When the Spirit Came

. . . for God was with him —Acts 10:38

Even though the man Jesus was born of God and had the life and nature of God in Him for thirty years, we do not find Him healing or doing miracles or deliverances during that time. Then at the River Jordan, the Spirit and power came upon Him, and His life was drastically changed. What made the difference? God was now with Him! All the wonderful signs that Jesus did were not performed because He was Jesus, because He was God, because He was born of a virgin, but because God was with Him. Once Jesus started to yield to the God in Him, with Him, and on Him, the will of God was brought into the earth realm. What happened? His kingdom came, and now His will was being done on earth as it was in heaven. If you want to know the will of God, just look at the works of Jesus. God desires that all who are oppressed of the devil will be healed. He desires that people go around doing good. The “doing good” is to defeat evil, or drive back the forces of darkness! Jesus said, “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father” (John 14:9 cev); “. . . the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works” (John 14:10). It was God accompanying Jesus’s word with signs following (Mark 16:20). It was the Year of Jubilee, the year of the anointing. What made the difference? God was now with Him.

Available Power

. . . to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. —Luke 4:19

Jesus came into the synagogue to preach to a people who were bound, to a people who were helpless against the devil and the curse. He came to tell them of a new day—a new year—a new time—the acceptable year of the Lord, or the Year of Jubilee. This was a set year and time when they no longer had to be poor, they no longer had to have a broken heart. He preached, “Deliverance is now here! Sight to the blind is available! You can be free from any and all bondage.” Why? Because the anointing had come. The Spirit of the Lord was now upon Jesus, and the power of the Spirit was greater than the power of the curse. Many believe that when Jesus died, that power also went away, but on the Day of Pentecost, that same Spirit, that same power, that same year was continued. We, too, are living in the Year of Jubilee, the acceptable year of the Lord. Bondage no longer has a right to rule over mankind. Whatever problem you may have— the anointing will fix it! God’s power is available to set you free. Just find your promise of deliverance in the Word and apply the Word and Spirit to it. Freedom is yours for the receiving today!

Believe It and Act on It!

And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem,
until ye be endued with power from on high. —Luke 24:49

The disciples were told to wait, to tarry, until they received the promise of the Holy Ghost. Without the Holy Ghost, they would just preach the Gospel with no power to back it up. Jesus said to wait until they become endued, infused, clothed with power from on high. Many Christians and churches are still tarrying to be endued, waiting and asking for God to send the promise from on high. But on the Day of Pentecost, God sent His power, His Holy Spirit, upon all flesh. Peter declared, “This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel” (Acts 2:16). He did not say this is part of that, some of that, a portion of that, but this is that! God will never pour out His Spirit again, because He already has. There is no need to wait for power in your life if you have received the Holy Ghost; He has empow- ered you. It does not matter if you feel empowered, or if you look empowered; it only matters if you believe you have been empowered according to the Word of God. The Church continually prepares for a move of God, for an outpouring of God, to get ready. But it is no longer time to prepare for the power of God to come; it is time to learn to cooperate with the power of God we already have! You have been endued and infused with God’s supernatural power. We have received the promise of God. The waiting time is over. Go to the sick, the lost, the bound. Learn to release and cooperate with the power that you have. God is the One waiting and looking for a people who will believe and claim and use the ability He has already given.

Pastor Tom Kehres

It Belongs to You

But ye shall receive power,
after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you. —Acts 1:8

The Holy Ghost did not come to enable and empower God; He came to enable and empower the believer. We have produced a mindset of an up-in-heaven, faraway, inconsistent God who may or may not show up. We see Him as a once-in-a-while God who will come down and heal, deliver, and set free . . . whenever. We wonder why He chooses to heal one and not another. We sit around and think up new doctrines that will excuse God for His failures, and that will excuse Him from not helping people. But “you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you” (Acts 1:8 nkjv, emphasis added); “we [you] are the temple of the living God” (2 Corinthians 6:16 nlt, emphasis added). The Bible declares that these signs shall follow the believer: heal the sick, cast out devils, speak with tongues (see Mark 16:17). It is the Church’s responsibility to heal, to cast out, to save the lost, to preach the Gospel. We have declared, “Oh, I don’t have any power, but I know Someone who does.” Or, “God has all the power to heal and deliver.” That is like a preacher saying, “I don’t have any sermons, but I know Someone who does.” God has all the sermons? No! No! No! The same ability upon a believer to preach the Gospel is the same ability to heal and deliver others. Ye shall receive power! It is not my fault that I am anointed and full of power. It is not my fault that people shake, cry, laugh, or fall down when I lay hands on them. It is not my fault that fear and depression leave when I command them to go! Blame God. He has given me all things that pertain to life and godliness, and I have received His power. So have you!

Pastor Tom Kehes