Power of Knowledge

Second Peter 1:3 says,

According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue.

The only thing we are lacking is knowledge.

Stop Begging, Start Believing

Most Christians believe that God can do anything, but many of them don’t believe He has done very much. They live in a constant state of trying to get God to do something. They are begging God to move through revival, healing, prosperity, etc. They run from meeting to meeting, trying to get something from God. But they’ve already got it.

The Bible says,

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.

Ephesians 1:3

This says He “hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings,” meaning it’s already done. You already have all spiritual blessings. So, asking God or waiting on Him to bless you is counterproductive. And yet the average Christian starts from that position. If they’re sick in their bodies, instead of starting from “by His stripes, I was healed” (1 Pet. 2:24) or “I have the same power that raised Jesus from the dead living in me” (Eph. 1:19-20), they’ll take the doctor’s report or the pain in their bodies and say, “I’m sick. God, will You heal me?” They start moving toward victory instead of coming from victory!

Fighting from Victory

One time, I was praying for healing for my son, who was very little at the time. I wasn’t seeing him healed, so asked God, “What’s wrong?”The Lord spoke to me, “You’re fighting to get your son healed instead of fighting because he is healed.” You might say, “I don’t see the difference.” There’s a huge difference! The Lord told me that instead of defending my son’s healing and just releasing what Jesus already provided, I was trying to get Him to do something.

If you didn’t understand this, then I can guarantee you, this is one of the main reasons you aren’t receiving from God. You need to get a revelation of this. Jesus has already provided everything you will ever need. You’re blessed with all spiritual blessings—all of them!

Understanding God’s Provision

The key for me understanding these things was the revelation the Lord gave me that I’ve entitled Spirit, Soul & Body. God is a Spirit (John 4:24), and He moves in the spiritual realm. Whether or not we see a physical manifestation of what He has done in the spiritual realm is dependent upon what we believe and how we act, not on what He has done. It’s not up to the Lord to heal us; He’s already healed us (1 Pet. 2:24). But He gave His miraculous power to us to release.

Healing has already been provided. Financial prosperity has already been provided. Joy and peace and everything that you will ever need emotionally have already been provided. If you’re having a down day, if things aren’t going right, if you don’t feel good, you don’t need to embrace discouragement, despair, and hopelessness. And yet the average Christian just embraces this stuff, saying, “O God, I ask You to touch me. I ask You to give me joy.” The Bible says you’ve already received all these things. The logical question to ask, then, is “Well, where is it?”

Recognize What’s Inside You

In Galatians 5:22-23, it says love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance are in you if you’re born again. It’s right there in your spirit! I’ve had many people come to me and say, “I just don’t feel the love of God. Would you please pray that He would release His love toward me?” Most people think that’s a great request. But it assumes that it’s God’s fault that they don’t feel His love.

The truth is, God has already poured out His love toward you. Look what it says here in Romans:

The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

Romans 5:5b

Start from a Place of Victory

God loves you whether you feel it or not! His love has been poured in your heart—in other words, in your spirit. And His love isn’t conditional upon your good actions, or holiness. You’ve got to start from this place that “God has already provided everything, and if I don’t feel His love, it’s not that God didn’t give; it’s that I don’t realize what I have.” When you know that you have something, it takes the struggle out of it. It takes you out of condemnation. It takes you out of a legalistic mentality of trying to earn things from God. It removes doubt. How could you ever doubt that you’d get something that you already have? It’s really that simple.

God’s Already Given You Everything

In my meetings, sometimes I’ll walk over to someone and hand them my Bible. Then I ask them, “Now, what would I do if you asked me for my Bible? How do I respond?” I would probably just look at them and be totally quiet. Many Christians, when they pray for what they’ve already got, are getting total silence from the Lord. It’s because God has already given them everything they need.

If God could be confused, I think He would be confused, saying, “I told them in My Word that they were already blessed, healed, prospered and had total joy and peace in their spirits. Why are they asking Me for what they already have? Why do they ask Me to come into their services when I said I would always be in the midst of two or three of them? Why do they ask Me to go with them when I said I would never leave them or forsake them?”

Believe in God’s Promises

Again, I go back to Ephesians 1:3 – “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath [past tense] blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ” (brackets mine).

Now, it says those spiritual blessings are in heavenly places in Christ, but they are in you because you are in Christ, which is what the next verse says:

According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world.

Ephesians 1:4a

Acknowledge the Good in You

Philemon 6 is another verse that explains this truth. Paul was praying “that the communication of thy faith may become effectual”—that means that your faith would begin to work—“by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.” You see, every good thing is in you in Christ! You’ve already got it! And He said He would never leave you nor forsake you (Heb. 13:5). So, instead of praying “Lord, just be with me this week, if it be Your will, for Jesus’ sake” or “O God, where are You? God, could You just love me? I don’t feel the love of God,” pray, “Thank You, Father, that You’ll never leave me, that You’re always here. Thank You for Your goodness.” You just start acknowledging the good things that the Word says are in you, and then your faith begins to be effective. You’ll start seeing these things manifest in your life. That is so much easier than begging and pleading with God to come!

Jesus Finished It: Rest in Him

God has already done His part. When Jesus died on the cross, He said, “It is finished” (John 19:30). And the Scripture reveals in Ephesians 1:20 that He is now seated at the Father’s right hand. He’s not working anymore. He’s already done it. It is finished!

Do you need to be healed today? It’s already been done. Jesus bore your stripes in His body 2,000 years ago. Do you need to be saved? It says in 1 John 2:2 that “he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” He’s already forgiven the sins of the entire world. It’s not a matter of if God will forgive you; He’s already forgiven sins. Will you receive His forgiveness? Will you put faith in what Jesus has done? That’s the issue.

God has already forgiven you. He’s already healed you. He’s already commanded His blessing upon you and your finances. He’s already given you love, joy, and peace. You don’t need God to respond to you; you need to learn to respond to God! It’s easier to defend something you already have than to go get something you don’t have.

Release God’s Power Over Your Life

That is so powerful, but this is where so many Christians are missing it. They know that God can do all of these things, but they don’t think He’s done anything yet. They start from a position of unbelief. They are crossways with the Word of God. In regards to healing, the proper way to do it is to take Proverbs 18:21—“Death and life are in the power of the tongue”—and begin to release this power over sickness and disease: “I speak death to this sickness. I curse it and command it to leave. God, I speak the life that You’ve already put on the inside of me. I release it to flow through my body.” This is how you start cooperating with God.

Believing Beyond the Physical Realm

We need to begin to believe that things have happened that we can’t see, taste, hear, smell, or feel. We can believe that there are television and radio signals in the atmosphere, even though we can’t see them. We know that all we have to do is take a television set, turn it on, tune it in, and we’ll see that those signals were there the whole time. But we need to begin to apply this to spiritual things. We can’t limit this concept to just our physical realm.

There is more going on than just what you can perceive with your five senses. There is more than just your soulish, emotional realm. There is a spirit on the inside of you, and there is a spiritual realm, where God has already done His part. If you don’t relate to it properly, you’re going to be hit and miss in the Christian life, which has led to so much weirdness in the body of Christ. You need to live from the standpoint that God has already done it. He’s provided everything you need. It’s not a matter of trying to get God to move in your life; it’s a matter of you moving over into agreement with Him and receiving what He has already provided.