The Mechanical Power of God

God does not operate on a whim. The power of God does not depend on His mood. He has established ways. Spiritual law is not less reliable than gravity. The power of God is no respecter of persons and is not activated by begging or crying. Faith applies what God has already put in motion. It is God’s power. It is at man’s disposal because God put it there.

One distinction must be kept clear or the rest will be misread. Mechanical is not the same as automatic. If healing were automatic, every sick person would recover whether anyone laid hands, spoke, looked, or believed. The cross would empty hospitals by itself. That is not what Scripture shows.

Mechanical means this: God has a system. When the appointed act is performed in faith, the power transfers. If the act is not performed, the power stays in the believer. It does not fall out of the sky onto the sick. It moves from the one who has it to (Luke 24:49, Acts 1:8, 3:6) the one who needs it — by word, by hand, by looking, by stepping in or by clothing. That is why the same Jesus who healed “as many as touched him” still said, “They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” The recovery is promised. The laying on of hands is the application.

The Pool of Bethesda

Joh 5:2  Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. 

Joh 5:3  In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. 

Joh 5:4  For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. 

Whosoever determined whatsoever they were healed of, whenever they stepped in after the stirring. God was not sorting the porch by worthiness, diagnosis, or tears. First in, made whole of whatever he had.

That is the system in public. The water did not negotiate. The angel did not interview. The man who got in received. The man who did not get in remained as he was — not because God preferred him sick, but because the condition of the system was not met in his case that hour.

The same shape appears with Jesus. Power was present in Him to heal. Crowds were healed as they touched, not the ones who stood aside. One man at Bethesda was healed when Jesus spoke. In both scenes the power is not waiting for a new heavenly vote. It is present and it answers to the appointed contact or the appointed word - an act of faith!

Samson shaking/hair

Jdg 16:20  She said, The Philistines are upon you, Samson! And he awoke out of his sleep and said, I will go out as I have time after time and shake myself free. For Samson did not know that the Lord had departed from him.

Samson woke and said he would shake himself free as he had time after time. He did not know the Lord had departed. He felt nothing leave. That means the presence of the Spirit did not have a discernible feeling accompanying (else he could already know the power was absent). He relied on a practiced act to stir what he assumed was still there.

That is the point for ministry. Power is not a sensation you check before you obey. Samson’s ritual had worked before because the covenant was still on him. The act was never the source. The act was how he engaged what had been given. When the source was gone, the same motion did nothing. Thank God we will never be in that situation since Jesus has already promised "I will never leave you, nor forsake you" Heb 13:5, "Lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the age" Mat 28:20. (ref Rom 8:31-39)

So with laying on of hands. You do not wait to feel voltage in your fingers. You do what you were told. The power has no feeling to the carrier. You are insulated so you can deliver it. Feeling is not the evidence that the system is live. The Word is!

Moses at Red Sea lifting the rod

Exo 14:10  And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid: and the children of Israel cried out unto the LORD. 

Exo 14:11  And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt? 

Exo 14:12  Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness. 

Exo 14:13  And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever. 

Exo 14:14  The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace. 

Exo 14:15  And the LORD said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward: 

Exo 14:16  But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. 

Exo 14:17  And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them: and I will get me honour upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen. 

Exo 14:18  And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I have gotten me honour upon Pharaoh, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen. 

Exo 14:19  And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them: 

Exo 14:20  And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the night. 

Exo 14:21  And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.

Israel cried. Moses cried. God said, “Wherefore criest thou unto me? Speak to the children of Israel that they go forward. Lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it.”

The rod was already in Moses’ hand. The instruction was already given. Crying to God to do what God had told Moses to do was the wrong move. God was not refusing to help. He was refusing to be asked to perform the act He had assigned to the man.

That is mechanical from the minister’s side. If the word already says lay hands, cast out, speak to the mountain, you do not return the assignment to heaven as a petition. You execute. What stands between you and the thing God said is not a reason to hold another prayer meeting about whether God is willing. You speak to that thing and put it out of the way. (Psalms 149:9)

Moses stretched out the hand. God caused the east wind. Both sentences are in the text. The power is God’s. The application is man’s. Remove either and the sea stays shut.

Moses hands up - Israel is winning

Exo 17:8  Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim. 

Exo 17:9  And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: to morrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand. 

Exo 17:10  So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek: and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. 

Exo 17:11  And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. 

Exo 17:12  But Moses' hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. 

Exo 17:13  And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. 

Exo 17:14 And the LORD said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. 

Exo 17:15  And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovahnissi.

Moses' hands were the execution instrument of God's power and did not matter if someone else was holding their hand up. What's not mechanical in it? hand's up - Israel win, hands down Israel lose. Aaron and Hur hold the hands up. Israel wins until sundown.

God did not stop the battle and say the hands only count if Moses lifts them unassisted. The condition was not “Moses feels anointed.” The condition was the hands in the appointed position. How they stayed there did not matter.

That is why ministry is not mysticism about who is allowed to help. The system cares that the act is done. It did not require the original actor to supply all the stamina. Hold the hands up. The result tracks the position, not the mood on the hill.

Jacob blessing

Gen 27:24  And he said, Art thou my very son Esau? And he said, I am. 

Gen 27:25  And he said, Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son's venison, that my soul may bless thee. And he brought it near to him, and he did eat: and he brought him wine, and he drank. 

Gen 27:26  And his father Isaac said unto him, Come near now, and kiss me, my son. 

Gen 27:27  And he came near, and kissed him: and he smelled the smell of his raiment, and blessed him, and said, See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the LORD hath blessed: 

Gen 27:28  Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine: 

Gen 27:29  Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee: be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother's sons bow down to thee: cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee. 

Gen 27:30  And it came to pass, as soon as Isaac had made an end of blessing Jacob, and Jacob was yet scarce gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting. 

Gen 27:31  And he also had made savoury meat, and brought it unto his father, and said unto his father, Let my father arise, and eat of his son's venison, that thy soul may bless me. 

Gen 27:32  And Isaac his father said unto him, Who art thou? And he said, I am thy son, thy firstborn Esau. 

Gen 27:33  And Isaac trembled very exceedingly, and said, Who? where is he that hath taken venison, and brought it me, and I have eaten of all before thou camest, and have blessed him? yea, and he shall be blessed. 

Gen 27:34  And when Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry, and said unto his father, Bless me, even me also, O my father. 

Gen 27:35  And he said, Thy brother came with subtilty, and hath taken away thy blessing. 

Gen 27:36  And he said, Is not he rightly named Jacob? for he hath supplanted me these two times: he took away my birthright; and, behold, now he hath taken away my blessing. And he said, Hast thou not reserved a blessing for me? 

Gen 27:37  And Isaac answered and said unto Esau, Behold, I have made him thy lord, and all his brethren have I given to him for servants; and with corn and wine have I sustained him: and what shall I do now unto thee, my son? 

Gen 27:38  And Esau said unto his father, Hast thou but one blessing, my father? bless me, even me also, O my father. And Esau lifted up his voice, and wept. 

The blessing is spoken to the wrong son. Isaac cannot pull it back. Esau weeps. The word has already gone out.

A spoken blessing in that order behaves like a released projectile. Once discharged, it does not return to the chamber. That is not God being trapped by a trick. It is God honoring the kind of word He Himself taught men to use. He built a world which is word controlled, in which a thing spoken in that authority lands.

The same structure is why you do not bless and then spend the next hour asking God if He heard you. Believe you have received (Mark 11:23-24). The asking is the release. Retracting the word because you got nervous is how you step out of the system, not how you become more humble.

Uzzah and the Ark

The scripture describes that the Lord judges weighs, and tries as in balance the heart and its intentions, but Uzzah, despite having decent intentions was struck down.

Pro 21:2  Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the LORD pondereth the hearts.

1 Samuel 16:7 ...for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.

2Sa 6:5  And David and all the house of Israel played before the LORD on all manner of instruments made of fir wood, even on harps, and on psalteries, and on timbrels, and on cornets, and on cymbals. 

2Sa 6:6  And when they came to Nachon's threshingfloor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it; for the oxen shook it. 

2Sa 6:7  And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there for his error; and there he died by the ark of God. 

2Sa 6:8  And David was displeased, because the LORD had made a breach upon Uzzah: and he called the name of the place Perezuzzah to this day. 

Uzzah’s intention was to steady the ark. The word already stood: unauthorized touch, death. God did not pause to weigh the motive and issue a fresh sentence. The word spoken earlier was still in force.

Intention does not override a standing word. That cuts both ways. It is why a good heart does not cancel disobedience, and why a trembling heart does not cancel a promise God already made. The power of God is not a respecter of how you feel about the rule. The rule runs.

Holiness and healing are not two different gods. Both show that what God has said keeps working after the conversation has moved on. You do not need God to re-authorize “they shall recover” every time you see a sick person. He already spoke. You apply it.

Bitten fiery serpents,

look at the serpent on the pole

Num 21:4  And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. 

Num 21:5  And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread. 

Num 21:6  And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. 

Num 21:7  Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD, and against thee; pray unto the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. 

Num 21:8  And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. 

Num 21:9  And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived. 

Whoever is bitten, when he looks, lives. God does not choose which bitten man is worth the look. The look is the condition. The life is the result.

Same shape as Bethesda: whoever, whatsoever, whenever the act is done. Looking is not earning. Looking is using the means God set. The man who will not look does not die because God ran out of mercy. He dies because he refused the system God provided in that hour.

Woman with the issue of blood

Mar 5:25  And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years, 

Mar 5:26 And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse, 

Mar 5:27 When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment. 

Mar 5:28  For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. 

Mar 5:29 And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague. 

Mar 5:30  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? 

Mar 6:56  And whithersoever he entered, into villages, or cities, or country, they laid the sick in the streets, and besought him that they might touch if it were but the border of his garment: and as many as touched him were made whole.

Luk 6:19  And the whole multitude sought to touch him: for there went virtue out of him, and healed them all.

She said, “If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole.” She touched. The fountain dried. Virtue went out of Him before He asked who did it.

That answers the minister’s question and the receiver’s question at once.

From her side: a person can, by faith, make a demand on power that is present. She fixed the time. She fixed the means. She did not wait to be noticed.

From His side: the power was already in Him and already going out. He was not deciding whether she was on the list. The list was “as many as touched.” Luke says power came out of Him and healed them all. Mark says they laid the sick in the streets that they might touch the border of His garment, and as many as touched were made whole.

Contact and transmission. Life does not drop from the air onto the sick. It moves from the one in whom it dwells into the one who contacts it. That is why hands are laid. That is why a word is spoken. That is why a cloth can be sent. God is not particular about which lawful contact you use. He is particular that you use one.

Could someone at their own will withdraw that power for healing? In these scenes, yes. That is what “at man’s disposal” means. Not that man owns God. That God placed His power in a vessel and authorized the vessel to give what he has. “What I have I give you” is the apostolic sentence. The minister is not asking heaven to start feeling generous. He is releasing what he already carries.

How this is supposed to be used

If you are the one who is sick, Mark 11:24 is the same mechanics from the other end. Ask. Believe you have received. It will be yours. You are not begging a reluctant God. You are taking what the word already grants.

If you are the one who ministers, you do not wait for the sick person’s faith to come up, and you do not wait for a sensation. You lay hands. You speak. You expect transfer. The sick person may help by believing. They are not required for the system to be valid, or Jesus could not have healed the man who did not know His name.

What you must not do is confuse the two errors.

• Automatic says: it is finished, so I do nothing. The NT will not let you live there. Hands still have to be laid.

• Begging says: I do everything, and maybe God will decide. The Red Sea will not let you live there. The rod is already in your hand.

Mechanical sits between them. God already willed it. God already provided it. God already told you how it moves. Apply the means. The power is God’s. The application is yours.