WHEN PUSH COMES TO SHOVE

Everybody talks but not many walk! I don’t care how much you preach truth! Do you walk in it! When you talk about love, do you walk in love after you talk about it? When you talk about denying yourself and dying to self is there the fruit of resurrection in your life because when you’re really dying, resurrection power should start to come out of you! When push comes to shove, and it’s time to manifest Christ, do you manifest Him or are you manifesting something else? After all the talk, all the agreement, all the yes and amen, all the posts and videos you like, all the words you hear, now where’s the fruit? Now where’s the doing of the word and not the hearing only?

See, we all have our season to manifest fruit. Seedtime and harvest. The word gets planted, the word gets watered, and over time, it brings forth fruit. If the word is being planted in good ground, it brings forth fruit. Yet if it’s hard ground, or the wayside, or the stony ground, or the thorns and thistles, it will choke out the word! It will scorch the seed, the seed will wither away, and the fowler will pluck it up out of your heart. You say “yes and amen” to the word but is the seed going in? Many love to hear, “Good message, brother or sister,” but what’s bigger than that is when people hear the word and do it! When they hear the word and it becomes flesh in them. We don’t need people to just have head knowledge. They need to become the word made flesh. The world is waiting for the manifestation of the sons. The world is waiting for the manifestation of the word of God. Of the image of God. Of the evidence of God. You need to become evidence. Paul said I do not preach the word with enticing words of man’s wisdom but of power and demonstration of the gospel. This generation is starting to get tired of talk and they want to see the evidence. They want to see the manifestation. They don’t want to just hear about pushing the plow, they want to see you do it. They want to see you overcome. They want to see you have the victory that you talk about.

You call Him “Lord, Lord,” but He never shows up. God showed up for Jesus and spoke from the sky and said this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. He said He was well pleased because He looked like Him. He looked so much like Him, He said when you have seen me, you have seen the Father! When He spoke that over Jesus, He did it in front of all to hear and see. A spectacle to all! Even Stephen was not even a fivefold minister. He ran a food distribution but moved in apostolic power. So much power that they stoned him, and even to this day, his small part in the book is remembered and a testimony unto us. John the Baptist preached the Kingdom but Jesus manifested the Kingdom. Paul manifested the Kingdom, and now you are to manifest the Kingdom. 

Jesus said John was the greatest man born among women, and now it says the least in the Kingdom is greater than John the Baptist. All who are born again now have the Kingdom inside of them. We have been endued with power. We have been clothed in His garment. We have the evidence of Him inside of us, and now we are called to release it. We have to preach it, but we have to release it! People believed Jesus when they saw that He spoke with authority. When they saw that He did not speak like the scribes and Pharisees but with authority. When they saw that demons obeyed. When they saw that what He talked about was demonstrated. 

The world is waiting for the manifestation! Yet it will not be automatic. Esau thought His blessing would be automatic. He thought it was for sure. He thought he was entitled to it no matter what, but he was easily mistaken. Read Obadiah 1. Just like God through Obadiah says to Edom, you are high and lofty. You say you’re hidden in the cleft of the rock. You are high on pride. You think just because you’re called that you’re chosen. You think just because you’re around God, because you're hearing the word, that you’re entitled to the end results. No, no. Many Israelites were around God for years and years and didn’t make it! Don’t be like Esau! You think you can have your cup of noodles and the blessing, too! No, Esau! You were called to it but you were not chosen because you did not take it. You traded it for the flesh. You can only have one or the other. 

Many have an amazing calling on their life but if they never take it, if they never put their hand to the plow, they will not have it, they will not see it. Noah was God’s child, the Israelites were God’s people, but if Noah didn’t obey and build the boat, he wouldn’t have been saved! If the Israelites didn’t put the blood on their door, they would have perished, too. We think just because we know the Lord that we’re good but He says, “Why do you call me, Lord, Lord, but do not what I say?” It’s the Lord that saves but it's your obedience that is necessary.  We need to put our hand to the plow and not look back. I don’t care if you have a plow, do you push it? I don’t care if you have the word, do you manifest it? I don’t care if you have the Holy Spirit, do you manifest the Holy Spirit? 

When push comes to shove, does your God show up by fire? The false prophets’ god never showed up, but Elijah’s God, our God, showed up by fire! He was a messenger that manifested the message. He backed the talk because He walked the walk, and He was walking with the one that he was talking about. It’s time to release revival and stop talking about it. It’s time to release awakening and not just talk about it. I don’t want to be around another messenger that speaks a good game, that has all the eloquent revelation but is just another clanging cymbal. It's time to show the world Christ and not just talk about Christ.

When He comes back, will He find you doing? I believe even right now, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, comes in spirit and some of us get overlooked because He’s not finding us doing the will of God. If you love me, you will obey me. Not every one that says to Him, “Lord, Lord,” will enter in but only those that do the will of the Father! Not the hearers only but the doers of the work. The fulfillers of the work. It is worse for you to know what to do and not do it than to not know it at all. Where much is given, much is required! Don’t blame the word for not working. Blame yourself for not doing it. 

The word works, but are you working? The church as a whole will be tested. It’s going to come time to put up or stay quiet. All will have to show the work that they have been allowing God to do in them. Either God is operating on your insides or He’s not. Everyone will be turned inside out to show what’s been going on in their secret place. The man that hears the word but does not do it is like a man who beholds himself in the mirror but then forgets what he looks like. We need to look at the pages and say that’s me. We are called to be living epistles. We are the manifestation of the Word. We are Christ on the earth. We are the light of the world. It’s time to shine our lights. It’s time to let the work of God inside of us be shown to the world. Your moment is coming, will they see the Word in you? Will they see Christ in you? Will they see the image of the beast or will they see the image of God? The manifestations of the Sons of God. When push comes to shove; when the rubber meets the road; when it’s time for action; when it’s time for manifestation… It's no longer going to be about who you say that you are but who you show that you are!

By Joe Pinto