Decree a Thing and it Shall Be Established Unto You

If the Lord is going to use you in a certain way, it will be because you decree it to be so.

It is the door we knock on that shall be opened unto us; it is what we ask for that we shall receive; it is what we seek that we shall find.

This applies to the ministry, to your career, or to anything you receive or do in life - and it applies to bearing fruit for the Father.

What we end up doing or receiving will be in accordance with what we decree.

Two weeks ago the Lord led me to go to my old High School to pray.

As I prayed over the school, I remembered the many ways in which God had used me during my days as a student there.

While I thought about it, the Lord said to me, "The reason I used you that way - whilst you were at school - is because you decreed it".

(When I was about 14 years old, a friend and I had approached our school Principal to tell him that I had become a Christian and to ask his persmission to start a Christian meeting at school.

Initially, the Principal refused us permission - but I suggested to my Christian friends that we each pray that the Lord would change our Principal's mind overnight, while he's asleep.

So that night before I went to sleep, I prayed, "Lord, please change his mind - while he's asleep."

Then I turned out the light and went to sleep.

And sometime during the middle of the night, I woke up because my bedroom was full of light.

I wondered where the light was coming from. I looked up, but the light-bulb wasn't on.

Then I looked down, and I saw Jesus sitting on the end of my bed. His skin and clothing were shining, lighting up the whole room.

Automatically I was drawn out of bed, to a position of sitting on His lap.

I looked at His face. "Oh it's Jesus," I realized.

He held me in His hands. I saw the holes where the nails went through - still red, still an open wound. And I felt love - for I knew He died for me.

I looked down at His feet. I saw holes in His feet where the nails went through. He wore sandals, and they were a little bit dusty.

When I looked at Jesus' face, I thought to myself, "Gee, you're not very good-looking, are you Jesus". He looked very ordinary.

He smiled - He knew exactly what I was thinking.

But He wasn't offended or hurt. He thought it was funny too!

The Bible says, "He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him..." (Isaiah 53:2)

And, "As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men" (Isaiah 52:14).

But when I looked in His eyes, I felt, "Oh! This is the most beautiful face I've ever seen in my life."

His eyes were like oceans of liquid love!

I felt as if I could see for miles into His eyes - I searched deep and wide - and yet all I could see was gentleness, tenderness, purity, love, holiness.

He had a short, scruffy beard. He had slightly long hair.

And His long, white garment - like His sandals - was not pristine clean, but it looked like He had been wearing it all day and out walking the streets.

Jesus is still doing things today. He promised, "Whatsoever you ask the Father in my Name, I will DO IT for you".

And the Book of Revelation says, "Behold I stand at the door and knock, if any man hear my voice..."

Jesus is still out walking the streets, knocking on the doors of the hearts of men and women.

Jesus is still going about doing things on our behalf, whatsoever we have asked.

Jesus said to me, "So - you're thinking of starting a meeting at Bremer, hey".

I replied, "Yeah."

I could tell that Jesus was absolutely delighted to be allowed by His Father to visit me - He seemed to be even more delighted in me than I was in Him.

And I could tell that Jesus never stopped thinking about His Father even while He was with me and talking to me.

He was careful not to stay with me one minute longer than His Father willed.

Jesus delighted in His Father's will.

I could also see in Jesus' eyes that He keeps loving - even when people reject Him. He does not withdraw, but He keeps reaching out in love.

I was going to need these qualities too, if I was going to keep preaching Jesus at school.

It felt so nice to be with Him!

Well the next day at school, when the High School Principal saw my friend who had approached the Principal with me the day before, he came running down the steps saying, "I'm so glad I've found you - I've been looking for you boys all over. About that meeting you want to have - something's happened to me overnight - I've changed my mind while I was asleep - now I WANT you to have that meeting. Which room would you like to use?"

Evidently the Lord answered our prayer to change our Principal's mind whilst he was asleep.

I often say - after the Lord changed our Principal's mind whilst he was asleep, maybe the Lord thought, "I've now finished my work for tonight. But before I go back to heaven - since I'm in the area - I'll go visit John". But He had to wake me up to do it.

So I chose the best room in the school for our Christian meetings. We preached Jesus every week. Many students became Christians and were filled with the Holy Spirit. We went witnessing everyday. We even preached during school assembly. Some of the students who were saved in those days have become missionaries or pastors.

I look back on those days as a season in my life of being used by the Lord.)

But here's what I want to say: when the Lord spoke to me in that vision, He said to me, "So you're thinking of starting a meeting at Bremer, hey".

At the time, I remember feeling surprised that Jesus made as though it was my initiative to start this meeting - because at the time I felt the LORD was leading me to start it.

But Jesus said, "So you're thinking of starting a meeting..."

Yes, the Holy Spirit had led me. Nevertheless, nothing would have happened had I not decided to ACT on it.

If I hadn't acted on the desire which the Holy Spirit, no doubt, had placed within my heart, there would have been no change in the Principal's mind; probably no vision from the Lord Jesus; and I would not have been used at school the way I was.

But by acting on it - by approaching the Principal and by asking God to change the Principal's mind when he said no - I was decreeing a thing. And because I decreed it, it was established unto me.

"Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee" (Job 22:28).

God promised that whatever we decree shall be established unto us.

It seems like God is waiting for us to take the initiative to decree new works for God. And then, once we've decreed a thing, He goes about to establish it unto us.

Wherever you see a man or woman being used by the Lord in a certain way - it is because the person, somewhere along the line, themself decreed it to be so.

So, whatever you desire - whatever the Holy Spirit has placed within you - when you ask, when you pray, when you agree together, when you loose and bind it, when you remit or retain it, when you act on it, when you confess it, when you decree it - it shall be done unto you. For God has given unto you the keys of the Kingdom of heaven.

It is God's will that you bear much fruit. Herein is your Father glorified.

Therefore whatever you decree - whether it is a children's feeding program, or a new church building, or open doors for ministry, or finances, or signs and wonders, or favour, or anything - it shall come to pass.

Fruit-bearing starts with decreeing.

What are we decreeing?

Jesus said God is glorified when we bear much fruit - so why not decree something big!

God is with you. He will fulfill your counsel (your plans) when you act in faith.

He will build-up your ministry, or your career, or your desire in life - He will perfect that which concerneth you - for it is His ministry, it is His work through you.