While I was holding crusades in Guyana, a minister came to me asking what he needed to do to cause the anointing in him to produce miracles. He said that he was living a holy and righteous life before the L-rd and could not understand why the blind eyes were not coming open and the lame were not walking.

We watched as the L-rd gave many people their healings and miracles that they so desperately needed. However, what prompted this heart rending question was a 12-year-old girl that has never walked, with braces from her feet to her hips, was miraculously healed.

Throughout the years, I have been asked this same question by countless numbers of people. There is not a quick answer to be given to such a question as this. I have sought the L-rd in this matter and I hope that you will profit from my findings.

I realize that it is the anointing that destroys the yoke, but I also realize that not all people see mighty healings and miracles. I also agree that different people are anointed in different ways than others. Some have stronger anointings than others, but I believe that all should and can work the works of G-d.

Looking at the saints of old, we can better understand the development of their lives and ministries. Today, we need to take very careful heed of their lives and learn as to why G-d used them in such miraculous ways. Noah is a prime example of this.

Genesis 6: 9-22 (KJV)

9 These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.

10 And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.

12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.

13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold; I will destroy them with the earth.

14 Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.

15 And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of. The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits.

I6 A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof, with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it.

I7 And, behold, I even I do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die.

18 But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy Sons wives with thee.

19 And of every living thing of al/flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall he male and female.

20 Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive.

21 And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them.

22 Thus did Noah according to all that God commanded him so did he.

Noah did not know what rain was. As a matter of fact, no one on the earth at that time had ever seen rain. Noah built a boat only through blind faith that G-d was going to cause it to rain. Verse 22 sums it up the best. Noah did according to all that G-d commanded him to do. This no doubt is an attribute that is needed if we are to ever walk into the depths of the anointing.

Let us now look at Abraham and his obedience to G-d when it came to sacrificing his son, Isaac.

Genesis 22:1-3 (KJV)

l And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.

2 And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of

3 And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up. and went unto the place of which God had told Him.

Notice in verse 3 that Abraham did not even question the L-rd as to what he was to do. I am not sure there are many on this earth at this time that could be as obedient as Abraham was then. I do not know what it would have been like to have been in Abraham’s position, but I am sure it would have been the most difficult thing of my life if it would have happened to me.

When Elijah went to Elisha, the mantel that Elijah cast upon Elisha was the anointing of God Himself. Read as we see how Elisha handled the situation.

I Kings 19:19 -21 (KJV)

19 So he departed thence, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth: and Elijah passed by him, and cast his mantle upon him.

2O And he left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said, Let me, I pray thee, kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow thee. And he said unto him, Go back again: for what have I done to thee?

21 And he returned back from him, and took a yoke of oxen, and slew them, and boiled their flesh with the instruments of the oxen, and gave unto the people, and they did eat. Then he arose, and went after Elijah, and ministered unto him.

We are finding an absolute about these patriarchs of G-d. They were men of unquestioning service to the L-rd. No matter what the price, they were determined to be obedient to the L-rd and carry out His commands to the very letter.

The Bible is given to us as a guide and an example to follow. If these men were greatly anointed by the L-rd (and they were), then we had better start doing the things that they did. Jesus himself had the same commitment as the men that we have just discussed.

John 4:34 (KJV)

34 Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.

This should be the cry in all of our hearts. It seems that many times we spend so much time trying to decide what is in it for ourselves that we miss the very thing that the L-rd is trying to do. The Bible tells us that obedience is better than sacrifice. The L-rd wants us to become completely obedient to Him.

When the L-rd visited Paul (then known as Saul), on the road to Damascus, He demanded obedience from Ananias.

Acts 9:10-18 (KJV)

10 And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said Behold, I am here. Lord.

11 And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and enquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus: for, behold he prayeth.

12 And hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight.

13 Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hat done to thy saints at Jerusalem:

14 And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name.

15 But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:

16 For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my names sake.

17 And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, haht sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost

18 And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized.

That had to have been very difficult for Ananias because he knew that Paul had been the enemy of the Christians. However, he went and did exactly what he was told to do. Notice in verse 17, Ananias calls Paul brother.

These obviously are only a few of the unquestioning saints that were completely obedient to G-d. I believe that we can ascertain from this that without the kind of obedience that we have seen here, there will not be many powerful acts of G-d performed through us.

Another point that I believe that we should observe is that these saints stayed with the things of G-d through all manner of trial, knowing that the Word of G-d was truth. Job expressed this very well.

Job 1:13-22 (K.JV)

13 And there was a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brothers house:

14 And there came a messenger unto Job, and said, The oxen were plowing, and the asses feeding beside them:

15 And the Sabeans fell upon them, and took them away; yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.

16 While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The fire of God is fallen from heaven, and hath burned up the sheep, and the servants, and consumed them; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.

17 While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The Chaldeans made out three bands, and fell upon the camels, and have carried them away, yea, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.

18 While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brothers house:

19 And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.

20 Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head. And fell down upon the ground, and worshipped,

21 And said, Naked came lout of my mothers womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.

22 In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.

In this last verse, it really tells us all about the man Job. We find that in all that he had been through - losing his children and his goods - Job sinned not, nor accused the L-rd foolishly. Most of us would have blamed the L-rd and stopped serving Him if anything even vaguely such as this happened.

Jesus was the prime example of sticking it out through adverse conditions.

Mark 14:36 (KJV)

36 And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless, not what I will, but what thou wilt.

It is G-d’s will that we must attain if we are going to move into the deeper places of the anointing. We are going to have to understand that the anointing is not going to increase in our lives just because we are filling a pew every Sunday morning. It is going to take hard work and changing some of the attitudes that we have had in the past about the anointing. Unquestioning service to the L-rd with the determination to stay with the things of G-d through all manner of circumstances. G-d will, as He always has, honor this type of obedience.

Another thing to consider is that all of these people in the Bible were totally consecrated unto the L-rd. Total consecration means that they wholly followed G-d. Joshua and Caleb were wonderful examples of this.

Numbers 32: 8-13 (KJV)

8 Thus did your fathers, when I sent them from Kadesh-Barnea to see the land.

9 For when they went up unto the valley of Eshcol, and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the children of Israel, that they should not go into the land which the Lord had given them.

10 And the Lords anger was kindled the same time, and he sware, saying,

11 Surely none of the men that came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob; because they have not wholly followed me:

12 Save Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite, and Joshua the son of Nun: for they have wholly followed the Lord.

13 And the Lords anger was kindled against Israel, and he made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation, that had done evil in the sight of the Lord, was consumed.

Joshua and Caleb chose to believe G-d even though the others painted a picture of great despair. In verse 12, we see that they wholly followed the L-rd. This is what we need, people that will wholly follow the L-rd, people that will not look at the circumstances but will believe G-d in spite of the situation. We will have to know the L-rd and be able to trust Him in all the various aspects of our lives. This will have to be even in the midst of others telling us that we are wrong because the majority says something different.

The apostles saw the sick healed, blind eyes open, the lame walk, the deaf and dumb hear and speak, all matter of disease leave, even the dead being raised, all through the name of Jesus. There are reasons for this and the reasons are not just because they were apostles. They were men of G-d that followed after the things of    G-d. These next three sets of scriptures will give you a further idea of what it is going to take to work the works of G-d in these last days.

Matthew 16:24-26 (KJV)

24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross, and follow me.

25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

Luke 14:25-35 (KJV)

25 And there went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and said unto them,

26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

27 And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.

28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?

29 Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him,

30 Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.

31 Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand?

32 Or else, while the other is yet a great way off he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace.

33 So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.

34 Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be seasoned?

35 It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dung hill; but men cast it out. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

John 15:1-13 (KJV)

1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.

2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.

4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.

5 I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.

7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.

9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.

10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Fathers commandments, and abide in his love.

11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.

12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.

13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

The reason the apostles worked the works of G-d is because they heard the words of Jesus and went even further than hearing. They acted on those words that our L-rd gave them. We of this generation have much to accomplish before the coming of our L-rd. We must lay aside every sin that seems to so easily beset us and come into the things of G-d as never before. This generation needs to desperately realize that we no longer have the original apostles with us and they are not going to return to this earth to work the greatest of G-d’s works that is yet to come. We are going to have to take up where they left off, and the only way to do that is to live as they lived then. These men and women of G-d lived in faith, and that is exactly the way we are going to have to learn to live. We must follow the example left to us by these grand old patriarchs, and if we will do that, we will move into the greater works. There will be a portion of the Church that will heed to teaching such as this but not all of the Church will follow after the examples left for us to follow. Let those who have ears hear what thus saith the mouth of G-d.

The End Time Messenger

August/September 1996