The subject of exaggeration is something that has been on my heart for a long time now.  Having spent the last three or so years in ‘the charismatic church’, I have found myself face-to-face with several startling, sobering, and extremely frustrating realities.

I want to make it extremely clear that I am not writing this to ‘tear down’ anybody or any particular ministry.  I love the church of Christ and my heart is for us all to step into the destiny we have been called to in Jesus.  There is not a single person or ministry that I am singling out with this–however it is something that I have seen in almost every circle I’ve been in or around–and I know that at times I have been guilty of it as well.  I do not write this with the intention of finger-pointing.  This is something that we all have done and all of us need to be accountable for, especially if we are going to be in a public sphere of influence where others look up to us.

If you are reading this, you need to know that God has called you as a leader wherever you are.

He always equips those whom He calls, and according to Scripture, you are already called (Matthew 22:14).  The question is whether you will be “chosen”, and I think that for that to happen, integrity, character, honesty, transparency, and above all else, love, must be the foundation of any ‘ministry’ or anything you do for that matter.  We know that God is willing that none should perish, but we also know that people are perishing right now.

It all comes down to an issue of free will and personal choice: what will you do with the time and the life that you have been gifted to steward?

One of the things that anyone who has spent any time or even remotely has associated with any Pentecostal/Assemblies of God/’charismatic’ churches can see is people “crying out for revival” or “crying out for the power of the Holy Spirit”.  Regardless of the fact that this is completely not anywhere in the New Testament, it happens all over the place.  The trouble with this, while I completely understand the hunger and the desire to see God move, is that it is just like a dog chasing its tail.

I firmly believe that one of the greatest tricks the enemy has pulled on the church of Christ is that he has them chasing things they already have.  Whether it is ‘new anointings’, or ‘new mantles’ or even someone else’s ‘mantle’ or ‘anointing’…or asking God for ‘more power’ or the ‘healing anointing to fall’, etc., etc….

…however, all these practices fly in the face of the reality that we can do all things in Christ (Phil 4:13),  we have been given every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ (Eph. 1:3) and since we are seated in heavenly places (Eph 2:6) and Jesus told us to pray from heaven TO earth (Matthew 6:10)…whose fault is it really if the manifestations of the power that is already ours and living inside of us aren’t taking place?

I believe very strongly that much of the reason that we are not seeing the kinds of power demonstrated that Jesus and the apostles were walking in is because of the issue of exaggeration.

Ananias and Saphira told the apostle Peter that they had done something completely when in reality they had only slightly altered the truth of the situation.  How many times do we hear bold declarations of ‘complete healings’ when in reality, people either died later or they only had felt a slight improvement?  How many times do we say that people are healed when the only thing we are basing this off of is the fact that the person receiving prayer “felt heat” in their body?

What happened to perseverance?  What happened to not backing down until the people receiving prayer are totally made well?  John G. Lake would train his students on the ministry of healing and their final assignment was to go to the home of someone who was terminally ill.  If they could not get the person healed or brought back from the dead if they died, Lake would not authorize them to pray with his ministry.  Of course that is extremely intense–and I am not saying I agree with the practice 100%.  However, his purpose in doing this was so people understood what it took to get people healed.

There is far too much of a misconception infecting the Body of Christ that says that all we need to do is pray a couple quick, simple prayers and then let God do the rest. Jesus told us that we had authority over all the power of the enemy (Luke 10:19) and commanded us to heal the sick.  So why do we keep trying to put the responsibility back on Him?

We are systematically setting people up for failure when we teach this.  I completely understand the point of this–the goal is obviously for us to be able to lay hands on somebody and then shortly thereafter, they are healed.  We have seen this happen on a few occasions, and it is absolutely wonderful when it does.  However, for the most part, the majority of people that my wife and I have seen in our experience have come from a place of determination to see the fullness of it happen then and there.  That is the model Jesus gave us–He didn’t leave people halfway healed and we don’t serve a halfway Jesus.

Obviously, we don’t want people praying from a place of doubt or unbelief and thinking and they need to convince God to heal somebody.  However, the one we do need to convince that we know what WE are doing is the enemy.

“Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, “In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.”  Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?” Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.” – Acts 19:13-16

Right there in the passage about the seven sons of Sceva, we see that the enemy can quickly recognize who people are and where they stand in the spiritual realm.  Just because they used the name of Jesus didn’t mean that they had the experience, the understanding, or the track record that proved they knew what they were doing.  The apostle Paul had established such a reputation in hell through the great exploits he was doing in and through Christ that the enemy would flee quickly upon encountering him. I believe that this is such a vital point for moving forward in seeing more powerful demonstrations of the supremacy of the Kingdom of God in the days to come.

If the enemy knows that you will not back down upon encountering someone with sickness in their body, he will leave a lot faster.  The devil has limited resources and the demonic realm also knows the human tendency to give up quickly.  They’ve been around a long time and if they can convince people that it is “God’s will” for certain people to die from sickness or disease, they are successful in preventing the Christians who Christ has already commanded to heal the sick to back off and stop trying.

Many of the documented resurrections from all over the world only took place after days of praying for the resurrection.  Should it happen faster?  Absolutely. Is it happening that way right now?  I think it’s time we are honest with ourselves about what the rest of the world already knows—there are some seriously large gaping holes in what we proclaim to be true.

I believe that for the church to fully step into the kind of power that is already ours in Christ that we need to teach people what it means to persevere…equip people to pray for hours and hours if necessary and keep commanding the enemy to let go of those who are in his grip until he finally backs down. We have seen people healed after praying for them for hours on end with little to no breakthrough.  One little girl received an optometrist’s report that now shows she has perfect 20/20 vision…but we prayed with her and kept commanding the healing for about an hour and 40 minutes before seeing it was done.

What would have happened if we had stopped?  Could God have healed her after the fact if we just “trusted the anointing”?  Yeah, maybe.  But I certainly know a lot more people who have walked away not healed, some whom have died, when they were trusting that the healing would happen as they went…or because the person who was praying for them backed down before the miracle happened in fullness.

For us as the victorious Bride of Christ to see the kind of breakthroughs that we all are seeking, we must abandon all forms of exaggeration and fear of man.  We need to honestly look at the fruit that our ‘ministry’ to the sick and those held captive is bearing and come to terms with the fact that if what we are doing is not getting people set free on a consistent and powerful basis, then we are doing something wrong and whatever that is needs to change. We must be willing to shoot the sacred cows of our religious traditions in the back of the head and allow the Holy Spirit to show us what to do and how to do it.  We are commanded to judge by fruit–and if the fruit is only occasional, there is a good chance that something is wrong.

It is time to realize that we are in a war and we are fighting from victory, not for it.  The enemy knows he is defeated already.  It is our responsibility to continually remind him of that defeat when we encounter sickness and disease, even death itself.  Either Jesus gave us authority over all of the enemy’s power (Luke 10:19), or God is a liar.

Simply because there are police officers and laws preventing crime from happening does not mean that criminals and thieves do not still break those laws.  It is up to the police officers to ENFORCE the law.  We are in the same situation as Christians.

The devil comes to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10)…he doesn’t like to play by the rules.  If the enforcers aren’t aggressively, actively, consistently, powerfully, and passionately exercising the authority they have through the blood of Christ, the thief will continue to steal.  This is our responsibility–not God’s.

Get aggressive, get bold, and do not back down under any circumstances.  Establish a reputation in hell that causes demons to tremble when you enter the room.  You do this by commanding that devil off of people UNTIL HE GOES.  Enough with this garbage that puts sickness and disease in the arms of “God’s will”.

It is high time to wake up those who are sleeping.  Arise and shine, your Light HAS come.