| December 26, 2017 "How to Enjoy the Spirit's POWER, Even if You 'Feel Noth'n!'"
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, Elijah List Ministry Warriors!
I've got some great news for YOU! I truly wish someone, ANYONE, had shared with me—years ago—what I'm about to share with you. It's going to literally set some of you FREE! The fact is, YOU CAN OPERATE IN THE POWER OF GOD...EVEN IF YOU DON'T FEEL ANYTHING! Let me explain... Just like I did, many of you feel that you must be "hearing" God's voice to prophesy. Then you believe you must speak with amazing tongues to be Spiritually Mature! Then you also believe you must, in order to discern, FEEL God's power or even FEEL it when evil walks into the room. And finally, you just "know" that for healing to manifest through you, you should begin to feel God's power emanate from you in some form...like feeling heat, or cool, or electricity or just the feeling of Power. Let's get real. None of this is true!! None of the above is required in order for you to walk in the power of the Spirit. At the age of 62, I can now look back at the amazing life lessons the Lord has graciously walked me through and WOW, it blows me away. Now, before I go on, let me be clear...that it's great and it would be wonderful if we all "spoke in tongues", and if we all "felt" both good and evil walk into the room so that we could "discern" it. It would be amazing and wonderful that every time it's time to lay hands on someone and heal them, I felt heat in my hands telling me in effect, "It's time to heal, Steve." I even believe it's good to strive for all of the above, TO FEEL, TO DISCERN by feeling, to get HEAT when it's time to heal, and to feel power come upon us when it's time to speak in tongues or heal. All of that would be great. But that only happens here and there, once in awhile, to some people. And YET (now hear this carefully)... Having all those amazing manifestations...HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH BEING SPIRITUALLY MATURE—IF YOU FEEL MORE THAN OTHERS FEEL. Let's say it again—FEELING ALL OF THOSE THINGS DOES NOT MEAN YOU ARE MORE SPIRITUALLY MATURE. It only means your gifting works that way and you do not "deserve" gifts. You only receive them. OK, I'm not going to draw this out into a long article. Here's some facts: 1. One of the most prophetic men I've ever met (when I was much younger) DID NOT SPEAK IN TONGUES AND HAD NEVER YET SPOKEN IN TONGUES. He simply grabbed onto the gift God gave him to prophesy and give words of knowledge and he used his gift...ON PURPOSE. Some of the things I'm doing now are because he prophesied them to me some years ago. One of the most mature Christians I'd ever met. 2. Though I speak in tongues now, God began to prophesy through me while I was still in my 20s—YEARS BEFORE I EVER SPOKE IN TONGUES. One day I told my friend in California, "I dreamed about you last night. You were working full time at a Christian Radio station in Dallas, TX." He seemed a bit unimpressed... YET, exactly 5 years later, he was working FULL-TIME AT A CHRISTIAN RADIO STATION IN DALLAS, TX. (I was incredibly immature in the Lord, and immature in all things spiritual, when God began to prophesy through me. And I was having ZERO experience of feeling any kind of power. 3. To this day, the most miraculous thing that has ever happened to me was when my wife and I prayed for a healing (with a few others), all of us were still in our 20s. We were "testing" to see if prayer for healing worked. We had never seen it work. We had never been to a church that believed in it. No, we were just in a Christian home group and we thought we'd try it out—praying for healing that is. Because a friend Claudia had horrible, debilitating arthritis. So... ...before we prayed, We felt NOTHING. We HEARD NOTHING. There was NO FAITH in the room. I personally believed almost nothing would happen. And yet, when we finished praying, a young Claudia with debilitating arthritis that you could see with your eyes—suddenly caught herself as she started to fall under the power of the Spirit! (This was in a home and we had never HEARD of someone falling under the power of the Spirit and we'd never seen any kind of healing. NEVER.) And also SUDDENLY, Claudia was instantly and forever healed of this horrible arthritis! It was later that we learned there were churches that believed in this stuff. 4. The most profound experience in the Spirit happened to me when I was only 25 years old at a Campus Crusade for Christ Bible study. I looked at a Scripture, and the room SUDDENLY went into slow motion because the Spirit was doing something big—I was encountering God—and God gave me the Scripture that changed my life from John 10:27, "My sheep hear My voice and they follow Me and NO ONE can snatch them out of My hand!" From that day in 1981 to this day, there was never a more profound encounter...and yet... ...my attitude seconds before that encounter was anger, not peace, and not faith! I was angry because I thought the teacher was teaching wrong religious things! God is funny like that—when He chooses His actions at our most undeserving times. 5. In 1985, a man tried to pray for the Holy Spirit over me when I was about 29 years old and he kept saying, "Don't you feel that? His POWER—the HOLY SPIRIT IS ALL OVER YOU!" "I don't feel a thing!" I protested. He finally gave up praying for me, feeling he had failed in getting me more of the Holy Spirit. And yet after that, SUDDENLY, God began to work miracle after miracle after miracle in my life. 6. Hold onto your hat on this one. This was also in the 1980s. I was SO clueless with things and about people. I TRUSTED people who should NOT be trusted. I had no discernment at all in those days. I didn't even have that sixth sense that something was wrong. So...two men, months apart, totally ripped off both me and my employer big time. I just assumed they were good guys because they were "nice" and "sounded believable"...until the money was gone! The first man stole $7000, and then almost disappeared and stopped returning our phone calls. Months after that, we learned he had suddenly dropped dead of a heart attack. What? The second guy stole from our business partnership, several HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS. I had believed him to be a great guy. What did I know? Where was my discernment? I FELT nothing! A couple months later, he, too, dropped dead of a heart attack. What??? Again, I was in my 20s when this all happened, but it became a life lesson I'll never forget. Oh, the lesson? Whatever I lacked in gifting...or discernment (and therefore whatever YOU lack in any gifting or whatever you seem to lack that feels like POWER), I learned that God will take care of us by HIS POWER. Let's clarify...ALL POWER belongs to and comes FROM GOD!! So no matter what you feel and no matter what you don't feel...can be quite irrelevant, because the POWER will ALWAYS COME FROM GOD AND NOT FROM A MAN OR A WOMAN. I'll leave you with this thought...Do you feel powerless...but God!! Because the power is in GOD and NOT IN YOU! OK? 2 Corinthians 12:9, "But He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.'" Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. Personal note from Steve Shultz: Are these words helping you in your life? Do you feel encouraged? Would you consider helping us financially? Did you know almost 30 people work at Elijah List Ministries to bring all these words and videos to you? Derene and I Thank You personally in advance for your financial support: If you would like to give to the ongoing work of this ministry you can donate online, or by postal mailing your donation to: Elijah List Publications
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