Continued from Part 5…

Jesus was not only the Son of God but He was also the express image of the Father.  He said, “If you have seen me then you have seen the Father.”  Therefore everything that Jesus spoke was the Father’s will for His people.  It was never the Father’s will that His creation be enslaved and oppressed.  And this was at the core of His message which He spoke through Jesus, announcing the acceptable year of the liberation of His people.  

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.  Luke 4:18-19

This was the official proclamation of the fulfillment of the prophecy through Isaiah, the Father setting His seal on His Son and the Holy Spirit being upon Him appointing (anointing = appointing) Jesus that day to the task before Him.

And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.  Luke 4:21

This was the public announcement of the beginning of Jesus’ ministry.  His message was not only one of healing and liberation but at the same time one of empowerment in the restoration of their original dominion.  This is exactly what Jesus was making them aware of when he continued to instruct the disciples after He told them that it was their unbelief that caused them not to be able to cast the demon out of the boy.  Notice how quickly He switched from reprimand to instruction and encouragement wanting to help them understand the power they already had if they would only exercise their faith.

And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. Mat 17:20

Notice the big “if” versus the small mustard seed.  As Jesus explained that the mustard seed is the smallest of all seeds but grows into one of the biggest trees, likewise the smallest amount of a believer’s faith is enough to move the biggest mountain.  The proof of your faith is in your speaking to the mountain.

You can believe all you want.  You can renew your mind all you want.  You can even renew the spirit of your mind all you want.  But until you actually speak to the mountain, don’t expect anything to happen.

Notice here also that it takes faith to open up your mouth and say something to the mountain.  Most professing believers refuse to speak to the mountain.  They will spend all their efforts and energy speaking to God about the mountain but they will not speak directly to it.  They believe that praying means begging God to do it for them and this will be their constant petition.  They pray prayers which God simply cannot answer.

“Never ask God to do what He has told you to do.  Never ask God to do what He has already done.”  Curry Blake

What if you had a child who was a full grown adult and perfectly healthy and capable but kept asking you to do everything for them?  This would not be normal, now would it?  So why does it seem normal to most modern day Christians to keep begging their heavenly Father to do for them what He has told them to do?  See John 14:12, Mark 16:17-18, Matthew 28:18-20, James 5:16.  Even worse, why do most Christians keep begging God over and over again to do what He has already done?  See Isaiah 53:4-5,  Matthew 8:16-17, 1 Peter 2:24.

Jesus did not say, “Pray to God and ask Him to move the mountain for you.”  This would not take any faith, now would it?  No!  Speaking to the mountain and telling it what to do and expecting it to move, now that takes real faith.

Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.  Proverbs 18:21

You have the power of life and death in your tongue.  You have the power to speak to the mountain and instruct it what you want it to do and it will do it…if…you have a mustard seed of faith to actually physically do it.

Jesus said that the reason the disciples could not cast the demon out of the boy was because of their unbelief.  The opposite of unbelief is belief.  He then said that if they had faith as a mustard seed, they would be able to move the mountain.  So what is the opposite of faith?  Unfaith?  Apparently this actually is a word that Merriam-Webster defines as the “absence of faith”.

But how could these disciples who had already cast out demons before suddenly be without faith?  They certainly were not without first hand knowledge and many experiences under their belt.  What caused them to now all of a sudden lose their faith and be in unbelief?  What caused the demons who obeyed their commands before, to now be able to deliberately disobey their command and simply refuse to come out of the boy?

They did not speak with authority.  True and full authority comes from faith in believing that what is spoken is the absolute final law in God’s universe which must be obeyed and come to pass and that there is no alternative whatsoever.

Continued…

Franciscus M. Dartee

Grow in Faith | Walk in Power

 

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