We’ve been having an extended discussion among our pastors and elders about the nature of discipleship. When Jesus told the fishermen, “Come, follow me,” he was using an expression familiar to every Rabbi and every Jewish student who had ever studied at a synagogue.  It was, in essence, the acceptance letter from a Rabbi to a student who had asked to be admitted to the school of that Rabbi.  It was not, however, an invitation to come and learn everything the Rabbi knew.  It included that expectation but it was much more than that.  It was in an invitation to follow the teacher and become like him in every way and to do everything that he did.  It was an invitation to come and imitate his life and character to the fullest extent possible.

In the American church, we have tended to define discipleship as learning more and more about Jesus and about the Bible.  That is a praiseworthy goal but it stops far short of the biblical idea of discipleship.  The biblical idea of discipleship means to do as much as it means to learn.  For the most part we have been big on learning all about Jesus but not so big on living like he lived or doing the things that he did.

The paradigm for discipleship has often been to learn until we know everything there is to know about a certain element of the Christian life and when we have become “experts” then we will begin to do the things we have gained extensive knowledge about.  The problem is that there is always more to learn and as we study, read, attend more conferences, and belong to one more study groups we begin to serve God vicariously through the books we read and the studies we participate in.  Because we have read about it or talked about if we feel as if we have done it.

A disciple then may become much more of a learner than a doer. We are always waiting until we know a little more before we step out and activate our gifts or the authority we have in Christ.

As a friend of mine put it, “I never felt qualified so I kept putting off the doing until I could learn some more.”  God has more “qualified” people than he needs now.  He doesn’t need qualified people; he needs willing people.  In the business world companies recognize that what works on paper rarely works in real life.  So they take highly educated college grads and retrain them for the real world of business or production.  It is the experience that qualifies them not a greater accumulation of facts and figures.

God is the same.  He advertises for willing men and women and as they step out in faith to do things in which they have no expertise, he trains them and qualifies them himself.  Gideon protested loud and long that he had no training or pedigree in leadership or warfare.  God simply said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand.  Am I not sending you?” (Judges 6:14).  Nearly everything we do in the kingdom is going to be OJT!   Many of us do not develop out spiritual gifts because we are waiting to learn more before we exercise them.  We keep waiting for one more book, one more class or one more seminar before we begin to pray for impossible healings, begin to prophecy, begin to command demons, or begin to share out faith.

I’m not saying we don’t need a little training but most of us are so over-trained so that we begin to trust in technique rather than in the presence of God or the move of the Spirit. In doing so, we pray or command with little power and authority, get few results, and are then convinced we need to learn more.  I’m convinced that we need a little more Nike theology that would say, “Just do it.”  Discipleship is more about doing than learning and as we do it, God will teach us what we need to know.  If you’ve been waiting to read your fifth book on a topic you are way overdue.  Just do it and see what God does through you.

In his life on earth, Jesus healed only a relatively small number of people on one small patch of the globe.

• He left the rest of them to us.

In his life on earth, Jesus preached the gospel to a few thousand on the hillsides of Israel.

• He left the other seven billion to us.

In his life on earth, Jesus cast demons out hundreds of spiritually oppressed Jews.

• He left the defeat of the tens of thousands remaining servants of darkness to us.

In his life on earth, Jesus went about doing good and condemning  injustice in the world.

• There is plenty more of that work to be done by us.

In his life on earth, Jesus reached out to the poor and destitute of a very small nation.

• He left the rest of the starving and naked in the world to us.

In his life on earth, jesus forgave those who nailed him to a cross.

• He left the rest of those who need to be forgiven to us.

Jesus intends to finish his work.

• He just intends to do it through us.

How much of what he left for us did we do today?

One other thing…In his life on earth, Jesus died for every lost person who ever lived to will live.

• He left none of that for us.   That’s the good news.

As we continue our walk through Luke 11 and the sorrows Jesus pronounced over the Pharisees we need to continue to check our own hearts to see where we stand with the Lord in these areas of faith.

The Second Woe

“Woe to you Pharisees, because you love the most important seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces  (Luke 11:43).

Again, we need to remember that when Jesus said “Woe” he wasn’t pronouncing a curse but more of a warning for impending sorrow and even destruction if their hearts were not realigned with the Father’s heart.  The diagnosis given by the great physician here was that these men who presumably loved God, loved the admiration of men even more.  Jesus spoke to that issue on numerous occasions.

Beware of the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and love to be greeted in the marketplaces and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets (Luke 20:46).  Everything they do is done for men to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them ‘Rabbi.’ (Mt.23:5-7).

In the Kingdom of God motives matter.  These religious leaders were more motivated by the praise of men than the praise of God.  It’s not that they weren’t doing good things.  They were certainly solid citizens who lived moral lives and frequented the synagogues and temple on every occasion.  More than likely they gave generously to the temple and even gave alms to the poor. But Jesus nailed them on their motives for doing good things – “Everything they do is done for men to see.”

The Achilles heal of these religious leaders was that they wanted to fit in.  They wanted to be well thought of.  They wanted status and standing and invitations to the best events.  In a sense, they assumed that if they were pleasing to men and if they were given the most honored seats at the table then they must be pleasing to God as well. Without knowing it, they gravitated to the desires of the flesh and in doing so became insensitive to God’s leading.  Ultimately, their desire for the praise of those closest around them eventually moved them into a compromised position with the culture at large.  In order to maintain their standing among men – which included fine houses, fine clothes, and invitations to state events – they became politically correct in their proclamations and even in their theological positions.

Undoubtedly they justified their compromise with the thought that they had to meet the Romans halfway in order to stay in their leadership roles and they could only protect the faith and the faithful by continuing in their positions as leaders. They could only cash in on their political and business connections for the “sake of the church” if they continued to move in those favored and powerful circles.  In the end, they crucified Jesus for those very reasons.

Jesus is clear that man cannot serve two masters.  We cannot be friends with the world and friends with God. There will be many times when we can’t please both men and God – we will have to choose and the choice is the thing. John tells us that, “among the chief rulers also many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue:  For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God” (Jn.12:42-43).

In our own hearts it is easy to slip into compromise with the world for the sake of getting along and even for the sake of maintaining relationships. Jesus does not ask us to go around picking fights with everyone and everything that doesn’t line up with the Bible. What he does ask is that in our own hearts we make the decision that when forced to choose, we will always choose Jesus and be obedient to him even when that choice will cost us favor at work, potentially damage friendship, or even a end a romantic relationship if you are single.

We have entered an era in America when Biblical Christianity is not popular or acceptable in many circles…even among many who claim to follow Christ.  In our culture, declaring that Jesus is the only way to heaven rather than one of many ways will place you in the camp of the intolerant.  To stand in a classroom and make a case for creationism will place you in the camp of the ignorant. To take a stand against abortion will cast you in the role of the oppressor trying to take away the sacred rights of women.  To speak out against homosexuality will define you as an opponent of civil rights and since you oppose civil rights you must also be a racist.  In the face of cultural condemnation we will, like numerous politicians, be tempted to compromise or water down our statements to avoid offense.  We will be tempted to speak in generalities and talk around clear biblical truth.

At each of those moments we will simply have to make a decision – will we seek the praise of men or the praise of God?  If you want the grace and the power of God to flow through you then check the biblical record.  God worked in powerful ways for and through those men and women who would not compromise with the world or bow the knee to the idols that kings had commanded them to worship.  Moses, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, Daniel, the prophets, and the apostles were all politically incorrect and inevitably placed themselves at odds with the culture they were trying to win for the Lord. But consider what God did through them.  They turned the world upside down.

We must all check our hearts from time to time to see whose approval we truly desire the most.  When we fail to speak to someone about Jesus, fail to pray for the blind woman in Starbucks, fail to seek our prayer language because our family might think it is weird, or fail to speak out against sin in our culture…it is simply because we fear man rather than God or want man’s approval more than the approval of our King.  We have all given into the impulse and we all have to guard against it for “woe” to us when we do things primarily to be seen and accepted by men.  When I know I have given into that fear then repentance is the key.  Recommit to live without compromise and ask God for the boldness to live with him as the audience we care about.

Father, give me a heart that desires to please only you and the boldness to act on that desire.   In Jesus name.   Amen

Anyone who has read biographies of British evangelists, especially charismatic evangelists, have run across the name Smith Wigglesworth.  He was born in 1859 and died in 1947.  He was painfully shy and took every opportunity to avoid speaking in public until the Holy Spirit fell on him in 1907.  He received a vision of Jesus and the gift of tongues. After receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit he was a changed man filled with boldness and power.  His wife was astonished at the change.

Wigglesworth preached four principles that he believed should guide the life of every believer.

• Read the Word of God.
• Consume the Word of God until it consumes you.
• Believe the Word of God.
• Act on the Word of God.

Those four principles seem basic and almost self-evident but Wigglesworth radically followed each principle in his own life. He followed them so radically that he offended soft-spoken religionists across the United Kingdom. He often acted in extreme and bazaar ways but led thousands to Christ and maintained a phenomenal healing ministry for decades.

It’s documented that he punched a cancer victim so hard that he fell to the ground but was healed when he stood up.  Wigglesworth simply commented that he didn’t hit people but he did hit the devil. If people got in the way he couldn’t help it. He explained that you can’t deal gently with the devil or comfort him because he likes to be comforted.  Wigglesworth was never accused of being comforting to the devil or even to people on many occasions.  It’s also reported that during a meeting, Wigglesworth kicked a deformed infant all the way across the stage but when the child landed he was healed and whole. Another account finds him shouting at a crippled woman to walk and then impatiently pushing her until she sort of fell into a run with Wigglesworth chasing her up the aisle of the church shouting at her until she ran out the door.  She was healed.

Now, I’m not endorsing punching, kicking or chasing as a matter of style.  But here is the thing.

This man was radically committed to doing whatever he heard God tell him to do even when it was unorthodox, unpopular, extreme, strange or criticized by other religious leaders. His total goal was pleasing God not finding acceptance among men.

If you think about it, Jesus was just as radical.  He often healed on the Sabbath while religious leaders screamed that he was a devil.  He put his fingers in ears, mud on eyes, touched lepers who were never to be touched, stopped funerals and raised the dead, drove demons into pigs who then hurled themselves into the sea, and so forth.  He was radical, controversial, and totally obedient to the Father.

If we want to move in the power of the Spirit we have to catch a little (or a lot) of that spirit. I have often noticed that God uses extreme people in extreme ways.  God’s power often comes wrapped in strange packages.  That has always been the case. Take John the Baptist who lived in the desert on locusts and honey, probably never cut his hair, and wore camel skin garments. Extreme. Take Saul of Tarsus who marched through Israel arresting Christians and inciting crowds to stone them to death. He was just as radical for Jesus after his noonday conversion as he had been against Jesus. Extreme.

The church has tried so hard to be socially acceptable and to fit in with the wealthy and powerful of America that she has lost her power. We have become celebrity chasers who draw people to our churches with big names and talent because we have lost the ability to draw them with healing, transformed lives, prophetic words, and funerals that don’t get out of the parking lot because the guest of honor has been raised from the dead.

Wigglesworth was extreme. He did whatever he believed the Lord told him to do and he did it immediately.  Because of his faith and obedience he had a worldwide ministry of healing, deliverance, and evangelism. During his ministry it’s documented that he raised twenty-three people from the dead. Of course he was criticized, called a fraud, and accused of being in league with the devil. It was the same with Jesus. One often quoted phrase from Wigglesworth is,  “Only believe.  Fear looks.  Faith jumps.”

If we want to be great in the kingdom and move in the power of the Spirit we must be willing to hear the Lord and act on what he is telling is….not just in church but at the Mall, Starbucks, Home Depot, or wherever we find ourselves being prompted by the Spirit.  It is so easy to turn God down because we fear being wrong, causing a scene, feeling foolish, being in a hurry, or being rejected.  I struggle with the same thoughts and internal pushback in those moments. But being obedient and being willing to risk all of the above is truly liberating for your faith and God honors faith with action from heaven.

As we approach Easter, the most extreme moment in history when a dead man rose from the grave having conquered death and hell, perhaps we can choose to be a little more extreme in our own lives. If we will choose radical obedience then perhaps the church will choose it and once again simple men will turn the world upside down. Be blessed as you step out in faith doing the impossible with God who is even willing to raise the dead when there is faith and obedience.

Our staff and elders at Mid-Cities have been pushing through a process lately of discussing the meaning of discipleship and effective ways to make disciples.  It’s an important topic because Jesus gave us our final marching orders just before his ascent back to the Father. “Go into all the world and make disciples of all nations” (Mat.28:18).  First of all he said “go” and “make.  The implication is that we initiate something that is intentional and that has some design. It usually doesn’t happen by accident and it is not random.  Jesus also said that we are to make disciples.

Disciples are not church members but rather followers of Jesus Christ.  In the days of Jesus, disciples chose a Rabbi that they wanted to emulate.   Jesus said, “It is enough for the student to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master” (Mt.10:25). Jesus was echoing the Rabbinical concept of discipleship.  It wasn’t just about knowing what the Rabbi knew but it was about living like the Rabbi lived.

American discipleship has been reduced in many ways to learning rather than doing.  Discipleship has been defined as knowing more and receiving more training.  We have fallen pray to the Ivory Tower approach of expertise.  We tend to believe that the men or women who have read the most about a topic are the experts because they speak with such authority that we assume they have actually done what they talk about. Unfortunately, real life is often very divorced from the ideal presented in books.

It’s not that disciples don’t read, receive teaching, and talk about what they have learned.  They do.  But to that academic experience they add personal experience. Jesus taught. Then he modeled what he taught.  Then he sent his disciples out to do what they had watched him do and to practice what he had taught. Then they came back and told Jesus what happened.  He taught some more, modeled some more, and then released them to go practice what he had preached some more.

The key to discipleship was their desire to actually do what the Rabbi did and to live as he lived. Jesus was aware that an accumulation of knowledge could feel like obedience when it actually wasn’t.  He said,  “I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock…   But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation.” (Lk.6:47-49). James, the brother of Jesus, later challenged the church to be doers of the word and not hearers only.

True discipleship is about doing not just learning. If we are to be disciples of Jesus in the very Jewish sense of discipleship we must do what he did until we master it and if we want to truly please him we must do even more than he did. Well…how could anybody do more than Jesus did?  In the realm of procuring our salvation Jesus stands alone.  No one can duplicate what he did as the sinless Lamb of God.  In terms of lifestyle and touching other lives, Jesus himself said, “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father” (Jn.14:12).

I didn’t say that.  Jesus said that.  “He will do even greater things.” Notice the emphasis on “do.” Our challenge as believers in the American church is not knowing but doing. We have more Bible study aids that at anytime in history.  I’m sitting here with my Logos Bible software as I type this blog. I can pull up every kind of study guide or aid imaginable. But I will never start to become like Jesus until I begin to risk doing what he did – sharing the good news of the kingdom of God, healing broken hearts, healing broken bodies, building relationships with sinners, loving the unlovable, confronting evil, feeding the hungry, casting out demons, and even raising the dead.

There are lots of ways to do those things but if that is what Rabbi Jesus did then as disciples we must do the same. Is there a learning curve? Yes. Is there a fear factor? In the beginning. Can I mess up? O yeah.  Can I fail?  Only if I don’t try.  There is always a gap between theory and practice but eventually practice exceeds theory because in doing we learn; in doing we grow; in doing faith flourishes, and in doing we become more like the Rabbi.

Go out today or tomorrow and pray for something impossible without the bailout disclaimer “if it be thy will.” Pray for healing believing that God always wants to heal. Command demons believing that God always wants to set captives free. Share your faith with sinners believing that God wants all men to be saved. Okay, okay.  Peter stepped out of the boat and nearly drowned!  Not really.  Jesus would not have let him drown because he stepped out in faith.  It wasn’t perfect faith but it was faith.  But Peter also experienced something no other apostle experienced.  He did actually walk on water for a bit. He knew what it felt like.  He knew if he did it once by faith he could do it again.  He knew he might get wet but Jesus would not let him drown.  We all need to know those things and we only come to know them when we actually risk doing what the Rabbi did.  It is also the only way we can say, “It is not I who lives, but Christ who lives in me.”  Go out there today and risk doing what he did. After all, he is in you and just wants you to let him out. Be blessed.

I enjoy playing golf.  I have given up being great at the game and have learned to live with rounds in which I make some good to great shots punctuated by several disaster holes.  Guys who play like me measure whether it was a good or bad round by the number of balls lost over eighteen holes rather than stroke count.  But you get a few hours away from your normal routine, time with friends, a bit of exercise, and trees and water which are rare in West Texas.  I don’t get to play as much as I would like but have played enough to understand some of the nuances of the game and enough to hit some fun shots, some good shots and enough puts to keep me coming back.

I have also talked to a number of guys who played once or twice and didn’t play well so they decided that golf was a stupid game played by non-athletes and chose never to venture on a course again.  They simply sneer and look with disdain as they drive by the golf courses in their neck of the woods.  I have talked to a number of individuals who have approached Christianity in the same way.  They tried some church, some God, and some prayer for a short while and didn’t really enjoy it or get the point of it.  They entered with great expectations of something that they didn’t experience, tried to live by the rules, and prayed a little before tendering their resignation.  I talk to others who are still in the game but attend out of obligation or to please a spouse but simply endure church services and clear out as quickly as possible after the closing prayer.  They tried reading the Bible for a while but couldn’t understand it or got nothing out of it so they laid that aside.  Now they attend but have no passion or excitement about their faith.

Here’s the thing.  Many things are boring if you never get past the initial learning curve or risk playing badly until you can play well.  Here in the desert I have actually known a number of men and women who are scuba divers.  They qualify by taking classroom instruction and then by demonstrating their ability to use the equipment by sitting on the bottom of a swimming pool and breathing for a given number of minutes.  At that level of involvement, it is simply boring and expensive.  My guess is that if you never tried scuba diving in a more adventuresome environment you would soon give it up. It’s the folks that get into deeper waters in unknown locations with the possibility of encountering a shark that see colors and life forms others have never imagined.  These are the folks that get hooked and feel like there is nothing like it in the world. The swimming pool sitters have learned a few basics but have never really experienced true scuba diving.  Both in golf and scuba, it is also wise to get someone with a great deal of experience to coach you past the initial learning curve and then to take you to a level of diving or playing that is so rich that you develop a passion for it.

Living for Jesus is every bit that way.  Many people never get past the initial learning curve of attending church, reading a daily devotional, or being asked to give financially to support the ministries in their local church.  I’m amazed at how many believers never get past that point in their faith.  They are the equivalent of swimming pool sitters who thought there was going to be more but are about to decide that this Christianity business is boring and expensive.  This is especially true for those who have never experienced a supernatural move of God in their life.

But what if they decided that there must be something compelling about a faith that has thrived for 2000 years and is the largest faith group on the planet; that there must be something compelling about a faith that thousands have died for and been imprisoned for over the centuries; that there must be something compelling about this life when you hear pro athletes say that their faith is more important to them than their high profile careers with thousands of fans shouting for them every week.

If you are that person who has found no passion for your faith or who is wondering why people even “play this stupid game,” I would encourage you to try some deeper experiences in Christianity for a while.  Find someone experienced in the faith who has had a number of supernatural encounters with God and the enemy.  Ask them to take you past the initial learning curve of the faith and to take you into deeper waters.  Ask them to show you how to use divine weapons to wage a war against unseen but very real enemies and then go out and face those enemies.   Ask them to take you for a faith walk where there is real risk and this life won’t seem trivial or boring anymore. Go on a mission where comfort isn’t the goal but real stretching for your faith.  Go out on the streets and pray for people you never met.  Share your faith with lost people or spend a weekend doing prison ministry.  Put yourself in a place where you need a supernatural God to show up and do supernatural things.

When you have chosen to “up” your game and venture into “shark-laden waters” your spiritual adrenalin will increase your heart beat for the things of God and you will find a passion for your life again.  If you are bored with your faith, perhaps it is because you haven’t learned spiritual skills well enough to enjoy God and the challenges he puts before you.  Perhaps it’s because you have strapped on the tanks and the facemask but haven’t ventured out of the swimming pool yet to experience the thrill of the oceans.  I hope you will and I hope you will begin today.  Jesus is always inviting us to step out of the boat because that is where the joy is.  Be blessed today and decide to go for more.  You really will be glad you did.

Here is something Kevin Dedmon said in a chapter from his contribution to a book entitled, Walking in the Supernatural.

After Peter and John healed the cripple at the Beautiful Gate, the onlookers were amazed at what they had just witnessed.  There seemed to be an underlying sentiment that Peter and John were some kind of superheroes with special power that made them unique. Peter, most likely recognizing the attitude, responded:  “Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this?  Or why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk” (Acts 3:12)” Then, after a short sermon, he added:  “His name, through faith in His name has made this man strong, whom you see and know.  Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all” (Acts 3:16).  Sadly, many people shy away from the supernatural gifts, thinking that they do not have the power to perform supernatural feats.  The reality is that they don’t.  None of us have the power to heal, save, prophesy, or set people free; nevertheless, God has commissioned us to go and do these things – to make the world a better place to live.  What else can we do but obey?  (Walking in the Supernatural, Destiny Image Pub., p.177)

First century Rabbi’s were approached by students who had extraordinary gifts of study and memorization in the Torah and who had a passion to learn and teach the Torah to others.  The process was much like that of Jesus and his disciples. Disciples would live with their teacher for several years learning and observing his lifestyle. The traditional path was for the student to apply with the Rabbi who considered the request and then took the best and the brightest as students. In a sense, the student chose the teacher.  Jesus reversed that order when he went after those who he would call to be his disciples and chose those who were not graduate students from the synagogue and who had probably shown no great capacity for theology.

The two processes were the same, however, when the Rabbi issued the invitation, “Come and follow me.”  That phrase was not an invitation to come and study and receive information or more biblical knowledge so that the knowledge could be passed on to others.  The phrase was meant to convey an invitation to follow the Rabbi so that you could not only learn what he knew but also so that you could live as he lived and do what he did.  The invitation was literally a call to become the Rabbi.  When Jesus called the twelve he meant for them to duplicate his life on the earth. When he called each of us, he meant for us to duplicate his life on the earth.

We have been called to do what Jesus did in whatever setting he has placed us.  We are to be light to the world, dispensers of the love and grace of God, and tellers of truth.  We are to point people to the Father and the Son and offer them the free gift of salvation.  We are called to do that at the office, in our homes, on the sidelines of little league games, and at school.  We are called to do that in line at the supermarket and with the wait-staff at restaurants.  We are called to do that because Jesus did that.  Nearly everyone would agree with the fact that as Christians (which initially meant “little Christ’s” in Antioch) we should minister to the sick and the poor, share the good news, be lights in a dark world, and so forth because that is what Jesus did.

But Jesus did other things as well – supernatural things.  He prayed to the Father and mediated miracles – feeding the five thousand, raising the dead, healing every kind of sickness, and setting people free from demonic oppression. He did those things over and over as part of his lifestyle. Many would be quick to say, “Yes, but he was God….we are not!”  It is true that Jesus was God but he walked on this earth as the Son of Man. Jesus certainly had a position of being God but laid aside all the special attributes of God to live as one of us.  He lived as a man with a deep and intimate connection with God and an unwavering faith.  He also sent out twelve and then seventy-two unremarkable disciples who did the very same things Jesus was doing.  He then sent his Holy Spirit to indwell his church and to distribute gifts of miracles, healings, prophecy, faith, intercession, etc. to unremarkable people who then lived as our remarkable Rabbi had lived when he walked on this earth.

It’s amazing to me that we tend to pick and choose the attributes of the Rabbi that we think we should emulate. When he said, “Come and follow me,” to those he chose (including you and me) he was calling them and us to become him – to live as he lived and to do what he did.  We do this because it is our call and because God, the Rabbi, and the Holy Spirit live within us so that we might replicate the life and the heart of the Son.

Of course, we do not have the power by ourselves to do these things – any of them.  I have no power to be unselfish, to love the unlovable, or to forgive those who have abused me.  The Spirit of Christ alone enables me to do those things. I have to power to grasp the spiritual truths of scripture unless the Spirit enables me to perceive those things. He also enables us to heal, deliver, raise the dead, intercede with power for the lost, prophesy, and so forth.  One is not more remarkable than the other but all are required if we are to become Jesus, the Rabbi.

May we all hear his voice today as he calls us to come and follow him and may our prayer be that we will learn what he knows, live as he lived, and do what he did. As we commit to the process he will send us out to do what he did and will give us his power and authority to do so.  If we will step out by faith, believing that he will always equip us for the assignments he places before us, we will see him live through us just as Peter and John did on the streets of Jerusalem.  We will also be able to declare that it was not us but Jesus who did such a thing.  Be blessed as you follow Him today!