The Lord has been in power speaking about “empowerment” to every one of us and time has come for the glory of God is going to be revealed
Mark 16 : 17, 18 & 20
And these signs will follow those who [d]believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; 18 they[e] will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen.
Now this is a great commission which was assigned to each one of us and we know this first we have read this verse many times and we have heard so much preaching about the great commission, but how many of us are really doing as commissioned by the Lord ?
We read in verse 14 of the same Chapter it says Jesus rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart before commissioning them. Jesus commissioned these things only to His disciples, not to unbelievers, Pharisees, Saducees, Jews or Greek but specifically to his eleven disciples.
A Man of God once said, “An unbeliever needs salvation, a saved believer needs maturity and a matured believer needs empowerment.” If you are matured in the spirit you can be empowered.
The disciples were matured in the spirit to do these signs. It was only the unbelief and their fear, (after the burial of Jesus) that the Lord is no more with them, that's why the Lord appeared to them and rebuked them first because of their disbelief .
The Lord's commission is for the disciples not for a mere Christian, and we need to be in the position of a disciple for these signs to follow to those who believe. If you pray once a week you cannot cast out demons, if you want to lift up serpent since it's not talking about physical things it is talking about spiritual warfare you cannot warfare against the devil and his kingdom if you’re not a disciple.
The Lord will assign you the great commission only when you are a disciple, when you have a constant personal fellowship with the Lord.
1 Corinthians 4:20
“ For the kingdom of God is not in word but in power.”
I may be called for a teaching ministry but what about the ‘Power of God’? If I only preach the Word and dont display the power of God, what I preached will be powerless, just words without action.
Mark 16:20
“And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen.”
Whatever the disciples preached the Word, the Lord confirmed it with signs and wonders.
accompanying signs and they went out and they preach everywhere. Now here disciples were matured by now and even empowered by now more than a saved or a new born believer.
All believers are called by God to serve in His Kingdom somewhere or the other but when an enpowered person speaks from the his / her dimension like the disciples of Jesus, it makes a lot of difference compared to a saved or a new born believer.
Thats the reason we see that the eleven to go and make a major impact around the globe making Christianity the world No.1 religion.
You and I are called to be disciples of Jesus Christ, we are not a mere Sunday christian fulfilling our religious obligations and impression God, but out journey of Christian life must bring us to that point where we become disciples of Jesus Christ impact people around us.
People are habituated these days giving lame excuses when the concern relates to the things of God, that I am not ready, I am not called yet, I wont be able to give my 100% and so on, but as an old adage says somebody has to bell the cat, it is you and I that has to strive to be a true disciple in this very world, apart from all our worldly schedules and commitments that we have so that God can fulfill his plan on this earth through us and those who are in darkness can come to the knowledge of Christ and know the truth.
And as the scriptures say that the Lord worked with them, so will the Lord work with us and confirm His Word through our lives by performing signs, wonders, miracles, healing and breakthroughs in the lives of people making them believe that the God is not an idol or a character in a fairy tales story book but a dare reality. Lets not be back benchers of our church who sit like spectators and feel good when the message is preached, rather move out of seats doing something for Jesus by bringing glory to His name and shaming the devil.
I encourage you strongly to get associated with people in your church, ministries those who are spiritually matured and empowered by Gods grace, fellowship with them regularly, pray with them that their anointing brushes on you too. It is not necessary that only the pastor / preacher standing on the pulpit is anointed, even a person sitting next to you in the church can be.
Empowerment requires personal discipline and commitment with oneself when you want to be used by God. If we are so committed in the secular world with our jobs and assignments, fulfilling our duties so faithfully, then why not with God. People are ready and willing to struggle in the world for a salary that is not worth their need and want but they are not ready when God calls them to serve Him.
I tell you when I resigned by job in September 2018 after working for 14 years (2004 – 2018) in an education institute as a clerk, I had no idea how will I run my house and meet my expense but it was true that God had called me for sure somewhere, someday to serve Him.
Though I was sincere in my secular job, but never happy with the returns I received for my dedicated hard work. Every month a similar pattern followed with me, within 15 days after receiving my paycheck I would be nil, borrowing from my colleagues to run my house for the rest of the month till my next paycheck arrives.
With my wife (Prophetess Rhema) and my 3 kids, life was getting tougher each month with rising expense and adjustments for everything. We continued praying and expecting from God not man, and the day came when the Lord told me to quit and I was bit nervous, diffident to take such a big decision of my life depending totally on my Master Jesus what will take place ahead in my life.
But the Bible says in Romans 3:4 “By no means! Let God be found true though every human being is false and a liar”. The Lord worked miracle in my life, in January 2020 before the pandemic and lockdown situation could strike, my home loan was cleared supernaturally and we were at utmost peace and ease, being provided with everything by the Lord, the Lord blessed me as has been faithfully continuing to do so, as I serve Him by being empowered and nurtured in His Word, doing His will with obedience and passion.
Today as you are reading this blog, I pray that this will stir up your hearts to do something for God, which will open for you doors of opportunities and blessings.
May the Lord bless you. Shalom !
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