In John 6, we find the familiar story of Jesus walking on water.  The disciples had just witnessed the feeding of five thousand people with a few loaves of bread and a couple of small fish. John tells us that immediately after that notable miracle Jesus made his disciples get into a boat and sent them across the Sea of Galilee to Capernaum.  After dismissing the crowd and the disciples he went up on a mountain to pray.

When evening came the boat was in the middle of the lake (about three and a half miles off shore) and the disciples were rowing because a strong wind was blowing against them and their basic sail was of no use.  It must have been a considerable wind because they had been rowing since sunset and were still rowing when the forth watch of the night rolled around.  That would be between 3:00 and 6:00 a.m. Apparently, there was a bright moon because Jesus could see them from the shoreline as they continued to row.

Then the story gets interesting. John tells us that Jesus simply went for a walk on the lake.  In his gospel, Mark tells us that Jesus “was about to pass by them” when they saw his figure on the water.  At first they thought they were seeing a spirit and cried out. Jesus immediately told them not to be afraid and identified himself.  According to Matthew (See Mt. 14), Peter in his excitement asked Jesus to command him to come out and walk on the water as well.  Peter, of course, did walk on the surface of a churning sea for a few steps but then took his eyes off of Jesus and began to sink. Jesus lifted him from the water and as he so often did, chided Peter and the other disciples about their lack of faith.

There are a few things the Spirit pointed out to me as I read this familiar text again.  First of all, Jesus watched them struggle against the wind for a number of hours before going out to them. Undoubtedly a lesson was in the making.  I have to hand it to the disciples for their attempt to be obedient to the Master.  If I had been rowing for hours in the middle of the night on a rough sea and had only made three miles of the journey, I would have been very tempted to head back to shore and try again on a more favorable day. But these men kept after the assignment while making little headway believing that Jesus would be at their destination waiting for them when they arrived. I applaud their tenacity.

I think the lesson may be found in their attempt to accomplish the task Jesus had given them in their own strength.  I’m certain they felt alone and, perhaps, even resentful for Jesus commanding them to row across a huge lake in the night in a rough sea against a strong wind. It would be easy to hear them grumbling about Jesus not being there to take his turn at the oars.

And yet they were not alone.  Jesus had his eye on them the whole time and when they were probably near exhaustion he strolled out to the boat.  Mark’s statement that he was about to pass them by really catches my attention. It is possible that if they had not looked up or had not cried out Jesus would have completed his seven-mile walk and arrived at the other side long before his exhausted disciples arrived in their boat.  The difference in the journey was that the apostles were toiling in their own strength while Jesus was strolling on the same rough waters against the same opposing wind but he was making the journey in the power of God.

If you scan the gospels you often see that the disciples watched the miracles of Jesus but never sensed that the same power from heaven was available to them by faith. As you read the comments of Jesus about their lack of faith you sense that it wasn’t their lack of faith in Jesus that was the problem but their lack of faith that God would do the same things for them and through them that he was doing for Jesus. He would say to the twelve…you feed them.  He would seem to say to them, “Why didn’t you command the storm to be still instead of waking me up?” or “Why didn’t you command the wind to be still so you could row easily or better yet why didn’t you get out and walk?”

Jesus lived with an awareness that the power of heaven was available to him not just to heal or cast out demons but to feed the crowds, still the storm, cross the lake, or provide a meal. His disciples most often seemed to believe that what God would do for Jesus, he would not do for them.  So they faced tasks and crises in their own strength…typically with less than stellar outcomes.

In the middle of the lake that night, the disciples were rowing with all their might but I wonder if they had even prayed for a supernatural crossing. If they had been so absorbed by their own efforts that they had not looked up, they would not have even noticed Jesus nearby and would not have cried out to him.  If they had not cried out, he may have walked right by them.  But when they did cry out he joined them. Peter walked on water and the wind died down. They soon reached the other side. But I think what Jesus really wanted them to learn was that what God would do for his only begotten Son he was also very willing to do for his adopted sons.

We need that same lesson.  We so often feel that the tasks or the challenges that come our way must be faced in our own strength with our own resources. We eventually cry out when we get desperate and exhausted but how much better if we counted on the supernatural interventions of God from the very beginning to help us accomplish the task.  How much better if we prayed before beginning rather than just grabbing the oars and getting after it in our own strength. Like the disciples that night, we may feel alone but we are not alone. God is watching and he is willing to join us.  He is also wanting us to know that by faith we can certainly do what Jesus did because Jesus said that those who believe in him would not only do what he had been doing but greater things as well.  Be blessed today and anticipate the supernatural help of the Father.

The 1992 book entitled Boundaries by Henry Cloud and John Townsend has become a classic among counselors and therapists.  In a nutshell, the book directs us to maintain healthy boundaries in our lives and relationships that let in good things and keep out bad things. Boundaries are important and biblical.

If you think about it, God has always been big on boundaries. He clearly defined sin and said stay away.  He clearly established a principal that believers should not marry unbelievers.  He even marked off boundaries for nations, the tribes of Israel and the nation of Israel.  Boundaries set limits.  They mark what belongs to you and what does not belong to you; what is safe and what is unsafe; what is acceptable and what is unacceptable. What is sinful and destructive and what is righteous and life giving.  They establish responsibilities and freedom from responsibility.

The key is knowing what boundaries God has established and actually believing that those “No Trespassing” signs are not there to restrict you but to keep you from disaster. In the area of spiritual warfare boundaries are especially critical.  As I said in my last blog we have just finished one of our healing and freedom weekends where dozens of believers discovered that they were being afflicted or oppressed by demons at some level.  It may surprise you to discover that believers can be oppressed by demons and that so many are.  Part of the problem is that the church in America has neglected to teach biblical principles about demons and deliverance for decades.  The result is that a large inventory of the “critters” has accumulated in believers and their families undetected and undisturbed.

Many of these demonic spirits have attached themselves to Christians because we have not observed God’s boundaries.  If you walk through a field of grass burrs you are going to pick up a few.  If you do that in West Texas you will find them attached to your jeans and your shoelaces when you immerge form the field.  You will also discover that they will inflict some pain as you try to remove them and that they hold on with some tenacity.  Demons are much the same.  If you play in Satan’s playgrounds you are likely to bring some unwelcome friends home with you.

Those “playgrounds” take many forms.  Ungodly relationships are probably at the top of the list.  It is a rare believer who makes it through high school and college and into marriage without being involved in several relationships where God was an after thought if he was thought of at all.  Most believers enter marriage having had several sexual partners beforehand.  Many have lived through seasons of alcohol and drugs.  Pornography is often an issue and many have had abortions.  Some have dabbled in eastern religions, immersed themselves in movies and literature that are sexual or occult in nature. All of those “playgrounds” open the door to demonic oppression.   After those “prodigal” seasons they thankfully return but often they return with serious “grass burrs” attached.

Something in our fallen nature always believes that we will be the exception to the rule.  We are often aware of God’s boundaries and the “No Trespassing” signs but we think that somehow we can violate those boundaries without consequence.  But according to Paul, God will not be mocked. Whatever a man sows he will reap. (See Gal. 5).  Seasons of unrepented sin, unforgiveness, curses we have spoken over ourselves, sinful and especially sexual relationships, occult dabbling’s, and emotional trauma seem to be open doors through which the enemy enters – even for Christians.  A great deal of pain and work would be avoided if we honored God’s boundaries and if we taught our children of the spiritual consequences of walking through fields that God has told us to avoid.

Too often we warn our children of consequences in the natural realm– pregnancy, STD’s, addictions, etc. but don’t warn them of consequences in the spiritual realm.  Out children then believe that birth control, antibiotics, condoms, and recreational use of drugs and alcohol will keep them from the consequences so why no play in that playground. They need to understand that sin has real consequences – spiritual torment and bondage – in the spiritual realm that birth control and support groups can’t resolve.  Boundaries are good.  We should honor them and teach them.  Taking and eating in the face of God’s clear commands is not a good idea.  Be blessed today and a blessing to others.

The gospels are the story of Jesus but they are also the stories of people touched by Jesus.  They are stories of ordinary people suffering in all the ways the world afflicts its citizens.  These people suffered from bondage to sin, physical disabilities, physiological conditions, psychological conditions, isolation, rejection, bitterness, loss, discrimination, hunger, spiritual thirst, and demonic affliction of all kinds. Some even suffered from death which is a fairly serious condition.  Jesus had an answer for each of those things.

Many Christians scan the gospels and accept the miracles of deliverance, healing, raising the dead, and transforming lives as true but attribute those events to the deity of Jesus.  “Of course he could do those things because he was God. But, we can’t expect to do those things because we are not God.” Certainly, he was God, but he didn’t come as God.  His primary identification was the Son of Man.

Jesus has the position of God but came in the condition of man.  He chose to face the devil and life on this planet as a man rather than as God in a man suit.  If he walked among us as God then he didn’t suffer temptation as we did. He never truly felt hunger or fear or rejection. But the writer of Hebrews says, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin” (Heb.4:15).  Jesus wasn’t Jesus before he put on flesh.  He was the Word of God and Adoni sitting on a heavenly throne in Isaiah 6. Before he put on flesh he was God and manifested as God in all things. But when he put on flesh, he checked his God and creator- of- the-universe abilities at the door.

At the point of conception in a human body he became Jesus, Son of Man.  Paul declared, “For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim.2:5). Paul did not say the god Christ Jesus but the man Christ Jesus. I do believe God had given Jesus the right to pick up his divine capacities at any time if he chose to do so.  Jesus said, “The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father” (Jn.10:17-18).  In another place Jesus said, “Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels” (Mt.26:53)?   It seems to me that the Word and the Father had a deal.  “Okay, you go as a man, live as a man, suffer as a man, and face temptation like a man but if at any moment you think these people aren’t worth it, you exercise your deity and get out of there.” The miracle to me is that Jesus chose to stick it out as a man even unto death in the face of man’s worst scorn and brutality.

Jesus came to show us how a man could live on the earth when he walked in close fellowship with the Father.  He didn’t come to show us how God could live on the earth in close fellowship with the Father.  That example would have done us no good.  In addition, Jesus sent out numbers of ordinary men who performed the same miracles he did and said that those who believe on him would not only do what he did, but would do even greater things (See Jn. 14:12).   As Jesus walked the earth he touched lives that were radically changed by his love and power.  My point is that he expects us to do the same thing. Jesus expects his church to carry on his mission of preaching good news, binding up the broken hearted, setting captives free, giving sight to the blind, and facilitating radical change in the lives of men and women.

Our church offers a ministry entitled Free Indeed and it is the source of the material in my book Born to Be Free. For the past six years we have watched God dramatically change hundreds of lives in a few weeks rather than in decades. We just finished our most recent installment of Free Indeed and watched eighty people discover the love of the God and the power of the kingdom over a period of two months and a weekend.  Most were changed forever and set free by his touch and his power. People are amazed at what Jesus does in those few weeks but the truth is that we simply teach the basics of scripture – what Jesus did for us at the cross, who we are in Christ, the expectation of radical transformation in the kingdom, how to hear God and receive from him, how to walk in authority, and the basics of spiritual warfare.

We teach these basics over a period of eight weeks and then engage everyone in a weekend of experiencing Jesus through inner healing and deliverance and Jesus always does amazing things.  He does those with the basics of our faith and a lot of very imperfect vessels that serve as leaders – including myself.  People discover who they are.  They experience deep emotional and spiritual healing as well as physical healing.  They are set free from their past, the lies of Satan, and demonic affliction that has hindered their walk with the Lord for years.   In other words, we simply do what Jesus did every day.

My question is, “If we see that much power and transformation from simply learning and doing the basics of our faith, how much greater could our impact be on the world if we plunged into the deeper things of the Spirit and the kingdom?  How much greater impact could we have if we just did the basics in everyone’s church rather than in a few?”  When we take Jesus at his word that we are to do the things he did, faith becomes exciting. When we risk being disappointed because a certain person might not be healed or delivered we find that we are not disappointed because being willing to risk something for Jesus is its own reward.  Not only that, but many, many are healed, delivered, and transformed in the name of Jesus.  How fun is that!

So today, let me encourage you to just trust Jesus in the basics. Believe that whatever he did, he did as a man and as a man or woman of faith, he will do it through you again.   In doing so, he will bless many and you will feel the joy of partnering with your Lord and Savior in radically changing lives and destinies.  Go for it and be blessed!

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.(Ps.1:1-3)

This is a familiar psalm but I was just taught something that made it even more meaningful.  Of course the progression of walking, standing, and sitting is important. As we open our ears to the wicked we often are drawn to their point-of-view or their worldview. I’ll just define wickedness as anything contrary or opposed to the will of God.  The “wicked” are those who live contrary to God’s will and in opposition to his truth.

Think about our current culture and the power of media. When we lend our ear or our sight to the values supported by most of the media we run the risk of being drawn into the world’s value system and seeing life through the distorted lens of culture. How many of us have watched so many television dramas or situation comedies that we have experienced the “normalization” of things we once found shocking, offensive, or troubling?  There was a time when television would not even depict a husband and wife as sleeping in the same bed. I think that’s extreme but the sensitivities of the culture pushed back against anything sexually suggestive in primetime.

Now, however, adultery or every kind of sex outside of marriage is so commonplace on television and in the movies that were are no longer offended when we see it.  It has become so much a part of the landscape that we have begun to view it as normal and once we view something as normal we are tempted to consider it acceptable – not just on the T.V. screen but also in the lives of people we know and maybe even in our own lives.

Homosexuality was once considered so perverse that it was not even talked about in public settings.  Then it became a tagline in jokes that people laughed about.  Then television began to depict homosexuality and lesbianism in “cutting edge” dramas.  Then comedies began to include a cute, funny individual who was gay but very likeable and harmless.  Now gays are depicted as heroic for “coming out.”  The value that homosexuality is not only acceptable but laudable has found it’s way into our culture and if we entertain that message long enough we will find reasons to agree with the culture and reject God’s word.

I am not “gay bashing” here because we all struggle with brokenness in our own lives, but I am illustrating how once we begin to walk (or listen to) those who maintain values opposed to God’s truth, it is only a matter of time before our values are compromised.  At first we walk and then we stand and talk and then we take our place with them.  After all, we think that so many people agree with them and it all seems kind of normal now anyway. The church has certainly fallen into that pattern over the past fifty years or so.  Few of us can deny that in these past decades the church has not shaped the culture but culture has shaped the church – at least in America.

But God says “blessed” is the man who avoids that steady, inch-by-inch compromise. Instead, the man God praises is the one who spends his time in the Word of God rather than being glued to his favorite television series. He praises the man who exchanges ABC for NIV or ESV or KJV (for the more traditional).  Lot, the nephew of Abraham is an interesting study in this.  At first he spent all of his time with Abraham but when the flocks became so large that the pastureland in one place couldn’t sustain them they separated.  We are told that Lot chose a well-watered area in the region of Sodom and Gomorrah.  But later we find him living in the city and sitting in the city gates as an official of Sodom even though he was apparently troubled by the immorality there.  Eventually his comfort level with wickedness cost him everything but his life.  My guess is that his wife’s desires had something to do with that move but my guess is also that his wealth caused the leaders of Sodom to reach out to him.  Flattered by their attention, he may have made concessions for their behavior.  Although he didn’t participate he also sat in silence.  How many believers have compromised their values in the business sector, entertainment, or in politics to be “part” of the inner circle?  At first the association is occasional but then instead of walking by we stop to chat and then we find ourselves sitting with those who oppose God.

The key is the verse that emphasizes a lifestyle that dwells on the Word of God.  He doesn’t just read the scriptures but meditates on them – chews on them, processes them, and internalizes their truth.  He does so night and day, not just on occasion or not just for five minutes a day in a devotional read.  He sets his course by God’s word.  He walks according to that word rather than walking with those who oppose it.  The prophet asked the question, “How can two walk together unless they are agreed”(Amos 3:3)? When we walk with someone it suggests agreement with him. We can walk with the world or walk with the Word. Most of us assume that we can walk with both but scripture warns against being double-minded.

This man is like a tree planted by waters that grows strong and bears fruit.  What I learned today was that the most likely tree this refers to is the acacia tree found in the wilderness of Israel.  These trees will be found along a wadi – a dry streambed or ravine that sees water only when it rains from time to time.  These trees grow slowly and live for hundreds of years.  They put roots deep into the soil in the riverbed where water will flow in due time and when that time comes, the roots suck up every drop of water they can.  It’s as if the tree hungers for water as the man of Psalm 1 hungers for God’s Word.

When we read this psalm we probably think of great trees in forests perched along deep rivers that run throughout the year.  If you lived in the desert where Moses wandered and where David hid from Saul, you would think of acacias. This was the tree from which the Ark of the Covenant was made – hard wood overlaid with gold. A friend of ours, who is part of our weekly small group, informed us that Mesquite trees in our part of the world are members of the acacia family.  They really have two kinds of roots. They send out long shallow roots all around that suck up any moisture as soon as it hits the ground but those roots feed a taproot that goes down fifty or sixty feed looking for underground water and anchoring the trees to stand in the face of storms.

The man God applauds sends out roots that soak up God’s truth wherever he finds it and the Word he absorbs anchors him with a taproot of faith that goes deep in the ground. Those trees are a great benefit to those who find them.  They provide shade from the desert heat.  The Bedouins boil the sap and make medicines and ointments from this tree.  Camels feast on the leaves and dried branches provide a hot fire for cooking or staving off the cold of a desert night. Those who mediate on the Law of the Lord day at night are blessed by God and, in turn, bless those around them as well.

Each day is a question of who we will walk with – those who don’t know God and whose values and beliefs stand opposed to God’s word or God himself, soaking up all that his Word and his Spirit have to tells us.    Be blessed today.  Choose less of the world and much more of God.  I’ll join you.