“Don’t be afraid!” How many times was that phrase spoken to believers throughout the Bible? Is it just an absence of faith that God is rebuking or is there something more sinister about fear than just not fully trusting in God? I have often thought that people who tried to minister deliverance with some fear about failure or about the demon were setting themselves up for something more than disappointment. We have always heard the expression that wild animals or big snarling dogs can sense your fear and be emboldened to attack. I believe it is the same in the spiritual realm. I like the way Bill Johnson explains the ramifications of fear.

Fear is faith in the devil…The devil is called Beelzebub, which means lord of the flies. He and his hosts are attracted to decay….Issues such as bitterness, jealousy, and hatred qualify as the decay of the heart that invites the devil to come and give influence – yes, even to Christians. Remember Paul’s admonition to the church of Ephesus, “Neither give place to the devil.” Fear is also the decay of the heart. It attracts the demonic in the same way as bitterness and hatred. (Bill Johnson, When Heaven Invades Earth, p.50).

Fear in the spiritual atmosphere is like drops of blood in the ocean. Some predator will pick up it’s sent and seek its source. So when we are encouraged not to be afraid it is not just the absence of trust in God but it is a substance in the spiritual realm that emboldens the enemy to come against you. Our fear comes either from the uncertainty that God is actually greater than Satan or it comes from the uncertainty that God will protect us from the enemy. Scripture is full of promises that God is, in fact, much greater than the devil and that he will come to our aid if we are under attack. To not believe God’s word is to come into agreement with the enemy and that agreement gives him a place in our life.

Someone might say, “Well, doesn’t wisdom teach us to be afraid of grizzly bears because they are much bigger and stronger than us and in the same way shouldn’t we have a healthy fear of demons because the spiritual realm is greater than the natural realm?” The answer is that we should be wise but not afraid and I can be within three feet of a grizzly bear without fear. I can be totally fearless if strong walls protect me or if I am positioned inside an M1 Abrams Tank which is currently the army’s largest battle tank. It is highly armored, weighs 64 tons, and has great speed not to mention tremendous firepower. Surrounded by that kind of power and protection a grizzly bear, even though he is only three feet away, is no threat. In that moment, however, I could be a great threat to the bear.

Scripture says that we are in Christ and, therefore, are surrounded by Christ. We are told that the angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him. If we fear the enemy is it because we are unaware or unconvinced of our position. Should we be cautious not to make ourselves vulnerable to the enemy? Of course, we are not to be presumptuous. We are only vulnerable to the enemy, however, if we have failed to wear our armor or if we have opened a hatch and invited the enemy inside with us. We can correct those mistakes and lay fear aside if it has crept in with the enemy.

We are told to fix our eyes on Jesus and often we should meditate on Jesus not just as the Good Shepherd who lays his life down for the sheep but rather as the Commander of the Armies of Heaven riding out on a white horse with his garments dripping with the blood of his enemies – which are also your enemies. Jesus is not always the meek and gentle King he is also the fierce King who will destroy his enemies with the sword of his mouth and crush the devil under his feet. Don’t be afraid. There is no need and it attracts flies.

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

The Second Woe

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Have you ever considered all the moments when God said to someone, “Don’t be afraid.”  Sometimes, God spoke those words and at other times his messenger spoke the words.  By “messenger” I mean angels, prophets, or the Son himself.  At the same time, we find dozens of passages that command us to fear God.

If I were to summarize all those passages I might say:  If you fear God you don’t have to be afraid of God and if you don’t have to be afraid of God you don’t have to be afraid of  anyone else.

Let me explain.  Solomon said that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge (See Prov. 1:7).  A proper view of God as the sovereign Lord over all creation, holy, righteous in all he does, all powerful, all present and all knowing is the first step to a relationship with him.  To hold him in awesome respect as the judge of all the earth holds everything else in place.  Our first response to God should be the same as Isaiah’s response when he saw the Lord high and lifted up and seated on his throne – “Woe is me!” (Isa.6:1ff).  As great a prophet as Isaiah was his sense of sin and weakness in the presence of God’s majesty, justice, and holiness was overwhelming. That view of God keeps us honest and keeps us from abusing God’s grace and love.

Let’s be honest. Somewhere in our fallen nature is the capacity to take advantage of those who love us unconditionally and lavishly.  In response to that capacity, Paul asked the rhetorical question, “Should we sin all the more that grace may abound?”  In other words, should we sin intentionally and often and simply seek our own gratification because God is gracious and forgiving? The answer is no of course but a view of God that simply acknowledges his graciousness, long-suffering, and forgiving side places us on a track to abuse the relationship.

God offers us an intimate, Father/son or Father/daughter relationship in which we can be secure and come boldly before his throne seeking help. He has offered us friendship, forgiveness, patience and grace.  However, he can offer us that side of the relationship only as long as we remember who he is.  I have seen fathers who have become friends with their children in the sense that they played, teased, and laughed with their children.  I have also seen those children begin to abuse that familiarity and speak with a lack of respect or act as if they no longer needed to obey that father.  They confused his kindness and his willingness to communicate on their level with equality.  In those cases, the father was quick to remind them that he was still the father and the one in charge.

If we never forget that our Heavenly Father is still God Almighty, Creator, and Judge then he can extend to us familiarity (Abba Father) and even friendship because we won’t become careless with the relationship or take advantage of his love and kindness. If we fear God then we don’t have to be afraid of him.  When you consider Abraham, Isaiah, Moses and others to whom he said, “Don’t be afraid,” it is clear that they held an awesome respect and reverence for God.  Therefore, he could call them friends, welcome them into his throne room, and extend forgiveness when needed because the relationship stood on the healthy foundation of fear.

When we fear God we don’t have to be afraid of him because we have love and friendship as a bond.  When the one who loves you and counts you as a friend is the most powerful being in the universe then you have not need to fear anyone else.  God has your back and if God is for you who can stand against you?   I know there is tension between familiarity, comfort, friendship and the fear of God.  That tension is not contradictory but keeps us in balance between two extremes so that our relationship with the Father can flourish.  Meditating on his greatness and holiness as well and his grace and kindness is a healthy thing.  You may want to do that today and be blessed.

I really enjoy Graham Cooke. In his book, Approaching the Heart of Prophecy, he relates a story that you need to hear this morning. “Many years ago, I was in a Pentecostal church. There was a time of worship that was absolutely excruciating to be a part of. I was squirming in my seat and apologizing to God because I couldn’t join in. I knew the songs – I just didn’t think they should be sung that way.  “Lord, I’m really struggling with the worship,” I prayed. “I’m sorry.  To be honest, we’ve had fifty minutes of mindless singing and I’m really quite bored.”  “It’s alright for you, your only visiting this place,” I heard God whisper back to me. “I have to be here every week.”

Here’s the theology gem from that story.  God has a great sense of humor.  He laughs often and he wants you laugh often as well.

That’s not what this particular blog is about but I thought the story was worth repeating. One thing God has taught me over the past few years is that our mind evaluates and reasons while our heart just responds.  We have been taught over the years not to trust our emotions but rather to be lead with our heads rather than our hearts.  At some level that is good advice but not always.  It is good advice only if your heart is not in tune with God.

Revelation comes to our hearts rather than to our minds.  When Paul was praying for the church at Ephesus to receive the Spirit of wisdom and revelation he prayed that their hearts might be enlightened rather than their craniums. Who has ever heard an altar call for Jesus to come into our heads instead of our hearts?  The process of revelation is that the Spirit takes from God and gives that truth to our spirit which then reveals the heart of God to our hearts and then we become conscious of the revelation.  God calls us to have a renewed mind but he promised to give us new hearts.

The mind always wants more information, another class, and a little more training before jumping into a challenging mission or situation.  The mind puts off obedience while it is calculating the risk, the cost, and the likelihood of success.  The heart simply jumps in when God calls. I’m not saying there is no place for planning but unless the spirit rules the heart which then rules the head, our reason will talk us out of obedience until our mind can determine a way to obey God in our own strength.

As Jesus was strolling across the Sea of Galilee, he encountered the twelve rowing hard against the wind.  Peter declared, “Lord, if it is you, call me to come to you on the water.”  Jesus said, “Come” and Peter leaped from the boat.  I’m pretty sure the other eleven had reasoned their way clear of such a rash act.  But Peter responded with his heart not his head. The result was that he actually walked on water until he noticed the winds and the waves and began to reason rather than operate by revelation. As soon as he took a “reasonable” look at his situation, he sank.  When challenged to feed the 5000, the apostles took a reasonable look at their inventory (five loaves and two fish) and immediately wanted to break up the party.  Jesus reasoned with a faith that came through revelation that had penetrated his heart.

Since revelation is the key to faith and since revelation comes to us through the heart, then we should take special care of our hearts in things that pertain to the spiritual as well as the physical.  Distortions in our heart will also distort revelation. Lies from the enemy, unforgiveness, bitterness, distrust, and fear are all conditions of the heart that distort God’s revelation to us and so hinders our obedience.  A broken heart does not discern the heart and mind of God clearly and often defaults to a fleshly mind to determine how we will live and serve God.

To live by faith and to hear God clearly, we need God to do a lot of work in our heart.  We too often worry about cleaning up our behaviors rather than sifting through the debris in our hearts.  David was wise to pray, “Search my heart O God and show me if there is any offensive way in me.”  If we want all that God has for us we must be unrelenting in our forgiveness of others, relentless in pulling up the weeds of half-truth and Satan’s lies in our hearts, and relentless in guarding our hearts from the things that defile our souls.

Where there are wounds, we can’t put off finding healing because the wounds distort the revelation of God in our lives.  Where there is disobedience we must declare the Lordship of Jesus over our hearts and step out in faith even when our reason rails against it. Where we have built up walls of protection in our hearts with unforgiveness and anger we must ask Jesus to tear down the walls.  Broken hearts are like faulty GPS monitors.  They will lead us astray and so we think we must trust our reason and our intellect.  But reason pushes back against obedience when what God is asking us to do seems unreasonable – which describes most of the great things God has ever done.  Jumping out of boats, commanding the dead to rise, marching around walled cities blowing trumpets, or calling on God to send fire down from heaven would get a thumbs down from reason every time.

So…let’s get busy on our hearts because the more debris we clear away, the more clearly we will hear God and the more willing we will be to obey.  Heart health is critical to life both in the natural and the spiritual realm.  Be blessed today and guard your heart.

I was thinking today about our propensity to hide our sins and failures. It’s quite human to do so.  In a sense we come by it honestly.  Adam and Eve responded in the same way immediately following the first sin.  As soon as they had eaten fruit from the forbidden tree, their first response was to cover their shame with fig leaves, then to hide from God, and then to blame others for their actions.  It was a bit ambitious to think that they could hide from the God of creation who had made everything they saw and had fashioned them by hand. And it wasn’t like they could slip away in the crowd because there was no crowd – but shame and fear easily distort our judgment…even the best of us.

Take David, for instance, and his now famous transgression with Bathsheba.  I have no doubt that after their moment of passion they were both overcome with shame. I believe they were both godly people who fell in a moment of weakness.  Because of that, I believe shame overwhelmed them and they left when it was over vowing that it would never happened again.  But then Bathsheba discovered her pregnancy. Her husband Uriah had been in the field with David’s army for weeks or months. The palace servants knew they had been together – just chatting of course – but now her pregnancy would cement the case against them.  At first, overwhelmed with shame and remorse they are both now overcome by fear.

David and Bathsheba’s adultery carried the possibility of unthinkable consequences. The Law demanded death for all those who committed adultery.  In this case an unborn child would die as well.  Although it was unlikely that capital punishment would have been imposed in this case there would certainly be scandal. Uriah would, of course, divorce his beautiful wife. The army who laid their lives on the line for their king would all feel betrayed by a man who was stealing their wives while they camped in the fields at his command.  David was not just a political leader but a religious leader as well.  Now the man who wrote most of the worship hymnal for Israel and the man who danced before the Lord with all his might was an adulterer.  There was so much to lose if the adultery were discovered.

So fear leads to hiding and deception. David determined to bring Uriah home to report on the battle and David assumed that, while in Jerusalem, Uriah would spend the night with his wife. Later, everyone would assume the child was his. When he refused to be with his wife while his men were in the field, David set him up to be killed in battle.  A dead man could not disclose that he had not been with his wife on his short furlough to Jerusalem.  With Uriah dead, the secret sin was safe and life could go on with some serious regrets to deal with to be sure.  But … it was over.

However, it wasn’t over.  For those who serve God, unconfessed and unrepented sin does not stay hidden and does not go away.  There are two reasons for that. Either Satan will bring the sin into the light to destroy people, families, reputations, and ministries or God will bring the sin into the light so that it can be dealt with and so that reconciliation can occur between the sinner and a loving God.  Either way, the sin will be brought into the light.

In the meantime, a guilty conscience and fear of discovery will torment the one hiding the sin. Listen to David.  “When I kept silent my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.  For day and night your hand was heavy upon me, my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity” (Ps.32:3-5).  David sat on the throne for nearly a year without acknowledging his sin.  When Nathan the prophet came to confront David, the child from the adulterous evening had already been born.

I’m sure because of all the imagined consequences if the sin were brought into the light, David had simply hoped it would all eventually just fade away. Undoubtedly Satan had already lit the fuse on rumors from palace servants and soldiers who had wondered about Uriah’s death.  David had tossed and turned for months and we can assume Bathsheba had done the same.  Then God sent Nathan to pry the confession out of David and in that moment David confessed and God forgave.  There were consequences for the sin in the natural realm but all was reconciled in the spiritual realm. Even after adultery and murder, God walked with David through the consequences of his son’s rebellion and the hard years to follow.

Sin separates us from God – not just in a legal sense but also in an emotional and relational sense. We hide from God in our own ways and seal ourselves off from others who might discover our sin or remind us of what we have done. Sin also separates us from ourselves as we either loathe ourselves for the sin or excuse the sin while constantly quenching the Holy Spirit who is bringing conviction.  If we stay in our chosen denial long enough our hearts may harden so that we can no longer feel the tug of God trying to draw us back.

Sin has its costs. The cost of unconfessed and unrepented sin, however, accumulates with interest. Although we hope it will all go away, it doesn’t and as I said before, our sin will be brought into the light either by Satan the destroyer or by God the redeemer. The wise course is to quickly acknowledge, confess, and repent of every sin.  God is our redeemer and deliverer and when we have “blown it big time” we need him more than ever.  Our attempts to hide our sin and deceive others will simply create distance between us and the one who can save.

In addition, my experience is that good people don’t expect us to be perfect but they do expect us to tell the truth when we have failed.  “Blowing it” reveals that I can be foolish but lying about my failure reveals that I can’t be trusted. Satan does his greatest work in the dark and our secrets give him power over us.  He is a tormentor and a blackmailer and out secret sins gives him a wide playing field.

We all sin and our usual first response is very human – cover up, hide, deny our responsibility.  We fear rejection and we fear unknown consequences. But as believers we should not give into the human response because that is the flesh.  We should respond as the Spirit directs – humbling ourselves, telling the truth, repenting, and trusting God with the consequences. The penalties and interest are much less when we keep short accounts with the Father and cut sin off at the legs by our confession. It’s in the secret places that Satan gets a foothold that may soon become a stronghold. Jesus said, “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”  I believe the biblical principle is also that if we tell the truth, the truth will set us free.  Be blessed today by truth and don’t give into fear because fear is not from the Lord.

The New Testament writers are very clear that Satan lays traps and designs schemes against God’s people. We are not to be ignorant of his schemes (see 2 Cor.2:11) so it seems that we should give some thought to the processes by which Satan attempts to pick us off one by one.

I appreciate the way in which Graham Cooke describes one of Satan’s patterns so often used to take God’s people out of the game.  “ The Enemy’s strategy works on that same principle.  He is geared to make us feel dissatisfied with who we are.  He wants us to separate from God, the church, our friends, and any useful function we may adopt in furthering the kingdom. If he can get us to hate ourselves and tell our hearts that we are of no account and, as such, it doesn’t matter if we don’t go the meeting or pray or worship, then apathy will follow.  If we allow apathy into our lives then it will hold the door open to unbelief, condemnation, self-loathing, bitterness, anxiety, fear, misery and selfishness.  All these things spell passivity, a passive acceptance of life, and a demoralized outlook on the things of God.  The prophetic is geared to challenge this whole issue since it is based on the truth of God’s love, grace, kindness, and mercy.” (Graham Cooke, Approaching the Heart of Prophecy, p.50).

Notice the progressive nature of this scheme.  We become dissatisfied with ourselves and, after a while, come into agreement with Satan’s accusations that we are unlovable, unworthy, and incompetent.  As we begin to agree with him on those issues our self-image plummets and we begin to suspect that other people feel the same way about us.  Because of that, we begin to withdraw and isolate ourselves from the very people who love us and give our lives meaning. As we isolate ourselves our fruitfulness begins to wane. Since we are already feeling bad about ourselves we push back against any encouragement to re-engage and against any conviction from the Holy Spirit because we take it all as criticism and rejection.  As we numb our senses to avoid any more feelings of rejection, we slide into apathy and passivity which continues to alienate us from ourselves and isolate us from God and his people. Of course, throughout the entire process Satan is whispering how much God, the church, and our friends have let us down so that our misery is really all their fault.

Satan excels in placing us in mindsets and situations that create a downward spiral.  For instance, Christians who feel a great deal of rejection and who question their own worth and significance often seek to medicate the pain of their self-loathing through pornography.  The temporary rush of sexual fantasies or the endorphins released during the fantasy soon give way to a sense of shame and failure.  The sense of shame and failure depletes their self-image all the more, which increases their need for escape and the medicating effects of more porn, which then creates more shame.  The shame creates secrets. The addiction becomes a secret part of his/her life that is hidden by lies and deception which, in turn, undermine trust in a marriage relationship or family.  The broken trust then tends to alienate one spouse from another which usually leads to arguments, frustrations, withdrawal from church and isolations from friends. The cycle is self-perpetuating and can devastate not only the man or women caught in the cycle but those who love them as well.

Huge numbers of believers have been marginalized by these schemes and traps of the enemy.  The key is to understand the outcomes and the strategies and to take steps to short-circuit the strategy as early as possible in the process.  Not only should we short-circuit the process but also we should create safeguards in our lives to keep the enemy from even getting a foothold.  Let me recommend a few things.

1.An honest evaluation of our spiritual and emotional health.  This is the hardest step as those of us who struggle with self-worth try to avoid acknowledging any weaknesses or sins in our lives because we fear rejection if others were to find out.

2.Choose to have accountability partners in life with whom you will be ruthlessly honest about your struggles.  Give them permission to ask the hard questions and call you back to spiritually healthy dynamics in your life or when you start to withdraw or isolate yourself or begin to make excuses about diminishing spiritual practices and ministry involvement in your life.

3.Recognize areas of weakness and sin in your life and get to work on those areas while they are occasional struggles rather than something that is dominating your life.  Low self–esteem, anger, addictions, fear, compulsions, etc. are all life issues related to our brokenness and sin nature.  They will not get better without taking action both in the natural and spiritual realms.  Unhealed and unrepented, these issues will be open doors for the enemy to gain access to your life and your soul – first a foothold and then a stronghold.

4.When you recognize you are caught in a scheme of the enemy short-circuit his strategy by refusing to go the to the next level in the process.  Refuse to live a lie.  Refuse to withdraw and isolate yourself from church, friends, and family.  Face the shame by telling someone immediately so that the shame does not grow and give the enemy a more powerful stronghold.

If you know you struggle with your self-mage get help immediately by finding healing in the Lord, establishing your identity in Christ, gaining freedom from spirits of rejection, bondage, fear, and condemnation through deliverance, and by getting intercessors to pray with you until that issue is overcome.

5.Know that the longer you put off surrendering your struggle to the Lord and humbling yourself by getting help from the body of Christ, the harder it will be to find freedom and the more it will have cost you before you do.

Ask yourself:

•  Where will I be in five years if I do not get victory over the sin and brokenness in my life?
• What will it cost me to continue to hide and deny my struggles?
• What will it cost my family and my relationship with the Lord if I don’t deal with this now?
• What could my life look like if I found true freedom from my sin and brokenness?

We are not to be ignorant of the devil’s schemes and we must take action as soon as we sense we have stepped into his trap or have vulnerabilities that invite his presence.  Jesus has come to heal and set free and he is willing to do that for you. If we excuse or deny these struggles, we are making ourselves easy targets for enemy.  Jesus has purchased so much for you by his blood and the Father is so willing to gives those gifts to you, don’t let the enemy steal your life and your blessings.  Be wise.  Avoid the traps or at least call for help as soon as you feel the noose tightening around your ankle.  Be blessed and be wise today.  Tell someone the truth about whatever you have been hiding or denying.

“In the synagogue there was a man possessed by a demon, an evil spirit. He cried out at the top of his voice,       “Ha! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!” “Be quiet!” Jesus said sternly. “Come out of him!” Then the demon threw the man down before them all and came out without injuring him. All the people were amazed and said to each other, “What is this teaching? With authority and power he gives orders to evil spirits and they come out!” (Luke 4:34-36).

This account of Jesus ministering deliverance to a person has several common elements with many other “deliverance” accounts in the gospels. First of all, we notice that demons often attend church with those they are oppressing. Most demonic oppression does not entirely control a person but rather influences them. These individuals will function normally most of the time and in most areas of their lives.  They will go to work, go home, play with their kids, have friends, and go to church. However, there will be a small but significant part of their life over which they feel little to no control.

This demonic influence will manifest as moments of rage that are always blamed on other people, hidden pornography addictions, persistent and powerful feelings of rejection, jealousy, bitterness, envy or self-loathing.  They may be experienced as fear, anxiety, or bouts of depression and illness.  Most demonic affliction does not look like the Gadarene demoniac who lived among the tombs, cutting himself and crying out. Most demonic manifestations mimic emotional brokenness and illness that occurs in the natural realm and so we seek treatment from the natural realm. Since there is a spiritual force fueling these issues in a person’s life, therapies offered by the world will not solve the issue.  At best a person may learn to manage his rage, his anxiety, his depression or his addictions but will never feel totally free of them.

Many of us who are afflicted by demons have experienced that affliction so long that we think every human being must be dealing with the same issues and so we try out best to manage our feelings and dark thoughts and believe it is just our lot in life to do so. Our secret hope is that those thoughts and feelings we try so hard to repress will never get out of hand.  However, the enemy wears us down and sets us up and those thoughts and feeling so get out of hand usually with very hurtful consequences.

The second thing we notice in this account that is common to other accounts of deliverance is that demonic spirits know exactly who Jesus is and recognize his authority over them. They often cry out in despair and fear and ask if he is going to destroy them or send them to the Abyss (See Luke 8:31).  I’ve always found it interesting that Jesus didn’t destroy them or send them to the pit of hell but cast them out of a person with the possibility that they would simply go and afflict others.  The primary point however is that demons were subject to the authority of Christ even before the cross.  How much more are they subject now after he has been given all authority in heaven and on earth?  I also know that demons become very uncomfortable in the presence of God. Those who are demonized and make it to church will often feel agitated or fearful in worship or as people pray over them.  They are not feeling their own agitation, fear or even hate but they are experiencing what the demons are feeling.  Unfortunately, there are times and places where the presence of God is hardly evident in church services so that demons will be quite comfortable in those places.  We also know that Satan loves to steal the word of God from a heart before it can take root and so the demonic is often present in church services doing just that. How often are we distracted during worship or a sermon or have random thoughts of envy or lust or judgment toward someone we notice in the crowd or on the platform?  The enemy is stealing the word.

Finally we notice that it requires power and authority to cast out the enemy.  Power is defined as the force with which one can impose his will on another.  When Michael warred against Satan and his angels in the rebellion, Satan and those who had joined him were cast down to the earth.  That demonstrated that the power of heaven is superior to that of hell.  Jesus walked the earth with power and authority over the demonic, disease, and even death.  He had power because the power of heaven backed up his commands. Jesus said that the Father had put more than twelve legions of angels at his disposal (See Mt.26:53). Authority is not power but is what directs power.  When an artillery officer gives the command to fire, his words don’t have the ability to destroy the target but his word’s have authority to direct and release the power that can destroy the enemy. Jesus carried the authority of heaven with him and his commands directed the power of heaven.  It takes both to cast out the enemy, heal the sick. or raise the dead.

In Luke 9:1, we are told that Jesus gave that same power and authority to the twelve. They immediately went out to preach the gospel and as they went they healed and cast out demons. In Luke 10, Jesus sent out seventy-two others with the same power and authority.  The effects were stunning. “The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name!”  My guess is that the first time they healed or cast out a demon they were just as surprised as the crowds were who witnessed it.  We struggle to believe the same thing.  We have no doubts that Jesus can heal or deliver or that heaven is more powerful than hell.  What we struggle to believe is that Jesus has delegated his authority to us and that our commands will actually direct the power of heaven into a certain situation. But Jesus promised that those who believed in him would do even greater things than he did when he walked the earth.

We’re told by the writer of Hebrews, “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word” (Heb.1:3).  Jesus is the exact representation of the Father.  In other words, Jesus re-presents the Father. He does exactly what the Father does in exactly the same ways the Father does it.  We are the body of Christ and his ambassadors on the earth.  We are called to re-present Jesus just as Jesus represents the Father – not just in actions but also in character. Character comes through the Spirit but action comes by faith.  In the context of healing and deliverance, faith believes that Jesus will honor our prayers and commands in his name and back them up with the power of heaven because we act in his authority.  The demons know his authority over them. We are the ones who sometimes doubt it.

If the enemy cannot blind us to the authority of Christ working through his church today, his fallback position is to convince us that only a few select people in the church can command demons.  Then we all wait around hoping one of those guys shows up.  Every believer is an ambassador of Christ and walks in his authority. I believe Jesus sent out the seventy-two so that we would know his authority was not going to be given to just a select circle of men but to all who follow him.  My hope is that we will all walk in that authority today believing that when we pray or command with the authority of Christ, heaven will train its gun on the target we have selected.  Be blessed.

In scripture, “keys” represent authority. Jesus said, “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Matt.16:18-19).  In essence, Jesus was declaring war on hell and pronouncing the victory in advance. In order to prosecute the war against a supernatural enemy, the church was going to need supernatural power and authority.  Jesus said that he would give that authority to his church.

Jesus had already demonstrated the supernatural power and authority of the kingdom of heaven in his own ministry.  “Supernatural” does not always mean mystical or magical. It simply means “above the natural” or “beyond the natural.”  In our context it means that power and authority derived from the spiritual realm exceeds or trumps anything that can be found in the natural or the temporal realm. In the natural realm disease, hunger, and storms have their way. But Jesus dominated each of these in the natural realm by exercising authority derived from heaven.  He also demonstrated that the power of heaven is greater than the power of darkness within the spiritual realm by casting out demons, raising the dead, and by his own resurrection.

While Jesus was on the earth, he delegated that same power and authority to the twelve and then to seventy other followers who also healed the sick, raised the dead, and cast out demons. Upon his return to heaven, Jesus sent his Holy Spirit who also imparts power and authority to the followers of Jesus for healing, deliverance, miracles and so forth.  That power is manifested through spiritual gifts that are backed by the authority and power of heaven.

In addition, the Holy Spirit himself has taken up residence within every believer and has made us partakers of the divine nature (2 Pet.1:4).  John tells us that we now possess eternal life through our relationship with Jesus.  When all those factors are taken into consideration, it appears that we should operate more in the spiritual realm than in the natural.  In fact, if we possess eternal life now, we are primarily spiritual beings because only those things that belong to the spiritual realm are eternal.  “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Cor.4:18).

Since we are primarily spiritual beings, Paul directs us to fix our eyes on that realm – to make the spiritual realm our first point of reference in all things.  Jesus lived with the heavenly realm as his primary perspective.  Storms weren’t a problem because there are no storms in heaven. A little bread and a few fish could feed five thousand because heavenly economics are not limited to what we can see or hold in our hands. The dead are only asleep.  Water can become wine with a simple command or can become rigid enough to walk on.  Jesus didn’t perform magic; he simply knew that he was not limited to natural law because he was a citizen of heaven with the power and authority of his homeland establishing the things he commanded.

We are called to live by that same heavenly perspective.  It’s called faith.  Jesus taught us to pray for God’s will to be done on earth  (the natural realm) as it is done in heaven (the spiritual realm). Whatever God does for his children in heaven, he is willing to do for his children on earth. Heaven comes to earth through faith. “Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer” (Mt. 21:21-22).

God’s will for his children in heaven is perfect health.  Healing brings that heavenly reality to earth.  Provision is God’s will for his children in heaven.  Prayer provides for his children on earth. Heaven is a “no demon zone.”  Deliverance establishes that reality on earth. The fruit of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, etc. – releases the atmosphere of heaven into this troubled world. If we believe that we are currently citizens of heaven seated with Christ in heavenly realms then we are releasing the manifestations of heaven to earth rather than begging for heaven to do something about this mess.

The apostles experienced the difference in perspectives on the boat in the storm while Jesus slept.  They were living with the perspective that they lived in the natural realm and were terrified of the storm that had power to destroy them.  Jesus slept in the midst of the storm, not because he was exhausted but because he had peace. In a sense, he “owned the storm” because the spiritual realm has power and authority over the natural. Faith is not just believing who Jesus is but also who we are in Jesus. Faith is seeing life through the eyes of the Spirit rather than the eyes of the flesh. Faith is fixing our eyes on what is unseen and believing that if God is for us, no one or no thing can stand against us.

Today let me encourage you (and myself) to view life and even our struggles with a heavenly perspective – not just, “What would Jesus do?” but “What will Jesus do?”

Ask yourself, “What would the Father do in response to a challenge if that challenge surfaced in heaven?”  Then expect his will to be done on earth as it is in heaven on the basis of your prayers, your declarations, and your faith because you are his authorized representative on the earth – loved and empowered by heaven.  Live in the spiritual, walk with authority, and carry the atmosphere of heaven with you today. Be blessed. It’s the Father’s will for you.

John Bevere begins a chapter in his book. Drawing Near, by saying, “The fear of the Lord is the foundation of intimacy with God.”  He goes on to say that the church has lost the “fear of God” and so has lost the presence of God in much of what we do.

That statement launched an hour of great conversation in my Thursday morning men’s group that meets at 6:00 a.m. every week.  It usually takes us 15-20 minutes and at least two cups of coffee for things to get rolling but the idea of the fear of God and what that means seemed to energize us right away.

The truth of Bevere’s statement hinged on the meaning of “fear” for each of us. If we only meant that we shuddered at the voice of God as the Hebrews shuddered at the base of Mt. Sinai, then our fear of the Lord might hinder our intimacy rather than promote it.  As you recall, as God settled on the top of Sinai in smoke and fire and spoke with a thundering voice, the Hebrews began to question having a relationship with this God.

On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, the whole mountain trembled violently, and the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder. (Ex. 19:16-19)

When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance and said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.”

Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning.  (Ex. 20:18-20)

In my men’s group we discussed the death of Nadab and Abihu for offering “strange fire” and the death of Uzzah who took hold of the Ark of the Covenant in David’s day. We also got around to Ananias and Saphira who died suddenly in the Jerusalem church for lying to the Holy Spirit.  Each of those events were sobering and if left alone would push us away from the presence of God rather than drawing us in for a moment of intimacy.

On the other hand, in scripture, God also called certain men his friends and often went out of his way to meet with them and even share his heart with them.  Jesus said that he no longer calls us servants but friends and the writer of Hebrews tells us that we can approach God’s throne of grace with boldness in time of need. We are called children of God and are affectionately called “his saints.”  So what do we make of these extreme positions?  On one side it seems that coming into the presence of God is a very fearful and risky thing while on the other side we are invited to “sit in his lap,” so to speak.

Bevere had made the point in his statement that the fear of God was foundational to intimacy.  Fear of God, then, is the beginning point for an intimate relationship, but it is not the end. More than anything, God relates to us as a Father.  Earthly fathers who love their children also seek a balance between respect and familiarity and often have to work to maintain the balance.  We never want our children to tremble when we enter the room, but we also want them to obey us when we get serious. If they do not “fear” us or at least fear our discipline, then they will play in the street whenever they feel like it and place their lives at risk.

We have all had the experience of playing with our children and in the midst of that intimacy (playing promotes intimacy), we find our children being disrespectful or ignoring some hard and fast safety rules that still apply even though we are playing.  In those moments, we have to call a timeout and remind our children that we are not just a playmate but we are still their father. That seems to be the tension in scripture that calls us to a middle ground between the fear of Sinai and the familiarity of “Abba” father.

To lose an awesome respect for God and the mindset that he his still holy can move us to a place of being cavalier about the commands of God.  We can begin to take advantage of his grace and treat him with a bit of disdain.  Not only is that offensive to a holy God but it also begins to place us at risk because we become careless with sin.  In a sense, we begin to play in the street.

Children initially obey fathers out of the fear of discipline. As they grow, they begin to obey out of love and respect which still stand on a foundation of healthy fear that was laid years earlier.  I have often thought that we can’t truly love a person we don’t respect – especially in marriages.  When we are mature that respect is built on the qualities of character of the other person, but when we are children it begins with a healthy fear that keeps us out of the street.

If we forget the holiness and the discipline of God, out intimacy will suffer.  Unrepented sin will creep in and create separation between us and the Father.  We will become careless with his commands, which says something about our hearts for we are told, “If you love me you will keep my commandments.”

As the perfect Father, God seeks a balance between fear (awesome respect for who he is and his authority) and familiarity and comfort in his presence. The Hebrew writer tells us that our God is a consuming fire while at the same time inviting us to approach his throne with absolute confidence.  We can do so because of Christ and his blood that washes away our sin. That sacrifice purchases a positional relationship with the Father, but God wants much more than that. He wants intimacy, friendship, and even playfulness.

However, in the midst of that let’s not forget that he is holy and the creator of the universe.  That balance keeps us in a place where we can enjoy the presence of God.  The more respect we maintain for the Father, the more familiar he can be with us because we will not take advantage of that familiarity or become careless with our lives.  It would seem to be a healthy regimen to regularly reflect not only on the love and grace of God but also his power, authority, and holiness.  Be blessed today.

In the book of Nehemiah we find one of Satan’s most subtle and effective strategies for hindering the work of God on the earth. In 586 B.C. the southern Kingdom of Judah fell to Babylon and all but a few were scattered throughout the Babylonian Empire as slaves and servants of the state. The temple and the city of Jerusalem were destroyed and for the most part remained a pile of rubble for seventy years. After seventy years of captivity, God allowed some of the Jews to return and to begin to rebuild.  Zerubbabel led the first return and rebuilt the temple while the city wall remained in disrepair.  Ezra was sent later by God to call the people in Judea to faithfulness and, finally, Nehemiah was allowed by the king he served to return to rebuild the city wall.  There was, of course, great opposition to the rebuilding of Jerusalem by their traditional enemies who lived in the area – the Samaritans, Ammonites, and Arabs.

Although God had ordained the rebuilding of the temple, the city, and the wall of Jerusalem, the enemy pushed back against the completion of God’s vision for the city.  We see the first part of Satan’s strategy in Chapter 4.  As the building began in earnest, the enemies of the Jews began with ridicule.  The first strategy was to criticize the vision that God had given Nehemiah and that he had brought to the people in Jerusalem.  In effect, they declared that Nehemiah’s vision would fail, that it was foolish, and that the Jews had neither the resources nor the skills to finish. For those with a minimum vision or minimum faith, such ridicule is debilitating. Yet, Nehemiah knew that the vision he held in his heart was from God and believed God for the materials and the skill.  The work moved ahead.

The next bit of Satan’s strategy unfolded when conflict broke out among the Jews themselves. Some felt that they were sacrificing much more than others. Discontent and comparison is always an effective strategy of the enemy because it divides God’s people. It also takes leaders away from the primary vision of the kingdom while they settle disputes.  Nehemiah settled the issue with wisdom but the detour cost them time.

Satan’s next move was to have the leaders of Israel’s enemies invite Nehemiah to a summit to discuss what was going on in the region. Nehemiah instinctively sensed that he would likely meet with “an unfortunate accident” on the way to the summit but, more than that, he knew it was another distraction from the enemy.  His response was one that we should remember. “I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?”  His enemies invited him to attend the summit four times and he refused each time.  Undoubtedly the national news agencies painted him as a man who did not want peace or as a polarizing man who would not compromise for the sake of the region. I’m sure he was criticized and encouraged even by some of his own people not to turn down these noble offers to speak about peace.  Yet God had not sent him to compromise with the enemy but to finish the work he had been given as soon as possible.

Next came the accusations that Nehemiah was rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem with a plan to rebel against the king who has sent him there.  If Satan can’t pull you away from the work God has given you, he will work to discredit you and your motives. For those of us who aren’t sure of our motives or who care too much for the opinions of men, those attacks can be very distracting and discouraging.  His response to the accusations was simple. “Nothing like what you are saying is happening.”  Because Nehemiah was building a kingdom for God rather than himself and because he had acted with integrity throughout the project, he was able to dismiss the charges and move ahead.

Finally, he was told that men were coming to kill him and he should simply run away to save himself. The possibility was certainly there that assassins were on the way, but his response was revealing. “Should a man like me run away? … I will not go … He (the messenger) was hired to intimidate me so that I would commit a sin by doing this and then they would give me a bad name to discredit me.”

Nehemiah understood the nature of leadership.  He also understood that if God gave him a vision to complete, then no man could stop him unless unbelief or unrighteousness on the part of Nehemiah entered the picture. The text then says that the work was completed and that when all their enemies heard of its completion, they were afraid.

Each of us has a call on our life by God. He has created us for good works which he has prepared in advance for us to complete (Eph.2:10). Satan’s most frequently used strategies are not direct opposition to what we are doing but distraction and discouragement. On a national scale, those who stand up for biblical values and righteousness are often encouraged by the people closest to them to compromise with the opposition. If they will not, then their vision is ridiculed, their motives are questioned, and their careers are threatened. Sound familiar?

But what about you?  What great thing have you imagined doing for God that you have set on the back burner for months or years because of distractions – busyness doing good things but not the thing God has prompted you to do. What about discouragement – the fear that you do not have enough skill or resources to complete the vision, questions about your motives, or fear of losing something if you step out? How many great projects still sit in the garage of the kingdom of God that have not been rolled out because the enemy has used these strategies of distraction and discouragement against us?

Maybe it’s time to take the vision or the dream back out the box, dust it off, and get on with what God has called you to do. For many of us unbelief has kept us in check – either unbelief that the dream and desire was truly from God or that he will not resource us and protect us while we do his will.  Pray about it. Recommit. Recognize the strategies of the enemy and get back to building the wall. If your vision were unimportant, Satan would never have stood in the way.