Jesus used His heavenly powers, but never to fulfill His own human desires, or to testify of Himself as Satan tried to trick Him into doing. When Jesus used the power of the heavenly realm, it was in obedience to the Father in heaven and as a witness of the Father. Because He gave Himself to be a witness of the Father's love, the Father sent the Spirit to witness of the Son. The power of heaven is never used selfishly. That is why selfish ambition can be found at the root of almost every ministry that falls. If we are going to be trusted with the great power that some will exhibit at the end of this age, we must be resolute not to use power for selfish purposes, or testify of ourselves. This must be our constitution.

 

Have you ever wondered why many who have the greatest healing ministries seem to always be sick or physically afflicted themselves? The gift of healing they were given was not for themselves, but others. I have also often marveled at how those who seem to have the greatest gifts of prophecy have trouble getting a word for themselves. This is actually for our safety. The Lord has composed things in this way so that we all need each other. This also exposes a root of pride if it gets a grip on us. If we begin to think we have such a great gift that we don't need others, we will remain in need. As it is written in James 4:6, "...GOD is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble." We must therefore remain humble to remain in the grace of God.

 

If we have truly beheld the wonder of the cross, the glory of His resurrection, and where He now sits, it would be one of the most profane, arrogant acts of a perverted fallen nature to use His power to point to ourselves. When we truly begin to perceive the glories of heaven and the One who rules in heaven, like King David, we wonder why the Lord would even consider man, much less choose to dwell among us.

 

Even so, this is the message of the kingdom that we have been given to preach on this earth, and the message He will back up with demonstrations of its reality. God loves all of mankind and He is coming to dwell with man for eternity. However, the state of mankind will certainly be elevated far beyond its present condition when His glory is fully revealed. If it were not, His glory would destroy us. He is a consuming fire that will burn up the "wood, hay, and chaff."

 

We are messengers from another kingdom who have been sent ahead to proclaim the coming of our King who is also "not of this world." We cannot represent a kingdom we do not know. We must know the reality of His kingdom, and live in obedience to it now. Our home must be in heaven. Our dwelling place is with the Lord in the Spirit. We are called to be seated with Him in the heavenly places, to see with His eyes, hear with His ears, and understand with His heart. Before the King returns, there will be a witness and demonstration of the reality of the kingdom of heaven on the earth. This will come through messengers who know and live in the reality of that kingdom now. That is our calling.

 

To those who will walk in this, there will be a profound sense of the greatness of the One we have been sent to represent. We will not dare to pervert the message by using it for selfish reasons, and we will also be totally devoted to doing His will and not our own. We only have true spiritual authority to the degree we are submitted to the King.

 

Now, this does not mean we need to hear from heaven to buy a can of beans. The more mature and submissive to Him that we become, the more He will trust us to make decisions. Jesus did not have to get a specific word from the Father to heal every person. He had seen the Father heal the sick, and deliver those who were oppressed of the devil, so He went about doing the same.

 

In general, whatever we have seen Jesus do in the Scriptures we can do also in His name. There will be some specific instances where we will need special guidance, but for the most part, we do not need a specific word to do what He has already commanded us to do. Even so, our goal should be to "see Him." As we do see Him, beholding His glory, we will be transformed into His same image, and do the same works He did.

 

One aspect of His nature that we will certainly bear if we have truly seen Him is a devotion to glorifying God, not ourselves.