Hands...

This is a picture of me. I wouldn't normally want to show a picture of myself but I have this time because I feel to share something with you. This picture was taken in Cambodia while sharing the Gospel of Grace. I so love to preach the Gospel!

A few days ago a dear friend who I respect and cherish greatly, asked me a question on Facebook about the raising of, and reaching out of our hands. Is it right? Is it necessary? What is the effect of it? Why would we do it? "If someone was to ask why do such a thing, how should I explain it?" This was her question.

I didn't have time to answer it then but this morning God has been prompting me to answer and so I have resorted to this blog, mainly because I know my friend reads this blog...so dear friend, you know who you are, this is for you. If others are blessed by it then , Hallelujah!

My friend made the comment that she liked this picture as I had my hand out and the question was about the raising of hands. It is true that hand raising is more widespread in some churches than others, and some more 'conservative' actively discourage the raising of hands.

I can only answer in two areas because these are from my own experience and conviction.
Put simply I can only answer from my testimony.
Firstly in my ministry my heart is to follow my leader.
His name is Jesus.
My declaration is 'for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.'
I watch Him and I do what He does.
Do you remember a few years ago many of us wore a simple bracelet with the letters W.W.J.D?
What Would Jesus Do?
In no way do I criticise but for me today my question is this, What is Jesus doing? However I can receive leading by seeing what my Leader did and I will share that now around the subject of hands.

So...hands.
There are many stories in the gospels that I love but I will share this one particularly. Many times I preach the Gospel using this story. In it Jesus shows me His way and leads me.
The story is of the woman who was bent double found in Luke 13. It is a tragic and beautiful story in one. In her state her only consciousness was of the dust and dirt of life (so tragic) until one day two feet come into her view (so beautiful).
Those two feet went on to to be pierced by the nail of our sin but for this lady the owner of these two feet spoke to her and said, '"Woman, you are freed from your sickness." And He laid His hands on her; and immediately she was made erect again and began glorifying God.' Luke 13: 12, 13

In the name of Jesus, and in His authority, I can do the same; I can declare FREEDOM for the people and lay hands on the people, and I do. We are conduits of the Grace of God and our hands are His hands. I do what Jesus did, and what He is doing today. He is still ministering His mission of restoration, recovery, freedom and favour [Luke 4: 18, 19] and today He blesses me with the great privilege to be His hands, and His mouth, and His...
Obviously there are many, many other examples of Jesus laying His hands on people and they were all healed. Putting out your hand for me is following my leader but more than that it is my right and privilege as God's son and as His representative here in this place. I am His conduit of Grace

[Wherever I go, particularly in Cambodia, people come and ask me to pray for them. I am no different to anyone else and I often wonder what exactly I should say and so I often just let the Spirit lead and just pray in the Spirit. But I remember one time a man came to me with a little finger that was stiff as a board. Funny, hey? I put my hand on His finger and I thought of Jesus. What would He be doing? So, into my mind came Jesus standing at the tomb of Lazarus. He looked to His Father and He said, 'Thank Your Father that You always hear me,' and He then called forth Lazarus from the grave. So as I held this man's finger in my hand I just said to the Lord, "Thank You that You hear me...(and then to the finger) in the name of Jesus, be healed." The man walked away bemused by his newly mobile finger! I could tell you more but I love that memory because not only is it true that Jesus remains powerful to heal today but He is even interested in the relatively little things that trouble us, like a stiff little finger!]

Other than this I could direct you to loads of scripture to show the apostles Peter and Paul laying hands on people and raising their hands. You can check them for yourselves. Both apostles, and others, laid their hands on in healing and raised their hands to quieten the people and to direct the people; there are many examples I can give you if you wish.

For me, I'll finish with this. Unconsciously it has always been my practice to raise my hand when I preach and probably particularly when I proclaim a blessing over the people.
When I was in Cambodia in December last one of my team there came to me and told me that when I raise my hand great power is released; the power of the Holy Spirit. I tell you this not to proclaim myself but to proclaim my leader, Jesus Christ, revealed in me through the indwelling of His Holy Spirit.
A day or two later I was preaching and there was a disturbance among the many people listening and naturally all eyes and ears went to that incident. What do we do? There was nothing I could do so I just raised my hand and prayed silently in the Spirit. Immediately the disturbance fell away and all eyes and ears turned back to me. Hundreds that day received Jesus.
At another place many were gathered filling the church with many others outside unable to get in. They looked in through any open point they could find and many just listened via the sound system we were using. Then the power went out. All amplification died! What do we do? I raised my hand and prayed silently in the Spirit. The power came back on, immediately. Many hundreds received Jesus that day. The Holy Spirit was present! I caught the eye of my brother sitting among the people who had told me that power is released by the raising of my hand and he just smiled.

So I believe that raising our hand whether it be to lay our hand on a sick person, or to declare blessing over the people, or in the sharing of the gospel, or in worship of our Lord and King is something we have authority to do and in it the power of the Holy Spirit is released in His work to exalt Christ and reveal Him in all His wonder and glory. Storms are calmed, spirits driven out, sicknesses healed, crowds settled, electricity restored, people blessed, and the King of kings and Lord of lords worshiped and glorified in the raising of our hands.
Raise your hand in recognition of the Lordship of Jesus Christ, the name above all names and wonder as the Holy Spirit in you is released to bring freedom and blessing.
Are we not blessed above all people? I rejoice that it is so.
Do you not rejoice to live in this day of the revelation of the favour of God in Christ Jesus? Absolutely!
Do you not rejoice that indwelling the believer is the Holy Spirit of God whose role is to reveal  and exalt Christ in and through YOU?
Raise your hand and praise His Name.
Hallelujah!
Give thanks to the Lord for He is Good.; His Love, Mercy and Grace endure forever and ever. Amen.

What are we supposed to be doing now?

Facebook is an interesting thing isn't it? You know much of what is posted is a bit dubious in its value but within that there is the opportunity to hear God. In the last week God has spoken to me via Facebook more than once.

This morning I read an interaction between two people and it set me thinking.
Effectively one person was saying that we need effort on our part to grow in the Lord, to develop our relationship with Him and that we have moved on from what we were when we first believed in Jesus because 'you have increased your goodness, your knowledge, your self control, your perseverance, your godliness' and 'that has come through relationship, studying the Word of God and applying it to your life.'

The other person basically said that it isn't self-effort but Christ,...'I need Christ and no effort on my behalf.'

Interesting conversation and I want to say right here that I respect each view and the people who make them but feel to declare my thoughts because over a number of years God has been speaking into me a new way, the New Covenant way, the Way of Grace...and recently He said to me that He has given me a role to 'have the people sit down.'

The tragic thing is that within 'Christianity' today lies the same challenge that has always existed and that is the conundrum of Grace versus Law.
Succinctly put Law demands effort and Grace gives rest.
The Law was given, but Grace and Truth came. That's John 1: 17
Look at the Law, it required [God speaking]; 'you will, you will, you will, you will, you will not, you will not.' This is clear in Exodus 20.
On the other hand when we come to Hebrews 8 and see the terms of the New Covenant and it declares [God speaking]; 'I will, I will, I will, I will.'
Can it be any clearer?
Read the epistles, all of them, particularly those written by Paul and you will see that the basic issue that they all deal with is Law and Grace.
Our penchant as people is to have some sort of 'need' to pursue Law. In practice this means that we feel the need to have some input of effort into our restoration to God, and, sadly, this is what is preached day in, day out in the churches across our world.
Is this God's way for us in this Day of Grace? Is this God's way for us in this Day of the New Covenant? Is this God's way for us in this Day of the Finished Work of Christ?
NO. I do not not believe this is God's way. How could a people who have NO ability to save themselves but receive Jesus, the gift of God, then be expected by that same God to contribute their own effort to their on-going walk and restoration in Christ. I'm sorry, I don't believe it and that teaching sounds like bondage to me, not the freedom Jesus promises and provides.

www.ubfriends.org

I preach Jesus, nothing else. That's freedom. Whenever I have the opportunity to preach I don't have to sweat over a meaningful sermon with a meaningful, classy structure and a meaningful strategy...Jesus reveals Himself to me everyday and my role is simply to declare Him, exalt Him by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, who gives the words to speak in His role of exalting Christ. That's what it's all about!

So, there is much I could say on this but as I considered the interaction I shared above the Lord spoke to me, encouraging me [again] to consider what the role of the Christian is today.

What is our role having accepted Jesus as our Saviour, having believed in Him?
What is our role?
Is it effort? Or is it something else?

As I contemplated this the Lord said to me, 'YOUR ROLE IS REST, NOT EFFORT.'

We have no input into our restoration, no input into our growth in Christ-likeness; no role to play apart from RECEIVE.

Oh yes, this flies in the face of everything we are as human beings because we are affected generationally by Adam, our first father, and his desire for independence. But Jesus turned everything upside down. We can no longer accept that we have an independent stance because He came to FREE us from our inability to help ourselves by completing THE work of restoration on our behalf.
Wow! This post could be very long. I will finish with this scripture which beautifully describes our role...

'God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one can boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.' 

Ephesians 2: 4 - 10

God has done everything in Jesus. Even our good works, which people use as justification for self-effort, were prepared beforehand by God.

Beloved, rest. Sit down. Jesus is the key. It is in His finished work, and nothing else, that enables Peter, the Apostle, to bless us with the words...

'Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord [that is, receive the truth of the finished work of Jesus, the great gift of God]; seeing His divine power [the Holy Spirit of God] has GRANTED [already done, complete in the completed work] to us EVERYTHING pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him [that is, correctly discerning the completeness of the work of Jesus, it is finished and requires no additional effort on our part] who called us by His own glory and excellence.' 

2 Peter 1: 2 - 3

The work is done. No effort required.
Your role?
Rest in it...you are seated...it is a position of rest.

Now that is freedom!...

Green Grass...

Don't you just love the precision and wonder of the word of God?

This morning I am reading John 6.
Have a look at it for yourself. Here is the story of the feeding of the 5000 men, plus women and children.
We see a dilemma. The people are hungry and Jesus tells His disciples to give them something to eat.

Let me ask you...are you hungry?

The disciples, God bless them, can only see the lack and can't see the supply sitting there in front of them.

Let me ask you...can you see the SUPPLY?

A small boy brings his lunch that his Mum packed for him, five loaves and two small fish.
Jesus tells the disciples to have the people sit down.
Sit down.
Rest.
Stop what are you are doing and sit down.

Let me ask you...are you sitting?

Then the Bible makes an interesting statement and points out to us that there was much grass in the place.
Why? Why would the Holy Spirit in inspiring and leading the writer to write, and the translator to translate, and the publisher to publish...and so on...why would the Holy Spirit determine that this detail be included?
I just love the precision of the detail that we so often overlook.

We are all hungry.
Jesus wants us to sit down.
He wants us to rest.
The place here He sits us is a place of green grass.
Why is it green? Because it is the presence of Jesus. How can it not be green?
Can you imagine the small boy who brought his packed lunch and watched as Jesus gave thanks and broke it and fed 5000 plus people. Wow! Talk about sitting in a place of green grass! Remember Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus? A place of green grass!
Many of us are rushing about trying, trying, trying to find favour with God by our trying, trying, trying. We are constantly being 'encouraged' to do this and do that, to follow this and follow that, to love this and love that, to be this and be that but our trying just does not work. Does it? I know because I did it for years, especially as a young man, and all I got was frustration.

But Jesus, today, is saying to me...'Have the people sit down.'
That's what this blog is all about...have the people sit down.

The Bible says this..."The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures... (Psalm 23: 1, 2)

Beloved people sit down.
It is a place of green pasture.
It's not about us...it's about Jesus, He is EVERYTHING your hunger will ever need. 
He is your SUPPLY!

There are three things I want you to note and then I will stop

1. John 6: 12 says that they were all filled and twelve baskets of fragments were collected. The supply was super in its abundance!
2. Ephesians 2: 4 - 7, one of my most favourite passages, says this 'But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and SEATED US with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.' Green grass indeed! Please read this more than once and allow it to seep into your very being. See His love for you even when you were dead. See His grace that has seated you in His presence together WITH Jesus. See His supply, JESUS, supplying the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us. Give Him, our God and Father, praise and glory!
3. Now hear this. Philippians 4: 19, 'And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.' This supply, is it according to your trying, or according to your obedience? NO! It is according His riches in glory in Christ Jesus! Oh! The green, green grass! Think of the Lord's Supper, Holy Communion, Lord's Communion...call it what you want. Blood, the blood of Jesus - our Righteousness. We are accepted in the presence of God, inside the veil because of Him and for no other reason. And the Bread, the body of Jesus broken on our account - our Supply...'by His stripes I am healed.'

Are you hungry? Jesus is the answer. He is the Healer for whatever your hunger is. 

Sit down in His green grass and shout the victory call with me...

Give thanks to the Lord for He is Good. Hallelujah! 

His Love, Mercy and Grace endure forever and ever, for me, for my family, for WTL, and for the families of WTL. [you can put your call, your ministry, your family, your self here]. 

AMEN and Amen.