Moving Supernaturally

Hey, and welcome to my show. I'm Dr. Ray Self, glad you're with me. This show is sponsored by and brought to you by…kinda sounds like an old TV commercial, doesn't it, the International College of Ministry, icmcollege.org. Love to have you as a student. If God's calling you, you know, you ought to enroll. Or, get my new book, The Call by Dr. Ray Self, available now on Amazon.com. Thank you for being part of the show. I appreciate you. I'm going to do something a little different and maybe a little more difficult today, and maybe stretchy today, but that's my purpose. Thanks again for listening to Self Talk with me, Dr. Ray Self.

Okay, here we go. So there's a scripture in the Bible that's difficult to deal with. Now, if I ask you, as one of my listeners, do you believe the word of God is true? Do you believe the word of God is the word of God? “Yeah,” and most people always say yes, I mean, 98% of Christians will say yes. So do you believe we should do what the Bible says? “Well, well, yes.” So if that's true, and I'm sure you're going, “Yeah, we should do what the Bible says, yeah, it's the word of God, yeah, it's the truth,” I'm talking to believers here, then so how do you handle this scripture? John 14:12, “Truly, truly I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these will he do, because I go to the Father.” That scripture says that if we believe in Jesus Christ, we'll do the same thing He did and even greater things. Well, what did Jesus do? Well, He did a lot of natural things and a lot of supernatural things. Walked on water, turned, mir– did miracles, raise the dead, cast out demons, heal the sick. The scripture’s telling us that we'll do the same thing. You go, “Well, yeah, but that's Jesus.” But Jesus is saying those that believe in Him will do the same thing. 

Then you take another very familiar scripture. We go to Mark and we look at the last chapter of Mark, which is Mark 16 and He said, “And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they'll pick up serpents; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they'll lay hands on the sick and they shall recover.” Well, that's a supernatural mandate, would you not say so? The bible tells us as believers we're to do supernatural things such as heal the sick, cast out demons. Then you go into the book of Corinthians, chapter 12, and you have nine other supernatural things the Bible says that we'll do. You go into uh, Corinthians chapter 12, I'll look that up for you right now, real quick. The bible is very clear that we are to do the supernatural. So 1 Corinthians chapter 12 says, “Now concerning spiritual gifts, I don't want you to be unaware…” and then skip down to verse four, “There are varieties of gifts but the same Spirit. To each one,” verse 7, “To each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” Let’s stop right there. It says to each one. I mean, you're one. Are you each one? Yeah. We're given the manifestation of the Holy Spirit for the common good. Well, what is the manifestation of the Holy Sp– If you are a believer, excuse my cough, as believers, the Bible tells that we should be doing supernatural things. We have the Holy Spirit; you're born again, which is an incredible work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes into you, justifies you, redeems you, seals you to the…for eternity. All these incredible things. 

And then you get filled with the Holy Spirit, hopefully you've been baptized with the Holy Spirit, that's another subject. You get filled with the Holy Spirit, and you have the Holy Spirit in you, the Spirit of God within you. I believe it's the same spirit that Jesus was operating with. Remember when He was baptized, He came out of the water and it said, “...the Spirit of the Lord descended upon Him like a dove,” “‘This is my Son whom I'm well pleased,’” God spoke. Then you start seeing believers at Pentecost and many times after Pentecost being continually filled with the Holy Spirit. If we have the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of God within us, then the gifts of the Spirit, the supernatural workings of the Holy Spirit, are contained within us. The Bible says that we are the temple of God, we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. So we, our body is a vessel of the Holy Spirit. So the Holy Spirit in us is fully capable of doing supernatural things. I think our job is to cooperate and to work and to move in faith. 

Now, I don't claim to be anybody special, I'm just a normal guy raised up in Tennessee, um, you know, just, I'm just a guy, okay. Uh, I've done a lot of ministry, but I'm just a person. But the Lord has used me to raise a dead person, that's a long story, um, to heal cancer, to for a blind eye, to see uh, cast out demons. I could tell you a lot of stories. Moved supernaturally. I mean, it's not me. I'm saying that very, very humbly, as it's not about Ray Self at all, it's about the Holy Spirit within me. What I do I think? Which maybe might separate me from some Christians is that I step out, I will take a chance. If somebody's sick, I'm going to put my hand on them, and I'm going to pray and proclaim healing over them. Now, the Bible says, “...those that believe in Me shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” And you'll see in scripture so many times people asking God to do something. Asking God to heal. But the Lord tells us to heal. Now, it's through the Holy Spirit, so remember, remember this, that God's not going to do something for you that He told you to do, just like we don't do with our kids. I'm not going to do their homework for them if I told them to do it. I'm not going to take out the trash if I told them to do it. But if God told us to do something, He expects us to do it. And so so many times we're programmed, “Well, we, Lord, if it be your will, please heal my brother, please heal my sister, Lord, if it be your will.”

But you see, that's fine to pray, but the Lord said that we should lay hands on the sick, okay. “These signs will follow those that believe: they will lay hands on the sick and they shall recover…” and you see in scripture time and time again, believers, not Jesus, believers like Paul and Peter and James and John, and also some ordinary believers in Acts, healing people. Now, you know, I want to say careful. You know, I've laid hands on people and seen them healed, it's, it's the Holy Spirit doing it through me. It's not Ray Self in Ray Self’s strength; it's me allowing the Holy Spirit to do this. The– there’s no trick to this, but the key to this is, be bold, step out, and do what God says. So many times when I'm praying for somebody who is afflicted, usually I do kind of a two-part thing, uh, and I just finished ministering in four churches up in Indianapolis, uh, Indianapolis, uh, three, three cities in Michigan, and I saw a lot of supernatural things happen. 

And so, what I like to do is when I'm ministering to someone, I will start out with a natural prayer, “Lord, I bless my brother, I bless my sister. I thank you.” And then I kind of wait for the supernatural to kick in and all of a sudden, the Holy Spirit will start talking to me and give me a prophetic word for them, or maybe give me some instructions of what I'm supposed to do and that's not, I'm not anything special, He can do this with any believer, He can do this for you. You too can move in signs and wonders. It is completely possible, and actually, it's kind of a mandate for us. The key is, learn how to take authority. Like, for instance, when I'm praying for someone who's sick, I will, typically  I'll do a prayer, something like this: “Lord Jesus,” I'll put my hand on their shoulder or whatever. Sometimes they'll tell me what the sickness is, sometimes they don't. “Lord Jesus, I, I pray for my brother. I thank you, Father, for,” let's call him, let's call him Joe. “Lord, I thank you for my brother, Joe. I ask you, Holy Spirit, to come now and touch my brother, in the name of Jesus Christ. Lord, you said in your word that we'll lay hands on the sick and they shall recover, so Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, I rebuke this disease.” Now, here's what I'm changing my prayer. I'm changing from a prayer of petition to a proclamation. So I'll petition God. I seek God, but then I start proclaiming healing in the name of Jesus Christ. “Brother Joe, be healed. In the name of Jesus Christ, I rebuke this disease out of your body. The word of God says we've been delivered from disease, we've been– that curse, Jesus became a curse…and He, disease is a curse, He redeemed us from that curse. I rebuke this disease, I renounce this disease, I command this spirit out of your body, I command your lungs to be open and free, I command your leg to be healed, I command your heart to be healed, in the name of Jesus Christ.” 

What I did there was I just took authority, I prayed, and I sought God. But then I’m doing what God tells me to do. You see, asking God to do something that He told you to do is just not going to work. So, and you know, and, and so many times, now listen, I, I've laid hands on a lot of people. I've seen a lot of people healed, uh, I've cast out demons, I'll pick up a sense of demonic presence, cast them out. And, am I, do I bat perfectly, you know, like a perfect baseball player? No, I do not. Sometimes nothing happens, but sometimes incredible things happen. And, but see, the deal is I believe it's my, my duty, you know, “Those that believe in me shall do the same works as I did,” Jesus said. I believe in Jesus, so I'm supposed to do what Jesus did, and Jesus was continually healing the sick and casting out demons. That's what He did. And prophesying. And then we have, we go into, again, I started a while ago, you go back into Corinthians. It says, “To each,” Corinthians 12:7, “To each one's given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good…” And then it lists nine supernatural things that believers can do. “...to one is given a word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the affecting of miracles, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, and another interpretation of tongues.” All these things are gifts, supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit that have been given to us. These are gifts of the Holy Spirit. You have the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has these gifts. So these gifts are within you. And I think what many people do, many Christians do, is we wait for a feeling. I'm waiting for a supernatural feeling, I'm waiting for something supernatural where I can feel this power flowing through me. So many times when I've seen people healed or given prophetic words, or seen a miracle, I felt nothing. I felt absolutely nothing. Now, sometimes I feel heat or shaking, or I can feel power coming out of me. Many times I feel absolutely nothing, but then I've seen people healed right in front of my eyes…and I felt nothing. 

We were praying for a– my wife and I were praying for a lady about six months ago, came up to the front of the church, and she really couldn't walk; all she could do was shuffle because of a disease in her leg. And her husband was holding her very tightly, helping her get up to the front of the church. And so it was a Spanish church, and through an interpreter, we were told that this lady had no feeling, no sensation in her leg. And her leg was covered in sores; it was just a really bad situation. We prayed for her, and we rebuked this disease, and my wife laid hands on her leg, and all of a sudden, through an interpreter, she said, “I can feel my leg, I can feel my leg!” And I looked at her, and I just felt very bold. I said, “Well, can you walk? Why don't you walk?” And all of a sudden, she started walking across the front of the church. She could not walk to come to the altar, and now she's walking back and forth in front of the church. I mean, stuff like that, it's just, it's just glory to God. It's so much glory, glory, glory to God. Just incredible. I could tell you story after story after story of um, God's supernatural healing power. And what's really cool about it is when these supernatural things happen because you had enough courage and enough humility to step out, it builds everybody's faith. It lets people see the reality of God, it brings salvation, it brings encouragement, there's so many benefits to it. 

You see, the main thing as Christians that keep us from stepping out and trying to do these things is pride. Pride. Oh, I, you see, we're thinking I don't want to be embarrassed. Well, that's prideful, isn’t it? You're more worried about your, your, your dignity. I don't want to, I don't want to make a mistake. I don't want to do this, and so you get self-conscious, which is actually a form of pride. You have to lay down your pride and step out. What's the worst that can happen to you? Well, maybe you will be embarrassed, maybe nothing will happen, maybe nothing at all will happen, maybe you'll look like a fool. But maybe a miracle will happen right in front of your eyes that cannot be denied. And I've seen this time and time again. It doesn't always happen. Have I been embarrassed sometimes? Yep. Have I looked like a fool sometimes? Yep. Have I seen incredible supernatural healing and miracles in front of my face time and time and time and time again? I've ministered in, I don't know, hundreds of churches you– over the years, all over the country; and I've seen so much incredible stuff, and sometimes not in churches, sometimes in restaurants, and sometimes in um, you know, the stores and stuff like that. Just incredible, incredible stuff. 

But I guess what I'm trying to get across to you is to give you the courage to step out. Just try. Pray, ask God for His power, which you should have, but then take authority, okay. You know, Jesus said, “Behold, I've given you authority over snakes and scorpions and all the power of the enemy,” so taking authority means instead of asking God to do something, you start commanding disease to leave, you start commanding the demonic presence to go, you start telling the body to be whole in the name and the glory of Jesus Christ, by His name. And the Bible says, “In My Name,” “In My Name…they will cast out serpents…” So in the name of Jesus Christ, which is the Name above all names, there's tremendous power. You have the name of Jesus Christ, and you have the Holy Spirit in you, just waiting to flow out of you unto all the people around you. Your job is to be bold, lay down your pride, be willing to miss it, be willing to make a mistake, be willing to look foolish, but also be willing to see an incredible miracle of God. Amen. 

Hope this show has blessed you. Um, thank you so much for listening. Lord, I thank you, Father, that you gave us a promise that we should uh– in Corinthians you said that we should pursue love, earnestly desire spiritual gifts, especially we' prophesy, which is a great gift, Father. Holy Spirit, I ask you for a spirit of boldness to come on everyone listening to this podcast. That they would get bold for you. Uh, anointed, Father, in boldness to come out, Father and that we would move supernaturally, that all of us would move supernaturally, Father, that we'd step out and lay hands on the sick and cast out demons and do this, Father, so people can see the reality of you and their faith will be built and your kingdom will be built and you will get the glory, Father. I pray this, and we impart this to everyone listening to this show. In Jesus’ name, amen. Amen. Thank you so much for listening. Don't forget to do the usual stuff. Go to the website for the podcast, um, the easiest way is icmcollege.org/selftalk and subscribe, get on our mailing list. Please share this with some folks, you know, let's get some more downloads. Um, I think it's a good message. I think a lot of people need to hear this. I really appreciate you listening to Self Talk with me, Dr. Ray Self, and God bless you

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