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.

I continue to be surprised at the lack of ministries dedicated to healing and freedom that we find among churches – even charismatic churches who believe in the full ministry of the Holy Spirit and who believe in the concept of spiritual warfare. You would think that Paul’s famous declaration, “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Eph. 6:12) would be enough to prompt churches to take spiritual warfare seriously. However, the great majority of churches apparently dismiss Paul’s words as simply a call to prayer only or as words meant only for the first century church.

In many of the churches who do take spiritual warfare seriously, you will find one or two veteran couples who will pray with people and minister deliverance to them. I am thankful for those who have ventured into those realms. However, many times these couples or individuals function as “specialists” and do not train others to help people find the freedom and healing that Jesus has purchased for them. Because of that there are still relatively few believers who can minister healing or deliverance or who receive it when they need it.
Over the past 6-8 years, our Free Indeed ministry at Mid-Cities has taken 1500-2000 believers through the fundamentals of healing and freedom and over 90% have reported experiencing a significant level of healing and deliverance through the process. That means that a great number of believers are in need of such ministry. The typical group of participants that go through our eight-week study are adults of all ages with about 30% attending from other churches in our community – mostly Baptist. As a non-denominational community church we have people from all faith backgrounds and from no background at all but the majority have attended church for years. Yet, they come to Free Indeed with a clear sense that there must be more to their faith than just the forgiveness of sins and that something within is broken and keeping them from experiencing the abundant life Jesus promised. They leave having experienced the power of the kingdom of Heaven in ways they have never known before and leave equipped to minister to others the healing and freedom they themselves have received. I believe that every church should have some kind of intentional process through which they minister freedom and deliverance and through which they equip their people to do the same for others.

Some people shy away from deliverance ministries because they think that those involved must have special spiritual gifts or that such ministries ultimately become weird and divisive in churches. Even pastors of charismatic churches tend to shy away from such ministries. They are comfortable with prophetic words, praying for physical healing, and even tongues but show little interest in equipping the saints for spiritual battle in the trenches. As a result, tens of thousands of Christians in American churches continue to try to live for Jesus while walking in tremendous brokenness and bondage. How strong and vibrant could the church be if every believer was set free from his/her past traumas and set free from demonic affliction?

I do not believe those who minister deliverance have to have some specialized gift from the Spirit. There are certain some gifts that facilitate the process like words of knowledge and spiritual discernment, but deliverance is more of an exercise in authority than in giftedness. Not all of us have the gift of evangelism but all of us have the capacity to lead someone to Jesus. Deliverance is much the same. In addition, I do believe that the Spirit will dispense more gifts when we begin to step out in ministries where those gifts are needed. All of that is to say that deliverance ministry should not be reserved for a few specialists but should be taught to the average believer in the same way that we teach evangelism or prayer.

Regarding the concern that deliverance ministries get weird and so create division, I have not seen that to be the case when teams are trained and operate under Biblical principles. Paul’s directive that all things should be done decently and in order pertain to deliverance ministries as well. When believers run into what is undeniably demonic or begin to experience something personally that they believe is demonic, they will eventually turn somewhere for help. If their church has not taught principles and realities of spiritual warfare and if their church does not have someone who can minister in that area with balance and wisdom, they will go outside the church and then may encounter the very weird a pastor fears.

Not teaching on biblical issues and realities in every area of spiritual life will create a situation in which church members are forced to go somewhere else for ministry or training and will either then leave the church or bring those teachings and experiences back to their church. That is what most often creates division. When there is a well thought out theology and process for healing, inner healing, and deliverance that is taught to a team who then ministers to others and teaches those they minister to as well, the church will become a greenhouse of spiritual health and freedom that will bless marriages, families, and the community.

Our ministry consists of eight weeks of study in a small group setting formed around tables in a larger class with two trained table leaders and six to eight participants. The eight-week study of essential discipleship and spiritual warfare principles are followed by an all day event on a Saturday in which we activate inner healing and deliverance. The eight weeks of “table time” and homework builds trust in the leaders and the process and lays foundations for experiencing healing and freedom. It also enables those who have received healing and freedom to maintain that healing and freedom. As the saying goes, The first battle is to get free. The second battle is to stay free.” Shortcuts to healing and deliverance that don’t lay adequate foundations often fall short in the long run as people lose their healing and freedom within a few weeks of receiving them.

Freedom Ministries that are intentional, consistent, theologically sound, and that equip leaders can bear tremendous fruit over a period of a few years. A choice not to develop such a ministry leaves a tremendous number of God’s children in brokenness and bondage. If you know anyone who wants to develop such a ministry at his/her church, we are more than glad to help facilitate that effort and to share our resources. Paul declared, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Cor.3:17). Freedom for every believer is the expectation of heaven. It is not automatic but it is available as part of every believers birthright. I hope that wherever you are, if your spiritual family does not have such a ministry that you will pray for that to happen and , perhaps, share this with your pastor.  Like loaves and fishes, you will be amazed with what God will do when we just step out in faith with the little that we have.

How many of us in a moment of anger or frustration, speak hurtful words and then later brush them aside by declaring that we really didn’t mean what we said? There is something about the spiritual realm that holds us to the words we have spoken…even if we didn’t mean them. Genesis records a moment that illustrates this important principle.

As Isaac was aging and contemplating his own death, he felt it was time to speak “the blessing” over his older son Esau. The blessing was a huge part of the inheritance a father would grant his son. It closely resembled a prophetic word that the father would declare over the son and that God would honor. The things spoken by the father would surely come to pass in the ensuing years so it was counted as inheritance. The younger brother Jacob and the fraternal twin Esau had always competed. Esau was delivered first and was counted as the oldest. The eldest son on Jewish culture was always given a double portion of the inheritance with “the blessing” being part of that. Esau was Isaac’s favorite son because he was an avid hunter and outdoorsman. Jacob was the favorite of his mother Rebekah. When Rebekah overheard Isaac planning to speak “the blessing” over Esau after a meal of wild game, she conspired with Jacob to steal the blessing. While Esau was still in the field hunting, Jacob pretended to be his brother. Isaac was essentially blind in his old age and so the ruse succeeded.

Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come here, my son, and kiss me.” So he went to him and kissed him. When Isaac caught the smell of his clothes, he blessed him and said, “Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed. May God give you of heaven’s dew and of earth’s richness— an abundance of grain and new wine. May nations serve you and peoples bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed and those who bless you be blessed.”

After Isaac finished blessing him and Jacob had scarcely left his father’s presence, his brother Esau came in from hunting. He too prepared some tasty food and brought it to his father. Then he said to him, “My father, sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your blessing.” His father Isaac asked him, “Who are you?” “I am your son,” he answered, “your firstborn, Esau.” Isaac trembled violently and said, “Who was it, then, that hunted game and brought it to me? I ate it just before you came and I blessed him—and indeed he will be blessed!” When Esau heard his father’s words, he burst out with a loud and bitter cry and said to his father, “Bless me—me too, my father!” But he said, “Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing.” Esau said, “Isn’t he rightly named Jacob? He has deceived me these two times: He took my birthright, and now he’s taken my blessing!” Then he asked, “Haven’t you reserved any blessing for me?” Isaac answered Esau, “I have made him lord over you and have made all his relatives his servants, and I have sustained him with grain and new wine. So what can I possibly do for you, my son?” (Gen. 27:27-37).

The critical point here is that once the words were spoken, something was set in motion that Isaac could not retrieve even though the blessing had been fraudulently obtained. He might have protested that he didn’t mean to speak those words over Jacob, but it didn’t matter. They were spoken with the authority of a father and the words would be fulfilled. In a sense, Isaac was careless with his words. If you read the story he sensed that something wasn’t quite right but declared the blessing anyway. We too are often careless with out words.

Our mistake is that we think the spiritual realm is like the natural realm where words mean little and where we are rarely held accountable for what we say. The spiritual realm, however, holds us accountable for word we speak. We often speak words over others that can constitute curses in the spiritual realm. We say things such as, “I wish you had never been born. You’ll never amount to anything. No one will ever want you. You’re such a loser.” We often speak the same kinds of things over ourselves and, if asked, would probably say we were just upset and didn’t mean those things.

However, our negative words that we spoke intentionally or unintentionally can constitute curses and give the enemy a legal right to enforce the things we have spoken. Our words may be enforced by demonic spirits who delight in afflicting and oppressing individuals, families, churches, or nations to whom they can gain legal access. Our carless words can give them that access. That is especially true if we have spiritual authority over those about whom we spoke the words. That is never more true than when parents speak over their children.

Scripture repeatedly warns us about our words. A quick read of Proverbs will confirm God’s concern about what we speak. As believers, our words have authority. That is why we are instructed to always bless and never to curse. Jesus instructs us to bless even our enemies. One reason is because we are promised that we will reap what we sow. If we sow curses, we too will eventually reap the negative outcomes we have spoken over others. However, if we make blessing the constant flavor of our speech, those blessings will also return to us. We need to be sure to speak them over ourselves as well as others. “The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit “ (Prov. 18:21).

If careless words are an issue with you, ask the Holy Spirit to make you aware of your speech. Ask those closest to you to also make you aware of your words. This is not a little thing in the Kingdom of Heaven. “But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken” (Mt. 12:36). Be blessed by speaking a blessing.

Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census of Israel. So David said to Joab and the commanders of the troops, “Go and count the Israelites from Beersheba to Satan Dan. Then report back to me so that I may know how many there are.  Joab replied, “May the Lord multiply his troops a hundred times over. My lord the king, are they not all my lord’s subjects? Why does my lord want to do this? Why should he bring guilt on Israel?” …. The Lord said to Gad, David’s seer, “Go and tell David, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am giving you three options. Choose one of them for me to carry out against you.’ ” So Gad went to David and said to him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Take your choice: three years of famine, three months of being swept away before your enemies, with their swords overtaking you, or three days of the sword of the Lord—days of plague in the land, with the angel of the Lord ravaging every part of Israel.’ Now then, decide how I should answer the one who sent me.” David said to Gad, “I am in deep distress. Let me fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercy is very great; but do not let me fall into the hands of men.” So the Lord sent a plague on Israel and seventy thousand men of Israel fell dead. 1 Chronicles 21:1-3, 8-14

This is a tremendously instructive account found in both in 2 Samuel 24 and 1 Chronicles 21. We don’t know the specific context, but something made David vulnerable to the promptings of Satan to have a census taken of all the fighting men of Israel. It would seem prudent to know what your resources were for war but this census was apparently prompted out of pride and a sense that Israel’s safety was in the hands of the military rather than in the hands of God. Something about the heart behind the census was offensive to God and so when the David overruled Joab and the census was taken, the judgment of God was released against Israel. So what lessons can be drawn from the account?

First of all, David knew that it was the Lord who saves not personal or even national power and might. Even as a young man he was convinced that it would be God who would deliver Goliath into his hands not his own strength or prowess. He knew by experience that God could guide a single stone and bring down a giant or a nation. We are told in several places that David was a man after God’s own heart. But here is the lesson. We also know that David could operate out of his flesh at times and not out of God’s Spirit. Bathsheba comes to mind and now the census of fighting men. The truth is that the best of us can be overcome by a moment of stupidity and at times the consequences can be overwhelming – especially for leaders. Joab was not a particularly spiritual man but David’s order was even repulsive to him. God often puts people around us to warn us of bad decisions. Because we know that any of us can be vulnerable at times, we should listen to their objections. If we know we are moving ahead by faith and the direction of the Lord we can ignore the objections but we must check our hearts and our motives when those close to us raise concerns. We may be acting our of selfishness, pride or simply ignorance.

Secondly, Satan will attack people and nations through their leaders. Satan didn’t just hate David but the entire nation because God loved Israel. That is why we must pray for leaders on a national scale and a local scale. We must pray for church leaders, business leaders, and parents who are leading families. Decisions made by leaders can bless or even curse those they lead. Leaders often loose sight of the fact that their decisions will greatly impact not only themselves but those they lead and love. Satan has the ability to blind our judgment. People begin to think that what they choose will only touch them and everyone else will be fine. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard people justify divorce and declare that their children will be fine and will understand why they are divorcing their spouse for someone who makes them happier. That rarely if ever happens. David listened to Satan’s promptings and seventy thousand men died leaving many more widows and fatherless children. Leaders must guard themselves and their judgment by having people around them who will tell them the truth.

Thirdly, David made a right choice after having made a wrong choice. He placed himself in the hands of God rather that than in the hands of men. If David had maintained that mindset before, he wouldn’t have felt the need to number the fighting men because when they went to war they would entrust themselves to God no matter what the numbers. When we trust men for outcomes more than God, we will also end up with less than we could have had. My wife and I went to an investment broker one time who assured us that we were giving way too much money to the church by tithing and that we needed to stop that if we were ever to reach our financial goals. If we had taken his advice I’m certain it would have cost us blessings from God that will come through our trusting him more with our finances than a investment counselor.

Toward the end of the story, David was allowed to see into the spiritual realm where he saw an angel with his sword drawn over Jerusalem directing the judgment of God. David cried out to God, “Was it not I who ordered the fighting men to be counted? I am the one who has sinned and done wrong. These are but sheep. What have they done? O Lord my God, let your hand fall upon me and my family, but do not let this plague remain upon your people” (1 Chr. 21:17).   The fact that David owned up to his sin, took personal responsibility for it, displayed godly sorrow, and showed more concern for the people than himself allowed God to extend mercy and withdraw his judgment. Those are the conditions for mercy in the Kingdom of Heaven. Too many leaders who have sinned never take responsibility for what they have done or find some way to justify or minimize what they have done to deflect their personal responsibility. In that case discipline continues while the penitent leader who is willing to be responsible finds mercy.

As the story continues, the angel of the Lord told the prophet Gad to tell David to offer a sacrifice on behalf of the people. David found a man named Araunah who was threshing wheat and offered to buy the wood he was using for the threshing sled and for the oxen he was using to pull it. Araunah offered to give him whatever he needed for the sacrifice but David responded, “No, I insist on paying the full price. I will not take for the Lord what is yours or sacrifice a burnt offering that costs me nothing” (1 Chr. 21:24). David paid the man, offered the sacrifice, and the plague ceased.

Although animal sacrifices are not part of the New Covenant, the concept of sacrifice continues. It is the act of freely giving what you find valuable unto the Lord. Paul tells us that we are to offer our bodies as living sacrifices unto the Lord (Rom. 12:1). We are also instructed to offer up a sacrifice of praise continually and that doing good and sharing with others is considered a sacrifice by the Lord (Heb:13:15-16). David established the principle. Our sacrifices of time, service, and even finances are still to be costly. When we give to the Lord it must not come from the leftovers that we care little about or only when it is convenient for that costs us nothing. David was a man who made mistakes but who also got it right in so many ways.   The Father gave us his best so we must give him our best. That is an acceptable sacrifice. Too many of us serve God if we have time after we have done everything we want to do. We give financially as long as our projects are funded first. We do only the things for God that we enjoy and turn down the requests that we don’t find fun or personally fulfilling. In acceptable sacrifice there is always an element of cost and washing feet as Jesus washed the feet of the twelve.

David is a great example of how to live and, at times, how not to live. I’m grateful for the transparency of David and the scriptures. My greatest take away from David is always that men can make huge mistakes but then turn back to God with all their hearts and be counted by God in the end as great men of faith. So often the proof of a man or woman is not whether they avoid mistakes but how they respond after they have totally blown it. Great lessons for us.