Creflo Dollar - How to Live in the Supernatural - Part 6
Mark chapter 6, verse 45 and through 52. Now, you read it on the screen or wherever you can read it from. This is important now. We can live in the supernatural. "And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into the ship, and to go to the other side before unto Bethsaida, while he sent away the people. And when he had sent them away, he departed into a mountain. He went to pray. And when even was come, the ship was in the midst of the sea, and he alone on the land". Very important. They were on the sea, on a ship, his disciples. He was on the land. "And he saw them toiling in rowing, for the wind was contrary unto them, and about the fourth watch of that night he cometh unto them", notice how he came.
Now, they were on a ship in the water. He was on the land. So, "he cometh unto them", somebody, say, "How he do it? Was there another boat"? No, "walkin' upon the sea". See, the water and the sea, that was natural, and Jesus was natural too, but he knew how to live above the natural while he was in his physical body. He knew how to do somethin' above the natural. He operated in a law that was greater than the laws that governed the natural world. See, the laws of the Spirit are greater than the laws of this natural world. The law of faith is greater than the laws of the natural world. Obviously, there was a law in the supernatural that was greater than the law of gravity. He tapped into it in his physical body. Peter tapped into it into his physical body. What's the law? At one time, nobody thought that man could fly, but the law of lift took place, and a law that defied gravity was discovered, and now men are flyin' from nation to nation because they discovered a law.
And so, "he saw 'em toiling and rowing, for the wind was contrary unto them, and about the fourth watch of the night, he cometh unto them, walking upon the sea, and would have passed by them," had they not been hollerin'. "But when they saw him walkin' upon the sea, they supposed it had been a spirit", or I think another translation says, "phantom" or "ghost", "and they cried out". I don't know what they were sayin', but they cried out. They cried out loud enough for Jesus to hear 'em. "For they all saw him, they all saw him, and they were troubled". Why? 'Cause they thought it was a ghost walkin' on the water. "And immediately he talked with them, and saith unto them", look at this: Right in the middle of a hurricane, it's not enough during the middle of a bad storm, but now you think you see a ghost, so you are in big-time fear, and this is what he told 'em. He said, "Be of good cheer. Be of good cheer". Why? "It is I". And notice what he said: "Get rid of the fear. Be not afraid".
All right, verse 51, "And he went up unto them into the ship," because he's tryin' to figure out, "I was on the land for a reason, and you're on a boat for a reason. It's like I didn't know that this storm was gon' come. I wanted to see what y'all have learned so far. Why are y'all so full of fear when you already know somethin'"? Watch this: "And he went up unto them in the ship, and the wind ceased. It stopped, and they were sore amazed in themselves beyond measure, and they wondered," like, "What matter of man is this that the wind and the sea would obey him"?
All right, now, watch this now because they were supposed to do the same thing. They had the authority to command the wind to cease. This isn't the first time this happened. They had the authority to do it. Why didn't they do it? Why didn't they do it? When somethin' attacks your body, you have the authority to go against it. Why don't ya? When you're facin' lack, you have authority to deal with it. Why don't ya? He said, "For they considered not the miracle of the loaves". He said, "Their heart was hardened".
Oh, how come they couldn't do what Jesus did? They were not thinking about the miracle they just left. What's the miracle of the loaves? When he fed, in several cases, 5,000, with the five loaves and two fish, and it was multiplied, it was the miracle of the loaves, and they were not thinking about the miracle that they saw. They were not thinkin' about the supernatural manifestation of what they just saw. They were only focused in and thinkin' about the circumstances right in front of 'em. They were not considering what had already supernaturally happened, and he calls this, when you are thinking, when you relate to the natural world more than you do the supernatural world, your heart has been hardened against the supernatural world. What you spend your time thinkin' about the most will make you more sensitive to that, and when you choose not to think about the supernatural thing, you're hardened to that, and what you are hardened to in your heart will not be able to take place in your life.
Jesus said, "For they considered not the miracle of the loaves, for their heart was hardened". Now, most church people, we all think that a hardened heart just deals with rebellion. This is not just rebellion towards God. A hardness of heart in its simplest sense is relating more easily to the natural realm than to the supernatural realm, and that is the truth. There are Christian people all over the earth that relate more easily to the natural world than they do the supernatural world, which is why I have to teach this 'cause "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God," about the supernatural world. If I don't teach you about the supernatural world, you will never see the access of it into your life because we relate easily to those things that are in front of us, and the disciples are in this boat, relating easily to the fact that there is a storm.
Listen, I remember in ministry preachers talkin' me out of my faith in the supernatural, and they're making it obvious, like, "Wait a minute, you know, let's just get real," is what they say: "Let's just get real. This is real, and you can say it a thousand times, but this is real," and I'm thinkin', like, these dudes talk me out of my consideration of the supernatural and made me feel like I was stupid for talkin' to people about supernatural things that they can't see and begin to preach an obvious gospel that was more easily related to what I could see rather than the supernatural. I've been doin' this for 40 years. I got tapes of supernatural things happening in my life and in my ministry and when I would travel, and Taffi and I had saw some amazing things happen.
A woman in Chicago, years ago, Taffi, I remember this, she was all crumpled up, and she couldn't walk, and she was in this wheelchair, and I brought her up, and I said, "In the name of Jesus, be healed. You will recover. You will walk". And they all thought she was just gon' walk right then, so that was the end of their faith, not mine. My faith gotta stay on the field until it'll do exactly what I sent it to do. "You're not allowed to come and sit down and rest now. You ain't finished". One day, I was over on this corner right here, and I was walkin' out, and this lady came up to me, and she said, "Pastor, you don't remember me," and she paused. She said, "Look at me". I said, "I don't". She said, "Do you remember comin' to Chicago"? "Yes, I do". "Do you remember prayin' for somebody in a wheelchair, and they were all balled up, and they couldn't walk and everything"? I said, "I do". She says, "I am that lady". I said, "Lord, have mercy". It exists. I done seen too much. It exists. It is real.
So many testimonies, so many testimonies of what we saw, in the '80s and the '90s, that, all of a sudden, came to an abrupt stop because we ran into the intelligentsia of Christianity. I don't want no more intelligentsia of Christianity. I want the supernatural. I want a supernatural, supernatural things happening. In our lives, the supernatural things happen. Taffi had tumors on the inside of her. We made her appointment, went to the doctor. We'd already prayed. Doctor opened her up, said, "There ain't nothin' there. I can't find nothin'". She said, "It's gotta be there somewhere". You remember that? "Gotta be there somewhere". You're like, "No, understand, understand, it ain't there because Jesus beat you to the operation," hallelujah, over and over again.
A lot of you don't know this, but I had meningitis, and we went and, I don't know, they put something out and, you know, stuck me in around the spine area and put it out and said, "Oh, yeah, you got meningitis". I said, "How"? He said, "We don't know yet". I said, "What do you mean you don't know yet"? He says, "We don't know how this happens". So I'm like, "Well, if you don't know and I don't know, then I might as well leave". Was that the time I took off and went to Nigeria the first time with you? Yeah, 'cause you were real protective and watchful over me. We went to Nigeria, and we preached four times a day for almost a month. Why? 'Cause we live in the supernatural. We live in the supernatural. While you say, "I don't believe it," why? What makes you say that?
Please listen to me now. Listen to me. We're more moved by what we see than anything, so that means our heart is hardened towards what we can't see, which is why you don't see it because you're only moved by what you see. I said, you're only moved by what you see. Yesterday morning, around this time, I could not see in my eye. I had a event that happened in my eye. You followin' what I'm sayin'? You're only moved by what you see. And when it happened, I said, "I have perfect eyesight. I see well. All is good". See, what I thought was the devil's tryin' to challenge my decision to live in the supernatural, and my thing was "I ain't changin' what I've been sayin'. I'm not changin' what I've been sayin'". And they thought it was a tear, and I'm like, "Nah". Taffi and I agree. She said, "No tear". I said, "No tear. I got perfect sight. No tear".
Did what I was supposed to do. He went and checked it out, and then he said, "No tear," 'cause he asked me, he said, "Is this really bothering you"? I said, "No, no it ain't bothering me," 'cause I'm livin' on a higher realm. "God is not a man that he should lie". It's time to live in the supernatural. See, you only think the supernatural happen at church. This stuff I'm talkin' about is supposed to be happenin' at home, on the street, in the mall, in your backyard, in your bathroom. Quit lookin' for a show at church. God ain't doin' no more performances at church. That's what that pandemic was about, tryin' to get the right church to open back up, and the right church is in your house with your family, with your God. He took you out of the building and put you in the home so you can realize where the real church existed. You're the church. We should not be moved by what we see. We should be moved more by what God says. Say out loud, "I'm moved by what God says".
Look at Mark chapter 8:17-19. Mark chapter 8:17-19. Having a "hard heart" is defined in these Scriptures. No wisdom, no judgment, no understanding 'cause you've got a hard heart. Look at 17 through 19, he says, "And when Jesus knew it, he saith unto them, 'Why reason ye, because ye have no bread?'" Why are you reasoning in your head 'cause you ain't got no bread, 'cause you ain't got no money, 'cause you ain't got no husband, 'cause you ain't got no joy? Why is this a issue? "Perceive ye not yet, do you not yet perceive what has happened here"? He says, "You have no perception, you have no understanding". He says, "Oh, you have a hardened heart. Your heart is yet hardened". Why? "You have no wisdom, you have no perception, you have no understanding, you are movin' by what you see, you are movin' by your experience, and you have forgot about what I said. You forgot about what I've done".
Notice, he reminds them. Look at this next verse: He says, "Having eyes, you see not? Having ears, you hear not? And you do not remember"? And then he reminds them. See, that's communion. That remembering is so important. "You do not remember", he says, "When I brake the five loaves among the 5,000," he says, "'Let me ask you a question: How many baskets full of fragments took you up?' They said, 'Oh, yeah,' they said, 'Twelve.' He said, 'Okay.'" Look at the next verse: "He says, 'And when the seven among 4,000, how many baskets full of fragments took you up?' And they said, 'Oh, yeah, I remember, seven.'" And he goes on, come on, "And he cometh to Bethsaida, and they bring a blind man unto him, and they besought him to touch him".
I mean, he's showing them over and over and over again, "Do you not see and get this? Do you not understand when I multiplied bread this time and I turned right around and multiplied bread at another different time, and you sittin' here, reasoning about bread? How many times have you seen me open the eyes of the blind, and you're reasoning about sight? How many times have I met your needs and your provision? And you remember, Peter, I told you to go fishin' and look in the mouth of a fish and told you to pay your bills and mine too, and you still don't remember"? And God's sayin' the same thing to us. Our heart's hardened. We've allowed religion to harden our heart. We've allowed the world to harden our heart. We've allowed the news media and the social media to harden our heart. The believers are not believing anymore. We've gotten into some other kind of stuff.
What's the matter with us? We've gotten into other kind of stuff. You takin' "sound baths" now instead of baptism. You lookin' at crystals and thinkin' somethin' gon' come out that crystal. Whatever come out of it, God made it. In fact, God made the crystal. I mean, what're we doin'? What are we doin'? You're listenin' to every fool that denies Jesus as Lord. What's the matter with you? And you think, "Well, I don't need no miracles right now". Oh, yeah, you will, yeah, you will. When this shut down, when that don't work no more, when they can't get this to you, when that can't come to you no more, when your coffee places are shut down, and this done shut down, and that can't happen like it used to, and that ain't gon' happen like it used to, when all that's shut down and when your power is shut down one day, when all that stuff's shut down, you needs to know somebody that's greater than everything that got shut down. "Oh, praise the Lord. I can't wait until we go back to everything like it used to be".
You're not goin' back to everything like it used to be. You better learn how to live with the pressure. I ain't lockin' myself in no house no more. I'm gon' learn how to exist in the middle of it all, knowin' that I got Jesus as my Lord. I ain't doin' that no more. Y'all do what you wanna do. You're a free moral agent. I ain't doin' that no more. "Greater is he that is on the inside of me than he that is in the world". "You better watch out what you say. People are gon' talk about you". People been talkin' about me for 40 years. I don't care. That's the problem: Too many scared preachers, scared, too scared to preach this gospel. I've gotta see Jesus one day real soon. I'm not gon' be comin' up to Jesus, he's like, "Son, why didn't you preach what I told you to preach"?
"Well, you know, it wasn't a popular thing. You know, you preach it, you know, what they call the society? They got 'canceled society,' so, you know, Lord, I was tryin' not to be canceled". Man, they done canceled me so many times. But you can't stop what God started. You're gonna get canceled. I don't care. The greatest freedom in the world is to be free from people. Carin' about all that? But I will say this: I'm gon' walk in the supernatural, and you might not like me now, but when hell break loose, you'll be askin' for me to pray for you 'cause you'll say, "I know somebody that operates on a higher law than what these doctors operate on and what their finances are operated on". Taffi and I, we're perfecting this. We're doin' this every day. When we see somethin' come our way, we say, "What does God say? Where is the promise of God"? We stand on that promise more than anything else.
But, you know, a lot of Christians don't even know the promises of God, because it's not fashionable to get in the Bible and read a Scripture. You have to walk around and pretend you're a life coach. You have to walk around and act like an inspirational speaker. You have to... no, give me the Word, give me the Word, give me the Word. If I've got to fall asleep and pinch myself, give me the Word. Feed me somethin' that's gon' grow. Feed me somethin' that's gon' develop a root on the inside of me, and I wake up in the middle of the night shouting 'cause I got somethin' in me. See, I know somethin' comin', and I know Jesus comin', and I'm like the apostle Paul. I'm cryin' loud like a trumpet. Phew, "Soon and very soon we are goin' to see the King. Soon and very soon we are goin' to see the King. Soon and very soon we are goin' to see the King, hallelujah, hallelujah".
That's all I'm sayin' now, and in the middle of these crazy times, there exists another level for you to be able to live successful in the middle of the crazy. It's the supernatural. It's the supernatural, but you're gon' have to decide to let go of your modern-day idols and quit doin' it 'cause everybody else doin' it, and serve God. We ain't playin' church no more. Ain't got time to be playin' church. Jesus could be here right now. I got to get in like you. "Well, all you got to do is to be saved". Yeah, but I don't wanna get saved and then live like a hellion and then have to stand in front of him, knowing he had angels, right there, recording everything I did and everything I said. It ain't like you can get before God and tell him the half-truth.