from the Kingdom of Heaven because you, or any one else, don't like them! When sharing the good news of the Kingdom, personal likes and dislikes are to be handed over to Me. You see son, I love every man I have ever made! Yes I even loved Hitler, Saddam Hussein and Gaddafi! I didn't love what they did or represented, but I loved them and longed for them to turn to Me for salvation. My heart breaks every time someone rejects My love.

Before My Church dares point the finger of condemnation upon any walk of man, let them first look to their own position. I have entrusted my precious Gospel of Jesus My Son, into the hands of My Church, people who claim to be followers of Mine. But I do not see the Church taking the lead in the moral issues of the day! I do not see them reaching out with the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the nations, who are starving, war-torn, and ravaged! I do not see the Christian Gospel filling the void left by the collapse of Islam! Yes, there are individuals and small congregations, who are doing their best, and I love them for it, but where are the main establishments, the recognised denominations? I do not hear their voices above the din!

I want my people everywhere to turn to me and repent. Pray for the world, pray for the nation, pray for your town or village. Pray for your church, your leaders and your politicians. Pray for those who are lost. Remember, all men are mine, all men are brothers, all men can be reached and saved. I love them and I want you to love them too. Stand up and shout with one voice, "Jesus IS Lord!"

Wednesday, 15 February 2012

Water on Dry Ground

Me: Good morning Lord. Thank you for waking me this morning, and for this new and beautiful day. Lord please help me today to stay close to you, and to be open to you for inspiration, to continue to write my book.

Lord: Good morning son. Welcome to the club this morning and thank you for joining us. I want you to look again at the glimpse I gave you as you prayed this morning. What did you see?

Vision: Lord, I saw a wilderness, an area of barren land. Barren that is, by virtue of the fact that nothing seemed to be growing there. It was well-trodden land, where rain, when it falls' would gather in large puddles. It had an air of neglect. Though the vision I saw was only of the one plot, it had the feeling that it went on and on for hundreds of miles, with little, if anything, growing. I was praying, Lord, as I saw it, and as I continued praying, I saw beautiful wild flowers springing up out of the ground! Strong, healthy plants with many beautiful colours and species. It was like magic, for in the instant I saw and perceived the barren waste and took it in, I saw the mature flowers appear out of nothing!

Lord: The barren waste is the world of men. It is barren because they have turned away from Me, and are bent on pursuing the way of life that leads to death and destruction. Every year I send the water of My love on the world, like rain on the desert, and every year I look for growth, but all I see is My abundance standing around like great puddles of water, unused and unvalued. Then I heard your prayer, faltering and slow, but I knew it came from your heart, and that you want to be close to Me. Martin, I was able to use the prayer you uttered, almost without knowing what you were uttering, and use it to allow the water of My Spirit, to reach the seeds that were lying dormant under the wilderness. Under such barren conditions, it only takes a drop of water, and a few hours, to bring the desert places alive with colour and life.

In these days, I have allowed a great barrenness to encroach in the world, as the hearts of men grow cold to Me, and complacent about the creation I have given them. As they have seen and exploited the earth, raping it of its wealth and beauty, they have ignored Me. They believed in their hearts, that it was through the strength of their arms, the cleverness of their minds, that they have accumulated great wealth. They have become blind to those around them, as their lust for power, and greed for material things, has become like a consuming fire. This lust and greed is now no longer a personal problem of a few; it has consumed whole nations and continents. Man believes he can continue to accumulate goods, and build wealth, and that healthy economies are those which always expand.

However, in ignoring Me, they have lost the plot completely, and have failed to recognise that all men are part of the great family of mankind. They have become blind to the man next door and the starving, naked children they exploit, in their pursuit of the "almighty pound or dollar". Man has even stooped so low as to neglect his own children, parents and family, in the pursuit of self satisfaction!

Even now, I am stripping away the golden plating of life, and causing a mildew to settle on the fine clothes and materials that are seen by so many as essentials. Structures and institutions are crumbling, and many things that were considered as immovable and eternal, are being shifted by the tide and flood I am sending. I am not sending, and allowing this to happen, in order to destroy mankind. On the contrary, I am sending and allowing it, in order to destroy the false values that are in themselves destroying man.

Before the present crisis in society became apparent to man, I began to raise up my true Church. I started with the established Churches and recognised Christian fellowships. I called and I moved, I beckoned and I manoeuvred, and many people, and sometimes whole fellowships, have responded. Sadly, and I mean that from the bottom of My heart of love, sadly many have remained intransigent. They have resisted Me, and refused My Spirit access. Some of the churches that were called by my name have been infiltrated by, and taken over by, those who do not know Me, and are opposed to My rule. From them I am calling My people out! Through the prayers of My faithful people, I am about to make the wilderness bloom again. This new blooming will not be based upon the foundations of the past, which are the cause of human poverty and pain, but upon the foundations I have laid down, since the foundation of the Earth. The economy of the new blooming will not be based upon the present, failed currencies, of the world today, but will be firmly founded in love for one another, tenderness and generosity.

I am going to cause the wilderness to bloom again, not with fields of one crop next to another field of a different crop, but of one great area of beautiful, exotic and varied wild blooms. Just as the meadows abound with wild flowers, so I want My Church to spread over all the world, not as Catholic, Protestant or Charismatic, but as My people moved by My Holy Spirit, fulfilled and grown to the full stature and beauty I intend for everyone.

Pray that all my people everywhere will wake up and blossom, like the flowers in the wilderness after the rain. I will pour water of those who are thirsty. I will pour rain on the dry ground. I will give life, to those who were thought to be dead. I will be glorified in all My Creation. I love you.

Sunday, 12 February 2012

Eat up your Greens!

Me: Good morning Lord. Thank you for waking me this morning and for this new day. Thank you for your love and goodness to us, and for taking care of all our wants and needs. I love you Lord.

Lord: Good morning son. Thank you for joining us this morning and for focusing of My Word. The Word I have spoken is food for you. Keep feeding on the Word each day.

When you eat a meal, there is often something in the meal that you are not too keen on, but which you eat in order to receive a balanced diet. Often, the foods which people don't like and avoid, are the very bits which keep them strong and healthy. It is much the same with My Word. The parts which are often taken lightly, or even avoided, provide a great deal of nourishment, even in modern situations. The Old Testament is largely neglected as a teaching tool, by a lot of main stream congregations. Individuals also reject 90% of the Old Testament as irrelevant to modern living, and therefore do not read it.

Even on a secular level the Jewish Scriptures are dismissed by historians, scientists and thinkers alike, purely because of their 'religious' setting. Take for example the account of the Global Flood or the Exodus. Secular historians are far more likely to read and take notice of the writings of secular people. Yet, time and again, I am allowing discoveries to be made, which reinforce and back up My Word, which is truth!

But aside from the secular world of unbelief, My people, who are called by My name, are also abandoning My Word, because it doesn't fit comfortably with their current world view. To you I say, Return to the Lord your God, and seek My forgiveness for the casting aside of My Word. Treat My Word as a balanced meal. There will be parts of the meal that you find difficult to digest, but, 'Eat up your greens, they will do you good!' Remember how, as a child, you used to let the greens slip down your throat, without chewing them, so you didn't have to taste them! Well, they still did you good in the long run. So with My Word. Take both the Old and the New Testaments and consume them. Do not pass judgement on them, until the Word has done its work. Over time the goodness and truth in the Word seeps out and nourishes the body, so that, when you need the truth, or you need a foundation for what you think you believe, My Word is there in your innermost being, to give you the support and truth you need.

The other way to feed on the Word is to chew it over and allow the goodness and the flavour to come out like honey in the mouth. Sometimes this can be difficult, but I am always here, and ready to help you. All you need to do is ask.

While the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness for forty years, I fed them on manna from Heaven. I have provided for My Church the same sort of provision, with the written Word, the Bible. Those who rely on it and feast on it never find it wanting, while those who reject it, or only pick at it are always hungry.

Do not be confused by clever theological comments, or blinded by the remarks of 'eminent' scholars. Always start by taking My Word at face value. Just eat it. You see it wasn't written as a puzzle or code. I did not hide the truth from you. It doesn't need a priest or a theologian to unravel the truth for you. It requires only for you to sit at a table and consume it like a good meal. To be able to digest your food, you don't have to be a doctor or understand all the processes of digestion. Your body knows what to do with the food and you can get on with life. So it is with My Word. Consume it and allow your spirit to be nourished. Just as you accept, by experience, that your food is good for you, so begin to accept that the Word is truth and food for you. As you consume it regularly you will soon discover by experience that the Word IS truth and IS good for you. I love you and therefore would not prescribe for you anything less than the best!

Saturday, 11 February 2012

Imagine and See!

Me: Good morning Lord. Thank you for waking me this morning and for this new and beautiful day. Thank you Lord for the mind you have given us and the ability to reason and calculate. Help me Lord to keep this ability in balance, with my (God given) ability to imagine. Lord help me to stay close to you today and use all the gifts you have given me, to see and understand the majesty and beauty of your creation, which reflects your glory. I love you Lord.

Lord: Good morning son. Welcome to the club this morning and thank you for joining us. We love you too.

Thank you for making that request this morning. The human mind is among the most beautiful and complex of all My creations. The ability to imagine or 'see' with the inner eye, is one of the qualities that marks man as different from the animals. It is one of the many attributes I took from myself and gave to man, to make him like Me (made in God's image). Today I want to look at that God-given ability, to 'imagine.' I want you to step outside your comfort zone for a few moments, and forget all the well-reasoned theology of men, and just listen to me as I take you on a special trip.

In the beginning, before anything was made, before time began, when all was silent and still. I imagined a world set in a vast universe of stars. It was full of light and life, and I imagined a man with the ability to love and be loved. I imagined him with the ability to create beautiful things from the world around him, and I began to get excited about all the thing I was seeing in My mind's eye. The more I thought and imagined this wonderful universe, the more I became enchanted by the mathematics, the chemistry, the physics, and all the other features I would have to 'invent', to make this universe perfect and beautiful. The intricacy and complexity of what I imagined was so beautiful and exciting to me, I just knew that I had to create it. Oh, how I yearned to be able to share it with someone else, who would appreciate it as much as I did!

I knew that Creation had to become a reality. I had to transfer it from the depths of my mind, from an imagination, into a reality! In order to share it, I had to create it and share it with the man I had created it for!

When I had created the environment for my man, I fashioned him, and made him, from the same material as his world, so that he belonged to the world and the world belonged to him. I then breathed into him something of the creativity, excitement, appreciation and love, I was feeling and experiencing. I made this tiny little creature able to imagine new things, and appreciate some of the amazing subtleties of his surroundings. I allowed him to hear and appreciate the music I was making, with all the sounds of creation. I gave him the ability to see detail through all the light spectrum, so that he could interpret light and shade. I taught him to express what he could see and hear. I gave him memory, and the ability to analyse, reason and logically deduce. But my real triumph was that I gave him the ability to love!

When I had reached a certain point in my imaginings, before I brought it all in to physical being, I felt the burning desire to share the creation I was building with someone else. It was a symptom of My love, and love is for sharing. Man, too, as he discovered the creation I had made for him, wanted someone to love and share it with. He looked at every creature I had made and gave them names, and though he could communicate with them all, he did not find any with whom he could share all his new-found emotions and love. It was at this point I made for him a being, with whom to share, and love. I made a woman. Between them, nothing was hidden, and all things were shared. Together they could discover the world, and the universe, and think My thoughts after Me. Man had a companion.

Now that little trip sets the scene for how I feel about all that I have made, and the excitement I feel when My beloved children enter into this creative work with Me. I am the inspiration behind music, poetry, art, writing and all the creative arts! I gave Man his inner eye and inner ear, as well as his imagination. Use them all and be creative with me.

Know this also: I gave man his ability to reason, learn, analyse, discern and work out. I created logic, mathematics and all the laws which govern the sciences. It was I who placed into man the ability to enquire and question, and it was I who gave him an inbuilt sense of right and wrong.

It is only when man acknowledges that I have given him everything that makes him what he is, that he finds true satisfaction and fulfilment in what he does. Without Me, there is no reason and no purpose, no beginning and no end. I am the beginning of all things and I am the end. I am life, and the reason for life, and I love you.

Thursday, 9 February 2012

Give Me the Glory

Me: Good morning Lord. Thank you for waking me this morning and for this new day. Thank you for your love in caring for us and for your wonderful provision if all we need. I love you Lord.

Lord: Good morning son. Thank you for joining us this morning and spending time with us. We love you so much, providing for you is our pleasure. We Love you.

Over the last three days I have scratched the surface of healing as you requested. There is a great deal more I can tell you, and over the years you will learn more through the experiences that I give you.

As I lead you into opportunities to use this gift and as needs arise, I want you always to remember that supernatural, divine healing, is not performed by magic, and nor does it have to follow special techniques. This is because I am the Healer, not you! You are the channel through which the healing is delivered, but I, through My Holy Spirit, do the work. Therefore is is vital that you stay close to Me and follow My leading. Even when Jesus sent the seventy out in pairs, with instructions to heal and deliver, He remained with them in Spirit, and they knew they must rely on Him. When they returned, they were excited, and told Jesus, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.” Luke 10:17. They remained close to Jesus and did all in the name of Jesus. They also gave Him the glory.

There will be, and always are, those who want to give you the credit for My work. This gives you a wonderful opportunity to tell them about me. On many occasions in the ministry of Jesus, speaking about the Kingdom accompanies works of healing. This is why, over the centuries, healing has been practised by the church in the context of worship. It is only since the 'age of enlightenment,' when science took over medicine, that missionaries could only practice healing if they were qualified doctors. This practice is not My will nor My way. Yes, I will use qualified doctors, even in supernatural healing, but only if they stay close to Me, and allow Me to guide them. But My command to go into all the world and to preach, heal and raise the dead was not given to doctors, but to believers, My children. These precious gifts of healing are given by Me, and distributed by My Holy Spirit as He determines. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines. 1 Corinthians 12:11.

There are times son, when you will be called upon to tackle needs that are both complex and demonic. Do not be daunted by this. These instances will not come upon you unawares. If you remain constant in prayer, I will give you due warning and instruction on how to handle it. In the cases which do involve demonic intervention, do involve others in the prayer and back-up. There is a twofold reason for this. The prayers of two or more are infinitely more effective that of one person. When you need back up I will provide. Secondly, because of the fears of other Christians about casting out demons, many stay well away and therefore have no first-hand experience of such ministry. Just as you learned as you accompanied Dawson, so I want others to learn as they work alongside you.

The over-riding word to you, when talking about healing is that, "I am the Lord your healer." It is My work. Give Me the glory, and always, yes always, stay very close to Me. This is NOT an, "I'll do this on my own," ministry! I allow my children to be involved and to be used in this way, because I love them, and I love the people who need that healing. Allow Me to love them through you. Be bold, be strong and be very courageous. Do all things in and through the Name of Jesus. I am with you son, I love you.

Wednesday, 8 February 2012

More about Healing

Me: Good morning Lord. Thank you for waking me this morning and for this new day. I love you Lord.

Lord: Good morning son. Welcome to the club this morning and for pouring out your heart this morning. Of course I don't mind you bringing all that 'stuff' to me. I want you to pour it out and express your feelings about it. How else can you, a) unload it, and b) come to a detached and creative decision about it all? We love you too.

I want you to come with Me now, on another journey in the ministry of healing. Some of it may seem to be irrelevant, but you need to be aware of all that I am giving you. Not every person who is used by Me needs to understand all the working details of healing, I will use even little children, in their simple faith, to perform great miracles, because they are open enough to be channels through which my healing power can flow.

I am taking you on this journey, because you want to understand more about this mighty work of Mine, and as I have told you before, I withhold nothing from my children who dare to ask.

We have looked at many aspects of healing and already you can see that it is a huge area with many complicated facets. However, even though it seems complicated, and widespread in the damage it does, sickness, disease and injury, have a common root: sin!

Sin came into the newly-created world, which was so perfect there was nothing wrong with it, not one single thing! And the moment it entered, Creation had to face counter-creation. Everything I had made was positive, good and true. But when Eve listened to the serpent, and Adam listened to Eve, and between them they decided to challenge My Word, a negative power was born which led to fear, jealousy, murder and rebellion. Sin is basically rebellion against Me! Everything I had made was driven by an eternal power I gave Creation from Myself. That power was love. Sin took a mighty swipe at love, and though it could not harm Me, began to soil and damage all that, through love, I had made, that was so perfect.

When all was new and unspoilt, even the flap of an insects wings, was part of the music of love, and could be heard and enjoyed by all of the rest of Creation. When sin entered the equation, the sound of an insect was drowned by the sound of the swat, that shattered its tiny life.

As sin abounded, so came guilt! Guilt is a most destructive force. It eats away at the inner being like a cancer, destroying love, and any feelings or emotions that could take the individual outside himself. Guilt becomes a burden that is so hard to bear, that the carrier can even turn to self-destruction to be rid of it. The oppression of guilt is so severe that fear plays a huge role in its destructive process. Both take on a personality of their own and drive the individual like a slave driver. The very sad part is that the cure for both guilt and fear is simple and freely available. It all hinges on one simple word, "Sorry!" If one burdened with guilt will stop running and turn to Me and say, "I'm sorry," I will forgive him and set him free from guilt. Once free from guilt and restored to me, all fear melts away.

I have said that guilt and fear take on a personality of their own. This is because there is a demonic power in the world, which preys on the weak and undefended. One of the tricks the enemy uses is to magnify guilt and fear, to proportions beyond imagination. It is therefore sometimes necessary to confront the demon, and send it to the place I have prepared for him. Only when that has happened, can guilt and fear be restored to manageable proportions, and confession and forgiveness kick in and set the prisoner free.

Demons are also behind the enormous rise in sexual crimes. The enemy is always ready to use man's weaknesses and exploit them. I created sex to be between a man and a woman in the security of a mutual and lasting commitment to one another. In this secure family situation, I ordained that children should be born and nurtured, so that they should grow up to be fulfilled human beings in every way, and become loving and caring parents in their turn. Satan has done his utmost to destroy family life which is the image of the Godhead, and to take desire, divorced of love, and make it public, outside the union of one man and one woman. Oh sure, he promises greater fulfilment and sexual gratification, but the cost is huge and often unredeemable. Desire without love leads to betrayal, desertion, pain, heartbreak and sickness. For children born into such a situation it means a childhood devoid of love and care, and often missing the relationship, with one or other, or even both parents, that is so vital for stability and growth. Children who grow up with damaged parental relationships, more often than not, find it hard or even impossible to have a good stable relationship themselves, leading to yet more pain and suffering.

One of the many hallmarks of demonic activity in a person's life is a traceable pattern of behaviour over several generations. Violent parents usually breed violent children. Parents who abuse their children are often the children of abusive parents. Those who find it hard to show affection are usually the product of an affection-less childhood!

As with so many other sins, sexual sins, including rape, child abuse and looking at pornography, are seriously addictive, which is another symptom of demonic intervention.

Many people in the church today are bound by an irrational fear of demons. I say irrational because Jesus, by His death and resurrection, has overcome the demons, and has passed on to all Christians, authority over them. The reason why so many are fearful of dealing with them is that they have wandered away from Me, and are no longer under the covering of Jesus' blood!

Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, “In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.” Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?” Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding. Acts 19: 13ff

Jesus has authority that is Mine. I gave it to Him. Paul had authority because he had a close relationship with Jesus, who passed on My authority to him. The sons of Sceva however, neither knew Me, nor My Son Jesus, and were not even disciples of Paul. In other words, they were outside of the covering of Jesus' blood.

The fear of Acts 19 has gripped many church leaders, and ordinary Christians, because they know in their hearts that they are not walking close to Jesus, and therefore are not covered by His blood, or simply that they don't believe Jesus has authority over demons!

When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. He told them: “Take nothing for the journey—no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no extra shirt. Whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave that town. If people do not welcome you, leave their town and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.” So they set out and went from village to village, proclaiming the good news and healing people everywhere. Luke 9:1-6

That same authority Jesus gave to the twelve, He also gave to his Church, and it still applies to all believers today. Those who walk close to Me, do not need to fear the power of any demons, for I have overcome, and My authority is absolute.

Finally note that it is not an accident, that casting out demons and healing the sick go hand in hand, and are mentioned together in the Bible. If you want to understand My divine gift of healing, you need to be aware of the relationship between sickness and demonic activity. Stand firm in My authority. I love you.

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