Some of us relish the idea of being “different” or unique – the one standing out in the crowd. Others of us like to blend in and avoid being a center of attention. But the truth is that if you are a follower of Jesus, you are already different from all other people groups on the globe. You are set apart and unique and you need to not only get comfortable with the idea but also celebrate it.

God expressed his intent for a such a relationship when he spoke to Israel, saying, “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession. The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples.            But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your forefathers that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt” (Deut. 7:6-8).

God declared this over Israel after he had delivered them from Egypt, but they experienced their position with God while in Egypt. After Moses had returned to Egypt to demand the release of God’s people, Pharaoh refused to let the Hebrews go. In response to Pharaoh’s refusal, God released ten plagues on the nation. It seems that the Hebrews experienced the first three just as the Egyptians did – the Nile was turned to blood, frogs infested the land, and gnats filled the air. The next scheduled plague was flies. However, God announced to Pharaoh, “On that day, I will deal differently with the land of Goshen (a province of Egypt, explanation added), where my people live. No swarms of flies will be there so that you will know that I, the Lord, am in this land. I will make a distinction between my people and your people” (Ex.8:22-23). The remainder of the plagues devastated the Egyptians but not God’s people. Even when darkness covered the land, there was light in Goshen. When the final plague took the firstborn of every person and animal, the Hebrews and their livestock were spared.

Later, in the days of Ezekiel when Israel had rebelled against the Lord for years, a subgroup within the larger population was set aside as unique to the Lord. “Now the glory of the God of Israel went up from above the cherubim, where it had been, and moved to the threshold of the temple. Then the Lord called to the man clothed in linen who had the writing kit at his side and said to him, ‘Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it.’     As I listened, he said to the others, ‘Follow him through the city and kill, without showing pity or compassion. Slaughter old men, young men and maidens, women and children, but do not touch anyone who has the mark’” (Ezek. 9:3-6). In this context, God was forced to judge Israel for it’s rebellion, but even in the midst of this judgment, God marked those who had been faithful so that his judgment did not touch them. In the same vein, in the Book of Revelation during the great tribulation, God told his angels, “Do not harm the land or sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of God” (Rev.7:3). Two chapters later, God spoke to scorpions that had been released for judgment and said, “not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their forehead” (Rev. 9:4).

God marks his people and treats them differently from all other people on the earth because he has chosen them. The apostle Paul continued the theme of being set apart from all creation by God when he says of Christ followers, “Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come” (2 Cor. 1:21-22). Paul says in another place, “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory” (Eph.1:13-14). Peter put it this way. “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light” (1 Pet.2:9).

As a believer in Jesus Christ, you are different. You walk around with the presence of God (the Holy Spirit) within you. You have been born again and made into a new creation. You are primarily a spiritual person rather than a physical or natural person. You are loved, chosen, marked, and elevated above all creation. You are so honored in Christ that Paul even says that you will judge angels (1 Cor. 6:3). You are a royal priest – anointed with the Spirit to offer praise, prayers and service to the King of the universe. Only priests minister in the presence of God. No one else has that kind of access. In the spiritual realm you are clearly marked as one belonging to God. His judgment will not touch you and you will be treated differently – as sons and daughters of the King.

You are different. You are chosen. You should at all times anticipate blessing and favor. You should not be proud but confident and thankful. You should expect significant spiritual assignments that mirror your significance as God’s anointed representative on the earth. One of Satan’s primary strategies is to deny who you are in Christ so that you might deny who you are in Christ. If you deny your identity, you will not live up to the privilege you have in Jesus. You will not walk in your inheritance and you will not fulfill your destiny. It is imperative that you know who you are; accept that you are different; and live up to that difference. With every thought, say what God says about you, call the devil a liar, and be blessed today in your difference.

Some of the newest genetic research is revealing the impact of environment and decisions we make on our own genetic structures. This influence on genes is called epigenetics and science is discovering that what we are exposed to or expose ourselves to not only affects our brain structure but actually turns on and turns off certain genes. This effect on genes can also be passed on to our children. What that means is that our children are not born into this world as blank slates ready to be written upon. They bring with them certain predispositions for certain behaviors and probably attitudes that they inherit from parents. What the parents chose to involve themselves in or expose themselves to impacts what is passed on to their children at a genetic level.

In practical terms, if a parent exposes himself to years of pornography, his child will likely have a predisposition toward pornography or addiction at a genetic, cellular level which means that his child may have a real vulnerability or attraction toward that sin as he or she grows up. On the other hand, if a parent exposes himself or herself to the word of God and practices godliness, a child of that parent will have a genetic predisposition toward godliness and will be drawn toward the things and people of God. Epigenetics is in its early stages but research is strongly pointing towards these realities. It means that not just physical characteristics are passed on to children but also behaviors and attitudes may be passed on as well.

This research adds a dimension to God’s declaration in Exodus 20 that the sins of the fathers will be passed down to the children to the third and fourth generations. This verse stands not as a judgment but a warning that what we do will affect who our children are. It’s not that our sin and brokenness cannot be overcome by the blood of the Lamb, but that our destructive and sinful behaviors do not just affect us but our children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren as well. Our sins cannot only establish neural pathways that create habits and addictions in our own brains, but make our children vulnerable to the same destructive impulses. That should be a motivation for godly living.

This new research, which simply confirms what many of us suspected anyway, helps to explain why certain scriptures state that God does not punish one person for another’s sins or the children for the sins of the parents and yet other scriptures say that the sins of the fathers are visited upon the children. God is not punishing the children but warning us that in some way our sins are passed on to the children.   We know that demonic spirits are given legal rights to family lines through the unrepented sins of “the fathers” but now science is also confirming that our sins or our righteousness affect them at the deepest levels of their genetic makeup.

However, since environments turn on or turn off certain genes, it stands to reason that repentance and a change of lifestyle can also change us at a genetic level so that our predispositions can lose power over us and our children. God is brilliant and has called us to the behaviors that give life not only to ourselves but our descendants. As this research progresses, I am confident that the words we speak will be classified as part of the environment that shapes the expression of our genes. The tongue has the power of life and death. Science does not replace God but simply continues to reveal his wisdom and confirm that he understands our inner workings so well that he must indeed, be the designer and creator of man.

Make good choices today for your sake and the sake of your children and their children! Blessings in Him.

We often talk about the power of words. God spoke and his very words carried the power to create a universe – something out of nothing. He also declares that when his words go forth they always fulfill his purpose. We are made in his image and although that image has been diminished by sin our words still have power. “The tongue has the power of life and death…” (Prov.18:21)

Jesus challenges us. He came as a man, not as God, and by his words the lame walked, the blind gained their sight, the deaf heard, the mute spoke, the dead were raised, and demons were dismissed. Jesus spoke and heaven empowered his words – usually blessings but at least one fig tree felt the sting of a curse and died. Then Jesus said that those who believed in him would do the things that he had done and, in fact, would do even greater things. Our words also carry authority and direct power in the spiritual realm.

In one sense, we have no power and authority other than that which comes from Jesus through the Holy Spirit. Some would say that our words have no power or authority at all unless Jesus agrees with what we say each time we say it. If we command demons then it is really Jesus who is standing next to us and commanding. That picture is like a little boy who sees a bully suddenly run away thinking that he has intimidated the bully when, in fact, big brother had just walked up behind him and the bully was actually afraid of him not the little brother.   There is some truth in that view. We operate in the authority of Jesus not our own, but we carry His authority to be exercised at our discretion.

Just before healing the lame man, Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk” (Acts 3:6). Notice that Peter did not say, “I’ll pray and ask Jesus to see whether he will choose to heal you or not.” He said. “What I have, I give you.” What he had or possessed was power and authority to heal. It was delegated by Jesus and empowered by heaven but that power was released at Peter’s discretion. The words of a believer have power because we have delegated authority and are released at our discretion. Sometimes we get a direct word from the Lord to speak something but most of the time we are using our own discretion.

Because of that, James warns that our mouths should be sources of blessings and not curses because our words matter. Jesus tells us to bless even our enemies and Paul commands the church to bless those who persecute us…bless and not curse. God’s people should be constant sources of blessings because blessings release good into the world and the world certainly needs more good.

Think about it. By your words today, you can release health, peace, prosperity, life and healing into a world of darkness. You can direct the very blessings of heaven by your words and at your discretion. I like what John Ortberg has to say about blessing as he quotes
Dallas Willard. “ There are two great words in the Bible…that describe the postures of our soul toward other people. One is to bless. The other is to curse. We are people with wills and in every encounter with other people we will what is good for them or we fail to do so: we will what is bad. We cannot help ourselves. Blessing is not just a word. Blessing is the projection of good into the life of another. We must think it, and feel it, and will it” (Ortberg, Soul Keeping, p.153).

Ortberg goes on to say that true blessing is done by the soul. True blessing that carries weight and authority is not a phrase thrown out when someone sneezes – God bless you! It is something that comes from deep within us with heart and conviction. Then we release the power of heaven for blessing. The power to bless is to be stewarded like the King’s money. It is to be used for the good of people with intentionality not just tossed around in the streets for anyone to pickup. True blessing is an expression of God’s grace which every soul on earth craves.

Blessing can be conveyed not just with words but even with actions and gestures. You know when you have been loved and you know when you have been rejected. You know when you have been affirmed and you know when you have been disrespected. In other words, you know when you have been blessed and cursed by someone else’s soul. Dallas Willard said that we are so sensitive to words and actions because our souls were made to be blessed and cannot survive without it. Broken people reflect broken souls and broken hearts. Jesus made us vessels of blessing to facilitate the healing of both. Lets remember who we are today and what one of our primary directives for living is…bless and not curse. Make a decision today to speak some kind of blessing today into the life of every person you meet and when you say it, mean it. And for starters, let me bless you….

The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. (Numbers 6:24-26)

A number of years ago a young single woman named Cheree (not her real name) came to my office wanting to talk about some spiritual issues in her life. She was not a member of our congregation but had attended several events at our church and I had gotten to know her by name. She was a schoolteacher, very bright, and very faithful in her church.

I asked her what she wanted to talk about and she told me immediately that God didn’t seem to be answering her prayers anymore. She was frustrated and confused. Cheree told me that she had always had a powerful prayer life and was used to God answering her prayers in amazing ways but over the past few months she felt as if her prayers were just hitting the ceiling and falling to the floor. She was concerned about the shift in her spiritual life and hoped I had some insights that might help her get back on track.

I asked Cheree what she had been praying for lately that was seemingly not getting through to God. I was prepared to talk about God’s timing and his working behind the scenes and not to be discouraged but to keep asking, seeking, and knocking. But then Cheree told be what her prayer focus had been lately. Without hesitating she told me that she had been involved with a married man for several years. Her prayer had been that he would leave his wife and children and marry her so they could live happily ever after. Okay… for a moment I was grasping for a pastorally professional response. Cheree was bewildered with God and frustrated because he was not answering her heart-felt pleas.

After a moment, I asked Cherie why she thought God should answer that particular prayer. She then stated a theological position that I suspect many of us subscribe to from time to time. She said, “God should answer my prayer because he wants me to be happy and that would make me happy.” We talked about her theology and went on to explore the meaning of adultery and God’s unwillingness to participate in our sin while leaving a wife and three small children abandoned. It was interesting to watch the lights come on when we talked about her sin. It was as if Cheree had never considered the implications of her desires. For her it felt good so it must be good.

Cheree was also operating on an unstated premise that God’s sole commitment to us is to make us happy. In the kingdom of God, however, holy must come before happy and sanctified must come before satisfied. Paul tells us, “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son” (Rom.8:29). God’s primary commitment to us is not to make us happy, as we understand it in our immaturity, but to make us into the image of Jesus. Being “conformed” usually requires some bending, shaping, stretching, and sometimes hammering. Like diamonds it involves time, pressure, heat and often a Father’s discipline. Ultimately, the work of God in our lives will bring happiness but it rarely comes in the form we first imagined.

The idea that if God loves me he will give me everything I want is very childlike – not in the good sense of innocent and trusting, but in the self-centered sense of a two-year old demanding his way and being angry at his parent if he doesn’t get it. If we are honest, we all have a bit of a two-year old inside of us. God works on us with an eternal perspective while we tend to operate in the here and now and seek immediate gratification even in spiritual things. Sometimes we do get that immediate answer and an amazing miracle where God manifests his goodness for us in a singular event. But more often God manifests in a process that takes time and even effort on our part.

That is because process is usually more formative than an event or even an impartation because process develops character. I remember Renee, the wife of a former senior pastor at Mid-Cities, saying with a laugh, “ I don’t want to have to work for it, I just want an impartation.” We all laughed, but secretly I’m with her – I just want an impartation. But God is wiser than that. Too often, if God were to give us the desire of our heart as soon as we asked for it, we would not have the character to manage the gift or the blessing. We would mess it up or misuse it.

So, does God want us to be happy? Yes, God wants us to be happy but not just for a brief season until “the new” wears off of our latest toy. He wants us to possess joy and possess happiness but that comes after the shaping and the molding of our hearts. I’m not saying you shouldn’t ask for what you desire but first of all examine that desire of your heart to see if it lines up with God’s values and purposes. Ask him to reveal the areas of growth he wants to work on next in your life and invite him to do the work and cooperate when he does it.

God is a great coach. When I ran track in high school, what I wanted and what would make me happy on a daily basis was an easy workout, finishing early, and a pat on the back for a job not done. That would make me happy in the short run but that happiness would quickly fade. The coach had something else in mind – the joy that would come from winning the race at the next meet and the race after that and the race after that. The joy and satisfaction that would come from a career of winning with medals in the display case would far out weight the happiness of an easy workout. So…we didn’t get easy workouts. We went home late not early and there was always one more lap.

There is a cost to lasting happiness. So when God says no or not yet don’t despise him. When you face hardships that are not quickly settled but that you must endure, know that God is making you into a champion who will one day possess joy and happiness rather than always seeking it in the “next new thing” you desire. Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us (Heb.12:1).

When his disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray, he began with a relatively revolutionary idea – Our Father in heaven. For the most part, Jewish theological thought viewed God as the one whose name should not be spoken and whose presence in the Holy of Holies was as dangerous as it was glorious. He was seen as the Holy Judge of all the earth and the destroyer of the enemies of Israel. He was the thunder and flame on Sinai and the earthquake swallowing up the sons of Korah.

But Jesus spoke to the Father in familiar and intimate terms and encouraged every believer to do the same. That must have been a difficult paradigm shift for many. It still is. One of the great hindrances to receiving the promises and the power of the Holy Spirit is our view of God. When we ask God for healing, deliverance, favor, provision, and protection we often ask with a minimal expectation – more of a hope than a confident request. That presents a real dilemma when we know that whatever we ask for, believing that we have received it, will be ours (see Mark 11:24).  We hope he will answer our petitions, but we are not always confident that he will and that is a formula for few answered prayers.

Many of us have a difficult time believing that our Heavenly Father is willing, able, and eager to bless us, heal us, and deliver us from the power of the enemy. We still view him as a God who keeps careful records and who weighs our good moments against our bad to see if we have earned enough points to merit an answered prayer. We see him as a Father whose love is conditional, who is beyond understanding, and who may well visit pain and suffering on us to “perfect our spirituality.

So we pray, hoping for the best but not really expecting it. When we are sick we pray for healing but wonder if God actually wants us to be ill so that our faith in suffering glorifies him, purifies our soul, or has a purpose beyond our understanding. When we live with emotional pain and brokenness from our own bad choices we may see God as the Father who sternly remarks, “You made your bed, now you can lie in it.” Myriads of believers simply view their Heavenly Father as a distant replica of an earthly father who made promises he couldn’t keep, whose primary emotion was anger, or who was loving one day while distant and unpredictable the next.

When we have a mixed view of our Heavenly Father it is difficult to pray with faith or to pray at all. But prayer is the very thing that opens the valve so that the promises and the power of heaven can flow to us and through us. If we view God as distant, angry, or conditional then we will not pray at all (there’s no point in asking) or we will pray as if we have to convince, coerce, or nag God into blessing us.

So how do we understand this God who seems angry and vengeful in the Old Testament but is called “Abba” in the New Testament? John goes so far as to say that God is love and God is light. The key is Jesus. No matter how we understand the Old Testament or what kind of father we had on earth, Jesus clearly stated that when we have seen him we have seen the Father in heaven (see Jn.14:9).  If you want to know how much you are loved by the Father, look at the cross. If you want to know how God will deal with your sinful past, look at the Samaritan woman of John 4 and the woman caught in adultery in John 8. Ask yourself how many times Jesus turned down people who came to him for healing and how he dealt with Peter after Peter denied and abandoned Jesus in his hour of suffering.

According to Hebrews, Jesus is the radiance of God’s glory (the part of God’s goodness we can see) and the exact representation of the Father’s being (Heb. 1:3). When you see the heart of Jesus toward the broken and the suffering you see the heart of the Father. When you see the compassion of Christ toward the spiritually clueless you see the Father. When you see the anger and frustration of Jesus toward those who would deny the healing of God for the sick or who would drive sinners away rather than embrace them, you have seen the Father as well. The cross has allowed the love of God to overpower the judgment of God. And God is glad.

When you pray for the power of heaven to be released on your behalf, remember that the heart of the Father toward you is the same as the heart of Jesus. As loving fathers and mothers, we are not always so different from our heavenly Father. I always want the best for my children. When they were young and tumbled off their bikes, I ran to pick them up and bandaged their wounds. When they were afraid I comforted them. When they were confused I taught them. When they were in danger I protected them. When they laughed I laughed with them and when they did wrong I corrected them. All those things were motivated by love and, like most parents, I would have died to save my children.

Our heavenly Father did just that and is much more the loving Father and Mother than we could ever hope to be. When you pray, you can be certain that your Father in heaven is hearing and acting on your behalf. We can’t always know why we don’t see some prayers answered. There are mysteries yet to be understood. But we can always know the heart of our Heavenly Father toward us. If you have seen Jesus, you have seen the Father. If you have seen the cross you have seen his heart for you. Reflect on Jesus and his heart before you offer your next prayer. God is soooooooo for you!

Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign Lord. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live? Ezek.18:23

The people of the land practice extortion and commit robbery; they oppress the poor and needy and mistreat the alien, denying them justice. I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none. Ezek.22:29-30

One of the great lies of the enemy that keeps people from God is that God is a vengeful, angry deity sitting on a throne in heaven with a score pad just waiting to pour out his wrath on all those who fail to toe the line. Satan loves to paint God as the explosive, abusive father ready to backhand his kids at the slightest provocation. I believe that Satan whispered something akin to that view into the ears of Adam and Eve a millisecond after they sinned in The Garden. How else would you account for them running and hiding from a Father who had only ever shown them love?

However, that is not the God revealed in the Bible. But, you say, what about all the times he judged Israel and scattered them all over the world and what about the flood that wiped out every human being except for Noah’s little tour group on the ark? I didn’t say that God never judges unrighteousness. After all, he is holy. But what we need to understand is that it is never his heart to do so and it only comes after years of unrepented sin and constant warnings from the Lord.

Like a good father, he always wants what is best for his children. He gives them clear guidelines and spells out the consequences for disobedience long before discipline is ever administered. He does not punish weakness or ignorance but only rebellion and even then he tries to find another way.

In the two passages above, Ezekiel reveals the heart of God in these matters. God takes no delight in the death of the wicked but longs for them to repent so that he can forgive and bless. The book of Jonah revolves around Jonah being sent to Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, who was a sworn enemy of Israel. Assyria was cruel and brutal in its treatment of captives and, yet, before judging this city he sent a prophet to warn the people. When Jonah vehemently objected to God showing mercy to this nation God responded, “But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city” (Jonah 4:11)? Jonah preached, Nineveh repented, and God withheld judgment. If you look well, that is the pattern throughout the Old Testament. Even before the flood Noah preached repentance for 120 years and God did not open the heavens until “every imagination was evil all of the time”(Gen.6:5).

The second text quoted from Ezekiel is set in the context of Israel’s flagrant sin and rebellion against God that had gone on for years even though God had repeatedly sent prophets to turn their hearts back to Him. But even in the face of unrelenting rebellion God looked for a way to express mercy rather than judgment. His holiness required justice and judgment unless one could be found who would stand before him and plead for mercy on Israel’s behalf as Moses had done in the wilderness. But no one stood and no one interceded for Israel so God was forced to honor his people’s choices and send judgment though it was not his heart to do so. God reveals his heart plainly when he tells us, “Mercy triumphs over judgment” (Ja.2:13).

However, many believers still view God as the angry, stern father who begrudges his children anything beyond the bare essentials and who keeps a belt handy for the slightest infraction. To view God that way hinders everything about our walk with the Lord. If we see God that way we avoid him rather than running to him. We rarely ask in prayer because we think the answer is already “No!” When we do ask, we ask with little faith and pray as if we must persuade God to dispense the smallest of blessings.

But Jesus said, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (Jn.14:9). Jesus was hardly the angry prophet ready to punish every transgression but rather was the Lamb of God ready to forgive every transgression. Jesus was incredibly gentle with sinners and broken hearts and was quick to express love, heal hurts, and restore bodies ravaged by disease. It seems that his most frequent emotion identified in the gospels was compassion and instead of making us pay for our sins he paid the price for us. What we see in Jesus is the Father’s heart as well.

We need to know that. One of our greatest weapons is “believing-prayer,” but how can we believe unless we see the Father as a God quick to forgive, quick to love, and quick to say, “Yes?” How can we come before him with confidence unless we see him as a Father who loves to see us come into his presence even with our imperfections and failings? How can we draw close unless we see him as a Father who longs to put his arms around us even if we have been prodigals? If we can’t see God this way then Satan has sold us a bill of goods designed to keep us far from the one who loves us more than we can imagine. If that is the case, we need to quickly rethink our view of God and know this – God has a heart for you.

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.  For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. (Rom.8:14 -17, ESV).

What a reversal of thought from the former defender of the Law and zealous Pharisees who saw God as so holy that his name was unpronounceable and his presence meant death! Paul was brought up in the tradition that remembered the fire and smoke of Sinai, the demise of Nadab and Abihu for offering strange fire, and Uzzah who crumpled behind the cart after touching the Ark of the Covenant. Under the Old Covenant no one could enter the Holy of Holies (the presence of God) except the High Priest and he could only venture there fearfully once a year. Fear and dread marked the relationship between God and his people before the cross.

But now, Paul describes our relationship as one with “Abba Father” which is the familiar term for Father in Aramaic. That was the term used by small children to address their “daddy” in the days of Jesus and the apostles. Saul of Tarsus would no doubt have been offended by the term and would have considered it irreverent or even blasphemous but not Paul, the follower of Jesus.

This section describes our relationship with the Father as adopted children. Don’t mistake that for some kind of second-class relationship with the Father for you have been chosen. Jewish adoption was somewhat informal but Roman adoption, with which Paul was well acquainted, was formalized. When a Roman family adopted a child or an adult, the entire past of the adoptee was legally erased and they were given full rights of the family and full rights of inheritance equal to the natural children of the family. It was as if the newcomer had always been part of the family. Paul paints that picture for the believer who has been adopted and given the status of son. I believe Paul uses that term because sons were given preference over daughters in terms of inheritance in Jewish families but sons and daughters have equal access to inheritance in the Kingdom of God.

In fact, in Hebrews we are told, “But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven” (Heb.12:22-23). Interestingly, the term “firstborn” is in the plural form which means the phrase could have been translated “the church of the firstborn ones.” That would suggest that our Heavenly Father has given us all the status of firstborn sons which implies that every believer is “his favorite” and receives the blessing of being a firstborn – a significant position in Jewish families.

A key to living triumphantly on this tattered planet is knowing who you are and what is available to you from the vaults of heaven. As a child of God, you have an inheritance, a birthright, and rights associated with being sons and daughters of the King – now. Too many of us assume that the blessings of the kingdom (health, provision, power, standing, relationship, protection, etc.) are available only after we depart this life but aren’t they even more needful on this planet while we live in enemy territory attempting to extend the Kingdom of God?

Jesus constantly accessed the provisions of heaven for healing, feeding the multitudes, protection, raising the dead, preaching anointed messages, prophetic words, and casting out demons. He modeled life that is ultimately available to every son and daughter of the King who live on this planet. It comes to us through an audacious belief in who we are and who He is and the faith to live as one who is already seated in heavenly places with Jesus. I encourage you to ask the Father daily for a full revelation of who you are and what is yours in Christ so that you may live up to the privilege purchased by the only begotten son for every adopted child. Be blessed in Him.

PSALM 100

A Psalm for Thanksgiving.

Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before Him with joyful singing. Know that the Lord Himself is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving  and His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name. For the Lord is good; His loving kindness is everlasting and His faithfulness to all generations.

Americans celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday. My guess is that few really took time away from cooking, early Black Friday shopping, and football to truly give thanks to the Lord for His blessings. This psalm of David reminds us of the power and the promptings for giving thanks. It is written in the context of the tabernacle since the temple had not yet been built in the days of David and may be instructive to us as believers who should make every day a day of thanksgiving.

The tabernacle, and later the temple, was a place where God could dwell among his people without his presence devastating them. Both God and his people knew that he did not dwell in tents or buildings made by man but somehow a part of his presence rested in the Holy of Holies so that representatives of the people could come before him for direction, provision, and spiritual cleansing.

A key verse in Psalm 100 declares that we should enter His gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. This language symbolizes the act of drawing close to the Father. It symbolizes entering the gate of the tabernacle and moving into the courts or open places of the tabernacle as they progressed toward the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. Of course, only the high priest could enter that room but the people could move into the courts where they could praise the Lord and seek his blessings.

Notice that “thanksgiving” gained entrance into courts where sacrifices, praise, and prayer could be offered. A thankful heart adjusts our mind so that we can come before the Lord with a perspective that opens the gates of heaven to us. David invites us, as God’s people, to shout joyfully, serve with gladness, and sing with joy before Him. That doesn’t happen unless we recognized the goodness of God and the blessings of God in our lives.

It is the recognition of God’s goodness and presence in our lives that creates a heart of thanksgiving, which then produces joy and gladness. It is the recognition that God is our shepherd and that we are his people that sets our compass toward him. As our shepherd he is committed to protect us, care for us, lead us, and provide for us. We need to constantly sense those things in our lives as expressions of his love for us so that thanksgiving and joy mark our lives.

That is not to say that we never struggle, never experience loss, never wither under the attacks of the enemy, or never wonder where our shepherd is on occasion. We live in enemy territory, we wander away from the flock at times, and we long for a peace and sense of security that will not be fully ours until we are home with Him. And yet, in the midst of these struggles God’s grace and expressions of love are still there if we look for them. In the 23^rd Psalm, David declared that God prepared a table for him in the midst of his enemies. David knew hardship, betrayal, loss, and the constant threat of death – yet he still saw the hand of God caring for him in the midst of all that. He still saw expressions of God’s love and faithfulness while hiding out in caves rather than sitting in a palace.

It is in those moments that we need a heart of thanksgiving more than ever. Thanksgiving opens the door to a closer walk with God and a heavenly perspective that produces more faith and even peace in the chaos of life on a fallen planet. Several years ago, I heard Bill Johnson say that we need to focus on what God has done for us rather than what he has not yet done for us. That thought has really stuck with me and is, I believe, the key to thanksgiving which is the very thing that keeps our hearts navigating toward God. So…if all the celebrations got in the way yesterday, today is just as good a day for some serious thanksgiving. Be blessed and notice your blessings even in the dark moments of life.

Enough about curses. In this last segment on words, let’s move on to the empowering and encouraging aspect of our words. God has placed us on this planet and called us into his kingdom to rule on his behalf. In order to do that, he has given us authority and authority is expressed through words.

Jesus came as a man. His most used self-descriptor in the gospels was Son of Man. One of the reasons he came as a man was to demonstrate the life that each of us can have as we walk in fellowship with the Father. What Jesus did, we can do. Jesus lived a life as a representative of the Father expressing his authority and directing the power of heaven through his words.

Through words he commanded men to be healed, demons to depart, the dead to come forth, storms to cease, lepers to be cleansed, blind eyes to see, and lame men to leap. His words released the power of heaven into situations on earth. His words were powerful because he was declaring the Father’s will over individuals and circumstances. Jesus said, “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). Remember God’s word to Isaiah. “So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it” (Isa.55:11). When God’s word goes forth it will accomplish his purposes whether from the lips of the Father, his Son, or those who represent him – his sons and daughter’s on the earth.

If it is a specific word and a fresh word from the Lord it is powerful. If it is a declaration, a prayer, or a command that expresses his will as revealed in scripture it is also powerful. Our words release God to fulfill his intentions on the earth. We do not control God but God, in his own sovereignty, has determined to rule in partnership with his people and, in many cases, he waits on us to declare his word over circumstances he wishes to change before he acts. Most of us understand that concept when it comes to healing or deliverance or provision. But what about the process of shaping the lives of people?

God’s word is compared to a seed in numerous places in the scripture. It goes forth carrying an innate power to produce life. In the right environment it will grow and bear abundant fruit. Many prophetic words are words that God is broadcasting with the potential to produce what has been declared if they are accompanied by faith and obedience. Sometimes the faith is in the one who receives the word. Sometimes the faith is in the one who declares the word.

Speaking life over people is simply declaring God’s will and God’s truth over a person. Like watering a seed, we are calling out the potential for good and greatness that God has placed in every person. We are calling out their destiny in Christ. Our words, because we have authority, impart power to that potential. When we encourage one another, build up one another, or bless one another we are imparting power to the potential God has placed in each of his children. When we call out gifts, faith, leadership, salvation, success, or godliness in others we are releasing the work of the Spirit in those individuals to produce what we are calling out. That is speaking life over others (or ourselves) rather than death. That is blessing rather than cursing. We are doing more than expressing sentiment; we are releasing the power of heaven because we represent heaven. This is especially true as we declare life and destiny over children.

So…measure your words. Be intentional. Be life-giving. Words matter because they have power. Recognize the power God has placed in your mouth and use it to administer God’s grace in every life and every situation – including your own and be blessed!

Words Matter (Part 5) – More About Curses

Biblically, there are two sources of curses. One is the result of persistent and unrepented sin on the part of a person, a family, or a nation. The other source is a spoken curse established by our own words or the words of another. If you read through Deuteronomy 28, you will see that God established certain consequences for obedience and disobedience to the covenant he established with his people. Obedience brought an array of blessings while disobedience triggered an array of curses. Those curses manifested in the form of crop failures, financial woes, oppression by others, health issues, problems with pregnancies, drought, defeat, mental illnesses, and so forth. God also established a principle that the children would experience the punishment of their Father’s sins to the third and fourth generation (see Ex. 20:5).

These consequences are called curses and some of those curses may be attached to families for generations. I do not believe that God is the source of these evils since by nature he is good and he is light and in him is no darkness at all (1 Jn. 1:5). Since Adam turned his dominion, planet earth, over to Satan, God’s people have lived behind enemy lines. Satan is always poised to kill, steal, and destroy anything or anyone that God loves. There are times when our persistent sins, our rebellion, and our pride force God to lift his hand of protection that has restrained Satan because our actions have given Satan a legal right to come after us. We experience Satan’s attacks as curses. Paul expressed that reality in his letter to the Galatians. “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.         The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life” (Gal.6:7-8). Consequences operate in the spiritual realm as well as in the natural realm. God warns us and even pleads with us not to open ourselves up to curses. The biblical pattern for breaking these sin curses is to acknowledge our sin or the sins of our Fathers, repent of our sins, renounce the sins that have brought the curse, and then to nullify those curses in the name of Jesus who became a curse for us that we might be blessed. There is an entire chapter on curses and vows in my book Born to Be Free if you want more detail on that.

In addition to sin curses are word curses. In a sense, the words of man have creative power. God spoke the universe into existence with words. Man is made in his image and although that image has been diminished by sin, remnants of his nature are still reflected in all men. Our words can create by setting forces in motion that establish the very things we spoke. We pray and we declare God’s word over situations and people with faith that he will establish what we prayed or declared when our words express his will. That is true because God has given his people authority. But Satan can also give authority to those who walk with him. In my last blog, I mentioned Balaam who had the capacity to inflict curses on others. We are told in Joshua 13:22 that Balaam practiced sorcery or divination. In other words, he called on demonic powers to enforce his curses.

We have no need to fear curses. The bible tells, “Like a fluttering sparrow or a darting swallow, an undeserved curse does not come to rest” (Prov.26:2). In other words, curses spoken by others don’t have the power to affect us if we walk with the Father and keep our hearts and words aligned with Him. However, most of us have seasons where our walk is more of a stagger and in those seasons we may be open to a curse spoken by others. Since we have authority, our own words may act as curses when we pronounce judgments and negative outcomes over ourselves. If we have opened ourselves up then repentance, renouncing the sin or the words, and the blood and authority of Christ is sufficient to nullify any curses. Each time Israel fell under a season of cursing because of disobedience, repentance and renouncing broke the curses and opened up a season of God’s blessings again. As our hearts turn to the Father, he is able to place his hand of protection and blessing over us again.

What we need to remember, however, is that we can be aligned with God in 90% of our lives but if we have reserved 10% for the flesh, secret addictions, unforgiveness, etc. that 10% makes us vulnerable to curses spoken by others. Our own words always have authority to establish curses. Again…I don’t believe that a single utterance will open us up to a curse but if we persist in sin or negative words we may find ourselves being oppressed and afflicted by the enemy. Words matter and so we want to speak only as Jesus would speak and always speak life over others and ourselves. Be blessed!