I believe another way to increase the anointing is
to spend much time reading the gospels and following
closely the ministry of Jesus. Jesus said, “The Son can do
nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do”
(John 5:19). I believe we will only do what we see Jesus
do.
The disciples followed Jesus and saw the signs
and wonders and miracles that He did. He said to them,
“He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do
also; and greater works than these shall he do: because I
go unto my Father” (John 14:12).
Rodney Howard Browne teaches that God sent the Holy Ghost to empower them that
they might go forth and do His works. Later, when Peter
and John were taken in front of the chief priests and
elders and commanded not to preach or teach in the name
of Jesus, they said, “We cannot but speak the things
which we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20).
You Will Be Like Those You Hang Around
You will only do what you have seen and heard. If
you hang around a ministry that does not believe in
healing and in the power of the Holy Spirit, then you will
be just like that.
When people come to me and say, “I don’t believe
in miracles,” or tell me that miracles have passed away, I
tell them that they have come too late to convince me.
I’ve seen God move. I believe in miracles.
Something that has been a blessing to me is
reading about one of the miracles Jesus did. Then I close
my eyes and watch what He did, picturing before my very
eyes how exciting it would be to attend Jesus’ crusades
and to witness the miracles He did.
Looking For a Man; Missing Your Miracle
Let’s look at the story of the man Jesus healed at
the pool of Bethesda found in John 5:1-9. The Bible says
there was by the sheep market a pool, in the Hebrew
tongue called Bethesda, having five porches. In these
porches lay a great multitude of blind, halt, and maimed
people, waiting for the troubling of the water. At a certain
season an angel would come and trouble the water and
whoever stepped in first was made whole of whatever
disease he had.
If you can, for a moment, picture the events that
transpired. An angel would come down and trouble the
water. Imagine how frustrating it must have been for
those who had been waiting for years for their miracle.
While they were coming, someone else got there ahead of
them.
Jesus arrives on the scene and walks up to a man
who was powerless to help himself. He asks him a
question. “Wilt thou be made whole?” That seems a
ridiculous question to ask a man who is sitting by a
healing pool waiting for an angel to trouble the water. If
he was from New York he might have said, “Of course, I
want to be healed. What do you think I am sitting here
for, my health?”
Jesus was provoking the man to see where he was.
The man gave Jesus a ridiculous answer in response to
the question. He said, “Sir, I have no man. While I am
coming, another steps down and is healed in my place.”
Jesus didn’t ask him if he had a man. He asked him, “Wilt
thou be made whole?” In reality, Jesus was saying, “I am
your man. Rise, take up your bed, and walk.” The man
arose and walked.
Looking for the Missing Pieces of the Puzzle
Anyone reading this passage of scripture would
say to me, “Well, Brother Rodney, isn’t it wonderful that
the man was healed?” Yes, it is wonderful. But when I
read this scripture, something bothered me about this
whole story and I couldn’t put my finger on it.
I read and reread this passage of scripture and I
could not help wondering, If all those sick people were
there, why did Jesus only heal one. I could not understand
why others around this man didn’t shout out to Jesus and
ask Him to come over and heal them as He had healed
that man.
After praying about it, the answer suddenly
dawned on me. It was so simple I could have kicked
myself for not seeing it sooner. The reason the others
were not healed was because they had a man to help them
get into the pool. They were so busy looking to their man,
they missed their miracle. Their miracle came into the
midst of them, and then left. They were untouched
because they were too busy to see what had happened
right in front of them.
As we spend time in the Gospels and follow the
ministry of Jesus, we begin to see it without the cloak of
religion and in the power of the gospel.