Last week we started in Deuteronomy 8, and the Lord showed me that was just the intro. So we're going further into how God's power works, what keeps it from flowing through us, and how we actually draw on it.
Deuteronomy 8:18 teaches two things: God has given you power to create wealth, and when that wealth comes, you must not forget it was God who gave you the power.
Remember the Lord your God who gives you power to create wealth (Deuteronomy 8:18). My bank account might not look like it right now, but hearing produces faith, so keep saying it out loud. And when you become wealthy, don't forget the Lord, thinking you did something yourself.
Electricity is a representation of God's power: the more free and available you are to God, the better conductor of His power you become.
Silver is the best conductor and copper is the close runner-up, because their electrons are free to move. The more free electrons you have, the less resistance there is. So the more available and free you are to God, the better conductor you can be.
But a wire also has an insulator around it, which is why your phone charger doesn't shock you. That's the reality for much of the body of Christ. The power is in them, but they wrap it in a great insulator, so nobody ever feels it, sees it, or experiences it.
The size of a conductor determines how much power can flow, so after you become the right material, you have to keep expanding your capacity by aligning your thinking with God's.
The wires coming into your house are big, and the one going to your phone charger is tiny, because of the difference in power. We all start as tiny wires. Expanding means growing our thinking to be in line with God's thinking.
When God wrecks your small thinking and you go tell people, they'll try to pull you back, because we're conditioned to stay small wires. So share your dreams with people who are also becoming bigger conductors. People who want to stay small wires will short circuit as soon as you tell them.
Discouragement will come to every one of you; it still knocks on my door every day. But God commanded us not to be discouraged, so once you've decided you're not participating, opposition only grounds you deeper in what God told you.
God's power didn't pass away with the apostles; the problem is that many believers aren't good conductors of it.
Many churches teach that the power in Acts isn't available anymore, but nowhere in the Bible does it say the power is over. Their only reason is that they don't see it, and I'd hate to base my belief on what I see instead of God's word. They're like a piece of rubber sitting there, and God's power can do nothing through them.
God will also only send the amount of power you can handle. Send a lot of power through a small wire and it burns up and could set the house on fire. So in His grace, if you stay a small wire, you won't see much of His power, unless you end up like Ananias and Sapphira, thinking you're a big wire (Acts 5:1-11).
No. God's power flows to us like direct current, and if you've received the Holy Spirit, you are never empty of it, because He is always full.
Direct current flows one direction, like sunlight to a solar panel, and nobody sends power back to the sun. God is like a great big sun looking for solar panels with free electrons to receive His power. And direct current can be stored in a battery.
But the Holy Spirit is better than a battery, because He's always full. When it seems like you're empty, it's not because He ran out; it's because you've been a bad conductor of His power. You received the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead (Romans 8:11), and He never needs a charge.
How many prayers have we wasted asking, "God, we need Your power"? He's saying, "You already got it. It's called the Holy Spirit."
God sends the same "voltage" to every believer; the people who see more of His power are putting a greater draw on it.
Every house gets 240 volts whether it's using it or not, but how much current flows depends on what's plugged in. I probably pull more than most because of my air conditioners and pool pump, yet we all have the same power available. God doesn't play favorites, and His supply is endless, so there are no rolling blackouts.
What determines the current is the resistance at each connection. That's why a light bulb draws less than an air conditioner on the same voltage. So where are you resisting God's power?
When it comes to God's power to create wealth, you resist it in the way you think about money, and that's the only resistance point. "Money is evil." "Nobody in my family ever made more than this." Ask God to show you where you're resisting His flow, because it's coming to you.
You draw on God's power by speaking words of faith, but your words only draw on it when you believe without doubting.
We draw the things of heaven to the earth when we pray, hear the word, and declare the word. But sometimes we forget the faith part. Jesus said:
"Have faith in God. I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, 'May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,' and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart." (Mark 11:22-23, NLT)
Believing without doubting is what makes you a great conductor. Speaking is what puts the draw on the power. If you're doubting, you can speak all you want, but nothing will happen.
So don't hide your doubt from God. Be like the father who said, "I do believe, but help me with my unbelief" (Mark 9:24). God will lead you to the scripture and the sermon and help you hear it until you're settled, and that's called renewing the mind.
Bring darkness into the light. That's why the word says to confess your sins to each other so you can be healed (James 5:16). Are you more interested in keeping your pride or being healed?
Ephesians 1 says the same mighty power that raised Jesus from the dead is available to us who believe, and God uses it for the benefit of the church.
Power, dunamis, is mentioned five times in Ephesians, and I put a little lightning bolt in my margin every time.
"Ever since I first heard of your strong faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for God's people everywhere, I have not stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly, asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called, his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance. I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God's power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God's right hand in the heavenly realms." (Ephesians 1:15-20, NLT)
You have no access to the power unless you're believing. This power took Jesus from the depths of hell to the highest place, so it's enough to help you create wealth. And it's for you, not against you:
"Now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else, not only in this world but also in the world to come. God has put all things under the authority of Christ and has made him head over all things for the benefit of the church." (Ephesians 1:21-22, NLT)
God is in the benefiting business, and there's no better benefits package than the Lord's. I'm appalled at how many people preach against the goodness and blessing of God.
Yes. It is God's will for everyone to prosper, and if you need a season of humbling or a wilderness on the way, He'll take you through it precisely because His will is for you to prosper.
If you need a spanking, He'll give you a spanking. If you need a wilderness to teach you something, He'll give you a wilderness. But some people pitch a tent there and say, "It must be God's will that I struggle."
The length of time you've been in a wilderness doesn't change God's will. His will is for you to prosper, to enter the promised land, and to be healed. So submit to the discipline, burn your tent down, and get moving.
Endless treasures are available to you, not because you earned them or performed perfectly, but simply because you are in Christ.
"When I think of all this, I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus for the benefit of you Gentiles... assuming, by the way, that you know God gave me the special responsibility of extending his grace to you Gentiles. As I briefly wrote earlier, God himself revealed his mysterious plan to me. As you read what I have written, you will understand my insight into this plan regarding Christ. God did not reveal it to previous generations, but now by his Spirit he has revealed it to his holy apostles and prophets. And this is God's plan: Both Gentiles and Jews who believe the Good News share equally in the riches inherited by God's children. Both are part of the same body, and both enjoy the promise of blessings because they belong to Christ Jesus. By God's grace and mighty power, I have been given the privilege of serving him by spreading this Good News. Though I am the least deserving of all God's people, he graciously gave me the privilege of telling the Gentiles about the endless treasures available to them in Christ." (Ephesians 3:1-8, NLT)
The blessing of Abraham belongs to me. Notice it says available, not that we're already walking in it. What are you going to do with what's available?
If you try to access God's power through any merit other than "I'm in Christ," you're a bad conductor. And if you're in Christ, you're not acting a fool like you did outside of Christ, because Christ isn't acting a fool. Put on Christ like new clothes, and the power of sin is broken over your life.
If you're not in Christ, believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead and confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord (Romans 10:9). That confession isn't a one-time prayer. It's displayed by a life submitted to God in every action and every word.
God chose the church to display His wisdom to the seen and unseen realms, so we must honor the church the way God honors it.
"I was chosen to explain to everyone this mysterious plan that God, the Creator of all things, had kept secret from the beginning. God's purpose in all this was to use the church to display his wisdom in its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was his eternal plan, which he carried out through Christ Jesus our Lord. Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come boldly and confidently into God's presence." (Ephesians 3:9-12, NLT)
The realms of darkness and light are both watching the church and learning about God. So get used to the fact that the church is awesome, the church is mighty, and God loves the church. Dismissing yourself from it is a dangerous place to be.
And in Christ, we come to God boldly, not timidly. I'm blood-bought, my sins are removed as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12), and I stand as the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Pity makes you a bad conductor of God's power, so like Paul, we should refuse it, even when we feel like we've earned it.
"So please don't lose heart because of my trials here. I am suffering for you, so you should feel honored." (Ephesians 3:13, NLT)
If anybody earned pity, it was Paul, and he said, "Don't feel sorry for me; feel honored." Pity is like a Twinkie. It tastes good for a minute, but it isn't going to help you, and it lands right on your midsection.
Ephesians 3:20 says God does exceedingly abundantly above all we ask or think according to the power that works in us, so His power has to move from available to actually working in you.
"When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him." (Ephesians 3:14-17, NLT)
"For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height, to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen." (Ephesians 3:14-21, NKJV)
It doesn't say according to the power that's out there for everybody. It says the power that works in us. To make it work, become a great conductor by hearing and meditating on the word until you're settled, and then put a draw on it with your words.
I've had a season where I was a great conductor but wasn't drawing, because I wasn't speaking. I knew I was healed by the stripes of Jesus (Isaiah 53:5), but I'd just endure a headache, even though I'm done taking medicines. I needed to command it to leave my body.
I had warts on my hands, and one day I put my hands on them and said, "In the name of Jesus, get off my skin." They didn't fall off immediately, but I believed and moved on, and about a month later my skin was smooth. I had to apply the power by aligning my words with His words.
Falling under the power of God happens when the power coming to you is more than you can handle, which is an indicator to increase the size of your conductor.
We all carry the same power, and I'm nowhere close to a free flow of it yet, but I'm on my way, and so are you. I've fallen out under the power of God once, because what came to me was more than I could handle, and I came up changed. That's not a bad thing unless you stay there.
But some people go to every healing line hoping to fall out, and that's not the goal. I'd rather be prepared to receive everything given to me and stand up with it. Maybe you didn't fall out because you're a better receiver now.
Is it God's will for every Christian to prosper? Yes. It is God's will for everyone to prosper, and if you need a season of humbling or a wilderness on the way, God will give it to you because His will is for you to prosper. The length of time you've been in a wilderness does not change God's will.
Can a Christian run out of God's power? No. If you have received the Holy Spirit, you are never empty of God's power, because He is always full and never needs recharging. When it seems like you're empty, it's because you've been a bad conductor of His power.
Why do some Christians experience more of God's power than others? God sends the same voltage to every believer and does not play favorites. The difference is how good a conductor you are and how much of a draw you put on His power.
How do you draw on the power of God? You draw on God's power by speaking words of faith: praying, hearing the word, and declaring the word. But speaking only draws on the power when you believe without doubting, because that is what makes you a good conductor.
Did the power of God end with the apostles? No. Nowhere in Scripture does it say the power is over, and churches that teach it are basing their belief on what they see instead of God's word. The power has always been there; many believers simply aren't conductors of it.
What resistance blocks God's flow of wealth in my life? The resistance point for God's flow of wealth is the way you think about money. Beliefs like "money is evil" or "nobody in my family ever made more than this" limit how much flows to you.
What should I do if I have doubt while trying to believe God? Don't hide it from God. Tell Him, "I believe, but help me with my unbelief," and He will lead you to the scripture or sermon that renews your mind until you are settled on what He said.
Why do people fall under the power of God? People fall under the power of God when the power coming to them is more than they can handle, which shows they need to increase the size of their conductor. It isn't bad unless you stay there, but don't make a habit of it or put your faith in falling out.
