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NEUTRALIZED BY GOOD INTENTIONS

by Gary Carpenter

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The Holy Spirit continues to teach me why there are virtually no true Gospel Entrepreneurs who move great sums of money supernaturally from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God. Again, Jesus said,

John 14:10  Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.

John 5:19  Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.

Jesus made it very clear that He was the vessel through whom the Father did the works by the moving of the Holy Spirit. Said another way, unless the Father "moved" by His Spirit, no supernatural "work" was accomplished. Just as this is true for the healing evangelist who operates by the Gifts of the Spirit, it is also true for the Gospel Entrepreneur. If "supernatural" wealth transfer takes place ... it is the Father doing that transfer of wealth through the human vessel.

The Holy Spirit showed me the "trap." That is, how nearly all ministries are diverted away from the supernatural participation of the Father into mere "good works" of man, what we commonly call "programs." Most ministers never realize what happened to them, much less how it happened. In order to teach me how this happens to those with the call of Gospel Entrepreneur, He first showed me how it happens to those called to the ministry of healing.

Let' say a young man in his twenties gets saved and filled with the Holy Spirit. He doesn't know it at the time, but God's hundred fold, perfect plan for this individual's life is that he mature into a full blown healing ministry to the deaf. That is, if He allows the Holy Spirit to train him perfectly all the way to the highest call of God for him, every single deaf person that he prays for will be supernaturally healed by the working of the Father by the Holy Spirit. That is God's highest and best for this young man. Again, he does not know that in the beginning of his walk with the Lord.

The young man begins to meditate the Word and spend much time in prayer and fasting. Over a period of time, he doesn't know why, but he begins to develop a real heart for deaf people. Compassion for the deaf is coming forward in him at an ever increasing rate. He doesn't realize it, but the Holy Spirit is causing the love and compassion of the Father for the deaf to be supernaturally built into his heart because ultimately the Father wants to use him as a vessel through whom the Father can work to restore healing to the deaf.

The young man continues to worship, fast and pray. This love and compassion for the deaf builds and builds in his heart. There comes an overwhelming desire to "do something" to help them. He begins searching his city to see if there are opportunities available for volunteer service where he might be able to be of some help. He finds that there are a multitude of opportunities available. Everything from teaching sign language all the way to complete schools for the deaf where he can be of service.

He volunteers his time and finds immense satisfaction in finally being able to "do something" to relieve this intense desire within him to help deaf people. He begins studying books at night to increase his ability to help them. Perhaps he enrolls in a Junior College course to increase his skills. Soon his time is virtually consumed in his efforts to help deaf people. Soon there is no time to continue those long hours of meditation, worship and prayer to allow the Holy Spirit to supernaturally "equip" him for the Father's work.

All of these human efforts greatly soothe that burning desire within the young man and he feels he has found his "niche" in life. Because of the satisfaction "his" work to help deaf people brings to his heart, he spends the rest of his life in this noble work, assuming he has found God's call for his life.

That is the trap! From the Father's perspective, when did the Father get to work? The Father has a different plan for deaf people than schools and sign language. If the Father Himself gets to do "His work," He will supernaturally restore each deaf person's hearing, even if that takes a creative miracle. Yet, in the case just described, the Father will have to watch from the sidelines, so to speak, as this young man spends perhaps fifty years serving the deaf from a human capacity, never having the opportunity to work through the man Himself to supernaturally restore their hearing.

It is not that such a scenario is completely outside the will of God. Jesus said you couldn't even give a cup of cold water (a natural work) and lose your reward. It is just that such human operations are done in the "good" or "acceptable" will of God. They are not His "perfect" will. If the Father gets to do His "perfect" will, He, Himself will "do the works" just as He did through Jesus. The deaf will not just be "helped." They will be "cured."

It seems that the first thing that the Holy Spirit develops in any person who seeks the Lord is a heart that is compatible with his "call." As the love and compassion of God is developed in the heart of each individual, the desire to "do something" to help becomes very strong. The "trap" that most people fall into is that their "good intentions" to help people diverts them from continuing to pray in order that they can become "supernaturally equipped" with the anointing for their call. They become preoccupied with "man's" works instead of becoming a vessel that the Father Himself can work through supernaturally. For all practical purposes, they were "neutralized by good intentions." It is good. It is acceptable, but it is not the Father's perfect will. The Father's perfect will is that we become vessels through whom He Himself can work, just as He did the works through Jesus Christ.

John 14:12  Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.

Then the Holy Spirit showed me that this is precisely what happens to those with the call of becoming Gospel Entrepreneurs. In the beginning, they do not understand that the Father's "perfect" will is to work "through them" to cause massive transfers of wealth from the world system into the kingdom of God. Just like the previous scenario, all they know is that the more they pray and seek the Lord, the more intense becomes the desire to "give" money into the kingdom.

As they continue to meditate the word, worship and pray, the desire to "do something" becomes intensely strong. They know they cannot "give" if they do not "have," so they begin thinking about various ways to make money to put into the kingdom. Different people come up with different ideas. Some begin to think of turning to the stock market, others to the commodities futures markets. Some think of Real Estate. But the end result for all of them is that, little by little, their attention is diverted slowly away from their times of meditation, worship and prayer toward learning "man's ways" of making money for the kingdom.

Soon, they have fallen into the same trap. No doubt many of them who have natural talent and abilities make large amounts of money through human effort and wisdom to give into the kingdom. They may spend the next fifty years doing a very good job according to man's estimation. But again, when does the Father, Himself, get to work in this scenario? I want to repeat a verse and then restate it in terms that we seldom think of, yet truly state what Jesus said:

John 5:19  Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, THE SON CAN DO NOTHING OF HIMSELF, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. [Emphasis mine].

Because we have not truly understood how Jesus Christ co-labored with the Father, the following statements almost sound like blasphemy to our ears, but they accurately reflect what He said concerning Himself:

  1. The Son can do nothing of Himself.
  2. Jesus Christ Himself cannot cast out devils.
  3. Jesus Christ Himself cannot heal the sick.
  4. Jesus Christ Himself cannot do miracles.
  5. Jesus Christ Himself cannot walk on water.
  6. Jesus Christ Himself cannot stop storms.
  7. Jesus Christ Himself cannot do ANYTHING [supernatural]!

In John 14:10 Jesus plainly said it was THE FATHER IN HIM THAT DOETH THE WORKS! Now, if Jesus Christ Himself, the spotless lamb of God, says that He Himself cannot do the "works," but only the Father in Him, then what chance do the rest of us have of doing any supernatural "works" without it being the FATHER IN US DOING THEM? Human effort, human wisdom, human desire can never do the "works." Either the Father does them ... or they are simply not done. This applies just as much to wealth transfer for the Gospel Entrepreneur as it does to healings manifested in the ministry of an evangelist.

The "trap" is to try and "do something" with human wisdom and effort to "satisfy" the "heart" rather than stay in the classroom of the Holy Spirit through prayer and fasting until we become vessels "equipped" for use by the Father Himself.

All one needs to do is look around the country at our churches, even the best of them, to see that such is the case. Virtually all of us have substituted "programs" for the anointing. We have schools for the blind and the deaf, clowns to entertain children with cancer, counseling for troubled marriages, hospitals for those who cannot receive healing in our prayer lines, etc.. All of these are things that "man" can do. All of them bring some sense of satisfaction and help relieve our intense desire to "do something" to help. But when does the Father Himself get to work?

The Father opens blind eyes! He opens deaf ears! He sets the captives free from devils! He heals the sick! He mends broken hearts! THE FATHER DOETH THE WORKS! IF, and only if, He can find a vessel through whom He can work.

John 5:17  But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.

It is only as we become vessels through whom the Father can work that we can make the same declaration. Jesus could just as well have said, "If my Father does not work ... I can not work." Jesus was a vessel through whom the Father could work. With all my heart I believe it is Christ's desire that we also become such vessels. But where can a person go to become such? To man's universities? To man's programs? No, there is only one Teacher for the body of Christ. Only One has been sent to lead and guide us into all truth. Only the Holy Spirit can do the shaping, the molding, the purging, and provide the equipping for true vessels of God.

John 16:13  Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come.

How few there are who are willing to resist the temptation to prematurely leave the school of the Holy Spirit in order to "do something" to help in the natural realm. How few there are who are not neutralized by good intentions.

Through tongues and interpretation, the Lord was endeavoring to teach me these things last year. Only now am I truly beginning to understand the import of what He said. I think it would be beneficial to the reader for me to reprint what He said to me as follows:

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Life From The Dead
Tongues & Interpretation
May 14, 1997

Life from the dead! Life from the dead is what I produce, sayeth the Lord thy God. That is what Abraham learned of Me. He considered not his own body now dead, but he staggered not in unbelief. He was strong in faith, believing that what I had promised I was well able to perform and I could produce it from the dead. His body was dead and he knew it. His body was not capable of producing life and he knew it. But he trusted in the Living God Who quickens the dead.

I produce life from the dead. I have declared your body "dead" and it is dead! Your trust, your faith, your hope must all be centered upon your God. I, the Lord your God, am He Who quickens the dead. I produce life from the dead. Life from the dead! That is what I produce in you. That is what I produce through you. Life from the dead! Your body is dead! You must look to Me and Me alone as your Source. You have thought in times past primarily of financial things and you have seen Me bring that to pass. But I am the Lord your God Who produces the living Christ from your dead body. I produce the life of Christ Himself in you, though you are dead.

Set no other course. Be diverted to no other path. Let not the pull of other things draw you away from the path that I have set for you, sayeth the Lord. There is no other way. There is no other path. There are no other steps of righteousness that will follow in the steps of the faith of your father Abraham. You must see My promise. You must say My promise. You must trust in the Living God Who quickens the dead. You must call those things which be not as though they were and set your feet on no other course.

Oh, there are assignments, my son, against you to draw you this way and draw you that way. You must set your face like flint. You march toward the Holy City that I have called you unto. You press towards the mark, the prize of the high calling in Christ Jesus. You set your face like flint towards the mark.

Press towards it, son. Press towards it, son. Your flesh will want to go the other way. Your flesh will want to "do" something. But it is dead! It is dead! I have declared it dead and it is dead! You must not put your trust in yourself. You must not put your trust in anything but My promise! Have faith in Me that what I have promised I am well able to perform it. There is no other path. There is no other course that will produce the life of Christ in you. Your body truly is dead! It can never produce Him! It can never produce holiness! It can never produce the promise! Never! It is dead! But I am He that quickens the dead. I am He that quickens the dead. I am He that quickens the dead.

As you trust Me and follow in the steps of the faith of your father Abraham, I will quicken your mortal body. You will see those things that you have longed to see but it is this path and no other, sayeth the Lord. Follow Me! Follow Me!

Follow Me! Follow the course that I have set for you. Be not diverted...by anything! Be not diverted!

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