Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.  For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

In the middle of the apostle Paul’s extensive discussion of spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12-14, he inserts a chapter on love. As you read the entire letter to the church at Corinth, the need for such a chapter becomes painfully obvious. The church was not a very loving church. In fact, early in the letter he scolded the believers there for being carnal or fleshly instead of spiritual. As you read through the entire letter you discover divisions in the church, jealousies, pride, quarrels, taking one another to court, open immorality, and the use of spiritual gifts for personal gratification to establish a “spiritual pecking order” within the church. The good news is that they were still loved by God and were still the church of God at Corinth. They did, however, need to grow significantly in their spiritual lives.

In this letter, we discover some very interesting realities about imperfect believers and spiritual gifts that are worth considering. First of all, spiritual giftedness is not always a sign of maturity. In the opening to his letter, Paul asserts, “You do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed” (1 Cor.1:7). In chapters 12-14 he lists a plethora of spiritual gifts including healings, miracles, tongues, prophecy, interpretation, discerning of spirits, words of knowledge, and so forth. That is an impressive list of gifts that we may assume were being exercised in the church there. And yet, Paul admonished them by saying, “Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly-mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly” (1 Cor.3:1-3). In Corinth, their “giftedness” ran far ahead of their spiritual maturity.

It makes you wonder why God would entrust such impressive spiritual gifts to the spiritually immature. I have two thoughts on that. One is that our gifts have the capacity to help us mature as we experience the Lord himself through the exercise of gifts. For instance, praying in tongues has the side effect of building us up spiritually as the Holy Spirit prays through us ( Jude 20). Prophecy is intended to build up the body of Christ and is expressed primarily to strengthen, encourage, and comfort people (1 Cor.14:3). Speaking the love and destiny of God over other people should also establish those things in our own hearts which produces spiritual growth.

Spiritual gifts are also God’s tools for building up the body of Christ, in general, so that a brand new church, planted in one of the most pagan cities in the world, would still need those gifts to grow even though there would be very few mature believers in that church. Perhaps, the immature expression of gifts is still less damaging than the absence of gifts altogether.

I also have another thought about Corinth. If you read the book of Acts, you discover that Paul experience a great disappointment in Athens just before he arrived at Corinth. He had gone to Mars Hill, the place where all the Greek and Roman philosophers gathered to discuss ideas. Paul presented his best, most rational, and most compelling arguments for the truth of the gospel. To his dismay, only a few responded. He left there feeling as if he had failed and he recalibrated his approach to evangelism.

We Paul arrived at  Corinth, he preached only Jesus Christ and him crucified and then demonstrated the kingdom through displays of the power of the Spirit. It is possible, that Paul imparted many of the gifts to a young church as a tool for evangelism only to learn another lesson about when to impart those gifts. Later, he would tell Timothy to refrain from laying hands on any man quickly (1 Tim.5:22). The idea was not to appoint a man to leadership or to impart a spiritual gift until he had a read on the man’s maturity and character.

The issue of free will always comes into play in God’s dealing with man. God gives good gifts with the opportunity to use them well, but man always has the option to use them for selfish purposes. At any rate, there were many believers at Corinth who exercised impressive gifts that were not always Spirit-led. That is why Paul told them to test all prophecies to see if they were from God (consistent with his will and confirmed by the Spirit in the hearts of other believers).

An important take away from this letter is that because some believers abuse spiritual gifts, it does not mean that the gifts are invalid or that they do not bring tremendous value to the church.

Ultimately, the safe guard against abuse is not forbidding the exercise of gifts but using them in the context of love. Spiritual gifts are an expression of God’s love for his body delivered through his people. When someone is healed by a gift of healing, it is simply God’s love being delivered through the hands or commands of one of his children. When a gift of encouragement is exercised, it is the encouragement of God flowing through a believer. When hospitality is exercised, it is God making strangers feel warm and welcome.

Every gift reflects a facet of the nature and character of God and should be governed by love. Even with the extreme abuse of spiritual gifts in Corinth, Paul did not shut down their exercise but taught them how to use the gifts as they were intended. The church should respond to any abuses or misrepresentations of spiritual gifts in the same way today. (More from I Corinthians 13 in my next blog).

Anyone who believes in the present day ministry of miracles will quote John 14:12, eventually and probably often. “He who believes in me, the works that I do he will do also, and greater works than these, because I go to the Father.”   We often quote this verse but rarely take time to break it down, so lets take a closer look.

Jesus begins by defining who would do the works he did. He did not say, “my apostles, those who have been following me for three years, a few super-Christians,” etc. He simply says, “He who believes in me.” The NIV translates the phrase as, “Anyone who has faith in me…” The potential for doing what Jesus did, and even greater things, rests in every believer. The potential rests there because the Holy Spirit indwells there. Jesus said that his promise was true because he was going to his Father.

The promised event that would occur as Jesus returned to the Father was the sending of his Spirit and the power that would attend the Spirit. In John 16, Jesus told his disciples, “It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you” (Jn.16:7). After his resurrection and ascension back to the Father, Jesus told his disciples to wait in Jerusalem until they received power after the Spirit had fallen on them. After the power of the Spirit was released, miracles began to happen.

Anyone who has the Spirit of Christ has the potential to do the works of Christ. What were the works? Preaching the Kingdom, healing, cleansing lepers, raising the dead, calming storms, walking on water, feeding the multitudes, etc. The works of Jesus were the very things that destroyed or reversed the works of the devil, which is the very thing Jesus came to do (1 Jn.3:8). It’s important to notice what Jesus did not say in John 14:12. Jesus did not say that those who believe could do the works he did, but that they would do the works he did. Jesus has an expectation that those who have faith in Him will do the very things he did while he was on the earth – and even greater things.

Many evangelicals have cast this verse as a promise of extensive evangelism. They say that the verse will be fulfilled when we have reached more people than Jesus was able to reach while he was on the earth. In their version, the “greater works, ” would simply be more evangelism. There is no doubt that Jesus has called us to reach more people, but that alone does not constitute the works that Jesus had been doing. The miraculous works of Jesus accompanied and facilitated evangelism, but were not simply the preaching of the good news alone.

In addition, the idea of doing “greater works” is not just quantitative in nature. It is not just doing more of what Jesus did. The word translated as “greater” in the text is mizon. It is used numerous times in the New Testament and always carries the idea of quality vs. quantity. Jesus didn’t say that believers would do more things than he did; he said that they would do even greater things than he did.

If Jesus had that expectation, then we should also carry that expectation. I said earlier in this blog that every believer has the potential to do greater works. The potential for all things in the kingdom is released not only through faith that God can do something but also through expectation that God will do something. Most believers have no doubt that God can do anything, but have been taught not to expect God to do those things. That is why the potential has not been released in many or most believers in the western world.

It is a simple verse. It is straightforward. If we take Jesus at this word, believers should be doing what he did and doing even greater works. Whenever the works of Jesus are not occurring, something is wrong or incomplete in those who believe. The problem is that much of the church believes that when the works of Jesus are occurring, there is something wrong.

Let me encourage you to not only believe that God can do miracles, but to ask the Holy Spirit to give you an expectation that he will. The needed transformation in the church will probably not come from the pulpits down, but from the pews up. In other words, most pastors will continue to preach what they were trained to believe in seminary. If they begin to preach something else, they will most likely be asked to step down. When the ordinary believer begins to walk with the expectation of miracles, God will honor that expectation and as those who sit in the pews on Sunday, begin to move in the power of God, leadership may be changed by their testimony.

Regardless of leadership’s expectation, we must honor the Savior’s expectation for his people and his expectation is for every one of us to be doing the works he did. Be blessed today and expect!

The importance of the seventy-two disciples that Jesus sent out in the gospel of Luke cannot be overstated. It is their testimony that opens the door for all believers to do what Jesus did. They were the first, beyond the apostles, to minister in the power and authority of Jesus.

Many Christians are still being taught that the miracles of the New Testament were confined to Jesus and his twelve apostles as confirmation of Christ’s deity and of the apostle’s inspiration and authority for writing the New Testament. The argument goes that once Jesus and the apostles were confirmed by signs and wonders, there was no need for miracles and so the age of miracles faded away. This is not an old argument but one that still carries great weight in many evangelical churches and seminaries.

In Luke 9, Jesus sent out his twelve apostles on a mission. Luke tells us that Jesus gave the twelve power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases while they preached the kingdom of God. This fits the “confirmation theory” for these twelve men would be given leadership over the church that would be birthed at Pentecost and would write much of the New Testament. However, one (Judas) fell away and most of the New Testament was not written by one of the twelve apostles at all: the gospel of Luke, the book of Acts, the epistle of James (written by the Lord’s brother who was not a follower until after the resurrection), Hebrews, Jude, and all of the letters written by Paul. Paul was an apostle, but was not one of the original twelve.

In Luke 10, Jesus appointed seventy-two, no-name disciples and sent them out to preach in towns where Jesus was about to go. This “advance team” was not just putting up posters announcing upcoming healing services. In his directives to the team, Jesus said, “When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is set before you. Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The Kingdom of God is near you’” (Lk.10:8-9). When the advance team returned, the text says, “The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name!” Jesus replied, “ I saw Satan fall like lightening from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and overcome all the power of the enemy: nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that spirits submit to you but rejoice that your names are written in heaven” (Lk. 10:18-20).

Jesus had given the same power and authority to the seventy-two, non-apostles that he had given to the twelve so that each of them could preach the kingdom of God and then demonstrate it. At the end of Matthew’s gospel, Jesus commissioned his church to go into all of the world and preach the gospel, making disciples of all nations. He began “the Great Commission” by emphasizing his authority. “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given unto me” (Mt.28:18). He ends the commission by declaring that he will be with his disciples always – to the very end of the age. If Jesus is with is and he has all authority, then his authority is with us as well.

Paul sums up the issue when he declares, “For the kingdom of God does not consist in words but in power” (1 Cor.4:20). Any gospel that does not convey not only forgiveness but also power is not the gospel Jesus preached, nor the twelve, nor the seventy-two, nor Paul.

Power comes through the Holy Spirit whom Jesus has sent to every believer. He equips us for ministry as Jesus modeled it. In fact, the disciples of Jesus had received the Spirit before Pentecost. In John 20, Jesus appeared to the disciples (not just the apostles) and said, “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you. And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (Jn.20:21-22). But a few days later, he told the same group to wait in Jerusalem until they were further equipped for the mission he had given them. “Do not leave Jerusalem but wait for the gift my Father promised…in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit…you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you will be my witnesses” (Acts 1:4-8).

Luke is clear that the power of the Spirit did not just fall on the twelve, but on all the believers who were gathered in Jerusalem – about 120 of them (Acts1:15). This entire group had begun to meet together in Jerusalem for prayer (Acts 1:14) and was still together on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit appeared like fire and rested on each of them (Acts 2:1-3). They all were filled with the Spirit and began to speak in tongues (Acts 2:4). From that point on, the church began to move in power through the authority of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit, manifested in spiritual gifts.

When Jesus said, “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you,” he implied that we should do the things that he had done – preach the gospel, heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons, and cleanse lepers. He highlighted this future ministry of the church when he said, “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these because I am going to the Father” (Jn.14:12). “Anyone” takes it out of the hands of a few and grants that potential to every believer since the days of Jesus.

The present day evidence that Jesus rose from the grave and ascended to the Father is found in the power of the Holy Spirit expressed through spiritual gifts in the church. Jesus kept telling his followers that when he took his place by the Father’s side, he would send the Spirit who then would give us power for ministry (See Jn.14 and 16). Power confirms the presence of the Holy Spirit and the presence of the Holy Spirit confirms the presence of Jesus at the right hand of the Father. No power, no confirmation.

The need for power in the church is greater today than ever. The world is in bondage to sin and to Satan. The Jews have the Torah, the Muslims have the Koran, and we have the New Testament which testifies of Christ. Stories about what happened two thousand years ago are not convincing to those who study from another book. However, when the works of Jesus are done today in the name of Jesus, Jews and Muslims are convinced as well as pagans of all stripes.

No matter what your church background, let me encourage you not to settle for anything less than a gospel of both of grace and power. Jesus modeled it, Jesus commanded it, and Jesus purchased it with his blood. We cannot represent Jesus (re-present) on the earth without the power he himself displayed.

Additionally, most of the deliverance and the healings referenced in the gospels were expressions of God’s compassion for the plight of men rather than an attempt on the part of Jesus to prove who he was. How often did he tell someone he had just healed not to tell anyone? To fail in the exercise of power today is to crimp the compassion that Jesus still wants to express through his church. When we do not pursue all the gifts of the Spirit and the power of the kingdom of heaven, we not only fail ourselves but also Jesus and those who need his transforming touch. Not just words, but power. Blessings in Him today.

I’ve always been fascinated by the focus of Jesus. His reference point for life was not found in the natural realm but in the spiritual. He didn’t make decisions based on natural logic but rather spiritual logic and those are diametrically opposed. The world says that the first shall be first and the last is a loser. But in the spiritual realm, the first shall be last and the last shall be first. In the natural realm, the rich and powerful will be remembered and venerated but in the spiritual realm, the servant of all will be considered the greatest. In the natural realm, the narcissist and the self-indulgent will get ahead but in the spiritual realm, he who gives up his life will save it. In the natural realm resources are finite. In the spiritual realm there is no lack. In the natural realm raw power and aggression get their way but in the spiritual realm the Spirit of God always carries the day. Jesus always lived by kingdom principles with the kingdom of heaven as his reference point.

The church in the past century has faithfully taught the gospel of Jesus Christ and has defined it as the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins – and that is definitely good news. But it is more than that. Jesus taught an amplified version of that gospel which was called the good news of the kingdom of God. John the Baptist preached that the kingdom of heaven was near (Mt.3:2) which is a phrase synonymous with the kingdom of God. Jesus preached over and over the good news of the kingdom of God. The good news was that the kingdom was suddenly within reach for those who would believe. After his resurrection, Jesus spent 40 days on earth showing himself to many people and talking about the most needed things. Luke tells us, “After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3).

The gospel or good news of Jesus is that he died for our sins. But there is more. His death, burial, and resurrection not only purchased forgiveness but also opened up the kingdom of God to us and made us citizens of heaven now. Jesus even taught us to pray daily about the Kingdom. “They kingdom come, they will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” So what exactly is the kingdom of God?

The definition of the kingdom is the “king’s domain.”  It is the rule and reign of God and heaven is heaven because God’s will for his people is expressed perfectly there. When we think of heaven we usually think of majesty, joy, peace, eternal life, perfect health, lack of want, overwhelming love, angelic beings, etc. Those things are expressions of who God is and his will for his people. Jesus taught us to pray that experience down to earth – for God’s will to be done on earth as it is done in heaven.

Many believers agree with that prayer but assume that it refers to the millennial reign of Jesus or to a restored earth after the final judgment. Jesus, however, clearly taught that an experience of heaven is available now. “But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you” (Lk.11:20). Both Jesus and John the Baptist declared over and over that the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven was near. They didn’t mean that the kingdom was near in the sense of “coming soon,” but rather that it was within reach of those who believed. In heaven there is no demonic affliction, no disease, no death, no bitterness, no fear, no turmoil, and no lack.

Jesus declared that, by faith, we can touch heaven now. Two essential qualities of the kingdom are love and power. God is both love and ultimate power. Both of those permeate the kingdom. The truth is that every believer needs both in his or her life now – the love of God and the power of God. Both are available through Jesus and the ministry of the Holy Spirit in our lives. The love of God alleviates fear, bitterness, sorrow, anguish, rejection, and turmoil. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, etc. The power of God can set us free from the demonic, sickness, poverty, and every form of bondage. Those things are available now. That is God’s will on earth as it is in heaven.

If we live with our hearts and minds anchored in heaven as Jesus did, then we can anticipate the provision and protection of heaven in our lives. When Jesus was faced with feeding 5000 men plus even more women and children with only a few loaves of bread and a few fish, he wasn’t dismayed. The power and provision of heaven had come to earth and he was confident that he could draw on that reality to get the job done. By faith, heaven was expressed on earth. Every person had plenty to eat with twelve baskets full of bread and fish left over. God’s love approved of the provision and his power provided it.

Today we have the same God with the same love and the same power and it is available to those who believe. As we count on both, heaven comes to earth. Most Christians believe in the love of God but are uncertain about the power of God in their lives. However, from Genesis to Revelation, it is clear that God desires to express both in the lives of his people. If I love you, but have no power, I can sympathize with your dilemma and even weep with you but I cannot help you. If I have power but no love, I won’t care to help unless it increases my power. It takes both for good outcomes. Great love coupled with great power is the ticket out of every dilemma.

Power directed by love is the mark of the kingdom of God. Both are there for you today. In whatever circumstance you find yourself, God is willing and able to provide your solution. God is the same – yesterday, today, and forever. Jesus modeled the reality of the kingdom of God on earth. He died so that we might possess the kingdom. It is time for the church to anchor its thoughts and expectations in heaven rather than the natural world. It is time for each of us to do the same. Ask for it, expect it and wait for the love and power of heaven to be expressed in your life today. Blessings in Him!

When participating in spiritual warfare, the word of God is essential. It is essential not just for discerning what is “scriptural” or not, although that is important, but scripture is a weapon to use directly against the enemy. When confronting the enemy who is harassing, tempting, or afflicting you or another, the word of God is powerful.

Paul tells us, when speaking about the armor of God, that the word of God is the sword of the Spirit (Eph.6:17). We are also told by the writer of Hebrews that the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two edged sword (Heb.4:12). In the book of Revelation, John describes a vision of Jesus and says, “In his right hand he held seven stars and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword” (Rev.1:16). That picture of Jesus establishes him as one with great power and authority. His words leave his lips as a sword with power to judge.

In the wilderness temptation recorded in Matthew 4, Satan came to Jesus to tempt him. The devil always shows up when our strength (spiritual, emotional, or physical) is somehow depleted. Satan approached Jesus after forty days of solitude and fasting. His energy levels were low and he had been without the encouragement of friends or family for over a month. Satan, believing Jesus to be extremely vulnerable, came to tempt him as he did the First Adam. Jesus fought back with the sword of the Spirit, the word of God.

Jesus quoted scripture in response to every temptation of the enemy. The words of believers carry authority and power. How else could the commands of God’s people bring healing and deliverance or even raise the dead. In the spiritual realm, our words have substance and weight. But if our words have substance, how much more do the very words of God spoken from our lips.

Again, we are told that the word of God is the sword of the Spirit. I believe when we declare that word with faith and conviction it cuts and bruises the enemy. When we are confronting the enemy, declaring appropriate scripture has a powerful affect that afflicts and torments the enemy.

Declaring the authority of Christ over the enemy is a powerful use of the word.  Scripture is filled with such verses declaring that Jesus has all authority in heaven and earth; that Jesus has a name that is above every name; that Jesus is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. etc. In the wilderness temptation Jesus did not give chapter and verse, but simply said, “It is written… We can do the same when confronting unclean spirits.

For example, we might say, “The word of God declares that Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth and I now declare his authority over you.” Or we might say, “ I command you in the name of Jesus, who is declared by the written word of God to be King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and you will obey his commands as I declare them to you.” Or… “It is written that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that he is Lord and now you will bow the knee to his commands as I declare them.”

Declaring scripture strengthens our own faith in the moment while it weakens the enemy and torments him. Demons do not always depart with the first command. If a stronghold exists, you may have to “assault the walls of the enemy’s fortress” more than once with numerous commands. Declaring the word of God over that person or a situation takes big chunks out of the stronghold walls.

Every believer should have a catalogue of scriptures on hand to wield against the enemy: scriptures that declare who Christ is, who we are in Christ, the defeat of Satan, the victory of the church, God’s willingness to heal and set captives free, and scriptures that defeat fear and temptation of every kind. As believers, our words carry authority but the very words of God from our lips, carry even more power and authority with which to defeat and torment the enemy. Make a list, memorize them, and keep them handy.   We live in a dangerous world. Don’t leave home without your sword.

One of the gifts I am praying about and trying to develop is the gift of discerning spirits. I believe this gift, if well developed, would make me more effective in the ministry areas the Father has called me to. I also believe that this is a gift for all of God’s children and that he wants us to live with a greater awareness of the spiritual realm than even the natural realm. The Bible is full of accounts in which men and women saw and heard in the spiritual realm. Those moments are described as dreams or visions and sometimes are simply described as experiences. Let me catalogue of few of those incidents to jog our memories.

Remember Jacob dreaming of angels ascending and descending on a ladder from heaven? Remember Moses perceiving God on Mt. Sinai? And then there was Gideon’s encounter with the supernatural. “The angel of God said to him, ‘Take the meat and the unleavened bread, place them on this rock, and pour out the broth.’ And Gideon did so. With the tip of the staff that was in his hand, the angel of the Lord touched the meat and the unleavened bread. Fire flared from the rock, consuming the meat and the bread. And the angel of the Lord disappeared” (Judges 6:20-21). Elisha prayed and God opened the eyes of his servant to see the hills surrounding Dothan filled with chariots of fire that were already in place in the spiritual realm. Daniel, Ezekiel, and Jeremiah all saw things in the spiritual realm that were realities or that became realities. Balaam found himself talking to his donkey and then seeing an angel of the Lord standing in his path (Num.22). David saw an angel of the Lord standing over Jerusalem with a drawn sword. In the New Testament both Mary and Joseph had angelic visitations. The apostles had angels lead them from prison and Paul had a conversation with an angel one night as he stood on the deck of a storm tossed ship.

At times, God spoke out of the spiritual realm. Some heard his voice while others only heard thunder. Others felt things from the spiritual realm even though they could not see what was there. Daniel reported, “ On the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I was standing on the bank of the great river, the Tigris, I looked up and there before me was a man dressed in linen, with a belt of the finest gold round his waist. His body was like chrysolite, his face like lightening, his eyes like flaming torches…the men with me did not see it, but such terror overwhelmed them that they fled and hid themselves” (Dan.10:4-7). All of these experiences and many more recorded in scripture reveal that God wants to show his people things in the spiritual realm for faith, understanding, and direction.

But isn’t that just for a few or for the super-spiritual? I used to think that but now I believe it is the Father’s will for all his children. The reason I believe that is because God has equipped each of us to hear, see, feel, and more in the spiritual realm.

We are all to be led by the Holy Spirit and we are all directed to hear God. Therefore, we all have spiritual ears that, at least, have the potential to hear the Spirit as he leads us and to receive a rhema (fresh word) from God. Paul prayed that God would enlighten (open) the eyes of the hearts of the believers in Ephesus. He did not pray that God would give them spiritual eyes but that he would open the eyes they had (Eph.1:15-18). In addition, we are also promised that the pure in heart will see God (Mt.5:8).

How often did Jesus or the prophets declare that God’s people had eyes to see and ears to hear but neither saw nor heard? I believe he was speaking about spiritual eyes to see and spiritual ears to hear so that we might receive things from the spiritual realm. I believe that just as we have five physical senses to discern things in our natural environment we also have five spiritual senses with the potential to see, hear, smell, touch (feel), and taste in our spiritual environment. The capacity is there, be we have to believe in that capacity by faith and then begin to exercise those senses. We do so by paying attention to our own spirit and the Holy Spirit rather than filtering out what we could otherwise perceive or attributing the sensations we are having to natural or psychological phenomena rather that spiritual realities.

I believe all humans have these senses, not just believers, and that the devil uses them in some who distort them and operate in them as psychics, mediums, witches, etc. We are probably attuned to these spiritual senses as children although we many not be able to interpret what we are seeing. The “monster under the bed” may be simple imagination or the awareness of something evil in the room that parents could easily take care of with the authority of Jesus. Children who just “saw an angel” may have just seen an angel. As the adults in our lives discount these childhood experiences we may learn to filter out the input from these senses.

Think about it. If the idea of being born with spiritual senses as well as natural senses resonates with you, then you may want to start praying that the Father would open your spiritual eyes and ears to see and hear in the spiritual realm as a beginning place. Then start to pay attention to all your senses not just those you tune into in the natural realm. Of course, ask the Holy Spirit to lead you into all truth as you tune in. He must govern all of spiritual experiences to keep us from wandering off, but if our lives, as children of God, are to be anchored in the spiritual realm more than the natural, it seems we must have spiritual senses along with wisdom that every believer needs to develop.

But solid food belongs to those who are full of age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil (Heb.5:14, NKJV).

“Son of man, can these bones live?” That was the question God asked the prophet in the 37^th chapter of Ezekiel. As I said in my last blog, Israel had been defeated three times within two decades by Babylon- the reigning heaving weight champion of the Middle East in that era. In the final round, Babylon had destroyed Jerusalem, burned the temple and stripped it of all its treasures, and deported the last of Israel’s best and brightest professionals. On top of that, the Ark of the Covenant disappeared and with it the presence of God. No historian, politician, or military expert would have given them a chance to ever rise from the ashes as a nation. A valley of dead, bleached bones of a long defeated army was the scene symbolizing Israel’s condition and the question was, “Can these bones live?”

Ezekiel responded with wisdom. “O Sovereign Lord, you alone know.” The right answer is always, “God, it’s up to you.” Our first step toward breathing life into something dead or dying is to know and acknowledge that the issue is beyond our ability. How often do we keep trying to fix an issue – a marriage on the brink of collapse, a child on drugs who is slipping away from us, a bad situation at work with a miserable boss, etc. – only to keep making it worse?  The right answer is always God.

In the book of Zechariah, the Lord prophesies the return of the scattered Israelites to the promised-land and great standing for them in the world community. The promise would have been impossible for man but not for the God of all the Earth. “ Then he said to me, ‘This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of host’” (Zec.4:6). His point was the same as Ezekiel’s: There are many things in this world that will never happen by the best efforts of men, but can become realities by the Spirit of God.

Other than health or natural disaster, most of our problems in the world revolve around relationships whether between individuals or nations. Relationship problems exist because of emotional brokenness – hate, fear, insecurities, bigotry, loneliness, depression, rejection, etc. manifest in rage, bitterness, addictions, war, violence and so forth. The best efforts of man aim at alleviating symptoms through drugs or therapies that teach us to cope or manage our issues. But the real issues lie deep within the heart which is touched by a spiritual dimension and is God’s special arena. Jesus came to heal broken hearts (Isa.61:1-4) and God promised over and over that by his Spirit he would heal and give men a new heart (see Ps.147:3; Ezek.11:19; Ezek.36:26; Heb.8:10). Dry bones only come to life by the work of the Spirit of God – but we have an essential role in that work.

Once Ezekiel affirmed that only God can give life to the dead, God commanded him to prophesy over the bones. “Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life” (Ezek.37:4). So why didn’t God just wave his hand over the field of dry bones and have them jump to their feet? The answer is simple – it’s not how God has chosen to work in the earth. God has chosen to work through his people. Most of the time, God chooses not to do something for us but rather with us. Doing something with us builds the relationship between God and us. When my girls were young, I discovered that I could do projects for them (often more quickly and easily), but when we did them together they learned some new skills and we built our relationship by the doing. We were able to celebrate what we had accomplished together. God chooses to work in the same way with his children.

God had already determined to release the power of his Spirit into those bones but would not release the power until Ezekiel prophesied. In a sense, God had already loaded the gun but he left it to Ezekiel to point and pull the trigger. Only then would the power of God’s word be released.

How many of us keep asking God to do something, when we already know it is his will, rather than declaring his will over the issue? We already know that God desires all men to be saved, all marriages to be reconciled, all hearts to be healed, his church to be glorious, etc. It is not wrong to ask God to heal, empower, release etc. but then we need to begin to speak or declare life, healing, restoration, and power over the things we are praying about. Remember, the tongue has the power of life and death (Prov.18:21). As Ezekiel began to declare God’s word over the dry bones, they began to rattle. More in my next blog.

He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever –Jn. 14:16

This is a rewrite of a blog I wrote months ago but I sense that God is wanting me to revisit the theme. For most of my years in ministry, I functioned as one of the primary pastors in my church that provided counseling for members as well as for other believers from the community. I typically saw problems that you would encounter in any counseling practice – chronic depression, anxiety, anger, shame, addictions, gender confusion, eating disorders, and marriages on the brink of dissolving. Most of these individuals had been Christians for years. The huge red flag should have been that our people, after following Jesus for years, looked very little different from those living in the world who did not know Jesus. They were saved but their lives had not been transformed.

As I met with individuals, I gave them a little insight into their troubles and a couple of exercises to do at home, prayed over them, and sent them on their way. I would see them again the next week and hoped for a little progress. Typically, little or no progress had been made and we would march around the same mountain again. We would work until some identifiable progress had been made and I would release them. I would likely see them again in six months. I had taken graduate courses in Marriage and Family counseling and went to top-notch workshops offered by both secular and Christian counselors. Other than an opening prayer, I heard essentially the same strategies for counseling.

However, as the years passed something kept eating at me. When I read the New Testament, I never got the sense that the church in Jerusalem (or anywhere else) offered counseling from leaders who went to the world’s universities for training nor did the writers of the N.T. encourage believers to work hard to “manage their issues. ” Instead they commanded them to rid themselves of those things. More strikingly, there was no sense that followers of Jesus took months and years of meeting with a local pastor or a therapist to experience healing and significant life change.

What I did see was the power of the Holy Spirit and the authority of Christ healing bodies, hearts, and lives. I saw once broke and even perverse sinners transformed and walking in a holiness that stood out from the world…and it didn’t take a lifetime. Paul clearly expected the church to be the place where the wisdom and power of heaven would reside and where the Holy Spirit would unravel the knots of a believer’s past while drawing the poison out of long-standing wounds. There was no hint that the church would go to the world for help but that the world would come to the church. Yet I (and other Christian counselors) tended to call secular training with an opening prayer Christian counseling. Even Christian colleges offered essentially the same training in counseling and therapy that unbelieving universities offered.

I am not denying that secular counseling can help. But what I am saying is that there is power and transformation available from God’s Spirit that secular counseling cannot touch. Paul is clear that the real battle for the hearts and minds of people rests in the spiritual realm where only divine weapons have impact. The N.T. church seemed to rely much more on encounters with the Holy Spirit and the powerful exercise of spiritual gifts to heal and change those who followed Jesus than wisdom the world might offer.  As those who will “judge angels” (1 Cor. 6:3) and who have the Counselor of Heaven residing within us, we should have much more to offer than secular therapists.

Once I began to allow the power of the kingdom of heaven to invade the counseling room and began to be a catalyst for encounters with God, I began to see the radical life change that I saw on the pages of the gospels. Once I began to speak God’s truth over situations I began to see Christians delivered from anger, fear, depression, addictions, eating disorders, and sexual brokenness in hours or weeks rather than months and years. I saw marriages on the brink of divorce begin to thrive because the Holy Spirit changed hearts rather than people simply changing behaviors. I must admit that when the power of God brings the transformation rather than my “amazing counseling skills” I feel much less significant in the process. In those moments I am no longer the dispenser of wisdom, the Holy Spirit is. But then, I get to see radical change rather than miniscule progress.

The good news of the kingdom of God is that Jesus has come to heal the brokenhearted and set captives free. He wants to release His power into the lives of his children for every circumstance. The Holy Spirit is an amazing counselor full of not only wisdom but also power.   Until a greater portion of the church discovers that, many committed believers who love Jesus will continue to walk for years with a relational limp and a broken heart – never living up to the dream their Father has for them. That is not God’s will for his church. The bride of Christ is meant to be shining, glorious, and powerful. Lets not settle for less. The world needs us and it needs us to be the distributors of God’s power on this planet. “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power” (1 Cor.4:20).

You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you. Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. (Rom.8:9-14)

As we continue dissecting Romans 8, it is clear that the Holy Spirit is essential for living up to the calling that we have received in Jesus. Paul makes a bold statement when he says, “You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ” (Rom.8:9). I believe that Paul’s statement here speaks to the potential of the Spirit controlling believers because he has just said in Romans 7 that the flesh wars against the Spirit and he says in other places in Romans that we must choose to serve the Spirit rather than the flesh – it is not automatic because our free will is always in play. But our goal should be complete surrender to the leading of the Spirit.

Interestingly, Paul lifts up the Spirit within us as the mark of belonging to Jesus even more than moral living, Bible knowledge, church attendance or correct doctrines. All of those things are important but the one thing that sets a believer apart from all other people in the world is the Spirit of Christ living in us. Since the Spirit living in us is the great divide among the saved and the unsaved there should also be evidence of the Spirit within us. Paul warns us not to quench the Spirit (I Thess.5:19) or grieve the Spirit (Eph.4:30), but rather instructs us to be filled with the Spirit (Eph.5:18). The fruit of the Spirit (character) and the power of the Spirit (spiritual gifts) are the primary evidences of his presence and should increase as we mature in Christ and mark us as being different from all other people on the planet.

In this section of Romans 8, it is clear that the idea of Christ living in us and the Spirit living in us are the same. Christ lives in us through his Spirit so as we are led by the Spirit we are led by Christ. As we honor the Spirit we honor Christ. As we hear the Spirit we hear Christ.   The Spirit within us is also the Spirit of the Living God whose ultimate purpose for us is the resurrection of the body and eternal life with the Him as our Father. The Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead will do the same for us and fit us with bodies suited for eternity and for the presence of God. In our glorified bodies there will be no fallen or sinful nature. We will have no rebellious impulse that pushes back against the Father’s will. We will carry no shame, no fear, and no sense of condemnation. We will be fully alive in an atmosphere of peace, joy, and love.

In view of that hope, Paul counsels us to put to death the misdeeds of the flesh by the power of the Spirit. He would say to us, “Ignore the impulses of the flesh. Be clear that you have no obligation to honor its demands. It leads to death rather than life – not just in the world to come but in this world as well.” We all reap what we sow. If we give into the impulses and demands of the sinful nature, disaster and destruction will follow at some point. But if we surrender our hearts, our thoughts, and our actions to the Spirit there will be a harvest of life-giving outcomes.” Paul would also tell us that the true sons and daughters of God are marked by evidence of the Spirit in their lives. They are marked by goodness and life. Both the fruit of the Spirit and his power mark them. The more Spirit-led we are, the more power he is willing to entrust to us.

We are all interested in the return on our investments. We wonder what the payoff will be for our time and effort. Many of us watch interest rates and the stock market daily to see what’s happening to our investments because we are investing for the future. Paul’s counsel is to be even more concerned about our spiritual investments because there will be an inescapable payoff some day for good or for pain. The sure investment is always to lay up treasure in heaven and our sensitivity and surrender to the Spirit will be directly proportional to our deposits there. To be all that God wants us to be we must pursue the Spirit of God and all that he offers because what he offers has already been purchased by the blood of the Son.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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