From the Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey: As my class in Chicago read the gospels and watched movies about Jesus’ life, we noticed a striking pattern: the more unsavory the characters, the more at ease they seemed to feel around Jesus. People like these found Jesus appealing: a Samaritan social outcast, a military officer of the tyrant Herod, a quisling tax collector, a recent hostess to seven demons. In contrast, Jesus got a chilly response from the more respectable types. Pious Pharisees thought him uncouth and worldly, a rich young ruler walked away shaking his head, and even the open-minded Nicodemus sought a meeting under the cover of darkness. I remarked to the class how strange this pattern seemed, since the Christian church now attracts respectable types who closely resemble the people most suspicious of Jesus on earth. What has happened to reverse the pattern of Jesus’ day? Why don’t sinners like being around us?

I think that is a fair question and although I am sure there are churches where the poor, the broken, and overt sinners feel welcome, I am also fairly certain that those churches would be the exception. If Jesus, indeed, came to heal the broken hearted and set captives free (Isa.61:1-4); if God is, indeed, close to the broken hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit (Psm.35:18): and if God calls on us to, “Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked” (Psm.82:3-4) then why aren’t these folks breaking down the doors of the church to get in and why did they respond to Jesus is such a welcoming way?

I have many thoughts on Yancey’s question but I will just share two of them at this time. First of all, Jesus went to the brokenhearted, the sinners, and the irreligious and did not simply put up a sign and wait for them to come to him. No doubt, Jesus went to the religious Jews as well because he was often in the temple compound and in synagogues but he also walked the streets of Jewish and Samaritan cities and rubbed shoulders with the sick, the leprous, tax collectors, hookers, and drunks. Jesus did not participate in their sin but he initiated contact, listened to their stories, and offered solutions. To those who were broken by life and sin he offered hope rather than condemnation. For many, the paradigm of grace that Jesus offered and demonstrated was life changing. Most churches put up a sign to welcome all those who need Jesus but rarely develop relationships with the down-and-outs of their community by going to the poor and broken rather than simply waiting for them to show up on Sundays.

Now let me tell you why I think the church avoids the deeply broken, the addicted, the junkies, the hookers, and the demonized of our society. In most cases, I don’t think it is a lack of concern or compassion or a Pharisee-like self-righteousness. Instead, I think it is a deep feeling of inadequacy and a sense that we really don’t have solutions for the homeless, the junkies, and the broken-hearted of our communities so to open our doors would overwhelm us as the needy of our society poured in like refuges crossing the border of a war-torn third world nation. Additionally, I think the pour and the broken themselves stay away from us because they sense we have no real answers for them either.

So what answers did Jesus have? First, there was hope – not just for the world to come but for this life as well. Mary Magdalene had her life changed forever and became a constant companion of the disciples and the mother of Jesus after seven demons were cast out of her. The demoniac who lived among the tombs went from being a homeless lunatic to a man dressed and in his right mind within an hour of encountering the church (Jesus and the twelve). Undoubtedly he became a useful member of society after that. For sure he became the president of the Messianic Evangelistic Association in Decapolis. Tax collectors turned from extortionists to philanthropists in their communities after encounters with Jesus and beggars who received healing got work and paid taxes after jumping to their feet. Jesus had answers for the poor, the down-and-outs, the demonized, the depressed, and sinners so he did not avoid them but took the good news to them. When they heard that he had real answers they also flocked to him.

When the church begins to experience the power of God once again and begins to offer that power outside the walls of the church, I believe the pattern of Jesus’ day will return. The very religious will, no doubt, continue to be offended but the unsavory characters of the world will feel comfortable in our presence because we will feel adequate in their presence. When the word gets out, they will also come to where Jesus is being demonstrated and may even dig a hole in someone’s roof to experience Jesus of Nazareth once again. He lives in each of us and is yearning to get out.

Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases?     Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life! Therefore, if you have disputes about such matters, appoint as judges even men of little account in the church! I say this to shame you. Is it possible that there is nobody among you wise enough to judge a dispute between believers? (1 Cor.6:2-5).

This section of scripture from Paul’s first letter to the church at Corinth is set in the context of believers having differences with one another and taking each other to public courts in order to settle their disputes. Paul expresses his frustration with the church and his frustration rests on the church’s misunderstanding of who they are in Christ. Paul might say that citizens of heaven have no business dragging each other to earthly courts.

Paul reveals the standing of the church in relation to the rest of creation and the church is each believer individually as well as corporately. You are the church. But notice what Paul says about the church: the saints (that is you) will judge both the world and angels. Believers have the Spirit of God living in them and as a result should have more wisdom, integrity,  and incite than citizens of this world and even more than angels.

In so many words, Paul is saying, “Why do you go to the world for answers when the world should be coming to you? Why do you seek wisdom from the world when all wisdom and knowledge are available to you through the Spirit? Why do you submit to the judgments of the world when you will sit in judgment on that same world someday? Why do you go to people whose understanding is darkened when you are the light of the world? Why do you submit to the judgments of those who are ruled by Satan when you are ruled by the one who has all authority in heaven and on earth?” Good questions.

Paul is not saying that we should not submit to the laws and authority of the land as long as they do not conflict with God’s laws. He is saying that God’s people should possess more wisdom that the people of the world because his presence lives within each of us and that we should judge matters by different standards than world judges them.

What I see too often is the church bowing down to the world as if the world is smarter and has more wisdom than God’s people or his Spirit. I don’t mean “bowing down” in the literal sense but let’s think about a few things. There are two big trends in American churches that have taken center stage in the last 30 years in church conferences. One is marketing (How do we get the message out?) and the other is leadership development (How do we raise up and train leaders?). Both of those are essential questions but the church, by and large, has not gathered and prayed for wisdom and revelation for those matters but has looked to corporate America for answers. I assure you that corporate America does not operate on spiritual principles and yet we go to the powers of the world and ask them for wisdom to know how to operate a spiritual kingdom when the powers of the world should be coming to us. Isaiah paints that picture of God’s people when he says, “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you.   Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn” (Isa.60:1-3).

For years, as a pastoral counselor,  I sought out the best training I could find for counseling and marriage and family therapy. I read the books, I attended graduate classes, and I went to conferences. Sometimes I went to secular workshops with big-name speakers but more often I went to Christian counseling conferences where I heard essentially the same strategies as I heard in secular schools because that’s where the men were trained who eventually trained  Christian counselors in Christian colleges. Not only that, but because the world determines the standards and ethics for being licensed as a counselor or a therapist, the world also determines the content of the training. In none of my graduate classes or at Christian conferences was I taught the spiritual dimensions of counseling or the use of divine weapons because we have let the world determine what is best.

The result was that my strategies fell short because I was offering nothing more that the world was offering except for a prayer. God has more. God does more. God works, even in counseling sessions, in the realm of the supernatural and so should we. I also have a concern that when we import strategies from the world for counseling, leadership, or marketing we are also importing worldly values and perspectives imbedded in those strategies. We should test the spirits in these matters as well as in theological teachings.

I think we need to be cautious about importing the world’s values  but more than that, my concern is with our low view of ourselves and the church that goes to the very world we will judge to find judgments and strategies for the kingdom of God. As a result, the culture tends to shape us rather than us shaping the culture. Let’s be sure that whatever we read, whatever we listen to, whatever teaches us has the touch of God on it before we decide to employ that strategy in the church, our families, or our lives. Hopefully… some food for thought today. Be blessed in Him.

Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’ “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care about men, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually wear me out with her coming!’ ” And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly.” Luke 18:1-8

This is not a welcome parable for most of us but a needed parable. It is a parable about enduring in prayer even when we don’t see God working in response to our cries. Jesus begins by encouraging his followers to always pray and never give up. He wouldn’t have told them the parable if there were not times when we are greatly tempted give up on God and lay aside a prayer and a hope rather than continuing until we see God’s answer.

How often have we prayed for something and when we haven’t seen the result we imagined in a few days, a few weeks, or a few months we stop praying and go on to something else or simply decide that our prayer is not in God’s will? That scenario is especially true when we don’t perceive any progress in the thing we are praying for. This “unperceived progress” comes up most often when we are praying for salvations, healings, reconciliation in relationships, or for a turn around in our nation. We pray, we cry, we fast, and yet we see the relationship, the nation, or a loved one’s health not only not improving but continuing to decline. What do we do with that? Often we simply decide that what we are praying for is not God’s will or that there is something wrong with us so he will not answer our prayer and we give up. Yet Jesus says that we should never give up but keep on praying.

One thing scripture reveals is that God’s promises are certain but his timetable rarely matches our own. For instance, Abraham was given a clear promise by God himself that he would father a child with is wife Sarah. The promise came when Abraham and Sarah were already at an age in which childbearing was highly unlikely. I’m guessing that Abraham was expecting a son before he got too old to enjoy him…say 18-24 months from the time of the promise. Time passed. Abraham was probably diligent in doing his part. Nothing happened. Undoubtedly, Abraham was praying with faith and thanking God for the promise while asking for the promise to be fulfilled right away. Time passed – not months but years.

As each year passed, the likelihood of the promise being fulfilled seemed to diminish as Abraham and Sarah continued to age. In response to their deteriorating circumstances, they decided to do the human thing and take matters into their own hands by putting a little spin on the promise. They determined to have a son through Hagar, Sarah’s servant. It would be Abraham’s son and technically Sara’s son as well since the child of the servant would technically belong to the master or the mistress.   Ishmael was born from that union but God rejected him because he was the not he child of promise. Eventually, the child of promise was born but he was born 25 years after the original promise. The more years passed the more God’s promise seemed impossible – but once again we discover that nothing is impossible with God.

The greatest promises and the most profound prayers seem to take years for their fulfillment. Sometimes, something as easy as a word from God takes weeks of prayer and fasting. There are probably lots of reasons – appointed times, demonic resistance (Dan.10), character development, free will issues, etc. but we may never know exactly why an answer to some prayers take so long. The point Jesus was making is that if the desire is still in our heart and the prayer is based on a promise of God, keep praying and never give up.

As he concluded the “parable of the persistent widow,” Jesus declared that God will not keep putting off his children who cry out to him day and night but will see that they get justice and quickly. If quickly, then why worry about endurance and persistence in prayer? The Greek construction of the sentence doesn’t mean that the prayers will be answered in short order but in the fullness of time, everything will come together and fall into place in an amazingly compressed period of time. But until that appointed time comes, we must continue to pray and to pray with faith believing that God makes good on his promises although every appearance seems to cry out that no answer will ever come.

Some who are reading this blog undoubtedly have given up on answered prayer for something once precious to your heart. Others have simply laid a desire aside rather than deal with the perception that nothing has changed. But so often, God is storing up your answer and when he releases your answer you will be amazed how quickly everything falls into place. Don’t give up. The biblical record is that some prayers and promises take years to answer. Some prophetic words take years to transpire. But the promise is sure as long as our prayers persist. Always pray and never give up.

Jim (not his real name) was, at one time, a well-known church leader in our area who ministered  to homosexuals in our area because he was once heavily involved in “the life” himself. God had delivered him. Jim had what seems to be a standard story for men who have fallen into homosexuality. As a young boy, he was molested by an older man and as a result developed profound confusion and shame about his own masculinity and his own sexuality. He began with homosexual experiences in high school. Those accelerated in college. Jim was a Christian who attended church and served faithfully in his church. He had a leadership gift so he was expected to marry, have kids, and succeed in life. He did just that but; in addition, he had a secret life and a secret struggle in which he was not succeeding. After being married for a number of years he gave into his secret, abandoned his family, set his faith aside,  and embraced an openly homosexual lifestyle. However, his family and friends did not give up on him and neither did the Lord.

After two years of living out his homosexual yearnings he repented, returned to his faith and family, confessed everything to his church, and began to walk in sexual purity as the Lord gave him strength. If you ask Jim, it took the Lord, his family, and his church to overcome his homosexuality.

First, through serious Bible study he was convinced that homosexuality is sin regardless of what the homosexual lobby declares. His openness finally took his sin out of the dark and brought it into the light so others could pray and help. His wife, who had continued to pray for him after he left her and his children, forgave him and took him back knowing that the road ahead would not be easy.

Jim will tell you that what he needed most was absolute truth and absolute love in his life and men who showed him how to have godly friendships with other men without sexual overtones. Jim told a group of pastors one time that when he was young he really didn’t understand what it meant to be a man. He said the world of men fascinated him but he just couldn’t  crack the code for entry into that world.

By nature, Jim was sensitive and artistic but didn’t find many masculine models for men with those traits. After being molested, his confusion was even greater. However, when he returned to his church and family, the men in his congregation affirmed his masculinity and began to introduce him to other parts of the masculine world that were foreign to him such as sports, hunting, fishing, etc. They made Jim part of the group, extended healthy hugs, let him ask questions without embarrassment and, in essence, let his latent masculinity develop at his own pace.

Over time, the old man diminished and the new man flourished. His yearnings for sexual encounters with men went away and he learned to enjoy a sexual relationship with his wife. He is still serving the Lord today but his “old identity” no longer defines him. Jim is a man who was set free by love, the work of the Holy Spirit over time, and learning what it meant to be a godly man through friendships with other godly men. Jim never experienced any kind of demonic deliverance but still found freedom through openness and a committed church and family.

Jim believes that, in addition to the molestation he experienced as a young man, he also had a genetic predisposition toward homosexuality. We need to be clear that God does not make us with that predisposition, rather when we live in a fallen world many things are broken and damaged as well as our genetics. Because I have a predisposition to something at birth does not make it God’s will for me  to give into those predispositions. I was born with a predisposition toward lust, lying, selfishness, and laziness. As I got older, those intensified because of my fallen nature until I submitted those sins to the cross and the Holy Spirit.

As Christians, we are called to overcome those predispositions by the power of the Holy Spirit and God’s divine weapons. If something is called sin in the Bible then God provides a way out. It may be a truth encounter, a deliverance session, a spiritual family who prays for us and models healthy gender roles, or even the supernatural healing of damaged genes.   In the meantime, God calls us to resist those temptations with his strength until we find freedom from those obsessive promptings.   As a heterosexual, I am called to live a celibate life if single or a faithful life if married. I am called to tell the truth when it seems easier to lie and to avoid drunkenness when I want to medicate some disappointment in my life. I am called to submit rather than demanding my way and to forgive those I would rather reject.  Homosexual leanings fall into the same category.

A person can have homosexual leanings or temptations, not give into them, and still be pleasing to the Lord just as a heterosexual  can have strong desires for someone to whom he or she is not married,  not give into the impulses,  and still be pleasing to God. If any temptation has become an uncontrollable obsession then the believer has fallen into some form of bondage and deliverance is probably in order.  But with every temptation the Lord provides a door of escape. “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it” (1 Cor.10:13).  We can find that door  if we sincerely seek it.

Homosexuality is not a new sin that has taken God by surprise. In our generation, the church must be clear that it is sin while at the same time creating an atmosphere where this sin can be confessed like all other sins and God’s remedies applied. I’m sure there are issues I have not spoken to related to homosexuality but, perhaps, some of the stories I have shared will be helpful to some. Be blessed.

Randy was in his 30’s and had been struggling with homosexuality off and on since high school. In the past three years his desires toward men had been obsessive. He was married with children but had been arranging clandestine meetings with men he met online and his shame and feelings of helplessness had become overwhelming. In my last blog I talked about his encounter with Jesus that had opened the door for hope again and the realization that he was still loved by his Heavenly Father.

After Randy had felt the arms of Jesus around him, his determination to resist the powerful temptations toward homosexual encounters was renewed. But the battle seemed constant and inevitably unwinnable. I began to speak to him about spiritual realities and spiritual warfare since Paul clearly states that our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against spiritual forces in the heavenly realms (Eph.6:12). Randy had not heard much about that side of our faith in the denomination in which he had grown up yet his “supernatural” encounter with Jesus had opened him up to new possibilities.

One of Satan’s most destructive strategies is to assign demonic spirits to whisper thoughts that we experience as temptations and then to convince us that those thoughts are our own and that those thoughts define us. That was certainly true with Randy. I began to encourage him not to receive those thoughts as his own but as temptations or whispers from the enemy. His response should be to treat the thought as one being whispered by a spirit and to command the spirit to leave him in the name and authority of Jesus. That seemed a bit “out there” to Randy but he began to verbally command tempting spirits to leave him and the obsessive and oppressive nature of the temptations began to decrease but the voice was still a constant companion.

At that point I began to suggest deliverance from spirits of sexual perversion and homosexuality that were not just passing by but that had attached themselves to him. That thought was a profound jump for him and one he wasn’t immediately willing to receive.   However, he was determined to overcome this issue that had defined his life for years and so one day Randy, out of fear that he would eventually regress, consented.

And so, one afternoon in my office, a member of our congregation named James Morris, who had a great deal of experience in deliverance, and I prayed with Randy. We had him not only confess his sins but renounce them as well and forgive the man who had molested him years earlier. Then in the name and authority of Jesus, we began to command these spirits to release their hold on him and to leave him immediately. For the first few minutes we saw little happen but then Randy began to cough and gag. As we pressed in, Randy left his chair, hit the floor and began to crawl around with the spirits shouting, “No!” each time we commanded them to stop afflicting Randy and to leave. After a half hour of resisting, these spirits departed. Randy was absolutely sure that something had left him and although he was exhausted he was also at peace. James and I prayed for God to fill Randy with his Spirit, to grant him sexual holiness, and to restore his masculine soul. We told him to treat any further temptations as a spirit and to command them to leave.

Randy left my office that day and told me three months later that his love for his wife and sexual desires for her had returned. He was serving in his church again. Temptations from his past arose from time to time but without the power they once possessed. Randy wasn’t just managing his homosexual impulses but was free from them. The last I heard from Randy was about three years after his deliverance and he was still walking in freedom. I believe a demonic spirit had entered John through the molestation he had experienced as a child and as his confusion grew about his own masculinity and sexuality other spirits joined the first to create the shame and compulsions that ruled Randy for years. As the song declares, “There is power in the name of Jesus.”

Is every person involved in homosexuality ruled by demonic spirits? Probably not, but I believe many are and could be set free just as Randy was. I also know a young woman who was content to be single, serve the Lord, and live the busy life of a social worker. One day she met an older woman and developed a friendship with her but the friendship soon developed into a lesbian relationship with the two living together. That went on for a year with her concerned family praying for her each day. One day she simply walked away from the relationship and later said that she could pinpoint the moment when a spirit entered her and she could pinpoint the day it left. When it left, so did her desires for any sexual encounters with women. Again, a strong spirit had been at play in this woman’s life. Jesus has an answer for that.

In my next blog, we’ll talk about genetic propensities toward homosexuality and how some believers have dealt with that issue in their own lives. Blessings in Him.

Homosexuality is not monolithic. There are various roads and causes that lead to people defining themselves as “gay” and giving in to the impulses and lifestyle. In my last blog, I talked about Mark who had mistaken friendship for homosexuality. In this blog we will look at another path.

Randy (not his actual name) came into my office several years ago. He was in his thirties, a professional in his community, and had driven a considerable distance to see me at the recommendation of a woman who lived in his town with whom I had worked several months earlier. John was raised in a conservative Christian denomination which he still attended. He was married with small children and worked in a profession that made him a very public figure. John came in and after a bit of chitchat about where he grew up and what he did for a living, he collapsed into his chair and announced that my office was his last stop.

Obviously, that phrase got my attention because it could have meant any number of things. Randy then began to tell me his story. He was raised in a good Christian home but when he was seven or eight years old a family friend had molested him. That experience filled him with confusion and shame and created a secret in his life that became a place where the enemy could work freely and without hindrance as he does in all the secret places of our lives. Randy had begun to have some homosexual experiences in high school but pushed back against the impulses. He continued to feel the contradictions in his life but married in college and had children. His wife was totally unaware of his secret struggle.

Randy told me that there were seasons in his life when he was able to manage his homosexual impulses but there were seasons when his impulses managed him. He was in one of those seasons and was obviously filled with shame as he told me about the secret liaisons he had been having with men he met online. He felt alienated from his wife, who was a great wife and mother, but for whom he felt no attraction. He believed that God hated him and that there was no way back but hoped that I could say something that would change his mind. Randy told me that if I could not give him hope about his situation he was going to leave his wife, his children, his job, his town, and his faith and fully embrace “the lifestyle” because he could no longer battle the impulses.

Randy’s first great obstacle to healing and freedom was his belief that God hated him, was repulsed by him, and would no longer have anything to do with him. After all, he had prayed “a million times” for God to take away the feelings he had for other men but those feelings had persisted. His conclusion was that God no longer heard his prayers because he was so disgusted by Randy and his secret life.

I asked Randy if he had ever heard God speak to him. He said that he believed God had spoken to him clearly once or twice in his life as he grew up and made career decisions. I asked if he were willing to let God speak to him now about his situation. He was reluctant but desperate so he agreed. We closed our eyes and I simply asked Jesus to speak to Randy and tell him how he felt about him. Within seconds, Randy began to weep and sob almost uncontrollably.

After a minute or two, I asked him what Jesus had said to him. Randy replied, “ He didn’t say anything…but I literally felt his arms around me and I know he still loves me. He’s not done with me.” That was the first necessary breakthrough for Randy because that supernatural moment with Jesus restored his hope that life might be manageable again.

The enemy loves to prompt us to sin, fill us with shame about our sin, and then whisper that God has turned his back on us because of our perversion. It usually takes more than quoting John 3:16 to overcome these lies of the enemy. It usually takes a personal experience with God to give us hope again and demonstrate that God is still there for us. Randy received that experience that afternoon in my office and it made everything else possible.

More about Randy and his victory over  a spirit in my next blog.

I honestly can’t remember what I have written about this subject in my blog before this morning, but I feel as if the Lord wanted me to speak into this issue again. The issue is homosexuality. Who would have ever thought 50 years ago that our culture and many churches would have embraced this lifestyle, framed it as a civil right, and declared it to be good or natural? I want to say from the outset that I have no personal axe to grind with those who struggle with homosexuality. Some of the most talented and likeable people I have known struggle with this issue. However, the “rightness” or “goodness” of an issue cannot be determined by how nice or talented the person is who practices the sin. There are also many talented and likeable adulterers in our culture as well as pedophiles, drug dealers, embezzlers, gossips, liars, and child abusers.

The standard that establishes whether or not a behavior is a sin is the Word of God and if we are to be faithful followers of Jesus we cannot disregard that Word regardless of our cultural standards or even our personal feelings.   There was a time when slavery was the cultural standard but thankfully the church did not give into or embrace that standard forever. What if homosexuality is a kind of spiritual slavery? If we give in to the cultural norm then no one gets set free.

Without quoting all the scriptures that clearly define homosexuality as a sin I will just site a few references here for you to pursue if you are not already clear about the biblical standard – Gen. 19:4-7, Lev.18:22, I Cor. 6:9, Rom.1:26-27. By the way, Paul did not write his letters in an era uninformed about homosexuality. He wrote his letters in the midst of a culture in which homosexuality was widely practiced and accepted by the ruling and the “educated” classes of Rome.

I have not had extensive experience ministering to those struggling with homosexuality but I have had some experiences that may be representative and may be helpful to someone reading this blog. These stories will require a couple of blogs so I hope you will be patient. Let’s begin with a young man I will call Mark. Mark walked into my office one day as the young adult son of church members where I served as an associate pastor at one time. Mark had just graduated from a Christian college and was still trying to figure out life. He came in, dropped into a chair, and got right to the point. He asked, “What does the Bible say about homosexuality?” I took him to several passages in both the Old and New Testament and read those to him. He sat there devastated and explained that we was a practicing homosexual and a Christian but had trusted his friends who had told him that scripture, especially the New Testament, had nothing whatsoever to say about homosexuality.

I asked Mark to tell me his story. He had gone off to college and was assigned a dorm room with a new friend named Ron. He said that they hit it off immediately and soon became close friends. After a year as dorm mates they were so connected as friends that they moved off campus and shared an apartment together. At some point they felt so emotionally connected that they couldn’t imagine life without that relationship.

Mark told me that eventually they came to accept that they must be “gay” to have those kinds of feelings for one another and then just gave into the lifestyle and the urgings of other “gay friends” they had met. I asked Mark if he had been sexually attracted to Ron before they discovered their “homosexual selves?” He said, “Of course not. But once we understood who we were, we started being sexual with one another because that’s what you do.”

Mark and I visited for another half hour. We talked about David and Jonathan whose “souls were knit together” as best friends without being homosexual. We talked about Jesus and the apostle John who seemed to have a very deep connection. I explained to Mark that we can enter into deep, same-sex friendships that are just that – friendships – and the relationship can still be godly. Here’s the problem: Our culture is so broken that we can’t separate love from sex so when people discover a deep emotional connection with one another (as brothers and sisters might experience), our culture imposes a perverse sexual template on that relationship rather than letting it stand as a deep friendship. Solomon himself said, “There is a friend who is closer than a brother” and he was without question a blatant heterosexual. Satan loves to take what is holy and distort it into something perverse. He has done that with friendships. Mark was struck with the possibility that he was not, in fact, homosexual by nature and left my office in an almost dazed state. I didn’t see him again for a long time.

Two years later, I was sitting alone in the LAX airport waiting for a connecting flight and Mark walked up to me out of the crowd with an attractive young lady next to him. He introduced me to his wife who “knew his story” and although they were working on some issues they were doing fine. Jesus said, “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” In Marks’s case, he had been deceived into believing he was homosexual by nature but the truth released him to live out his life as God intended. I’m convinced that others are in bondage for the same reasons. God created us to have deep same-sex friendships without sex and without sin and those deep feelings of friendship do not make us homosexual.

In my next blog, I will tell you how being set free from a spirit of homosexuality released two people I know personally from a lifestyle of homosexuality. Be blessed in Him.

That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. (James 4:6-10)

All believers who involve themselves in spiritual warfare love the words from the text above that declare, “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” On occasion, however, when we resist the devil or lead others in resisting the devil he does not flee. It might be worth asking why.

In our Freedom Ministries at Mid-Cities we walk many, many people through deliverance each year. Most get freedom in a short period of time, some gain freedom after an extended period of ministry, and a few seem to get no freedom at all. I’m sure there are lots of reasons for the variations including the category of spirits we are dealing with, the rank of those spirits, and the amount of time they have been oppressing the individual to whom we are ministering. But sometimes, I’m convinced our seeming inability to force a spirit to leave lies in the heart and mind of the one who has come to us for deliverance or even in our own heart and mind.

Notice that the promise of the devil fleeing is submerged in an extended text that keeps bringing up the issue of submitting ourselves and humbling ourselves before God. Primarily this falls into the arena of alignment or, more accurately, misalignment with the Father.

To submit myself to the Father includes agreeing with him about right and wrong, good and evil, righteousness and unrighteousness. To submit myself means that I give him judgment in those areas rather than judging for myself what thoughts and behaviors I think are acceptable or unacceptable. How many times do we say, “Yes, I know that is in the Bible, but….”
Then we go on to rationalize our own thoughts or behaviors that are contrary to scripture and in essence give ourselves a pass on disobedience.

We always feel there are extenuating circumstances that somehow make our situation different so that God’s command does not really apply to us in our case. Sometimes its because we’re afraid to submit to doing things God’s way because we feel vulnerable. Forgiving those who hurt us, refusing to take a brother to court, turning the other cheek, or giving up our manipulative behaviors, in fact, does make us vulnerable and dependent on God for care, provision, favor etc. when we turn our well-being over to him. Sometimes we enjoy a sin that we are not quite willing to give up. Sometimes we have a hidden addiction that creates so much shame we don’t want to acknowledge it – even to God. At other times we place greater value on a relationship, our career or our standing in an influential group than we do on pleasing God.

Whatever we hold to ourselves, refuse to give to God, or excuse is a failure to submit and gives the devil a legal right to maintain his position in our lives. When Satan or his servants have a legal right to harass or torment us, deliverance has limited affects except with the weakest of spirits.

On the other hand, when we submit to the Lord in every area of our life, it not only chokes off any legal right the enemy has held over us but God, in turn, “lifts us up.” The original language implies that our humility before God motivates God to give us a “higher position” in the kingdom, which implies the granting of more authority. As we submit to the Father and humble ourselves before him, in essence, we gain greater authority in the kingdom of God and that authority is what sets the devil to flight. Another kingdom paradox is at play here. The more we submit in the natural realm, the more authority we possess in the spiritual. The more we release to the Father in the natural realm, the more we are given in the spiritual. The more we bow the knee in the kingdom, the taller we stand.

When the devil does not flee we may need to check our own hearts or the heart of the one to whom we are ministering to see if something is continuing to give the devil authority to afflict or if something is diminishing our authority to minister in the spiritual realm. What is unsubmitted, what is unreleased, or what is being loved more than God? The same exam should take place before praying for healing as well. Too often we jump in and start commanding spirits to leave or begin to pray for healing without seeing where the person to whom we are ministering stands with God. Sometimes, we begin without taking a moment to make sure our own hearts are aligned with the Father. In the arena of spiritual warfare, submission and humility before the Father is what makes us more than a conqueror.

Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign Lord. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live? Ezek.18:23

The people of the land practice extortion and commit robbery; they oppress the poor and needy and mistreat the alien, denying them justice. I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none. Ezek.22:29-30

One of the great lies of the enemy that keeps people from God is that God is a vengeful, angry deity sitting on a throne in heaven with a score pad just waiting to pour out his wrath on all those who fail to toe the line. Satan loves to paint God as the explosive, abusive father ready to backhand his kids at the slightest provocation. I believe that Satan whispered something akin to that view into the ears of Adam and Eve a millisecond after they sinned in The Garden. How else would you account for them running and hiding from a Father who had only ever shown them love?

However, that is not the God revealed in the Bible. But, you say, what about all the times he judged Israel and scattered them all over the world and what about the flood that wiped out every human being except for Noah’s little tour group on the ark? I didn’t say that God never judges unrighteousness. After all, he is holy. But what we need to understand is that it is never his heart to do so and it only comes after years of unrepented sin and constant warnings from the Lord.

Like a good father, he always wants what is best for his children. He gives them clear guidelines and spells out the consequences for disobedience long before discipline is ever administered. He does not punish weakness or ignorance but only rebellion and even then he tries to find another way.

In the two passages above, Ezekiel reveals the heart of God in these matters. God takes no delight in the death of the wicked but longs for them to repent so that he can forgive and bless. The book of Jonah revolves around Jonah being sent to Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, who was a sworn enemy of Israel. Assyria was cruel and brutal in its treatment of captives and, yet, before judging this city he sent a prophet to warn the people. When Jonah vehemently objected to God showing mercy to this nation God responded, “But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city” (Jonah 4:11)? Jonah preached, Nineveh repented, and God withheld judgment. If you look well, that is the pattern throughout the Old Testament. Even before the flood Noah preached repentance for 120 years and God did not open the heavens until “every imagination was evil all of the time”(Gen.6:5).

The second text quoted from Ezekiel is set in the context of Israel’s flagrant sin and rebellion against God that had gone on for years even though God had repeatedly sent prophets to turn their hearts back to Him. But even in the face of unrelenting rebellion God looked for a way to express mercy rather than judgment. His holiness required justice and judgment unless one could be found who would stand before him and plead for mercy on Israel’s behalf as Moses had done in the wilderness. But no one stood and no one interceded for Israel so God was forced to honor his people’s choices and send judgment though it was not his heart to do so. God reveals his heart plainly when he tells us, “Mercy triumphs over judgment” (Ja.2:13).

However, many believers still view God as the angry, stern father who begrudges his children anything beyond the bare essentials and who keeps a belt handy for the slightest infraction. To view God that way hinders everything about our walk with the Lord. If we see God that way we avoid him rather than running to him. We rarely ask in prayer because we think the answer is already “No!” When we do ask, we ask with little faith and pray as if we must persuade God to dispense the smallest of blessings.

But Jesus said, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (Jn.14:9). Jesus was hardly the angry prophet ready to punish every transgression but rather was the Lamb of God ready to forgive every transgression. Jesus was incredibly gentle with sinners and broken hearts and was quick to express love, heal hurts, and restore bodies ravaged by disease. It seems that his most frequent emotion identified in the gospels was compassion and instead of making us pay for our sins he paid the price for us. What we see in Jesus is the Father’s heart as well.

We need to know that. One of our greatest weapons is “believing-prayer,” but how can we believe unless we see the Father as a God quick to forgive, quick to love, and quick to say, “Yes?” How can we come before him with confidence unless we see him as a Father who loves to see us come into his presence even with our imperfections and failings? How can we draw close unless we see him as a Father who longs to put his arms around us even if we have been prodigals? If we can’t see God this way then Satan has sold us a bill of goods designed to keep us far from the one who loves us more than we can imagine. If that is the case, we need to quickly rethink our view of God and know this – God has a heart for you.

There are three essential questions in life that determine almost everything.

1. Does God exist?
2. Is God powerful?
3. Does God love me?

Most of the time we are unaware of core beliefs deep inside of us that determine our reactions to just about everything and our decisions in the aftermath of those reactions. These core beliefs are typically formed overtime and often are the results of conclusions we have drawn about life, God, and ourselves as a result of some powerful experience or the modeling of those around us. As adults, these beliefs have been with us so long and are such a familiar part of our internal landscape that we don’t even notice them. Yet, they still have a powerful influence on us.

In light of that, you may want to consider what you really believe regarding these three essential questions – not what you should believe but what you really believe. The implications are massive.

For instance, if God does not exist, all bets are off. You (and everyone else) are on your own in a dangerous and degrading world. If that is your core belief then there is no true north by which to set directions in your life – no absolute right or wrong, no absolute truth, no accountability beyond raw power. Nations that do not believe in God or, at least in a God who holds nations accountable with his judgment, act with no restraint except the restraint of resources and limited power. They assume that all rights and privileges are dispensed by the state rather than God and feel free to give those or take them away at their discretion. North Korea is a model for a world without God.

In your personal world without God you are on your own so control and power will be the highest thing on your agenda as well and looking out for number one will be your only option. In that world, man has little value because he us just part of the evolutionary food chain. In that world, selfishness and self-interest reign supreme.

On the other hand, if God does exist, what you believe about him is just as essential. If you see God as powerless (the doting grandfather view) or detached from this world and your life, then you are still on your own. The powerless God may love you but cannot help you. The detached God neither cares nor helps. You have direction and truth but no help to live out the demands of a distant God and no protection from those who would destroy you for your faith or simply because you are in the way.

If your view of God is that he is powerful and intrudes in this world but does not love you then your situation may be even more frightening. In such a case, God is involved and powerful but is not directed by love when he touches your world. Typically, this view of God paints him as the angry judge of all those who fail him. Then we live with fear, guilt and a sense of impending doom over our lives. With this view as a core belief we will tend to run from God rather to him.

The biblical view is that God does exist, he his powerful beyond imagination, he is involved in our personal lives as well as in the destiny of nations, and he will hold individuals and nations accountable. But…he is motivated by love when it comes to those who love him. If you have faith in Jesus you live in the best of all worlds this side of heaven because God is for you. But many believers are unaware that their view of God is skewed and because of that so is their ability to trust him, to give up control of everything and everyone in their lives, and their capacity for peace and security in a turbulent world.

As Christians, all of us would probably answer, “Yes” to all three of the essential questions above. But we might be expressing our “aspirational beliefs” rather than our actual beliefs. Aspirational beliefs are those we aspire to have because we know we should believe certain things. But actual beliefs can be different (and often are) and are revealed not by what we say but what we do.

To say that God exists, that he loves me deeply, and that He is unimaginably powerful implies that he is really there and because He loves me so, He consistently exercises his immeasurable power on my behalf for protection, provision, and direction.

Jesus believed that about the Father. I know he did because he slept through storms while others cried out. With small prayers he confidently took a few scraps of bread and fish and fed thousands. He walked on stormy seas and faced hostile leaders with the confidence that God would send a legion of angels to defend Him if needed.

But what about us? How often do we worry day after day about having enough? How many of us are “high on control” in our life and relationships so that we won’t be hurt? How many of us are plagued by anxiety and fears of abandonment? How many of us believe in our heads that we are children of the King but believe in our hearts that we are orphans living on our own, scrounging to meet our own needs, and always on the brink of disaster?

Knowing who we are in Christ, knowing who our Father is, and having that truth in our hearts is critical to everything. Paul prayed that God would give the church at Ephesus the Spirit of wisdom and revelation that they might know God better. Many of us have aspirational faith in the character and promises of God but our actual faith lags behind. We need that essential truth revealed to our hearts more than we need it deposited in our heads. That is the work of the Spirit.

Ask Him every day to write “Yes!” on your heart to each of those three questions so that you can live with the peace and confidence of Jesus. May the Lord give you His Spirit of wisdom and revelation today so that you may know Him better (Eph.1:17).