Shouldn’t we be seeing greater healings, deliverances, signs, and wonders than the early church who laid the foundation?
Jesus spoke in John chapter 15:
16 You didn’t choose Me, but I’ve chosen and commissioned you to go into the world to bear fruit. And your fruit will last, because whatever you ask of my Father, in My Name, HE will give it to you!
17 So this is My parting command: Love one another deeply!”
You and I are commissioned to the ministry of healing and deliverance and we should expect even more widespread fruit than those in the early church. What happened? The church lost its first Love!
Jesus made this very point to the church at Ephesus in Revelation chapter 2:
2 I know all that you’ve done for Me—you have worked hard and persevered. I know that you don’t tolerate evil. You have tested those who claimed to be apostles and proved they are not, for they were imposters.
3 I also know how you have bravely endured trials and persecutions because of My Name, yet you have not become discouraged.
4 But I have this against you: you have abandoned the passionate Love you had for Me at the beginning.
5 Think about how far you have fallen! Repent and do the works of Love you did at first. I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place of influence if you do not repent.
6 Although, to your credit, you despise the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also despise.
7 The one whose heart is open let him listen carefully to what the Spirit is saying now to all the churches. To the one who overcomes I will give access to feast on the fruit of the Tree of Life that is found in the paradise of God.
(This was about 30 years after the Epistle of Ephesians was written by Paul and sent to that church).
It is written by The Holy Spirit in Acts chapter 3:
1 One afternoon Peter and John went to the temple for the three o’clock prayer.
2 As they came to the entrance called the Beautiful Gate, they were captured by the sight of a man crippled from birth being carried and placed at the entrance to the temple. He was often brought there to beg for money from those going in to worship.
3 When he noticed Peter and John going into the temple, he begged them for money.
4 Peter and John, looking straight into the eyes of the crippled man, said, “Look at us!”
5 Expecting a gift, he readily gave them his attention.
6 Then Peter said, “I don’t have money, but I’ll give you this—by the power of the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk!”
7-8 Peter held out his right hand to the crippled man. As he pulled the man to his feet, suddenly power surged into his crippled feet and ankles. The man jumped up, stood there for a moment stunned, and then began to walk around! As he went into the temple courts with Peter and John, he leapt for joy and shouted praises to God.
9 When all the people saw him jumping up and down and heard him glorifying God,
10 they realized it was the crippled beggar they had passed by in front of the Beautiful Gate. Astonishment swept over the crowd, for they were amazed over what had happened to him.
11 Dumbfounded over what they were witnessing, the crowd ran over to Peter and John, who were standing under the covered walkway called Solomon’s Porch. Standing there also was the healed beggar, clinging to Peter and John.
Peter did exactly what Jesus had instructed in John 15:16 and experienced complete success.
12 With the crowd surrounding him, Peter said to them all, “People of Israel, listen to me! Why are you so amazed by this healing? Why do you stare at us? We didn’t make this crippled man walk by our own power or authority.
It is vital that we point our success to The Name of Jesus. We must not let people glorify or exalt us in any fashion. We are simply will vessels… Sons and Daughters of GOD.
13 The God of our ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, has done this. For He has glorified His Servant Jesus, the One you denied to Pilate’s face when he decided to release Him—and you insisted that he be crucified.
14 You rejected the One who is holy and righteous, and instead begged for a murderer to be released.
15 You killed the Prince of Life! But God raised Him from the dead, and we stand here as witnesses to that fact.
16 Faith in Jesus’ Name has healed this man standing before you. It is the faith that comes through believing in Jesus’ Name that has made the crippled man walk right in front of your eyes!
Have we caused people to be dumbfounded? Have we astonished or amazed them with the power and authority which has been deposited in us as Paul revealed in Ephesians chapter 1? It is time to access those deposits and produce fruit. The witnesses in Heaven are waiting for us to grasp this Truth and complete the commission given to us by Jesus Himself!