Asleep In The Light

Asleep In the Light  ~ by Margot Cioccio 

Luke 6:19 (NIV) and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.

I read Luke 6:19 and find my self trying to imagine what that scene was like. The plain is crowded with people from all over the place who had heard about this guy Jesus. They didn’t have the radio or tv to spread the word it was all word of mouth. Someone in some little town encountered Jesus and got healed or set free from demonic bondage and then told their friends. Their friends said wow! - maybe he can help me. So they went to see what was happening and probably brought along some friends. They must have thought, theres something really different about this guy, he can do things the rest of us can’t. 

What did so much energy surging from him look like, smell like, feel like? Were people able to see the energy or simply the effects of it on those who received healing.  I took a moment to look up this passage in the Message. 

17-21 Coming down off the mountain with them, he stood on a plain surrounded by disciples, and was soon joined by a huge congregation from all over Judea and Jerusalem, even from the seaside towns of Tyre and Sidon. They had come both to hear him and to be cured of their ailments. Those disturbed by evil spirits were healed. Everyone was trying to touch him—so much energy surging from him, so many people healed! Then he spoke:

You’re blessed when you’ve lost it all.

God’s kingdom is there for the finding.

You’re blessed when you’re ravenously hungry.

Then you’re ready for the Messianic meal.

You’re blessed when the tears flow freely.

Joy comes with the morning.”

John 14:12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.

I often think about John 14:12 in light of verses like Luke 6:19 and I find my self wondering when  the church took a turn towards ritual and tradition and stopped expecting to see the preaching of the word validated by signs and wonders. When did we start to accept leaders simply because they were a good orator or counselor but had no miracles to back up what they preached. Why is it that we venerate those few who do manage to have some miraculous happenings that accompanied their life and ministry. Why are they the exception and not the norm among believers? 

  

You and I say we believe and there for we are in the camp of the whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing. How many of us lay hands on the sick and expect to see God actually do something?

When I am at the Healing rooms each Thursday praying for people I often find that my hands become very hot. Quite often people comment about how they can feel the heat or healing energy coming from my hands when I pray. Sometimes we see people instantly healed or at very least come into a place of peace over what ever was troubling them. Even there where miracles are expected we come no where close to seeing the kind of healing and miracles that accompanied Jesus. I wonder if our “whoever believes” is become kind of wimpy. 

I wonder if we have lowered or expectations and forgotten the kingdom resources at our disposal. We have turned to our government, health care systems and insurance companies and in many ways written the need for God miracles right out of the equation.  

Mark 16:17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”

1 Corinthians 4:20 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.

I recall the lines from a Keith Green song that probably ruffled a lot of religious feathers at the time. 

“The world is sleeping in the dark that the church just can't fight

'Cause it's asleep in the light

How can you be so dead, when you've been so well fed

Jesus rose from the grave and you, you can't even get out of bed”

I love this next quote. 

“When God made it possible for the Spirit that raised Jesus Christ from the dead to live in you, He made powerlessness inexcusable.

Jesus did not leave us powerless. He never desired us to go without power. To do God’s work we need God’s power.  There is no witness without power.  A good news without power is not good.” ~Bill Johnson

I suppose revival starts when I choose not to point my accusing finger at everyone else but stop and look at myself and say “ Hey Margot, You are not coming even close to doing the kinds of things Jesus was doing, your expectations are terribly low. Perhaps its time to repent for my low expectations and sleepy walk before God. There is a hurting world all around me, if I want to heal and help like Jesus did I can’t take the power of God out of the mix. My own words tonight convict me and so Lord I pray, let revival begin with me, allow me to shine so brightly for you that others see, feel, notice in some way your life and energy surging and flowing through mine.