Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. (Mt. 28:18-20).

Anyone who has spent any time at all in evangelical churches should be familiar with “The Great Commission.”  This was Christ’s final command to the church before his ascension and has been the fuel behind world missions for centuries. It is called a co-mission because Jesus works with us to fulfill the mission. It is something we do together.

However, it seems to me that in most of the last hundred years we have missed the mark on this to a great degree in the U.S.   Jesus said to make disciples of nations.  To disciple an entire nation is a daunting thought but God said, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession” (Ps.2:7-8).  In giving the “Great Commission” to his church wasn’t Jesus asking his Father for the nations?

In 2010, churches in the Untied States sent out 120,000 missionaries to countries around the globe. At the same time, 1500 pastors are leaving their ministries each month in American churches. In addition, although there are 4000 church plants in this country each year, 7000 churches close their doors. As a nation we are heading in the wrong direction.  It is clear that the American church is failing to make a disciple of this nation.

In order to disciple a nation two things must happen.  First of all, the kingdom of God must be planted in the hearts of the nation’s people.  Jesus said that the kingdom is within.  Faith and righteousness cannot be legislated in the hearts of a nation’s people. If it could, America would be drug free and the Prohibition era of the 1920’s would have wiped out alcoholism.  The kingdom must first bear fruit in the hearts of people.  But as the Holy Spirit does his work of transformation, the kingdom of God begins to manifest in the exterior life of the disciple.  The salt and light principle then begins to touch culture and when enough culture has been touched, a nation is discipled.

The founding fathers were very clear in their writings that this American experiment could only stand if the people persisted in faith and the morality that comes from faith. A great start does not guarantee a great finish.  Although we began as “one nation under God,” we may have forgotten that every new generation must be evangelized and discipled as well.  There have been seasons in the past fifty years where there have been upticks in evangelism.  The Billy Graham crusades, Campus Crusade, the third wave of the Holy Spirit, Promise Keepers, etc. and we celebrate every person who received Jesus Christ as Lord.  But there is a huge difference between being saved and being discipled, between salvation and sanctification.

Salvation separates us from darkness and brings us under the umbrella of God’s grace but sanctification shapes our entire life so that the kingdom of heaven is reflected in all that we do.  When that happens Jesus touches other people and culture through us.  The culture of heaven then begins to flow through us to our family, to our friends, to business, education, media, recreation and politics. What we see in America today is that the devil has been much more effective at making disciples and touching culture than the church has been.

Part of that is because the church has led significant numbers to Christ but has stopped short of discipling those who have come. Discipleship takes time, energy and an extended commitment to a new Christian. As Americans, we are far too busy to make those kinds of commitments and so we outsource our discipleship to the 700 Club, Sunday School, and community Bible studies.  We even do that with our children rather than taking personal responsibility to disciple them through both teaching and modeling. The model Jesus used was the Rabbinical model of choosing a few promising students and then doing life together – teaching, modeling, handing off responsibilities, etc. It still takes that.

There really is a war raging in the heavenlies over the soul of America. The disciples of the enemy have chipped away at the culture of heaven in our country until we are truly at a tipping point. Millions of unborn children have died at the hands of those who swore first “to do no harm.”  Prayer and God’s word have been ejected from schools where this generation of children is being discipled by a secular culture.  The media has effectively normalized sin and made it “cute” or acceptable so that evil is called good and good is called evil.  From the enemy’s perspective, America is strategic.  If America falls into darkness who stands with Israel?  Who exports the gospel through missions all over the world?  Who feeds the hungry in starving nations? Who stands against Sharia Law that will make faith in Jesus a capital crime?

Jesus has asked his Father for the nations and God has commissioned his church to bring those to the Son. America is sliding away and Satan has ramped up the attack. Will the church respond or continue to compromise and secularize itself for the sake of being “accepted and relevant.” When we are accepted by a secular culture we are no longer reflecting Christ because the world has always hated Christ. Can the nation be turned around? If not the entire world loses.

It can be turned around just as every nation can be brought to Jesus. We are to make disciples of all nations but that means not just saving but also discipling the citizens of that nation so that God’s love, values, and righteousness begin to permeate the cultural landscape once again. Every mature believer has that mandate. Go and make a disciple. I know many mature believer but very few are intentionally mentoring or discipling those who are young in the faith. Very few are intentionally taking a believer from the waters of baptism to a submitted like in Christ that is impacting everything it touches with the life of Jesus. Let me encourage you today to ask God to give you one or two believers to do life with and to disciple so that they can disciple others and take back a nation for whom Jesus died. It takes time, energy, commitment and a lot if inconvenience.  But the Great Commission was not just a great suggestion.

Saul was Israel’s first king.  He is one of the most interesting studies in human nature in scripture. He is often contrasted with King David in studies about leadership or being a spiritual man.  Saul is always the “don’t do it that way” part of the study. In his defense, he wasn’t all that enthusiastic about becoming king in the first place. In 1 Samuel 8, the people of Israel began to express their desire to be governed by a king like all the nations that surrounded them.  Until that time, Israel had been a theocracy governed by God himself with judges and priests representing him. God warns them about the perils of giving that much power to a man but the people insist.  In response, God sends Samuel to Kish the Benjamite who had an impressive son named Saul. God commanded Samuel to find Saul and anoint him as king over Israel.   Samuel did so with several objections from Saul.  However, as Saul was anointed by the prophet, the Spirit of God came on him and changed his heart so that Saul accepted this appointment to be king.

Saul seemed to do well in the beginning of his reign but it wasn’t long before some serious character flaws began to immerge. A huge turning point in Saul’s reign is reported in 1 Samuel 15.  In that chapter, God commanded Saul to attack the Amalekites as judgment against their sins. God clearly told Saul to destroy the tribe and everything in it.  They were to spare no one and nothing as judgment against them. This text from that chapter is telling.

Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel: “I am grieved that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions.” Samuel was troubled, and he cried out to the Lord all that night. Early in the morning Samuel got up and went to meet Saul, but he was told, “Saul has gone to Carmel. There he has set up a monument in his own honor and has turned and gone on down to Gilgal.” When Samuel reached him, Saul said, “The Lord bless you! I have carried out the Lord’s instructions.” But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears? What is this lowing of cattle that I hear?”

Two fatal flaws stand out in Saul’s character is this chapter.  First of all, we discover that Saul craved the approval of men more than the approval of God. Why else would he go to Carmel to set up a monument in his own honor?  Those who seek the approval of men to such a degree always question their own value or competence. Saul seemed to have little faith that the God who had established his kingdom could keep it secure. And so he built a monument proclaiming his greatness to the people like some third world dictator brandishing a slew of shiny brass medals he never earned. Those who are not convinced of their authority go to great lengths to convince others of their authority.  Those who have little character, pay others to proclaim what great men they are. Perhaps, they are hoping to believe it themselves.

Finally, when Samuel caught up with him at Gilgal, Saul greeted him with proclamations about how he had thoroughly obeyed the Lord’s commands to destroy the Amalekites.  Of course, Samuel immediately heard evidence to the contrary and soon discovered that Saul had spared the life of Agag, the king of Amalek, as well. And yet, apparently in Saul’s view he had been completely obedient to the Lord. His personal wants and desires often blinded him to his own disobedience. Theologians call it “accommodative theology” which means I interpret scripture in a way that accommodates my personal desires or situation to the exclusion of God’s true intent.

Before we skewer Saul for his monument building and playing fast and loose with the Lord’s commands, we need to acknowledge that we each have a little of Saul in us.  Even the best of us succumb to the praise of men at times and promoting ourselves in order to maintain our positions of “power and influence” or, at least, to secure our place in the “pecking order” of our social group or business. How many of us have “engineered” outcomes that we desired rather than waiting to see if the Lord would establish the thing – a relationship, a job promotion, an invitation, a house or a car we couldn’t afford, etc.?  After we had forced all the square pegs into the round holes to get what we wanted, we declared it was God’s leading, even if it violated a few biblical principles along the way.  In manipulating circumstances to get what we want, we reveal our belief that God can’t be trusted to give is the things that make us happy. We also reveal our belief that happiness is more important than holiness. Saul simply reinterpreted God’s commands so that he could give away what he didn’t care about and keep the things his flesh craved while declaring that he was God’s man all the way.

In the end, those character traits cost him his kingdom and his destiny. No doubt we all “mess up.”  Certainly King David had his share of spiritual failures and character lapses.  But the real proof of a man’s character is not always in whether or not he “blows it,” but rather in his response when he does. Saul consistently excused and rationalized his failings – sometimes with outlandish self-justifications. David acknowledged his sin, took full responsibility for it, and trusted in the unfailing love and mercy of God.

David’s view of God was significantly different from Saul’s.  David held a firm belief that the throne was God’s all along. God had put him on the throne and would keep him there as long as God determined. He was also willing to relinquish the throne the day that God said he was done. David also hungered for God more than the throne and more than the approval of men. Those perspectives made him great in the kingdom of God even though he had some serious train wrecks from time to time.

I’m convinced that we all have a little of David in us and a little of Saul.  To the extent that our sense of significance comes from our position or our popularity rather than from our relationship with the Father, God cannot trust us with more. More would lead us into idolatry. To the extent that we “engineer” the outcomes we desire rather than waiting on a word from God, God will not be able to bless those outcomes otherwise we would think that he simply exists to do our bidding like a cosmic butler or the genie in a bottle.

In the end, Saul went a little crazy trying to protect his throne from David even though God had told him that his throne had been taken away. Paranoia, jealous rages, and monuments to himself were the results of believing that his throne, power, and influence were his rather than God’s. David held it all loosely and viewed his throne, power and influence as simply things God had given him to steward until he took them back.  His goal was to please God rather than men. Eventually, Messiah will sit on the throne of David forever. Saul’s name will stay in the “don’t do it that way” category.  These things are written for our learning and on occasion we need to scan our own lives and motives to see if we are on a good trajectory or headed for disaster. Have we been busy building monuments for God or for ourselves?

Jeremiah is sometimes known as the weeping prophet for the tears he shed over Israel,  but iI believe t was God weeping through him.  In Jeremiah 3, we are given a profound insight into the heart of God.

          During the reign of King Josiah, the Lord said to me, “Have you seen what faithless Israel has done? She has gone up on every high hill and under every spreading tree and has committed adultery there. I thought that after she had done all this she would return to me but she did not, and her unfaithful sister Judah saw it. I gave faithless Israel her certificate of divorce and sent her away because of all her adulteries. Yet I saw that her unfaithful sister Judah had no fear; she also went out and committed adultery. Because Israel’s immorality mattered so little to her, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stone and wood. In spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return to me with all her heart, but only in pretense,” declares the Lord. The Lord said to me, “Faithless Israel is more righteous than unfaithful Judah.

           Go, proclaim this message toward the north: “ ‘Return, faithless Israel,’ declares the Lord, ‘I will frown on you no longer, for I am merciful,’ declares the Lord, ‘I will not be angry forever. Only acknowledge your guilt— you have rebelled against the Lord your God, you have scattered your favors to foreign gods under every spreading tree, and have not obeyed me,’ ” declares the Lord. “Return, faithless people,” declares the Lord, “for I am your husband. I will choose you—one from a town and two from a clan—and bring you to Zion.  Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will lead you with knowledge and understanding.  (Jer.3:6-15)

In this passage you hear the cry of God’s heart toward Israel, his unfaithful love.  This is an amazing passage because in it we discover that God divorced Israel because she had committed adultery with a stable of foreign gods through her idolatry. And yet, God’s heart still yearns for her like a jilted lover.  More than that, he is willing to take her back and bless her again if she will just return and acknowledge her wrongs.

More than once I have sat in my office and listened to a heartbroken spouse whose husband or wife had committed multiple affairs and showed no repentance or remorse for what they had done. When these men or women have asked me how to get their spouse back, my first thought has always been. “What is wrong with you that you would want them back?”  My next thought is usually that the person sitting in the chair across from me must have no sense of self-worth or self-respect to take someone back who has repeatedly given themselves to others in tawdry one-night stands in cheap motels and office couches,

But when I look at God, his cry for Israel to return is not a symptom of low self-esteem or some expression of co-dependence, but rather an expression of a God with an undying love for his people. I am amazed at how unrelenting God’s love is and when the apostle John tells us that, “God is love,” this is what that looks like.

How often did Israel rebel?  How often did they kill the prophets and finally the Son?  How often did they thumb their nose at their creator and run after foreign Gods? God’s love truly is unfailing – not just for Israel but for each of us.  He is the Father in the story of the prodigal son. If his relationship with Israel is any indicator, the prodigal could have drifted away again and again and the Father would have still longed for his return and celebrated the sound of his voice at the door once again.

It’s not that God is indifferent to our unfaithfulness. Discipline was still the order of the day for Israel and for us if we wander.  But the heart behind the discipline is the miracle.  It is a discipline tempered by a relentless love that calls us back from the edge of disaster – always.

We all wander from the Father at times, if only in our hearts or our priorities. Some of us walk away for years and violate his values over and over.  But there comes a time when we think about returning and the enemy always whispers, “He won’t have you. You’ve gone too far. He despises you for what you’ve done and you don’t want to hear what he’s got to say to you!” That is a lie.

The Father’s heart always cries, “return.” Acknowledge your guilt and it is forgiven. After adultery and murder, at the moment King David declared, “ I have sinned against God,” his sin was taken away. At the moment the prodigal began to confess his failings, the Father stopped him and restored him to the family with a celebration.  We never have to be afraid to return to the Father whether we have been away for a day or for years.  He is waiting.  His love has not failed. There is no need to hide or excuse or justify what we have done. Just say it and ask for forgiveness.  God is always ready to give that and more – because he has always loved us and always will. He has always loved you, and always will. If you have been away, go home.  He is waiting with the embrace of a father longing to hear your voice.

Anointing oil had an essential and sacred function in the tabernacle.  First of all, God gave Moses a very specific recipe for making the anointing oil. Myrrh, cinnamon, cane, cassia, and olive oil were the ingredients. God designated the amounts of those spices and declared that this oil was never to be used for anything other than marking the tabernacle, all of its furnishings, and the priests as being consecrated to God and set apart for his purposes. If anyone used the oil for any other purposes or put it on any person who was not a priest, he was to be cut off from the people (Ex.30:22-33).

Every item or priest that was anointed by this sacred oil was consecrated and made holy.  After that, they were never to be used for ordinary purposes again but only in service to God. Most scholars believe that the anointing oil represented the Holy Spirit whose anointing now enables us to serve the living God. The implications of that are significant.

1. God gives the anointing, the Holy Spirit, only to priests.  Therefore, you are a priest if you have the Spirit of Christ in you.

2. Priests served in the presence of God, so we serve in the presence of God.  That is why we are told, “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Col. 3:17).  Whether we are praying, worshiping, washing dishes, or mowing the lawn, we are in the presence of God because his presence is within us.  It is the anointing. Because of that, whatever we do is to be done with Jesus in mind and done as an offering to him.

The anointing consecrates us.  It sets us apart for service unto Him and we are never to be used for ordinary purposes again. That means that you are sacred.  You have the seal of the Holy Spirit on you.  You are marked for God’s purposes and his purposes are extraordinary. Everything you do as an anointed believer is significant because it is sacred.

I understand that a lot of what we do in life doesn’t feel sacred.  Cleaning house, paying the bills, and changing diapers just don’t feel spiritual. But you are a priest all the time. The Holy Spirit is in you every moment.  Even the everyday functions of life are sacred simply because you are doing them in the presence of God. Cleaning burnt fat off of the Altar of Burnt Offering and scrubbing the bowls that had the dried blood of bulls and goats probably didn’t seem sacred.  It was dirty, stinky work.  But because it contributed to the glory of God and because it was done by an anointed priest it was holy.  Everything we do as believers should contribute to the glory of God because we should do it all with excellence “as unto the Lord.”  As Spirit-filled believers, every part of our lives should point to Jesus and, therefore, has a holy significance.

3. The anointing carries the enabling power of God for the things you are called to do. Kings received it and priests received it.  It represented the Spirit of God and, therefore, declared that God’s Spirit would enable these men to fulfill their office with wisdom, character, and power. His anointing on us declares the same thing. We should never feel as if the ministry that God has set before us, whether church, business or family, is beyond our reach.  You are anointed.

When Peter calls us a royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:9) he is declaring that we are both kings and priests.  John says that God has made us kings and priests (Rev.1:6). You are anointed to lead, to rule, to worship, and to serve. You are anointed to represent God before men. You are set apart for service unto God and for extraordinary purposes.

Keep that truth in your heart today when the accuser of the brethren whispers how insignificant and incompetent you are or when you begin to feel that your life is ordinary and meaningless.  Remember the anointing.  Look for the sacred. Ask for a revelation of how the smallest things have priestly significance in the kingdom of God. Understand who you are – God’s king and priest on the earth and his anointing is for you and no other.

Well, it’s about that time again.  Halloween is about eight days away and cable channels are gearing up for Friday the Thirteenth specials, zombies, vampires, and witches.  I just checked Amazon to see how many books on witchcraft and casting spells they were posting and found quite a few – especially casting spells for beginners.  The Walking Dead series seems to be a huge favorite in America and, of course, Ghost Hunters, is always good for a few goose bumps.

For a culture that celebrates men who argue against the existence of God, question the historical reality of Jesus, and write the Bible off as fiction, we have a strange obsession with the spiritual.  We are especially obsessed with the dark side of the spiritual realm and the resurrection of grotesque entities along with those who look good but have no body temperature and suck blood.  Maybe these are all metaphors for politicians but I really think it goes deeper than that.

In some way I think our culture is locked into a paradox, a fleshly spirituality.  Paul reminds us in Romans 7 that our flesh (the natural man) wars against our spirit (the redeemed or spiritual man). This flesh is focused on self, earthly things, power, immediate gratification, possessions, etc. and is fueled or amplified by demonic spirits.  On one hand you would think the flesh would deny the spirit and the spiritual realm because it represents competition. But in the last few decades it and the demonic realm seem to have changed strategies.

Now the flesh pushes everyone toward the spiritual or the supernatural realm but in ways that continue to draw us away from Christ.  The emphasis isn’t new.  Sorcerers have practiced their craft for millennia. But, the volume and cultural acceptance is what has changed. If you think about it, witchcraft and notions of the undead are simply cries for power and immortality.  Actually, both are offered by Christ to those who follow him but there is a difference.

The flesh wants the perks of power and immortality but doesn’t want to answer to anyone or submit to any God.  Christians are promised power, authority and eternal life but only as those things are directed and submitted to Jesus and his righteousness.  Dante suggested that Satan would rather rule in hell than serve in heaven because he did not want to submit to anyone. Willing submission is a quality of heaven but won’t be found in hell.

I think the spirit of anti-Christ is really at work here because there are no debates about the existence of Satan, just about the existence of God and the reality of Christ. In a twisted way, Satan is offering eternal life without the Lordship of Jesus. Vampire romances abound in movies and books. Witches cavort with demons and, of course, there are now good witches and good demons to be had. Zombies are ugly and dumb but they still live forever and answer to no one.

In part, my simple theory comes from counseling sessions with people who had recently been involved in witches covens and satanic groups.  Each one confessed that they had gotten involved in these covens because their lives felt powerless and out of control. Each one had met a person who suggested that they might be able to find that power and control by being part of a group that could get what they wanted out of life through spells and “prayers”. At first, curiosity drove them to the meetings. Later they began to believe in the power of spells and incantations to control demonic forces to do their bidding. But later, the power they had been promised to them was being exercised over them by the very demons they thought they could control.

The occult is like drugs. It promises much, gives pleasure in the beginning and can even be governed at first. Eventually, however, it begins to rule everything in the cult member’s life. Power and control is an illusion. Satan takes orders from no man and he will rule over the life of anyone who walks onto his playground.

The other demonic aspect of our culture is this fascination and romance with death that is displayed in books and movies. Even Christians are participating in zombie walks and heading for the theaters to see Twilight sequels. But our God is a God of life not death.  He is the God of the living not the dead and death is portrayed in the book of Revelation as the last enemy. Of course, if we die in Christ we are immediately in the presence of Jesus which is a wonderful thing. But death, by God’s standards, is not the way we were supposed to come into his presence. Death is a result of a curse and us not something God celebrates. In fact, death is one of the things that Christ died to destroy.

In all of this cultural shift, Christ and the truth about spiritual realities is being marginalized.  People begin to identify with these characters of darkness rather than identifying with the Son of God.  These vampires and witches are painted as having greater power than the King of Kings. In the old movies, when the vampire hunters produced a cross, the vampire cowered and ran.  Now the vampire just laughs as if the cross has no more power against evil.

I’m not a person who thinks every Harry Potter book should be stacked and burned or that watching old episodes of Bewitched will send you to hell.  But I do believe that our culture is under a great assault by demonic forces and that Satan is orchestrating something very sinister with this onslaught of fleshly spirituality and the romance of death. I know that Satan is real and demons afflict more people than you think. But I also know that Jesus has defeated Satan and his troops and that we as believers operate in that victory with his authority.  But I also know that Satan is the consummate liar who draws people away from God and into destruction with half-truths and fictions. We are surrounded by those now.

So this Halloween, I want to invite you not to participate in the Zombie Run or watch Romance of the Vampires or whatever and especially with your children. I believe we can tell stories about witches and magic and trolls and dwarves and keep those stories in the realm of fiction while we teach our children about the reality of Christ, his angels and demons in this real world. But there is something more going on here and I encourage you to be wise and not lose perspective on good and evil because Satan loves to blur the lines. They will be blurred a lot in the next two weeks.

Daniel, like many others of his generation, was a victim of poor leadership in the kingdom of Judah. The wickedness of King Jehoiakim forced God to release the dogs of war and they showed up on Jerusalem’s doorstep in the form of Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon. After laying siege to the city and taking the king of Judah captive, Nebuchadnezzar also took the best and the brightest of Jerusalem’s young men to Babylon where they would serve the empire.

Daniel was bright and educated. He probably never expected to see Israel or his family again. His deportation suddenly and irrevocably separated him from his family and the familiar reminders of his faith – the temple, the Torah readings, the sacrifices, the priesthood, and the feast days.  It would have been easy and even “normal” for Daniel to feel abandoned by the God he had worshipped back home and even to wonder if the gods of Babylon were, indeed, more powerful than Jehovah.  It would have been “normal,” but Daniel wasn’t normal.

Within this young man was a faith and a commitment to that faith that went beyond the ordinary.  That faith, commitment and even stubbornness was revealed immediately as Daniel resolved not to partake of the “unclean” foods of Babylon even though he had been ordered to eat them.  Maybe it was the arrogance of youth that made him stand against his captors but God honored his stand and gave him favor with his overseers.

As the account of Daniel develops we see that he was given power and influence by God, even in the midst of his enemies.  He was given an amazing prophetic gift and an uncanny gift for interpreting dreams unparalleled in scripture. There is one verse in all of the Book of Daniel, however, that always catches my eye. In chapter 6, the intrigues of palace politics were rolled out.  God had given Daniel so much favor with King Darius that Darius was planning to set Daniel over the financial affairs of the whole nation. Of course, this “foreign upstart” became the object of great jealousy and resentment from the “home boys” in the palace.

In their jealousies they plotted to discredit Daniel before the king. But the text says, “At this the administrators and satraps tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt not negligent.  Finally these men said, ‘We will never find any basis for charges against this man Daniel unless it has something to do with the law of his God.’”

Daniel not only had faith in the God of heaven, but integrity in every part of his life. That quality allowed God to entrust amazing spiritual gifts and influence to Daniel.  How many of us desire great gifts in the kingdom of God and, perhaps, cultural influence but fail in the test of integrity and diligence?  When these men began to turn over stones to discredit Daniel they could find no mismanagement of funds, no personal scandals, and no lack of diligence in the things that had been entrusted to him.

After they had turned over every stone and could find no dirt, they decided that they would have to find some way for the laws of Babylon to conflict with the laws of Daniel’s God. They new the man well enough to know that the faith that gave him power and influence with the king was a faith for which he was willing to go to jail or worse. Soon, Daniel found himself facing a den of liars who had no compunctions about what they were doing and who would seem to have the upper hand because he would not use his power and influence to destroy them.

You know the story.  These manipulators “conned” an egocentric king into passing a law that for thirty days, no man could pray to another god or man except Darius,  under penalty of death. Flattered by the suggestion, Darius agreed and soon these men brought reports that Daniel had been discovered praying to his God in violation of the new decree.  Darius was trapped and as much as he tried to find a loophole for Daniel he could not. Daniel was tossed into a den of hungry lions but in the morning walked out unharmed because God had sent an angel to close the mouth of the lions.

What a model for those of us who want to move in greater power and influence for the kingdom of God because those spiritual things entrusted to us and are to be governed with wisdom, diligence and integrity.  Without those character traits the show up first in the natural realm, the gifts and the influence might destroy us, wound the church, and dishonor the King we serve.

So maybe an inventory of our own integrity and diligence is in order. What could the enemies of God find in our current lives to discredit us and the God we serve? What small scandals might be lurking because of our careless words or actions? Sometimes we want to compartmentalize our life and live as if what we do or don’t do in one part has nothing to do with the other. We want to believe that we can seek God’s gifts, blessings, and influence and somehow think that the way we operate in the rest of our lives makes no difference. But the way we operate a business, pay our bills, speak truth to our customers or our spouse, relate to the opposite sex, work when the boss isn’t around, treat employees or the cashier at the convenience store has everything to do with how God will use us in his kingdom.

Jesus said, “So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? (Luke 16:11). The true riches Jesus spoke of are spiritual riches.  Daniel challenges me. He was not perfect, since only Jesus was perfect, but he lived a life that honored God at every level. When men rose up to destroy him they could find no basis for accusation. When his faithfulness to God set him in opposition to the state, God was there with Daniel in the darkness, as the lions grew hungrier through the night. In the morning, Daniel walked out to the delight of Darius who then honored Daniel’s God. Those who had opposed Daniel had a date with hungry lions.

In the future, as I pray for more spiritual riches from God, I will try to take account of my integrity, diligence. and excellence in the other parts of my life so that God can trust me with more. As we look at a nation that seems to be bankrupt of character, lets pray that God will raise up more men and women like Daniel who will honor God in every part of their lives and live above reproach so that He can set them in places of power and authority as well.

In the book of Nehemiah we find one of Satan’s most subtle and effective strategies for hindering the work of God on the earth. In 586 B.C. the southern Kingdom of Judah fell to Babylon and all but a few were scattered throughout the Babylonian Empire as slaves and servants of the state. The temple and the city of Jerusalem were destroyed and for the most part remained a pile of rubble for seventy years. After seventy years of captivity, God allowed some of the Jews to return and to begin to rebuild.  Zerubbabel led the first return and rebuilt the temple while the city wall remained in disrepair.  Ezra was sent later by God to call the people in Judea to faithfulness and, finally, Nehemiah was allowed by the king he served to return to rebuild the city wall.  There was, of course, great opposition to the rebuilding of Jerusalem by their traditional enemies who lived in the area – the Samaritans, Ammonites, and Arabs.

Although God had ordained the rebuilding of the temple, the city, and the wall of Jerusalem, the enemy pushed back against the completion of God’s vision for the city.  We see the first part of Satan’s strategy in Chapter 4.  As the building began in earnest, the enemies of the Jews began with ridicule.  The first strategy was to criticize the vision that God had given Nehemiah and that he had brought to the people in Jerusalem.  In effect, they declared that Nehemiah’s vision would fail, that it was foolish, and that the Jews had neither the resources nor the skills to finish. For those with a minimum vision or minimum faith, such ridicule is debilitating. Yet, Nehemiah knew that the vision he held in his heart was from God and believed God for the materials and the skill.  The work moved ahead.

The next bit of Satan’s strategy unfolded when conflict broke out among the Jews themselves. Some felt that they were sacrificing much more than others. Discontent and comparison is always an effective strategy of the enemy because it divides God’s people. It also takes leaders away from the primary vision of the kingdom while they settle disputes.  Nehemiah settled the issue with wisdom but the detour cost them time.

Satan’s next move was to have the leaders of Israel’s enemies invite Nehemiah to a summit to discuss what was going on in the region. Nehemiah instinctively sensed that he would likely meet with “an unfortunate accident” on the way to the summit but, more than that, he knew it was another distraction from the enemy.  His response was one that we should remember. “I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?”  His enemies invited him to attend the summit four times and he refused each time.  Undoubtedly the national news agencies painted him as a man who did not want peace or as a polarizing man who would not compromise for the sake of the region. I’m sure he was criticized and encouraged even by some of his own people not to turn down these noble offers to speak about peace.  Yet God had not sent him to compromise with the enemy but to finish the work he had been given as soon as possible.

Next came the accusations that Nehemiah was rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem with a plan to rebel against the king who has sent him there.  If Satan can’t pull you away from the work God has given you, he will work to discredit you and your motives. For those of us who aren’t sure of our motives or who care too much for the opinions of men, those attacks can be very distracting and discouraging.  His response to the accusations was simple. “Nothing like what you are saying is happening.”  Because Nehemiah was building a kingdom for God rather than himself and because he had acted with integrity throughout the project, he was able to dismiss the charges and move ahead.

Finally, he was told that men were coming to kill him and he should simply run away to save himself. The possibility was certainly there that assassins were on the way, but his response was revealing. “Should a man like me run away? … I will not go … He (the messenger) was hired to intimidate me so that I would commit a sin by doing this and then they would give me a bad name to discredit me.”

Nehemiah understood the nature of leadership.  He also understood that if God gave him a vision to complete, then no man could stop him unless unbelief or unrighteousness on the part of Nehemiah entered the picture. The text then says that the work was completed and that when all their enemies heard of its completion, they were afraid.

Each of us has a call on our life by God. He has created us for good works which he has prepared in advance for us to complete (Eph.2:10). Satan’s most frequently used strategies are not direct opposition to what we are doing but distraction and discouragement. On a national scale, those who stand up for biblical values and righteousness are often encouraged by the people closest to them to compromise with the opposition. If they will not, then their vision is ridiculed, their motives are questioned, and their careers are threatened. Sound familiar?

But what about you?  What great thing have you imagined doing for God that you have set on the back burner for months or years because of distractions – busyness doing good things but not the thing God has prompted you to do. What about discouragement – the fear that you do not have enough skill or resources to complete the vision, questions about your motives, or fear of losing something if you step out? How many great projects still sit in the garage of the kingdom of God that have not been rolled out because the enemy has used these strategies of distraction and discouragement against us?

Maybe it’s time to take the vision or the dream back out the box, dust it off, and get on with what God has called you to do. For many of us unbelief has kept us in check – either unbelief that the dream and desire was truly from God or that he will not resource us and protect us while we do his will.  Pray about it. Recommit. Recognize the strategies of the enemy and get back to building the wall. If your vision were unimportant, Satan would never have stood in the way.

“Jesus is Lord!” How often has that phrase been spoken in the past two thousand years?  It is an amazing theological statement full of implications but it can also be a phrase used so often that it loses its meaning to those who use it most.

We can also say with great accuracy that Jesus not only is Lord but has been Lord and will always be Lord.  The prophet Isaiah was given a great vision in the year that King Uzziah died.  It was a year of uncertainty in Israel.  A good king had died and the few faithful kings that ruled over Israel were typically followed by disastrous years of rule by wicked kings who forced God to send judgment on a rebellious nation. It was a year and a moment when Isaiah needed encouragement.

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” (Isa.6:1-5).

In his moment of need, Isaiah wass given a vision of the throne room of God which exuded the power, the glory, and the might of the one on the throne. This was his God and the one who watched over Israel. It was a reminder that even when the earth or our particular part of the earth is in chaos, there is no chaos or panic in heaven.  At the same time that this vision was meant to reassure Isaiah that “God was still on his throne,”  the sheer glory, power, and holiness of the Lord overwhelmed Isaiah with a sense of his own sinfulness.  Yet God immediately cleansed the prophet so that he could stand in the His presence. He then gave him his prophetic orders.

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” He said, “Go and tell this people: “ ‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’ Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.” (Isa.6:8-10).

In John 12, the apostle quotes this passage from Isaiah about Israel but then says, “Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him” (Jn. 12:41). Isaiah’s vision opens up to us the glory that Jesus had in heaven before he put on flesh and became Son of Man.  He was Lord before the incarnation as well as after.  The word Lord, in both Hebrew and Greek simply means “one who has immense authority and one to whom great respect is due.” It is frequently applied to deity in both languages.

When we speak of Jesus as Lord, we echo his position of great authority and the immense honor due to him.  The N.T. speaks of his great authority over and over.

God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come.  And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. (Eph.1:20-23)

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. (Matt. 28:18)

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Phil.2:9-11)

As those who are in Christ by faith, we have the immense honor of not only serving the King of Kings and Lords of Lords but of knowing him as a friend and brother. It’s not always easy keeping the balance between friendship and kingship, between reverent awe and familiarity. And yet we have the privilege of doing just that with the one who made Isaiah tremble. It is possible, not because Jesus has been brought down, but because we have been raised up with Him and “seated with Him in the heavenly places (Eph. 2:6).

Three things we should remember today:

1. Jesus is Lord and as such should have our immediate and complete obedience in all things as well as our greatest respect. He isa to be honored above all.

2. Jesus has all authority in heaven and earth and he exercises that power and authority on your behalf. When you enter into seasons of turmoil and chaos in your life, remember Isaiah’s vision of Christ on the throne and remember that although he is the Lord who sits in unspeakable glory, he also knows you by name and watches over you as a friend, a brother, and as the Good Shepherd.

3. You are seated with Christ in heavenly places and you represent the King of Glory with immense authority that has been delegated to you by the King. As his representative (ambassadors) on the earth you are to re-present Jesus and do what he would do in every circumstance of life. Your words carry weight, your prayers carry weight, and your actions carry weight when you are faithfully serving Him. Because you serve a king with great significance you are a person of great significance.

Spend some time today imagining Jesus in all his glory and seeing yourself in that same throne room, sitting at his right hand, as his ambassador and close friend. You are eagerly waiting for your next diplomatic mission. How are you dressed? How do you feel? How do you sit?  How do you walk? How do you speak?  Carry that with you today because that is  who you truly are in Christ – King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

I have heard it said that “Jesus is imprisoned within many believers and desperately wants out. “ It’s not that he wants to separate himself from any of us.  It’s just that Jesus decided to take up residence within us by his Spirit so that he could continue to have a physical presence on the earth through us.

Paul put it this way, “ I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live but Christ lives in me” (Gal.2:20).  The implication of that statement is that Paul lived constantly by the leading of the Spirit so that in any given moment he would do what Jesus would have done and say what Jesus would have said.  In that way,  Christ was incarnated once again in Paul.

We all remember the WWJD bracelets that were popular a few years ago.  The idea seemed to be that when confronted with an issue, a challenge, or a dilemma, we should ask, “What would Jesus do if he were in my shoes?”  It’s a great question, but I think most of us want to consult with Jesus or meditate on his life when we get to a fork in the road and we are uncertain of our path, when crisis rolls in and we are uncertain how to pray, or when temptation is pulling at us and we are thinking about giving in.

But Paul’s statement seems to encompass every moment of every day rather than moments of crisis or indecision.  Have you ever wondered…

• What would Jesus do if he were just wandering around Wal-Mart?
• What would he do in the midst of screaming parents at a little league game?
• What would he do when no one was looking?
• What would he do in the face of tragedy as he sat with a family who just got a diagnosis of stage-four cancer in the mother of two small children?
• What would he do with the homeless man on the corner hustling money?
• What would he do with a thirteen year old girl who just came home and announced she was pregnant or gay?
• What would Jesus do at the scene of an accident where a six year old boy who was hit by a car just died on the side of the road?
• What would he do as he sat at board meeting for a Fortune 500 business?
• What would he do while he was on the job checking people out at an all night convenience store?

My point is that Jesus wants to live through us in every circumstance of life – not just when we are stuck or in a moral dilemma.  To let Jesus out, we need to sense through his Spirit what he would do or say in any of those settings. What would he talk about with the people paying for gas at midnight?  Would he immediately pray for supernatural healing for the cancer victim or pray for life to reenter the six year old body of an accident victim? Would he take the homeless man for a meal and talk about his life?   If he would, then we should.

If we are to let Jesus out of his prison, we must do whatever he would do. Sometimes I believe he would just tell someone that God loves them.  Sometimes he would just carry a heavy grocery bag for an arthritic grandmother. Sometimes he would get the in the face of a religious tyrant and at other times he would heal the sick, cast out demons, raise the dead, and talk to someone about the kingdom of God – even at Starbucks.   He might even mow his neighbor’s yard just for fun.

So…just for fun, let’s all be Jesus today in every setting in which we find ourselves.  Let’s ask the Spirit to prompt us to absolutely be Jesus not only in the extraordinary moments of our day but also in the most ordinary moments of our day as well. For today, let’s let Jesus out and then do it again tomorrow.

If I had written the script, I probably would have painted Christ’s greatest opposition as unreligious pagans who would have accused him of being narrow, bigoted, and judgmental as he preached God’s truth in an uncompromising way.  And yet, his greatest opposition and the primary force pushing for his execution were the religious leaders of his day. Was it just ignorance or a misunderstanding of scripture that created the opposition or was there something else behind the hatred they felt for this young Rabbi?

In John 8, Jesus had presented a stinging indictment of many of the religious leaders of the Jews.  He said to them, “I know you are Abraham’s descendants. Yet you are ready to kill me because you have no room for my word…If God were your Father you would love me…You belong to your father the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire.”

The healing of the man who was born blind (John 9) may give us some additional insight into this violent opposition.  In this section, Jesus comes upon a man who was blind from birth.  Jesus spit on the ground, made an ointment of mud, rubbed it on the man’s eyes, and told him to go wash in the pool of Siloam. When the man obeyed, his sight was restored.

Apparently, everyone in the neighborhood new this man and so the news of such a miracle traveled at the speed of gossip (a little faster than the speed of light). Soon the Pharisees were investigating the matter. Their first response to the miracle was that Jesus could not be from God because he had healed on the Sabbath.

The first indicator of “religion” (and I think a spirit of religion) rather than relationship is that events are judged first by their form rather than by their fruit. Jesus had not acted in accordance with their rules and their expectations of how God works so that the fruit became irrelevant.  Never mind that their forms had never healed a rash much less the eyes of the blind.

Secondly, they denied the miracle. They assumed it was a scam and that this man had never actually been blind. Religion always establishes parameters within which God is permitted to function.  Anything that occurs outside of those parameters cannot be authentic or from God.

The next indicator was pressure for everyone to conform to the rules.  Even though an undeniable miracle had occurred, the Pharisees continued in their attempts to discredit the claims. When undeniable evidence was produced that this man, who now had sight, was born blind, they focused their attention on discrediting Jesus – the one who had performed the miracle in the name of the God of Israel.  I love their logic.  If a man does not conform to our rules then he can’t be of God. If he performs an undeniable miracle that could only come from God then it didn’t come from God because he didn’t conform to our rules and our rules don’t produce miracles. Therefore, he must be a sinner. Not only that, but we’re not so sure about the one who received the healing either.

The fourth characteristic is control.  The parents of the man who was healed would not give a positive testimony for Jesus for fear of being put out of the synagogue.  Clearly, they understood that disagreement with the leaders about how God operates would mean excommunication.

A last ditch effort by the Pharisees in response to other undeniable miracles that operated outside their rules or parameters was to simply claim that a miracle had occurred but that Satan had suddenly gone into the healing business. Many religious folk will paly the “deception card” when confronted with something outside their theological comfort zone.

The response of religion, which is defined here as an organization that operates on the basis of form and ritual rather than relationship with God, was to immediately deny the work of God because it didn’t fit their well crafted definitions nor was it subject to their control.  It is not that we should accept a claim that anything and everything done in the name of Jesus is approved by God but neither should we reject out of hand an event or an interpretation of scripture that we have not seen before or heard taught before.  It’s great to refer to precedents established by scripture but every precedent began with a “first time.”

With that reasoning we could dismiss out of hand Moses’ experience with a burning bush.  God never did it that way before.  Ten plagues on Egypt must have been from the devil or meteorological anomalies because God never did it that way before. Don’t pass through that opening in the Red Sea – it can’t be of God. Whoops! No precedent for true prophets walking on water or feeding thousands with a few loaves and fish.

Rather than asking if there is a strict biblical precedent for every way in which God is moving today, we need to look at the fruit of certain ministries.  Do they produce righteousness?  Are they consistent with the Spirit of Christ and the redemptive heart of God? Do they draw people to Jesus? I think biblical precedent is important and should be looked at but should it be the final word?  If it is, then God will do no new things in the earth today even though Jesus said we would do even greater things than he had done. Certainly we are to test the spirits and prophecies, but the question becomes the criteria for testing.

We should be careful of using the same criteria as the Pharisees who had no room for the words of Jesus and whose father was the devil.  Paul warned of those who had a form of godliness but who denied the power of godliness.  Too many believers today fear and distrust any display of power in the kingdom…healing, deliverance, or miracles of any kind. John warned us that the spirit of anti-Christ had gone out into the word – not the spirit of anti-Jesus but anti-Christ.  Christ refers to the anointed one of God.  It makes you wonder if that spirit works against God’s anointing for his people because without it there is no power in the church.

It’s easy to think of “all those churches” out there that are just religious but the bigger issue is to look at our own hearts to make sure that a spirit of religion doesn’t settle there.  Even those of us who believe in the power of God and the move of the Holy Spirit quickly judge others who do it differently or have experiences beyond our own.  Let’s judge righteously but not rush to judgment.  What is the fruit? Is it bringing people to Christ?  Is it done with love? Does it promote righteousness? Are we wanting to control what God does at some level?  These are questions I must ask myself from time to time.  Maybe they would be helpful for you as well.

Blessings.