Gregory Dickow - How To Activate The Power of God
Well, I wanna welcome you to the "Power to Change Today". And today, I wanna talk to you about experiencing the power of connection and opening the doors of God's goodness into our lives. There's an open door waiting for you, and I wanna specifically talk to you about three of the most important connections in your life. So enjoy today's message, share it with someone who needs to hear it, and I'll be right back at the end to pray for you. Check this out.
I want to talk to you about "The God of Open Doors," he is the God who opens the doors that no man can close, he is the God that makes a way where there is no way. If you're trying to get in something and there's no way in, he's your way in; if you're trying to get out of something and there's no way out, he's your way out; if if you're trying to get up to something, he is your way up. He is the way, the truth, and the life. And there are some doors that God wants to open in our lives and we're preventing, God's not preventing from opening the doors, God's not wanting to keep the doors closed, God wants to open your doors. God wants to open the door to your victory, the door to your healing, the door to your breakthrough, he wants to open the door to all the blessing and the wisdom and the favor that he has for you.
God is the God of open doors, he's not the God of closed doors, although he certainly can close doors that no man can open, but he's the God of openness, he's the God of power, he's the God who's ready to give, more than ready to give. He is so convinced in what he wants to do in your life, the only thing stopping him is us not learning how to connect with the God of open doors. And so I want to teach you how to connect, there's three things that we need to connect to in order to experience the power of God, the open doors that God wants to bring us. I wanna remind you of the woman in the Bible who learned how to connect with Jesus, I want to simply remind you. And then, from there, tell you and share with you this three simple ways to connect with the God of open doors.
But in Mark chapter 5, verse 25, it says, "A certain woman had a flow of blood," an issue of blood, "For 12 years, and she had suffered many things from many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse". Now I want you to think about this woman's condition, her injury, her sickness, her disease, her issue of blood has been long-lasting, it's been chronic; it's been 12 years, he says, so it's chronic. It says she, "Had suffered many things from many physicians".
And it says that, "After hearing about Jesus," in verse 27, "She came up in the crowd behind Him and touched His garment". And, "She said, 'If I just touch His garments, I will get well.'" One translation says, "She kept on saying to herself". It says, "She kept saying to herself, 'If I touch His garments, I will get well.'" And, "Immediately," and it didn't mean immediately after she said it once, it means it happened so fast, it happened so fast. It happened, "Immediately the flow of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body she was healed of her affliction". And, "Jesus, perceiving in Himself that power had proceeded from Him," and power had left his body. He felt the power leave his body and enter into hers, but he didn't know who it was. And that's why he said he, "Turned around in the crowd and said, 'Who touched My garments?'"
Boy, there's something really powerful about that, that Jesus had to ask the question, "Who touched My garment"? It tells us a lot there, when he asks, "Who touched My garments"? it tells us a few things. Number one, it tells us that he didn't know who it was, 'cause if he knew who it was he wouldn't have asked. "Hey guys, who touched My garments? Who was that? Point that person out. Where'd that power go? That power left Me, where'd it go"? He had to ask, "Who touched My garments"? The second thing that that tells us is, when he said, "Who touched My garments"? it's telling us that there is power, that we decide if we're going to tap into that power. Jesus didn't decide whether she was gonna get access to that power, she took it.
The Bible says, "The violent take the kingdom by force". She took it, she said, "I'm going to touch that man's garment and I'm going to get well. I heard this man, Jesus, and I heard he has healing flowing through him, I'm gonna grab ahold of that, I'm going to grab ahold of him. And when I do," it says she was immediately healed, power went into her body. She connected with his garments, she connected with what he was wearing, she connected with the thing on him. The tassels that were hanging from the robe that he was wearing, she touched it and power went through her, power went from him to her. And that's why he said, "Who touched Me"? And they said, "Master, you see the crowd pressing in on You," you see everybody pressing in like this, "and You say, 'Who touched Me?'" And it says, "And He looked around to see the woman who had done this. But the woman, fearing and trembling, aware of what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him".
You know, we don't have to worship God in order to receive his power, but if we realize how much power he's given us we will worship him. When she realized how his power just came through him to heal her, she fell before him, worshipped him, "And told Him the whole truth. And He said to her," this loving, beautiful word. Verse 34, he says, "Daughter". Daughter, I want you to hear the voice of God talking to you when you hear him say to her, "Daughter," son, daughter; it's family, it's affection. "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace and be healed of your affliction". "Your faith has made you well". How was her faith activated to make her well? through the power of connection, through the power of connection.
Now see, beloved, there's three things I mentioned to you, there's three things that we need to be connected to, to access the power and have God open the door to your healing, your breakthrough, all the things that we need in life. And one thing about social media, I know that it can be dangerous, social media can lead to approval addictions or manifest approval addictions. And there is a lot of bad stuff out there and you have to really watch over your own heart, right? you have to be responsible to watch over your heart, but one thing that social media has highlighted in a positive light is it shows us all how much every one of us desires to be connected to others, it shows us we have a desire for connection.
There is something inside of us that needs connection. We are a source, a carrier of power when we are connected to the right things. I believe that the way to break the power of addictions and the way to break the power of anxiety and the way to break the power, the way to disconnect from the wrong things, the unhealthy things, it's not by trying harder to get rid of the unhealthy things, it's getting attached to the healthy thing. And by being attached to the healthy thing or connected to the healthy thing, it will cause the root of your problem to begin to be solved and you no longer have an appetite for the unhealthy things. We've been told by religion, "Holiness is detaching from the bad things," "Don't do this, don't do that, stop this, stop that".
That's not holiness, holiness is attaching to the right things; it's not about detachment, it's all about attachment, which is connection, connection with God: the right connection with God, the right connection with one another, and the right connection with this world. And today, when I say the right connection with God is connecting with God, these are the three things that will tap into and help you experience the power of connection, and open the doors to the goodness of God in every area of your life. Connection with God through grace, connection with God through grace, there is no other way to connect with God except through grace.
You cannot connect to God through just reading the commandments and trying to obey them, you cannot connect to God because you're just trying harder, you cannot connect to God because of your effort, you cannot connect to God because of your fasting, you cannot connect to God because you read the Bible enough. There's only one way to connect to God, and one way that we start the connection with God, I should say, and that is connecting with God through grace; connecting with God through grace, not through the law, not through our legalism, not through trying to cross all your T's and dot all your I's. We don't connect to God through our efforts, through our works, through our holiness, we connect to God through grace, we connect to God through Grace.
Say, "We connect to God," say, "I connect to God through grace". Romans 5, verse 1 and 2, says, "Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ," verse 1 says. In verse 2, "Through whom," him, Jesus, "Through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we stand; and now we exalt in hope of the glory of God". Notice what he says is we have this access by faith into this grace in which we stand. You cannot stand without grace, you cannot stand before God without grace, you cannot connect to God without grace. What is grace? It is what Jesus has done for us, it is what Jesus has paid for us, it is that he has paid it all so that you can have access to God.
Through the blood of Jesus, we receive his grace, his free, unearned, unmerited favor and unearned love. Grace is God's unearned, unmerited favor and love, grace is God's unearned, unmerited favor and love, and it all comes, all of that grace comes through Jesus Christ. We have this grace through Jesus Christ. Grace, G-R-A-C-E, is God's Riches At Christ's Expense, God's Riches At Christ's Expense, G-R-A-C-E, God's Riches At Christ's Expense. Because of his precious blood, we receive, now, the riches of fellowship with God, the riches of authority in Christ, the riches of wisdom, the riches of connection. It's all through grace, connection with God through grace.
Number two, connection with each other. Well, there is power in our connection with each other, we need each other. I could talk about this all day but I need you to get ahold of this. There is so much power in our connection. How much power? Look at Matthew chapter 18, verse 19. It says, "Where two or three are gathered in My name," Jesus said, "There I am in the midst of them".
In other words, God's presence is always living inside of you but God wants to be in our midst, he wants to be in the middle of us, he wants to be among us, healing and touching and revealing his goodness and his love and his kindness right now. When we come together, there is a manifest presence of God. When we get connected to each other, he's trying to show us that there is another level of power, in this verse, and it comes from our connection with each other. "Where two or three are gathered in My name," "Two or three are gathered in my name". We're gathered in his name, aren't we? He's in our midst, so he's making his power and his abilities and what you need, his provision for you is available. Boy, if we just stop right now and say:
Father, I thank you that you know all my needs. Heavenly Father, I thank you that you know all of my needs, and you are in our midst, you are among us, you're in me and you're among us. And I'm asking for the manifestation of your supply for my needs today, I'm asking for a miracle. I'm the one who's gonna receive my miracle, because you are in our midst and you work miracles among us, in Jesus's name.
There's power in that. I'm, telling you, some of you are gonna walk out of here completely changed. Anyone, just access the power through connection. You say, "Why should I come to church? Why should I be connected to church"? Because of this promise that there is power in our presence together, there is power in us gathering together. And earlier in this passage, in verse 18 and verse 19, he says when, "Two of you agree... about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven". "If two of you agree on earth about anything," this has nothing to do with when we get to heaven, this is on earth. This is we have earthly needs, we have earthly desires, we have earthly wants, we have earthly passion, we have earthly needs that we can access when, "Two of you agree".
What Jesus is trying to tell us, "You mean I can't pray by myself"? Of course you can pray by yourself, but he's trying to amplify the additional power, the additional horsepower that comes into your engine, the horsepower that comes into your life, the horsepower that comes into your family, your business, your finances, your health, every area of your life when you're connected with others, when you are connected to the body of Christ and connected to the people that God has placed you with. You can see another dimension of power here, can't you? "If two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask," you know, that's our God, he's so unlimited; he so limitless, we're so limited. Well, you better not ask that or you better not ask that and you better not ask that, and we have to qualify.
By the time we tell everybody what they shouldn't be asking for they have no encouragement to ask for anything, 'cause you just told them, "Just about everything you want is something you shouldn't ask for". Jesus didn't have any qualifiers on this passage of Scripture, he said, "If two of you agree on earth about anything they may ask". If you've got the boldness to ask for it, God has the boldness to give it to you, if you can get someone to agree with you about that thing no matter how wild and crazy it is. "Hey, wild and crazy, c'mon". That's an old one. Isaiah 65, verse 8, says, "Thus says the Lord, 'As the new wine is found in the cluster.'"
The new wine is the new covenant, the new wine is the manifestation of new covenant power, new covenant revival, new covenant praise, new covenant blessings, new covenant wisdom, new covenant authority, new covenant boldness, new covenant righteousness, new covenant grace, the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness. "The new wine is found in the cluster," the cluster of grapes is what produces the wine. What we sometimes do is we isolate ourselves, we separate ourselves, and you gotta know, there is some anointing in your grape but there is more anointing in the cluster. You got some juice, but you don't have all the juice to make the wine in your individual, singular grape because the manifestation of the new wine, the power of it all is in the cluster. And he says, "Don't destroy it," "Don't destroy it," don't destroy the cluster.
You know what the devil is? One of the words for devil, diablo, is separator, separator; accuser and separator, divider. He's trying to divide the church, he's trying to divide us as people, he's trying to divide us by race, he's trying to divide us by economic levels, he's trying to divide us by our experiences in our past, trying to divide us by politics, divide us by covid. You know, the Conservative side and the Liberal side, there's this side and that side, and we don't take sides, we take dominion. And, "The new wine is found in the cluster," and God says, "Do not destroy it".
Whatever you do, don't destroy this connection we have; whatever you do, don't stop coming to church; whatever you do, don't stop being planted; whatever you do, don't stop giving; whatever you do, don't stop staying with it, staying with it, keeping with it, honoring one another, love covering one another. Don't break it up, don't destroy it. Every time I see a church start to crumble it's because somebody has allowed the divider to come in and destroy the cluster, and the cluster is where the power is, the cluster is where the fresh anointing is, the cluster is where all of the miracles are, the cluster, the cluster, the cluster. You are connected to a vine, you are connected to the branch, we are a part of the vine together with Jesus.
We are connected to one another, he's the vine and we're the branches, and we are in a cluster. And nobody can do it by themselves, that's why you come to church, that's why you serve, that's why you get involved, that's why you let God promote you in the house of God. I told you there were three connections that release and activate the open doors and the power of God. One, your connection with God by grace; two, your connection with one another through the church; and three, our connection to this world through kindness. We are not connecting to this world's system, we're not connecting to this world's greed, we are not connecting to this world's entertainment.
We can be entertained by some of the great things that are produced in a creative society and creative culture, there's nothing wrong with enjoying movies, there's nothing wrong with enjoying music, but we're not connected to the greed, and the political, and the self-righteous system of this world. We're not connected to this world system, we are connected to this world through our kindness. Because what is missing in the earth today is this kind, benevolent, gracious empathy and mercy, and understanding that people are going through things, and understanding that nobody has it all together, and understanding that kindness is never wrong, and understanding that love never fails, and understanding that mercy is on the throne of God, not judgment; grace is on the throne, not judgment. And we need to be connected to this world, not to get our supply of life from this world, but to give our supply of God's life to this world.