Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”            “Ah, Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am only a child.” But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a child.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord. Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “Now, I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.” Jeremiah 1:5-10

The office of prophet has always been essential in establishing the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. Jeremiah was one of many reluctant prophets whom the Lord called to declare his words over kings and nations. God has an unusual relationship with his prophets. Amos spoke about that relationship when he said, “Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7). God has established a connection between his will being done on earth and the declaration of his word by his prophets. There is a practical side to that as well as the continuation of God’s initial intent to rule the earth through men and women who serve as his representatives.

The practical side is that if prophets did not declare what God was about to do, whether deliverance, blessing, or judgment, then when any of those things happened it would not be credited to the work of God. Men would simply go on with life thinking that fate and politics had brought some event to pass without recognizing God’s hand in the matter. That is the world we live in today. God’s prophets are too silent and too few.   World leaders act as if “might makes right” and that there is no God in heaven who will judge kings and nations for their actions.

If no one calls the shot, then when God sinks the nine-ball in the corner pocket after banking off three rails, everyone will think that what happened was simply coincidence or blind luck. Because, by and large, the church today has relegated prophets to the Old Testament or the first century church and considers present-day prophets as extremists or crackpots, there are too few prophets connecting the dots for the nations. On top of that, if the majority of churches in America won’t take prophets seriously then why should the leaders of nations?

God’s initial intent was to rule the earth through Adam and Eve. He gave them the position of a son and daughter and delegated his authority to them to rule over his creation. In Christ, he has done the same for us. In terms of honoring his initial intent, God still gives his directives to his representatives and they declare those directives over the earth. God honors man’s dominion by waiting on man to come into agreement with him before acting. When his prophets declare his word over the earth, then God acts to fulfill what they have declared.

Isaiah assures us that when God’s word goes forth it always fulfills its purpose. “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it” (Isa. 55:10-11). Notice that God told Jeremiah, “I have put my words in your mouth.” He went on to tell him that he was appointed over nations and kingdoms to uproot, tear down, plant, and to build although he would never lead an army or a political movement. Jeremiah wielded his power by declaring the word of God, which God then fulfilled. God is always in the starting blocks and ready to run a race, but he waits for his people to fire the starting pistol.

Concerning prophets, God’s word goes forth from his lips to theirs by revelation from the Holy Spirit or the lips of angels. When his prophets declare it, God empowers his word to fulfill its purpose in the lives of individuals and nations on the earth. The declarations of God’s people release the angelic realm to make God’s word a reality. Without prophetic declarations, much of what God desires to do will not come to pass because he still honors the authority he has given his church.

As long as parts of the church reject the idea of prophets and prophetic words in the 21^st century, the will of God on earth will be greatly hindered. God loves to partner with his people and in his sovereignty has limited what he will do without their participation. Until the gift of prophecy is fully restored and prophets are honored in his church, only a fraction of God’s purposes will be released on the earth. Not only that, but until the prophetic is accepted as authentic, the church will not have enough maturity to train her prophets well or to even judge prophecy to know if it is from God. A rejection of prophecy rather than its acceptance will lead to the very weirdness that the church fears. The good news is that God is restoring prophecy to his church today. The only question is will his church receive it or reject it.

Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. Hebrews 6:1-2

I have always found this section of Hebrews to be interesting and instructive. The writer seems to provide a list of foundational teachings in the early church that he considered essential but elementary. Most churches teach these topics over and over as if these doctrines constitute spiritual maturity but the writer of Hebrews would disagree with that. There are two things in this list that should raise an eyebrow for most evangelical Christians in America: instruction about baptisms and the laying on of hands.

Most churches in western Europe and the U.S. teach a great deal about baptism but not baptisms (plural). Hardly any church teaches anything about the laying on of hands although in the Hebrew letter that doctrine carries as much weight as repentance, faith, baptism and end times (resurrection and judgment). Since these are foundational principles of the church, when these are neglected the church is built on an inadequate foundation and the body suffers as a result.

There are several views of the idea of baptisms but, whatever the view, they should include water baptism which Jesus modeled himself at the hands of John the Baptist and Holy Spirit baptism which Jesus himself promised and delivered after his own resurrection. Just about every denomination practices water baptism in some form. Most believe it is an outward expression of an internal faith and symbolizes cleansing, being born again, death to our old selves, and resurrection to a new life.   It is also serves as a public confession of our faith in Jesus. Through our faith and confession we are granted forgiveness of sins and receive the Holy Spirit to live within us. The primary purpose of the Spirit living within us is transformation. He gives life to our spirits, gives us understanding of spiritual truth, and changes our character and thought processes by bearing his fruit in our lives. All of that is amazing and if that were all we received from the Spirit it would be enough.

However, both John and Jesus spoke of another baptism and commanded his followers to wait in Jerusalem, after his ascension to the Father, until they received power from on high as they were baptized in the Spirit on Pentecost. That power was to equip them for ministry, to do the things that Jesus did to demonstrate the Kingdom of God, and to overcome the power of the enemy. The followers of Jesus were commanded to preach the gospel, heal the sick, cleanse lepers, cast out demons and raise the dead. In addition, Jesus made it clear that he had come to heal broken hearts and set captives free. The gifts of the Spirit have been given to the church to do all that. That flows from an experience the gospels called being baptized in or by the Spirit and was a separate experience from salvation. In John 20:22, we are told that after his resurrection, Jesus breathed on his disciples and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” At that moment the Spirit took up residence within the disciples but afterwards that Jesus told them not to leave Jerusalem until they received power from the Spirit which he said was the baptism that John the baptizer had spoken about.

The church universally practices water baptism but the majority have yet to receive power from another baptism in the Holy Spirit. Because of that, the church is effective at dispensing grace and leading people to initial salvation, but is much less effective at operating in power, healing the sick, setting people free from demonic affliction, prophesying, and demonstrating the Kingdom on earth. Yet, the early church thought that the teaching and practice of baptisms was essential.

The second gaping hole in the practice of most churches is the practice of the laying on of hands. Laying hands on others is typically related to two things: the impartation of spiritual gifts and the power that goes with those gifts and commissioning believers for specific tasks and offices. In that regard, the laying on of hands demonstrates a transfer of authority.

In regard to impartation, several verses give us the flavor of that operation. Paul wrote, “Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through a prophetic message when the body of elders laid their hands on you” (1 Tim.4:14). In this verse, Paul is telling Timothy to exercise some spiritual gift that had been imparted to him through a prophetic message as elders had laid hands on him. My sense in this passage is that elders were commissioning Timothy as an evangelist for the church and as a prophetic word was being spoken over him regarding his ministry, the Holy Spirit released a spiritual gift in him that was necessary for his ministry. Where there is an appointing there is an anointing. In this case, the Holy Spirit had directed elders to commission Timothy and then equipped him for the task. In 2 Timothy 1:6, Paul exhorts Timothy to fan into flame a second gift that Paul had imparted to him by the laying on his hands. In the book of Acts we are told, “When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. There were about twelve men in all” (Acts 19:6-7).

There are numerous other scriptures, but it is clear that God and the Holy Spirit often operate through leaders in the church not just directly. When appointed and anointed leaders sense that God wants a person to receive a spiritual gift, God often prompts leaders to lay hands on that person. As they do, there is an impartation or a passing of both power and authority. We are also told in another place, “While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’ So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off” (Acts 13:2-3).

Someone might argue that laying hands on others is purely symbolic and cultural, but the writer of Hebrews saw it as a foundational practice of the church. The Kingdom of Heaven operates through lines of spiritual authority. The laying on of hands is an expression of that. In 1 Timothy 5:22, Paul warned Timothy not to be hasty in the laying on of hands. In other words, the impartation of power and authority is a real thing so that you do not want to impart gifs or power that to a person or commission a person prematurely. When spiritual gifts run ahead of character and authority runs ahead of maturity a train wreck can be in the making.

Both of these practices – Holy Spirit baptism and the laying on of hands – were foundational to the early church. They were also ways of receiving and distributing power and authority in the church and maintaining lines of spiritual authority so that the faith could be guarded and transmitted. We sometimes cringe at the idea of anyone having authority over us. Certainly, spiritual authority can be abused but so can a lack of accountability. Spiritual authority is a very biblical principle and I believe the axiom is true that to have authority, you must be under authority. Any reading of the New Testament and, especially, the Book of Acts testifies to the fact that God desires to empower his church with supernatural power because the kingdom is not a matter of talk but of power (1 Cor. 4:20). However, the power that God intended to bestow on his church will continue to be limited until these “elementary” practices are renewed universally. Just reflecting on these few verses today.

The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.   James 3:6.

In his letter to believing Jews, James devoted twelve uninterrupted verses to the tongue and the evils of ungoverned words. Our words are powerful and significant. Our Father’s words created an entire universe. We are made in his image and have been given authority by Jesus himself. Our words matter and they have consequences. The phrase that caught my attention in the verse above was “it (the tongue) corrupts the whole person.” The word translated as corrupts also means stains or defiles. The idea of corruption is linked to death and decay. Our own words, then, can trigger spiritual, emotional, and even physiological processes that defile us, stain us, and sow seeds of death and decay within us.

Listen to what Caroline Leaf says about the impact that our choices and even words can have on us physiologically. “Epigenetics is essentially the pathway by which our body takes a signal from the external world (food, events, circumstances) and internal environments (thoughts) and turns them into a set of chemical, electromagnetic, and quantum instructions for our genes. Thus, through our thought and lifestyle choices we can create either a very healthy or very toxic environment around our cells” (Caroline Leaf, Think and Eat Yourself Smart, Baker Books, p.147). Words are external expressions of our thoughts and have tremendous impact on even our physiology. She goes on to say that toxic thoughts, words, food, relationships, etc. throw off our biochemistry and compromise the health of our bodies and our brains and we become much more susceptible to disease (death and decay).

In addition, other research around the world has documented the effects of words at a molecular level. Dr. Masaru Emoto, a Japanese researcher, has discovered that crystals formed in frozen water reveal changes when specific concentrated thoughts and words are directed toward them. He found that water from clear springs and water that has been exposed to loving words shows brilliant, complex, and colorful snowflake patterns. In contrast, water exposed to negative thoughts and words forms incomplete, asymmetrical patterns with dull colors. We all know the proverb that says the tongue has the power of life and death. Science is now confirming that truth as not just figurative language but literal.

Our words, coupled with faith, are the primary arsenal we possess for spiritual warfare. With words we command healing. With words we drive out demons. With words we pray and direct heaven’s power to specific situations. With their words the prophets declared the word of God over men and nations and in doing so released that word to fulfill its purpose. With words storms have been silenced and the dead have been raised.

All of that is amazing but we must also remember that words establish curses. Jesus cursed the fig tree and it died over night. Joshua declared a curse over anyone who would rebuild the walls and gates of Jericho and many years later we are told that the sons of a man who did rebuild the gates of Jericho died because of Joshua’s curse. With our careless words we can curse others and ourselves with real consequences. In his letter to believing Jews, James went on to instruct these men and women to be a people who disciplined themselves to speak only blessings over others (both friends and enemies) and over themselves.   As believers who also walk in the authority of Christ, we must do the same. It makes a difference in every dimension of our lives and the lives of those to whom we are connected. that has been exposed

Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life. Philippians 2:14-16

I recently visited with a young woman who grew up in church, loves the Lord, hosts a small group Bible study in her home, but continues to struggle with overwhelming feelings of fear and condemnation. She lamented that the churches in her area were “powerless to help people like her.” In many ways she had no more freedom in her life than the unsaved men and women in her community.

If we are honest, many believers today are saved but remain in bondage to sin, addiction, shame, fear, and a host of other hindrances to their walk. The truth is that other than church attendance, a very large number of believers feel and act just like the people they work with or go to school with who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them. Divorce rates in the church rival divorce rates in the culture at large. Christian teens seem to have little power over the cultural pressure to drink, experiment with drugs, or to be sexually active. A significant number of believers live on antidepressants, tolerate marriages dominated by anger and rage, live with bitterness toward people in their past, and are crippled by an overpowering sense of unworthiness and rejection.

I’m not scolding these believers for not being “the Christians they should be” because I have struggled with many of those issues as well. These believers are desperately looking for freedom, but in many cases have not been shown by their churches how to access the freedom and healing that Jesus promises.

A gospel that only gets us to a place of forgiveness but does not radically free us and change us so that we stand out in contrast to our culture is not the gospel that Jesus preached. Paul pointed to this truth in the text from Philippians quoted above.   Stars stand out in stark contrast to the darkness like the sun’s brilliant corona as it shines around a total eclipse. Jesus himself declared that his followers were to be the light of the world. Those who wear the name of Christ should stand out in the crowd by their sheer “differentness.”

Jesus spoke of being “born again” not as figurative language for trying harder or simply starting over with a clean sheet, but as a reality where something real and essential has been altered in everyone who comes to him. Scripture tells us that before Jesus came into our lives we were dead in our trespasses and sins and living under the dominion of darkness. We were in bondage to sin whether we knew it or not. Satan literally owned us. But in Christ, all things become new. Jesus declared that he came to heal broken hearts and set captives free. Those promises are for this world not just the world to come. After all, the same power that raised Jesus from the grave operates within us. The Spirit of God who has constant access to the mind of God lives within us and is willing to download the knowledge and creativity of heaven to those who ask for it. Because we have “the mind of Christ,” we should be the smartest, most creative, most resourceful, and most optimistic people on the planet in very noticeable ways.

When the Holy Spirit takes up residence within us, an incredible potential for radical change is released. The door to our prison cell is unlocked and opened wide. The question is whether we will walk through that door into a radically new life or voluntarily stay in our familiar environment. Many Christians stay because they are unaware of the open door because it is only perceived by faith. They are also unaware of the destiny and power Christ offers them to set them free and transform their lives.

Satan’s first goal is to keep us from coming to Christ. His second goal is to make us ineffective. One of the enemy’s most effective strategies is to convince a believer that he is the same person he always was and will always be even after coming to Christ. Satan peddles the lie that the only difference between the saved and unsaved person is that the saved has his or her sins forgiven. Otherwises, we are still as powerless and broken as the unsaved around us. If he can’t keep us from accepting Jesus, the next best thing is to convince us that we will only experience the power, healing, and blessings of heaven after our funeral. Until then, we will simply struggle and do the best we can while our life plays out like a sad country song. That is not what Jesus has in mind on the cross. That is not the abundant life.

After coming to Christ, the essential difference between those with the Spirit of Christ living in them and those without the Spirit should soon become apparent, not as a reflection of our efforts but as a reflection of the power of God working in us. The fact that so many believers blend in perfectly with the world around them reveals that something is amiss. Speaking of Jesus, John tells us, “In him was life and that life was the light of men” (John 1:4). There was a measure and quality of life in Jesus that was unmistakable. It stood out and drew men to him. With Christ in us, we should exude the same life. That life comes through the power that heals and sets men free (Isa.61:1-4) and the power that transforms us into the image of Christ. A powerless gospel will not take us there.

Paul gave a stern warning to the church at Galatia regarding the gospel of Jesus Christ. He declared, “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.  But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed” (Gal.1:6-8). Paul was concerned about a gospel that included salvation by works but an incomplete gospel also borders on being another gospel. To teach forgiveness only, without the transforming power of the Holy Spirit, leaves believers vulnerable to the oppression and affliction of the enemy.

Whenever Jesus and his followers preached the gospel, they immediately healed the sick, cast our demons, cleanse lepers, and raised the dead on more than one occasion. That power was not just a demonstration that they were speaking for God, but it was also necessary for those accepting Christ to be released to meet their full potential in Him. Much of the church is reclaiming the power of the Holy Spirit but that realization has not yet made it to the majority of churches or believers in America. My hope is that a time will soon come in which no one will have to say that the churches in his or her area seem powerless to help, “for the kingdom of God does not consist in words but in power” (1 Cor. 4:20). I also hope that you will be a clear voice in the Kingdom of God for all that Jesus purchased on the cross for all those who follow him.

Today our culture seems bent on removing all personal responsibility for individual choices in the name of science and social tolerance. That path leads to some extremely negative consequences. First of all, it is a rejection of God’s Word which clearly declares that God will hold us personally responsible for our choices and our actions. God makes a clear distinction between sin and righteousness. He then deals with the problem of sin through the blood of Christ, confession, and repentance rather than excuses and the claims of science that men and women are controlled by physiological processes over which they have no control. Much of the current thinking comes from recent research in genetics and brain science.

Caroline Leaf, a leading researcher in these areas and a believer, has some very helpful things to say about this “scientific trend.” I would like to quote her. “Today there is a massive split in the world of neuroscience. Many scientists believe that the mind is a result of firing neurons: they see the mind as an emergent property of the brain. On the other hand, many scientists (myself included) are mind-body dualists: we argue that the mind changes the brain. The neurocentric perspective of the former argument arises out of humankind’s desire to worship the created brain instead of the Creator…why is this neurocentric vein of thought so dangerous? Essentially, the ‘oversimplification, interpretive license, and premature application of brain science in the legal, commercial, clinical and philosophical domains’ can lead us into murky waters when it comes to taking responsibility for our actions. Are you a murderer or did the different activity seen in the brain scan make you do it? Are you addicted to food because your brain is wired that way…or because you have made choices? Once you start down this path, you will ultimately have to question your belief in free will, since a predominant focus on the brain takes the control away from the individual and places the blame squarely on the brain” (Carline Leaf, Think and Eat Yourself Smart, Baker Books, p.129-130).

The amazing thing that science is now discovering is that although a tremendous amount of genetic predispositions is passed down from generation to generation, the predispositions are essentially turned on or off by external influences. This phenomenon is called epigenetics. What we choose to think, see, listen to, and surround ourselves with actually shapes the brain which then influences our thinking. Although neural pathways that form in the brain because of our repetitive choices push us back to those choices, we still have free will and can begin to prune old pathways by our choices to think differently and involve ourselves in a different environment.

The word of God tells us to mediate on the Word day and night. What is understood through that command is that our choice of filling our days and nights with focus on the Word also precludes the worldly reinforcement we used to open ourselves up to on a daily basis. Through consistent meditation, memorization, writing the word, etc., we can lay in new, godly pathways empowered by the Spirit while we prune the old pathways of toxic thinking and sin. Paul instructed the church to make a consistent choice to think on “whatsoever is true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things” (Phil.4:8-9). In doing so, these believers were laying in neural pathways that would automatically produce thoughts in line with the Word of God rather than leading us back to thoughts opposed to God’s word.. This is part of the process of renewing the mind.

Many believers are still dominated by toxic thinking because they have not done the work required to renew the mind. The newest brain research demonstrates that our choices – what we say, what we do, what we read, who we spend time with, what we eat, what we hear, etc. all impact and create either healthy or toxic cellular environments for physical, spiritual, and emotional health or toxicity. God has made us so that every choice contributes powerfully to our brain, our genetics, our physiology, our health, and emotions, and our spirit. Our free will is a powerful tool and God will hold us responsible for our choices despite the cries of a fallen culture.

The good news in this is that personal responsibility empowers us to make choices that can make a huge difference in every part of our life and well-being. We are not helpless, powerless pawns doomed to a destiny over which we have no control. Alcoholic parents do not doom us to alcoholism. Generations of depression do not guarantee that we will be depressed. The genetics of depraved ancestors do not lock us into the depravity. God has given us a way out through taking personal responsibility, repenting, confessing, and by contact with the blood of Christ. He has given us divine weapons of the Word, worship, prayer, fellowship, even fasting and solitude that help rewrite our very DNA and create plasticity in the brain so that our brain begins to default to God’s thoughts rather than man’s.

A culture that declares that our identity, lifestyle, response to life, mental health and morality are all predetermined by genetics and brain chemistry takes away man’s power to choose good and become good. It is a strict secular doctrine of predestination in which the physical brain has total sovereignty over your life rather than a God in heaven. When I feel no responsibility for my choices and at the same time feel powerless to overcome my genetics and physiology, then Satan has won the day. This view is a current “big lie” of the enemy that we must push back on rather than caving in to pseudoscience. There is some good stuff our there by world class researchers who are also dedicated believers. I encourage you to read some in this area. Caroline Leaf’s books would be a great start. Blessings in Him and choose to have a good day.

We need to live with the understanding that as followers of Christ our primary role in the kingdom is to represent Him. Paul declared that we are ambassadors of Christ (2 Cor.5:20).  We represent heaven on earth and speak for our king. The key to understanding our role as representatives is simply to understand the word. We are to re-present Jesus. We are to fully present him again to the world by doing what he did, saying what he would say, and displaying the same heart he displayed when he was on the earth. We are to live and serve in such a way that people see him accurately in each of us.

Jesus represented the Father when he walked the earth. In the Gospel of John he says, “When a man believes in me, he does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. When he looks at me, he sees the one who sent me. I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness. As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it. There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day. For I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it. I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say” (Jn.12:44-50).

Notice the phrases taken from the text. “When he looks at me, he sees the one who sent me…For I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it…So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.” These words echo what Jesus told Phillip shortly afterwards when he said, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (Jn.14:9) and “The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father living in me who is doing his work” (Jn.14:10).

Jesus came to show us the Father. He did what the Father would do if he were physically present on the earth. He said what the Father would say in the way he would say it. That is representation. When Jesus left the earth, there should have been no question about what the Father was like. If you wanted to know the Father, you simply had to look at the Son.

We are to represent Jesus by living in the same way he modeled life for us. That doesn’t mean we all become itinerant preachers – although he may call some to do that. It means that we display Him in whatever context we are in. He lives in us by his Spirit just as the Father lived in him. The Holy Spirit is present within us to lead us, remind us of his words, empower us for miracles, and reproduce the heart of Jesus in us so that we can accurately re-present him to the people around us.

Representing Jesus is the function of the church. We cannot display only a part of Jesus and accurately re-present him to the world. If we preach the gospel but do not heal the sick we have not done what he did. If we heal the sick and cast out demons but do not love the broken and the sinful, we have not fully displayed Jesus. If we do not confront legalism and hypocrisy in religious leaders we have not duplicated him or his ministry. If we do not live and love sacrificially, then people cannot see Jesus in us.

I know that is a tall order but that is the goal and it cannot be done in our own strength but only by the power of the Spirit. If our heart is to fully represent Jesus in every setting, the Holy Spirit will certainly empower us to do so because that is the heart of the Spirit as well. He came that he might show Jesus to the world and is quite willing and even excited to do that through us.

Just a few years ago, the fad in Christian circles was WWJD – what would Jesus do? It was on bracelets, tee shirts, coffee mugs, etc. I haven’t heard that so much lately but it truly is the heart of the mission and should be written on our hearts not just on our coffee cups. When that truly becomes our heart’s desire, then I believe we will see the power and the impact of Jesus like never before. As “charismatic” we talk a lot about being “Spirit-filled.” Too often we think of that as simply being filled with the power of the Spirit to fuel our spiritual gifts.  But to be Spirit-filled would actually be a life  filled with Jesus and to be fully like him in every way.

If I’m honest, there are too many times when I am wanting Jesus to represent my agenda rather than me representing his. I am wanting him to make me look good rather that me making him shine. When my motive is me, then I will never see Jesus nor his power manifested in me as he desires and as I desire in my best moments. May the Spirit of God enable us all to re-present the risen Lord in every way and in every circumstance in which we find ourselves. Be blessed in serving Him today.

I live in a world where spiritual warfare is considered a normative part of the Christian life. I believe that is a very biblical perspective. After all, Paul clearly believed that our struggle is push back against the reign of God. He also believed in divine weapons that were essentially not against flesh and blood but against spiritual powers and principalities that different from the weapons of the world and that are laced with supernatural power.

Because of that reality, the church was granted gifts that display power in the spiritual realm – gifts of healing, prophecy, words of knowledge, miracles, and so forth that have the capacity to dismiss demons, declare God’s will and authority over situations, heal the sick, and even raise the dead.

All of these gifts and the authority that goes with them are amazing and – let’s say it – they are fun and exciting. They get the adrenalin pumping and open our eyes to a realm we can typically only see by faith. Once you experience these gifts you become hungry for more because they display the heart and power of God. Suddenly we are drawn to books and conferences that promise growth in these gifts and areas of spiritual warfare – prophecy, healing, deliverance, hearing God, baptism in the Spirit, and so forth. I’m all for these conferences and I will certainly attend some. However, I have also noticed that in the rush to grow in the gifts and experience more, we sometimes neglect the essentials that actually support and nurture the gifts.

One of those areas is the essential practice of prayer and spending extended times with the Father. Maybe this is my personal struggle but I find that pursuing the gifts is exhilarating as well as getting in the trenches with deliverance and praying for healing. But those are also sporadic. Like football, the intensity of game time comes around once a week. It’s fun. It’s intense. It produces great stories and we get to see God do his stuff. The practice that prepares us for the game is daily and sometimes tedious. It doesn’t get the hype of the game but without practice, games are lost.

Our American lifestyles compete with this need to spend time with God because our lifestyles are comprised of getting up early to begin our ridiculously busy schedules and going all day until we fall into bed. We try to pray on the run. We listen to a sermon in rush hour traffic. We grab a YouTube sermon somewhere and hope that we are somehow spiritually nourished. The truth is that to be filled with the Spirit and operating in “the gifts” as we want to requires more. Great athletes don’t train on fast food. They are intentional and consistent with their diets and exercise. Fast food is okay once in a while, but if that is the norm, their performance will suffer. No gold medalist that I know of trains exclusively on Big Macs.

Somehow, in the midst of our busy-ness, we must find consistent time with God in prayer and meditation on his Word. These are the essentials that support game days. I’ve always been amazed at Jesus. He had only three years to save the world – three years to demonstrate his credentials as Son of God, to establish his mission, and to train those who would carry out his mission after his departure. Preaching, healing, training, confronting. Day after day that was his schedule and he had to do it all through personal appearances. The future of the world hung on those three years and yet he never seemed hurried or frantic. He found time for it all and found time for private, extended periods with the Father. He found time for it all because he first found time for the Father. We all want to be Spirit-filled, but we get filled by spending time Him. We all want to be empowered, but we receive power by spending time with Him as well. We all want to hear God more clearly but we learn that by spending extended, consistent time with him in prayer, meditation, and listening.

Bill Hybels wrote a book a few years go entitled Too Busy Not to Pray. It’s a good read but his point was that we often forgo prayer because we think we have too much to get done and yet, when we do take time to pray, God orders our days so that we get much more done. He makes the case that the busier your are, the more imperative it is to take an hour with the Father or you will never get it done and your stress levels will stay redlined. I have found that to be true.

So…while we are chasing a greater anointing in the Spirit and while we are basking in the glow of supernatural breakthroughs, we need to maintain the essential practices that got us there in the first place. We need to discipline ourselves to the relationship and not just the bi-products of the relationship. Renee York, the wife of our former senior pastor at Mid-Cities and a friend of mine, once summed up our prevailing attitude in the church. We were talking about prophetic gifts and growing in those and she said, “Hey, I don’t want to have to work for this, I just want an impartation.” We laughed, but underneath it all, I think we all want that. That’s why conferences that offer impartations do so well. The problem with an impartation is that I may get the gift before I have the relationship to sustain it.

We all look forward to game days, but without practicing the essentials on a day-to-day basis, we will fall short in the heat of competition. We will not have the strength or the stamina to finish the game nor the instincts to defeat the opposition unless we have done the homework. I’m writing this as much as a reminder to me as for anyone else, but in case you have slipped into the mode of pursuing the gifts more than the giver, I just wanted to remind us all. Without constant contact with the giver of the gifts, these gifts will fade or morph into something unintended. So…be blessed and find the time.

 Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.” 2 Corinthians 6:14

Having stated the principle of separation, Paul gives a list of reasons for the separation. In general, he makes the case that because the Spirit of God lives within you, you are sacred and set apart for exclusive service unto God just as the temple was. Anything that is profane or secular that touches the sacred defiles it. To underline his command, he simply asks a series of rhetorical questions.

He first asks, “What do righteousness and wickedness have in common?” and “What fellowship can light have with darkness?” He lists two incompatible things that are polar opposites. In many cases, we are so desensitized to the world that we often don’t see wickedness for what it is. The Greek word is anomia which means lawlessness. Righteousness is living based on God’s standards or God’s law. Of course, we don’t always measure up to his standards but we have an “imputed” righteousness through the blood of Christ and an innate desire to live up to the standards. An unbeliever does not submit to the law of God nor does he desire to but lives by a set of worldly standards that have been established by the prince of this world. Although those standards may have an appearance of goodness and morality, the basis for the standards is polar opposites. The righteousness of the kingdom is based on the moral nature of a holy God who will judge men and nations. Worldly standards always place man as the judge of all things and truth as his truth rather than the creator’s truth.

The world can imitate goodness and morality but at the core, righteousness exalts God while wickedness exalts man and self. Eventually, that road will lead us away from God and the fallen nature will have its way. When speaking of light and darkness Paul simply reminds us that they too are incompatible. Fellowship implies close and harmonious association. Darkness is the absence of light and light pushes out darkness. They cannot coexist in the same space. From God’s perspective, believers are incompatible with unbelievers because the Holy Spirit living in us makes us so different from the unredeemed that we can only be contrasted not compared. Again, I think our desensitization to the sin and self-centeredness around us dims our awareness of how different children of light are from children of darkness. But God does not lose sight of the vast difference.

Paul then raises he question, “What harmony is there between Christ and Belial?” Belial seems to be one of several Greek names for the god of the underworld and is a reference to Satan. Believers belong to Christ while unbelievers belong to Satan. Most unbelievers are unaware that Satan owns them and would deny that they serve him but there is no spiritual Switzerland – no neutrality in the spiritual realm. We either belong to Christ or we belong to Satan and the two have declared war on one another. There is no peace between the two kingdoms and to be yoked to an unbeliever opens the door to the presence of the enemy. Satan will always use his subjects to draw you away from Christ. To be in a binding relationship with an unbeliever is making an alliance with the one who rules over him or her and that “ruler” is bent on destroying you.

Paul then summarizes his point by asking what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever. Of course, you might answer that you both like baseball or that you both need love and purpose and those things would be true, but Paul is talking about our natures, our allegiances, our purpose, and our destination. From Paul’s perspective, you have nothing eternal in common with an unbeliever.

Paul finishes with the rhetorical question, “What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God.” This again raises the question of the sacred mixing with the profane. The temple and everything in it was dedicated to the service of God. Because the presence of God was in the temple, great care had to be taken to purify all of the grounds and instruments related to the temple from sin. Sacrificial blood was sprinkled on everything on a regular basis to cleanse the temple and its furnishings from the defilement of sin. Any bowls, knives, plates, tables, censers, etc. that were used in the temple services were to be destroyed if they were ever used for ordinary purposes. Once you have been dedicated to the service of God you are not to involve yourself in anything that will defile you. In addition, idols are always associated with demon worship in both the Old and New Testaments and so Paul is declaring that to be yoked with unbelievers not only connects you to profane things that defile your sacred standing with God but also brings you into agreement with demons and empowers them in your life.

Our problem is that we don’t value the presence of God within us and the holiness of God as we should. We become careless with it and often compromise with the world and may even yoke ourselves to what is unholy in the eyes of God. But God calls us to be separate and to serve him only. He is not calling us to isolate ourselves from the world because them we could not rescue the lost from the dominion of darkness but we are to maintain a separation in our hearts and refuse to make alliances binding agreements, and covenants with anyone or anything that is not willingly submitted to Christ and made clean by his Spirit. Those relationships will always pressure us to compromise.

That does not mean that we separate ourselves from the lost or refuse to love them because God loves them. Jesus associated with sinners but never came into agreement with their values and never bound himself to them in order to win their approval or even their love. He never compromised his allegiance to the Father or his mission. Paul’s challenge is this section of scripture is for us to never forget who we are, who we belong to, and who lives within us. We must consider ourselves and all those who have the Spirit of Christ within them as sacred – as holy ground. We must also remember that those outside of Christ belong to the devil and have the spirit of disobedience within them. Our job is to bring them into the light not to participate with them in their darkness. You are holy. You are sacred. You house the presence of God. Live like it.

 Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”                       2 Corinthians 6:14

Sometimes it’s very beneficial to go back to familiar texts to see what else the Spirit will show you. The word of God always has more and is layered with truths. Jesus said, “Therefore every teacher of the law who has been instructed about the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old” (Mt.13:52-53). Each time you study the Word, whether an unfamiliar passage or a very familiar passage, you find not only confirmation of truths you have already discovered but discover new truth as well. The passage above is a familiar passage but I felt prompted to consider it again. It will take two blogs to do it justice so I hope you will bear with me. It is a very important text.

The first verse is usually translated as the NIV translates it above saying, “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. ” Some translations like the ESV say, “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers.” The idea is rooted in Old Testament law. Under the Old Covenant the Jews were not to intermarry with surrounding tribes who did not worship Jehovah (Dt.7:3) or plow with different types of animals in the same yoke (Dt.22:10). There were a number of laws that reinforced the principle of separation and purity even to the extent of not weaving garments out of two kinds of thread or material. The idea that God’s people are to live distinct lives driven by kingdom goals and values without worldly influence is a constant theme in both the Old and New Testaments. The root word translated as yoked means to be in agreement with. It also carries the idea of being influenced or tied together by covenants. When animals are yoked together they are bound and the movements of one influence the other. Not only was Israel to never marry those outside the covenant but also was never to make any treaties with foreign nations. Of course, they violated that principle over and over and the inevitable outcome was that Israel compromised her values in order to maintain the alliance and as a result alienated themselves from God and his blessings.

The apostle Paul clearly tells us that we are to avoid relationships with unbelievers that yoke us together in any kind of covenant or alliance because there are spiritual implications to those relationships. The truth is that you cannot enter into that level of relationship with an unbeliever and maintain that relationship without compromising your spiritual values. Throughout his writings, Paul is clear that the unsaved cannot understand or agree with spiritual matters because they do not have the Spirit of Christ in them. To them, many of your values will seem quaint, naïve, or unreasonable because their thinking is darkened. To maintain a relationship will create constant conflict unless you compromise your values and perspectives to some degree. It cannot be any other way. Think about how hard it is to maintain relationships even with those who do have the Spirit of God within them much less those who do not. Those who do not have the Spirit of Christ are darkened in their understanding (Eph.4:18) and are blinded by the god of this age (2 Cor.4:4). They may say they agree with you but cannot and because of that, there will be a slow but steady pressure in the relationship for you to compromise your relationship with the Father.

These “yoked” relationships that Paul had in mind probably had marriage at the top of the list. In Ezra 10, as the Israelites were rededicating themselves to the Lord, all those who had married non-Jews and even had children by them had to put away those wives and children because they were defiled by the relationships. Even Solomon, toward the end of his life, was drawn into idol worship by foreign wives he had taken for himself. Many of those were products of foreign alliances in which he took the daughter of another king to cement an alliance. For all of his wisdom, he was still drawn into a seriously compromised spiritual position because he allowed himself to be yoked with unbelievers. Yoking brings us into agreement with another and whatever or whoever we agree with we empower.

In addition to marriage covenants these yoked relationships can also include political alliances, business partners, dating relationships, and best friends. It is also important to know that Paul was not just giving wise counsel but was giving a command to believers. Whether or not your friend, your partner, or your love interest are aware of it, your yoking with that unbeliever gives Satan power in your life. When you enter into a binding relationship legally or relationally with unbelievers, you are entering into an alliance with the one they serve. We need to think seriously about that before joining ourselves to others that do not belong to God. That joining can take many forms and we will consider those in Part 2.