The Ministry
Chapter 5

          Oh, foolish Galatians! What magician has cast an evil spell on you? For you used to see the meaning of Jesus Christ's death as clearly as though I had shown you a signboard with a picture of Christ dying on the cross. 2 Let me ask you this one question: Did you receive the Holy Spirit by keeping the law? Of course not, for the Holy Spirit came upon you only after you believed the message you heard about Christ. 3 Have you lost your senses? After starting your Christian lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort? 4 You have suffered so much for the Good News. Surely it was not in vain, was it? Are you now going to just throw it all away? 5 I ask you again, does God give you the Holy Spirit and work miracles among you because you obey the law of Moses? Of course not! It is because you believe the message you heard about Christ. (Gal 3:1-5)

Incredible! What an awesome God we serve! God’s plan is so perfect. He accomplished so much more than we will ever realize. Those who realize this will walk in the power and purposes of God. Here’s the deal - God wants to use you. What do we call ministry today? I would say most would define it as preaching behind a pulpit. But this is not the reality of God’s definition. Pulpit ministry is necessary, but it is usually given to those God has called as five-fold ministers, such as Apostles, Prophets, Pastors, Evangelists, and Teachers to whom God has given the responsibility to equip the church for ministry. We seem to have it backwards today. Reaching a lost and dying world is not solely the job of the Evangelist; it is his job to equip you to do it. Do you remember the slogan used during the second world war that stated, “I Want You!” There was the picture of Uncle Sam recruiting young men to service, and doing it effectively. Well, God is recruiting young men and women today with a similar slogan. God wants you too! He wants to pour out through you. He wants to minister through you.

 There are many areas of ministry in the body of Christ that are vital and important to the Church. However, one area that pertains to us all is the area of witness. We as believers make up the body of Christ. We are His body. There are many parts to a body, but without the heart none of the others will work. I believe the Gospel serves as the heart of the body of Christ. Without it the mouth, the nose, the eyes, and all the other parts really don’t matter. They can’t flow without the Heart. God has called us all to be His witnesses in the marketplace. God never calls us to do something He has not already equipped us for. If you are a believer in His body He has given you the ability to be His witness. If you desire to be in full time ministry realize that you already are. To the housewives, the school teachers, the bankers, etc. God has called you to full-time ministry. The harvest is ripe all around you.

           
The Apostle Paul hammered the Galatians in relation to their approach to their new found faith. They had started out right, but were slipping back to a human approach. They thought that through much effort and striving they could sufficiently carry out the purposes of God. Hard work is a wonderful thing as long as it is properly motivated. The issue is where it’s derived from. Paul asks, “Did you receive miracles because you were good or obeyed the Law of Moses or because you BELIEVED the message you heard about Christ.” Let’s say it again: It’s a Faith thing. By faith, by faith, by faith. Do you believe? Jesus finished the work on the cross, we receive the finished work by faith, and we carry it out by the power of the Holy Spirit. It’s God’s power working through you. Whether you realize it or not you are supernatural. God is going to use you; believe that and it will change your life. Let’s see how it worked in those before us.

 

The Holy Spirit

 

In my first book I told you about everything Jesus began to do and teach 2 until the day he ascended to heaven after giving his chosen apostles further instructions from the Holy Spirit. 3 During the forty days after his crucifixion, he appeared to the apostles from time to time and proved to them in many ways that he was actually alive. On these occasions he talked to them about the Kingdom of God. 4 In one of these meetings as he was eating a meal with them, he told them, "Do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you what he promised. Remember, I have told you about this before.  5 John baptized with water, but in just a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit."6 When the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking him, "Lord, are you going to free Israel now and restore our kingdom?" 7 "The Father sets those dates," he replied, "and they are not for you to know.  8 But when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you will receive power and will tell people about me everywhere--in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." (Acts 1:1-8)

There were three important things that Jesus brought attention to after the resurrection. For forty days Jesus appeared to the disciples in relation to these things prior to His ascension to the right hand of the Father. Number one, He proved to them that He was alive. Wow! Think of that. The disciples seemed to be having trouble believing. It was important, first of all, that the disciples recognize that Jesus was alive. Unless they truly believed the rest would be in vain.

The second thing Jesus did was to teach the disciples concerning the Kingdom of God. As we have already mentioned, the foundation was crucial to the success of the disciples. When asked by Pilate whether He was indeed a King, Jesus remarked that indeed He was and that if His Kingdom had been of this world that His followers would have fought for Him, but on the contrary He declared to Pilate that His Kingdom was not of this world. (John 18:36) It was of paramount importance that the disciples understood the kingdom. In light of the cross, Jesus expounded upon the Kingdom in a way that they could now understand. I believe they began to realize for the first time why He had to die. They had been with Him all along, but now they were actually seeing the big picture. The disciples asked Jesus “when will the kingdom come and Israel be restored?” Jesus said, this is the Father’s business, don’t worry yourselves with political issues and the like.

Then He goes on to say, which the third part is; “When the Holy Spirit comes upon you He will give you power to be My witnesses.” The Holy Spirit would come after Jesus ascended to the Father. This would be the key to power for ministry. One word for power is influence. The Holy Spirit was coming to do what they could not do for themselves. In fact, Jesus told them not to go anywhere until He came. I would say that the ministry of the Holy Spirit was the major key in the ministry of the disciples, wouldn’t you? The Holy Spirit wasn’t coming mystically; He was coming as a Person to carry out the Word of the Lord, through the disciples.

In looking at the Holy Spirit, one way of explaining His function in the earth is in looking at our governing agencies. God is like the executive branch, writing the decrees by His Word; Jesus is like the legislative branch, making the decrees possible by His blood and intercession; and finally the Holy Spirit functions as the judicial branch, carrying out the decree with supernatural power. The Holy Spirit responds to two things; faith and the Word of God. God is bound by His word, not by our sweat, striving, or good intentions. If we have faith, we will pray and work, thus seeing the hand or Spirit of God move on our behalf. If you feel as though you’re going it alone, you don’t have to anymore. The Holy Spirit is of the utmost importance in the ministry of the believer. Without Him the first century church would never have accomplished what they did. They would have failed. And I believe so many fail today because of this same reason. You are not a failure, you are an overcomer. It doesn’t matter what you feel like, look like, or smell like, with the Holy Spirit all things are possible.

            There could be volumes of books written about the Holy Spirit, of which I could never do justice in explaining; however, I wanted to highlight a few areas that would help you and equip you for the service God has for you. Our generation needs heart knowledge; we have had enough head knowledge to last us five lifetimes! Unfortunately many still seem to be lacking in relation to ministry and the work of God. So many think if they could just learn more, try harder, fast longer, or pray longer that they would see God move. You may find yourself doing all these things, but without faith as your foundation, (faith in Him and His word and not in yourself) I’m afraid you will find yourself frustrated. Reach out and grab it. You don’t have to strive anymore; just trust in the finished work of Jesus and His word and you will find the help, life, truth, and power    you need to be God’s minister.   
I believe one of the biggest problems believers make today in relation to being used by the Holy Spirit is concerning the area of righteousness. We say that God couldn’t use us because we did this or didn’t do that. Many times we measure ourselves by our own standards and not by the Word of God. Judging ourselves by any other standard than God’s Word will always lead us on the fast track to religion and condemnation. There comes a place that we must settle once and for all that we have been made right with God by our faith in what Jesus did and not what we have done or will ever do. Our righteousness is in Him. We have been made righteous by the blood of the lamb. We are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. (II Cor. 5:21) Until we realize this we will struggle in ministry because we will always be comparing ourselves to something or someone and inevitably coming up short.

 Let me give you an example. A couple of years back I was attending an encounter retreat at my local church. The encounter retreat was a week-end event where we would go and encounter God in various areas of our lives. During one particular session we covered the cross of Christ and what the cross had accomplished on our behalf. As I sat there listening I had a vision that would change my life forever. Up until that time I had had a terrible time with guilt and condemnation in my personal life. I was always riding the roller coaster of my emotions. One day I was up winning the world for Jesus and the next day I was down wondering if I would make it through the day. Everything stemmed from my performance, whether I measured up or not. I have good news!  You don’t measure up and you never will, or at least until you die or Jesus comes back. Anyhow, in the vision I walked up to a cross, and Jesus was on it. The cross was not standing up but was on the ground. I looked down and noticed a hammer in my hand and a nail in my other hand. I remember the Lord looking up as if to say, “Do it.” I looked at the Lord and said, “No, I can’t.” That’s when the Lord looked up at me as if to say that if I didn’t, I could have no part in Him. That day I realized that it was me that put Him on the cross. I put Him there with my sin, and yet the miracle of it all was that He still loved me. He didn’t reject me like I had been rejected in my past, He didn’t abandon me the way I had been abandoned in my past, but He embraced me and loved me in spite of myself. He loved me when I didn’t think anyone else did. He accepted me when I didn’t even accept myself. He loved me when I didn’t love myself.

It’s hard to receive a gift you know you don’t deserve. To receive His love, His mercy and His Spirit, we must fully embrace what we did to Him. It was you and I who put Him on the cross, and yet He still loves us. It is by the reality of the cross that we are made righteous and by it that we can be used by God in an awesome and profound way. I say all that to say this: the ministry of the Holy Spirit is crucial in our lives. When we believe God’s Word, and receive the work of the cross in our lives, it eliminates the lies of the accuser and enables the Holy Spirit to empower us to be His ministers in the earth.

 

Prayer and Intercession

"Keep on asking, and you will be given what you ask for. Keep on looking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened.  8 For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And the door is opened to everyone who knocks.  9 You parents--if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead?  10 Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! Matt 7:7-11

Jesus prayed; Jesus prayed a lot. It was a response of His faith, and a need for His strength. It’s the same for us. It seems impossible to pray today, considering the busy lifestyles we live. Whatever you find that works is great. Prayer can happen anywhere. It’s talking to God, and listening for a response. I would like to say that I have a wonderful prayer life and that I get up at five every morning and pray for three hours, but I would be lying. Prayer is a necessity in our lives. Jesus said, “When you pray,” not if you pray. (Luke 11:2-4) Prayer and intercession is like the gunpowder behind the bullet. A bullet is no good without something behind it.

Believers are like conduits. We are points of contact, where the kingdom of God touches earth. Prayer is the place we get our strength and life. It’s where the life of God is stored up and released through us. Prayer is talking and contending for God to intervene in any given situation. It works. Jesus exhorted us to ask, seek, and knock. I believe prayer is to asking and intercession is to seeking and knocking. God hears us when we pray and He responds. John exhorts that God will answer when we pray in accordance with His will. (I John 5:14)

I don’t want to get off on a rabbit trail so I will keep it simple by relating to those who don’t believe the Gospel. It is God’s Word and will to save the lost. In fact, the purpose of our ministry is in reaching the lost and ministering to those in the household of faith. If we know its God’s will to save, then we can be confident that God will move on our behalf towards those who don’t know Him. Prayer releases the supernatural power of God into any situation. Ask and it WILL be given, seek and you WILL find, knock and the door WILL be opened to you. The kingdom works by persistence. It may seem like nothing is happening, but don’t stop believing! If it is in accordance with His will, He hears and He answers. No one is out of God’s reach. Stand on His word, pray and pray again and pray some more, and watch God do the impossible. God has promised that His Word will not return void. Circumstances may look one way, but circumstances are not absolute; God’s Word is! It may get worse in the lives of those we pray before it gets better, or we may see instant results, but whatever the case may be, we can be sure that our prayers are working on there behalf.

Jesus said to love our enemies, to pray for those who despitefully use us, to bless those who persecute us. (Matthew 5:44) Jesus wasn’t just talking about believers; I believe He was talking about the lost. He was outlining how we should respond to those around us. I was working with an individual once who was giving me a lot of trouble. The problem was that this person was my boss. One day while praying about the situation, I asked the Lord what I should do. The Holy Spirit spoke to my heart to bless this person. Think of this, if a curse has power, how much more power does a blessing have. Start blessing and praying for those around you who don’t know God. A prayer and a blessing is a powerful combination. A blessing bestowed upon the life of an unbeliever has the power to turn their circumstances upside down and bring them to a place of repentance. Start blessing those who are lost, and pray for them believing and just watch what God will do. If you think a witch doctor has power to curse, imagine how much power your prayer and your spoken word has to bless. Bless them. Don’t just bless your church family, bless the lost. Your prayer and blessing may be the only thing standing between them and eternity…….    

 

Authority for Ministry

Jesus came and told his disciples, "I have been given complete authority in heaven and on earth. Matt 28:18

One day Jesus called together his twelve apostles and gave them power and authority to cast out demons and to heal all diseases. 2 Then he sent them out to tell everyone about the coming of the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick. Luke 9:1-2

Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. (Hebrews 13:8) Think about that for a minute. Jesus has not changed. He was the same in the first century church as He is in the twenty-first century church. He still has complete authority. It hasn’t dwindled over time. As we discussed earlier, understanding our authority is crucial; especially in ministry. Why? Because Satan will try to stop you and intimidate you from actively pursuing and ministering to those around you.  I have good news. Satan is a liar. Jesus has been give complete authority. Who did Jesus give His authority to? He gave it to you.

We first see Him giving His authority to the disciples. They had nothing to give of themselves. However, Jesus had something to give to them. How do you walk out this authority? You believe. Jesus said it and that settles it. There is no gray area. Jesus gave authority for the very purpose of ministry. It was given to cast out the devil, to heal the sick, and to announce the good news of the kingdom. It is yours to be claimed by faith. Remember, it’s a faith thing. Satan will tell you one thing, but we have God’s Word and God’s Word does not lie. In the book of Colossians we read that not only did Jesus fully defeat the Devil, but He also made a public spectacle of him. He exposed the Devil and all his principalities. (Colossians 2:15) The realm of the spirit witnessed publicly the defeat of Satan once and for all. It is only to be realized and applied in the lives of believers. The power in you has the power to subdue.

Let’s use law enforcement as an example of authority. There are a lot of bad guys in society, but the man with the badge has the authority to do something about it; at least within his or her jurisdiction. The city, county, or state has commissioned officers with the badge of authority to deal with the bad guys. Jesus has given us the same privilege in the realm of the spirit. Although there may be resistance, whether in the natural or the spiritual, the law always wins. Jurisdiction can vary from a city level to a national level depending upon which area is being served. Where is the jurisdiction of the believer? Our spiritual authority extends within our sphere of influence. You don’t have to look for your jurisdiction, it’s wherever you are. That is the place of authority God has placed you. The Devil is subject to you in that place. Your authority has the power to change the environment around you, wherever that may be.

True spiritual authority is not revealed by force or aggression as in the natural, but is revealed by faith. Jesus never strained or had to overly overt Himself, He just simply walked in what He knew to be His. The world defines authority by control and domination but not so in the life of the believer. Remember what Jesus said, “I send you out as sheep among wolves.”(Matthew 10:16) The most important thing to remember is that you have nothing to prove. Jesus did that 2000 years ago. Walk in your authority and don’t let anyone or anything take it away from you. The only way you can lose it is to give it away. There’s always a tendency to flesh out and try to prove something, especially when we encounter opposition, but when we can remember that we are not battling with flesh and blood, but with the powers of darkness, we will not be nearly as susceptible to this trap. Wear your spiritual badge of authority wherever you go. And remember that your grounds of authority are in the cross of Christ alone.

 

Faith and Action

          These signs will accompany those who believe: They will cast out demons in my name, and they will speak new languages. They will be able to handle snakes with safety, and if they drink anything poisonous, it won't hurt them. They will be able to place their hands on the sick and heal them." When the Lord Jesus had finished talking with them, he was taken up into heaven and sat down in the place of honor at God's right hand. And the disciples went everywhere and preached, and the Lord worked with them, confirming what they said by many miraculous signs. Mark 16:17-20

Think about this: ministry isn’t something you try to do, ministry is something you believe and do. Your action will always correspond with your faith. Ministry can’t be the other way around and still have the supernatural power that God intended it to have. Faith always precedes action. What separated most people in the area of effective ministry is in the object of their faith. What is your faith in? Is it in yourself, your ability, your strength, etc, or is it in God.

A good example of the kind of faith I’m talking about is in the story of David and Goliath. What was the secret in David’s victory against such a giant? David said, “You come to me with sword and spear, but I come in the name of the Lord of Hosts who you have defiled.”(I Samuel 17:45) David came with God as the object of his faith and he won! Jesus said, “Have faith in God.”(Mark 11:22) It does no good to have faith in ourselves; we need to have faith in God. This is what is meant by surrender. There is a part in all of us that wants to live, strive and survive. God wants us to die to our strengths as well as our weaknesses so His strength can be made perfect. The Apostle Paul said that His strength is made perfect in my weakness. (2 Corinthians 12:9)

If you want to please God, stop trying and start trusting. David said if sacrifice had pleased Him, he would have given it, but the thing that was pleasing to the Lord was a broken and contrite spirit. (Psalm 51:17) God does not need our help, He needs our faith and surrender. We have to die! The sooner we give up the sooner God can begin! Understanding this truth is probably the most important of all in relation to ministry.

Remember that everything reproduces after its own kind. How are we to accomplish in our flesh what only God can accomplish by His Spirit? This is the place of freedom in our lives. You are not disqualified. God made the walk of the spirit attainable to all. It doesn’t matter where you have come form or what you have been through. The most we can contribute in being used of God is our surrender. Let go and let God. He is waiting for you to say, “I can’t,” because that’s when He finally can.  It doesn’t matter how strong or weak, good or bad, mad or glad you are, what matters is the object of your faith. The object of our faith must always be in what Jesus did for us at the Cross. When you fully understand that being used by God does not depend on your natural capabilities it will send your faith through the roof. It seems that many of us have had to go down a long difficult road to realize this truth. However, when we finally realize our position in Him it is more liberating than we ever could have imagined. Remember, Jesus said that unless a grain of wheat fall to the ground and die it abides alone. But when the seed finally dies it will produce a huge harvest. This is the secret of the kingdom. To understand it and accept it is to become a fruit bearer in the kingdom of God. It’s in the kingdom. It’s the rightful place of every believer. Religion will leave you high and dry. But the kingdom will give you the experience of righteousness, peace and joy. It all ties together. It’s the vine that produces the life. Jesus is that tangible life in every believer. Ask God to pour you into a new wine skin. The old shriveled up religious wine skin will only lead to frustration, discouragement and defeat. It’s all or nothing. You can have it all or none at all. The pride of striving will leave us empty, but the desperation of humility will fill us to overflowing.

We should expect signs and wonders to follow us. That means they go where we go. When you get up in the morning just begin to imagine how God is going to follow you that day. How awesome it is to expect the impossible from God. He will put people in your path. He will open up doors you never could have opened. He will use you to lead the lost to Himself. I could tell you of countless stories in relation to this very thing. Believe in God and your life will be surrounded with opportunity to minister. Jesus said these signs will follow those who believe. Do you believe yet? If you don’t, this should be enough encouragement to set you on your way. If you believe, you will act. I once heard said, “The acts of the Apostles was written because the Apostles acted.” If we believe, we will go and God will be with us. If the object of our faith is in line and we have properly positioned ourselves then we can expect the supernatural in the same way that the Apostles did. Verse 20 of Mark 16 tells us that the Lord went with the apostles confirming His word with miraculous signs. Wow! The Holy Spirit is going with us. How can you beat that? We aren’t going alone, He is going with us. What was He confirming? His Word. God’s Word is powerful. God has given us the formula and the method and it spells the word, “GO”! Where are we going? Go to work, go to school, and go to the store.
Go with this attitude in mind. You are not just wondering aimlessly, the Bible says that your steps are ordered by the Lord. There are no accidents in your travel. Why did God put you at that job? I wonder why? You don’t have to wonder any more. We will talk more about this later, but God’s idea for reaching the lost is in His body, all of us, engaging in the marketplace (our ordinary course of travel) and seeing the multitudes come in. Crusades have their place, targeted outreaches have their place, and there are many that God has called to engage in these activities, yet the only way that we will make disciples of all nations is to have all believers engaged with those they are around every day reaching and teaching them the ways of the Lord. Disciples are made, not born. Disciples were Jesus method in reaching the masses with the Gospel. Well, praise God! He is showing us His ways, and I believe that we live in a generation of men and women who will take their rightful places in the kingdom and let God use them to touch and reach unprecedented massed with the gospel. Let’s look at Jesus in ministry.

 

Jesus in Ministry

 Early the next morning Jesus went out into the wilderness. The crowds searched everywhere for him, and when they finally found him, they begged him not to leave them. 43 But he replied, "I must preach the Good News of the Kingdom of God in other places, too, because that is why I was sent."  44 So he continued to travel around, preaching in synagogues throughout Judea. Luke 4:42-44

And I, the Son of Man, have come to seek and save those like him who are lost."   Luke 19:10

The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is upon me, because the LORD has appointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted and to announce that captives will be released and prisoners will be freed.   2 He has sent me to tell those who mourn that the time of the LORD's favor has come, and with it, the day of God's anger against their enemies. 3 To all who mourn in Israel, he will give beauty for ashes, joy instead of mourning, praise instead of despair. For the LORD has planted them like strong and graceful oaks for his own glory. Isaiah 61:1-3

Jesus said that reason He was sent was to one, preach the Good News of the kingdom and two, to seek and save that which was lost. The lost in the earth were His primary motivation. Everything He did was for this cause. For God so loved the world that He sent His only Son. He made disciples with this end in mind and He endured the cross with this end in mind. There were many ordinary things He did in life, but through- out these events the salvation of the lost was always on the forefront of His mind. The Father had painted this purpose deep inside His heart. He loved, rebuked, preached, and taught with this end in mind. Jesus wanted what the Father wanted no matter how much it cost Him. Did He want to go to the cross? I don’t think so. Jesus despised the shame of the cross. (Hebrews 12:2) Yet obedience to the Father’s will was His primary motivation. I pray that God would write the lost on your heart so that wherever you go and whatever you do, you see and desire as the Father does. The writing of God’s heart onto our hearts is half the battle in reaching the lost.  It no longer becomes something that comes and goes, but it remains a passion within the heart of those who have acquired it. It ceases to be a burden and begins to be an identity, an identity God has placed in us all.

Ours is a path of discovery. As we talked about earlier, the Gospel lived in Jesus’ heart. The good news of the kingdom (gospel) and the salvation of the lost walked hand in hand. They go together. The gospel was motivated out of a heart for the lost. It was God wanting to show us His love and kindness through Christ Jesus. Ask God to forever inscribe the gospel on your heart. He will do it. It’s the reason we love, it’s the reason we persevere, it’s the reason we suffer; so that others may come to know the pearl of great price that we have been so fortunate to discovered in our own lives.

Jesus said that the Spirit of the Lord was upon Him. He laid hold of the Word of the Lord over His life and walked accordingly. What is the Word of the Lord over your life? Are you walking in it? How did Jesus walk out the Word over His own life? He did the Father’s will. He obeyed His Father. Actually, Jesus was the Word of God in the flesh. (John 1) Here’s what most people don’t understand about Jesus. He was not only the Son of God, He was also the Son of man. What this means is that He was subject to the very same frailties as we are. The only difference was that He walked in the power of the Holy Spirit before the rest of us.

Today we have been given the same resources that Jesus had while on earth. We have the same potential. We have the same Spirit that He had. There was nothing different. Jesus was the Word of God (John 1) and yet obeyed the Word of God. The Word of God over His life was His grounds for authority. If God has spoken a Word over your life, you must believe it and obey it. God’s Word is your grounds for authority. Nothing else will do. Jesus was so in tune with who He was that His mere presence initiated the supernatural. We can walk in this same kind of deal today. If we believe. Jesus rarely ever provoked encounters with demoniacs, on the contrary the demoniacs usually provoked encounters with Him. They just wanted to get the heck away from Him. There was too much Light going on. Jesus understood that the power in Him was greater than the power of the enemy and thus we see His faith releasing the supernatural. Jesus didn’t have to go out of His way, the out of the way came to Him. We need to see the supernatural power of God released back into our generation. For too long we have walked without the power we were intended to have. These signs will follow those who BELIEVE. Again, Jesus lived His life by the same Holy Spirit we live our lives by today. Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. Stand on God’s Word over your life and do something about it. Believe it and do it. That is what Jesus did, and He is our example.

The first thing we have to know is our mission. When we understand our mission and understand our message we simply live by faith and let a mighty God live His life through us. This is what Jesus did. The apostle Paul said, “ I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me, the life I now live I live by FAITH IN THE SON OF GOD who loved me and gave Himself for me. “ (Galatians 2:20) Glory be to God! All that is in the kingdom is available to you and I. Stop living by soul power and start living by the Spirit’s power. This is the way God intended it. You are a minister of the living God. You are a powerful witness for Christ. You have the authority to walk in victory and on top of the Devil. You have signs, wonders and miracles following your life. Read the Word of God, Believe the Word of God and do the Word of God. God’s Word stretches across the board to us all. Faith causes the Words on the pages of your Bible to come alive and live through you. It’s the gospel in you. We are living epistles.

There is also a personal Word that God has spoken over your life; lay hold of it, believe it in spite of your circumstances and do it. Remember that the Word of God becomes flesh to those who believe it; just as Jesus did. Believe and you will touch those around you. God has come to sit back and watch but to help us. He is an active God who has come to us in the form of the Holy Spirit. Don’t be a spectator, but be a participator and let God touch a lost dying world through you. God is restoring us to His pattern for ministry. God has been restoring the gifts of the spirit and equipping us for ministry to our generation. Let’s not be a church generation that only ministers only to itself and forgets its purpose, but let us rise up and carry it to a lost world that Jesus died for. Let’s make the Father’s business our business.