The Dancing Hand of God, Part 4 — The Finger, Hand and Arm of God

The dancing hand of God is the Holy Spirit’s joyful, visible work among believers, and this message explains it by comparing three pictures Scripture uses for God’s power: His finger, His hand and His arm. The pastor teaches that the finger of God delivers, His hand creates and blesses, and His arm saves and redeems, and that believers are given to Jesus “for signs and for wonders” in the world today.

This is part four of the series and continues from The Dancing Hand of God, Part 3 — The Spirit Upon and Within. Below you will find the full video, a structured summary, each Scripture used (linked to the New King James Version on Bible Gateway), a timestamped outline and practical steps.

Sermon at a Glance

This message was preached at NTC Ministries and posted on October 11, 2022. The pastor says he is shifting gears from the three earlier sessions. He will not give an exhaustive teaching, because there is so much on the subject, but will explain the difference between the finger, the hand and the arm of God, starting from Isaiah 8:18.

From there he moves to Luke 11, the Psalms, Isaiah 59 and Zephaniah 3, and then to the gifts of the Spirit in 1 Corinthians 12. He closes with two testimonies of prophetic words and an invitation to receive Christ.

Formed by the Hand of God

The pastor opens with a picture he once heard. When God wanted fish, He spoke to the water. When He wanted animals, He spoke to the ground. But when He wanted people, He spoke to Himself: “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness” (Genesis 1:26). And rather than only speaking, He formed man with His hands and breathed into him the breath of life (Genesis 2:7).

That origin explains our dependence. Take the fish out of the water and the water is still water, but the fish is no more. Take the animals off the land and the land remains, but the animals die. Take people away from God and He is still God, unchanging. But take God away from a person, and they are nothing, facing a tragic forever without Him.

He prays that the Word would nourish the church, give understanding, confidence and courage, and light their path so that they can run and not grow weary, walk and not faint (Isaiah 40:31).

Children for Signs and Wonders

Isaiah 8:18 says, “Here am I and the children whom the Lord has given me! We are for signs and wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells in Mount Zion.” The pastor says this is about purpose: believers are here to do the extraordinary, to do what the world cannot, and so show people who God really is.

He explains a double fulfillment. First, it applied to Isaiah and his sons. As he teaches it, Isaiah means Jehovah will save; Shear-Jashub means a remnant shall return (Isaiah 7:3); and the second son’s long name in Isaiah 8:1–4 means your enemies will soon be destroyed.

Second, everything in the Old Testament is a type and a shadow of the New Covenant. A shadow shows that someone is there, but you only see who they are when they step into the light. Hebrews 2:12–13 quotes Isaiah 8 and applies it to Jesus and His disciples. The Savior and the children given to Him are for signs, wonders and miracles, not only in Israel, but in the world.

Religious thinking says Christians should struggle through and hope to reach heaven. The pastor says God’s answer is that He brings heaven to us and wants us to learn how heaven works. That is why Jesus taught us to pray, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:9–10).

So it was not God’s will that a child was killed or that someone fell terribly sick. Every good and perfect gift comes from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning (James 1:17), and He is the Lord who heals (Exodus 15:26).

The pastor adds that there is no condemnation while we are learning. Comparing ourselves among ourselves is not wise (2 Corinthians 10:12). Grace and peace are multiplied through the knowledge of God, and His divine power has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness (2 Peter 1:2–3). We already have it; the manifestation grows with our knowledge of Him.

God is not standing over people with a hammer. Jesus came to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19:10), and after Peter’s denial He simply asked, Do you love Me? Religion destroys relationship, the pastor says. We were created in Christ for good works (Ephesians 2:10), but we do them the way a child tags along with a best friend, because we love being with Him.

The Finger of God Delivers

The pastor treats finger, hand and arm as metaphors of strength. Naturally, a finger has less strength than a hand, and a hand less than an arm. If he wrestles you and you use a finger while he uses an arm, he wins every time. Scripturally, he teaches, each one represents a different kind of God’s power. The table below follows his teaching:

In Luke 11:14–20, Jesus cast out a mute demon and the man spoke. Some accused Him of casting out demons by Beelzebub. Jesus answered that a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand, then said, “But if I cast out demons with the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.”

The pastor points out how foolish the religious reaction was: a man who could not speak was set free, and they called it the devil. Satan can never give anything good; what looks good from him is a trap painted with glitter. And Jesus did not just say He cast out devils by God’s power. He specified the finger of God.

How much strength does it take, then, for someone who needs deliverance? Not much. He compares it to faith. When the disciples asked Jesus to increase their faith, Jesus spoke of mustard-seed faith (Luke 17:5–6). As the pastor explains it, they did not need more faith; they needed to start using what they had, letting God’s power flow without being queasy about it.

The Right Hand of the Lord Creates

God’s hand, the pastor teaches, represents His creative power, the power to create, to alter and to bless. He tells of a family who once attended the church. Because of a medical situation with their young son, they lost their farm, property and everything, and still owed about 175,000 dollars in medical bills. The father lost his business and went to work in town. He kept expecting what he was hearing taught from Scripture, and one day received a letter saying he owed nothing.

In Psalm 8:3–6 David considers the heavens, the work of God’s fingers. He compares God’s detailed work on the stars to an artist friend whose mosaics are made shell by shell with her fingers. Creation was spoken, but man was formed with God’s hands, and God’s mind is filled with mankind. He made man a little lower than God and gave him dominion over the works of His hands.

Psalm 44:3 says Israel did not gain the land by their own sword or arm, but by God’s right hand, His arm and the light of His countenance. Likewise, in Psalm 118:15–17, “The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tents of the righteous; the right hand of the Lord does valiantly.” The pastor says rejoicing belongs in our homes and marriages, not just at church.

When you get a raise or a better job, he says, give God the glory, because it was the work of His hand, not your might. Most people, through a lack of knowledge of God, never realize what He has done for them. Deuteronomy 8:17–18 warns not to say your own power gained your wealth, because it is God who gives the power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant.

He explains that the Hebrew word for valiantly, chayil, as he teaches it, means power, strength, valor, an army, and also wealth and virtue. Wealth means having more than enough for yourself and for every need you can help with. And he says it means to strike with power. Nothing God strikes, he says, would still be standing. Exalted, he adds, means above our wit, cunning and knowledge.

The Arm of God Redeems

The arm naturally has the most strength, and scripturally, the pastor teaches, it represents God’s power to save souls and redeem mankind. Isaiah 59:16 says God saw there was no man and no intercessor, “therefore His own arm brought salvation for Him.” No one on earth had anything to give that could save mankind, so the Father sent His own Son.

Psalm 98:1–2 sings that His right hand and His holy arm have gained Him the victory, and that He has made His salvation known. The pastor brings the pictures together: His arm redeemed us, and His hand recreates us. Anyone in Christ is a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). The same hand that formed Adam and Eve gives a new heart and puts His Spirit within us (Ezekiel 36:26).

As that new creation, he says, God never looks down on you or condemns you, but sees you as holy and beautiful. No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly (Psalm 84:11), and you cannot be more upright than believing in Jesus. Our works do not make us upright; His works do, and He hands them to us.

Returning to an earlier text, he reads Zephaniah 3:14–17: the Lord has taken away your judgments and cast out your enemy, and you shall see disaster no more; the New Living Translation says you will never again fear disaster. That is why believers need the blood of Jesus to cleanse an evil conscience, whether someone hurt you or you hurt someone. He leads the church in a prayer of forgiveness and cleansing.

The Dancing Hand of God in Our Midst

Zephaniah 3:16–17 tells Jerusalem not to fear or let her hands be weak, because the Lord in her midst is mighty, will save, will rejoice over her with gladness, and will rejoice over her with singing. The pastor teaches that the first word for rejoice speaks of loud, elated joy, and the second means to spin around, to dance. God is not worried about us. He is dancing and singing over His people.

In 1 Corinthians 12:1–7, Paul does not want believers ignorant about spiritual gifts. No one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. There are diversities of gifts, ministries and activities, but the same God works all in all, and “the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all.”

Citing Barnes’ Notes, he says manifestation means what makes something conspicuous or clearly visible, a showing forth of the real feelings of God. The word has many synonyms, and among them he finds exuberant, ecstatic, jubilant, and to dance. That is the dancing hand of God: God’s exuberant joy made visible through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is how that dance reaches us.

Jesus is Lord over the church from the right hand of the Father, but the Holy Spirit is Lord in the church, directing and guiding like a brilliant choreographer. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (2 Corinthians 3:17). When people believe lies about Him and back away, there is little manifestation. When they yield, He moves through miracles, healings, tongues and interpretation, prophecy, words of wisdom and knowledge, and discernment of spirits.

The pastor gives two examples. He gave a prophetic word that one door would open, then another would shut, with more income and less stress; by week’s end the man said everything had happened. He also counseled a physician, part owner of a clinic, working 110 hours a week. The Lord told the pastor to tell him to quit, saying he would lose nothing and only gain.

Two weeks later the doctor reported that his partners had bought him out, a hospital had hired him for 40 hours a week at higher pay, and the old clinic would pay him his former salary for three or four hours a week. His income more than doubled and his workload was halved, because the Holy Spirit wanted a hand in what he was doing. The pastor says he has seen deaf ears and blind eyes opened, and he is not ashamed of the gospel, which is the power of God to salvation (Romans 1:16).

Saying Yes to the Holy Spirit

He closes with Psalm 16:11: in God’s presence is fullness of joy, and at His right hand are pleasures forevermore. It is never something you get and lose. No matter how far you have fallen, it is one step back. Here are the practical steps from this dancing hand of God message:

• Know your purpose. Read Isaiah 8:18 as written about you: given to Jesus for signs and wonders where you live and work.
• Expect the finger of God. Pray for those who need deliverance knowing it does not take much of God’s strength.
• Give God the credit. When a raise, new job or open door comes, say out loud that the right hand of the Lord did it.
• Let the blood cleanse your conscience. Forgive those who hurt you and receive cleansing for what you have done, so fear has no hold.
• Stop comparing. Enjoy God without condemnation while your knowledge of Him grows.
• Say yes to the gifts. Open up to the Holy Spirit’s manifestations, including praying in tongues, which he says brings great benefit.

He then invites anyone who has never given their life to Jesus to pray with him, receiving forgiveness, a new heart and life more abundantly.

Timestamped Outline

• 0:00 God spoke to Himself to make man
• 1:06 Take God away and we are nothing
• 2:20 Isaiah 8:18: for signs and wonders
• 3:27 Isaiah’s sons and their names
• 5:40 Hebrews 2: fulfilled in Jesus and His disciples
• 7:55 Is sickness God’s will?
• 9:02 No condemnation while growing
• 11:25 Relationship, not religion
• 13:46 Finger, hand and arm as measures of strength
• 15:12 Luke 11: the finger of God
• 18:56 The hand of God: a medical debt cancelled
• 20:17 Psalm 8: the work of Your fingers
• 24:29 Psalm 118: the right hand of the Lord
• 27:44 The power to get wealth
• 30:00 Valiantly: to strike with power
• 31:14 The arm of God: Isaiah 59:16
• 33:43 Redeemed by His arm, recreated by His hand
• 36:20 Zephaniah 3: the Lord rejoices over you
• 41:14 He dances and sings over us
• 42:20 1 Corinthians 12: gifts of the Spirit
• 44:32 What manifestation means
• 47:05 The dancing hand of God in our midst
• 49:32 Two prophetic words fulfilled
• 55:32 Psalm 16:11 and the invitation

Dancing Hand of God Series

This message is part of an eight-part series at NTC Ministries. Start from the beginning or continue where this one leaves off:

• First message: The Dancing Hand of God, Part 1 — The Holy Spirit From Creation to Today
• Previous: The Dancing Hand of God, Part 3 — The Spirit Upon and Within
• You are here: The Dancing Hand of God, Part 4 — The Finger, Hand and Arm of God
• Next: The Dancing Hand of God, Part 5 — Given to the Lord for Signs and Wonders

Frequently Asked Questions

Is sickness or tragedy ever God’s will?

The pastor answers firmly that it is not. He teaches that God’s will on earth is the same as His will in heaven, which is why Jesus taught us to pray for His kingdom to come. Every good and perfect gift comes from the Father, and He is the Lord who heals. He rejects the idea that God willed a child’s death or someone’s illness, while also saying believers should not live under condemnation if they have not yet seen everything manifest.

Why does the Holy Spirit give gifts to believers?

Paul says the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all. The pastor teaches that the gifts are not only for goosebumps or fun, though he says moving in them is a joy. They exist to give people an advantage in life: to bless, heal and help those who are not yet open to the Spirit. He urges believers not to back away from the gifts because of lies they have heard about the Holy Spirit.

Can someone who has fallen away come back to God?

Yes. Reading Psalm 16:11, the pastor says the pleasures at God’s right hand are not something you get and then lose. No matter how far someone has fallen, what they have done or where they have been, it is one step back, and God’s love will embrace and lift them up. As a new creation, he says, God seats us with Christ, because His children are for signs and wonders.

Scripture References

All passages open in the New King James Version on Bible Gateway:

• Isaiah 8:18 — children for signs and wonders
• Hebrews 2:12–13 — Isaiah 8 fulfilled in Christ
• Luke 11:14–20 — the finger of God
• Psalm 8:3–6 — the work of Your fingers
• Psalm 118:15–17 — the right hand of the Lord does valiantly
• Deuteronomy 8:17–18 — the power to get wealth
• Isaiah 59:16 — His own arm brought salvation
• Psalm 98:1–2 — His holy arm gained the victory
• Zephaniah 3:14–17 — He rejoices over you with singing
• 1 Corinthians 12:1–7 — the manifestation of the Spirit

How this summary was made: written with AI assistance from the sermon’s own transcript and checked against the Scriptures listed above.

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