Jesus commanded His followers to heal the sick, cast out devils, cleanse lepers, and raise the dead.

His present day followers, at least in North America say, “Which ones”? To which He replies. “The one’s who are sick, possessed or dead!”

The greatest commandment He gave was to go in power. The only exceptions are the commandments concerning loving God and loving people. Jesus qualified those that loved Him as those that would “obey His commandments”.

What does love look like? Love takes on many facets but at the core of them all is how are my decisions going to affect God’s heart.

“If you love Me you will keep [guard, protect, proceed with] My commandments [those things that I deem of most importance].”

How can we love if we do not go? And what does going look like? Love looks like getting involved at the level of invitation and working to bring heaven into the circumstances people find themselves in.

Love is not sympathy as Jesus was never moved by sympathy. Jesus was moved by compassion which is a deep-seated emotion that compels one to act for the benefit of the one needing help. Sympathy is a very poor substitute and is impotent in the face of most problems.

There is an interesting story found in the Old Testament. The Old Testament is filled with types of New Testament realities. It has been said that the New Testament is contained in the Old and the Old Testament is revealed in the New.

Here is the story ~

1 KIngs 17:17-24 ~~

“Now it came about after these things that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became sick; and his sickness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. So she said to Elijah, ‘What do I have to do with you, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my iniquity to remembrance and to put my son to death!’ He said to her, ‘Give me your son.’ Then he took him from her bosom and carried him up to the upper room where he was living, and laid him on his own bed. He called to the LORD and said, ‘O LORD my God, have You also brought calamity to the widow with whom I am staying, by causing her son to die?’ Then he stretched himself upon the child three times, and called to the LORD and said, ‘O LORD my God, I pray You, let this child’s life return to him.’ The LORD heard the voice of Elijah, and the life of the child returned to him and he revived. Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper room into the house and gave him to his mother; and Elijah said, ‘See, your son is alive.’ Then the woman said to Elijah,’Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is truth.'”

I want to focus on one main statement that the widow made in verse 24. “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.” This statement follows Elijah’s successful raising her son from the dead.

What if this was the standard for every minister of the Gospel today? Oh, it is!

This standard has never been retracted. Jesus modeled for us what a minister of the Gospel’s ministry actually is.

John 1:1, 2 ~ “Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; this man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.”

Nicodemus said the proof God was with Jesus was the miraculous signs that He did. Luke said the same thing in Acts 10:38 ~ “You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.”

New Testament ministry has always been in word and deed. God always intended for the Gospel to be seen as well as heard.

Modern Christianity has divorced demonstration from articulation. Jesus never divorced the two. In fact, almost every time Jesus commanded the disciples to preach the Gospel it was followed by the command to, at the minimum, heal the sick.

It is time for every New Testament minister of the Gospel to walk in supernatural power. The world is waiting for the Church to arise to her rightful place. No more excuses for powerless Christianity.

For HIS Glory!
Dr. Kevin M. Drury
A Hisstorymaker