Just Do it – from Dare to Win by Rambabu – Chapter 4

The Bible declares that God raised up Saul to be the King of Israel. When Saul later rebelled and sinned against God, God rejected him and transferred his favor to David. David was a mere shepherd boy, yet God took him and made him ruler over Israel. The former shepherd boy was now established as king. We are told of a conversation David later had with the prophet Nathan, in 2 Samuel 7:1-3:

After the king was settled in his palace and the LORD had given him rest from all his enemies around him, he said to Nathan the prophet, “Here I am, living in a palace of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent.” Nathan replied to the king, “Whatever you have in mind, go ahead and do it, for the LORD is with you.”

David realized that he had been in the sheepfold and God had picked him up and put him in a palace, whereas the One who put him in the palace was Himself in a tent. David was a man with a grateful heart.

I remember the difficult days when I began my ministry. My friend and I used to go from village to village on our bicycles, the only form of transport we possessed, to preach the gospel. One day we were so hungry. 1 had not eaten for three days. An old village lady came up and gave us an offering of two rupees, so with two rupees in our pockets and a hunger that would have cost 200 rupees to satisfy, we went to a roadside stall selling idlis – steamed cakes of rice – eaten in southern India. So we bought ourselves, four idlis for half a rupee each, served in a small piece of newspaper. When they poured chutney on it, the newspaper got wet and began to tear and the chutney leaked through the paper. We parked our bicycle and sat down by the filthy roadside eating our idlis. I know from where God picked me up, and my heart is full of gratitude.

David had a desire in his heart for God. Each of us has a desire for God, but many of us just nurse that desire for many years and do nothing with it. The Bible says in Proverbs 21:25:

“The sluggard’s craving will be the death of him, because his hands refuse to work.”

Desire is a wonderful thing, but it is not enough. David was determined to do something about his desire for God. Nathan reassured him: “Whatever is in your heart, just and do it, and the LORD will be with you.” Circumstances later changed for David and Nathan had to the news to him that he was not the one who would ii Id the temple, but it would be the task of his son Solomon.

But there is a principle here that I want you to understand. If you have a desire for God and ask Him what wants you to do, God will answer you: “All that you 8ve in your heart to do for Me, just go and do it.” God will always use a man of action, but not a man who only, makes plans and does nothing about fulfilling them.

The shoe company Nike has a marvelous slogan – Just
do it! I love that slogan! It’s exactly what God will tell
you if you bring Him your heart’s desire and ask Him what He wants you to do about it. God says to you: “Just do it!” Hallelujah!

If you look into the Word of God, every man of God • who accomplished something for Him was always a man of i action. Take Abraham, for instance. One day God said to him (Genesis 12:1):

“Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.”

Verse 4 of the same chapter shows how Abraham sprang into action in obedience to God’s Word:

So Abram left, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Haran.

God told Abraham to leave his father’s house. So lie did. Thank God for Abraham, who did not wait until he had consulted his father-in-law or mother-in-law. Thank God Abraham did not consult anybody. Abraham ‘just did it’.

Why do so many of us sit on our desires for God jusl like a hen sits on its eggs? Why are we not doing anything even though the will of God is clear to us?

“Well, I’m waiting for favorable circumstances.”

“The situation in India is not right; the government is not favorable. When a favorable government comes then we will preach.”

“When my circumstances are peaceful and all my problems are solved then I will go and do something for God.”

The Living Bible’s version of Ecclesiastes 11:3-6 is interesting here:

When the clouds are heavy, the rains come down. When a tree falls, whether south or north, the die is cast, for it lies. If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done. God’s ways are as mysterious as the pathway of the wind, and as the manner in which human spirit is infused into the little body of a baby while it is yet in its mother’s womb. Keep on sowing your seed, for you never know which will grow — perhaps it all will.

The Bible says that if we wait for perfect conditions, we will never get anything clone, and this is the situation of many children of God. By sitting and waiting all they’re going to do is put on weight!

Some people read history.

Some people write history.

Some people make history. These are the people who don’t wait for perfect conditions. They go out and create Conditions! I have told God that this is the sort of person I want to be!

My friends, if there is one emphatic message God is lending to His church, it is: “Enough of planning, start doing!”

That was the principle of Abraham. When God asked Abraham to offer his son as a sacrifice, did Abraham wail loudly ‘this is my only son, how can I kill him’? No – he Just went and did it, or he would have if God hadn’t •topped him. You need to have guts to do something for God. A champion for God doesn’t stop to calculate the Consequences of doing the will of God – he will just get on with it.

In the nineteen years since I gave my life to Jesus in 1983, (and I say this for the glory of God), there has not been one single day when I have done nothing for God.

In the Bible we read that the children of Israel were slaves in Egypt, and when they cried out to the Lord, He sent Moses to deliver them out of Egypt. After they left that country, they were trapped between the Red Sea and Pharaoh’s army pursuing them. The people of Israel started to grumble, but Moses said in Exodus 14:14:

“The LORD will fight for you, you need only to be still!”

If I were one of the Israelites, I would have said to Moses,
“The LORD will fight for us, I believe it” and then would have quizzed Moses about how the Lord was going to fight for us. And do you know what Moses would have replied? He would have admitted: “Even I don’t know how, but I know He will fight for us.”

Dear friends, whatever God has said, He will do. Don’t rack your brains over how He is going to do it — it is not your problem!

Moses may have thought God would send fire down to consume all the Egyptians, or freeze the Red Sea so that His people could walk over on the ice, or build a bridge so that they could cross over. Moses had absolutely no idea which method God would choose, but he knew He would fight for His people.

When the children of Israel started crying out to the Lord in their distress, the Lord said to Moses, so the Living Bible tells us in Exodus 14:15:

“Quit praying, get the people moving. Forward march!”

Thank God for prayer. 1 believe in prayer. I love prayer. It is the most wonderful thing I enjoy, but if prayer becomes an excuse for not doing anything then God will say: “You have prayed enough. Start working as well!”

I know a lot of preachers who say they are in “full time ministry”, but when you ask them exactly what they do, they reply:

“I’m praying”.

How long have you been praying?

“For five years now.”

Where have you preached?

“Well, I’m praying.”

Why don’t you go and do something?

“I will, but I still have more praying to do.”

They use prayer as an excuse for their laziness. God lays to people like them: “Quit praying, start moving, forward march!”
In the army of God, the command “Mark time!” is never given.

Yet many Christians have spent twenty years Or more just marking time right where they are instead of marching forward.
Mark chapter 16 lists the signs that shall follow those who believe. Nobody follows a parked car. We follow something or someone who is moving. The Bible says these signs shall follow those who believe. That means that if you are a believer, you should be moving. If you are, then signs and wonders will follow you.

There are three categories of people. The first group is immovable. They attend meeting after meeting and seminar after seminar and ultimately do nothing for the Lord.

The second group is movable. These people are like a movable object. If I push it, it moves forward. If I don’t then it doesn’t move. Some Christians are like that. They always need someone to push them. They attend one conference, hear a message, and get motivated for a few days. Then they slow down and stop and they need another conference to get them going again. They don’t do anything for the Lord either.

The third group are the movers. These people move. These are the people who will get something done for the Lord. These are the people whom God will back up. Just as there is no command in God’s army to “mark time”, so there is no “about turn” either. There is only one way we are told to go: “Forward march!” Today if you are asking God, what He wants you to do, hear Him commanding “Forward march”.

God will not keep you where you are or make you go backwards. He will always encourage you to move forward. Remember His words to Moses:

“Quit praying, get the people moving. Forward march! ”
Once again, it’s just as well I wasn’t there as I would probably have asked Moses: “Where am I supposed to march to? Into the Red Sea?”

And that man of such unquestioning obedience would no doubt have answered: “Even I don’t know; but God said march, so we will march forward!”

So the Israelites marched forward, and as they did so, the Red Sea parted in two. God made a way where there-was no way. That’s why it’s so important not to wait for ‘ favorable circumstances. You might be facing a “Red Sea” situation in your life, and praying and asking the Lord to show you the way. God says to you right now: “Forward march!” Just do it!
Moses just did it and saw a great miracle. Follow the principle of Moses and Just do it!

We read the Bible story of the day the Israelites and the Philistines were at war, and King Saul took a huge army and went to fight. At his camp he was calculating the number of men he had and the number of men the enemy had.

Days passed and Saul was only working on his strategy. His son, Jonathan, saw that his father was not doing anything about attacking the enemy. We read in 1 Samuel 14:6 of
Jonathan’s conversation with his loyal armor-bearer:

Jonathan said to his young armor-bearer, “Come, let’s go over to the outpost of those uncircumcised fellows. Perhaps the lord will act in our behalf.

Nothing can hinder the lord from saving, whether by many or by few” “Do all that you have in mind”, his armor-bearer said. “Go ahead; I am with you heart and soul.”

The armor-bearer said to Jonathan: “Whatever you want to do, Just do it” and these two went against an army. So what happened then? (1 Samuel 14:15):

Then panic stuck the whole army – those in the camp and field, and those in the outposts and raiding parties – and the ground shook. It was a panic sent by God.

The enemies were defeated! Why did God throw them into a panic? Because somebody was willing to take action. Saul was waiting for victory, but Jonathan went and got the victory. Many of us are waiting for victory, but we don’t want to hear God say: “Go”.

Easy to pray for our states like Punjab, Kashmir, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat, but when God says: “You go!”, what will we do?

Don’t be one of those Christians who are waiting for victory. God wants you to go and get it! God backed up Jonathan when he went. God always backs up a man of action!

I’m not saying it is wrong to plan; I thank God for planning and agree that we need to do it. But if that is the only thing we are doing then we should stop and get some action into our lives. Be willing to be a man and woman of action. Remember Jonathan’s principle: Just do it!

2 Kings 6 and 7 tells us about a famine in Israel that was so severe that they started eating their own children.

The king of Israel saw two women fighting to kill a child and eat him (2 Kings 6:26 – 31):

As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried to him, “Help me, my lord the king!” The king replied, “If the lord does not help you, where can I get help for you? From the threshing floor? From the winepress?” Then he asked her, “What’s the matter?” She answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give up your son so we may eat him today, and tomorrow we’ll eat my son.’ So we cooked my son and ate him. The next day I said to her, ‘Give up your son so we may eat him,’ but she had hidden him.” When the king heard the woman’s words, he tore his robes. As he went along the wall, the people looked, and there, underneath, he had sackcloth on his body. He said, “May God deal with me, be it ever so severely, if the head of Elisha son of Shaphat remains on his shoulders today!”

When Elisha heard about this he spoke out and said (2 Kings 7:1):

Elisha said, “Hear the word of the lord. This is what the lord says: aboul this time tomorrow, a seah of flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gale of Samaria.”

In today’s currency, this means that although on that day there was famine, God stated that within 24 hours, 20 kgs of rice would be sold for live rupees.

One of the king’s officers laughed at Elisha’s words (2 Kings 7:2):

The officer on whose arm the king was leaning said to the man of God, “Look, even if the lord should open the floodgates of the heavens, could this happen?” “You will see it with your own eyes,” answered Elisha, “but you will not eat any of it!”

It’s so sad to see but not to enjoy. Friend, unbelief will make you see the goodness of God but will not allow you to enjoy it.

When I began this ministry, many people “prophesied” that I would never succeed. They said I was going so fast that I would soon run out of steam. What are these big miracles you keep talking about? Why should you have to preach the gospel to the whole world – aren’t there enough villages round here?” They mocked me. Today these same people are seeing the goodness of God, but cannot enjoy it.

Elisha told the king’s officer who doubted his word: “You will only see but not enjoy.” If I had been there at that time I would have told Elisha: “I believe that word of the Lord; I know the famine will end by tomorrow, but can you please tell me howl” And Elisha would have answered: “Even I don’t know!” It says in Ecclesiastes 11:5

God’s ways are as mysterious as the pathway of the wind, and as the manner in which human spirit is infused into the little body of a baby while it is yet in its mothers womb. (TLB)

In 2 Kings 7:3 we read of the four lepers at the city gate:

Now there were four men with leprosy at the entrance of the city gate. They said to each other, “Why stay here until we die? If we say we’ll go into the city, the famine is there, and we will die. And if we stay here, we will die. So let’s go over to the camp of the Arameans and surrender. If they spare us, we live; if they kill us, then we die.”

I like that. They said why sit here until we die? Let’s do something. They were men of action.

They didn’t sit there licking their wounds. They didn’t say: “Whatever did I do to deserve this?” They were not having a pity party.

Are you one of those Christians who complains about their problems?

“My husband is like this!”
“My children are such a problem!”
“Nobody encourages me, neither my pastor nor my church.”
“Oh, poor me! Somebody pity me!”

Look at the example of these four lepers, who had been made to go outside the city gates due to leprosy, which would have meant their bodies were covered with wounds. But what were they talking about? “Why sit we here until we die? Let’s do something!”

If you don’t do anything for the Lord you will die one day. If you do something for the Lord you will still die one day. Whether or not we have done anything for God, one day we will all die and go to heaven. So why sit where you are until you die? Get up and do something for the Lord, just like those four lepers, who stood shoulder to skinny shoulder, and strode purposefully towards the enemy camp.

The huge army of the enemy was there camped outside the city (verses 5-7):

At dusk they got up and went to the camp of the Arameans. When they reached the edge of the camp, not a man was there, for the lord had caused the Arameans to hear the sound of chariots and horses and a great army, so that they said to one another,

“Look, the king of Israel has hired the Hittite and Egyptian kings to attack us!” So they got up and fled in the dusk and abandoned their tents and their horses and donkeys. They left the camp as it was and ran for their lives.

But who was actually coming? Chariots? Horses? No, just four weak, hungry lepers. But God used those four men of action to deliver the nation of Israel. What was the principle of the four lepers? Just do it!

One day the twelve disciples were sailing in a boat singing praises to God, when suddenly the wind blew violently against them and the sea became dangerously rough. The disciples were afraid (Matthew 14:22 and 23):

… but the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it. (verse 24)

The disciples were fearful and panicked because Jesus was not with them. All of a sudden, far away they saw somebody walking on the water towards them (verses 26 -28):

When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

The moment they recognized Jesus’ voice, Peter said:
“Lord if it is you, tell me to come to you on the water.”
Now please understand what I’m about to share, because this became a key for my ministry. Peter said: “If it is you let me also walk on the water.” When Peter saw Jesus in the supernatural walking on water, he had a desire. He said: “Lord you are walking in the supernatural. Can I too?”

There is a desire in the heart of every child of God for the supernatural. When Peter asked this question, did Jesus reply: “You are a fisherman, but I am the Son of the living God. I can walk on water but you cannot. Don’t desire such things.”? No, Jesus did not say that. Jesus said: “Come”. Do you know what that shows me? I understand that my God always encourages His people to walk in the supernatural!

If you have a desire for miracles then go to God and say: “Father, you did miracles, you lived in the supernatural. I want to walk in the supernatural too.” God will say to you: “Come!”

Notice Jesus never said anything to Peter along the lines of:

“I am the son of the living God, the firstborn of all creation, the Word manifested in flesh, the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I say unto you walk on the water.” No, dear friend, Jesus just said one word: “Come”. It was as simple as that!

The moment Jesus told Peter to come, Peter immediately got down into the water (verse 29):

“Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.

I know you probably think I have forgotten that moments later he was drowning in the water. I haven’t; I know that. But Peter did at first walk on the water, then began to drown when he looked around him. At that point Jesus came, picked him up and helped him back into the boat (verses 30-32):

But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus reached out His hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?” And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down.

Imagine the scene on the boat after Peter and Jesus had got in. The eleven other disciples watching Peter dripping with water from head to toe would have been trying hard not to laugh out loud. They may well have said: “Peter, Peter! You always end up like this. Jesus is the Son of God – it’s OK for Him to walk on the water. But you’re just a fisherman. Why did you have to try? You tried to do something you didn’t have to, and you failed and got a rebuke from Jesus. You should have stayed behind like us and then you wouldn’t have got into trouble.”
Peter would have replied: “Yes, Jesus rebuked me, but before He did, I walked on the water. Did you?”

I’d rather be a Peter who will step out to do something I for God and fail than stay behind like the eleven disciples I who had done nothing but thought they were better than I Peter.

Peter acted on one word from Jesus and defied the law of gravity. With one word from Jesus he took a step and made history, literally a step into the history books! Il made Peter the envy of onlookers even if only for a moment. All it took was one word from Jesus.

What hidden meaning was there in that one word “come” that made Peter do what no man had ever done before? I went through Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance and the Greek Lexicon and looked for the word “come” in the original Greek. Are you ready for the meaning? The word “come” found here in this text means… “come”! No more, no less. Acting on this one word led to a miracle. In most churches today, action is not first on the agenda. If Jesus came and told them “come”, committees would be formed and the debate would begin. What did Jesus really mean when He said “come”? Their final conclusion would be: “Let’s pray about it and wait on God for confirmation.” We are not to try God’s word. Jesus has already proved it. We simply need to act on it. Don’t ever put a question mark where God has put a full stop! Many Christians dissect every little Word in the Bible to find it’s hidden meaning. Yes, the Word of God is to be studied and meditated upon. But it is also to be acted upon!

We know all about faith. We talk about faith. Faith is preached from thousands of pulpits across the world. We even know the faith verses in the Bible in Greek. With all this knowledge of faith, very little faith is ever demonstrated. We need to understand that it is only in the demonstration of faith that miracles happen. We can know all about the Word of God and be able to quote the verses on faith, yet still be the people God’s word speaks about in Hebrews 4:2:

For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith.

Hearing the Word of God is not enough, nor is knowing the Word of God. We must act on the Word of God by demonstrating the faith that causes miracles to happen. When Jesus told Peter to get out of the boat and walk on the water, Peter acted. He did not worry about why he was doing it or allow himself to be hindered by his circumstances, nor did he consider the consequences of his action. He did not talk about faith. He simply acted on the word of Jesus. He stepped out of the boat in reckless faith and walked on the water.

When we first accept Jesus, everything is fresh and new, and the Word of God is alive. We have the same reckless faith that Peter had. We believe anything can happen and will happen as we act on the Word of God. We possess a simple childlike faith that believes everything we read in the scriptures. We read that if we lay hands on the sick they will receive healing, so we do it and see the sick being healed. We read that we can ask the heathen for our inheritance, so we ask and we see the Lord using us to win many people for the Lord. If Jesus were to tell us to walk on water we would be out of the boat straight away doing it! We start out on our Christian life daring to believe God for mountains to move. Then a terrible thing begins to happen – we begin to learn.

Like Peter, we get out on the water and then learn that we cannot do what we started out to do. We begin to learn that when we act on the Word, it does not always work. We begin to learn that our relatives are the toughest ones to be won to Christ. We learn that God will sometimes make us sick to teach us a lesson. We learn that we cannot be prosperous because God cannot trust us with money.

Suddenly the reckless faith that we used to live in is gone.

The reckless faith is replaced with a doubtful question: “What if it doesn’t work?” Soon we are as full of doubts as we used to be of faith. What if I lay my hands on someone who is sick and he does not get healed? What if 1 witness to my relatives and they refuse to listen and disown me? What if I give my last penny as a offering and God does not bless me? What if I step out of the boat and sink? Think back a moment to the time when you first believed. Remember how you jumped out of the boat with reckless faith and walked on the water. Remember how alive the Word of God was in your life. Remember how you believed everything you read and acted on the Word of God.

Though I have been preaching the gospel from the day I was born again in 1983, I did not come into full-time ministry until 1989. As the Lord has guided me for the past 13 years now, I have gone to the nations of the world with only one Word from God – (Jo! If I had waited for confirmation I would have waited until the time seemed more favorable. I went at the word “Co” and now I have proclaimed the gospel to tens of thousands. The word “Go” in the original Greek, once more, means just that… “Go” to do what God wants us to do. Often lie will lead us to go beyond our ability – into His ability, lie says to you: “Come and walk on the water with me.”

No one can start a church until he takes a walk on the water. The man called to reach the nations can’t board the plane until he walks on the water. You will never finance the end-time harvest until you dare to take a walk on the water. You will never fathom (he fullness of God’s favor On you until you venture into the impossible and walk on the water with Him.

The Spirit of God is calling you to action. Go and do
something, and let God honor both your wisdom and your
mistakes. We have a gargantuan task ahead of us – it’s
called the great commission, to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. The Body of Christ
must go forth with great fervor to win souls and make
f disciples. Acts l6:6-10 shows us an example:

Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. When they came to the border with Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to so they passed to Mysia and went down to Troas. During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us”. After Paul had seen the vision we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

As we begin to move, divine guidance comes in. As
we begin to act, divine power is loosed. As we begin our
quest for souls on a worldwide scale, the love and the conviction of the Holy Spirit will speak across the continents and usher in the greatest outpouring of the Spirit of God the world has ever known.

You have been ordained by God to go and bear much fruit. Jesus said in John 15:16:

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit – fruit that will last.

He was saying: “Come and walk on the water with me.”

Just do it! Dare to do it. ‘Dare to act’. ‘Dare to win’.

If you wonder if I have ever made any mistakes in my life, the answer is yes – plenty! But I had the guts to step out for God without worrying about the consequences. One Word from the Lord and Peter stepped out! Peter was a man of action. What was the principle of Peter? Just do it!

If you want to do something for God, you must have the guts to walk on the water. Without this, you can do nothing for God.
A great desire burns in my heart. When I first came into ministry, only three cities in India used to invite me to preach the gospel. But God put the vision for New Creation Ministries into my heart. He even inspired the logo. I told God I wanted to write my heart’s desire on that logo, and I wrote “Gospel to the World” on it. I looked at it and thought to myself: “You don’t even have a passport, you’ve got no money and here you are dreaming of bringing the gospel to the whole world.” But that is my desire!

The apostle Paul is my hero! I used to think earlier that when I-get to heaven, I’ll meet Paul and ask him: “Paul, tell me about how you served the Lord”. But now my desire is, that I want do so much for God on earth that In heaven Paul will pull his chair alongside me and ask: “Rambabu, tell me about how you served the Lord!”

I want to walk so closely with God that Enoch will come and ask: “Rambabu, tell me about how you walked with God!” I want Moses to come and ask: “Tell me about the miracles that happened in your ministry, Rambabu!”

Jesus said that if we believe in him, we can do what he did and more, because he was going to His father. There is unlimited potential for a child of God that needs tapping! Who said that the apostle Paul was the last word in spiritual success? Who said we cannot do more than the apostle Paul?

I can do more than the apostle Paul. This year I wrote ; down a vision of mine: “One million souls in one year for Jesus!” I want to Just do it!

Has God called you to serve Him full-time? Just do it!
Do you want to fast and pray for 40 days? Just do it!
Do you want to be a missionary? Just do it!

For 19 years I have lived out this principle. I never waited for perfect conditions, nor encouragement, 1 ventured out for God and did it. I have not shared just a story with you. I have told you what I actually did. Faith without works is dead.

From ‘Dare to Win’ by Evangelist P.S. Rambabu. All rights reserved by the author. Reproduced here by permission of the author.