Tag Archives: Holy Spirit

Faith Is Not a Spell – Its Personal

Vincent Cheung said it without blushing: it is popular to teach that you must always hunt an exact verse for the exact thing you want, and then pronounce the prayer with laboratory precision, or else heaven shrugs. That is false. It contradicts both the teaching and the examples of Scripture. “It does not require a specific promise from God to receive what we ask, and there is no need to state our prayer with exact precision to receive what we desire. Prayer is not a magical incantation. God knows all things. Jesus said that God knows what you want before you pray.” (Reach for a Miracle, Vincent Cheung)

Read that again. Slowly. Then put down the wand.

Faith is not a spell. It is not an incantation you have to get syllable-perfect so the magic will fire. Faith is personal. Faith’s context does not float in a soup of unthinking laws that God set loose and then wandered off to watch. No. The context of faith is divine determinism. And for the saints, that determinism is not a cold machine. It is a direct, intimate, personal relationship with God. It is you agreeing with a living God who already knows what you meant, who already wrote you into a Contract in blood that He Himself made, and who already decided to treat you as a beloved son and not as a lab rat.

The Old Testament saints were not technicians

The heroes of faith pulled down suns, seas, bread, fire, and dead children with a shockingly small pile of paperwork. They did not have the completed canon sitting in a search bar, and they did not have AI to super-search the Bible for every footnote and loophole. They had God. They had His nature. They had the broad, blunt knowledge that He is good, that He helps, and that He is the kind of God who does wonders for people who look at Him. Cheung is right: what is always true about God cannot be contradicted by the particular situation you woke up in this morning. If God is willing to help, He is willing to help this. If God heals, He heals your sickness and pain today. You do not need a notarized footnote for every nerve ending. If God forgives, then He has forgiven your sin today.

Joshua told the sun to stand still. Elijah told fire to fall. The four lepers in 2 Kings 7 did not workshop a confession for three hours, aligning their words and actions into some liturgical NASA launch sequence. They said, “Why sit we here until we die?” and they stumbled toward the camp. God turned their footsteps into thunder. That is not a formula. That is a Person backing a person.

The Promise Is Vague On Purpose

Jesus did not tighten the screws in the New Testament. He loosened them even more. “Whatever you ask for in prayer, believing, you shall receive.” “If you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move,’ and it will move.” “Your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.” Those are large, general, almost scandalously vague promises given to children. They are vague because He loves us. They are vague because He wants to grant and fulfill your wants and dreams. They are vague so that your dreams fit inside them.

Think about that for a few seconds. Even as I write this I am filled with joy and physically restraining myself from detonating five more essays on this one point. What is the point of making the promise so broad and vague? So that whatever you dream up and want fits. That is the entire point. They cover the mountain, the fever, the empty jar, the demon, the paycheck, the thing you cannot even name yet without crying, and that huge dream for your life you are scared to ask because it seems too big and too wonderful. The whole design of a broad promise is to make sure all of it fits inside.

Unfortunately, when I hear most people talk about these statements, they spend their whole ministry trying to make them less broad and more specific. They shrink the application until it is so narrow it is practically unusable. They take a banquet table and turn it into a toothpick.

As Paul says, grace is grace, and works are works, and grace is not works. That is the law of identity. Categories stay categories. Same here. Broad, vague promises are not specific promises. They have different identities. To take Jesus’ broad statements and force them into a tiny, qualified box is a contradiction. Yes, it is correct that you cannot ask God to grant you sin. But that is so obvious the Bible barely bothers to mention it—and when it does, it says that asking God to sponsor your sin makes Him your enemy. You cannot in faith ask God to help you murder your neighbor. That limitation is pre-baked into the definition. You do not need to staple a ten-page disclaimer onto Jesus’ sentence.

Despite what sin promises, sin is a limitation, not an expansion. Satan comes to steal, kill, and destroy. That is limits on steroids. Jesus came to give life, and life abundantly. The blessing of Abraham is so broad about every sort of blessing, increase, health, wealth joy, and victory because it was meant to be broad enough to include anything you want.

The reason “not asking for sin” is a silent presupposition, not worth plastering all over Jesus’ broad statements, is basic. The statements are designed this way so that when the Bible and when Jesus make broad promises, you are not supposed to qualify them or restrict them. It is a pure positive. When Jesus says all, and everything, it means just that. Everything.

Why would God make such broad statements and promises? He did not make them for reprobates or outsiders. He made them for His beloved children. He made them broad so that whatever you dream up, you get it. That is the point. You are the point, because He likes you. You are His point. Because you are His child, your answered dreams are His point. Yes. You heard that right. God did not make the promise so broad so that He could answer all His own dreams and will. He made it broad to make room to answer yours.

Specific is good. Superstitious is stupid.

Now, before somebody accuses me of baptizing sloppiness: there is nothing wrong with being specific. Jesus said speak to the mountain. That is a command, not a suggestion from a timid life-coach. You can look at the stinging in your arm and say, “Stinging in my arm, I command you to leave in Jesus’ name.” That is maturity. That is a mind that has learned to aim. James says the prayer of faith will save the sick. Mark 11 says believe you “have” received what you say, and you “will” have it. Romans 10 says the word of faith is in your mouth. Abraham called himself the father of many nations before the baby existed. Faith speaks, and it often speaks specifically.

As Vincent reminds us, more revelation should work for us, not against us. If you have the whole Bible and less miracle than Abraham with a tent and a promise, the problem is not insufficient verses. The problem is that you turned the Bible into a spellbook and then blamed God when the Latin was off.

But you can also say, “Arm, be healed,” and God is not sitting in heaven with a red pen circling your grammar or your vagueness. He already knows. Matthew 6:8 is not a cute devotional fridge-magnet. It is metaphysics. God is intellectual. God is personal. Divine determinism is not a fog machine, that belongs to pantheism. It means the God who decreed the prayer also knows the prayer before the sound leaves your teeth. You do not have to incant the thing until the magic works. You agree with Him. He performs what He said. It is just that simple.

The technical and psychological obsession is not holiness. It is anxiety wearing a Greek lexicon. People get locked in their own heads, measuring the sentence, measuring the feeling, measuring whether they “hit it right this time,” and they stop looking at the Father who finds no fault with them when they ask. James 1:5 is still in the Book. He gives generously. He does not scold you for asking. He rejoices and gives. The moment you treat the wording like a lock combination, you have already moved from covenant friendship to witchcraft. You have made the power sit in the syllables instead of in the God who hears His children and gives them what they ask.

Sovereignty is not pantheism in a nice shirt

This is where the wheels come off for two different crowds at once.

The doctrine the Bible teaches about God’s sovereignty is not bare sovereignty. It is not the pantheist or deist sludge where God is the water and the fever and the mountain, so when you pray you are talking to anything or nothing at the same time. It is not the fatalist shrug that says, “God controls all things, therefore sit there and call your unbelief trust.” It is divine determinism—absolute, direct, personal. God causes all things. God knows what you will pray before you pray it. This same God made a blood Contract with His only Son and said, “I will always relate to you in these good and pleasant ways. I will always relate to you as a loving Father. I will always give you a, fish for a fish; and I will always give you a, miracle for a miracle. Always.”

H2O does not “naturally” behave like water. Water behaves like water because God faithfully keeps making it behave that way. Every drop. Every moment. Occasionalism is just the grown-up way of saying there is no causality hiding behind God’s back. There is no outside machinery and no outside natural law running the shop when He is not looking. Reality is His Lego set, except He made the pieces from scratch and He is still holding every stud in place by direct and absolute control. Science can trace the regularity because God is regular. The regularity is not a rival god, a stack of natural laws, or a polite dualism. It is His faithfulness wearing physics.

Spiritual things work the same way. There are no impersonal “spiritual laws” floating out there like gravity with a pulpit. The faith-teachers get this almost right and then trip on the last stair. Yes, the spiritual realm acts with a law-like stubbornness. Healing comes to faith. Mountains move when you speak. The prayer of a righteous man has huge effects. That is not because some force independent of God got switched on at the resurrection and now runs on autopilot if you smash the buttons correctly. It is because God is so perfectly faithful to do what He said that it feels like a law. He is consistent. He is covenant-bound. He swore by Himself. He cut a Contract in blood. He always relates to His elect in the good ways He promised—forgiveness, righteousness, healing, supply, authority—without fail. The “law” is just His character refusing to become a liar.

Forget that, and prayer turns into a spell. Remember it, and prayer turns into conversation with the only real Cause in the universe, who already likes you and has made broad promises so that He can grant your dreams. And by granting your dreams, God naturally expands His glory and His kingdom.

Two levels. Stop mixing the oil and the water.

God is the only real cause. On the ultimate level, He decrees everything. The Arminians are wrong. God does directly and absolutely predestine all things.

But the Bible does not talk to you in that register most of the time. It talks to you on the relative level—the Blood Contract friendship level—the level where Jesus looks at a bent-over daughter of Abraham and says Satan bound her, not the Father. The level where He says, “Your faith has healed you.” The level where Isaiah 54:15 can say, “They will surely gather against you, but not by Me,” while God remains the only real cause in metaphysics. Mixing those categories is not deep. It is a law-of-identity violation with a choir robe on. You do not drag ultimate causality into the promise of healing in order to give unbelief a respectable accent. That is how you wreck the car. Water and motor oil. Congratulations. You are stranded, and you called it orthodoxy.

The New Contract is not vague. Jesus took the taking upon Himself in substitution. The Father took from Him so He would only give to you. That is the whole point of the substitution. By His stripes you were healed. That is already done in God’s mind. Faith is not twisting God’s arm. Faith is agreeing with what God already thinks. “God, You are correct. I agree with You.” That is the whole engine. Not a chant. An agreement.

So speak. Broad or sharp. Just believe it.

You want to get more specific as you mature? Good. Command the sting. Name the mountain. Tell the lack to get out with specifics. Do it.

But remember: with this much raw power and broad promises, you only need one word and God makes it work. “Calm.” “Be still.” Jesus did not whisper a long incantation at storms. He spoke simply and directly. He did not hold a seminar on whether the wording was sufficiently nuanced. He spoke. The centurion understood sovereignty better than most theologians: “Just say the word.” He did not offer a long-winded, overly humble slogan of, “If it be Thy sovereign will, then maybe You can have mercy on this poor sinful outsider.” Jesus marveled at his simple and broad faith. That is the model.

You want to say it broad because you are tired and the pain is loud and you cannot remember the perfect verse? Also good. “Arm, be healed.” “Father, help.” “In Jesus’ name.” God already knows. He is not a vending machine that jams if you press B7 instead of B8. He is a Father who knows what you want before you pray, and He has already bound Himself by oath to treat you according to the finished gospel.

The Faithless will tell you to be careful. They always do. Caution is their spiritual gift, granted by Satan their high priest. They will warn you that general promises are dangerous and need to be heavily qualified so they are not abused, that specificity is safer, that sovereignty means you should add a coward’s appendix to every request. Ignore them. They have confused piety with unbelief and called the result balance.

Here is a secret the faithless kept from you. Practically speaking, you cannot abuse the broad promises and statements of God. They are broad to include all things on purpose. The only abuse is when you ask too small and too little. That is the real abuse. Asking too big for yourself is not the abuse. Asking too little is.

As Vincent says, “faith is the beginning of action.” Reach. Lay the hand. Open the mouth. The four lepers did not wait for a complete systematic theology of Syrian military acoustics. They moved. God turned the move into a miracle. When you reach, God reaches. That is the relationship. That is the Contract friendship. That is why it is not a spell.

You are not trying to get the universe to behave. You are talking to the God who is the reason the universe behaves. He knows. You know He knows. Ask. Even if it is vague. He will perform what you asked. That is all you need to know.

God laid everything on the table and said it is available to you. Ask for whatever you want, as much as you want. Be specific or be vague. Just ask and reach for your miracle. God will do His part.

Breaking All Confinement

The initial blast of the Spirit’s anointing power shatters the heavy yoke of Satan’s confinement—sickness, lack, oppression, bent-over vision—and lets you feel the weights fly off your shoulders. That relative freedom is real and glorious. But the hundredfold absolute freedom—the kind where every remaining strap snaps and you run unhindered into the full good dream God has written over your life—only comes when you get so fat on the daily, visible fulfillment of His promises that the old hindrances can’t hold you anymore. You are the righteousness of God in Christ. You are already seated with the enthroned King. Speak it, receive it, grow fat on it. Watch every scheme of the enemy shatter—then run like Elijah outpacing the horses.

Isaiah 10:27 is the classic line: the burden lifts from the shoulder, the yoke from the neck, and the yoke is destroyed because of the anointing—or, as the Hebrew also carries it, “the yoke will be broken because of fatness.” (LSB). The popular charismatic reading of the “anointing oil” as the Holy Spirit’s power is not wrong; it simply needs the rest of the picture.

So let’s talk about the anointing of the Holy Ghost. The Spirit comes in power to break bondages and give freedom. Jesus Himself launched His ministry by reading Isaiah 61 and declaring the Spirit of the Lord was upon Him to proclaim good news to the poor, freedom for the prisoners, recovery of sight for the blind, and to set the oppressed free (Luke 4:18-19). Acts 10:38 says God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and He went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil. That same Spirit is poured out on you. The baptism of power is not optional decoration. It is the explosive force that breaks yokes and bondages.

When that power hits, something breaks. It is unstoppable. A healing lands. A financial door flies open. A demonic oppression lifts. A relationship that felt dead suddenly has oxygen. Relative to the crushing weight you were under, it feels like total liberty. You start moving. You start breathing. You start smiling like a man who just had the wagon unhitched from his neck. That emotional and spiritual high from a miracle that just saved you is legitimate. Do not despise it. It feels good and it should. However, here’s the trap. Do not stop there and call it the finish line. The miracle is real and powerful, but it was the starting gun, not the trophy. The ox is free enough to walk, yet some straps and gear still cling. Thirtyfold. Sixtyfold. Not yet the hundredfold where the animal is so fat, so healthy, so bulked up with the very goodness of God that the remaining wood and leather simply explode off its neck and it is free to run.

Look at the woman Jesus healed in Luke 13. This story gives us a clean picture of what happens when the initial miracle hits—when the Spirit lands His first blow against the demonic oppression in your life. A common result of that first spiritual salvo is that your head is free to lift up and see a good future. In the story, the woman—bound by Satan for eighteen years, bent over—could only see her own feet. That is the posture of demonic confinement: eyes locked on the dirt, the symptoms, the lack, the failed reports, the small horizon. Stress, worry, and negative images rule your thoughts and vision. When Jesus called her free and laid hands on her, she straightened up by divine healing. Now she could finally lift her head. Suddenly the world opened. She could see distance. She could see possibility. That is what the initial anointing miracle does—it lifts the head. Now you can see the dream. You begin to visualize a good future. God wants to grant you the desires of your heart (Psalm 37:4). Not some truncated, “spiritualized only” version. The real desires. The ones that, when fulfilled, enlarge His kingdom by enlarging you. A mansion to spit in the face of the faithless, then a hundred houses for a hundred missionaries. Preaching with power that heals the sick on the spot. Family so whole the next generation inherits blessing instead of bondage. Old besetting sins loosen and fall off. A body so thoroughly healed that even the little things—bad eyesight, lingering fatigue, that one joint that always complained—are gone. Financial surplus that is not just debt-free but overflowing, so you can give and build your big dreams without the old god of lack whispering that you don’t have enough. And in your fatness, you realize you now have the strength to grab your family and friends and help them the way God helped you.

That full freedom is the fatness. You become fat with the promises of God already fulfilled in your experience. You are not waiting for some future day when you finally “arrive.” You are the promises of God. The gospel defines you that way. Jesus became sin so that you might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21). He became poor so that by His poverty you might become rich (2 Corinthians 8:9). By His stripes you were healed (Isaiah 53:5; 1 Peter 2:24). The blessing of Abraham—Spirit, miracles, fame, military victories, favor, increase—is already yours by faith (Galatians 3:13-14). These are not distant hopes. They are your present ontology because you are fused to the enthroned Christ. You are seated with Him in the heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6). Seated means the work is finished, so you sit—and you sit in a place of authority. Scripture does not say only Jesus was seated in the heavenly places; it says God made us sit there with Him. That’s right: you are already seated. Your work is already done, because He already did it, and the Father already transferred His righteousness, grace, and blessings to your account. They are yours. You are a royal priesthood in a seated place of authority—not later. Now. Sickness, lack, and demonic schemes are under His feet, therefore under yours. They are under the throne of Jesus, and because you are already seated with Him there, they are under your authority.

So how do you get fat? You stop speaking the evil report of observations and start speaking the promise. Daily. Relentlessly. You cultivate a mind of righteousness. Get rid of the old sin-consciousness that only makes you more sinful. You are the righteousness of God now, and your inner thoughts should be non-stop righteous consciousness. You look at the doctor’s chart and say, “By His stripes I was healed—therefore I am healed.” You look at the bank account and say, “Jesus became poor so I am rich—therefore supply is mine.” You look at the mountain of impossibility and speak to it the way a man speaks who already owns the title deed: “Be removed and cast into the sea” (Mark 11:23). Faith is not a feeling you wait for. Faith is mental assent to what God has already declared. When you consistently agree with God’s definition of you, your vision and the imaginations of your heart clarify into a big, bright future. The promises start landing in the open. Healing multiplies. Answers to prayer become more regular. Relationships heal. The surplus appears. Every little lingering strap that the enemy still hoped to use snaps under the sheer bulk of fulfilled goodness.

Picture it. The ox that once strained under the yoke now stands thick-necked and powerful, muscle packed on from the rich pasture of faith in God’s promise. The old wood and leather creak, then crack, then explode off in pieces. No more tug. No more residual weight. Nothing left clinging. That is the hundredfold. You run. You fulfill the desires of your heart. And in the running, His kingdom expands through every desire of your heart that materializes. Best deal in the universe: He gets the glory of a son who actually lives free, and you get the life of God granting the dreams of your heart. You get to live with God as your exceedingly great reward, the way He was with Abraham His friend.

Do not settle for the initial high and call it enough. That is limiting God. The Spirit’s power is not a one-time blast followed by a lifetime of managing leftover chains. That’s the lie the faithless will try to sell you. They are the voice of Satan, and they populate many churches and pews. The true fatness of God’s power and blessing is designed for the hundredfold. It is the power that keeps making you fat with every promise you dare to believe and speak. Storm the throne. Confess who you are. Command the mountain. Grow so fat with the goodness of God that every remaining piece of the old yoke explodes off your neck.

Head up. Eyes on the horizon. Growing fat with the promises. That is the hundredfold. That is breaking all confinement. Let nothing stand in your way—not Satan, not your family and not even the church. Break all confinement.

Throne Identity – Throne Application

Vincent Cheung put some clean, heavy rounds into the target with his essay on “Theology of the Throne.” In fact, eschatology runs on one present-tense fact: Jesus is seated. Not “will be someday when everything is neat and tidy.” Not “spiritually in some vague, non-threatening sense that lets you stay sick and powerless.” Seated. Right now. At the right hand of Power.

The cross was the doorway. The empty tomb was the victory parade. The throne is the address.

And if you’re still camping at the doorway like a spiritual tourist taking selfies with a finished beam, you’ve missed the entire reason there was a cross.

Hebrews Does Not Open with a Pity Party

Vincent exposed how Hebrews does not begin with sentimental cross-gazing. It opens with the Son who, after making purification for sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high (Hebrews 1:3). The writer does not warm up with “behold the wounds.” He starts with completion and authority. Then he keeps swinging the same hammer. Vincent then shows the application is about the throne.

It is true that Hebrews talks much about the Contracts and High Priest theology, but these rabbit holes that the preacher chase to help his slow-thinking audience can confuse people into thinking those are the main points. The main point of the Contract, as chapter 8 makes clear, is that only the enthroned Jesus makes it a present reality ruling reality. This is why the thesis statement of Hebrews (1:3) is not primarily about a high priest, but about an enthroned Jesus ruling in authority.

By chapter 4 we are not told to crawl back to Calvary for another guilt session so we can feel properly broken. We are commanded to come boldly to the “throne” of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:16). The thesis is the enthroned high priest, not mainly about a high priest—though the high priest aspect gives us an important foundation. We are not told to go boldly to the high priest or to a cross, but to the throne of grace. Authority and power, not mere sympathy, grant your requests for help. The loving High Priest we draw near to is not hanging. He is seated.

Later the same book tells us to look to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despised the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (Hebrews 12:2). The author of your faith we are told to look to is specifically said to be on a throne and ruling with authority. Because Jesus is ruling, He has the power and authority to ensure your faith is grown and matured to perfection.

Hebrews is not mainly about the cross. It is a book about the throne and the authority of the enthroned King, who already made the new Contract active. We are told about the foundations that make the throne so approachable—such as a sympathetic high priest who finished our salvation once for all, with a the best of the best Contract. But the Hebrew point is about Jesus on the throne. Hebrews is pointing us to focus, not on the old tree, but on the place where the current Jesus lives. The One who perfects your faith is not the One still bleeding. He is the enthroned King who lives to intercede for you. You cannot run the race by staring at a finished beam like it’s still the main event. You run it by locking eyes with the One who already finished it and now rules from the throne of power and grace.

This is not mainly cross theology. This is throne theology. And once you see it, the applications detonate.

You Are Already Seated — Stop Acting Like You’re Not

Paul tells the Colossians they have already been raised with Christ. Therefore seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on things on the earth (Colossians 3:1-2). Why? Because that is already your location. Your identity. Your existence. You do not become seated later if you behave well enough. You are seated. So live like it. Think from the throne room, not from the dirt under your feet.

Ephesians doubles down with zero mercy for the timid. God raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:6). The same power that raised Christ from the dead and seated Him far above every rule and authority and power and dominion is now at work in us who believe (Ephesians 1:19-23). Everything is under His feet—and therefore under ours—because we are His body and His body is on the throne.

It is not merely that things are under your feet while you scramble around on earth trying to “get the victory.” Things are under your feet while you sit on the throne. Think about that for two seconds. All things are under your—that’s right, your—throne of authority. Paul says, past tense, you have been seated with Jesus. To sit is a symbol of completed work and authority. Jesus finished the work, which is why not only is Jesus seated, you are also resting and sitting. You are sitting with Jesus on a throne. This is why Peter says you are a “royal priesthood.” You are royal because you are seated with Jesus, who is seated on a throne. That is why you can heal the sick, cast out demons, and tell mountains to move. The authority is not a temporary loan that expires when you feel unworthy. It is the permanent position of a royal priesthood. You do not go in and out of it depending on your quiet time. You always have it. Since Jesus is always in His position of authority on His throne, you always have it. Do you see it now? If you refuse to use it, you are not being humble. You are being negligent and stupid.

The Only Witness Available to You Right Now

I cannot be an eyewitness of the cross. I have never seen it. I do not know where the empty tomb is. I cannot stand there and point for the camera. What I can be, right now, is a witness of the enthroned Jesus Christ, because I am already seated with Him. That is the only present-tense testimony available to us.

Look at Acts. Peter’s first sermon that launched the church age was not a long, tearful meditation on the nails. It was a declaration that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ—and that this same Jesus is currently exalted to the right hand of God, has received the promised Holy Spirit, and has poured out what you now see and hear (Acts 2:32-36). Tongues. Power. Prophecy. That is the enthroned Jesus flexing. The rest of the book is the church operating from that occupied throne.

When Stephen looked up, he did not see a cross or a tomb. He saw the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God (Acts 7:55-56). I am a witness of Jesus on Throne, by using my Throne authority, as I am seated with Jesus. That is the power that shook the world. The apostles were never the point. Stop and think about that for a moment. It was not about apostles or men. Making men the point is man-centeredness, and it always ends in celebrity culture and powerless religion. The point is the reigning Christ. The book of Acts is the Age of the enthroned Christ. Because He is on the throne, we are seated with Him and therefore carry authority. What you bind is bound. What you loose is loosed. You have the authority to cast out demons, heal the sick, and command reality because you are already on the throne with Him.

Permanent Authority, Not Mood-Based Permission

You are a royal priesthood. That is not a future promotion. That is present reality. You always have the authority. You do not need to “work yourself up into faith” or wait for a special anointing conference. The throne is already under you. Wiggle your butt—do you feel it? That is the throne beneath you. Wiggle your toes—that is the footstool of the throne, and it is beneath you. The Name of Jesus is already engraved on your tongue. The Spirit has already been poured out from that throne for power.

If you choose not to use it, that is on you. The power that took over the Roman world was not the power of gifted apostles. It was the power of ordinary believers who knew they were seated with the King and therefore acted like it. The book of Acts is not the age of the apostles. It is the age of the occupied throne.

Conquer Now or Don’t Expect a Throne Later

Revelation seals the logic with zero sentimentality. To the one who conquers, Jesus grants the right to sit with Him on His throne, just as He conquered and sat down with His Father on His throne (Revelation 3:21). Notice the condition. Not “to the one who was forgiven.” To the one who conquers. Why?

Let’s ask another question. How do you conquer? By knowing your present position in Christ, by binding and loosing, by healing the sick, by ruling in life now. That is the proof you actually believe you are forgiven and righteous. The people who still see themselves primarily as sinners never rule. They cannot. Sin-consciousness keeps them off the throne in their own minds. They keep dry-humping the empty cross while the King is throwing a victory party two rooms over. Yes, you heard that right. I’m not mocking the cross, I’m mocking your perverted, faithless behavior on the cross. It’s gross, and we can all see you doing it.

But the one who truly believes the blood has perfected him forever (Hebrews 10:14) sits down, opens his mouth, and exercises the authority that already belongs to him. That present conquering is the evidence of real faith. And the promise stands: those who live from the throne now will sit on thrones later.

How Kings Pray from the Throne

Here is the practical payoff. The book of Hebrews, which is about the throne of grace and the authority of the seated High Priest, gives us the application in chapters 4, 10, and 12: go to the throne. Chapter 4 says go boldly to the throne of grace to ask and to receive. That is not a suggestion for the extra-spiritual. That is the normal operating system for everyone who is already seated with Christ in the heavenly places.

So when you pray, how do you see yourself?

Paul says you need to see yourself in the heavenly places, already seated with Jesus—not just standing before Him as a nervous petitioner hoping the King notices you. You are already on the throne with Him. This is why Peter in Acts 3 can look at a crippled man and say, “What I have, I give. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” Peter was not flexing apostle status. He was operating from the same position every believer already has. Because Jesus is on a throne, Peter is on a throne. Because Jesus is on a throne, you are on a throne. From that position he could say, “What I have (authority from the throne), I give.” Jesus gave him—and all of us—His name to use. Get up and walk.

This is why you can decree. This is why you can bind and loose. You are already on a throne. Not “you are going to be if you pray hard enough.” You are. Therefore when you pray, you do not beg like a peasant at the palace gate. Does a king beg? Does Jesus sit there and say, “Oh please, will someone help Me out here?” No. He is on a throne. He is a King. And here is the big idea: you are on the throne with Him.

That is why you do not beg and hedge. That is why you say, “What I have, I give. Walk. Get out of my way, mountain. Leave, Satan.” You already have the authority. That is why you can pray with such confidence. That is why the word-of-faith people are right when they pray without hedging by decreeing. Kings do not negotiate with reality. Kings decree. Kings command.

This is why you can (and should) imagine yourself visually in the throne room of heaven—on a throne or standing next to it, the way Stephen saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God. From that place you open your mouth as a king and say:

“Jesus, as You are before me and the Father, I make this declaration. I am prosperous. I stand on behalf of my brother—he is healed in Jesus’ name. I decree blessing on him.”

And it will happen, because you are in authority. You can actually do that. And if you have faith for it, God will honor your words as the king that you already are.

Stop the Zombie Theology

This is why cross-centered theology is so destructive and, frankly, demonic. It is not humility. It is a sophisticated way to remain an atheist while still using Christian vocabulary. Jesus is not on the cross. You cannot have a living relationship with Someone who is not there. You can remember the cross. You should thank Him for it. The Lord’s Supper commands us to remember. But remembrance assumes you are not stuck there like a spiritual zombie still trying to get blood out of a finished sacrifice.

To camp at the foot of the cross is a dead man’s religion and a zombie theology. The King is alive. You cannot talk to a corpse. You cannot get power from a corpse. Jesus is on the throne, and the table is already spread in His presence. You do not crawl to the doorway forever while the King is calling you to sit down and reign.

The cross was finished. The tomb is empty. The throne is occupied.

And you are seated there with Him right now. Conquer now. Rule now.

That is the proof you know you are righteous. And the promise of heaven is waiting for those who live the conquering life.

Bring Out the True You

What would happen when God brings out the true you? Let me take a look; oh boy, does it look really good and awesome in here.

You ARE light.

Ephesians 5:8 does not stutter or soft-pedal the timeline. “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light.” Past tense: darkness. Present tense: light. The verse is like a divine GPS that refuses to lie about your location and a permanent time-stamp upgrade that deleted the old files for good. That is why people are simply wrong—not merely off by a degree, but flat-out incorrect—when they keep confessing in the present, “I am a sinner… I am the worst of sinners.” According to the Word you are light right now. You were darkness once. The same clean break holds for sinner versus saint, darkness versus righteousness. You were once locked in the kingdom of Satan like a prisoner in a blacked-out dungeon. God has already conveyed you into the kingdom of the Son of His love, the doors behind you have slammed shut forever, and the transfer paperwork is already filed, stamped, and celebrated in heaven.

The faithless keep making this mistake because it keeps them sin-focused. Their consciousness stays glued to darkness, sin, and the enemy, no matter how many “God-centered” or “gospel-centered” banners they wave on the outside like cheap parade floats. It is like insisting on wearing the old muddy prison jumpsuit long after the King has already fitted you with royal robes and burned the jumpsuit, or playing the broken vinyl of guilt while the new album of righteousness is already streaming in high definition. As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. Hebrews 10 exposes the old law’s real failure: it was a constant reminder that cultivated a consciousness of sin—an endless guilt commercial that never stopped running, a dripping faucet that kept the whole house awake all night. Day and night their thoughts, even the subconscious ones, circled how sinful they were like a broken record stuck on the worst track. That is what the law produced. In Christ the whole point is the opposite. You do not carry a consciousness of sin anymore—not even in the quiet corners of your mind. That old identity is past, gone, nailed to the cross and buried under three days of empty-tomb victory.

Now you deliberately cultivate a consciousness of how righteous you are, how full of light you are, how packed with God’s goodness, power, love, and every promise you are. Think of it as rewiring the mental hard drive so the Spirit’s truth becomes the default operating system, flipping the switch from a dusty basement of guilt to a sunlit throne room of favor. When that runs through your mind—even while you sleep, when the nighttime theater used to play the old horror flick—the Holy Spirit is right there saying yes like a proud coach on the sidelines. Because those thoughts line up with the Word, He engraves them deeper, renews your mind, and transforms you. You become what you think by the power of the Spirit.

Thinking “I am a sinner, I am darkness” is not spiritual humility. It is an open invitation, a foothold handed straight to the demonic realm—like leaving the back door unlocked, putting out a welcome mat, and hanging a neon “Demons Welcome” sign. The Bible warns us not to give the devil a place, and that is precisely what a sin-consciousness does. It lets the enemy reinforce the lie until your actions start matching the confession, turning you into an unwilling actor in a script he wrote. Let’s not be faithless. Stop starring in the endless rerun of your pre-cross horror flick. The credits have rolled. The lights are on. You are the light. Walk in the light. You are righteousness. You are full of goodness, full of God’s love, full of the promises of God. Saints, you are the righteousness of God now and forever—so quit the old movie and start living the bright sequel God already filmed.

Bringing out the TRUE YOU.

That bright sequel is exactly what it means to bring out the true you. The true you is not some hidden, struggling, half-saved version still waiting for a future upgrade. The true you is the light you already are. To bring out the true you is to bring out light, righteousness, the mind of Christ, goodness, and the material blessings that flow from the finished work of Jesus. Joel Osteen once said, “God’s not trying to take something from you; He’s trying to get something to you. He wants to bring out the true you. The true you is more blessed, more fulfilled, more successful, more peaceful than you can imagine.” I do not endorse everything Osteen teaches, and the phrasing may not be the most technical or precise way to state the doctrine. Yet the statement itself is perfectly fine. There is nothing truly wrong with it. In fact, saying the doctrine this way is good precisely because it exposes the faithless. They take issue with it the same way they take issue with any clear declaration that the finished atonement delivers present blessings. It is similar to the idea of moralizing. The Bible itself moralizes for the Christian, as Vincent Cheung points out in passages like James 5 and the prophets. The more technical term might be that Scripture teaches us to apply examples to ourselves, but “moralize” works just fine. The same is true here. It is fine to say that when God brings out the true you, He brings out righteousness and blessing.

The faithless push back hard against this. One of them, let’s call him Johnny Billy for convenience, objects that God’s sovereign will ultimately determines life or death, so “giving and taking away” can still mean God removes things you consider blessings that come through Christ’s work. He points to James 4, Peter, and Job, claiming it may not always be God’s will that we live tomorrow. This is obviously stupid. The same book of James says that if a doctor tells you that you have stage-five cancer and will die within days, the prayer of faith will raise the sick. James teaches that we can know what will happen tomorrow when faith is applied to the promises and finished work of Jesus. The same is true for the wisdom James mentions. Even death can be voided by faith. Hezekiah prayed and God gave him fifteen more years. Some passed death outright and went straight to heaven. Johnny Billy insists James is telling us we are still dependent on God’s sovereign will for these things, and that He can give or take them away. No. James says our wisdom for tomorrow and healing that escapes sickness or the death sickness would cause is dependent on our faith, not on some vague, unrevealed sovereign will that contradicts the promises.

As to the give-and-take language, God already did the giving and taking away in the finished atonement of Jesus. God took away our sins, sickness, curses, poverty, and lack and gave them to Jesus, who already suffered for them. And God has already given us righteousness, the blessing of Abraham, riches, healing, the position to use Jesus’ name and get whatever we want, and all spiritual blessings. God will not take away the righteousness He already gave through Jesus. God will not take away the healing He already gave by Jesus’ stripes. God will not take away the gospel of Abraham He already gave me through Jesus becoming my curse. Not only is God truth and logic, but He did these things and through the blood and death of Jesus made it a publicly revealed contract that He will do all the good things He accomplished through His Son to us. Thus it is impossible for God to take away my health when He is in a blood contract that says He will only give me the benefits of Jesus’ atonement, which is health and healing. The Bible tells us who makes us sick, and it is Satan. Sickness is the devil’s middle finger to the atonement of Jesus, and the faithless join in with Satan by flipping off the cross (Acts 10:38).

Johnny Billy also claims that many of the blessings that come with salvation in Christ are promised in the next life, not this one. A glorified body freed from sickness and death is paid for in the atonement, he says, but we are not promised that now and cannot claim a right to it now. This is the classic already-not-yet fallacy that Vincent Cheung has exposed. The Bible’s emphasis is what we have now, not later. The faithless emphasize the opposite. Jesus healing and healing and healing is to show what we have now, not later. Matthew 8:17 tying this into the atonement makes it doubly so. Johnny makes a category error with his term “glorified body.” It is correct that a glorified body will not experience sickness, but that has no logical or categorical relevance to being healed in this life. Since a glorified body cannot be healed—it is already perfect—healing can only categorically be applied to this life. Since healing is in the atonement (Isaiah 53:4-5, Matthew 8:17) and direct promises guarantee healing on the demand of faith (James 5:15), then our unglorified bodies now are promised health and healing on faith.

Johnny Billy notes that Osteen almost certainly means material gain, emotional happiness, and physical health. This is good. Why is that a problem when the atonement not only included forgiveness but Jesus taking my poverty to give me His wealth, and taking my sickness to give me healing? Why do the faithless like Christians to suffer so much? Because they are the ones helping them to suffer. They are the ones who persecute the ones teaching the gospel and then say the gospel causes persecution.

Beyond the negative critique is the point Osteen makes that is right on the money. We are the light now, not later. We are righteous now, not later. We are the mind of Christ now, not later. We are goodness now, not later. We are lovely now, not later. We have all spiritual blessings now, not later. Our inner man was created in the knowledge of Christ when God caused us to be born from above. We have an incorruptible seed in our inner man right now. Thus, to bring out my inner self is to bring out righteousness, goodness, the mind of Christ, an incorruptible inner man already made in the knowledge of Christ. This is me right now. If this is not you right now, you are not saved and are going to burn in hell forever.

The whole point of water baptism is to demonstrate in ritual that the old man is dead and gone. The sinner Oshea is past tense. The righteous Oshea is present tense. At the end of the day the only mind that matters is God’s mind. The only reason I needed to be saved from sins is because in the mind of God He held a record of sins I committed. It does not matter if I acknowledged this record in God’s mind or not. If God thinks it is true, then it is. But the knife cuts both ways. In God’s mind right now, present tense, He only sees a record of perfection and a God-level rightness on my list. God’s thoughts about me are the only thoughts about me that matter and are true. I am righteous because God thinks I am His righteousness. Faith is agreeing with God.

“God, I agree with You. You think I am God’s righteousness, and so I am. You are correct. You think I am light, goodness, and perfect. I agree with You. You are correct. Thank You for giving me Your one and only Son to save me and make this my new reality. You are so good and so loving to me. Thank You.”

In the passage where Paul says we have the mind of Christ, it says the Spirit is in us to show us all the freely given good things God has given us. The finished atonement of Christ is a total salvation for all of life, both spiritual and material. Thus, for God to bring out the true us would mean to bring out how righteous I truly am, as much as how healthy I am, and how rich I am in Christ. I have rivers of living water in me; thus, to bring out the true me would be to bring out rivers of living water out of me. I have the Spirit; thus, to bring out the true me is to bring out the Spirit of God who anoints us to heal the sick, resurrect the dead, and preach the gospel to the poor. To bring out the true me is to bring out the Spirit who alone knows God. I have the blessing of Abraham; I have God as my exceedingly great reward, which in context is mostly about material blessings. Thus, to bring out the true me is to bring out exceedingly great material blessings.

You are the light. The true you is light. Walk in it. Let the Spirit bring out rivers. Let the finished work produce the health, the wealth, the power, the righteousness that already belongs to you. Agree with God’s mind. The old files are deleted. The new operating system is running. Live as the children of light you already are.

The Jesus Flex Or The Spirit Flex?

Jesus chose the Spirit’s flex. And so we will do the same.

I saw this not so harmless comment today. We will learn again that you can never attack the Spirit and come out innocent.

“There is an aberrant teaching gaining traction in the Christian world that states that when Jesus lived on the earth two thousand years ago he did not perform miracles by his divine nature but as a mere man through the power of the Holy Spirit. And since he could do this, so can all of His followers. It is stated that we can follow Jesus as our example (true), including we can all raise people from the dead (but this is false, from any view of spiritual gifts – continuationist, restorationist, or cessationist).”

If I choose not to flex my arm, I don’t stop being a human being.

It’s glaringly obvious from the pages themselves that Jesus didn’t flip a switch between “God-mode” and “man-mode” like some cosmic light switch. He was born under the law (Galatians 4:4), lived as the perfect man under it, and powered His whole ministry by the Holy Spirit. Check the deduction right from His own mouth: “If I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you” (Matthew 12:28). That’s not a one-off; it’s the package deal for His entire gig. Peter spells it out in Acts 10:38: “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and… he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.” And Jesus Himself ties it back: the Spirit empowers the whole show (Luke 4:14, 18). He did not toggle off the God-mode or human-mode when, He crashed in bed to sleep, or when He cast out demons: no, He stayed consistent as the God-man submitted to the law, not because He lost a drop of deity, but because He chose to model the human life we’re called to copy. Jesus made a choice not to flex His right arm.

Now, the deity part? He never clocked out of being God. Philippians 2:6-7 lays it out deductively: He was “in very nature God” but “did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant.” Me choosing not to flex my right arm doesn’t make me non-human. Jesus not choosing to flex His arm in ministry, but instead allowing the Spirit to flex His arm, doesn’t make Jesus less God. He retained full God-ness (John 1:1,14; Colossians 2:9 says the fullness of deity lives in Him bodily), but operated under the law as our example.

The quote concedes that we “follow Jesus as our example” part. So far, so good; we follow Jesus even being baptised in the same Spirit-filled power. Then they pivot to “but you still can’t raise the dead and have healing on demand” by claiming to have the same Spirit empowered ministry Jesus’ had. Their sneaky move. Jesus was mainly flexing His own biceps in ministry. Thus, “if Jesus was mostly flexing His own divine power the whole time, then even if we’re filled with the Spirit exactly like He was, we still don’t get the same miracle menu, the same certainty for miracles—because His real horsepower was the Jesus-arm curl, not the Spirit’s flex.” Sounds clever on the surface, right? But watch how the Bible’s own logic torches it.

First, even if we grant their “mostly Jesus power” claim for the sake of argument (which the text doesn’t actually say—Matthew 12:28, Acts 10:38, and Luke 4:14,18 all tie His whole ministry package to the Spirit), it still changes nothing about what we can do. Why? Because Jesus’ extreme faith doctrine stands completely independent of that debate. It’s not riding shotgun on the “Spirit empowerment vs. divine flex” argument—it’s a separate, rock-solid command for every believer. He flat-out says:

– “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed… nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matthew 17:20)

– “Whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things…” (John 14:12)

– “If anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt… it will be done for them.” (Mark 11:23)

That’s not “if the Spirit gives you the resurrection gift” or “only when you’re flexing like I sometimes did.” It’s “pray in faith, speak the command, and receive it.” The faith doctrine is always in play, always available, always normal discipleship. So their whole attack on the Spirit’s role? Pointless detour. It doesn’t touch the mountain-moving, dead-raising promise Jesus handed us directly. Even on their own terms, we still get the goods through faith. Game over.

When they downgrade the Spirit’s role in Jesus’ miracles like this, they’re tiptoeing on the line Jesus drew in Mark 3:28-30. He warned that attributing the clear works of the Holy Spirit to something else (or in this case, minimizing them) is the one thing that doesn’t get forgiven—because it insults the very power that proves the kingdom has arrived. The text doesn’t play games here: the Spirit empowered Jesus’ entire show (Peter says so in Acts 10:38, Jesus confirms it in Matthew 12:28). Trying to push the Spirit into the background so Jesus can flex His right arm in His earthly ministry? That Spirit’s blasphemy warning 101.

Their attack is a logical swing-and-miss on two fronts: (1) it ignores the faith doctrine that makes miracles our everyday expectation anyway, and (2) it risks the exact Spirit-dishonoring trap Jesus flagged. The Bible keeps it simple and extreme: Jesus modeled Spirit-fueled, faith-speaking life under the law (without ever clocking out of being God), then said “you do the same—and even bigger.” No fine print, no “mostly divine flex” loophole. That’s the deductive flow straight from the text.

And here’s the final point: the critic always shoots too low. This is the default posture of the faithless. Because they don’t truly believe in God’s promises or the gospel, they limit God—and in doing so, they limit themselves. The gospel says aim for the stars, but they aim for the dirt. They end up hitting the dirt and then high-five each other for their incredible accuracy. Yet they aim too low in every area of life—including when they take shots at their opponents. They fire at the dirt a few feet in front of the target and call it a bullseye.

They imply our goal is to be like Jesus. But our calling is more than Jesus. Jesus Himself said we would do greater works than He did. The doctrine of faith, combined with the baptism of the Holy Spirit that Jesus gave us, means we’re equipped to do greater things than He did while on earth. Jesus promised more miracles—not fewer.

Tongues: The Ultimate Life Hack

I have a few essays on the power of speaking in tongues. The reason for this is simple. It’s a command from Scripture to be baptized in the Spirit; we’re commended to have the corporate gifts that edify the body. But to speak in tongues is to edify yourself; it’s a personal gift, and as a personal gift, it’s for anyone who asks for it. It’s so common that Paul assumes it for believers: “Have you received the Spirit?” And the outcome was, again, speaking in tongues as proof.

Speaking in tongues edifies and builds up the inner man. It keeps you from being depressed and empowers you to be filled with peace and joy. Furthermore, praying in tongues is how you put on and keep on the helmet of salvation and wield the Sword of the Spirit. Praying in tongues is also how you keep yourself in the love of God. Lastly, praying in tongues can easily lead to interpretation. This is the category of prophecy, divine knowledge, and insight. It allows Jesus to sit at the right hand of the Power and be a personal counselor to all His children across the world. Interpretation of tongues is, therefore, a gateway into all the powers of the Spirit. It’s a foothold into more and more power.

However, over the past week or two, I needed a new computer because the old one was breaking down. I decided to build my first PC rather than buy one, because I noticed I could build it for a cheaper price with the same parts and get more performance out of it. I built it and enjoyed doing something new for the first time. Praise God, it went well, but with one minor issue. I won’t bore you with the details. But for over a week, I toiled over this issue to fix it. I spent day after day, with long, exhausting hours, with no success. I was on forums asking and getting all sorts of replies, but none helped.

I did my devotions during this time, but they were rushed, including not praying in tongues as much as I usually do. Because of my internal frustrations and my devotions suffering, I remember asking God for help; however, if I’m honest with myself, I felt my request lacked faith or had doubt mixed in. I should’ve done a full stop there and worked on my inner man, but the temptation of a new thing momentarily distracted my discipline.

Then, a few days ago, while I was at work, I listened to a new essay by Vincent Cheung called “The Benefits of Praying in Tongues.” I like this topic, so I engrossed my attention in fully listening and meditating on the essay. It was mostly a review of my own thoughts and teaching on the subject, with a few new insights. I was encouraged to do the very thing I often do and encourage others to do: praying in tongues.

So, while I was still at work, I began to pray in tongues and confess God’s good promises over my life. Soon, I felt my inner man flood with peace, and my mind became sharper and more focused. When this happens, I know from experience that prayer is so much easier and the results better. I asked God to help with the computer issue that was vexing me. Unlike previous times, I felt faith in my heart as I prayed. The next moment, I received an interpretation, and the Spirit spoke to me, saying, “I will help you with this small issue, and I will also help you with big issues.” I barely had enough time to process and enjoy the Spirit’s word when I got a notification from a forum post. A person responded with a possible answer, and upon reading it, I knew immediately it was the solution. And it was.

A few takeaways: Praying in tongues is a cheat code for life. It’s the ultimate life hack that penetrates all aspects of life. If unbelievers knew the power and extreme advantages that praying in tongues gives believers, they’d scream we’re cheaters and demand we don’t use it. It’s a game-changer. It’s having admin rights when others don’t. It’s the NES Nintendo Game Genie. If Christians utilized praying in tongues, unbelievers couldn’t compete with them in life; depression would run away with its tail tucked between its legs, and demons would tremble in fear. If Christians prayed in tongues, they would both experience the love of God in their hearts and see more of God’s love affecting all parts of their health, wealth, work, family, and on and on. To not pray in tongues is to hate yourself.

It’s the ultimate cheat hack. You can be experiencing a slow mind and disturbed heart due to your own lack of discipline, but then bypass the consequences of this by praying in tongues. It’ll sharpen your mind and bring peace to your heart. It’ll supernaturally allow you to bypass everything going on around you and help you boldly walk into God’s throne of grace to ask and receive. Because praying in tongues strengthens your inner man with peace, joy, and mental sharpness, it helps you have faith without doubts. This is what a stronger inner man has: a more continuous joy and peace of God, with fewer doubts intruding. Praying in tongues is particularly good at strengthening your inner man. This stronger inner man means a more confident faith, which results in more answered prayers.

Tongues are the ultimate cheat code—God’s Game Genie for life! Skip the toil, dodge depression, and crank up peace and power with a Spirit-fueled prayer hack. My PC woes? Toast, thanks to tongues and a divine forum nudge. Refuse to pray in tongues and you are benching the Spirit and begging for a cursed slog!

Lastly, to toil is a curse. We’re commanded to work and not be lazy; however, overworking and toiling with little fruit to show for it is the curse of God for Adam’s sin. But Jesus became a curse for us, in our place as a substitute. In exchange, Jesus gave us the gospel of Abraham, which is abundant increase, health, wealth, and fame. We don’t bear the curse of toil but the blessing of Abraham’s abundant increase. Isaac did sow in the drought. He did work. But God gave a hundredfold increase when there was no water. We’re not under the curse but the gospel of increase.

I should’ve realized this when I was troubleshooting the computer issue. I was toiling as if I was still under the curse. This is wrong. Thankfully, the gospel of Abraham also means being given the Spirit, which means the baptism of the Spirit for power. Thus, when I was praying in tongues, I stopped operating under the curse and began to operate under the gospel of Abraham.

I immediately received fruitfulness and increase.

The Power of the Lord was with Jesus

“The power of the Lord was with Jesus to heal the sick.” (Luke 5:17 NIV)

It was not Jesus’ power, but the power came from God, or more precisely the Father in the anointing of the Spirit. Jesus was baptized in the Spirit to begin His ministry. We know the Spirit’s baptism on Jesus was for “power” because Jesus said He drove out demons by the Spirit of God, not His. He did not drive them out by His name, but by the power of Spirit. We see again in our original verse that the “power of God” was with Jesus to heal. It was not Jesus’ power, but the Spirit’s power. Jesus came as a man, born under the law, and even ministered God’s power as a saint does, by the power of the Spirit. Jesus says in John 14:10 that “it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.” Jesus did not use “Jesus” power and authority, but ministered the works of the Father through power of the Spirit.

Thus, after His resurrection Jesus commanded the disciples, not to minister or spread the news, but to wait in Jerusalem until they were baptized in the Spirit for “power.” It was the same baptism of power He had. It is like that of Elijah and Elisha and the passing of the mantle of power. Elisha received a double portion and Jesus in a similar way said anyone who believes in Him will do greater miracles (double portion). As a human, Jesus received the mantel of power by the baptism of the Spirit; He did the Father’s works by the Spirit. He was the forerunner. He showed us how to do it. He then ascended to heaven and handed the mantle of power to us, for us to complete the works of the Father. We are baptized in the same Spirit to do the same works of the Father, except for the work redemption. We are baptized in the same power of the Spirit to do even greater works, not because we are greater in ourselves, but because Jesus now sits on His throne and in authority directs us to expand His kingdom.

This is why it is dumb to say, “Well, that was Jesus, and this is us and so we can’t do what He did.”

Consider how generous He is with His power! He likes it when we ask for more of His Spirit and power. Ask!

Power is what will Finally Deliver You

I awoke today feeling off and with a headache. Halfway through the day I saw a reminder to seek God in devotion for spiritual strength, and I felt the Spirit prod me to do this. As the day went on the headache got worse and I felt an irrational oppressive pressure on my mind. I even had a difficult time remembering things. Finally it got to a point where it was irrational fears and accusative thoughts coming out of nowhere.

I have been seeking personal inner strength as a priority for about 2 or 3 years now. God has been delivering me from many of my old fears and even sins and etc. I will one day write about this, but even as a young man I experienced a direct demonic attack regarding temptation. It frightened me. I lacked the knowledge and power to know how to deal with such a thing. It caused me years of terrible fear in my heart. Vincent’s materials were helping me, and his essay on Demonic Attacks was a moment of where I began to experience real breakthrough.

Today, I suddenly felt all those old fears suddenly being pressed upon me, like they once did. So, again I did the easy thing and just began to pray in tongues and declares God’s promises over me. When I began this, the oppressive mental attacks ratcheted in up strength. However, after about 15 minutes I felt a sudden power in speaking in tongues. This happens often to me. You will be praying in tongues and suddenly, the power will increase, and you feel power and urgency. The moment this happened I heard the Spirit say to me, “You are a child of God, these things are to be afraid of you, not the other way around!” At this exact moment, all the oppressive thoughts and pressure vanished and even my headache was instantly healed.

In a perfect world of mature faith, a simple word would have stopped this attack earlier on the day. And we are all to seek this level of faith. So, while you work on a strong faith, have compassion on yourself and those around you needing help, by praying in tongues and bringing down the power of God to expand His kingdom.

Vincent Cheung in the essay, “Cure for Psychological Trauma,” says, “Power is what will finally deliver you.” The foundation is first correct theology and promises. But the thing that will deliver from all your troubles is power. Unadulterated power of God. Mature faith will always do this. However, praying in tongues is one of the easiest, (it is so easy it is like having game cheat), ways to move the power of God directly into your soul, body and life. You should eagerly seek this gift. We need less talk and more power! God’s power is able to deliver you, your family, your church and even entire nations.

Oshea Davis

Systematic Theology. Logic. Faith. Healing. Power.