When I first became a follower of Jesus in my early 20’s, I lived with the impression that all the neat, clean people that sat on the pews around me on Sunday mornings were sinless, happy, and healthy people who lived worry free lives of contentment. However, after decades of serving in churches, I can say unequivocally that my impression was wrong.

If we are honest, a great many believers today are saved but remain in bondage to sin, addiction, shame, and a host of other hindrances to their walk. The truth is that other than church attendance and having their sins forgiven, a large percentage of believers differ little from the people they work with or go to school with who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them. Divorce rates in the church rival divorce rates in the culture at large. Christian teens seem to have little power over the cultural pressure to drink, experiment with drugs, or to be sexually active. A significant number of believers live on antidepressants, tolerate marriages dominated by anger and rage, live with bitterness toward the past, and are crippled by an overpowering sense of unworthiness and rejection. In short, they continue to live out their lives in emotional brokenness and bondage.

I’m not scolding these believers for not being “the Christians they should be.” Through the years, I have struggled with many of those issues as well. These believers are desperately looking for freedom and healing, but for the most part have not been able to gain victory over the issues that rob them of the joy and peace they long for.

Jesus declared that he came that his people might have life and have it to the full – abundant life. He also declared that he came to bind up the brokenhearted and set captives free. For many believers, there is a huge gap between the promises and the reality. Why? We can say with confidence that the shortfall is not on the part of Jesus for Jesus has done everything perfectly.

The truth is that, in many cases, these men and women have not been shown by their churches how to access the freedom and healing that Jesus promises. The majority of churches in America, offer their people the forgiveness purchased by the cross but not the healing and freedom. When confronted with brokenness and bondage, they send the children of God out into the world to find solutions. They are left to seek healing and freedom from those who often do not believe the core values of our faith or even that God exists.

Even when they are referred to “Christian counselors,” those good men and women have nearly always been trained to use the weapons of the world rather than divine weapons. There is something terribly wrong with that picture. Doing so implies that Jesus has no answers for the emotional suffering of his people, so we must look elsewhere. The weapons of the world can help but cannot go far enough for real victory. They tend to provide “coping skills” rather than lasting freedom.

A gospel that only gets us to a place of forgiveness, but does not radically change us through the healing and freedom that is ours in Christ is not the gospel that Jesus preached. When Jesus preached the gospel, there was always a demonstration of life-changing power with it. Paul pointed to this truth when he said, “Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life” (Phil. 2:14-16).

Stars stand out in stark contrast to the darkness around them. Jesus himself declared that his followers were to be the light of the world. Those who wear the name of Christ should stand out in the crowd by their sheer “differentness” and have a testimony of his powerful work in their lives. Jesus spoke of being “born again,” not as figurative language for trying harder, but as a reality where something real and essential has been altered in everyone who comes to him. After a short while, that essential difference should become apparent, not a as a reflection of our efforts but as a reflection of the power of God working in us and Christ being formed in us.

If the world can provide the healing and freedom that Jesus promised his people, then much of what Jesus paid for with this suffering and death was unnecessary. Paul clearly stated that the wars we truly fight, must be fought with divine weapons rather than the weapons or strategies of the world (2 Cor. 10:4, Eph.6). Most churches have little idea about fighting in the Spirit and little access to those weapons. Therefore, their people continue to struggle with emotional brokenness and bondage.

We need a shift. We need to be willing to say that what we have been doing is lacking. We need to be willing to say that we have meant well but have missed something important in the scriptures because our fruit does not yet rival the fruit we see in the New Testament. My hope is that many senior pastors and elders will begin to ask for more, seek more, and risk more so that their people have access to everything Jesus purchased for them. The power of Jesus is immense and its impact should be profound and visable. Our people should stand out from the world and walk in victory over the things that burden most of the earth. It is not that we will be trouble free, but that the trouble will come from without rather than from within where Jesus lives – and that makes all the difference.

This week I’m attending a four-day conference at the King’s Park International Church in Durham, North Carolina entitled Healing the Human Soul. Most healing conferences offered by churches today are all about praying for physical healing. I love those conferences as well, but I would say that healing the soul is of greater importance and if the soul is healed, many times physical healing will follow. For a number of decades now, leaders in the field of medicine have estimated that 60 to 80 percent of all illnesses are emotionally rooted. When they say “emotionally rooted” they mean that chronic stress, worry, fear, bitterness, anger, etc. tend to compromise the immune system, increase blood pressure, rob people of sleep, create chemical imbalances, etc. and those conditions then give way to illness. Because of that, physical healing is often impossible or, at least, impossible to maintain without first healing the soul.

The prophet Isaiah recognized the great need of healing the soul when he spoke of the coming Messiah. He spoke for Messiah prophetically when he said, “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners” (Isa.61;1). Because of sin, man is enslaved to a number of things: sin, addictions, demonization, self-centeredness, and illness. All of these create their own form of bondage for people – even God’s people. In Isaiah 61, the prophet suggests a chronology needed before each person can be fully released to become all that his/her Father in Heaven has decreed for them. First the gospel must be preached so that sins are forgiven in Christ. That releases us from the legal demands of sin on our lives. But secondly, Jesus came to bind up, heal, or minister to the brokenhearted. That is healing the soul. After that, captives and prisoners can be set free from whatever form bondage has taken in their lives.

Too often we try to heal the physical body or cast out a demon without addressing the brokenness in which a disease is rooted or to which a demon is attached. If the wound isn’t cleaned and healed properly, even if there is some temporary relief, the infection will return. Addictions are ways in which we attempt to medicate our broken souls. If the soul is not healed, a person may be set free from one addiction but will simply find another with which to medicate the wounds hidden deep in his or her soul. Believers often get stuck in their spiritual growth because they can’t get past their brokenness. The church over the last 200 years has been excellent at bringing people to forgiveness but is just now beginning to discover or rediscover how to heal the soul so that the sanctifying work of the Spirit can truly make us like Jesus.

As we minister to broken people, we too often think that problems are one-dimensional and need a one-dimensional solution. If a person is sick, command healing. If person is emotionally distressed or in bondage, cast out a demon. If a person is hopeless, preach Jesus. All of these are valid expressions of the kingdom of God and are extremely important. However, broken and enslaved people typically need all three of these elements to find healing and freedom.

God is interested in redeeming every part of us. Paul echoes that truth when he says, “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess.5:3). In one sense, the idea of sanctification is for us to align ourselves perfectly with God’s will, his ways, and his purposes. He wants the body, soul, and spirit of every believer to be aligned with him. When that occurs healing is manifested, freedom is experienced, and the fruit of the Spirit can finally begin to flourish within the believer.

Most often this is a process, not just an event and discipleship is the ultimate solution so that these afflicting conditions don’t return. As Americans we are prone to look for the quick fix and often leave many things undone that manifest later. Taking our time to minister to body, soul, and spirit is a much more effective approach in the long run. The cost on the front end is time and effort – both on the part of the one who needs the healing and on the part of those administering the healing. Slowing down is a spiritual discipline that many, if not most, of us need to master. I’m at the front of that line.

Pastor Jim Laffoon from Nashville, Tennessee is leading this conference and is providing really interesting insights and thoughts about healing the soul. Much of his presentation is connecting what the Bible has told us for millennia about the impact of sin and righteousness in our lives and the lives of our children with current brain and genetic research. This research is revealing some of the “whys” for God’s commands and may suggest even more effective approaches to our use of the divine weapons that God has given us.   I will be sharing some of those insights in my next few blogs.

Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desiresThe mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. (Rom. 8:5-9)

I commented on this section of Romans 8 in my last blog but wanted to take one more look at it from a different perspective. This section underscores how different the sinful nature is from our spiritual nature – the nature of the redeemed believer. In Romans 7, Paul makes it clear that believers have two natures and choose which one takes the lead in their life. “I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members” (Rom.7:18-23).

Once we have named Jesus as Lord and Savior, our eternal spirit is given life and the Holy Spirit begins a work of sanctification in us. That is simply the work of changing us so that we become more and more like Jesus. But we still deal with the fallen nature that afflicts the entire human race. It is in our flesh and in our soul and does not just go away. Instead, it wars against our spirit pushing back each time the Holy Spirit prompts us to choose righteousness over selfishness.

We know that dynamic by experience. We have all felt those internal debates about doing right or doing wrong, about acting responsibly or irresponsibly, or about giving into hurtful emotions or bridling our tongues. Satan fuels the desires of the natural man so that those desires and impulses can be very powerful – even in believers.

Let me list the descriptors from both Romans 7 & 8 that Paul expresses in relation to the sinful nature which is sometimes called the natural man: nothing good, evil, sin living in me, waging war, making me a prisoner, death, hostile to God, unable to submit to God’s law, and displeasing to God. That’s quite a “rap sheet” for the sinful nature and clearly sets it in opposition to the work of the Holy Spirit. That fallen nature is so much a part of us that we will be given glorified bodies at the resurrection rather than refurbished bodies. It is almost as if God is saying that our fallen nature is so defective that he is just going to toss it out and give us a new one rather than trying to repair what we have.

This truth should tell us that we cannot make peace with our sinful nature. We cannot compromise or be friends with that nature. Instead, we must battle it and overcome it. We must crucify it and consider it dead. Too many believers try to pacify that nature by giving in “a little” or by satisfying it “a little” so that it quiets down, but that only strengthens it. In a sense, we won’t rid ourselves of it totally until the resurrection so what we must do is weaken it to the point that it displays little strength in our lives. As the devil fuels our sinful nature, the Holy Spirit desires to fuel our spiritual or redeemed nature. We have a major part to play in that process.

It simply gets down to which nature do we choose to nurture and which do we choose to starve. What do we do on a daily basis to feed our sinful nature and what do we do to feed our spiritual nature? When do we open ourselves up to Satan and when do we open ourselves up to the Holy Spirit? When do we agree with Satan by giving into his leading and when do we agree with the Holy Spirit by giving into his leading? Whatever choices we make most often tip the battle in one direction or another.

Be mindful of which nature you are feeding and whose leading you are allowing to influence you. One is death and one is life. One is hostile to God while the other loves God and the things of God. One day Joshua challenged the Hebrews to choose whom they would serve – the God of Israel or the false gods of this world. We make that choice fifty times a day – big choices and small ones – and each choice determines how the war is going. Spirit-led is the path that marks the true disciples of Jesus.

But the angel said to them, “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. (Lk.2:10-11)

The birth of Christ was declared to be good news by the angles who announced his birth. Good news, of course, is the definition of the word gospel. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the good news of Jesus Christ. In this verse, the idea is linked to the title of Savior. If you’re drowning and someone shows up on the scene who can save you – that’s good news. A world drowning in sin and hopelessness needed some good news and that was Jesus! It is still the same today.

The declaration of good news by angels to shepherds in the gospel of Luke was not the first use of that term related to Jesus. In Isaiah 61, the prophet who spoke often of the coming Messiah, declared on behalf of the one who would come, “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn” (Isa.61:1-2). This is one of the great Messianic prophecies and it gives us some significant insights into the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Somehow in the past 200 years the gospel of Jesus for many has simply become the message that Jesus died for our sins so that we could be forgiven and live forever in heaven. If that was all the gospel promised, that would be more than enough but the truth is that it offers much more. The “good news” referenced in Isaiah 61 includes the healing of broken hearts, freedom from every form of bondage including sin, release for those who have been imprisoned in spiritual darkness, and the declaration that God is for us rather than against us. Too many believers have lived a Christian life believing that the extent of Christ’s power in their lives was forgiveness. As a result, they live forgiven but not transformed. They live as if freedom from bondage, addictions, fear, depression, and all the other things that hinder the witness of believers is only available after their funeral. They seem to believe that forgiveness is for now but transformation only comes in heaven. But that is not the gospel.

The good news the shepherds heard 2000 years ago was that not only will your sins be forgiven in Christ but the power of Christ will make you into a new creation in this world as well as the world to come. If you were to read the next few verses of the Isaiah 61 passage you would see the word “instead” mentioned several times. The prophecy promises that when Jesus came the lives of people would be drastically changed. In Christ they would exchange ashes for a crown of beauty, mourning for the oil of gladness, and despair for a garment of praise. In each life there would be radical reversals – not just the forgiveness of sin but radical transformation.

Yet how many of us know long-time believers whose lives and conditions are hardly different from those who don’t know Jesus at all. Sometimes, they remain in the same condition in which they met Jesus because they don’t know what has been made available to them through the cross. The announcement of angels that a Savior had been born was intended to communicate that this Savior would not only deliver them from sin but also from their brokenness and their bondage. That is a gift worth celebrating. That is a gift you definitely want to unwrap and yet many believers leave most of the packages Christ has purchased for them under the tree. They leave the gifts unclaimed because they don’t know what’s in the boxes nor do they know that those presents are for them. This Christmas you may want to seriously consider all the gifts in heaven with your name on them and begin to confidently ask God to release those gifts into your life because in the Kingdom of Heaven, every day is a day to celebrate Jesus and every day is Christmas.

In his letter to the Ephesians, it is clear that Paul expected the new identity of believers to have an impact on their lifestyle.  In several places he essentially points out that although these followers of Jesus had once been unbelievers living in the kingdom of darkness, God had given them a new identity. Since that was true, they were expected to live up to who they now were in Christ.

For instance, Paul says. “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins…when you followed the ways of the world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air…But now in Christ Jesus you who were once far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ…He came and preached peace to you who were far away…Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household ” (Eph.2:1-2, 13; 17,19).   Over and over Paul reminds the believers that they once were like the unbelieving Gentiles and once were living under the power of the enemy but that was no longer their condition or their identity.  Jesus had changed all that.

After describing their huge change of fortunes for three chapters, Paul begins to tell them in very practical terms how they must live as these new creations in Christ.  “I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received…So I tell you this and insist on it ion the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do in the futility of their thinking…Put off your old self…and put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Eph.4:1,17, 22,24).

Then Paul begins to work through a list of things these new believers were to leave behind or jettison from their lives while “putting on” the garments of the kingdom.  “Put off falsehood and speak truthfully…In your anger do not sin…do not give the devil a foothold…steal no longer but work…do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths but only what is helpful for building others up…get rid of bitterness, rage and anger…be kind and compassionate to one another forgiving each other…Be imitators of God and live a life of love…among you there must not even be a hint of sexual immorality…because these are improper for God’s holy people…For you were once darkness but now you are light in the Lord”  (Eph.4-5).

Paul discusses many other things that we are to “put off” and “put on” as believers. In that process there will be radical transformation. We came into the kingdom looking like the devil but we should quickly begin to look like Jesus.  It is, in one sense, a life-long pursuit but it should not take a lifetime to see major changes in our hearts and our lifestyle.  It all begins, however, with the conviction that in Christ, I am not who I used to be and since I belong to him this is how I now live.

What I have seen in my own life and in others over the years is that expectations are key.  Many of us have not been given great expectations for change in our lives nor have we been told what that change should look like.  If I go to a golf pro and ask him to fix my swing, I expect to see a change and the evidence of that change will be more distance, more fairways, and lower scores.  To get there, he must not only tell me what not to do but he must show me what the new swing will look and feel like.  That is what Paul is doing for the Ephesians.  As believers we should expect to become people who live the life Paul describes and we should see his descriptors as the normal life of a believer rather than some impossible standards we can never live up to.  We must expect transformation for us to experience it. 

What we must also know, however, is that transformation is a team sport in the kingdom of God. It takes God’s Spirit working with our desires and often takes other believers to get us where we want to go.  I promise you can’t make those changes in your own strength.  When stress and crisis come, you will default back to your old settings because your behaviors will have changed while your heart has stayed the same.  Scripture is clear that it is God who gives us a new heart. But we should also know that God will not change our hearts without us doing our part.  That means sincerely inviting him to make those changes; it means getting his Word in our heart; it means learning how to fight against the enemy; it means confessing our faults to others for prayer; it means repenting each time we find our hearts or our actions out of line with God’s will; and it means submitting to his will and his ways whenever we see it in the Word.

The promise of Ephesians is that God is ready and willing to bring our hearts and actions in line with who we are in Christ and he is willing to use the power of heaven to do so.  Paul says, “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” (Eph.1: 18-21).

That power is for you because you are in Christ.  You are his temple, his household, a citizen of heaven, a new creation, seated with him in heavenly places, a child of the light, marked by the Holy Spirit, alive in Christ, and a dearly loved child.  Ask for his power to transform you.  Expect it.  Look for it. Engage with him.  Be who you are!  Be blessed.

Jesus said, “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”  The corollary to truth setting us free is that lies will keep us captive.  Lies and belief systems built around them are strongholds that push back against God’s truth.  They may simply come from our intellect and the worldly perspectives we have been taught or they may have been established by intuitive conclusions we drew as a result of some hurtful experience.  If these beliefs were created by experiences and reside deep in our hearts, they can become formidable strongholds because we are often unaware of those powerful influences.  If the enemy works to maintain these false beliefs and assigns demonic spirits to reinforce the lies they become spiritual strongholds.

In 2 Corinthians 10, Paul tells us that our thought life is the real battleground for the believer.  He tells us that strongholds exist within us that exalt themselves and argue against God’s truth.  Paul writes that before we can walk in the freedom of Christ, these strongholds must be pulled down, but the dismantling of these fortresses can only be accomplished by divine weapons. The goal is to take every thought captive (conscious and subconscious), and surrender them to the truth of Jesus Christ.  Jesus said that his words are spirit and they are life (See John 6:63).  Aligning our beliefs with his thoughts gives us life.

Scripture asserts that we are body, soul, and spirit.  It tells us over and over that the spiritual realm is where the greater realities reside. Paul tells us that our most profound struggles are not against flesh and blood but against spiritual forces that come against us (See Eph. 6:12).  He tells us that spiritual armor is essential to overcoming daily attacks of the enemy (See Eph. 6:11), and that divine weapons are needed to tear down false belief systems and bring our thought life into alignment with God’s truth (See 2 Cor. 10:3-5).  Secular counseling, psychology, self-help books, and twelve-step programs cannot effectively reach these places because they don’t deal effectively with the spiritual realm. Without the divine weapons of prayer, healing from the Holy Spirit, hearing a fresh word form God, deliverance, etc. the best we can hope for is to manage the behaviors or emotions prompted by or core beliefs and demonic influence most of the time. Real freedom cannot be achieved through weapons or therapies of the world.

God uses many tools to transform us and make us into the image of his Son.  But the greatest transformation occurs when Jesus heals our wounds from the past and the Holy Spirit aligns our core beliefs with God’s truth.  This can occur in several ways, but the most powerful way is through a moment of revelation where God’s Spirit bears witness with our spirit about his truth.  In such moments, the life-giving Word of God can replace a lie that has shaped our perspectives and decisions for years (See Rom. 8:16).

The truth is that every one of us carries some level of brokenness and some core belief(s) that are not perfectly aligned with the mind of Christ.  Some lead us off course by a few degrees, while others have us sailing south instead of due north.  The question is not if we carry wounds and brokenness—we do—but can we find healing and freedom from these and other things that keep us from the abundant life Jesus has promised?

The answer is “Yes!” in Jesus.  He promises healing and has purchased it for you.

He (the Father) has sent me (Jesus) to heal the brokenhearted.  (Luke 4:18, parenthesis added)

Surely, he has borne our grief and carried our sorrows . . he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, and by his stripes we are healed.  (Isa. 53:4-6)

The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.  (Ps. 34:18)

He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.  (Psalm 147:3)

These scriptures tell us that God has a great heart and great compassion for broken people.  In fact, he is close to those individuals in some way that he is not close to others. I think that simply means that his heart is especially responsive to those in pain and bondage.  The greatest lie of the enemy is that God has no use for the broken and that he rejects them just like those who first wounded the brokenhearted.  Broken people expect rejection and often judge themselves more than others judge them.  Because of the stronghold of rejection within them, they project their own rejection onto others and even onto God. Having done that they don’t truly believe God loves them except in some abstract, general way.  They have little faith that God will answer their prayers or that he has a great future in mind for them.

The truth is that God cares deeply for each of us but especially the brokenhearted and has purchased their healing with the blood of his Son. Jesus defined his ministry as preaching, healing broken hearts, and setting captives free (See Isa. 61:1-3). I know I have said that numerous times in this blog but I don’t know that it can be said too often.

God is providing healing through his church today.  That healing grace is being dispensed through those that God has already healed and set free.  Not every congregation knows how to use divine weapons to tear down these strongholds and not every congregation moves in the power of the Spirit and the exercise of spiritual gifts, but many do.  If you are one of those who desperately need the healing touch of Jesus then find one of those churches. Ask God to lead you to the people he wants to use to dispense his grace in your life.  Do not give up.  Do not settle for a life of emotional pain.  Do not buy the lie that God doesn’t care for you.  Be aggressive in finding your healing.  Jesus said that since the days of John the Baptist the kingdom of God has been forcefully advancing and forceful people are taking hold of it.  Let me encourage you to be one of those forceful people.

Be blessed today.

I have served in several churches in my time as a pastor and I have talked to dozens of people who were restless, wounded and discontent in the church they attended.  The common denominator was that they had been in the same church for years, it had become less and less dynamic, and had settled into just “keeping house.”  These believers were unchallenged and felt as if they were drying up.  They nearly all had spoken with leaders in their church on several occasions and had prayed for years that revival or renewal might break out.  They were each discouraged and disgruntled and yet continued to attend a church where they were essentially unfruitful. I’m assuming there are many others in that situation who struggle with whether to “find another church” or to “hang in there” another year.

For some reason, I feel prompted to share some thoughts on that today. There are always disgruntled members who are looking for the perfect church (defined as a church that would do everything their way) but that is not who I am thinking about in this blog.  I’m thinking about believers who have stayed in one congregation for years, served there faithfully, enjoyed some seasons of excitement and fruitfulness at that church – but that was long ago.  There are others who have been longing and praying for revival at their church or asking God for a powerful move of the Holy Spirit where they are.  Yet there is no evidence on the horizon of either of those desires being fulfilled.

When I ask why they live with such disappointment and discontent for years they usually answer that they love their church and the people there.  Often these are “lay leaders” in the church who feel that they would be abandoning others who have been crying out for the same things for years. And so they stay and attend faithfully each Sunday in what seems to be the triumph of hope over experience.

Lots of times I hear church leaders say that these people need to continue to serve, they need to be part of the solution and not the problem, or that they need to renew their personal zeal without depending on church leadership.  And, sometimes, that has merit.  But there are also churches that vacant of life, vacant of God’s Spirit, and whose leadership is not hungry at all  to change that environment.

I’m reminded of what Jesus said regarding his life of service to the Father.  “ I can only do what I see the Father doing” (Jn.5:19).  Henry Blackabay put it this way, “See what God is doing and join him there.”  Jesus pointed us to fruitfulness in the kingdom of God and to fields white unto harvest.  I believe there comes a time when we need to understand that God is doing nothing or very little in a field because no one is plowing, planting, or watering and those who oversee the field are content or even committed to it laying fallow.  There comes a time when believers need to find where God is working or moving and join him there in a field that is producing a harvest. Remember, those fields are always in need of laborers.

I know why many people hang on in unfruitful churches year after year.  They stay because of the relationships they have there and for what those people mean to them. They also have a history in that place – weddings, funeral’s, baptisms, etc. I am a huge fan of love and loyalty and think those are very godly traits.  But sometimes we put those relationships before our relationship to God and so choose to stay in a religious environment that weakens our spirit and greatly limits our fruitfulness in the kingdom.

I have also visited with dozens of people who attend churches where the gifts of the Spirit are minimized or rejected and who keep calling out to God to receive their own gift of healing, prophecy, or even tongues. They want to see a “Pentecost” at the church they attend beginning with themselves. They want to see lives changed and loved ones healed and set free from fear and addictions.  And so they stay for years yearning and praying for a move of God.  I don’t want to judge any specific situation, but typically if God is not moving it is because leadership is not allowing it.

God honors authority.  Many Christians have placed themselves under the authority of leaders who are truly not interested in a life-altering move of God or who deny the present ministry of the Holy Spirit. To see God move or to receive the gifts of the Spirit, those believers may have to step out from under authority that is saying “No” to those things and find spiritual leaders who are saying “Yes!”

Here’s the thing.  If everyone were living in a city whose water sources had dried up to a trickle and whose civic leaders refused to haul in water, would we applaud the ones who stayed and died of thirst with the people they loved or would it be better for one to leave, find a stream overflowing its banks with fresh water, return, and lead the others who were thirsty to that source?

If anyone chooses to leave a church I believe they should do so in love, with respect toward leadership, and in a way that does not create disunity, But I see so many being disobedient to Christ because they love a church that is being disobedient to his Spirit. Nearly every believer I know senses that we are in the last days. So why sit on the bench when the game is late in the fourth quarter, the team is playing for the greatest prize of all, and you are needed on the field?  Paul said to “Run in such a way as to win the prize” (1 Cor. 9:24).

I am not saying to run to another church at the first sign of trouble or at your first disappointment. Try to be part of the solution but, if year after year, God is not being allowed to display his transforming power and glory there, I encourage you to go where he is busting out, turning lives and the world upside down,  and join him there.  Be fruitful.  Be joyful.  Be passionate. Go where spiritual leaders welcome your hunger and zeal rather than feeling threatened by it.  The time is short.  Jesus wants you in the game!

In his book, The Days of His Presence, Francis Fragipane has a thought provoking section on the nature of times and seasons in the Bible.  This particular section discusses the kind of period that the Greeks referred to as a kairos.  According to Frangipane, this kind of season followed long, flat periods of history where very little changed in the world but suddenly the world was overtaken by incredible shifts and transformations in nations, knowledge, and faith which often included sweeping religious reforms and spiritual activity.

For instance, between Malachi and Matthew, there were approximately three hundred years of silence when little or no revelation occurred in Israel. But suddenly the coming of Messiah that had been foretold since the Days of Adam swept in and the power of God rocked the world of those who witnessed it.  Paul tells us that in the “fullness of time (kairos) God sent forth his Son.”  The idea of a “fullness of time” suggests that God had been storing up events to be released on the earth that would alter the course of nations and individuals.

Kairos seasons do not always happen in days or weeks or even months.  Sometimes they happen over a period of years or decades.   But relative to history, these events seem to catch us off guard and explode onto the scene.  Noah preached for 120 years while God was putting everything in place to release a cataclysmic kairos when in the fullness of time he released the flood.  For those who had not heard God, it seemed to come out of nowhere.  Israel was in Egypt for 450 years while God arranged the chessboard so that in the fullness of time Moses would arise, plagues would be released, and a nation of over a million people would walk into the wilderness.  After that, world empires would arise, seem invulnerable for centuries, and then suddenly fall in a matter of hours or days as God had shown his prophets.

These kairos moments are orchestrated by God for centuries while he puts every piece in place until the fullness of time. When that time comes, the changes are so sweeping and so universal that it seems that the whole world has tipped off its axis. God often speaks of “shaking the world” or “shaking a nation.”  That is the feeling when kairos is released.  To those in the center of the storm, everything feels like chaos, but to the director of the storm everything is being realigned for his purposes. Those who are closest to the Lord in such times can fall asleep in the boat even while water is breaking over the bow.

Frangipane makes the case that we have been in a kairos season for a century. Technology and knowledge has exploded across the globe. Two world wars have come and gone. The nuclear age has been ushered in and great nations have risen and fallen – some seemingly overnight like the USSR.  The Holy Spirit has always given revelation to man and manifested in miracles but now the church is moving in evangelism, healing, miracles, and revelation in ways not seen since the book of Acts.

This is consistent with biblical history.  In each kairos, God revealed himself in new ways and manifested his power through his people. The enemy too rose up in unprecedented ways in response. Of course, God always wins but during these kairos events spiritual activity seems to ramp up exponentially as it did in the gospels.

As you view the activity of God around the globe, we see millions of Chinese coming to faith in an avowed atheist nation.  Million have come to faith in Africa in the past few decades. Korean churches are bursting at the seams. Every mission report or campaign outlines miracles from radical conversions to radical healings (including raising people from the dead), along with miracles of protection and provision, dreams and visions, and thousands coming to Jesus in a day.

Of course, the cynical among us can reject the reports and videos and write it all off as demonic deception or emotionalism.  But the same believers will proclaim that we are certainly in the last days.  If we are finally coming to the end of the last days, then this is certainly a kairos and God is moving in the fullness of time. In those seasons God had always moved in power and done epic things through his people.

I believe today is no different.  I have personally seen the healings, deliverance, radical conversions, and miracles of provision and protection.  I have been told on numerous occasions by trustworthy people who have been eyewitnesses to Jesus appearing to Muslims and entire families renouncing Islam and coming to faith.  I have heard from trustworthy people who have seen with their own eyes the dead being raised in the name of Jesus and entire villages coming to faith as a result.  All of this sounds amazing and almost beyond belief but did it not happen in the book of Acts in the fullness of time?  Why must we doubt that God would use the miraculous power of heaven to bring in a great harvest now at the end of this season?

If you have been taught to reject or doubt the gifts of the Spirit and the power of God, I hope you will not sit cynically on the sideline while God is inviting you to play in the greatest game ever played.  If you can’t bring yourself to trust believers who talk about such things, then honestly ask God to show you his power if he is indeed manifesting in such ways today.  But when you see it, don’t return to the bench. Get in the game with all your heart.

Think about it, in these kairos moments, doctrines and orthodoxy never won the day. They were important and faithfulness and truth were keys to God moving on behalf of his people.  But power won the day. Pharaoh did not surrender to doctrine but to manifest power. The Torah never convinced Nebuchadnezzar, but three men emerging from a fiery furnace and another walking out of a lion’s den convinced him that there was one God. Even Jesus said, “If you don’t believe me, believe the works I do.”  This is a time, a kairos, when we must not be suspicious of the move of God but embrace it because the miracles themselves reveal God to us and to those who need him desperately.  Remember, to reject what God is doing, is, in part, to reject him.

I am convinced that most Christians continue to walk in brokenness for decades even though they have been born again.  The promise of being raised to walk in newness of life or in being a new creation is a potential transformation for the believer.  Many of the promises of God’s kingdom are there for the taking but they must be taken.  In Christ we are given a position of righteousness and holiness but we know our condition does not always match our position.  Transformation is the process that begins to make our condition line up with our position. Although transformation comes by the power and ministry of the Holy Spirit we are required to partner with him in that change.

Many believers recognize their brokenness and their sin but simply feel shame and condemnation while crying out to God to change them.  Many of us are waiting for the “transformation fairy” to whack us with his magic wand while we are sleeping so that we wake up a changed person with no effort on our part.  The radical life change God promises is our promised land flowing with milk and honey.  When God brought Israel from Egyptian bondage to that promised land, he told them the land was there for the taking.  He even promised to go before them to drive out their enemies but they could not sit on the wilderness side of the Jordan while he did all the heavy lifting. They would, in fact, have to enter into many battles with the enemy in partnership with their God to experience the fullness of the promise. In doing so, God intended for them to grow in faith and in their relationship with him. God is relational so his transforming work in our lives will be in partnership with him.

Our part is actually simple.  We only have to open ourselves up to Jesus totally and invite him to come in and do whatever is needed to heal us and set us free.  It’s simple but not so easy because few of us totally trust Jesus with every part of our life…the good stuff, the bad stuff, the hidden stuff, and the stuff we locked away so long ago that we can’t remember where we put it.  For most of us, it is the hidden stuff and the locked away stuff that we hold close and refuse to entrust to Jesus.  We think if he ever discovered those things he would reject us or shame us or not protect us from the engulfing pain of those memories and so we don’t acknowledge then or surrender them to his ways.

Opening yourself up to Jesus is very much like going to a doctor.  First, you must acknowledge that something is wrong that exceeds your own ability to diagnose or heal.  You may deny the problem, mask it, or medicate it.  But if you do, you only burn great amounts of energy attempting to manage or hide symptoms rather than affecting a cure.

Your part is to seek out the physician and tell Him everything.  Having told him everything, you then must allow Him to administer his own tests.  You may have to submit to poking and prodding, deep tissue scans, stress tests, or blood work. But to withhold information or to refuse to submit to His scans will put you at risk. Even after you have submitted to His diagnosis, you must faithfully follow His treatment plan…not just the parts you like, not just when you feel like it, but faithfully and consistently for deep healing to occur.

As we partner with the Great Physician, we must go to him and tell him everything.  We must invite him to evaluate our condition, scan us with his word and his Spirit, and prescribe treatment.  After his thorough diagnosis of our souls, we will still need to take his prescriptions and stick with the regimen until healing and change has occurred.  After that, we will need to return to him regularly for checkups to prevent our old condition from re-establishing itself. Then, we will need to walk out a healthy spiritual regimen to keep the flesh, the world, and the enemy from poisoning our souls once again.

But all of that begins with a courageous decision to abandon our protective walls and trust Jesus with everything in our past, present, and future. That is our part and it requires faith. Your flesh will push back against the decision and demons will scream at the thought.  But Jesus is faithful, gentle, trustworthy, and skilled.  The truth is that he already knows what you are hiding from him and he has not rejected you.  He continues to knock on the door hoping for an invitation to come in and bring his healing touch with him. I hope you will trust him today and give it all to the Healer, the one who died for you.

As followers of Jesus, how many of us really believe that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Eph. 6:12)?

The New Testament is full of reverences to satanic schemes, demonic oppression and torment, and battles in the heavenly realms.  It is full of admonitions to recognize the enemy’s ploys and stand up against him.  In Matthew 4, we see a wilderness showdown between Jesus and Satan as soon as Christ’s public ministry is launched.  We then see Jesus, the twelve, the seventy, and the church exercising authority illness and over demons and casting them out each time the gospel was preached.

There are a number of ways demons afflict people in the New Testament record.  There is the tormented and “insane” tomb dweller of Mark 5.   Then there were those who were deaf, mute, and blind.  Some had back problems for years while others seemed to have conditions that produced seizures. Undoubtedly demons manifested in people in numerous other ways as well.  Tradition maintains that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute before coming to Jesus. We are told in scripture that she had seven demons cast out of her.  No doubt they contributed heavily to her brokenness and destructive lifestyle.  Many references to deliverance say that a demon was cast out and the person was healed as a result. It’s fair to speculate that demons manifested as all kinds of physical and mental illnesses as well as physical conditions.  Wherever there is an authentic disease or condition that exists in the natural realm, it is likely that demons mimic and produce those conditions in many. For one, medication will suffice.  For the other, deliverance is needed.

It’s interesting to me that many of the people who came to Jesus seemed to have an accurate diagnosis of physical illness versus demonic affliction. One would come and say that his daughter or servant was ill and needed healing while another would come and say that his son or daughter was suffering from a demon. We live in a culture where even Bible believing Christians never consider that an illness or psychological condition might be caused by demonic forces.

First century Jews lived in a culture that gave great credence to the spiritual realm.  When disaster, affliction, or torment entered their lives, they considered spiritual causes as much or more than natural causes.  So they ran to Jesus or his followers and found healing and deliverance. In our world of rationalism, technology, and science those who believe that physical illness, physical impairments, addictions, learning disabilities, or psychological conditions such as depression, rage, anxiety, panic attacks, etc. might be rooted in demonic activity are considered weird or backward.  In many cases, even the church rejects the notion of demonic affliction and would invite anyone who wanted to minister deliverance or supernatural healing to leave immediately.

Yet the biblical model is to preach the gospel, heal the sick, cast out demons, and even raise the dead.  Most churches declare that the Bible is their guide in all things and strive to duplicate biblical patterns and models in their churches … until it comes to “spiritual forces of evil in heavenly realms.” How many of us have heard prayers asking God to help the doctors do what they do rather than asking God to heal by his power and compassion?

I’m not saying we shouldn’t go to doctors or pray for them. I believe medicine is a grace of God and doctors are a grace to this world.  What I am saying is that greater power and greater solutions lie in the spiritual realm. I am saying that some illness and physical conditions have spiritual roots and vaccines will not solve that issue.

It is clear that the majority of believers in the western church believe our healing is in the hands of doctors and secular therapists much more than in the hands of God. Even believers tend to exhaust all solutions they can find in the natural realm before they turn to the spiritual realm in desperation. Paul’s admonitions would seem to suggest that we should look for spiritual solutions even before we turn to solutions in the natural realm.

I am encouraged, however.  There is a worldwide move of God at this present time where the power of the kingdom of heaven is being displayed in the name of Jesus. Millions are coming to Christ.  Thousands are being healed and delivered.  Even in western nations and America, churches are beginning to live out the commands to preach, heal and set free in the name of Jesus. It is just my heart that every Christian would find the power of Jesus Christ for their lives and the lives of those they love who live in torment and brokenness.  The church simply needs to remember Paul’s admonition in Ephesians 6 to live with an awareness of where the real battles are waged and the real solutions are found.  Then, press in to discover the power of God and the divine weapons he offers to every follower of Jesus.