The gospels are the story of Jesus but they are also the stories of people touched by Jesus.  They are stories of ordinary people suffering in all the ways the world afflicts its citizens.  These people suffered from bondage to sin, physical disabilities, physiological conditions, psychological conditions, isolation, rejection, bitterness, loss, discrimination, hunger, spiritual thirst, and demonic affliction of all kinds. Some even suffered from death which is a fairly serious condition.  Jesus had an answer for each of those things.

Many Christians scan the gospels and accept the miracles of deliverance, healing, raising the dead, and transforming lives as true but attribute those events to the deity of Jesus.  “Of course he could do those things because he was God. But, we can’t expect to do those things because we are not God.” Certainly, he was God, but he didn’t come as God.  His primary identification was the Son of Man.

Jesus has the position of God but came in the condition of man.  He chose to face the devil and life on this planet as a man rather than as God in a man suit.  If he walked among us as God then he didn’t suffer temptation as we did. He never truly felt hunger or fear or rejection. But the writer of Hebrews says, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin” (Heb.4:15).  Jesus wasn’t Jesus before he put on flesh.  He was the Word of God and Adoni sitting on a heavenly throne in Isaiah 6. Before he put on flesh he was God and manifested as God in all things. But when he put on flesh, he checked his God and creator- of- the-universe abilities at the door.

At the point of conception in a human body he became Jesus, Son of Man.  Paul declared, “For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim.2:5). Paul did not say the god Christ Jesus but the man Christ Jesus. I do believe God had given Jesus the right to pick up his divine capacities at any time if he chose to do so.  Jesus said, “The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father” (Jn.10:17-18).  In another place Jesus said, “Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels” (Mt.26:53)?   It seems to me that the Word and the Father had a deal.  “Okay, you go as a man, live as a man, suffer as a man, and face temptation like a man but if at any moment you think these people aren’t worth it, you exercise your deity and get out of there.” The miracle to me is that Jesus chose to stick it out as a man even unto death in the face of man’s worst scorn and brutality.

Jesus came to show us how a man could live on the earth when he walked in close fellowship with the Father.  He didn’t come to show us how God could live on the earth in close fellowship with the Father.  That example would have done us no good.  In addition, Jesus sent out numbers of ordinary men who performed the same miracles he did and said that those who believe on him would not only do what he did, but would do even greater things (See Jn. 14:12).   As Jesus walked the earth he touched lives that were radically changed by his love and power.  My point is that he expects us to do the same thing. Jesus expects his church to carry on his mission of preaching good news, binding up the broken hearted, setting captives free, giving sight to the blind, and facilitating radical change in the lives of men and women.

Our church offers a ministry entitled Free Indeed and it is the source of the material in my book Born to Be Free. For the past six years we have watched God dramatically change hundreds of lives in a few weeks rather than in decades. We just finished our most recent installment of Free Indeed and watched eighty people discover the love of the God and the power of the kingdom over a period of two months and a weekend.  Most were changed forever and set free by his touch and his power. People are amazed at what Jesus does in those few weeks but the truth is that we simply teach the basics of scripture – what Jesus did for us at the cross, who we are in Christ, the expectation of radical transformation in the kingdom, how to hear God and receive from him, how to walk in authority, and the basics of spiritual warfare.

We teach these basics over a period of eight weeks and then engage everyone in a weekend of experiencing Jesus through inner healing and deliverance and Jesus always does amazing things.  He does those with the basics of our faith and a lot of very imperfect vessels that serve as leaders – including myself.  People discover who they are.  They experience deep emotional and spiritual healing as well as physical healing.  They are set free from their past, the lies of Satan, and demonic affliction that has hindered their walk with the Lord for years.   In other words, we simply do what Jesus did every day.

My question is, “If we see that much power and transformation from simply learning and doing the basics of our faith, how much greater could our impact be on the world if we plunged into the deeper things of the Spirit and the kingdom?  How much greater impact could we have if we just did the basics in everyone’s church rather than in a few?”  When we take Jesus at his word that we are to do the things he did, faith becomes exciting. When we risk being disappointed because a certain person might not be healed or delivered we find that we are not disappointed because being willing to risk something for Jesus is its own reward.  Not only that, but many, many are healed, delivered, and transformed in the name of Jesus.  How fun is that!

So today, let me encourage you to just trust Jesus in the basics. Believe that whatever he did, he did as a man and as a man or woman of faith, he will do it through you again.   In doing so, he will bless many and you will feel the joy of partnering with your Lord and Savior in radically changing lives and destinies.  Go for it and be blessed!

I continue to marvel at the people Jesus pursued.  The twelve would have gone completely unnoticed in the “Who’s Who” of Israel.  Their names would have evaporated from history within a generation or two even in their own tribe and family.  They were ordinary or even less than ordinary fishermen.  How many times had Peter gone fishing without catching anything until Jesus told him where to throw the nets? Others had been tax collectors or political zealots who were known to be assassins from time to time.  In Luke 19 we have another moment when Jesus pursues the unknown and even the hated.

This is a familiar story but still reminds us of something important. Luke recalls that as Jesus entered Jericho, crowds began to gather to see the miracle worker from Galilee. In the midst of that crowd was man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector and was wealthy.  The text states that because he was a short man he climbed a tree so that he could get a glimpse of this controversial Rabbi who had come to his town.

We also need to remind ourselves that tax collectors worked for Rome and since Zaccheaus was wealthy, he had made his money by extorting taxes from his own people.  He was not paid a salary but lived off whatever revenue he took in above the amount that was owed to Rome. He was seen as a collaborator with the enemy and a willing part of the Roman machine that oppressed Israel. We’re told that as Jesus walked through the city, he reached the spot where the diminutive tax collector was sitting in the tree and stopped just for this enemy of Israel.  Remarkably, Jesus called him by name and told him that they would have supper together that evening.

The text says, “All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”  One of the astonishing things about Jesus was that he pursued and apparently preferred the hated, the down-and-outs, the impoverished, and the slandered over the rich and the religious. Not only that but he did not care that his reputation as a holy man took a lot of hits because of the company he kept. Remarkably, the time has come in America where our reputations will take hits because we choose to keep company with Jesus.  I also have to ask myself the question, “How could a perfect, sinless man be so comfortable in the company of prostitutes, tax collectors, drunkards, and the like?

How often have we heard sermons about a Holy God’s inability to tolerate sin?  How often have we been convinced that God despises sin and turns away from those whose lives are stained with the stuff of sin?  And yet Jesus sought out the very people whose lives totally missed the mark and tended to turn away from the religious instead.  In Jesus we see a God who is drawn to the rejected, who loves the unlovable, who truly does befriend the friendless, and who chooses the low-achievers for his team.  Jesus never left a person where he found him but he found them and loved them before they became great people none-the-less.

I still find that we, as God’s people, struggle with the notion that God doesn’t love us all that much or that God can’t use us for significant things because of our terrible pasts, our struggling presents, or our doubtful futures.  And yet we are the very ones Christ pursued.  We are the ones he went home with.  We are the ones he took from unremarkable careers or hated positions and made them leaders in the kingdom of God.  We are the ones he welcomed as they followed him from place to place – a former prostitute with a highly demonic past and nameless disciples who left jobs or, perhaps, were unemployed and had nothing better to do. And yet those and others like them were sent out to preach, heal, and deliver as representatives of the King of Kings.

God wants to do great things through us and yet we feel so unworthy and so incapable. When the Holy Spirit whispers to us about our destiny or opens doors for significant ministry roles how often do we turn those spiritual opportunities down because we don’t have the experience, the spiritual pedigree, or a faith that moves mountains.  Who among the twelve, or the seventy, or the crowds that followed Jesus from town to town had any of that to begin with?

My point is this.  As we follow Jesus through the gospels, we find him pursuing, loving, and spending time with ordinary people who often had huge issues. We find him hanging around former fishermen who seem very slow on the spiritual uptake. We find him hanging out with broken people who are desperately trying to figure out life – divorced people, selfish people, sick people, greedy people, working stiffs, and beggars.  He wasn’t offended.  He didn’t turn away. On the contrary, he embraced those people and made them his friends and even his confidants.  The truth is that Jesus not only loves you but he also likes you.

I think of us as old furniture full of nicks and scrapes and sweat rings where uncle Charlie always put his ice tea glass.  Jesus, as an artisan and restorer of fine furniture, is not annoyed by the nicks or scratches because each one tells a story.  If it’s broken, he will fix it but he loves to bring the pieces back to life, to give them beauty again, and to make then useful without erasing the very things that mark their history.  No craftsman wants to hang around the new, shiny pieces straight from the factory.  They are boring. They have no “character,” no “story,” so to speak.

Don’t avoid the Master and don’t hide the scratches and the dings of life.  He is quite comfortable with those and will gently make them into something beautiful. Enjoy the day.  Be real with Jesus and remember – he really does like to hang out with you…just the way you are.  Be blessed.

“Whatever town or village you enter, search for some worthy person there and stay at his house until you leave. As you enter the home, give it your greeting. If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you. If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town” (Mt.10:11-14).

As Jesus was sending out the twelve to try out their wings apart from his presence, he gave them these instructions as part of a larger set.   To us, this passage may seem a bit strange.  What constitutes a worthy person?  What does it mean to give the house your greeting?  What is “your peace” that can be imparted and then retrieved?  To some degree this passage is confusing to most of us because of cultural contexts that we are unfamiliar with.  To some degree it is because of a spiritual context that we are unfamiliar with.

Luke’s version of what Jesus said can be helpful.  Luke records the instructions Jesus gave to the twelve this way “Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road. “When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; if not, it will return to you.        Stay in that house, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house” (Lk.10:4-7).

In the first century in middle-eastern cultures it was traditional to declare a blessing over a house as you entered.  That blessing was “Peace to this house.”  The idea of peace to the Jew was that of “shalom.”  Shalom didn’t simply mean the absence of conflict but rather the presence of God’s goodness, health, provision, joy, as well as peace with your neighbors.  It was as if the word “shalom” contained all the blessings God had promised those who would follow him faithfully. A quick reading of Deuteronomy 28:1-14 will give you a sense of that.  In that text, Jehovah lists a number of blessings and declares, “If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all of his commands…all these blessings will come upon you and accompany you.”  To declare a blessing over a house was a simply prayer asking the Lord to establish “shalom” over the house.

In the days of David, after a failed attempt to move the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem because David and the priests had not followed the prescribed way to transport the ark, a man named Obed-Edom was assigned as a caretaker of the ark and it was left at his house.  After Uzzah had touched the ark irreverently during transport, he had died immediately so I assume Obed-Edom did not sleep well for a number of evenings after finding ark left in his living room.  However, because of the presence of God in the man’s house and because the man had reverence for God, he was greatly blessed. “Now King David was told, ‘The Lord has blessed the house of Obed-Edom and everything he has because of the ark of God’” (2 Sam.6:12).  After hearing that, David found a way to move the ark the Jerusalem.  I believe shalom settled over the house of Obed-Edom and the result was constant blessing in all kinds of ways for those who lived there.

It was a gracious sentiment then for a Jew to enter a house and wish for God’s blessings to be poured out over the house. However, Jesus takes the idea to a very different level.  He says that first of all the when the apostles entered a house where they would stay while ministering in a village, they were to “let their peace rest on him” if he were a worthy man – a good man, a reverent man, and a man of faith. If he were not a good man of faith, then they should leave and take their “shalom” with them.

This giving and taking of peace goes beyond a sentiment or a prayer.  It implies that the apostles had been given authority to bestow the blessings of heaven or to take them away. It seems to parallel Jesus’s words, “Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Mt.16:19).

My point here is that we still do not understand the level of authority that Jesus has delegated to us. The apostles had the capacity to assess a man’s heart through the leading of the Spirit and if they declared shalom over the house where they were staying, God would honor that declaration with blessings. If they removed shalom by some declaration or by shaking the dust off their sandals then he honored that declaration as well.

How often do we mindlessly say, “God bless you” with little expectation or little faith that he will? What if we believed that we had been given authority to actually, literally direct blessings from heaven onto a person, a household, or a business and that God would honor our direction.  That would mean that we had been given a stewardship of those blessings (the riches of heaven) and that they were to be thoughtfully directed toward people who would use the blessings in godly ways (the worthy person).

I believe that we still the delegated authority to do just that when we speak shalom (peace) over a house or a person with faith and with thoughtfulness.  We are told, “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.         If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God” (1 Pet.4:10-11).

Speaking blessings is certainly a very real and profound way of administering God’s grace.  “Administering” does not mean to give away God’s grace randomly but as a steward would dispense resources of the master in thoughtful ways as the Master himself would do.  Some of that administration of grace was to be done by speaking and as one speaking the very words of God – which means speaking thoughtfully, intentionally, with authority, and with the expectation that those words will fulfill their purpose because they have been spoken as the very words of God by the Spirit’s direction.

Think about that today.  Meditate.  Think about who you are in Christ and the authority you have as his representative.  As you go through your day, ask the Spirit to direct you to people who need the shalom that already rests upon you and then bless them in the name of Jesus with faith that God is actually going to do so in some real, tangible way because you spoke the blessing.

So…be blessed today by declaring the blessing of peace over a worthy person!  Have fun.

“I am the Lord who has made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself…who carries out the words of his servants and fulfills the predictions of his messengers…” (Isa.44:24-26).

Most of us are familiar with the concept of prophetic words.  God puts his words on the lips of his prophets and as they declare those words they release the activities of God to bring about those prophetic declarations.  Jeremiah is the perfect example of that dynamic.  “Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, ‘Now, I have put my words in your mouth.  See today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant’” (Jer.1:9-10). Jeremiah never led an army or launched a war through the power of politics.  He tore down and built up by declaring the words God had given him.  Like a starter firing the gun to release the runners in a race, the prophet releases the power of heaven we he/she declares the words of God.

God frequently works in partnership with his people.  He could do all things by himself but chooses to work with us and through us.  Prophetic words are really his words going forth from our lips and, like prayers, it is possible that some things are not released because we have not spoken what God has put on our hearts or lips.

Many prophetic words are also conditional. A prophet will say what God will do if we are willing to respond to the word or what he will do if we don’t respond. When Jonah preached to Nineveh that judgment would come in forty days, it was a word that also presented the option of repentance.  Nineveh did repent and God withheld judgment.  In the New Testament church, when a prophetic word declares that God will use a person mightily in a certain area, the condition is that the individual must be willing to prepare for that moment and be willing to serve in that arena for the prophecy to be fulfilled.  The prophecy is conditional – God will do this if you will do that. Again, God often works through partnership with his people and we determine by our choices how much of God’s will on the earth is released and becomes a reality.

There are also prophetic acts that release God’s activities on the earth.  One such moment is recorded between the prophet Elisha and the king of Israel. “He said, “Open the window toward the east,” and he opened it. Then Elisha said, “Shoot!” And he shot. And he said, “The Lord’s arrow of victory, even the arrow of victory over Aram; for you will defeat the Arameans at Aphek until you have destroyed them.” Then he said, “Take the arrows,” and he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground,” and he struck it three times and stopped. So the man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck five or six times, then you would have struck Aram until you would have destroyed it. But now you shall strike Aram only three times” (2 Kings 13:17-19).  In this case, the king of Israel performed his own prophetic act and his lack of zeal or faith drew less form heaven than God was willing to give.

Anointing someone with oil can also be a prophetic act.  “So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came upon David in power” (I Sa. 16:13). Pouring oil on a king, a prophet, or a priest that God has chosen is certainly a sign that God has selected that person for an office or mission but I believe it is also a prophetic act that releases the Holy Spirit into that person’s life. In each instance, the appointing required an anointing with the Spirit for them to successfully fulfill the role that God had given them.  Does God ever give his Spirit to someone without anointing him/her with oil?  Yes, of course, but at other times anointing releases the power of heaven (the Holy Spirit) over the one who is in need of the Spirit.  The laying on of hands can be a similar prophetic act that releases or imparts authority, spiritual gifts, or the Spirit himself into a person’s life.

I believe it is the same for healing.  Mark tells us that the apostles anointed many people with oil and healed them (see Mark 6:13).  James tells the church to call the elders whenever someone is sick so that the elders can anoint the sick with oil in the name of Jesus and offer a prayer of faith which will bring healing (see Ja. 5:14).  I believe the oil is a prophetic act releasing the power of the Spirit in that person’s body for healing.  We need to take note that that prophetic acts are not incantations but are done in faith that God will fulfill what is indicated by that act.

The church today often simply goes through the motions of “sacraments” without believing that God is doing anything as a result.  And yet the Bible is full of prophetic acts that release the activities of God over a nation or a person. In the New Testament we are instructed to anoint with oil, lay hands on people, baptize in water, and take bread and wine in the Lord’s Supper.  I believe that each of these are not just symbols of a truth but are also prophetic acts that combined with faith will release the power of heaven into a situation or a person’s life.

Churches often neglect or minimize these “acts” thinking that they are simply symbols rather than prophetic acts releasing the power of God into someone’s life.  Water baptism certainly symbolizes rebirth, resurrection, cleansing, etc. but what if it not only symbolizes those things but also releases the power of God for those things. As we take the communion bread we often say. “The body of Christ broken for you.” We are also told “by his stripes we have been healed.”  The broken body of Christ has purchased healing for believers.  Does the taking of bread in faith constitute a prophetic act that releases healing over God’s people?  If so, we might want to take communion more than once a quarter. Does the cup that represents the blood of Christ release other things over the children of God?  I will leave that for you to think about.  Again…it is all by faith in what Jesus had done but God has always waited on his people to declare, pray, or act before releasing miracles and the power of his Spirit into situations.  Maybe we should give more thought to that partnership.

Be blessed today and declare the words of God over those things that need his Spirit.

In the early pages of the gospel of Luke, Jesus had just been questions by disciples of John the Baptist.  John had sent them to ask Jesus if he were, in fact, the Messiah or if another was to come.  That moment gives us some insight into the ministry of prophets.  John was, according to Jesus, the greatest of the prophets and yet he was unsure of whom Jesus was. Paul says of New Testament prophets that “we know in part and we prophesy in part” (Jn.13:9).  Apparently that was true of Old Testament prophets as well.  They spoke the things that God put on their hearts and in their minds but often those prophecies were just bits and pieces of God’s overall canvas rather than the whole picture.  John had been confident at one time that Jesus was the Messiah but even John seemed to be looking for a powerful, political, and military savior of Israel rather than a suffering savior who would die on a cross.

But John had come in the spirit of Elijah and was the last in line of the great Old Testament prophets.  He had been sent to prepare the hearts of the people for the coming Messiah who was already among them.  Many of the Jews sensed the call of God to return to him and his ways and so submitted to John’s baptism as a sign of repentance and a need for spiritual cleansing.  Luke said, “All the people, even the tax collectors, when they heard Jesus’ words, acknowledged that God’s way was right, because they had been baptized by John. But the Pharisees and experts in the law rejected God’s purpose for themselves, because they had not been baptized by John.” (Luke 7:28-30).

The last phrase really catches my attention.  “But the Pharisees and experts in the law rejected God’s purposes for them…” The religious elite and those who knew scripture best rejected God’s purposes in their life.  The evidence of that was that they had refused to be baptized by John because to do so was a confession of spiritual need and sin that cried out to be cleansed. Here is what we discover.  I n our relationship with God, the heart is more important than the head.  These were men who spent their lives in prayer, fasting, and study of the Torah.  But their study had not prepared their hearts for God’s Messiah.  Undoubtedly, they did not have the benefit of the Holy Spirit but the common people responded to John’s preaching while the religious elite did not.

I can think of a couple of a couple of reasons. First of all, the religious system of the Jews did not meet the need of the people at all.  They had limited access to God because they were not priests.  The Law seemed like a burden the demanded much and delivered little for them. Their tithes supported a system that had little regard for the unschooled and the unwashed. Because they had little standing with the religious leaders they felt they had little standing with God.  They were in need of good news.

For the Pharisees, however, the Law and the religious system that supported the Law gave them status and a false sense of security about their salvation.  Doing all the right religious things and being schooled in Torah theology gave them the sense that God was pleased with them and honored them as much as they honored themselves.  They were wrong, of course, but that was their view of themselves and God.

Secondly, the Pharisees and experts in the Law were a self-righteous bunch.  Legalism, salvation based on our own merit, forces people to one of two positions. Either I give up all together because I’m overwhelmed with my personal sense of sin and failure or I convince myself that I am more righteous than most so my odds for getting into heaven are pretty good. The common people felt the wait and hopelessness of salvation based on personal merit.  Again they needed good news so when John began to hint that a new doorway to God was about to be opened, they were willing to listen.  The religious leaders, however, needed to protect their righteous persona so they could not submit to a baptism that was overtly for sinners.

The lesson is that self-righteousness and a commitment to the religious status quo will cause us to miss God’s purposes for our life.  God reveals his purposes to the desperate and the hungry. Blessed are the poor in spirit.  Scripture is clear that God has purposes for believers in general but specific and unique purpose for each believer.  “   For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Eph.2:10). “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers^” (Rom.8:29).

When we are living out God’s purposes for our life, our lives have eternal significance.  We experience the pleasure and the power of God flowing through us as we fulfill those purposes.  Life seems abundant and exciting rather than tedious and boring. The problem with legalism and religious systems are that they are a treadmill with each day seeming much like the one before it.  Depending on God and stepping into his purposes each day is an adventure.  Have you ever noticed that the most extreme believers seem to have the most fun?  It is because they have pushed into God’s purposes more that most of us.

I believe the abundant life Jesus promises is tied up with the purposes God has ordained for our lives. Religion will not get us there but instead will blind us to those purposes. Self-righteousness and a need to be in control will also cause us to miss God’s directions. A commitment to a static faith and a spiritual status quo will also cause us to miss his purposes that, like his mercies, are new every morning.  Let me invite you to humbly ask God to show you his purposes for your life today and for faith to pursue those purposes. Those who hungered for a fresh touch, a fresh revelation, and rekindled relationship with the Father discovered his purposes for them in the days of John the Baptist. That same hunger will open up his purposes for us today.  Be blessed by going after your destiny in Christ.

Alignment with God is the key to healing, the key to freedom, and the key to ministering in power through the gifts of the Spirit.  These gifts are treasures entrusted to us by our heavenly Father to be enjoyed and used for the sake of others. Numerous teachings in the New Testament alert us to the principle that we must prove to be faithful stewards of the small things before the Master will entrust larger things to us.  Faithful stewardship implies that we manage what has been entrusted to us in the same way the Master would if he were present.  The best way to insure the alignment between the Master and the steward is for them to have the same values, vision, and goals.

Another way to speak about that alignment is to say that their hearts are aligned.  God delighted in David because he was a “man after God’s own heart.”  David loved the things God loved and hated the things God hated. The greater the Old Testament prophet, the more his heart was aligned with the Father’s.  God used prophets whose hearts were not aligned with his (Jonah for instance) but certainly not in the same ways he used Elijah, Elisha, Ezekiel, Daniel, Moses, etc.  God accomplished earth-shaking things through these men because he was willing to entrust the power and the prophecy of heaven to them.  He did so because their hearts were aligned with his.

Jesus said a great deal about the heart. Just a few quotes are:

Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God.  (Matt. 5:8).

For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them. (Matt. 13:15)

For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a man ‘unclean’; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him ‘unclean.’ (Matt.15:19-20)

 For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.  (Matt. 12:34)

This last scripture is most enlightening.  We all want to believe that our hearts are aligned with God’s heart. When we are in church and while we are hanging out with leaders in our churches we typically guard our words and say all the right things. Our words in those settings reflect the values, the perspectives, and the heart of Jesus.  But what about in other settings?

It’s amazing how often married couples come to me with detailed reports of what has been going on behind closed doors at home. These are usually long-time believers who have been serving faithfully in the church and who are well thought of.  But at home, behind closed doors when their words are not guarded, incredibly hurtful and nearly pornographic language pours out in the midst of their fights.  When it’s over they want to blame each other for making them so angry or they want to play the “I didn’t really mean it” card.  I know that we all say and do things that we regret later, but Jesus challenges us with the idea that our unguarded words reveal things that are in our hearts.  Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. If our hearts are full of love, mercy, compassion, faith, etc., words come out that reflect those qualities-even in unguarded moments.  If our heart is full of pain, resentment, distrust, lust, unbelief, or lies then those qualities show up as well.

The words we speak are interesting, however, because not only do our hearts influence our words but out words influence our hearts. The words we choose to say in every circumstance can train our hearts.  Paul tells us that if we confess with our mouths that Jesus in Lord and believe in our hearts that God raised him from the dead we will be saved. (See Rom.10:9). In the Hebrew mind there is often a causative connection between two things joined by the conjunction “and.”  We recognize the same principle.  For instance, we might say that we went to the beach and got sunburned.  Although those are two different things, the first contributed directly to the second.  With that in mind, confessing with our mouths can deepen the belief in our hearts. In other words, the words we speak come from the heart but words spoken consistently can also train the heart.

In his book, Approaching the Heart of Prophecy, Graham Cooke said something I really liked.  The gift of prophecy under the new covenant is intended to comfort, strengthen and encourage people – always.  However, some with the gift do not always comfort or encourage.  In that context, Cooke says, “In tough situations we must ask God what the need is.  Do we need something? Does the other person need something?  Instead of speaking out the first nasty thing that comes to mind, we must settle into the Spirit of God and speak a word of edification. If we can get into a lifestyle of gracious speaking in our everyday conversations, our prophetic ability will grow in leaps and bounds. The heartbeat of God will become clearer and clearer to us” (page 17).

In other words, when God can trust us to speak comfort, encouragement, and strength to others then he will entrust us with greater gifts to steward because our hearts are aligned with his.  Our words will be evidence of that.  I’m not talking about our public words but our private words.  Those are the real indicators of what is in our hearts.

If we want to receive healing, freedom, ministry, and powerful gifts of the Spirit then we should become students of our own words.  They will point us to areas of brokenness in our hearts, areas where healing is needed, or repentance and will show us where our perspective are skewed.  Then we can submit those issues to the cross and the Spirit for correction.  We must also begin to speak as God would speak in every situation. When we misspeak we shouldn’t excuse it or blame others but learn from it. Relive the moment. Ask the Spirit how he would have had you speak in that situation.  Rehearse that in your mind and ask the Spirit to give you that response next time.  In doing so you will be training your heart while your heart is being healed.

All spiritual gifts are expressions of God’s grace that he wants us to administer to others (See 1 Pet.4:10).  As our hearts and words become more gracious, he can entrust more to us. Even anger doesn’t excuse ungracious words.  Paul told us to be angry and sin not.  Instead, we should remember, “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone” (Col.4:6). This is one more key to freedom and power in the kingdom of God.  Today be blessed and be a blessing to others with your words.

For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints,       I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. (Ephesians 1:15-20)

This is a text that I often go to when ministering freedom and healing to broken and oppressed believers. Most of us continue to live with our brokenness because we don’t truly understand who God is, what he has provided for us, or who we are in Christ.  Through the years you have probably known someone that continued to live in a hurtful, abusive situation year after year. Perhaps they were in an abusive relationship or a job where they were underpaid, overworked and never appreciated.  They clearly hated their situation and it was clear that it was taking a toll on them emotionally, physically, and spiritually.  And yet, they would not take steps to free themselves from the relationship or to seek different employment.

I have visited with a number of individuals in those situations.  Some finally made the break after they became absolutely desperate.   I asked them why they had stayed in those hurtful situations so long when everyone they knew encouraged them to get out.  Inevitably the same reasons always surface.  One reason was fear of the unknown.  As bad as their situation was, they knew what they had and feared having nothing at all if they left the relationship or the job.  Most of us would believe that nothing was better than what they had, but fear that the future might hold something even worse kept them where they were.

Others viewed themselves in such a way that they truly believed they didn’t deserve anything better.  The messages from their past had convinced them that they were worthless, low achievers whom no one would ever love or value.  Their abusers or unappreciative employers reinforced those beliefs so they thought life would never offer more because they didn’t deserve anymore.  So … they stayed.

The third reason was that their mothers or fathers had modeled that life for them by continuing in abusive relationships or staying in dead end jobs with a sense of resignation that the world would offer them nothing more. These abused and oppressed people in some way believed that what they were experiencing was “the norm” because they had watched their parents endure it all the years they were growing up.  In some subconscious way they probably sought out what their parents had modeled because that was familiar.

Our spiritual lives can be the same.  Many believers continue to live with a sense of insignificance, a painfully negative view of themselves, oppressive thoughts, addictions, and general sadness because they believe there are no real alternatives for them or because they simply don’t deserve more in this world.  Some even believe that God has visited their misery on them so that continuing in their pain is a way of “paying for their sins” even though Jesus had already paid for every sin.  Many have simply taken on an identity of pain, rejection, and failure.  They can’t imagine being anything or anyone else and so they stay in that place for decades.

In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul affirms their faith and love and his excitement about their newly found life in Christ. He then lets them know that he has been constantly praying for them and asking God to give them the Spirit of wisdom and revelation. He says that he is praying for the Spirit to give these believers both of those gifts so that they might know God better.

We can come to know God through study, teaching, conversations, etc. to an extent.  But if our faith and understanding of God stay at an intellectual level then God remains a concept more than a person. We tend to know about God rather than knowing God.  Revelation deposits truth in our hearts – in our core being – and that is where profound change and healing occur.  Wisdom is knowing how God perceives people and situations and acting in accord with God’s view of things.  To know how God thinks is a huge step toward knowing God. To know how he feels about people, especially ourselves, is also a huge step toward knowing him.   Paul is really asking God to reveal both his mind and heart to the believers at Ephesus so that they might truly get to know him.  And as they say, “To know him is to love him.”  To know his love for us is also the most healing thing in the universe.

Paul goes on to say that he has asked the Father to enlighten the eyes of their hearts that they might also perceive what they have in Jesus.  In short, Paul declares that they have hope, riches, and power in Jesus.  They have hope because God has a future for them that is full of life and blessing if they will trust him enough to receive it.  They have the riches of heaven available to them if they will receive his promises by faith.  They also have the same power that raised Jesus from the dead and that created the universe working on their behalf. Most of us have read those truths and promises in scripture and would say we believe them.  But for many of us, the belief is an intellectual position rather than something we have “written on our hearts.”

The work of the Spirit is revelation and revelation writes truth on our heart.  When we get the truth in our hearts it changes things.  Believers who stay in their brokenness and oppression don’t know God, who they are in Christ, or the riches that are theirs if they will pursue them.  They hear these truths but haven’t received them in their hearts.  They need revelation.  They need an experience with God, a fresh and personal word from God, or a teaching to explode in their hearts.  They need the Holy Spirit to give them wisdom and understanding to know what God has just done in their lives and to receive it as a gift from him.

I believe that we need to pray Paul’s prayer constantly for ourselves and for those who are struggling in their faith. We desperately need divine wisdom, the revelation of God’s truth, and for the “eyes of our heart” to be opened so that we might fully understand everything that is ours in Jesus as well as the power our Father is willing to wield on our behalf. When we grasp those things we can let go of the present and step into the future. We can exchange the devil’s view of who we are for the Father’s view of who we are. We can lay fear about the unknown aside and trust that God already has it worked out in marvelous ways.

Today I pray that God will give you the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation that you may know him better and that he will open the eyes of your heart so that you may know the hope, the riches, and the power that are yours in Jesus Christ.  I hope you’ll pray the same for me.  Be blessed.

At the cross an all-encompassing exchange literally took place in the spiritual realm. Our condition was assigned to Christ and, by the grace of God, his condition was assigned to us.  Jesus took upon himself the penalty for sin (death and separation from God) that was pronounced in the Garden of Eden and the curse of the Law that condemned sinners.   Jesus not only took on the penalty of our sin but also gave to us eternal life and a secure relationship with God.

Jesus not only paid a debt we could not pay but lavished us with blessings that belonged to him. It was as if the prince himself left his palace and position, put on the rags of a prisoner, stepped into our cell, and as he did so he handed his royal garments and his keys to the palace to us. Of course, he leaves it to us to decide whether we will walk in royal robes and live in the palace or continue to wear the rags of a beggar while the keys of the kingdom rest unused in our pockets.

Here is a question.  “If the prince had indeed entered into your cell, exchanged clothes with you and handed you his keys to the palace…what thoughts or things might keep you from ever moving into the palace and enjoying the blessings assigned to a prince?  Many of us hesitate to receive all that Jesus has purchased for us with his blood. We continue to live as paupers when we have been invited to live as a prince.

By faith in what Jesus did for us we literally have moved from a position of…

• Sin to Righteousness.   God made him, who had no sin to be sin for us, that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Cor. 5:21)

• Alienation to Adoption.   In love, He predestined us to be adopted as his sons in Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will… (Eph. 1:5)

• Slavery to Sonship.    Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out “Abba, Father”.  So you are no longer a slave, but a son. (Gal. 4:6-7)

• Death to Life.  As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sin, in which you used to live… But because of his great love for us, God who is rich in mercy made us alive in Christ.  (Eph. 2:1, 5)

• Rejection to Acceptance.  Accept one another then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. (Rom. 15:7)

• Poverty to Riches. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.   (2 Cor. 8:9)

• Darkness to Light.  For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.  (Eph. 5:8)

• Alienation from God to Citizenship in Heaven.  Remember that at that time, you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world … you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people.  (Eph. 2:12, 19)

• Cowardice to Courageousness.  For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. (2 Tim.1:7)

• Old to New.   Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has gone the new has come.  (2 Cor. 5:17)

• Cursed to Blessed.  Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. (Gal. 3:13-14)

• Bondage to Freedom.  He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners.  (Luke 4:18)

• Condemnation to Justification.  Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life, set me free from the law of sin and death.  (Rom. 8:1)

• Weakness to Strength.  I can do everything through Him who gives me strength.  (Phil. 4:13)

• Ruled to Ruling.  You were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of the world and the ruler of the kingdom of the air. …And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms… (Eph. 2:1, 6)

Because of this exchange, we are able to approach the throne of grace with absolute confidence knowing that God’s help and mercy will be available to us (Heb. 4:16).  As we approach the Father to set us free from those things that hinder our life in Christ we can fully expect his help.  Because of Jesus we are no longer cursed, alienated sinners opposed to God. Instead we stand before him as his children with all the blessings of heaven available.  Feel free to ask for those blessings and expect them.  When you receive the blessings of Christ and operate in them, then Jesus receives everything he paid for and rejoices in you.   Remember who you are and be blessed roday.

According to Bible scholars, the gospel of Matthew is the most Jewish of the gospels in its emphasis on certain things and its style.  The gospel begins with a genealogy tracing the lineage of Jesus from Abraham through David to the earthly parents of Jesus establishing Jesus as a member of the tribe of Judah from which Messiah would come.  Matthew is the one to tell us of the visit of the Magi and the eventual death of innocent Jewish boys in Bethlehem at the hands of Herod. He tells us how Jesus spent forty days in the wilderness fasting and praying in the tradition of the Old Testament prophets and about his showdown with Satan at the end of the forty days.  In Matthew, Jesus calls his disciples to “come and follow” him in the tradition of the Rabbis and his “Sermon on the Mount” is, in many ways, a commentary on the interpretation of Old Testament law by the Pharisees.  In Chapter 4, Matthew tells us in general terms of the healing ministry of Jesus but gives his first specific healing story in Chapter 8 – the healing of a leper.

Leprosy was not only medically significant but socially and spiritually significant as well in Jewish faith and culture. Full-blown leprosy was an infectious disease so that the individual who was affected was marked as “unclean.”  He was to be socially isolated so that no one could touch him and he was not allowed to enter into the temple to worship.  In some cases, it was a death sentence as the disease progressed.  To many Jews, leprosy was seen as punishment for sin – either the sins of the parents or of the individual who had it.  That view probably stemmed from God’s punishment on Miriam in Numbers 12 when she began to rebel against Moses’ leadership.  In that moment God struck her with leprosy and then healed her later at Moses’ request.  David also pronounced a curse on Joab’s house for murdering an innocent man (2 Samuel 3) that included the curse of leprosy.

In the first century, those with leprosy were considered unclean, sinful, loathsome, and under a death sentence from God.  They were isolated and had to walk the streets crying “unclean” so that others would stay away from them.  Any truly religious person would stay far away from a leper because to contact the leper made that person unclean as well so that they could not come into the presence of God in the temple.

In the midst of that cultural environment, an unnamed leper came and kneeled before Jesus asking to be healed. In that moment, Jesus was very counter-cultural.  He actually touched the man which was forbidden by law.  Not only did he touch the man but healed him completely. I like what Bill Johnson says about that kind of healing.  He says that the Old Testament displays the power of sin because if you touched a leper you were made unclean.  The New Testament displays the power of Christ’s righteousness because when he touched a leper he was not made unclean but rather the leper was healed. The righteousness of Christ overcomes both sin and disease in these gospel accounts and in New Testament theology.  Looking ahead to the New Covenant, David said, “ Praise the Lord, O my soul and forget not all his benefits – who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases” (Ps.103:3).

I believe this leper was the first detailed account of healing in Matthew’s gospel because it was so significant for the Jews.  Lepers were written off as a lost cause, untouchable, and incurable.  Many thought that their disease was a judgment from God and so felt little pity for the lepers.  And yet Jesus reversed all of that in a moment with a touch and a word.  In that moment the love and the grace of God totally cleansed the man with the implication that he was also totally forgiven.

In the very next chapter of Matthew, Jesus healed a paralytic but began by saying, “Take heart son, your sins are forgiven” (Mt.9:2).  The Pharisees objected to the notion that Jesus could grant forgiveness since only God in heaven could do so.  To their objection, Jesus replied, “Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?         But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins….” Then he said to the paralytic, “Get up, take your mat and go home.” And the man got up and went home”  (Mt.9:5-7).

The theology runs something like this.  Disease afflicts man because of sin – sometimes his own sin but more often because of Adam’s sin that makes every man subject to death and disease.  If a man is healed it is because the power of sin has been overcome by the cross of Christ.  Healing is manifest evidence of God’s grace and Christ’s all-sufficient sacrifice through which God forgives all of our sins and heals all of our diseases.  Miraculous healing, then, is evidence of God’s grace and the power of the cross to deliver men from sin. Without such demonstrations, the truth of the gospel is not manifested as God intends. Miraculous healing does not always create faith but it always demonstrates the power of the cross and the love of God for sinful men which opens the door for faith.

Healing and other miraculous moves of the Spirit are not ends in themselves but demonstrations of even greater realities – the love and grace of God and the all sufficiency of the blood of Christ. If God is good all the time; if the cross has broken the power of the enemy in my life; and if the blood of the Lamb open the doors of heaven to me now and later – then sign me up.

Those truths are manifested over time in the life of every believer but are manifested in the moment that the gospel is preached or shared when the power of heaven is released through the gifts of the Spirit. Because of that we should earnestly desire spiritual gifts and pursue them as the will of God for his church today.  When we begin to touch the lepers of our day – AIDS victims, drug addicts, late-stage cancer victims, children with birth defects, etc. with the compassion and power of heaven, then we will present Jesus in all his glory to the world and the world will come to him.  Be blessed today.  Ask for miracles and expect them.  It is God’s will.

I wanted to share some quotes with you this morning out of Graham Cooke’s book, Approaching the Heart of Prophecy.  I really like his prophetic style and what he has to say about many things.  I thought you might be blessed by a few quotes as well.

If we perceive God to be harsh, demanding and prone to judgment, then our experience of Him is not going to grow into any great place of relationship. How do we make friends with a tyrant?  It is impossible because fear governs the relationship – fear of making mistakes, of saying the wrong thing, of doing a wrong act. Paranoia rules and peace is impossible.

         However, if we perceive that the Father has huge wells of compassion and mercy, which never run dry; if we know Him as being the one who is full of grace, rich in love, and abounding in love and truth; if He is slow to anger and incredibly patient toward us; if He is joyfully happy, with a sunny disposition; if His very cheerfulness can cover the world; if He is scandalously forgiving and generous; if He is the very epitome of goodness, so much so that we can only be transformed when we link our repentance with his goodness and kindness, then our whole personality is formed by such values.

         Jesus was always accused of lavishing too much time on sinners (Mt.19:11-13) and always had an answer for religious people.  God desires love and compassion in his people.

         We are called to pray, not condemn.  We are called as Jesus to intercede for a depraved world to the God who cares.  God takes care of His own wrath; He does not need our help.  (Graham Cooke, Approaching the Heart of Prophecy, p. 15)

There is a rising tide of evil in the earth and there is no rising tide of goodness to combat it. “We overcome evil with good” (Rom.12:21). What if the problems in the world are not lawlessness and crime, not poverty and sickness, not greed and selfishness, not drugs or terrorism, not abortion or immorality? What if the biggest problem in the earth is simply the lack of goodness? (Graham Cooke, Approaching the Heart of Prophecy, p.14)

 Joy is who God is, where He lives from, and what he does. He lives in perpetual, everlasting and eternal joy.  In His presence there is fullness of joy. The Father does not give us joy. He gives us Himself. He is absolute joy personified.  The atmosphere surrounding God is always joyful. We need to anchor our souls in the person of God and embrace his uninhibited delight in all things…. Joy is meant to overwhelm every negative emotion.  “Weeping may last for the night but joy comes in the morning” (Ps.30:5).  When joy is present, not negative emotion can flourish. Jesus was acquainted with grief (Is.53:3); it was not a close traveling companion. We need to be restored to the joy of our salvation, the delight and pleasure of our first major contact with the Lord.  Joy keeps all experience in God fresh. …  It is His plan for us to be joyful on a constant basis. “These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you and that your joy may be made full”(Jn.15:11). (Graham Cooke, Approaching the Heart of Prophecy, p.87)

These quotes from Cooke remind me that during this season of remembering God’s great gift to us, it would be good to really reflect on the joy of the Lord that comes from Him.  We all know the quip, “Life is hard, and then you die.”  Many believers reflect that sentiment more than the joy of the Lord. Some days I’m wearing the t-shirt.  But joy is a fruit of the Spirit, not somberness or depression or cynicism.

As we reflect on the birth of Christ, we might reflect on the angelic proclamation sent by the Father to us, to you.  “Do not be afraid.  I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.  Today, in the town of David a savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.  Suddenly a great company of the heavenly hosts appeared with the angel praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace to men on whom his favor rests’” (Lk.2:10-14).

God is joy.  Find Him and we find joy.  Be blessed this Christmas season.