(Part 3/3 – A summary of the Sunday morning teaching on 12-Apr-15, in AFT Church, English service. From the series The Law of Faith)
WHAT IS GOD PLEASED WITH?
For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, “ Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel.
– Matthew 8:9,10
Jesus marvelled at this man’s faith because the centurion understood the power of the word. As a centurion, he understood authority. He was aware of his authority over the soldiers placed under him. He knew about the power of a spoken command; it accomplishes what it is spoken for. So he understood the spiritual authority of Jesus. And Jesus was pleased with his faith.
The highest level of faith is relying only on the Word. People think that signs are more important than the Word. Some people pray like this – if two dogs cross my path from either side, it will be confirmed that this particular verse is from you, Lord; if the phone rings in the next 10 minutes, then I will know that this job offer is from you, Lord; if it rains today, then I will take it as a sign that I should marry this person, Lord.
I had once gone to a prayer meeting. It was one of a series of meetings that this particular preacher held. In the meetings, she would show her hand, and blood would ooze out of it. And she would say that it was the blood of Jesus. People were moved by it. Large crowds started coming to her meeting. She endorsed a particular church that was pastored by a very sincere young man and it grew. It was later proved to be a hoax. People were disappointed. The church membership dwindled. What I want to say here is that even if it was really the blood of Jesus, what is the use? Just a few drops of the real blood of Jesus in a few meetings – how would it be enough to heal all the sick people in the world? Let’s look at what the Bible says about the blood of Jesus. It was shed when He hung on the Cross. He took our sin; God’s judgment was on Him; He experienced death on our behalf. Then Jesus took His blood and presented it as atonement at the Holy of Holies to God the Father. It has forgiven our sins. It is not the literal application of the blood on our bodies. It is the spiritual principle that sinless blood was shed for our sins and that the Father has accepted this sacrifice and has forgiven our sins. What is the use of a little blood being shown as a miracle in meetings?
How do we apply the blood? – By the Word. Rev 12:11 says that the believers overcame satan by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. Did they have a bottle of the blood that they threw at the devil? No. This is how they won victory over satan – the blood was shed by the Lamb, and they spoke their testimony (that they believed what the blood had done for them). Even if you have the real blood of Jesus in your hands, it’s no good unless you believe in your heart and confess with your mouth.
People want more and more signs. They want blood, gold dust, silver dust, money etc. The church is not a circus. It’s about the word of God. The word is powerful. Why do we need anything more? Even praying with oil is only for people who are weak in faith. The person may be edified in faith when elders speak words of faith and use oil. Everyone doesn’t need it. But the church has made the oil bottle a very important tool of faith. The church is emphasising the wrong things and has minimised the importance of the word of God.
Speak the word only. The word is enough to enough to heal any sickness. The word is enough to make everything thing all right. The word is enough to bring order into chaos. The word is enough to create a beautiful future. The word in your heart and in your mouth is more powerful than any object. Faith is changing the ‘seen’ and bringing about the ‘unseen’ to reality. Only faith pleases God. He blesses those who do not see yet believe.
