Then Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed.” —MARK 1:41
“God is willing.” This is the revelation that will position us to walk in sustained supernatural power and activate the breakthrough faith God has deposited within us. I pray that your faith has been stirred afresh in God’s ability, not simply to build a building, pay off a youth center, or give you a new job. As great as these things are, my heart burns to see believers experience an upgrade in what they believe God is able and willing to do.
You know those crazy, wild, amazing things that God did back in the Bible times? I invite you to get a clear picture and visualization of those miracles—to the best of your ability—those extraordinary, supernatural demonstrations of God’s glorious power over sickness, demons, death, nature, enemy armies, etc. The God who was able then is also able now. Not only is He able to do these things in the church and world today, but He is also able to do them in and through you. Not only is He just able to do them, but He is also willing. The able God is also willing!
One scriptural foundation that we keep returning to is the truth that Jesus revealed the perfect nature and will of Father God through His time upon the earth. He is both redeemer and revealer. If this is indeed so, consider the following passage and ask yourself the question, “Is Jesus willing?”
Now a leper came to Him, imploring Him, kneeling down to Him and saying to Him, “If You are willing, You can make me clean.” Then Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed” (Mark 1:40-41).
Two things immediately stand out about this account. The first is that the leper obviously recognized Jesus’ ability to do the miraculous, otherwise he would not have approached Jesus or made the request for possible healing. There was the acknowledgement of Jesus’ ability, which is foundational any time we are longing for Him to show up in our situations. If the leper did not believe that Jesus was able to heal him, he would not have approached Him. It is as simple as that. Belief in Jesus’ ability brought the leper to the Miracle Maker.
The able God is also willing!
The second thing that stands out and is worth noting is that the man was not dealing with a bunch of theological ideas or legalistic paradigms. He was not questioning whether or not God still healed and moved today. He was not wrestling over the theological implications of cessationism. The leper was confident in Jesus’ ability to heal. However, there was one other step that needed to be resolved for this man, and this is the very issue that many of us confront in the church today: God’s willingness.
So here we go. Here are two essential keys to activating our faith through believing that God is willing.
Our enemy, the devil, will try to convince us that the reason we are dealing with a struggle, trial, or issue is because of our sin. He wants to convince us that we are unworthy to receive breakthrough from God’s hand, let alone walk in a lifestyle of sustained victory. “God is angry at you and is teaching you a lesson through your circumstances,” he’ll suggest. This is a lie. While there are undeniably natural consequences to the bad choices we make, God is not up in Heaven scheming to afflict us with judgment or wrath.
Surely thoughts like this came into the leper’s mind as he approached Jesus. After all, the condition of leprosy in Bible times was far more serious than just a mere sickness or infirmity. This man was considered unclean. His ailment identified him and made him an outcast in society. If anyone should have had “worthiness” issues, it would be this leper.
We must model the leper’s approach to Jesus: “Now a leper came to Him” (Mark 1:40). This is the first step toward breakthrough—we have to come to Jesus, unafraid and unashamed. If we believe that God is actually against us and that Jesus is afflicting us, we will not come to God boldly, as Hebrews 4:16 encourages us to do. The deception of unworthiness has robbed countless lives of not only receiving breakthrough, but of being used to administer breakthrough to others. We will never stand confident that God is willing to do anything for us if we believe that we are unworthy to receive from Him.
We silence the enemy by reminding him of this reality: God’s wrath toward sin was satisfied completely at the cross. The key is simply believing it and receiving it by faith. We must believe that He is not angry at us and executing some type of divine retribution upon us. James reminds us that “every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (James 1:17 KJV). If we have received Christ as Lord and Savior, every ounce of wrath that God had toward sin (never toward us, but always toward sin) was carried and absorbed by Jesus Christ on the cross. Jesus received the brunt of God’s wrath so we would never have to.
The apostle Paul knew something about the wrath of God. I am sure the devil tried to condemn him, using his past and history of persecuting the church, bringing it up again and again in order to make him feel worthless. Nevertheless, Paul writes with confidence, “For our sake He made Christ [virtually] to be sin Who knew no sin, so that in and through Him we might become [endued with, viewed as being in, and examples of] the righteousness of God [what we ought to be, approved and acceptable and in right relationship with Him, by His goodness]” (2 Cor. 5:21 AMP).
The Living Bible phrases the verse this way: “For God took the sinless Christ and poured into Him our sins.” It makes sense why there is controversy surrounding the lyrics in Keith Getty and Stuart Townend’s modern hymn, “In Christ Alone.” There is a line that declares, “On that cross, as Jesus died/The wrath of God was satisfied.” A certain denominational group wanted to adjust the lyrics, removing the whole “wrath” bit.29 The very truth that is under attack in this hymn—the revelation of penal substitutionary atonement—is one of the most liberating truths we could ever wrap our hearts around. In short, God is not mad at any of us.
We silence the enemy by reminding him of this reality: God’s wrath toward sin was satisfied completely at the cross.
The next time the devil tries to get us to believe, “I’m so sinful. I’ve messed up so much in my life. I screwed up even today—no wonder this is happening to me. God is repaying me for my sins,” I would encourage everyone of us to take an instant trip back to the cross of Calvary—because that is where all of our sin was permanently dealt with. Yes, we admit our sin before the Lord and receive His forgiveness. We repent. We admit wrongdoing. After all, we do this when we make mistakes in relationships with family, friends, and with our spouse.
So when the enemy tries to heap condemnation upon us, trying to convince us of unworthiness, we go back to the cross. We take a trip back to Isaiah 53 and look at the wounded One, for it was upon Him that every iniquity (see Isa. 53:5b), every transgression (see Isa. 53:5a), every sin (see Isa. 53:12), every disease and sickness (see Isa. 53:5d), all torment (see Isa. 53:5c), all judgment, and yes, all the fullness of God’s wrath was poured out, as Jesus was in fact smitten by God (see Isa. 53:4)!
Jesus settled what God’s will was in a single phrase that He spoke to the leper. The leper, though confident in Jesus’ ability, questioned His willingness. Minister and author F.F. Bosworth notes that Jesus corrected this leper’s theology.30 Though he knew that Jesus could make him clean, he was unsure if Jesus was willing to make him clean. Right there, Jesus gave him and us a powerful answer revealing God’s will toward sickness, disease, uncleanness, and torment: “Then Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, ‘I am willing; be cleansed’” (Mark 1:41).
There are two extremely clear scriptural blueprints of God’s will: Jesus’ model and Heaven’s culture. First, we have Jesus as the revealer of the Father. Jesus showcased the nature and character of Father God before humanity. If Jesus performed the will of the Father, I propose that the very will of God concerning many different situations and circumstances has been made abundantly clear through Jesus’ actions. There is still mystery attached to the sovereign God—lots of it, in fact. But at the same time, Jesus gives us license to believe for many different things with complete confidence and supernatural boldness. Why? Because He did them, which means the Father must will them to be done. He healed. He delivered people from torment, bondage, and oppression. He raised the dead. All of this was part of the Father’s will.
The second blueprint for God’s will is the culture of Heaven. Returning briefly to Matthew 16:18-19, Jesus made this powerful announcement concerning the purpose and mission of His church—to enforce Heaven’s culture in the earth. He stated, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven” (Matt. 16:19 NASB). Other translations can lead us into confusion, as they almost make it sound like people have some type of commanding power with God.
In other words, if we bind something on earth, our choice directs what Heaven releases, kind of like we are ordering God around. This is a distortion. Heaven models and shapes our choices, not the other way around. We bind on earth what has already been bound in Heaven; we are simply being obedient to the blueprint of Heaven. Likewise, we loose or release that which is already loosed in Heaven. We are not imposing our will on God’s, but rather taking our place as the enforcers of His will in this world over our circumstances.
There are two extremely clear scriptural blueprints for God’s will: Jesus’ model and Heaven’s culture.
So this begs the question, What is loosed in Heaven? What does the culture look like in God’s world? We catch a powerful glimpse in Revelation 21:3-4:
And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”
Immediately, the reaction is, “Yeah, but that’s Heaven!” Our theology has been shaped by a futuristic perspective that disregards the present relevance of the Lord’s Prayer—“on earth as it is in Heaven.” The blessings and rewards and atmosphere of God’s world were never meant to simply be cherished in the afterlife alone. Heaven is our destination; but this moment, this hour, and this planet are our assignments. Jesus gave us some pretty specific instructions on how to complete this assignment, revealing God’s will for your life and mine. He taught us to pray, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10).
Why are we not seeing more of Heaven on earth then? It has nothing to do with God’s willingness or His ability. Likewise, it also has nothing to do with people not having enough faith. Rather, it is wrapped up in what we actually believe is possible for our lives and what can be released through the church. Our faith will only extend as far as our hope does. If we do not hope for Heaven on earth, we will never actively exercise our faith to bring God’s solutions from His world to this one. Oh, but if our hearts taste the hope and the possibility of Heaven on earth, I have good news for you—you quickly become ruined for mediocre Christianity!
The same God who is able to do anything is also willing to move on our behalf. We are to shake off the deceptions that try to keep us from believing in the willingness of God. Jesus’ blood has made us worthy to receive from Heaven’s endless supply. God gave us a clear blueprint for what He wills through both Jesus’ example and Heaven’s culture. This is the model we follow as we discover how to put our faith to action.
God Is Not Mad at You by Joyce Meyer
Why Is God So Mad at Me? by Pat Schatzline
When Heaven Invades Earth by Bill Johnson