The Abundant Riches Of Our Generous God’s Grace

One of the most powerful teachings we have done has been on the riches of God’s grace. Prophecy, healing, miracles, words of knowledge, works of power, and all the other manifestations commonly thought of as “spiritual gifts” are actually “grace-effects” or the results/manifestations of God’s grace.

Ephesians 1:7-8 says God made his riches of grace abundant towards us in Christ. Chapter 2 verse 7 again uses the phrase “abundant riches of his grace” and then verse 8 says “by grace you are saved through faith.” Romans 5:17 talks about receiving abundance of grace in Christ, meaning more than enough for every need. 2 Peter 1:2 says “Grace and peace be multiplied to you by the knowledge of God and of Jesus, our Lord.”

Mark 6:56 says all who touched Jesus were healed, but the word translated “healed” is the same Greek word as “saved” in Ephesians 2:8. Healing miracles are a manifestation of God’s grace. Ephesians 2:4 also says that God is very rich in mercy. Search the gospels and you’ll find people crying to Jesus, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” when they needed healing or deliverance.

We are regularly seeing many wonderful works of the Holy Spirit, and I know there is so much more. People are receiving miracles and feeling their bodies move under God’s power. Some are filled with joy. Some weep or sob with God’s love supernaturally manifesting. No emotionalism or music. The Holy Spirit heals emotional trauma. Some feel their bodies go numb and the Lord does the surgery for them. Some collapse on the concrete under God’s power, no suggestion trying to make them do that, no religious setting. God’s power drives out demons. Torment and burdens are replaced with God’s peace, and people “feel light.” All of it is wonderful. It’s just as wonderful or even more so to see someone sobbing as they feel God’s love as it is to see God’s power heal a broken bone.

I’m overwhelmed with thankfulness as I see the Lord’s grace manifest so richly. I know it’s not about my merit or lack of merit. It’s about what Jesus deserves. It’s not about my sufficiency or insufficiency, but it’s about the Lord’s sufficiency. This is what the gospel of God’s grace produces. Seeing God’s goodness produces the fear and awe of the Lord in my life.

Another great work of God’s grace is the work of sanctification. The Holy Spirit moves people so they are broken, they repent, they reconcile with others, and they weep because they see God’s goodness and no longer want to misrepresent Jesus to anybody. They surrender their lives fully to the Holy Spirit. People are filled with God’s love, weep with Jesus’ compassion, and receive calls to missions and ministry with the prophetic word.

It’s All Available, But Do You Want It?

I want you to see that all of this is available. God isn’t holding back. He is generous, and he pours out the riches of his grace abundantly, lavishly. Romans 8:32 says that if God gave his Son Jesus for us, he will also with him give us all things. Romans 10:12 says that God richly blesses all who call on his name.

Normal Christianity involves heavenly riches including an abundance of all of these supernatural results of God’s grace by the Holy Spirit’s power. Anything less may be normal to many in the church as it is, but it is not normal in God’s kingdom.

There is one qualification to receive all of this, and there is one problem that is always present when God’s normal is not our normal. James 4:6 (NIV) says “But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: ‘God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.'”

Do You Think You Don’t Need Help? Are You Happy With Church As It Is, Or Do You Know You Need Change?

As I continue to experience heaven’s abundance and interact with many of the local churches, it becomes clear to me that they lack the abundant supernatural manifestation of God’s grace simply because they don’t want it. They don’t have revival because they don’t want it. It’s not their priority.

Like the church of the Laodiceans, they think everything is wonderful, that they are rich and lacking nothing, but they don’t understand that they are really poor, blind, and naked. They like their way of doing things and don’t want to change. They don’t want to yield to the Holy Spirit or to God’s Word. They think they can do church by their natural ability without the Holy Spirit’s help. How arrogant!

People from all over the world have sent me messages asking for prayer and needing healing, deliverance, and counsel that they aren’t getting in their church services. Anybody who has a clue about the help people need must know that religion that is doable with merely human strength is never going to cut it. It’s not all right that desperate people who are tormented by demons can go to one after another of our religious programs and never find the freedom they need. We can’t do this without God’s help! We have a serious problem if the results of God’s grace are not abundantly evident in our meetings.

I have seen the Lord do so many miracles that I can’t count or keep track of them, but still I often weep and cry out, knowing that I need the Holy Spirit and I need to walk in more so that Jesus is glorified and people are rescued. I watch the Jesus Encounter Ministries meetings. They have so many miracles, including deafness, blindness healed, broken bones, and chronic diseases healed, deliverance from schizophrenia and depression, children healed of autism, people repenting from sin, relationships reconciled, and people baptized in God’s fire. Yet they cry out in prayer, “Holy Spirit, we need you!”

In contrast to this, many churches have none of this abundant manifestation of God’s grace in their meetings, but they are happy with how things are. They don’t think they need change. Their pride and self-sufficiency keep them from receiving God’s grace.

Rodney Howard-Browne on Revival

Rodney Howard-Browne was a catalyst for revival, and he laid hands on Randy Clark before the Toronto revival. I was not there in the early days of Toronto, but people who had been to Toronto visited our church and the revival touched me when I was 13 years old. I started ministering healing at a conference with Randy when I was 20, and met many people who had been touched powerfully by the Lord in the 90’s. Some of them were radiant with God’s glory.

I found this old video of Rodney. It strongly confirms what is now becoming so clear to me. You can have revival if you want it, and if the church isn’t in revival, there’s a pride problem. I recommend watching the whole thing, but here are some excerpts:

“I’ve got news for you. God has already sovereignly moved 2000 years ago when he sent Jesus to the cross. And he already moved 2000 years ago when he sent the Holy Spirit to the earth. We are in the sovereign move of God. We can choose to come into it or go out of it any time we want to.” (33:56-34:15) “The move of God comes because somebody’s hungry. The move of God comes because somebody’s thirsty. The move of God comes because somebody cries out ‘Oh God, come and touch me with your fire. Come and put a burning coal in my mouth. Come and touch me with the firebrand of heaven.’ Somebody got hungry. Somebody said ‘I’m gonna break through the status quo. ‘Somebody said, ‘I’m not satisfied with the traditional. I’m not satisfied with the same-old, same-old. I’m pressing on.’ Somebody said, ‘I’m swimming upstream.’ Somebody said ‘I’m tired of floating downstream with the dead fish.’…You can have revival any time you want! It’s not up to God, it is up to you.” (34:38-35:37)

Rodney recounts how they would have “outbreaks” here and there and thought it was a “sovereign move of God.” Then The Lord spoke and said “The only reason I didn’t move is because you didn’t let me move” and “I want to move more than you want me to move, but you won’t allow me to move.” (1:15:30-1:17:50)

James 4:8 says, “Draw near to God, and God will draw near to you.” Those who are comfortable, self-sufficient, and happy with the status quo will never have revival. Those who are so proud that they are full of the fear of man and concern about other people’s opinions will never have revival. The humble are hungry. The humble know they need the Lord. The humble aren’t concerned about their reputation. The humble are ready for change. The humble will drop everything they are doing and submit to the Lord and what is important to him.

One of the greatest manifestations of pride is to say, “Holy Spirit, we read in the Bible what you want to do, but that really isn’t our priority. We have our program. God, yes, we have read your suggestions in the Bible for how to conduct a Christian meeting, but we like our way better. Everyone does it this way! It works for us.” Pride keeps the church from receiving God’s correction which would result in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit if it was heeded. Pride considers God’s instructions to be mere suggestions subservient to our traditions. Pride causes the church to ignore Jesus when he comes to us. In our next post, we’ll briefly consider some of the Bible’s instructions for a Christian meeting and how failure to obey them quenches the Holy Spirit.