INTRODUCTION
Oooo La La it is that
time of the month again people fresh manna from the throne. As I have said I am dealing with the
fundamentals of our Christian walk and you can’t get more basic than this. However,
it is the little foxes that spoil the vines. If the foundations be destroyed
what will the righteous do?
Laying on of hands is
one of the six fundamental principles of the doctrine of the Lord Jesus Christ
listed in Hebrews 6 verse 1-2:
Therefore
leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection;
not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith
toward God,
2 Of the doctrine
of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of
eternal judgment.
I am very concerned for the unwary
sheep like myself.
We will now listen to a
video done by Pastor Kenneth Hagin.
APPRECIATION
I forgot to thank this
Pastor last month. How could I?
·
Pastor Matthew
Ashimolowo from over there at Kingsway International Christian Centre in England NO LIMITS/LINE CROSSER/BARRIER BREAKER/
IDENTITY – 31 Insights into Prayer, (we are the only army that marches
forward on our knees), 30 Reasons Why Christians Should have a Business, 50
Blessings and 80 Reasons Why You Should Give Thanks to the Lord – As Dr. Otabil
says when these guys interpret the Bible you wonder if it is the same book you
are reading.
I
pray the Lord will continue to increase him.
REFLECTIONS
I
have been very concerned about what I see taking place as I visit churches in
this country. Having come from a
deliverance background I am aware of the dangers that can happen if there is no
control in this area. I remember my
Pastor in Jamaica would warn people not to go around and allow people to lay
hands on them arbitrarily. They should
know the lives of people before allowing them to lay hands.
So,
people if you see me ignoring your prayer lines been there done that. It is self-preservation. If you lay empty hands on empty heads all you
get is empty. Zero times zero is zero. Hence, the reason the Apostle Paul
admonished Timothy not to lay hands on anyone suddenly I Timothy 5 verse 22.
CRITICAL DEFINITIONS
In Christianity, the laying on of hands (Greek: cheirotonia -
χειροτονία, literally, "laying-on of hands") is both a symbolic and
formal method of invoking the Holy Spirit
primarily during baptisms and confirmations, healing services, blessings, and ordination of priests, ministers, elders, deacons, and other church officers, along with a variety of
other church sacraments and holy ceremonies.
We will now look at the ministry of laying on of hands
throughout the scriptures beginning at the book of Genesis. In the garden of
Eden there was no need for the laying on of hands because God and man were at
one. Then Adam violated the
relationship, hence we now have to lay hands and do all the other things that
we call church to invoke the presence.
THE
MINISTRY OF LAYING ON OF HANDS
1.
The
Laying on of Hands for Blessings
Abraham did not have to
bless Isaac because he was the covenant child. He sent away his other children
with gifts Ishmael and the six others Genesis 25. However, Isaac had twins and
we encountered intrigue with these two boys one loved by the mother and one by
the father. The elder Esau sold his
birthright for a mess of pottage (be careful what you are selling your destiny
for) to his younger brother and then suddenly developed amnesia when it was
blessing time. So, by sleight of hand
and ingenuity Jacob and his mother engineered it so that the younger got the
blessing. Let me recommend here Buy the Future a sermon on the subject by Dr.
Mensa Otabil.
In Genesis 27 we see
Isaac blessing Jacob and declaring that he would rule over his sibling. In
verses 32 to 40 one realizes how important the blessing is because when Isaac
realized that Jacob had gotten the blessing instead of Esau he ‘trembled very
exceedingly’ and when Esau realized that he had missed out he cried.
Having established the
significance of the blessing Let us jump over to Genesis 48. This is Israel (Jacob) blessing his grandsons,
Joseph’s sons. The man was ready to give
up the ghost (may you live until you die) so he was blessing some and getting
back at some for sleeping with his concubine and for breaking covenant. Don’t wait until you are dying to vent on
your children is the lesson here. Genesis 48 vs 13-20
We see how Israel was deliberate about the blessing and how he was guided by
the Lord and how he invoked the blessings of the lineage from Abraham. Ephraim
did become greater than Manasseh in a short time. I Chronicles 12 vs 30
Jesus and the little
children
In the book of St. Mark 10 vs 15-16 Jesus suffered the little children to come unto Him and
blessed them by laying His hands on them.
2.
Succession
Planning
Just a note here God is
the original Management Guru he was doing the things that we are now
discovering from before the foundations of the Earth. Succession Planning is
all over the book. We all know our ultimate destiny. If you are not sure read the Book of
Revelation it is stated quite clearly. All categories are taken care of
Revelation 21 vs 7-8. Just in case you are having degrees to sin. God has
one degree sin.
Let us hop over to the
book of Deuteronomy and look at the operations of that great man of God Pastor Moses.
Numbers 27:18-23King James Version
(KJV)
18 And the Lord
said unto Moses, Take thee Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit,
and lay thine hand upon him;
19 And set him before Eleazar the priest, and before all the
congregation; and give him a charge in their sight.
20 And thou shalt put
some of thine honour upon him, that all the congregation of the children of
Israel may be obedient.
21 And he shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall ask
counsel for him after the judgment of Urim before the Lord: at his word shall they go out, and at his word they
shall come in, both he, and all the children of Israel with him, even all the
congregation.
22 And Moses did as the Lord
commanded him: and he took Joshua, and set him before Eleazar the priest, and
before all the congregation:
23 And he laid his hands
upon him, and gave him a charge, as the Lord
commanded by the hand of Moses.
The Lord had Moses to impart not only honour unto Joshua but also wisdom. Let us now look at Deuteronomy 34:9King James Version (KJV)
9 And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom; for Moses had laid
his hands upon him: and the children of Israel hearkened unto him, and did as
the Lord commanded Moses.
Of course Joshua laid hands on no one so we have in the book of Judges Anarchy in Israel
Of course Joshua laid hands on no one so we have in the book of Judges Anarchy in Israel
3.
Victory
This illustration that I am going to use Dr. Mensa Otabil has a fantastic sermon on it called Don't Hold Back. The Story is in II Kings 13 verses 14-19 you are going to have to fight but I will guide you. The laying of hands of the prophet speaks to transference of anointing and guidance 2 Kings 13:14-19King James Version (KJV).
14 Now Elisha was fallen sick of his sickness whereof he died.
And Joash the king of Israel came down unto him, and wept over his face, and
said, O my father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof.
15 And Elisha said unto him, Take bow and arrows. And he took
unto him bow and arrows.
16 And he said to the king of Israel, Put thine hand upon the
bow. And he put his hand upon it: and
Elisha put his hands upon the king's hands.
17 And he said, Open the window eastward. And he opened it.
Then Elisha said, Shoot. And he shot. And he said, The arrow of the Lord's deliverance, and the arrow of
deliverance from Syria: for thou shalt smite the Syrians in Aphek, till thou
have consumed them.
18 And he said, Take the arrows. And he took them. And he said
unto the king of Israel, Smite upon the ground. And he smote thrice, and
stayed.
19 And the man of God was wroth with him, and said, Thou
shouldest have smitten five or six times; then hadst thou smitten Syria till
thou hadst consumed it: whereas now thou shalt smite Syria but thrice.
4. Healing/ Miraculous Power
The
laying on of hands characterizes Jesus’ Ministry we see this in St. Luke 4 vs 40 and St. Mark 6 vs 5-6. In the latter scripture, we see that doubt and unbelief
can hinder the ministry. The gospels are replete with instances where Jesus
laid His hands and wrought healings and mighty miracles.
In
Acts 28 vs 8 Paul laid his hands on a sick man and he was healed and immediately
opened a healing school on the island of Malta.
This came about because in verse 5 of the same chapter Paul had shook
off in the fire a deadly snake that bit him and under the observation of
everyone who was expecting him to die nothing happened. There will be many
snake bites in life, it is not unto death, it is only for the glory of God. Just
shake off the serpent and move along. Gene J always nullify gene S.
5. Baptism of the Holy Spirit
The
book of Acts has many instances of this occurring. This was a common feature of the apostle’s
ministry in the book of Acts so much so that one man wanted to buy the power. This took place in Acts 8 14 -20.
Also
in Acts 19 vs 1 - 6, the disciples were baptized in the Holy Spirit. The Holy spirit can also be received without
the laying on of hands as in Acts 2 the upper room and Acts 10 the house of the
gentile Cornelius.
6. Set Apart for Ministry
We
will look at two instances of this in the Bible the instance in Acts 13 vs 3. As it was in Acts 6 the Apostles fasted and prayed before laying on of
hands. You can’t lay empty hands on
empty heads, one should always seek the direction of the Holy Spirit before
laying on of hands. After all it is His show not ours.
No
dissertation on this subject would be complete without looking at the instance
with the young man called Timothy. Paul had to admonish the little young fellow
not to be intimidated. In modern day parlance, we would say ‘Timothy don’t watch
nuh face. Do your thing Brother.’ I Timothy 4 verse 14.
14 Neglect not the gift that is in thee,
which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the
presbytery
Let
us watch this video done by Pastor Benny Hinn to cement the new concepts that
we have learnt.
In the Old Testament hands are imposed on sacrificial animals in
order to set them apart for special purposes (; Leviticus 4:4 Leviticus
16:21; 2 Chron 29:3 ). The notion
of separation for an uncommon purpose also lies behind the imposition of hands
on the Levites during their ceremony of consecration ( Num
8:5-15)
CONCLUSION
In concluding,
let me repeat that we must be very deliberate about what we are doing. As Pastor E.A. Adeboye would say ‘God is not a
talkative’. There are reasons why He
does the things He does, in the way that He does them. It is beneficial to us.
We have to trust His heart. In addition, if we do not get the fundamentals right
what sort of a structure can we build.
The organization of the church is right there in the
Bible for all to see. There needs to be
no experimenting, if you are interested in order and transparency. King David was very careful with king Solomon
he kept saying see that you do everything according to the plan. Likewise, Moses in the wilderness. Church Organization
is for another Blog. Success leaves clues (Tony Robbins) no need to reinvent the wheel pattern those who are successful. Hence, the need for spiritual fathers.
I have been reflecting in recent weeks and thinking to
myself that you can leave a job or they fire you. Having had many firings,
myself. You can steal some money and you
go to prison and serve your sentence. But in the Church Leadership if you mess up
this is what you get St Matthew 18 verse 6.
But whoso shall cause one of these little ones who believe in Me to fall, it were better for him that a millstone were hung about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.
You might not be serious about God’s business but He is very serious about His business so don’t touch it if you are interested in pleasing men above God.
Once again, this is me Lillene’s baby girl coming to
you from up here in the true north.
À bientôt!
