But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God – having a form of godliness but denying its power.  Have nothing to do with them.  (2 Ti.3:1-5)

Although these descriptors perfectly match our culture, the apostle Paul penned these words to his young protégé Timothy nearly 2000 years ago. The phrase ”last days” does not necessarily mean the end of times since biblically we have been in the last days or the last age since the day of Pentecost when the church was launched. In Peter’s sermon on Pentecost he quoted Joel who said, “In the last days I will pour out my Spirit on all men…” The “last days” began with that pouring out.  More likely Paul was warning that their would be times and seasons during this last age before the return of Messiah when cultures and men would be corrupt and that such corruption would seep into the church.

When I read those descriptors my first thought was that Paul was describing  unbelievers in a fallen world.  But in context he seems to be warning Timothy that there would be individuals in the church who also fit that description and it was those whom Timothy was to avoid.  The final quality of these men reveals that they will have a “form of godliness but will deny its power.”  What exactly does that mean and is it a warning for us today as it was for Timothy in the early years of the church?

The word “form” here seems to mean “an outward appearance.”   These individuals would have an outward appearance of godliness or religion but would secretly deny its substance.  These could be church leaders who simply lead portions of the church for the financial gain, status, or the praise of men that leadership role offered. Behind closed doors they would treat their role as a job, an opportunity or a “gig.”  There faith would be in themselves and they would use and discard people to accomplish their own ends and to build their personal empire.   Ultimately they would view God, judgment, and the Holy Spirit as a kind of myth that they would espouse publically but not take seriously.  Behind closed doors they would love money, comfort, and hidden immoralities.  Ultimately these men are always exposed but the exposure brings reproach on the church and sends hundreds or thousands of disillusioned believers into the streets wondering if any Christian leader  can be trusted.

This paragraph could also point to leaders of culture: education, business, politics, etc. who might publically claim to be followers of Christ and, therefore, moral  – but behind closed doors in backroom meetings are as worldly and cynical as those who make no such claims. These men use God as a prop but deny the power of the kingdom of God.

Each of these groups may believe in a God in some vague way but do not believe that God will ultimately judge the wicked or judge nations. They believe they can act without consequence and that true believers are really just suckers living in world of delusion.  Neither do they believe that there is a God in heaven who orchestrates lives and nations and that watches over the truly godly with his power and even entrusts his power – real power – to those who love him.  I believe we live in a season where both groups are profoundly represented in our society.   Not only that, but many believers who are moral believe that we are to serve God in our own strength and expect no miraculous interventions from heaven. The power of godliness for them resides only in the past.  Unfortunately, many unbelievers define Christianity by these people who carry the banner but not the reality or substance of the kingdom.

It is times like these that the power of godliness operating in the church is more critical than ever.  This power begins, of course, with faith but is also sustained by holiness. In Acts 5, Ananias and Sapphira treat the Holy Spirit as inconsequential and bring deceit into the church. As a result God judges them and they die  -in church – in front of everyone.  We are told that great fear seized the church following that episode but also that great signs and wonders abounded and the church exploded with growth.  We also see the church being very countercultural and when political leaders told them that they could not teach or preach in the name of Jesus they simply prayed for boldness because they were committed to please God rather than men. We are told that after times of prayer and fasting when the church prayed for boldness to stand against the culture, God shook the earth and displayed his power through the church.

We live in a world where homosexual athletes and celebrities who have “come out of the closet” are celebrated and treated as heroes while sincerely committed Christians who play on the same fields and stand on the same stages are ridiculed and discriminated against.   We cannot slip into a form of godliness but deny the power of godliness ourselves by simply rolling over and giving in to the culture.  Holiness, faith, and a total commitment to please God and speak up for him must become the descriptors of this generation of believers or this nation will continue to slide into the abyss and at an accelerated rate.  So today be bold, be holy, count on the power of God and be blessed  in His name.

In the third chapter of Joshua, Israel prepares for an event forty years in the making…the crossing of the Jordan River into the Promised Land.  Forty years earlier, the generation that Moses had led out of Egypt had come to the brink of the Jordan only to have their faith fail and to be consigned to wandering and dying in the wilderness until a generation of faith could be raised up.  As this generation of Hebrews prepared to cross the river we need to remember that the same enemy and the same obstacles awaited them that their parents had found too daunting.

Somehow, after forty years of living in the desert where they had been forced to depend on God for daily bread and water, where they had witnessed his presence above the tent of meeting, where they had heard the stories of God’s deliverance from Egypt, and perhaps where they had listened to the repentant hearts of parents who wished their faith had been sufficient, this generation was ready to cross.   They were also ready to see God’s supernatural interventions on their behalf without the presence of their parents and grandparents and without the presence of Moses.

For this generation there had to be some question about God’s willingness to act on their behalf.  They had experienced Manna each morning but miracles that occur everyday, year after year tend to feel less miraculous.  They had not personally witnessed the plagues on Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea, or the destruction of Pharaoh’s army or, if they had seen those things they were very young and the memories were distant.  Was Jehovah only the God of their parents or the God of Moses?  Would he act in such amazing and powerful ways for them?  They were about to find out.

Their orders were clear.  “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you” (Joshua 3:5).  So Israel prepared to move and to possess what had been promised to Abraham hundreds of years earlier and what had been within the reach of their elders forty years earlier.  The orders were to pack up and prepare to leave.  The priests would carry the Ark of the Covenant ahead of the people and the people would follow.  The ark, of course, represented the presence of God and so God would go before them.

Only one thing stood in the way of a million-plus Hebrews that morning and it was the Jordan River at flood stage.  So awesome was the presence of God that God directed the people to keep a distance of about a thousand yards between them and the ark as they crossed. The command was for a crew of Levites to carry the ark on their shoulders by means of poles that were slipped through rings attached to the ark.  We aren’t told how these Levites were selected.  It was probably both a privilege and a terrifying prospect for those men.  They were commanded to carry the ark into the River and as they stepped into the water they were promised that God would stop the flow of millions of gallons a minute coming at them. The river was swift, the water was deep, and the banks were steep.  What would happen if they stumbled and dropped the ark?  What would happen if they stepped into a deep pool and the river continued to flow? What would happen?

What happened was obedience.  The people prepared.  They broke camp, lined up, and followed the ark towards the river.  They held their breath as the Levites carrying the golden chest containing the stone tablets, the rod of Aaron, and a pot of manna stepped into the Jordan.  My guess is that they shouted as the water ceased to flow and dry ground appeared.  The Levites stood in the middle of the dry riverbed while the entire nation of Israel crossed over into the land of Canaan.  We are told that the water simply piled up upstream.  As Israel crossed, the presence of God continued to stand between them and destruction keeping the waters pushed back. We don’t know how long it took for the nation to cross but it was certainly hours not minutes that God held back the Jordon.

Finally, when all had crossed stones were removed from the middle of the riverbed and stacked as a testimony to what God had done.  The Levites stepped out of the riverbed with the ark and the river began to flow again. This newest generation had their own miracle – their own Red Sea crossing of you will  – and every Hebrew that touched the dry riverbed had personally experienced the miracle.  That miracle increased their faith and planted fear the in the hearts of those who lived in Jericho for they had also watched to see if their gods or Israel’s God was greater.

I believe that every generation of God’s people needs its own miracles to step into that generation’s destiny.  The American church, by and large, has offered the miracles of the church 2000 years ago and has said that those miracles are sufficient for our faith.  Perhaps, but the miracles leading the Hebrews out of Egypt were not sufficient for the next generation.  God could have simply sent a drought to turn the Jordan into a trickle and the nation could have easily crossed without the Levites stepping into a swirling river.  But God chose flood stage and a clear and powerful miracle to set the stage for their destiny.  I believe God wants to do the same for every generation so that it can fulfill all that God has called it to accomplish.

We cannot do things worthy of God in our own strength and there is no clear testimony of God without miracles.  I’m always amazed at how much resistance there is in some sections of the church to the miraculous moves of God. I believe every generation should have its own undeniable miracles so that “stones” from that generation can be set up as a testimony to the greatness and faithfulness of God as an encouragement to the next generation to believe God for their miracles. Whatever river you are facing, I hope you will ask God for a powerful and n undeniable miracle to get you to the other side and when you get there, be sure to give your testimony of what he has done for you.  Be blessed today and expect miracles.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples (Jn 15:7-8)

After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began. (Jn.17:1-5).

Both of the above quotes come from the gospel of John as Jesus moved quickly toward the cross.  They were spoken in the upper room and both contained thoughts about glorifying the Father by fulfilling our purposes on the earth. The first simply affirms a clear expectation that followers of Jesus will produce a great deal of fruit while serving the Father in this life and in doing so will bring glory to him.  The second affirms that Jesus himself brought glory to the Father by completing the work the Father had given him to do.

In Ephesians 2, Paul echoed these thoughts when he said that we are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works which have been prepared in advance for us to do. This might be one definition of our “destiny in Christ.”  That destiny would simply be to complete all the work that the Father has assigned to us in this lifetime.  Remember that in John 14 Jesus declared that those who believe in him would not only do the things that he had been doing but would do even greater things because he was going to the Father.  His words suggest that every believer has a great destiny and that the works God has prepared in advance for each of us are not insignificant but are of such importance and impact that they will bring glory to the Father.

In summary Jesus said that God has ordained eternally significant things for each of us to do – things greater than Jesus did;  that we are expected to bear much fruit to the glory of the Father; and that our goal, like Jesus,  should be to complete all the work the Father has given us for that glorifies him as well.  If that is true then the question becomes how much of that work will we leave undone that was ours to do?

From the casual approach to serving God that many believers seem to take, there may be miles of warehouses standing empty in heaven that were constructed to contain all the fruit produced by those who believe – but much of the harvest never occurred. All of us, I’m sure, pass up some of the “good works prepared in advance” for us.  We miss the opportunities in the busyness of our lives or just turn them down on days that we feel weary or are distracted by the things of this world – not sinful things, just things.  But surely our hearts should long to bear as much fruit as possible for the one who died for us.

I and a few others got to pray with a great  lady yesterday who desired to receive a gift of healing.  I loved her spirit.  Even though she was retirement age she has no intention of retiring from service in the kingdom. She simply wants everything Jesus has provided for her so that she can fulfill everything God has ordained for her. The apostle Paul said that we should earnestly desire spiritual gifts because those gifts are necessary to bear the fruit in our lives that glorifies God. Spiritual gifts go beyond natural talent.  Though they may look the same at times, the results must be very different. One impacts the temporary while the other impacts the eternal.

Without the power of the Holy Spirit fueling what we do, we can produce no more for God than what unbelievers can produce for themselves or their worldly organizations.  In his own strength man can do impressive things – great buildings, great programs, great music, great drama, great marketing, great performances.  Sometimes, churches do impressive things – but in their own strength rather than in the power of the Spirit. I think Jesus had more in mind than that. When Pharaoh’s magicians could no longer match the miracles that God was doing through Moses, they finally said… “ This is the finger of God. “

I believe that should be true for the church. What we do by the power of the Spirit is not something that man should be able to do in his own strength.  The works that bring glory to God must go beyond that otherwise they simply point to the glory of man.  As believers we should never be satisfied with the ordinary but should desire every insight, every revelation, every gift, every dream, and every encounter that Jesus has purchased for us with his blood so that we might complete every work God has given us to do and do it in a way the honors the King of Heaven.  To settle for less devalues the sacrifice of Jesus.  You may want to reflect on that this Easter week.  Be blessed.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town. Some men brought to him a paralytic, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.” At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, “This fellow is blaspheming!” Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, “Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins….” Then he said to the paralytic, “Get up, take your mat and go home.” And the man got up and went home. When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to men (Matt.9:1-8).

This a familiar story but one that should be revisited from time to time because it is so instructive.  There are several players in the story.  The central figure, of course, is Jesus and the other is an unnamed the paralytic, lying on a mat. Surrounding him are his friends who had faith for his healing, the religious authorities, and the crowds watching the action unfold.

The text says that Jesus came to his own town.  Jesus was born in Bethlehem, raised in Nazareth, but after beginning his public ministry took up residence in Capernaum (Matt.4:13). In this town he had recently healed the centurion’s servant and Peter’s mother-in-law. He had just arrived back in Capernaum after encountering the Gadarene demoniac who lived among the tombs.  Having delivered the man from a host of demons, he was invited to leave by the locals and had immediately returned to Capernaum.

When he arrived, the friends of a paralytic carried him to Jesus with an expectation of seeing their friend healed.  Jesus recognized there faith but said something that didn’t quite seem to fit the moment.  “Take heart son; your sins are forgiven.” Now, if I’m the guy on the mat I’m thinking, “Great, I wanted to walk but all I got was a some obscure statement about my sins being forgiven!  I wanted healing but all I got was theology. You guys grab my mat and let’s head to Starbucks.”

But, as always, Jesus had a deeper point.  Disease and debilitating physical conditions came to man because of sin. Disease was the symptom, sin was the ultimate cause and so sin was the greater issue.  Jesus dealt first with the cause.  How many times do we pray for people to be healed without first assessing their spiritual condition?  I am certain that healing is hindered in the bodies of many believer’s by infirmities in their souls – unforgiveness, bitterness, pride, unbelief, and so on.  Whenever possible it is always wise to do a spiritual scan of a person’s life before prayers for healing.  Jesus placed this man in a state of forgiveness before healing him.

In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul revealed to the church that some among them were sick because they had brought judgment on themselves by partaking of communion while they had been treating their spiritual family at Corinth in ungodly ways (1 Cor.11:30).  The illness was a wakeup call to repentance so that healing could then be experienced. Obviously, a prayer for healing without repentance first would be ineffective in those cases.

Sin and illness have long been connected in scripture.  Sometimes we’re ill simply because we are part of a fallen race living in a fallen environment. The fall came as a result of sin. At other times, our sin has opened us up to spirits of infirmity and disease because of our choices. The psalmist made the connection when he wrote, “Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits – who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases”(Ps.103:2-3). Again, the conjunction “and” often carries a causative connection.  The idea is that my diseases can be healed because my sins have been forgiven.

Does God ever heal before sins are forgiven?  Certainly, because the kindness of God calls men to repentance (see Rom.2:4).  Healing is a kindness. Jesus healed some who had not yet heard the gospel and warned others after they were healed to stop sinning lest something worse happen to them. For believers who know the call to righteousness and who have access to the blood of Christ, repentance most often should come first.  James counsels us to call the elders of the church whenever we are sick so that they can anoint us with oil and pray over us with faith.  He tells us that their prayer of faith will being healing and if we have sinned we will be forgiven. (see James 5:13-16).  The implication is that an ongoing, unrepented sin opened us up to some sickness or spirit of infirmity. Forgiveness was needed to open us up to healing.

As we move through the story, we also are reminded that words often need to be confirmed by actions or results even when the words are true.  Anyone can say, “Your sins are forgiven,” but what is the evidence of that?  Many people have “conversion experiences” so that the unusual experience they have when they come to faith confirms to them that God has truly accepted them and extended forgiveness.  Many others take their salvation by faith based on intellectual persuasion that they have done what God asked and, therefore, have received what he promised.

I find, however,  that more people with a “conversion experience” are solidly convinced of their salvation than those who chose to believe the truth without experience.   The man on the mat had just heard the words that he was forgiven, but I wonder how certain he was of that?  Jesus moved ahead, however, and acknowledged that it’s easy to say “Your sins are forgiven” because there is no concrete evidence to determine whether they have been forgiven or not. In essence, he says, “If I were to heal this lame man, would you be more likely to believe that he is also forgiven since the power to heal affirms my connection with the Father who also forgives? ”

When the man was healed, the crowds believed and I am certain that the lame man not only rejoiced in his healing but rejoiced with much greater certainty in his salvation.  It’s easy for the church to declare that someone has been saved and all their sins are forgiven.  But how many believers still struggle with some doubt about that because they cannot forgive themselves and still wonder if God has totally forgiven them?  Their certainty increases when they have a powerful experience with God.  That experience demonstrates his love for them on a very personal, individualized basis.  Suddenly they are no longer just a face in a crowd of those who were declared to be forgiven but that declaration of forgiveness has been delivered to them personally by the King. Of course, not all will believe even in the face of miracles. Religious leaders who have always denied the operation of miracles today will still discount what they have witnessed and call it “strange fire.” The crowds, however,  will come to faith.

In a world filled with words and outrageous claims, our words alone are easily discounted. Preach the gospel, offer forgiveness, and then release sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, pregnancy to the infertile, life to a splintered marriage, the tangible touch of God to the lonely, deliverance to the hopelessly oppressed, and the crowds will be in awe.  But more than that, the ones touched by God will be secure in the promise that not only are they healed but their sins have also been forgiven.  Be blessed today.  Go out there and heal someone.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Here are a few principles for us.

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

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

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

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

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

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

I keep being reminded that our view of God and our view of how God views us (say that three times as fast as you can) is essential to moving in the power of God. To a great extent the power of God in our lives will be expressed through the gifts of the Spirit. The gifts, of course, are given rather than earned.  Many of us fail to receive the gifts we desire because we somehow believe that God does not esteem us enough to entrust those gifts to us.  Many of us still see God as an all-powerful, all-knowing deity who is first and foremost in the judgment business. We cast ourselves in the role of Belshazzar who was told by God that he had been “weighed in the balance and found lacking” (Dan.5:27).

However, judgment is not God’s primary business because judgment is not primary in God’s heart.  When God gave Moses instructions for building the tabernacle he was very specific and he told Moses to make everything exactly according to the plan or blueprint he would be given. Everything in the tabernacle was specifically ordained because the tabernacle was designed to reveal God’s nature to his people.  At the very core of the tabernacle was the Holy of Holies and in that room sat the Ark of the Covenant. Moses was given very specific instructions about the ark.

They shall construct an ark of acacia wood two and a half cubits long, and one and a half cubits wide, and one and a half cubits high. “You shall overlay it with pure gold, inside and out you shall overlay it, and you shall make a gold molding around it. …“You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold, two and a half cubits long and one and a half cubits wide. “You shall make two cherubim of gold, make them of hammered work at the two ends of the mercy seat. “Make one cherub at one end and one cherub at the other end; you shall make the cherubim of one piece with the mercy seat at its two ends. “The cherubim shall have their wings spread upward, covering the mercy seat with their wings and facing one another; the faces of the cherubim are to be turned toward the mercy seat. “You shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the testimony which I will give to you. “There I will meet with you; and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony, I will speak to you about all that I will give you in commandment for the sons of Israel. (Ex.25:17-22)

The ark was essentially a wooden box covered with gold in which the tablets of stone that had been given to Moses would be stored and carried as the Hebrews moved from place to place in the wilderness. The Holy Place (the room outside the Holy of Holies) and the Holy of Holies were to represent the throne room of God in heaven and the ark was to represent his throne. In Isaiah 6, we get a vision of God’s throne room in heaven and around the throne the Seraphim are crying “Holy. Holy. Holy.”  If you want an earthly analogy for the seraphim it would be the royal chorus who sing praises in the presence of the king.  Other angelic beings associated with the throne of God are the cherubim.  These angels might be compared to the palace guard.  In the first chapter of Ezekiel the prophet sees a terrible storm coming toward Israel and a vision of God coming in judgment upon the nation.  In chapters 9 and 10 he tells us that the creatures he saw in his vision were the cherubim who were carrying God on his throne, as if it were a war chariot, as he came in judgment in chapter one.  We first discover cherubim guarding the entrance to the Garden of Eden with a flaming sword after Adam and Eve were forced to leave.  Their purpose was to let no sinful man enter the Garden or the presence of God. In the making of the ark, cherubim were to be cast in gold and placed on both ends of the cover of the ark in which the Law of Moses was placed. So far, the image seems ominous.  But between the cherubim, the guardians of God’s holiness, Moses was to construct a mercy seat that was to represent God’s throne.

It would have been easy to assume that God would instruct Moses to construct a judgment seat on top of the ark.  After all, the Law was deposited in the ark and that law would reveal our sinfulness. The cherubim surrounded the throne and they were the guardians of God’s holiness.  And yet, in the midst of that, God’s emphasis was mercy rather than judgment. We discover through those images that the purpose of God constructing the tabernacle was not to sit in judgment on his people but to dispense mercy.  God’s heart for us is always mercy and James, the brother of Jesus, tell us that mercy always triumphs over judgment (See James 2:13).

It’s not that God won’t judge sin or wickedness but it is always his last choice. Even Ezekiel’s vision of impending judgment was to bring a rebellious nation to repentance so that God would not have to judge. Many of us live and view God as if judgment and the rejection that goes with it are always God’s first choice.  The truth is that God is merciful first.  After David’s sin with Bathsheba, he wrote Psalm 51 and began his psalm of repentance by saying, “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love.” David’s view of God was a God who would forgive even adultery and murder because he was first of all merciful and loving.

On the Day of Atonement, the high priest would enter the Holy of Holies and sprinkle blood on the mercy seat.  They symbolism was that the blood covered the Law that was in the ark so that the cherubim guarding the throne could no longer see the Law. Without the law there is no sin and so because the blood of an innocent covered the law, we could enter into the presence of God. Under the Old Covenant only the high priest who represented the people could enter into God’s presence but at the death of Jesus, the veil that separated God from man was torn in two.  The mercy of God triumphed over judgment and we have been given free access to the Father through Jesus.

Such a God does not take account of every failing and measure his blessings out according to our performance. He gives willingly and freely to all who have been declared innocent of sin by the blood of Christ. He rejoices to give his children gifts and especially spiritual gifts for the work of the kingdom.

We are the ones hung up on ours sins – not God.  We are the ones who fail to ask because we keep declaring our unworthiness – not God. We are the ones who run first to judgment, especially to judge ourselves – not God.  God views us through the filter of grace, mercy, and the cleansing blood of his Son.  He gives blessing and gifts from the place of mercy rather than judgment. When we can finally understand in our hearts who our Father is, then we will rejoice to ask and have faith that we will receive. Then we will expect God to grant us gifts of healing, prophecy, wisdom, knowledge, etc. and the church will begin to minister in power. We will expect God to give us those gifts because he rejoices in doing so – even to imperfect people like us.

Remember today that God’s first choice is always mercy.  His last choice is judgment. Expect very good things today from a very good Father and be blessed.