A declaration is the act of speaking or pronouncing God’s word and will over a situation. It is an essential weapon to be used in spiritual warfare.   Jesus modeled that strategy in his showdown with Satan in the wilderness after fasting and praying for forty days.

After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “ ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.      “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him. Matthew 3:2-11

Satan tried to bait Jesus into engaging in a dialogue with him about his rights and privileges as the Son of God on earth. When Adam and Eve allowed themselves to be drawn into a conversation, they were out maneuvered and manipulated. Sin was the outcome. I don’t believe for a second that Satan could bested Jesus at anything but our Savior modeled a better strategy. He simply declared the word of God over each temptation.

The word of God has authority. When we declare God’s word over a situation, it first establishes His authority and, as his delegated representatives, our authority over the circumstance. If you watch any crime show on television, you know that when police show up at a house, they first have to identify themselves as officers of the law or authorized representatives of the law and then they will still need a warrant or probable cause to begin to exercise their authority. The Holy Spirit within us and the name of Jesus on our lips identify us as representatives of the Kingdom of Heaven. A declaration of God’s word demonstrates the extent of our authority over a situation and establishes that the enemy is in violation of God’s law. That violation gives us probable cause to exercise Christ’s authority and issue commands in his name. The enemy is not always a demon but may also be disease, poverty, conflict, etc.

Paul tells us that the word of God is the sword of the Spirit (Eph.6:17), which can function either as a defensive or offensive weapon. The word translated as sword in that passage is not a Roman sword or a broad sword but a dagger. Daggers are used when the fighting is close – hand to hand. So when the enemy closes in, it’s time to pull out the word of God and use it as a weapon. Solomon said, “Reckless words pierce like a sword (Prov.12:18). If the words of a man can pierce, how much more the Word of God which is sharper than any two-edged sword (Heb.4:12). These passages suggest that the word of God declared over the enemy not only establishes authority but may inflict pain as well. When I was being schooled in deliverance, I used to minister with a man who had done deliverance for decades. On occasion, when a spirit was stubbornly hanging on, James would lay his Bible on the back of the person and the spirit would leave as if the word had afflicted the spirit in some way. That didn’t work for me, but it did for James. He probably had more faith in the effect of the Word than I did.

Another important aspect of declaring God’s word over a situation is that it helps to keep us aligned with the word of God. The enemy is skilled at twisting the truth and introducing doubt just as he did with Adam and Eve in the Garden. The tempter himself came to Jesus and tried to lure him into sin. With each temptation, Jesus answered with scripture – “It is written…” Not only was Jesus wielding the sword of the Spirit but he was keeping himself anchored in the truth of his Father’s words. Those words were true and had authority. For Jesus, that settled the matter and it should for us as well. Any lack of confidence on our part regarding our authority or the Lord’s authority in a matter seems to give the enemy a right or at least the ability to continue his assignment.

When ministering deliverance, we always want to establish our position and authority first by declaring the Word of God. We typically begin with a declaration that we are servants and sons of the Most High God who come in the name of Jesus who has all authority in heaven and on earth (Mt.28:18) and a name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow and every tongue confess that he is Lord (Phil.2:9-11). We also declare that the prince of this world has been condemned by Jesus (Jn.16:11), that we have been given power to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy (Lk.10:19), and that no weapon formed against those who belong to the Lord will prosper (Isa.54:17).   We may declare similar things over sickness as well when we suspect a spirit is involved.

Our words establish both the Lord’s authority and our delegated authority over the enemy like an arrest warrant. They also remind us of who we are in Christ as we begin to deal with the enemy. In addition, these declarations establish the victory that is ours in Christ and remind the enemy that he too must bow the knee to Jesus. If Jesus used declarations of God’s word against the enemy then how much more should we? The word of God declared through our lips over people, nations, and circumstances is powerful and an indispensable part of spiritual warfare.

Paul instructed Timothy, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15). This verse suggests that we are to know and wield the word of God as a craftsman or as one who expertly knows how to use the tools or weapons entrusted to us. Getting the word in us so that the Holy Spirit can pull up the word that we have stored in our hearts whenever the enemy shows up is critical. There is no substitute for time in the Word and the capacity to declare that word over temptation, weakness, or crisis. I’m concerned that too many believers today have substituted good books written by their favorite authors and YouTube sermons for Bible study. Books and sermons are great resources but the Word itself contains the power. Jesus said that his words are Spirit and life. We need all of both that we can get.

For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:4-7

This passage is familiar to most of us. However, I find that the most familiar passages are the ones that we begin to take for granted and stop looking more deeply into the passage because we feel like we know it so well. The truth is that the Holy Spirit offers multiple layers of meaning so that each time we go back and mine the passage for more, we discover that there are still nuggets and veins of gold each time we dig a little deeper. I thought I would take another look at this familiar passage to see what else the Lord might highlight.

To begin with, Paul is writing to a church that has an elitist and disobedient faction within it. They have created division and hurt in the church through their own spiritual arrogance and tolerance for sin. They have brought worldly attitudes, values, philosophy, and rationalizations into the church and Paul is confronting them. In fact, he is threatening to make a personal appearance to deal with them if they do not repent soon.

Paul begins by saying that we, meaning the spiritually mature, do not fight with the weapons of the world but we have, at our disposal, weapons that are empowered by God. Those who want to oppose God are always in the position of bringing a knife to a gunfight. They will always be out-matched. The problem is that when we are attacked with the weapons of the world, we too often respond with the same weapons. When anger comes against us, we respond with anger. When we are criticized, we criticize in return. When we are slandered we get busy defaming our attackers. When someone pulls a power play at work, we try to respond with a greater manipulation of power.

When we fight as the world fights, we come into agreement with Satan. When we agree, we empower him instead of overpowering him. That is why Paul clearly told us, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Rom.12:21).   To be overcome by evil simply means that we have surrendered to the impulses of the flesh and have responded as the devil would respond, rather than as Christ would respond. We overcome evil in our own hearts first by doing good and then overcome evil in the world by the good we do to others. Our first step toward defeat is giving in to evil thoughts. Evil thoughts are simply ways of thinking that agree with Satan’s perspective rather than the mind of Christ.

An essential truth of spiritual warfare is that Satan gains access to us in the arena of our thought life. As Joyce Meyers put it, the battlefield is the mind. Paul’s statement to the church at Corinth was that these divine weapons would, first and foremost, tear down or demolish strongholds. The word that is translated as stronghold can also mean fortress. I think immediately of the fortresses in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. A fortress or stronghold is a strong place of protection where armies reside except when they go out to raid or do battle, then they once again withdraw to their stronghold. Sometimes, it is even a hidden place that the opposition cannot find such as David found with his men when evading King Saul.

Paul’s point is that wherever our thinking is not aligned with Christ, we give the enemy a place in our thought life to hide and to fight against us at opportune moments. A stronghold is not a random thought but is a pattern of thought that opposes the truth of God. It may be a pattern of thought that opposes the truth about Jesus but for believers, more often, it is a pattern of thought that opposes God’s truth about who we are in Christ, about forgiveness, about godly principles for living, or about God’s immense love for us and our security in him. Those thought patterns have been with us so long that we often are not even aware of how pervasive they are and how they color our thinking. When we minister deliverance to people, these belief patterns that have not been identified and repented of give the enemy a place to hide and the right to remain there.

When the moment comes, these thought patterns that are reinforced and amplified by the devil rise up as arguments against the truth of God’s word. Jesus declared that we would know the truth and the truth would set us free. God’s word is truth. When we insist on his word as the standard of truth rather than the wisdom of the world or our own past experiences, we are wielding a powerful and divine weapon.

However, when we say, “Yes, but…” to God’s word, we are inadvertently revealing our agreement with Satan and a stronghold inevitably exists. When we begin by saying “but…” we are almost always beginning to offer an argument as to why God’s word is not true in our case. We are the exception. To do so, aligns us with Satan rather than Jesus and automatically gives him authority in our life. It is important to identify these strongholds, renounce them, and repent of them. Then it is important to declare the word of God over any situation or feeling as the standard of truth upon which we will act and upon which we will stand.

The goal is to make every thought captive to Jesus Christ. The word for captive here is the word for prisoner of war. It is a military term that means not only to defeat an enemy who may run off and then engage us in battle again but to defeat and imprison that enemy so that he can no longer attack us. We do so by imposing the will and truth of God on patterns of thought that are in opposition to the word of God. Confessing the word of God over and over in opposition to patterns of thought I have identified in myself is a powerful strategy. We must only say about ourselves what God says about us. We must only say about a circumstance, what God says about that circumstance. We must not subject ourselves to sources of unbelief such as unbelieving friends or family members who constantly undermine our own faith. We must not subject ourselves to movies or songs that undermine our faith in God’s truth (the Da Vinci Code, etc.). We must not allow anger and unforgiveness to give Satan a place in our hearts. We must not allow lust to have its way with our thoughts.

When thought patterns and rationalizations that oppose God’s truth and standards become apparent, we must deal with them quickly and take them captive. The word arguments comes from the Greek word logismos. We immediately see the root of logic or human reason there. Human reason and worldly wisdom always rise up against God’s truth. All the foolishness about same-sex marriage and identifying as male or female based on your feelings is worldly wisdom that has already crept into the church because it sounds scientific, tolerant and non-judgmental. But it “sets itself up against the knowledge of God.” If you read the early chapters of 1 Corinthians you will see how the church had been impressed with worldly knowledge, eloquence, and education and had begun to give those things greater standing than the word of God. Paul declares that those strongholds must be torn down and taken captive.

Interestingly, strongholds in the days of Paul were actually fortifications within the walls of a city. If the walls were breached, then the army retreated to the stronghold or citadel which was an inner fortress that could be defended by fewer soldiers. Once the stronghold was taken, the battle was over. Too often we stop short in the battle. We push back against the devil, get a little relief as he retreats from his outer defenses, and then stop our pursuit. We fail to persist in getting God’s truth in our hearts or going deeper to find other thought strongholds that are still out of alignment with the Father. We breach the wall but don’t stay after it until the stronghold is demolished. We often speak about “removing another layer of the onion” in spiritual warfare. This reality of strongholds behind walls may reflect that truth.

The word pretensions alludes to high places or towers on a wall. These are places of pride and arrogance that do not want to surrender to God or to acknowledge being wrong or the need to repent. When these attitudes are not rooted out as well, the enemy comes back and we wonder why. These high places seem to allude to the Tower of Babel in Hebrew thought. That was a project based on man’s pride, his arrogance, and his desire to be independent from God. In essence it was the first expression humanism.

In spiritual warfare we have to identify and uproot the lies of the enemy and keep taking and retaking ground in our thought life. We have to identify pockets of pride and places within our hearts that we do not want to submit to Jesus. That is the process of renewing our minds. It is a joint effort between us and the Holy Spirit that, in most cases, will take a lifetime.

Our thought life is the primary place where spiritual warfare occurs. We must be active in the battle rather than passive. We need to find the hiding places and tear down strongholds without mercy. We need friends to point out those strongholds because they will often recognize them before we do. The Holy Spirit will reveal those strongholds if we sincerely ask and will provide the power to dismantle them. Paul tells us that where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. Freedom is God’s will for each of us and he is ready for us to go to war with Jesus at our side.

Our church heard a good word from pastor Jim Laffoon last night. Jim made the point that God’s greatest challenge on this earth is not Satan nor broken cultures nor persecuting tyrants, but his broken church. That thought is worth some reflection.

The kingdom of God has significant challenges that stand in the way of establishing God’s will on earth as it is in heaven. There is Satan. There are powerful, corrupt, and atheistic governments. There are defiled cultures that rival Sodom and Gomorrah. There are powerful tyrants that persecute the church and there is a powerful, godless media that shapes the mind of the world. And yet, the church is designed and empowered to overcome every one of those obstacles. Jesus said that even the very gates of hell would not prevail against his church. And yet the world, in many quarters, seems to be winning.

The problem is not that the world is bigger and badder than God anticipated. The problem is that the church is made up of a huge percentage of people who are broken and in bondage to all kinds of things and who are not walking in the freedom and power that God offers. The question then is why is such a large percentage of the church broken and in bondage? Jesus said that he had come to heal the broken hearted and to set captives free (see Isa.61 and Luke 4). So why isn’t he doing his job?

Obviously, the problem isn’t with Jesus. The problem exists on this end. To a large degree, the problem is that a large part of the church has rejected or limited the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Jesus told his followers that when he left he would send another – the Holy Spirit – and as a result, they would be better equipped than if Jesus were physically present with them. He told them and us that the Spirit would come to be our counselor, our comforter, our teacher, our guide, and the transformer of our character (the fruit of the Spirit). He was also very clear that the Spirit would come to give us power for ministry.

In the beginning, Jesus commanded his followers to stay in Jerusalem until they received power from the Holy Spirit (Acts 1). He didn’t mean that the power of the Holy Spirit would help them do their best and be their best. He meant that the Spirit would operate in them with a supernatural power that would go beyond anything they were capable of even on their best day. Just fifty days earlier the apostles had shown what their “best” was. They ran away. Peter denied Christ three times. They had no comprehension of the resurrection and they simply hid from the authorities and some doubted even when Jesus appeared in the room with them. However, the moment after the Holy Spirit fell on them and imparted power to them, they stood in the temple courts and boldly preached that Jesus was Lord to the same crowd that had crucified him less than two months earlier. As they did so, they spoke in languages they had never learned.

That is a template for the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the Lord’s church and in the life of every believer. The anointing for personal transformation and power to change the world is found in the full ministry of the Holy Spirit. The supernatural move of the Spirit in us and through us is everything. And yet, much of the church has done its best to minimize the Spirit and in doing so we have minimized the church. The idea that the entire ministry of the Holy Spirit is to simply give us a little insight into scripture and to make us into a gathering of nice people is a real weapon of the enemy.

The theology that the Holy Spirit no longer operates in supernatural power through his people has effectively declawed the Lion of Judah. The church in America is full of demonic presence because she quit believing in the supernatural moves of God or even the supernatural moves of the devil. Recently, a believer from another church in our city went through our eight-week Free Indeed class and Freedom Weekend and was delivered from several spirits. That believer went back to his church and when praying and counseling with one of their members realized that a demonic spirit was manifesting so he cast it out. Not too long after that episode of freedom and supernatural ministry, one of their church leaders told them that they didn’t do that in their church. As a result, many members of that church will continue in brokenness and bondage and will never step into the destiny God has written for them.

The word Christ means “the anointed one.” Jesus Christ is the Anointed One of God. He declared in Luke 4 that he was the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy that says, “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives, release from darkness for the prisoners…(Isa:61:1). The very things Jesus did required the Spirit of the Lord to be upon him. The anointing was the Spirit of God operating supernaturally through him. John tells us that a spirit of anti-Christ is in the world. I believe that spirit not only denies that Jesus is Lord but works against the anointing of the church by the Spirit. I believe cessationism, the theology that God stopped working in miraculous ways at the end of the first century, is one of the doctrines of demons Paul, warned us about in 1 Timothy 4.

As long as we deny the continuing supernatural ministry of the Spirit in his church and through his church we will continue to be broken and in bondage. We will also leave the world in its brokenness and bondage. We will be an army so handicapped that we will win few battles and hold little ground. Jesus himself promised that those who believe in him would do even greater things than he did. I don’t think he was talking about huge buildings, well run programs, and worship productions that rival Vegas. I’m not against big churches, excellent programs, and powerful worship but Jesus was talking about the supernatural healing of broken hearts and transformed identities. He was talking about casting wheelchairs aside, emptying cancer wards, preaching in languages we have never learned, raising the dead, dismissing depression, and casting out devils in greater ways than he ever did.

The church is broken and the full, unleashed ministry of the Holy Spirit is the antidote. I see more and more churches beginning to recognize that truth but then I see them hesitate to actually embrace the power of the Spirit. My prayer is that God will fill his church and every believer with the fullness of his Spirit so that the world will know that Jesus is truly the Anointed One because his church walks in that anointing. That anointing is available to every believer so I also encourage you to ask for it daily as part of your “daily bread.”  May you be blessed today and represent your King with power and love.

Fifteen years ago, I asked a faithful Christian woman, we will call Mary Ellen, when she was going to forgive her former husband. It was a hard question. She had been physically and emotionally abused even beyond what most abused women have had to endure. She had fled from that husband five years earlier, moved far away from him, and had started over with a new marriage. The problem was that her new marriage wasn’t going well either. She had come in seeking answers and, after three sessions, I felt compelled to ask the question. In fifteen years I haven’t forgotten her response. With her hands clenched into fists, the veins on her neck popping out, and her jaws tightened, she snarled, “Forgive him? Forgive him? I hope he burns in hell for what de did to me!” In her heart there was no impulse to forgive and in her mind she felt totally justified in hoping for his eternal damnation.

Although this was a woman who had grown up in church faithfully serving in various ministries, she was in bondage to bitterness, rage, and unforgiveness. She was the poster child for the old saying that “unforgiveness is like drinking poison, believing that it will make the other person sick.” She was aware of the multiple verses in which Jesus was very clear that if we don’t forgive those who have sinned against us, then our heavenly Father will not forgive our sins against him (Mt.6:14-15, Mt. 18, etc.). She simply felt that her case was exceptional so that those verses did not apply to her. The truth was that the toxic bitterness and rage she still felt against her first husband was spilling over into this new marriage and poisoning it.

Of all the sins that Christian men and women are in bondage to, I believe that unforgiveness is the most common and, in the long run, the most destructive. It is also the most common because we have all been wounded and betrayed and have all felt fully justified in our anger or bitterness toward the perpetrator.

In fact, we have likely been truly justified in our feelings. We just haven’t been justified in holding on to those feelings and keeping them alive. Because we are justified in our feelings in the beginning, we feel justified in keeping those feelings alive forever. But the decision not to forgive is where sin begins and when the door swings open for the enemy to enter. It is even where we begin to take offense at God when we discover that he is not hammering the person who wounded us.

Concerning unforgiveness, the apostle Paul counsels us, “Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil” (Eph.4:26-27, ESV). This verse reveals several things. First of all, we can experience anger and not sin. Perhaps, our anger is a righteous anger such as the anger Jesus demonstrated in the temple when he was turning over the tables of the moneychangers. Perhaps, it is just the normal human experience of anger welling up within us when we feel threatened or betrayed. There is a point, however, in which our failure to manage our anger becomes sin.

Our experience of anger becomes sin when we take the next steps of retaliating against the person who wounded us or when we choose to nurture our anger to keep it alive. We forget that Paul had some experience with the kind of rage that begins to take control of a person. As Saul of Tarsus, he was not just attempting to discourage false doctrines about Jesus of Nazareth from arising within the Jewish community. Rather, he was described as one who was “breathing out threats and slaughter” against the church (see Acts 9:1). He was the one who coordinated the stoning of Stephen in Acts 7, without any evidence of remorse. Saul was a man who was full of rage and obsessed with the destruction of Jewish people who simply had come to believe that Jesus was the Messiah. Before his encounter with Jesus, Saul was not a righteous man trying to defend truth, but an angry man filled with rage against people he had never met. He was in bondage to his anger in the same way that Mary Ellen was in bondage to hers.

We are also told that we should not let the sun go down on our anger. In other words, deal with it in short order. Don’t even go to bed until you have dealt with it as Jesus would. Why? Because…any kind of prolonged unforgiveness gives the devil an opportunity to establish a beachhead in our hearts. Some of the older translations say that we must not “give the devil a foothold.” The Greek word is “topos” and means a position, a sanctuary, or some standing in our lives. When we refuse to forgive or keep putting it off, we come into agreement with Satan. All Adam and Eve did was to come into agreement with Satan. Whatever we agree with, we give authority in our lives and you never want Satan to have any authority in your life.

Many Christians are not living a spiritually abundant life nor are they making progress in their faith or their freedom because they have chosen not to extend forgiveness to someone in their life. They unknowingly have given Satan a foothold that has probably become a silent stronghold over the years. A satanic stronghold is not typically the stuff that The Exorcist was made of where the presence of demons is totally weird, extreme, and unmistakable. Typically, strongholds manifest as compelling, persistent thought patterns that, in the case of anger, keep anger alive and provide total justification for continuing in our unforgiveness.

From these strongholds, the devil tells us that our case is the exception to the commands and warnings of Jesus about a refusal to forgive. He convinces us that our case is so extreme that it is not the kind of thing Jesus was talking about when he insisted on forgiving our enemies or he convinces us that we have been hurt so deeply that it is impossible for us to forgive. Because it is impossible, Jesus will give us a pass on that command. He will go on to convince us that our anger is righteous and just because to forgive would let evil people off the hook or excuse their behavior altogether. He will also tell is that our anger and unforgiveness is the very thing that protects us from more hurt and, therefore, is both necessary and justified.

The problem is that Jesus gave no exceptions to the rule and demonstrated the “no exception” clause on the cross when he asked the Father to forgive those who had just betrayed, beaten, and crucified him. What we must understand is that forgiveness is primarily for us, not for those who have wounded us. Forgiveness frees our heart from bitterness, from the past, and from those who would continue to hurt us. Forgiveness keeps the devil out and keeps us from poisoning our own wells. Forgiveness opens the door to God’s blessings in our lives and aligns our hearts with the heart of Jesus. Justice will be done. God will deal with those unrepentant individuals who go through life harming others whether you have forgiven them or not. If they are not right with God, he will deal with them. The bigger question is always whether or not we are right with God.

Forgiveness frees, heals, and makes reconciliation possible when it would bless all parties. It is the ultimate chance to trust God by doing the very thing that seems most risky and trusting him to bless and protect us in our obedience. It is the ultimate measure of how aligned our hearts are with his. The first step to forgiveness is acknowledging that there are no “exception clauses” for us, no justification to ignore his command, and that God only asks us to do those things that bless us. After that, we can receive God’s help in fulfilling his commands.

From the fruit of his lips a man is filled with good things as surely as the work of his hands rewards him. Proverbs 12:14

The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied. Proverbs 13:4

The two passages above from the Book of Proverbs should be a point of reflection for every believer. They both relate to blessings and prosperity in the life of an individual – especially an individual in a covenant relationship with God. I have often spoken of the power of our words in this blog and the first scripture above relates directly to that. Most of us are convinced of the value of hard work in producing financial blessings and provision. There are numerous proverbs that attest to that truth and the truth that laziness leads to poverty. For the most part, if you work hard you will prosper and enjoy the fruit of your labors. But the above proverb also speaks about the fruit of our lips.

The idea that our spoken words produce fruit is an important concept in a world where talk is cheap and abundant and people are incredibly loose with their lips. And yet, scripture attests to the fact that our words produce consequences. As the Word of God is compared to seed that grows, our own words possess that dynamic as well. What we speak bears fruit in both the natural and spiritual realms.

In the natural, our words prompt either positive or negative responses from those around us. They can engender trust and draw people to us or push people away. Our words also establish ways of thinking that get physically imprinted on our brains (neural pathways) so that we tend to see life through the mindset we have established. If it is a positive, faith-filled mindset then we are in a good place. If it is a doubt-filled, bitter, and pessimistic outlook on life then I will simply not see the blessings of God that come my way. Our words have great power in establishing those neural pathways that become our filters for life.

Thoughts will come to us from a number of sources – our own subconscious, the world that is trying to seduce us, the Holy Spirit or even the devil. Each of these sources introduces thoughts into our minds. When we have a thought and express it in words, we come into agreement with that thought. Whatever we come into agreement with, we empower. Whatever we empower, wields great influence in our lives. Even in the natural world, our words produce fruit that we will have to live with.

But beyond the natural, our words produce fruit in the spiritual realm. Because we have authority, our words activate the spiritual realm to fulfill the words that we speak. When our thoughts and words focus on our brokenness, we inadvertently come into agreement with Satan and he empowers those words to produce even more emotional brokenness within us. Our words are seeds that produce fruit after their own kind.

When a couple begins to throw around words about divorce and the failure of their marriage, they open the door for the enemy to come in and produce the fruit of those words. On the contrary, when we speak life over our marriage, faith over our children, provision over our finances, health over our bodies, and so forth, then those words bring us into agreement with the Father’s promises and that fruit begins to be borne in our lives.

The second proverb quoted above is also interesting. It relates diligence to the richness, not of a bank account, but of a man’s soul. Diligence is constant, thorough work. The constant, thorough work that brings richness to a soul is time in the word, prayer, obedience, and a constant conversation that agrees with the thoughts and promises of God. The fruit of conversation that is seasoned with faith and the truth of God’s word is a rich soul that then produces increased faith, peace, and health for every believer.

John offers an interesting prayer in his third letter that relates to this principle as well. “Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers” (3 Jn.2). John tells us that our provision (finances and relationships) and health are directly related to the condition of our souls. A healthy or rich soul depends on diligence in feeding our spirit and in speaking life giving words over others and ourselves – words that agree with heaven, not with this world or with hell. As our soul is enriched and prospers then even our health, relationships, and provision will increase as well. God has established a direct link between our richness of soul and our prosperity and health.

When we are in alignment with the Father, we choose and speak words that agree with his truth and promises and those words bear fruit in our souls, which, in turn, determines our words which the bear more fruit. It is a spiritual cycle represented in nature – the seed produces the plant which produces the fruit which produces more seed which produces more plants, more fruit, more seeds, etc.

As an external manifestation of the condition of our soul, we will experience health, peace, loving relationships, financial provision, favor with men, and so forth because words that pour forth from a healthy soul will engage heaven in producing those things in our lives.   Be vigilant with your words – those you speak over others and yourself – because every word is a seed that has the potential to bear sweet, nourishing fruit or rotten, poisonous fruit in our lives. May you prosper today even as your soul prospers. Blessings in Him.

Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them. Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:6-9)

[We buried two amazing Christian friends this past weekend who died tragically.  I believe God pointed me to this verse for my heart and, perhaps, for the hearts of others who are wounded by this loss.]

There are times when we have to choose to be strong and courageous. We have to choose it because the enemy has just knocked us down. The book of Joshua opens with the death of Moses. Think about the loss of that lone figure who faced down Pharaoh, led the nation of Israel through the Red Sea, stood on the mountain with God, pleaded for rebellious Israel when God would destroy them and start over, led them through the wilderness for forty years, brought water from the rock, and spoke face-to-face with God every day. For those who had been children when they left Egypt, he was the only leader they had ever known. He was such a figure and so esteemed by God that they must have felt that he was eternal, that he would never die. In fact, we are told that at the age of 120, “his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone” (Dt.34:7). And yet, he did die. The Israelites grieved for thirty days and then God told Joshua to get ready to take the land he had promised to them.

We often think of these great men and women of the Bible as superheroes, full of resolve and never doubting, but they were flesh and blood just like us. They had their weaknesses, their doubts, their moments of failure, and fear just like we do. Suddenly, Joshua must have felt the weight of leadership like never before. Up to that moment, he simply carried out orders that came from the lips of Moses. It was Moses who had to hear from God. Now he had to hear correctly. Would the people accept him as their leader? Now he had to lead, knowing that not everyone would cast their vote for him if it were decided by election. There had always been  opponents of Moses, how much more might they oppose him? And then there was the enemy across the river. They still had to face warring people with fortified cities. The Nephilim were still in the land. Israel was still no nation of military might and strategy. They were mostly nomads who had wandered the wilderness for forty years until they buried their parents. Very few had any experience in warfare.

Three times, in these three verses, God tells Joshua to be strong and courageous. The reason was simple – God would be with him and God was determined that his people would inherit the land God had promised to Abraham and to them. Joshua had many reasons to doubt his calling, to doubt his leadership, and, perhaps, to doubt that he was even hearing from God. I know there must have been moments when he had to engage his will to believe, to be strong and courageous, and to take the land God had promised. Undoubtedly, Satan was not absent from those moments. He had been in the camp since Israel left Egypt sowing fear and discord, golden calves, and rebellion. Surely he was there when Joshua was given his commission planting doubt and accusation in his mind.

There are always two trees in our garden. One is the Tree of Life, which we access by faith; the other is the tree of death that bears the fruit of Satan’s lies. We have to choose which tree we will tend and from which tree we will eat. God called Joshua to feed on his word and his commandments for life flows from those. God called Joshua to meditate on his promises and on the purposes that God had established for his people. He called on Joshua to meditate on the very nature of God and who God had been for his people for forty years.

From that focus comes strength and courage. If you think about it, the odds of success were the same for Israel crossing the Jordan this time, as they were when Israel balked at crossing the river forty years earlier. Reason would say they were still out-manned and out-gunned. Faith said that the same God, who broke the back of Pharaoh, would do the same with the enemies of Israel that occupied their land.

God always defies human reason. Faith grabs hold of that and even when the enemy gets a punch in, the strong and courageous get back on their feet with an assurance that one punch does not settle the fight. They get back on their feet with a determination to finish the task that God has given them because he had promised to never leave them or forsake them and to give them victory in the end.

God’s call on our lives seems light and bright when everything is going our way, meeting our expectations, and making sense to us. But there will be times when the enemy gets in a punch and, perhaps, even knocks us to the canvas gasping for air.   If we are shaken by the experience of that blow getting by our defenses, believe that God has forsaken us, or that the enemy is too strong, we will certainly loose. If we rise up, however, more determined than ever to believe God for the victory he has promised and to hit back even harder, then we will lead our people to inherit the land God has promised them. We will fulfill our commission.

Some days, in the face of disappointment, loss, tragedy, weariness, and uncertainty there is a part of us that feels defeated and, perhaps, even wants to give up. We, like Elijah, just want to run and hide. That is when we must hear God’s whisper, “Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them. Be strong and very courageous… Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” So, whatever you are facing or feeling today, decide to be strong and courageous for he is surely with us. Catch your breath, feed on the Tree of Life, soak in the Word, bathe your heart in praise, and rise up more determined that ever to push ahead. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

(2 Cor.10:4-5)

This is a key passage for those who engage in spiritual warfare and whether we know it or not, we are all engaged in battles with the spiritual realm. Paul’s declaration to the church at Corinth reveals that the primary battle fought against the enemy is waged first in the arena of our thought life. The battle is waged against thoughts and beliefs that are contrary to God’s truth. The fact that these thoughts are not just the rumblings of our own intellect or imaginations is suggested by the need for divine weapons to take them captive. A key thought is that these lies and misbeliefs can exist as strongholds.

Strongholds are fortifications in which the enemy hides and finds sanctuary. In this context, the implication is that the enemy (demonic forces) hides and finds sanctuary in our thought life when our thoughts are not aligned with God. There is a principle that we empower whatever we agree with. When we agree with the enemy in our thoughts and perspectives we give him a place in our lives and empower him. Our misaligned thoughts invite the enemy and once he has found a place with us, he works to reinforce the lies we already believe. Those lies become strongholds that eventually enslave us.

Mental strongholds or systems of false beliefs function in two ways. First of all, Satan labors to destroy our identity. His goal is to convince us that we are defective, insignificant, and unlovable. He fills us with insecurity and fear and convinces us that even God can’t love us. Without a sense of God’s love we feel orphaned and on our own. Our sense of defectiveness and insignificance drives us to medicate our fears and emptiness with whatever the world offers. Our drugs-of-choice (alcohol, sedatives, gambling, porn, food, recreation, etc.) become perpetual God-substitutes in our life.

The second function of strongholds for the enemy is to draw us out and away from the will of God. Scripture declares that God is our strength and our shield. He is our strong tower. But if we wander out of his will and stay there, we become vulnerable to the enemy. We become vulnerable in our thinking. Satan first draws us away from the person of God through our misbelief that he can’t or won’t love us and care for us. Then he draws us away from his will. Once we are living outside of God’s will, in part or in whole, the destructive consequences of our actions also begin to take their toll. Paul warned us that if we sow to the flesh we reap destruction (Gal.6:8). We also continue to empower the enemy as we agree with him. That is how people, including Christians, become demonized. The demonic establishes a hiding place in our thought life and in our imaginations that begins to take control of part of our thought life. That part begins to influence all of our emotions and decision-making. Over time, he will gradually take more control over our thoughts until he controls great sections of our lives.

We cannot afford to think or speak in ways that are misaligned with the Father. His word, his perspectives, and his promises are truth. Jesus said that you will know the truth and truth will set you free. It will also keep you from being enslaved in the first place. Most Christians pay attention to their behaviors but not to their thought life. And yet, Paul instructs us to take every thought captive to Jesus. Whenever you assert God’s truth and continually find something within you pushing back strongly against that truth while giving you fifty reasons why it isn’t true for you, a stronghold is indicated. The truth of God along with the divine weapons of prayer, authority, and deliverance are in order. When you have broken that stronghold, then keep every thought aligned with the Father’s by making quick course corrections as you find yourself wandering from his truth. Paul tells us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Rom.12:2). A renewed mind is one that is fully aligned with God’s truth.

As our mind comes into alignment with the Spirit of God who longs to lead us into all truth, we are transformed. When we are transformed, the enemy can find no place in us. Watch your thoughts today and be blessed in Him.

Most believers do not practice agreement between themselves and the work of the Holy Spirit. They can be soulish, led mostly by their feelings, and heavily influenced by rationale thinking. They do not live by the Spirit because they usually use logic to talk themselves out of the spiritual dimension. But God rarely employs a logical plan. Often, He tells us things that simply do not make rational sense. While it resonates with the inner man of our spirit, it offends the soulish nature of our own mind. Our brain then spends the next few minutes talking us out if the plan. (Graham Cooke, Manifesting Your Spirit, p.27; Brilliant Book House).

I have to agree with Mr. Cooke. I know what he says is true because I have often experienced it in my own heart and I suspect that you have as well. We want to think of our faith as rational because our culture and even the church values what is rationale, logical, and scientific. But think about it. How rational is sending a wanted criminal back to Egypt at the age of 80 to lead a nation out of bondage? How logical is it to command an army to march around a walled city for seven days without saying a word and them to simply blow trumpets to bring down a massive stone wall? How logical was it for a young shepherd with no training and no armor to charge an armored veteran who stood nine feet tall with a slingshot? How rational was it for Jesus to raise the dead, impart sight to the blind, walk on the Sea of Galilee, and submit to utter defeat to secure victory?

It’s not that we have no hard evidence for the reality of our faith and the historical Jesus, but kingdom principles are usually in opposition to the principles of the world. In the kingdom, the first shall be last, the servant of all will be the greatest, the meek shall inherit the earth, and we are to give more away than we are being sued for. God doesn’t operate by earthly principles or perspectives but our rational minds do when they have not been renewed.

Paul instructs us not to conform to the patterns of this world but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Rom.12:2). To have a “renewed” mind means that we have learned to think as the Holy Spirit thinks. We think first in kingdom terms rather than in the natural realm. We exercise spiritual logic rather than our unrenewed logic and we don’t let our natural man talk us out of our Spirit-led impulses.

Agreeing with God begins by acknowledging that his ways are higher and more authoritative than our own and that we are ultimately spiritual people who need to live fully by spiritual principles. The Holy Spirit should rule over our thought processes rather than our natural man ruling over the Spirit’s leading. Then we should get busy learning God’s perspectives on every crisis, every challenge, and everything we encounter. We should then make a decision to begin to say what God says about those things, regardless of how illogical or unscientific it may sound to those who are not led by the Spirit of God. We should then ask the Holy Spirit to give us a revelation of those truths at a heart level so that God’s truth frees us from the narrow range of possibilities we perceive with our natural mind. Remember, Jesus said that all things are possible with God.

Agreeing with God is what unlocks the heavenly realm for us. It will be a process. We will agree with God on some things but then discover our faith failed as our natural minds overcame the leading of the Spirit. When that happens, repent and move on with a greater determination to believe God for all things. As we move into 2016, I encourage you to make this your Year of Agreement! May you be richly blessed in this coming year!

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. (Phil.4:8)

In his letter to the church at Philippi, Paul encourages us to evaluate and choose what we think about, what we ponder, and what we entertain on the big screen of our imagination.  In other words, be intentional about everything…even your thought life. Everything we think about, focus on, or entertain in our minds leaves an impression on our brain and in our soul. The theological term for intentional or prolonged thinking about an issue, a principle, or an experience is meditation. Scripture mentions that process frequently.

Speaking of Isaac, the son of Abraham, we are told, “He went out to the field one evening to meditate, and as he looked up, he saw camels approaching” (Gen.24:63). Isaac had intentionally set time aside in the evening to meditate, to think about things, to mentally process his day and his relationships. After the death of Moses, the Lord spoke to Joshua and commanded him, “Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful” (Jos.1:8). David prayed, “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer” (Ps.19:44; See also Ps.1:2, 48:9, 63:6, 77:12, 119:5, 143:5).

Meditation is a way to intentionally understand experiences, expand our understanding of people and events, reinforce positive thoughts, grasp biblical truths, establish God-directed goals, and deepen relational values in our heart and mind. For the believer, it is a time set aside to hear the Holy Spirit lead him into truth and shape his life and character. It is also a great way to detox spiritually, at the end of a day, after you have encountered hurtful people and slogged through a sin-soaked culture. What you think about most often, what you reflect on frequently, what you consider and process in your mind will rule the day in your heart.

The psalmists mention several things about which they frequently meditated: God’s creation, God’s wonderful and miraculous acts, their personal history with God – his blessings and faithfulness, the Word of God, and God himself. The apostle Paul would add, “whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things” (Phil. 4:8). He also tells us, “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things” (Col.3:1-2). The writer of Hebrews layers on another dimension. “Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess” (Heb.3:1).

There may be more, but that is plenty to reflect on. Again, meditation is simply the act of intentionally thinking about, chewing on, reflecting, studying, talking about, praying about, etc. certain things you want to understand and get in your heart.

For us it is a dialogue with the Spirit, asking him to give us understanding, insight, revelation, and reinforcement of his truths and values in our life. In scripture, meditation seems to occur most often in the evening or during the “watches of the night.”   I tend to believe that the last things we focus on before falling asleep get the attention of our subconscious which continues to process those things during the night. When we invite the Holy Spirit to be involved in our sleep, we may receive truth we had never recognized before. “For God does speak—now one way, now another— though man may not perceive it. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on men as they slumber in their beds” (Job. 33:14-15).

Spending time in the evening reflecting on God, his truth, the goodness of Christ, his Word, etc. seems like a God-given way to detox spiritually from all the contaminates we have encountered during the day. Satan spends the day trying to pull us away from the truth of God, twisting it, and enticing us to agree with him rather than the Father. Meditation helps to realign our thoughts and feelings with the Lord and in doing so takes away places where the enemy might find a foothold. So much around us that we hear, see, and read – even unintentionally – defiles the temple of the Holy Spirit. An evening scrub with meditation will help to keep that temple a place where the Spirit can rest without offense.

As I examine the life of Jesus, everything seems so intentional. I suffer from being right-brained. Structure and concrete goals are not my style. Intentionality gives way to random responses to things I encounter during the day. I want to “get in the mood” before doing anything introspective and the mood is elusive. I’m working on consistent meditation. Writing this blog is a form of that but I want to lay in a godly habit of detoxing at the end of the day and inviting the Spirit to rule over my dreams and even the thoughts churned up by my subconscious. I believe meditation is one of God’s great divine weapons (2 Cor.10:4) and can make a huge difference as we follow Him. Perhaps, you’ll join me. Blessings in Him today.

I was sitting through a training on Christian life-coaching two days ago when the presenter, pastor David Houston, spoke about a self-help gospel that is so often preached in America these days. As he talked the Holy Spirit downloaded this phrase to me: “The gospel doesn’t promise a better you, it promises a new you.” I thought about that and it is absolutely true.

Jesus talked with Nicodemus about being “born again” (Jn.3:3) as if we don’t just receive a course correction when we come to Jesus but, rather, we start over entirely with a whole new set of potentials and a new nature.   Paul said, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come” (2 Cor. 5:17). Too many of us view ourselves as being somewhat upgraded rather than transformed. We think of ourselves as struggling sinners saved by grace rather than God’s ordained representatives on the earth. “Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen” (Rev. 1:5-6, KJV).

Many of us grew up singing the classic hymn, At the Cross, by Isaac Watts. The first verse says, “Alas! and did my Savior bleed? And did my Sov’reign die? Would He devote that sacred head,  For such a worm as I?” If Isaac was referring to our state before the cross, he might be correct. If he was referring to those who have already been saved, then he was miles from the truth. I have heard many sermons announcing our state as believers as still worm-like, arguing that the only difference between us and the unsaved is that we are forgiven. I’m sure those messages were an effort to keep us from being self-righteous and to help us maintain our humility – but they were wrong.

We are new creations as different from the worm as the butterfly is from the caterpillar. We know that transformation in nature as metamorphosis. In his letter to the Romans, Paul commands us to no longer conform to the patterns of this world but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Rom.12:2). The Greek word that is translated as transformed is metamorpho. In addition to this verse, that word shows up in several other New Testament passages:

And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. (2 Cor. 3:18)

But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,             who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. (Phil. 3:20-21)

There he was transfigured (transformed) before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. (Mt. 17:2)

In each of these verses, the referenced change is radical change. Some word study guru’s suggest that the term implies a glory or a nature from within, finding expression on the outside. On the Mount of Transfiguration (same word that is translated as transformation), it is as if the glory of Christ’s spirit in the eternal realm, suddenly manifested in the natural realm. Our transformation suggests that the change that has taken place in our spiritual nature, is to make itself known in the natural realm – Christ in us, being seen and experienced through us.

Since that is true, we are not worms nor broken sinners that are merely forgiven, but carriers of God’s Spirit, his glory, and his eternal promises. We are children of God, ambassadors of the King, Messiah’s inheritance, citizens of heaven, his holy ones, priests of the Most High God, and personal friends of the Commander of the Armies of Heaven. That’s not a bad resume. When we came to Christ, our status in heaven was changed from sinner to all of that and more.

If we hold on to our old, pre-salvation identity we will progress very little for “as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Prov.23:7, KJV). As we recognize and acknowledge our transformed status, our condition will begin to align with our position…from glory to glory. Paul reflects on that change in his letter to the church at Corinth. “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor.6:9-11).

Notice the past tense. And that is what some of you were. By the work of the Holy Spirit, these men and women had been changed, their very nature altered. There were not who they once were but were radically different. Their status had been changed as well as their identity. They were not just “drunkards” whose sins had been forgiven. They had been transformed. They were someone else.

I think 12-step programs have done a great deal of good in the world but they tend to deny that the very heart and nature of a person can change. Even if a person has been sober for 15 years, the introduction is still, “Hi, I’m Bill and I’m an alcoholic.” I know some former alcoholics who were delivered from that bondage by God and they are no longer alcoholics. They don’t just manage the addiction, they are free from the addiction. Transformation has taken place.

If you struggle as a follower of Jesus, you may want to spend some considerable time meditating on who you are in Christ. Don’t worry that you don’t feel like you are those things. If God says you are, then you are and you need to say that you are. His truth does not depend on your feelings to be true. We are all of those things in his eyes and his Spirit will help us begin to see ourselves in the same way if we will take hold of those truths. If you are a follower of Jesus, you have standing in heaven is much more than any president, celebrity, billionaire, dictator, athlete, or supermodel. Get that in your heart and everything changes. Continued blessings in Him!