One of the questions I am most frequently asked is, "Gary, really, how do I tap into the power of God?" Many of these people come with desperate situations already upon them. Everything from having just been diagnosed with a terminal disease, to imminent divorce, to imminent bankruptcy, some of them even contemplating suicide. This is a serious question and I never take it lightly.
Oftentimes, however, when I give them the true answer to their question, it sounds so "simplistic" to them that they become offended like Naaman the Syrian. Remember him? He was a powerful military leader who had leprosy. He came to the prophet in Israel expecting to receive some "great word" from the prophet. The prophet simply told him to go dip seven times in the Jordan River. Naaman became so offended by this "simplistic" instruction that he nearly returned to Syria without obeying the word of the Lord. Had he done so he most certainly would have died a leper. Thank God he obeyed and received his miracle and was healed.
Most people that ask me the question "How do I tap into the power of God?" reject the answer by NEVER ACTUALLY DOING IT! All those that do it receive their miracle. All of those that do not do it forsake their miracle. It is as simple as that. Period!
What is the answer to their question? It can be found in the following verses:
Isa 55:10-11 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
There is only one way to "return God's Word unto Him" and that is by CONFESSING IT AS BEING PRESENT TENSE TRUTH IN YOUR LIFE! This is the faith of our father Abraham. He had to begin calling himself the father of many nations (Calling those things which be not as though they were) long before his son Isaac was ever conceived in the womb of Sarah. There simply is no separating the power of the Holy Spirit from the spoken Word of God! Get this; the Lord said to me, "The Holy Spirit will not manifest the unspoken word of God for anybody...not even God the Father! The Holy Spirit would still be brooding over the face of the waters today waiting for the SPOKEN Words 'Let there be light!'"
Jesus called the Holy Spirit the "finger of God" after He had cast out a devil. The Holy Spirit is the "MANIFESTER!" If people could just get a revelation that He only manifests the SPOKEN WORD of God, to the point that they would actually begin SPEAKING the Word of God, they would soon find that they had finally tapped into the POWER of God!
It was as Abraham confessed the "promise" that the Holy Spirit began changing Abraham and Sarah's bodies at the molecular level, causing sufficient change that Sarah actually began ovulating again (she was long past menopause) and causing sufficient change in Abraham that he became virile again. But if Abraham had not been obedient to "speak the promise" as if it were already so in his life ("I am the father of many nations") the Holy Spirit would NEVER have manifested those changes ... God's will or not! The number one way that the Holy Spirit works in the earth is ...He manifests the SPOKEN Word!
So, no matter what problems people come to me with: health, marital, financial, children, etc., etc., my counsel to them is always the same: "Find two or three promises from the Word of God that cover your case. Begin worshipping God for these promises and begin saying them out of your mouth as if they were already manifested in your life. Quit speaking the negative circumstances, COMPLETELY! Keep saying about yourself what the Word says about you. The Holy Spirit will manifest those promises in your life."
That's it! Simple! Too simple for most folks to accept! Yet it is the power of God! It works every time for those that do it! There are no exceptions! There are no difficulties that are too hard for the Holy Spirit! There are no special cases! This always works! Period! Even those that "try it" usually fail because they become "weary in well doing" and quit before the manifestation comes. But it will always come if they do not. It is through faith AND patience that we possess the promises. Amen?
Example from mine and Sue's own lives: When we were saved and Spirit filled many years ago I was a virtual egomaniac full of religious doctrines of men. Sue was the product of the feminist movement that had vowed she would never again let any man tell her what to do. Yikes! You talk about opposite ends of the spectrum. Me full of "macho" man ego and her full of feminist rebellion. Our home life was not a pretty sight, let me tell you.
At first, we both tried to "help" each other by trying to "change" each other. A complete lesson in futility!!! "Can the blind lead the blind?" Had we not learned the secret that I am sharing with you in this teaching, I have no doubt that we would have been divorced within three to five years of our being saved. We finally learned this lesson: NEITHER OF US ARE THE SAVIOR! Neither of us could change "ourselves," much less the "other." We finally realized that if either (or both) of us were going to change, it would have to be by the power of God HIMSELF! "How do we tap into the power of God?" was our question then. He taught us what I am relating to you in this lesson.
God is so good. He not only taught us "what to do", He taught us "how" to do it. For example, regarding Sue and I, He showed us from the following scripture that Sue and I (because we were born again) already had the "love of God" within us:
Rom 5:5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
But then He also taught us that 1 Cor 13:4-8 was the "manifestation" of God's love and that if we wanted the Holy Spirit to "manifest" that love in us we had to do like Abraham and begin calling ourselves "already that way." Let me show you what I mean. Here are those verses from the Amplified Bible;
1 Cor 13:4-8 Love endures long and is patient and kind; love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy; is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily. It is not conceited--arrogant and inflated with pride; it is not rude (unmannerly), and does not act unbecomingly. Love [God's love in us] does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it--pays no attention to a suffered wrong. It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail. Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances and it endures everything [without weakening]. Love never fails--never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end.
Sue and I began confessing this passage three times a day for ourselves by inserting our names everywhere that you find the word "love" or "it." For example, I would say for Sue,
"Sue endures long and is patient and kind; Sue never is envious nor boils over with jealousy. Sue is not conceited--arrogant nor inflated with pride; Sue is not rude, nor unmannerly, and she does not act unbecomingly. Sue does not insist on her own rights or her own way, for she is not self-seeking" ..... etc.
Get the picture? Then, I would confess it again for myself, inserting myself;
"I endure long and am patient and kind; I never am envious nor do I boil over with jealousy. I am not conceited--arrogant nor inflated with pride;"...etc.
Morning, noon, and night ... once for her and once for myself, a total of six times every day. Sue was doing the same thing. We literally typed these confessions out so we could carry them with us everywhere we went. WE DID NOT CHANGE OVERNIGHT...BUT THE CHANGE DID COME! The Holy Spirit HIMSELF began "manifesting" this Word within us. He literally "changed" our hearts, our attitudes, our emotions, and our thinking to where the "love of God" literally began to flow out of each of us. THIS WORKS!
It is important that I tell you that it was not necessary for us to "confess" these within earshot of the other. The reference scripture says that His word does not return to HIM void! The only persons that need to hear these confessions are us and God the Holy Ghost! Why? BECAUSE THE HOLY SPIRIT MANIFESTS THE SPOKEN WORD THAT HE HEARS COMING OUT OF OUR MOUTHS! HE IS WAITING TO HEAR THE SPOKEN WORD! HE WILL NOT ACT TO MANIFEST THE WORD UNTIL HE HEARS THE WORD SPOKEN!
That's the secret! SPEAK THE WORD AS IF IT WERE ALREADY, PRESENT TENSE, TRUTH IN YOUR LIFE! The Holy Spirit is the SPIRIT OF TRUTH! He will MANIFEST THE TRUTH in your life if you do! He will not if you don't! Again, too simple for most folks. God made it too easy! Most people scoff at its simplicity. Yet God designed it to be simple ON PURPOSE so that everybody would be able to do it.
I have found this principle to be true in every realm of life. When I finally began putting verses like 2 Cor 8:9, Psalm 34:10, and Philippians 4:19 in my mouth and began worshipping God for His WORD and began speaking those verses as if they were already so in my life...sure enough...the Holy Spirit began MANIFESTING prosperity in my life!
When I needed healing and I began worshipping God for the truth of His Word and I began speaking verses like 1 Peter 2:24 and Psalms 103 as if they were already so in my life...sure enough...the Holy Spirit began MANIFESTING health in my life! It applies to EVERYTHING; depression, doubt, fear, rebellious children, prosperity, marriage, healing, etc., etc.
2 Pet 1:3-4 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
"BY THESE PROMISES" we partake of everything that He has given us pertaining unto LIFE AND GODLINESS! Hallelujah! I'm about to have another one of those running fits. Glory to God! We don't have to obtain things the world's way which is governed by lust, but we can receive everything directly from our Father's hand by partaking of THESE EXCEEDING GREAT AND PRECIOUS PROMISES! We are "in the world" but not "of the world." We have a different SOURCE than the world has.
Here is another important thing we had to learn concerning the confession of God's Word: YOUR CONFESSION BEFORE GOD AND YOUR CONFESSION BEFORE PEOPLE MUST BE THE SAME! It does absolutely no good to spend time worshipping God by confessing His Word over a situation and then continually say exactly the opposite to your friends. Remember what James said,
James 1:8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
You have to once and for all make up your mind. Is God's Word the TRUTH in your life, or are the present circumstances the truth in your life? Which is it? On what are you going to make your stand? Circumstances or God's Word? Once you choose God's Word then you never let your mouth speak circumstances contrary to what God has already said. This is very difficult on the flesh and, if you are human like Sue and I, you will sometimes stumble and say the wrong things when you set out to do this. Don't be discouraged. Simply repent and begin speaking again in line with the Word of God. Eventually it will become as natural to you as taking a drink of water. You won't even have to consciously think about it anymore, because you and the Word will have become "one."
Let me add one other thing. Time spent praying in other tongues helps shorten the "waiting" time for the manifestations of the promises. There are many, many reasons why this is so but for now let me just name one of them, which is contained in this verse:
Rom 8:26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
Let me put it like this. While we are allowing the Holy Spirit to make "perfect intercession" for us He "fills in the gaps" where we are ignorant. For example, a person who was standing on God's promises for financial prosperity might not realize that there is someone he needs to forgive for a past wrong that was done to him. He might never, on his own, even think of it. But the Holy Spirit will know to pray that he needs to forgive. Then the Holy Spirit Himself will bring it to the man's mind that he needs to forgive that person. Then the man can forgive and that will be one more roadblock gone on his path to prosperity. See how that works? The Holy Spirit helps us "fill in the prayer gaps" because, quite frankly, we don't often know everything that needs to be prayed...but He does! Thank God for praying in other tongues!
Here is the Love Section from 1st Corinthians 13 again. Put your own name and/or the name of your spouse in the blanks. Begin making these confessions. His Word will NOT return unto Him void! You are now tapping into the unlimited power of Almighty God!
1 Cor 13:4-8 ____________ endures long and is patient and kind; ____________ never is envious nor boils over with jealousy; ____________ is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display himself/herself haughtily. ____________ is not conceited--arrogant and inflated with pride; ____________ is not rude (unmannerly), and does not act unbecomingly. ____________ does not insist on his/her own rights or his/her own way, for ____________ is not self-seeking; ____________ is not touchy or fretful or resentful;____________ takes no account of the evil done to him/her--he/she pays no attention to a suffered wrong. ____________ does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail. ____________ bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person. ____________ hopes are fadeless under all circumstances and endures everything [without weakening]. ____________ never fails--never gives up - never quits.
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