Tell Them

"We in the church have made faith a requirement absent of mercy, absent of God's heart for people."

I was in prayer over things laid on my heart when Jesus spoke through Spirit, and I heard this opening segment.

Jesus:
Tell them I hear prayer. TELL THEM I HEAR PRAYER. TELL THEM I HEAL WITHOUT FAITH. TELL THEM I HEAL IF THEY DON'T HAVE FAITH. TELL THEM THEY DON'T HAVE TO QUALIFY. Just tell them to come forward and have hands laid on them. It’s called MERCY. TELL THEM I HAVE MERCY. I LOVE TO HEAL. I CAN'T WAIT TO HEAL. Tell them about Lazarus. HE WAS DEAD 4 DAYS! 4 DAYS! HE WAS ROTTEN AND HE LIVED!

From the Spirit:
(Of Lazarus, John 12)
“Roll away the stone.”
“What?”
Jesus groans.
“Roll away the stone.”
“But he stinks!”
Jesus groans louder. (This was of the Spirit at their inability to see.)
“I am the Resurrection. I am the life.” (His tone pleading.)

THE CHURCH has been presented with an equation they cannot solve. For them 2+2 does not equal 4. Or it does, the equation has been solved for them ages ago, but now they redefine it, discussing 2's and +'s and equality. Define and define and redefine, or worship and go home. “Where is the glory? Where is the move of God?” they ask. Where is honor and worship? God replies. They mean it (their worship), and He loves them, and a remnant has all the strokes correct. They are committed, having laid down their lives even unto the death. They see beyond death to eternity and the kingdom of God and His men. They rest stumble across what has been spelled out.

He is mercy. Great abundant unending mercy, which is enough, always enough. MERCY healed though faith was present. Some had faith, others did not. It didn't matter. He raised Lazarus. Lazarus was dead. He didn't ask to be resurrected. Mary and Martha believed but not in his immediate resurrection. The man at the pool of Bethesda had no faith. Jesus healed him. The man let down through the roof had no faith. His friends believed for him. The woman with the issue of blood had faith but no one in the crowd believed in her. No one helped her. Instead, she feared them. The Roman centurion had faith, great faith, but only a few Jews believed in him. He was Roman, Gentile, NOT OF ISRAEL.

Faith is the substance of things hoped for, but faith is expendable. We in the church have made faith a requirement absent of mercy, absent of God’s heart for people. Faith without love is vacant, empty. It has no foundation. God’s love is why we have faith, but for those without faith, God always has love and always shows mercy. We are supposed to be love and mercy when they have no faith. Our faith is enough faith for them to receive mercy.

At the tomb of Lazarus, Jesus wanted them to see He was life. He would lay down His life to take it up again. This was no small thing. This was huge, raising a man from death. And what was coming, His Resurrection, would be even greater, as nothing to the Spirit’s strength. And God’s plan flawless in wisdom, fail-proof in action, and victorious over a mislabeled enemy. This was no prince, no royalty of the underworld. The word there in John 12:21 is archon, meaning first. He is the archon-enemy, the first to sin, and Jesus knew He was the life that would snuff him out. There was no faith of men involved. Jesus’ own disciples didn’t believe. Instead, the faith was God’s, founded in love and resulting in mercy for all.

2+2=4. That is all that needs to be said. Jesus died in order that we may be forgiven and healed because God is merciful. STOP TELLING PEOPLE THEY NEED FAITH. They have faith. It was given to them in full measure at the new birth. STOP TELLING PEOPLE THEY DON’T HAVE ENOUGH FAITH. Use your faith. Lean on God’s mercy. Stop telling them they need some qualification … like having more faith. Teach the Faith-giver. Teach the Healer. Teach Jesus. And refuse no one entrance into the kingdom. Refuse no one healing based on denomination, doctrinal beliefs, level of spiritual knowledge … or even lack of salvation. Pray for everyone and know God will heal anyone every single time.

Stop fueling questions with endless arguments about genealogies and word usage and styles of prayer. Stop telling people Jesus doesn’t hear prayer. He hears all prayers, correct or incorrect, faith or no faith, useless or profitable. He never doesn’t hear. There is no place the Spirit of God is forbidden to go. No one He is forbidden to know all about. Psalm 139 tells us darkness and light are both alike to Him. He hears what is said in secret. Jesus made this remark (Matthew 6:4). He knows all things, meaning He holds all wisdom, but also that He knows every word spoken by every man and woman and the intent of their words and the thoughts that fueled it. Nothing is exempt from His purview or beyond His reach. No prayers bounce off the ceiling. But all frustration of prayer, all doubt, all worry, all belief in a lack of faith by those who pray come from the devil. God always hears prayer, or no man would be saved. And God is merciful. Where they live, what habits they have formed, what likes or dislikes they have whether godly or not, are not reasons He ignores them. Nor do they prove or disprove salvation. Only God knows the heart, and from Him comes love great enough to save anyone anywhere. From Him comes mercy.

Show mercy. Tell them about mercy. Be merciful. Bury your opinions beneath the goodness of God and silence your criticisms of each other. Seek the face of God through the Spirit of God. Learn who your Savior is, and be just like Him.

“Behold, the LORD'S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:” (Isaiah 59:1)

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” (John 3:16-17)

“But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:4-7)

“Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.” (Hebrews 11:3)

Image by DONGHWAN KIM from Pixabay


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com