by Aaron Davis
The more I have pursued understanding the true intent of God in the establishment of His kingdom on the earth, the more I have become convinced that an essential aspect of operating within His desires for that establishment is walking in His authority and displaying His power! Bill Johnson says:
The Kingdom of God is not in word but in power (I Cor. 4:20). The original language puts it like this: “The Kingdom of God is not in logos but in dunamis.” Apparently they had a lot of teachers who were good at speaking many words, but displayed little power. They did not follow the pattern that Jesus set for them. Dunamis is “the power of God displayed and imparted in a Holy Spirit outpouring.” That is the Kingdom.
Two chapters earlier Paul lays out his ministry priority as bringing the people of Corinth to a place of faith in God’s power (dunamis) (see I Cor. 2:5). Here he addresses how they were set up to fail if things didn’t change. Any time the people of God become preoccupied with concepts and ideologies instead of a Christ like expression of life and power, they are set up to fail, no matter how good those ideas are. Christianity is not a philosophy; it is a relationship. It’s the God encounter that makes the concepts powerful.104
Hebrews 11:6 (AMP)
But without faith it is impossible to please and be satisfactory to Him. For whoever would come near to God must [necessarily] believe that God exists and that He is the rewarder of those who earnestly and diligently seek Him [out].
The great thing about God is that if we ask Him for clarity, He will give us insight. So often we quit asking and just assume everything is on track because we compare ourselves to a standard of other people, rather than His standard for us individually. The problem with that is we all have a different purpose in the body of Christ and God may have a different plan for us than the guy we are comparing ourselves to. As a result, there may be something He would reveal to us that is much different from what he would reveal to someone else, if we just sought direction from Him. You may need to take a different path from the guy you were blindly comparing yourself to, or perhaps even following.
God is a rewarder of those who earnestly seek Him, and an essential aspect of seeking is asking questions. Sometimes those questions may confront the hard and personal realities about who we have become versus who we were created to be.
I’m reminded of the scene from Disney’s The Lion King105 in which Mufasa says to his son, Simba, “You have forgotten who you are and so have forgotten me. Look inside yourself, Simba. You are more than what you have become.”
WHAT DO WE DO WITH THIS?
Voltaire said, “With great power comes great responsibility.”
It is astounding to me how insanely interconnected the universe is from a scientific perspective, each particle dependent upon the existence of the other for life or even physical matter as we know it to exist. It’s as if the blueprint of the universe rests upon the foundational principle of interconnectedness. And if God created this blueprint, I cannot help but believe that His intention for us, His most prized and loved creation, would not follow suit. I have to believe that God fully intends for man to be intricately interconnected with Him and each other.
Ecclesiastes 4:12 (AMP)
And though a man might prevail against him who is alone, two will withstand him. A threefold cord is not quickly broken.
So where do we start? If even a portion of what has been written in this book is truth, where does the application for Quantum Christianity begin? I think it starts with the acknowledgment and recognition of what is missing within ourselves.
I don’t think that we necessarily have to understand all of what may be lacking in our lives in order to move forward, but by acknowledging what we know is out of alignment and intentionally beginning to change our perspectives—focusing toward the point of liberty that God created us to walk in—there we will find the questions and the motivation to seek out answers.
Like early theoretical physicists embarking upon the daunting task of developing mathematical equations that would quantify theoretical new forms of energy, I wonder if we are in a quantum phase of Christianity where we are discovering that there is more than what we have previously understood or experienced.
We are now faced with the decision to live in the previous generation’s “box of reality,” or build off of that essential and valuable foundation, posturing ourselves in a position to learn and receive the wisdom for the institution of the quantum aspects of our kingdom-of-God experience.
How badly do we want the truth? As Jillian Chambers106 says, “Pursuit is proof of desire.” If we fail to posture ourselves in a position to receive something new, or allow ourselves to consider information in a light that is different from our traditional experience, then will we likely find ourselves underprepared to recognize anything new when we encounter it—if we encounter anything at all.
Closed-mindedness produces its own repetitive fruit. Or, as George Bernard Shaw said, “Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.”
Acknowledging that there may be more than what we have experienced, perhaps the action of open-minded pursuit postures us in a place where He can fulfill the desires of our heart with the wisdom that we are looking for, if for no other reason than because we are open to the answers, whatever they may be.
Matthew 6:33 (NIV)
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
FIXING OUR FOCUS
I recently had the privilege of eating dinner with world-renowned Australian Healing Evangelist, Andrew Kubala. Andrew was a guest at our church, and I saw with my own eyes as people from our congregation experienced some miraculous breakthroughs and healings. As we spoke, I asked him a quantum question:
Why you? Are the healings that are experienced in your meetings because of a gift that is in you or maybe some kind of extension of greater faith that you possess above other people? Why, when others pray for people, do they not seem to encounter the same level of experiential breakthrough and healing that you do in your meetings?
His answer surprised me. Andrew explained to me that he was himself miraculously healed of a life-threatening form of leukemia in his teen years when a pastor prayed for him. Then he told me, “Aaron, I know God heals because He miraculously healed me. I’m not special . . . any pastor or Christian could do what I do.”
Of course, with this answer I had to further probe: “Then why don’t we see it more in the body of Christ? What do you do that is different than what the majority of others are doing?”
His reply has continued to consume my thoughts on so many levels:
Aaron, if there is something different, it may be a matter of focus. Healing is all I focus on. When I pray, I’m praying for the people in the next meeting. I’m praying for them and envisioning the healings that will take place before I even get there. I don’t doubt that God will heal; I expect Him to.
If there is one thing that may set me apart, it is that I will often take the step of faith beyond where most people’s faith ends. Most people are willing to pray for someone to be healed, but they stop at the prayer. Few will take the initiative to tell them to take up their bed and walk.
I believe God will heal them so I challenge them to do something they couldn’t do before. If their leg was broken and they couldn’t walk before, I will walk with them. On many occasions, on the first or second step, there is no manifestation, but after a few more steps, something happens. I’m continually amazed! Every time someone is healed, I’m just in awe of God!
In our conversation, a couple of things stood out to me. One, how nonchalantly Andrew just expected God to perform the healing while not losing the awe factor when it takes place. And two, the statement that he made about challenging people past the point where most people refuse.
We spoke for well over an hour, and Andrew shared with me amazing testimonies of miraculous healings, one of which was with a professional athlete from his home country who experi
enced a terrible injury to his leg but received a miracle. They prayed, and at first nothing seemed to happen, until Andrew challenged him to continue to walk with him, and after the first few steps, the miracle manifested!*
He explained to me that a great majority of people have a line that they are unwilling to cross as it pertains to faith and prayer; it is as if there is a point in which internally they shake their head no and tell God, “This is as far as I’m willing to go.” They may not verbalize it, but their actions display it. It’s a point in which they are unwilling to move forward for fear of how they may be viewed and what may, or perhaps more directly may not, happen. In the back of their minds, they hope God will do something when they pray, but in this place of hope they really haven’t yet activated faith. And it’s as if a line is crossed into faith when someone steps past his own personal line of discomfort.
Andrew went on to share with me that most pastors are dealing with so many issues as they pertain to their churches and the people’s needs that their focus is spread out in many directions. But in his personal experience and ministry, all he focuses on is healing. It’s what he prays for. It’s what he envisions. It’s what he declares, and it’s what he expects. Bill Johnson says it this way: “If He (God) is invited into a situation, we should expect nothing but supernatural invasion.”107
He’s not extending his faith toward building programs; his prayer time is focused upon the needs of the people he will encounter in the next meeting, and because of this focus and his extension of faith beyond the point where most would draw a line and say “no,” there is perhaps a more consistent manifestation of the miraculous.
TEAMWORK MAKES THE DREAM WORK
Considering that this chapter is talking about unity, I wonder if there is also a team element of “filling your lane” to be considered in Andrew’s explanation of “focus.”
In American football, on a kickoff return, every player on the kickoff team lines up across the field and is responsible for defending the vertical lane that he is in. Should the kickoff returner return the ball in his lane, he would be responsible for stopping him. If he doesn’t fill his lane or decides to fill someone else’s lane, then he would subsequently leave his lane open, undefended and vulnerable.
Andrew recognizes that his lane is healing and he is a benefit to the rest of the team because he is focused upon what he knows is his purpose in the body of Christ. If he became multi-focused and decided he wanted to be a traveling worship leader instead of a healing evangelist, I wonder what the effect on the rest of the team would be as his lane was left unmanned.
As I consider Andrew’s explanation about focus and extending faith, I’m also reminded of the dual-slit experiment and wave/particle duality from quantum physics, which clearly and unmistakably exemplify that it is observation or focus that influences and changes the way that matter responds.
I can’t help but wonder if it is possible that there is also a quantum factor present in healing and miracles that somehow corresponds with this principle—if possibly the extension of faith may even be an aspect of this very principle. It doesn’t seem too farfetched to me that as we are progressing in knowledge and reaching a new level of understanding about the laws upon which God framed the universe, that we would discover that they may also influence our realities as they pertain to healing and man’s direct connection with it.
John 5:19 (AMP)
So Jesus answered them by saying, I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, the Son is able to do nothing of Himself (of His own accord); but He is able to do only what He sees the Father doing, for whatever the Father does is what the Son does in the same way [in His turn].
I have replayed this conversation with Andrew over and over in my head for weeks. When I originally asked Andrew, “Why you?” I was looking for some sort of formula or principle. Initially, I continued to ponder his answer through those lenses and only saw what I was looking for: a principle. If you do this, then you can expect this.
Months later, however, in addition to what I felt like I learned from him in that moment, I also felt like I received additional perspective from the Holy Spirit highlighting something specific that previously I had overlooked as a small aspect of the story.
I mentioned that Andrew told me how people often have a point or line where they shake their head and tell God, “No, I’m just not willing to go there or do that.” What I came to consider is that in order for us to tell God “no,” most of the time He would first have had to be leading us to do something we were uncomfortable with.
Although I believe there is a principle present in which faith is extended beyond our hope, I wonder if it is even more important to recognize that a significant aspect of that principle is first hearing the voice of God and understanding the leading of the Holy Spirit in the moment, and then doing whatever He leads us to. If God leads us to tell them to walk, we do that. If God leads us to stay in that moment and continue to pray, we do that. And in that moment when we seek God’s direction and then do what He leads us to do (regardless of where our previous “no line” resides), at that point when we press past the previous ceiling of that “no line” and it transforms into the “know line,” the new floor and foundation of our knowing how to walk in and release the kingdom of God, our reliance on what to do and how to do it rests primarily in the pursuit of the direction of the Holy Spirit, instead of some hypothetical formula or our level of comfort.
I can recall occasions in the life of Jesus when He spat on the ground and put mud in a blind man’s eyes to heal him; but on other occasions, He performed similar or identical miracles by using totally different outward expressions and methods. When I read John 5:19, which says Jesus was able to do only what He saw the Father doing, I wonder if that is not alluding to the fact that what God was showing Him in that moment was the proper way to bring about His will and provision in that situation.
Previously I would have interpreted the principle from my conversation with Andrew as “Be bold!” In hindsight, if I see a principle (or formula) from our conversation, it is, “Be bold and do what God says to do,” which may be very different the next time from what He said to do the last time, or even what I may have wanted to do based upon a previous experience or observation.
BRINGING IT HOME
As I consider differences in people, and also what people are purposed to do in the kingdom of God, I can see how Andrew’s experiences could have a direct application to the establishment of the kingdom of God through very diverse people on the earth filling their necessary lane in the way that God has purposed them to do it. Perhaps this is why we are commanded to incorporate others by calling on the elders in the church (those who are spiritually mature) to pray for us as we pursue healing and breakthrough, or why we are instructed to include two or three in agreement with our prayers. Maybe as part of their focus, distance from the fears we are personally facing, and experiential plateaus of faith, they (the church, the elders, the people who love us) are able to more precisely focus in unity for us.
This perspective is furthermore elaborated upon in the book of Ephesians 4.
Ephesians 4:11–16 (AMP)
And His gifts were [varied; He Himself appointed and gave men to us] some to be apostles (special messengers), some prophets (inspired preachers and expounders), some evangelists (preachers of the Gospel, traveling missionaries), some pastors (shepherds of His flock) and teachers.
His intention was the perfecting and the full equipping of the saints (His consecrated people), [that they should do] the work of ministering toward building up Christ’s body (the church),
[That it might develop] until we all attain oneness in the faith and in the comprehension of the [full and accurate] knowledge of the Son of God, that [we might arrive] at really mature manhood (the completeness of personality which is nothing less than the standard height of Christ’s own perfection), the measure of the stature of the fullness of the Christ and the completeness found in Him.
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sp; So then, we may no longer be children, tossed [like ships] to and fro between chance gusts of teaching and wavering with every changing wind of doctrine, [the prey of] the cunning and cleverness of unscrupulous men, [gamblers engaged] in every shifting form of trickery in inventing errors to mislead.
Rather, let our lives lovingly express truth [in all things, speaking truly, dealing truly, living truly]. Enfolded in love, let us grow up in every way and in all things into Him Who is the Head, [even] Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).
For because of Him the whole body (the church, in all its various parts), closely joined and firmly knit together by the joints and ligaments with which it is supplied, when each part [with power adapted to its need] is working properly [in all its functions], grows to full maturity, building itself up in love.
It makes sense to me that God would use people with diverse passions, focus, and personality types within the kingdom of God. If I need a house built, I call a contractor; but if I need a pipe fixed, I’ll call a plumber.
There are men and women who are gifted for business, others who have an amazing understanding of science and numbers, others who are musically inclined, and others who have a depth of wisdom that surpasses that of their peers. Each person functioning in the same think tank can bring a balanced perspective that, without their presence or input, would be otherwise lacking or maybe even nonexistent in those who are gifted differently.
It’s the symphonic application of each person playing his part, influencing the rest of the whole, that makes the symphony complete. And it’s no different from what is modeled in all of creation, where each atom properly bonds with another to build the corresponding molecule necessary to create and support life!