Hi all,
In many situations in the gospels as well as in our time, the reason people didn’t see miracles in their lives was due to their unbelief.
This is about how to overcome our unbelief and lack of faith by building ourselves up with faith in the Name that is above all names. Part 3 will deal specifically with unbelief and its causes, and how to overcome it. But I want to share why that first meeting with Jesus changed my life.
The first time I saw Jesus – and the Name
I was the Associate Pastor in an unpaid position in a church in the Boulder, Colorado area. Our youngest son, Brian, was still in the nursery. The nursery was to the side of the platform with the door near the back row of the roughly 300 member church.
Barb and I were on the very last row, in the far left 2 seats so that if needed, we could get to the nursery without disturbing the service. The row was empty but for us, with about 12 to 15 empty seats to my right.
During one of the worship songs, as I had my hands up and eyes closed, my spirit-man’s head turned to the right, and I saw Jesus walk in the back of the church. He walked to the end of our row and stopped. With His left hand He motioned as He said to me: “Come with me.”
This all seemed completely normal, and at no point did I think ‘Wow I see Jesus!’
It was all normal, natural, and there was no mistaking Who it was. I walked along the row of empty seats to the aisle, and followed Him to the front, ignoring the congregation who continued to worship.
In front of the front row, Jesus stood to my left before a pastor from the Navaho nation who was visiting our church. Our church supported his church and ministry in what was at that time, a very poor area.
I looked to the Lord for instruction because where He stood just to the right of the seated Navaho pastor, meant I was left standing directly in front of the pastor. Of all the people in the service, this pastor was the only one seated. It is as if he was waiting for a word from the Lord. The Lord said as He motioned towards the pastor with His left hand: “I have a word for him, and I want you to give it.”
I said, “Lord, you’re here, why don’t you give it?”
He replied: “Just do it.” So I put my hand on the pastor’s head – my spirit man’s hand – for I was ‘in the Spirit’ as the apostle coined the term in The Revelation 1:10 and 4:2. Out of me flowed a prophecy for the pastor. It was exactly what Paul defined prophecy to be in I Corinthians 14:3, an inspired word of ‘edification, exhortation, or comfort’.
The Lord expressed to the pastor such love, such appreciation for his hard work, such encouragement. Understand, the Lord who was standing next to me, was silent. But the Spirit flowed through me to this man from Him. I was blessed just giving such a word with the Lord standing next to me. I didn’t have time to think, ‘This is weird’, because I realized this was a teaching moment with the Lord. What a teaching moment it was.
As the prophecy trickled off like someone slowly turning off a faucet, the Lord suddenly filled me with Himself, literally merging with my spirit saying as He did so: “Remember my son, when you lay hands on a person in my Name, it is as if I am laying hands on that person.”
Suddenly I was back next to Barb.
The worship song was still playing (Of course, it was a charismatic church, so what good is a worship song if you can’t sing it 6 or 7 times repeatedly, lol), and I asked her: “Did I leave your side?” With a slightly perturbed look on her face not understanding why I broke into her worship, she whispered back, “No.”
(Paul wrote of himself in II Corinthians 12: 1-2 saying when he was caught up to the 3rd heaven* he didn’t know if he was in the body or out of the body. For the first time, I understood what that passage meant I was out of the body, my body in what the Bible describes as a trance – a condition where God suspends the functions of the physical body in order to either allow a person to see into His realm, or take them spirit and soul to heaven or where He wills. See Numbers 24: 4, 16, and Acts 10:10, 11:5, 22: 17 and Revelation 1:10 and 4:2 for reference.
*In Judaism, the 1st heaven is the air, 2nd is space, 3rd is where God lives. He was caught up to the 3rd heaven, where God lives, and heard private words that would not be right to share.)
What He said…
“Remember my son, when you lay hands on a person IN MY NAME, it is as if I am laying hands on that person.” That changed my life. I stopped focusing on myself, what if nothing happens, what if they say no, what if I miss it, which demonstrates unbelief, and started focusing on Christ in me and the power of His name.
Acts 8: 1-12 tells us after Steven was martyred the persecution was so bad, “all were scattered to Judea and Samaria except for the apostles.” That is an amazing thing. Most estimates I’ve seen estimate there were about 10,000 believers in Jerusalem at the time. Everyone it says, left town except for the apostles.
They moved to Judea, which was the rural areas surrounding Jerusalem
Also to Samaria, to the north of the city. It was to Samaria after this massive influx of believers had moved there, that Philip the evangelist (Acts 11: 8) came to preach Jesus to the locals.
I’m sure they were wondering what was going on, to suddenly have hundreds or thousands of families move to their area, build homes or buy them, in a massive relocation. Philip’s evangelism essentially, explained what was going on.
We see this in 8:12: “When they believed Philip preaching concerning the things of the kingdom of God AND THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST, they were baptized, both men and women.
When was the last time…
…you heard anyone, evangelist or not, speak or write or do a video teaching about the “name of Jesus Christ” as Philip did? This one verse linking ‘preaching’ of the kingdom and the Name could fill books, but we need to focus on ‘the name’. They believed Philip concerning the name. Why?
Because what v6-8 tell us: “And the people with one accord believed what Philip spoke, hearing and seeing the miracles that he did. For unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice (hearing) came out of many who were possessed of them, and many that had palsies and were lame were healed (seeing), so there was great joy in the city.”
What did this was Philip speaking of the things of the kingdom and the name of Jesus Christ. The proof, the evidence God provided that what Philip said was true, was seen and heard in the miracles witnessed.
Next week, Peter’s faith and some of my own experiences using ‘the Name’ to heal.
Until then, blessings,
John Fenn
