Mark 11:22-24
Richard Tow 3.16.14
I want to talk with you this morning on the subject: Supernatural Process. Is there a pattern in the way God brings His will to pass in our lives? Can I learn that pattern and by learning it, cooperate more fully with what God wants to do in my life? I want to say up front, there is a biblical pattern in the way God usually works. I say usually because I live by the 2% rule. Anytime you think you have God figured out, you had better leave at least a 2% possibility that He won’t do it the way you think. First of all, He is sovereign and can do anything He wants to do. He doesn’t have to check with a committee, he doesn’t need a majority vote—He’s God and can fix it any way He wants to. Not to mention the fact, that all of us are still learning more about the ways of God. God works through His relationship with us, not through some mechanical steps of making things happen. I want to make sure I get that caveat said before I proceed. But with that said, I do believe there are truths revealed in Scripture that can help us enter into God’s miracles for our lives. That’s what I want to talk about this morning.
Let’s begin by reading 1 Cor. 2:7-14. Paul is talking to the Corinthian Church about the futility of trying to know God through mere intellect. Knowing God and taping into His wisdom does not come through reasoning power; it only comes as He reveals Himself to us: Spirit to spirit. That’s our context.
Read 1 Cor. 2:7-14.
Circle the word prepared
Circle the word revealed
When we encounter a problem in our lives, our response is to pray and ask God to do something to solve the problem. From our perspective, the problem is the beginning of the process toward a miracle. But God is way ahead of that. He saw the problem coming long before you were ever born. He knows the end from the beginning. In reality, supernatural process begins with God’s foreknowledge and PROVISION. Peter (1:3) tells us that His divine power has given (past tense) to us all things that pertain to life and godliness. God did something for each and every person here 2000 years ago at the cross that is beyond human comprehension. He opened a joint checking account with your name on it, and deposited into that account “all things that pertain unto life and godliness.” We have already been made heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ. It will help your faith to know this. “By His stripes you were healed.” The healing is already deposited. No matter what problem you may be facing today or in the future—God already has you covered. In fact, through His eternal foreknowledge, He had you covered before the world was ever formed. Jesus is the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. His death happened in time and space, but it is an eternal reality.
Look back with me at 1 Cor. 2:9 (a reference to Isa. 64). “But as it is written: ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has (everybody say has) past tense—prepared for those who love Him.” The things God has prepared for those who love Him. Have you ever thought about the things God has prepared for you—already prepared? Now here is the mistake I made for years when I read this verse. I thought the things were just stuff that I would get in heaven after I die—laid up for me somewhere in the by and by. It includes that; but it is not limited to that. In fact, the real power of the verse comes into our lives when we realize these things are laid up for our lives in the now! We are now in eternal life; we are now seated with Christ in the spiritual realm. The things we need in this life have already been prepared for us. That means when I encounter a problem, the first thing I should remember is God foresaw this need; He has already prepared a solution for me. If I need a house, He already has the perfect one in mind for me. If I need a healing, it is already there available to me. If I need an open door of ministry, He already has it all planned out in advance. What do you need at this point in your life? Can you begin by acknowledging God has it covered already?
Another mistake people make when they read this passage is to stop at verse 9. “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” Look at verse 14 “but the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them because they are spiritually discerned.” Those verses are saying that the flesh cannot discern nor receive the things that God has laid up. The natural man (an unsaved person) and a carnal Christian cannot see these things, nor can he tap into them. What is a carnal Christian? Later in this passage, Paul makes a clear distinction between a carnal Christian and a spiritual Christian. A carnal Christian operates out of his five natural senses. If he can’t see it, hear it, smell it, taste it, or touch it—he doesn’t even recognize it’s there. He makes all his decisions based on what his flesh tells him. Doesn’t mean he’s not going to heaven one day. Does mean that he will not enjoy much of his divine inheritance in this life. A spiritual Christian is sensitive to what the Holy Spirit is saying and doing. A spiritual Christian lives with an ear toward heaven and makes his decisions based on what he hears from God. So whether it is in a natural man (an unregenerate person) or a carnal Christian (born again, but living according to the dictates of the flesh)—flesh has not seen, nor heard, nor imagined in his heart, the things God has prepared.
But we don’t stop at verse 9 because verse 10 makes a contrast.
“But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit.” In those next few verses, Paul talks about how the Holy Spirit knows everything about the Father and His plan for us. So we can know these things through revelation from the Holy Spirit to our human spirit.
The Supernatural Process God normally uses to bring His provision into our lives is (1) Recognize God has already provided the answer before the problem ever occurred in your life (PROVISION). (2) Receive REVELATION from God as to what His solution is. Prayer is not so much me informing God of the problem I’ve encountered. It is more about me hearing from Him the solution that has already been designed by God for me. Don’t make the mistake of interpreting this in just a broad, abstract way. If you have a broken back, He may have an anointed surgeon who can do an excellent job of repairing that for you, He may have a person sitting next to you this morning that He will use to pray with you and bring healing, He may have a solution I could not even imagine. One key is to receive from Him the provision He has already made for your problem.
In 1982 I was leading a small Bible Study in a home. God spoke to us to start a church in the old neighborhood I grew up in. It was a rough part of town. We rented a store front on Amarillo Blvd. and in about a year had outgrown the location. I was asking God for a building because I felt He wanted to expand the ministry. Amarillo Blvd. was where the prostitutes and drug dealers hung out. I knew God wanted us to stay in that area. So one Saturday night I was driving around in the area praying. As I passed an old church building, the Lord said to me, “I have given you that church building.” The word came so strong that I parked the car, walked up to the front door, laid my hands on the building, and said, “OK, God, I receive it.” There was a problem in that a congregation was already in the building.
I had made known in the community that I was looking for a building. But I didn’t tell anybody that experience except Jeanie. A couple of days later, Jeanie was washing dishes at home and suddenly got a revelation from God that the owner of the building was about to call. Sure enough, the phone rang and the owner said he had heard we were looking for a facility. He said the renters had just contacted him and gave notice they were moving out. They had just been given a facility by a large mega church.
When Jeanie told me what had happened, I called the owner back and he offered to sell us the building for $ 89,000. I told him about my experience including the word that God had GIVEN me the building. He said he would have to have the $ 89,000. I asked him to pray about it. Long story short, he ended up giving us the building.
I tell that story to illustrate the process I’m teaching this morning. It was not the nicest building in town by any means. If I had in my flesh picked a facility, it’s not the one I would pick. It was the one that God know I needed. It was located in the heart of the drug dealing area. It was nice enough to meet our need, but still be comfortable for the people we were reaching. The point I’m making is this: supernatural process is not me deciding what I want and telling God to fill the order. It’s about me hearing God’s plan and believing Him to bring it about.
When God spoke to me that Saturday night, with that word came the faith to lay hands on the building and claim it, to tell the owner to give it to us instead of sell it to us. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of the Lord.
There are two Greek words used in the NT for word. One is logos and the other is rhema. The writers of the NT do not make the precise, technical distinction I am about to make, but generally speaking the words are used in this way. Logos is the broad, more general revelation of Scripture. Rhema is a more specific revelation like the word I received about the building. Let me give a few examples in the Bible.
Rom. 10:17 So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word (rhema) of God.
When a rhema word comes into your spirit concerning the things God has prepared for you, that word is full of life (seed) that carries faith for the fulfillment.
When God spoke specifically to Mary about her conception of Jesus, she questioned how anything like that could be possible. The answer that came was this:
Luke 1:37 literally—Every word of God shall not be powerless. (Isa 55)
ASV translates: “For no word from God shall be void of power.”
With a rhema word comes the power built in the seed for its fulfillment.
Mary’s response still focuses on the rhema, Lk 1:38 “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Be it unto me according to your rhema.”
So God’s planned provision is revealed in our spirit by the Holy Spirit via rhema word. This ignites the faith for believing.
Faith action follows. We take obedient action if it’s the real deal.
James 2:17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead (lifeless).
But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” James is not pitting a legalistic system against a grace system. He is saying that any brand of faith that does not inspire obedient action is useless. When God sends a rhema word into my spirit, it should ignite faith and cause me to do whatever God directs me to do. Faith is not a passive kind of waiting on God to do something. It is a spiritual ear turned toward heaven listening for the rhema and willing to step out in obedience.
We see this principle all through the Bible. I’ll give just a couple of examples.
In Luke 3 the rhema came to John in the wilderness—in the confidence of that word, in obedience to that word John went to the region around the Jordan and preached the baptism of repentance.
In John 9 Jesus saw a man who had been blind from birth. He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva, rubbed the clay on the man’s eyes and gave him a rhema word: “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam.” The man obeyed and came back seeing. The manifestation of his healing did not come until he had taken the action that the Lord told him to take.
For some of us, we think we’re waiting on God. But God is waiting on us. He has told us something to do and we brushed it off. Maybe it didn’t seem all that significant. Maybe it seemed a bit strange. The mud in the eye routine in John 9 certainly seems a bit strange to me. Be who is Lord? We don’t tell Him how to fix the problem. We respond when He tells us. This is one key mistake the faith movement of the 80’s made. We’re still the servant; He’s still God. We get in line with His plan and powerful things can and will happen.
So the miracle begins with God’s planned provision, then His revelation of that to us (rhema), our faith response, followed by the manifestation in the natural realm.
Knowing the logos word prepares us to discern the rhema when it comes. Intimacy with God in prayer prepares us to receive the rhema when it comes. We nurture our sensitivity to the Holy Spirit so that we know the voice of God. Knowing Bible verses and knowing the voice of God are two different things. They are related. We could spend an hour talking about how they are related. But faith cometh—not by just hearing with our carnal ear—but when God quickens a rhema word in our spirit. John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice (phone—fo-nay), and I know them and they follow me.
Some of us are spending too much time with the wrong phone! We cultivate an ear for His voice. I was in a forest area in California with an avid bird watcher. While we were walking along he would suddenly stop and look up and say something like “a gilted flicker” or “red-breasted sapsucker” “purple martin” I’m going what, I don’t hear nothing. He had trained his ear to listen for the birds and to even distinguish the sound of one from another. I was mostly hearing the rustle of the leaves. I have been around musicians who hear notes and cords and melodies in music that make no sense to me. They hear that voice. I want to be a sheep skilled in hearing the Shepherd’s voice.
I close with a passage from Mark 11:22-24
So Jesus answered and said to them, "Have faith in God. 23 For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.
Now let me read verse 24 from NIV Mark 11:24-25
Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
It’s already in your spiritual bank account in the spiritual realm. When the revelation of that specific provision comes into your spirit, you can believe that you have received it—take obedient action—and it will be yours.
For our encounter time consider these three questions:
1. What provision do you need from God?
2. What is God saying to you?
3. How can we agree with you in prayer about this?
