I will never forget the moment a 12-year-old deaf girl stepped onto the platform where I was standing. I had been led to pray for deaf ears to be opened, and as God’s presence and glory filled the room, miracles began occurring all over the stadium.
My team brought this young girl up to testify. When they brushed back her long brown hair, I was astonished. She had been born without ears. Where her ears should have been, there were just little holes in the sides of her head. The anointing of God had come upon her when I prayed for deaf ears, and she felt a popping in her ears. At that moment, eardrums were formed on the inside of her head. Her hearing was opened for the first time in her life.
I knew the miracle had nothing to do with me. My part was simply to lead the people in worship until the glory of God came and then let God do the rest. That night in Mexico we saw many healed by God’s power, even several people who were crippled.
I had first witnessed the amazing healing power of God when I was 14 years old. But during the next several years I couldn’t understand why I wasn’t seeing more of that same power demonstrated in weekly church life.
I was tired of powerless prayers. When I prayed for someone I wanted something to happen! Combined with my frustration was an insatiable thirst and longing for a deeper relationship with the Holy Spirit. Two things were happening simultaneously: God was making me dissatisfied with the status quo, and He was placing a spiritual hunger in my heart that drove me into hours of communion with the Holy Spirit.
During the last 20 years, God has taught me many things about living a life full of spiritual power. The most important thing is that walking intimately with Him and having a deep grounding in His Word are essential for Him to release tremendous power through us. I’ve been blessed to witness the demonstration of His power through me thousands of times in the lives of countless people.
Another thing I’ve learned about God’s power and gifts is that although they flow out of His grace and are activated by faith, personal preparation in the areas of character, integrity and holiness enable us to sustain a constant flow of His power through our lives.
However, we must always remember that He is the source, and it is by His grace that we are qualified to be partakers of His heavenly glory. It has nothing to do with our efforts or works. If it did, we could take some of the credit. Since it doesn’t, God gets all the glory.
He wants to develop our character so we will be grounded in Christ and will properly steward the power He pours through us. But you don’t have to wait until you are a mature Christian to allow God to use you. You can begin to operate in the Spirit the moment Christ enters your heart.
This was true in my own life. I experienced many encounters and many moments of God’s power during my early years as a Christian. Those encounters shaped who I am today.
On the following pages are eight secrets to operating in the creative, miracle-power of God. This is by no means a simple three-step process, but I do believe if you apply these principles to your life, you’ll see signs and wonders released through you on a daily basis.
1. Cultivate God’s presence in your life. The more you can cultivate an environment that’s conducive to the Holy Spirit, the more of God’s presence you will carry. The more of His presence you carry, the more power you will have.
You cultivate this environment by spending time doing whatever it takes to have the person and presence of the Holy Spirit hanging out with you. Quickly confess and repent of the slightest leaning toward sin or spiritual darkness. Pray in tongues often. Cover yourself under the blood of Jesus. Meditate in the Word. Express worship to the Lord through song and prayer.
Constantly invite the Holy Spirit to be with you in evident ways as often as possible. Avoid anything that would grieve Him. You’ll find that as your life is filled with the atmosphere of the Holy Spirit, miracles, signs and wonders will be a natural overflow.
2. Cultivate God’s faith in your heart. True supernatural faith flows out of the spirit and affects the mind—not the other way around. Faith defies logic and natural reality for a higher spiritual reality. It causes natural things to line up with what God has already accomplished spiritually.
We must live in the Word and constantly renew our minds. Faith is born from revelation in the heart. When truth is revealed to your mind and heart by the Holy Spirit through the Word, faith comes alive on the inside of you. John 8:32 says, “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (NKJV).
Soak your mind and spirit in God’s Word by constantly setting your thoughts on it, and the revelation of truth will produce supernatural faith in your heart. Heart-faith produced by the revelation of truth is the ultimate key to operating in God’s power, and the Bible tells us it comes from Jesus: “Looking away [from all that will distract] to Jesus, Who is the Leader and the Source of our faith [giving the first incentive for our belief] and is also its Finisher [bringing it to maturity and perfection]” (Heb. 12:2, The Amplified Bible).
3. Add action to your faith. The power anointing comes for a reason and has an intended purpose. Isaiah 61:1 says, “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound” (NKJV).
The power anointing for healing and miracles will manifest only if you’re praying for sick people to be healed. You must be intentional in looking for opportunities in which this anointing will be needed. The Bible tells us, “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:20). The power anointing is given to help other people in a supernatural way and in the process reveal God’s heart and nature to them.
Don’t allow yourself to get discouraged. Stay focused and tenacious. No matter what you see, set your vision higher, know and understand God’s will and truth, and allow His faith to move you to action. This action will release the power of God and produce the miraculous.
4. Passionately pursue spiritual gifts. First Corinthians 14:1 tells us to earnestly desire spiritual gifts. I often lay my hands on my own belly during times of prayer and ask the Holy Spirit to stir up and manifest the gifts of the Spirit that are within me. Spiritual gifts of healing, working of miracles, words of knowledge and faith are all invaluable manifestations for the ministry of the miraculous. As you ask God to stir them up, He will.
The Greek word for the gifts of the Spirit is charisma, which Strong’s Concordance defines as “gifts of grace; a favor which one receives without any merit of his own.” You can’t work for or earn them. They are given freely by the Holy Spirit just as salvation is. You can have all of them—and the more you pursue them, the more you will have!
5. Practice prayer and fasting. Matthew 17:14-21 gives an account of the healing of an epileptic boy. The disciples couldn’t cure him, but Jesus did. When Jesus was asked why the disciples had no success, He said it was because of their unbelief.
It wasn’t a question of God’s will. Nor did Jesus focus on the boy’s faith. It was the level of faith in the disciples’ hearts. Yet He also pointed out that “this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting” (v. 21).
Prayer and fasting help to release God’s faith within us. It’s the faith that produces the miracle, not the fasting. Fasting and prayer in this instance serve as the passageway into the fullness of faith that exists in God’s heart. Again, it isn’t by our works, but by His faith and grace extended toward us.
6. Learn to hear God’s voice. To operate in the supernatural we must develop a keen sensitivity to the person of the Holy Spirit. God doesn’t work the same way all the time, and we need to hear His direction for each situation.
Consider Jesus. He saw signs and wonders on a consistent basis in His daily life, but He never prayed the same way twice. Sometimes He laid hands on people; sometimes He instructed them to take a specific action; sometimes He did unusual things Himself such as spit in mud and put it into a person’s eyes. He was unconventional but completely Spirit-led.
The key is He did only what He saw His Father doing (see John 5:19). His ability to hear and see the actions of His heavenly Father came out of the time He spent with Him in prayer and communion. If you want to sensitize your spiritual eyes and ears, you must put yourself in a place where you can see and hear God.
This will often require you to pull away into a “deserted place” so you can place all your heart and mind on Him. When you exercise your spiritual senses by learning to listen and not just talk, you will be led by the Spirit to see wonderful manifestations of His power.
7. Associate with the anointing. A major key for me in being brought to a new level of God’s power was learning that it was OK to go where God was moving. Some people think: If God wants to give me something, He can come right here into my room. I don’t need to go anywhere. Of course God can meet us in our own rooms, and many times He does.
However, that doesn’t negate the fact that you can literally “catch” the anointing by putting yourself in a place where God is moving. Find people and ministries that are carrying God and get around them. We learn from one another and receive impartation of power through association.
These corporate encounters with God do not replace your hidden devotion expressed in the place of private prayer. They simply add to and enhance your relationship with God.
I’ve been blessed to have been able to associate with some of the most anointed people on the earth today. My fellowship with them has not only stirred my faith but also released a transference of wisdom, revelation and power into my own life and ministry.
Anointed fellowship, whether from meeting with another person or from listening to anointed teaching CDs and videos, is crucial to cultivating the anointing in your life. Associate with God’s power by hanging out where He is.
8. Be motivated by love. Love must be the foundation for everything you do. Without it, power can lead to pride and self-inflation.
Love is the greatest manifestation of God’s power. It was because of love that Jesus walked in total obedience. It was because of love that the power of sin and Satan were defeated.
Love is what motivates our faith (see Gal. 5:6). Love is what causes us to live in the Spirit. Love is the greatest virtue of all.
Without faith you can’t please God. But without love you can’t know Him at all. Love filled with truth is the ultimate spiritual weapon against sin, temptation, offense, disunity, sickness, oppression and spiritual corruption, and death. Love conquers all.
As you apply these principles to your life with God, expect to see His glorious power and anointing released in you and through you.
There is someone out there who is waiting for a miracle. They need God’s touch. Your life and obedience to God may be the missing ingredient!
Matt Sorger (mattsorger.com) is a revivalist who hosts international miracle crusades and conferences for equipping Christians in the power of the Holy Spirit. He first experienced God’s power at age 14 after seeing his mother supernaturally healed. While pursuing a degree in medicine, he was called into ministry.
Discover other keys to help you flow in God’s supernatural power at supernatural.charismamag.com
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