We’re dealing here with the power of the promises of
GOD and why they sometimes do not work for us personally.
Sarah was Abraham’s wife. One day GOD came to Sarah and said, “Sarah,
you’re going to have a baby”. There’s
nothing unusual about that except she was ninety years old and her husband Abraham
was ninety-nine years old. That’s
incredible! It was a specific word to
her.
Sarah was Abraham’s wife. One day GOD came to Sarah and said, “Sarah,
you’re going to have a baby”. There’s
nothing unusual about that except she was ninety years old and her husband Abraham
was ninety-nine years old. That’s
incredible! It was a specific word to
her.
GOD didn't say, “The whole nation of Israel, every
woman when she reaches ninety is going to have a baby.” It was a specific rhema, a word of GOG to her and not to anybody else. Just to her.
Getting a personal promise of GOD like that is the
key to miracles. It’s the key to
answered prayer. When GOD speaks to you
personally, then you can act on it. Not
when HE uses it for everyone and you say, “HE used it for that person so I'm
going to claim it for me.”
John 15:7 says, “If
you continue to abide in MY word, then you can ask for whatever you want and
then it will be yours.” It says, “If
you continue in my rhema (a specific word) not logos (a universal word)... If
you continue in MY specific word to you, then you can have answered prayer.
Remember the story of Peter walking on water? Peter’s out in a boat with all of the
disciples. It’s night. JESUS comes walking across the water and
Peter says, “LORD, Call me and I’ll come!” JESUS gives Peter a rhema, a specific word for one man in a
specific situation. HE says, “Peter,
come on!” Peter gets out of the boat and
starts walking across the water.
Notice that no one else was anxious to get out of
the boat besides Peter. Why? Because it
wasn’t a word to everybody. It was a
word to Peter in a specific time. It
wasn’t a universal word, either. The
next day, Peter didn’t get up and say, “Let's go fishing, but we don’t need a
boat today. Let’s just walk on water and
catch fish.” No, it was a one-time
thing.
You don’t read the book of Mark and read about Peter
walking on water one day and figure you can walk across your swimming pool. Don’t
work on a rhema given to somebody
else. We get into trouble when we try to
force a general promise to everybody to work as a personal promise to us
without the HOLY SPIRIT telling us to do it.
For instance, I talk to people who read a verse in
the Bible on healing. They’ll say, “GOD
healed them, therefore GOD must heal me.”
So they pray and believe and have tremendous faith but even in spite of
their faith nothing happens. Then they
get mad and say, “GOD! Why didn’t YOU
heal me? It’s in the Bible. YOU said so.
YOU have to do it.” And you
argue.
No. They didn't
have a personal word from GOD for this particular thing. It was a general word.
Satan tried to do this with JESUS one time. JESUS was out in the desert and Satan came
and said, “JESUS, why don’t YOU jump off the temple because the Bible says GOD
will take care of You?”
That wasn’t faith.
That was presumption. It was a
general promise.
“GOD will take care of you.” That’s like reading the verse, then going
home, getting some arsenic and drinking it. GOD hasn’t promised to take care of
me if I drink arsenic! That was a
general promise.
In order to understand how prayer works, you must
understand that GOD speaks two ways. HE
speaks generally, to everybody, the word of GOD to everyone – logos.
HE speaks personally, to individuals about a personal thing and that’s rhema.
That's how you get answers to prayer.
Just a thought from the front porch…
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