Apr 25, 2008
Keith Miller: “I’m TURNING UP the Illumination of My Brightness!” The Effective Workings of Christ IN and THROUGH You
Jesus walked in constant revelation, wisdom, and power, for the Father showed Jesus what He was doing, and when Jesus saw those things, He did what He saw God in Heaven do. Here in the following Scripture passage, Jesus gives us revelation of this process and secret, if you will, of this awesome power:
“Then Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel.'” John 5:17-30
Jesus acknowledged that nothing came from Him, but everything came from God. It’s not for our own glory or benefit that we do these works, but for the glory of the Father, and for His will as He directs us to do. All power flowed out of the Father’s love for the Son. Who is the Father? The Creator of the Universe! The One who conceived and created every magnificent and marvelous detail of creation.
We see that God shows Jesus ALL things that He Himself does. The more Jesus saw of and used–the power of God, the more power and knowledge He received. We too have sonship with the Father, and therefore the Father’s power through the Son is released in and through us.
Everything Jesus did on earth impacted people, and God’s power certainly brought attention to His works. This is why it’s so vital that we draw into close relationship with the Father and commune with Him often. We can’t do His works until we know Him and His ways, and until we understand the love behind the power that He’s releasing to us.
Jesus also said that God would show Him even greater works. As you grow in the knowledge of God, in His power and in His strength, you’ll do more and more works to glorify Him: “I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do” (John 17:4).
The Greatness of His Power: Plug into It!
It’s vital to plug into the Source of this power. In Part One of this teaching, we read of the lampstands in the Book of Revelation (click here to read Part One posted on The ElijahList). In Zechariah’s vision of the lampstand with seven lamps with seven pipes to the seven lamps (Zechariah 4:1-14), he sees two olive trees. Oil dripped from the tree’s branches into a bowl; and the bowl, like a fountain, dripped oil into the seven pipes. The oil flowed from the pipes into the seven lamps so that they would continuously burn.
Are you tapped into and grafted to the olive tree (Romans 11:17), where you function and flow in works out of the rich and flourishing oil of the Lord’s anointing?
“But my horn You have exalted like a wild ox; I have been anointed with fresh oil.” Psalm 92:10
“Anointing” is overflow. It was applied to the head (Psalm 23:5; Ecclesiastes 9:8), the face (Psalm 104:15), the feet (Luke 7:38-39; John 12:3), and even the eyes (Revelation 3:18)–and, indeed, it is literally poured over the Lord’s anointed. The horn is illustrative of God’s power, and the ox, of His strength, “The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold” (Psalm 18:2). Even if you’re as old as an ox, God’s workings can powerfully flow through you, because what qualifies you is not your age, but Christ’s workings and the resultant anointing upon your life.
The Mighty Works of Christ in You
“…of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God, the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.” Colossians 1:25-28
Apostle Paul was extremely conscious of the workings of Christ and of God’s “energy” at work in him. He finishes off this passage of Scripture with: “To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily” (verse 29).
God’s “working” derives from a Greek word for “energy.” The word “mightily” literally means “in power,” and derives from the Greek root word “dunamis,” from where we derive the word “dynamite.” This same word for might is used in Ephesians 1:19: “And what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power…” This gives us a picture of the power of Christ’s workings for us and of God’s workings through Christ in and through us.
When we remain tapped into the oil source, we burn continuously with the light of Jesus. There’s powerful energy in that light! God is turning up the lamp for harvest! He wants to turn up the lamp, and He does it by pouring more oil into it. You are the lamp that dispenses His glory. He wants to pour more oil into you.
“For Zion’s sake I will not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, and her salvation as a lamp that burns. The Gentiles shall see your righteousness…” Isaiah 62:1-2a
Let me share something with you: The Lord came to me a while ago, and in His hand was a powerful anointing. “Do you want this anointing, Keith?” He asked. Of course, I said, “Yes, Lord!” Well, He reached right inside of me with His hand and then pulled it back out. I asked what He was doing. He replied, “I’m turning up the illumination of My brightness!” He then showed me a mantle and explained that a mantle releases a Believer to absorb and become the expression of the realm of Christ in him or her. It’s not something we get, but something we become–an expression of the mantle God places upon us. From the mantle flows, for instance, revelation.
He is the Light of the World, but He has qualified us as sons and daughters of Light to be the light upon the hill. God is not searching to and fro for just a few who will burn brightly with the revelation of the reality of Christ, but for a whole Body who will say, “Let it be unto us according to what You already did for us, according to what we see You do. Please turn us up, Lord, to shine with Your glory!”
Paul said that he became a minister according to the gift of grace given to him by the effective working of His power (Ephesians 3:7). Paul was a learned man, but he didn’t function out of the realm of what he already knew. He functioned out of the gift of grace by the effective working of God’s power. We are to be stewards of that grace-gift of His effective, working power. 2 Timothy 2:1 tells us to be strong in grace. Grace endues us so that we don’t become weary or lose energy in doing good, because it’s His enduement of His effective, working power. It’s a disengagement of ourselves to allow the engagement of His power in and through us. The result of this awesome grace-gift? Fruit, fruit, fruit!
The Miraculous Pool of Salvation
“Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ Jesus answered, ‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. I must work the works of Him who sent me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.’
When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. And He said to him, ‘Go, wash in the pool of Siloam’ (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing.” John 9:1-7
Now I want you to read the full context of this passage of Scripture, because it’s illustrative in the context of understanding the miraculous, creative power of God in Christ’s workings for pointing the lost to Christ for a great harvest!
We see in this miracle account that Jesus made clay by mixing His saliva with the dirt on the ground. Then He anointed the blind man’s eyes with this poultice-of-sorts before instructing the man to go and wash it off at the pool of Siloam (translated, “Sent.”). First, the clay is noteworthy because just as God through Jesus formed us from the dust of the earth, Jesus formed the clay from the ground to apply to the man’s eyes to create new ones that would see. In effect, Jesus was saying by this act, “Listen, I Am the Creator of the Universe. I made your eyes in the first place, and because I Am Creator, I can fix those eyes!”
Then we see Jesus send the man to the pool of Siloam, which is illustrative of salvation! The man went and washed at the pool, was healed, and later we see him fairly teaching the Pharisees about Jesus (to their utmost dismay), as he shares his testimony over and over in answer to their questions.
So, what’s so significant about this pool that Jesus would send the blind man into it? It became a pool in the first place because, hundreds of years before, King Hezekiah wanted it dug within the walls of Jerusalem because of an impending attack. He wanted to ensure that he and his people had enough provision of water, which would be vital for their survival (2 Kings 20:20). It would also deprive the enemy of a source of water. So its intent in the beginning was to quench the thirst of the people should their supply be cut off. King Hezekiah dug a pool, then stopped up the water in the Upper Gihon, and diverted it via an underground conduit or tunnel into the city. These flowing waters ran quietly and unseen.
It was also from the pool of Siloam that water was brought in a golden vessel to the Temple in a Water Pouring Ceremony during the Feast of Tabernacles (the harvest festival). The water commemorated the water smitten from the rock by Moses at Sinai for the thirsty Israelites (Exodus 17:1-7). Jesus probably pointed to the pool when He stood in the Temple on that last day of the Feast, while He cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water” (John 7:37-38).
Jesus sent the blind man to that very same pool to wash. Are you getting the picture here? After he washed, the blind man saw! It wasn’t so much that he could see in the natural as he could see deity, God the Creator. What happened in this harvest? The veil fell from his heart and he instantly stood in bold defense of the One who had healed him.
This quiet-flowing, endless stream of water is not unlike the ceaseless oil that flows from the olive trees’ branches into the lampstands (Zechariah 4). Do you remember in the Temple near the pool of Siloam when Jesus said, “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water”? The living water is the Holy Spirit. How would you like rivers, ceaseless rivers of living water flowing out of your heart? How would you like the eyes of the blind to open, the ears of the deaf to be unstopped, the lame to leap like a deer, the tongue of the mute to sing?
How would you like to see streams in the desert, waters burst forth in the wilderness, the parched ground become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water (Isaiah 35:5-7)? How would you like to operate in that miracle harvest flow and say to that blind man yourself, “You’re healed, go and wash now in that pool of salvation, in that pool of living water, that you too might know that endless flow of Living Water!”
The Highway: Raised Ground for Harvest and “The Way”
This miracle harvest flow is for you, today. It’s a highway that you have access to because of Jesus. It’s raised ground and the way. The people walking in it will be righteous and it will be the way for the weak, the blind, the lame, and the lost as God leads and saves!
“A highway shall be there, and a road, and it shall be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it, but it shall be for others. Whoever walks the road, although a fool, shall not go astray. No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast go up on it; it shall not be found there. But the redeemed shall walk there, and the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with singing, with everlasting joy on their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.” Isaiah 35:8-10
Purity releases unrestricted power for harvest. Pure rivers flow out of the Righteous Ones. The Blood of Christ purifies, washes, and cleanses you. The blood is in that pool of Siloam; there was a fountain there…a fountain of His Blood that is the ransom of the Lord. By way of the highway of the harvest miracle flow, the way will be plain and straight, clear enough that no one can mistake it for the way unto salvation.
Jesus said that those who would receive the disciples would receive Him. Paul said, “For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe” (1 Thessalonians 2:13).
Do you want to see revival and harvest? Why not in your city? Let the ransomed of the Lord come back to Zion! Signs, wonders, and miracles flowing from the Word will draw people to the highway. They can’t miss it! Signs, wonders, and miracles will release the ransomed of the Lord. “Now these are Your servants and Your people, whom You have redeemed by Your great power, and by Your strong hand” (Nehemiah 1:10). The ransom comes about by miraculous liberation, and it speaks of God’s desire to set people free. Whom the Son sets free is free indeed. No more sighing! Victory!
Christ’s Life in You on Display!
Christ’s workings in and through us becomes more real than our circumstances. Christ’s workings are for the Body of Christ! God wants to bear witness, to attest who Jesus is with signs, wonders, miracles, and the grace gift “according to His will” (Hebrews 2:4). God wills all of that! Not in word only, but in demonstration (1 Corinthians 2:4)!
That highway is accessible to us to demonstrate the Gospel of power. He’s turning up the current of His power so that there will be no darkness in you, so that His oil will make your face glisten (Psalm 104:15), so that people won’t miss that highway! Pray for a mantle that will absorb the works and expressions of Christ in you so that people will be compelled to ask, “Where did you get these things, and this wisdom, that these mighty works are done?” (see Mark 6:2).
Your life can be a display of the mighty works of God, a display of rivers of revelation, wisdom, and healing for harvest. God wants you to go after the anointing of His power, not only for healings, but for signs and wonders, too! The release of Christ’s workings empowers you for harvest. Call for the lightnings of God when you pray, and see satan fall like lightning as God dethrones principalities.
In summary, and this is a great one, my son, Justin, said, “Only God can fix me.” That’s the effectual working of His power in you. Embrace His working. You’re redeemed! You have Christ in you, the hope of glory! You can go from strength to strength and glory to glory, the impossible to the possible with the Word that you believe, that thus becomes effective in you!
Keith Miller
Stand Firm World Ministries
Email: info@sfwm.org
Keith Miller’s Itinerary:
May 7-10, 2008
Tent Revival: Wells of the Revival Spring Up
Stand Firm World Ministries Center
5200 Meadowgreen Drive, Amarillo, Texas, 79110
Contact: Click here for event schedule
May 28-31, 2008
Growing in the Supernatural 3
Scottsdale/Fountain Hills, Arizona 85264
Contact: 1-866-980-5464 or Click here
June 13-15, 2008
Breakthrough–Palbok Presbyterian Church
Palbok Presbyterian Church
Vernon Hills, Illinois
Contact: 847-918-7233 or click here
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