When the name Jesus is spoken, what is the first image that comes to your mind? It might be a favorite image from childhood – the one in which Jesus is tenderly holding a little lamb. It may be the familiar image of Jesus lovingly blessing little children who have come to him. As an adult you may first imagine Jesus on the cross as your much-needed savior, Jesus walking across the waters of Galilee, or Jesus graciously protecting the woman caught in the act of adultery. Each of these images would depict a facet of Jesus that is accurate. For the most part, we have come to think of Jesus as the gentle carpenter from Galilee who was willing to lay down his life for each of us so that we might have eternal life. All of us are in extreme need of grace, so we typically think first of the gentle, forgiving, healing, and shepherding Jesus.

There is nothing wrong with that, but there are times when we need another image. When we find ourselves in a showdown with the devil, we don’t need a quiet, gentle Jesus but a powerful and victorious savior who would go to war for us and with us. There are several images of Christ in scripture that I want to point to briefly that may become your focal point when it is time to go to war.

One of these images catches my attention in John’s gospel when he records the words of Jesus speaking to the Father. He said, “I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began” (Jn.17:4-6). Jesus is speaking about his position in heaven before he put on flesh and lived among us. Earlier in his gospel, John had recorded the words of Isaiah and then gives us a phenomenal insight into the pre-flesh Son of God. He says, “For this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere: ‘He has blinded their eyes and deadened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn—and I would heal them.’ Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him” (Jn.12:39-41).

He is quoting from the famous passage in Isaiah 6 that declares, “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.’ At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple were filled with smoke” (Isa.6:1-4). Isaiah is given a vision of Christ’s glory before he came to earth and that glory is what Jesus asked the Father to restore.

From a distance, this vision seems glorious and sweet, but in the moment Isaiah received it, he was terrified. Jesus was huge, power, and glorious. He sat on a throne ruling the universe surrounded by weird creatures who0 declared his glory day and night. This Jesus was no one to be trifled with. No little lambs here but rather awesome and even fearsome power and authority.

Another image also comes from John in the book of Revelation. John tells us, “I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written:‘King of Kings and Lord of Lords’” (Rev.19:11-16). This is a picture of Jesus riding out to make war against his enemies. The blood on his garments is not the blood of the lamb, but the blood of his enemies.

In Ephesians 4, Paul reveals that after his death, Jesus descended into hell and plundered the devil. He ascended with captives in his train giving gifts to men. This is the picture of a Roman general’s “triumph” as he would march through the streets of Rome pulling captives behind him and giving part of the spoils to friends as gifts. Jesus is painted as a conquering general here who has completely decimated his enemies and returned home to glory.

Finally, Paul shows us another image of the power and authority of Christ when he declares, “Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil.2:9-11).

There are times when I need to perceive Jesus as the gentle shepherd, searching for me and binding my wounds. There are other times, however, when I need him to be a fierce warrior who rises in anger at those who would hurt me and comes to me as the conquering general and commander of the armies of heaven, ready to decimate those who would attack me. When we are under spiritual attack, this is the Jesus we must hold in our minds and present to the enemy. When demons encountered Jesus on the earth they were terrified. They knew who he was.

I think we shy away from this Jesus because we fear his wrath will be turned against us, but his blood has satisfied his wrath. His wrath is now reserved for the devil and his angels and his unmatched strength and authority is ready to be wielded on our behalf. When demons, disease, or premature death rears its head, this is the Jesus we should call on, for he is surely willing to come. Read Psalm 18:6-19, when you need the ultimate warrior and the Lion of the tribe of Judah by your side.

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Can two walk together, unless they are agreed? Amos 3:3

The somewhat familiar passage from the Book of Amos listed above, embodies an important principle in the spiritual realm. Basically, it states that those who are in agreement with one another form some kind of unity – they walk together. That’s because there is no neutral ground in the spiritual realm. You are either with Jesus or against him. He declared, “He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters” (Mt.12:30). There is no “unaffiliated” category in the unseen realm. You are either a believer or an unbeliever. There is no “agnostic” box on the ballot.

Because of that, agreement is critical to our relationship with God. That’s why James warned the “double-minded,” who were trying to live with only a partial commitment to the Lord and his standards, by saying, “That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does” (Ja.1:7-8). Being double-minded is not just about whether I believer there is a God or not or whether I believe that Jesus died for my sins. It more often falls in the category of whether or not I believe God’s word is true for me.

Most Christians, if asked, would immediately declare that they believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God and is, therefore, true. Knowing what is true is critical because Jesus taught that the truth will set is free. And yet, my experience is that many, many Christians are not free. They are still in bondage to past hurts and past mistakes. They still walk under a cloud of rejection and condemnation. They still feel insignificant and unworthy. They still do not feel the love of God and often medicate their emotional pain with some addiction. These good people love God, pray, and attend church on a regular basis and yet can’t seem to break free from their pain and their pasts.

It is also my experience that, on a personal level, they do not believe God’s word for them. In conversations or counseling sessions, they often respond to the promises of God with, “Yes, but…” When God’s word declares his love for them, his provision, or their value and significance in Christ, they reject that truth for them. The issue is that they give their emotions, the wounding words of mothers or father, or the lies of the enemy more authority than the word of God. As they “disagree” with God’s word they unknowingly agree with Satan and through that agreement he gains a foothold in their life. The underlying belief in their objections is that if their feelings don’t agree with God’s word, then his word is not true…at least not for them. It is a trap that prevents many of God’s people from experiencing the freedom that Jesus has purchased for them. Remember that the blessings of heaven are accessed by faith.

The path to healing and freedom often must begin with a decision of the will to declare that God’s word is true regardless of our feelings. It’s good to confess that our emotions and automatic thoughts don’t line up with the Word as long as we stand on the truth that we are in error rather than scriptures – that our emotions are liars rather than God. Our prayer and our confessions must be aimed at bringing our feelings and automatic thoughts into alignment with God’s word rather than distorting his word to match our emotions.

The key to realignment is the renewal of our minds and the revelation of the Spirit in our hearts. The renewal of our minds will come with a constant expression of God’s truth through our own verbal declarations, meditation, conversations, writing the scriptures, memorization, etc. It is how we establish new neural pathways in our minds and extinguish old pathways that contain and prompt our automatic thoughts. At a deeper level, we need the Spirit to give us a revelation of those truths in our hearts as we pray for that revelation and listen to his voice. As we renew our minds through the Word, that truth eventually seeps down into our hearts where the real issues of life reside. Revelation, however, seems to be a moment when the Holy Spirit bypasses our intellect and deposits God’s truth in our hearts. When that happens, God’s truth overrides the lies the enemy or life has written there.

It all hinges, however, on our first and persistent decision to give God’s word more authority than our own feelings, hurtful words, wounds from the past, and our old thought patterns, which often contain lies from the enemy.   Think about your agreement. Where are you agreeing with Satan more than God? Wherever we would say, “Yes, but,” concerning God’s word and his promises for us, there is a pocket of unbelief. Those pockets can give Satan a foothold, which eventually becomes a stronghold. Ask the Holy Spirit and your spiritual mentors to point out the “Yes, buts” in your life. Apply the word of God to those places and give God’s word more authority than those old familiar feelings and beliefs. It is your first step to freedom.

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How many of us have prayed for a change of circumstance for months or years without seeing any significant change? Those prayers may be asking for the salvation of a loved one, a financial increase, a career opportunity, the healing of a damaged marriage, or a solution to a long-term health problem. When we have prayed consistently for a long-term problem, we are hoping for breakthrough. Breakthrough is the moment that a door opens, a heart changes, an offer materializes, or a health solution or supernatural healing arises. It is that moment when progress begins again.

Sometimes, prayer feels like you are swinging a battering ram against a huge iron door. At first, you began with optimism believing that the battering ram of your prayers and efforts would jar the door open. But after days and months of trying, the door may be scuffed but still feels impenetrable. You often think about quitting but something keeps you going. Then one day, with one final swing, the door hinges weaken, then break, and the once impossible door topples to the ground. You can now move ahead for victory. Breakthrough is a biblical theme. There are numerous stories of breakthrough in the Bible. From these, we can glean insights and principles for our own breakthroughs. Some of the best are in the Old Testament.

One of the most interesting stories in all of scripture is the account of the battle of Jericho. After forty years in the wilderness, the second generation of those who came out of Egypt crossed the Jordan River into Canaan. The first order of business was to take Jericho – a fortified city with a huge, imposing wall. Israel had no weapons of war for destroying walls. When Joshua inquired of the Lord about a strategy for breakthrough, the Lord said, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have all the people give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the people will go up, every man straight in” (Josh.6:2-5).

When facing Jericho, the Israelites needed a literal breakthrough. The strategy the Lord gave them seemed ludicrous from a natural point of few. But as the men marched, the priests blew the shofars, and the people shouted, the walls collapsed into rubble. The fighting men then charged into the city and victory was secured.

The first thing we see in this account is that breakthrough does not come by trusting in our own strength and wisdom but in doing it God’s way – even if conventional wisdom says that God’s way is totally contrary to reason. For instance, those who are needing financial breakthrough most likely would be counseled by “financial experts” to stop giving to the church or to certainly stop tithing until they were totally of out debt. The Lord says to tithe first, even in the face of lack, and then he will open the floodgates of heaven (Mal.3:10). The wise man said, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding” (Prov.3:5). Too many times, when we are seeking breakthroughs, we try to engineer the outcomes on our own. We fail to ask the Lord what he would have us do and often are unwilling to wait on him. We plunge ahead and sometimes create more opposition to the breakthrough we need because we were operating out of fear, the flesh, or our own wisdom.

Secondly, the wall fell when the priests blew the ram’s horns and the people shouted. The wall fell when the priests and people expended their breath. The word translated as breath is ruach in Hebrew. Ruach may be translated as breath, wind or Spirit. Breakthrough is the ministry of the Holy Spirit. As we release the Spirit though our prayers and declarations, then breakthrough can come. God declared through Zechariah, “Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty” (Zech.4:6). Breakthrough often comes when we stop trusting in out own efforts, our own manipulations, and when we quit striving with God as if we have to talk him into blessing us.

When we finally say that we are done, that we are helpless, and that we have no ability to affect the outcomes, then God often moves. Otherwise, we would assume that victory came through our efforts and our brilliance. Throughout scripture, God instructs his people to follow many unorthodox (crazy) strategies. They were strategies that would utterly fail without the Spirit of God giving supernatural victory. David Hernandez puts it this way. “Breakthrough does not come in your struggle; it comes in your surrender. It won’t be found in some brilliant strategy or aggressive action. Only when you do as God commands is the Holy Spirit able to bring down the walls that inhibit your progress” (David Diga Hernandez, Encountering the Holy Spirit, p.73).

For those seeking breakthrough, I believe this is spiritual counsel. It stands on two basic beliefs: God is good and God is powerful. Because he is good, he hears our prayers and is willing to act. Because he is powerful, nothing is too hard for him. He can do more than we can ask or imagine and is willing to do so when we trust in him rather than ourselves. Of course, there are things that may get in the way…unbelief, unrepented sin, unforgiveness, etc. that God wants us to remove so that his blessings are not bottlenecked. But, I think the bigger issue is trusting him enough to do it his way and depending fully on him. Just wanted to share some thoughts on breakthrough and may the Lord give you the breakthrough you need.

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me…Isa. 61:1

The word anointed or some form of it appears nearly 700 times in the Old Testament. Anointing oil was used extensively in the temple services. In Exodus 29, God gave Moses specific instructions for consecrating the priests who would serve in the Lord’s presence.

This is what you are to do to consecrate them, so they may serve me as priests…Then bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting and wash them with water. Take the garments and dress Aaron with the tunic, the robe of the ephod, the ephod itself and the breast piece…Take the anointing oil and anoint him by pouring it on his head…And take some of the blood on the altar and some of the anointing oil and sprinkle it on Aaron and his garments and on his sons and their garments. Then he and his sons and their garments will be consecrated.

Anointing oil was poured on priests, prophets, and kings in order to consecrate them for service to the Lord. It was also used to consecrate the altar and furnishings in the temple. To consecrate something is to dedicate it and set it aside for sacred service unto God. Anointing oil represents the Holy Spirit. In Isaiah 61, Jesus revealed that he had been anointed for his ministry because the Holy Spirit had come upon him. When Jesus was baptized by John, the Spirit descended from heaven and rested upon him in the form of a dove. From that moment on, Jesus was led by the Spirit and empowered by the Spirit. In the same way, when we committed our lives to Jesus, the Holy Spirit took up residence within us and marked us as those who belong to God. The Spirit is our anointing. The anointing marks us as those who belong to Jesus and empowers us for ministry.

The anointing oil used in the temple was made up of specific ingredients and was to be used for no other purpose. “Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Take the following fine spices: 500 shekels of liquid myrrh, half as much (that is, 250 shekels) of fragrant cinnamon, 250 shekels of fragrant calamus, 500 shekels of cassia—all according to the sanctuary shekel—and a hin of olive oil. Make these into a sacred anointing oil, a fragrant blend, the work of a perfumer. It will be the sacred anointing oil^” (Ex.30:22-25).

According to David Diga Hernandez in his book Encountering the Holy Spirit, each of these ingredients symbolize a quality that is important for us to recognize regarding our own anointing. He says that myrrh represents purity; cinnamon represents sweetness; calamus represents the fragrance of worship; cassia represents roots and growth; and olive oil is an essential substance produced by pressure. Purity, sweetness, worship, deep growth, and pressure are all elements of our anointing that we must willingly engage.

The greater the purity in our lives, the greater the anointing. Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God” (MT.5:8). Anointing is all about the presence of God. Purity invites the presence while impurity discourages the presence. If we desire a greater anointing, we should be more concerned about purity…not with the world as our standard but with God as our standard.

Sweetness is the opposite of bitterness. Bitterness in our hearts places a ceiling on the anointing that can be released. Grace, forgiveness, generosity, etc. allow increase in our anointing. We should do a spiritual CT scan of ourselves on a regular basis to root out any bitterness that may be infecting our soul through envy, jealousy, unforgiveness, a judgmental spirit etc.

Worship is essential to anointing. The face of Moses glowed after being in the presence of God on Sinai. Worship brings us into his presence. It includes thanksgiving as well as praise. An increase in genuine thankfulness and praise should bring an increase in anointing.

Rootedness also is a key to our anointing. Jesus said we should build on solid rock rather than sand. We should provide good soil for the word to grow and put down deep roots. We should plant ourselves by the river of God (the Holy Spirit) so that we grow like well-watered trees bearing good fruit. We should never be satisfied with our current level of relationship with Jesus, but should always want to go deeper.

Finally, we should not despise pressure or difficulties, since it is pressure that squeezes the olive until the olive oil runs out. In a sense, olive oil is the medium that ties all the other elements together. When trials come, we tend to “press the Spirit for more.” If pressure causes us to press into the Spirit for more, then our anointing will increase. If we take offense at God because hard times have come our way, then our anointing will decrease. Perhaps, that is one reason that James counseled us, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (Ja.1:2-4).

So then, as we ask for a greater anointing from the Spirit, we should cooperate with the Spirit by being mindful of those things that defile our hearts and minds and beware of any root of bitterness that is starting to plant itself in our soul. We should increase our worship and set our roots deeper in the Word of God.   We should also experience pressure and difficulties without complaint as we press the Spirit for more.

That is how we partake of the anointing oil of the temple now that we ourselves are the temple of the Holy Spirit. We are not to pour it on sparingly but abundantly as we consecrate our hearts and lives to the one who sent his anointing to us. The anointing oil produced a sweet, almost heavenly fragrance that should be evident in our lives. Paul declared, “For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing^” (2 Cor.2:15). The anointing produces fragrance. The more of it that rests on us, the more attractive we are both to the saved and to the lost as we present Jesus.

Very often we forget that the greatest heroes in the Bible typically began as those voted least likely to succeed in their graduating class. One of my favorites is Gideon. We are told in the book of Judges, “The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, ‘The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.’ ‘But sir,’ Gideon replied, ‘if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian.’ The Lord turned to him and said, ‘Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?’ ‘But Lord,” Gideon asked, ‘how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family’ (Judges 6:11-15).

The context of the story was that God had indeed turned Israel over to Midian because of decades of unrepented sin and idolatry. Midian had totally oppressed Israel and had taken everything of value from God’s people including the crops they harvested. Israel had little food, less money, and no standing army or even a cache of weapons. In addition, during seasons of Israel’s rebellion, the Lord was often very silent and his word was heard only on rare occasions.

In the midst of that, Gideon was threshing wheat in a wine press as he hid from the Midianites. An angel of the Lord appeared on the scene and opened the conversation with a strange statement. He said, “The Lord is with you mighty warrior.” Undoubtedly, Gideon must have thought this was a case of mistaken identity. As far as we know, Gideon had no military experience. He certainly didn’t view himself as mighty or as a warrior. His identity was that of a poor, insignificant man from an insignificant family.

Interestingly, he didn’t even bother to respond to the “mighty warrior” part, but simply asked, “if God is with us, then why are we in such a deplorable mess?” It was his way of saying, “Yeah. Right.” In his lifetime, he had not seen any of the miracles he had heard about when God brought Israel out of Egypt and into the “promise land.” He had not experienced the “milk and honey” of Canaan that God had promised through Moses. He had not witnessed great victories by the Jewish military as in the days of Joshua. All of those things must have seemed like bedtime stories or exaggerated legends from the past.

We are not so different. God tells us who we are in Christ. He tells us that we are children of the King walking in great authority. He tells us that he has given us power to heal, raise the dead, and cast out demons. He tells us that we each have great destinies in Christ. In essence, he tells us that we are mighty warriors and too many of us respond just as Gideon did. Our view of ourselves doesn’t match God’s declaration over us so we think, “Yeah. Right. I sure don’t see any of that in me and where are the miracles I used to ask for?”

The truth is that, at some point, we are all Gideon’s. God sees us differently than we see ourselves and begins to speak a destiny over us that we must choose to accept or reject. The question is always whether we give God’s word more authority than our feelings or past experiences.

The praiseworthy quality in Gideon was first honesty and second was his willingness to work with God on the proposition that he might be a mighty warrior who would eventually free Israel from Midian’s oppression. There are three things we must always keep in mind about our God.

1. God does not lie (Titus 1:2).
2. When God sends forth his word, it accomplishes his purpose (Isa.55:11) .
3. God calls things that are not as though they were (Rom.4:17).

When God called Gideon a mighty warrior, it was not flattery but destiny. The qualifier was that God would be with him. For God to be with us in a venture, we must exercise some level of faith. Gideon’s faith was a bit tenuous to start, but he took first steps. The first was to ask for confirmation that he was hearing from God through this “man” and not from some misdirected prophet or from the jumbled wells of his own imagination. God honored the request. The angel who had appeared as a man, touched a rock with his staff where Gideon had placed an offering. Both the offering and the angel disappeared in a burst of flame.

As you read the story, Gideon kept asking for more confirmations and taking next steps. In asking for confirmations such as the fleece he put out twice, Gideon wasn’t doubting the character of God but rather his own ability to hear God. God was willing to work with Gideon’s imperfect faith because Gideon was willing to take next steps as God answered his requests for confirmation. In the end, Gideon did become a great warrior through whom Midian was defeated and in the process saw the miracles of God he had only heard about before. God did not lie; his word did produce a mighty warrior, and what he had called out that did not exist before, did come to pass.

When God speaks our identity and destiny over us through his written word, through a whisper from the Spirit, or by a prophet, he wants us to believe enough to engage in the process. Take next steps and even ask for confirmation that we have heard him correctly. In the beginning, Gideon could only see himself as a man who was an insignificant son tin an insignificant family in Israel. Like all of us, he hoped for more but could just not see it with his own eyes. But God had planted that hope in him to be more and, at the right time. invited him to become more than he ever imagined. He wants the same for us and has promised to be with us.

Our part is to believe. Engage with God in conversations about what we think we are hearing or sensing and, at least, be willing to take the next step of faith as God prepares the way. So…mighty warrior…what will you do for Him today?

Repentance is a foundational concept in the New Testament and is a requirement for entering the kingdom of God. Both John the Baptist and Jesus launched their kingdom campaigns by preaching, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” On the Day of Pentecost, in the first post-resurrection gospel sermon, Peter declared, “Repent and be baptized everyone of you…” Repentance is a very important key to the kingdom.

The Greek word that is translated “repent” is metanoeo. It means to change your mind or your way of thinking, to adopt another view, or to feel differently about something. It often carries with it an emotional component of regret or remorse for the foolishness or even evil of former ways of thinking. Most of us have been taught that repentance is about stopping sinful behaviors and replacing those behaviors with good deeds or better ways of thinking. That is included in the concept of repentance, but repentance is not limited to that. In fact, limiting repentance to a change of behaviors greatly hinders our life in the kingdom.

The truth is that our behaviors flow out of our beliefs and perspectives. Sin is a fruit of thinking that is misaligned with the Father’s thinking. Doing away with sinful behaviors is the fruit of having changed the way we think about how we have been living. If we are simply changing behaviors and not changing our thought patterns, perspectives, and values, then we will continue to sin in our hearts and our thoughts regardless of our actions. We will also continue to sin in our actions, only in more subtle ways that are not so obvious to others.

The failure of religion is that it focuses on behaviors much more than an essential change of heart and mind. Jesus addressed that problem in his “sermon on the Mount” recorded in Matthew 5. In that section he keeps saying, “You have heard that it was said…But I say unto you…” Each time he would point to a behavior (anger, adultery, retaliation, etc.) that had been defined by the Law of Moses, but would then point them to a change of heart that went much deeper.

To truly enter the kingdom of God, we must change the way we think, the way we view life, the way we see ourselves, and the way we see others. We must learn to focus on the spiritual rather than the natural and on the eternal rather than the temporary. We must learn to love our enemies and bless those who curse us and our words must reflect what is truly in our hearts.

Kingdom living requires an extensive remodel of our thought lives. Paul counsels us to make every thought obedient to Jesus Christ (2 Cor.10:5) and calls us to no longer conform to the pattern of this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Rom.12:2). If I only focus on the things I should do or should not do, my thought life will be minimally transformed and my life will be minimally transformed as well.

When I’m angry, I should ask the Holy Spirit to show me the source of my anger. Was it pride, fear, insecurity, or a damaged self-image that prompted the anger? When I discover what makes me vulnerable to an angry response, then I need the Word of God and the Spirit of God to change my perspective (my mind and my heart) about God, others, and myself so that the responses of broken and hurtful people toward me don’t trigger anger, but rather compassion, blessing, and prayer.

The gist of this is that we should focus on our thought life more than our behaviors since what we do flows out of what we think. Our actions and emotions are clues to our thought life but are symptoms rather than causes. David was wise enough to pray, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Ps.139:23-24). Many of our deepest thoughts, beliefs, and values can be hidden from us and so it is wise to ask the Spirit, who searches all things, to reveal our thoughts or beliefs that are opposed to God’s word.

When we discover those beliefs, we should test them against God’s word, his values, and his truth. Repentance is bringing our thought life and belief systems into alignment with his word in every part of our life. Study, meditation, memorization, spiritual conversations, and prayer all work to renew our minds and to rewrite those things that are misaligned.   When our minds begin to mirror the mind of Christ, then we are able to perceive more of the kingdom and more of the kingdom is released to us. Bottom line…learn to think about what you are thinking.

In an instant, microwave culture, we often grow weary of prayers that have not been quickly answered and lay them aside believing that God has said “No” to our request. It is true that sometimes, our prayers will release almost instantaneous results. A person may be healed immediately or within hours. A check will come in the next day’s mail. A house will be sold in the afternoon when the prayer was offered in the morning, and so on.

But typically, like seeds, the words we have sown into the spiritual realm through prayer will seem to make no difference for a season. Like a woman who has just planted a garden, we will go out daily to see if anything is pushing up through the soil. Initially, there may be no evidence of God moving to establish what we have prayed. Like a master gardener, we will need to have faith, watch the soil, and continue to water with our prayers and declarations until we see the first green sprouts breaking through the soil.

Even after the first evidence of life, we will need to guard the initial progress with faith, diligence, and prayer. We will need to pray against the involvement of the enemy or command him to stay away in the same way that we would be vigilant to keep insects and “critters” from killing young plants. Eventually, we will witness a plant growing but that is still only the promise of a harvest. Then, after a season of growth, the harvest will come and there will be the full answer to our prayers.

Paul encourages us by saying, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (Gal. 6:9). The harvest comes if we do not give up. Undoubtedly, much of what God wants to do or is willing to do on the earth gets choked out because his people plant their seeds but do not continue to water them with prayer and other expressions of faith. After a short season, we too often decide that God is not going to answer our prayer or honor a prophetic word so we stop tending the plant and it is choked out by the enemy or by our own unbelief.

Speaking though his prophet, God said, “I foretold the former things long ago, my mouth announced them and I made them known; then suddenly I acted, and they came to pass” (Isa. 48:3). In this passage we are told that God’s word had been issued long ago and then suddenly everything came to pass as it had been declared. From an earthly perspective, something incredible happened all at once. From a heavenly perspective, however, God’s word had been germinating; things had been lining up for years; and all the ingredients had been assembled. Then, suddenly, the harvest came.

Have you ever driven down a familiar highway or street and suddenly noticed a large building that you swear wasn’t there two weeks earlier when you last drove down that road? It just seemed to materialize, as if someone had delivered an inflatable office building during the night and pumped it full of air so that is was standing straight and tall when the sun came up. The truth is that someone had been planning that building for months or years. Land was acquired. Architects had drawn up detailed blueprints. Loans had been secured. The general contractor had been accumulating materials and lining up crews. Prefab walls had been assembled and shipped to the sight. Cranes were contracted to be on the property on a specific date to lift the walls. All the permits had been issued. Concrete trucks had been scheduled along ago and were waiting to deliver.

Suddenly, when the day came, the workers and the materials converged on the sight and, within a few days, an impressive building stood where a week before there was only a vacant lot. It might take months to do all the finish work but something incredibly substantial seemed to spring up overnight. The harvest came in a week but the seeds of that building had been germinating for months and, perhaps, years. God often stores things up in the spiritual realm to be released in a moment. Not growing weary in the process is the key. If we know something is the will of God, then continuing to pray, declare, and command until everything has been arranged and released from heaven brings the harvest.

Too often we look for immediate results to determine whether God is responding to our prayers or not. We should be careful to never judge what is going on in the spiritual realm by what we see in the natural. To do so is to live by sight rather than by faith. The biblical record does show that numerous healings and deliverances from demonic oppression or enemies seemed to happen suddenly with no long-term, expectant faith prompting the miracles.   But it is also full of answered prayers that had been lifted up for decades and even centuries before the time was right for the answers. Abram and Sarah prayed for a child for decades. The Hebrew people cried out for deliverance from Egypt for several hundred years. The Psalms are filled with laments asking God how long it will be before he responds to the cries of their hearts.

The principle of sowing and reaping is such a constant theme throughout the scriptures that we must always remember the lag time between placing a seed in the ground and the actual moment of harvest. Time, temperatures, soil condition, and water all determine when the harvest comes. Paul says that one plants while another waters as God gives the increase. That is all process. Process takes time and some plants only bloom once in a hundred years. When we begin to pray into a desire, a dream, or a prophetic word that God has given us, we must be prepared to persist and not give up.

If the desire persists in your heart and if it lines up with God’s heart as revealed in scripture, keep praying unless the Lord tells you clearly to stop. If you have laid a prayer aside because of weariness, you may want to pick it up again. Paul tells us in Galatians that God will not be mocked. Whatever a man sows, that is what he will reap. Praying is sowing and the promise is that we will receive a harvest if we do not give up. Take heart. A harvest is promised and God is storing up all the elements of your harvest in heaven as you pray. If we continue in faith, the answer will suddenly appear and be all the sweeter because we have persisted.

Spirit-Led is one of the most common terms batted around in the modern church today. We even have it in our Mid-Cities Community Church Mission Statement. It has become part of our Christian jargon to the extent that we may say it without really having much understanding of the term. It is a biblical term. Paul wrote, “but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God” (Rom. 8:13-14).

There is an encouraging move in most denominations today toward an understanding and acceptance of the ministry of the Holy Spirit. More Christians are becoming comfortable with the idea of God speaking to us through his Spirit (The View not withstanding), not just through the written word, and many are opening up to the possibility that all the gifts of the Spirit may be in operation today. So the term Spirit-led is gaining wider usage…which I think is a very good thing.

However, we need to be clear about what it means to be led by the Spirit. I sense that what many mean by Spirit-led is that they are responding to a voice or impression they have received in their mind or emotions. I agree that the Spirit does lead us by those expressions and others, but not every voice or impression we experience is from the Spirit. Because of that, John cautions us, “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God” (1 Jn.4:1).

We should all want to be Spirit-led but we should also rigorously test what we are hearing or feeling. It is helpful to have a grid by which you can test the spirits so I want to offer a few bench marks for testing those things we hear, sense, or feel.

The first question should always be whether or not what I believe to be the leading of the Spirit lines up with scripture? All scripture is God-breathed (2 Tim.3:16) and the breath of God is his Spirit. Since the Spirit “inspired” the writers and since God is unchanging, then whatever we hear from him now will not contradict or disregard scripture. Everything we need to know for living a life pleasing to God is written in scripture. The first facet of being Spirit-led then is to live a life consistent with biblical principles and commands. If we are not willing to obey what is clearly written, we may not hear from the Spirit at all since only those who are faithful in little will be given more.

The written word is always our plumb line and first test for authenticity. Of course, we must know scripture in order to determine if what we are hearing lines up with it. If we don’t know scripture, then we should find someone who does. We should also remember that although God will never contradict his word, he may contradict our understanding of his word. If we are to be Spirit-led, we may need to be open to a fresh understanding of his word and his ways from time to time.

Secondly, does the message you are hearing reflect the Spirit of Christ who is humble, gentle, and loving…even in a rebuke? If the voice you are hearing as you attempt to be Spirit-led is angry, demeaning, threatening, or abusive in any way, it is not the Holy Spirit. If the voice is troubling rather than depositing peace in your heart, it is not from the Lord because Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid” (Jn.14:27).

Another test is whether the voice is calling you to holiness or is giving you permission to satisfy the desires of your flesh. I have known too many believers who have determined that God told them to leave their spouse for someone they had developed an emotional relationship with at work, church, or the gym. Their rationale was that God wants them to be happy and the other person is what would make them happy. However, God is much more interested in our holiness than our happiness. I have also known too many who were “told by God” to find another church as soon as they experienced some disappointment or relationship problem in their current church. And I have seen too many take the higher paying job although it would leave them no time for their family – confident that they were being Spirit-led. All of those scenarios turned out badly so we need to be sure that if we do whatever we are hearing, it will honor God, draw us closer to Jesus, and call us to a righteousness based on God’s standards not the standards of the world.

Another important test is confirmation. God is fine with us asking him for confirmation that what we have heard is from him and not from ourselves or the enemy. When you are hearing a voice that is calling you to significant life change or risk, you may want to have other godly people who regularly hear from the Lord pray for that confirmation as well. You may experience that confirmation as peace in your heart or an unusual experience that clearly points you one way or the other. Gideon asked God for confirmation that what he was hearing was from God rather than his own fantasy about being a hero for Israel. He set out a ram’s fleece twice asking for a different sign each time. God provided the confirmation without rebuke. He will do the same for us. Asking for confirmation is not doubting God, but is rather the recognition that we are fallible.

To be Spirit-led we must be sensitive to his voice or promptings. It is not so hard to hear his voice in our quiet times, when journaling, or in worship. But for most of us, it is much more difficult to sense his promptings in the crowd, in the midst of a busy day, or in the heat of crisis. At those moments, we may not have time to search the word, call others to pray for confirmation, or scan our hearts for selfish motives. When we feel prompted to pray for a stranger, share what we hope is a prophetic word with someone, stand up and speak out in a meeting, or share the gospel in the checkout line at HEB we will have to respond quickly. The basic question then is whether what we are about to do might be something Jesus would do. If the answer is “Yes,” then do it. Willingness to act on the prompting of the Spirit is more important in heaven then whether you heard The Spirit accurately or not.   A willingness to risk embarrassment for obedience is highly valued in the Kingdom of Heaven. As long as you act in love, you probably can’t go wrong. As we “experiment” with those spur-of-the-moment promptings, we will learn better how to discern the Spirit’s leading in those moments.

Spirit-led is our goal. It begins by allowing the Spirit to lead us through the written word and then comes to maturity as we learn to hear his voice and know it so well that we no longer need to question what we are hearing or even seek confirmation. Jesus said that he would send us the counselor, the teacher, the one who would lead us into all truth, and the one who would reveal the secrets of the Father’s heart to us. What an amazing gift. I’m thankful that more and more believers are beginning to discover that life can be Spirit-led and when it is, it is amazing. Blessings in Him.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Ephesians 6:10-13

The verses above are, perhaps, the most well known verses regarding spiritual warfare in the Bible. Sometimes it is worth going over familiar texts to see if the Spirit will give us any “new treasures” from the midst of the familiar, so let’s take a look.

It’s always good to take a look at the context of any scripture so that we might sense some of what was in the mind of the writer when he penned the verses. The Bible is anchored in history and the Holy Spirit was speaking into that moment of history whenever the scripture or letter in this case was penned. Here Paul was writing to a relatively small, fledgling church in Ephesus that was about ten years old at the time he wrote the letter from a Roman prison. Ephesus was a major commercial center as well as a center of idolatry. The temple of Diana (Artemis) was central to Ephesus and has been named one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Being a Christ follower was not politically correct in Ephesus. Not only that, but wherever there is extensive idol worship, there is tremendous demonic activity because behind every idol is a demon. Moses said, “They made him jealous with their foreign gods and angered him with their detestable idols. They sacrificed to demons, which are not God” (Dt.32:16-17). Two years after the writing of this letter, Nero would become emperor of Rome and a brutal persecution of the church would be launched.

Paul is writing to a church in hostile territory that would soon face persecution on an empire wide scale. If they did not already know, Paul needed to tell them or remind them of the some things we must all know during hard times.

First of all, in the face of day-to-day persecution from the citizens of Ephesus who were offended by the notion that Jesus was the only way to heaven and in the face of demonic assaults and more intense persecution on the horizon, they needed to know that strength and power would be found in the Lord. Whatever they needed to maintain their faith and stand against cultural and demonic attack could be found in the Lord and his strength would be their only real resource. Nothing else would do.

Secondly, they needed to know that the time would come when they would have to make a stand against the schemes of the devil. It wasn’t “if trouble came” but “when trouble came.” The most important concept in this text is that our struggle or wrestling is not against flesh and blood. The idea of wrestling is that the battle will get close, hand to hand, and face-to-face. It won’t be a drive by where the devil takes a shot and speeds away but we will have to engage him and persist in the contest to win.

In a microwave culture, many of us have no endurance. If the issue isn’t settled quickly, we give up. The devil is into protracted warfare that wears us down at times and uses up our resources. Understanding his strategies is key and also knowing that God will give us strength and power to resist…to stand. We may have to stand for a day, a month, or even years and we need to understand that.

Most importantly, since our struggle is not against flesh and blood, strategies and weapons of the natural realm will not do. Money, politics, psychiatry, drug therapies, self-help, and so forth will not be sufficient. We may be tempted to compromise and try to make peace with the culture around us, but Satan drives the culture and he will not compromise unless it gives him an advantage that he will use against God’s people at a later time.

Not only that but our struggle is against rulers, powers, world forces of this darkness, and spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenlies (spiritual realm). Not every demon can be easily brushed aside. There are ascending ranks in the demonic realm just as in any army and with the rank comes more power. We need both God’s strength and his armor when the day of trouble comes.

It may be a sobering thought that “the big, nasty demons” might come after you. Some believers fear higher ranking demons and hold back rather than going after major strongholds of the enemy, Paul alludes to these ranks but nowhere suggests that we should fear them. His point is that the strength and power of God, along with our spiritual armor is sufficient to stand against any of those listed. After all, he that is in us is greater than he that is in the world and our King has all authority in heaven and in earth.

Another aspect of this verse is that in our personal. Interior struggles, the main battle is also wrestling with the enemy more than ourselves. If Satan can convince us that we are the problem, we will never go after him with divine weapons but will continue to focus on our own issues, our own brokenness, and our own past with counseling, self-help, twelve step programs, and self-criticism. What we need instead will be the truth of God’s word about us and a dogged declaration of that truth over our lives with a bit of deliverance mixed in. We too often take blame for the sinful or crazy thoughts bouncing around in our heads rather than treating those thoughts as something coming from a lying spirit so that spirit operates without opposition. Remember, our struggle is not against flesh and blood…not even our own flesh and blood,

The key to victory is found in training ourselves to look to the spiritual realm first and the use of divine weapons as we face every challenge. I understand that not everything is demonic or spiritual, but we should start there and work back to the natural. Too often we operate in the natural and exhaust every “solution” the world offers before taking up divine weapons which, according to Paul, should be our first defense. God is more than sufficient, but we primarily stand in his strength and power when we engage the enemy in the spiritual realm with spiritual weapons rather than asking him to bless what the world offers. Think about it. Blessings in Him.

I believe that we need to increase our grasp on who we are in Christ. As ambassadors or representatives of Jesus, we must be able to re-present him to the world. That is why Jesus said that those who had faith in him would not only do the works that he had been doing but even greater things, (Jn.14). For us to do what he did, we must walk in the same authority he walked in. As we walk in that authority, our words carry a great deal of weight in heaven.

Because of our authority, our words can direct the favor of heaven. That is encouraging to me. To direct the favor of heaven is to bless. When Jesus sent out the twelve and later the seventy-two, he directed them to release their peace whenever they entered a home. The idea of that was to speak the blessing of shalom over the house. Shalom is the favor and prosperity of God in all things that touch our lives. Jesus was giving them the authority to direct the blessings of heaven.

I believe such a heavenly response to our words comes when we know who we are and when we believe by faith that God honors the authority he has given us to represent him. Of course, as stewards of the blessings of heaven, our Father would want us to be intentional and Spirit-led about those we bless. As we bless, we convey life because the tongue has the power of life. How critical is our awareness of this this truth? Priests bestow the blessings of God. In our role as priests, those around us need His blessings. Our children, our spouses, our families, our church, our leaders, and so forth need God’s blessings. James reminds us that we “have not because we ask not.” Perhaps, some don’t have because we do not ask or bless on their behalf.

Blessings are part of the fiber of the Christian life because they reflect the heart of God. Priests represent God to men and so, once again, we are his representatives who are called to rule as he would rule and also to bless as he would bless. There are nearly 600 expressions of the word “bless” in the New Testament alone. And remember, we are not just to bless those we love and enjoy, but even those who would do us harm.

Paul had many enemies who would have happily killed him if given the chance. But he declared, “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse…Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord. On the contrary: ‘If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Rom. 12:13-14:1).

Not every expression of shalom will come to rest on a person. God will determine that, not us. However, we are to be a constant source of life or blessing to those around us. If nothing else, our life giving speech in every circumstance should mark us as a unique people who also represent a God whose first impulse is always to bless. In addition, one of the great benefits of blessing even our enemies is that, like forgiveness, blessing others keeps our hearts from becoming hard, embittered, and alienated from the heart of God. Not only that, but with whatever judgment we judge, we shall be judged. If we judge others worthy of God’s blessings, those blessings will return to us as well.

Blessings come in all forms and fashions but are always expressions of good will and positive outcomes for those we bless. We are told that the kindness of God leads men to repentance so his kindness expressed through our blessings, even toward those outside of his will, can draw those men to God.

Not only should we speak blessings over others but also over ourselves. Our words release the blessings of God and we need the favor and prosperity of God in our lives as much as others do. I have a friend who lost a grown son to a tragic accident a number of years ago. As people would ask him how he was doing after his loss, he chose to reply that he was richly blessed. He just turned 96, and still lives in his own home in good health. I believe the blessing he speaks over himself several times a day has contributed to his long life and health.

The familiar passage from Proverbs declares that “the tongue has the power of life and death, and those that love it will eat its fruit.” In other words, if we love cursing others, then we will eventually taste the curses we have spoken over others. If we love to bless, we will eventually taste the blessings we have extended to others. Blessing others, then, is a great investment. May we all be sources of fresh water to those around us and, in doing so, be that much more like our Father in heaven.