You ask, "What are you talking about?" I'm talking about the fact that Satan has blinded our eyes all these years with religious traditions until we can't see the place God wants us to occupy in exercising the gifts.
I don't want to depreciate prayer and the need for prayer, but when we rise from prayer, believing we've been heard, we must do what Jesus did when He went to the grave of Lazarus: He commanded Lazarus to come forth; He didn't pray. Read it in the Bible:
Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead [Lazarus] was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that THOU HAST HEARD ME. And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, LAZARUS, COME FORTH.People, I want you to realize that you and I are missing something in this age of charismatic renewal—and it is the greatest fact from God's Word: commanding power.
(John 11:41-43)
In Acts 3, when Peter looked down at that poor beggar at the gate called Beautiful, he said, "Silver and gold have I none...," but he didn't reach down and pray, "O Lord, heal this man." He said, "I can't give you any money, but such as I have give I you." And I want you to notice he didn't pray; he commanded, "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk" (Acts 3:6).
I'm telling you about a power called "commanding power" that every Spirit-filled, blood-bought child of God is capable of operating. But it won't operate unless we are committed and dedicated to obeying the Word.
Today we've got people who run from this place to that place to the other place, wanting to hear the Word. Then they run from one prayer meeting to another and another. Then they wonder why nothing is happening for them.
I'll tell you why nothing is happening: After they've heard and prayed, they haven't commanded anything to happen!
Commanding is different from confession. I learned about commanding when I served in the U.S. Army. In the Army, you tell men when to stop, when to start, when to sit down, and when to eat.
I'm very proud of the fact that I wore that green uniform. It still hangs in my closet. I can't get into it, but recently I was thumbing through the closet looking for a sweatshirt, and I saw that uniform. I had to stop, stand at attention, and look at it for a moment. I'm proud of this country.
I found that being from Texas helped me when I checked into a certain training unit after boot camp. I had just found a bunk, had thrown my stuff on it, and was talking to another fellow when I heard somebody come in the door. He said, "Hey, Tex!" I turned and replied, "Yes, sergeant,"
He said, "I'm down here to go to this signal school, too, and they put me in charge of this platoon. Grab that gear and get it up here. You're from Texas, and you're going to be one of the leaders around here."
I said to myself, Thank You, Lord. I knew what that meant: I wasn't going to have to pull any KP duty or guard duty because I was going to have corporal stripes. But a responsibility and a commitment came when they snapped those stripes on my uniform. I had 13 men under my command.
The orders came down from the battalion to the company commander to the platoon sergeant to us squad leaders. They told us what to tell those men to do. I didn't say to them, "Do me a favor. Get your boots on and your fatigues on and let's go—we've got a job to do."
No, I said, "We have been told to do such and such and we will do it NOW! Right face. Forward march!" And out the door we went.
That command meant I had a responsibility, and it meant that if I didn't do what I was supposed to, the sergeant had some control over me.
You and I are in the army of the Lord. I can prove it to you by the Word of God. there are privates and there are generals. There are different divisions in the Lord's army. We must learn where we are in the Body and what our privileges are. Then we can begin to command some things to happen.
The private in the army might think he doesn't have any rights and privileges, but he does. There are things he can command from those over him. There are things he can command out of the government of the United States because he signed up with the army.
He can demand that the army live up to its agreement with him. He doesn't have to get on his knees and ask, either; he can command it.
The same thing is true in the Body of Christ. Although different people have different ranks, the fellow who's the little toenail on the little toe of the Body has every right and privilege to command and demand what Jesus said belongs to him.
Our problem is that we've been doing a lot of praying and a lot of confessing, but we haven't been doing any commanding.
It's fun to command! Satan has blinded our eyes regarding our right to command. God is waiting for us to act. Jesus already has paid the price for us to do it, and Jesus has made it plain that we have the power to do it.
by Kenneth Hagin, Jr.
Excerpt permission granted by Faith Library Publications