Signs Wonders and You

Hey folks, this is Dr. Ray Self. I'm getting ready to start episode 170. Can you believe it? Episode 170. It's been a long journey and I appreciate everyone who listens to this podcast. Today's show is going to be a little different. I want to talk about signs and wonders and you, and why you may not be experiencing them or how you can experience them, how you should see them operating in your life because the power of God through the Holy Spirit is available for all believers. This is going to be a fun show an exciting show and I hope you enjoy it. Don't forget to check out our website at icmcollege.org. Also, don't forget to check out the podcast website at icmcollege.org/selfttalk. I appreciate you very much and thank you for listening, can you believe it? Episode 170 is getting ready to start right now.

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Okay, here we go. This is Dr. Ray Self and you are listening to Self Talk. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I thank you for this show, I thank you for technology, I thank you for everyone listening to this podcast. I pray that this show will be a blessing. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ for the Holy Spirit to come and just anoint our ears and our hearts to hear what you have for us today. So Lord, we give you praise, we give you honor. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen, amen.

Well, folks, you know, um, I'm a Bible believer, not because blind faith, because it's proven to be true. And Jesus said something very interesting in John 14:12. And when Jesus talks, I think we need to pay attention and we need to respond. So in John 14:12, Jesus said something that was very powerful. He said, “Truly, truly I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these will he do, because I go to the Father.” So I mean, let's look at this verse. It says if you believe in Jesus - and I think most of my listeners do and I do - Jesus is saying, “...the works that I do…” Now, we've read about Jesus's works, walking on water, turning water to wine, feeding the 5,000, healing the leper, raising Lazarus from the dead, um, casting out demons, you know, the legion of demons, we… we've heard about this. But He said, literally, “...he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will also do; and even greater works…” because He’s going to the Father. 

Now, how does that happen? And was He serious about this? Was He just making this up? I don't think so. So you know, Jesus told us before he left - in John He talks about this - in John 8, He said it's to your advantage that I go away because when I go away, the Comforter will come to you. So what happened was Jesus ascended into heaven and He sent us the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is the power of God residing within us.

Now, this is… I don't want to get into a big theological thing here, but I'll just tell you briefly. I believe when you're saved you do get the Holy Spirit. I think the Holy Spirit is a work of God. It's a work of the Holy Spirit to redeem you, to justify you, to make you into a new creation. That's a miracle, that takes the power of the Holy Spirit to do that. But Jesus said something, Luke quoted Him, in Luke chapter 1, it's interesting. Um, verse five, Luke is quoting Jesus. And Jesus said, “...for John baptized with water but you'll be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” Then you go down to verse eight, “...you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria into the remotest parts of the earth.” 

So then we have Pentecost and of course, the Holy Spirit descends on 120 folks in the upper room. You think, well there He is and He's, and He's been here ever since. Well, what– if you keep reading the book of Acts, you see the Holy Spirit falling again and again and again. You go to Acts 8 and this is the story of Philip, you know, preaching in Samaria. And um, and it said uh, when they believe– Acts 8:12, “When they believed Phillip preaching the good news about the kingdom of God in the name of Jesus Christ, they were being baptized, men and women alike. So Philip goes from Jerusalem to Samaria as an evangelist and begins preaching the gospel. And people were believing and being baptized in the name of Jesus Christ,” okay? That's– this is a very critical thing here. I want you to understand this because something happens right after this, verse 14, “When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria…” that's the area where, you know, Philip was preaching, “...had received the word of God, they sent them Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. For He had not yet fallen upon them. They had simply been baptized the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and they began laying their hands on them and they were receiving the Holy Spirit.”

So you see, you have people who are saved and then at a later time receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Now, it doesn't say the word baptism but it says they were receiving the Holy Spirit. And - you know, which I think is the same thing. So you think, “Well, that's interesting,” so you go to Acts 19 and it says in verse one, “It happened, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the upper country, he came to Ephesus, and found some disciples, and he said,” very critical scripture, “... ‘did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?’ They said, ‘No, we haven’t even heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.’” So verse six, “Then Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying.” They began speaking in tongues and prophesying, they began doing supernatural things when Paul laid his hands on them. So what it appears to me in, and, and is real for me, that there's two things going on here. There's salvation, which is incredible and I was saved many, many, many years ago and there's the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Now, there are some, you know, conservative groups that argue that no, the baptism of the Holy Spirit is only once you get saved you got the baptism of the Holy Spirit. 

But Acts shows that sometimes, and many times, the baptism of the Holy Spirit comes later after salvation. That happened to me. It came upon me 25 years after I was saved… I got baptized with the Holy Spirit. And I want to tell you something, I'm just being real here, after that point, my life changed. Not only my life, my passion for God, but also the supernatural. I began experiencing the supernatural, I began– and I'm not bragging on me, I'm bragging on Jesus, Jesus working through me through the power of the Holy Spirit. I began casting out demons, I began speaking in tongues, I began laying hands on the sick and I saw people healed left and right.

You see when you're baptized with the Holy Spirit, you have the power of God within you. Now, the salvation is the most important thing but there's more God has for you. He wants to get you saved and He wants you also to receive the power of the Holy Spirit. Remember, at the end of Luke, He tells his disciples to wait in the city of Jerusalem until they receive the Holy Spirit. In other words, these disciples were saved but he told them to wait for the baptism of the Holy Spirit before they did anything, and He told them the baptism of the Holy Spirit would come. It's not just - now many teach it's just a one-time thing, the moment you're saved you have the Holy Spirit. Well, that's convenient but there are millions of Christians just like me who will testify that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is something separate from salvation. It can happen at salvation but not necessarily. If you have not been baptized with the Holy Spirit, I encourage you, find a Holy Spirit-filled church that believes in it. Let, let… the elders or the pastor lay hands on you and, and let the Holy Spirit come upon you, it, it, it's a whole another ball game, folks. 

After this happened to me many years after my salvation I saw the supernatural. Folks, I'm just going to share a few things with you. I saw a blind lady, an elderly lady… with– we laid hands on her. She couldn't see out of her right eye, her vision comes back. I've saw countless people healed in their body, in their shoulders and their necks and uh… I saw a man, a good friend of mine, uh, you know, healed in his– had a word of knowledge the Lord was going to heal somebody in their right ear. A good friend of mine named Bob was deaf in his right ear, the Lord opened it up immediately. I saw a young man in Guatemala with a broken leg get up and walk with no pain at all, with a broken leg, no cast, no brace because there was no doctor anywhere around. You know, where we were. 

Um… one of the most amazing stories, and I want to share this story because after I got baptized with the Holy Spirit, my sister, her name - she's with the Lord now - her name is Elaine. She's in heaven now but at this time some years ago, my sister was not walking with the Lord. As a matter of fact, she was heavily into the New Age stuff. To crystals and pyramids and incense and yoga and all this new age stuff. Well, one day my sister had an abscessed tooth, a horrible abscessed tooth. Matter of fact, the tooth was so bad that a nerve was exposed. Her pain was so great that she couldn't sleep for over three days. I heard, now my sister was you know, married and living in another part of town, so I heard about my sister and I called her. And I said, “Elaine, I understand that that you have terrible pain in your mouth and you can't sleep and it's awful.” She said, “Yeah, it's terrible. I just haven't been able to sleep, the pain is just awful. I can hardly, I can hardly stand it.” And I said, “Well,”  I'm on the phone now, I said, “Well, Elaine, would you mind if I prayed for you?” She said, “Well, I don't know. I'm watching TV right now… um, and I'm doing some crochet, but if you want to pray go ahead.” So I said, well, this is a really spiritual event. You know, we're not at the altar in the church, you know, I'm not laying hands on her, I'm really just talking over the telephone to my sister. So I began to pray and I spoke healing over her in the name of Jesus Christ, “Lord, I thank you. I ask you, Father, by the blood and the power and the authority of Jesus Christ to heal my sister's tooth, to heal this abscessed tooth.” So I prayed a prayer something like that - it's been some years ago - and then when I finished praying, I said, “Elaine, how do you feel?” She goes, “Well… it doesn't hurt right now.” I said, “Okay, that's good. Well, praise God.” “Yeah, well thank you for calling.” Click. 

So Elaine was kind of curious about this ‘cause all of a sudden, I prayed and her tooth stopped hurting. So Elaine decided to test this tooth out. Now, if you ever had an exposed nerve on a tooth, it's, it's, it's an awful thing. Elaine went and grabbed a toothbrush and brushed that tooth with the exposed nerve to see if it was really healed. She brushed her tooth with an exposed nerve there was no pain. The tooth was completely healed. She goes to sleep and she sleeps all night just like a baby. Completely restful sleep. The next day my sister calls me, goes, “Hey, Ray. That prayer… I mean, I mean, I'm healed. I mean, I'm healed! Where is it, where is it you go to church? Tell me about this church.” And she never turned back. She went to church, she got saved, she got filled with the Holy Spirit. And you know, this is God. You know, and you can't put God in a box when it comes to divine healing when it comes to miracles… you cannot put Him into a box, He will do things differently than, than you, you could ever expect. 

I know uh, there was a lady - this was a horrible thing. I'm in the church office with another pastor friend of mine, we're in, actually, Olive Branch, Mississippi. And there was a wreck in front of the church, the church was on a little two-lane road. And the pastor and I go out and we see a lady lying on the road. Apparently, she’d been thrown from her car and she just looked dead. The pastor looked at me and I looked at him and I, I said, “I think we're supposed to rebuke the spirit of death.” So, laid my hands on this lady on the pavement and I said, “In the name of Jesus Christ, I rebuke you, Spirit of Death.” And you know, we prayed that, all of a sudden the paramedics, the police show up and then we just, you know, we just went back into the church. That's all we could do. Well, the next day this lady's husband shows up at the church office and he said, “Excuse me, where are the gentlemen that prayed for my wife?” Um… we said, “Well, yeah, that was us. We, we prayed for her.” He said, “Well, she was dead. The paramedics said when they got there she was dead and all of a sudden, she co– came back to life and I, I, I just want to thank you.” 

Guys, the supernatural, I mean, praise God. Now wasn't me healing this lady or the pastor I was with, it was the Holy Spirit, the power of the Holy Spirit that's within me. And if you are filled with the Holy Spirit, you have the power of the Holy Spirit within you. These sign– Mark 16, “These signs shall follow those that believe: in My name you'll cast out demons and you'll lay hands on the sick and they shall recover,” okay? The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 12, the manifestation of the Holy Spirit is for the common good. To some the Holy Spirit has given words of knowledge, to some words of wisdom, to some miracles, to some faith, to some gifts of healing. And so the Bible's full of Christians moving in the supernatural. And we can move in the supernatural, you can move in the supernatural, we are supernatural people. We are saved supernaturally which is the most supernatural thing of all, so why is it such a big deal to lay hands on somebody and see them miraculously healed right in front of you? It should not be, it's part of our assignment. 

And you may say well, “I, I, I've never, I've never done that. Well, this is my encouragement to you. It's called step out. You know, when, many times when I pray for people– guys, I'm, I'm gonna be honest. I've seen hundreds of people healed. Now, I've been a Christian for a long time - not bragging on me, I'm bragging on Jesus - I've seen demons cast out, I've seen a lot of supernatural, amazing, amazing things. I can tell story after story after story of the supernatural and it gives glory to God, it builds my faith. But you can do this. The key to it is faith, is to believe that the Holy Spirit's in you and step out. What do I mean by step out? Take some action. Go put your hand on someone. Maybe you don't feel anything at all. Many times when I'm praying for something, I– somebody I feel nothing. Put your hand on them, pray for them, and, and say, “Lord…” you know, “I thank you, Lord, that your word says we shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover. So Father, in the name of Jesus Christ I thank you for healing this person.” Or you might say, Lord, your word says that by His stripes we are healed. Lord, I thank you that according to your promise, my sister Susie is healed. Lord, by faith I speak healing and I rebuke this disease out of sister Susie now, in the name of Jesus Christ.” 

You see, there's a time that we petition God and ask God to do something, but there's another time when we start taking authority that God has given us, okay? He said in Luke, “Behold, I've given you authority over snakes and scorpions, and all the works of the enemy,” so asking God to do something is one thing and it's a good thing, but taking the authority God has given you and acting on it in faith is something else. And many times that's why so many people don't see miracles is they don't step out in faith and take the authority that God has given them. Lay hands on the sick and rebuke the disease. Command the disease to leave their body, command healing into this individual in the name of Jesus Christ. You think there's a demonic, uh, spirit operating? Command the demon to leave in the name of Jesus Christ. And when you pray, listen to the Lord. Maybe He's going to give you a prophetic word. Just pray and listen and speak out the impressions and the thoughts and the words that come into your mind out of nowhere. 

What I'm saying is, folks, the supernatural should be a part of every Christian. It can be a part of you. You know, one thing I would just encourage is just say, “Lord, I, I want to be used by you.” A prayer like this, “Lord, fill me again with your Holy Spirit. Lord, I ask you to give me the spiritual gifts. Lord, I want words of knowledge, words of wisdom. Lord I want– Lord, I want the gifts of healing. Father, you said in 1 Corinthians 14 that we should earnestly desire spiritual gifts. Lord, I desire spiritual gifts.” And I want to tell you something, folks. As you're praying this, God wouldn't ask you to desire something He's not willing to give you. “Lord, I desire spiritual gifts.” And if you're listening to me now, I ask the Holy Spirit to touch you. I ask the Holy Spirit to fill you. I ask the Spirit of God to give you boldness and give courage. And Lord, for everyone listening to me who's willing to receive, I ask for a fresh anointing of the Holy Spirit. Lord, if somebody has not been baptized with you, in the name of Jesus Christ, Lord, baptize them with your Holy Spirit now, in the name of Jesus Christ. And I thank you, Father, for everyone listening to me who's willing to receive that signs and wonders will follow them and that these people there, these listeners to Self Talk, will do the same works as Jesus and even greater works because that is the part of being a Believer. “...those that believe in Me.” “...these signs will follow those that believe…” Lord, I thank you, Father, and all this is for Your glory, Father, and for Your kingdom and to, and to build the gospel and, and help people to believe, Father. Lord, I thank you, Father, for this opportunity and I thank you, Jesus. 

Folks, if you're listening to me… amen… if you're listening to me, pray for the Holy Spirit to baptize you. Be baptized with the Holy Spirit. Now, you don't have to have an elder. It's cool if you can have an elder lay hands on you, or your pastor, but you can also just do it in your bedroom. Ask the Holy Spirit to fill you or baptize you and then be bold, step out, put your hand on someone, and pray for them, Father– and, and pray for them. Cast out demons, just be bold. Step out in faith, in the name of Jesus Christ. It's about action. You know, faith without works is dead. Step out. Be bold. Give it a shot. And I have I'll be honest with you, I've prayed for many people and seen them not healed when I prayed for them. But I've also prayed for many people and seen them healed. Can I explain why some people are healed when I pray for them and some people are not? Nope. I cannot explain that. I, and everybody I know who's a sincere Christian who flows in the gifts, will tell you not everyone we pray for is healed, but some are and it is really cool when it happens. And maybe the ones we prayed for are healed later and we just don't see it. 

But anyway, signs and wonders will follow those that believe. Signs and wonders are to follow you. You, you listener to Self Talk. Signs and wonders should be following you. Receive what the Holy Spirit has for you now, in the name of Jesus Christ. God bless you, this is Dr. Ray Self.

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Well, we did it. We completed episode 170. Thank you so much for listening to the show today and I am sincere that signs and wonders should be a part of the everyday Christian's life. And I know it's a stretch, and it should be a stretch for us because we cannot do this in our natural ability. But with the Holy Spirit, we can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens us. Thank you so, so much for listening to the show, it means a lot. Uh, be sure and subscribe and give me a review. When you do these things it actually helps the show uh, get seen and heard more so it really does help us. And share this, you know, share this with as many people as possible. I appreciate that very much. If you're interested in getting your… God's called you and you want to get equipped for the call of God on your life, check out icmcollege.org, International College of Ministry. I love you much. Thank you so much for being part of my show, it really means a lot to me. God bless you, this is Dr. Ray Self.