For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline. (2 Tim.1:6-7)

Timothy was a young man who, like many of us, tended to discount his gifts, his ability and his influence.  By nature he apparently was loving and gentle and was much more comfortable standing in the shadows than being center stage.  You can imagine traveling with Paul who was bold to a fault and didn’t mind picking a fight with anyone (even Peter) when a principle of faith was on the line. I’m guessing that Timothy’s temperament was so opposite from Paul’s that Paul’s faith, boldness, miracles, and even his academics fueled a great sense of inadequacy in Timothy.

Most of us have felt that inadequacy when we have been around men and women who are world-shakers with “over-the-top” spiritual gifts. As much as possible, I pursue a greater understanding of the Holy Spirit and a greater anointing by going to conferences that are being led some of God’s “generals” in the faith.  It’s a dangerous pursuit because although I may receive the fresh word or revelation I was looking for and although I jumped in line for every impartation, I often go home feeling so spiritually inadequate that I want to check in my Bible and turn every ministry responsibility over to anyone that will take it. After a day or two of hearing their teaching, their insights, their testimonies, and then watching them minister in their gifts, I often crawl back home feeling like a totally inadequate servant of God.

That’s why Paul tells us never to compare ourselves to others because we will end up thinking too much or too little of ourselves. By the grace of God I usually recover in a few days and get on with being who God made me to be for the moment with a vision for more.  But, I can absolutely identify with Timothy.  Paul had to encourage him at times to speak with authority, to stir up the spiritual gifts that had been deposited in him, to step up in his leadership roles, and, at times, to not give into fear.

An amplified translation of the verse above might read, “Timothy, quit standing in the shadows. Quit holding back. Get busy exercising and developing the spiritual gift that was imparted to you through my hands. Step up and use it because God has not given you a spirit of fear or cowardice but of power – the same power that created the universe and that raised Jesus from the dead.  He has also given you a spirit of love and any spiritual gift exercised out of love for God’s people is powerful and life changing. And remember, He has also given you a spirit of sound thinking and self-discipline so don’t let your emotions rule you – especially doubt and fear.”

In Timothy’s case, his fear may not have been the fear of man and much as the fear of inadequacy. I think that form of fear restrains most of us and keeps us from becoming world-shakers ourselves.  We forget that spiritual gifts, like muscles and skills, must be developed and to be developed they have to be exercised.  Too many of us sit back and pray that God will give us a fully developed gift of healing, prophecy, leadership, teaching, worship, etc. and as soon as we feel that anointing settle on us we’ll get out there and start using that gift to change the world. God usually doesn’t operate in that way. To do so would be like giving a nine-year old the keys to a 650 horsepower Shelby Cobra and telling them to take it for a spin whenever he feels like it. Not a good idea.

If you have the Spirit of God in you, then you should have dreams of doing great things in the Kingdom of God because that greatness is in your spiritual DNA. If you have the dream, there is a good chance the Spirit is revealing your potential future and that the gifts are already in you for that destiny.  But they must be exercised, coated with love, and used with wisdom to produce their greatest fruit.

So, let me encourage you.  Stop standing in the shadows being held back by the fear of inadequacy because it is God who makes us adequate.  Let your sound mind rule your emotions and step out.  Fan into flame the gifts that are in you. Start exercising them today.  Don’t worry about making mistakes. You’re growing.  You’re practicing.  It’s always good to go to conferences, read another book, or ask for another impartation.  It’s always good to go after “more,” but God won’t give us more if we are not using what we already have.  And remember, the power that spoke worlds into existence and raised Jesus from the dead is literally resting in you waiting to be activated for those who will not give into fear.

Sooner or later, we all “blow it” in our Christian walk.  Sometimes we are the only ones who know (other than God) and sometimes everyone has seen or heard about our failure. I have spoken often in the blog about keeping our hearts aligned with God as a key to keeping Satan at bay and for accessing the blessings and the power of heaven.  Staying in alignment with the Father is just as much about our response when we do sin, as it is when we avoid sin.

There are two individuals in the O.T. that model the best and worse response to the inevitability of sin while we walk in the flesh.  One was Saul, the first King of Israel and the second was David.  If you look at their spiritual failures David’s would seem to outweigh Saul’s failings by far but God had a different view.

Saul had a good start.  He, like David, was called from obscurity to be king.  He initially displayed faith and a humble heart.  But when the chips were down he failed in a way that might seem to us to be of little consequence.  In   1 Samuel 10, Samuel the prophet instructs Saul to go to Gilgal and wait seven days before proceeding with his plans to march against the Philistines. Samuel’s plan was to meet Saul in Gilgal, pray on his behalf, and offer sacrifices to God for Saul’s victory. Samuel was not only a prophet but also a priest as well from the tribe of Levi so his presence for the sacrifice was essential. However, in Chapter 13 we find that Saul had gathered an army, gone to Gilgal, and waited seven days for Samuels’ arrival. But as Saul and his men waited, the courage of many failed and they began to slip away from the ranks.  Saul, rather than waiting on Samuel as the Lord had commanded, took it upon himself to offer the sacrifice to keep more of his men from leaving. Of course, just as the smoke from the final sacrifice feathered out into the air, Samuel arrived.

The text says: “What have you done?” asked Samuel. Saul replied, “When I saw that the men were scattering, and that you did not come at the set time, and that the Philistines were assembling at Micmash, I thought, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the Lord’s favor.’ So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering.” “You acted foolishly,” Samuel said. “You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. But now your kingdom will not endure.” (1 Sam.13:11-14).

Saul had received a clear word from the Lord through the prophet and clearly knew that sacrifices were to be offered by priests only.  But out of fear and ambition for success, he had ignored the command and the law. But notice Saul’s response to Samuel’s rebuke. He excused his decision and blamed others for his sin.  He rationalized what he had done as being necessary under the circumstances – “the men were scattering.”  He then deflected the blame to Samuel – “you did not come at the set time.” He then argues that he couldn’t help himself in that situation – “I felt compelled.” Finally he imputes a godly motive to his actions – seeking the Lord’s favor.

In essence, Saul had disobeyed God’s clear command out of fear and ambition but argued that he really hadn’t sinned because circumstances did not permit him to be obedient.  God’s command just wasn’t working for him and if Samuel had gotten there on time (which he actually did) none of that would have happened. Saul rationalized, minimized, and excused his sin.  The result was the loss of his kingdom because he did not honor God.

David was also called from obscurity. God gave him numerous victories in battle, removed Saul from the throne, and established a solid kingdom for David. Yet in a moment of weakness he committed adultery, tried to cover his sin through deception, ordered the murder of Bathsheba’s husband, and then took the grieving widow as his wife.  In my estimation, David’s spiritual failure seems a little more substantial than Saul’s.  Yet David’s kingdom was not taken away while Saul’s was.   Why?  I think the answer lies in David’s response to his sin.

Without question, David had to be confronted by Nathan the prophet before confessing anything.  But when he was confronted, his response was, “I have sinned against the Lord!” In Psalm 51, David reveals his heart regarding his sin.  If you will scan that Psalm you will see that David makes no excuses, blames no one else, and refuses to rationalize or minimize what he has done. Instead he owns his failure, calls it sin, declares that God’s standards are just and right and then leans on the unfailing love and mercy of God for forgiveness. At the same time he asks God to transform his heart so that he would not sin again.

Too often, we are convinced by the enemy that God only accepts us if we have it all together so when we fail we excuse it, deny it, minimize it, justify it or find someone else to blame.  That is not what God desires.  God desires a heart that honors God’s standards rather than claiming that they are unfair or unrealistic. He wants a heart that wants to live up to his righteous standards rather than giving up on them because “they don’t work for us” or don’t get us what we want.

Alignment with God’s heart is having a heart that believes that God’s ways are true and right and that believes Christ’s blood is sufficient for all of our failings.  To believe that God exists is not enough for a victorious life. We must also believe that he is full of grace, love and mercy for us…not just the first time we sin but every time we sin if we will honor him and be honest in his presence.  We need to give our sins and failures to Jesus every day but cannot give away what we don’t own. We don’t own it if we don’t take personal responsibility for it. God is not keeping score of our failures but is looking for a heart that trusts his word and his love.

Satan wants us to believe that the last time we sinned was the last time God’s grace, forgiveness, and love was available. When we believe that lie, we have aligned our hearts with Satan rather than with God. Our Heavenly Father wants us to believe that his mercies are new every morning and that if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 Jn.1:9). In many respects, David’s sin was much greater than Saul’s.  But the heart was the issue. David humbled himself daily so that God could lift him up.  Saul, in his effort to justify his failings, attempted to convince God that his standards were out of touch with Saul’s realities.  Once you open that door, Satan will have a field day. You will take of the tree and eat every day, justify it in your own mind, and then blame God when life is not working out.

David was called “a man after God’s own heart” not because his heart was always perfect, but because he desperately wanted his heart to be like the Father’s. Even when he failed, his goal was to have a more righteous heart shaped by God’s Holy Spirit rather than to convince God that his sins weren’t so bad or that he had no choice in the matter.

The way to experience the blessings and power of God in our lives is not just to live a righteous life, but to make a righteous response in the face of even great failings. Trust God to love and forgive no matter what.  Demonstrate that trust with a honest response to God that always honors his character and his standards.

I meet with a small group of men on Thursday mornings each week who have a great desire to see lives changed and people set free and healed by the power of the Holy Spirit. On occasion, we discuss the reality that as we pray, some people are healed and some are not. The question of “Why?” always surfaces in those conversations. Is it them or is it us or is it something else?  Of course we recognize that faith has a great part in healing prayer…sometimes it is the faith of those for whom we pray and sometimes it is our own faith as we pray.

A look at the gospels gives no hard and fast formula for prayers that heal and prayers that don’t. We know that Jesus could not heal many in Nazareth because there was such little faith in the people for healing. “Jesus said to them, “Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honor.”  He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. And he was amazed at their lack of faith” (Lk.6:4-6).

And yet, at other times he healed those who had very little idea, if any, of who he was. The lame man at the pool of Bethesda seemed to have no idea about the healing that was coming his way and yet he stood and walked after being an invalid for 38 years (Jn.5).  The man born blind, who was given sight in John 9, seems also to have had very little information about the man called Jesus. At times, Jesus responded to faith with a miracle and at other times he imparted faith through a miracle.

As we pray for people to be healed we notice that some who are healed have little understanding of healing and a minimal relationship with Jesus while other spiritually mature individuals who love Jesus and believe his power to heal are not healed. There is still a great deal of mystery regarding healing and those who pray for it must be willing to live with that mystery.

But there is another element that seems to affect our prayers for healing as well.  That is the element of compassion for the one who is receiving prayer.  Both the Old and New Testament reveal God as a God of compassion (mercy, pity).  If you chase the word “compassion” through a concordance, the O.T. references to it as a quality of God far outweigh the references to compassion as a quality of men.  It’s almost as if that quality is such a godly quality that it is rare to find among men.

As you track the references about compassion into the New Testament, we often find it attached to Jesus.

Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. (Mt.9:35-36)

When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick. (Mt.14:14).

Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way.” (Mt.15:32)

Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him. (Mt.20:34)

Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean.” (Mk.1:41).

There are more references, but you get the point.  God – whether Father, Son or Spirit – is often moved to act on behalf of men by the quality of compassion. The word is also translated as mercy, pity, his heart went out to someone, etc.  Suffering is not an academic subject for God.  His heart truly is truly when he sees the suffering of his people. On numerous occasions those who were suffering asked for mercy or pity from Jesus for healing and deliverance and he healed and delivered.

What about our prayers for suffering people who need healing, deliverance, salvation, provision, and so forth?  How often do we actually pray out of duty or approach people as it they were a spiritual project? Sometimes, in one group I’m part of, we each pray to receive a word of knowledge from God about someone he wants to heal and when we get a leading we go into the community to find the person God has directed us to and we pray for their healing – usually at places like Lowes or Wal-Mart or Starbucks (my preferred word of knowledge).  But, if I’m honest, at times I am more concerned about seeing the healing than I am the actual suffering of the person.

I have talked a lot in this blog about power flowing through us as we align ourselves with God. I am convinced that before we pray, we need to spend a minute or two aligning our hearts with the heart of God for that person.  We need to ask the Spirit to give us the compassion of Christ for the individual for whom we are about to pray.  Since compassion is clearly a godly quality, and God is clearly moved by compassion, then it stands to reason that our genuine compassion for another, like faith, will also stir the heart of the Father.

Many of us who pray for a lot of people, including strangers, can pray simply as an expression of obedience or for the Father’s approval or to grow in our willingness to take risks. None of those motives are bad in themselves but the far greater motive is love and out of love flows compassion. I’m certain that matching the Father’s heart is a great key to seeing heaven move in response to our prayers or our commands. In the midst of Paul’s discussion of spiritual gifts, including healings and miracles, he drops in a whole chapter about motivations for exercising those gifts.  Of course, the motivation he called for was love (1 Cor.13).  Before I pray, I need to check my heart to discern my motivation for praying.  If it is not love or compassion for the scared or hurting person standing before me, I’m sure I need to realign my heart with the Father’s.

My prayer for today is, “Father give me the eyes of Jesus to see people as you see them and the heart of Jesus to feel what you feel for them. Match my heart to yours and then give me the wisdom of heaven to know how to pray for the people you love so desperately.”

To believe God’s promises we must believe that he is good and good all the time. We must believe that he is merciful and grace-filled as well as faithful.  Anything less puts us on doubtful ground.  If God is not good then we cannot expect him to fulfill his promises or at best to be arbitrary in doing so. If he does not operate out of grace and mercy then we are left to earn his favor or obligate him to give us what we are asking for.  As soon as we step on that ground we are back to earning our own salvation by meritorious works which we know flies in the face of the gospel.

To have faith in God’s response to our needs and our prayers we must have confidence that he loves us, that he is always faithful to his promises, that he is consistent in answering our prayers, and that he is willing and ready to bless, heal, save, provide for and protect his children every day as any good father is ready to do.

So why is it hard to believe? Often, it is simply that His kind of heart and trustworthiness is simply outside the realm of our personal experience with relationships in this world.  It takes a while to begin to understand that our heavenly Father is not like our earthly father and friends

I think part of our struggle to believe is found in a misunderstanding of God as he is portrayed in the Old Testament.  Let’s face it, in the O.T. God often seems rigid, harsh, and punishing. We see entire tribes being destroyed at his command and seemingly well-meaning folks touching the Ark of the Covenant or making a mistake in rituals and dying for their trouble.  We often feel like the Hebrews who cried out to Moses that they didn’t want any part of the presence of God … he was too terrifying for them.

And yet, scripture tells us that both the Father and the Son and, by implication, the Holy Spirit are unchanging – the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.  So how do we understand this God of the O.T. in light of the words of Jesus who clearly said, “If you have seen me you have seen the Father.”  If you want to know what God is like, look at Jesus.

We can’t look at every event in the Old Testament to see if we can view Jehovah through different eyes but maybe looking at some broad strokes of the brush can help us develop a different perspective on the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

First of all, lets hear God speak about some of those things.

Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, O house of Israel?’(Ezek.33:11)

You have been concerned about this vine though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight.  But Nineveh has more that a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left and many cattle as well.  Should I not be concerned about that great city? (Jonah 4:10-11)

Even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.” Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity. (Joel 2:12-13)

These verses reveal that the Lord’s heart was never glad to send destruction or judgment on a nation, even the enemies of Israel. The grace of God established restraints against sin from the very beginning, because without restraints sin itself would destroy the world. The restraints were judgments that would come in the face of persistent, rebellious, unrepented sin. God spelled out to Israel the consequences of rebellion and the blessings of obedience before Israel entered into a covenant with him. They were very clear about what their decisions would produce.

Without restraints (judgment, disasters, etc.) the fallen nature of man would destroy everything so we must see the judgments of God as not only a response of holiness but also of love and mercy.  How often did God send prophets to warn these nations and call them to repentance before judgment was released? At some point, even though is was not his desire, God was forced by the rebellious spirit of man to release the consequences and the judgments that he had held back until he was forced to honor the choices of men and nations.

Secondly, God had to protect the bloodline of the Messiah for the sake of the entire world. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son…” But to give his Son, the nation of Israel and the bloodline of Judah had to survive in the face of nations who were committed to wiping out all of Israel. Those nations are still bent on doing so.   The voice of Islam and especially nations such as Iran (ancient Persia) and organizations such as the PLO are still sworn to carry out the absolute destruction of Israel.

Before the cross, there was no remedy for the depraved heart set on destroying the bloodline that would deliver the “Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” Those nations were under the dominion of Satan and there was as yet no payment for sin and no Holy Spirit to grant men a new heart.   For the sake of the world, then, some nations or cities had to be totally destroyed so that they could not be Satan’s weapons to extinguish the salvation of all men.

I believe the Flood that destroyed all but eight souls on Noah’s ark was the same expression of mercy for the thousands of generations to come. Genesis tells us that before the flood, every imagination of men had become wicked all the time. Noah preached repentance for 120 years without one response and, before wicked men either corrupted Noah and his family or murdered him and with him the bloodline of Messiah, judgment had to finally be released.

The coming of Messiah, the sacrifice for the sins of the world, and the coming of the Holy Spirit has given the Father more options for restraining sin in the world.  The bloodline no longer has to be protected at all costs; the gospel of God’s love and the Holy Spirit can enable men and nations to be born again; and the church has been given a clear mandate and power to make disciples of all nations.

This God is the same God yesterday, today and forever and he is good – all the time.  His heart is always to bless, to heal, to protect, and to provide.  He is long suffering and full of grace.  He is still holy and there are still limits that must trigger the restraints to sin God established long ago. But know that if you have seen Jesus you have seen the Father.  Pray with confidence. Pray with expectation. Destroy the works of the devil in the name of Jesus.  Don’t doubt it.  Your God is ready and willing to deliver, heal and set free.  He has always been willing.

If you were to categorize religious history in the United States in the 20^th-21^st century, you might divide churches into two categories:  Word and Spirit.  The “word” churches would be those who were committed to basing everything they did on careful biblical exegesis. They would emphasize Bible study as a primary duty of every believer and would bring an academic approach to their study with strict guidelines for interpretation. Every experience would be lined up against scripture and if that experience was not seen on the pages of the Bible in the correct dispensation, it would likely be discarded as unbiblical which means it was not of God.

Then there would be the “Spirit” churches that emphasize experiences with the Holy Spirit above strict interpretations of scripture. As  “word” churches seek after an increase in biblical knowledge, “Spirit” churches tend to seek after more experiences with God. “Word” churches emphasize truth, while “Spirit” churches emphasize power. Neither camp trusts one another to a great degree.  “Word” churches see “Spirit” churches as poor students of the Bible who are subject to emotionalism and subjective experiences (deception) that often do not line up with what they see in scripture. “Spirit” churches tend to view the “word” camp as being tied to intellectualism and a powerless faith because they are not Spirit-filled.

So who has it right?  Which of these approaches is correct?  I think they are both flying airplanes with one wing or at least one wing much shorter than the other which is usually not a good idea. I believe that committed believers should be seeking to know God’s word intimately while at the same time seeking Spirit driven experiences with him.  I believe we should go after both truth and the power of God with all of our hearts.

Experiences must be measured against biblical truth.  Does the experience violate any biblical principles, the character of God, or any clear commands?  If it does, jettison it.  But truth without experience is a two-dimensional walk with God rather than a three-dimensional walk.  Experiences inform us of a fresh and relevant way to understand scripture and make us aware of how God is manifesting himself in this season of history.

Experience without a template of solid biblical truth is like playing in an NFL football game with no rules, no game plan, and no sidelines.  The outcome is probably painful chaos. But biblical truth without experiencing a supernatural God is like filling blackboards with X’s and O’s while never going out on the field to see if your game plan actually works.  It’s like running the ball without the added dimension of passing. To win you have to know the rules, have a plan, use all your options, and play the game. The rules give you structure while playing the game will give you a new understanding of how and when the rules actually apply and a modified game plan for the second half.

Scripture emphasizes both. As you read the gospels you recognize how often Jesus quotes the Torah and uses the words, “It is written.”  He was totally committed to the idea that the written word of God was essential and eternal. But, he also knew that while  the Father would never contradict his word, he would often contradict man’s understanding of his word.  How often did experience give believers the capacity to understand the actual meaning of those written passages?

For instance, Joel 2:28-29 was, for the most part, indiscernible to Torah scholars until Pentecost.  It was the supernatural experiences of Pentecost that gave meaning and understanding to Joel’s prophecy – the written word. The experience informed the meaning of the scriptures in a new but very biblical way.  When Philip encountered the Ethiopian treasurer in Acts 8, the man was pouring over Messianic passages in Isaiah but could not understand the meaning.  It was only after men had experienced the death, the burial, and the resurrection of the Christ that those passages took on meaning. In the shadow of those experiences, Philip could fully explain the passages.

Jesus taught about healing, faith, and deliverance over and over as he preached the gospel of the kingdom while his disciples listened and watched. But when he sent them out alone to do the same, they returned with a much deeper understanding of the teachings they had received. Even with the Spirit of God in him, Peter never understood the biblical texts that spoke of all nations coming to God. Only after he experienced God through a vision of unclean animals being set before him and only after he experienced a “new thing” not “seen” in scripture before – Gentiles speaking in tongues (Acts 10) – did he understood that those passages referred to the Gentiles and that God was accepting all men in Christ.

Charismatic believers need the written word to establish parameters around experiences but evangelical believers need supernatural experiences to truly understand the passages regarding the ministry and power of the Holy Spirit. Surely if we can trust the Spirit to lead us into all truth, we should not only understand that truth as proper biblical interpretation but also as true experiences with God that give us deeper and more accurate understanding of the scriptures.

Paul, at one time will warn us not to go beyond that which is written (1Cor.4:6) while at another time will warn of those who have a form of godliness but deny the power of that godliness (2Tim. 3:5).  He will applaud the Bereans who searched the scriptures daily to test Paul’s teachings (Acts 17:11) while also commanding us to eagerly desire supernatural spiritual gifts – especially prophecy (1Cor.14:1) and not to forbid speaking in tongues (1Cor.14:39).  Word and Spirit seem to be bound together as a necessary duo for fully understanding God’s will and God’s ways.

Serious study along with a pursuit of supernatural experiences with God seem to be the two-winged biblical pattern for truly knowing God as we trust the Spirit to lead us in both arenas. Study without experiencing God risks becoming Pharisees who only thought they understood the scriptures.  Spirit without the Word creates energy without form and direction which produces either nothing of value  or an unpredictable explosion.  I encourage you to go after both Word and Spirit relentlessly.  You will never truly know one without the other.

When I was young in the faith, I viewed spiritual error as drifting from the correct side of the road to the other side.  As I have grown older in the faith, I have realized that a ditch exists on both sides of the road.  Satan can damage the body of Christ and individuals in his body with either ditch.  God’s truth is in the center of the road and wandering too far left or right can put us into mud and weeds up to our bumpers.

I think one of the most subversive and diabolical strategies against the church today is the “tolerance card.”   The world rails against biblical values and biblical stances  and always polishes off its arguments with the accusation against the church of “intolerance. ”  Whoever is representing the world then smugly quotes Jesus when he said, “Judge not, lest ye be judged (Mt.7:1).

As the 21^st century presses on, fewer and fewer things are considered wrong. By today’s standards, God should have issued only two or three commandments on Sinai instead of the “pesky ten”.  Today, very few people are held responsible for their failures, shortcomings, crimes, or moral choices.  Science is being “used” as the ultimate authority to declare that hardly anyone is capable of restraint because of hormones, genetics, or brain chemistry.  Since no one can “help themselves” or because they were “born that way,” these poor people should not be held responsible for their actions.   Of course, Christians are exempt from that free pass.  They are mean, intolerant and bigoted by choice, not because they were born that way.

The greater problem is that Satan has sown that type of thinking in the church so that sincere Christians have begun to question biblical standards or, at least, their understanding of biblical standards.  Many followers of Jesus now wonder if we are being unloving and intolerant when we stand on the word of God. Too many of us give “science” more authority than the Word and begin to reason that if choices and behaviors are determined by genetics and brain chemistry, then surely God would not hold these individuals responsible and, therefore, neither should the church.  The “Christian thing to do” then becomes watering down God’s word so that it rarely means what it says or understanding morality differently now that we have been enlightened by culture and science.

In that climate, sin starts to sound old fashion and begins to be dropped from our vocabulary.  The cultural norms begin to define what is acceptable in the church and in our lives and anything that pushes back against cultural norms is unloving, intolerant, and bigoted.  Holiness loses all meaning and the church opens the door for the enemy to come in and camp out.  No wonder the church manifests no power. The next step becomes questioning biblical inspiration, biblical interpretation, and whether Jesus is really the only way to heaven. After all, that seems so intolerant and unloving.  But “unloving” is letting someone speed toward a ditch that is five hundred feet deep and certain death because we didn’t want to judge their driving practices.

The other ditch, however, can be just as devastating.  That ditch is a rigid legalism or dogmatism  in the church that divides the body of Christ over all kinds of issues that Paul says are “disputable matters.” He uses that language in Romans 14 about dietary laws, holy days, eating foods sacrificed to idols, and circumcision. Amazingly, he said the only absolute on those issues was that we could not insist that other believers understood those issues in the same way that we did.  He instructed us not to be dogmatic about those issues or demand our way since either might cause another brother to stumble.

I have always been amazed at the outcomes of the Jerusalem Conference in Act 15 regarding Gentile believers.  There was such a huge gulf between Jewish lifestyles and Gentile that I would have expected a long list of demands for changes in the life and ways of these former pagans. Yet, at the end, these new believers were asked only to change a few dietary laws, avoid sexual immorality, and to remember the poor.

We are not saying that they were not being called to biblical standards of holiness. It’s just that sometimes we believe we must all understand all of God’s word just alike or we can’t fellowship one another. If you want to know what the “big rocks” are, a quick study in “causes for withdrawal of fellowship” in the N.T. is enlightening.  I can tell you, no one got excommunicated for new expressions of worship, translations of the Bible, forms of church government, or the color of the carpet in the sanctuary.

In the New Testament, only a few things justify withholding fellowship from another believer. The first is teaching false doctrines about Christ – his deity, his Messiahship, his incarnation, his death and resurrection, and his return (2 Jn.7-11). Another is teaching that salvation is based on works rather than grace (Gal.1:8). The third is open and unrepentant immorality (1 Cor. 5:1-5). Another is causing division and disunity in the church (Rom.16:17) and, finally, we are told to have nothing to do with brothers in the Lord who refuse to work. (2 Thess.3:6).

I have served in fellowships where lines of fellowship were drawn about all kinds of things that seem to be disputable matters. Godly, biblically knowledgeable people who had every evidence of the Spirit of God living in them didn’t always agree on everything.  They often disagreed on issues related to spiritual gifts, end-times, the ministry of angels and demons, baptism of the Spirit, predestination, social issues, etc.

And yet they agreed on who Christ is and that we are saved by grace.  They worked hard, loved their families, and lived righteous lives. They worked to maintain unity in the body of Christ and yet these individuals were marked as unworthy of fellowship because they held different positions on some disputable matter.  Those who insisted on “doctrinal purity” in all doctrines, then became the ones who were actually causing divisions in the church.

Rigid doctrines about non-essentials or non-salvation issues are another huge ditch the enemy wants  to plunge us into. In today’s culture wars, I believe we will all have to guard our hearts, our lives, and our understanding against both ditches. Are we to love sinners, be tolerant of differences, and be patient while people grow? Yes, of course.  Are we to avoid judging others and being self-righteous?  Yes, of course.

But we are not to change God’s word and biblical standards and call it Christian tolerance and we are not to refrain from applying God’s word to a sinful situation so we can say we are non-judgmental. We “judge” others when we establish our own standards and call them righteous, not when we apply God’s standards.  That is called accountability and a call to repentance for the sake of our souls.

Satan can weaken and destroy believers by steering a church into either ditch.  Truth governed by love is the center-line that gives us authority over the enemy.  Pray for wisdom to always stay in the center of God’s will. Remember, that we are always growing in our understanding of God’s word and being absolutely correct in every point of doctrine is impossible because “we know in part.” But also remember that we do know what biblical standards of living and righteousness are and we have no right to change the standard or morph their meanings into culturally acceptable behaviors. Either creates a huge gap in the wall through which Satan may freely enter our lives or our church.

I live in conservative West Texas.  We don’t have three hundred year old homes here or ghost walks for folks visiting our part of the world. We don’t have famous haunted hotels or paranormal researchers down the street.  But interestingly, our church does get calls requesting house cleansings from demonic spirits on a fairly regular basis.  Since we get these calls I thought I would do one very practical blog on the topic of demons manifesting in homes and the practice “charismatic” Christians refer to as “cleansings.”

I guess the first questions would be whether demons are assigned to locations since we typically see them trying to establish a place within a person or at least attach themselves to a person.  However, we also know that demons spend a great deal of their time simply tempting believers to serve sin in some part of their lives so that they can establish a legal right to “take up residence” with that individual.

In the book of Revelation, Jesus addresses the church of Pergamum and says, “I know where you dwell; where Satan’s throne is.”   There was a huge altar in that city dedicated to Zeus and many commentators assume Jesus is referring to that pagan temple and it’s altar. He may have been referencing that temple but remember demonic spirits are behind idols and false worship.  Where there is great demonic influence there is great demonic presence and in this case it was a city.  Undoubtedly Sodom and Gomorrah had a vast demonic presence.  The area of Rome around the Coliseum where Christians were tortured and killed must have had that feel.  Most of us have been in cities or parts of cities where the atmosphere feels dark and oppressive and where sunlight doesn’t seem as bright even though there are no clouds. Those are the parts of those cities sold out to sin and those physical locations have a strong demonic presence.

If demons are active in cities and have strongholds that could be referred to as thrones, then they can certainly be attached to other physical locations. It’s not uncommon then for people to begin to notice unexplained manifestations around their homes. Many people think of these manifestations as evidence of haunting by ghosts but these are demonic spirits.  These demonic manifestations can be experienced as demons appearing in the house, voices in the night when no one is speaking, doors being slammed or opened, objects levitating off of tables or fireplace mantles, unexplained footsteps in the house, shadows darting across a room, putrid smells, feelings of fear or terror, a sinister presence, unexplained anger and violence, or any number of other manifestations that harass and torment.

Sometimes these demonic spirits were given access to the location through people practicing occult arts in the home, committing suicide there, through violence, abuse, through acts of sexual immorality or the practice of false religions, etc.  When the inhabitants move on, the spirit stays to afflict whoever comes into the home next.  There are other individuals who seem to carry demonic spirits with them or bring them into the home while visiting.  When these individuals leave, demons may stay. We have had that experience in our own home when people from other parts of the world had stayed with us and worshipped their gods in private in the room where they stayed. When they left, we had to deal with manifestations in our own home that ceased after cleansing it. Members of our church have done many cleansings and without exception the manifestations have ceased and the atmosphere of the home has changed drastically.

Let me list a few simple steps in the process. It’s very much like deliverance for an individual.

1. Determine if the people in the house are under the Lordship of Jesus. If not, the demons will return when you leave.
2. Determine if there is any persistent, unrepented sin being practiced by family members – especially in the home and ask them to confess and repent. Otherwise their sins, including unforgiveness, gives the enemy legal access to them and all those in the house.  Children are especially vulnerable.
3. Ask those who have authority over the house and family to verbally declare their allegiance to Jesus Christ and renounce Satan and the works of Satan.
4. Ask those who have authority over the house to dedicate and consecrate the home and everything it to Jesus and place it all under his lordship.
5. Then, in the name and authority of Jesus command any and every unclean spirit to leave the house immediately and never return. We command them to go to the feet of Jesus and receive orders from him.
6. We then simply go through the house anointing doors and windows with oil and quietly but firmly commanding any spirits in that part of the house to leave and never return.
7. As we go, we ask the Holy Spirit to show us anything in the house that might give the enemy a right to be there.  Sometimes he highlights souvenirs from overseas that are actually idols or representations of foreign gods.  Books related to false religions or cults, artifacts from ancient tribes that were prayed over in the name of their gods,  etc. Sometimes they are part of the decor – statues of  budah, etc. ) that look sophisticated but  honor false gods.   These types of objects may give demons access to the house. They can be “dumpsterized” or prayed over.  The dumpster is preferable.
8. We pray for God’s peace to be upon the house and for his angels to keep the enemy away and anything else the Spirit puts on our hearts and we leave.

In essence, we bring everything in the home into alignment with God’s will and declare his Lordship over the house and the property the house rests on. Ultimately, what protects us from Satan is the blood of Christ and the power of his Name that covers us when we are submitted to him.  It is always sufficient for homes or hearts.

The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him. (Psm.34:7)

I want to recommend a book to you that has just been released – God’s Double Agent by Bob Fu. The book is his autobiography.  Bob lives in Midland, Texas and directs a non-profit called China Aid Association. China Aid is dedicated to exposing human rights violations in China and works hard to advance the cause of religious freedom there.

I have served on China Aid’s board of directors with Bob for a number of years.  I have traveled to China on two occasions to meet and pray with house church pastors and human rights attorneys that Bob encourages and defends on the World stage.  I want you to know that Bob and those Chinese Christians like him are the real deal.

Without giving the book away, I will just tell you that Bob grew up impoverished in China.  He did not know God and was a student activist in the years of the Tiananmen Square protest.  He became a follower of Jesus after being disillusioned by the failure of student movements in China and the government crackdown on freedom. Eventually he was imprisoned for his faith and escaped to the United States with his wife Heidi after being released.  Since then he has dedicated himself to promoting human rights and freedom of religion in China. The book is his story.

Bob’s story is the story of many believers in China who have risked everything for the kingdom of God and who have paid the price through imprisonment, confiscation of homes and finances, brutal interrogations, house arrests, kidnapping and threats by government representatives, and so forth.

But as you hear their stories, you also hear of the miracles that God has granted them.  Some have experienced supernatural escapes from prison that echo Peter’s escape in the book of Acts when an angel led him out of a Roman prison in the middle of the night. Many have experienced supernatural healings from wounds inflicted by torture and supernatural protection and provision while on the run. If we could detail the stories of the miraculous they would make their own large volume.  Many of those stories cannot be told now because it would put these men and women of faith in the sights of the communist regime again.

Many American Christians remain skeptical about God’s amazing miracles around the world and ask, “If God still moves in miracles like we see in the N.T., why have I never seen one?”  I’ll offer two possibilities.

First of all, perhaps these believers have never really asked for a miracle.  James says, “You have not because you ask not.”  I’ve heard too many prayers asking God to help the doctors do their best to save a loved one.  Why don’t we ask God to save their loved one without the doctors?  So many times we pray for the ordinary and receive it. Doctors are going to do their best with or without the help of Jesus. So many of us have been trained to not believe in the miraculous that we can’t bring ourselves to ask for it even when we are desperate.

A second reason a believer may have never seen a miracle of the “Acts quality” is that they have never put themselves in a place where the power of God was unquestionably needed.  God shows up when his people step out in faith and risk death, imprisonment, failure, or mockery if God doesn’t manifest his power.

In China, simply to be a member of a “non-sanctioned” church places a believer in constant jeopardy.  Most of our brothers and sisters there are helpless before the State.  God has to show up in miraculous form on many occasions for the church to continue to exist and grow.

But even in America, where torture and imprisonment for believing in Jesus is not yet a reality, believers can still step out in faith and put themselves in situations where if God doesn’t come through there will be at least disappointment or embarrassment.

Believe me, it is risky to step into a hospital room full of unbelievers or Christians who don’t believe in miracles and pray for direct, supernatural healing while binding spirits of infirmity at the same time. It is risky to speak to a stranger at Starbucks and tell them you believe God has a word for them and you have a prayer for them.  It is risky to talk to your hell-raising brother-in-law about Jesus.  It is certainly risky to place your faith on the platform when you are running for political office or to speak out against sin in a culture that covers everything with the whitewash of “tolerance.” I know families who have put every penny into a risky business venture because they believed the Lord was directing them to do so.

The list can go one.  But in those moments you need a miracle and when you choose to step into those moments often enough you begin to see God move in power.  Bob Fu and many Chinese believers step into those moments frequently with a kind of reckless abandon. They see miracles.  I personally know many American Christians who will not settle for the ordinary but lay it all on the line by asking for the extraordinary in the presence of unbelievers. They see miracles all the time as well.

If you want to see God move in your life like he moved in the Bible then put yourself in situations where the natural will not get it done. You will desperately need Jesus and he will be faithful to show up.  After all, nobody loves a good miracle more than Jesus.

We’ve all heard the expression, “It’s better to light one candle than to curse the darkness.”  That is not a quote from the Bible but it reflects biblical truth. James, the brother of Jesus, spent a good bit of his five-chapter epistle warning us about the words we speak.  One small part says the following.

With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. (James 3:9-11)

We have talked about blessing and cursing before along with our authority as believers. To pronounce a blessing is a form of prayer that asks God to direct good toward the individual we have blessed.  A curse, on the other hand, is a form of prayer that asks for someone to direct evil toward an individual. Since God is not in the business of sending evil in response to hateful prayers, someone else in the spiritual realm will be glad to act on that prayer – especially a prayer uttered by one of God’s own children since that prayer gives the enemy authority to go after someone – even a fellow believer.

As a culture, we tend to dismiss words as meaningless but scripture doesn’t dismiss them so easily.  James clearly commands us to bless and not to curse. Proverbs tells us “the tongue has the power of life and death” (Prov.18:21). Jesus warns us that men will have to give account on judgment day for every careless word spoken (Matt. 12:36). And Paul admonishes us to let no unwholesome talk come out of our mouth but only what is good for building up other people (Eph.4:29).

Since our words carry authority as children of God and representatives of the King, they also carry the weight of prophetic messages calling things out that have not yet come to pass.  A prophetic word over a person does not just tell about future events but often activates a seed that God planted in that individual years earlier. A prophetic word about events moves things in the heavenly realms to bring that word to pass in the affairs of men and nations.

The point is that our words are more than random sounds or sentiments. They carry power or spiritual energy to influence things for good or bad. So God calls on us to speak well of those who would curse us, to pray for authorities, to give honor to whom honor is due, and to bless and not curse.

How many times have we spoken negatively about leaders, celebrities, cities, nations, or even preachers we don’t’ agree with?  How many times have we declared their depravity, their upcoming fall from grace, their darkness and their failure? How many times have we called judgment down with our words declaring that God should wash some city away, destroy it with an earthquake, or declare that some nation should be “nuked,” etc.?  But God was concerned even about the people of Nineveh who were Israel’s sworn enemies.

What if we spoke life, blessing, wisdom, revival, righteousness and hope over the people we usually curse? Would our words impart life rather than death, righteousness rather than depravity, peace rather than war, and love rather than hate?

Would politicians begin to serve the nation rather than themselves? Would presidents begin to make wise decisions instead of foolish ones? Would Muslim terrorists begin to see the world through different eyes?  Would failing husbands and fathers begin to succeed and marriages flourish rather than inch closer to divorce?

God wants us to bless and not curse because he desires that none should perish.  Blessing then becomes a powerful, divine weapon that God can use to transform men and nations. Blessing takes fuel and authority away from the enemy and begins to strangle demonic supply lines of hate and bitterness and cursing.

So today, ask the Holy Spirit to make you aware of every word so that none are spoken carelessly. Ask him to make you a spring of fresh water rather than salt water and a fountain of life rather than death.  I will ask him to do the same for me.

One of my favorite movies of all time is the 1981 film, Chariots of Fire.  The movie is based on a true story that revolves around two British athletes competing in the 1924 Olympics and is a great study of spiritual motivations.  One of them, Eric Liddell, was a Scottish runner who had a tremendous faith and was destined to die in the mission field in China some years later.  His sister was also a very committed believer who thought that her brother should give up his “foolishness” of running track and get on with the Lord’s work in the mission field. In the movie, she asked him why he ran and he gave a riveting reply.  He said simply, “God made me fast.  And when I run I feel his pleasure.” Liddell believed that if God gave you a talent then you must use it because with every God-given talent there is a divine purpose.

In that one compact statement Liddell offered a profound theology for spiritual gifts in the Christian life. Paul dedicated three chapters to spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12-14.  He mentions them in other letters as well but in this section he gives us a theological grasp of the “charismata” or gifts and their purpose. Paul tells us that the Holy Spirit gives spiritual gifts (capacities or talents) to each believer and each is given to build up the body of Christ.  These are not given randomly by the Spirit but strategically based on the destiny you have been assigned in Christ.  The Psalmist tells us that God was involved in crafting us from the womb.  There he created our inner being and ordained all of our days before one of them came to pass (Ps.139).  In the New Testament, Paul tells us that we are “God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Eph.2:10).

If we connect those texts, we discover that God has established a destiny for each of us that he calls “good works which he prepared in advance.” He has intentionally crafted you with talents, temperament, and spiritual gifts designed to perfectly match that destiny.  We are each born with a personality or temperament unique to our calling.  We all have talents or abilities in the natural realm that can be used for God’s purposes like Eric Liddell’s ability to run.  Once an individual has accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior, he receives the Holy Spirit and the Spirit then gives that believer a spiritual gift or gifts that completes his equipping so ta the can fulfill his destiny.

God equips you with gifts and ordains opportunities for you through which you can make an impact for the kingdom of God.  These gifts are typically granted in seed form and must be nurtured and developed to accomplish all that God has ordained for you.  Each time you encounter your ordained opportunities, you have the freedom to step into that opportunity or turn it down.  You can bear fruit or remain barren.

We are told that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is at work within each of us. Much of the power will be expressed through our spiritual gifts. The question most often asked at this point is, “How do I know what my spiritual gifts are?”  Eric Liddell gave us two great indicators.  What are you good at and do you feel God’s pleasure as you do it?  Another facet of feeling God’s pleasure is simply being aware of any desires for spiritual gifts that he has deposited in your heart.

Paul tells us that we are to “eagerly desire” spiritual gifts (1 Cor. 14:1).  It stands to reason that the Holy Spirit will create a hunger or desire in your heart for gifts that you have been destined to receive.  As the hunger rises, you will begin to think about that gift.  You will begin to ask God for that gift.   You will begin to read about the gift you desire and search out others who have that gift.  You will ask them to help you understand the gift, develop it, and even how to receive it.  Then you will begin to receive opportunities to use that gift and in doing so you will develop that capacity so that it bears fruit.  Then as you use it, you will experience a profound sense of fulfillment – God’s pleasure.

There are all kinds of spiritual gifts listed in 1 Corinthians 12-14 and Romans 12 and a few other places in the N.T.  There are many spiritual gifts not even listed in scripture.  Some spiritual gifts have been deposited in you and you eventually notice that something has developed in you that is bearing fruit in the kingdom of God. Others will come as you hunger after them and ask God for a specific gift. Some come through impartation and the laying on of hands by someone who already possesses the gift.  As we eagerly desire gifts, God is willing to give.

Spiritual gifts bear fruit in the spiritual realm.  That realm is eternal so the fruit is eternal.  Some gifts are given for one season of your life and other gifts show up during different seasons.  These spiritual gifts are talents that have been entrusted to you for your destiny.  The “parable of the talents” teaches us that if we are faithful to develop and use these gifts in whatever “good work” God sets before us, God will grant us greater gifts and greater opportunities later.

There is power in these gifts. Not just the gifts of healing, miracles, prophecy, etc. but in all the gifts.  Exercise the ones you already have faithfully while you pray and wait for other gifts you also desire. Make sure your motive for the gift is not power or notoriety for you, but rather a desire to be effective in the kingdom of God.

Don’t be afraid to step out as you develop new gifts. Like everything, it takes time and experience to excel in your gifts.  In one form or another, God made us all fast.  And when we run, we will feel his pleasure.