Receiving God's Cape

RECEVIVING GOD’S CAPE

Scott & Raven Smith

Unlocking Supernatural power for the believer

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Smashwords Edition

This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise—without prior written permission from the copyright holder, except as provided by United States of America copyright law.

Published in Houston, TX, by Menorah House Publishers: https://www.facebook.com/MenorahHousePublishers

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from the New King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture is taken from the New King James Version. © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture is taken from GOD’S WORD®, © 1995 God’s Word to the Nations. Used by permission of Baker Publishing Group.

Scripture is taken from the NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2006 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.

Cover & interior design: Scott Smith

RECEIVING GOD’S CAPE:

Unlocking Supernatural Power for the believer

Copyright ©2015 by Scott & Raven Smith

ISBN-13: 978-1505465655

All Rights Reserved.

Library of Congress

2015905103

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

CONTENTS

Preface

Introduction

Superheroes in Training

Where Have All the Superheroes Gone?

The Day God Gave Away His Cape

Putting on God’s Cape

Superhero Recharge

When Superheroes Unite

Why We Need God’s Cape

Conclusion

God’s Kingdom Vs. Satan’s Kingdom

Other Scriptures on God’s Kingdom

God’s Kingdom in Action

Other Books by Scott Smith

Other Books by Scott & Raven Smith

About the Authors

Endnotes

This book is dedicated to The Holy Spirit. Without You guiding Us into this truth, writing this book would have been impossible. We pray Our mortal words will in some way be useful to your amazing kingdom.

(and thanks for the cape!)

PREFACE

"What do you want from me, Elisha?"

"Oh, Master Elijah, please allow me to continue your ministry by giving me a double dose of the power that works in you."

"Elisha, if you are able to watch me depart into heaven, you will receive what you desire."

Suddenly, as they were talking, the sky opened up and Elijah was caught away into heaven, and the cape he was wearing fell to the ground. When Elisha saw the cape, he knew God had given him Elijah’s power also.

Elisha took up Elijah’s cape that had been left behind and immediately began performing signs and wonders. When the people saw that God’s power had been transferred to Elisha, they came to him to learn about God.

The title of this book is based on the well-known Bible story of Elijah and Elisha in Second Kings 2 (also 4:38-41). As Elijah was caught up into heaven in a fiery chariot, his cape (or cloak) fell to the ground. Elisha, who was Elijah’s understudy, picked up the cape to continue his ministry. The cape was a tangible symbol that the same power that rested on Elijah had been transferred to Elisha. As a result of Elisha receiving the cape of God’s power, his ministry was not only equal to Elijah’s but was more powerful, performing twice as many miracles.

The biblical account of Elijah and Elisha is a powerful representation of believer’s lives today (Colossians 2:17). Elijah’s name means Jehovah is God, which is a type of Jesus. Elisha’s name means God is our savior, which is a type of believers in Christ. Even the Hebrew word for the cape in this story (אַדֶּ֫רֶת, addereth) has rich symbolism, meaning a cloak, a mantle, or the glory. And, of course, some have called it a cape.[1]

When Jesus ascended to heaven, He sent the promise of the Holy Spirit to be with believers to continue His ministry on the earth (Luke 24:49). Like Elijah, Jesus left behind His cape of power—the Holy Spirit! As a result, believers in Jesus now have access to God’s anointing to do even greater works than He did (John 14:12). Amazingly, bearers of the cape of the Holy Spirit carry the glory with them wherever they go, offering restoration to the world.

(Oh, and don’t worry if you have a difficult time with Elijah and Elisha’s names; they are similar sounding for a reason. When Elisha took up the cape, he became like Elijah in many ways. Likewise, when we receive the Holy Spirit, we will resemble Jesus. When people see us, they should have a difficult time telling us apart from Jesus, just as we have difficulty distinguishing Elijah from Elisha.)

INTRODUCTION

We long for someone to swoop down and rescue us from the evil that plagues this planet. Maybe that’s why we spend millions of dollars entertaining ourselves through fictional superhero comic books, movies, and video games. Have you thought about why these storylines fascinate us so much? Is it because we believe there’s a chance superheroes could exist in a distant universe or is it because deep down we know we were created for more than just an ordinary existence?

Well, if you’re a comic book nerd, you may take issue with the following statement, but there’s no such thing as a superhero—at least not the ones from the movies. But that’s not quite the end of the story. During the course of our regular prayer and Bible study, God opened up the Scriptures to us in a profound way, revealing an ancient revelation concerning real-life superheroes. Now, we know just by writing those words that many readers may classify us as a little strange and this book as nothing more than hyped-up juvenile fiction, but don’t shut us down just yet.

If you’ll commit to just a few hours of reading, you’ll have the privilege of unlocking an astonishing biblical passage that shows how ordinary, flawed believers, can be endued with God’s supernatural power to live as His extraordinary superheroes—and how He so desperately wants you, the reader, to discover this truth.

We honestly couldn’t think of a more accurate way to describe God’s incredible power for believers. How would you describe someone with the power to do these things?

• power to restore relationships

• power to give people purpose

• power to influence genuine revival

• power to heal and raise dead things to life

• power to deliver the oppressed

• power to defeat evil wherever it’s found

When we uncovered this amazing superhero passage and discovered how God had made His power available to every believer throughout the centuries, we began wondering why most Christians never experienced it in their own lives. That’s when we began to dig deeper and discovered that demonically-motivated, religious men had purposely suppressed Scriptures in God’s Word to keep the truth hidden (2 Timothy 3:1-7). It was evident that those who held this corrupt agenda used fear and unbelief to repress truth in order to maintain personal and financial control—and unbelievably, we found it’s still happening today. The underlying effects of this agenda are revealed whenever a leader says God’s power was only for the early Church.

_ _ _

…God Always had a remnant of believers who found their true purpose, anointed with the Holy Spirit’s Power.

We also discovered that regardless of how religious men tried to hide the truth, even going as far as making laws banning the common people from reading the Bible (medieval times), God always had a remnant of believers who found their true purpose and lived as His champions, anointed with the Holy Spirit’s power.

Now, just to be clear, we’re not referring to the Holy Spirit’s work in salvation or the fruit of the Spirit (Titus 3:5; Galatians 5:22). We’re also not referring to a one-time event where some believers have received a heavenly prayer language (Acts 2). These are, indeed, amazing personal blessings of the Holy Spirit, but the power we’re referring to isn’t just a personal blessing; it’s the Holy Spirit’s power that transcends personal blessings to affect this world. We’re referring to the Holy Spirit’s full anointing that Jesus promised every believer (Acts 2:39). This is an anointing of power and gifts to impact our families, churches, and our world by setting people free from oppressive sin, healing diseases, and sparking mass revivals, all to enhance the Lord’s reputation.

If believers are honest, most would say they aren’t walking in the full power of God—but it doesn’t have to stay that way. Are you interested in how to truly live a powerful Christian life—one where drug, alcohol and sex addicts, the mentally insane, and even medically disabled couldn’t sit in the same room with you and not be instantly healed and delivered? Do you desire to be able to witness for Jesus and have the Word confirmed by a demonstration of God’s amazing power? Are you ready to make a REAL difference for Christ or will you let what someone told you about the power of God destroy your blessing by their own lack of faith?

What you’re about to read has the potential to revolutionize your personal world and the world we all live in. This book will explain how you can live in this natural world as a supernatural believer, anointed with the Holy Spirit’s power for real victory!

Are you ready to leave behind your ordinary life in the phone booth and step into the realm of real-life superheroes? Then don’t let anything keep you from becoming who God destined you to be.

_ _ _

SUPERHERO SECRETS

The Bible says God hasn’t given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7). Many people quote this Scripture and have no clue what it really means. This Scripture is in reference to walking in the power of God and being a bold witness for Christ. There is no reason to fear sharing the Gospel if God’s equipped you with His Spirit. You don’t even need to be worried about what to say (Luke 12:12).

If you read the book of Acts, one of the main characteristics the disciples received after their infilling by God’s Spirit is they had a passionate boldness in sharing Christ—even when they knew it meant almost certain death (Acts 4:31). Now, most people reading this book live in a country where there’s freedom to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with others without fearing death; therefore, we don’t have any excuses when it comes to sharing Him with the world!

Here is what God’s given us to take the truth of Christ to the world:

• Power (our cape)

• Love (the true character of God)

• Sound mind (intelligence, wisdom, truth)

We need all three to be effective for God’s kingdom. There are some Christians who have power but no love; some have sound doctrine, but no power; and some have zeal for the Word but neither love nor power. We need all three to be fully effective in our ministry to the world!

SUPERHEROES IN TRAINING

The fact that you’re still reading indicates, at the very least, you’re curious about the truth of receiving God’s power. So, here it is. The ancient revelation that will turn you into a superhero is…

Stop! Wait just a second. We have to be careful here. We can’t just flippantly announce this truth. We can’t just give you a swatch of red fabric, a triangulated S and some scissors for you to make your own cape. That’s not going to work. It’s not going to be that simple. What we’re about to share in this book is not only vital to God’s kingdom; it’s destructive to our enemy’s domain as well. In fact, believers have died sharing this revelation. Yes, you read that correctly. (We’ll cover the details later.) Our enemy has been fighting and will continue to fight to keep anyone from this truth. Satan has long deceived religious men to keep it from the masses, and he’s not about to surrender now. We need to make sure you know what you’re getting into. You may want to ask yourself how badly you want this truth. Are you willing to contend for it?

How much diligence you put into seeking out this truth will ultimately determine if you’ll receive full illumination from the Lord. The Bible says God rewards those who diligently seek Him by faith (Hebrews 11:6). Diligence is an absolute requirement for moving forward in this truth. We pray your faith is up to the challenge ahead of you. Nothing worth fighting for is ever easy.

Establishing the foundation

After reading the introduction, you may be tempted to skip ahead to the juicy stuff, but please resist that urge. God gave us this revelation through several stages, and we’re going to do our best to unpack and set this up just as we received it so it will benefit every reader. If you choose to skip ahead, you’ll get the main pieces, but just like a jigsaw puzzle they will be nothing more than nonsense unless you know the final image you’re supposed to be assembling.

Our first step in unlocking this superhero truth is to establish the not-so-enticing foundation. No one likes laying foundation; it’s ugly and requires hard work, but without it even the most beautiful house would collapse.

Many people have already tried to skip over the foundation of this revelation. In fact, we’re sure many Christians have heard this truth. However, even though many have read or heard it, they missed its purpose, and therefore they’ve missed its power. How do we know they’ve missed it? It’s simple. The evidence is in the fallen and deteriorating condition of their houses—and by houses, we mean the local church and average family.

_ _ _

We’ve Misunderstood and Silenced God’s Word and His Power.

Have you considered the spiritual landscape of the average church congregation today? It’s no secret the local church is barely surviving. Here’s what we see: We see people leaving like Moses’ Exodus out of Egypt. We see young people wanting nothing to do with the local church once they become of age. And for those who have stayed, there’s a deep confusion on religious and social matters. Behaviors that were once deemed shameful sin are now seen as normal, acceptable behavior. And this attitude isn’t just exclusive to the youth; it transcends entire congregations. In fact, we know several churchgoers who say right and wrong is merely a matter of personal opinion.

Take a survey of individuals in the average home (family). What’s happening with it? What we see is purposeless couples separating and divorcing, drowning in unmet expectations and financial chaos. We’ve watched the children in these families turn from wanting anything to do with God, to a rebellious and even atheistic attitude filled with drugs, alcohol, and even deviant sexual lifestyles.

We’re not going to cite a bunch of boring statistics in this book. We all know families are struggling. We all know Christian churches have been decreasing in size and influence. But why? All the evidence points in one direction: We’ve misunderstood and silenced God’s Word and His power.

Here’s an honest question to ask: How is it that so-called Christians can attend church every week and still find themselves struggling with some of the most heinous sins? It’s simple; the power of God is absent to change people into a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17; Romans 8:26a). This foundational truth of Scripture has been categorically suppressed and replaced with feel-good humanism. Here’s what we’re missing:

Then the Spirit of the LORD will come upon you, and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man. I Samuel 10:6

If you attend a local church, I (Scott) challenge you to take an honest account of yourself and those you know there. How are you doing with overcoming sin? How is the rest of the congregation doing? I ask this because there was a time when I faithfully attended church and lived a full-blown life of sin—and I knew many others who were struggling right along with me. And let me tell you something else: there are dozens of people I know who attend church but continue to live a double-life, filled with immorality and sin. Quite honestly, I’m tired of hearing the stories of churchgoing friends and family who keep falling into the trap of the enemy, all because the power of God is being stifled from the pulpit.

I was always taught that the church was so full of Jesus that our enemy wouldn’t dare come near it. But sadly, I learned this isn’t true. In reality, it’s probably safe to write that our enemy finds America’s churches to be one of the most comfortable places to hide out. Why would Satan and the demons behind illicit sins fear the local church? From where we sit, most local congregations never address the core issues of oppression and there’s no real power for deliverance. What is there to fear?

Have you ever seen