The Different Spirit

                

               Uncommon Believers

Only your difference gets noticed. History does not remember the common, only the different. The difference is what’s celebrated, not the ordinary. Uncommon believers are not like everyone else. They are different. They are unique. They are remnant. The remnant is those remaining after everyone else has given up and quit. They are those that remain. The remnant is uncommon.

 No one wants to be common, but so many are. It is not what’s common about you that makes a difference; it is what’s uncommon about you. History remembers the uncommon. Joshua and Caleb were different than the others called to spy out the Promised Land. They had a different spirit. David was not like his fearful brothers when encountering Goliath. David heard different. Elisha was not like the other prophets. He wanted a double portion of Elijah’s anointing. People do not take note of your common traits, but your uncommon traits. 

To be common means to be average or ordinary, and to have no special distinction or quality. The common person is not exceptional in any way. He lacks any special distinction, rank, or status.

Uncommon believers are different. They are not like anyone else and carry distinguishing marks that are visible to all. In the midst of spiritual warfare, they are ready to war. When it comes time to possess the land, they are well able. We can learn much about the uncommon traits of remnant believers.

• The uncommon do not conform to the same pattern as everyone else.
• People draw toward the uncommon. David was a giant killer. His difference drew those in debt, distressed, and discontent to a cave.
• People are rewarded for their differences. Peter was a professional fisherman that had caught nothing all night. As an uncommon believer he was willing to try again when instructed by Christ.  

“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Romans 12:2)

• Only your difference gets noticed.

“Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.” (Acts 4:13)

“And everyone that was in distress, and everyone that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him; and he became a captain over them: and there were with him about four hundred men.” (1 Samuel 22:2)

• Your difference is what’s remembered. Joshua and Caleb were different. They had a different spirit.

“But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land where into he went; and his seed shall possess it.” (Numbers 14:24)

• The uncommon are remembered because they have something worth remembering. Christ said the woman with the alabaster box would be remembered forever.

“There came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head, as he sat at meat. But when his disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, To what purpose is this waste? For this ointment might have been sold for much, and given to the poor. When Jesus understood it, he said unto them, Why trouble ye the woman? for she hath wrought a good work upon me. For ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always. For in that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial. Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her.” (Matthew 26:7-13)

“Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net.” (Luke 5:4-5)

• The uncommon are brought before kings. Daniel and his friends were uncommon. Their difference was rewarded with the king’s favor, provision, and position.

“And the king spake unto Ashpenaz the master of his eunuchs, that he should bring certain of the children of Israel, and of the king's seed, and of the princes; Children in whom was no blemish, but well-favored, and skillful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability in them to stand in the king's palace, and whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans. And the king appointed them a daily provision of the king's meat, and of the wine which he drank: so nourishing them three years, that at the end thereof they might stand before the king. Now among these were of the children of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: Unto whom the prince of the eunuchs gave names: for he gave unto Daniel the name of Belteshazzar; and to Hananiah, of Shadrach; and to Mishael, of Meshach; and to Azariah, of Abednego. But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.” (Daniel 1:3-8)

As an uncommon believer, you are unique. You have something to offer that others don't. Your greatness is found in your difference. That difference is the Holy Spirit gifting in you. It’s the part that came from God alone. Identify it. School it. Value it. What you value increases in importance. Christ said, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).

Your difference is celebrated, not your common traits. Make a choice today. Avoid common and take hold of uncommon. You are different than everyone else! Shine on. Christ said, “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples” (John 15:7-8). You were born for such a time as this.

Spiritual Warfare

Life with God is wonderful – and I have come to better understand the progressive revelation of God and His
plan for the restoration of humanity… it is the desire of God to bring humanity back to living in His Presence as
volitional creations walking in innocent dependence and intimacy with God. When you stop and think about
it, and study the Scriptures you have to conclude that it is truly amazing! The battle over humanity by the
powers of light and dark is the backdrop for the fall. This is the story behind the story and may provide an
insight as to why God was compelled to act as He did. The most amazing part is God coming to earth to rectify
the matter in the Person of Jesus the Messiah.
The book I read is Spiritual Warfare by Dean Sherman; 1990, 1995, 2001 – Youth With A Mission Publishing.
Notes/Thought/Reflections:
A. Background:
1. The angelic host was under the direction of 3 Archangels who served in the Presence of God. They had
no authority other than to observe and carry out God’s Will:
a. Michael – the warrior angel
b. Gabriel – the messenger angel
c. Lucifer – the worship angel
2. In creating man, God imbued humanity with elements of God’s Image [Imago Dei] – and gave him
authority over earth to care for it in God’s service.
3. The nature of the fall had to do with Lucifer’s desire to be as God – having a kingdom of his own.
Lucifer couldn’t overcome God and take the Kingdom of Heaven, but he did subvert and usurp man’s
authority – thus claiming the kingdom of earth. As such, Lucifer [renamed Satan – name & identity are
caught up together] now exerts man’s rightful authority on earth.
4. Spiritual warfare has as its basis the struggle to throw off Satan’s influence and reclaim our birthright –
our authority to rule earth in God’s Name.
5. Satan’s hatred of humanity has continued in the subversion of God’s Plan for a remnant of chosen
people who would give rise to Messiah and restore the rightful order.
a. Messiah accomplished spiritual redemption at His 1st coming.
b. Messiah will accomplish physical redemption at His 2nd coming.
6. Humanity continues to live in the tension between the two Comings… what we have now is grace and
the power of the Spirit, what we await is the new heaven and earth when humanity and God will live
together.
7. Jesus came as man to accomplish God’s purpose:
a. To atone for Sin.

b. To establish the ability to reject temptation
c. Set the captives free on earth and in Hades
d. To take back what the 1st man foolishly gave away – his birthright [reminiscent of Esau & Jacob]
e. To legally break Satan’s hold on humanity, taking away the keys to death and Hades.
f. To re-establish the authority of man over the kingdom of earth, and provide humanity access
into the Kingdom of Heaven [Lk 10:19].
g. To fulfill the Gen 3 prophecy that Satan would bruise man’s heel making them less than they
were intended [a wounding]; and that Messiah [the seed of man] would ultimately triumph
over Satan by crushing his head – taking away his power and authority [a mortal wounding].
This is the basis for spiritual warfare!
h. To deliver man from the kingdom of darkness [Satan’s domain], into the Kingdom of Light
[God’s Domain]. Humanity must exist in one place or the other.
i. To enable man to live as children of Light – even though we continue to live in an imperfect and
as yet unredeemed physical existence [1 John 4:4].
j. To enable us to be perfected in the spirit as we live out an imperfect physical existence [Philip
1:6].
k. In all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us [Rom 8:35-39].
8. Why does evil exist?
a. Evil results from choices –
i. Satan 1st chose to disobey God and actively and knowingly subverting God’s intended
order.
ii. Humanity then chose to believe Satan’s lies and disobey God.
iii. When you consider the possibility for error by multiplying the number of choices by the
number of people you wind up with an exponential error growth factor.
b. Evil exists because of free will. But free will is infinitely more valuable in God’s economy than
the absence of evil.
i. Free will is the basis of personal choice, personal responsibility, and personal intimacy.
ii. Without free will humanity is no more than automatons – beings living out life scripted
by God with no will, no volition, and no individuality. This is something that is
completely reprehensible to God, but totally satisfactory to Satan.
9. Wilderness experiences are crucial for God’s people…
a. It is there where we are forced to get real with God and confront ourselves.
b. Where we learn humility and what is really in our hearts as we are tested.
c. It is where our character is developed and revealed as we deal with trials and adversity.
d. It is there we learn to persevere.
B. True Spirituality:
10. Being human in a physical world, we live out a spiritual life in a physical existence:
a. Spiritual growth develops when we realize that:

i. “No temptation has overcome you but such as is common to man” [1 Cor 10:13] – there
is great comfort knowing it is not about us, that temptation is a nasty case of the
normals, but we don’t have to acquiesce in sin.
ii. “Nothing new under the sun” [Ec 1:9] – the great new frontier is not on earth, but in
heaven – and this should be our real goal and objective.
iii. “Consider yourselves to be dead to sin but alive in Christ Jesus… for you are not under
law, but under grace” [Rom 6:11-14] – without Jesus we are walking corpses being
spiritually dead, when we are made alive in the spirit we can choose to become dead to
sin and live a life pleasing to God. Thus sin loses its hold on us.
iv. We are already perfected in our spirit through the Presence of the Holy Spirit, but we
continue to live out a life in an imperfect world that won’t be perfected until the 2nd
coming. Until we get to heaven, God’s Spirit will always be transforming us, prompting
us to change our thinking, our attitude, our motives, and our actions.
v. With the Power of the Holy Spirit we are being progressively transformed in our nature
– becoming more like Jesus. This is authentic discipleship.
b. Spiritual attacks occur through a number of factors… including [1 Cor 12:10]:
i. Infirmities – this is a physical attack than may be caused by common germs, by our
physical abuse, and supernaturally.
ii. Reproaches – this is where faith, leadership, and specific individuals are made to look
bad publicly.
iii. Distresses – persistent attacks to undermine our confidence or faith.
iv. Persecutions – persistent attacks by authorities to prevent the advance of the gospel or
our personal growth.
v. Difficulties – obstacles to acquiring means or requirements to advance the Kingdom of
God.
11. Mature Christianity demands an appropriate response to evil:
a. It begins with knowing what God has done for you, and knowing who you are in Christ Jesus.
b. It continues by accepting our responsibility to advance the Kingdom of God – we are to
purposely identify with God’s Purpose [Missio Dei] and stand our ground in His Name.
c. Spiritual Comparison in scripture:
Old Testament/Old Covenant New Testament/New Covenant
i. Delivery from slavery in Egypt Delivery from slavery to sin
ii. Passing through the Red Sea Baptism in repentance & Spirit
iii. Wilderness tempting and testing Wilderness tempting and testing
iv. Faith strengthened and purified Faith strengthened and purified
v. Prepared for warfare and promised land Prepared for warfare and promised land
d. Prayer is communion with God – it is intimacy with Him… where we open our hearts and ask for
His counsel and blessing, we listen for Him, hear His encouragement, and obey His council and

teaching them [discipleship] to obey everything I taught you.
xiii. Praying continually is keeping our hearts and minds aligned with God and responding
prayerfully throughout our day – while we walk purposefully with God.
1. As our mind and heart are conformed to God’s Spirit we commune continually
through the Spirit.
2. In this communing state, wherever we go we are God’s ambassadors through
whom He can work and bless.
3. Man’s sin in the garden was passively standing by while Eve was being tempted.
Adam was there and he could have/should have intervened. Passivity is still our
sin, one that the adversary is counting on continuing.
4. Prayer is not a passive act… it is standing and being counted… it is choosing God.
xiv. The “Lord’s Prayer” is not a mantra to be repeated, but a model to be emulated of
intercession & thanksgiving, it is a model establishing our priorities in prayer:
1. Thy Kingdom come – within me as well as on earth and in heaven.
2. Thy Will be done – within me as well as on earth and in heaven.
3. God chooses to act in the affairs of men – through men. We don’t have because
we don’t ask. We don’t receive because we don’t believe. The problem is a
deficiency in our identity as God’s child and His people and in our faith.
xv. God expects us to be His watchmen [Is 62:6-7], and to be bold and persistent [Mat
15:22-23; Lk 11:5-9, 18:1-8; Mk 10:46-52].
12. Spiritual Warfare
a. It is not about a prayer prayed or a demon rebuked – it is a life lived in the Light of the Spirit.
b. Everything we do either aids the forces of Light – or of darkness.
c. Messiah has defeated the devil – but the forces of darkness are effective only to the degree
that people are sinning, promoting sin, and acting selfishly. People don’t necessarily have to
deliberately align themselves with evil for evil to pervade… all we need do is to passively do
nothing.
d. Man is not intended to be a passive bystander in the struggle between good/Light and
evil/darkness – God has delegated responsibility and authority to us as His People… His
Children. He expects us to act on His behalf as we are called and enabled to stand.
e. Walking in obedience to and dependence upon God is the precursor of an effective ministry.
We are expected to prepare ourselves for ministry by diligent study, disciplined thinking and
behavior, and wise planning and action. Just throwing yourself in front of a train expecting God
to rescue you is foolish. God gave us a brain and He expects us to use it!
f. We are called to become Watchmen for God over people, cities, regions, and countries – God
can and will curtail evil influences when His righteous people stand by faith in the gap.
g. Adversity is a part of life in a fallen world – and no one is exempt! It is naive and/or foolish to
think otherwise. Faith is trusting God in the midst of calamity – to be able to say with


confidence as did King David “though every bone be broken yet I will rejoice in the Lord.”
h. God could remove us from this fallen world as soon as we respond in faith to His Calling – but
He chose instead to leave us to be Spiritual Warriors. We are to be Kingdom Fighters – in
prayer not in physical violence.
i. Fasting has a role in spiritual warfare –
i. To discipline ourselves
ii. To weaken the forces of spiritual oppression
iii. To heighten and focus our spiritual sensitivity
j. Giving has a role in spiritual warfare –
i. God is not concerned about how much you have – but He is concerned as to whether
the needs of others truly grips your heart. The world loves wealth – wealth is not bad,
but the love and dependence upon it is bad. When we give faithfully it breaks the hold
of darkness on us.
ii. Give as a form of worship.
iii. Give in obedience.
iv. Give strategically – have a plan to maximize your impact for the things important to God
– social justice, evangelism, and discipleship are critical elements.
k. Unity of believers has a role in Spiritual Warfare –
i. Satan hates unity – that’s why he sows division and dissension.
ii. When we humble ourselves and seek unity in the Spirit – God’s power is not only
manifest but also multiplied exponentially… and the heavenly host that surrounds us
joins in to make it all the more impactful.
iii. It is not by accident that we are repeatedly called to love and unity – it demonstrates
God’s Presence because it is counter cultural to humanities natural tendencies.
l. The use of Spiritual gifts has a role in spiritual warfare –
i. The Holy Spirit flows from the inmost being of believers – like a River of Life.
ii. Praying in the Spirit drives back the darkness and brings Light.
iii. 1 Cor 12 speaks to the equipping of all believers – past, present, and future – until Jesus
returns.
m. Serving others has a role in Spiritual Warfare –
i. The enemy seeks to steal hope, faith, and love – and to crush hearts and promote
despair. He seeks to de-humanize individuals and to numb our hearts to the need of
others… serving humanity in humility breaks this hold.
ii. This is not merely ‘social justice’ – but Spiritual Obedience.
n. Knowing Scripture, walking with God and exercising faith has a role in spiritual warfare –
i. Faith is based on the ‘Rhema’ – the specific and quickened Word of God to us at a
particular time, and the Character of God as revealed in the ‘Logos’ – the written Word
of God written in our mind and heart.

ii. Acts of obedience strengthen faith… saying yes to God and no to sin is faith in action.
iii. Faith overcomes the world – 1 John 5:4. We need to be a people wholly dependent
upon God – who seek His Word, who listen for and hear His Voice, and wait for Him to
bring Revelation [Rhema] so we may properly act in concert with Him.
iv. Darkness thrives on ignorance, unbelief, and fear – it is destroyed by Light.
v. Light thrives on knowledge, belief, and love – and darkness has no power over it.
vi. In the end… you are either drawn to Love or driven by fear… how do you normally
respond?
vii. A “normative church experience” lends itself to producing a false comfort zone – where
Christian traditions are maintained and our passion for God and our use for His Kingdom
purpose diminishes.
o. Praise has a role in Spiritual Warfare –
i. Effective praise is much more than mere singing – it is expression that is joyful, involves
the heart and mind, it is experiential, it is exuberance and confidence – all welling up
together.
ii. It is worship in Spirit and in Truth, and it absolutely shatters the enemy’s hold.
iii. Praise is the joyful proclamation of the Great Nature and Character of God – it is
experiential faith.
iv. God is Personal, and a personal relationship with Him is the desired goal of Christian
experience – worship, praise, teaching, and study are but means to this end.
v. Worship and teaching the Word of God are high forms of Spiritual Warfare.
p. Persevering, enduring, and finishing have a role in spiritual warfare –
i. It is far too easy for us to quit –
1. As leaders
2. On relationships
3. On churches
4. On the work God has provided
ii. Spiritual warfare is a life lived well –
1. Embracing the Truth
2. Holding onto the Promise
3. Aware of the adversary
4. Fully committed to God
iii. To be a Spiritual warrior is to walk consistently and victoriously through life – with Jesus

the Messiah at our side in the Power of the Spirit

Continuity

THE CONTINUING WORK OF JESUS CHRIST 

“In my former book, Theophilus, 

I wrote about all that Jesus began 

to do and teach until the day that 

 he was taken up to heaven…” 

Acts 1:1-2 

There is very real confusion today, both inside and outside the Church of Jesus Christ, concerning 

the true message of Christianity and the true nature of the Christian church. What exactly is the 

Gospel and what exactly is the church? If we are going to live in the fullness of Christ, we need 

to understand the answers in light of Scripture. From the book of Acts, Author and Bible teacher, 

Charles Price, goes directly to the birth of the Christian church, from which he explained the true 

nature of the church, and what the true message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is. 

Outside the church, there is the belief that God is actually a creation of human beings to meet 

their social needs. Others see Christianity as a type of worldview that embraces politics, 

economics, and a value system, giving some kind of sense to this world. There are also those who 

view Christianity as a type of psychological phenomena, filling a need for forgiveness, 

acceptance and hope. From within the church, there are many who see the Christian life as doing 

their best to live by the teachings of Jesus, following in His footsteps, but, of course, in our honest 

moments, none of us can do that. 

If we want to know the true nature of the Gospel, we need to understand what it was that 

revolutionized a handful of men and women (120 of them), gathered together on the Day of 

Pentecost, and through them, had turned the city of Jerusalem on its head with the news of the 

Gospel. Their numbers grew from 120 to 3,000 on that day, and the Bible then speaks of 5,000 

converts, with the Lord adding daily to their numbers. In the 33 year span the book of Acts 

covers, the church moved from an outback, which Jerusalem was in the Roman empire, to Judea, 

Samaria, Syria, and onto Antioch, then to Cyprus, up to Asia Minor, across to Greece and to the 

very heart of the Rome empire itself. Historically, the details are limited and very selective in the 

information it gives in those early years. The reason is because the book of Acts is not a 

comprehensive history of the early church, but a representative history of the 11 apostles Jesus 

left behind. In fact, Acts is built around two main characters; Peter and then Paul, who came on 

the scene later. 

Luke, the author of the book of Acts, travelled a great deal with Paul, and was a physician by 

profession, but also a meticulous historian. He addresses Acts to Theophilus, of whom it may be 

speculated occupied a high position in Roman government as he is earlier referred to as ‘most 

excellent Theophilus’. His name, however, is a combination of two Greek words; theo, meaning 

God, and phileo, meaning love in the sense of friendship. It could be that Luke used this as a 

pseudonym for him, ‘lover of God’ or ‘friend of God’. In the first verse of Acts 1, Luke says, “In 

my former book Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he 

was taken up to heaven…” 

The former book, of course, was the Gospel of Luke where he tells the whole story of Jesus; His 

conception, birth, life, miracles, parables, death, resurrection and ascension. The best way to 

understand the book of Acts is how Luke would have us understand it…that it is the 

Spirit in the apostles and in those “added to the Lord”, which is the only explanation for the rapid 

spread of Christianity throughout the known world. 

On the Day of Pentecost, two things happened. The disciples received the Holy Spirit and Christ 

received a new body. The church of Jesus Christ is not an organization, but an organism. It’s a 

living body where Christ is the head, His Spirit is its life and, as Christians, we are all members of 

this one body. It was during the years of Constantine, when Christianity became embraced by the 

Roman Empire, that they erected buildings where people could meet, and that began to change 

the meaning of what the church really is. 

Today, we commonly talk about the church as a building, but from its inception, the church is 

actually those ‘who were added to the Lord’, and had nothing to do with where they met. There is 

a sense in which corporately, as we meet in church, we are being built together to be a dwelling in 

which God lives by His Spirit, and there is a special awareness of His presence. But we don’t 

walk out of the presence of God as we leave church. Church should not be a sacred part of our 

lives that is separate and on Mondays we’re on our own. 

We cannot understand, nor live the Christian life until we understand that Christ is alive and 

active. He didn’t just leave His teachings behind for us to try to live by, but He left us Himself, so 

that through Him, we are not only saved, and brought into reconciliation with God, but indwelt by 

His Spirit, empowering us to live the life God intended. This is the true message of the Gospel, 

and the greatest need in the church is not to learn how to apply the principles of Jesus, but to 

allow the release of the life of Jesus, by His Spirit, to work in us and through us. Just as it was in 

the birth of the Christian church at Pentecost, our lives will then become inexplicable apart from 

the fact that God is doing something.

Divine Proofs

The power of God touches millions of people all over the world

The power of God shows us that God is not a fairytale for grown-ups but a wonderful reality. Without the power of God our faith is empty. If all we have is theory, philosophy, theology and other intellectual arguments, we will never have a faith that changes the world. God is not a theory, He is real, He is full of life and power.

The power of God must be the foundation for our faith.

The Bible says that the faith of any believer should not be founded in religious reasoning, but on the power of God:

“My message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.’ (1 Corinthians 2:5)

We can discuss and reason all our life, but then the power of God touches and transforms us – words are no longer needed. Then we KNOW, with every part of our being that God is real, that He loves us and that He wants to heal and save us.

Christian know the cross of Jesus Christ, where they receive forgiveness of sins. But many never take the next step into the RESURRECTION of Jesus Christ.

The cross is the love of God. The resurrection is the power of God.

When we make the transition of forgiveness of sins into the resurrection power of Jesus Christ, He can display His victory in our lives and through us to others.’

We need both the love and the power of God. Without the love of God, His power will be destructive. But without the power of God, His love will be useless. Many christians have the wonderful love of God but they don’t have the power to conquer sickness, darkness, evil and powers of the demonic. All they can do is love – and lose the battle!

We need both: the love and the power of God.

The kingdom of power

The power of God is the hallmark of His kingdom. Jesus Christ didn’t bring a nice, fluffy, weak religion to the earth. He brought the powerful REALITY of the atmosphere of God, called the Kingdom of God. In the kingdom of God demons are cast out, evil is destroyed, sickness is overcome and the dead are begin raised, because life flows in abundance. Most christians have no clue about the kingdom of God and live in an earthly, carnal, intellectual christianity where all they have is nice words about God.

But God wants to become a powerful REALITY to all of us. Not a nice idea or a faith that helps us hold on, but a life changing power that heals the sick and shows the world: GOD IS REAL AND GOD IS HERE!

The gifts of the Holy Spirit are supernatural powers of God, that are given to those who believe in Jesus Christ, so they can be a vessel of the love and power of God to encourage and strengthen each other. The gifts of the Holy Spirit build us up, make us healthy and whole and help us mature in Jesus Christ, so his light can shine brightly through is in the world.

• Charles Surgeon   said

Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God."—1 Corinthians 1:24.

NBELIEF toward the gospel of Christ is the most unreasonable thing in all the world, because the reason which the unbeliever gives for his unbelief is fairly met by the character and constitution of the gospel of Christ. Notice that before this verse we read—"The Jews required a sign, the Greeks seek after wisdom." If you met the Jew who believed not on Christ in the apostle's day, he said, "I can not believe, because I want a sign;" and if you met the Greek, he said, "I can not believe, because I want a philosophic system, one that is full of wisdom." "Now," says the apostle, "both these objections are untenable and unreasonable. If you suppose that the Jew requires a sign, that sign is given him: Christ is the power of God. The miracles that Christ wrought upon earth were signs more than sufficiently abundant; and if the Jewish people had but the will to believe, they would have found abundant signs and reasons for believing in the personal acts of Christ and his apostles." And let the Greeks say, "I can not believe, because I require a wise system: O Greek, Christ is the wisdom of God. If thou wouldst but investigate the subject, thou wouldst find in it profoundness of wisdom—a depth where the most gigantic intellect might be drowned. It is no shallow gospel, but a deep, and a great deep too, a deep which passeth understanding. Thine objection is ill-founded; for Christ is the wisdom of God, and his gospel is the highest of all sciences. If thou wishest to find wisdom, thou must find it in the word of revelation."
Now, this morning, we shall try to bring out these two thoughts of the gospel; and it may be that God shall bless what we shall say to the removing of the objection of either Jew or Greek; that the one requiring a sign may see it in thepower of God in Christ, and that he who requireth wisdom may behold it in the wisdom of God in Christ. We shall understand our text in a threefold manner: Christ, that is,Christ personally, is "the power of God and the wisdom of God;" Christ, that is, Christ's gospel, is "the power of God and the wisdom of God;" Christ, that is, Christ in the heart—true religion, is "the power of God and the wisdom of God."
I. First, to begin, then, with CHRIST PERSONALLY. Christ considered as God and man, the Son of God equal with his Father, and yet the man, born of the Virgin Mary. Christ, in his complex person, is "the power of God and the wisdom of God." He is the power of God from all eternity. "By his word were the heavens made, and all the host of them." "The Word was God, and the Word was with God." "All things were made by him, and without him was not any thing made that was made." The pillars of the earth were placed in their everlasting sockets by the omnipotent right hand of Christ; the curtains of the heavens were drawn upon their rings of starry light by him who was from everlasting the All-glorious Son of God. The orbs that float aloft in ether, those ponderous planets, and those mighty stars, were placed in their positions or sent rolling through space by the eternal strength of him who is "the first and the last." "the Prince of the kings of the earth." Christ is the power of God, for he is the Creator of all things, and by him all things exist.
But when he came to earth, took upon himself the fashion of a man, tabernacled in the inn, and slept in the manger, he still gave proof that he was the Son of God; not so much so when, as an infant of a span long, the immortal was the mortal and the infinite became a babe; not so much so in his youth, but afterward when he began his public ministry, he gave abundant proofs of his power and Godhead. The winds hushed by his finger uplifted, the waves calmed by his voice, so that they became solid as marble beneath his tread; the tempest, cowering at his feet, as before a conqueror whom it knew and obeyed; these things, these stormy elements, the wind, the tempest, and the water, gave full proof of his abundant power. The lame man leaping, the deaf man hearing, the dumb man singing, the dead rising, these, again, were proofs that he was, the "power of God." When the voice of Jesus startled the shades of Hades, and rent the bonds of death, with "Lazarus, come forth!" and when the carcass rotten in the tomb woke up to life, there was proof of his divine power and Godhead. A thousand other proofs he afforded; but we need not stay to mention them to you who have Bibles in your houses, and who can read them every day. At last he yielded up his life, and was buried in the tomb. Not long, however, did he sleep; for he gave another proof of his divine power and Godhead, when starting from his slumber, he affrighted the guards with the majesty of his grandeur, not being holden by the bonds of death, they being like green withes before our conquering Samson, who had meanwhile pulled up the gates of hell, and carried them on his shoulders far away.
That he is the power of God now, Scripture very positively affirmeth; for it is written, "he sitteth at the right hand of God." He hath the reins of Providence gathered in his hands; the fleet coursers of Time are driven by him who sits in the chariot of the world, and bids its wheels run round; and he shall bid them stay when it shall please him. He is the great umpire of all disputes, the great Sovereign Head of the church, the Lord of heaven, and death, and hell; and by-and-by we shall know that he shall come,

"On fiery clouds and wings of wind,
Appointed Judge of all mankind;"
and then the quickened dead, the startled myriads, the divided firmaments, the "Depart, ye cursed," and the "Come, ye blessed," shall proclaim him to be the power of God, who hath power over all flesh, to save or to condemn, as it pleaseth him.
But he is equally "the wisdom of God." The great things that he did before all worlds were proofs of his wisdom. He planned the way of salvation; he devised the system of atonement and substitution; he laid the foundations of the great plan of salvation. There was wisdom. But he built the heavens by wisdom, and he laid the pillars of light, whereon the firmament is balanced, by his skill and wisdom. Mark the world; and learn, as ye see all its multitudinous proofs of the wisdom of God, and there you have the wisdom of Christ; for he was the creator of it. And when he became a man, he gave proofs enough of wisdom. Even in childhood, when he made the doctors sit abashed by the questions that he asked, he showed that he was more than mortal. And when the Pharisee and Sadducce and Herodian were all at last defeated, and their nets were broken, he proved again the superlative wisdom of the Son of God. And when those who came to take him, stood enchained by his eloquence, spell-bound by his marvelous oratory, there was again a proof that he was the wisdom of God, who could so enchain the minds of men. And now that he intercedeth before the throne of God, now that he is our Advocate before the throne, the pledge and surety for the blessed, now that the reins of government are in his hands, and are ever wisely directed, we have abundant proofs that the wisdom of God is in Christ, as well as the power of God. Bow before him, ye that love him; bow before him, ye that desire him! Crown him, crown him, crown him! He is worthy of it, unto him is everlasting might; unto him is unswerving wisdom: bless his name; exalt him; clap your wings, ye seraphs; cry aloud, ye cherubim; shout, shout, shout, to his praise, ye ransomed host above. And ye, O men that know his grace, extol him in your songs for ever; for he is Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God.
II. But now Christ, that is, CHRIST'S GOSPEL, is the power and the wisdom of God.
1. Christ's gospel is a thing of divine power. Do you want proofs of it? Ye shall not go far. How could Christ's gospel have been established in this world as it was, if it had not in itself intrinsic might? By whom was it spread? By mitered prelates, by learned doctors, by fierce warriors, by caliphs, by prophets? No; by fishermen, untaught, unlettered; save as the Spirit gave them utterance, not knowing how to preach or speak. How did they spread it? By the bayonet, by their swords, by the keen metal of their blades? Did they drive their gospel into men at the point of the lance, and with the cimeter? Say, did myriads rush to battle, as they did when they followed the crescent of Mohammed, and did they convert men by force, by law, by might? Ah I no. Nothing but their simple words, their unvarnished eloquence, their rough declamation, their unhewn oratory; these it was, which, by the blessing of God's Spirit, carried the gospel round the world within a century after the death of its founder.
But what was this gospel which achieved so much? Was it a thing palatable to human nature? Did it offer a paradise of present happiness? Did it offer delight to the flesh and to the senses? Did it give charming prospects of wealth? Did it give licentious ideas to men? No; it was a gospel of morality most strict, it was a gospel with delights entirely spiritual—a gospel which abjured the flesh, which, unlike the coarse delusion of Joe Smith, cut off every prospect from men of delighting themselves with the joys of lust. It was a gospel holy, spotless, clean as the breath of heaven; it was pure as the wing of angel; not like that which spread of old, in the days of Mohammed, a gospel of lust, of vice, and wickedness, but pure, and consequently not palatable to human nature. And yet it spread. Why? My friends, I think the only answer I can give you is, because it has in it the power of God.
But do you want another proof? How has it been maintained since then? No easy path has the gospel had. The good bark of the church has had to plow her way through seas of blood, and those who have manned her have been bespattered with the bloody spray; yea, they have had to man her and keep her in motion, by laying down their lives unto the death. Mark the bitter persecution of the church of Christ from the time of Nero to the days of Mary, and further on, through the days of Charles the Second, and of those kings of unhappy memory, who had not as yet learned how to spell "toleration." From the dragoons of Claverhouse, right straight away to the gladiatorial shows of Rome, what a long series of persecutions has the gospel had! But, as the old divines used to say, "The blood of the martyrs" has been "the seed of the church." It has been, as the old herbalists had it, like the herb camomile, the more it is trodden on, the more it grows; and the more the church has been ill-treated, the more it has prospered. Behold the mountains where the Albigenses walk in their white garments; see the stakes of smithfleld, not yet forgotten; behold ye the fields among the towering hills, where brave hands kept themselves free from despotic tyranny. Mark ye the Pilgrim Fathers, driven by a government of persecution across the briny deep. See what vitality the gospel has. Plunge her under the wave, and she rises, the purer for her washing; thrust her in the fire, and she comes out, the more bright for her burning; cut her in sunder, and each piece shall make another church; behead her, and like the hydra of old, she shall have a hundred heads for every one you cut away. She can not die, she must live; for she has the power of God within her.
Do you want another proof? I give you a better one than the last. I do not wonder that the church has outlived persecution so much as I wonder she has outlived the unfaithfulness of her professed teachers. Never was church so abused as the church of Christ has been, all through her history; from the days of Diotrephes, who sought to have the pre-eminence, even to these later times, we can read of proud, arrogant prelates, and supercilious, haughty lords over God's inheritance. Bonners, Dunstans, and men of all sorts, have come into her ranks, and done all they could to kill her; and with their lordly priestcraft they have tried to turn her aside. And what shall we say to that huge apostacy of Rome? A thousand miracles that ever the church outlived that! When her pretended head became apostate, and all her bishops disciples of hell, and she had gone far away, wonder of wonders, that she should come out, in the days of the glorious Reformation, and should still live. And, even now, when I mark the supineness of many of my brethren in the ministry-when I mark their utter and entire inefficiency of doing aught for God—when I see their waste of time, preaching now and then on the Sunday, instead of going to the highways and hedges and preaching the gospel everywhere to the poor—when I see the want of unction in the church itself, the want of prayerfulness—when I see wars and fightings, factions and disunions—when I see hot blood and pride, even in the meetings of the saints; I say it is a thousand thousand miracles that the church of God should be alive at all, after the unfaithfulness of her members, her ministers, and her bishops. She has the power of God within her, or else she would have been destroyed; for she has got enough within her own loins to work her destruction.
"But," says one, "you have not yet proved it is the power of God to my understanding." Sir, I will give you another proof There are not a few of you, who are now present, who would be ready, I know, if it were necessary, to rise in your seats and bear me witness that I speak the truth. There are some who, not many months ago, were drunkards; some who were loose livers; men who were unfaithful to every vow which should keep man to truth, and right, and chastity, and honesty, and integrity. Yes, I repeat, I have some here who look back to a life of detestable sin. You tell me, some of you, that for thirty years even (there is one such present now) you never listened to a gospel ministry, nor ever entered the house of God at all; you despised the Sabbath, you spent it in all kinds of evil pleasures, you plunged headlong into sin and vice, and your only wonder is, that God has not out you off long ago, as cumberers of the ground; and now you are here, as different as light from darkness. I know your characters, and have watched you with a father's love; for, child though I am, I am the spiritual father of some here whose years outcount mine by four times the number; and I have seen you honest who were thieves, and you sober who were drunkards. I have seen the wife's glad eye sparkling with happiness; and many a woman has grasped me by the hand, shed her tears upon me, and said, "I bless God; I am a happy woman now; my husband is reclaimed, my house is blessed; our children are brought up in the fear of the Lord." Not one or two, but scores of such are here. And, my friends, if these be not proofs that the gospel is the power of God, I say there is no proof of any thing to be had in the world, and every thing must be conjecture. Yes, and there worships with you this day (and if there be a secularist here, my friend will pardon me for alluding to him for a moment), there is in the house of God this day one who was a leader in your ranks, one who despised God, and ran very far away from right. And here he is! It is his honor this day to own himself a Christian; and I hope, when this sermon is ended, to grasp him by the hand, for he has done a valiant deed; he has bravely burned his papers in the sight of all the people, and has turned to God with full purpose of heart. I could give you proofs enough, if proofs were wanted, that the gospel has been to men the power of God and the wisdom of God. More proofs I could give, yea, thousands, one upon the other.
But we must notice the other points. Christ's gospel is thewisdom of God. Look at the gospel itself and you will see it to be wisdom. The man who scoffs and sneers at the gospel does so for no other reason but because he does not understand it. We have two of the richest books of theology extant that were written by professed infidels—by men that were so, I mean, before they wrote the books. You may have heard the story of Lord Lyttleton and West. I believe they determined to refute Christianity; one of them took up the subject of Paul's conversion, and the other, the subject of the resurrection; they sat down, both of them, to write books to ridicule those two events, and the effect was, that in studying the subject, they, both of them, became Christians, and wrote books which are now bulwarks to the church they hoped to have overthrown. Every man who looks the gospel fairly in the face, and gives it the study it ought to have, will discover that it is no false gospel, but a gospel that is replete with wisdom, and full of the knowledge of Christ. If any man will cavil at the Bible, be must cavil. There are some men who can find no wisdom anywhere, except in their own heads. Such men, however, are no judges of wisdom. We should not set a mouse to explain the phenomena of astronomy, nor should we set a man who is so foolish as to do nothing but cavil to understand the wisdom of the gospel. It needs that a man should at least be honest, and have some share of sense, or we can not dispute with him at all. Christ's gospel, to any man who believes it, is the wisdom of God.
Allow me just to hint that to be a believer in the gospel is no dishonor to a man's intellect. While the gospel can be understood by the poorest and the most illiterate, while there are shallows in it where a lamb may wade, there are depths where leviathan may swim. The intellect of Locke found ample space in the gospel; the mind of Newton submitted to receive the truth of inspiration as a little child, and found a something in its majestic being higher than itself, unto which it could not attain. The rudest and most untaught have been enabled, by the study of the holy Scripture of God's truth to enter the kingdom; and the most erudite have said of the gospel, it surpasses thought. I was thinking the other day what a vast amount of literature must be lost if the gospel be not true. No book was ever so suggestive as the Bible. Large tomes we have in our libraries which it takes all our strength to lift, all upon holy Scripture; myriads upon myriads of smaller volumes, tens of thousands of every shape and size, all written upon the Bible; and I have thought that the very suggestiveness of Scripture, the supernatural suggestiveness of holy Writ, may be in itself a proof of its divine wisdom, since no man has ever been able to write a book which could have so many commentators and so many writers upon its text as the Bible has received, by so much as one millionth part.
III. CHRIST IN A MAN THE GOSPEL IN THE SOUL, is the power of God and the wisdom of God. We will picture the Christian from his beginning to his end. We will give a short map of his history. He begins there, in that prison-house, with huge iron bars, which he can not file; in that dark, damp cell, where pestilence and death are bred. There, in poverty and nakedness, without a pitcher to put to his thirsty lips, without a mouthful even of dry crust to satisfy his hunger, that is where be begins—in the prison chamber of conviction, powerless, lost and ruined. Between the bars I thrust my hand to him, and give to him in God's name the name of Christ to plead. Look at him; he has been filing away at these bars many and many a day, without their yielding an inch; but now he has got the name of Christ upon his lips; he puts his hands upon the bars, and one of them is gone, and another, and another; and be makes a happy escape, crying, "I am free, I am free, I am free! Christ has been the power of God to me, in bringing me out of my trouble." No sooner is he free, however, than a thousand doubts meet him. This one cries, "You are not elect;" another cries, "You are not redeemed;" another says, "You are not called;" another says, "You are not converted." "Avaunt," says he, "avaunt! Christ died;" and he just pleads the name of Christ as the power of God, and the doubts flee apace, and he walks straight on. He comes soon into the furnace of trouble; he is thrust into the innermost prison, and his feet are made fast in the stocks. God has put his hand upon him. He is in deep trouble; at midnight he begins to sing of Christ; and lo! the walls begin to totter, and the foundation of the prison to shake; and the man's chains are taken off, and he comes out free; for Christ hath delivered him from trouble. Here is a hill to climb, on the road to heaven. Wearily he pants up the side of that hill, and thinks he must die ere he can reach the summit. The name of Jesus is whispered in his ear; he leaps to his feet, and pursues his way, with fresh courage, until the summit is gained, when he cries, "Jesus Christ is the strength of my song; he also hath become my salvation." See him again. He is on a sudden beset by many enemies; how shall he resist them? With this true sword, this true Jerusalem blade, Christ, and him crucified. With this he keeps the devil at arm's length; with this he fights against temptation, and against lust, against spiritual wickedness in high places, and with this he resists. Now, he has come to his last struggle; the river Death rolls black and sullen before him; dark shapes rise upward from the flood, and howl and fright him. How shall he cross the stream? How shall he find a landing place on the other side? Dread thoughts perplex him for a moment; he is alarmed; but he remembers, Jesus died; and catching up that watchword he ventures to the flood. Before his feet the Jordan flies apace; like Israel of old, he walks through, dry shod, singing as he goes to heaven, "Christ is with me, Christ is with me, passing through the stream ! Victory, victory, victory, to him that loveth me!"
To the Christian in his own experience Christ is ever the power of God. As for temptation he can meet that with Christ; as for trouble he can endure that through Christ who strengthens him, yea, he can say with Paul, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Have you never seen a Christian in trouble, a true Christian? I have read a story of a man who was converted to God by seeing the conduct of his wife in the hour of trouble. They had a lovely child, their only offspring. The father's heart doted on it perpetually, and the mother's soul was knit up in the heart of the little one. It lay sick upon its bed, and the parents watched it night and day. At last it died. The father had no God: he rent his hair, he rolled upon the floor in misery, wallowed upon the earth, cursing his being, and defying God in the utter casting down of his agony. There sat his wife, as fond of the child as ever he could be; and though tears would come, she gently said "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." "What," said he, starting to his feet, "you love that child? I thought that when that child died you would break your heart. Here am I, a strong man. I am mad: here are you, a weak woman, and yet you are strong and bold; tell me what it is possesses you?" Said she, "Christ is my Lord, I trust in him; surely I can give this child to him who gave himself for me." From that instant the man became a believer. "There must," said he, "be some truth and some power in the gospel, which could lead you to believe in such a manner, under such a trial." Christians! try to exhibit that spirit wherever you are, and prove to the worldling that in your experience at least "Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God."
And now the last point. In the Christian's experience,Christ is wisdom, as well as power. If you want to be a thoroughly learned man the best place to begin, is to begin at the Bible, to begin at Christ. It is said that even children learn to read more quickly from the Bible than from any other book; and this I am sure of, that we, who are but grown-up children, will learn better and learn faster by beginning with Christ than we could by beginning with any thing else. I remember saying once, and as I can not say it better I will repeat it, that before I knew the gospel I gathered up a heterogeneous mass of all kinds of knowledge from here, there, and everywhere; a bit of chemistry, a bit of botany, a bit of astronomy, and a bit of this, that, and the other. I put them altogether, in one great confused chaos. When I learned the gospel, I got a shelf in my head to put every thing away upon just where it should be. It seemed to me as if, when I had discovered Christ and him crucified, I had got the center of the system, so that I could see every other science revolving around in order. From the earth, you know, the planets appear to move in a very irregular manner—they are progressive, retro grade, stationary; but if you could get upon the sun, you would see them marching round in their constant, uniform, circular motion. So with knowledge. Begin with any other science you like, and truth will seem to be awry. Begin with the science of Christ crucified, and you will begin with the sun, you will see every other science moving round it in complete harmony. The greatest mind in the world will be evolved by beginning at the right end. The old saying is, "Go from nature up to nature's God;" but it is hard work going up hill. The best thing is to go from nature's God down to nature; and if you once get to nature's God, and believe him and love him, it is surprising how easy it is to hear music in the waves, and songs in the wild whisperings of the winds; to see God everywhere, in the stones, in the rocks, in the rippling brooks, and hear him everywhere, in the lowing of cattle, in the rolling of thunder, and in the fury of tempests. Get Christ first, put him in the right place, and you will find him to be the wisdom of God in your own experience.
But wisdom is not knowledge; and we must not confound the two. Wisdom is the right use of knowledge; and Christ's gospel helps us, by teaching us the right use of knowledge. It directs us. Yon Christian has lost his way in a dark wood; but God's Word is a compass to him, and a lantern, too: he finds his way by Christ. He comes to a turn in the road. Which is right, and which is wrong? He can not tell. Christ is the great sign-post, telling him which way to go. He sees every day new straits attend; he knows not which way to steer. Christ is the great pilot who puts his hand on the tiller, and makes him wise to steer through the shoals of temptation and the rocks of sin. Get the gospel, and you are a wise man. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and right understanding have they who keep his commandments." Ah! Christian, you have had many doubts, but you have had them all unriddled, when you have come to the cross of Christ. You have had many difficulties; but they have been all explained in the light of Calvary. You have seen mysteries, when you have brought them to the face of Christ, made clear and manifest, which once you never could have known. Allow me to remark here, that some people make use of Christ's gospel to illuminate their heads, instead of making use of it to illuminate their hearts. They are like the farmer Rowland Hill once described. The farmer is sitting, by the fire with his children; the cat is purring on the hearth, and they are all in great comfort. The plowman rushes in and cries, "Thieves! thieves! thieves!" The farmer rises up in a moment, grasps the candle, holds it up to his head, rushes after the thieves, and, says Rowland Hill, "he tumbles over a wheelbarrow, because he holds the light to his head, instead of holding it to his feet." So there are many who just hold religion up to illuminate their intellect, instead of holding it down to illuminate their practice; and so they make a sad tumble of it, and cast themselves into the mire, and do more hurt to their Christian profession in one hour than they will ever be able to retrieve. Take care that you make the wisdom of God, by God's Holy Spirit, a thing of true wisdom, directing your feet into his statutes, and keeping you in his ways.
And now a practical appeal, and we have done. I have been putting my arrow on the string; and if I have used any light similes, I have but done so just as the archer tips his arrow with a feather, to make it fly the better. I know that a rough quaint saying often sticks, when another thing is entirely for-gotten. Now let us draw the bow, and send the arrow right at your hearts. Men, brethren, fathers, how many of you have felt in yourselves that Christ is the power of God, and the wisdom of God? Internal evidence is the best evidence in the world for the truth of the gospel. No Paley or Butler can prove the truth of the gospel so well as Mary, the servant girl yonder, that has got the gospel in her heart, and the power of it manifest in her life. Say, has Christ ever broken your bonds and set you free? Has he delivered you from your evil life, and from your sin? Has he given you "a good hope through grace," and can you now say, "On him I lean; on my beloved I stay myself?" If so, go away and rejoice: you are a saint; for the apostle has said, "He is unto us who are saved, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." But if you can not say this, allow me affectionately to warn you. If you want not this power of Christ, and this wisdom of Christ now, you will want them in a few short moments, when God shall come to judge the quick and the dead, when you shall stand before his bar, and when all the deeds that you have done shall be read before an assembled world. You will want religion then. O that you had grace to tremble now; grace to "kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little." Hear ye how to be saved, and I have done. Do you feel that you are a sinner? Are you conscious that you have rebelled against God? Are you willing to acknowledge your transgressions, and do you hate and abhor them, while at the same time you feel you can do nothing to atone for them? Then hear this. Christ died for you; and if he died for you, you can not be lost. Christ died in vain for no man for whom he died. If you are a penitent and a believer, he died for you, and you are safe; go your way: rejoice "with joy unspeakable, and full of glory;" for he who has taught you your need of a Saviour, will give you that Saviour's blood to be applied to your conscience, and you shall ere long, with yonder blood-washed host, praise God and the Lamb saying, "Hallelujah, for ever, Amen!" Only do you feel that you are a sinner? If not, I have no gospel to preach to you; I can but warn you. But if you feel your lost estate, and come to Christ, come, and welcome, for he will never cast you away.

Jehovah Rapha

GOD SAID SO!
How do we know whether it’s God’s will to heal us or not? It makes little difference
what others say about it. What did He say about it?
Remember that God is no respecter of persons (Acts 10: 34) and He never
changes (Mal. 3:6). So what He said to them yesterday, He is saying to you today.
God’s word is God speaking to me.
(These statements are taken directly from the Bible with little or no variation. The
verbs and construction have been changed to apply to you personally and to sum
up the thoughts in some instances. Also, many of these statements are prefaced
by phrases like, “If you walk in My commandments”, “If you believe…obey…” etc.)
What did God say?
101 THINGS GOD SAID
Old Testament
God said…
1) I am the Lord that healeth thee (Ex. 15:26).
2) Your days shall be one hundred and twenty years (Gen. 6:3).
3) You shall be buried in a good old age (Gen. 15:15).
4) You shall come to your grave in a full age like as a shock of corn cometh in his
season (Job 5:26).
5) When I see the blood, I will pass over you and the plague shall not be upon you to
destroy you (Ex. 12:13).
6) I will take sickness away from the midst of you and the number of your days I will
fulfill (Ex. 23: 25, 26).
7) I will not put any of the diseases you are afraid of on you, but I will take all sickness
away from you (Deut. 7:15).
8) It will be well with you and your days shall be multiplied and prolonged as the days
of heaven upon the earth (Deut. 11:9,21).
9) I turned the curse into a blessing unto you, because I loved you (Deut. 23:5 and
Neh. 13:2).
10) I have redeemed you from every sickness and every plague (Deut. 28:61 and Gal.
3:13).
11) As your days, so shall your strength be (Deut. 33:25).
12) I have found a ransom for you, your flesh shall be fresher than a child’s and you
shall return to the days of your youth (Job 33:24, 25).
13) I have healed you and brought up your soul from the grave; I have kept you alive
from going down into the pit (Ps. 30:1, 2).
14) I will give you strength and bless you with peace (Ps. 29:11).
15) I will preserve you and keep you alive (Ps. 41:2).


16) I will strengthen you upon the bed of languishing; I will turn all your bed in your
sickness (Ps. 41:3).
17) I am the health of your countenance and your God (Ps.43: 5).
18) No plague shall come near your dwelling (Ps. 91:10).
19) I will satisfy you with long life (Ps. 91:16).
20) I heal all your diseases (Ps. 103:3).
21) I sent My word and healed you and delivered you from your destructions (Ps.
107:20).
22) You shall not die, but live, and declare My works (Ps. 118:17).
23) I heal your broken heart and bind up your wounds (Ps. 147:3).
24) The years of your life shall be many (Pr. 4:10).
25) Trusting Me brings health to your navel and marrow to your bones (Pr. 3:8).
26) My words are life to you, and health/medicine to all your flesh (Pr. 4:22).
27) (My) good report makes your bones fat (Pr. 15:30).
28) (My) pleasant words are sweet to your soul and health to your bones (Pr. 16:24).
29) My joy is your strength. A merry heart does good like a medicine (Neh. 8:10; Pr.
17:22).
30) The eyes of the blind shall be opened. The eyes of them that see shall not be dim
(Isa. 32:3; 35:5).
31) The ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. The ears of them that hear shall hearken
(Isa. 32:3; 35:5).
32) The tongue of the dumb shall sing. The tongue of the stammerers shall be ready
to speak plainly (Isa. 35:6; 32:4).
33) The lame man shall leap as a hart (Isa. 35:6).
34) I will recover you and make you to live. I am ready to save you (Isa. 38:16, 20).
35) I give power to the faint. I increase strength to them that have no might (Isa.
40:29).
36) I will renew your strength. I will strengthen and help you (Isa. 40:31; 41:10).
37) To your old age and gray hairs I will carry you and I will deliver you (Isa. 46:4).
38) I bore your sickness (Isa. 53:4).
39) I carried your pains (Isa. 53:4).
40) I was put to sickness for you (Isa. 53:10).
41) With My stripes you are healed (Isa. 53:5).
42) I will heal you (Isa. 57:19).
43) Your light shall break forth as the morning and your health shall spring forth
speedily (Isa. 58:8).
44) I will restore health unto you, and I will heal you of your wounds saith the Lord (Jer.
30:17).

45) Behold I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure you, and will reveal unto you
the abundance of peace and truth (Jer. 33:6).
46) I will bind up that which was broken and will strengthen that which was sick (Eze.
34:16).
47) Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you and you shall live. And I shall put My
Spirit in you and you shall live (Eze. 37:5,14).
48) Whithersoever the rivers shall come shall live. They shall be healed and every
thing shall live where the river comes (Eze. 47:9).
49) Seek Me and you shall live (Amos 5:4, 6).
50) I have arisen with healing in My wings (beams) (Mal. 4:2).
New Testament
51) I will, be thou clean (Mt. 8:3).
52) I took your infirmities (Mt. 8:17).
53) I bore your sicknesses (Mt. 8:17).
54) If you’re sick you need a physician. (I am the Lord your physician) (Mt. 9:12 & Ex.
15:26).
55) I am moved with compassion toward the sick and I heal them (Mt. 14:14).
56) I heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease (Mt. 4:23).
57) According to your faith, be it unto you (Mt. 9:29).
58) I give you power and authority over all unclean spirits to cast them out, and to heal
all manner of sickness and all manner of disease (Mt. 10:1 & Lk. 9:1).
59) I heal them all (Mt. 12:15 & Heb. 13:8).
60) As many as touch Me are made perfectly whole (Mt. 14:36).
61) Healing is the children’s bread (Mt. 15:26).
62) I do all things well. I make the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak (Mk. 7:37).
63) If you can believe, all things are possible to him that believeth (Mk. 9:23; 11:23,
24).
64) When hands are laid on you, you shall recover (Mk. 16:18).
65) My anointing heals the brokenhearted, and delivers the captives, recovers sight to
the blind, and sets at liberty those that are bruised (Lk. 4:18; Isa. 10:27; 61:1).
66) I heal all those who have need of healing (Lk. 9:11).
67) I am not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them (Lk. 9:56).
68) Behold, I give you authority over all the enemy’s power and nothing shall by any
means hurt you (Lk. 10:19).
69) Sickness is satanic bondage and you ought to be loosed today (Lk. 13:16 & II Cor.
6:2).
70) In Me is life (Jn. 1:4).
71) I am the bread of life. I give you life (Jn. 6:33, 35).
72) The words I speak unto you are spirit and life (Jn. 6:63).

73) I am come that you might have life, and that you might have it more abundantly
(Jn. 10:10).
74) I am the resurrection and the life (Jn. 11:25).
75) If you ask anything in My name, I will do it (Jn. 14:14).
76) Faith in My name makes you strong and gives you perfect soundness (Acts 3:16).
77) I stretch forth My hand to heal (Acts 4:30).
78) I, Jesus Christ, make you whole (Acts 9:34).
79) I do good and heal all that are oppressed of the devil (Acts 10:38).
80) My power causes diseases to depart from you (Acts 19:12).
81) The law of the Spirit of life in Me has made you free from the law of sin and death
(Rom. 8:2).
82) The same Spirit that raised Me from the dead now lives in you and that Spirit will
quicken your mortal body (Rom. 8:11).
83) Your body is a member of Me (I Cor. 6:15).
84) Your body is the temple of My Spirit and you’re to glorify Me in your body (I Cor.
6:19, 20).
85) If you’ll rightly discern My body which was broken for you, and judge yourself, you’ll
not be judged and you’ll not be weak, sickly or die prematurely (I Cor. 11:29-31).
86) I have set gifts of healing in My body (I Cor. 12:9).
87) My life may be made manifest in your mortal flesh (II Cor. 4:10, 11).
88) I have delivered you from death, I do deliver you, and if you trust Me I will yet
deliver you (II Cor. 1:10).
89) I have given you My name and have put all things under your feet (Eph. 1:21, 22).
90) I want it to be well with you and I want you to live long on the earth. (Eph. 6:3).
91) I have delivered you from the authority of darkness (Col. 1:13).
92) I will deliver you from every evil work (II Tim. 4:18).
93) I tasted death for you. I destroyed the devil who had the power of death. I’ve
delivered you from the fear of death and bondage (Heb. 2:9, 14, 15).
94) I wash your body with pure water (Heb. 10:22; Eph. 5:26).
95) Lift up the weak hands and the feeble knees. Don’t let that which is lame be
turned aside but rather let Me heal it (Heb. 12:12, 13).
96) Let the elders anoint you and pray for you in My name and I will raise you up (Jas.
5:14, 15).
97) Pray for one another and I will heal you (Jas. 5:16).
98) By My stripes you were healed (I Pet. 2:24).
99) My Divine power has given unto you all things that pertain unto life and godliness
through the knowledge of Me (II Pet. 1:3).
100) Whosoever will let him come and take of the water of life freely (Rev. 22:17).

• 101) Beloved, I wish above all things that you may…be in health (III Jn. 2).

Gentle Spirit

And immediately, coming up from the water, He saw the heavens parting and the Spirit descending upon Him like a dove. (Mark 1:10)

The Holy Spirit doesn’t seek to be mysterious, but He is the most mysterious of the Godhead. We can read in the Word about the Father, and we can read about the Son who came and walked among us. But Jesus tells us that when the Spirit comes, He will not speak of Himself; that “whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come” (John 16:13 KJV).

The workings of the Holy Spirit are invisible, glorious, and gentle, and within them, He never tells us about Himself. He comes to glorify Jesus—helping us to see Jesus more, to understand Jesus better, to respond to Jesus more obediently, and to love Jesus with a deeper heart of commitment. 

So the symbols of the Holy Spirit become essential to our gaining an understanding of what He’s like, not only in an objective way of analyzing truth, but also in the subjective way that He comes to penetrate our lives—ways in which the reality of the invisible penetrate the visible. When we talk about the Holy Spirit as rain, for example, the purpose isn’t to think, “Oh, the Holy Spirit is like rain.” The purpose is to get wet. 

In each of the following seven ways, the Lord desires to move into our realm. Just as the Holy Spirit manifested for a moment in a dove and lighted upon Jesus, He wants to penetrate you and me with the glory of the invisible God that becomes visible in us—to flood His life into ours that we might then overflow it to others.

The Holy Spirit Comes as Rain

Rain has a dual implication. First as refreshing where there has been dryness and barrenness (Joel 2:23-29). Second, as restoration where there has been loss (Isa. 28:11-12).

The “pouring out” Peter refers to at Pentecost (Acts 2:17) is not an abstract use of the word; it has to do with “latter rain” that brought about the hastening of the harvest and fruitful crops. The Lord is saying that He will send rain to fields [people] that are totally barren as a promise of hope. 

Needing to be refreshed doesn’t mean that I’ve backslid or sinned. When the lawn endures a hot day, it dries up and needs the refreshing of rain. The Holy Spirit, coming as rain, comes to bring refreshing and restoration.

The Holy Spirit Comes as Rivers

Rivers are channels or conduits to places where the refreshing of water is needed. John pinpoints that the work of the Spirit as “rivers of living water” was to become available after Jesus’ ascension (John 7:37-39). The Holy Spirit is manifest in rivers in order that the rain not only be a refreshing upon you, but also that the Lord would make you an overflowing tributary of His Holy Spirit fullness, life, and love to others. 

The Lord wants people to get in touch with who He is, and that takes people who will let the rivers of living water be awakened in them and then gush out of their lives. So the Holy Spirit is manifest in rivers.

The Holy Spirit Comes as Wind

The Holy Spirit, coming as wind, depicts His power and His guidance. When Jesus tells Nicodemus about the new birth experience (John 3:8), He tells him that it is not like a tangible birth where you can see the baby is born and check the clock for its time of arrival. The work of the Spirit breathes into a life, and something transpires that people cannot recognize. There’s a dynamism but also a gentleness, like the wisp of a breeze. You can’t necessarily see where it came from or where it goes, but all of us can attest to times when God has come and dealt with us, and no human being knew how it happened.

At Pentecost (Acts 2:3), it wasn’t a wind that blew in; it was the sound of a rushing wind—like a hurricane. That sound, not the sound of the people speaking in tongues, is what drew the crowd in. The Holy Spirit as sovereign God is dynamic, irresistible, and unstoppable.

The Holy Spirit Comes as Oil

The anointing—the oil of Scripture—is directly related to the Holy Spirit’s work in our life (2 Cor. 1:21-22). The Holy Spirit’s anointing makes us sensitive (1 John 2:20). How many times have you sensed something was wrong, or something was right, but you didn’t know why or how you knew? The Holy Spirit, by His anointing and presence, confirms what He is—the Spirit of Truth, of Holiness, of Wisdom. Obeying the Holy Spirit means that He will give us wisdom when we need it in the practicals of our everyday life.

All the primary offices of Scripture—prophets, priests, and kings—involve anointing. And all of these are offices to which all of us are called. As prophets, we are called to speak the Word of the Lord. There are times when the Holy Spirit will give you words of comfort, exhortation, or sensitive counsel to say to other people. As priests, the Lord wants to anoint us for worship to renew us, so that our worship doesn’t become stale, habitual, or formal. And as kings, we don’t just get anointed once for all. It takes fresh anointing from the Holy Spirit for the dominion of His Kingdom and the authority of His life to happen through us. When it does, we can move in confidence about how to rule our homes and our businesses, and how to deal with our kids and our relationships. God’s not going to anoint us with the ability to rule when we try to manage things our own way.

The Lord also wants to anoint those who have been overcome by the spirit of mourning with the oil of rejoicing. That anointing brings the lifting of our heads with the refreshing of seeing beyond today—not with superficial optimism, but with a deep abiding of hope that has been begotten in us by God.

The Holy Spirit Comes as Wine

Ephesians 5:8 draws an analogy for the symbolism of the Holy Spirit as wine. In the Gospels, Jesus describes the new work of God, conveyed by the ministry of the Spirit, as new wine coming into old vessels. So it’s a perfectly appropriate symbol in light of the Word. Still, let me ask you, what does it take to excite your life? The issue isn’t just alcohol; the issue is, how much of what the world offers does it take to get you going?

The Bible doesn’t say we are disallowed from enjoying a number of the things that come with life, but you can find out how much a person is living the Jesus life by how much they need the stimulants of the world. The separated, holy Christian life is not a call to isolation but to insulation. You live in the world, but His Spirit in you keeps out the world’s pollution.

The Holy Spirit Comes as Fire

At Pentecost, the Bible says that tongues as of fire appeared over the heads of each of those who gathered together (Acts 2:3).  The Holy Spirit comes as fire to work something deep into the substance of our lives that will shape things around us, rather than us taking on the shape of the world. As fire, He works in a dual way: to probe the inner recesses of our life and to refine us as gold or silver is refined in the fire; and to temper our personalities by causing there to be the penetration of fire into our system.

The purifying fire burns out the Adversary. When the three Hebrew children were thrown into the furnace, not only were their lives spared, but also their clothes didn’t burn. But the ropes holding them in bondage burned. The Bible speaks of the Holy Spirit being “a spirit of judgment and burning” (Isa. 4:4). Judgment has to do with deliverance, in the way the judges of Israel led people out of bondage. The Holy Spirit, coming like fire, burns away any binding grip that the Enemy has imposed on us.

The Holy Spirit Comes as a Dove

The Holy Spirit, coming as a dove, is gentle and a symbol of peace. What the dove did is important as well—the dove came and rested on Jesus (Matt. 3:16). The Holy Spirit wants to come and rest upon you and me. Not sweeping throughout the world as a tidal wave of revival, but to come to each of us personally.

Today, I want to ask you to invite Him by saying, “Holy Spirit, come upon me.” In fact, for the next week, take one symbol of the Holy Spirit each day and invite Him to do that freshly in your life. Let Jesus minister the richness of the Holy Spirit to you. The Bible says it is Jesus who baptizes with the Holy Spirit (Mark 1:8), and He will:

• Pour rain on you
• Open rivers in you
• Breathe wind into your life
• Anoint you with oil
• Fill you with holy wine
• Refine and temper you with fire
• Send the Holy Spirit to come to you