Saving Souls

Jerry, several months ago Richard Roberts and I prayed for a patient in the Intensive Care Unit of the City of Faith. It was a critical situation and the man was hovering between life and death. And Richard Roberts and I went into the room and I did not know what to do. I didn’t know what to say in my humanness. And the scripture came to my mind, “For we know not what to pray for as we ought.” The family was there, the wife, the mother, the daughter, and the man there in the bed and I greeted them and I was saying in my spirit: What do I do? What do I do? And people say, “Well, you’re a minister of the Gospel. You know what to do.”

I’m a human being, folks. I didn’t know what to do. So what did I do? The first thing I began to do was to pray in the Spirit. I began to pray in tongues. Now when you accept Jesus as your personal Savior, the Holy Spirit comes in. The only way you can really know you’re a Christian is the Spirit of God witnesses with your spirit. Jesus comes in…. well, Jesus not in the flesh; Jesus by the Holy Spirit.

So therefore the Holy Spirit comes into your heart. So on the day that you accepted Jesus, if you’ve accepted Jesus, the Holy Spirit came in. And the Spirit is doing something.

He… not an it… He is praying 24 hours a day in your behalf. He’s praying to God in God’s perfect will. Now what Jerry was talking about and what I’m talking about is we’ve learned how to tap into that Holy Spirit’s prayer and to pray in the Spirit, or to pray in tongues… some people call it the baptism of the Holy Spirit, some people call it praying in tongues, some people call it praying in the Spirit. Jerry and I aren’t hung up on titles. We’re doing the same thing.

But we’ve learned how to tape into his prayer and pray in the Spirit. I began to pray in the Spirit and immediately as I prayed in the Spirit I stopped and I began to pray out loud in English. Suddenly the words began coming out of my mouth… not out of my mind but out of my spirit in English, and suddenly I knew what to do. I knew how to pray.

I knew what to say. I knew something about the situation that I didn’t know when I walked in the room. And we had a fantastic prayer and that man is alive today. Now to me that’s the value. That helped me in a situation when I did not know what to pray for.

A police officer is a symbol of authority in this coun­try. Most of us have been taught from the time we were little that policemen are to be respected and obeyed, because they have been given a badge of au­thority to enforce our nation’s laws by the leaders of our government.

Notice what happens, for instance, when a police offi­cer is called on to help direct traffic. He may be stand­ing in the middle of the road with traffic moving all around him. But when he holds up his hand or blows his whistle, telling drivers to either stop their car or keep moving, we immediately obey him. But if that same policeman stands in the road without holding up his hand or blowing his whistle, what’s go­ing to happen? At best, the traffic will simply travel around him, and he’ll be ignored. At worst, he may get run over!

What makes the difference is simple. When the police officer holds up his hand and blows his whistle, he is exercising the authority that he has been given.

A lot of Christians are living their lives without exercis­ing the authority God has given them through the name of Jesus. It’s as if many of us are standing in heavy traffic, watching the cars speed along, and wondering, “Why is everything plowing into me?” We are getting run over spiritually, financially, physically, and emotionally.
The Blood of Jesus Is Our Badge of Authority In Matthew 28:18 kjv, Jesus told His disciples, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Not just some power—but all power has been given to Jesus. Notice that He doesn’t just keep that power to Him­self. In Mark 16:17–18 kjv, He delegates His power to His disciples when He says, In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues…they shall lay

hands on the sick, and they [the sick] shall recover. This is the kind of authority that Jesus gives to those who re­ceive Him and who accept the power of His name.

God has given you and me, as believers, authority through the name of Jesus over the problems and struggles in our lives. Just as a policeman has a badge of authority backed up by the law of the land, our heav­enly “badge of authority” is backed up by our Father God and His Word, and I believe it’s strong enough to overcome every negative circumstance we face. But we have to exercise that authority as the policeman does when he holds up his hand and blows his whistle to keep traffic moving in the right direction. When we use the authority God has given us through Jesus’ name, it can mean the difference between being overwhelmed by our problems and living a victorious Christian life.

Authority Begins When We Do Our Part

Jesus told us how to take charge over our circumstanc­es in Matthew 7:7 nkjv: Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. Before a change happens, we are told to do something first. We receive after we ask. We find after we seek. The door is opened after we knock. To put it simply, we have to do our part before we can expect God to do His part. We have to take charge of our lives. A police officer takes charge by doing the things he has permission to do. He blows his whistle and uses his hands and his voice to direct the traffic.
When you and I take charge spiritually, we have per­mission from God to do certain things, just as a police officer does. God has given us many ways to “blow our whistle” on the devil and command our circum­stances to begin to change.

For example, we can speak to the problems in our life and tell them to move out of our way (Mark 11:22– 24). We can pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17). We can use the Word of God to call things into existence—like healing, or finances, for example— that did not exist before, just as God called the world and all of creation into existence (Romans 4:17). We can sow our seed so that God can rebuke the devourer for our sake (Malachi 3:10–11).
We can choose to raise our hands to God in praise, and tell the devil, “Stop it! That’s enough! I will no longer put up with your attack against my body, my family, and my finances. We will serve the Lord!” The choice is up to us. (See Joshua 24:15.)

It’s Not Too Late to Start Taking Charge of Your Life Right now, you may be thinking, My troubles have gone on so long. Why didn’t I put up a fight in the first place? Or perhaps you feel, Now it’s too late to change things.

I want you to know it’s not too late! Even if you’ve had trouble run over you in your life, you can be­gin to turn things around right now. I encourage you to stand up on the inside and be who you are in Christ.

I encourage you to make the decision to use the au­thority God gave you in His holy Word. Then, as you act on your authority in Christ, I pray that you may begin to see changes that can turn your life around.

Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicket (Ephesians 6:16). The Roman soldier had two kinds of shields a small shield and an enormous oblong one. He was taught to crouch down behind the large battle shield in such a way that he could hide his entire body behind it.

Then when the enemy began shooting arrows which had been tipped with tar and set aflame, he could stoop down behind his huge battle shield and protect himself from the flaming “fiery darts.” All through the Old Testament we are told that God is our shield. Proverbs 30:5 says He is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. And I John 5:4 says, This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.

God, of course, is your shield, but the shield of His protecting power and presence becomes yours by the one condition of faith—by believing in Him and trusting in His promises. Paul is saying, “Above all….” Or, the most important thing I can tell you is: Take this great shield of faith!

There are times when we get knocked down and laid low in life. It might be from a disease…an accident of some kind…a divorce…a death in the family…or a pile of bills we can’t pay. Those are times when we need to get a good look at our enemy and recognize who he is so we can conquer him.

Jesus said, The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy (John 10:10 NKJV). Have you had something stolen from you? Do you feel as if your life is going down the tubes? That’s the work of the devil, the “thief” coming against your life!

The Bible gives a good description of who is tormenting you. First Peter 5:8 AMP says, Be vigilant and cautious at all times; for that enemy of yours, the devil, roams around like a lion roaring [in fierce hunger], seeking someone to seize upon and devour. Now do what verse 9 says to do: Withstand him; be firm in faith [against his onset—rooted, established, strong, immovable, and determined]. That’s the action to take to defeat the devil.

I believe it’s the season for a prophetic word to be released in my life. Recently I was visiting with my dad in California, and while he and I were talking, he got unusually quiet. Then our conversation sud­denly switched to prophecy.

My dad said God told him to tell me that beginning at age 60 and continuing over the next five years, I would see the greatest anointing in my ministry that I have ever known. God is releasing this end-time anointing that has been there all along, just waiting for God’s proper timing and sea­son. He told me this new level of anointing that God is releasing in me is especially for the nations for healing…and that I was born “for such a time as this.”

Then God reminded my dad of something he had said to me when I was a teenager. At 19, I was extremely sick with the flu, and my mother called my dad into my bedroom to pray for me. As he went to lay hands on me, suddenly the spirit of the Lord came over him in prophecy.

My dad said that my 19-year-old body, bedridden with the flu, seemed to disappear, and he saw me as much older. I was standing on a platform, preach­ing in large, open-air crusades in stadiums around the world. He saw large crowds coming to hear the Gospel and waiting with great expectation for God to save, heal, deliver, and set them free. When he saw the huge crusades and miracles, he was overtaken with emotion at what the Lord was revealing to him.

At that time, I wasn’t even a Christian yet! I was simply a 19-year-old with the flu. But nine months later, I gave my heart to the Lord and accepted Jesus as my Savior.

Now, many years later, my dad was reminded of the vision that God gave him 41 years before. The Lord was speaking to him once again, saying the time for the release of that particular anointing in greater mea­sure for the nations has now come, and it would be evident from age 60 to age 65 through my ministry. He told me to be very aware of this anointing over the next five years. We both shouted and rejoiced and praised God!

A few days later, I returned home to Tulsa and I re­ceived a word from the Lord from a very well-known prophet of God. It stated nearly exactly the same thing as my dad had told me. My dad and this man had never met and had no idea of each other’s words concerning my 60th birthday. This man referred me to Isaiah 60, which says,

“Arise, shine, for the light is come and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep dark­ness the people; but the Lord will arise over you and His glory will be seen upon you.”

The man proceeded to say that when I turned 60, a new and greater level of anointing would come forth from God especially for large crusades in stadiums overseas. He also told me I was to look for an in­crease in anointing in crusades, in conferences, and on television, and that invitations would come from government leaders, church leaders, business leaders, and even unexpected places as God releases this new mandate for my life.

He also said there would be a new and unique level of support as people saw God’s vision for healing. Indi­viduals from the medical profession would come on board in a greater way than before as they saw what God was doing overseas. God was declaring healing in a greater magnitude in the areas I would go to.

After I read this gentleman’s prophecy, I immediately phoned my dad and read it to him. As I shared each word with my dad, I could sense the presence of the Lord on him growing stronger and stronger. He began to shout and rejoice and praise God. He told me that was exactly what he saw in the vision from God when I was 19 and again when he prophesied a few months ago. He said, “Richard, I have been around for a long time and I know the true prophet from the false, and this is a true prophet of God. Change is coming and it is good, and it is for the healing of the people!”

And I believe we are going to reap the harvest of the increased anointing on this ministry. And I believe even more miracle testimonies of God’s goodness working in the lives of His people will come pouring in. I encourage you to tune in to The Place for Miracles and Make Your Day Count to see the changes that God is making to the ministry and in the lives of our Partners. Praise the Lord. This is such an exciting time!