The Book of Judges is a cyclical drama of Israel’s faithfulness and rebellion toward God that occurred after the death of Joshua. Israel would push through a few decades of faithfulness to Jehovah, enjoying the blessings attached to that faithfulness, and then would depart from his ways. Eventually, after a long season of idolatry and sin, God would bring judgment on them in the form of oppression from neighboring tribes until they repented. When their hearts and eyes returned to the Lord, he would forgive them, raise up a man or woman (called judges) to lead them against their enemies, and free them from their oppressors again. This cycle occurs over and over again in the book of Judges. One of the individuals he raised up was Gideon. I want to spend a few blogs finding some insights from his very unique story that we might apply to our own lives.

His story begins with these lines, “Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites”… Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the Lord for help. When the Israelites cried to the Lord because of Midian…The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.” “But sir,” Gideon replied, “if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his mighty wonders that our fathers told us about” (Jud.6:1-13)?

I like Gideon. He was not politically correct. At the moment he voiced that question, he was not yet aware that the man he was speaking to was an angel. The man was a stranger to Gideon and gave an unusual greeting – The Lord is with you mighty warrior! Gideon wasn’t sure who the man was but he gave a very honest response which amounted to, “If the Lord is with me, why am I hiding in this winepress trying to keep from starving and where are all the big miracles I’ve been praying for and hear about in synagogue?” It’s very possible that there have been times in your life when you were thinking essentially the same thing.

Gideon could have covered his thoughts and said something “spiritual” like, “Yes. God is good and his love endures forever. I know he is with us in ways we just can’t see.” All of that statement would have been true, but it would not have been an honest response from his heart at the moment. God loves honest conversation. He knows what is in your heart, so there is very little reason to give the “Sunday School response” instead of acknowledging what you are struggling with.

I believe Gideon had been struggling with the very thing he expressed. Where are you God? Don’t you still love your people? I know we have been out of line and deserve what’s happening, but I don’t know how much longer we can even survive as a nation. Couldn’t you just show us the same mercy you showed our fathers, even when they had been rebellious, and do something miraculous for us? We need a break and I know that would turn our hearts back to you…but all I’m hearing is crickets!”

For me, the question is why did God choose Gideon to raise up as a leader over unfaithful Israel? I know he often chooses the most unlikely so that he gets the glory, but he also looks at the hearts of men and I think he saw something in Gideon’s heart he could work with. I believe the first thing he saw was a man without pretense. He had honest questions and he asked them. He didn’t pretend to have great faith when his faith was starting to crumble. He didn’t throw out a biblical answer in an effort to cover up his doubt. Confession is good for the soul. God can work with that.

I think we often deny our own doubts – to ourselves and to the Lord – in an effort to avoid the truth that we are struggling with our faith, our concept of God, or our own sense of unworthiness and the creeping fear that God only answers prayers on the basis of our spiritual performance – which has been really lousy of late. Until we acknowledge our own thoughts, we cannot answer them with the Word or request a gift of faith from the Spirit. Sometimes our effort to have perfect faith, by denying our doubts, undermines our ability to have an honest conversation with the Lord or a faithful brother so that our thoughts might be clarified and a word of faith given to us so that we might resolve, rather than deny, our doubts.

Gideon just puts it our there. “If God is with us, why are things so bad?” The angel responds in a very interesting way. “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?” In essence, the angel says that God is still in the miracle business and that Gideon is going to be his miracle. Sometimes, God is going to answer our prayers through us when we have been looking elsewhere for the answers. God is a “multitasker.” As he answers our prayers he also wants to accomplish something within us.

Many times we just want to be rescued but God is going to give us strength to fight our way out of something so that faith and character are developed in the process. He told Gideon to go in the strength that he had and that God would make up for whatever he lacked when the moment came. He will do the same for us when the time comes but often we must act on his directions rather than doing our own thing or simply waiting for him to solve the problem. Instead of crying, “Where are you?”, “we may need to cry, “What is my next step, Lord?”

God is not looking for perfect people or even perfect faith. He is looking for honest people with a willing heart and just enough faith to take the next step. Gideon will model that for us over the next few blogs.

In his letters to the seven churches in Asia, Jesus affirmed many things but then called out five of the seven churches on issues that were hindering their relationship with Jesus. To the church at Pergamum, Jesus applauded their steadfast faith in the face of severe persecution. Even when one of the believers there had been put to death, they had not denied Jesus. And yet, even though they had never denied Jesus, he had some issues with the church.

Jesus said, “Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: You have people there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols and by committing sexual immorality. Likewise you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth” (Rev.2:14-16).

Pergamum was a church that had stood strong in the face of persecution but that had also compromised with the culture. They had begun to practice tolerance rather than holiness. Jesus declared that they were fellowshipping those in the church who practiced idolatry and sexual immorality and who were encouraging others to do the same. The Nicolaitans were a group who believed that since grace covered all sin, you could sin all you like. Jesus was not condemning those who struggle with sin. He was condemning those who don’t struggle against sin at all.

We are vulnerable to the same things in our culture. Perhaps, persecution had prompted them to be a little more tolerant of the culture and to not speak out so loudly against sin. Perhaps, they thought “fitting in” a little more might improve their outreach. The gospel of tolerance had taken over at Pergamum. That gospel declares that love is never judging others, never making them feel bad, never rejecting someone because they hold different views or understand God in a different way. The gospel of tolerance questions the clear meaning of scripture and makes the holiness of God take a back seat to his grace. What was once not tolerated in the church becomes tolerated, and then, at some point, is celebrated as proof of a love that doesn’t reject or judge sinners.

Jesus doesn’t reject sinners, but he does reject sin because sin degrades and eventually destroys. Being tolerant of weakness as people grow in the Lord is not the same as tolerating sinful lifestyles that are paraded about and that actively recruit others. Balaam’s strategy against Israel was simple. Draw them outside the will of God and let his judgment fall on them. I’m sure it began with the premise of practicing a little tolerance so that you don’t alienate your neighbors. One of Satan’s strategies is to draw churches and individuals out of the will of God so that they give Satan a legal right to really come after them while the sin blocks the blessings and move of God in their lives.

Even though the church at Pergamum had not denied the name of Jesus, they had compromised with the culture and invited idolatry and sexual immorality into the church. After all, that was standard operating procedure in pagan temples. The desire to be like those around us was not new to Pergamum. Israel wanted a king like the nations around them when Saul was chosen to rule. It took very little time for Israel to incorporate the idols of the surrounding nation into their worship of the one true God. In defiance of the Law of Moses, it wasn’t long until Israel made alliances with all kinds of unbelieving nations. Each of those compromises cost Israel dearly.

So what about us? Even though we wear the name of Jesus, have we compromised with the culture and brought the culture’s standards into the church rather than taking the church’s standards into our culture? Those who practice homosexuality are now welcomed into the leadership of mainline churches, even though scripture clearly calls it sin. Christians eagerly attend movies that only a few years ago were considered pornographic. But because culture is comfortable with what is portrayed, many Christians have become comfortable. Church discipline is almost extinct because we tolerate and do not judge anything, even though we are commanded to hold one another accountable to God’s standards. We could go on, but the church today is in danger of a rebuke from the Lord because we tolerate the active practice of sin – typically by our silence.

As a self-diagnostic, we need to ask ourselves if there are areas of compromise in our own lives because we have wanted to fit it with the world. What do we participate in so that we feel accepted at the office, at school, or with the team? What are we compromising for the sake of a relationship and has that relationship become an idol? What are we compromising for the sake of a career? What are we silent about that is wrong? When we choose not to speak out, we eventually rationalize our silence. That rationalization becomes tolerance and tolerance eventually becomes acceptance.

I’m not saying that we should go around condemning everyone we have contact with and point out his or her sins. Paul tells us that we are not to judge the world, but he is clear that we are to judge the church…not by our standards, but by God’s standards. We are not to judge self-righteously, but out of concern for a soul endangered by sin and the bondage or discipline it may bring. Love always acts in the best interest of another, and encouraging others to live holy lives is in their best interest.

The danger is that we begin to believe that whatever cultures calls good or acceptable, God will call good or acceptable. Culture does not establish the standards for righteousness and so culture is not the measure of our life in Christ. God sets the standards and Jesus, unapologetically, calls us to those standards.

In our own lives, compromise damages our relationship with God and creates open doors for the enemy. Jesus called on Pergamum to repent of tolerating sin and he would say the same to us. These may be the hardest things to identify in our lives because they creep in slowly. We rationalize our involvement, or at least our decision not to stand against something, and we usually spiritualize that decision by calling it non-judgmental or an effort to build relationships so that we can share Jesus with someone later.

This isn’t a call to isolate ourselves from culture or the lost otherwise we can never affect them for Jesus. Somehow Jesus was able to spend time with “sinners” without compromising and without offending them. In fact, broken sinners were drawn to him. I think he simply was who he was and didn’t change that in any context. He did not excuse sin but neither did he make sin the issue among the broken and the shamed. He affirmed what he could and pointed them to the love of the Father. He did not compromise his standards, but simply demonstrated the attractiveness of godliness when it is wrapped in love.

In my own self-diagnostic, I need to ask the Spirit to show me areas of compromise, rationalization, and “buying in” to what the world is peddling. I need to realign my thinking with the Father and determine to maintain godly standards while loving those who are bound up in sin. As a church, we need to love broken sinners but stand against those who willingly sin as a lifestyle and who try to draw others in with them. The praise and acceptance of the world cannot be our goal, only the praise and acceptance of Jesus. Be blessed today and be aware of where you stand.

In the book of Revelation, Jesus issued letters to seven churches in the province of Asia. To Smyrna and Philadelphia, Jesus sent his affirmations and approval of their endurance and faithfulness in the withering face of persecution with a promise that victory was coming if they would just continue to hold on.

To Ephesus, he gave a mixed report. He began by listing what seem to be stellar recommendations. “I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men…you have persevered and endured hardships for my name and have not grown weary” (Rev.2:2-3). This seems like the ideal church and yet, in the midst of those admirable traits, Jesus held something against them. “Yet, I hold this against you. You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen. Repent and do the things you did at first” (Rev. 2:4-5).

If you have been a believer very long, you might recognize the reality that the response once prompted by love can cool to a response of duty, obligation, or simply habit. After a few years, we can become good church members living moral lives, caring for the poor, coaching little league, attending church, and so forth. A good Buddhist would do the same. The thing that makes us different is our relationship with Jesus. Many couples marry with a great passion for one another, but after a few years the marriage simply becomes “going through the motions.” The behaviors may mimic what was done the first few years of marriage, but the heart behind it is gone.

God is love and love tends to remain unsatisfied until love is returned. In addition, love motivates us to do what nothing else will motivate us to do. Duty, obligation or habit did not motivate Jesus to endure the cross for us – only love pushed him to Golgatha.

Jesus then asked them to remember the height from which they had fallen. He was not asking them to measure how low they had sunk, but to remember what life was like when they were in love with him. He called them to remember the exhilaration found in a loving relationship with the Savior.

I have to ask how I am doing in maintaining “first love” status. Has my ministry become a job that I do like any other? Is my Bible study to discover new truths or just to get a coherent lesson together? Am I doing what I do out of love for Jesus or just the habits of a Christian life? How are you doing?

He then said to the Ephesians, “Repent and do the things you did at first.” What did you do when you first came to Jesus? Did you pour over his written word with expectation? Did you hungrily seek someone who could help you grow in the Lord? Were you willing to serve in any capacity because you were simply serving Jesus? Did you share Jesus with everyone around you? The truth is that you did those things because you loved Jesus, but you also loved Jesus because you did those things.

Going back to the basics is not a bad thing. We tend to think that basics are for the immature or the amateur, but doing the basics well is what wins championships. Remember the thanksgiving that used to issue from your heart in response to what he had done for you and in response to how much had been forgiven? Remember how you longed for his presence and his voice? Remember the excitement of answered prayers and seeing the hand of God in your life?

His counsel is to remember how rich those days were and return to them. Return to the heights of your first days in the presence of a loving Savior. Pour over his word against with the expectation of discovery. Find a mentor to rekindle the coals and to take you to another level of relationship with the Father. Serve in simplicity. Share your faith again. Keep doing the good you are doing but do it out of love for the Master, rather than from the habits of a moral life. That love makes our Christian walk rich again. Blessings in Him.

More Revelation on Friday.

In the Book of Revelation, Jesus released seven letters to seven churches in the province of Asia. This revelation was given to John late in life, probably around 96 A.D. By then many churches established by the apostles and other evangelists were several decades old. The first generation of believers was giving way to a second generation. The passion and commitment of the first generation was giving way to a generation that had not seen Jesus in the flesh. Out of the seven churches, two were totally affirmed because of their faithfulness in the midst of persecution while five others were admonished in some way.

Although, these letters were written to churches, the affirmations and admonitions could be given to individuals as well. It is always a good thing to “run a quick diagnostic” on ourselves to see how we are doing in the eyes of the Lord. So, in the next few blogs lets use these letters as a quick-check for our spiritual lives.

Two churches, Smyrna and Philadelphia, were in the midst of persecution. Jesus praised both of them for having patiently endured and for having kept his word. He promised victory to both of them if they would continue to endure a little longer. The flavor of the letters suggests that these were small communities of believers that did not have much wealth or influence, yet they had endured and stayed true to the faith.

Endurance is a spiritual quality that is frequently spoken of in scripture. In America, we have not experienced much direct persecution from government or other religions on the basis of our faith (although we may be on the brink of considerable persecution), but we all have experienced persecution that comes from Satan.

Many believers don’t recognize the persecution of the enemy that works through individuals in our lives (family and co-workers). Satan prompts these individuals to accuse, attack, reject, gossip, and slander us. That persecution is real and affects us spiritually. Think about how it wears you down and wounds you. Think about how it has caused you to doubt God’s promises when you have cried out to him about these relational injustices. Think about how it has caused you to doubt yourself. The persecution is real.

Endurance and a continuing faith in the promises of God is what Jesus is looking for. James declares, “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (Ja.1:2-4).

As believers, there will be times when we have to endure injustice, discrimination, and persecution with no quick fix. Endurance perfects our spirits. If our trials were resolved quickly, there would be no need for endurance and patience. I talk to many believers whose faith is fragile because they have been in a relational battle for months or years. They feel as if God is not hearing their prayers because the battle has not gone away. Yet the greatest heroes of the faith had to endure – exile, prison, deserts, persecution, slander, etc.

The message of Revelation is, “Hold on a little longer. Do not waiver. Your victory is in the pipeline.” These victories typically come just when we are on the brink of totally giving up because we have exhausted all of our strategies. It is then that we truly surrender the problem to God and it is then that victory often comes. Sometimes the victory is not a change in our tormentor but is a change in our own hearts that allows us to view the tormentor with different eyes and face the assaults with a different heart.

How are we doing on endurance? Have we allowed the enemy to wear us down and undermine our certainty in the promises of God? Go back a reaffirm the promises of God in your heart. Determine to simply be obedient to God, regardless of what others may do. Wait on the Lord and be known in heaven as one who would not give in.   Wait on the Lord and be known in heaven as one who won the applause of Jesus. Blessings and endurance in every hardship today.

More from Revelation on Wednesday.

Anyone who believes in the present day ministry of miracles will quote John 14:12, eventually and probably often. “He who believes in me, the works that I do he will do also, and greater works than these, because I go to the Father.”   We often quote this verse but rarely take time to break it down, so lets take a closer look.

Jesus begins by defining who would do the works he did. He did not say, “my apostles, those who have been following me for three years, a few super-Christians,” etc. He simply says, “He who believes in me.” The NIV translates the phrase as, “Anyone who has faith in me…” The potential for doing what Jesus did, and even greater things, rests in every believer. The potential rests there because the Holy Spirit indwells there. Jesus said that his promise was true because he was going to his Father.

The promised event that would occur as Jesus returned to the Father was the sending of his Spirit and the power that would attend the Spirit. In John 16, Jesus told his disciples, “It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you” (Jn.16:7). After his resurrection and ascension back to the Father, Jesus told his disciples to wait in Jerusalem until they received power after the Spirit had fallen on them. After the power of the Spirit was released, miracles began to happen.

Anyone who has the Spirit of Christ has the potential to do the works of Christ. What were the works? Preaching the Kingdom, healing, cleansing lepers, raising the dead, calming storms, walking on water, feeding the multitudes, etc. The works of Jesus were the very things that destroyed or reversed the works of the devil, which is the very thing Jesus came to do (1 Jn.3:8). It’s important to notice what Jesus did not say in John 14:12. Jesus did not say that those who believe could do the works he did, but that they would do the works he did. Jesus has an expectation that those who have faith in Him will do the very things he did while he was on the earth – and even greater things.

Many evangelicals have cast this verse as a promise of extensive evangelism. They say that the verse will be fulfilled when we have reached more people than Jesus was able to reach while he was on the earth. In their version, the “greater works, ” would simply be more evangelism. There is no doubt that Jesus has called us to reach more people, but that alone does not constitute the works that Jesus had been doing. The miraculous works of Jesus accompanied and facilitated evangelism, but were not simply the preaching of the good news alone.

In addition, the idea of doing “greater works” is not just quantitative in nature. It is not just doing more of what Jesus did. The word translated as “greater” in the text is mizon. It is used numerous times in the New Testament and always carries the idea of quality vs. quantity. Jesus didn’t say that believers would do more things than he did; he said that they would do even greater things than he did.

If Jesus had that expectation, then we should also carry that expectation. I said earlier in this blog that every believer has the potential to do greater works. The potential for all things in the kingdom is released not only through faith that God can do something but also through expectation that God will do something. Most believers have no doubt that God can do anything, but have been taught not to expect God to do those things. That is why the potential has not been released in many or most believers in the western world.

It is a simple verse. It is straightforward. If we take Jesus at this word, believers should be doing what he did and doing even greater works. Whenever the works of Jesus are not occurring, something is wrong or incomplete in those who believe. The problem is that much of the church believes that when the works of Jesus are occurring, there is something wrong.

Let me encourage you to not only believe that God can do miracles, but to ask the Holy Spirit to give you an expectation that he will. The needed transformation in the church will probably not come from the pulpits down, but from the pews up. In other words, most pastors will continue to preach what they were trained to believe in seminary. If they begin to preach something else, they will most likely be asked to step down. When the ordinary believer begins to walk with the expectation of miracles, God will honor that expectation and as those who sit in the pews on Sunday, begin to move in the power of God, leadership may be changed by their testimony.

Regardless of leadership’s expectation, we must honor the Savior’s expectation for his people and his expectation is for every one of us to be doing the works he did. Be blessed today and expect!

One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and his disciples began to pick some heads of grain, rub them in their hands and eat the kernels. Some of the Pharisees asked, “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?” Jesus answered them, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God, and taking the consecrated bread, he ate what is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.”          Then Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” On another Sabbath he went into the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was shriveled.    The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath.    But Jesus knew what they were thinking and said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Get up and stand in front of everyone.” So he got up and stood there. Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?” He looked around at them all, and then said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He did so, and his hand was completely restored. But they were furious and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus. (Luke 6:1-11)

There are some who take offense at the move of the Holy Spirit and the miracles of God. They immediately reject what God is doing when the Spirit moves in ways not specifically seen in the Bible, or when He moves in ways that do not fit an individual’s theology, or when he moves at all. That individual would admit that God once worked in those ways but would assert that God no longer does such things. Each of these individuals would claim scriptural authority for his or her view. How we approach scripture makes a huge difference in our faith. Luke’s account is instructive in our approach to scripture.

The Pharisees were great students of the Torah. They had memorized most, if not all, of the Old Testament – certainly the first five books. They spent their days dissecting and debating the texts, trying to determine all things lawful and unlawful. They viewed scripture as a rulebook. Their approach was simply to determine what was permitted and what was prohibited in life and assign every nuance of life to one of those categories. When there was an infraction, their job was to throw and flag and assess a penalty.

The Torah said that man should do no work on the Sabbath. God, however, deleted the footnote that defined what constituted “work.” So the Pharisees and other religious leaders took on the task of defining the word for Him. Their scholars produced a definitive list of activities that constituted work and over time their definitions carried as much weight as scripture. Of the hundreds of activities prohibited, harvesting grain and healing on the Sabbath made the “prohibited” list. Jesus violated the list! In their minds, that marked Jesus as a sinner.

That would have been an easy label to hang on Jesus except for the fact that he performed numerous certifiable miracles that were far beyond the reach of any ordinary man. In fact, they seemed to be the marks of a true prophet in the order of Elijah or Elisha. But, by their definition of sin, Jesus was a sinner. So they simply declared his miracles to be works of the devil designed to deceive.

Their mistake was in their view of scripture. They knew the two greatest commandments: Love God and love your neighbor. What they didn’t understand was that God’s love had to be reflected in the interpretation of the scriptures. What they didn’t understand was that God was revealing himself in the scriptures as not only a holy God, but also a loving and merciful God who wanted to show them his goodness and kindness at every turn.

Even on Sinai, as God was giving the Law, Moses asked to see God’s glory. The Lord replied that he would cause all of his “goodness” to pass in front of Moses and that he would proclaim his name to the prophet (Ex.33:19). The first thing God wanted to reveal was his goodness so that the Law would be understood through that filter. The “Thou shalt not’s” of the Law were not laws to restrict the blessings or even the freedom of man, but rather warning signs to avoid danger. They were safety signs and doors to blessings from a loving God rather than a set of rules from a harsh judge.

Jesus, who came to show us the Father, understood that. When man was hungry, even on the Sabbath, God blessed him to find food. When a man was crippled, even on the Sabbath, God healed the man. Both of those acts reveal the nature and goodness of God. The Pharisees thought that man was made to serve the Law and the Sabbath. Jesus showed us that the Sabbath and the Law were made to serve man. How much more are the gospel and the New Covenant made to serve and bless us?

When someone today objects to miraculous moves of the Spirit, they end up objecting to men and women being healed, tormenting spirits being cast out of suffering individuals, the dead being raised, the blind receiving their sight and so forth.   If you ask them why they object, they will refer to scripture and argue that in the last days there will be counterfeit miracles and that God no longer operates in that way. My response would be, “So God no longer cares about the suffering of people enough to act supernaturally on their behalf? What about the goodness of God?” They might say that they don’t see the Spirit falling on people in scripture and making them laugh or cry or fall backwards and lie on the ground and convulse for hours. When Jesus came he acted in ways that Pharisees had never seen before. He associated with sinners, let harlots rub perfume on his feet, touched unclean lepers, walked on water, commanded storms, returned sanity to the demonized, and raised the dead over and over.

He then gave the same power and authority to others and declared that anyone who had faith in him would do even greater things. I’m certain that if the Pharisees had seen him walk on water or command storms they would have branded him a sorcerer. Why? Because they didn’t have a clear command or precedent in the Torah for such things. He was acting in new ways, just as the Spirit is acting in new ways today.

Does that mean anything goes? No, it doesn’t. We must still test the spirits. We need to ask if something actually violates a clear scripture (rather than a “reasoned argument” from men) or if it violates the nature of God and the Spirit of Christ. Healing does not violate the spirit of Christ, but opposing healing does. The Spirit falling on men with power does not violate scripture or the nature of God but denying the power of the Spirit does. Miracles of all kinds do not violate scripture or the nature of God, but assigning those miracles to demonic activity does.

Unfortunately, we still have the spirit of the Pharisees operating through men in our churches today. For the sake of their reasoned understanding of scripture, these men would forbid healing services, would be outraged if someone commanded the dead to rise at a funeral home, and would never allow anyone to minister deliverance to a member of their congregation.

Do they know that Jesus is Lord? Probably. Do they know Jesus? Probably not. When we approach scripture, we should see it through the lens of God’s goodness and his relentless desire to bless people rather than a rulebook that looks to penalize every infraction. We need to enjoy God and expect expressions of his goodness and power as we go through the day. Those who walked with Jesus, experienced that day by day and we walk with him now! So enjoy.

A few days ago, France was rocked by multiple terrorist attacks from ISIS. At last count, over 125 individuals were killed. Other nations were targeted as well with devastating results. In all likelihood, the U.S. can expect the same in the near future. As we watch the news about ISIS, massive earthquakes and other natural disasters, it feels as if the earth is toppling, staggering and shaking. The writer of Hebrews speaks about a “shaking.”

At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe. (Heb.12:26-28)

In times of tumult, we must learn to hold on to what is unshakeable. In the Hebrew passage, the writer is referring to the moment when God descended on Sinai to meet with Israel and give them his law. His voice was so powerful that it shook the earth and terrified God’s people who thought they would die if they heard any more of it. God says that another time will come when he will shake not only the earth but also the heavens. I believe he is speaking of governments and nations when he speaks of the earth and of spiritual powers (demonic) when he shakes the heavens.

As believers we are to anticipate these “shake ups.” Since God is the cause of the shaking we can be confident that he is totally aware of his people and their needs in the midst of the turmoil. It’s not that we won’t feel the effects. In an earthquake, everyone experiences the vibrations. In this time of shaking, there will be natural disasters, governments falling, and turmoil in the spiritual realm. Is it the end of time? I can’t be certain, but I don’t think it is immediate.
Rather, I believe God is sifting and reconfiguring the earth and the spiritual realm for the benefit of the gospel. The key is to hold onto what is unshakeable and that is the kingdom of God. As we move further into this season, believers must drill down and anchor themselves in Jesus.

Again, the writer of Hebrews tells us, “We who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek” (Heb.6:18-20).

Jesus has entered into the presence of the Father to intercede for us. He knows what the shaking is all about and where everyone of his “brethren” are located. If God is reconfiguring nations and shaking demonic strongholds, we need to pray into that process, asking God to open doors for the gospel, to exalt the name of Jesus in the earth, and to weaken the hold of the enemy over nations and individuals.

We need to be connected to other people of faith who will be praying with us. We need to spend more time in the written word and more time with the Word of God – Jesus. We need to find promises to stand on and to ask for unshakeable faith and courage to acknowledge Jesus in these days.

This issue with Islam will not be solved by politics, money, or even war. It is spiritual at its root. It is a spirit of Anti-Christ, death, and perversion – perhaps, even the prince of Persia spoken of in the book of Daniel (chapters 9-10).  Those spirits must be attacked by the divine weapons of prayer, love, truth, and the power that rests in the name of Jesus. F-14’s and smart bombs may push back the move of Islam but will not stamp it out. The kingdom of God is the only antidote and that kingdom must be established in the hearts of men.

As awful as terrorism is, each atrocity makes Islam less palatable to many. As they reject or, at least, doubt the tenants of their faith a spiritual; vacuum will form. We need to fill that vacuum with the gospel or something even worse than what we are seeing may take up residence in those people and nations. We need wisdom from above to navigate these waters and to know how to love our enemies even as we try to protect the world from them. This is not the time to bunker in and hide from the enemy, but is a time for the church to stand up and proclaim the saving and powerful name of Jesus. We can do that in prayer, over coffee, and publically whenever we have the opportunity. Again, light always shines brightest in the darkness.

Be blessed today and know that Jesus is unshakeable. When we hold tightly to him, we also will not be shaken.

Waiting is hard…especially, in a microwave world. Everything moves so fast. The entire world seems to change over night. Everything is microchipped and accelerated. We want faster foods, faster computers, and faster planes, faster weight loss…you name it. But in the spiritual realm, God does not measure progress by time but rather by growth. Waiting on God is hard, especially when his timetable does not match ours at all. Sometimes God is waiting on us while we are waiting on him.

I’m reminded of both Joseph and David. Both received amazing prophecies when they were young. Joseph got his in the form of prophetic dreams in which he saw his family bowing down to him. David received his when the prophet Samuel showed up, anointed him with oil, and declared that he would be king over Israel. My guess is that both young men anticipated the fulfillment of those prophecies within months of the moment they received them. Not only did they expect God to establish them in those prophetic roles, but also that their circumstances would soon begin to line up with their declared destinies.

Joseph, however, did not find his family as excited about his dreams as he was. Eventually, the arrogance of the young man stirred up resentment and even hatred among his older brothers. In response, they faked his death and sold him into slavery. He ended up not only far from home in Egypt, but in prison after false charges were lodged against him. Now, not only were months slipping by but years escaped him and the dreams that once excited him seemed impossible.

David’s prophecy seemed more likely in the beginning. He distinguished himself against Goliath and entered into King Saul’s service where, it seemed, he would learn the ropes of governing a nation. Everyone who knew the prophecy could see that he might be “interning” for his future role. But the better he served Saul, the more Saul felt threatened. David quickly lost his internship and became a wanted outlaw hiding in the deserts of Palestine. Many scholars estimate that David dodged Saul and his attempts to kill the young man for nearly eight years.   Not only were the years slipping by, but events looked as if the prophecy of Samuel had missed the mark by a mile. Even David thought, “One of these days I will be destroyed by the hand of Saul. The best thing I can do is escape to the land of the Philistines” (1 Sam.27:1).

I am certain that both Joseph and David began to seriously doubt that the prophecies about them would ever come to pass. Years slipped by and events seemed to hold no promise for their fulfillment. In fact, both men surely quit thinking about the prophecies altogether and simply focused on surviving the day – Joseph in an Egyptian prison and David in caves in the desert.

So why the turn of events? Why the delay and the hardships? All I can say is that they were in training…not so much in skills but in their hearts. Both had destinies to lead nations. They each needed to be part of a maturing process in character, faith, and perspectives. Humility – dependence on God – had to be first and foremost coupled with the trust that only comes from experiencing God in hard times.

David continued to learn of God’s provision and protection in the midst of battles and finding provision in the wilderness. Joseph learned the same things in the dark nights of a foreign prison where life was always tenuous. Both learned not to judge what God was doing by sight, but rather to live by faith and to know that God’s promises stand regardless of present circumstances. Both, in a miraculous turn of events became leaders over nations.

Saul was the antithesis of these two men. Israel shouted for a king and Saul was crowned in weeks instead of years. He began well but when the pressure was on, his faith faded quickly. He was political, insecure, and treacherous. All of those qualities clearly point to a lack of faith in God to sustain his throne and to give him victories.

In 1 Samuel 13, we are told of a time when the Philistines were gathering troops to attack Israel. Samuel told Saul not to go into battle but to wait at Gilgal for seven days, until he (Samuel) came and offered burnt sacrifices to the Lord who would then lead them to victory. On the seventh day, Samuel had not arrived. Saul’s troops were “quaking with fear” and were beginning to scatter. Saul then took it on himself to offer burnt offerings to the Lord, although he was not a priest. As soon as the smoke cleared the altar, Samuel arrived and rebuked him for his disobedience and lack of faith. Saul’s men were afraid because their leader was afraid. They had no faith that God would give them the victory because their king had no faith. Samuel declared that day, that God had taken Saul’s kingdom from him.

Saul became king before his heart was tested and this character was established. He did not go through the process of waiting and maturing, so he stewarded the blessing he received as an insecure, impetuous child. The blessings were then lost. Waiting on our prayers and dreams is hard, but if we embrace the process, God will train our hearts so that when the blessings come and the promises and prophecies are fulfilled, we will be able to steward them well. Growth is the goal. We feel the pressure of time, but God marks our days by growth not by the calendar.

When dreams you have offered up in prayers go unanswered, the answer may not be “No,” but simply “Not yet.” If the desire is a godly desire and it remains in your heart, continue to pray but be willing to wait and while you wait, invite God to work in you and cooperate with the work. Be sure that the desire hasn’t become an idol in which you are placing your trust for happiness and significance, but that you constantly affirm that God is your source. God can only entrust us with dreams we hold loosely, otherwise our faith will be in the dream rather than in him.

Be blessed today and do not despise the process and the circumstances that seem to point away from answered prayer. You are in training. Those that wait upon the Lord will renew their strength.

I know a highly successful man who is highly critical of others and himself. His rationale for pointing out even minute flaws in others and himself is that by making people aware of their shortcomings, they can improve. He sees his critical spirit as a public service. He said one time, “What my father did for me, I do for others.” By the way, he’s divorced now.

But there is a little of that mindset in most of us, in the sense that we often think we will do better if we demean ourselves, criticize ourselves, or even call ourselves names. We feel that humbling ourselves before God by emphasizing our weaknesses or failings pleases him. Sometimes we even feel guilty about enjoying our blessings because we feel that we don’t deserve them or because others don’t have what we have.   Sometimes, we often do a kind of penance by recalling past failures and moments of shame as a way of beating ourselves up. Our logic is that if we feel bad enough about what we did, we will never do it again. We often employ that strategy when we want others to “never do something again” as well. We try to shame ourselves into being a better person. This may have some semblance of logic to it, but it simply doesn’t work and it is just the opposite of God’s directives for “better living.” God does not call us to nail ourselves to the cross because Jesus did that for us. We don’t find our lives on the cross but because of the cross.

Think about it. Jesus told us that the world will know that we are his disciples by our love for one another. Paul defines love by actions and attitudes in 1 Corinthians 13. Love is patient. Love is kind. It keeps no record of wrongs. It always protects, trusts, hopes and perseveres. Notice that loves is not critical, blaming, always bringing up the past, harsh, demeaning, or humiliating. The way that God directs us to treat others is, essentially, the way we should treat ourselves. A major part of God’s program for transformation is not condemnation and rejection but acceptance and a call to a new identity. If he reminds us of the past, it is simply to remind us of who we once were but are not now, and how much his love has forgiven and forgotten.

In his letter to the church at Corinth, Paul said, “Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers…will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord” (1 Cor.6:9-11). Notice the past tense – that is what some of you were. Paul is calling them to their identity in Christ. You may have been that person before the Holy Spirit took up residence in you, but that is not who you are now! Don’t live like the person you used to be, live like the person God has made you to be. The Bible says, “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he” (KJV). In other words, we live up to or down to the image we have of ourselves. God wants to increase our image so that we may live up to the call he has placed on our lives.

I like what Bill Johnson says about this in his book, When Heaven Invades Earth. “The boldness we need is not self-confidence but the confidence that the Father has in the work of his Son in us. It is no longer a question of heaven or hell. It is only a question of how much of hell’s thinking will I allow into this heavenly mind of mine. Doesn’t it honor Him more when his children no longer see themselves only as sinners saved by grace, but now as heirs of God? Isn’t it a greater form of humility to believe Him when He says we are precious in His sight, when we don’t feel very precious? Doesn’t it honor Him more when we think of ourselves as free from sin because he said we are? At some point we must rise up to the high call of God and stop saying things about ourselves that are no longer true. If we are going to fully come into what God has for us…we’ll have to come to grips with the issue of being more than sinners saved by grace.     (P.168).

It is the nature of Satan to condemn and accuse. It is not the nature of God…especially toward his own children. In our internal conversations, we need to say what God says about us. We need to leave our past buried (we died to sin) and speak in the present and the future. We are redeemed, forgiven, accepted, children of God, royal priests on the earth, saints (all of us), God’s beloved, His called out, destined for greatness, ambassadors of Christ, the temple of the Holy Spirit, sons and daughters of the King, holy, the righteousness of God, appointed and anointed, and more.

When we see ourselves as God sees us, we will live up to that image. It is true for those around us as well. If God says that is who we are, then that is who we are – since it is impossible for God to lie. Let me encourage you today, to increase your transformation by increasing your identity in Christ. In word and thought, say what God says about you and call any other identity a lie. Ask the Holy Spirit to give you a revelation of your identity in Christ. Speak the same things over your children, your spouse and your friends in the Lord as well. The truth we call out in Christ becomes a reality, because God’s word, whether from His lips or ours, has creative power and always fulfills its purpose. Be blessed today because you are the redeemed of God, perfect and righteous in His sight.

What is the purpose of the church on earth? Why did God establish an organic body of believers with orders to meet together, encourage one another, forgive one another, pray for one another, equip one another, resource one another, and to submit to one another? We can say with certainty that the two clear, overarching commands for the church are to love one another as He loves us and to go and make disciples of all nations. We can also say that we, as God’s people, are to release heaven on earth as we teach people to obey the will of God – thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

One key to understanding our overall purpose is to go back to the beginning to see God’s initial purpose for his people on earth. “God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground’” (Gen.1:28). To subdue the earth means to exercise authority over it – to rule over it. I believe, in the context of Genesis 1 and 2, that God is meeting with Adam and Eve in the garden not only to build a relationship but also to groom them to rule over the earth just as he would rule over it.

Speaking of man, David said, “You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet” (Ps.8:5-6). Again, crowned and ruler are the operative words here. God placed Adam and Eve on the earth to rule over this planet in his place – to establish the culture of heaven and the will of God on this planet. Of course, Adam sinned and relinquished his authority over the planet to Satan who then became the “prince of this world.” Jesus describes Satan with that phrase three times in the gospel of John (12:31, 14:30. 16:11). But Jesus also declared that Satan, as the prince of this world, stood condemned and judged by His perfect life, sacrifice, and resurrection. Through his death and resurrection, Jesus took back all authority in heaven and on earth and, just as his Father had done, he gave that authority to men to rule the earth once again as his representatives.

The general purpose of the church is to rule over the earth once more as representatives of the King and re-establish his kingdom on this planet. We are not to rule with brute force but by capturing the hearts of men. As Adam was directed to subdue the earth, we are directed to subdue nations by preaching the gospel. Our mission is to empty the kingdom of darkness of its residents and fill the kingdom of heaven with those same residents who have accepted the rule of Jesus in their hearts. We are to make disciples of all nations.

I like what Kris Vallotton has to say about this ruling church. After quoting Isaiah 2:2-4, he states, “Mountains are the prophet’s metaphors for authorities and the house of the Lord is the church. Isaiah is saying that in the last days the Church will be the chief authority on how to live life and make decisions. This will result in nations coming to us and learning God’s ways, much like the Queen of Sheba did in Solomon’s day. Weapons plants will be converted into grain silos, automobile manufacturing plants, and other beneficial resources, because the nations won’t be fighting each other any more. The fact that the Church has been restored to man’s original position of dominion on earth requires us to learn and carry out the responsibilities that come with our authority” (The Supernatural Ways of Royalty, p. 179-180).

I am convinced that the church cannot fill that role in its present condition. I assume our church is representative of most evangelical churches in America as far as our membership goes. This past weekend we had another addition of Freedom Weekend, which is an experiential day of emotional healing and deliverance. Ninety-one men and women of various faith backgrounds went through the weekend after an eight-week study about who they are in Christ and the transformative power of God. On Saturday we met for worship, healing and deliverance. On Sunday morning we all met again to hear what God had done for his people.

Person after person testified of significant healing (emotional and physical) and the incredible weight that had been lifted from their lives through deliverance in the name of Jesus. Frowns had given way to smiles, fear had given way to boldness, and dread had given way to faith-filled optimism. These men and women were ready to tell people what Jesus had done for them and to passionately push back on the kingdom of darkness. They were finally ready to rule and reign in the name of Jesus.

Until they had experienced the power of God in their lives, they were not ready at all. Until then they were weighed down with unworthiness, guilt, sorrow, fear, lust, condemnation and bitterness. No one can rule or represent Jesus effectively in that condition. If you were to survey the church at large, however, and get an honest report, you would find that the majority of believers are still bound up in brokenness and shame. As Bill Johnson says, “A gospel without power is no gospel at all.” If it saves me from the legal guilt of my sin, but does not actually set me free, I have not experienced the fullness of the gospel.

The good news is that the church is growing in the area of power. His people are looking for more and are willing to search for it in different places. Many are finding it. Power, by itself, is not the issue. Fully experiencing Jesus is the issue and until you experience his power you haven’t fully experienced him. Without power, Jesus would have been known as a great teacher, but would never have been known as the Son of God. If you are hungering for more, in your walk with Jesus, I hope you will pursue it until you find it as well. Our heavenly Father is always glad to feed the hungry and he wants you to be fully equipped to be his ambassador on this planet until he returns.

I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. (Eph.1:18-19)

Blessings in Him today!