What do you do when you have prayed for something for an extended period of time and have not seen the answer to your prayers?  I have been asked that question in various forms through the years and I have asked it myself.  It comes most often in connection with healing, relationships, and salvation.  Many of us have prayed about health issues for years – about our own or about someone we love without seeing the healing. Others have prayed for years for a marriage to be healed or for God to send them someone to marry and that has yet to happen.  Still others have prayed hundreds of prayers for loved ones to come to the Lord or be set free from addictions and they continue to live lives absent form Jesus.

When we have prayed for a long time for things that are consistent with God’s will, and have not yet seen a positive outcome what do we make of that? Some decide that God is simply not going to answer that prayer and so they stop praying.  Others think that God must not hear their prayers and so they stop asking.  Others begin to believe that a certain situation is beyond God’s remedy and so they simply put that prayer in the box marked “For Another Time  – if Ever.”

As with many things there are mysteries related to how and when God answer’s prayer. Nowhere in scripture does God guarantee an immediate answer to prayer that looks like what we envisioned as the answer.  We, of course, have become the microwave generation who can hardly stand to wait eight minutes for a hot meal much less weeks, months, or years for answered prayer.  The biblical model contains examples of prayers that were answered in fairly short order while others took years or decades.  The Hebrew people cried out for deliverance from Egypt for several hundred years before God called Moses to be the great deliverer. Abraham and Sara had almost certainly prayed for a child for years before God promised to give them the child they desired.  But even then, another twenty-five years passed before that promise was fulfilled.  Others, according to the book of Hebrews believed God for a prayer that was answered after their deaths.

The promises of the New Testament call us to some extended periods of prayer and waiting as well. In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus encouraged us to “ask, seek, and knock” and promised us that we will receive what we pray for (Mt.7: 7-8). However, those words in the original language carry the sense of enduring, persistent prayer.  They might be best translated as “keep on asking, keep on seeking, and keep on knocking.”  In Luke 18, Jesus told his disciples a parable about a widow who kept going to the local judge asking for justice in a certain matter.  Although the judge was not a righteous man, he finally granted her request because of her persistence.  Luke prefaced the parable with the statement, “Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up” (Lk.18:1).  The idea is not that our heavenly Father has to be hounded into answering prayers, but that we should not give up praying until a righteous prayer is answered.

When we find ourselves praying for those things that God has promised or things that are consistent with his will we should not give up.  When we are not seeing heaven move in response to our prayers, we often assume that God is simply not acting on our behalf. Yet Daniel (Daniel 10) prayed and fasted for twenty-one days without evidence that God was responding to his prayer.  And yet, on the twenty-first day an angel appeared and told him that he had been sent in response to Daniel’s prayer as soon as he had uttered it.  For twenty-one days a battle had raged in the “heavenlies” while a demonic prince had resisted the angel of the Lord in his attempt to come to Daniel.  On the twenty-first day of Daniel’s enduring prayer and fasting, Michael the archangel was sent to take up the battle so that the first angel could continue with his mission.  I have often wondered if Michael would have been dispatched if Daniel had given up on his prayer.

My point is that simply because we are not seeing a manifestation of our answered prayer in the natural realm, it does not mean that God is not moving on that prayer in the spiritual realm. But let me offer a couple of thoughts regarding long-term prayers and the question of should we continue to pray.

1. God promises that he will give us whatever we ask for in the name of Jesus that is consistent with his will. By faith, stand on those promises.
2. Be sure that what you are praying for is consistent with God’s will.  Just because something would make us happy in our flesh does not make it consistent with God’s will.  I know many people who have prayed for things that, if granted, would have plunged them into sin or drawn them away from God. A loving Father cannot answer prayers that would place his children in danger. However, a loving Father always wants to provide for his family and alleviate suffering – especially in the area of healing.
3. Ask God if you should keep on praying.  If he says, “Yes,” then keep praying.  If the godly desire still persists in your heart keep on praying. If he says, “No,” then stop praying of if the desire is taken from your heart stop praying.
4. Have others join you in prayer and fasting for the thing you are praying about.
5. Sincerely ask the Holy Spirit to show you anything that is blocking your answer to prayer.
6. If the prayer always brings you into a place of despair because of hurtful memories or feelings surrounding the thing you are praying about, ask God to give you hope about it or pray for it once a week instead of daily.
7. Consistently declare God’s promises regarding answered prayer and claim them on behalf of the prayers you are offering.
8. Be sure that you are emotionally healed and spiritually mature enough that you could steward the answer to your prayer well rather than damaging what God entrusts to you.  Many single Christians pray for a relationship that they would damage because they are not healed or mature enough yet to keep from damaging it.  They think that the relationship would be the catalyst for their healing or spiritual growth but, in actuality, their healing and spiritual growth would be the catalyst for God giving them a relationship to care for.
9. Finally, always pray and never give up.

Be blessed today!

Knowing who we are in Christ is essential to receiving all the inheritance and kingdom privileges that Christ has purchased for us. A few of us prayed with a lady a few weeks ago who obviously loved Jesus with all her heart but who was failing to know who she was in Christ.  She had been suffering with severe health issues for several years but they had taken another turn for the worse in the past few months.  The doctors were uncertain of the cause of her recent symptoms of seizures and extreme fatigue but they were telling her she would never work again.

She is a very gifted person and her work has been a place where she was able to use her gifts as “her ministry.”  The idea that she could not longer touch people with her gifts was emotionally devastating to her as well as the pain she was in.  She had asked a small group from our church to come pray for her healing.  She was not a member of our church but her church was not very confident in God’s willingness to heal in this day and age.

We began by asking about her illness – when it started, the symptoms, etc.  She quickly began to download a litany of symptoms and suffering that began in her childhood.  She spoke about her emotional brokenness and disappointments and even the struggles in her marriage. What struck me the most was how convinced she seemed to be that her suffering was God’s way of bringing her to a complete place of brokenness so that she was asking for more brokenness while she was wanting us to pray for healing.  She went on about how undeserving she was and how she just wanted God to use her but she knew that she needed to be even more broken more so that he could use her in great ways. All the time she was weeping and wondering when God was going to answer her prayers for healing and restoration.

In her mind, God was humbling her so that at some point he could lift her up. In her mind she was trying to achieve humility by focusing on her insignificance, by devaluing herself, and by accepting this suffering as something she deserved because she was unworthy of anything God might do for her. At the same time her heart yearned for healing, God’s assurance of her significance to him, and release from her sense of isolation and despair.

Our friend had fallen prey to the misconception that humility is coming to the place of denying that you have any value or worth in the kingdom of God and that it is only by God’s grace that your are artificially assigned any value at all.  You’ve heard the expression that you can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig.  Many of us have been taught that God’s grace is the lipstick, but we are still just pigs. We have also been taught that once we accept our “pigness” then God can begin to use us and bless us.  My experience has been, however, that once we accept our “pigness” we feel so unworthy of God’s love and blessings that we pray with little faith and lower our spiritual expectations to avoid more disappointment in our “piggy” lives.

Biblical humility is maintaining an objective view of who we are rather than denying that we have any value or capacity for achievement. But in that objective view we must know that we are, in fact, sons and daughters of the King, members of his royal priesthood, God’s anointed representatives on the earth, the vessels of God’s Holy Spirit, dispensers of his power on the earth, and that at all times we are his chosen ones and more than conquerors. Humility is not denying our value and significance but rather knowing who we are and being confident in that, while at the same time not feeling as if we are superior to all those around us.

Think about Jesus.  Our goal is to be like him in everyway.  Jesus walked on this earth being confident of who he was to the Father – the Son of God, the beloved, the Messiah, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  When he commanded demons he did not question the authority the Father had given him.  When he prayed over a little bread and a few fish to feed five thousand, he did not doubt his significance to the Father and so did not doubt that his prayers would be answered.  We see Jesus having time for the lowliest of people and yet never denying his significance in the kingdom of God. Actually, knowing who we are and believing it releases us to be servants and to hang out with the lowly, the powerless, and the impoverished. Knowing who we are releases us from the need to be part of the “in crowd” because we are already part of God’s “in crowd” and you can’t get anymore “in” than that.  Knowing who we are releases us from the need to appear to be significant because we are significant. Confidence in our significance in Christ allows us to walk in humility which is actually strength under control rather than denying our strength.

As our friend kept speaking about her brokenness and a desire for God to break her even more, I stopped her in mid-sentence.  I began to remind her of who she was in Christ and the promises that were hers because of that. I began to remind her of the healing, provision and joy that had been purchased for her by the blood of Jesus.  There is a time for brokenness but that is usually reserved for the prideful, the arrogant, and the self-sufficient of this world, not for the suffering and brokenhearted.  As I began to remind her of what she had once known but had forgotten, her countenance changed and her prayers and declarations for healing changed. Instead of whimpering before the throne and pleading her lack of worth and value, she began to approach the throne of grace with boldness.  That night she received freedom from the demonic and a significant amount of healing.

We always know that the source of our value, giftedness, and anointing is by grace and from God through Jesus.  But when Jesus makes you an ambassador, you are an ambassador. You don’t deny your ambassadorship, but you exercise it with confidence because you know Jesus has made you that. To walk around declaring that Jesus gave you the post because of how amazing you have always been would be arrogance. But to accept the position as a reality is required before you can fulfill your calling. To think that Christ calls you an ambassador but that you really aren’t an ambassador undermines everything he appoints you to do because you will only act like his representative, conveying his power and authority, when you believe that you truly are his authorized representative on the earth.

So…today be humble.  Know who you are in Christ, know your significance in the kingdom; know your significance on the earth. Be confident in who God has made you to be and live with that confidence. Faith is not just knowing who Christ is but also who you are in Christ.  Pray with confidence and expectation because you have great standing in the courts of heaven.  Believe it. Be blessed.

Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done. (1 Chr.16:8)

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever. 35 Cry out, “Save us, O God our Savior; gather us and deliver us from the nations, that we may give thanks to your holy name, that we may glory in your praise.” (1 Chr.16:34-35)

The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song. (Ps.28:7)

I will praise God’s name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving. (Psm.69:30)

Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.

For the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods. (Ps.95:2-3)

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations. (Ps.100:4-5)

I will give you thanks, for you answered me; you have become my salvation. (Ps.118:21)

But I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. Salvation comes from the Lord.” (Jonah 2:9)

In that day you will say: “Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted. Sing to the Lord, for he has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world. (Isa. 12:4-5)

Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Eph.5:19-20)

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Phil.4:6-7)

Giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves. (Col.1:12-13)

I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone—for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior. (1 Tim.2:1-3)

On this Thanksgiving weekend we should not forget that every day should be a day of thanksgiving for God’s people.  We are both commanded and encouraged to give thanks and the practice of giving thanks is firmly woven throughout the Bible. Since the flesh always pushes us toward self-sufficiency it’s easy to begin to take blessings for granted and to act as if we are the cause of every good thing in our own lives.  The practice of giving thanks accurately reminds us that every good and perfect gift is from the Father and that what we have is not to be possessed but to be stewarded.

Secondly, giving thanks is a form of praise and worship because it acknowledges the goodness, the grace and the provision of God that is freely given to us by our heavenly Father.  Under the Old Covenant, animals were sacrificed as “thank offerings” in recognition of God’s blessings in a person’s life.  Sacrifices are worship and so giving thanks is an essential form of praise and worship.

We are also told that when we pray with thanksgiving the peace of God will guard our hearts.  Peace comes because as we give thanks we fellowship with the giver of all good things. Being in the presence of God brings peace.  Our giving of thanks also reminds us that God has been faithful in answering prayers and meeting our essential needs in the past and, since he is unchanging, we can expect the same in the future.  When David was preparing himself to face Goliath, he declared that God had already delivered him from a lion and a bear that had attacked his sheep.  Faith operated on the assumption that God would continue to be with David whenever he was in danger. Thanksgiving reminds us of God’s faithfulness in the past so that we can rest in the faith that God will also meet our needs in the future. That assurance brings peace.

Thanksgiving is also a great spiritual weapon because it declares the goodness and faithfulness of God over our lives.  Satan is always whispering the lies that God will not be there for us when we need him or that God is stingy with his blessings.  He constantly assails the character of God in an effort to undermine our belief in his power, goodness, and faithfulness.  A life that takes note of every blessing and every answered prayer from the Father through giving thanks pushes back against the lies of the enemy.

Additionally, relationships flourish when individuals  thank one another for even the small gifts and acts of service that loving people give  one another.  Even those who love unconditionally like a “thank you” from those they love because they know then that their gift was enjoyed.  It is not so different with God.  If we want our relationship with him to flourish, abundant “thank you’s” will be in order.

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving yesterday.  My wife Susan and I were blessed with the presence of family, fun, and too much food. That doesn’t sound very spiritual but remember that God loves a good party. I’m certain the he was present at many homes yesterday where people loved God, loved one another, and gave thanks.  That sounds a little bit like heaven.  The challenge is to carry that spirit with us year round because our God is a God worthy of praise and thanksgiving every day.  Be blessed!

I always want to hear about books that have impacted the spiritual lives of believers. A few weeks ago I asked those of you who follow this blog to “comment” about books that have been transformative for you.  I’m going to share those responses with you now for some great holiday reading or even gifts.  These are in no particular order other than alphabetical. I asked only for the title and author.  The rest can easily be found on Amazon or Barnes and Noble.  Be blessed.

1. A Lineage of Grace – Francine Rivers
2. Approaching the Heart of Prophecy – Graham Cooke
3. Authority to Heal – Ken Blue
4. Born to Be Free – Tom Vermillion
5. Can You Hear Me? – Tuning In to the God Who Speaks – Brad Jersak
6. Christ the Healer – F.F. Bosworth
7. Dare to Believe – Becky Dvorak
8. Drawing Near – John Bevere
9. Intercessory Prayer – Dutch Sheets
10. Mere Christianity – C.S. Lewis
11. Sacred Marriage – Gary Thomas
12. Smith Wigglesworth on Faith
13. Sons of Encouragement – Francine Rivers
14. Surprised by the Power of the Spirit – Jack Deere
15. What’s So Amazing About Grace? – Philip Yancey
16. Ten Steps Toward Christ – Jimmy Evans
17. The Bait of Satan – John Bevere
18. The Battlefield of the Mind – Joyce Meyer
19. The Blessed Life – Robert Morris
20. The Celebration of Discipline – Richard Foster
21. The Chronicles of Narnia – C.S. Lewis
22. The Jesus I Never Knew – Philip Yancey
23. The Screwtape Letters – C.S. Lewis
24. The Supernatural Ways of Royalty – Bill Johnson & Kris Vallotton
25. When Heaven Invades Earth – Bill Johnson

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. (Dt.6:5-6)

And now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.  (Dt.10:12)

He said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the greatest and first commandment.  (Mt.22:37-38)

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. (Mk.12:30)

He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself. (Lk.10:27)

Most of the verses above are very familiar.  If you have been in Christian churches for any length of time you have heard them quoted.  I want you to notice something about these verses, however, that is almost counter-cultural to the American evangelical church. In every one of these verses we are told to love God with our hearts before we love him with our minds. The pattern is consistent throughout the Bible.

There are two ways to understand “the heart” is these passages.  One way is to understand that our emotions and affections, which flow from the heart, are to be turned toward God.  That would certainly be the way many of us would understand the passage.

The second way to understand the passage is that the heart is the place where revelation is given to us by the Holy Spirit and that love for God is going to be released in us by the Spirit through an act of revelation. In his letter to the Ephesian church, Paul writes, “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.            I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.” (Eph.1:17-19)

Those of us who believe that salvation comes by grace believe that we could not even respond to the gospel without the Spirit giving us an understanding of spiritual things. Paul clearly states that the man without the Spirit cannot understand spiritual things but considers them to be foolishness (see 1 Cor. 2:14). To love God with all of our heart then means that we are to love God based on the revelation that is constantly released into our heart by the Holy Spirit.  You may have had that conversation about your faith and the  “insight” or “understanding” the Lord has given you about something.  That is a great definition of “revelation.”

But here is the counter-cultural part.  I was always taught to love God with my mind before loving him with my heart.  In the fellowship where I was first taught the word of God, the heart was considered to be the seat of our emotions and those emotions could lead us to deception.  I was taught that the mind (our intellect) was to be the guardian of truth in my spiritual life.  And yet biblically, the Holy Spirit is the guardian of truth for believers as he “leads us into all truth.” We are to love God with our hearts and even our soul before the mind is mentioned.  Most of us, however, are trained to develop our minds rather than our hearts. We are trained to think with our intellect rather than to hear and understand God first within our hearts. Paul also tells us that we if we confess Jesus with our mouth and believe in our hearts that he are Lord we shall be saved (Rom.10:9-10).  We are to accept and understand a truth in our hearts even before we understand it intellectually.

When God speaks about changing people he speaks about giving them a new heart rather than a new mind as the first step to transformation. Undoubtedly the mind is to be renewed but not by intellectual arguments.  It is to be renewed by revelation that comes from God’s Spirit to our spirit and then to our hearts and then to our minds. This chronology of belief is important because many pastors have been taught in seminaries to take a strictly intellectual approach to scripture and to discount the notion that God still speaks a fresh word to his people by his Spirit.  The result has been the rejection of many biblical truths by intellectuals because the intellect that is unsubmitted to the Spirit argues against the miraculous moves of God which seem irrational and illogical in the natural.

My point is not to throw out our intellect because we are to love God with our minds as well as our hearts.  But I want to encourage us to begin to focus even more on developing a heart that has eyes that have been opened to the move and the voice of God.  It is in our hearts that we will behold God and fix our eyes on Jesus. The heart trained by God to perceive and believe will then train the intellect to align itself with God rather than argue against what it cannot fully understand or control.

There has been a recent surge of criticism and warnings against the idea that the Holy Spirit still expresses himself through miraculous gifts and revelation.  Those who criticize the  “charasmatics” are brilliant men who love God with all their minds.  But without the revelation of God being fresh in their hearts, they will not know the Lord as Paul prayed for the Ephesians to know him.  Let me encourage you to constantly pray for the Spirit of wisdom and revelation and for the eyes of your heart to be opened so that you may know God better and know the riches that are yours in Jesus Christ.  Let’s be as diligent in developing our spiritual hearts as we have been in developing our intellect.  Be blessed.

Have you ever noticed how often Jesus healed on the Sabbath?  In John 9, Jesus healed a man that was born blind.  He had been a beggar and was apparently a fairly well known figure in part of the city.  Jesus spit on the ground, made mud with his saliva and put it on the man’s eyes.  He then instructed the beggar to go the pool of Siloam and wash.  The man was obedient to the command and left the pool seeing for the first time.

Imagine how amazing sight would be for the first time. Suddenly, this man saw only what he had felt and heard all his life.  He had felt water on his skin but as soon as he washed the mud from his eyes he saw water rippling with sunlight sparkling across the surface of the pool.  He saw the faces of familiar voices he had only heard each day as he begged.  He was struck with the endless colors of clothing the crowds were wearing. He suddenly put form and color to the animals he had heard and touched in Jerusalem since childhood. Add to that the shape and colors of buildings, trees, grass, the sky, the sun, and the clouds. The immense amount of new images filling his mind must have been almost overwhelming.  It makes me wonder if part of the miracle was a download of understanding that was imparted to the beggars mind to make sense of what he was seeing.

Of course, as the word of this notable miracle spread, the Pharisees showed up like investigative reporters snooping out a story for the National Inquirer. They remind us that religion devoid of relationship with the Father can be a dangerous thing.  Once again, the Pharisees did not deny the miracle but missed everything about it because it had occurred on the Sabbath. Their response to a blind man who now saw each of their faces was to state that, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.”

Some questioned the miracle and so his parents were brought forth to confirm that this was their son and that he had indeed been born blind. After doing so, the questions were not about the amazing healing and how it had touched the blind man’s heart and soul, but only were designed to discover whom the man was that had broken the Sabbath by healing someone.  To the formerly blind beggar they said, “Give glory to God, we know this man is a sinner.” His reply, of course, was on target.  “Whether he is a sinner or not I don’t know. One thing I do know, I was blind but now I see.”  This blind beggar went on to state some fairly sound theology. “Now this is remarkable.  You don’t know where he comes from yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinner.  He listens to the godly man who does his will.  Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind.  If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”  The Pharisees responded with their usual grace and scholarship – “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out.”

Miracles are signs.  They are realities that point to even greater realities.  A road sign pointing you to Interstate 20 is a reality but it points to something greater and more useful. The sign won’t take you where you want to go, it only points you to that which will.  Miracles are amazing things, but they point you to an even greater reality. Jesus himself said that his miracles testified to his identity as the Son of God and his identity as the Anointed One. The giver of the miracle is always a greater reality than the miracle itself. As we seek the gifts of the Spirit and the supernatural power of God, we should never see those things as an end in themselves but rather road signs that point us to the giver of the gifts which should always be out true pursuit.

Having said that, how did the Pharisees miss the point of the healings time after time?  These were learned men who had memorized the first five books of the Bible as a beginning step.  They discussed and debated the Torah over and over. These were men of prayer who had devoted themselves to the knowledge of God.  Jesus himself acknowledged that they searched the scriptures diligently but they missed him.  The scriptures were signs pointing to the greater reality but they missed the reality. Somehow they never grasped the onramp to a personal relationship with God the Father.

God is pouring out a great measure of power and miracles on his church today.  These miracles can again become a divide just as they were in the days of Jesus. The problem will not be in the miracles but in the hearts of those who witness the miracles or who refuse to witness the miracles.  Miracles will come because God is a God of miracles who is still pointing to his Son. He is also a God of compassion and his miracles for healing, freedom and provision still flow out of a heart that is burdened for the brokenness and suffering of his people.

As in the days of Jesus, there will be different responses to the miracles. The best, of course, is belief in Jesus as the one true Son of God.  Some will see the signs and understand the destination. They will absolutely know that Jesus is the singular road to the Father.  Others will get caught up in the gifts themselves and never conform to the image of Jesus Christ in spirit or character.  These men may abuse the gifts or use them for their own ends.  They will tend to discredit the faith.

Still others will deny the reality of the miracles or declare, as the Pharisees declared, that these contemporary miracles are deceptions from the enemy. I believe Jesus healed often on the Sabbath because the Sabbath laws had become a stronghold of religion.  Men had taken it on themselves to closely define the things that constituted “work” on the Sabbath and in doing so violated the spirit of the Sabbath all together.  Jesus declared that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.  The very thing that God had given to bless man with rest and a focus on the love and faithfulness of God became an instrument of victimization.  To deny healing and deliverance on the Sabbath was to deny the powerful expression of God’s love on the Sabbath. In doing so, God was viewed as a God of rules rather than relationship.

Some will do the same today.  In the name of orthodoxy and biblical scholarship, some will deny the heart of God by denying that he still wants to intervene in the suffering of his people and the lost condition of men through displays of power. In the name of scholarship and intellect, men will declare that the signs that once pointed men to Jesus now point men to the devil.  Won’t there be counterfeit signs and wonders in the last days?  Yes, there will be the counterfeit but there will also be the authentic.  Those with the Spirit of Christ who ask the Spirit to lead them into all truth will know the difference.

As Jesus said, “By their fruits you will know them.”  If miracles draw people to Jesus, promote righteousness, heal broken hearts and set captives free, they are from God by every biblical standard.  Those who deny that God still works in power and miracles will simply forfeit the field to the enemy.  People hunger for the miraculous because they hunger for heaven where the miracles of God flood the atmosphere.

When a holy church operates in the true power of God for healing and freedom, then there is a standard against which the counterfeit signs and wonders of the enemy can be measured. Without that, he will be fielding the only team.  The church must seek the gifts but seek the giver even more. Signs are important but point to a greater reality and although signs may be misread, it’s hard to find the interstate without them.  Be blessed.

John Bevere begins a chapter in his book. Drawing Near, by saying, “The fear of the Lord is the foundation of intimacy with God.”  He goes on to say that the church has lost the “fear of God” and so has lost the presence of God in much of what we do.

That statement launched an hour of great conversation in my Thursday morning men’s group that meets at 6:00 a.m. every week.  It usually takes us 15-20 minutes and at least two cups of coffee for things to get rolling but the idea of the fear of God and what that means seemed to energize us right away.

The truth of Bevere’s statement hinged on the meaning of “fear” for each of us. If we only meant that we shuddered at the voice of God as the Hebrews shuddered at the base of Mt. Sinai, then our fear of the Lord might hinder our intimacy rather than promote it.  As you recall, as God settled on the top of Sinai in smoke and fire and spoke with a thundering voice, the Hebrews began to question having a relationship with this God.

On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, the whole mountain trembled violently, and the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder. (Ex. 19:16-19)

When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance and said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.”

Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning.  (Ex. 20:18-20)

In my men’s group we discussed the death of Nadab and Abihu for offering “strange fire” and the death of Uzzah who took hold of the Ark of the Covenant in David’s day. We also got around to Ananias and Saphira who died suddenly in the Jerusalem church for lying to the Holy Spirit.  Each of those events were sobering and if left alone would push us away from the presence of God rather than drawing us in for a moment of intimacy.

On the other hand, in scripture, God also called certain men his friends and often went out of his way to meet with them and even share his heart with them.  Jesus said that he no longer calls us servants but friends and the writer of Hebrews tells us that we can approach God’s throne of grace with boldness in time of need. We are called children of God and are affectionately called “his saints.”  So what do we make of these extreme positions?  On one side it seems that coming into the presence of God is a very fearful and risky thing while on the other side we are invited to “sit in his lap,” so to speak.

Bevere had made the point in his statement that the fear of God was foundational to intimacy.  Fear of God, then, is the beginning point for an intimate relationship, but it is not the end. More than anything, God relates to us as a Father.  Earthly fathers who love their children also seek a balance between respect and familiarity and often have to work to maintain the balance.  We never want our children to tremble when we enter the room, but we also want them to obey us when we get serious. If they do not “fear” us or at least fear our discipline, then they will play in the street whenever they feel like it and place their lives at risk.

We have all had the experience of playing with our children and in the midst of that intimacy (playing promotes intimacy), we find our children being disrespectful or ignoring some hard and fast safety rules that still apply even though we are playing.  In those moments, we have to call a timeout and remind our children that we are not just a playmate but we are still their father. That seems to be the tension in scripture that calls us to a middle ground between the fear of Sinai and the familiarity of “Abba” father.

To lose an awesome respect for God and the mindset that he his still holy can move us to a place of being cavalier about the commands of God.  We can begin to take advantage of his grace and treat him with a bit of disdain.  Not only is that offensive to a holy God but it also begins to place us at risk because we become careless with sin.  In a sense, we begin to play in the street.

Children initially obey fathers out of the fear of discipline. As they grow, they begin to obey out of love and respect which still stand on a foundation of healthy fear that was laid years earlier.  I have often thought that we can’t truly love a person we don’t respect – especially in marriages.  When we are mature that respect is built on the qualities of character of the other person, but when we are children it begins with a healthy fear that keeps us out of the street.

If we forget the holiness and the discipline of God, out intimacy will suffer.  Unrepented sin will creep in and create separation between us and the Father.  We will become careless with his commands, which says something about our hearts for we are told, “If you love me you will keep my commandments.”

As the perfect Father, God seeks a balance between fear (awesome respect for who he is and his authority) and familiarity and comfort in his presence. The Hebrew writer tells us that our God is a consuming fire while at the same time inviting us to approach his throne with absolute confidence.  We can do so because of Christ and his blood that washes away our sin. That sacrifice purchases a positional relationship with the Father, but God wants much more than that. He wants intimacy, friendship, and even playfulness.

However, in the midst of that let’s not forget that he is holy and the creator of the universe.  That balance keeps us in a place where we can enjoy the presence of God.  The more respect we maintain for the Father, the more familiar he can be with us because we will not take advantage of that familiarity or become careless with our lives.  It would seem to be a healthy regimen to regularly reflect not only on the love and grace of God but also his power, authority, and holiness.  Be blessed today.

I’m writing this morning for those who may be feeling that their God is far away even though they have faithfully loved and served Him. If you are part of that group you may be struggling with thoughts that you have served him and even sacrificed for him but there seems to be no reward for your faithfulness.  The desires of your heart have gone unanswered.  Your prayers seem to hit the ceiling and drop lifelessly to the floor.  Perhaps, tragedy has struck your life in such a profound way that you feel as if God has never taken notice of your love and service to him.  Otherwise, why would this terrible thing have happened?  As the holidays approach, some of these feelings risk being magnified and amplified, as others you know seem to walk in the joy and satisfaction that you long for.  Just this morning, I attended the funeral of a young man who took his own life, leaving a daughter and a beautiful wife. I’m not sure how they will feel as the holidays drift in and their holiday dreams and traditions highlight his terrible absence.

There is a recurring theme throughout scripture.  It is the cry of God’s faithful wondering why life seems to hard and empty for them when those who could care less about God seem to have everything that life offers.  The psalmist put it this way.

But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold. For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong. They are free from the burdens common to man; they are not plagued by human ills…This is what the wicked are like — always carefree, they increase in wealth. Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure; in vain have I washed my hands in innocence. All day long I have been plagued; I have been punished every morning. (Ps.73:2-5, 12-14)

To serve God and not have the desires of our heart granted while others who don’t care for God flourish, offends our sense of justice and fairness.  I am certain that Satan loves to fuel those feelings and roll out his Eden strategy once again where he hinted that God was stingy and withholding good things from Adam and Eve – good things that would be released to them when they ate from the tree. So now he highlights the girl at the office who sleeps around and makes it to happy hour every day. She seems full of life. She has flirted her way into the good graces of the boss, her future seems bright and secure, and you seem hardly noticed.

Satan shines a bright light on that disparity.  And what about the celebrities on television who are celebrating their third child out of wedlock?  They make millions, get arrested every week and excused every week.  These are the beautiful people who attend galas and sip Champaign on their yachts while never giving God a second thought.  At the same time, you cry out every night for your rent money, a companion, or healing in your life or the life of a loved one.  The book of Job summarizes it with the theme, “Why do the wicked prosper?”

I can’t answer every question about the “good fortunes” of the unsaved.  I know that the prince of this world can bless people too. I can also say that the kindness of God calls men to repentance. I can talk about free will and God’s timing, but in the middle of the night when you are feeling alone and unnoticed those things give little comfort.  The bible, however, speaks to what we can know and that is what we must hold on to.

First of all, an easy life is no definite indicator of God’s approval nor is a hard life a definite indicator of his disapproval.  Otherwise, he disapproved of his own Son who was acquainted with sorrow and had no place to lay his head.  Remember, Jesus told us that in this world we would have trouble.

Secondly, you can know that God loves you desperately and died for you.  Graham Cooke put is this way.  “ When we could have cared less about God, He could not have cared more about us.”  We have to stand on that truth even when it doesn’t “feel” that way. He has given you himself as a sacrifice.  He is preparing a place for you now and in due time will surely come and take you to be with him. He has camped in your heart and made you his temple and the apple of his eye. His Spirit sets you apart from billions on this planet and declares that your are his and that he knows what is going on in every part of your life and cares deeply about it.  He is not indifferent to your pain or your prayers – regardless of how it feels.

Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord gave attention and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the Lord and who esteem His name. “They will be Mine,” says the Lord of hosts, “on the day that I prepare My own possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.”  So you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him.  (Mal.3:16).

The passage above from Malachi says that God sees you, hears your conversations and writes your name in a book of remembrance so that you and your needs will never be forgotten.  The psalmist went on to say that as he worshipped in the temple, God revealed to him the final end of the wicked who will not repent and the final reward of those who serve him in this life without such luxuries. Justice will be served in the courts of heaven f not in the courts of men.

The truth is that the unmet longings that plague us in this world are the very things that drive us to God and that make us look beyond this natural realm to a heavenly home. It is our longing for a home we have never seen but a home for which we were created. Every longing that cries out in us now will be met there in abundance. But these unmet longings also drive us to the Father now and it is in Him that those longings can be met while on this side of eternity.

These longings will not be met in what he can do for us, but will be found in who he is. He is joy.  He is abundance.  He is peace. He is love.  He is friendship.  He is…. Our solution is not found in asking for more answered prayers but in asking for more of Him.  When life seems unfair and God seems far away remember that he promised that he will never leave you nor forsake you. Feelings can be deceptive. Satan can use them against us but God’s truth stands forever. His love in an unfailing love for you.

As Jesus walked on this earth, he was never rich in earthly terms but he never lacked for anything. He was a man acquainted with sorrow but his constant companion was joy. He was a man who was finally forsaken on a wooden cross so that we would never have to be.  In spite of your struggles and your longings and the good fortune of the wicked in this world, remember that God is always close to the brokenhearted and has written your name and your longings in his book of remembrance. You are not and will never be forgotten.

Remember to always focus on what he has done for you rather than on what he has not yet done.  The Lord says, “But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.” Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;” (Isa.49:14-16).  God feels that way about every child in his family and you are one of his sons or daughters. You name is always before Him and he will never forget.

When the world and life seem unfair, only the love of a Father can turn that pain to joy. When the world and life seem unfair, remember God for he will never forget you. Be Blessed.

I’ve just finished teaching a short series on the supernatural power of words in the life of a believer.  I need to teach on the power of our words from time to time because I need to be reminded.  As believers, we need to continually guard our hearts and minds so that we are not hijacked by our culture.

Right now, every time I turn on the news or a talk show, my blood pressure goes up almost instantaneously.  The constant war of words on the airways is irritating.  Solomon said, “Where there are many words, sin is not absent” (Prov.10:19).  That must be more true today that at any time in history.  Culturally, truth seems to have been put on the top shelf of the closet to be brought out only on very rare occasions.

It seems that everyone has become a “spin doctor”.  Everyone claims that the words they spoke clearly last week do not mean what you thought they meant.  In fact, they mean just the opposite even though the videotape contradicts the claim. It seems that the most responsibility anyone will take for the hugely inaccurate things spoken a week ago is that they were not as clear as they should have been. That’s like me telling you  (Col.3:9) that I want you to paint my living room “sage green” and after you do so, I tell you that what I said was “canary yellow” and I expect you to repaint it.  After you protest, I simply say that you misunderstood or, perhaps, I wasn’t as clear as I should have been but you still need to absorb the time and cost because you should have understood “sage green” to mean “canary yellow.”  That kind of communication makes us all crazy.

In a culture that decided decades ago that all truth is relative and that everyone has his or her own truth, this kind of double talk should probably be expected.  My concern is that we, as believers, might be infected with the same mind set that words really don’t matter and that we should never be held accountable for what we say.  But, as Christians, we don’t live in a kingdom where “truth is relative.”  We live in a kingdom where truth is absolute and unchanging. We live in a kingdom where we are to speak the truth in love (Eph.4:15),  put away all lying (Col.3:9), and let our “Yes” be “Yes” and our “No” be “No” (Mt.5:37).

Words are extremely important.  In fact, Jesus tells us that on the Day of Judgment we will have to give account for every careless word (Mt.12:36).  We are ambassadors of Christ on an alien planet.  We should always reflect the culture of heaven and the character of our King in everything we say. In fact, in every circumstance we should try to sense what our King would say, if he were present, and speak only as he would speak.  Words have power.   As a believer, a priest, a king, and an ambassador of Christ in the earth, your words have authority and power. Jesus spoke, not as the Son of God but as the Son of Man and see what power his words carried.

Our words have amazing potential to create good or evil both in the natural and spiritual realms. God is very clear that he wants our lips to be a source of life not death to every person and every circumstance.  He is clear that fresh, life-giving water is to come forth from our hearts rather than salt water which brings death when given to often to living things. We are to be a constant source of blessing, rather than cursing, and we should speak clearly with integrity as a people who do what we say because our Father always does what he says.  May our words be pleasing to God (Ps.19:14) and may our speech be unique in our culture.  Peter called on us to speak as if we are speaking the very words of God (1 Pet. 4:11). In doing so we will be set apart from the world around us. May we be honest, kind, and yet direct in the things we say and may our words be full or grace and life to all those around us…and by the way, that includes the things we say to our spouse and children behind closed doors.   Be blessed.

In these last days, God will be pouring out more of his Spirit to match (actually overmatch) the counterfeit wonders and miracles of the enemy that are coming.  Within the church, we will see a continuing growth in gifts of healings, tongues, miracles and prophecy. That is a good thing and yet there will be growing pains as men and women will attempt to operate in these gifts without the benefit of being mentored by those who are mature in the use of these gifts. Many will begin to experience these gifts in fellowships where the miraculous gifts have been denied or simply ignored.  They will not have ready access to spiritual mentors in those areas.

If you are one of these individuals who hunger after these gifts or who is beginning to experience the activation of these gifts in your life, I encourage you to ask the Spirit to direct you to spiritual mentors in the community who are mature, godly, and experienced in the operation of these gifts.  Let me warn you that strong “giftings” do not necessarily indicate mature spirituality. There are some men and women who move powerfully in gifts of healing or deliverance or even prophecy whose gifts run ahead of their spiritual maturity.  We often see that phenomenon in the natural realm with athletes, musicians, and even politicians. There giftedness brings them riches, fame, and acclaim long before their character can handle those things.  It can happen in the spiritual realm as well.  Because of that, as you seek mentors look for longevity and character in the exercise of the spiritual gifts you are seeking or experiencing more that the flamboyant fruit of someone who is “wowing” everyone with their gifts.  The mature may also amaze people with their gifts but they will carry with them the mantle of humility as well.

As we move into this time frame of an increase in the miraculous gifts of the church we will also need to be cautious and gracious with those who are very gifted but not so experienced. This may be especially true in gifts of prophecy.  Mature prophets know that the gift is given for the comfort, encouragement, and strengthening of the person receiving the word.  They know that not everything they are shown by God is to be shared with the receiver.  Some knowledge they receive is simply to set the context for the rest of the message and is not to be shared – especially in a public setting.  For instance, a prophet may be shown a sin or a traumatic event in the life of a person to set the context for what God wants spoken over them to set them free from the sin or heal the trauma. However, the sin or the trauma is not to be revealed publically and maybe not even privately.

God is not in the business of shaming or re-traumatizing the people he loves. Those who are operating in the gift without maturity or mentoring may not realize that and some people may be hurt or embarrassed by the immature exercise of these gifts.  If so, we should not dismiss the gift and we will have to have grace toward the prophet.  We will all make mistakes as we grow and cannot grow without exercising the gifts.

Some prophetic words will be right on target and some may miss the target because we “know in part and we prophesy in part.”  We will need to test the prophecy and retain what the Spirit confirms with our spirit and hold the remainder loosely.  In this season of empowering, we will need to affirm the gifts and the gifted without requiring perfection or we will quench the Spirit in our churches or in our own hearts. We will certainly need to test the spirits and the prophecies but we must do so with grace and love rather than distrust and cynicism.

For those who are desiring the miraculous gifts or beginning to experience them, as I said before, I encourage you to seek mentors in your fellowship or in another part of the body of Christ in your community – balanced, gifted, humble and mature Christians operating in these gifts.  In addition to or in place of those mentors, God is also providing this mentoring through anointed books and teachings.  The prophet Isaiah spoke of the time when the knowledge of God would cover the earth.  The spread of that knowledge is being done, in part, right now by the writing of books, teachings on DVD’s, etc.  These can also be great mentoring tools.

Of course, the question becomes which of those can be reliable mentors?  I can’t give you a list, but let me say that you should look for or listen for several indicators of spiritual maturity in the writer or teacher.

• Does the author or teacher reflect the Spirit and character of Christ – love,  joy, peace, gentleness, patience, etc?
• Does the author or teacher point you to Jesus more than the gifts?
• Does the author or teacher quote scripture responsibly or does he/she misuse the Word to validate their own ministries and personal theology?
• Is there humility in their writing or teaching rather than pride and arrogance?
• Is there a critical spirit toward others or do they love the entire body of Christ?
• After asking the Holy Spirit to lead you into truth, does the writing or teaching resonate with your spirit or trouble you?
• Do other mature Christians who accept the full ministry of the Holy Spirit recommend the book?

In the coming months and years, God will continue to pour out more and more power on his church if his church is willing to receive it and become a faithful steward of the gifts. I encourage you to be in that part of his church that does so.  These gifts will not just be healing, prophecy or miracles but amazing gifts of mercy, generosity, teaching, administration, music, wisdom, and so forth. They will be required to face the last great assaults of the enemy on planet earth. Each of us will be on a growth curve in learning how to operate in our respective gifts. Be wise but also give yourself and others grace as we growth.

Sometime before Thanksgiving I will post the recommended books you have commented on.  I would still like to continue to hear from you about the most transformative books in your life so that others can drink from the same pool.  Be blessed.