But when the magicians tried to produce gnats by their secret arts, they could not. And the gnats were on men and animals. The magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart was hard and he would not listen, just as the Lord had said. Then the Lord said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and confront Pharaoh as he goes to the water and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me.  (Ex.8:18-20)

When the Lord finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two tablets of the Testimony, the tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God. (Ex.31:18, See also Dt.9:10)

But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you. (Lk.11:20)

This phrase, “the finger of God” shows up only four times in scripture.  The first time it speaks of the plagues on Egypt that ultimately forced Pharaoh to release the Hebrews. The second and third times referred to God writing his commandments on tablets of stone for the Hebrews and the fourth time is found in the gospels when Jesus is speaking about casting out demons. It’s an interesting phrase so I thought we might explore it.

The first three uses of the phrase are all related to the Exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt to the land God had promised the descendants of Abraham.  God told them over and over again that he was delivering them from slavery, oppression, and bondage in Egypt to make them a people of his own.

It’s interesting that when Jehovah sent the ten plagues on Egypt he described that judgment in the following way.  “On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn—both men and animals—and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord” (Ex. 12:12).  He says in another place, “The Israelites set out from Rameses on the fifteenth day of the first month, the day after the Passover. They marched out boldly in full view of all the Egyptians, who were burying all their firstborn, whom the Lord had struck down among them; for the Lord had brought judgment on their gods. (Num. 33:3-4).

Moses didn’t say that God had punished Egypt but, in fact, had brought judgment on their gods.  Scripture clearly teaches that idols are lifeless and powerless in themselves but they do represent demons. When men worship idols (false gods0 and offer sacrifices to them, they are worshipping demons and offering sacrifices to unclean spirits.  Note the following passages.

They made him jealous with their foreign gods and angered him with their detestable idols. They sacrificed to demons, which are not God—gods they had not known, gods that recently appeared, gods your fathers did not fear. (Dt.32:16-17)

They shall no longer sacrifice their sacrifices to the goat demons with which they play the harlot. This shall be a permanent statute to them throughout their generations. (Lev.17:7)

They worshiped their idols, which became a snare to them. They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons. (Ps.106:36-37)

No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons. (1 Cor.10:20-22)

God targeted the real perpetrators of bondage over Israel and that was the demonic realm.  That realm possesses power and uses that power to possess and oppress men.  To answer the challenge of Moses, Pharaoh’s magicians through down their staffs and they became snakes.   They also turned water to blood and summoned frogs just as Moses had done. The Bible says that they had been practicing their “secret arts” or sorcery which calls upon the demonic realm to do their bidding.  It wasn’t long, however, until the magicians realized a power much greater than demons was being manifested.  But when the magicians tried to produce gnats by their secret arts, they could not. And the gnats were on men and animals. The magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.”

Every plague that God sent was a demonstration of his power over a specific God of Egypt. He judged these demons by making it clear that they were powerless before the God of Israel and so were unworthy of any worship or sacrifice. When the text says that the plagues were the very “finger of God” of God, I believe it reveals that God was very personally involved in the redemption of Israel.  In Genesis 2, we are told that God formed Adam from the ground. The text implies that Adam was formed by a very personal touch from God who then breathed life into his nostrils.

We are told that that the Ten Commandments were written on stone tablets by the “finger of God.”  The writing of those tablets was to establish a very personal covenant between God and the Hebrews.  It was likened to a marriage covenant which God made with his bride Israel.  God did not sent a representative to establish that covenant but because was so personal it was written by his own finger.

I believe God took the enslavement of the Hebrews in a very personal way and knowing that our struggle is not against flesh and blood executed judgment on the demons who had prompted Egypt to treat the Hebrews in such a way and who had also seduced many of the Hebrews into false worship. It’s as if God stepped in front of his angels and said, “I’ll take this one.”

Then in the gospel of Luke, Jesus says that demons were being driven out by the finger of God and that deliverance was a clear sign that the kingdom of God had been released on earth.  Deliverance is setting captives free. It is a redemptive act.  It is the same as God leading his people out of bondage to demons in Egypt. He is just leading them out of bondage to demons wherever they may be.  The words of Jesus suggests that God takes deliverance very personally.  He is present and working by his own hand to execute judgment on demons who are oppressing and seducing his people, his bride.

That tells me once again that God is all about redemption and loving relationships with his people. He is not a distant God.  He is not unmoved. He is the deliverer – the redeemer.  In the Exodus story we are told that he heard the cries of his people and moved in power. In the New Testament Jesus heard the cries of his people and he moved in power. When you partner with God to break the power of the enemy in the lives of his people, you are very close to the redeemer and you are about to see the “finger of God” at work.  Be blessed today.

We love the passage from James that says,” Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” It makes us feel powerful and in control.  But to truly understand the passage we need to look at it in context.

That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. (James 4:6-10).

The promise that Satan (or his representatives) will run from us is found in the center of a passage that speaks about submission and humility. Jesus said that if demons are cast out by the finger of God then the kingdom of God has come to men (See Luke 11:20).  But he also said, “Blessed are the pour in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Mt. 5:3).  Humility is the key to power in the kingdom of God.  Don’t assume that humility is the same as timidity or a self-loathing view of ourselves.  Jesus described himself as gentle and humble in heart but he was neither timid nor unsure of himself.

Humility before God is simply knowing that we are totally dependent on him and spiritually bankrupt without him.  It is remembering who the Father is and that we are his children and remembering that he is King and that we are not. As long as we are clear about the source of power in our lives we can be entrusted with that power.  The moment we believe that we are the source of power that power will be diverted. Notice the comparison between Paul and certain Jewish exorcists in Acts 19.

God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them. Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, “In the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.” Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this.   One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?” Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding. (Acts 19:11-16)

Paul constantly fixed his eyes on Jesus. His view was that it was no longer he who lived but Christ who lived through him.  Paul was clear that all that he had and all that he was came to him by the grace of God. He was certain that whatever power was displayed in his life was from God and was exercised to bring glory to God rather than himself. As a result, God was pleased to display his power through Paul with “extraordinary” miracles.

In contrast, certain Jews launched their own ministry of deliverance undoubtedly for financial gain.  They used the name of Jesus for personal profit even though they had no relationship with him.  These first century “ghost busters” got away with their bravado and presumption for a while until they met a demon who did not flee but who beat the daylights out of them. Satan doesn’t run just because someone shows up shouting the name of Jesus. He s when men and women of standing in the kingdom show up because they carry with them the authority of Christ and the more submitted we are to the Father the more authority we carry.  James says that we should humble ourselves before God and he will exalt us or promote us.  Faithful servants, who do exactly as the master commands, are given more in the kingdom of God.

As always, the kingdom is paradoxical.  The first shall be last and the greatest must be the servant of all.  To have standing in the kingdom we must humble ourselves.  No trash talking in this league, no double-mindedness, no taking sin lightly. I stood in a long security line once at a major U.S. airport and overheard a group that had apparently just returned from an evangelistic campaign in South America. The leader of the group was literally talking about how amazing his preaching had been and how many had responded to his preaching.  In the two or three minutes I listened I never heard him give God glory for anything.  He was young and I chose not to speak into the situation but I wonder if he is still preaching today or whether he has been taken out of the game by Satan who had no need to flee from a man who had no humility.

Stewardship is our primary role on earth.  We steward the things of God either for his purposes or for our purposes. You know the parable of the talents. The faithful steward who remembers whose resources he manages and who remembers how the master wanted them to be handled is entrusted with more.  Those who forget their source or who ignore his ways because “they know better” will have those resources taken away.  Authority is a resource.  Satan flees from those who walk in the authority of their king.  The humble and the pour in spirit carry the most authority.  Be blessed today.

Have you ever considered all the moments when God said to someone, “Don’t be afraid.”  Sometimes, God spoke those words and at other times his messenger spoke the words.  By “messenger” I mean angels, prophets, or the Son himself.  At the same time, we find dozens of passages that command us to fear God.

If I were to summarize all those passages I might say:  If you fear God you don’t have to be afraid of God and if you don’t have to be afraid of God you don’t have to be afraid of  anyone else.

Let me explain.  Solomon said that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge (See Prov. 1:7).  A proper view of God as the sovereign Lord over all creation, holy, righteous in all he does, all powerful, all present and all knowing is the first step to a relationship with him.  To hold him in awesome respect as the judge of all the earth holds everything else in place.  Our first response to God should be the same as Isaiah’s response when he saw the Lord high and lifted up and seated on his throne – “Woe is me!” (Isa.6:1ff).  As great a prophet as Isaiah was his sense of sin and weakness in the presence of God’s majesty, justice, and holiness was overwhelming. That view of God keeps us honest and keeps us from abusing God’s grace and love.

Let’s be honest. Somewhere in our fallen nature is the capacity to take advantage of those who love us unconditionally and lavishly.  In response to that capacity, Paul asked the rhetorical question, “Should we sin all the more that grace may abound?”  In other words, should we sin intentionally and often and simply seek our own gratification because God is gracious and forgiving? The answer is no of course but a view of God that simply acknowledges his graciousness, long-suffering, and forgiving side places us on a track to abuse the relationship.

God offers us an intimate, Father/son or Father/daughter relationship in which we can be secure and come boldly before his throne seeking help. He has offered us friendship, forgiveness, patience and grace.  However, he can offer us that side of the relationship only as long as we remember who he is.  I have seen fathers who have become friends with their children in the sense that they played, teased, and laughed with their children.  I have also seen those children begin to abuse that familiarity and speak with a lack of respect or act as if they no longer needed to obey that father.  They confused his kindness and his willingness to communicate on their level with equality.  In those cases, the father was quick to remind them that he was still the father and the one in charge.

If we never forget that our Heavenly Father is still God Almighty, Creator, and Judge then he can extend to us familiarity (Abba Father) and even friendship because we won’t become careless with the relationship or take advantage of his love and kindness. If we fear God then we don’t have to be afraid of him.  When you consider Abraham, Isaiah, Moses and others to whom he said, “Don’t be afraid,” it is clear that they held an awesome respect and reverence for God.  Therefore, he could call them friends, welcome them into his throne room, and extend forgiveness when needed because the relationship stood on the healthy foundation of fear.

When we fear God we don’t have to be afraid of him because we have love and friendship as a bond.  When the one who loves you and counts you as a friend is the most powerful being in the universe then you have not need to fear anyone else.  God has your back and if God is for you who can stand against you?   I know there is tension between familiarity, comfort, friendship and the fear of God.  That tension is not contradictory but keeps us in balance between two extremes so that our relationship with the Father can flourish.  Meditating on his greatness and holiness as well and his grace and kindness is a healthy thing.  You may want to do that today and be blessed.

Jesus said, “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”  The corollary to truth setting us free is that lies will keep us captive.  Lies and belief systems built around them are strongholds that push back against God’s truth.  They may simply come from our intellect and the worldly perspectives we have been taught or they may have been established by intuitive conclusions we drew as a result of some hurtful experience.  If these beliefs were created by experiences and reside deep in our hearts, they can become formidable strongholds because we are often unaware of those powerful influences.  If the enemy works to maintain these false beliefs and assigns demonic spirits to reinforce the lies they become spiritual strongholds.

In 2 Corinthians 10, Paul tells us that our thought life is the real battleground for the believer.  He tells us that strongholds exist within us that exalt themselves and argue against God’s truth.  Paul writes that before we can walk in the freedom of Christ, these strongholds must be pulled down, but the dismantling of these fortresses can only be accomplished by divine weapons. The goal is to take every thought captive (conscious and subconscious), and surrender them to the truth of Jesus Christ.  Jesus said that his words are spirit and they are life (See John 6:63).  Aligning our beliefs with his thoughts gives us life.

Scripture asserts that we are body, soul, and spirit.  It tells us over and over that the spiritual realm is where the greater realities reside. Paul tells us that our most profound struggles are not against flesh and blood but against spiritual forces that come against us (See Eph. 6:12).  He tells us that spiritual armor is essential to overcoming daily attacks of the enemy (See Eph. 6:11), and that divine weapons are needed to tear down false belief systems and bring our thought life into alignment with God’s truth (See 2 Cor. 10:3-5).  Secular counseling, psychology, self-help books, and twelve-step programs cannot effectively reach these places because they don’t deal effectively with the spiritual realm. Without the divine weapons of prayer, healing from the Holy Spirit, hearing a fresh word form God, deliverance, etc. the best we can hope for is to manage the behaviors or emotions prompted by or core beliefs and demonic influence most of the time. Real freedom cannot be achieved through weapons or therapies of the world.

God uses many tools to transform us and make us into the image of his Son.  But the greatest transformation occurs when Jesus heals our wounds from the past and the Holy Spirit aligns our core beliefs with God’s truth.  This can occur in several ways, but the most powerful way is through a moment of revelation where God’s Spirit bears witness with our spirit about his truth.  In such moments, the life-giving Word of God can replace a lie that has shaped our perspectives and decisions for years (See Rom. 8:16).

The truth is that every one of us carries some level of brokenness and some core belief(s) that are not perfectly aligned with the mind of Christ.  Some lead us off course by a few degrees, while others have us sailing south instead of due north.  The question is not if we carry wounds and brokenness—we do—but can we find healing and freedom from these and other things that keep us from the abundant life Jesus has promised?

The answer is “Yes!” in Jesus.  He promises healing and has purchased it for you.

He (the Father) has sent me (Jesus) to heal the brokenhearted.  (Luke 4:18, parenthesis added)

Surely, he has borne our grief and carried our sorrows . . he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, and by his stripes we are healed.  (Isa. 53:4-6)

The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.  (Ps. 34:18)

He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.  (Psalm 147:3)

These scriptures tell us that God has a great heart and great compassion for broken people.  In fact, he is close to those individuals in some way that he is not close to others. I think that simply means that his heart is especially responsive to those in pain and bondage.  The greatest lie of the enemy is that God has no use for the broken and that he rejects them just like those who first wounded the brokenhearted.  Broken people expect rejection and often judge themselves more than others judge them.  Because of the stronghold of rejection within them, they project their own rejection onto others and even onto God. Having done that they don’t truly believe God loves them except in some abstract, general way.  They have little faith that God will answer their prayers or that he has a great future in mind for them.

The truth is that God cares deeply for each of us but especially the brokenhearted and has purchased their healing with the blood of his Son. Jesus defined his ministry as preaching, healing broken hearts, and setting captives free (See Isa. 61:1-3). I know I have said that numerous times in this blog but I don’t know that it can be said too often.

God is providing healing through his church today.  That healing grace is being dispensed through those that God has already healed and set free.  Not every congregation knows how to use divine weapons to tear down these strongholds and not every congregation moves in the power of the Spirit and the exercise of spiritual gifts, but many do.  If you are one of those who desperately need the healing touch of Jesus then find one of those churches. Ask God to lead you to the people he wants to use to dispense his grace in your life.  Do not give up.  Do not settle for a life of emotional pain.  Do not buy the lie that God doesn’t care for you.  Be aggressive in finding your healing.  Jesus said that since the days of John the Baptist the kingdom of God has been forcefully advancing and forceful people are taking hold of it.  Let me encourage you to be one of those forceful people.

Be blessed today.

I really enjoy Graham Cooke. In his book, Approaching the Heart of Prophecy, he relates a story that you need to hear this morning. “Many years ago, I was in a Pentecostal church. There was a time of worship that was absolutely excruciating to be a part of. I was squirming in my seat and apologizing to God because I couldn’t join in. I knew the songs – I just didn’t think they should be sung that way.  “Lord, I’m really struggling with the worship,” I prayed. “I’m sorry.  To be honest, we’ve had fifty minutes of mindless singing and I’m really quite bored.”  “It’s alright for you, your only visiting this place,” I heard God whisper back to me. “I have to be here every week.”

Here’s the theology gem from that story.  God has a great sense of humor.  He laughs often and he wants you laugh often as well.

That’s not what this particular blog is about but I thought the story was worth repeating. One thing God has taught me over the past few years is that our mind evaluates and reasons while our heart just responds.  We have been taught over the years not to trust our emotions but rather to be lead with our heads rather than our hearts.  At some level that is good advice but not always.  It is good advice only if your heart is not in tune with God.

Revelation comes to our hearts rather than to our minds.  When Paul was praying for the church at Ephesus to receive the Spirit of wisdom and revelation he prayed that their hearts might be enlightened rather than their craniums. Who has ever heard an altar call for Jesus to come into our heads instead of our hearts?  The process of revelation is that the Spirit takes from God and gives that truth to our spirit which then reveals the heart of God to our hearts and then we become conscious of the revelation.  God calls us to have a renewed mind but he promised to give us new hearts.

The mind always wants more information, another class, and a little more training before jumping into a challenging mission or situation.  The mind puts off obedience while it is calculating the risk, the cost, and the likelihood of success.  The heart simply jumps in when God calls. I’m not saying there is no place for planning but unless the spirit rules the heart which then rules the head, our reason will talk us out of obedience until our mind can determine a way to obey God in our own strength.

As Jesus was strolling across the Sea of Galilee, he encountered the twelve rowing hard against the wind.  Peter declared, “Lord, if it is you, call me to come to you on the water.”  Jesus said, “Come” and Peter leaped from the boat.  I’m pretty sure the other eleven had reasoned their way clear of such a rash act.  But Peter responded with his heart not his head. The result was that he actually walked on water until he noticed the winds and the waves and began to reason rather than operate by revelation. As soon as he took a “reasonable” look at his situation, he sank.  When challenged to feed the 5000, the apostles took a reasonable look at their inventory (five loaves and two fish) and immediately wanted to break up the party.  Jesus reasoned with a faith that came through revelation that had penetrated his heart.

Since revelation is the key to faith and since revelation comes to us through the heart, then we should take special care of our hearts in things that pertain to the spiritual as well as the physical.  Distortions in our heart will also distort revelation. Lies from the enemy, unforgiveness, bitterness, distrust, and fear are all conditions of the heart that distort God’s revelation to us and so hinders our obedience.  A broken heart does not discern the heart and mind of God clearly and often defaults to a fleshly mind to determine how we will live and serve God.

To live by faith and to hear God clearly, we need God to do a lot of work in our heart.  We too often worry about cleaning up our behaviors rather than sifting through the debris in our hearts.  David was wise to pray, “Search my heart O God and show me if there is any offensive way in me.”  If we want all that God has for us we must be unrelenting in our forgiveness of others, relentless in pulling up the weeds of half-truth and Satan’s lies in our hearts, and relentless in guarding our hearts from the things that defile our souls.

Where there are wounds, we can’t put off finding healing because the wounds distort the revelation of God in our lives.  Where there is disobedience we must declare the Lordship of Jesus over our hearts and step out in faith even when our reason rails against it. Where we have built up walls of protection in our hearts with unforgiveness and anger we must ask Jesus to tear down the walls.  Broken hearts are like faulty GPS monitors.  They will lead us astray and so we think we must trust our reason and our intellect.  But reason pushes back against obedience when what God is asking us to do seems unreasonable – which describes most of the great things God has ever done.  Jumping out of boats, commanding the dead to rise, marching around walled cities blowing trumpets, or calling on God to send fire down from heaven would get a thumbs down from reason every time.

So…let’s get busy on our hearts because the more debris we clear away, the more clearly we will hear God and the more willing we will be to obey.  Heart health is critical to life both in the natural and the spiritual realm.  Be blessed today and guard your heart.

I continue to marvel at the people Jesus pursued.  The twelve would have gone completely unnoticed in the “Who’s Who” of Israel.  Their names would have evaporated from history within a generation or two even in their own tribe and family.  They were ordinary or even less than ordinary fishermen.  How many times had Peter gone fishing without catching anything until Jesus told him where to throw the nets? Others had been tax collectors or political zealots who were known to be assassins from time to time.  In Luke 19 we have another moment when Jesus pursues the unknown and even the hated.

This is a familiar story but still reminds us of something important. Luke recalls that as Jesus entered Jericho, crowds began to gather to see the miracle worker from Galilee. In the midst of that crowd was man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector and was wealthy.  The text states that because he was a short man he climbed a tree so that he could get a glimpse of this controversial Rabbi who had come to his town.

We also need to remind ourselves that tax collectors worked for Rome and since Zaccheaus was wealthy, he had made his money by extorting taxes from his own people.  He was not paid a salary but lived off whatever revenue he took in above the amount that was owed to Rome. He was seen as a collaborator with the enemy and a willing part of the Roman machine that oppressed Israel. We’re told that as Jesus walked through the city, he reached the spot where the diminutive tax collector was sitting in the tree and stopped just for this enemy of Israel.  Remarkably, Jesus called him by name and told him that they would have supper together that evening.

The text says, “All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”  One of the astonishing things about Jesus was that he pursued and apparently preferred the hated, the down-and-outs, the impoverished, and the slandered over the rich and the religious. Not only that but he did not care that his reputation as a holy man took a lot of hits because of the company he kept. Remarkably, the time has come in America where our reputations will take hits because we choose to keep company with Jesus.  I also have to ask myself the question, “How could a perfect, sinless man be so comfortable in the company of prostitutes, tax collectors, drunkards, and the like?

How often have we heard sermons about a Holy God’s inability to tolerate sin?  How often have we been convinced that God despises sin and turns away from those whose lives are stained with the stuff of sin?  And yet Jesus sought out the very people whose lives totally missed the mark and tended to turn away from the religious instead.  In Jesus we see a God who is drawn to the rejected, who loves the unlovable, who truly does befriend the friendless, and who chooses the low-achievers for his team.  Jesus never left a person where he found him but he found them and loved them before they became great people none-the-less.

I still find that we, as God’s people, struggle with the notion that God doesn’t love us all that much or that God can’t use us for significant things because of our terrible pasts, our struggling presents, or our doubtful futures.  And yet we are the very ones Christ pursued.  We are the ones he went home with.  We are the ones he took from unremarkable careers or hated positions and made them leaders in the kingdom of God.  We are the ones he welcomed as they followed him from place to place – a former prostitute with a highly demonic past and nameless disciples who left jobs or, perhaps, were unemployed and had nothing better to do. And yet those and others like them were sent out to preach, heal, and deliver as representatives of the King of Kings.

God wants to do great things through us and yet we feel so unworthy and so incapable. When the Holy Spirit whispers to us about our destiny or opens doors for significant ministry roles how often do we turn those spiritual opportunities down because we don’t have the experience, the spiritual pedigree, or a faith that moves mountains.  Who among the twelve, or the seventy, or the crowds that followed Jesus from town to town had any of that to begin with?

My point is this.  As we follow Jesus through the gospels, we find him pursuing, loving, and spending time with ordinary people who often had huge issues. We find him hanging around former fishermen who seem very slow on the spiritual uptake. We find him hanging out with broken people who are desperately trying to figure out life – divorced people, selfish people, sick people, greedy people, working stiffs, and beggars.  He wasn’t offended.  He didn’t turn away. On the contrary, he embraced those people and made them his friends and even his confidants.  The truth is that Jesus not only loves you but he also likes you.

I think of us as old furniture full of nicks and scrapes and sweat rings where uncle Charlie always put his ice tea glass.  Jesus, as an artisan and restorer of fine furniture, is not annoyed by the nicks or scratches because each one tells a story.  If it’s broken, he will fix it but he loves to bring the pieces back to life, to give them beauty again, and to make then useful without erasing the very things that mark their history.  No craftsman wants to hang around the new, shiny pieces straight from the factory.  They are boring. They have no “character,” no “story,” so to speak.

Don’t avoid the Master and don’t hide the scratches and the dings of life.  He is quite comfortable with those and will gently make them into something beautiful. Enjoy the day.  Be real with Jesus and remember – he really does like to hang out with you…just the way you are.  Be blessed.

Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town. Some men brought to him a paralytic, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.” At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, “This fellow is blaspheming!” Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, “Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins….” Then he said to the paralytic, “Get up, take your mat and go home.” And the man got up and went home. When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to men (Matt.9:1-8).

This a familiar story but one that should be revisited from time to time because it is so instructive.  There are several players in the story.  The central figure, of course, is Jesus and the other is an unnamed the paralytic, lying on a mat. Surrounding him are his friends who had faith for his healing, the religious authorities, and the crowds watching the action unfold.

The text says that Jesus came to his own town.  Jesus was born in Bethlehem, raised in Nazareth, but after beginning his public ministry took up residence in Capernaum (Matt.4:13). In this town he had recently healed the centurion’s servant and Peter’s mother-in-law. He had just arrived back in Capernaum after encountering the Gadarene demoniac who lived among the tombs.  Having delivered the man from a host of demons, he was invited to leave by the locals and had immediately returned to Capernaum.

When he arrived, the friends of a paralytic carried him to Jesus with an expectation of seeing their friend healed.  Jesus recognized there faith but said something that didn’t quite seem to fit the moment.  “Take heart son; your sins are forgiven.” Now, if I’m the guy on the mat I’m thinking, “Great, I wanted to walk but all I got was a some obscure statement about my sins being forgiven!  I wanted healing but all I got was theology. You guys grab my mat and let’s head to Starbucks.”

But, as always, Jesus had a deeper point.  Disease and debilitating physical conditions came to man because of sin. Disease was the symptom, sin was the ultimate cause and so sin was the greater issue.  Jesus dealt first with the cause.  How many times do we pray for people to be healed without first assessing their spiritual condition?  I am certain that healing is hindered in the bodies of many believer’s by infirmities in their souls – unforgiveness, bitterness, pride, unbelief, and so on.  Whenever possible it is always wise to do a spiritual scan of a person’s life before prayers for healing.  Jesus placed this man in a state of forgiveness before healing him.

In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul revealed to the church that some among them were sick because they had brought judgment on themselves by partaking of communion while they had been treating their spiritual family at Corinth in ungodly ways (1 Cor.11:30).  The illness was a wakeup call to repentance so that healing could then be experienced. Obviously, a prayer for healing without repentance first would be ineffective in those cases.

Sin and illness have long been connected in scripture.  Sometimes we’re ill simply because we are part of a fallen race living in a fallen environment. The fall came as a result of sin. At other times, our sin has opened us up to spirits of infirmity and disease because of our choices. The psalmist made the connection when he wrote, “Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits – who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases”(Ps.103:2-3). Again, the conjunction “and” often carries a causative connection.  The idea is that my diseases can be healed because my sins have been forgiven.

Does God ever heal before sins are forgiven?  Certainly, because the kindness of God calls men to repentance (see Rom.2:4).  Healing is a kindness. Jesus healed some who had not yet heard the gospel and warned others after they were healed to stop sinning lest something worse happen to them. For believers who know the call to righteousness and who have access to the blood of Christ, repentance most often should come first.  James counsels us to call the elders of the church whenever we are sick so that they can anoint us with oil and pray over us with faith.  He tells us that their prayer of faith will being healing and if we have sinned we will be forgiven. (see James 5:13-16).  The implication is that an ongoing, unrepented sin opened us up to some sickness or spirit of infirmity. Forgiveness was needed to open us up to healing.

As we move through the story, we also are reminded that words often need to be confirmed by actions or results even when the words are true.  Anyone can say, “Your sins are forgiven,” but what is the evidence of that?  Many people have “conversion experiences” so that the unusual experience they have when they come to faith confirms to them that God has truly accepted them and extended forgiveness.  Many others take their salvation by faith based on intellectual persuasion that they have done what God asked and, therefore, have received what he promised.

I find, however,  that more people with a “conversion experience” are solidly convinced of their salvation than those who chose to believe the truth without experience.   The man on the mat had just heard the words that he was forgiven, but I wonder how certain he was of that?  Jesus moved ahead, however, and acknowledged that it’s easy to say “Your sins are forgiven” because there is no concrete evidence to determine whether they have been forgiven or not. In essence, he says, “If I were to heal this lame man, would you be more likely to believe that he is also forgiven since the power to heal affirms my connection with the Father who also forgives? ”

When the man was healed, the crowds believed and I am certain that the lame man not only rejoiced in his healing but rejoiced with much greater certainty in his salvation.  It’s easy for the church to declare that someone has been saved and all their sins are forgiven.  But how many believers still struggle with some doubt about that because they cannot forgive themselves and still wonder if God has totally forgiven them?  Their certainty increases when they have a powerful experience with God.  That experience demonstrates his love for them on a very personal, individualized basis.  Suddenly they are no longer just a face in a crowd of those who were declared to be forgiven but that declaration of forgiveness has been delivered to them personally by the King. Of course, not all will believe even in the face of miracles. Religious leaders who have always denied the operation of miracles today will still discount what they have witnessed and call it “strange fire.” The crowds, however,  will come to faith.

In a world filled with words and outrageous claims, our words alone are easily discounted. Preach the gospel, offer forgiveness, and then release sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, pregnancy to the infertile, life to a splintered marriage, the tangible touch of God to the lonely, deliverance to the hopelessly oppressed, and the crowds will be in awe.  But more than that, the ones touched by God will be secure in the promise that not only are they healed but their sins have also been forgiven.  Be blessed today.  Go out there and heal someone.

“Whatever town or village you enter, search for some worthy person there and stay at his house until you leave. As you enter the home, give it your greeting. If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you. If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town” (Mt.10:11-14).

As Jesus was sending out the twelve to try out their wings apart from his presence, he gave them these instructions as part of a larger set.   To us, this passage may seem a bit strange.  What constitutes a worthy person?  What does it mean to give the house your greeting?  What is “your peace” that can be imparted and then retrieved?  To some degree this passage is confusing to most of us because of cultural contexts that we are unfamiliar with.  To some degree it is because of a spiritual context that we are unfamiliar with.

Luke’s version of what Jesus said can be helpful.  Luke records the instructions Jesus gave to the twelve this way “Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road. “When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; if not, it will return to you.        Stay in that house, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house” (Lk.10:4-7).

In the first century in middle-eastern cultures it was traditional to declare a blessing over a house as you entered.  That blessing was “Peace to this house.”  The idea of peace to the Jew was that of “shalom.”  Shalom didn’t simply mean the absence of conflict but rather the presence of God’s goodness, health, provision, joy, as well as peace with your neighbors.  It was as if the word “shalom” contained all the blessings God had promised those who would follow him faithfully. A quick reading of Deuteronomy 28:1-14 will give you a sense of that.  In that text, Jehovah lists a number of blessings and declares, “If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all of his commands…all these blessings will come upon you and accompany you.”  To declare a blessing over a house was a simply prayer asking the Lord to establish “shalom” over the house.

In the days of David, after a failed attempt to move the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem because David and the priests had not followed the prescribed way to transport the ark, a man named Obed-Edom was assigned as a caretaker of the ark and it was left at his house.  After Uzzah had touched the ark irreverently during transport, he had died immediately so I assume Obed-Edom did not sleep well for a number of evenings after finding ark left in his living room.  However, because of the presence of God in the man’s house and because the man had reverence for God, he was greatly blessed. “Now King David was told, ‘The Lord has blessed the house of Obed-Edom and everything he has because of the ark of God’” (2 Sam.6:12).  After hearing that, David found a way to move the ark the Jerusalem.  I believe shalom settled over the house of Obed-Edom and the result was constant blessing in all kinds of ways for those who lived there.

It was a gracious sentiment then for a Jew to enter a house and wish for God’s blessings to be poured out over the house. However, Jesus takes the idea to a very different level.  He says that first of all the when the apostles entered a house where they would stay while ministering in a village, they were to “let their peace rest on him” if he were a worthy man – a good man, a reverent man, and a man of faith. If he were not a good man of faith, then they should leave and take their “shalom” with them.

This giving and taking of peace goes beyond a sentiment or a prayer.  It implies that the apostles had been given authority to bestow the blessings of heaven or to take them away. It seems to parallel Jesus’s words, “Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Mt.16:19).

My point here is that we still do not understand the level of authority that Jesus has delegated to us. The apostles had the capacity to assess a man’s heart through the leading of the Spirit and if they declared shalom over the house where they were staying, God would honor that declaration with blessings. If they removed shalom by some declaration or by shaking the dust off their sandals then he honored that declaration as well.

How often do we mindlessly say, “God bless you” with little expectation or little faith that he will? What if we believed that we had been given authority to actually, literally direct blessings from heaven onto a person, a household, or a business and that God would honor our direction.  That would mean that we had been given a stewardship of those blessings (the riches of heaven) and that they were to be thoughtfully directed toward people who would use the blessings in godly ways (the worthy person).

I believe that we still the delegated authority to do just that when we speak shalom (peace) over a house or a person with faith and with thoughtfulness.  We are told, “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.         If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God” (1 Pet.4:10-11).

Speaking blessings is certainly a very real and profound way of administering God’s grace.  “Administering” does not mean to give away God’s grace randomly but as a steward would dispense resources of the master in thoughtful ways as the Master himself would do.  Some of that administration of grace was to be done by speaking and as one speaking the very words of God – which means speaking thoughtfully, intentionally, with authority, and with the expectation that those words will fulfill their purpose because they have been spoken as the very words of God by the Spirit’s direction.

Think about that today.  Meditate.  Think about who you are in Christ and the authority you have as his representative.  As you go through your day, ask the Spirit to direct you to people who need the shalom that already rests upon you and then bless them in the name of Jesus with faith that God is actually going to do so in some real, tangible way because you spoke the blessing.

So…be blessed today by declaring the blessing of peace over a worthy person!  Have fun.

There are many things we get wrong because we are viewing them from the wrong perspective.  It’s like the old saying, “You can’t see the forest for the trees.”  I’m really not certain what that old saying means but I think it’s the idea that sometimes we miss the big picture because we are caught up in the details.  Our spiritual life can be affected by working from the wrong perspective as well.  Sometimes we serve God like beggars rather than sons and daughters of the royal household. From that perspective, we get lost in worry about whether God will provide rather than living in anticipation of how he will provide.

One of our great struggles in prayer is the notion that prayer is about getting God to do what we want him to do.  Our perspective is that we set God’s agenda for our life and then try to persuade him to fulfill that agenda. That is not what Jesus modeled for us.  Jesus taught us to look for what the Father is doing and then join him in the heavenly agenda. “Jesus gave them this answer: I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does’” (Jn.5:19)

Jesus lived with the idea that the Father was the initiator of his daily assignments. Basically he asked God to show him what the agenda was for him that day and then he lived it out.  Much of what the Father directed Jesus to do wasn’t always logical from an earthly point of view.  How many times did Jesus leave the crowds clamoring for more when, from our perspective, he should have stayed while demand for the message was high.  Certainly, confronting the religious establishment wasn’t the way to grow the church; it got him crucified.  Jesus spent his days hanging out with sinners, sick people, the demonized, and the despised.  Our wisdom would have directed us to spend our days building relationships with the rich, the powerful and the influential in order to resource the preaching of the gospel.  My point is that God’s agenda for our days might and probably would look very different from our own blueprint for the next twenty-four hours.

I know theologically we agree with Jesus but practically we (I include myself) still tend to default back to bringing our plans to the Father and asking him to fund what we have imagined. Graham Cooke speaks to this perspective when he says, “Prayer, in its simplest form, is finding out what God wants to do and then asking Him to do it. When we don’t listen before we pray we end up presenting God with options instead of a request. We’ll pray whatever comes to mind instead of entering into communion with Him. Our internal, clamoring agenda gives God a multiple choice prayer…Prayer is praying with God not to God. It is praying with the answer, not to try and find one” (Graham Cooke, Approaching the Heart of Prophecy, p. 103).

If our perspective on prayer was trying to discern the heart and will of God and then asking him to do what he already had in mind, we would be much more like Jesus.  Our goal would be to fulfill his will on earth rather than our own.  I’m not saying that we pray for evil things, we may pray for many good things but those things may not be in sync with God’s purposes for a person, a specific situation,  or even for ourselves.

Our first objection to that way of thinking is that if God already has in mind what he wants to do then why pray at all.  The answer, once again, is found in God’s desire for partnership.  There are many things he wants to do that he will not do until his people pray.  Since we have been given authority on the earth, God honors our authority and does not disempower us by doing what he wants without our involvement or consent. Authority flows from the top down even in a family and when we align our prayers with the Father’s plans we will see much more fruit.

So then how do we know what the Father wants us to pray about?  Many things are constants revealed in the word of God.  We are told to pray for those in authority and to pray for peace.  Paul tells us a number of things for which he constantly prayed – boldness to preach the gospel, the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation, an increase in love, healing for the sick, etc. Those things are always on God’s agenda.  But then we should exam the unselfish desires of our heart.  Have we begun to carry a burden for someone or someplace or some ministry?  God may have well placed on your heart what was already on his heart.  Circumstances often seem to point us to a place where God is already working but is the Spirit provoking us to pray for that or involve ourselves in a situation?

We cannot minister to everyone we encounter in a day or involve ourselves in every opportunity that we hear about.  We can quickly eliminate some things as being ungodly but many things would not be wrong.  We will still need God to direct us to the opportunities appointed to us.  Some plant, some water, and God gives the increase.  We need to know what our role is.  The best way to know is to hear a fresh word from God.  Learning to listen, then pray, then listen, then pray is a tough discipline in this “run and gun” world, but I believe it is what Jesus did on those nights when he went off by himself to pray.

When I think about praying for God’s agenda rather than my own and avoiding selfish prayers, my flesh cries out, “Yeah, but what about me?” When I say that, I discover a lack of trust in me toward the Father.  I somehow don’t quite believe that the desires of his heart for me as well as the rest of the world will bring me joy and meet my needs in better ways than I could ever imagine.  I don’t quite believe that his timetable for me is really suitable.  I don’t quite believe that he is interested in the deepest needs of my being.  I’m afraid that when everyone else’s needs have been met through my service, my own needs will be left undone.  But then I need to go back and read the Spirit’s definition of love in 1 Corinthians 13 and remember that God is love.  All of those qualities of love spelled out in that chapter must be how God feels about you and me and in that character I am assured that God not only wants what’s best for me but also knows what’s best for me.

Maybe we just need to test the waters by asking God what he would have us pray about today or do today and trust that it will lead to blessing and happiness.  Maybe we should just try it for 90 days to see how life flows for us and to see how our relationship with the Father flows.  It’s all a matter of perspective. Is real fulfillment going to be found in God propping up my desires or will it be found in me fulfilling his plans?  With all that he had to do, Jesus never seemed to hurry, worry, or be overwhelmed by life.  That sounds really good. His secret was simply doing what God had for him to do each day and receiving what God had already designated as his.  Trust is the perspective we are looking for and it only comes through experiencing the goodness of God when we are in the center of his will.

Be blessed today.

I enjoy playing golf.  I have given up being great at the game and have learned to live with rounds in which I make some good to great shots punctuated by several disaster holes.  Guys who play like me measure whether it was a good or bad round by the number of balls lost over eighteen holes rather than stroke count.  But you get a few hours away from your normal routine, time with friends, a bit of exercise, and trees and water which are rare in West Texas.  I don’t get to play as much as I would like but have played enough to understand some of the nuances of the game and enough to hit some fun shots, some good shots and enough puts to keep me coming back.

I have also talked to a number of guys who played once or twice and didn’t play well so they decided that golf was a stupid game played by non-athletes and chose never to venture on a course again.  They simply sneer and look with disdain as they drive by the golf courses in their neck of the woods.  I have talked to a number of individuals who have approached Christianity in the same way.  They tried some church, some God, and some prayer for a short while and didn’t really enjoy it or get the point of it.  They entered with great expectations of something that they didn’t experience, tried to live by the rules, and prayed a little before tendering their resignation.  I talk to others who are still in the game but attend out of obligation or to please a spouse but simply endure church services and clear out as quickly as possible after the closing prayer.  They tried reading the Bible for a while but couldn’t understand it or got nothing out of it so they laid that aside.  Now they attend but have no passion or excitement about their faith.

Here’s the thing.  Many things are boring if you never get past the initial learning curve or risk playing badly until you can play well.  Here in the desert I have actually known a number of men and women who are scuba divers.  They qualify by taking classroom instruction and then by demonstrating their ability to use the equipment by sitting on the bottom of a swimming pool and breathing for a given number of minutes.  At that level of involvement, it is simply boring and expensive.  My guess is that if you never tried scuba diving in a more adventuresome environment you would soon give it up. It’s the folks that get into deeper waters in unknown locations with the possibility of encountering a shark that see colors and life forms others have never imagined.  These are the folks that get hooked and feel like there is nothing like it in the world. The swimming pool sitters have learned a few basics but have never really experienced true scuba diving.  Both in golf and scuba, it is also wise to get someone with a great deal of experience to coach you past the initial learning curve and then to take you to a level of diving or playing that is so rich that you develop a passion for it.

Living for Jesus is every bit that way.  Many people never get past the initial learning curve of attending church, reading a daily devotional, or being asked to give financially to support the ministries in their local church.  I’m amazed at how many believers never get past that point in their faith.  They are the equivalent of swimming pool sitters who thought there was going to be more but are about to decide that this Christianity business is boring and expensive.  This is especially true for those who have never experienced a supernatural move of God in their life.

But what if they decided that there must be something compelling about a faith that has thrived for 2000 years and is the largest faith group on the planet; that there must be something compelling about a faith that thousands have died for and been imprisoned for over the centuries; that there must be something compelling about this life when you hear pro athletes say that their faith is more important to them than their high profile careers with thousands of fans shouting for them every week.

If you are that person who has found no passion for your faith or who is wondering why people even “play this stupid game,” I would encourage you to try some deeper experiences in Christianity for a while.  Find someone experienced in the faith who has had a number of supernatural encounters with God and the enemy.  Ask them to take you past the initial learning curve of the faith and to take you into deeper waters.  Ask them to show you how to use divine weapons to wage a war against unseen but very real enemies and then go out and face those enemies.   Ask them to take you for a faith walk where there is real risk and this life won’t seem trivial or boring anymore. Go on a mission where comfort isn’t the goal but real stretching for your faith.  Go out on the streets and pray for people you never met.  Share your faith with lost people or spend a weekend doing prison ministry.  Put yourself in a place where you need a supernatural God to show up and do supernatural things.

When you have chosen to “up” your game and venture into “shark-laden waters” your spiritual adrenalin will increase your heart beat for the things of God and you will find a passion for your life again.  If you are bored with your faith, perhaps it is because you haven’t learned spiritual skills well enough to enjoy God and the challenges he puts before you.  Perhaps it’s because you have strapped on the tanks and the facemask but haven’t ventured out of the swimming pool yet to experience the thrill of the oceans.  I hope you will and I hope you will begin today.  Jesus is always inviting us to step out of the boat because that is where the joy is.  Be blessed today and decide to go for more.  You really will be glad you did.