Jesus didn't heal anyone, the Holy Spirit in him healed them

Jesus did this so that we could be assured that we could do the same.

Jesus didn’t heal anyone, the Holy Spirit in him healed them Mc Crossan

Brendan Mc Crossan 14-1-2012

One

What releases the power of God?

What releases the power of God, when a miracle or healing is needed?

Belief releases the power, believing that God loves you and loves those whom you pray with, believing in his compassion and pity the same compassion he released when he saw the sick and disabled as Jesus walked among them. Jesus couldn’t do any miracles until he was filled with the Holy Spirit, and if you are baptised in the Holy Spirit then you have the same Holy Spirit that Jesus had; he did not have a special Holy Spirit because he was God, no he gave up his Godliness when he became a human being. He was just the same as you and me.

And as a human being he could do nothing, no miracles no healings until he was filled with the Holy Spirit, you are filled with the Holy Spirit also if you were baptised in the Holy Spirit when hands were laid on you for this gift to come, or when you asked sincerely for it. It wasn’t until Jesus received the Holy Spirit that he could do the miracles assigned to him, and did you note; ‘I said the miracles assigned to him.’ Jesus did not go around just healing anyone he felt like, ‘no’ he was moved by the Holy Spirit who knew exactly who was open to receive a miracle. Otherwise if Jesus laid hands on people that he himself decided, nothing would have happened probably, he only moved as the Spirit of God moved him and this was to show us how this miracle business works. It is not by mans desire but by God plan and purpose. You know if we just followed the Holy Spirits prompting we would walk in miracle working power also. The first thing that Jesus was assigned to do was to go and preach about the kingdom of God, of which he was the kingdom of God, and he taught them about the kingdom of heaven, two different things. He was the kingdom of God, and the kingdom of heaven is where we are going to, it is a place where God dwells sitting on his throne and billions and billions of angels and seraphim’s and strange beings minister to him, that is his kingdom, heaven. And this is the place every Christian is already seated in right now in the Kingdom of God and in Jesus in the kingdom of heaven. But to get back to what motivated Jesus, he was sent to preach the Gospel, first! Then to back up what he proclaimed, he healed the sick gave sight to the blind and cured the leper; those things that scripture foretold about the coming Messiah. This was to show to the world that the Messiah had come and that the kingdom of God had arrived in their midst. But what motivated Jesus to heal and release miracle working power, was the prompting of God’s Holy Spirit, he was the one who actually healed, not Jesus; you may be thinking that is terrible to deny Jesus healed people when we can see from scripture and history that he did. No! Jesus did not heal anyone; it was the Holy Spirit within him that healed. Scripture is important to understand and pay particular attention to, if you read it carefully you would see that it said ‘the power of the Spirit was upon him to heal’ or he ‘felt compassion for the sick,’ compassion is a leading of the Holy Spirit, and if we followed compassion we would see miracles beyond our belief or understanding.

Luke-4-18- 18The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon Me, because He has anointed Me [the Anointed One, the Messiah] to preach the good news (the Gospel) to the poor; He has sent Me to announce release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to send forth

Jesus didn’t heal anyone, the Holy Spirit in him healed them

as delivered those who are oppressed [who are downtrodden, bruised, crushed, and broken down by calamity], 19To proclaim the accepted and acceptable year of the Lord [the daywhen salvation and the free favours of God profusely abound {Amplified Bible}

You can see in this scripture that Jesus was enthroning the Holy Spirit above himself, if someone sends someone that mean they are greater than the one sent, remember Jesus gave up his position as God, he became a human being just like us and that is a fact that you have to take into account when reading the word of God about Jesus.

“He” has sent ‘me,’ the Spirit of the Lord has anointed me says Jesus, ‘now a human being like you and I.’ Jesus is making a tremendous statement meant for the children of God to pay particular attention to. This is Jesus opening the way for his followers to be open to receive the same sending as he himself received and to believe. We have got it wrong in some ways, we see that it was Jesus who healed and the word of God tells us it was not Jesus who healed, it was the Spirit of God within him that healed, in effect helping us to understand that same Holy Spirit is within us as he was within Jesus, and so we also, as children of God and joined together as one with Jesus have the exact same power inside us to heal a broken world.

Matthew -12-27-Good News Bible

You say that I drive out demons because Beelzebub gives me the power to do so. Well, then, who gives your followers the power to drive them out? What your own followers do proves that you are wrong!28 No, it is not Beelzebub, but God's Spirit, who gives me the power to drive out demons, which proves that the Kingdom of God has already come upon you. 29 No one can break into a strong man's house and take away his belongings unless he first ties up the strong man; then he can plunder his house.

Once again Jesus shows whose power is in him and by whose power he casts out demons; he tells us also that we have the same power through his name and in the power of the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, so we can do likewise.

Matthew 12- 22-Amplified Bible

And many people joined and accompanied Him, and He cured all of them, 16And strictly charged them and sharply warned them not to make Himpublicly known. 17This was in fulfilment of what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah, 18 Behold, My Servant Whom I have chosen, My Beloved in and with whom my soul is well pleased and has found its delight. I will put My Spirit upon Him and He shall proclaim and show forth justice to the nations.

God said through the prophet Isaiah that God will send his son and he would put his own spirit in him, and he says he will do the same for us his children. And our old men would dream dreams and our young men see visions etc. This happened on the day of Pentecost.

Jesus was not above us as a man, he became equal to us so we would believe that we could do what he done through the power of the Holy Spirit, this is not belittling Jesus, or making him out to be nothing, indeed not, no other one could ever give us salvation, no one but Jesus could die for us on that cross; no! This is glorifying him because of what he did for us human beings, It is acknowledging God’s amazing plan to bring great glory to God the Father. He gave us his very own lifejoining himselfto usasoneperson,so when you seeJesusmentioned in scripture realise that he did not come to rule above us but to become one with us that is the miracle of salvation that only Jesus could perform.

Ephesians-2-5-He being God! Gave us the very same life of Christ himself, the same new life with which he quickened him. [Quickened means made alive]

We keep thinking Jesus was above us and that is why he could heal, but the word of God reveals that we are joined together as one thereby making us equal to him as another scripture tells us, but first read the following scripture. He gave us the very same new life he gave Jesus, we are merged into this New Life because that was God’s plan not ours.

Ephesians-1:11-Good-News-Translation

All things are done according to God's plan and decision; and God chose us to be his own people in union with Christ because of his own purpose, based on what he had decided from the very beginning.

The word union means to be joined together with something, union is amalgamation, unification, merger, to become one. As a child of God you have become one with Christ Jesus, you have become like him and like means equal to, to be the same as, to be in union with Christ and it was because it was what God decided not man, and he decided this from before you were ever born, in fact he decided it from the beginning of creation, not the beginning of time.

1-Corinthians-6-17- But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit. {NIV Bible}

If you are a Christian then you are one with Jesus in spirit, which is the Holy Spirit; there is only one spirit of God. There is not two spiritual beings but two spiritual being joined successfully as one. {Glued together}

1-Corinthians-6-19 Do you notknowthatyourbodiesaretemplesoftheHoly Spirit,who is in you, whom you have received from God? {NIV Bible}

Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and it is there he dwells just as he dwelt in Jesus, making no differences between him and us, and you have got to understand that concept, because this is what God wants us Christians to understand so that we could operate in the divine power of God to work miracles and have signs and wonders following us, for his glory alone. If we keep thinking Jesus was above us then we will never understand what God did for us, we have to believe the word of God, for if God said it then it is true. He wants us knowing that we are equal with Jesus because he is one with us, and that makes believing that he will work miracles through us like he did Jesus 2000 years ago. And it is in following the Holy

Spirits leading that miracles happen especially when we realise that it is his power that healed through Jesus and heals through us also as one with Jesus now.

Two

Jesus never healed anyone

Jesus never healed anyone, it was the Spirit of God within him that healed through him; and if you could just get your head around this one you would see why Jesus never healed anyone and why he didn’t heal anyone. Jesus knew he would be on this earth for a brief time and he could not be in everyone to heal through them as it was not his work. So he told his disciples to wait until the Holy Spirit came on the day of Pentecost and filled them with power from above and it was then and only then could they heal by the power within them. Jesus is not in us to heal people he is in us because of salvation, and also in him we dwell in the heavenly places, in him we move and have our being, but it is the Holy Spirit that is the power behind Jesus, he is like the flashlight, Jesus is the light, and what works the light, it is the battery, the battery is the source of the power, the light works because the power is driving it to light up.

If only we could grasp that this is not degrading Jesus or denying him but it is explaining how to receive and deliver the same power he had to create miracles, it was the Holy Spirit within him and the same Holy Spirit is within us now today. This was the plan of God the Father and Jesus and the Holy Spirit from the beginning to give man supernatural power from within. This is why man is always seeking the supernatural, and sometimes the enemy uses this craving to get us turned in another direction and seek the supernatural in witchcraft and things like that.

*Note this; almost every film that has the supernatural in it is a hit, be it Harry Potter or Superman they are what a human being craves deep down inside, because it is in their makeup, their genes. Don’t be stupid here; I am not saying these films are bad or anything ridiculous like that, but that we all crave the supernatural, and God put that craving there within us, by making us supernatural beings and we have a subconscious desire to see the supernatural; for the children of God the good side of the supernatural. For the people of this world, the dark side, the enemy’s side.*

Jesus gave up his godliness and become just like us except that he never sinned, so that first of all we could be saved, and that was the main work of Jesus on earth to save the lost like you and me. The Holy Spirits work in Jesus was to create miracles and signs and wonders to demonstrate what Jesus said was from God and showing that he was the expected Messiah. So Jesus is not angry at me for showing this truth to you; just the opposite he is the one who pointed to the Holy Spirit and said – ‘wait until power from heaven arrives’ in the form of the Holy Spirit, he was sharing his glory and his Holy Spirit with us. He was showing by example how power from heaven works. Jesus always showed by examples, do as I have done he told his disciples and that includes us, and do it the way I told you, wait until you receive power from on high.

Jesus said to his apostles in John-4-34- my nourishment comes from doing the will of God, who sent me to finish his work. What did Jesus do? he preached the good news and healed the sick and delivered the oppressed, but it was all under the Holy Spirits leading. But he didn’t just heal everyone; no he was selective, as the Spirit led him to certain people. To give you a small example here read the following scripture;

John 5-1-American Standard Version (ASV)

1 After these things there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porches. 3 in these lay a multitude of them that were sick, blind, halt, and withered, waiting for the moving of the water. 4 for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the waters stepped in was made whole, with whatsoever disease he was holding.

5 And a certain man was there, who had been thirty and eight years in his infirmity. 6 When Jesus saw him lying, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, “would thou be made whole?” 7 The sick man answered him, Sir; I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another stepped down before me. 8 Jesus saith unto him, Arise, take up thy bed, and walk. 9 And straightway the man was made whole, and took up his bed and walked. Now it was the Sabbath on that day.

3 in these lay a multitude of them that were sick, blind, halt, and withered, waiting for the moving of the water. Why didn’t Jesus heal them all? After all he was a miracle worker, and I am sure people lying there would have known him or of him and beside they saw him heal the man who had been a long time there, they would know the man was the worst of them because he couldn’t even move to get to the water, so they would know him well and know his disabilities, he probably shared with those around him every ailment that he suffered from; we all do, don’t we. Yet Jesus stepped over some and manoeuvred around others to get to this particular mans spot where he was laying. And ignoring everyone else he asked him, ‘would he like to get well, to be made whole? And the man gave him a story of why he couldn’t get well. But the importance of this story is to show us that Jesus only healed those the Holy Spirit led him to. He told him, arise, and take up your bed and walk. Common sense tells me that everyone would have been watching what was going on; those closest to him would have heard Jesus asking him would he like to get well, and would have been very quiet waiting to see what was this guy planning to do. Then when Jesus healed him, {or I should say the Holy Spirit healed him through Jesus} you would have expected others to ask for healing, I seen that happen time after time, when people see someone get healed in front of them they come and ask for prayer also. But not in this case; why did no one else ask for healing when they seen their friend stand up for the first time in years, and then roll up his sleeping mat, they had enough time to ask Jesus as Jesus waited for the man to roll up his mat? There could only be a couple of answers, unbelief, or maybe they were just contented in their illness, content to lay and beg for money or food, content to bask in their illness, boasting and bragging about how sick they were, who knows, I have seen all these reasons in thirty five

years in the healing ministry. Not everyone who is crippled or sick wants to be healed. And the Holy Spirit knows who is sincere and who is not in saying they wish they were well. Jesus was led directly to this particular man, and to no one else, by the Holy Spirit. Come on now tell me the truth if this was you and you were in a healing ministry wouldn’t you be tempted to ask if anyone else wanted healing and begin laying hands on them, I know if I were honest I would say yes I would have. My ego would have been running wild, pride would be my downfall; it would have been so hard for me to walk away from a multitude of cripples without trying to show off by healing others, and maybe some would have been healed, but this was not the will of God he knew their hearts. I would have been wallowing in pride and sinning in my heart, instead of being humble and in obedience. Jesus was obedient unto even suffering and death.

Jesus walked into that place because the Holy Spirit was telling him to go there just for that one man. Obedience from Jesus is what the Holy Spirit wanted.

On another occasion the Holy Spirit led Jesus to pray with a large crowd. And he directed him to heal them all. The lot were healed even those with missing arms and legs as another translation says. This is what I desire to see the miraculous wonder working power of God. And it will come through obedience to the Holy Spirit and acknowledging it is him in me that do the work through me in the same way he worked through Jesus. Both times Jesus was obedient to the Holy Spirits leading, and that is why Jesus became a human being to show us that we also need to follow the Holy Spirits leading so that we also can see the wonder working power of God at work in us; he became like us in every way but sin, so that we could see it was possible for God to work miracles and unbelievable signs and wonders through us. He was showing us that he was fully human, not high above us or, too aloof, or more holy than us, or over us as God’s son or better than us or any of those things he did it to demonstrate the power of the Holy Spirit in him and also in us, he became a human being so that he could demonstrate it was possible for us to do the same as him, through the power of the exact same Holy Spirit.

Matthew 15-30-GOD’S WORD Translation (GW)

A large crowd came to him, bringing with them the lame; blind, disabled, those unable to talk, and many others. They laid them at his feet, and he cured them.31The crowd was amazed to see mute people talking, the disabled cured, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. So they praised the God of Israel.

Three

The will of God is healing Doing the will of God, this is the way to miracle working power, doing the perfect will of God. Following after the Holy Spirits leading is the perfect will of God and he will lead you there if you let him.

Does this mean I should not lay hands on the sick? No, the will of God is for all men and women to be healthy. Your belief is motivated by the Holy Spirit to heal through you, for without faith you cannot please God; so it pleases God when you step out and to begin laying hands on the sick, Jesus said in Mark -16 go out into the entire world and heal the sick, so healing is the perfect will of God for all mankind, but not all mankind wants the will of God in their lives, some totally rejected God or want nothing to do with him, but you should be constantly asking the Holy Spirit, ‘which ones do you wish to heal?’ lead me and direct me, and you will see miracles every time. You could save yourself a lot of disappointment when praying for people that you chose to pray with rather than asking the Holy Spirit, ‘do you want me to lay hands on this person.’

3-John-1-2- I am praying all is well with you and that your body is as healthy as I know your soul is.

God wants us well in body and soul. A man said to Jesus, you can heal me if you want to. I want to, replied Jesus.

Matthew 8-1-Amplified Bible (AMP)

1WHEN JESUS came down from the mountain, great throngs followed Him.2And behold, a leper came up to Him and, prostrating himself, worshiped Him, saying, Lord, if you are willing, you are able to cleanse me by curing me. 3And He reached out His hand and touched him, saying, I am willing; be cleansed by being cured. And instantly his leprosy was cured and cleansed.

This was to show the willingness of God to bring healing to his people, if you are willing said the man and Jesus said you bet I am willing, and he healed him there and then. This was to show the will of God, if God is willing, if it’s his will, and the Holy Spirit in Jesus showed the willingness of God to heal, he showed God’s will to all who can read or hear the word of God. This leper came with the sincere desire to be healed if Jesus was willing and he knew he could do it, and Jesus told him I am willing. The Holy Spirit drew this leper to Jesus, and if you let him the Holy Spirit will lead people to you

Four

Doing the works set out from before time

This is so that you and I could continue to do the healings and miracles already laid out before us, if we would just learn to follow the Holy Spirits leading. God has planned for you and me to work miracles, so that when others see them they also could believe that God loves them and come and receive salvation.

Ephesians 2-10-Amplified Bible (AMP)

For we are God's [own] handiwork (His workmanship),recreated in Christ Jesus, [born anew] that we may do those good works which God predestined (planned beforehand) for us [taking paths which He prepared ahead of time], that we should walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live].

You can see in this scripture that God has good works laid out for us in certain times and on certain days and minutes, everything in precise detail; and it takes the leading of the Holy Spirit within us to lead us to those things, otherwise if we just do our own things we will miss the blessings that were set aside for us and God will have to use another person to bring their miracle to them and we will have lost out.

Following after the Holy Spirits leading brings us into the position in God’s perfect will so that we can touch someone for God and let his mighty power flow through us via the Holy Spirit. It was essential for Jesus to follow the Holy Spirit and thank God he did at every moment of his life, even though that meant that would eventually mean he was walking knowingly towards his suffering and pain and death on the cross. We too are to follow the Holy Spirits leading and it will also mean suffering of one kind or another, somewhere along the way. But it is worth all that suffering no matter what happens just so that I am in the perfect will of God.

Miracles are for salvation

Miracles are for salvation, to bring people to God, to show them how much God truly loves them. If we could only just grasp, that miracles and healing are for us; doing as the spirit tells us,sothatpeoplecangetsavedandcometoGodfreely,becausetheyseehimworkhismiracles.

Jesus didn’t heal anyone it was the Holy Spirit in him showing us that we can do the same that he did. In himself, from his own will, he didn’t heal anyone. He didn’t want us thinking that it was just him that could heal the legless and the armless, but that we could also, through the Holy Spirits leading us by compassion and pity and by our obedience to step out in faith.

We look to Jesus to heal for us and he looks at us to heal for him, he gave us his name to use to bring about healing and salvation but it is the one and only Holy Spirit that is the source of supernatural power.

The Holy Spirit releases unbelievable power at the name of Jesus because after Jesus arose again from the dead, he was back in his supernatural role as God in the Trinity, and he gave the Apostles and us, his name to use to cast out demons and to heal the sick and raise the dead, all through the power of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit will endorse the name of Jesus every time it is used in faith, and it is the Holy Spirits power that the name holds, not just the name of Jesus, it is the power behind that awesome name.

After he arose from the dead what did Jesus tell the apostles? He told them to wait till the Holy Spirit came down on them and they will receive power to heal the sick etc. If it was just his name and his name has tremendous power in it then why did he say wait until I send you what the Father has promised, the Holy Spirit, {in the last days I will pour out my spirit upon you.

This following scripture is what the Father promised previously many years before. He could have just said use my name and that would have worked, but he wanted us to use his name knowing it had the power of the Holy Spirit in it and behind it; so when we command something to happen in the name of Jesus, we will know that the fullness of the power of the Holy Spirit that filled Jesus with power is now filling that awesome name, it increases our belief when we realise the extent that God has gone to give you power against the enemy and over sickness and diseases in this world, this is the scripture below.

Acts-2:17-American-Standard-Version

and it shall be in the last days, saith God, I will pour forth of my Spirit upon all flesh: And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:

Jesus then endorsed God’s promise by telling them, this time had now arrived so go and wait for it to come. He knows that you and I need the Holy Spirits power to accompany that wonderful name of Jesus when used against the enemy and all of his works.

Luke 24-49-Good News Translation (GNT)

And I myself will send upon you what my Father has promised. But you must wait in the city until the power from above comes down upon you.

Jesus promised the believers power from on high, then told them to wait for it to come.

Acts 1-8-Amplified Bible (AMP)

8But you shall receive power (ability, efficiency, and might) when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends (the very bounds) of the earth.

He said you ‘will,’ not might, but ‘will’ receive power and that power came on the day of Pentecost and boy did it come in power. Afterwards even fishermen could work miracles and had signs and wonders following their preaching; even a former terrorist, {Simon the zealot,} was given that incredible life changing power from on high, a group of rough fishermen and ignorant men were given power to create miracles and they used that power to preach and to heal the sick. And even a murderer was given the power of the Holy Spirit and he worked mighty miracles and preached the gospel everywhere and that was St Paul, so if God would use a man who tortured men women and children and had them fed to the lions surely he will use you also if you desire to serve him.

Acts 2-1-Good News Translation (GNT)

{The Coming of the Holy Spirit}

1 When the day of Pentecost came, all the believers were gathered together in one place.2 Suddenly there was a noise from the sky which sounded like a strong wind blowing, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.3 Then they saw what looked like tongues of fire which spread out and touched each person there.4They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to talk in other languages, as the Spirit enabled them to speak.

The sign of the Holy Spirit in us is the gift of speaking in tongues, it is just one of the gifts and to me is the most important though many say it is not, tongues are the spirit praying in us for us and for others, that’s important as far as I am concerned, because scripture says, you do not know how to pray but the Holy Spirit prays for you with such feelings, and God understands those strange words we say.

When we received the baptism in the Holy Spirit we received the gift of the Holy Spirit himself he is the one who fills us with himself and operates his gifts through us as he wills, not as we would like, but as he wills.

On earth Jesus was a man just like you and me, he was flesh and blood, there was nothing supernatural about him, he ate and drank wine and went to the toilet, he bled and bore pain on his body, not sickness or disease but he suffered intense mind boggling pain, having the flesh tore out of his body. He became supernatural empowered when he received the Holy Spirit when he was baptised by John in the river Jordan. He done all this to show us it is the Holy Spirit who heals through us in the same way he healed through him. He did this to encourage us to believe that if we give ourselves to him and receive his Holy Spirit then we could achieve the healing miraculous signs and wonders power that he used.

He was a human being without power. We are human beings without power.

Until he received the Holy Spirit

Until we received the same Holy Spirit

All this was done to demonstrate to us how to work the miracles the Holy Spirit leads us to, because he didn’t work on what he wanted, he did what he said he seen the Father do, and that is a gift from the Holy Spirit called word of knowledge or it could have been two gifts the word of knowledge and the gift of wisdom. Jesus never did things according to his plans, no! He was led by the Holy Spirit in every part of his ministry.

Matthew 3-16-Amplified Bible (AMP)

16And when Jesus was baptized, He went up at once out of the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he [John] saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on Him. 17And behold, a voice from heaven said, This is My Son, My Beloved, in whom I delight!

This is the point in Jesus ministry when it first began, he had to wait just like we did to receive the Baptism in the Holy Spirit, and he was the first to receive this gift from God, then what did Jesus do, he listened to the Holy Spirit as the Holy Spirit led him out into the desert without food or water, not a good start to a power filled ministry is it, to be starving with hunger for forty days and nights and to have no water either; but Jesus was obedient to the Spirits leading, because in the desert he confronted Satan and chased him away by the word of God giving us an example to follow.

Five

Being led by the Holy Spirit into places we don’t want to go

Matthew-4-1 the Way Bible – then Jesus was led out into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit, to be tempted there by Satan.

Satan didn’t chose this particular spot to test Jesus; no the Holy Spirit led Jesus there; and if we also listen and obey the Holy Spirit, we too will be led into places where we don’t want to go, and into places of great joy and miraculous healings and deliverances. It is in being led by the Spirit that creates the place where miracles happen, the Spirit brings us in to the place where God had arranged for us to be, so that he could accomplish his perfect will. We follow the Spirit’s leading, the Spirit follows God the Fathers leading and we end up in the place of the perfect will of God and in that place we see the miraculous happen, because God will use us to bring about a demonstration of Satan’s defeat and God’s Glory.

It is amazing the things the Holy Spirit does and for the Holy Spirits reasons, the first thing the Holy Spirit did was lead Jesus out to the desert to be tempted, why on earth would he lead Jesus out to be tempted by Satan his greatest enemy? And he almost starved to death and was constantly thirsty, and it was as he was feeling weakest in his physical body that Satan came to tempt Jesus.

Jesus had to learn from experience what it was like to be tempted, he had never been tempted before because he was God, but now as a man he was being put through severe temptation. He was hungry so Satan told him if he is God change the stones into bread; Satan wasn’t sure that Jesus was the Son of God, he was testing him to see if he really was, and Jesus rebuked him at every turn with the word of God then rebuked him away from him, thereby letting Satan know without doubt that this man Jesus, was indeed the Son of God; and so he plotted to destroy him given the opportunity.

But Jesus had to taste temptation at his weakest point so that he would know what it was like for us to be tempted. He had to defeat temptation to conquer it, so that he could show us a way out of temptation and to taste for himself what it was like to be tempted almost beyond endurance. Now he was ready to talk to people and emphasise with them, before he was above them, not knowing temptation, now he was on equal par with mankind.

Why does God use people who have been through terrible times in their lives? It is because they have learned what it is like to suffer and come out the other side with the grace of God, so they in turn can reach out and touch others with empathy in their similar situations.

John the Baptist was led into the desert also and into his ministry, and he never went out to see people, no - people came to where he was. People came to where Jesus was too he didn’t go out of his way to encourage them to come to him, they went because they were seeking the supernatural power he was manifesting and to hear him talk and see him heal.

Paul was led by the Holy Spirit to preach everywhere and to work mighty miracles through, even raising the dead and then to his imprisonment, because the Holy Spirit knew this is where God has planned that Paul would have enough time to sit and write the Epistles, he wrote most of the New Testament imprisoned.

If you are really going to give the Holy Spirit control over your life, then you place yourself in a dangerous place, you also risk your life being shattered, torn in two and possible death or

imprisonment. The choice is the Holy Spirits not yours to make any more, you gave your life to him as you gave your life to Jesus.

When you gave your life to Jesus you received a wonderful life, you received his new life to live, and you were translated into heaven itself because of this and you sit now in the place of highest privilege, with full access to God the Father and to his throne where you can come to receive favour when you need it.

When you gave your life to the Holy Spirit, you gave him the right to do with you as he chooses, he could chose you to suffer for the gospel, to suffer loneliness because people avoid you because they know deep down there is something different about you, and people don’t like those who are different.

Or he could chose you to work unbelievable miracles through, with persecutions, because that is a promise that will happen because you don’t belong to this world anymore and it knows that and will persecute you like it persecuted Jesus and all those down through the years who followed Jesus. You gave the choice to the Holy Spirit; ‘if’ - you truly gave him your life like you gave Jesus your life.

I have cried out to the Holy Spirit, do with me as you will; but when he did, I cried out louder why are you doing this to me?

Are you like me? Have you gave the Holy Spirit the right to your life and then moaned when things happened to you or yours.

I now have a deeper knowledge of the Holy Spirit and what he does, and he does what he sees the Father doing, he follows the Fathers perfect will, not his permissive will but the perfect will of God.

Knowing the Fathers will and who supplies the power to do the Fathers will, releases the power to do the will of God, like miracles and healing. The more you know God the more you begin to trust him and believe him in what he says in his word and so faith and belief grow stronger and stronger until you are so confident in him that nothing is impossible to you in him and he in you as one.

Six

The Apostles were led by the spirit

Being led by the Holy Spirit is a daunting task, it is facing danger to your life, even death and imprisonment and also great miraculous Joy and awesome miracles being done through you, that’s why scripture tells us, “Don’t begin until you have counted the cost.”

Almost every Christian wants to see the miraculous but not every Christian is prepared to pay the cost that is why scripture also tells us, that some fell by the wayside, some left because the pressure got too much. It is not easy following the Holy Spirits leading. The following scripture explains what happens to Christians.

Matthew 13-18-Good News Translation (GNT)

Jesus Explains the Parable of the Sower

18 Listen, then, and learn what the parable of the sower means.19 those who hear the message about the Kingdom but do not understand it are like the seeds that fell along the path. The Evil One comes and snatches away what was sown in them.20 the seeds that fell on rocky ground stand for those who receive the message gladly as soon as they hear it.21 but it does not sink deep into them, and they don't last long. So when trouble or persecution comes because of the message, they give up at once.22 The seeds that fell among thorn bushes stand for those who hear the message; but the worries about this life and the love for riches choke the message, and they don't bear fruit.23 And the seeds sown in the good soil stand for those who hear the message and understand it: they bear fruit, some as much as one hundred, others sixty, and others thirty.

Which category do you think you fall into in this scripture, are you prepared to suffer for the kingdom of God or are you ready to scarper at the first sign of pressure?

The apostles and disciples were ready to suffer death and torture and they did, but never once did they run from trouble they trusted God even when it meant death for them and terrible pain first, they believed they were going into a better place and this is what kept them going on even when they would be beheaded or chained in dungeons for years.

Seven

The Holy Spirit leading in different ways;

Acts 8-29- The Way BibleThe Holy Spirit said to Philip, “Go walk beside the chariot. Philip ran over and heard what he was reading and asked, “Do you understand it.”

The Holy Spirit said to Philip; he spoke actual words giving him a clear message of what he wanted Philip to do and Philip obeyed and the man got saved and Philip was transported into a different place in the blink of an eye. I too have experienced this transporting from one place to another in a split second; one minute I am in one place and the next I am miles away, it is awesome, this has happened to me three times now that I am aware of when I was under pressure to get somewhere in time.

Acts 16-9- The Way Bible- that night Paul had a vision. In his dream he saw a man over in Macedonia Greece pleading with him, “Come over here and help us.” well that settled it; we would go to Macedonia, for we could only conclude that God was sending us

Then the Holy Spirit led Paul by a vision, in a dream. I have never been led by a dream, but I have been inspired to write different books as I awoke from a dream, the whole story was written down in my mind, or scripture I was trying to write about suddenly became alive to me in a dream, Maybe that was the Holy Spirit leading me, I can’t say for 100 percent certain, but I wrote the books I dreamt about.

Acts 21-4- Amplified Bible

Prompted by the [Holy] Spirit, they kept telling Paul not to set foot in Jerusalem.

Prompting by the Holy Spirit, this has happened to me most often, just knowing that I had to say or do something and a door opened for me to share the word of God or healing or both with people and usually ending up with a group of people gathered around, this would be my most common one if you could call it common.

Acts- 21-10- Amplified Bible

10While we were remaining there for some time, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. 11And coming to [see] us, he took Paul's belt and with it bound his own feet and hands and said, Thus says the Holy Spirit: The Jews at Jerusalem shall bind like this the man who owns this belt, and they shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles (heathen). 12When we heard this, both we and the residents of that place pleaded with him not to go up to Jerusalem. 13Then Paul replied, what do you mean by weeping and breaking my heart like this? For I hold myself in readiness not only to be arrested and bound and imprisoned at Jerusalem, but also [even] to die for the name of the Lord Jesus.

I have had prophecies given to me not leading me or directing me but telling me what was going to happen in my future; ‘says God,’ and they were accurate, and so I could believe that they were from the Holy Spirit not from the person themselves.

Paul had the same directions given by the Holy Spirit and by an angel also. 13Then Paul replied, what do you mean by weeping and breaking my heart like this? For I hold myself in readiness not only to be arrested and bound and imprisoned at Jerusalem, but also [even] to die for the name of the Lord Jesus. I wonder how many Christians today would be willing to be arrested and imprisoned and be put to death for the name of the lord Jesus Christ. Following the Holy Spirits leading is following the perfect will of God and it can be exciting or it can be dangerous with grace given with the following, just like Paul was told by the Holy Spirit to go to Jerusalem where he would be arrested and sent to Rome.

Paul was shipwrecked as he was following the Holy Spirits leading; life following the lord is not an easy life is it, and as he was gathering wood for a fire a deadly snake bit him and hung on to his hand; another attempt by the enemy to stop Paul from reaching his prophesised destination, Rome.

Paulknewthathewasgoing to bebroughtbeforetheemperorofRomeand knewhewasgoing to be put in prison because the Holy Spirit told him previously and was now confirming through Agabus that he would be tied by chains hand and feet and led as a prisoner to Rome. Paul told the captain not to sail his ship because an angel told him it would be shipwrecked, but the Captain wouldn’t listen. And the ship was shipwrecked on the Island of Malta, and during the time they were on this Island, the lord used him to heal Publius Father who was ill with a fever and dysentery, then when the people saw Publius father healed then the other sick people on the Island came to be healed. And I am sure Paul didn’t waste the opportunity to get them saved as well. Acts 27---28

So what looked like disaster was changed into a time of healing and miracles and possible salvation for many people; because there is nothing like a miracle to convince people that God is there. And because Paul obeyed the Holy Spirit, even though the Holy Spirit gave him a chance to change his mind, when Agabus came and prophesised over him, Paul was rewarded with the joy of laying hands on the island people and see the power of God heal them, and he still knew he was going on to Rome to be put in prison. A person of this world would have taken this opportunity to escape but not Paul who was in obedience to the Holy Spirits leading because he trusted the Holy Spirit.

What may look like disaster is used by God to bring glory to him and to us, and it is obedience to the Holy Spirit that does this, working out the perfect will of God in our lives. And in the prison Paul wrote most of the Epistles which make up most of the New Testament, the plan of God was to send Paul to Rome and to use him along the way and to eventually write the Epistles which we use to learn scripture from. The Holy Spirit knows what the future holds for us if we are obedient to God, and knows the results if we aren’t obedient either, he knows both roads we will take and which one we will follow him on.

There is always a price to pay in following after Jesus and the Holy Spirit, and it is a hard price at times but we are given the grace of God to go through it with God’s help, and it is not for the faint hearted, the weak in spirit, but for the determined children of God who are prepared to give up everything to follow him even their very lives.

Eight

Jesus was led by the spirit; the apostles were led by the spirit so we need to be led by the Holy Spirit also, if Jesus was willing to be led by the Holy Spirit and the Apostles were willing to be led by the Holy Spirit then we also should be willing to be led by the Holy Spirit. Jesus didn’t heal anyone the Holy Spirit is the one who heals, and he pours power into the very name of Jesus to accomplish everything that needs to be done. In the name of Jesus all authority has been given to us and the Holy Spirit pours power out on all who believe in that name Jesus and his power is in that name the spirit is the power behind the name of Jesus.

If we could only understand the power in the name of Jesus itself and the awesome power that is backing that name up it is power to recreate broken bodies, destroyed limbs and damaged lungs and create new skin on burn victims and chronic asthma sufferers and eczema. It is the power of the Holy Spirit the creator of the entire cosmos, he was the one who created the universes God planned and designed it all and everything in it including ourselves. When we usethatawesomenameofJesusknowingthepowerbehindhisnameandthepoweristheHoly Spirit the creator of the cosmos, and then we can use his name with greater effect, we have a double portion of power. Power in the name Jesus and the power behind the name of Jesus, the Holy Spirits power, we are doubly blessed.

Jesus didn’t heal anyone, you don’t heal anyone, it is the Holy Spirit who uses us to heal others through us, and through Jesus living in us.

Amen To God is the Glory!