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 preach 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 tunic. Whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave that town. If people do not welcome you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave their town, as a testimony against them.” So theyset out and went from village to village, preaching the gospel and healing people everywhere.  Luke 9:1-6

Luke records the moment when Jesus pushed his apostles out of the nest. For a number of months, the twelve he called to be apostles, plus a number of other disciples, had followed Jesus on a daily basis. They had heard him teach on hundreds of occasions and watched him heal, cast out demons, and even raise the dead. It is possible that he had let them perform some of that ministry under his watchful eye but now he was sending them out to do exactly what he had been doing…but this time, without him.

Not only would they be ministering without his presence, but he had also instructed them to go without a staff for protection, without food, and without money. They couldn’t take cash or a credit card or even a change of clothes. He even suggested that entire towns might reject them. It all added up to the possibility of being cold, hungry, dirty, rejected, and, perhaps, embarrassed if healing or deliverance were not accomplished by their commands. All in all, they were heading out on risky business.

The idea, of course, was that they had to learn to trust in God to meet their needs and to empower their ministry. When you venture out without a safety net, you must depend on God or abandon your mission. In doing so, you discover his faithfulness and his sufficiency.  Notice the last line in the verse quoted above…”So they set out and went from village to village preaching the gospel and healing people everywhere.”  As they risked the possibility of failure and rejection, God empowered them to do miracles. Faith is tested in the risk of doing those things that will fail miserably unless God shows up. But faith also increases as we do those things, because God does show up.

Many of us want to develop gifts of healing, prophecy, evangelism and so forth but we tend to read and read, attend conference after conference, and practice in safe little settings of like-minded people waiting for an increased anointing so that when we venture out, we will have every assurance of success.  We fear that people will think we are weird and reject us. We fear that the healing we pray for will not manifest and so we will look foolish and the person we prayed for will be disappointed.  We are concerned that demons might not come out or that we only thought there was a demon when no spirit was present at all. And so, often, we want to wait until we have more confidence or keep standing back as we watch others do it and then rejoice in what God does through them.  All the while, Satan whispers that such gifts won’t come to us and any attempt to exercise the gift will end in disaster.

Here’s the thing … we have to put ourselves at risk just like the twelve and just like the seventy he sent out later if we are going to grow in faith and if God is going to work through us.  I’ll take the pressure off right now…not everyone will respond to the gospel; not everyone will be healed; not every demon you command will come out; and not every prophetic word will be on target.  However, as you go out and risk, you will discover the faithfulness of God and you will discover that the outcomes are much more in his hands than yours. Your part is to obey and his part is to work through you. You will also discover that many will respond to the gospel, many will be healed, most will be delivered, and your prophetic words will be on target more and more.  God works in partnership with his people.  As we risk more, we exercise our gifts more.  As we exercise our gifts, they develop more and both our faith and boldness increase. As they increase, God is pleased to work through us more and more as well.

The bottom line is that going out to minister in the arena of the impossible requires a willingness to be totally dependent on God. If he doesn’t show up, nothing happens.  Even in those moments when the gospel is not received, or healing does not manifest, or prophecy seems to miss the mark…God is there and God is pleased because you were willing to risk looking foolish.

We won’t always know why healing didn’t occur or someone chose not to accept salvation.  We won’t always get a clear word or know that we cast out every tormenting demon.  Things get in the way…free will, some unperceived blockage in the spiritual realm, our own inexperience and some days our own doubt.  The willingness to keep going out, to keep praying, and to keep commanding is the thing that pleases our Father the most.

I can imagine Peter confiding in Jesus and saying, “I feel like such an idiot for getting out of the boat and then sinking in the waves so that you had to rescue me.”  And I can imagine Jesus putting his arm around Peter’s shoulder and saying, “Yes, but no one else was even willing to get out of the boat.  Never stop getting out of the boat.” He think he would say the same to us.

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”            “Ah, Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am only a child.” But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a child.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord. Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “Now, I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.” Jeremiah 1:5-10

The office of prophet has always been essential in establishing the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. Jeremiah was one of many reluctant prophets whom the Lord called to declare his words over kings and nations. God has an unusual relationship with his prophets. Amos spoke about that relationship when he said, “Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7). God has established a connection between his will being done on earth and the declaration of his word by his prophets. There is a practical side to that as well as the continuation of God’s initial intent to rule the earth through men and women who serve as his representatives.

The practical side is that if prophets did not declare what God was about to do, whether deliverance, blessing, or judgment, then when any of those things happened it would not be credited to the work of God. Men would simply go on with life thinking that fate and politics had brought some event to pass without recognizing God’s hand in the matter. That is the world we live in today. God’s prophets are too silent and too few.   World leaders act as if “might makes right” and that there is no God in heaven who will judge kings and nations for their actions.

If no one calls the shot, then when God sinks the nine-ball in the corner pocket after banking off three rails, everyone will think that what happened was simply coincidence or blind luck. Because, by and large, the church today has relegated prophets to the Old Testament or the first century church and considers present-day prophets as extremists or crackpots, there are too few prophets connecting the dots for the nations. On top of that, if the majority of churches in America won’t take prophets seriously then why should the leaders of nations?

God’s initial intent was to rule the earth through Adam and Eve. He gave them the position of a son and daughter and delegated his authority to them to rule over his creation. In Christ, he has done the same for us. In terms of honoring his initial intent, God still gives his directives to his representatives and they declare those directives over the earth. God honors man’s dominion by waiting on man to come into agreement with him before acting. When his prophets declare his word over the earth, then God acts to fulfill what they have declared.

Isaiah assures us that when God’s word goes forth it always fulfills its purpose. “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it” (Isa. 55:10-11). Notice that God told Jeremiah, “I have put my words in your mouth.” He went on to tell him that he was appointed over nations and kingdoms to uproot, tear down, plant, and to build although he would never lead an army or a political movement. Jeremiah wielded his power by declaring the word of God, which God then fulfilled. God is always in the starting blocks and ready to run a race, but he waits for his people to fire the starting pistol.

Concerning prophets, God’s word goes forth from his lips to theirs by revelation from the Holy Spirit or the lips of angels. When his prophets declare it, God empowers his word to fulfill its purpose in the lives of individuals and nations on the earth. The declarations of God’s people release the angelic realm to make God’s word a reality. Without prophetic declarations, much of what God desires to do will not come to pass because he still honors the authority he has given his church.

As long as parts of the church reject the idea of prophets and prophetic words in the 21^st century, the will of God on earth will be greatly hindered. God loves to partner with his people and in his sovereignty has limited what he will do without their participation. Until the gift of prophecy is fully restored and prophets are honored in his church, only a fraction of God’s purposes will be released on the earth. Not only that, but until the prophetic is accepted as authentic, the church will not have enough maturity to train her prophets well or to even judge prophecy to know if it is from God. A rejection of prophecy rather than its acceptance will lead to the very weirdness that the church fears. The good news is that God is restoring prophecy to his church today. The only question is will his church receive it or reject it.

“Son of man, can these bones live?” That was the question God asked the prophet in the 37^th chapter of Ezekiel. As I said in my last blog, Israel had been defeated three times within two decades by Babylon- the reigning heaving weight champion of the Middle East in that era. In the final round, Babylon had destroyed Jerusalem, burned the temple and stripped it of all its treasures, and deported the last of Israel’s best and brightest professionals. On top of that, the Ark of the Covenant disappeared and with it the presence of God. No historian, politician, or military expert would have given them a chance to ever rise from the ashes as a nation. A valley of dead, bleached bones of a long defeated army was the scene symbolizing Israel’s condition and the question was, “Can these bones live?”

Ezekiel responded with wisdom. “O Sovereign Lord, you alone know.” The right answer is always, “God, it’s up to you.” Our first step toward breathing life into something dead or dying is to know and acknowledge that the issue is beyond our ability. How often do we keep trying to fix an issue – a marriage on the brink of collapse, a child on drugs who is slipping away from us, a bad situation at work with a miserable boss, etc. – only to keep making it worse?  The right answer is always God.

In the book of Zechariah, the Lord prophesies the return of the scattered Israelites to the promised-land and great standing for them in the world community. The promise would have been impossible for man but not for the God of all the Earth. “ Then he said to me, ‘This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of host’” (Zec.4:6). His point was the same as Ezekiel’s: There are many things in this world that will never happen by the best efforts of men, but can become realities by the Spirit of God.

Other than health or natural disaster, most of our problems in the world revolve around relationships whether between individuals or nations. Relationship problems exist because of emotional brokenness – hate, fear, insecurities, bigotry, loneliness, depression, rejection, etc. manifest in rage, bitterness, addictions, war, violence and so forth. The best efforts of man aim at alleviating symptoms through drugs or therapies that teach us to cope or manage our issues. But the real issues lie deep within the heart which is touched by a spiritual dimension and is God’s special arena. Jesus came to heal broken hearts (Isa.61:1-4) and God promised over and over that by his Spirit he would heal and give men a new heart (see Ps.147:3; Ezek.11:19; Ezek.36:26; Heb.8:10). Dry bones only come to life by the work of the Spirit of God – but we have an essential role in that work.

Once Ezekiel affirmed that only God can give life to the dead, God commanded him to prophesy over the bones. “Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life” (Ezek.37:4). So why didn’t God just wave his hand over the field of dry bones and have them jump to their feet? The answer is simple – it’s not how God has chosen to work in the earth. God has chosen to work through his people. Most of the time, God chooses not to do something for us but rather with us. Doing something with us builds the relationship between God and us. When my girls were young, I discovered that I could do projects for them (often more quickly and easily), but when we did them together they learned some new skills and we built our relationship by the doing. We were able to celebrate what we had accomplished together. God chooses to work in the same way with his children.

God had already determined to release the power of his Spirit into those bones but would not release the power until Ezekiel prophesied. In a sense, God had already loaded the gun but he left it to Ezekiel to point and pull the trigger. Only then would the power of God’s word be released.

How many of us keep asking God to do something, when we already know it is his will, rather than declaring his will over the issue? We already know that God desires all men to be saved, all marriages to be reconciled, all hearts to be healed, his church to be glorious, etc. It is not wrong to ask God to heal, empower, release etc. but then we need to begin to speak or declare life, healing, restoration, and power over the things we are praying about. Remember, the tongue has the power of life and death (Prov.18:21). As Ezekiel began to declare God’s word over the dry bones, they began to rattle. More in my next blog.

Now Elisha was suffering from the illness from which he died. Jehoash king of Israel went down to see him and wept over him. “My father! My father!” he cried. “The chariots and horsemen of Israel!” Elisha said, “Get a bow and some arrows,” and he did so. “Take the bow in your hands,” he said to the king of Israel. When he had taken it, Elisha put his hands on the king’s hands. “Open the east window,” he said, and he opened it. “Shoot!” Elisha said, and he shot. “The Lord’s arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Aram!” Elisha declared. “You will completely destroy the Arameans at Aphek.” Then he said, “Take the arrows,” and the king took them. Elisha told him, “Strike the ground.” He struck it three times and stopped. The man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck the ground five or six times; then you would have defeated Aram and completely destroyed it. But now you will defeat it only three times.” (2 Kings 13:13-19)

This is a unique section of scripture because it is an account of one of the last prophetic declarations of the great prophet Elisha. Elisha was an intern of Elijah and at the departure of Elijah into heaven, Elisha received twice the anointing or spirit that his teacher had walked in. Elisha was a powerful prophet but was not destined to be taken up to heaven in a whirlwind (2 Kings 2:1) as his predecessor was, but would simply die of an undisclosed illness. Jehoash, the king of Israel mentioned in this section, was not a particularly godly king but came to Elisha anyway after hearing of his illness. From the context, we can infer that Jehoash had a concern about going to war against Aram (Syria) and had probably come to inquire of the Lord before going to battle.  Even in the grip of his illness, Elisha heard from the Lord and apparently had a heart for Israel even though the nation had been in rebellion against God during most of Elisha’s tenure.

At the coming of the king, Elisha instructed him to take a bow and some arrows and shoot an arrow out the east window. Elisha placed his hands on the king’s hands to symbolize the promise that God would strengthen Jehoash’s hands in battle. This was a prophetic act symbolizing a military victory over Aram. In a sense it was like Moses raising his staff over the Red Sea symbolizing authority over the waters – God’s authority working through his representative.

After Jehoash fired the arrow, Elisha declared that Jehoash would completely destroy the Arameans in an upcoming battle. He then gave the king a handful of arrows and instructed him to strike the ground with the arrows. The better translation is that he was instructed to shoot the arrows into the ground as he had shot the first arrow through the window. Jehoash shot three arrows into the ground and stopped. Elisha was angry saying that he should have shot more arrows because he established his own destiny with the number of shots. More arrows would have brought more victories for him and for Israel.

At first glance, I’m puzzled by Elisha’s anger. He didn’t tell the king how many arrows to shoot into the ground or clearly why he was doing so. However, the king knew the first arrow was a sign of one victory and could have deduced that more arrows meant more victories. My guess is that he still had arrows in his hand when he stopped shooting. Either his faith or his passion for victory or both fell short.

I wonder how often we stop short of God’s promises either because our faith won’t imagine more or because we are content with a little rather than battling for all that God is willing to give us. I have learned through the years that most prophecies and promises are conditional on our response. If God tells us he will do great things through us, the condition is that we prepare ourselves for great things and risk doing more than we thought we could. If he promises to move mountains do we settle for an anthill because our faith can’t imagine the mountain or because our part in moving that mountain seems too hard or too long?

Jude challenges us to “contend earnestly for the faith” (Jude3). I once thought of that as a call to defend pure doctrine. I’m sure that contending may include teaching the truth in the face of opposition but I have also come to believe that it includes contending for the promises imbedded in our faith. Jacob had to wrestle with an angel for an entire night to get the blessing he was seeking. We need to endure in faith, prayer and action refusing to settle for less than the promise implies – for healing, for a nation, for salvations, or for a marriage. God wants us to shoot until all the arrows are gone.

Sometimes I wonder if God is bored because his children ask and settle for ordinary things rather than the extraordinary. Paul tells us that God is able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine (Eph.3:20) and so I’m confident that he wants to do that. A strong man who can bench press 360 pounds wants to be challenged to do that and even more. To ask him to bench only 100 pounds is boring and even insulting. We need to ask for more. We need to ask for the impossible rather than the probable. We need to hear the promise or own true prophecy and then shoot every arrow, launch every prayer, and believe the word until we hold the promise in our hands. Don’t give up, don’t give in, don’t settle. Contend.

“I am the Lord who has made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself…who carries out the words of his servants and fulfills the predictions of his messengers…” (Isa.44:24-26).

Most of us are familiar with the concept of prophetic words.  God puts his words on the lips of his prophets and as they declare those words they release the activities of God to bring about those prophetic declarations.  Jeremiah is the perfect example of that dynamic.  “Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, ‘Now, I have put my words in your mouth.  See today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant’” (Jer.1:9-10). Jeremiah never led an army or launched a war through the power of politics.  He tore down and built up by declaring the words God had given him.  Like a starter firing the gun to release the runners in a race, the prophet releases the power of heaven we he/she declares the words of God.

God frequently works in partnership with his people.  He could do all things by himself but chooses to work with us and through us.  Prophetic words are really his words going forth from our lips and, like prayers, it is possible that some things are not released because we have not spoken what God has put on our hearts or lips.

Many prophetic words are also conditional. A prophet will say what God will do if we are willing to respond to the word or what he will do if we don’t respond. When Jonah preached to Nineveh that judgment would come in forty days, it was a word that also presented the option of repentance.  Nineveh did repent and God withheld judgment.  In the New Testament church, when a prophetic word declares that God will use a person mightily in a certain area, the condition is that the individual must be willing to prepare for that moment and be willing to serve in that arena for the prophecy to be fulfilled.  The prophecy is conditional – God will do this if you will do that. Again, God often works through partnership with his people and we determine by our choices how much of God’s will on the earth is released and becomes a reality.

There are also prophetic acts that release God’s activities on the earth.  One such moment is recorded between the prophet Elisha and the king of Israel. “He said, “Open the window toward the east,” and he opened it. Then Elisha said, “Shoot!” And he shot. And he said, “The Lord’s arrow of victory, even the arrow of victory over Aram; for you will defeat the Arameans at Aphek until you have destroyed them.” Then he said, “Take the arrows,” and he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground,” and he struck it three times and stopped. So the man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck five or six times, then you would have struck Aram until you would have destroyed it. But now you shall strike Aram only three times” (2 Kings 13:17-19).  In this case, the king of Israel performed his own prophetic act and his lack of zeal or faith drew less form heaven than God was willing to give.

Anointing someone with oil can also be a prophetic act.  “So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came upon David in power” (I Sa. 16:13). Pouring oil on a king, a prophet, or a priest that God has chosen is certainly a sign that God has selected that person for an office or mission but I believe it is also a prophetic act that releases the Holy Spirit into that person’s life. In each instance, the appointing required an anointing with the Spirit for them to successfully fulfill the role that God had given them.  Does God ever give his Spirit to someone without anointing him/her with oil?  Yes, of course, but at other times anointing releases the power of heaven (the Holy Spirit) over the one who is in need of the Spirit.  The laying on of hands can be a similar prophetic act that releases or imparts authority, spiritual gifts, or the Spirit himself into a person’s life.

I believe it is the same for healing.  Mark tells us that the apostles anointed many people with oil and healed them (see Mark 6:13).  James tells the church to call the elders whenever someone is sick so that the elders can anoint the sick with oil in the name of Jesus and offer a prayer of faith which will bring healing (see Ja. 5:14).  I believe the oil is a prophetic act releasing the power of the Spirit in that person’s body for healing.  We need to take note that that prophetic acts are not incantations but are done in faith that God will fulfill what is indicated by that act.

The church today often simply goes through the motions of “sacraments” without believing that God is doing anything as a result.  And yet the Bible is full of prophetic acts that release the activities of God over a nation or a person. In the New Testament we are instructed to anoint with oil, lay hands on people, baptize in water, and take bread and wine in the Lord’s Supper.  I believe that each of these are not just symbols of a truth but are also prophetic acts that combined with faith will release the power of heaven into a situation or a person’s life.

Churches often neglect or minimize these “acts” thinking that they are simply symbols rather than prophetic acts releasing the power of God into someone’s life.  Water baptism certainly symbolizes rebirth, resurrection, cleansing, etc. but what if it not only symbolizes those things but also releases the power of God for those things. As we take the communion bread we often say. “The body of Christ broken for you.” We are also told “by his stripes we have been healed.”  The broken body of Christ has purchased healing for believers.  Does the taking of bread in faith constitute a prophetic act that releases healing over God’s people?  If so, we might want to take communion more than once a quarter. Does the cup that represents the blood of Christ release other things over the children of God?  I will leave that for you to think about.  Again…it is all by faith in what Jesus had done but God has always waited on his people to declare, pray, or act before releasing miracles and the power of his Spirit into situations.  Maybe we should give more thought to that partnership.

Be blessed today and declare the words of God over those things that need his Spirit.