morris cerullo - taking god's power

7/27/2019 Morris Cerullo - Taking God's Power

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TAKING GOD'S

POWER

byMorris Cerullo

Published By

Morris Cerullo World EvangelismSan Diego, California


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For a free book and tape catalog of all Morris Cerullomessages, write to:

MORRIS CERULLO WORLD EVANGELISM

United States:P.O. Box 85277 San Diego, CA 92186-5277

Canada:P.O. Box 3600 Concord, Ontario L4K 1B6

United Kingdom:P.O. Box 277 Hemel Hempstead HERTS HP2 7DH

Revised 2000Reprinted 1989

Copyright 1978

Morris Cerullo World EvangelismPrinted in the United States of America


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6 Taking God's Power

That greatest power in all the world is God's power.The means by which we may take that power, use it and

have it as a constantly flowing, undiminished resource inour own lives, is the greatest power which we as human

beings have: the power of our faith.When I speak of natural resources, I am speaking of

things that exist on this earth such as water, oil and gas, but, in reality, these also all have their source and their beginning with God.

While these are resources, what we have in and fromGod is the source. Even Webster's dictionary notes thedifference.

On the other hand, "source" is listed by Webster as "the

point of origin" or "a generative force". This is the beginning of all power, the source, or origin...and it isgenerative and self-sustaining. All-powerful. Everlasting.Forceful. Life-changing.

We have the power, permission, means andencouragement from God Himself to plug into that power source and obtain from the very point of origin thegenerative force and supply that we need for every facet of our lives.

One of the greatest miracle stories in the Bible is that of a widow who not only was able to see where the source of

power lay to have her needs met, but was able to use the power that she had within herself to obtain the answer tothe most vital need in her life, to see her impossibility notonly made possible but completely accomplished.

This woman's story is told in Mark 5:24-34: "And Jesuswent with him; and much people followed him, and thronged him. And a certain woman, which had an issue of


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The Greatest Power in the World 7

blood twelve years, And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and wasnothing bettered, but rather grew worse, When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his

garment. For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. And straightway the fountain of her blood

was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague. And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the

press, and said, Who touched my clothes? And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me? And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing. But the woman fearing

and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth. And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague."

As we study the ministry of Jesus Christ, it seems thatJesus specialized in doing the impossible, bringing healingof sicknesses that seemed incurable and solving problemsthat seemed absolutely insolvable in the natural.

This woman found the impossible accomplished in her life and I would like to share with you three things thathappened in her experience that led her to the place whereshe was transformed from a poor, hopeless, drained,desperate individual into a strong, healthy, dynamictestimony of the miracle-working power of Jesus Christ.

In the natural, we might think that the experiences thiswoman had in the past were terrible experiences but inreality it was a marvelous thing that had happened to her for it paved the way for a tremendous miracle in her life.


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What happened to her was simply this:This lady came to the very end of herself and when she

did, it opened the way for her to lay hold upon the greatest power in all the world...the transforming, inexhaustible positive power of Almighty God.


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Chapter Two

2 THE UTTER EXHAUSTION OFSELF

In John 12:24, Jesus tells us: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." The woman we read about in the fifth chapter of Mark had

come to the complete end of herself and of every naturalresource and supply she had."And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood

twelve years, And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and wasnothing bettered, but rather grew worse..." (Mark 5:25-26).

This woman was on her way home to die. She had

spent all her money, she had tried every remedy, and shewas going home to die.

It is not very easy for a person to come to that point.Unless we come to that place of death of self, our life,

our corn of wheat, is not productive at all.Let us look at that four-letter word called "self." What

might there be in that little word, as it related to us, thatmight hinder the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives?

I ask God by the power of the Holy Spirit to put amirror before us today and let us look at ourselves. On the

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surface, there are many things that we have to die to.I can deal only with the surface. The Holy Spirit and

you yourself have to deal with the depth of your death toself.

One of the things that so many of us need to die to isour traditions.

We must die to them before the Holy Spirit can comeinto our lives and do something new and miraculous for us.

Often in our special healing services, we see people being slain under the power of God on a platform or theHoly Spirit coming and moving upon an audience in aunique way.

One morning, in such a service, there was an overflow

crowd in the building. Among the many healed was onelittle lady who was sitting a great distance away from me.

This lady had a left leg that was much shorter than theother. The power of God came upon her and she was slainunder the power of God right out in the aisle, maybe 40 or 50 feet away from the platform where I stood.

I am sure that "they don't do it like that" in manychurches but we have to be willing before God to die totradition if we are going to see the miraculous move of God.

That lady could have planted her feet and folded her arms and said, "Well, if God is going to heal me He has todo it in a more dignified, sophisticated way."

That lady would still be in the same condition she waswhen she came into the building but she was willing tosubmit to what God had for her and, as she submitted toHim, God healed her.

I will never forget a man from a nominal church


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The Utter Exhaustion of Self 11

background who was seeking the infilling of the HolySpirit. He was having a very difficult time trying to shakethe unwise people who were around him. They were well-meaning folk...but "well-meaners" often get in the waywhen God is trying to do something!

Someone would come along and lay hands on this poor

man and say, "Let go."Then someone would come along and say "Hang on."Another person would come by and say, "Let go."Then somebody would come with garlic on his breath

and breathe on that poor man.Can you imagine this poor person, filled with all his

"religious" background and religious tradition, trying to

break through to a new experience in God...and havingsuch "help" as this?

The man came to me and said, "Brother Cerullo, I believe you are a servant of God. Can you help me?"

I said, "I can."I said, "When you get to the place in your life where

you are willing to die to yourself and when you are willingto say, 'God, I don't care if they massage my back or if they

blow garlic in my face. I don't care what happens to me.All I want is this glorious experience of the HolySpirit'...when you say that, you will receive the experiencethat you are seeking."

Well, it happened. This man went to that exact place.He died to self and to all the things which had annoyedhim. When he died to self and began to seek God with allhis heart, he received what he was seeking from God.Many people are filled with the Holy Spirit in a relativelyquiet way. My point is that we must be willing to go God's


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way no matter how He leads.Something else we have to die to is our preconceived

ideas, backgrounds and environments in which we have been raised.

We are products of our environments and that leaves somuch to be desired to help us break through to new

spiritual horizons. That's why the Bible says that thenatural man receiveth not the things of God; they arespiritually discerned (I Corinthians 2:14).

Many of us would like to receive healing in a nice quietlittle corner somewhere. We would like to have someonecome and make a sign over us or touch us with a little bit of oil. We think that is the way it must happen.

It could happen that way. Many times it has. I pray toGod right now wherever you are, that anything of self...any

preconceived idea...any product of your environment...any philosophy or theology or tradition of your church or of your denomination...I pray to God that it will be sosubmerged under the power of the Holy Spirit that the HolySpirit will have His free course to do the work of God inyour life.

In the case of the widow who touched Jesus, I am surethat it was a new thing for someone to press through acrowd in that manner to seek help. I'm sure that it was not

part of the Jewish tradition.It was not part of the religion of the Pharisees or the

Sadducees or the elders for someone to get down and crawlon the ground to press through, reach out and take the

power of God.I'm sure this was not part of the tradition...but it

happened!


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The Utter Exhaustion of Self 13

Coming to the end of ourselves perhaps means havingspent absolutely all.

The Bible says that this dear little lady spent everythingshe had. She was spent out.

She wasn't spent out of money alone...she was likehundreds of people...completely spent out. Out of strength,

out of hope, out of help, every resource was completelygone.

Many people today are completely spent out.We have sicknesses we can't cure. We have family

problems, financial problems and personal problems pressing our lives that we can't solve.

People are not in this condition because they haven't

tried. They've tried. You've tried. God knows, you've tried.This woman tried. She went to the doctors. She spent

every penny she had on medicine, treatments and help. Shetried.

We are not religious quacks. We believe in medicalscience. I thank God for good doctors who are doing their

best to take away the suffering and the pain of humanity. Iam a firm believer that God works through medical scienceand I thank God for each doctor who is used in this way.

But what do you do when you're like this little ladywho was spent completely out?

The doctors could not help her.It wasn't that she did not try...she tried.You are not sitting in that wheelchair because you want

to sit there...you have tried. You have been to every doctor that you know about whom you think could help you.

You are not sitting in your home with cancer becauseyou want cancer or because you haven't tried...you have


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tried!You are not bound with arthritis and rheumatism

because you enjoy walking around with pain...you havetried!

You say, "What do you do, Brother Cerullo, when youhave tried everything that you know how to do in the

natural and nothing works? What do you do?"I'll tell you what not to do:Don't give up!This may be the last day that you will ever have to

swallow another pain pill. This may be the time that younever again will have to take medicine for high blood

pressure.

This may be the time when all the pieces of your lifefinally come together.

Don't give up, because God is on the throne...andwhen there is nothing else that man can do for us, Godspecializes in the impossible.

This woman was ready to give up and go home todie...but something happened to her that has happened toyou and is happening to you right now:

At the end of herself, having tried everything there wasto try, instead of giving up this woman heard...a message of hope!


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Chapter Three

3 A MESSAGE OF HOPE

This woman had spent all that she had and, hopeless,was on her way home to die in loneliness and pain whensomething happened that kept her from giving upcompletely. It sent her a step further along the ways of

plugging into God's inexhaustible power source so that her impossible need could be met.

She heard a message."When she had heard of Jesus,..." (Mark 5:27).That message was Jesus and what He could do and

what He was doing.The message of hope is still the same today.I started this book out by talking about missiles and

bombs and power machinery. We have seen great changesin the world in our lifetimes, great progress, greatimprovements.

But some things never change and the message of hopeis the same today as it ever was: Jesus is alive and able tomeet human needs.

Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and for

ever (Hebrews 13:8).That message needs no improvement. There is nothinggreater, will never be anything greater, than the power of the living God.

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Take a good look at what man can do for you and thenremember what I am going to tell you right now.

You don't have to Pentecostal to understand it. You can be Jewish, Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian,Episcopalian or not have any church background at all andunderstand what I'm going to tell you.

With all the wonderful inventions and advancementsand achievements that man has made, take a good look athow limited he is... and remember what this servant of Godtells you in these pages:

Man does not have the final word!Doctors may have sent you home and told you that

there is nothing else they can do for you but man doesn't

have the final word.The wheelchair is not the end. The last diagnosis, that

last X-ray...is not the last word.Why? Because the final, absolute, last word is not in

the hands of any man.I tell you in the Name of Jesus that the final, absolute,

last word is in the hands of God Almighty!This woman heard a message. Walking down the street

going home to die in a hopeless, helpless condition, sheheard a message.

The message was simply this: "You don't have to gohome and die. Out there, in the middle of that crowd, is aMan called Jesus, the Son of the living God, and He isopening the eyes of the blind. He is unstopping the ears of the deaf. He is causing the crippled to walk. He is doing theimpossible.

"You don't have to go home and die...go to Him andtake God's power for the need in your life."


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A Message of Hope 17

This is the message.Jesus Christ, in His own body, was beaten and bruised,

not for himself, but for you and for me."But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was

bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peacewas upon him; and with his stripes we are healed" (Isaiah

53:5).When they took Jesus off Pilate's porch, they led Him

down into the judgment chamber.A Roman soldier took the scourge (called the torture

weapon), a whip made of 13 leather straps with dozens of pieces of metal teem embedded in each thong.

Jesus was strapped to a whipping post and His robe was

taken off Him, leaving Him naked to his waist. The Romansoldier brought that weapon down time and again andlashed His back...700 years after the Prophet Isaiah wrotethe prophecy "By His stripes we are healed." In Hissuffering, Jesus bore every sickness, every disease, everyinfirmity for us.

The message is this:You don't have to bear your load of sin.You don't have to carry your problem.You don't have to bear your sickness one moment

longer if you will take God's power.Why?Because God sent Jesus Christ to this earth for that

purpose: to lift your burden, carry your problem, changeyour situation, carry your sickness, bear your disease, andtake your sins.

He came here for that purpose. He paid the price. Thework is done. You don't have to do one thing more except


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to take God's power.Can't you just see this little woman?She heard the message of the psalmist in the 103 rd

Psalm: "Bless the L ORD , O my soul, and forget not all hisbenefits: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases" (Psalms 103:2-3).

She heard the same message that was given byMatthew, one of the apostles of the Lord, who wrote:"...Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses(Matthew 8:17).

The message she heard was the same one written byPeter: "Who his own self bare our sins in his own body onthe tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto

righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed" (I Peter 2:24).

Jesus Christ took our sins and by His stripes "we werehealed."

This is the message.Don't give up. The message is true. It was true for the

widow back in the days that Jesus walked the earth inhuman form and it is just as true today.

The little lady had come to the end of herself; she heardthe message.

The third thing that happened in her experience that brought her the power of God that she needed was this:

She acted on faith. She literally took God's power tomeet the circumstance of her life.


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Chapter Four

4 FAITH... A PURPOSEFUL ACT

When this woman, having come to the end of herself onher way home to die, heard the message of Jesus theMiracle Worker something happened to her. Faith wastriggered in her heart.

I pray to God right now that as you have read themessage of Jesus, the Holy Spirit will work mightily toinstill and stir the faith within you to rise up, act andreceive what God has for you.

It is possible to be at the end of yourself and to hear themessage and still go on your way with your conditionunchanged.

Paul put it this way in Hebrews 4:2: "For unto us wasthe gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word

preached did not prof it them, not being mixed with faith inthem that heard it."

I believe that God has stirred your faith to receive and believe this message of the resurrected, living Christ.

But did you know it is also possible for people to believe the message and still go away unchanged? Why?

Faith is a, fact, but faith is also an act.This woman acted on what she knew to be true.Think how weak she must have been in her body from

the many years of affliction. Think how the added

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Faith... A Purposeful Act 21

"Yea, I know it," Elisha said...but he kept pressing onand he received for himself that power that he wanted fromGod by his sheer violence of determination and

purposefulness.I don't believe that the power and strength the woman

displayed in touching Jesus came from some inner resource

within herself. I believe that the moment she began to graspthe truth, the moment she began to believe the message,that she locked in on the strength of God and began to drawon His strength even then.

There is a doctrine which is known as the doctrine of "prevenient grace". It means that wherever there is a work of grace, it is all completely of God.

This doctrine states we cannot take credit even for thehunger for God in our souls. God put it there. We can't takecredit for the strength we have. God put it there. We can'ttake credit for drawing nigh to God...God first has drawnus.

I pray that God, by the power of the Holy Spirit, will place within your heart and your life a new strength of purpose, a new determination, a new inspiration of faithand godly desire that will be the catalyst to a transformingexperience for you by God's power.

One reason that we have seen so many miracles in thecrusades that we have held around the world is that we notonly preach the message of the resurrected Christ but weencourage people to act upon their faith.

In the crusades here in North America, I have specially-trained counselors and ushers to help with thisencouragement among the members of the congregationwho need healing.


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Chapter Five

5 THE REALITY OF GOD'SPOWER

God's power is real. It is vital. It can be felt and theresults of it can be seen and felt.

I know the Bible says, "...the just shall live by his faith" (Habakkuk 2:4)...but I also know that active faith results in

changes that can be seen and felt and enjoyed.It is true that Satan can tamper with our feelings if wedo not keep our minds and hearts stayed upon god, but it isalso true that the blessings of God can be felt and enjoyed.

"... the joy of the L ORD is your strength" (Nehemiah8:10).

There was feeling on both sides when the little woman

reached out in faith and touched Jesus for the need in her life.

The Bible says that when the woman touched theclothes of Jesus, this happened: "And straightway the

fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague" (Mark 5:29).

Faith comes first before the feeling...and sometimes wemust hold on in faith until we see every symptom chased

by the power of God, but let me tell you that victory can befelt!

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The Reality of God's Power 25

That's why the testimonies bubble and roll and ringwhen God has done a miracle for someone. You can knowand feel God's power.

Someone said to me, "Brother Cerullo, you are anemotional person."

I sure am!

You cannot be touched with the feeling of people'sneeds, sicknesses, problems, hopelessnesses and despairsand not be a person of emotion.

It's funny that people think they can let their emotionsrun wild in every other phase of life...they can whoop andholler at the ball game or the horse race...they can feelecstatic over some boy or some girl...but they say we're not

supposed to show or feel emotion in serving God.Let me tell you that my relationship with God is the

deepest emotion I have and it results in feeling deepemotion for the needs of other people.

You know one reason I know it is all right to feelemotion?

Because God feels emotion. Nobody can love in a greater measure than God loves."For God so loved the world, that he gave his only

begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).

That took emotion and that took love for God to dothat.

God feels!He feels compassion. He feels anger. He feels jealousy.All these emotions of God are recorded in various

places in the Bible but the one we are concerned with hereis that God feels it when someone touches Him and takes


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His power.He is not some impersonal energy source, say, for

instance, like the sun, where you can just go out and soak up a few minutes of sunlight and the sun doesn't feel it.

When someone takes God's power it is not diminished,God has just as much power left a before.

He is aware of the need and He is aware of the personwhose faith causes them to press through the throng andtake of His power to meet that need.

Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue hadgone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said,"...Who touched my clothes?" (Mark 5:30).

Jesus had just as much virtue left as He had before the

woman touched Him but he felt virtue go out of Him because that virtue is real. It is a real, vital, moving forcethat is felt not only by us as recipients but by God as theSource, Who is tapped for our needs.

The disciples said to Jesus, "Lord, there is such amultitude, and a lot of people are touching You. How onearth can You ask who touched You?"

Because Jesus can tell the difference between a"throng" and a "touch", that's why.

You can "throng" Jesus with a lot of repetitive prayersfrom the lips that never come from the heart. You canthrong Jesus by going through religious rituals. You canthrong Him by going to church. You can throng Him by

paying lip service to Him.But you touch Jesus by an act of faith that springs from

a comprehension of the truth that God's power is real andthat it is yours if you will just reach out and take it as thewidow did.


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The Reality of God's Power 27

God sees your need and is touched by it."For we have not a high priest which cannot be

touched with the feeling of our infirmities..." (Hebrews4:15).

He has felt your need. Now I want you to make Himfeel your touch because He will feel power flow from Him

to you.Believe me, it will make a dynamic difference in your

life.


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Chapter Six

6 A DYNAMIC DIFFERENCE

There was a dynamic difference between the womanwho went on her way healed that day and the one who had

been on her way home to die.Jesus told her to go in peace...and He was careful to

point out to her just what had made the difference."Thy faith hath made thee whole."There are a lot of people today who, if they had

witnessed the scene we read about in Mark, would havesaid, "Oh, that woman touched the hem of Jesus' garmentand she was made well. The garment made her well. Let'senshrine the garment."

Or, some might have wanted to cut it up in little piecesand give it out in exchange for offerings, saying that thissame garment that made the woman well can come to your house and make you well.

But it was not the garment that made that woman well.Jesus said it was her faith...that greatest power available

to us today.If I could just get this message through to everyone

who is in need: the power of your faith (the faith God hasgiven you) can take God's power to meet your need.Many, many miracles take place in our crusades

throughout the world and nearly all of them take place in

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right now?Place your hands on this page as a point of contact and

pray with me right now: Father God, in the name of Your Son Jesus, we come to

You with praise just for Who You are. We praise You that You are the Almighty God. We praise You that You are the

great Creator. We praise you that you are the God of might and power, that You are the God Who forgives all our sinsand heals all our diseases.

We praise You and thank You that You have promised to give unto us all things that pertain to life and godliness.

We praise You and thank You and believe You Who said that no good thing would You withhold from them that

walk uprightly. Father, we believe You. We have heard the message of

Your power, love, and concern and we believe it. And Father, we are violently determined right now to

press through every thought that is thronging our minds,every obstacle that would seek to obscure our faith, everynegative thought that would try to turn us back from our

goal, but we press through right now and touch You and take from You Your power for our lives.

We take it.We take Your power right now and feel it flowing into

our lives to meet our needs. Right now, in the Name of Jesus. Amen!

I believe that Jesus is saying to you right now: "Son,daughter...go in peace...thy faith hath made thee whole."

Write and tell me what God has done for you.If you wish additional literature or additional prayer,

write and share with me. I will answer you and I will pray


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A Dynamic Difference 31

personally with you for every need that you may have.God bless you and keep you in His care.FaithfullyGod's servant,


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morris cerullo - taking god's power

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