THE LORD WORKING WITH THEM

Since the task given to the early disciples and to us, as the disciples of Jesus today, is basically the same — producing the proof of the resurrection power of Jesus Christ in a needy world — we need to give careful consideration to the highly successful methods the early disciples used to affect this task.

The methods of the apostles led to miracle ministries. The same methods in our lives will bring us into miracle ministries. When we talk about miracles, we must be careful to understand we are not talking about just physical miracles. All of God’s wonderful workings in the life of humanity is His miraculous working in our souls, our families, our loved ones, our finances — at the point of every natural or spiritual need we may have.

The reason for the success of the early disciples is very simple: It was the Lord “working with them,” and with the Lord there is no room for failure. He will confirm His Word with unmistakable miracles.

The apostles would not have been successful if they had not been able to produce evidence of the resurrection. When they preached, things happened just as Jesus said they would when He gave them the great commission. Jesus said:

And he said unto them, Go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature, He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned, And these signs shall follow them that believe, In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents: and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them: they shall lay hands on the sick. and they shall recover. And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen. (Mark 16:15-18,20)

They had signs and wonders following them because the Lord was working with them.

Some seem to read that Scripture this way: “They, working with the Lord…” That is the way many try to minister, but the method that proved so successful for Peter and Paul was “the Lord working with them.”

How did Jesus work the works of God in meeting human needs? In the ministry of Jesus Christ, as far as we can ascertain from the Scriptures, Jesus never prayed for one sick person as we know and understand praying or interceding. It certainly is not wrong for us to pray for the sick. In fact, there are many ways to pray for the sick — scriptural, biblical methods — which God has given us such as the laying on of hands (Mark 16:18) and anointing with oil (James 5:14-15).

However, what we are looking for and what we are believing God to do for us as we pursue these truths, is a breakthrough in the spirit world that will completely revolutionize our ministries — the Lord working with us.