Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.          For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. (1 Cor.13:8-13)

The text above is the second half of the discussion on love that Paul sandwiched between his two chapters on spiritual gifts. In my last blog we discussed the need for all gifts to be governed and motivated by love. What is interesting is that this section is also a key passage that “cessationist theologians” use to demonstrate that miraculous gifts no longer operate. I thought it might bed helpful to discuss these verses in light of the question, “Do the supernatural gifts of the Spirit still operate?”

Many churches in the western world teach or operate on the assumption that God no longer intervenes in the world in miraculous ways as he once did. Their argument is that Jesus performed miracles in order to validate his claims to be the Messiah, the Son of God. The apostles exercised miraculous gifts in order to validate their leadership, their authority, and their writings as being inspired and established by God.

The argument continues that once Jesus had performed enough miraculous signs to validate his position as Son of God and once the apostles had demonstrated their God-ordained apostleship which was validated by their miracles, there was no further need for miracles. In this view the sole function of miracles was to validate Jesus and the apostles or to provide direction (prophecy, words of knowledge, etc.,) until the New Testament was penned. Once validated and the New Testament was delivered, there was no further need for the miracles and so they ceased when all the apostles had died.

Jesus did say that his works validated his claims but in many settings, scripture says that he was moved by compassion to heal and deliver rather than a need to be validated. He often told many he healed to tell no one what he had done. If God no longer acts through miracles on behalf of his people, does that mean he is no longer is moved with compassion? Additionally, several books in the New Testament were written by men who were not apostles (Luke, Acts, James, Hebrews, for instance) and, as far as we know, performed no miracles. Does that mean their writings are subject to question? Many individuals in the New Testament who were also non-apostles and who wrote none of the New Testament performed miracles. If miracles were only for validation of Christ and the apostles why did these others operate in miraculous gifts?

As textual proof, those who hold that view offer the verse above that states, “But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.” The Greek word that is translated as “perfection” or “that which is perfect” is teleion. The word can mean “complete” so the idea is that when the inspired writings of the New Testament were completed and verified by the past miracles of those who wrote the New Testament, the miraculous gifts of the Spirit would cease.

They go on to argue that the so-called miraculous gifts of the Spirit today, do not meet the Biblical standards of miracles, so they are invalid. The biblical standards they offer are prophecies in which every word is proven true and healing gifts through which every person is healed. Since not all prophetic words today come to pass as spoken and since not all are healed, they declare that current “miracles” are psychosomatic emotionalism, at best, and satanic deception in other cases.

Let me respond to those claims. First of all, the word “teleion” typically means complete in the sense of mature, especially spiritually mature. Strong defines it as, “ a state of ideal wholeness or completion, in which any disabilities, shortcomings or defects that may have existed before have been eliminated or left behind. In secular Greek teleios means also: (i) adult, full-grown, as opposed to immature and infantile.” Paul often speaks of believers growing up into the fullness of Jesus – full in the sense of his spiritual maturity and holiness. 1 Corinthians 13, is an entire chapter that sets the standard for full maturity as love and a life that is expressed through love for God and others.

When “perfection comes” is most likely alluding to the coming of Jesus, who is spiritual maturity incarnate, or is talking about the time when our love will be perfected – when Jesus comes. Paul’s argument, in the context of 1 Corinthians, is that the believer’s goal should not be to surpass others in miraculous works and power but to surpass them in love.

He rests his argument on the idea that the spiritual gifts of the church are good, needful, and desirable, but not eternal. When Jesus establishes the fullness of his kingdom, miraculous gifts will not be needed. Gifts of healing will not be needed where no sickness exists. Deliverance will not be needed where no demons are present. Prophecies will not be needed, as God himself will be present to declare his word, and so forth. In eternity, love, not spiritual gifts, will define the kingdom.

Up to this point, the completion of the New Testament has obviously not yet provided everything the church needs to be spiritually mature or victorious. The power of the Holy Spirit along with divine weapons are still needed in a hostile world. The supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit are part of that heavenly arsenal.

The argument that the present day offering of miracles and healings does not meet biblical standards is also addressed in Paul’s three chapters on spiritual gifts in this letter. Gifts of prophecy are not the same as the office of prophet (Eph.4:11ff). Spiritual gifts under the new covenant are capacities that often begin as seeds and then grow to maturity. In the process, not every person with a gift of prophecy will hear God accurately or fully in the beginning. That is why Paul instructs the church to “weigh carefully” what has just been prophesied (1 Cor.14:29). He is not calling them to constantly be on the hunt for false prophets but to evaluate prophecies because there is room for error. Those who mature in prophecy and that may have an extraordinary anointing in the gift may then fill the office of a prophet and the standards for his accuracy will be higher.

The same is true in healings and deliverance. Not everyone is healed or delivered. Some of Jesus’ own disciples were not able to cast out a demon in Mark’s gospel (Mk.9:18). Paul spoke of some who were close to him who were dealing with sicknesses that apparently he had not been able to heal. Since spiritual gifts are for both the mature and immature and because they must be developed, a standard of perfection is unbiblical and does not invalidate the gifts.

Not only that, but cessationist churches take the text from I Corinthians that says tongues, prophecies, and knowledge will cease and extrapolate that to all miraculous gifts. Even if “that which is perfect” were the completed New Testament (which I do not believe it is), the apostle did not list healings, words of knowledge, miracles, and so forth as gifts that would cease. To take a few gifts as representative of all the gifts also would also eliminate gifts such as teaching, encouragement, mercy, hospitality, generosity, and so forth. The New Testament does not differentiate between those spiritual gifts and tongues, prophecy, etc. Each are supernatural gifts given by the Spirit to build up the body of Christ. To cherry-pick the gifts we are comfortable with and deny those that make us uncomfortable seems to lack integrity.

We still live under the New Covenant and part of that covenant is the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives and the release of spiritual gifts to the body. That covenant has not changed and has not been diminished. Every spiritual gift listed in the New Testament is still available to be distributed by the Holy Spirit as he determines. Even gifts not listed (worship, creativity, writing, etc.) are evidently given and anointed by the Spirit. The key is to desire the gifts out of a hunger to exercise them as an expression of God’s love and compassion to others. When we operate out of love, God will gladly give us his gifts and give us even more as we continue to love. When all is said and done, faith, hope, and love will remain but the greatest of those is love. Blessings in Him.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.  For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

In the middle of the apostle Paul’s extensive discussion of spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12-14, he inserts a chapter on love. As you read the entire letter to the church at Corinth, the need for such a chapter becomes painfully obvious. The church was not a very loving church. In fact, early in the letter he scolded the believers there for being carnal or fleshly instead of spiritual. As you read through the entire letter you discover divisions in the church, jealousies, pride, quarrels, taking one another to court, open immorality, and the use of spiritual gifts for personal gratification to establish a “spiritual pecking order” within the church. The good news is that they were still loved by God and were still the church of God at Corinth. They did, however, need to grow significantly in their spiritual lives.

In this letter, we discover some very interesting realities about imperfect believers and spiritual gifts that are worth considering. First of all, spiritual giftedness is not always a sign of maturity. In the opening to his letter, Paul asserts, “You do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed” (1 Cor.1:7). In chapters 12-14 he lists a plethora of spiritual gifts including healings, miracles, tongues, prophecy, interpretation, discerning of spirits, words of knowledge, and so forth. That is an impressive list of gifts that we may assume were being exercised in the church there. And yet, Paul admonished them by saying, “Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly-mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly” (1 Cor.3:1-3). In Corinth, their “giftedness” ran far ahead of their spiritual maturity.

It makes you wonder why God would entrust such impressive spiritual gifts to the spiritually immature. I have two thoughts on that. One is that our gifts have the capacity to help us mature as we experience the Lord himself through the exercise of gifts. For instance, praying in tongues has the side effect of building us up spiritually as the Holy Spirit prays through us ( Jude 20). Prophecy is intended to build up the body of Christ and is expressed primarily to strengthen, encourage, and comfort people (1 Cor.14:3). Speaking the love and destiny of God over other people should also establish those things in our own hearts which produces spiritual growth.

Spiritual gifts are also God’s tools for building up the body of Christ, in general, so that a brand new church, planted in one of the most pagan cities in the world, would still need those gifts to grow even though there would be very few mature believers in that church. Perhaps, the immature expression of gifts is still less damaging than the absence of gifts altogether.

I also have another thought about Corinth. If you read the book of Acts, you discover that Paul experience a great disappointment in Athens just before he arrived at Corinth. He had gone to Mars Hill, the place where all the Greek and Roman philosophers gathered to discuss ideas. Paul presented his best, most rational, and most compelling arguments for the truth of the gospel. To his dismay, only a few responded. He left there feeling as if he had failed and he recalibrated his approach to evangelism.

We Paul arrived at  Corinth, he preached only Jesus Christ and him crucified and then demonstrated the kingdom through displays of the power of the Spirit. It is possible, that Paul imparted many of the gifts to a young church as a tool for evangelism only to learn another lesson about when to impart those gifts. Later, he would tell Timothy to refrain from laying hands on any man quickly (1 Tim.5:22). The idea was not to appoint a man to leadership or to impart a spiritual gift until he had a read on the man’s maturity and character.

The issue of free will always comes into play in God’s dealing with man. God gives good gifts with the opportunity to use them well, but man always has the option to use them for selfish purposes. At any rate, there were many believers at Corinth who exercised impressive gifts that were not always Spirit-led. That is why Paul told them to test all prophecies to see if they were from God (consistent with his will and confirmed by the Spirit in the hearts of other believers).

An important take away from this letter is that because some believers abuse spiritual gifts, it does not mean that the gifts are invalid or that they do not bring tremendous value to the church.

Ultimately, the safe guard against abuse is not forbidding the exercise of gifts but using them in the context of love. Spiritual gifts are an expression of God’s love for his body delivered through his people. When someone is healed by a gift of healing, it is simply God’s love being delivered through the hands or commands of one of his children. When a gift of encouragement is exercised, it is the encouragement of God flowing through a believer. When hospitality is exercised, it is God making strangers feel warm and welcome.

Every gift reflects a facet of the nature and character of God and should be governed by love. Even with the extreme abuse of spiritual gifts in Corinth, Paul did not shut down their exercise but taught them how to use the gifts as they were intended. The church should respond to any abuses or misrepresentations of spiritual gifts in the same way today. (More from I Corinthians 13 in my next blog).

Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them: “Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall. If Satan is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? I say this because you claim that I drive out demons by Beelzebub. Now if I drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your followers drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you. (Luke 11:17-20)

The gospel of Luke gives us insight into the mindset of the Pharisees regarding Jesus. Jesus did not match their preconception of what the Messiah would look like. Jesus was not raised in a noble family; he was not educated at the feet of great Rabbi’s; he had not presented himself to the Sanhedrin or the Pharisees asking for their seal of approval; and he did not covet their favor at all. In fact, rather than courting their support he had confronted them on numerous occasions about their religious hypocrisy. As a result, they rejected him as the Messiah. They did have a major problem, however, in their attempts to discredit Jesus. His miracles were extreme, public, numerous, and undeniable.

Their final ploy was simply to ascribe his miraculous works to the power of Satan. They were most clear about their accusations when Jesus was casting out demons. Jesus’ response was simple. Why would Satan (Beelzebub) cast out his own minions who were doing his work? Wouldn’t that kind of contradiction undermine the kingdom of darkness? And…if demons are only cast out by the power of Satan, then how did they explain their own exorcists who cast out demons?

Ultimately, his response came down to a declaration regarding the kingdom of God. The Jewish leaders were very keen on the Messianic kingdom being established in their own day. They anticipated that it would be a kingdom of politics and military might backed up by the power of God. They had thought that they would all be given positions of power and influence in that kingdom. Jesus’ disdain for them and his disinterest in a political or military solution did not “fit their theology.”

Jesus, however, made a definitive statement about the nature of the kingdom of God as proof that he was a bona fide representative of that kingdom. But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you (Lk.11:20). A mark of the true kingdom was to be supernatural power. It was not power to be used politically or militarily but to destroy the works of the devil. The mark of kingdom would be the preaching of the good news, healing, casting out demons, raising the dead, etc. It still is.

Jesus declared that the kingdom the Pharisees would have ushered in was not the kingdom of God but rather another earthly kingdom devised by men. The question arises – does any view of the kingdom of God that does not claim and demonstrate supernatural power correctly represent God’s kingdom? In his letter to the Galatians, Paul expressed a great concern about the so-called gospel that was being preached. “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned” (Gal.1:6-8)!

Paul’s primary concern in this text was a gospel that included works for salvation and not grace alone. But the warning is not to change or pervert the gospel that was declared by Jesus and taught by the apostles. Throughout his letters, Paul frequently talked about the power of the kingdom of God and demonstrated it time and again. Is a gospel without power, a true gospel at all? Is a miracle drug that is eventually dispensed with only part of the formula, still the solution that was promised or is it something else? The gospel is not only the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus but also the promises attached to what Jesus did. Without those promises the gospel is no good news at all. The forgiveness of sin, rebirth into God’s family, the indwelling Holy Spirit and the power of the Spirit in our lives is all part of the package. To leave out any of those components makes the gospel less than it is meant to be.

In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul wrote, “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. 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” (Eph.1:17-20).

Wisdom, revelation, spiritual eyes, hope, inheritance, and incomparable power are key words that he prayed over and over again for the church in Ephesus. Without a demonstration of power, Christianity will be viewed, by most, as just another philosophy of life. But…we teach peace and love. So do Eastern religions. The historical fact of Jesus’ resurrection sets us apart but the power of the gospel is what confirms that resurrection. The psalmist declares that God forgives all our sins and heals all our diseases (Ps. 103). When Jesus was questioned about his authority to forgive sins on the earth, he simply healed the man as proof that the man’s sins were forgiven. Matthew records the moment when Jesus said, “For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’?  But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins’—he then said to the paralytic—‘Rise, pick up your bed and go home’” (Mt.9:5-6). A demonstration of power, governed by love, confirmed the reality of forgiveness.

We need those same demonstrations today. A gospel that preaches forgiveness without demonstrating the goodness of God through the supernatural intervention of his Spirit falls short. The charisms or supernatural, spiritual gifts of the Holy Spirit are not just power but expressions of God’s love for people. That is why Paul devoted a whole chapter to love in the middle of his discussion on spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12-14.

I am still frustrated that so many Christian churches today continue to deny, teach against, and even forbid the exercise of spiritual gifts such as healing, deliverance, prophecy, tongues, and so forth. Like the Pharisees, many still argue that the exercise of those gifts is satanic deceptions. The real deception is found in the prohibition of their exercise. Paul declared, “Therefore, my brothers, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues” (1 Cor.14:39). He also charged, “Do not put out the Spirit’s fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt” (1 Thess.5:19-20).

I am not saying that the churches that deny the full ministry of the Holy Spirit do not love Jesus. I’m not saying that they do not do good. I am saying that they operate with an incomplete gospel because the promises attached to his good news are incomplete. Trying to push back the powers of darkness without the manifest power of the Holy Spirit is like hunting with a gun that is not loaded. That was never the Lord’s intent. Regardless of where you attend church, I hope that you will pursue everything the Spirit promises because those promises validate the resurrection of Jesus and the presence of his kingdom. They are continuing expressions of God’s love in a dark world. But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you (Luke 11:17-20). Be blessed.

For this reason, the most effective life of prayer to which God has called us is not a life of throwing up prayer requests and hoping that one will bring an answer. The prayer of faith that always gets results is the kind we pray because we have drawn close to his heart and heard him talk about what he wants to do. Then we can stand in the place of delegated authority as a co-laborer and declare what he has said over circumstances (Bill Johnson, Strengthen Yourself in the Lord, p. 87; Destiny Image).

I was browsing through an older book by Bill Johnson, looking at the passages I had previously marked, and noticed the above paragraph again. If it is true, most believers are not being very effective in prayer because they have been taught that God doesn’t speak directly to his people anymore but communicates only through his written word. It’s important to know if the above statement is true or not. If it is, we need to get busy hearing God. If it is not, we can continue to toss up to heaven those things that are important to us.

Let’s look at one passage in the book of James as a reference point. “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops” (Ja.5:16-18).

This is a cornerstone verse for powerful and effective prayer. In the days of Elijah, Ahab, an incredibly wicked king, ruled. As a judgment on Ahab and the nation, God had determined to send a severe drought and not one drop of rain or even a cloud appeared over Israel for three and a half years. Three and a half years later, the Lord told Elijah, “Go and present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the land” (1 Kings 18:1). Elijah did as the Lord instructed and told Ahab, “Go, eat and drink, for there is the sound of heavy rain” (1 Kings 18:41).

Elijah’s declaration to Ahab was spoken by faith because when he spoke of the sound of rain there were still no clouds in the sky. The text goes on to say, “So Ahab went off to eat and drink, but Elijah climbed to the top of Mt. Carmel, bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees. ‘Go and look toward the sea,’ he told his servant. And he went up and looked. ‘There is nothing there,’ he said. Seven times Elijah said, ‘Go back.’ The seventh time the servant reported, ‘A cloud as small as a man’s hand is rising from the sea.’… Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds, the wind rose, a heavy rain came on and Ahab rode off to Jezreel. The power of the Lord came upon Elijah and, tucking his cloak into his belt, he ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel” (1 Kings 18:41-46).

By the way, the distance from Mt. Carmel to Jezreel is about 25 miles – almost a marathon – but the old prophet outran a chariot trying to get there ahead of a heavy rain. There had not been a drop of rain or dew for 42 months and there was not a cloud in the sky when Elijah began to pray. There was no immediate evidence of answered prayer but he kept praying. Seven times he asked his servant to look for evidence of rain before he saw any. What prompted him to keep praying? He prayed for rain with faith and intensity because he had already heard from the Lord that it was God’s appointed time to break the drought.

There are many things, perhaps most things, that God chooses to do only after his people have prayed for them to happen. Elijah’s prayer was powerful and effective because he was certain his prayer was God’s will. When we hear from the Lord that he wants to do something, then we can have absolute faith for the answer because God has already revealed that it is his will – he wants to do the very thing we are praying for. We can even persevere if there is no immediate manifestation of his will because we have his word.

When he has spoken to us, our prayers send forth his word. Isaiah tells us, “So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it” (Isa.55:11). When we pray his specific will, we have certainty for the answer.

Jesus was clear that he only did what he saw the Father doing and only said what he heard the Father saying. He prayed what he heard from the Father. He is our model for the spiritual life. When we hear from the Lord, then our prayers are simply releasing the will of God on the earth and our prayers will come to pass as prophecies come to pass because God’s word and will have already established the outcomes. There are certain things in scripture that we can always pray for because we no it is always God’s will – salvations, holiness, wisdom for those in authority, etc. but those are general guidelines. Hearing more specifically what to pray and how to pray for one of those outcomes is still much more effective than just asking for something categorically.

Can we pray for something that God has not spoken about to us? Yes, of course, but we will not have the same assurance of his answer that we will when we have heard from him. Let’s face it; we often assume that our will is his will. When we pray out of that posture, we probably pray for some things that ultimately would not be in our best interest. When God does not answer those prayers, we begin to have less faith that God answers our prayers. We then begin to pray with more “hope” than expectation. If a desire is on our heart, it may well be that God has placed it there, but we may want to ask if that is his will for us before we start praying into that desire.

From time to time, I need to be reminded to ask God what he wants me to be praying for rather than just jumping into my laundry list of requests. Maybe you need that reminder as well. Be blessed today and consider asking the Father what is on his mind before telling him everything that is on yours.

Having an internal frame of reference means that in any given situation we do not take our truth from external circumstances. The world always gives us negative information. We ask the Father for his perspective. We never ask, “Why?” It is the wrong question. It is an invalid question that makes us invalid. It is a victim question, and the Father never makes us victims. He trains us to fight, to overcome, and to be more than conquerors in Christ. If the Father has never been overwhelmed, and Jesus is undefeated, then the Holy Spirit can only lead us in triumph (Graham Cooke, Manifesting Your Spirit, p. 12, Brilliant Book House).

That’s a good word from Mr. Cooke. Think about it. If we are in Christ and he is in us, then we never need to be in any position other than the one Jesus is in in any situation. Instead, we often view ourselves as separated from Christ and all alone in our dilemmas. We feel as if he has withdrawn and left us to fend for ourselves. We then feel helpless and slip into Satan’s trap of feeling like victims. As soon as we take on the identity of a victim, we deny every scripture that declares God’s care for us and his promise that he will never leave us or forsake us.

As Cooke stated above, the question is not “Why?” but rather, “What do you want me to discover in this circumstance?” David had plenty of opportunity to ask “Why?” when he spent s years in the wilderness running from Saul. After all, he had been anointed by Samuel to be king over Israel and God had already announced that he was removing Saul’s throne, so why was Saul still king and trying desperately to take David’s life? It would have been easy for David to believe that God had gone back on his promises or that Samuel had given a prophetic word in error. There are, in fact, moments in scripture where David did feel those things but he quickly found his way back to faith and the promises of God – back to an internal perspective.

We often feel abandoned and victimized because God does not give us quick or clear answers to our prayers or because he answered them in ways that we did not outline for him. Certainly, David’s prayers immediately after his anointing by Samuel were not for God to place his life in peril and to allow him to live in caves for seven years. And yet, God had great purposes in the delay. Saul was given his kingship almost overnight. Solomon said that the earth shutters when a slave becomes king. I believe what he meant by that is that when someone suddenly becomes king who has not been trained in leadership, who has not been trained to wear power well, or whose heart has not been trained to follow God’s leading, then trouble is in the cards for everyone.

Saul was quickly made king because he looked presidential. He had the appearance of a leader but not the character. As the pressures of the office mounted he became insanely insecure. He operated out of fear rather than faith and was often disobedient to clear directions from the Lord.

David, however, learned to depend totally on God in his wilderness years. He learned to lead men by sacrifice and love rather than by threats. He discovered that God was present in every circumstance and had a solution already prepared for every problem. He learned humility and trust and the value of keeping God’s directives even when they seemed to put you at a disadvantage. On several occasions David could have easily taken Saul’s life and no one would have blamed him. David, however, refused because he had learned that the throne had to be given by God, not taken by his own cunning. The delay, the cold nights, the threatening circumstances, the years that passed, the multiple rescues from Saul’s hand, provision in the wilderness, etc. all trained David’s heart to be king. In fact, it trained David to be “a man after God’s own heart.”

Faith is an internal perspective that sees present circumstances through the promises of God. It does not receive the condemnation of the world or the hopeless reports of those who do not know Jesus. It is never hopeless because Christ is our hope. It does not despair because even if physical life slips away, eternal life is waiting for us. Even if we die, when we die in faith we have run our race and won a crown. We are in Christ and he is in us.

Paul declares that nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus (Rom. 8), therefore, we are never separate from his love. We are never victims. We are only conquerors waiting to see the victory God has planned come to pass. Never ask “Why?” but ask “What do you have for me in this circumstance?” There are no losers in Christ, but only winners if we know what and who is ours. Blessings in the one who never makes his children victims.

And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him. A certain man from Cyrene, Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country, and they forced him to carry the cross. (Mk.15:20-21)

In three of the gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) we find almost a footnote to the crucifixion. Each of the three writers mentions a man named Simon from Cyrene who was apparently not previously known to the disciples of Jesus. He was most likely entering Jerusalem for the Passover. The gospels simply say that he was coming in from the country and found himself caught up in the drama of the crucifixion of the Christ.   Because Jesus had been so brutalized by flogging and beating, he was struggling to carry his cross (probably the cross member only). The Romans, not out of compassion but in a hurry to get this done, compelled a man in the crowd to carry the cross for Jesus.

That is all we are told and yet Simon shows up in three gospels and his sons are mentioned in Mark. These gospels were written decades after the crucifixion so why would they remember this obscure man’s name or the names of his sons? The only answer seems to be that Simon and his family became believers that day and became faithful members of the Christian community where they were well known to the writers of the gospels.

It is possible that Simon had some knowledge of Jesus. Perhaps, he had heard him teach in the countryside or in some village. Perhaps, he had never heard of Jesus before that day. But something turned his heart to Jesus on the day of his suffering and death. My sense is that Simon stayed for a bit after delivering the cross. Sometimes when we are part of a tragedy – praying for someone who is dying, assisting at the scene of an accident, helping a stranger pickup debris after a tornado – our souls are somehow knit to theirs. I think Simon experienced that connection with Jesus and lingered by the cross. Perhaps, he asked a few people questions about this man who had been brutalized and sentenced to death. Maybe Mary had briefly thanked him for helping her son.

I’m guessing the demeanor of Jesus, even in death, seemed out of place. Surely a man whipped, beaten, and on his way to be spiked to a cross was a murderer or a terrorist. But he heard no cursing from Jesus and no threats. What he heard was concern for his mother and forgiveness for those who were doing this to him. Jesus probably spoke a few words to him on the way to Golgatha and certainly made eye contact, which always communicates volumes in the midst of tragedy.

The culmination of the experience, I believe, connected Simon to the other disciples in Jerusalem and the resurrection of Christ followed by Pentecost made Simon and his family strong believers. I think this demonstrates a couple of truths that we need to remember.

First of all, God is always working in the hearts of men for redemption and that work often occurs in the midst of injustice and tragedy. God doesn’t cause the injustice or tragedy but he uses it. In the midst of the suffering and death of his Only Begotten, the Father was still mindful of Simon and was working on his heart that day.

Secondly, how we handle suffering and hardship influences people for good or for bad. The way Jesus suffered with grace and with love drew this man to him and to the Father. The same can be true for us. How we handle personal injustice communicates to those around us who are seemingly detached and on the sidelines. Injustice at the office, bad calls on the basketball court, slander, rejection, etc. are moments when people are watching and listening. Grace, forgiveness, and love can touch the observers. How we deal with sickness, death, injuries and so forth have the same effect. Our testimony shines brightest when things are against us.

Finally, connection with other believers is crucial in transformative moments. People are most open to the gospel in seasons of transition and crisis in their own lives. To witness and touch something as horrendous as Christ’s crucifixion – the brutality, the smell of death and suffering, the stark indifference of Roman soldiers, the darkness that shrouded the day, the wailing of those close to the crucified – had to be traumatic for Simon and his sons.

That day must have raised deep questions for him. Other believers had to answer those questions. I am convinced that God connected Simon to some of Jesus’s disciples that day – maybe even the women who stood at the foot of the cross or John who was there as well. Perhaps, in astonishment he lingered and encountered Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus who came to take the body off the cross. But a few of the disciples reached out to him that day and their attitudes and actions did not cancel out what he had seen in Jesus.

Those relationships, forged in the midst of tragedy, drew him into the family of God where he and his children were well known even decades later. God uses everything for redemption. In the midst of crisis, injustice, or suffering don’t forget those who seem to be standing on the sidelines. They are still watching and what we do and say makes an impression that may draw them to Jesus just as Simon was drawn.

Most believers do not practice agreement between themselves and the work of the Holy Spirit. They can be soulish, led mostly by their feelings, and heavily influenced by rationale thinking. They do not live by the Spirit because they usually use logic to talk themselves out of the spiritual dimension. But God rarely employs a logical plan. Often, He tells us things that simply do not make rational sense. While it resonates with the inner man of our spirit, it offends the soulish nature of our own mind. Our brain then spends the next few minutes talking us out if the plan. (Graham Cooke, Manifesting Your Spirit, p.27; Brilliant Book House).

I have to agree with Mr. Cooke. I know what he says is true because I have often experienced it in my own heart and I suspect that you have as well. We want to think of our faith as rational because our culture and even the church values what is rationale, logical, and scientific. But think about it. How rational is sending a wanted criminal back to Egypt at the age of 80 to lead a nation out of bondage? How logical is it to command an army to march around a walled city for seven days without saying a word and them to simply blow trumpets to bring down a massive stone wall? How logical was it for a young shepherd with no training and no armor to charge an armored veteran who stood nine feet tall with a slingshot? How rational was it for Jesus to raise the dead, impart sight to the blind, walk on the Sea of Galilee, and submit to utter defeat to secure victory?

It’s not that we have no hard evidence for the reality of our faith and the historical Jesus, but kingdom principles are usually in opposition to the principles of the world. In the kingdom, the first shall be last, the servant of all will be the greatest, the meek shall inherit the earth, and we are to give more away than we are being sued for. God doesn’t operate by earthly principles or perspectives but our rational minds do when they have not been renewed.

Paul instructs us not to conform to the patterns of this world but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Rom.12:2). To have a “renewed” mind means that we have learned to think as the Holy Spirit thinks. We think first in kingdom terms rather than in the natural realm. We exercise spiritual logic rather than our unrenewed logic and we don’t let our natural man talk us out of our Spirit-led impulses.

Agreeing with God begins by acknowledging that his ways are higher and more authoritative than our own and that we are ultimately spiritual people who need to live fully by spiritual principles. The Holy Spirit should rule over our thought processes rather than our natural man ruling over the Spirit’s leading. Then we should get busy learning God’s perspectives on every crisis, every challenge, and everything we encounter. We should then make a decision to begin to say what God says about those things, regardless of how illogical or unscientific it may sound to those who are not led by the Spirit of God. We should then ask the Holy Spirit to give us a revelation of those truths at a heart level so that God’s truth frees us from the narrow range of possibilities we perceive with our natural mind. Remember, Jesus said that all things are possible with God.

Agreeing with God is what unlocks the heavenly realm for us. It will be a process. We will agree with God on some things but then discover our faith failed as our natural minds overcame the leading of the Spirit. When that happens, repent and move on with a greater determination to believe God for all things. As we move into 2016, I encourage you to make this your Year of Agreement! May you be richly blessed in this coming year!

Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge…(2 Peter 1:2-6).

In his letter to Jewish believers that had been scattered throughout the Mediterranean world, Peter declared that something amazing is available to all those who believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. He says that we can actually participate or share in the divine nature. That is another way of saying that we can participate or take part in the very nature of God. Someone’s nature is who that person is at his or her core, who that individual is inherently.

Peter’s writing suggests that our participation in God’s nature is for the here and now, not just when we join him in heaven. That is why Jesus can call on us to be perfect (complete, mature) just as our Heavenly Father is perfect (Mt.5:48). This promise underlines, once again, the fact that those in Christ are not simply poor sinners who are no different from the unsaved except that their sins have been forgiven by grace. Peter says that something so significant has changed us that we can not only be forgiven but holy and, as time passes, we can take on the very nature and character of our Father.

Peter says that we have everything for life and godliness available to us though our knowledge of the Father and the Son. The word for knowledge here is epignosis, which goes far beyond the possession of information. This is a word that means a firm understanding and comprehension of a person or thing through experience, reflection, and repeated encounters. This is the difference in knowing God versus simply knowing about God.

For many, knowing Jesus is simply knowing facts about him, what he said, and who he was historically. That information is important but we are called to much more. We are called to experience the Lord and to develop a working knowledge of who he is and who we are in him. We experience him by faith – by risking obedience when our flesh and rational mind is pushing back hard against our decision. We experience him through personal encounters in prayer and worship, by hearing his voice, and by being part of his miracles. Through that and more we gain knowledge of him and through that knowledge we begin to reflect and take on his very nature.

Paul points us in the same direction when he says, “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit” (2 Cor. 3:18). Paul was reflecting on the transformation of Moses when his faced glowed as he came down from Sinai because he had been in the presence of the Lord beholding his goodness. As we spend time in his presence, beholding his nature – his love, his goodness, his holiness, etc. those very things will be imparted to us by the Spirit. The adage is that we become what we behold.

Peter tells us that through this personal knowledge of the Father and the Lord Jesus, grace and peace can be ours in abundance. Not only that, but everything we need for life and godliness can be ours. These great and precious promises are available to every believer but do not come automatically. Notice that Peter emphasizes that since these amazing promises are available, we should make every effort to add to our spiritual inventory. “For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love” (2 Pet.1:5-7).

So many things are available to us in Christ, but they don’t come to us without effort. This is not earning our salvation because that does come to us wholly by the grace of God. However, gaining growth and rewards is something God does with us, not for us. We were chosen for the team simply by his grace, but we advance on the team and do great things by our effort coupled with the coach’s wisdom. So how do we add these things? We add them through the spiritual disciplines of prayer, confession, and declaration. We add them by saying “no” to the flesh and asking the Spirit to bear his fruit in us. We spend time with the Father and the Son beholding them and increasing our knowledge of who they are and how they work in us. We take risks in obedience and we get the word of God in our hearts. If you think about, that is how Jesus grew as a man to be who we know him to be.

I doubt if we spend enough time thinking about the promises of God that are available to us. Peter framed them as great and precious. He also said that in those promises is everything we need for life and godliness. The key to the vault is an increasing knowledge of the Lord – not just facts and figures, but personal experiences that transform us into his image. Those are promises we should pursue! Blessings in him as you pursue his promises.

When word came to Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab and the rest of our enemies that I had rebuilt the wall and not a gap was left in it—though up to that time I had not set the doors in the gates—Sanballat and Geshem sent me this message: “Come, let us meet together in one of the villages on the plain of Ono.” But they were scheming to harm me; so I sent messengers to them with this reply: “I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?” Four times they sent me the same message, and each time I gave them the same answer. (Neh.6:1-4).

Nehemiah had been given favor by God with King Artaxerxes, King of Persia, to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls and restore the gates of the city that had been decimated by the Babylonians. The surrounding tribes who had been enemies of the Jews were alarmed and angry that Jerusalem might be rebuilt and repopulated. Although Nehemiah arrived with letters from the King commissioning the restoration, the leaders of these tribes tried numerous ploys to keep the work form succeeding.

In the text above, Sanballat and Geshem the Arab, leaders of these hostile tribes, asked Nehemiah to leave his work and come meet with then under the guise of making peace. As you read through the Old Testament, you will discover the character of Satan in many of the hostile tribes that opposed Israel as well as in the character of wicked kings who ruled over Judah and Israel from time to time. We become what we worship and these tribes and wicked kings worshipped idols that represented demonic spirits. You will discover that Satan uses the same strategies against you that he used against God’s people then, in an effort to defeat them.

One of his great strategies is revealed here. It is the strategy of distraction. Satan doesn’t employ this strategy against the ungodly or the uncommitted, but rather against the godly who are committed to their relationship with God. Ultimately, Satan’s goal is to keep us from salvation but if he fails in that, he turns to making us ineffective in accomplishing the things that God has called us to do.

Nehemiah was given one assignment – rebuild the walls of Jerusalem which included resetting and strengthening the gates as well. Satan had tried threats, intimidation, and slander to halt the projects but Nehemiah maintained his focus. Finally, these men who had threatened to attack the city, who had ridiculed the Jews’ attempts to rebuild, and who had publically accused Nehemiah of plotting rebellion against the king tried one more distraction – peace.

Think about how appealing peace would have been. The workers had been forced to carry a trowel in one hand and a sword in the other because of the threats of war. Because they had to post guards around the city, fewer men were able to be part of the work force. It is simply hard to do good work when you have to keep looking over your shoulder. Peace would have blessed both the work and the future of the city after the work ended. It would have been tempting to take a break from the building and to sit down with these “heads of state” to carve out a truce.

However, Nehemiah saw it for what is was – a distraction that ultimately would not bring peace but delay and that would remove his presence from the people who were already fearful and discouraged about the mission itself. Satan doesn’t always attempt to destroy the godly with sin. Often he presents numerous “good things” to draw us away from our primary tasks as believers. The “good things” either shift our focus from the main things or spread us so thin that we do nothing with excellence or simply leave many things half done.

The first essential is to know the primary things that God has called you to do and to know the priorities for each. It will be a narrow focus. Your first priority will always be to grow in your love for God and his kingdom. Jesus told us, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you” (Matt.6:33). The second priority will always be to grow in your love towards others. Remember, the two great commandments are to love God and to love others.

Primary among others will be your family. However, loving your family is not the same thing as providing more than your family needs or giving your children everything they want or think they want. Many godly men have put providing for their families ahead of loving God. They have put careers above bringing their children up in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord. To provide they have given so many hours to the job that they have been an absent parent. Fruitful ministries in church and in the community have slipped into the shadow of great jobs. I’m convinced that “great job opportunities” are not always from the Lord. Like the offer of peace in Nehemiah’s context, these careers can seem like a blessing from God if you don’t stop to count the cost and determine how it fits into your primary mission of seeking God and his kingdom. Affluence, which comes with great jobs, has also taken many servants away from the church on Sundays as the family heads to the lake house every weekend.

Sometimes, the distraction is not to leave but to keep doing more for the church, the community, and our families – more ministries, more volunteerism, more good things – even godly things. Then we become spread so thin that we do none of them well, and eventually burn out as individuals and families. Or we allow our children to be involved in so many things that we lose connection with the main things – all in the name of giving our children opportunities. Opportunities for what? To excel in sports, in education, in social networking? Each of those can be beneficial but often we are distracted by more for our children and find ourselves equipping them to succeed in the world but not in the kingdom. The underlying message for chasing every opportunity for our children is self-actualization (being all that I can be), rather than Christ-actualization as our priority in life.

It takes wisdom to sort out the distractions when they all are wrapped in “godly” packaging. Hearing from God about these things is essential. If you think about it, many of the things in which we involve our families and ourselves are attempts to make peace with the world – to fit it, to belong, and to succeed in the realm that will all burn up sometime. As you step into the New Year, ask God to show you your primary focus. What walls are you called to build for the kingdom? What gates are yours to restore? What territory are you to take back from the enemy? Once you have discovered your assignment, don’t be distracted. Keep your focus narrow and be found faithful in those things. Then you and your family as well as the kingdom of God will be blessed in eternal ways.

Psalm 119 has 176 verses in it and it reminds me how important the Word of God is to the believer. This psalm was probably written by David although it is not specifically identified as one of his. The man writing the psalm was under attack – not a military assault but a personal attack by those who would destroy him and, perhaps, even take his life. The flavor of the psalm is that the assault has been going on for a very long time – accusation, gossip, slander, traps, etc.

In this psalm, the writer places immense value on the word of God for his hope and his ultimate victory. Let me list just a few of the phrases that he uses:

Blessed are they whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the Lord.

I have hidden your word in my heart that I might nor sin against you.

Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law.

Your statutes are my delight, they are my counselors.

Preserve my life according to your word.

Strengthen me according to your word.

Your promise preserves my life.

I have put my hope in your word.

Your statutes are my heritage forever.

Preserve my life according to your laws.

Deliver me according to your promise.

The writer clearly believes that God is discovered in his word and that his word is unbreakable. He believes that the written word of God faithfully represents the character and promises of God that God will not violate. If it is written, then God will be true to his word. His constant reference to the Word is not out of fear that God might forget his promises but is a clear statement of belief that God is always true to his word so we can count on his promises.

Jesus used the phrase, “it is written,” numerous times in the gospel. He quoted scripture as the Word of God that is always true or that must come to pass because it has been written by the God who cannot lie. To me it is also interesting that Jesus always spoke about the word in the present tense – it is written rather than it was written. It carries the same implication as the name that God revealed to Moses about himself. Tell them, “I am.” To speak in the present tense suggests no beginning (past) and no end (future). It suggests that something is an unchanging reality. God is – he always has been and always will be. His written word has the same quality and because of that can be totally believed and acted upon. Of course, God reserves the right to determine how and when a promise will be fulfilled but if it is written, it must be fulfilled.

To get the word of God deep in our hearts is a great weapon against the enemy. To know without doubt what the Lord has promised us disarms the lies, deceptions, and bullying of the enemy. I’ve been around long enough to know that the church in America does not value Bible study and memorization like it used to. Few people carry a Bible to church. When Bibles are misplaced they stay in lost and found for months. Very few come looking for them. Perhaps, they have others, but I suspect it is because there is not much hunger for what is inside.

It is almost as if self-help books and worship CD’s have replaced the Word. There is nothing wrong with a good book or worship CD’s but nothing stands unless it stands on the Word. Jesus constantly referenced the written word as his ultimate authority and the plumb line for his actions and beliefs. He used it as a sword against the enemy when Satan assaulted him. We should do the same.

Spend time in the Word. Chew on it. Memorize it. Discuss it. Study it. Get it in your heart. Like the psalmist, it is your heritage forever. You have inherited God’s promises and statutes. The psalmist says, “With my lips I recount all the laws that come from your mouth. I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches” (Ps.119:13-14). Take possession of his truth and his promises as yours and know that they open up the storehouses of heaven to you. The Word unlocks greater riches than any the earth can offer.

Let me encourage you to spend time in Psalm 119 to see how much the psalmist valued the Word, the written promises of God, and the wisdom for living embedded in scripture. You will be blessed by doing so.