Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are you?

Dear Friends,

I pray that this letter finds you and your family in health and prospering as your souls are prospering! I pray that you are all walking in His perfect will for your lives.

Ok, the world is upside down, the financial condition of  the world is a mess, our current administration is sadly lacking in any Godly wisdom, and "We the people" are watching the Godly foundation that our nation was founded upon to unravel. I know I am speaking to people in several continents, but the same devilish spirit is working all over the world as it is here in America. We are truly entering the days where people refuse to endure sound doctrine. The church has  become weak and ineffective, and the people of God refuse to do the things that His Word directs us to do.

Here is what the Lord has shown me. Many of His people are frustrated at the lack of power that is being manifested today. Many have said there is no power in the church, and have gone to home church situations. God wants His power manifested everytime people come together in His name, yet prayers continue to go un-answered. We have expected God to do His part yet we refused to do our part.

II Chronicles 7:14 says "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."

OK this starts with "IF MY PEOPLE"!
Have we humbled ourselves?
Have we prayed?
Have we sought His face?
Have we turned from our wicket ways?
Only then can we believe that God will hear from heaven and heal our land. We have not begun to do our part, yet we try to hold God accountable to His part even though He gave us His requirements for fulfilment of this promise.

Mathiew 16:24 says "Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me."

Have we denied our fleshly desires?
Have we taken up our cross? (submitted OUR wants and desires to the wants of God)
Have we followed Him? (taken on the ways and nature of God)
We cannot call ourself a disciple (follower of Christ) if we are not FOLLOWING His ways and submitting to His word.

Did we endorse things that we knew God was not endorsing?
Have we accepted the worlds standard while knowing that God desired much greater things of us?
The end result of not doing things His way are ruin and NO power to accomplish the tasks He has set before us!

Paul made a bold statement in 1 Corinthians 2:1-5  

And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.
For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.
And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:
That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

Paul walked in a great deal of authority because he lived for Christ, and not for himself. God is calling us ALL to that same standard my dear friends. That is how he was able to shake the snake off as if it were nothing more than dust while the men stood in amazement waiting for him to die.

There is TOO much defeat in the body of Christ today, and the days of Ananias are about to appear to bring the fear and reverence of God back into the church. We do NOT have to be drawn to God in this manner.. Turn to Him today in fear and trembling, and start walking in the authority He has ordained for your life!

Acts 5:1-11 says
But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession,
And kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles' feet.
But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?
Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.
And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things.
And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried him.
And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in.
And Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much? And she said, Yea, for so much.
Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out.
Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost: and the young men came in, and found her dead, and, carrying her forth, buried her by her husband.
And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things.

In Acts 19:14-17 there were these 7 dudes who tried to play games with God and ended up naked and ashamed!

And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so.
And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?
And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.
And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.

They had an idea that they could just get away with playing church.. Their image held up just fine till they really needed the power of God to show up. There was NO root in them, no sound doctrine, and it could be said about them that they had a form or Godliness, but denied the power thereof. They resembled the modern day church, powerless and fleshly. What they did was put on a good show until the going got tough. Their true nature was about to be revealed in a major way. Interestingly enough, the devil certainly did not recognize their power. Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but WHO ARE YOU the demons asked before stripping them naked before the world to see. The end result of them actually caused fear to fall on all who heard of them!

 In closing, God wants more of us all. His plans for us are so amazing, and He wants to empower us for the "GREATER" works. The problem is that we have not even done the "WORKS" let alone the "GREATER WORKS".. The days we are living in are perilous, and we need God on our side. That means we LIVE FOR HIM, and He lives in and through us! The more of God that there is in our lives equates to His power and authority working in us. As Christians, the demons are supposed to tremble in fear when we walk into a room. People are supposed to get healed and delivered when coming into our very presence because the God of all creation lives in us! As we get the "leven" out of our lives, we will see more and more of the glory of God revealed in us!
As we do our part, God will show up mightily.

My precious friends, lets obey God in all things, and our name will be "KNOWN" in the spirit. Lets become the Christians that God uses to bring healing, restoration, and life to a broken and lost world!

Jesus loves you all SO SO much, and so do Gayle and I..

We appreciate you, we appreciate God in you, and we BELIEVE for the absolute BEST that God has for you and your families!

If you know someone who might be encouraged by this letter, please feel free to forward it to them.

In His Love,
Joe and Gayle Smith