I was reminded of a story I heard a number of years ago.  A man was leaving his city on a journey.  It was in the 1800’s, he wasn’t affluent, and so he was walking to his destination. Many people were walking on the same road and as he walked he noticed a man approaching in a robe and a hood.  Thinking that he might be a religious man he greeted him and asked him about his business in the city where this man had lived for many years.  The hooded figure replied, “ I am Death and I am going to claim those whose days have been fulfilled.  Don’t be alarmed; you’re not on my list. ”  Regardless, the man quickly disengaged from the conversation and went on his way.   Four days later he was returning and encountered Death on his way out.  The city cemetery was just outside the city walls and he noticed dozens of families standing around fresh graves mourning their losses.  The man spoke to Death and said, “How does it feel to know you are responsible for the sorrow of so many?” Death replied, “It’s what I do.  But actually, I only claimed a few of those.  Worry and fear took the rest.”

Jesus spoke to his disciples about worry.  “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes” (Mt.6:25)?  Jesus then went on to say, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Mt. 6:33-34).

Most of us agree with the principle Jesus taught but follow up our agreement with the thought,  “Easier said than done!”  Nearly all of us are prone to worry regardless of our commitment to cease worrying.  In fact, the more we focus on not worrying, the more we worry.  We fall into Paul’s dilemma of doing the things we hate.  So how do we escape lying in bed at night or early in the morning and worrying about the meeting, the bills, our health, our children, and so forth.  Thankfully, Jesus offers a practical approach at the end of his teaching on worry.  There he counsels us to seek first the kingdom of God.

The implication is that we can derail the worry train by shifting our focus from the stuff we are worrying about to greater things that have far greater implications. Think about the things of God, eternal things, life-changing things that he allows us to participate it.  If you are worrying about something that you can actually do something about then do it – with the Lord at your side.  But most of us worry about things we know we cannot affect. In those moments think about bigger things until those thoughts produce prayer and prayer produces peace.

Bigger things, kingdom things remind us of how big our God is and should remind us of how much he loves us. A true recognition of a Father’s power and greatness along with his immense love for us should calm much of our worry.  In addition, one of the “fruits of the Spirit” is peace which the Holy Spirit is able to release when we enter into prayer. Jesus was clear that worry cannot increase our days although in certainly has the capacity to decrease our days.  So Jesus tells us to reflect on how the Father provides for things that have much less value than we do and to reflect on the big goals of the kingdom in which you are involved or can be involved. Seek first the kingdom.

Worry is about perspective.  How big is the issue really?  How much difference will it make a hundred years from now in your life?  What is too big for God and why would I think that he would not involve himself in my struggles when I ask? God’s faithfulness, God’s love, God’s power, God’s priorities – those are the things to think about when worry seeps up in the midst of the night. Worry is fear and fear is not faith so think on things that build your faith.  That is the solution to worry.  So… be blessed and don’t worry!

In John 6, we find the familiar story of Jesus walking on water.  The disciples had just witnessed the feeding of five thousand people with a few loaves of bread and a couple of small fish. John tells us that immediately after that notable miracle Jesus made his disciples get into a boat and sent them across the Sea of Galilee to Capernaum.  After dismissing the crowd and the disciples he went up on a mountain to pray.

When evening came the boat was in the middle of the lake (about three and a half miles off shore) and the disciples were rowing because a strong wind was blowing against them and their basic sail was of no use.  It must have been a considerable wind because they had been rowing since sunset and were still rowing when the forth watch of the night rolled around.  That would be between 3:00 and 6:00 a.m. Apparently, there was a bright moon because Jesus could see them from the shoreline as they continued to row.

Then the story gets interesting. John tells us that Jesus simply went for a walk on the lake.  In his gospel, Mark tells us that Jesus “was about to pass by them” when they saw his figure on the water.  At first they thought they were seeing a spirit and cried out. Jesus immediately told them not to be afraid and identified himself.  According to Matthew (See Mt. 14), Peter in his excitement asked Jesus to command him to come out and walk on the water as well.  Peter, of course, did walk on the surface of a churning sea for a few steps but then took his eyes off of Jesus and began to sink. Jesus lifted him from the water and as he so often did, chided Peter and the other disciples about their lack of faith.

There are a few things the Spirit pointed out to me as I read this familiar text again.  First of all, Jesus watched them struggle against the wind for a number of hours before going out to them. Undoubtedly a lesson was in the making.  I have to hand it to the disciples for their attempt to be obedient to the Master.  If I had been rowing for hours in the middle of the night on a rough sea and had only made three miles of the journey, I would have been very tempted to head back to shore and try again on a more favorable day. But these men kept after the assignment while making little headway believing that Jesus would be at their destination waiting for them when they arrived. I applaud their tenacity.

I think the lesson may be found in their attempt to accomplish the task Jesus had given them in their own strength.  I’m certain they felt alone and, perhaps, even resentful for Jesus commanding them to row across a huge lake in the night in a rough sea against a strong wind. It would be easy to hear them grumbling about Jesus not being there to take his turn at the oars.

And yet they were not alone.  Jesus had his eye on them the whole time and when they were probably near exhaustion he strolled out to the boat.  Mark’s statement that he was about to pass them by really catches my attention. It is possible that if they had not looked up or had not cried out Jesus would have completed his seven-mile walk and arrived at the other side long before his exhausted disciples arrived in their boat.  The difference in the journey was that the apostles were toiling in their own strength while Jesus was strolling on the same rough waters against the same opposing wind but he was making the journey in the power of God.

If you scan the gospels you often see that the disciples watched the miracles of Jesus but never sensed that the same power from heaven was available to them by faith. As you read the comments of Jesus about their lack of faith you sense that it wasn’t their lack of faith in Jesus that was the problem but their lack of faith that God would do the same things for them and through them that he was doing for Jesus. He would say to the twelve…you feed them.  He would seem to say to them, “Why didn’t you command the storm to be still instead of waking me up?” or “Why didn’t you command the wind to be still so you could row easily or better yet why didn’t you get out and walk?”

Jesus lived with an awareness that the power of heaven was available to him not just to heal or cast out demons but to feed the crowds, still the storm, cross the lake, or provide a meal. His disciples most often seemed to believe that what God would do for Jesus, he would not do for them.  So they faced tasks and crises in their own strength…typically with less than stellar outcomes.

In the middle of the lake that night, the disciples were rowing with all their might but I wonder if they had even prayed for a supernatural crossing. If they had been so absorbed by their own efforts that they had not looked up, they would not have even noticed Jesus nearby and would not have cried out to him.  If they had not cried out, he may have walked right by them.  But when they did cry out he joined them. Peter walked on water and the wind died down. They soon reached the other side. But I think what Jesus really wanted them to learn was that what God would do for his only begotten Son he was also very willing to do for his adopted sons.

We need that same lesson.  We so often feel that the tasks or the challenges that come our way must be faced in our own strength with our own resources. We eventually cry out when we get desperate and exhausted but how much better if we counted on the supernatural interventions of God from the very beginning to help us accomplish the task.  How much better if we prayed before beginning rather than just grabbing the oars and getting after it in our own strength. Like the disciples that night, we may feel alone but we are not alone. God is watching and he is willing to join us.  He is also wanting us to know that by faith we can certainly do what Jesus did because Jesus said that those who believe in him would not only do what he had been doing but greater things as well.  Be blessed today and anticipate the supernatural help of the Father.

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!

There are many things we get wrong because we are viewing them from the wrong perspective.  It’s like the old saying, “You can’t see the forest for the trees.”  I’m really not certain what that old saying means but I think it’s the idea that sometimes we miss the big picture because we are caught up in the details.  Our spiritual life can be affected by working from the wrong perspective as well.  Sometimes we serve God like beggars rather than sons and daughters of the royal household. From that perspective, we get lost in worry about whether God will provide rather than living in anticipation of how he will provide.

One of our great struggles in prayer is the notion that prayer is about getting God to do what we want him to do.  Our perspective is that we set God’s agenda for our life and then try to persuade him to fulfill that agenda. That is not what Jesus modeled for us.  Jesus taught us to look for what the Father is doing and then join him in the heavenly agenda. “Jesus gave them this answer: I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does’” (Jn.5:19)

Jesus lived with the idea that the Father was the initiator of his daily assignments. Basically he asked God to show him what the agenda was for him that day and then he lived it out.  Much of what the Father directed Jesus to do wasn’t always logical from an earthly point of view.  How many times did Jesus leave the crowds clamoring for more when, from our perspective, he should have stayed while demand for the message was high.  Certainly, confronting the religious establishment wasn’t the way to grow the church; it got him crucified.  Jesus spent his days hanging out with sinners, sick people, the demonized, and the despised.  Our wisdom would have directed us to spend our days building relationships with the rich, the powerful and the influential in order to resource the preaching of the gospel.  My point is that God’s agenda for our days might and probably would look very different from our own blueprint for the next twenty-four hours.

I know theologically we agree with Jesus but practically we (I include myself) still tend to default back to bringing our plans to the Father and asking him to fund what we have imagined. Graham Cooke speaks to this perspective when he says, “Prayer, in its simplest form, is finding out what God wants to do and then asking Him to do it. When we don’t listen before we pray we end up presenting God with options instead of a request. We’ll pray whatever comes to mind instead of entering into communion with Him. Our internal, clamoring agenda gives God a multiple choice prayer…Prayer is praying with God not to God. It is praying with the answer, not to try and find one” (Graham Cooke, Approaching the Heart of Prophecy, p. 103).

If our perspective on prayer was trying to discern the heart and will of God and then asking him to do what he already had in mind, we would be much more like Jesus.  Our goal would be to fulfill his will on earth rather than our own.  I’m not saying that we pray for evil things, we may pray for many good things but those things may not be in sync with God’s purposes for a person, a specific situation,  or even for ourselves.

Our first objection to that way of thinking is that if God already has in mind what he wants to do then why pray at all.  The answer, once again, is found in God’s desire for partnership.  There are many things he wants to do that he will not do until his people pray.  Since we have been given authority on the earth, God honors our authority and does not disempower us by doing what he wants without our involvement or consent. Authority flows from the top down even in a family and when we align our prayers with the Father’s plans we will see much more fruit.

So then how do we know what the Father wants us to pray about?  Many things are constants revealed in the word of God.  We are told to pray for those in authority and to pray for peace.  Paul tells us a number of things for which he constantly prayed – boldness to preach the gospel, the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation, an increase in love, healing for the sick, etc. Those things are always on God’s agenda.  But then we should exam the unselfish desires of our heart.  Have we begun to carry a burden for someone or someplace or some ministry?  God may have well placed on your heart what was already on his heart.  Circumstances often seem to point us to a place where God is already working but is the Spirit provoking us to pray for that or involve ourselves in a situation?

We cannot minister to everyone we encounter in a day or involve ourselves in every opportunity that we hear about.  We can quickly eliminate some things as being ungodly but many things would not be wrong.  We will still need God to direct us to the opportunities appointed to us.  Some plant, some water, and God gives the increase.  We need to know what our role is.  The best way to know is to hear a fresh word from God.  Learning to listen, then pray, then listen, then pray is a tough discipline in this “run and gun” world, but I believe it is what Jesus did on those nights when he went off by himself to pray.

When I think about praying for God’s agenda rather than my own and avoiding selfish prayers, my flesh cries out, “Yeah, but what about me?” When I say that, I discover a lack of trust in me toward the Father.  I somehow don’t quite believe that the desires of his heart for me as well as the rest of the world will bring me joy and meet my needs in better ways than I could ever imagine.  I don’t quite believe that his timetable for me is really suitable.  I don’t quite believe that he is interested in the deepest needs of my being.  I’m afraid that when everyone else’s needs have been met through my service, my own needs will be left undone.  But then I need to go back and read the Spirit’s definition of love in 1 Corinthians 13 and remember that God is love.  All of those qualities of love spelled out in that chapter must be how God feels about you and me and in that character I am assured that God not only wants what’s best for me but also knows what’s best for me.

Maybe we just need to test the waters by asking God what he would have us pray about today or do today and trust that it will lead to blessing and happiness.  Maybe we should just try it for 90 days to see how life flows for us and to see how our relationship with the Father flows.  It’s all a matter of perspective. Is real fulfillment going to be found in God propping up my desires or will it be found in me fulfilling his plans?  With all that he had to do, Jesus never seemed to hurry, worry, or be overwhelmed by life.  That sounds really good. His secret was simply doing what God had for him to do each day and receiving what God had already designated as his.  Trust is the perspective we are looking for and it only comes through experiencing the goodness of God when we are in the center of his will.

Be blessed today.

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.

“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.

Elijah was the greatest prophet of the Old Testament.  I say that because, Jesus declared that John the Baptist had come in the spirit of Elijah and was the one given the honor to announce the coming of Messiah.  When Jesus was transfigured before Peter, James and John it was Moses and Elijah who met with Jesus on that mountain (see Matt. 17:3).

Elijah simply appears in the pages of scripture in 1 Kings 17.  We know nothing of his parents, his tribe or his upbringing.  He simply appears in the days of King Ahab and his wife Jezebel who promoted idol worship in Israel and who ruled as tyrants.  Elijah seems to be the forerunner of John the Baptist in many ways.  He confronted Ahab about his sins as John confronted Herod. He seemed to live mostly in the desert and wore a garment of hair with a leather belt around his waist (2 Kings 1:8) which sounds very much like John the Baptist.  Elijah differs, however, in that he performed miracles and was provided for miraculously while we have no record of John the Baptist ever performing a miracle.

It was Elijah who declared that there would be no dew or rain in Israel for three and a half years except at hos own word. It was also Elijah who confronted 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah on the top of Mount Carmel.  He stood against then and King Ahab until Jehovah was proven to be the true God and the prophets of Baal destroyed.  He was then instructed to go pray for rain and after doing so God sent rain after the three and a half year drought in Israel.  By the way, if Ahab had ever killed Elijah before he prayed for rain it is possible that it would have never rained again in Israel because the drought was to be broken only by Elijah’s words.

As you read the 17^th and 18^th chapters of 1 Kings, Elijah appears to be the fearless, unshakeable man of God that we all want to be.  But something out of character occurs in chapter 19.  After the confrontation between Elijah and the prophets of Baal, Ahab told Jezebel what had happened to her “pet priests.” After hearing about their destruction, Jezebel sent word to Elijah that she had taken a vow to kill him within the next 24 hours.

The text then reads,  “Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, while he himself went a day’s journey into the desert. He came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.” Then he lay down under the tree and fell asleep” (1 Kings 19:3-5).

What we see in Elijah is a spiritual reality that we all need to be aware of.  Often, after great spiritual victories, we become susceptible to fatigue and fear.  Think about it.  Elijah had just completed an amazing day of spiritual victory – confronting Ahab, calling down fire from heaven, destroying the prophets of Baal, and then ran a marathon (see 1 Kings 18:45) to Jezreel.  He did all of this in the power of the Spirit.  However, when the infinite Spirit of God works through the finite body and soul of a man, spiritual and physical fatigue often sets in.  Even Jesus experienced that in his body so that at times he would separate himself from the crowds to seek a quiet place, rest, and time with the Father.

To put it bluntly, put a fork in Elijah because he is done. Elijah is drained at the end of the day and when the threat from Jezebel is delivered, he just doesn’t have the energy or faith to go another round. We like Elijah need to know that we are often vulnerable to the enemy after great spiritual victories or even spiritual highs.  We especially experience that desire to flee when we thought the battle was over and another assault from the enemy suddenly appears.

We have an event called Freedom Weekend where our team will minister in prayer and deliverance to 60 to 70 people over a period of 4 or 5 hours.  At the end of the day, there is always a sense of thankfulness for what God has done and a sense of victory over the enemy.  But there always comes a moment when our team is “done” and no one wants to hear that someone needs a little more deliverance. Our team goes home fulfilled, excited, and tired. All they want is a warm meal and a warm bed.  We have also noticed that for the next week or two there is often a since of spiritual fatigue and almost a spiritual apathy that sets in.  We call this the “Elijah syndrome.” This is a time that we need to rest but also to be very wary of the enemy who wants to exploit that spiritual vulnerability.

Elijah ran away from more battles at the time but God cared for him along the way and was waiting for him when he arrived at Horeb and hid in a cave. Ultimately, Elijah needed a break from the battle; he needed sleep, food, rest, and some time alone.  He needed to hear the small, still voice of God to renew him.  If we try to analyze Elijah’s thoughts we sense that after his great victory of faith, he thought that Ahab and the world around him would change for the better.  Jezebel’s threat left him feeling as if his efforts for God had made no difference.  The enemy was still bold and enthroned and now he was in the crosshairs of, perhaps, the most wicked woman of her time or any time. However, Elijah has set in motion a sequence that would soon take both Ahab and Jezebel off the throne and out of this world.  He discovered that he was not alone in his love for God and righteousness, and he had won the praise of God which is the ultimate prize indeed.

In my last blog I spoke about being aware of the devil’s schemes and so I wanted to make you aware or to remind you of this natural spiritual let down that often occurs right after a mountaintop experience with God. When you have labored hard for a victory and have won the battle, be prepared to experience what Elijah experienced.  Elijah was disappointed in himself for his spiritual letdown but God cared for him and encouraged him until his spiritual energy was restored.  The letdown doesn’t always occur but it occurs often, so find a way to get some rest, spend a little time alone but get some people around you to pray and talk about the victory and to celebrate the win. Ask them to pray for you to be rejuvenated and spend quiet time listening to God. The enemy would love for you to get down on yourself because you suddenly don’t feel like the great man or woman of faith that you seemed to be 24 hours earlier.  He would love to accuse and condemn but just know that it is a natural cycle that even the greatest of prophets experienced and know that your passion and faith will return soon.

Be blessed today in God’s care.

“We were born to live in the realm of the supernatural – the realm of healings, prophetic utterances, angelic encounters, and the gifts of the Spirit.  It should be the most natural thing for a Christian to live a supernatural lifestyle.  If you feel dissatisfied with your Christian walk, it may be because you are missing this all-important element. Jesus didn’t only invite Peter to walk on the water (see Matt. 14-22-33).  By inviting him to risk walking on the water, Jesus was inviting Peter into the realm He lived in all the time – the realm of the supernatural.  And He welcomes us to live there as well. Jesus is looking at you just as He looked at Peter and He is saying, ‘Come.’  He is inviting you to live a supernatural lifestyle.  Can you hear him calling?” (Banning Liebscher, Walking in the Supernatural, p.237).

Why do you think God wrote the biographies of so many men and women in scripture who had supernatural encounters with God, angels, the demonic, etc.?  Think about it. The great majority of those who were walking in fellowship with God experienced dreams and visions, miraculous provision, miraculous deliverance from armies, fire, lions, and enemies of every sort.  They experienced divine favor, divine encounters, prophetic words, unnatural boldness, supernatural strength, and angelic encounters.  Just scan the Old and New Testaments and you will find these things in nearly every life that was attuned to God from Genesis to Revelation.

Children read those things and imagine themselves taking on Goliath, routing armies, healing blind men, blowing trumpets while the walls of a great city crumble, walking on water, and stilling the mouths of lions.  It is not until we encounter adults that we discover that God put all those stories in scripture to show us what he would never do through us or for us but only to show us a multitude of exceptions to the rule rather than the rule.  It seems that God put all those accounts of supernatural encounters in scripture to show us what we could never experience by faith rather than to show us the kinds of things that faith could draw from heaven in our own lives. It seems that God had men pen thousands of scriptures telling us how he used to interact with his people rather than telling how he wants to interact with us today.

I served in churches for 25 years that taught that God did all those things once upon a time, but doesn’t do them anymore.  I’ve never met a person who had simply read the Bible, including the New Testament, who came to the conclusion that God used to do all that cool stuff but stopped doing it 2000 years ago.  They simply assumed that since God did all that cool stuff throughout the pages of the Bible he must still do those things.  We have to be taught that God doesn’t move in the supernatural because we would never conclude that from the natural reading of scripture.

However, I learned that God doesn’t move in the miraculous in our day so well that when I saw the supernatural works of God I didn’t recognize them. If I did see something out of the ordinary I discounted it or found a naturalistic explanation for it. If you think about that borders on blasphemy of the Spirit that Jesus spoke of when the Pharisees witnessed an undeniable miracle but then attributed the miracle to the work of Satan.

When we declare that God used to move in mighty and powerful ways on the earth on behalf of his people but that he no longer does so, the whole story begins to sound like a myth or a fairly tale – once upon a time a great and powerful king used to.  No wonder people doubt the inspiration of scripture. However, those who grow up seeing and experiencing the supernatural moves of God have no problem believing biblical accounts.  Satan has little fear of a God who no longer acts on behalf of his people through miracles and certainly has no fear of a church that only functions in the natural rather than living in the supernatural.  “Christ” comes from the Greek word that means the “anointed one of God.”  Jesus said that the Spirit of the sovereign Lord was upon him because he had anointed him to preach good news.  To be anointed means to carry the Spirit of God and the supernatural power of God as well.  Someone once pointed out that Satan released a spirit of anti-Christ not a spirit of anti-Jesus.  He released a spirit of anti-anointing in a sense.  Not anointing, no power; no power, no danger to the supernatural forces of darkness.

However, if you have the Holy Spirit living in you, you are anointed to live and move in the supernatural just as Christ did.  You are invited to walk on water, still the storms, heal the sick and send demons fleeing. I am convinced that God gave us all the accounts of supernatural encounters in scripture because that is to be the rule for those who follow God, not the exception.  To seek after a supernatural lifestyle is not a pursuit of sensationalism but rather the pursuit of the normal Christian life.  It is high time that the church got after it.  Be blessed today and ask Jesus to work in you and through you in supernatural ways.  It is where he wants you to live.

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!

They gave Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan.” Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.”    But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.”            And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them. (Num.13:27-33).

This is the account of the return of the twelve spies that the Hebrews sent into Canaan when the Hebrews first came to the land after leaving Egypt.  Many Christians neglect the study of the Old Testament because we live under a different covenant but the New Testament says that the things written before Christ were written for our learning (see Rom.15:4).  We need to find the principles imbedded in these texts so that we can live by faith and secure the promises of God today.  These principles don’t change because God doesn’t change.  So…let’s take a look.

God had determined to give this land to his people hundreds of years before the Hebrews peered over the Jordan.  He had promised the land to Abraham and his descendants and Moses had led them out of Egypt and brought them to the brink of the promise being fulfilled. Basically, God told them that He had already given them the land; they just needed to cross the Jordan and possess it.  God promised that He would go with them and fight before them assuring them victory after victory.  God had demonstrated His commitment and power through the ten plagues that brought Egypt to her knees, by the parting of the Red Sea, and by the destruction of Pharaoh’s army.  He had shown His power and glory on the top of Sinai and had miraculously provided food and water for all the people in the desert.

The people counseled Moses to send spies into Canaan to get a first hand report of the topography of the land, the abundance of the land, and the people who lived there.  Moses thought it was a sound idea so they dispatched twelve men – one from each tribe.  When they retuned after 40 days, they reported that the land was everything God had described but the people there were strong and some were “giants” such as would be seen in Goliath years later.  At the report, whatever courage the people had before quickly faded and they decided that the task was too much – God had called them to so something that was undoable. Because of their unbelief, that entire generation of Hebrews wandered in the desert for 40 years until they died.  After that, their children took the land.

Several questions come to mind as a result of this account.

1. How much does God have to do to convince us that He is for us and that we can overcome any obstacle by His power? Plagues, Red Sea, manna in the wilderness, a pillar of fire by night and a cloud during the day to lead the way, the Law of God written on stone, etc. Was that not enough to prove His intent for His people and His capacity to deliver and provide?  Apparently not.

2. Why did Moses not ask God about sending spies rather than taking counsel from the people?  Up to that point God had directed their every step and protected them by His power.  Why did Moses think they needed to know their way around the country or confirm what God had already told them was true?  The Hebrews had not shown great faith or good judgment in any way up to that point. Why did Moses think it would be different then?  Perhaps he thought the goodness of the land would catch their attention more that the obstacles.  Whatever he thought did not bring about the results he hoped for. Fear and unbelief ruled the day.

3. Why didn’t God just send destroying angels or plague into the land and clear it out ahead of time so that the Hebrews could just walk right in and set up shop?

Here are a few principles for us.

God’s word about a thing is sufficient because He cannot lie.  However, He is always willing to demonstrate His good intentions toward us and His power for us in order to give us confidence that we have understood Him and His word. For a while, God will give us miracles to produce faith; but after a while, He will expect our faith to produce the miracles.  There comes a time when His actions have demonstrated His character enough that we should have at least a minimal level of faith.  The greater the miracles are that He has shown us, the more faith is expected – to whom much is given, much is required. At some point, God will expect us to understand His commitment to us and His character so that we will choose to trust and obey when facing even great obstacles.

Some of us have little faith because we have never allowed God to put us in risky situations.  If we are never in risky situations, we will never need a miracle.  If we never need a miracle, we will never see a miracle and our faith will remain small. When our faith remains small, we will never experience all the goodness, the fruit, and the victory God has promised.  We will simply live and die without experiencing everything that God has stored up for us and that Jesus has paid for.

Additionally, when God has given us a promise and a clear word to go after something, we should never dialogue with the devil or people who have demonstrated little faith in their lives.
They will always counsel us to trust in men rather than God; in what we can see rather than in what we can imagine by faith, and they will simply point out the giants rather than the amazing victories that will be ours by faith.  Stay away from bad reports and from those who always see giants rather than the One who slays giants through His people.

We must also live knowing that God wants us to face obstacles that are impossible to conquer without Him.  If he clears the way ahead of time we never grow, never get stronger, and never get to know Him better.  We would simply become spoiled trust-fund babies, in the spiritual sense, who feel entitled to all blessings and thankful for none.  Besides…when you face the impossible and Jesus shows up, life gets to be fun.  Your faith becomes an adventure that enriches your life beyond measure and Jesus becomes very real. In the realm of your faith, risk is always your friend when God has called you to the risk.   We should learn from David who ran toward the giant rather than away from him.

Finally, the land that was impossible to take was taken a few years later by the children of those who had no faith.  The walls of Jericho could have fallen just as easily 40 years earlier if Israel had responded with just a little faith.   But thankfully, children can rise above their parents in the spiritual realm usually by learning from their parent’s mistakes.  One of the ways we can honor our fathers and mothers is to not judge their mistakes but to learn from them.

So today reflect on all the ways God has already demonstrated His commitment to you and His power.  Consider every miracle, every answered prayer, every moment of divine protection, every healed heart and relationship, and expect God to do it all again and to do even greater things for you.  Be willing to take some risk for the kingdom of God and run toward any giants that come your way today.  God truly has already promised you victory.  Be blessed today in Him.