LESSONS FROM 70 YEARS OF MINISTRY: ‘WHAT I HAVE RECEIVED I PASSED ON TO YOU AS OF FIRST IMPORTANCE.’ (PART 12) AVAILABLE ON ITUNES, SPOTIFY, GOOGLE PODCASTS, YOUTUBE.
God always has a clear plan and strategy in everything He does. From creation to salvation, nothing has happened in heaven or earth without the foreknowledge of God. An important part of the strategy which God has for today is that He wants to show that His power is not just in heaven, but also demonstrated very powerfully on earth.
We know that in His personal relationship with you, He loves, He heals, He forgives – you, personally. But there is something God wants more than your healing, more even than your salvation – what God wants right now is to see Jesus so powerfully exalted, so powerfully glorified, so that when He returns at His Second Coming – every knee shall bow and the whole world will worship at the name of Jesus – which is going to happen in the near future. Therefore, this is a major spiritual issue now!
God wants to use you to bring glory to the name of Jesus! This means that there must come a time when we stop asking God for what He can do for us, and begin to ask what we can do for Him!
Our Christian lives need to change from the passive to the active. God wants to put power into YOUR life. In the West many want to receive healing, finances – something for themselves. The Bible is full of promises that He will heal us – but why? Why did God heal my throat cancer? So that I would give my life for Russia and the glory of Christ! Why did God miraculously release me from a communist prison 30 years ago? So that I would travel the world giving the glory to Him – and win over 250,000 lost and dying souls into the Kingdom in only two years! Why must we give to God sacrificially? Not in order that we can receive 30 – 60 – 100 times back – but because we love Him and want to glorify Him through giving to win lost and dying souls! The fact that He does give back is not the reason for the gift, but the result of our sacrifice! It is so important to get the motive right!
I do not agree with those who tell me that God does not need me to preach the Gospel, that He can use anyone. The Bible is the evidence that God can only use the few – ‘many are called, but few are chosen’. God had to reduce Gideon’s army to only 300. Why? Because God can only use willing, obedient, committed people who will make His glory the first priority. God needs the right men and women in order to do what He wants, to bring glory to His Name, to bring deliverance to nations, to build His church – He’s looking everywhere, to find those through whom He can direct all His power, and energy into saving sinners.
If only you can fully understand the love that God has for the sinner. Why? First, He wants to save them from the fire of hell; second, because He needs them to fulfil His purpose in bringing the glory of Christ to the world.
Look how much of God’s time and energy is directed towards saving the sinner! The lost sheep takes priority over the safe ones in God’s plan every time! In my crusades I do not see the people as others might – all the energy and power of God is being concentrated at that moment on reaching these people’s hearts, not merely their heads – I see individuals whom God desperately wants in the Kingdom because I know what God wants to do in their lives.
All of us once were sinners whom God loved, chose, fashioned and created. As an evangelist I know that when God looks at sinners, He doesn’t just see alcoholics, drug addicts, the hopeless broken lives. What He sees is the potential, what you can be when He touches you! God is always seeing the future. When you were still a sinner, God saw something in you He wanted. Sometimes it takes a long time – with Moses it took 80 years to form the real man that God could use to do the job! If only you knew what God sees in you, if you could see yourself as He sees you, not as you see yourself! What a difference it could make in your life if you would recognise your potential with God!
When God deals with you, He does something unique. So often we want what other people have. In my relationship with God, I have never wanted what somebody else has. I want what is in His Word, what God has for me personally! Don’t copy other people. If you want the power of God, that power is not going to come from somebody else. Yes, others can lay their hands on you, but the power is going to come from God. Not from me, nor from someone else. You must get it direct from God and His Word.
I was only 14 when I was baptised in the Holy Ghost. What I wanted was what was in the Bible, the baptism of fire, of power. I knew that when the fire came down on 120 people in the Upper Room, they became fiery evangelists – and immediately Peter held the first evangelistic crusade of the early Church!
When I was searching for the baptism of the Holy Spirit, I wanted something explosive that would change my life. If you do not want that – if you want a quiet life, enough money to buy your food, some nice clothes – you will get what you want, but nothing more!
I have a vision of a God who is so much bigger than you or I can ever imagine! The God of the Bible, has so much more power, is so much bigger, more glorious, more exciting than anything you could dream about! So, start dreaming, but then for God’s sake stop dreaming and start to do something!
God NEEDS men and women who want to see His power, His glory, who want to see God in ACTION! God needs YOU because He can only fulfil His plan through you or me.
And if God does not do it through you, He will do it through somebody else. When I was a young man, I had to get a job in a London City bank to raise the money to go to Bible College. I was very impatient; I wanted to be an evangelist. I was so worried, I used to pray, “I know what You want me to do, but while I am working in this bank, please God, don’t give my job to someone else!” Have you ever prayed like that?
Jesus said, “You did not choose me, I chose you.” If you are a leader, a man or woman of God, it was not your choice. God chooses the people He knows and can trust, who will not quit when it gets tough, and who will not accept the way things are, but believe for the miraculous.
If you know without any question that the call of God is on you, then God will do something dramatic in your life. Get yourself ready spiritually for that moment! I am determined that I am going to get what I want from God! Stop dreaming, get into ACTION, now!
Be warned, if you do not take your nation for Christ, the devil will – and the devil’s plan is worse than anything you can imagine.
Do you want to be where God is? Do you want the power of God? Then go where God is telling you, do what God is telling you. If you don’t, the fire of God will move on and you will be left with nothing. Go with the fire. Do you want spiritual revival? – If you don’t evangelise, revival will not come! People of God, get out and evangelise, God is telling you, Go now! If you don’t, your church will stop growing and the power of God will leave.
Ask God for miracles and He will do them. But it’s YOU who must evangelise – you don’t need me or another evangelist – YOU do it right where you are!
‘Fire of Revival’ used by kind permission of www.vinesong.com