And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?    Romans 8:28-31

I’ve been reading through Romans again and continue to run across so many scriptures that I know have a depth that I can never fully plumb but even small nuggets that I haven’t noticed before enrich me.  One of those sections is the text I quoted above out of Romans 8, which must be in the top five chapters in all of scripture. I just wanted to dig around in it a little more to see what I could find.

One of the most well known and most often quoted scriptures is 8:28 in which we are told that in all things God works together for the good of those who love him. Many times we read that as a scripture promising that God will quickly deliver us from whatever dilemma or ordeal we are facing. However, the word translated as “works” means that God will work together with the circumstances to transform us rather than simply delivering us from the hardship.  God is the God of all comfort who comforts us in all our troubles (2 Cor.1:4).  Without trouble we will never know his comfort.  It is in the midst of hardship and challenges that we discover God and that discovery allows us to become like him.

The core of this text is God’s eternal intention to conform us to the image of Jesus Christ.  His motive for conforming us is love.  According to Merriam-Webster, conform means “to take on the same shape, outline, or contour. It is to make one thing like another; to be similar or identical; to be in harmony with another; or to be in agreement with.”  Ultimately, it is God’s desire to make us just like Jesus and to bring our thoughts, actions, and emotions into perfect alignment with his.  It is not that God wants to clone Jesus but that he wants us to have the same heart and mind as Jesus because in that alikeness is found perfect joy, peace, and love…even in the midst of chaos. It is Jesus sleeping in a boat while the storm rages around him.

Here is what we need to know.  God predestined us to be conformed.  It was his intention to make us like Jesus even before the creation of the world. He is committed to conforming us because he loves us and because he knows that everything we are searching for in life is found in Jesus or found in being like Jesus. The issue we run into is that we resist God’s work in our lives.  But if you read the text, God is committed to the process because he knows our best life and best eternity is at the end of the process.

Back in my teens and college days when I had time and the inclination, my friends and I spent a lot of weekends working on our old cars. We wanted them to look sharper and go faster and so we tinkered with them endlessly adjusting the timing, trying bigger jets in the carburetors, adding dual exhausts, etc. Occasionally, we would try our hand at bodywork.

In those days there was still some metal in car bodies and when there was a dent, you took special tools called body dollies that were pieces of heavy metal with differing shapes that you placed behind the fender or door and then hammered the dent against the dolly to conform to the curve or flat surface behind it. Some parts of the car were fairly pliable while others were very hard and stiff. The pliable pieces were shaped with a minimum of effort, a minimum of pain, and small hammers.  When the metal was stiff and stubborn, we didn’t give up on shaping that piece, we just got a bigger hammer.  God is like that.  If we are flexible and pliable when he puts his hand on us, then our shaping is not so difficult and takes a minimum of time.  However, if we push back, resist, and stiffen when he tries to conform us to the image of Jesus, he won’t give up, he may just get a bigger hammer. It’s our choice.

So why would we resist becoming like Jesus in the first place? Of course, our fallen nature (our natural man) opposes submitting to anything or anyone.  The natural man wants to be in charge and still believes that happiness, significance, peace and security can still be found in the natural realm and clings to that delusion. Satan, of course, is totally opposed to our becoming like Christ because each layer of conformity to Jesus weakens the devil’s hold on us. And so he lies to us and constantly beats the drum declaring that God is holding out on us and keeping the best stuff for himself.  That was his tactic in the Garden of Eden and still is. Satan kills, steals, and destroys and then points the finger at God whom he paints as a God who is out to get us, who takes away the people we love, who is angry and vindictive, or simply detached and uncaring.  Each of those lies becomes a barrier to becoming like Jesus and drawing close to God.

Being conformed to Jesus is being conformed to the Father and the Spirit because they are one.  Jesus said that if we have seen him we have seen the Father.  As we conform to Jesus we align ourselves with the Father more and more and as we align with Him all of heaven becomes available to us as it was to Jesus when he walked the earth. In the gospel of John we are told that in him (Jesus) was life and that life was the light of men (Jn.1:4). People were drawn to Jesus because they saw a quality of life in him that they had seen in no other.  As we become more like Jesus, that quality of life will form in us as well.  It is what Jesus called abundant life.

Ultimately, the wise man or woman embraces being conformed to the image of Jesus.  He or she doesn’t despise difficult circumstances because those are the very tools the Father uses to shape us into being like Jesus.  Paul finishes this little section with the declaration that God is for us!  He has no intention to hurt us but to bless us.  Those blessings have been in his heart since creation and they are deposited as we become more and more conformed.  Cooperating with God in the process seems by far to be the best choice.

In my last blog I talked about the dangers of compromise in our spiritual lives.  I referenced Solomon in that blog but I think he deserves a closer look than we were able to give him then.

By all accounts, Solomon stunned the world as the King of Israel.  His wealth, his wisdom, his knowledge, and his strategies were legendary even in his own day. He was the son of King David and God had promised David that there would always be one of his descendants on the throne of Israel as long as those descendants followed the commands of God. When Solomon was a young king, he experienced a visitation from God who told him he would grant whatever request he offered.  In a moment of brilliance, Solomon asked for wisdom to rule God’s people.  Because he asked for wisdom rather than wealth, power, or long life, God graciously promised him all those things as well as wisdom.  In a sense, the words of Jesus were fulfilled that if we seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, all the other things needful for life will be given to us.

Solomon began his reign in a stellar fashion.  He secured the kingdom from his enemies, he built the magnificent temple for God that his father David had envisioned, and he built his own palace that amazed all who saw it.  His wisdom was known throughout the Middle East and other kings came or sent envoys just to ask him questions.  God gave him victory in every battle and eventually peace on his borders.

One famous visitor was the Queen of Sheba who said, “The report I heard in my own country about your achievements and your wisdom is true. But I did not believe these things until I came and saw with my own eyes. Indeed, not even half was told me; in wisdom and wealth you have far exceeded the report I heard. How happy your men must be! How happy your officials, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom! Praise be to the Lordyour God, who has delighted in you and placed you on the throne of Israel. Because of the Lord’s eternal love for Israel, he has made you king, to maintain justice and righteousness” (1 Kings 10:6-9).  She was amazed at everything she saw and, as it should be, his giftedness directed her to give glory to his God.

Solomon surpassed every expectation that anyone could have ever imagined for his reign.  And yet, he died as a failure. The text says, “King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women… They were from nations about which the Lordhad told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lordhis God, as the heart of David his father had been. He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites. So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord; he did not follow the Lordcompletely, as David his father had done. On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, and for Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites. He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods.  The Lordbecame angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the Lord’s command” (1 Kings 11:1-10).

The question for us becomes, “How could the wisest man in history who had two personal visitations from the Lord and who knew well the promise that God had made to David about faithful sons, lose his way?”

First of all, Solomon asked for wisdom to rule Israel.  That may not be the same as spiritual wisdom.  We can ask God to give us wisdom for business, creativity for the entertainment industry, a best selling book, a mind for science, and many other things that will advance us in this world, but spiritual wisdom to know how things operate in the heavenly realm can be another thing. One type of wisdom is tied to the affairs of this world while the other is tied to the eternal realm.  The silence and submission that promoted Jesus in heaven, got him crucified on earth.

Secondly, years of amazing success and people bowing before you can cause anyone to forget God…I don’t care who you are. Somewhere in Solomon a seed of self-sufficiency and pride was planted, watered and grew.  The time came when he didn’t fear God or see him as the only true and living God.  Many great spiritual men have fallen because they became “stars” and “celebrities” within the church.  They believed their own press and refused to be accountable to others.  David made some huge mistakes but he still had men and prophets who would speak into his life to warn him and even confront him. Solomon seemed to have no one who could speak to him.

Thirdly, he eventually surrounded himself with unbelieving wives which opened the door to Solomon himself being demonized to the extent that he worshipped the most perverse of the pagan Gods…even those to whom children were sacrificed. The word of God clearly prohibited taking foreign wives and making foreign alliances. And yet, Solomon ignored those laws.  Paul declares the same for us in 2 Corinthians 6 when he commands us not to be yoked together with unbelievers.  Solomon had a weakness for women but excused it and fed it until it consumed him.

We need to be honest with ourselves about our weaknesses and vulnerabilities and we need to build guardrails around ourselves in those areas with prayer, confession, and accountability to some people we trust and respect.  These people must always have our permission to ask questions and give correction when needed.

To excuse, minimize, or justify those weaknesses is an open door to the enemy and if we play the game long enough, we will be deceived.  I am certain Solomon himself fell into that trap. I’m sure he didn’t give into the pleadings of his foreign wives at first.  He most likely tried to evangelize them and point out the greatness of his God for years.  But if we surround ourselves with unbelievers long enough, they will inevitably wear us down and we will be drawn to their way of life…little by little…. but drawn, all the same. One good apple placed in a barrel with rotten apples, will not make them healthy, but the one placed there will become rotten as well. Jesus hung out with sinners as ministry, but surrounded himself with those seeking God the rest of the time.

I’m also confident that Solomon’s wealth and success convinced him that God was all right with his foreign wives and foreign alliances.  That can be the danger of success and we all need to be aware of that danger. God is longsuffering, but his patience should not always be taken as approval.  We need spiritual wisdom to know the difference.

So pray for spiritual wisdom more than wisdom to succeed in this world. Be honest with your vulnerabilities and build guardrails for yourself including some who know what is going on in your life. Watch your relationships with unbelievers and do not open the door for the enemy.  If you find one open, shut it because even Solomon in all his glory finished his life as a failure.

Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?  What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty. 2 Corinthians 6:14-18.

Paul wrote this section of scripture to the church at Corinth.  The believers at Corinth had come out of a culture that was famous for it’s sin.  It was a center of greed, sexual immorality, pagan worship, partying, and worldliness in the worst sense. If you read through Paul’s two letters to the church at Corinth, you will see that there was a great deal of spiritual immaturity and worldliness in the church. Interestingly, the church at Corinth displayed an amazing number of spiritual gifts including healing, miracles, tongues, prophecy, and so forth and yet was identified by Paul as immature and unspiritual.  Sometimes, spiritual gifts run ahead of Christian character so don’t let yourself be influenced by someone with amazing gifts, but rather by someone with amazing character.

In the midst of all their immaturity, Paul commanded them to avoid being “unequally yoked” with unbelievers. The term comes from the Old Testament law in which the Jews were forbidden from yoking an ox and a mule together for plowing. “Unequally yoked” doesn’t mean that one has more influence or power than the other, but it is a term implying that two things with different natures have been tied together.  An ox was considered a clean animal while the mule was considered unclean.  Clean animals could be eaten and offered as sacrifices while unclean animals could not be used for sacred purposes.

Paul goes on to make a point that there are two kinds of people in the world – saved and unsaved, redeemed and unredeemed, holy and unholy, and those with the Spirit of Christ in them and those who serve Satan knowingly or unknowingly. Paul points out the difference in those who have the Spirit of Christ and those who don’t when he says, “Or what fellowship has light with darkness?  What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols?”

Too often, we fail to see is that there is a huge difference in the very nature of people from the perspective of the spiritual realm.  The “unsaved” may be very talented, influential, enjoyable and even given to worthy cause, but they are still not sons and daughters of God.  Not only that, but they are still in a relationship with Satan as either slaves to sin or willing participants in the things of Satan. Most will have some kind of demonic spirit operating in his or her life because they are legally bound to Satan until rescued and redeemed by Jesus.

The danger of being yoked together with an unbeliever is not just influence but that the relationship opens a door for the enemy.  When you marry someone, that person is not just connected to your family but, suddenly, you have a legal connection with his or her family.  The parents of each spouse will not only have influence in your home, but may also have a legal claim on your children as grandparents. God says, because we are his children, we are essentially different from all other people on the planet and we are not to join or yoke the sacred with the profane or the clean with the unclean.

This is not a call to self-righteousness nor a call to isolate ourselves from unbelievers – otherwise how could we reach the unsaved for Jesus?  But it is a warning about yoking ourselves in covenants, marriages, allegiances, partnerships, treaties, and relationships with those who do not belong to God. We were ministering deliverance a few days ago to young Chinese Christian and one of our team was led to ask if she had sworn allegiance to the nation of China and it’s atheistic leadership.  Of course, she had done so as every “good citizen” would, but declaring her allegiance to a nation that disavows God and arrests believers, is to join with the spiritual ruler whom the leaders of China represent – Satan. She had to renounce her declaration of allegiance to that nation to shut the door which that “yoking” had opened.

We must be careful about our covenants and even participation in things that God would not sponsor. Promises, vows, contracts, covenants, or declarations of allegiance – not just to nations but to individuals or organizations that are not submitted to God –  can create open doors for the enemy to camp out in our lives and in the lives of our families.  Remember…you are made different and separate by the Spirit of Christ living in you. Treat yourself as holy and sacred because that is who you are.

Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.  Matthew 7:1-2

Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Luke 6:37

The two verses above come from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.  Of course, we call it by that name, he didn’t.  The verses have been misused on many occasions to protest any admonition or rebuke levied against an individual’s sin.  We all know the phrase, “Don’t judge me!”   If “judging,” in the sense that Jesus used it, meant calling another person to repentance, then Paul sinned on numerous occasions in his letters to the churches, as well as Peter and James and other writers of the New Testament.  These writers often pointed out sins in the churches to whom they were writing as they called them to repentance and, on occasion, even called out people by  name.

So, if this is not a prohibition of pointing out the sins of others, what does it mean?  It’s an important question and one that needs to be seriously considered in the area of spiritual freedom and spiritual warfare.  Let’s again settle what it doesn’tmean. In his letter to the church at Corinth, Paul commanded, “I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat. What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked man from among you” (1 Cor. 5:9-13).

Jesus says, “Judge not…”  Paul says “Judge.”  Are these two teachings contradicting one another?  We believe that the Holy Spirit directed Paul’s writings and that Jesus spoke what he heard from the Father, so these cannot be contradictory commands because God does not contradict himself. What, then, do they mean?

Typically, the issue in spiritual matters is the heart and I believe that is the issue that settles the matter on judging.  When Paul commands us to judge those within the church, we are not making personal judgments but are submitting to the judgment of God’s word.  If a man or woman is living a life that is clearly contradictory to scripture and will not repent after leadership has gone to them, shown them what Jesus had to say about their lifestyle, and prayed with them, then some form of discipline is in order.  The key is that the “judgment” is out of concern for their salvation and the spiritual health of the body of Christ.  There is no self-righteous component in which church leaders are feeling morally superior to the person caught in sin.  Love is motivating the discipline in the same way that love motivates a parent to discipline a rebellious child.

The spirit of this “judgment” is revealed in Paul’s letter to the Galatians when he says, “Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each onelooking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.” (Gal.6:11-3).  This verse describes the heart of proper judgment.  The Word is the standard rather than our own biases. We approach the individual with gentleness and a sense of our own weakness and vulnerability to sin. We typically judge the behavior rather than the heart or the person, because only God knows all the issues behind the sin.  We still deal with the sin, because unrepented sin puts the person’s eternal destination in jeopardy and eventually can lead others into sin as well. The goal of proper judgment is always redemption motivated by love.

The judgment Jesus speaks of is a personal judgment based on a feeling of superiority or a desire to hurt the other person. We tend to go past the behavior and simply label another person as if we know their thoughts and their heart.  Instead of saying that a young woman is involved in sexual immorality, we simply label her as a slut…verbally or in our own minds. At that point, we have made her “less than” us, although we probably have another variety of sin in our own life that we justify or don’t recognize.  That judgment exalts us and diminishes the other person.  We don’t feel concern, but rather contempt. We don’t love, but reject.  We judge the person’s worth and value, rather than letting God be the judge.

Here is the danger.  When we judge with that heart, we align ourselves with Satan who is the accuser of the brethren. Secondly, Jesus says that “with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged.”  When we judge others with a heart of moral superiority, we open ourselves up to the enemy.  We have not shown mercy or forgiveness.  When we judge another, in this context, we sin and the unrepented sin is an open door to the enemy.  Not only that, but once we have cast another person in a certain light through judgment, we typically dismiss all evidence to the contrary.

The most difficult thing in marriage counseling is to deal with judgment.  Once a spouse has judged their partner as selfish, hateful, manipulative, perverse, etc., it is difficult for them to see their spouse in any other light.  Even when that spouse is changing, the one who has made a judgment will not see the change or credit the change.  Eventually, the “judged” spouse will give up trying to be different because they sense that whatever they do will never be enough. The spouse who has made the judgment will always feel superior to the other and their disdain or disrespect will poison the relationship.  Believe me, Satan will work hard to justify and maintain that judgment in the mind of the spouse who has made it.

This kind of judgment, because it is sin, gives the devil a legal right to afflict us.  That is how our judgment comes back on us.  If we judge someone to be a perverse person, Satan can treat us as a perverse person. If we judge someone to be selfish, the enemy can deal with us as a selfish person. In finding freedom, people not only need to repent of active sin and unforgiveness, but of judgments as well. In the same way that we repent of sin and renounce it, we must also repent of judgments and renounce them before we can dismiss every demon. Again, this is not a denial of sin, but a change of heart toward the sinner.

Once again, identifying behavior as sinful, based on the word of God, is not the same as labeling a person and thinking less of them because of our personal agendas.  The kind of judgment the apostle Paul calls us to honors the word of God and humbly seeks restoration of a person caught in sin. The judgment Jesus warns us against, actually diminishes the chance for restoration because we feel no obligation to try to redeem that person we have labeled and often seek to have others join us in our judgment against him or her.  So, as we examine ourselves to see if we are in alignment with the Father’s will, we may want to scan our own hearts and history to see if judgment is opening a door for the enemy or is keeping us from reconciling a relationship.  If we are ministering freedom, to others, judgment is an area that needs to be explored.

When you get into the business of helping people deal with their brokenness through counseling, prayer, and deliverance, you are never more like Jesus.  However, there is a side effect to going down that road.  As you choose to help people deal with their wounds and their pasts, more and more broken folks will show up in your life. Broken people know broken people, and if you are caring and helpful, they will send others your way. Undoubtedly, God will be entrusting some of these individuals to you so that you can dispense his grace in their lives.

Let me warn you, however, that Satan will also deposit some of these folks in your life.  Those individuals will have the uncanny ability to suck the life out of you for months and months and distract you from some very important things that God has ordained for you.  Many of us that are drawn to healing ministries have a spiritual gift of mercy and compassion.  That’s the way it should be. But sometimes, that mercy gift morphs into a “rescuer” theme that develops in our lives and we can find ourselves in bondage to a mindset that feels responsible for the well-being of every victim or broken person we encounter.

In itself, being a rescuer is very Christ-like. After all, Jesus came to seek and save the lost.  That sounds like rescue work.  I would agree, but Jesus also set some very healthy boundaries around his rescue missions. You should as well. He displayed some of those when he went to the Pool of Bethesda and asked the lame man, “Do you want to be healed?”  Whenever we are working with broken people, that is a question we need to keep in mind. The truth is that not everyone wants to be healed, although everyone says they do.  Some do want to be healed but do not want to do any work to get to that place.  They want you to heal them and then want you to take up their mat and carry it for them.

Over the years, in our ministry at Mid-Cities, we have settled on a position that clearly states, “If you want to change, you have to do the work.”  Our belief is that when it comes to healing and freedom, God won’t do the work for us but he is more than happy to do it with us.  When Israel finally made it to Canaan, God could have cleared the land of Israel’s enemies with one sweep of his hand. He could have sent plagues, a band of destroying angels, or displayed any number of other supernatural acts to drive the tribes from the land.  Instead, he required Israel to go to battle.  He would lead them and assure their victories, but they still had to endure the hardships of warfare.  They had to face the enemy, check their faith, and swing the sword.  In doing so, their character was refined and their relationship with God was enhanced.

People who want their lives to be transformed have to fight some battles.  Our job is to equip them to fight and, at times, fight along with them. But our goal should be to equip them to engage with God and defeat the enemy on a daily basis or simply make better choices in the future.  Those who fall into the trap of becoming a rescuer tend to make the individuals they are rescuing dependent on them  – their wisdom, their gifts, and their resources. Part of the trap may be that the cycle may feel good to the rescuer because he or she see is making a difference in the life of a person and also because he or she enjoys the gratitude and admiration of those they are rescuing.  However, they are not teaching them to fight and they are not teaching them to depend on Jesus.  Everyone needs to be rescued from time to time, but when being rescued becomes a lifestyle for broken people, there is something wrong.

My wife Susan has a very wise saying when it comes to ministry to broken people. She says, “If you are doing more work than they are, something is wrong.” What you notice about Jesus is that his compassion met people where they were, but he did not leave them there.  He didn’t beg people to follow him or stay in one place long to make sure people followed through on his prescriptions for life. He pointed them to God, gave them godly counsel, got them started and then let them be responsible for their next steps.

There are those who truly want to change and are ready to do the work.  Invest in them.  There are others who want you to fix them and their life, but won’t do their part. They want God to magically change their hearts, their minds, and their circumstances while they sit and watch. God doesn’t work that way and neither should we. Let that person contact you when he or she is actually ready to do the work.  Others don’t really want to change, but simply love the attention and care they get as person after person pours into them without seeing much progress. That person needs to repent. And still others, want you to take away their pain but don’t want to give up some sin in their lives that has created the pain. They simply want you to rescue them from the consequences of their actions without changing their behaviors or choices. These too need to repent.

When you have begun to minister to a person who needs healing and freedom, you may have to carry most of the load initially. But that person should soon begin to make progress.  He should be engaged in the fight.   She should be in the word and in prayer.  That person should also make your appointments on time and consistently and must be willing to start aligning his or her life with God’s word and his commands.

Too often, our mercy gift kicks in and we keep meeting, keep rescuing, keep rescheduling for weeks and months because we feel responsible to “save the person.”  It is often necessary to remember that Jesus is their Savior, not us. Too often we enable irresponsible behavior and allow them to continue to see themselves as helpless victims who always need a hero to rescue them from the dragons in their lives.  Too often we keep them from experiencing the very consequences that would have been their best teachers.  God does not require that we fix broken people.  That is his job.  Our job is to give them godly counsel, point them to Jesus, and equip them to live as children of the king if they are motivated to do so.  We are to be responsible to them, but not for them.

As hard as it is, there are times when we just have to cut someone loose to whom we have tied ourselves because we realize we are trying to plant God’s seed in poor soil. No real fruit is being produced. The soil may improve over time, but for the moment, there are better investments for the wisdom, experience, mercy, and gifts God has entrusted to your stewardship.

I think we need to see ourselves as mentors or coaches rather than rescuers.  As we enter into a mentoring or coaching relationship with a broken person, we need to kindly and gently set expectations for growth and the work they need to be doing in order for authentic change to take place. That person should know that our goal is to make him/her dependent on Jesus, not on us and for them to become mature in their faith.  Growth and change will be an expectation in order for us to continue to disciple them. If it becomes apparent that you are working with a person who does not want to change or is not ready to change, you can still love them but you don’t have to pour into them.  We are certainly not requiring perfection.  After all, Jesus had to display a great deal of patience with the twelve who often seemed like spiritual knuckleheads, but they were on a growth trajectory and their hearts truly desired to be men who pleased the Master. I also suspect Jesus has had to be patient with us and give us second chances. But if the person you are pouring into is not displaying change or doing the work over a period of time, you may need to invest in someone else.

I’m not really writing this to instruct you in mentoring, as much as I am wanting to encourage you to avoid the rescuertrap and to even give you permission to cut yourself loose from unfruitful relationships that are keeping you from investing in other relationships that will bear great fruit and give you life rather than sucking life from you.  Remember, God sends some people your way, but so does Satan. A wise person will learn to discern who wants to be healed and who truly doesn’t.

We are looking at the “beatitudes” of Jesus that are presented in Matthew 5, the beginning of what we call the Sermon on the Mount.  Jesus declared that a number of attitudes will bring a state of blessedness to our lives. As we reflect on the passage, we realize that these, like the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5, are attributes of God that he wants to see reflected in his children.

In Matthew 5:8, Jesus declares, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”  The word translated as pure is the Greek word katharos. It means clean, unblemished, unsoiled, and so forth.  At its root, it means unadulterated or unmixed – like !00% pure olive oil. It is comprised of a single substance with no additives.  God longs for our hearts to be unmixed and to be fully set on him.  In Psalm 119, this theme comes up over and over.

         Blessed are they who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart.(Ps. 119:2).

         I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. (Ps. 119:10)

         You are my portion, O Lord; … I have sought your face with all my heart. (Ps. 119:57-58).

This theme of seeking God or serving God with all of our hearts or wholeheartedlycomes up over and over in scripture.  It stands opposite the idea of serving him half-heartedly. James refers to as being double-minded and says that a “double-minded msn” should not expect an answer to prayer.  I was a minister to single adults back in the day.  It wasn’t unusual to see a guy “sort of breakup” with a girl while he pursued another woman that he thought might “be the one.”  At the same time, he didn’t exactly finish the relationship with the first girl in case this second relationship didn’t work out.  He kept the first girl on a string as his backup plan. He was double-minded or half-hearted in both relationships and usually ended up loosing both girls.

Sometimes we treat God that way. We declare our hunger and love for him while still keeping one foot planted firmly in the world in case the world offers us something we think might be better than what God can offer.  How many times do believers compromise their faith for a relationship?  They do that because they believe the relationship offers more love, happiness, and security than God. How often do believers pursue career, wealth, fame or power so that their service to God and even their family is neglected?  It’s because they believe wealth or fame or career offers more for their security and happiness than God does.  While doing that, we still proclaim our love for God as we give him only the leftovers of our time and energy.

I ran across a valuable paradigm at a conference in Chicago one time.  It was the paradigm of aspirationalvalues versus actualvalues.  Aspirational values are those we aspire to have because we know we should hold and serve those values.  Actual values are the ones we actually pursue and they show up in what we do – how we actually spend our time and money or in the ways we treat other people.  The deception is in believing that our aspirational values are our actual values when they are not.  We can convince ourselves that we are loving God with all of our heart while we offer him our leftovers or keep him as our “backup” relationship in case our romance  with the world doesn’t work out.

The psalmist is clear that we will only see God’s face when we pursue him wholeheartedly with an unmixed, undiluted, or pure heart. Our wholehearted pursuit of God is what produces an unstained heart or a morally pure heart that God also desires. If we truly want to see God, then an assessment of our priorities is in order and probably some repentance.  We need to sort out our actual values over our aspirational values and make them the same thing. If we could stand back and think about what other people would assume our highest values are, based on the way we invest our time, our money, and our emotions, what would they say?  What if we asked the people who know us best what they think we actually value most based on our behaviors, what would they say if they were brutally honest? They would probably be right and most of us could stand to make some adjustments…myself included.  Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.

Since the beginning, God’s representatives on the earth – his sons and daughters – have always been given the mission of establishing a godly or heavenly culture on the earth. Jesus reaffirmed that principle when he taught us to pray, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” What we need to understand is that through Christ, the Father is now restoring us to the position he always intended his children to possess.  “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit” (2 Cor. 3:18).  As God reigns, we too have been given the authority to reign.

As believers, however, most of us do not understand the position and the authority we have been granted in Christ. We tend to see ourselves as mere men and women who differ from the unsaved only in that our sins are forgiven. The psalmist said, “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he” (Prov.23:5, KJV).  What we believe about ourselves typically defines our lives.  A positive, biblical view of ourselves and our abilities opens doors for achievement while a negative view of ourselves and our abilities sets limits on what we accomplish because we will not attempt to achieve more than we believe about our own capacities. The truth is that we walk in much more authority than we perceive and our words carry much more weight than we imagine. 

One of the enemy’s primary strategies is to convince God’s children that even though they are saved and forgiven, they are still worthless, incompetent, weak, broken, powerless and, in many ways, displeasing to their Father.  He convinces them that the wholeness, joy, competence, and glory promised to them is only available after the funeral. Spirits of accusation, condemnation,  rejection, and shame and work tirelessly to keep God’s children from walking in their true identity.

Many Christians are limited by the belief that although they are saved, they are disqualified from doing anything significant in the kingdom of God. They see themselves as prisoners rather than princes and orphans rather than royalty in the household of God.  They have no perception of themselves as highly loved and favored and sense no authority or power in their lives at all. They are literally in bondage to shame and rejection and their shattered identity keeps them from fulfilling a destiny that has already been bought and paid for by the blood of Jesus.

Since they feel that they have no standing, no power, and no authority they believe that their words have no more significance than they do. Therefore, they are typically careless with their words and certainly do not use their words and authority to bless others or resist the evil one.  Our words reveal our hearts.  Jesus said,”Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Mt.12:34). What we believe about who we are and who Jesus is determines our words to a great extent. If you are angry, bitter, insecure, wounded, fearful, feel victimized, and so forth, your words will reflect the beliefs that underlie your self-image. They will be negative, pessimistic, accusing, critical, and demeaning – towards others or yourself.

We have been redeemed to reign and our words carry great power for good or for bad.  They have prophetic power so that the words we speak will begin to create that future for us or for others. Remember the sobering words of Jesus when he said, “But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned” (Jn.12:34). Thankfully, even our words are under the blood of Christ, but the verse tells us how serious God is about our words.  If he is that serious, then we should be as well. James tells us, “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 praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be” (Ja.3:9-10). Make up your mind to be a blessing and to speak blessings. Ask the Holy Spirit to help.  You matter greatly and so do your words.  Direct their power wisely.

The Book of Genesis reveals God’s original intent for his creation. His intent was to endow mankind with heavenly authority by which men and women would rule the earth on their Father’s behalf. If you carefully scan the language of the first two chapters of Genesis you will see that purpose confirmed. God gave Adam, Eve, and their descendants a mandate. He commanded them not just to be fruitful and multiply but to also rule overthe earth and subdueit (Gen.1:28).  To subdue something is to take dominion or establish authority over that thing. David declared that God crowned man with glory and honor and set him to rule overall the works of His hands (Ps.8:5-6).  Mankind, as represented in Adam and Eve, was crowned so that those made in God’s image might rule over the earth.

God’s original intent, then, was to create man, give him the position of a son or a daughter of the King, and then to place “his children” on the earth to rule as their Father’s representatives.  Ancient kings often gave their grown children territory to rule as lesser kings who were still subject to “the great king.”  Even in the days of Jesus, King Herod only ruled over Judea at the pleasure of Caesar. He was granted his rulershipas “king” as long as he represented the interests of Caesar well.  When it came to actual sons and daughters, the idea was to train them to rule just as their father would rule if he were present. They were his representatives who ruled their territories with his permission and authority.  At his death, one of his heirs would then be prepared to rule the greater kingdom as his or her father would have ruled it and to finish the works and campaigns their father had begun.

Of course, our Father will never die, but he still gave Adam, Eve, and their descendants authority to rule over this planet in his name and to carry out his directives. The intent was that man, in close communion with the Father, would rule just as the Father would rule. I imagine that God spoke to Adam and Eve of such things during their evening walks in the Garden of Eden in the same way that Jesus often spoke about the Kingdom of God when he walked with his disciples.

While on this earth, Jesus perfectly represented God in his character and purposes.  In the gospel of John, we find these two quotes. “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does” (Jn.5:19),  and  “For I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it” (Jn.12:49).  These two quotes embody the idea of a representative who re-presents the one who sent him.  In essence Jesus assured us that he did and said what the Father would do and say if he were physically present on the earth.  He summed it up when he told Philip, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (Jn.14:9). Ultimately, we want to be able to say, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Son.”

Because we represent Jesus on this planet, we should speak only as he would speak in any given situation.  Even our words should be submitted to the direction the Holy Spirit.  Because our words have authority to mobilize the spiritual realm, as we speak we will be setting things in motion that will either support the purposes of God or resist the purposes of God.  We will either be aligned with Christ or with Satan.  In many cases our words will either constitute blessings or curses.

In Ephesians 4:29, Paul instructed the church to let no unwholesome talk come out of their mouths but only that which is good for building others up.  The word unwholesomemeans anything that promotes death, weakness, or decay.  If we demean, speak failure, or speak disaster over others, then we have sinned. James is clear that we should only be sources of blessing and never a source of cursing…even regarding our enemies.

A curse is any language that carries a sentiment that does not affirm, build up, or encourage another person. It is a sentiment that embodies judgment and condemnation.  John tells us that Jesus did not come into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved (John 3:16-17). Salvation imparts life. Our words must do the same in every circumstance.  So we are to discipline ourselves to make every word a blessing.  Yes…even at home behind closed doors.

Everyday, I’m encounter  believers making decisions based on the idea that what God wants most for us is to be happy.  Not just content but happy, happy, happy.  In principle that is true. After all, David wrote, “Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Ps.37:4).  The problem, however,  rests on our notion of what makes us happy.

Some read the verse above and assume that if we serve God in some capacity and sing songs to him on Sunday, he will give us whatever we want as long as we believe that object, person, or circumstance will make us happy.  Unfortunately, that desire often comes from of the flesh rather than the Spirit.  We want a car so we think God should pony up with our dream vehicle.  We want a big salary so we think God should give us favor for the promotion.  We want the girl or the guy and may even think that God is okay with us leaving a spouse that no longer excites us for one that promises passion and romance because…that will make us happy.  All of that is a huge lie from the enemy, but it is a very powerful lie because we live in a culture that reinforces that belief at every level.  How many ads on television push a product that will change your life and assure you that you “deserve” what that product promises.  Honestly, the only thing any of us deserve is hell…and the rest is God’s grace.

A retake on Psalm 37:4 may be in order. First of all, the promise is based on the premise that you delight in the Lord.  You cannot delight in the Lord unless you also delight in his ways, his values, and his priorities.  If you delight in those, then the desires of your heart will line up with his and he will be glad to honor those desires.  Secondly, the verse may be best understood not as God giving you whatever desire springs from you, but God actually planting his desires in your heart so that they become your desires.  He will give you the desires….

Satan is an expert at convincing us that God will give us things that are contrary to his will simply because that is what will make us happy.  As many others have said, God wants us to be holy much more than happy.  The truth is that holiness is what produces long-term happiness. Paul is very clear in Galatians that if we sow to the flesh, we will reap destruction, but if we sow to the Spirit we will reap life.  Those things that we purse based on desires and reasoning from the flesh will eventually produce pain, loss, shame, and destruction. That is God’s promise.  To think differently is to mock God.  Happiness does not lie in that direction, although the devil will assure us that bliss is at the end of the road.

Even more diabolical, is the reality that a person’s decision to chase the desires of the flesh will bring pain, loss, and destruction on others who are innocent bystanders in the event.  Satan always convinces us that our decisions in pursuit of the appetites of the flesh affect only us but they will also affect all those with whom we have connections.  When a spouse leaves his or her mate for another, the spouse who is left behind as well as the children will suffer emotionally, economically, spiritually, relationally and in every other way.  When that person is a believer, the kingdom suffers loss, because once again, Jesus and his ways are discredited in the eyes of the world. Society suffers loss because one more decision has consigned marriage to the bin of disposable relationships. In addition, the sins of the fathers are passed down to the children and so forth.

Satan always convinces the one pursuing desires of the flesh that whatever pain is produced will be short lived and then later everyone will be fine.  That is never true.  The ripples from these decisions go out for decades because one day we decide that God wants us to be happy… on our terms.

Our prayer must be that God places his desires in our hearts rather than insisting that he make good the desires we ourselves have conjured up in our hearts or that Satan has planted there.  Godly desires produce life.  Fleshly desires breed death.  Period.  This “happiness thinking” among believers can be a very subtle thing until it takes root and then flourishes.  It invites in a lying spirit and a spirit of entitlement that both continue to insist that the believer has every right to be happy on his or her terms. Once it flourishes, it seems to undermine all spiritual reason and perception.  Beware of it in your own life and if you see it developing in others, point it out as a matter of concern rather than as a matter for condemnation.  It is a cancer in the church, much better prevented than treated.  If t takes root, it is certainly much better treated early than after it has spread to both the heart and brain.  At that point, life is truly in the balance.

Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Matthew 16:19

The passage quoted above is one of those passages that has been given numerous interpretations, some of which have been so far out in left field that they left the stadium.  However, it is an important passage and one worth looking at…especially for us “charismatics” who love to bind and loose.

In context, Jesus had just asked the apostles who the crowds thought he was and who the twelve thought he was.  The crowds thought that Jesus might be John the Baptist come back to life or one of the prophets who had returned.  Peter had answered for the group by correctly declaring that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God.  Jesus responded by declaring that upon the rock or foundation of Peter’s confession that Jesus was the anointed Son of God, he would build his church. That confession has been asked of every believer since Pentecost … “Do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God?”

Not only would he build his church, but it would be a triumphant church overcoming all the power of hell.  The gates of a city always represented its power and standing among the kingdoms of the world.  Jesus said that the gates –  power and authority – of hell would not be able to withstand the kingdom.  We should note that Jesus envisioned the church as being on the offensive rather than the defensive.  He painted a picture of the church having the enemy encircled and entrapped within the walls of a city whose gates would not be able stand against the onslaught of heaven. Jesus presented a similar picture after casting out demons. He said, “Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man’s house and carry of his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can rob his house” (Mt. 12:29).

Whatever Adam had surrendered to Satan, Jesus came to take back and has given his church the same mandate.  Simply put, we should have no fear of the enemy.  He should fear us.  In Christ, we are always stronger. That is why James could say, “Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (Ja.4:7).  Some “end-times” scenarios have the church cowering at the hands of the Anti-Christ with the rapture as her only way out.  Jesus spoke of a church with power sealing up the enemy, plundering his house,  and overcoming him.

Jesus then declared that he would give his followers the keys of the kingdom of heaven.  Keys represent authority.  If you were a Roman jailer, you could lock up or release those under your authority. You could loose them or bind them because you had been given authority to do so. You didn’t decide who would be locked up or released, but you carried out the orders and at the point of contact, you bound them or released them.

In that cultural context, Jesus said we would be given authority to bind or loose. There was another cultural meaning that Jesus was drawing on as well. To the Jews of the day, those words were quite familiar.   In the synagogue, doctrines or commands were said to bind or loose. The words carried the sense of permitting or forbidding according to the Word of God.  To bind was to forbid and to loose was to permit.  Jesus declared that he was giving us authority to bind on earth what was forbidden in heaven and to loose on earth what was permitted in heaven. We do not determine what is bound or loosed in heaven but we declare and enforce those heavenly laws, principles, and values on the earth.  The idea is embodied in Christ’s command for us to pray for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Some translations make it sound as if we decide what to bind or loose and then heaven adopts our decisions.  According to a number of Greek scholars, the verb tense of loose  and bindin Matthew are “future indicatives” of “I am,” with perfect past participles.  I’m no Greek scholar but here is what these men say about those tenses. They should be translated “shall have been bound” and “shall have been loosed.” This translation reflects the truth that what men, led by the Holy Spirit, decide on earth about spiritual matters will have already been decided in heaven. This passage does not express man’s initiation, but man’s following God’s lead.  The New Standard American Bible gets it right when it says, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven” (Mt.16:19).

This understanding of the text lines up with Jesus who modeled the believer’s life for us.  He didn’t say that whatever he decided, the Father lined up with.  He said that he only did what he saw the Father already doing and only spoke what the Father had already spoken. He did on earth what had already been determined in heaven.

So…before we go running around binding and loosing, we want to make sure that what we are declaring and commanding lines up with God’s will.  That means that whatever is forbidden in heaven we can forbid or bind here with all of heaven’s authority behind us.. Sickness is not permitted in heaven.  Demonic affliction is not permitted in heaven. We have the keys – the authority with which to bind sickness, infirmity, demons, and so forth in the name of Jesus.  We can also bind the church to God’s holiness rather than accepting compromise with out culture. We can also loose or permit.  We can find those bound up in shame, legalism, and the lies of the enemy and give them full permission to walk in grace and forgiveness. We can also loose people from their pasts, from demonic affliction, from fear,  and from infirmity.

We have authority when we line up with heaven.  We have no authority to make heaven line up with us.  We cannot decree that same sex marriage is now permissible. We cannot decree that sex outside of marriage is acceptable as long as it is monogamous.  We cannot decree that abortion is permitted because it is legal according to man’s law.  We can only bind or loose, permit or forbid what has already been determined in heaven. But when we are aligned with the Father and know that he has given us authority to bind and loose in the name of
Jesus, we too can do the works that Jesus did.