I occasionally run into committed Christians who have no interest in politics and who stay at home on election nights without casting a vote.  Their feeling is that politics is of this sordid world and we are to be invested in spiritual enterprises rather than the mudslinging of American political parties. I certainly agree that current politics are worldly, fleshly, and even disturbing.  Media coverage is aggravating on both sides and seems to sow fear, discontent, and division at every level.  Watching it steals our peace.  There are seemingly many spiritual reasons to withdraw from the process and insulate ourselves from the shouting and the slander of our political system in America. The devil clearly has the upper hand in this arena. If want to stay away from all that, I get it. So do I.   The question, however, is not about our comfort and our emotional well-being as much as it is about living out God’s will in our lives.  What is his will concerning our involvement in the political process of America?

Jesus taught us that we are to be in the world but not of the world.  That doesn’t mean that we are to isolate ourselves from society like monks walled off in a desert monastery.  We are not to hide from the world, but to overcome it.  Neither are we to compromise with the world but to lift up a higher standard without an aroma of pride or self-righteousness.  Jesus is our model.  He certainly did not hide from the world but engaged with drunks and tax collectors and even had conversations with women whose lives were marked by sin without compromising his faith. Not only that, but he engaged the political system of his day on a regular basis as he spoke with and, sometimes against, the power structures of Israel and Rome. In each case, he was the influencer rather than the influenced. That is the key.

We tend to hide away so that we won’t be defiled by a fallen culture.  We take the Old Testament approach.  We avoid the lepers or the sinners so that contact with them won’t make us unclean. But the New Testament model is counter to that.  We touch the lepers and make them clean and we engage with the sinners to be salt and light in their darkness.

We all know the Lord’s Prayer and, especially, the part that goes, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”  God’s kingdom comes to earth when his will is done here.  The Great Commission is another expression of that mandate.  We are to make disciples of nations, not just a few individuals within those nations.  His purposes will not be fulfilled here until we redeem culture because that is what defines nations. Redeeming culture and even politics is taking back from the enemy what he has stolen. To redeem it, we must first pray for it because Jesus was teaching us to pray. But after praying, we have to influence culture in order to redeem it.  To influence something we have to engage with it.  Salt changes the flavor and light changes the atmosphere. We are to be both in the nation where God has placed us.

In America, much of our influence will come through the people we place in positions of leadership.  We do that through the political system.  Our political system is a mess but it is not evil in itself.  It has become evil because we, as believers, to a large extent, have removed our involvement and our influence.  When light is removed, darkness appears.  Rather than abandoning the system, we should overwhelm the system by flooding it with prayer and believers who run on platforms that sincerely reflect God’s values. Scripture says that righteousness exalts a nation.  God, then, connects righteousness with the state of a nation and certainly it’s very destiny.  Our part is to be a leaven for righteousness in this country.  Leaven invades every part of the dough.  We cannot withdraw from those parts we consider worldly and still be leaven, rather we should direct more leaven to those areas.  We should not be defiled by the world, but it should be made clean by our touch. We should not be defiled by our politics, but our politics should be made clean by our involvement.

I know….sometimes you can’t seem to justify voting for either candidate.  But you are not voting for a candidate as much as the values he or she will imperfectly represent.  A vote can push back against the darkness. It can’t eradicate sin (only the gospel can do that), but it can restrain sin and that is a step in the right direction.  It is one way that good resists evil. God is neither Democrat nor Republican.  He is the standard, however, that will judge this nation if believers withdraw from the process. Our goal as believers should not be surrender and withdrawal, but to aggressively take back territory that the enemy has stolen.  We do that with prayer and engagement. We can do that immediately through our vote if we vote for kingdom interests.

Paul said, “I have become all things to all men, so that by all means some might be saved.”  In other words, Paul determined to use every tool available to advance the kingdom of God on this planet.  I believe a vote bathed in prayer is one of those tools.  So…I encourage you to pray diligently over this next week for God’s Spirit to direct the hearts of those entering voting booths so that they vote for kingdom values whether or not they understand what they are doing. I also pray that every believer will do the same so that his vote and her voice will be a leaven for the righteousness of God to once again permeate our culture.

Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death. “Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe.” The royal official said, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” Jesus replied, “You may go. Your son will live.” The man took Jesus at his word and departed. While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, “The fever left him yesterday at the seventh hour.” Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” So he and all his household believed  (Jn.4:46-53).

This is a familiar story from the Gospel of John.  Jesus had grown up in Nazareth as the son of a carpenter.  Nazareth and was less than 20 miles from the Sea of Galilee and less than four miles from Cana. He performed hundreds of miracles in the region of Galilee, the northern province of Israel in which the Sea of Galilee rests.  Many of those were in Capernaum, a small city on the northwest shore of Galilee. Two notable miracles were seen in Cana. The story above describes the second notable miracle in Cana where Jesus had earlier turned water into wine.

The background is important here because in Mark 6 we are told that Jesus had returned to Nazareth after performing a number of miracles in Jerusalem and other towns in the region.  Even though they had heard about his miracles, we are told that he could do none in Nazareth because of their unbelief.  Familiarity was their problem.  They had watched Jesus grow up in the shop of his father Joseph and could not see him as a prophet or the Messiah, but only as the carpenter’s son. In their minds he could never be more than that.  Sometimes we need to get away from our old friends and family for us to take on our new identity in Christ because their inability to see us as a different person sometimes gets in the way of our ability to see ourselves as a different person.

In contrast, John tells us about a royal official whose son was sick in Capernaum and near death some 16 miles from Cana. Jesus had already performed miracles in Capernaum so we can assume that when the official’s son became gravely ill, hearing that Jesus was back in Galilee, he  went after Jesus.  Perhaps, he went on horseback or walked, but his mission was to find Jesus and take him back to Capernaum to heal his son.

After finding Jesus and pleading with him to return to Capernaum to heal his son. Jesus simply told him “You may go.  Your son will live.”  The remarkable statement in John is, “The man took Jesus at his word and departed.” That is the core of faith.  Faith is taking God as Father, Son, or Spirit at his word and acting on it. Too many of us, myself included, tend to analyze the words of Jesus and then add our own “except when” or “except for me.”  We tend to add footnotes that add qualifications to his words or his promises when he simply wants us to take him at his word.  The minute we qualify his statement or add a disclaimer, the enemy has won.

I’m not saying that we should not be honest about our struggles to believe. Most of us believe Jesus totally in some areas of our lives but in other areas we are the man who cried out, “Lord I believe, help my unbelief.” Perhaps, the dividing line is defined by those promises on which we take action and those on which we want to give it some more thought. The royal official didn’t continue to coax Jesus to come with him. When Jesus told him his son would live, he headed home.  The remaining question seemed to be whether Jesus was given a revelation as a prophet that his son would eventually overcome his illness or whether Jesus had the power and authority to direct healing from a distance. When the official heard that the fever left his son at the same time Jesus had declared that he would live, the question was answered.  Surely Jesus was more than a prophet because even the great prophets of the Old Testament had to be present for healing to occur.

What promises do we say we believe but hesitate to take action on?  Which promises do we believe for others, but not ourselves?  What promises do we say we believe but then add qualifiers for when the promise might be true?  Those are the questions we need to ask ourselves so we can address those areas of our lives for which we need more faith.   Then we can mediate more on the promise, pray for a greater gift of faith from the Holy Spirit, listen to the testimony of others, and choose to take action on the promise even while a small cloud of uncertainty may still hover above our heads. Our goal is to bring our requests to Jesus, take Jesus at his word when we receive a promise, and then depart believing that it is done. That is the faith that moves mountains.

Many, if not most of us, have been part of a church where the accepted practice was for individuals, marriages, and families to project an image of relational health and spirituality that approximated the Christian idea.  The truth is that very few of those individuals or families were very close at all to the image they projected. In all fairness, they projected an image because they thought they would be rejected by their Christian community if they didn’t “have it all together.” Our fear of being judged and rejected is the very thing that often keeps us in bondage to the thing we won’t confess.  Whatever we won’t acknowledge and confess has power over us.

James tells us, “Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed^” (James 5:13-16).  Not only physical healing but spiritual and emotional healing as well come through confession.  Confession of sin or weakness is simply choosing to be transparent with God, a mature believer, and even yourself.  It is simply agreeing with God about some part of your life that is misaligned with the Father’s will and acknowledging it to others.

Transparency allows healing for several reasons.  First of all, many illnesses – physical and emotional – are manifestations of demonic spirits.  It is amazing how many illnesses and infirmities in scripture were caused or, at least, maintained by unclean spirits. The list includes blindness, deafness, seizures, muteness, back problems, etc. All of those were healed immediately after a demon was cast out.  We also see individuals tormented by demons and the scriptures name spirits of fear, heaviness (depression), confusion, and a host of other spirits that affect our emotions. If we have sin in our lives that we haven’t dealt with through the cross, then that sin gives the enemy a legal right to afflict us until we have confessed the sin and repented.  Transparency through confession enables us to rid ourselves of those demons.

Secondly, I believe that everyone’s deepest fear is the fear of being unloved, i.e. rejection.  We avoid transparency because we fear that if others were to become aware of our shortcomings, they would no longer accept us or love us. The truth is that many of us have experienced the withdrawal of love because we didn’t live up to another person’s demands or unrealistic expectations.  We learn early to hide our failings or to blame others for them.  As long as we hide our failings, our fears, our weaknesses or our sins we will never overcome them.

Paul told the church at Galatia, “Brethren, if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each onelooking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ” (Gal.6:1-2).  The sense of “being caught in a trespass” is not that someone discovered another person’s secret sin, but that someone has been entrapped or overtaken by a sin or a weakness. The wisdom here is that we should confess our sins to the spiritually mature because they will not reject us and they will maintain appropriate confidentiality.  The spiritually mature are all too aware of their own weaknesses and have long since stopped judging others.  They see themselves in a priestly role of hearing confession and dispensing grace to those who need it.  It is very healing to share your deepest shame with another person and discover they do not reject you but respond with love and compassion to your vulnerability.

Satan works in the dark.  When we hide our sins and our struggles, he will reinforce them and use them against us.  He will constantly blackmail us with the fear of discovery until we choose to bring our struggle into the light.  He then loses his power over us.  Both our acceptance by the spiritually mature and our choice to be transparent with our sins or weaknesses is healing.  I want to emphasize that ff you have something to confess, do so with people you can trust.  Ask around. People in a church tend to know who will dispense grace and healing rather than judgment.  It is usually those who have chosen transparency themselves.

A third transforming power in transparency is found in John’s first letter. “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 Jn.1:8-9).  The word translated as “purify” in this verse is a word that means to remove a stain from cloth.  Sin leaves a stain – a residue in our hearts, our minds, and even in our genetic makeup. I believe that as we confess our sin and receive God’s forgiveness, the Spirit of God gets busy scrubbing out the stain so that it loses its influence.  It no longer remains addictive and has less and less power to draw us back.  It loses its power to produce shame in us and even them memories take on a different meaning for us. Confession or transparency also tends to broaden our own awareness of areas within us where the Spirit needs to do some work.  Just as important, sharing my fears and my failings with someone else is also an exercise in taking personal responsibility for my actions.  That is also a first giant step in spiritual maturity.

This decision to be transparent is a powerful step toward freedom and healing. In many cases, God requires it. Transparency and acceptance have been the power and attraction of twelve step programs for decades and the church in many places could take a page from their playbook. As essential as transparency is, I will admit that not every environment is safe for us to be open about our struggles. Because of that, I suggest that you ask the Lord to lead you to a safe place. Some churches are very transparent because their leaders are transparent. Perfection isn’t required and if someone pretends to be perfect they are not trusted in those churches. Small groups can be that place of safety.  If that is not available, ask around and find a spiritually mature person to mentor you. In that mentoring relationship you will find safety to be transparent.  Moments of transparency are transformative. Even Jesus, who was without sin, was transparent with his closest disciples. He didn’t try to be superman.  He acknowledged that he was tired. He expressed doubt and frustration at times. In the Garden, he shared that his soul was overcome with sorrow and dread asked them to stay with him and pray.

We need people with whom we can be totally transparent.  It is healing and it is a significant door to freedom.  But I also believe that we should not live life as an open book because many people can’t be trusted with our openness.  The gospels tell us that Jesus wouldn’t entrust himself to men because he knew what was in their hearts.  With those closest to him, he was totally transparent.  Our transparency must be guided by wisdom and not recklessness or a false sense of spirituality because we are totally open and totally frank.  Proverbs tells us to measure our words and speak them at just the right time and in just the right ways, rather than blurting out whatever comes to mind at any moment.  Having said that, however, we will not overcome some of our deepest wounds and most besetting sins until we openly talk to someone about them. Commit to it and ask God to provide that moment and the people you need.

If you have ever seen many of the Hollywood depictions of Jesus in years gone by, you might notice a common thread that runs through most of them.  In most of these movies that span decades, Jesus always seems to be somewhat sad or somber and is barely affected by what is going on around him.  Philip Yancey called this the Prozac Jesuswho had little emotional reaction to the world around him, as if he were perpetually medicated.  I suppose the film directors thought that demeanor made him look spiritual or “other worldly.”  One of my favorite depictions, however, was the Gospel of Matthew with Bruce Marchiano. First of all, Marchiano looked Jewish instead of being tall with blond hair and blue eyes.  But more than that, he was emotional.  He was alive and animated. When someone hurt, he hurt with that person.  When someone laughed, he laughed.  When someone was healed, he was just as excited as the person who suddenly saw colors and shapes for the first time.

I like that because when we see someone set free or healed, we get excited.  I love to see someone experience Jesus in that way.  What we need to remember is that it is important for individuals to experience Jesus rather than simply experiencing healing or the one through whom Jesus healed the person.

When it comes to healing, I believe that the more we point people to Jesus, the more healings we will see.  Paul declared, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes” (Rom.1:16). There is power in the gospel and the gospel directs our faith to the one who heals.

Healing is obviously a great evangelistic tool. We always hear reports about great revivals in third world countries where hundreds or thousands are healed and come to Jesus, but healing should be even more available to God’s people than to the lost in those nations.  Faith is the currency of heaven and faith resides in believers.  Spiritual gifts were given to build up the body of Christ including the gifts of healing. The psalmist declares that God forgives all our sins and heals all our diseases (Psm.103:3).  Speaking of Jesus, Isaiah wrote, “Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed” (Isa.53:4-5).  Isaiah is clear that Jesus died and bore not only our sins, but our infirmities and diseases as well. James also promises healing to God’s people.  “Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed” (Ja.5:14-16).

I think that sometimes we believe God is more willing to heal the lost, so that they might come to Jesus, than he is willing to heal the saved.  But the principle is that God’s gifts are reserved for his people first and, then, for those outside the family. We are told, “Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers” (Gal.6:10).  Remember when the Gentile woman came to Jesus asking for him to cast a demon from her daughter? His reply was that he was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel and that is wasn’t right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs (Matt.15).  Of course, she replied that even the dogs get the crumbs and, because of her faith, Jesus healed the daughter.  The point is, however, that God reserves his gifts first for his children like any good father.

As the gospel is shared and people are pointed to Jesus, faith has the opportunity to rise in that person and as they accept Jesus, the gift of healing becomes more available to them that before because it is part of our New Covenant with God.  A fair question then is, “Why does it seem that more unbelievers are healed in great crusades than believers in churches?”  I believe it is because, by and large, we have not taught the full gospel to the church.  The gospel should promise not only the forgiveness of sins, but the healing of infirmities and sickness as well since Jesus bore all of that on the cross for his people.  Strictly speaking, we should believe in healing every bit as much as forgiveness. Both are promised as a result of the sacrifice of Messiah. A biblical study of “salvation” indicates that salvation does not just provide blessings after the funeral but on this side of the grave as well and includes not only forgiveness but provision, protection, freedom, and healing.

The power of the gospel is that it produces faith for all the things the blood of Christ purchases for us.  Pointing people to Jesus – his love, his sacrifice, and his intercession – is a great prelude to healing.  So…as we get excited about healing or any of the other gifts, we should not forget the giver of the gifts but clearly point people to him before they ever unwrap what he is giving them.

Is there ever a time when a person is clearly demonized but deliverance is not in order?  We all want to help.  We all want people to experience the goodness of Jesus. We all want to push back the borders of the dark kingdom.  But is deliverance always in the best interest of the person? There is probably a part of each of us that initially says, “Of course!”  But Jesus shared a story that raisesa caution flag in this area.

After being accused of casting out demons by the power of Satan and then being asked for a miraculous sign, Jesus said, “When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first” (Mt.12:43-45). He then compared the nation of Israel to that man.

A lot of believers find this story disconcerting. Without understanding the issues, it creates fear about deliverance and the enemy coming back in force.  The issue for the man in the story was not that he had been demonized and set free.  The problem was that the demonic spirit left a vacancy that was not immediately filled by a new tenant. The new tenant should have been the Holy Spirit, so that when the demon returned, he would have found a “no vacancy” sign.  Any demon that is cast out is likely to return in an attempt to reclaim his territory.  If the same demon that was cast out doesn’t return, another will come along.

There is an old adage related to spiritual warfare that says,” The first battle is getting free; the second battle is staying free.”  The key is in understanding what gave that spirit a place in that person’s life in the first place.  Demons set up a habitation in men and women because something has given them a legal right and an open door to do so.

The danger in just ministering deliverance to someone is that the individual may have a wide open door in the spiritual realm that will allow that demon or others to quickly return.  Before deliverance, some discipleship is usually in order and, for none believers, an introduction to Jesus.  We need to remember that the demonized individual has probably coexisted and functioned with the demon for years, so a few more days or weeks won’t be the end of things. (A person tormented by a spirit of suicide might be the exception if they seem unstable.)

There are three main entry points for demons: persistent, unrepented sin in the past or present, generational sins and curses, and trauma.  If a person has lived a life of sin in the past or has been involved in the occult, demons may have set up residence then and, even if the person has repented and come to Jesus, there may still be a demon or two to deal with. The door may be closed to new residents, but the old residents may still be renting out a room.

If a person is currently in a sinful relationship or hiding secret sins such as an addiction, the door is open.  If the person is divisive, angry, a chronic gossip, or has refused to forgive someone, etc. then there is currently a wide open door. If they do not acknowledge their sins and repent, the door will stay open, the demon will return and, perhaps, bring others, so that the person may be worse off in the end than in the beginning.

Sins of the fathers as well as curses coming down to the children to the third and forth generation may also constitute open doors that need to be closed before deliverance.  A great deal of demonic oppression comes down through bloodlines. Curses established by the words or actions of ancestors carry demonic assignments.   Until the sins that established the curse are renounced and the curse is broken, those demons will have a legal right to continue to afflict the person. Occult involvement, violence, and sexual sins of the fathers seem to be primary doors for demons to establish a stronghold in families.

Demons also seem to find entrance into the mind and emotions of individuals who have experienced trauma. Prayers for healing and the touch of Jesus to mend broken hearts is often in order, as well, before deliverance.

The warning related to the words of Jesus is not to rush in and create spiritual vacuums that may be refilled by the enemy because they remain vacant.  Spending some time discovering the broken places in an individual, past life styles, ungodly relationships from the past or present, generational sins, family patterns that suggest a curse, and, especially, unforgiveness is time well spent. In addition, exploring whether or not the person you are ministering to is actually saved is always a good idea. Many demonized people go to church and identify as Christians, but have never actually surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus.  Until they do, they have no defense against the enemy. Dealing with sin, curses, and trauma closes the door so the enemy can’t return. Asking Jesus to fill that person with his Spirit takes care of the vacancy.

If a person is not willing or is not ready to repent of sins, exit an ungodly relationship, forgive someone who hurt him or her, or is not ready to make Jesus their Lord, deliverance might make things worse rather than better and you may want to pass on setting them free – at least for the time being.  The same is true for physical healing.  The same things can get in the way of physical healing that get in the way of deliverance, so visiting about those issues and aligning the person with Jesus may increase the number of people who actually get healed when you pray and the number that maintain their healing.  Spirits of infirmity are behind many physical illnesses so deliverance may also be needed before physical healing can be accomplished.

So…to parody Hamlet…To deliver or not to deliver…that is the question. Take your time, pray about it, and visit with the individual.  Ask pertinent questions.  If you free a person and the demon returns, they will assume that deliverance doesn’t work or isn’t even a real thing. It may even be difficult to cast out a demon when that spirit’s legal right to afflict the person still stands. If they cannot get free or experience nothing as you minister deliverance, then they may not be open to deliverance again. Just know that it is not always in the best interest of a person to minister deliverance until some basic discipleship and discovery occurs first.