Our staff and elders at Mid-Cities have been pushing through a process lately of discussing the meaning of discipleship and effective ways to make disciples.  It’s an important topic because Jesus gave us our final marching orders just before his ascent back to the Father. “Go into all the world and make disciples of all nations” (Mat.28:18).  First of all he said “go” and “make.  The implication is that we initiate something that is intentional and that has some design. It usually doesn’t happen by accident and it is not random.  Jesus also said that we are to make disciples.

Disciples are not church members but rather followers of Jesus Christ.  In the days of Jesus, disciples chose a Rabbi that they wanted to emulate.   Jesus said, “It is enough for the student to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master” (Mt.10:25). Jesus was echoing the Rabbinical concept of discipleship.  It wasn’t just about knowing what the Rabbi knew but it was about living like the Rabbi lived.

American discipleship has been reduced in many ways to learning rather than doing.  Discipleship has been defined as knowing more and receiving more training.  We have fallen pray to the Ivory Tower approach of expertise.  We tend to believe that the men or women who have read the most about a topic are the experts because they speak with such authority that we assume they have actually done what they talk about. Unfortunately, real life is often very divorced from the ideal presented in books.

It’s not that disciples don’t read, receive teaching, and talk about what they have learned.  They do.  But to that academic experience they add personal experience. Jesus taught. Then he modeled what he taught.  Then he sent his disciples out to do what they had watched him do and to practice what he had taught. Then they came back and told Jesus what happened.  He taught some more, modeled some more, and then released them to go practice what he had preached some more.

The key to discipleship was their desire to actually do what the Rabbi did and to live as he lived. Jesus was aware that an accumulation of knowledge could feel like obedience when it actually wasn’t.  He said,  “I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock…   But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation.” (Lk.6:47-49). James, the brother of Jesus, later challenged the church to be doers of the word and not hearers only.

True discipleship is about doing not just learning. If we are to be disciples of Jesus in the very Jewish sense of discipleship we must do what he did until we master it and if we want to truly please him we must do even more than he did. Well…how could anybody do more than Jesus did?  In the realm of procuring our salvation Jesus stands alone.  No one can duplicate what he did as the sinless Lamb of God.  In terms of lifestyle and touching other lives, Jesus himself said, “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father” (Jn.14:12).

I didn’t say that.  Jesus said that.  “He will do even greater things.” Notice the emphasis on “do.” Our challenge as believers in the American church is not knowing but doing. We have more Bible study aids that at anytime in history.  I’m sitting here with my Logos Bible software as I type this blog. I can pull up every kind of study guide or aid imaginable. But I will never start to become like Jesus until I begin to risk doing what he did – sharing the good news of the kingdom of God, healing broken hearts, healing broken bodies, building relationships with sinners, loving the unlovable, confronting evil, feeding the hungry, casting out demons, and even raising the dead.

There are lots of ways to do those things but if that is what Rabbi Jesus did then as disciples we must do the same. Is there a learning curve? Yes. Is there a fear factor? In the beginning. Can I mess up? O yeah.  Can I fail?  Only if I don’t try.  There is always a gap between theory and practice but eventually practice exceeds theory because in doing we learn; in doing we grow; in doing faith flourishes, and in doing we become more like the Rabbi.

Go out today or tomorrow and pray for something impossible without the bailout disclaimer “if it be thy will.” Pray for healing believing that God always wants to heal. Command demons believing that God always wants to set captives free. Share your faith with sinners believing that God wants all men to be saved. Okay, okay.  Peter stepped out of the boat and nearly drowned!  Not really.  Jesus would not have let him drown because he stepped out in faith.  It wasn’t perfect faith but it was faith.  But Peter also experienced something no other apostle experienced.  He did actually walk on water for a bit. He knew what it felt like.  He knew if he did it once by faith he could do it again.  He knew he might get wet but Jesus would not let him drown.  We all need to know those things and we only come to know them when we actually risk doing what the Rabbi did.  It is also the only way we can say, “It is not I who lives, but Christ who lives in me.”  Go out there today and risk doing what he did. After all, he is in you and just wants you to let him out. Be blessed.

Late last night I was working on a revision of our Free Indeed manual that we use at Mid-Cities for our eight week study on Freedom in Christ and our weekend of healing and breaking the power of the enemy.  That’s the curriculum from which Born to Be Free was developed.  As I was going over the manual I was reminded how patient and subtle the enemy can be in getting us to compromise our faith so that we compromise our effectiveness and slowly quench the Spirit within us.

No doubt the enemy sometimes comes at us with a full frontal assault in an effort to overwhelm us.  When that happens we quickly recognize what is going on and call up the troops for prayer. Those can be exhausting moments or seasons but we usually draw closer to the Lord and become more aggressive in our faith in those seasons. Sometimes the more destructive strategies of the enemy simply are seasons of relative peace during which we drop our spiritual guard and become susceptible to his subtle influences.  Those not-so-noticeable influences can gradually accumulate in our lives and lead us to compromise in ways we barely notice.

Think about movies today. Most Christians feel pretty good about attending PG or PG13 movies today while drawing the line at the R rated flicks.  However, what is PG13 today was R rated or even X rated just a few years ago. Television has normalized partial nudity, bad language, violence, adultery, homosexual relationships, and so forth. When we see something everyday it becomes “the norm” and whatever is “normal” seems to take on an air of acceptability because it doesn’t shock us anymore. Satan is fine with taking twenty years to move us from a perspective of sin being repugnant to it being normal and then to “maybe it’s not all that wrong” and, finally, to acceptance or approval.

As believers we are prone to think that because we have become comfortable with sin or have become callous to it that the Holy Spirit has become comfortable with it as well.  Paul counsels us not to grieve or quench the Spirit within us.  Sin grieves the Spirit and our choices to ignore the conviction he brings us as we watch, read, or participate in things offensive to him tend to quench the Spirit within us.  Satan presents those things slowly but persistently so that we find the sin barely offensive.

It’s almost like an enemy putting a small piece of tainted meat in your stew.  As you eat it you notice that an occasional bite seems a little odd or distasteful but the rest seems fine so we eat away.  If we eat that stew everyday, we don’t even notice the subtly odd taste anymore. It becomes the “normal” taste of stew for us.  Then the enemy can increase the amount of tainted meet again.  After a year or two we may believe that there is nothing wrong with the stew because it tastes “normal” although by then 90% of the meat is tainted. Even when we find ourselves feeling sick every day we don’t think that the stew is the problem because it tastes “okay” to us. In fact, we may not even recognize that we are sick because the fatigue and body aches have become our norm as well.

Satan introduces sin and compromise in the same subtle ways.  There were times when Israel would go up on high places and worship idols (demons) and then immediately go down to worship Jehovah in the temple at Jerusalem.  After a while, Israel placed idols in the temple itself and worshipped both false gods and the one true God at the same time. My guess is that it took years of worshipping idols before it was comfortable or “normal” enough to set them in the temple of the living God.  The culture had become so full of idolatry that even the priests seemed to accept the presence of demon worship in God’s holy temple as somehow permissible. They fell into the trap of believing that if they were not offended then surely their God was not offended.   However, God was offended and eventually his presence left the temple altogether.

My question is, “What has subtly become the “norm” in my life or in my mind that has slowly taken on an air of acceptability to me that is in no way acceptable to God?  Ultimately, I believe the tainted meat the enemy introduces slowly into my life is more dangerous than the frontal assaults of the enemy.  May the Lord give me wisdom to detect those areas of compromise and correct my compass so that his Spirit is neither grieved nor quenched in my life.  I pray the same for you.  Be blessed and aware today!

In John 6, we find the familiar story of Jesus walking on water.  The disciples had just witnessed the feeding of five thousand people with a few loaves of bread and a couple of small fish. John tells us that immediately after that notable miracle Jesus made his disciples get into a boat and sent them across the Sea of Galilee to Capernaum.  After dismissing the crowd and the disciples he went up on a mountain to pray.

When evening came the boat was in the middle of the lake (about three and a half miles off shore) and the disciples were rowing because a strong wind was blowing against them and their basic sail was of no use.  It must have been a considerable wind because they had been rowing since sunset and were still rowing when the forth watch of the night rolled around.  That would be between 3:00 and 6:00 a.m. Apparently, there was a bright moon because Jesus could see them from the shoreline as they continued to row.

Then the story gets interesting. John tells us that Jesus simply went for a walk on the lake.  In his gospel, Mark tells us that Jesus “was about to pass by them” when they saw his figure on the water.  At first they thought they were seeing a spirit and cried out. Jesus immediately told them not to be afraid and identified himself.  According to Matthew (See Mt. 14), Peter in his excitement asked Jesus to command him to come out and walk on the water as well.  Peter, of course, did walk on the surface of a churning sea for a few steps but then took his eyes off of Jesus and began to sink. Jesus lifted him from the water and as he so often did, chided Peter and the other disciples about their lack of faith.

There are a few things the Spirit pointed out to me as I read this familiar text again.  First of all, Jesus watched them struggle against the wind for a number of hours before going out to them. Undoubtedly a lesson was in the making.  I have to hand it to the disciples for their attempt to be obedient to the Master.  If I had been rowing for hours in the middle of the night on a rough sea and had only made three miles of the journey, I would have been very tempted to head back to shore and try again on a more favorable day. But these men kept after the assignment while making little headway believing that Jesus would be at their destination waiting for them when they arrived. I applaud their tenacity.

I think the lesson may be found in their attempt to accomplish the task Jesus had given them in their own strength.  I’m certain they felt alone and, perhaps, even resentful for Jesus commanding them to row across a huge lake in the night in a rough sea against a strong wind. It would be easy to hear them grumbling about Jesus not being there to take his turn at the oars.

And yet they were not alone.  Jesus had his eye on them the whole time and when they were probably near exhaustion he strolled out to the boat.  Mark’s statement that he was about to pass them by really catches my attention. It is possible that if they had not looked up or had not cried out Jesus would have completed his seven-mile walk and arrived at the other side long before his exhausted disciples arrived in their boat.  The difference in the journey was that the apostles were toiling in their own strength while Jesus was strolling on the same rough waters against the same opposing wind but he was making the journey in the power of God.

If you scan the gospels you often see that the disciples watched the miracles of Jesus but never sensed that the same power from heaven was available to them by faith. As you read the comments of Jesus about their lack of faith you sense that it wasn’t their lack of faith in Jesus that was the problem but their lack of faith that God would do the same things for them and through them that he was doing for Jesus. He would say to the twelve…you feed them.  He would seem to say to them, “Why didn’t you command the storm to be still instead of waking me up?” or “Why didn’t you command the wind to be still so you could row easily or better yet why didn’t you get out and walk?”

Jesus lived with an awareness that the power of heaven was available to him not just to heal or cast out demons but to feed the crowds, still the storm, cross the lake, or provide a meal. His disciples most often seemed to believe that what God would do for Jesus, he would not do for them.  So they faced tasks and crises in their own strength…typically with less than stellar outcomes.

In the middle of the lake that night, the disciples were rowing with all their might but I wonder if they had even prayed for a supernatural crossing. If they had been so absorbed by their own efforts that they had not looked up, they would not have even noticed Jesus nearby and would not have cried out to him.  If they had not cried out, he may have walked right by them.  But when they did cry out he joined them. Peter walked on water and the wind died down. They soon reached the other side. But I think what Jesus really wanted them to learn was that what God would do for his only begotten Son he was also very willing to do for his adopted sons.

We need that same lesson.  We so often feel that the tasks or the challenges that come our way must be faced in our own strength with our own resources. We eventually cry out when we get desperate and exhausted but how much better if we counted on the supernatural interventions of God from the very beginning to help us accomplish the task.  How much better if we prayed before beginning rather than just grabbing the oars and getting after it in our own strength. Like the disciples that night, we may feel alone but we are not alone. God is watching and he is willing to join us.  He is also wanting us to know that by faith we can certainly do what Jesus did because Jesus said that those who believe in him would not only do what he had been doing but greater things as well.  Be blessed today and anticipate the supernatural help of the Father.

The 1992 book entitled Boundaries by Henry Cloud and John Townsend has become a classic among counselors and therapists.  In a nutshell, the book directs us to maintain healthy boundaries in our lives and relationships that let in good things and keep out bad things. Boundaries are important and biblical.

If you think about it, God has always been big on boundaries. He clearly defined sin and said stay away.  He clearly established a principal that believers should not marry unbelievers.  He even marked off boundaries for nations, the tribes of Israel and the nation of Israel.  Boundaries set limits.  They mark what belongs to you and what does not belong to you; what is safe and what is unsafe; what is acceptable and what is unacceptable. What is sinful and destructive and what is righteous and life giving.  They establish responsibilities and freedom from responsibility.

The key is knowing what boundaries God has established and actually believing that those “No Trespassing” signs are not there to restrict you but to keep you from disaster. In the area of spiritual warfare boundaries are especially critical.  As I said in my last blog we have just finished one of our healing and freedom weekends where dozens of believers discovered that they were being afflicted or oppressed by demons at some level.  It may surprise you to discover that believers can be oppressed by demons and that so many are.  Part of the problem is that the church in America has neglected to teach biblical principles about demons and deliverance for decades.  The result is that a large inventory of the “critters” has accumulated in believers and their families undetected and undisturbed.

Many of these demonic spirits have attached themselves to Christians because we have not observed God’s boundaries.  If you walk through a field of grass burrs you are going to pick up a few.  If you do that in West Texas you will find them attached to your jeans and your shoelaces when you immerge form the field.  You will also discover that they will inflict some pain as you try to remove them and that they hold on with some tenacity.  Demons are much the same.  If you play in Satan’s playgrounds you are likely to bring some unwelcome friends home with you.

Those “playgrounds” take many forms.  Ungodly relationships are probably at the top of the list.  It is a rare believer who makes it through high school and college and into marriage without being involved in several relationships where God was an after thought if he was thought of at all.  Most believers enter marriage having had several sexual partners beforehand.  Many have lived through seasons of alcohol and drugs.  Pornography is often an issue and many have had abortions.  Some have dabbled in eastern religions, immersed themselves in movies and literature that are sexual or occult in nature. All of those “playgrounds” open the door to demonic oppression.   After those “prodigal” seasons they thankfully return but often they return with serious “grass burrs” attached.

Something in our fallen nature always believes that we will be the exception to the rule.  We are often aware of God’s boundaries and the “No Trespassing” signs but we think that somehow we can violate those boundaries without consequence.  But according to Paul, God will not be mocked. Whatever a man sows he will reap. (See Gal. 5).  Seasons of unrepented sin, unforgiveness, curses we have spoken over ourselves, sinful and especially sexual relationships, occult dabbling’s, and emotional trauma seem to be open doors through which the enemy enters – even for Christians.  A great deal of pain and work would be avoided if we honored God’s boundaries and if we taught our children of the spiritual consequences of walking through fields that God has told us to avoid.

Too often we warn our children of consequences in the natural realm– pregnancy, STD’s, addictions, etc. but don’t warn them of consequences in the spiritual realm.  Out children then believe that birth control, antibiotics, condoms, and recreational use of drugs and alcohol will keep them from the consequences so why no play in that playground. They need to understand that sin has real consequences – spiritual torment and bondage – in the spiritual realm that birth control and support groups can’t resolve.  Boundaries are good.  We should honor them and teach them.  Taking and eating in the face of God’s clear commands is not a good idea.  Be blessed today and a blessing to others.

The gospels are the story of Jesus but they are also the stories of people touched by Jesus.  They are stories of ordinary people suffering in all the ways the world afflicts its citizens.  These people suffered from bondage to sin, physical disabilities, physiological conditions, psychological conditions, isolation, rejection, bitterness, loss, discrimination, hunger, spiritual thirst, and demonic affliction of all kinds. Some even suffered from death which is a fairly serious condition.  Jesus had an answer for each of those things.

Many Christians scan the gospels and accept the miracles of deliverance, healing, raising the dead, and transforming lives as true but attribute those events to the deity of Jesus.  “Of course he could do those things because he was God. But, we can’t expect to do those things because we are not God.” Certainly, he was God, but he didn’t come as God.  His primary identification was the Son of Man.

Jesus has the position of God but came in the condition of man.  He chose to face the devil and life on this planet as a man rather than as God in a man suit.  If he walked among us as God then he didn’t suffer temptation as we did. He never truly felt hunger or fear or rejection. But the writer of Hebrews says, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin” (Heb.4:15).  Jesus wasn’t Jesus before he put on flesh.  He was the Word of God and Adoni sitting on a heavenly throne in Isaiah 6. Before he put on flesh he was God and manifested as God in all things. But when he put on flesh, he checked his God and creator- of- the-universe abilities at the door.

At the point of conception in a human body he became Jesus, Son of Man.  Paul declared, “For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim.2:5). Paul did not say the god Christ Jesus but the man Christ Jesus. I do believe God had given Jesus the right to pick up his divine capacities at any time if he chose to do so.  Jesus said, “The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father” (Jn.10:17-18).  In another place Jesus said, “Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels” (Mt.26:53)?   It seems to me that the Word and the Father had a deal.  “Okay, you go as a man, live as a man, suffer as a man, and face temptation like a man but if at any moment you think these people aren’t worth it, you exercise your deity and get out of there.” The miracle to me is that Jesus chose to stick it out as a man even unto death in the face of man’s worst scorn and brutality.

Jesus came to show us how a man could live on the earth when he walked in close fellowship with the Father.  He didn’t come to show us how God could live on the earth in close fellowship with the Father.  That example would have done us no good.  In addition, Jesus sent out numbers of ordinary men who performed the same miracles he did and said that those who believe on him would not only do what he did, but would do even greater things (See Jn. 14:12).   As Jesus walked the earth he touched lives that were radically changed by his love and power.  My point is that he expects us to do the same thing. Jesus expects his church to carry on his mission of preaching good news, binding up the broken hearted, setting captives free, giving sight to the blind, and facilitating radical change in the lives of men and women.

Our church offers a ministry entitled Free Indeed and it is the source of the material in my book Born to Be Free. For the past six years we have watched God dramatically change hundreds of lives in a few weeks rather than in decades. We just finished our most recent installment of Free Indeed and watched eighty people discover the love of the God and the power of the kingdom over a period of two months and a weekend.  Most were changed forever and set free by his touch and his power. People are amazed at what Jesus does in those few weeks but the truth is that we simply teach the basics of scripture – what Jesus did for us at the cross, who we are in Christ, the expectation of radical transformation in the kingdom, how to hear God and receive from him, how to walk in authority, and the basics of spiritual warfare.

We teach these basics over a period of eight weeks and then engage everyone in a weekend of experiencing Jesus through inner healing and deliverance and Jesus always does amazing things.  He does those with the basics of our faith and a lot of very imperfect vessels that serve as leaders – including myself.  People discover who they are.  They experience deep emotional and spiritual healing as well as physical healing.  They are set free from their past, the lies of Satan, and demonic affliction that has hindered their walk with the Lord for years.   In other words, we simply do what Jesus did every day.

My question is, “If we see that much power and transformation from simply learning and doing the basics of our faith, how much greater could our impact be on the world if we plunged into the deeper things of the Spirit and the kingdom?  How much greater impact could we have if we just did the basics in everyone’s church rather than in a few?”  When we take Jesus at his word that we are to do the things he did, faith becomes exciting. When we risk being disappointed because a certain person might not be healed or delivered we find that we are not disappointed because being willing to risk something for Jesus is its own reward.  Not only that, but many, many are healed, delivered, and transformed in the name of Jesus.  How fun is that!

So today, let me encourage you to just trust Jesus in the basics. Believe that whatever he did, he did as a man and as a man or woman of faith, he will do it through you again.   In doing so, he will bless many and you will feel the joy of partnering with your Lord and Savior in radically changing lives and destinies.  Go for it and be blessed!

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.(Ps.1:1-3)

This is a familiar psalm but I was just taught something that made it even more meaningful.  Of course the progression of walking, standing, and sitting is important. As we open our ears to the wicked we often are drawn to their point-of-view or their worldview. I’ll just define wickedness as anything contrary or opposed to the will of God.  The “wicked” are those who live contrary to God’s will and in opposition to his truth.

Think about our current culture and the power of media. When we lend our ear or our sight to the values supported by most of the media we run the risk of being drawn into the world’s value system and seeing life through the distorted lens of culture. How many of us have watched so many television dramas or situation comedies that we have experienced the “normalization” of things we once found shocking, offensive, or troubling?  There was a time when television would not even depict a husband and wife as sleeping in the same bed. I think that’s extreme but the sensitivities of the culture pushed back against anything sexually suggestive in primetime.

Now, however, adultery or every kind of sex outside of marriage is so commonplace on television and in the movies that were are no longer offended when we see it.  It has become so much a part of the landscape that we have begun to view it as normal and once we view something as normal we are tempted to consider it acceptable – not just on the T.V. screen but also in the lives of people we know and maybe even in our own lives.

Homosexuality was once considered so perverse that it was not even talked about in public settings.  Then it became a tagline in jokes that people laughed about.  Then television began to depict homosexuality and lesbianism in “cutting edge” dramas.  Then comedies began to include a cute, funny individual who was gay but very likeable and harmless.  Now gays are depicted as heroic for “coming out.”  The value that homosexuality is not only acceptable but laudable has found it’s way into our culture and if we entertain that message long enough we will find reasons to agree with the culture and reject God’s word.

I am not “gay bashing” here because we all struggle with brokenness in our own lives, but I am illustrating how once we begin to walk (or listen to) those who maintain values opposed to God’s truth, it is only a matter of time before our values are compromised.  At first we walk and then we stand and talk and then we take our place with them.  After all, we think that so many people agree with them and it all seems kind of normal now anyway. The church has certainly fallen into that pattern over the past fifty years or so.  Few of us can deny that in these past decades the church has not shaped the culture but culture has shaped the church – at least in America.

But God says “blessed” is the man who avoids that steady, inch-by-inch compromise. Instead, the man God praises is the one who spends his time in the Word of God rather than being glued to his favorite television series. He praises the man who exchanges ABC for NIV or ESV or KJV (for the more traditional).  Lot, the nephew of Abraham is an interesting study in this.  At first he spent all of his time with Abraham but when the flocks became so large that the pastureland in one place couldn’t sustain them they separated.  We are told that Lot chose a well-watered area in the region of Sodom and Gomorrah.  But later we find him living in the city and sitting in the city gates as an official of Sodom even though he was apparently troubled by the immorality there.  Eventually his comfort level with wickedness cost him everything but his life.  My guess is that his wife’s desires had something to do with that move but my guess is also that his wealth caused the leaders of Sodom to reach out to him.  Flattered by their attention, he may have made concessions for their behavior.  Although he didn’t participate he also sat in silence.  How many believers have compromised their values in the business sector, entertainment, or in politics to be “part” of the inner circle?  At first the association is occasional but then instead of walking by we stop to chat and then we find ourselves sitting with those who oppose God.

The key is the verse that emphasizes a lifestyle that dwells on the Word of God.  He doesn’t just read the scriptures but meditates on them – chews on them, processes them, and internalizes their truth.  He does so night and day, not just on occasion or not just for five minutes a day in a devotional read.  He sets his course by God’s word.  He walks according to that word rather than walking with those who oppose it.  The prophet asked the question, “How can two walk together unless they are agreed”(Amos 3:3)? When we walk with someone it suggests agreement with him. We can walk with the world or walk with the Word. Most of us assume that we can walk with both but scripture warns against being double-minded.

This man is like a tree planted by waters that grows strong and bears fruit.  What I learned today was that the most likely tree this refers to is the acacia tree found in the wilderness of Israel.  These trees will be found along a wadi – a dry streambed or ravine that sees water only when it rains from time to time.  These trees grow slowly and live for hundreds of years.  They put roots deep into the soil in the riverbed where water will flow in due time and when that time comes, the roots suck up every drop of water they can.  It’s as if the tree hungers for water as the man of Psalm 1 hungers for God’s Word.

When we read this psalm we probably think of great trees in forests perched along deep rivers that run throughout the year.  If you lived in the desert where Moses wandered and where David hid from Saul, you would think of acacias. This was the tree from which the Ark of the Covenant was made – hard wood overlaid with gold. A friend of ours, who is part of our weekly small group, informed us that Mesquite trees in our part of the world are members of the acacia family.  They really have two kinds of roots. They send out long shallow roots all around that suck up any moisture as soon as it hits the ground but those roots feed a taproot that goes down fifty or sixty feed looking for underground water and anchoring the trees to stand in the face of storms.

The man God applauds sends out roots that soak up God’s truth wherever he finds it and the Word he absorbs anchors him with a taproot of faith that goes deep in the ground. Those trees are a great benefit to those who find them.  They provide shade from the desert heat.  The Bedouins boil the sap and make medicines and ointments from this tree.  Camels feast on the leaves and dried branches provide a hot fire for cooking or staving off the cold of a desert night. Those who mediate on the Law of the Lord day at night are blessed by God and, in turn, bless those around them as well.

Each day is a question of who we will walk with – those who don’t know God and whose values and beliefs stand opposed to God’s word or God himself, soaking up all that his Word and his Spirit have to tells us.    Be blessed today.  Choose less of the world and much more of God.  I’ll join you.

But when the magicians tried to produce gnats by their secret arts, they could not. And the gnats were on men and animals. The magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart was hard and he would not listen, just as the Lord had said. Then the Lord said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and confront Pharaoh as he goes to the water and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me.  (Ex.8:18-20)

When the Lord finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two tablets of the Testimony, the tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God. (Ex.31:18, See also Dt.9:10)

But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you. (Lk.11:20)

This phrase, “the finger of God” shows up only four times in scripture.  The first time it speaks of the plagues on Egypt that ultimately forced Pharaoh to release the Hebrews. The second and third times referred to God writing his commandments on tablets of stone for the Hebrews and the fourth time is found in the gospels when Jesus is speaking about casting out demons. It’s an interesting phrase so I thought we might explore it.

The first three uses of the phrase are all related to the Exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt to the land God had promised the descendants of Abraham.  God told them over and over again that he was delivering them from slavery, oppression, and bondage in Egypt to make them a people of his own.

It’s interesting that when Jehovah sent the ten plagues on Egypt he described that judgment in the following way.  “On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn—both men and animals—and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord” (Ex. 12:12).  He says in another place, “The Israelites set out from Rameses on the fifteenth day of the first month, the day after the Passover. They marched out boldly in full view of all the Egyptians, who were burying all their firstborn, whom the Lord had struck down among them; for the Lord had brought judgment on their gods. (Num. 33:3-4).

Moses didn’t say that God had punished Egypt but, in fact, had brought judgment on their gods.  Scripture clearly teaches that idols are lifeless and powerless in themselves but they do represent demons. When men worship idols (false gods0 and offer sacrifices to them, they are worshipping demons and offering sacrifices to unclean spirits.  Note the following passages.

They made him jealous with their foreign gods and angered him with their detestable idols. They sacrificed to demons, which are not God—gods they had not known, gods that recently appeared, gods your fathers did not fear. (Dt.32:16-17)

They shall no longer sacrifice their sacrifices to the goat demons with which they play the harlot. This shall be a permanent statute to them throughout their generations. (Lev.17:7)

They worshiped their idols, which became a snare to them. They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons. (Ps.106:36-37)

No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons. (1 Cor.10:20-22)

God targeted the real perpetrators of bondage over Israel and that was the demonic realm.  That realm possesses power and uses that power to possess and oppress men.  To answer the challenge of Moses, Pharaoh’s magicians through down their staffs and they became snakes.   They also turned water to blood and summoned frogs just as Moses had done. The Bible says that they had been practicing their “secret arts” or sorcery which calls upon the demonic realm to do their bidding.  It wasn’t long, however, until the magicians realized a power much greater than demons was being manifested.  But when the magicians tried to produce gnats by their secret arts, they could not. And the gnats were on men and animals. The magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.”

Every plague that God sent was a demonstration of his power over a specific God of Egypt. He judged these demons by making it clear that they were powerless before the God of Israel and so were unworthy of any worship or sacrifice. When the text says that the plagues were the very “finger of God” of God, I believe it reveals that God was very personally involved in the redemption of Israel.  In Genesis 2, we are told that God formed Adam from the ground. The text implies that Adam was formed by a very personal touch from God who then breathed life into his nostrils.

We are told that that the Ten Commandments were written on stone tablets by the “finger of God.”  The writing of those tablets was to establish a very personal covenant between God and the Hebrews.  It was likened to a marriage covenant which God made with his bride Israel.  God did not sent a representative to establish that covenant but because was so personal it was written by his own finger.

I believe God took the enslavement of the Hebrews in a very personal way and knowing that our struggle is not against flesh and blood executed judgment on the demons who had prompted Egypt to treat the Hebrews in such a way and who had also seduced many of the Hebrews into false worship. It’s as if God stepped in front of his angels and said, “I’ll take this one.”

Then in the gospel of Luke, Jesus says that demons were being driven out by the finger of God and that deliverance was a clear sign that the kingdom of God had been released on earth.  Deliverance is setting captives free. It is a redemptive act.  It is the same as God leading his people out of bondage to demons in Egypt. He is just leading them out of bondage to demons wherever they may be.  The words of Jesus suggests that God takes deliverance very personally.  He is present and working by his own hand to execute judgment on demons who are oppressing and seducing his people, his bride.

That tells me once again that God is all about redemption and loving relationships with his people. He is not a distant God.  He is not unmoved. He is the deliverer – the redeemer.  In the Exodus story we are told that he heard the cries of his people and moved in power. In the New Testament Jesus heard the cries of his people and he moved in power. When you partner with God to break the power of the enemy in the lives of his people, you are very close to the redeemer and you are about to see the “finger of God” at work.  Be blessed today.

We love the passage from James that says,” Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” It makes us feel powerful and in control.  But to truly understand the passage we need to look at it in context.

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).

The promise that Satan (or his representatives) will run from us is found in the center of a passage that speaks about submission and humility. Jesus said that if demons are cast out by the finger of God then the kingdom of God has come to men (See Luke 11:20).  But he also said, “Blessed are the pour in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Mt. 5:3).  Humility is the key to power in the kingdom of God.  Don’t assume that humility is the same as timidity or a self-loathing view of ourselves.  Jesus described himself as gentle and humble in heart but he was neither timid nor unsure of himself.

Humility before God is simply knowing that we are totally dependent on him and spiritually bankrupt without him.  It is remembering who the Father is and that we are his children and remembering that he is King and that we are not. As long as we are clear about the source of power in our lives we can be entrusted with that power.  The moment we believe that we are the source of power that power will be diverted. Notice the comparison between Paul and certain Jewish exorcists in Acts 19.

God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them. Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, “In the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.” Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this.   One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?” Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding. (Acts 19:11-16)

Paul constantly fixed his eyes on Jesus. His view was that it was no longer he who lived but Christ who lived through him.  Paul was clear that all that he had and all that he was came to him by the grace of God. He was certain that whatever power was displayed in his life was from God and was exercised to bring glory to God rather than himself. As a result, God was pleased to display his power through Paul with “extraordinary” miracles.

In contrast, certain Jews launched their own ministry of deliverance undoubtedly for financial gain.  They used the name of Jesus for personal profit even though they had no relationship with him.  These first century “ghost busters” got away with their bravado and presumption for a while until they met a demon who did not flee but who beat the daylights out of them. Satan doesn’t run just because someone shows up shouting the name of Jesus. He s when men and women of standing in the kingdom show up because they carry with them the authority of Christ and the more submitted we are to the Father the more authority we carry.  James says that we should humble ourselves before God and he will exalt us or promote us.  Faithful servants, who do exactly as the master commands, are given more in the kingdom of God.

As always, the kingdom is paradoxical.  The first shall be last and the greatest must be the servant of all.  To have standing in the kingdom we must humble ourselves.  No trash talking in this league, no double-mindedness, no taking sin lightly. I stood in a long security line once at a major U.S. airport and overheard a group that had apparently just returned from an evangelistic campaign in South America. The leader of the group was literally talking about how amazing his preaching had been and how many had responded to his preaching.  In the two or three minutes I listened I never heard him give God glory for anything.  He was young and I chose not to speak into the situation but I wonder if he is still preaching today or whether he has been taken out of the game by Satan who had no need to flee from a man who had no humility.

Stewardship is our primary role on earth.  We steward the things of God either for his purposes or for our purposes. You know the parable of the talents. The faithful steward who remembers whose resources he manages and who remembers how the master wanted them to be handled is entrusted with more.  Those who forget their source or who ignore his ways because “they know better” will have those resources taken away.  Authority is a resource.  Satan flees from those who walk in the authority of their king.  The humble and the pour in spirit carry the most authority.  Be blessed today.

Have you ever considered all the moments when God said to someone, “Don’t be afraid.”  Sometimes, God spoke those words and at other times his messenger spoke the words.  By “messenger” I mean angels, prophets, or the Son himself.  At the same time, we find dozens of passages that command us to fear God.

If I were to summarize all those passages I might say:  If you fear God you don’t have to be afraid of God and if you don’t have to be afraid of God you don’t have to be afraid of  anyone else.

Let me explain.  Solomon said that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge (See Prov. 1:7).  A proper view of God as the sovereign Lord over all creation, holy, righteous in all he does, all powerful, all present and all knowing is the first step to a relationship with him.  To hold him in awesome respect as the judge of all the earth holds everything else in place.  Our first response to God should be the same as Isaiah’s response when he saw the Lord high and lifted up and seated on his throne – “Woe is me!” (Isa.6:1ff).  As great a prophet as Isaiah was his sense of sin and weakness in the presence of God’s majesty, justice, and holiness was overwhelming. That view of God keeps us honest and keeps us from abusing God’s grace and love.

Let’s be honest. Somewhere in our fallen nature is the capacity to take advantage of those who love us unconditionally and lavishly.  In response to that capacity, Paul asked the rhetorical question, “Should we sin all the more that grace may abound?”  In other words, should we sin intentionally and often and simply seek our own gratification because God is gracious and forgiving? The answer is no of course but a view of God that simply acknowledges his graciousness, long-suffering, and forgiving side places us on a track to abuse the relationship.

God offers us an intimate, Father/son or Father/daughter relationship in which we can be secure and come boldly before his throne seeking help. He has offered us friendship, forgiveness, patience and grace.  However, he can offer us that side of the relationship only as long as we remember who he is.  I have seen fathers who have become friends with their children in the sense that they played, teased, and laughed with their children.  I have also seen those children begin to abuse that familiarity and speak with a lack of respect or act as if they no longer needed to obey that father.  They confused his kindness and his willingness to communicate on their level with equality.  In those cases, the father was quick to remind them that he was still the father and the one in charge.

If we never forget that our Heavenly Father is still God Almighty, Creator, and Judge then he can extend to us familiarity (Abba Father) and even friendship because we won’t become careless with the relationship or take advantage of his love and kindness. If we fear God then we don’t have to be afraid of him.  When you consider Abraham, Isaiah, Moses and others to whom he said, “Don’t be afraid,” it is clear that they held an awesome respect and reverence for God.  Therefore, he could call them friends, welcome them into his throne room, and extend forgiveness when needed because the relationship stood on the healthy foundation of fear.

When we fear God we don’t have to be afraid of him because we have love and friendship as a bond.  When the one who loves you and counts you as a friend is the most powerful being in the universe then you have not need to fear anyone else.  God has your back and if God is for you who can stand against you?   I know there is tension between familiarity, comfort, friendship and the fear of God.  That tension is not contradictory but keeps us in balance between two extremes so that our relationship with the Father can flourish.  Meditating on his greatness and holiness as well and his grace and kindness is a healthy thing.  You may want to do that today and be blessed.

Jesus said, “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”  The corollary to truth setting us free is that lies will keep us captive.  Lies and belief systems built around them are strongholds that push back against God’s truth.  They may simply come from our intellect and the worldly perspectives we have been taught or they may have been established by intuitive conclusions we drew as a result of some hurtful experience.  If these beliefs were created by experiences and reside deep in our hearts, they can become formidable strongholds because we are often unaware of those powerful influences.  If the enemy works to maintain these false beliefs and assigns demonic spirits to reinforce the lies they become spiritual strongholds.

In 2 Corinthians 10, Paul tells us that our thought life is the real battleground for the believer.  He tells us that strongholds exist within us that exalt themselves and argue against God’s truth.  Paul writes that before we can walk in the freedom of Christ, these strongholds must be pulled down, but the dismantling of these fortresses can only be accomplished by divine weapons. The goal is to take every thought captive (conscious and subconscious), and surrender them to the truth of Jesus Christ.  Jesus said that his words are spirit and they are life (See John 6:63).  Aligning our beliefs with his thoughts gives us life.

Scripture asserts that we are body, soul, and spirit.  It tells us over and over that the spiritual realm is where the greater realities reside. Paul tells us that our most profound struggles are not against flesh and blood but against spiritual forces that come against us (See Eph. 6:12).  He tells us that spiritual armor is essential to overcoming daily attacks of the enemy (See Eph. 6:11), and that divine weapons are needed to tear down false belief systems and bring our thought life into alignment with God’s truth (See 2 Cor. 10:3-5).  Secular counseling, psychology, self-help books, and twelve-step programs cannot effectively reach these places because they don’t deal effectively with the spiritual realm. Without the divine weapons of prayer, healing from the Holy Spirit, hearing a fresh word form God, deliverance, etc. the best we can hope for is to manage the behaviors or emotions prompted by or core beliefs and demonic influence most of the time. Real freedom cannot be achieved through weapons or therapies of the world.

God uses many tools to transform us and make us into the image of his Son.  But the greatest transformation occurs when Jesus heals our wounds from the past and the Holy Spirit aligns our core beliefs with God’s truth.  This can occur in several ways, but the most powerful way is through a moment of revelation where God’s Spirit bears witness with our spirit about his truth.  In such moments, the life-giving Word of God can replace a lie that has shaped our perspectives and decisions for years (See Rom. 8:16).

The truth is that every one of us carries some level of brokenness and some core belief(s) that are not perfectly aligned with the mind of Christ.  Some lead us off course by a few degrees, while others have us sailing south instead of due north.  The question is not if we carry wounds and brokenness—we do—but can we find healing and freedom from these and other things that keep us from the abundant life Jesus has promised?

The answer is “Yes!” in Jesus.  He promises healing and has purchased it for you.

He (the Father) has sent me (Jesus) to heal the brokenhearted.  (Luke 4:18, parenthesis added)

Surely, he has borne our grief and carried our sorrows . . he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, and by his stripes we are healed.  (Isa. 53:4-6)

The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.  (Ps. 34:18)

He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.  (Psalm 147:3)

These scriptures tell us that God has a great heart and great compassion for broken people.  In fact, he is close to those individuals in some way that he is not close to others. I think that simply means that his heart is especially responsive to those in pain and bondage.  The greatest lie of the enemy is that God has no use for the broken and that he rejects them just like those who first wounded the brokenhearted.  Broken people expect rejection and often judge themselves more than others judge them.  Because of the stronghold of rejection within them, they project their own rejection onto others and even onto God. Having done that they don’t truly believe God loves them except in some abstract, general way.  They have little faith that God will answer their prayers or that he has a great future in mind for them.

The truth is that God cares deeply for each of us but especially the brokenhearted and has purchased their healing with the blood of his Son. Jesus defined his ministry as preaching, healing broken hearts, and setting captives free (See Isa. 61:1-3). I know I have said that numerous times in this blog but I don’t know that it can be said too often.

God is providing healing through his church today.  That healing grace is being dispensed through those that God has already healed and set free.  Not every congregation knows how to use divine weapons to tear down these strongholds and not every congregation moves in the power of the Spirit and the exercise of spiritual gifts, but many do.  If you are one of those who desperately need the healing touch of Jesus then find one of those churches. Ask God to lead you to the people he wants to use to dispense his grace in your life.  Do not give up.  Do not settle for a life of emotional pain.  Do not buy the lie that God doesn’t care for you.  Be aggressive in finding your healing.  Jesus said that since the days of John the Baptist the kingdom of God has been forcefully advancing and forceful people are taking hold of it.  Let me encourage you to be one of those forceful people.

Be blessed today.