Headline:

If you have tender toes, you had better cover them with something because I’m about to step on some toes.
In my continuing quest to be able to do the things that Jesus did (scripture) on a consistent basis, I have concluded that I really must become more and more like Him (“As Jesus is, so are we in this world.” 1 John 4:17).
In 2 Corinthians it says that beholding Jesus and His finished work at the Cross brings about much inner transformation, which then produces good works that are motivated by love.

The more I identify with Jesus and conform to His image, the more love and power can flow through me to others because I begin to comprehend that I am the righteousness of God through Christ.

I am no longer satisfied with “hit and miss” Christianity. I’ve got to have a whole lot more. For the most part, I believe the problem is the basic misunderstanding of the revelation of uncompromised GRACE by the body of Christ. There are “keys” to the Kingdom and I believe that I have found another one.

Let me just interject here that I love my brothers and sisters in the Lord, especially those who have a passionate hunger for more of Kingdom living. Whatever Father is doing inside of me, He will do the same for you and more. Right now. Trust me, I’m just a hungry Chicano on a quest...and nothing else.

What was Jesus really like in the four Gospels? He tells us very plainly:
• “I do nothing on my own but say only what the Father taught me...I
• always do what pleases Him (John 8).”
• “The Spirit alone gives eternal life. Human effort accomplishes absolutely nothing (John 6).”.
• “...you know me and you know where I come from. But I’m not here on my own (John 7).”
• “I am the true grapevine, but my Father is the Gardener (John 15)”.
• It goes on and on throughout the Gospels. What He is trying to convey to us is that He came to Earth in order that God could flow powerfully through
Him as a man to bring God’s will to the Earth. That’s why we were given dominion on this planet. It’s such a simple concept, but it has escaped most of us.

Jesus never had an agenda of His own. He was a perfect conduit (a pipeline, a vessel) through which His Holy Father could easily flow because Christ was sinless. As Jesus received from above and then decreed it and declared it to manifest in the world, it always came to pass. The pathway from the Father through His Son and then to humanity was unhindered and without flaw because the Son of God was righteous. It was a win-win situation and the world was dramatically changed in a 3 1/2 year period.

So should it be today with every born-again person in this world. But it isn’t. And our success rate in the Kingdom is nowhere near what it was designed to be. Too many of us are “self-occupied” and not “Christ occupied.” We are still attempting to function under the Law, which demands “works” in order to earn righteousness. But in the new covenant, God imparts righteousness to man through the finished work of Jesus at the Cross. We no longer have anything on our own to bring to the table. Jesus took care of all of that..
The Word says that because of the abundance of Grace...and the gift of righteousness (which makes us as perfect as Jesus in God’s sight)...we have nothing to give and everything to receive from God through faith and trust
Our assignment is to pass it on to others by allowing Father to flow through us easily, powerfully and unencumbered.

Let me bring it down from concept to reality. Father is teaching me that I must learn to extract my self out of all Kingdom endeavors. I was praying the other night (like I had always done) for healing to manifest in several people who were sick. I was asking Father to flow through me bountifully with healing power so that I could declare it done in Jesus’ name and have it come to pass in the natural realm. But for the first time ever, God allowed me to see myself as I sounded so very “religious,” excessively pious, self motivated...and loud. I was the spittin’ image of Elmer Gantry.

But the Holy Spirit stopped me abruptly and essentially said: “Robert, quit trying to help Father by attempting to conjure up power of your own. You have none. Stop raising your voice and amplifying your words, and stop the emotional preaching and theatrics. Just be still and know that He is God!
There is no need to be eloquent and long-winded, and no need to be so demonstrative in order to get something to happen. Rest in Him and allow His love and power to rush through you and into those for whom you pray. Robert, you can add nothing to it and you are not being asked to.” Now that’s a revelation! Let me quickly point out that it’s okay to get excited and jump around and praise loudly in response to what God is doing.

It immediately brought to my mind Galatians 3, which flatly states that if we try to mix our “works” with God’s GRACE, we will “fall from grace” and we gain none of its benefits. That is a very prevalent practice today and a dangerous and unfruitful position to be in. Small wonder that so many of our petitions seem to go unanswered. We disqualify ourselves so quickly and “We are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” But thank God that under the tutelage of the Holy Spirit, the body of Christ is learning quickly and beginning to reap great results.

Pulling my self out of God’s spiritual equations is not easy for me to do...but I now know, in retrospect, that it works. Let me give you an example, which the Holy Spirit brought to my remembrance just recently to make a point.It was several years past on a Sunday morning and I was at the altar of my church praying for the sick, which I often did. But this particular Sunday I was dealing with my own personal family issues and was not in a “good mood.” But I ministered anyway.

A lady whom I did not know approached me and asked for prayer concerning sickness and disease in her body, and also emotional problems. Because of my state of mind, I did not go through my usual religious preamble prior to offering prayer in this precious lady’s behalf: I didn’t pump myself up, I didn’t make any loud declarations, I didn’t make any gyrations and I didn’t use any eloquent religious verbiage. I am a king and a priest with authority and I don’t need to do that stuff. So I did my duty and simply said, “Father, in the name of Jesus, flow through me and into this lady in need, and bring forth power for her healing.” It was a simple prayer from the heart,
and it was totally devoid of “me.”

To my amazement, the minute I laid hands on her she absolutely melted under the voltage of God that was flowing and she passed out and fell to the floor. Trust me, this was very real. This was definitely not a “courtesy drop” and I did not “push her over” or encourage her to fall backward. Fortunately, a strong usher broke her fall and caught her as she collapsed.

This woman was truly gone somewhere in the Spirit...and she did not wake up until well after the church service was over. Even then, she got up slowly and could barely walk back to her seat. That is the most powerful burst of power that has flowed through me to another person that I have ever experienced. But I had no clue at the time as to what had happened or why it came about.But now I understand and this is the bottom line: because of my “mood” and my wish to do my duty and go on home, I had inadvertently extracted my self out of this particular move of God, and He was able to release much power through me to her. I had taken myself out of the way. Because my prayer was simple, selfless, and from the heart and to the point...things started poppin’ and the momentum of the Kingdom kicked in. That’s the way this baby is supposed to function all the time. God is always willin’...it’s us that do the killin’.

Someone once said, “I have searched diligently for the enemy and I have found him. And the enemy is me.”
Listen, the early Church knew and understood this concept well. John The Baptist stated, “He (Jesus) must increase, and I must decrease.” Also, the Apostles understood it well. When Peter and John approached the invalid at the gate called “Beautiful,” the cripple quickly asked for silver or gold.Peter’s famous reply was, “I have no silver or gold, but what I do have I give unto you. Rise up and walk!”

Most people mistakenly believe that Peter was full of power and might of his own through some special anointing. Not so. What Peter was full of was the ability to allow God to flow through him unabated and without the obstructions of doubt, fear, and the condemnation propagated by the “Accuser of the Brethren.” These guys lived and walked with Jesus. They understood more than we give them credit for. They knew very well that one of the key strategies of “The Accuser” (the Evil One) is to indeed accuse the brothers and the sisters in the Lord of not being righteous enough to receive God’s
best. But Jesus’ blood took care of all that when the righteousness of God was imparted to us through His work at the Cross.

Please forgive my pedestrian verbiage...but I just want everyone to know that the Devil sucketh, bigtime.

When Peter walked among the people, even his shadow had healing properties attached. This was simply an overflow of God’s healing power gushing through the Apostle’s system to the extent that Peter allowed the Father to flow through him.

This lesson has impacted me greatly and I am learning as quickly as I can to enter God’s rest and cooperate with His Kingdom. Someone recently said, “Rest is not inactivity, but directed activity. It is not rest from but rest in work. Jesus performed most of His recorded miracles on the Sabbath day. Could it be...could it just be... that God was finally able to get through to people when they were resting?”

I am learning to operate in “restful increase”, not stressful increase. I am now fully convinced that the battle is the Lord’s, not mine. .

The more I am used by my heavenly Father to reach out to others, the more refreshed and rejuvenated I feel. I live for this stuff. And Father will always do for me what I am praying and believing that He will do for others.

I’ll take as much of that as I can get.