Chapter 3
The Lame Shall Leap With Joy
We must wait for God’s energized word—whether it is from the Bible; or whether it is spoken to us by the Holy Spirit; or whether it comes from an angel or a human voice empowered by the Holy Spirit. Then that word will build faith for what is to come. As faith burns in our heart, we are not being presumptuous when we step out toward the fulfillment of what has been promised — whether it is a miraculous healing, or a marriage, or a ministry, or a business venture, or a public office, or a role in sports, or whether it is the salvation of one or many.
There is a fundamental law in the universe which I call the “law of use,” that was embodied in Jesus’ Parable of the Talents. Simply stated, if a person uses well what is given him, he will have more. But if he fails to use what is his he will lose what little he has. Somehow in the perfect plan of God there is to be a marriage of what little we do with the great things God does.
I have always been struck by the seeming impertinence of the Apostle James who, as presiding officer of the Jerusalem Council of the early Christian church, made this pronouncement regarding the imposition of Jewish dietary laws on the gentiles who had come to faith in Christ. “It seems good to the Holy Spirit and to us that we lay no greater burden on you except…” (Acts 15:28.) I asked myself, “If it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, what possible difference did it make what opinion the early church leaders had? Why add “to us?” Then I began to realize that God works in harmony with His people. Church order depends on our agreeing with the Holy Spirit. Answers to prayer take place when Jesus is in our midst and we agree on earth as touching what we ask (Matt. 18:19.)
Upon the prompting of the word of God, we in faith joyously say, “Yes, Lord, we agree with You and we now step out in faith in accordance with Your word.”
