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.

In the realm of spiritual warfare, we often hear conversations about making declarations over a circumstance or a person. So…what is a declaration anyway and why and what should we declare?

The spiritual realm operates on the basis of authority. As followers of Jesus, we live under grace, but the rest of creation operates under law. Law operates on the basis of authority. That is one reason the New Testament speaks so often about the authority of Christ. As he commanded his followers to go into all the world and make disciples, Jesus himself declared, “All authority in heaven and in earth has been given unto me” (Mt.28:18). Later Paul taught, “That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come” (Eph.1:19-21). Jesus has all authority and has delegated a measure of his authority to us.

As representatives of Christ on the earth, when we declare the word of God or the name of God over a situation we establish our legal ground and our authority for prayers or commands that follow. As representatives of Jesus on earth, we have been given authority to do what he would do in the same circumstance. The most important declaration we make is, “In the name of Jesus.” The Pharisees asked Jesus by what authority he baptized, cleansed the temple, and performed miracles. He stated that he had authority because he represented the Father. In the same way, we act in the authority of Jesus Christ and should clearly state that truth when we command sickness, infirmity, or demons to depart. We preach in his name, we baptize in his name, we heal in his name, and we command spirits in his name.

To attempt to operate in our own authority is a dangerous thing. In the book of Acts we are told, “Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, “In the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.” Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?” Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding” (Acts 19:13-16).

When we declare the word of God and the name of God over a circumstance, we not only release his authority but also confirm our authority to work on his behalf. In other words, we declare that we are acting in his authority and that what we are doing is lawful for us to do. That is not too different from FBI agents showing up, displaying their credentials to establish that they are representatives of the federal government, and then producing a warrant which demonstrates that what they are about to do is lawful.

God assured Israel that if they were careful to obey his covenant and stayed aligned with his word, then he would exercise his authority through them and give them every place they “set their feet” (Dt.11:24). The Hebrew phrase translated as “set their feet” embodies the idea of soldiers marching to conquer or establish dominion over an enemy. Our declarations establish our authority and lawfulness to take dominion over a circumstance because of the one we represent.

As a young man, David declared his victory before charging Goliath, the surly Philistine warrior who stood over nine feet tall. “David said to the Philistine, ‘You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will hand you over to me, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.’ When David declared victory in the name of the Lord, he “set his feet” or stepped out to establish the Lord’s dominion in that place.

We are reminded of the verse from Job. “You will also decree a thing and it will be established for you” (Job 22:28). I feel certain that God put that decree on David’s heart. It was prophetic but not a prophecy. David never said, “Thus sayeth the Lord…” Notice that David did not identify himself as a man representing Saul or even Israel but rather declared that he opposed Goliath in the name of the Lord Almighty. Earlier in the chapter, he asked who the man was that was defying the armies of the living God…not the armies of Saul or Israel, but of God. When you have that heart, you can declare a thing and it will be established for you.

Speaking the word and name of God over a situation releases authority. If you begin to minister to people in the arena of deliverance, it won’t be long until you will have an unclean spirit begin to argue that the person you are ministering to belongs to him. We should respond with the Word of God, using scriptures declaring that the person in question does not belong to the demon but has been redeemed by the blood of Jesus. We should also declare scriptures that establish our authority over the enemy. Demons will always attempt to persuade the person they are afflicting that they have every right to remain and that we have no power against them. That is when it is time to take out the sword of the Spirit and establish our authority in Christ to evict the unwanted intruder. When he came face to face with Satan, Jesus simply declared, “It is written…”

Declarations are divine weapons that undermine the position of the enemy. They have power in the spiritual realm to dislodge demons by releasing power and authority and to shore up our own faith in moments when that is needed. Every believer should make extensive use of this weapon as we charge the giants that occasionally get in our way as we are about the business of the kingdom.

When I first became a follower of Jesus in my early 20’s, I lived with the impression that all the neat, clean people that sat on the pews around me on Sunday mornings were sinless, happy, and healthy people who lived worry free lives of contentment. However, after decades of serving in churches, I can say unequivocally that my impression was wrong.

If we are honest, a great many believers today are saved but remain in bondage to sin, addiction, shame, and a host of other hindrances to their walk. The truth is that other than church attendance and having their sins forgiven, a large percentage of believers differ little from 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 the past, and are crippled by an overpowering sense of unworthiness and rejection. In short, they continue to live out their lives in emotional brokenness and bondage.

I’m not scolding these believers for not being “the Christians they should be.” Through the years, I have struggled with many of those issues as well. These believers are desperately looking for freedom and healing, but for the most part have not been able to gain victory over the issues that rob them of the joy and peace they long for.

Jesus declared that he came that his people might have life and have it to the full – abundant life. He also declared that he came to bind up the brokenhearted and set captives free. For many believers, there is a huge gap between the promises and the reality. Why? We can say with confidence that the shortfall is not on the part of Jesus for Jesus has done everything perfectly.

The truth is that, in many cases, these men and women have not been shown by their churches how to access the freedom and healing that Jesus promises. The majority of churches in America, offer their people the forgiveness purchased by the cross but not the healing and freedom. When confronted with brokenness and bondage, they send the children of God out into the world to find solutions. They are left to seek healing and freedom from those who often do not believe the core values of our faith or even that God exists.

Even when they are referred to “Christian counselors,” those good men and women have nearly always been trained to use the weapons of the world rather than divine weapons. There is something terribly wrong with that picture. Doing so implies that Jesus has no answers for the emotional suffering of his people, so we must look elsewhere. The weapons of the world can help but cannot go far enough for real victory. They tend to provide “coping skills” rather than lasting freedom.

A gospel that only gets us to a place of forgiveness, but does not radically change us through the healing and freedom that is ours in Christ is not the gospel that Jesus preached. When Jesus preached the gospel, there was always a demonstration of life-changing power with it. Paul pointed to this truth when he said, “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” (Phil. 2:14-16).

Stars stand out in stark contrast to the darkness around them. 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” and have a testimony of his powerful work in their lives. Jesus spoke of being “born again,” not as figurative language for trying harder, but as a reality where something real and essential has been altered in everyone who comes to him. After a short while, that essential difference should become apparent, not a as a reflection of our efforts but as a reflection of the power of God working in us and Christ being formed in us.

If the world can provide the healing and freedom that Jesus promised his people, then much of what Jesus paid for with this suffering and death was unnecessary. Paul clearly stated that the wars we truly fight, must be fought with divine weapons rather than the weapons or strategies of the world (2 Cor. 10:4, Eph.6). Most churches have little idea about fighting in the Spirit and little access to those weapons. Therefore, their people continue to struggle with emotional brokenness and bondage.

We need a shift. We need to be willing to say that what we have been doing is lacking. We need to be willing to say that we have meant well but have missed something important in the scriptures because our fruit does not yet rival the fruit we see in the New Testament. My hope is that many senior pastors and elders will begin to ask for more, seek more, and risk more so that their people have access to everything Jesus purchased for them. The power of Jesus is immense and its impact should be profound and visable. Our people should stand out from the world and walk in victory over the things that burden most of the earth. It is not that we will be trouble free, but that the trouble will come from without rather than from within where Jesus lives – and that makes all the difference.

Somehow, in the last few centuries, the sermon became the central event when the church came together. I distinctly remember my early training as a pastor when we were told that worship was to prepare the hearts of the congregation to receive the Word of God through the sermon. The centrality of the sermon is clearly expressed by the number of churches that record and offer the sermon each week. In fact, the bookstores in larger churches will offer dozens of sermon series with a sprinkling of worship CD’s thrown in. No one seems to question the emphasis. But what if we gathered primarily to experience the presence of God rather than to study God? How would that change our gatherings?

I am not saying that preaching or studying the Word is not important. It is. But is it more important than His presence? Even under the Old Covenant, the presence of God was everything. The Ark of the Covenant was the central furnishing in the temple. It sat in the Holy of Holies with the stone tablets on which the commandments were written, a sampling of manna, and Aaron’s priestly staff within the ark. The lid of the ark depicted the throne of God surrounded by cherubim. God said to Moses, “There, above the cover between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the Testimony, I will meet with you…” (Ex. 25:22). The amazing and fearful thing about the Holy of Holies was that the presence of God was there. The entire point of the temple was that it housed the presence of God and The Presence was a source of blessing.

During the wilderness wanderings, the presence of God was also experienced as a pillar of fire and a pillar of cloud which hovered above the tabernacle except when it was time for Israel to move. In those moments, the cloud moved ahead of Israel. Speaking of that pillar, Moses said to God, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?” (Ex.33:15-16). It was the presence of God that set Israel apart from all other nations. It is the presence of God that sets us apart.

First of all, the presence of God dwells within each of us as the Holy Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit and the power of the Spirit should cause each of us to be observably different from all other people. But there is another dimension of the presence of God that can be experienced when God’s people gather together. When gathered and hearts are focused directly on the person of God, there seems to be a synergism of the Spirit that manifests the presence and power of God in amplified ways. Jonathan Welton describes such a moment in Brazil. He says, “ I was with 5,000 home group leaders at a church in Manaus, Brazil. The presence of God was incredibly tangible during worship…as she (Kathy Oates) took the microphone, she began to prophecy over the nation of Brazil, and a powerful wind began to blow through the church…Inside, the wind was whipping around like on the Day of Pentecost – a mighty, rushing wind had come in to the house. It blew the potted plants on the stage wildly and even blew open two large arched doors on the stage. While this was happening, I stepped outside the church to see if there was any natural explanation for the wind. Outside, it was eerily calm and peaceful…team members were later to talk of strong winds blowing in a circular motion around them as they ministered…virtually everyone prayed over that day was instantly healed.”

I noticed that Welton said the wind began to blow as they worshipped. The scriptures declare that God inhabits the praises of his people (Ps.22:3). Praise draws the presence of God in ways that preaching will not. On the day of Pentecost, the tiny group of Christ-followers were in an upper room praying and fasting when the Holy Spirit showed up in spectacular fashion. The Spirit seems to manifest the presence of God in greater ways when his people are encountering him directly through praise and prayer.

One of the reasons that the 21^st Century church has been rendered powerless is because we have exchanged experiencing God for the study of God. When the early church met, the presence of God was manifested through worship that was offered in spirit and truth, through intense prayer often fueled by fasting, through the gifts of tongues and prophecy and the expectation of healing. Seeking the presence of God brought those manifestations and the church turned the world upside down.

Again…preaching, teaching, and the study of the word are essentials but our goal must be His presence. Rather than worshipping to prepare our hearts for the message, perhaps the message should prepare our hearts for worship. Instead of an opening prayer, perhaps we need a season of prayer. Even in our personal time, we should give more thought to experiencing the presence of God rather than simply reading about him. It is his presence that changes everything.