There is a time to pray, and there is a time to act. Far too many of God’s children spend all their time praying, and not acting. For example, the book of Acts isn’t called the book of Pray, but Acts. Why? because they actually DID something!
There was a time of prayer preceeding acting, to be sure. The Lord Jesus told the disciples to remain in Jerusalem until power be given them from on high. But once that power was given, you’ll notice the disciples didn’t remain in the upper room praying, but they left it to go do something with that power. That’s where a lot of people miss it.
Let’s take a practical application from Exodus Chapter 14. In order to get a good picture, we’ll have to use the whole chapter:
Exo 14:1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
Exo 14:2 Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn and encamp before Pihahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, over against Baalzephon:before it shall ye encamp by the sea.
Exo 14:3 For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in.
Exo 14:4 And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, that he shall follow after them; and I will be honoured upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the LORD. And they did so.
Exo 14:5 And it was told the king of Egypt that the people fled: and the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was turned against the people, and they said, Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us?
Exo 14:6 And he made ready his chariot, and took his people with him:
Exo 14:7 And he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt, and captains over every one of them.
Exo 14:8 And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel: and the children of Israel went out with an high hand.
Exo 14:9 But the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army, and overtook them encamping by the sea, beside Pihahiroth, before Baalzephon.
Exo 14:10 And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid: and the children of Israel cried out unto the LORD.
Exo 14:11 And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt?
Exo 14:12 Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.
Exo 14:13 And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.
Exo 14:14 The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.
Exo 14:15 And the LORD said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward:
Exo 14:16 But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.
Exo 14:17 And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them: and I will get me honour upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.
Exo 14:18 And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I have gotten me honour upon Pharaoh, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.
Exo 14:19 And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them:
Exo 14:20 And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the night.
Exo 14:21 And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.
Exo 14:22 And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.
Exo 14:23 And the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen.
Exo 14:24 And it came to pass, that in the morning watch the LORD looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians,
Exo 14:25 And took off their chariot wheels, that they drave them heavily: so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for the LORD fighteth for them against the Egyptians.
Exo 14:26 And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.
Exo 14:27 And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the LORD overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea.
Exo 14:28 And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them.
Exo 14:29 But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea; and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.
Exo 14:30 Thus the LORD saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore.
Exo 14:31 And Israel saw that great work which the LORD did upon the Egyptians: and the people feared the LORD, and believed the LORD, and his servant Moses.
We can see that Moses had been praying, crying out to God by verse 15 when He told Moses to GO FORTH!This is the place where we get bogged down. We pray and pray and pray, expecting God to do everything for us. Sure, God is Almighty, and He could have picked up all the people of Israel and put them on the other side of the Red Sea. Why then didn’t He? Why don’t you ask God like I did? You might be surprised at the answer….
This is the place where we get bogged down. We pray and pray and pray, expecting God to do everything for us. Sure, God is Almighty, and He could have picked up all the people of Israel and put them on the other side of the Red Sea. Why then didn’t He? Why don’t you ask God like I did? You might be surprised at the answer….
But I’ll clue you in…..there’s too much to it for me to address in this one article, but it has to do with…..hold on to your hat…..here it comes……..
YOUR AUTHORITY!
You remember how Moses and Aaron went before Pharaoh and Aaron used his rod? He threw it down and it became a serpent. You know the story, the Pharaoh’s sorcerers and magicians did likewise, and their rods also became serpents. But Aaron’s rod, which was the sign of God’s authority being used by men, swallowed up their rods, and guess what? When Aaron picked up his rod again, the sorcerers didn’t get theirs back. This was an illustration the Lord showed me about the difference between “exousia” power, and “dunimis” power, told of in Luke 10:19 by the Lord Jesus.
Getting back to Moses here, you notice that the Lord told Moses in Exodus 14:16, to stretch forth his rod over the sea. That was God telling Moses, quit praying, and USE the authority I have given you.
How many times do we bawl and squall to God to do something, when He has granted US the authority to do what is needed to advance His Kingdom here on earth?
What if Moses had just continued to cry out to God instead of stretching forth his rod over the Red Sea? What if the Israelites would have just stood there expecting God to somehow put them on the other side of the Sea? No doubt they would have all perished for lack of obedience. Sure, God is Almighty, and He could have just supernaturally put them on the other side of the Sea, but He told THEM to do something. He told Moses to use his authority, and then for them all to go forth. God didn’t give that rod and authority to Moses for him to just keep asking God to do something!
As I said earlier, the rod represented God’s authority given unto man to accomplish God’s will upon this earth. It’s no different from the “rod of authority” you have been granted today. Back then, it was a physical rod or stick that had to be stretched forth. Today, it’s the Word of God coming forth out of YOUR mouth. That leaves your two hands free to use to do His work. How handy…..
How many times do we bawl and squall to God to do something, when He has granted US the authority to do what is needed to advance the Kingdom of heaven right here on earth?
In July 1993 I was dying of cancer, and went to church and got saved. The Word of God said in Psalm 103:2-3 that God had forgiven all my sin and healed all my diseases. I believed God and acted like it. I dragged myself out of my sickbed and went back to work. I did not look healed, nor feel healed, but the Word of God does not return to Him void. I did not “wait for a sign” that I was healed. The Word granted me power to go forth free from sickness, and I did so, even though at the time I did not see any outward manifestation of it.
There’s where so many of God’s people miss it. They are waiting to “see if these things are so”, instead of acting on the Word of God. That’s why many people never see their healing. They want to wait until the symptoms subside before they believe they are healed, We err greatly by doing that, in that the authority has been granted us for healing, and we fail to walk forth in that authority and use it.
I was at a church where people were asking for “more power and authority” from God. Let me give you a clue here: you don’t need any more. Listen, folks, if you’d just use the power and authority you already have been granted, the devil would be scared spitless and he’d run from you in terror!
Let’s look at Luke 10:17-20:
Luk 10:17 And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name.
Luk 10:18 And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.
Luk 10:19 Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
Luk 10:20 Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.
These disciples who came back amazed and rejoicing at all the authority they had been given are the same ones who were waiting in the upper room on the Day of Pentecost. Now I know Jesus told them when He ascended to tarry in Jerusalem until power was given them from on High. But why weren’t they using what they already had? They already had enough power to blow the devil’s socks off, but instead of being out using it, they were waiting like many of us do. “Oh, I’m just waiting on God.”
Peter and some of the other disciples even went back to their old job fishing, yet Jesus had called them to be “fishers of men”. What happened? These very disciples had witnessed at least THREE personal appearances by the Lord Jesus after He was raised from the dead, but it just didn’t seem to register with them, did it? It took a “Jolt from heaven” to get them going again. Sometimes we need that, too But after it was given, they didn’t waste time crying to God to do something….they went forth in power and turned their world upside down demonstrating the Power of God to everyone around them.
Right about now you may be saying, “Well, I’m waiting for God to tell me what to do.” While you’re waiting, why not spend some time reading your Bible, and you’ll find God has already told you what to do. Once you know the will of God, and you only find that out by prayer and Bible study, you need to be about doing it! You don’t need a “sign from God”, nor do you need to wait until you feel better to know you are healed. You don’t need a word from three prophets and twenty four elders. God has already spoken, when are you going to act on it?
The day you were “born again” you were given, a “rod of authority” from God that when stretched forth will part whatever “Red Sea” you are facing in life.
The whole generation of Israelites failed to enter the Promised Land, including Moses himself, because of disobedience. Only Joshua and Caleb got to enter in. When the twelve spies went in to the land of Canaan to check it out, ten of them came back to Israel saying they were as grasshoppers in the sight of the Canaanites, and they feared to go take the land. Even though God had already said the land was theirs and He would go before them to drive out the inhabitants of the land, they let the “grasshoppers” keep them out of their Promised land.
Friends, I’m not about to let the “grasshoppers” or any devil keep me out of MY Promised Land. God has given me authority and I intend to stretch forth that rod and accomplish the Lord’s work.
Tune in for the next chapter “Crossing the Red Sea on dry ground”. I’m going forth!
Care to join me?
kathy behzadi bass on 05 Jan 2009 at 10:20 pm #
Thank you as always for your very insightful and informative readings. I truly get blessed everytime I read them. However, this past month , I have not received anything from you. Will you please make sure I’m on your email list.
Thanks again and God bless,
Kathy Behzadi Bass , Las Vegas
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