The Three 'Knows' of Ministry

My guest blogger today is Joel Adifon. This message was originally posted here. 

In the past two years, I have read many resources on the gifts of the Spirit and ministering to people – some of them have been extremely helpful.

However, in the past two months, God has been showing me just how simple operating in the gifts was meant to be, how the phrase, ‘it’s all about relationship’ has been butchered and has been made into a terrible cliché.

Holy Spirit has been ruining my ability to listen to sermons on His gifts that stem only from principles apart from relationship with Him.

He showed me that moving in power can be boiled down to three keys (Listed here in order of important to most important).

KNOW HIS WILL – F. F. Bosworth, the famous healing evangelist, said “Faith begins where the will of God is known”. All ministry starts from this place. It is impossible to fully pray in faith until you are certain of what God’s will is for a matter.

Why?

Jesus instructed us to pray for the Father’s Kingdom to come, for His Will to be made manifest on earth as it is in Heaven (Matt 6:10). We are to restore creation to the original design, purpose, and intention that God has for it. But, if you don’t know what that is – if you don’t know that it’s always God’s Will is to always heal, always God’s Will to save, and always His Will to deliver – then you’re going have to have a hard time confidently decreeing restoration because you’ll always be second guessing yourself. It is impossible for a double-minded man to receive most things in the Kingdom, because most things in the Kingdom come by faith (Jas 1:7-8). But, knowing the Will of God is just a starting point. If this is all you have, then there is huge potential for you to get into striving and attempting to make things happen in your own strength. There’s something greater than knowing God’s Will.

KNOW HE’S GOOD – You can know the Will of God, but something happens when you become convinced of His Goodness, when you come to the realization that He wants people healed, saved, and delivered much more than you do – when you understand that He’s much more compassionate than you are. Then, your focus is no longer on trying to make a miracle happen, so much as declaring who He is in the midst of a situation and allowing the circumstance to testify of His goodness. You will see more people healed and restored because you will begin to understand the Romans 8:31 principle of, ‘If God is for me, who can be against me?”

But, have we arrived once we’ve gotten a revelation of God’s goodness?

The problem is, if we stop here, we can begin to get your identity out of showing God’s goodness to people.

What happens if the person doesn’t get set free or even dies?

You understand that it wasn’t God’s fault – but then, whose fault is it? Without a revelation of something more than just knowing God’s goodness, you will begin to turn introspective and try to find the ‘hidden sin’ or find out what you did wrong. You can have a revelation of God’s goodness, you can be conscious of the fact that God wants to see people healed, saved, and delivered more than you do, but this, in and of itself, is not a guarantee that you’ll be able to get the job done when the situation calls for it. Something higher than understanding God’s goodness needs to come into play.

KNOW HIM – Honestly, this gets so hyper-spiritualized in the Charismatic church, it’s not even funny. We have turned the prophetic into a tool for ministry, but it is so much more than that. God does not want to talk to us, just so we can tell others what He’s saying. God wants to talk to us, just because He wants to talk to us. When was the last time you went to a movie with Jesus? When was the last time you took Him out to eat and had a conversation with Him that wasn’t overtly ‘spiritual’? Honestly, too many of us, are trying to know Holy Spirit so we can be ‘good at ministry’ and not enough of us are trying to know Him, just to know Him.

Lately, I have been focusing solely on spending time with Him everywhere I am, on really walking out the revelation that there’s no separation between Jesus and I and we’re together all the time, and the results that I have been seeing have been blowing my mind. Healings are happening much faster, because I’m finally starting to act as if there’s no formula for healing, that it’s not about what I say or do, but about WHO I’m in love with. Now, it’s truly possible for me to apply the concepts I’ve learned from knowing His Goodness and knowing His Will because I can now ask the Teacher for help when I get stuck. Why?

Because I’ve learned to hear Him apart from the context of ministry and have studied (gotten acquainted with) His character and nature in everyday life and can now ‘show myself approved’ (2 Tim 2:15) – manifest what I’ve learned - as opposed to having ‘studied to show myself as being good at ministry.’

Knowing what He’s like through direct experience gained from practicing His presence make me more bold, it brings out a confidence that I wouldn’t have otherwise because Perfect Love casts out all fear (1 Jn 4:18). Not only that, but I’ve found myself being more creative in how I minister. I ask Jesus what He wants to do in the person’s body and then I participate with Him. It’s no longer about commanding or saying or doing the right thing to twist God’s arm into moving. No, His swag switches up constantly, so the way I minister does too.

Sometimes, I’ll thank Holy Spirit for something I see Him doing without my having asked Him. Other times, I’ll invite Holy Spirit to manifest His presence, watch what He’s doing, then act in response to that. Sometimes, I’ll ask Him to do something and then wait until He does. Other times, I’ll move out of my authority and watch as He backs me up. And then other times, when I ask Him what He wants to do, He’ll smile, turn to me, and say, ‘Well, my dude, what do YOU want to do?” The only way I’ll be able to move with Him this way, is if I spend time cultivating an intimacy with Him that spreads out into my normal everyday life. Learn to walk with Jesus as a real human man, learn to hear His voice, hear the desires of His heart, and encounter His personality, and flowing in the gifts will be really easy. All ministry is, is a dance with Him.

So let's recap.

KNOW HIS WILL – Knowing His Will allows faith to manifest and for you to move out of a measure of authority.

KNOW HE’S GOOD – A revelation of His Goodness empowers you to walk with the confidence that He’s backing you up and wants this thing to happen more than you do.

KNOW HIM – Knowing Jesus outside of a ‘work environment’ ;) allows you to know what He’s like and how you flow with Him. This ensures that when you get into a situation that requires hearing His Voice, you’ll be able to receive His guidance and act accordingly.

Well, I hope this helps!