Jesus had a really good habit of “cutting through the crud.” Religious hypocrisy didn’t get an ounce of slack from Him. Jesus boiled it all down to the issues of the human heart and would lash out at those who sought to choke the heart of the issues with hypocritical rules.
When in Mark 7, for example, the religious scholars criticized Jesus for not washing His hands before He ate, He lashed out at them for being so ridiculously strict about washing the outside while their insides remained a vile place of filth.
Oh, they didn’t like that one bit!
Can you imagine people looking at you in disgust because you forgot to wash your hands and then your retaliating at them by saying, “Look, I may not have washed my hands, but my heart is pure while you’re full of all sorts of filthy trash!” Or, “You may look good on the outside, but you’re just whitewashed tombs full of nothing but stinkin’, rotting bones, you filthy Pharisees!”
Jesus Wasn’t a Wimp
Jesus wasn’t a wimp. He wasn’t some mealy-mouthed preacher who walked around in a daze all the time, disconnected from the outside world. He didn’t take as much junk off people as you might think. Unless He was being persecuted for God’s sake, He didn’t let people beat on Him. He’d either say something or walk away.
One time in the temple Jesus got so hot under the collar that He started making a rope! In other words, He was considering beating the tar out of something! He drove the merchants right off the temple grounds, turning over their tables and hollering at them! He said they’d made the church a den of thieves (John 2:13-17).
He was right. He got to the heart of the issue, and people understood really quickly what He meant!
Jesus was wise. He sought to help people live purely both in their hearts and in their actions. He wanted to clean out the old ideas that man had hung on the Bible and get back to the truth of what God said.
Go ahead and reread the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John for yourself. Read what Jesus had to say when situations arose, and you’ll see that time after time, He talked about the heart of the matter.
Jesus showed us that God could and would do miracles of salvation, healing, deliverance and even prosperity if we would only believe.
Phrases like “Be it according to your faith” and “Your faith hath made you whole” are throughout the Gospels. In other words, what is in your heart? Is it belief and trust in God that dominates? Or is it doubt and skepticism?
It’s What Is in Your Heart That Matters
It’s what is in your heart that matters. It’s what you do with what God gives you that makes the difference in receiving your healing or not.
You may say, “How do I get off of drugs? How do I get healed? How do I get all of these things out of my life?” The answer is by breaking the power of natural law in your own life. Nobody can do it for you.
Even though God may use others to stimulate your faith in Him and pray the prayer of agreement with you, ultimately it is your faith that will make you whole spirit, soul and body.
Say this to yourself: “My success doesn’t depend on how much of the Word I read or know about; it depends on how much of the Word I allow to become a part of me.” I’m not just talking about applying the Word here, but I’m talking about becoming one with it—abiding in it.
Unite yourself with the Word in the same way you united yourself with Jesus when you accepted Him as your Savior. Can you do that? Say, “Yes, I can,” even if you’re unsure right now.
I believe that as you start sowing the Word into your mind, you’ll begin to have confidence and build faith. Your heart will be opened to believe more. Your childlike faith will begin to flower, and natural law will begin to break.
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers
Jesse Duplantis, minister of the Gospel, motivational speaker, television personality, and best-selling author, has been in full-time ministry since 1976 and is the founder of Jesse Duplantis Ministries, located in the Greater New Orleans area of south Louisiana in the United States of America. With over four decades of sharing his unique blend of humor and faith around the world, generations of believers have been inspired by his messages and countless numbers have come to know Jesus Christ as Savior through his ministry.
Known for his unflinching, status-quo-breaking messages and humorous take on experiences in the life of the believer, Jesse continues to draw large audiences of believers through social media, television, and meetings held around the world. With speaking engagements booked years in advance, Jesse Duplantis continues to keep an intense traveling schedule, flying throughout the United States and the world preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. With no booking agents pursuing meetings for him and no set fees imposed upon churches for speaking engagements, Jesse chooses his outreach meetings based on the same two criteria he always has: invitations that come in and prayer over each one. This uncommon way of scheduling in today’s world means Jesse’s many followers may find him speaking in some of the largest churches and venues in America and the world, as well as a great many small and growing congregations, too. No church is too big or small for the Holy Spirit, as he says.
Side by side with his wife Cathy Duplantis, the co-founder and chief of staff of Jesse Duplantis Ministries and the senior pastor of Covenant Church in Destrehan, Louisiana, Jesse continues to fulfill his life’s calling by daily taking up the Great Commission of Jesus Christ: “Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). Through social media, television broadcasts, books, and other ministry products, as well as through many evangelistic meetings, the JDM website, the JDM app, and Voice of the Covenant magazine, Jesse Duplantis continues to see growth in his ministry and expand each year while maintaining his roots. Jesus is the center of his life. The salvation of lost people and the growth of believers is the purpose of his ministry. And for both he and his wife, every day is another day to “Reach People and Change Lives, One Soul at a Time.”