To Every Messenger a Message

God has taught me a principle that helps me deal with criticism and praise from those who read my messages. It's a bit of personal instruction He offered to help me see my efforts to advance the kingdom the way He sees them. Maybe it will help you see yours in the same light.

We're all given messages from God to deliver to others. While every Christian has the same King, and we're all asked to bear witness of Him to the world, the way in which we do it is unique. Your message and mine are not the same. Some of us are called as healers, some as writers, some as pastors, and others fix cars and teach their children about Jesus.  Every believer has a unique set of messages to deliver, and every message has an audience.

One of the problems I struggled with for years was knowing how I would tell people about Jesus. One day God said to me, "I'll show you what's wrong with your patients. You pray, and I'll heal them." I'd be willing to bet that none of the 6 billion people on earth have received that exact same message. You have a message or two from God that are unique, just as mine are unique to me.

God has given me a number of different messages. I have a journal where I write them all down. When time allows, I write them up and post them on my blogs. My blogs allow the people who are interested in my messages to access them whenever they want. The blog followers are the audience God has provided for the messages He gives me. Not everyone is able to deliver their messages through a blog. I have my way to deliver my messages and you have your way. The way in which a message is delivered is unique to each messenger.

When I write a blog post, I try to limit myself to only those subjects that God has authorized me to speak on. When we're obedient to speak only the messages He gives us, to the audiences He provides, the ones who hear the messages are likely to receive them with gladness and they'll bear fruit. When I want to give my audience a message I haven't received from God, I recruit someone else to deliver their message on my blog. In this way, I'm able to provide my readers with a variety of topics, without going outside the authorization and revelation God has given me.

My messages have critics who occasionally post negative comments. Thankfully, God showed me how to deal with them. In a dream, people were leaving comments on the things I posted. Most of the comments were positive, but a few were negative. In the dream, I knew I had to keep posting my messages for the sake of those who were blessed by them. I didn't let the critics get me down, and neither should you.

What is My Message?
One of the problems is knowing what God has authorized us to speak on. Sometimes the issues we're authorized to speak on are given to us as passions that we have for certain subjects. Generally, your message will be on the subjects that God speaks to you about in your conversations with Him. I should give you fair warning: The subjects of these conversations are not always dictated by Him. I've been surprised at how talkative He can be and how much instruction He's willing to provide on subjects that I've brought up. Some of the information I've received has been for my benefit only. I don't always receive permission to speak on these subjects, publicly.

Knowing which subjects you've been given grace to speak on (and which ones you haven't) is critical to reaching the audience He's prepared. It also determines whether your message will bear fruit. While it may be tempting to speak on an issue out of what we understand about it from our personal experiences, it's best to speak from revelation we've receive directly from God. He can tailor our message so that it addresses the issue from His perspective, expresses His heart, and makes a positive impact on the audience who hears us. There are many subjects we might be authorized to speak on. You may or may not be called to speak on healing, but I  know it's one of my messages. You may be called to speak on abortion, while I may have no personal revelation from God on that issue. Whether we have authorization from God to speak on an issue does not make it any more or less important to God. We should avoid thinking that a subject is less important because God has not authorized us to speak on it.

Who is My Audience?
The other problem is speaking the right message but delivering it to the wrong audience. I have many friends who engage in heated debates on a daily basis, simply because they haven't realized that their message is not intended for a universal audience. They believe it's imperative for everyone to receive their message, but in reality, God has prepared the hearts of certain people who will receive their message and bear fruit from it. The two keys to bearing good fruit as a messenger are knowing your message and recognizing its intended audience.  Generally, you know you've found an audience with ears to hear when your message is received well by those who hear it. That's not to say we should never expect resistance if we're delivering our message to its intended audience. A skeptic, who is actually part of the intended audience, may initially resist your message. God may try to persuade them to consider a different point of view through your message. Over time, their heart may soften and they may develop hears to hear your message. But if hostility, rejection and quarreling are things you continually face, you may need to re-evaluate your message or the audience you're trying to reach. The apostle Paul was convinced that he was called to preach to the Jews, but God's intended audience for him was the Gentiles. His was a case of having the right message, but delivering it to the wrong audience.

I don't know what messages you're called to deliver and I don't know your audience. That's between you and God. All I can do is urge you to ask Him for the message He wants you to deliver. Once you have your message, trust that He will provide an audience who will receive it—no matter how small they might be. Some are called to speak to millions, some to thousands, and some, to only a handful of people. The size of your audience isn't important. What matters is your obedience to God. If you obey, you and your message will bear much fruit.

My Friend’s Deliverance – Kazuko Onishi

This testimony was sent to me by my friend Kazuko Onishi. I’d like to introduce her to those who don’t know her. Kazuko lives near Kobe, Japan. She was the first person in the country to purchase my book Divine Healing Made Simple. We became friends on Facebook and she asked if she might translate my articles and parts of the book into Japanese for her friends as there is very little written on healing and deliverance in her language. I agreed and before long she was teaching her friends what she was learning, mostly from my writings and those of Bill Johnson and Randy Clark, which she is also translated for her friends. This is the message she sent me about her first deliverance session, which came unexpectedly while having dinner with friends:

Hi Joseph, (That’s what she calls me.)  

I don’t know if you are interested in my story but I want to share it with you. I had G4 summit meeting last Saturday.  Two months ago I received a FB friend request from a woman I’ll call Tina who lives in New Zealand. She was impressed by your “Power and Authority” in Japanese on my FB.  She asked me if she could talk with me about healing and deliverance when she comes back to Japan. She is from Osaka. So I asked her if I could invite Robert too. (Robert is a mutual friend of ours.)

She came back to have a wedding to a man I’ll call Dan whom she met in New Zealand. Dan, who used to be a Muslim is now a fervent Christian too. So Tina, Dan, Robert, and I met together in Kobe. We had a great time talking, praising God, sharing testimonies, and praying together at my favorite cafe (The coffee there tastes so good).  We were talking for three hours and more and then Robert had to leave.

Dan invited me to have dinner with them so we went to my favorite Chinese restaurant.  After eating, I asked Tina if could pray for her because at the café she had said she always had pain in her toes. I asked about her pain level and she said she had no pain then because there was God’s presence around us.  Whenever there’s presence of God, she has no pain but only stiffness.  So I prayed and commanded her stiff toes to be flexible.

“Strange to say,” she said, “the pain came back to my toes.”

So I laid my hand there and commanded the pain to leave in Jesus name.

“It’s very strange, but it moved to another part,” she said.

“Where?” I asked.

It moved to her right cheek, then to her right neck and lastly to her throat. I prayed each time when it moved.  We were convinced it was the evil spirit that caused her pain and I commanded it to come out and leave from her mouth.  It became smaller and smaller but it was still stuck inside her throat.  I felt something in her throat moving under my hand.  Her body twitched a few times. I switched praying in Japanese to tongues and then she exhaled something. Finally it came out from her mouth and she said she saw a snake leaving in her vision.

It is the first deliverance I’ve ever had.

I sent a mail to Robert about it yesterday and he said he could see the snake manifesting in her at the cafe but didn’t say anything. He asked the Lord to show him the way to deliver the snake from her that night. He says that deliverance from a snake means much to us.

Robert is a seer and I always wanted to be like him. But now I think God gives each of us a different gift. I think God gives me a gift of healing (Of course I know every believer can heal the sick in the name of Jesus. But mine seems to be stronger). Tina’s headache was instantly healed when I laid my hand and prayed at the Café (she said my hand was so hot). Dan’s running nose was completely healed when I laid my hand on his nose and prayed twice at the restaurant. I’m sure Coreen has some special gift too. (Coreen is a mutual friend of ours.)

Good night, Joseph!
Mimi

If you know anyone who might benefit from the material Kazuko is translating into Japanese, she can be found on Facebook, here.