Just before his departure to sit at the right hand of the Father in heaven, Jesus gave his followers what has been called the Great Commission. “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Mt.28:18-20). No church would say that command was only for the early church but would declare that command to be the church’s prime directive until his return.

Sadly, the contemporary church often only hears that command as the command to teach the world correct doctrine, live moral lives, love one another, and be kind to your neighbor. That is certainly part of the picture but Jesus taught and commanded his disciples to do much more than that. They were commanded to represent or re-present him to the world not only by preaching the gospel but also by presenting the Kingdom of Heaven with power. They were to do so by healing the sick, raising the dead, cleansing lepers, and casting out demons. That was the pattern of evangelism Jesus used and the pattern he commanded his disciples to use. It was also the pattern of evangelism in the early church as well.

Jesus commanded his apostles to teach every believer in every nation to obey everything that Jesus had commanded them to do. He didn’t tell them to teach some of what he had commanded or only the intellectually acceptable parts of the gospel or everything except the miraculous manifestations of the Holy Spirit that clearly demonstrate the victory over Satan that Jesus established by his resurrection. Jesus taught us to pray, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” God’s will in heaven is health, joy, freedom, life, etc. for his children. If we cannot deliver his will on earth in concrete ways, then that prayer is only a sentiment not a reality.

The Holy Spirit gave spiritual gifts to the church so that the demonstration of the Kingdom of God on earth could continue after the ascension of Jesus and the death of the apostles. Miracles were never dependent on the presence of Jesus or the apostles but on the presence and ministry of the Holy Spirit. Jesus performed miracles only after he had been baptized by John at which time the Spirit descended from heaven and remained on him. Jesus commanded his disciples to stay in Jerusalem until they received power from the Holy Spirit because they could not be effective witnesses until they could operate in the power and authority of Jesus. The same is true for us. Jesus has left the earth and resides in heaven. The apostles have died and joined Jesus. The Holy Spirit, however, is still with us. If we cannot demonstrate authority over the dominion of darkness by the power of the Spirit, our testimony is lacking for all that the Spirit does points to Jesus.

The point of all this is that we cannot fulfill the great commission without demonstrating a gospel of power which was what Jesus commanded his disciples to deliver. Paul attempted an intellectual and somewhat “acceptable” approach to the gospel in Athens in Acts 17. He brought out his best rhetoric and his best classical arguments for one God and Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. The results were more than disappointing. His next stop was Corinth. By the time he reached the great metropolitan city and center of pagan worship he had totally revised his approach to evangelism. Paul confessed to the believers there, “When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power” (1 Cor. 2:1-5).

As you read his letter to the church in Corinth, it is clear that he not only demonstrated power from the Holy Spirit personally as an apostle, but imparted those same spiritual gifts of power to the church. Many in the church today point to abuses of spiritual gifts to discredit their existence or their authenticity.   To be sure, the church in Corinth abused the gifts, but Paul did not discredit the gifts or tell them to stop operating in the gifts. Rather he instructed them in the proper use and motivations for the gifts.

In the days of the early church, the effective preaching of the gospel required a demonstration of Kingdom power and authority. It still does. The Great Commission envisioned the full reproduction of the ministry of Christ not just a tame or partial version of that ministry. Until the church again embraces the power and full ministry of the Holy Spirit, we will not have been obedient to the Great Commission nor will we reap the full harvest of those Jesus died for. For those of us who embrace all that the Holy Spirit has to offer, our part is to exercise the gifts in love and according to Biblical principles. Our part is to offer thoughtful responses to the questions and concerns others have with no aroma of spiritual pride or we fall into the trap that the Corinthians had fallen into – exercising the gifts without the love or humility that also marks the presence of the Spirit. Pray that the church will come to embrace the gifts and leading of the Spirit so that we can be all that Jesus paid for. Blessings.

Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. Ephesians 5:15-19

The idea of being filled with the Spirit is an important and consistent theme throughout the New Testament. Apparently, it is not a steady state in the life of a believer or Paul would have no need to admonish the church to abstain from drunkenness and instead be filled with the Spirit. Although the Holy Spirit is always present within a believer, we are not always “filled with the Spirit.” Not only that, but since Paul commanded the church to be filled, we apparently have a part to play in that filling or refilling. So what does it mean to be filled with the Spirit and what is our part?

I don’t know that I fully understand everything having to do with being Spirit-filled. In fact, I’m certain that I don’t. But I would like to share some thoughts on the subject. First of all, I am led to think about the symbols of the Holy Spirit in scripture. He is likened most often to fire, to wind, to oil, and to water. We typically think about being on fire rather than being filled with fire. We think of being blown by the wind or overpowered by it rather than being filled with it. We think of oil being on us rather than in us. But Jesus likened the Spirit to streams of living water pouring out of us (Jn.7:38), so I think water may be the thing we think about when attempting to understand being filled.

Water is powerful, cleansing, refreshing, and life giving. No water, no life. No Spirit, no spiritual life. When filling a vessel, water intrudes into every nook and cranny of the vessel but does not truly fill it unless it is empty of everything else. For instance, we ordinarily speak of filling an aquarium with water but that language is inaccurate. The truth is that the aquarium can still be half full of gravel, plants, coral, and fish. Accurately, it is only half-filled with water. To be fully filled with water means that everything else has to be removed. Most of us, as believers, are only partially filled with the Holy Spirit while our container is still significantly filled with self, worldly desires, and sometimes an occasional demon or two. That, of course, is the average condition of most new believers. The idea is for a new believer to begin to let the Spirit displace and push out everything else so that we become Spirit-filled. In the New Testament, men and women who showed exceptional boldness or who operated in signs and wonders were said to be filled with the Spirit. It didn’t take years for that filling to occur. It only took faith and surrender and could happen in a few minutes if the heart was right.

That idea of being Spirit-filled is still somewhat vague so let’s define it in practical terms. Being filled with the Spirit is about the degree to which the Spirit manifests his character and power in us which ultimately depends on the level of control we turn over to him. When we are filled with the Spirit, the Spirit is leading and manifesting his presence so that the works of Jesus might continue through us. The more of our life we release to his direction, the more the old man and the demonic is displaced. Both the old man and the demonic are all about self-sufficiency. The lure of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was the capacity to obtain wisdom without God and in doing so to become like God ourselves. To become God-sufficient removes self and Satan so that the fullness of the Holy Spirit can be expressed through us.

Jesus expressed this condition when he said that he could only do what he saw the Father doing and could only speak what he heard the Father saying. I believe he chose that condition daily. Jesus was so submitted the Spirit that he waited for the Spirit to initiate his actions, his words, and his decisions. When we willingly become an extension of the Holy Spirit he will fill us and then we will do the works of Jesus. So how do we move in that direction?

A great deal of the ground we take in our effort to be Spirit-filled will be gained through prayer. The first baptism or filling by the Spirit occurred at a prayer meeting on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2). We can safely assume that those gathered together in prayer were surrendering their hearts and lives to Jesus not offering up a shopping list to satisfy the natural man.

First, we must maintain a sincere desire to be filled with the Spirit – to be fully directed by the Spirit and to manifest his character, his values, and his priorities. Inviting him to take the lead, to reveal our self-sufficient strongholds, to change our hearts, and to give us a sensitivity to his leading will likely need to be a daily prayer. Fasting will help break the power of the flesh and the Word will feed and shape the spiritual man.

Secondly, obedience to the directions and urgings of the Spirit will be paramount. Jesus said that if we love him we would keep his commandments. We simply exchange our agenda with his on a day-by-day basis. Sometimes we resist this kind of surrender because we fear that we will be lost in the process and no longer have any identity or significance. This surrender of control isn’t giving up who we are but rather discovering who we were meant to be.

Gifted athletes engage coaches and them give up control of their diets, workouts, and strategies to the coach so that he can help them to become everything they can be as an athlete. It is the coach who through an objective eye can see faults that the athlete himself could never detect. It is the coach who will push the athlete to run one more lap or do one more set of exercises that the flesh of his client would never be willing to do. By giving up control to the “expert,” the athlete will become much more than he could have ever become on his own. God has carefully and uniquely made each of us and does not want to erase us or our individuality, but rather to maximize who he made us to be in partnership with the Spirit. Our part is to fully cooperate in that enterprise.

When we willingly and consistently surrender to his leading, then the Spirit can radically transform us into the image of Jesus Christ. He can entrust gifts, spiritual power, and kingdom responsibilities to us that will be world-changing. When the Spirit is directing us we can walk in boldness knowing that we are on an assignment from God and that he will resource and protect us as we complete his assignments. When we begin to experience the fullness of the Spirit then revelation will flow our way because we will be living in intimacy and friendship with Jesus who will tell us all things because we have become friends and not just servants.

Paul commands us to be filled with the Spirit because to give up control and dominion is an ongoing decision of the will. Being “filled” is a constant goal of every mature believer. In reality, the flesh works to erode our dependence on God and push us back toward self-sufficiency. Some days the flesh will win a few battles and we will have to retake that ground. However, if our heart is sincere in seeking and surrendering to the Spirit, then he will do marvelous things with us even when our “spiritual aquarium” still has some rocks, plants, and coral in it. As we persist in prayer and obedience to the Spirit, the debris in the aquarium will diminish year after year. Our goal is for only water to remain. When that occurs, then we will have truly become like Jesus.

Many of us who pursue the Holy Spirit and the gifts he distributes are hungry for more.  We want increase. Jesus said that the Father gives the Spirit without limit, so it is legitimate as co-heirs of Jesus to want more and more. The question is how do we gain that increase of anointing? If you are like me, you have already been asking but, perhaps, have not seen significant increase.

Of course, prayer with fasting is a tried and true way to receive more as well. When some of the apostles were unable to cast a demon out of a boy, Jesus did so easily. Later, when they wondered why they had been unsuccessful, Jesus answered, “This kind can only come out by prayer and fasting” (Mt. 17, Mk.9). Since Jesus did not ask the boy or his father to pray and fast before deliverance and because he did not pray before casting out the demon, we must assume that he was saying that a life of prayer and fasting carves out more authority in the spiritual realm than simply a life of prayer. That’s bad news for those of us who don’t enjoy fasting.

However, there is a third way to gain increase and, perhaps, this is the most significant of all for the time in which we live. In Ezekiel 47, the prophet was given a vision of the temple and fresh water that flowed out of the throne room of God and became a river. Ezekiel said, “As the man went eastward with a measuring line in his hand, he measured off a thousand cubits and then led me through water that was ankle-deep. He measured off another thousand cubits and led me through water that was knee-deep. He measured off another thousand and led me through water that was up to the waist. He measured off another thousand, but now it was a river that I could not cross, because the water had risen and was deep enough to swim in—a river that no one could cross. He asked me, “Son of man, do you see this” (Ezek. 47:3-6)? As the vision progressed, the prophet was shown a number of trees growing along the river whose “leaves will not wither” and whose “fruit will not fall.” We are told that those leaves would be for the healing of the nations and their fruit would be for food.

The river, of course, represents the Holy Spirit moving out from the throne room of the Lord. In the gospel of John, Jesus declared, “’If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.’ By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive.” (Jn.7:37-39). The Spirit gives life to us and that life is intended to flow out form us to the people around us. Notice that the further the river flowed, the deeper it became. This life-giving water did not pool around the temple but flowed down to the sea where its fresh water would mingle with salt water making it fresh also and creating and environment for abundant life. Very often in scripture “the sea” represents the nations.

The point is this. The further the river flowed from the temple the deeper it became. It was intended to pour into distant nations and become a source of healing and life as trees grew up along its banks. Increase in the gifts of the Spirit occurs as we move out from the church and into the lifeless places around us. We will see greater increase when we begins to exercise our gifts in the dark places of our communities that are distant from God, rather than keeping them in the safe confines of our church sanctuaries. It’s not that these gifts are not for the body of Christ – they are. But they are not only for the body. They are also for the lost and hurting who are far away from the throne and as we take the Holy Spirit to those places and those individuals, the river gets deeper – greater anointing is given.

If you go on mission trips, you have probably noticed that God worked through you in greater ways on the mission than when you came back home. That may be the “river principle” in action. The truth is, however, that we don’t have to go overseas to find those who are far from God. We may only need to go next door or to our closest “big box store” or Starbucks.

To go out in public and exercise the gifts of healing, prophecy, encouragement, deliverance, mercy, and miracles takes a willingness to risk. We always risk rejection and being thought of as weird. We also risk that moment when healing doesn’t occur, prophecy seems to have missed the mark by a mile, or when some spirit hangs on and for some reason we, like the apostles and the boy, can’t deliver. However, it is in that territory that the river gets deeper and if we want increase, we will need to move out from the sanctuary to the nations around us. How else can we be trees for healing and fresh water for life for those who are still far from God?

If we want increase, then we have to let God place us in situations where more is needed. The good news is that when we move away from the sanctuary God does not stay there, he goes with us and in the going we will experience the increase we have been asking for.

Most churches in America today still only give the Holy Spirit an honorable mention, even though he is an equal member of the Godhead – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Most believers know that the Holy Spirit lives inside them in some way but beyond that they have little knowledge of the Holy Spirit as God, as a person, and as the source of power for living out the commands and mandates of Jesus. It’s amazing that scripture puts so much emphasis on the Holy Spirit while the church, by and large, gives little attention to this third part of the Trinity. And yet without the Spirit, we can in no way live the life that Jesus has called us to live.

In fact, Jesus said that the best thing he could do for his followers was to leave them, return to the Father, and send the Holy Spirit (Jn. 16:7). To his disciples at that moment, that must have seemed like an empty promise. After all, who or what could replace the presence of Jesus? He was the teacher, the healer, and the provider. He could calm storms with a command, walk across lakes, feed thousands with a box lunch, and drive away demons. What could be better than that? However, Jesus kept insisting that he was leaving but, ultimately, his followers would be better off. Peter would become the proof of that pudding.

Peter had been part of the Lord’s inner circle for three years. He had heard every sermon, seen every miracle, and been taught how to pray by the Son of God himself. For three years, he had Jesus himself as a personal mentor and role model. What could be better? But Jesus in the flesh had limitations. He could teach like no man had ever taught but his influence was from the outside in. Now he was going to send a teacher and a counselor whose influence would be from the inside out. The difference is stunning,

With all the teaching, the training, the mentoring, and Jesus as his personal life coach, Peter still stumbled along. Although he got a few things right, there was still such a shortfall. Even on the night of Jesus’ arrest, Peter was arguing with James and John about who was the greatest disciple. A few hours after that, Jesus was arrested and Peter, along with the others, scattered into the night. Although Peter followed from a distance, he still denied even knowing Jesus three times in the courtyard of the high priest. After discovering the empty tomb, Peter still did not believe Mary’s testimony that she had seen the risen Jesus until Jesus made a personal appearance with his disciples. Where was the teaching, the training, the modeling, the prayer, and the effect of seeing hundreds of miracles then?

Fifty days later, Jesus fulfilled his promise. He returned to heaven and sent the Holy Spirit to his followers. On the day of Pentecost, the disciples were in an upper room adjacent to the Temple courts and the Holy Spirit fell on them, filled them, and overwhelmed them. Suddenly the inner influence and power of the Spirit took Peter into the Temple courts where he declared the gospel of Jesus Christ with boldness, revelation, and power. What Jesus could not do in Peter’s heart in three years, the Holy Spirit did in a few hours. Jesus was right. It was better for him to go so that he could work from the inside out of those who follow him through his Spirit.

Something else shifted with the internal presence of God in each believer as well. Early in the gospels, Jesus gave power and authority to his twelve apostles and then later to seventy-two other disciples. These men went ahead of Jesus preaching the good news of the kingdom of God, healing the sick, raising the dead, and casting out demons. Their demonstration of the kingdom was to point to Jesus. Both groups came back “blown away” by what they had been able to do in the name of Jesus. And yet, that power and authority seemed only temporary. We have no record of the apostles or other disciples operating in that kind of power after that season of ministry. However, after his resurrection, Jesus instructed his followers to wait in Jerusalem until he sent the Spirit to empower them as well as transform them. After Pentecost, the gifts of the Spirit defined the ministry of the church. These gifts which included healings, miracles, prophecy, etc. were not just for a brief season but for a lifetime. We are told that Peter walked in such an anointing that even his shadow would heal those it touched.

Jesus was right. It was better for us that he returned to the Father and sent the Spirit so that the presence of God could live within each of us. We are called the Temple of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament. The word for “temple” does not refer to the larger complex and courts of the temple but the “naos” which was the Holy Place and Holy of Holies where the glory of God rested. As a result of Jesus leaving and sending his Spirit, we are each the Holy of Holies.

The Father sent the Son, the Son returned to the Father, and the Son sent the Spirit. Jim Cymbala points out that the Holy Spirit is God’s current agent on the earth and wonders why the church has neglected the Spirit of God in its teachings to the point that few believers know much about the ministry and gifts of the eternal Spirit. Since just about everything in the kingdom is received and activated by faith, our ignorance of the Spirit keeps us from receiving and walking in most of what he has for us. There are empty church buildings all over America that attest to the absence of the Spirit rather than his presence. Jesus made it clear that his followers could not be effective witnesses of his reality until they received power on that Day of Pentecost in Jerusalem. For us to be effective witnesses who live lives that point to Jesus, we too must have the fullness of the Spirit.

A life that is not plugged into the power and resources of the Holy Spirit, even if a person believes in Jesus, will look minimally different from those who don’t even know him. That is not an effective witness. It simply takes the power of the Spirit to overcome the flesh, facedown the enemy, and demonstrate the reality of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth.

On the other side of the equation, there are churches that make the Holy Spirit and his gifts the central emphasis of all they do. Jesus clearly stated that the Spirit would bring glory to Jesus, not himself (Jn.16:14). We must always keep our eyes on the giver of the gift not just on the gift itself. But the giver also expects us to love the gift, enjoy the gift, and use the gift to its fullness. It his case, the gift is the Holy Spirit who brings the presence of God to us. Certainly there are excesses in some churches regarding the Holy Spirit, but that should not deter us from experiencing the Spirit as Jesus intended. I remember Bill Johnson saying that he feared lack more than excess when it came to the Spirit. I would agree with that.

Jesus told us that the Father gives the Spirit without limit (Jn. 3:34) so we may assume that he wants us to receive the Spirit without limit. May we and the church be open to everything God wants us to have via the Holy Spirit so that we can be effective witnesses for Jesus and be a people that stand out from the world rather than blending in. Ask for it all.

Life without a real sense of purpose is miserable. When I was in my twenties I had already begun to feel the angst of not knowing what my life should be about. Career and love were big on the agenda of a twenty year old but I had no compelling reason to choose one career path over another and my quest for love wasn’t working out. Work wasn’t fulfilling because I was just working to pay the bills and not making enough to chase recreational pursuits or travel the world. Besides, God had wired me in such a way that “meaning” was a central issue in my life and I wasn’t finding real meaning in anything. As a result, I started fighting depression at a time when life should have seemed full of possibilities.

I think the world is full of people who don’t sense any purpose to their lives beyond the day-to-day essentials of life and maintaining the duties of marriage. Even materialism is an effort to find some meaning in a life that has no sense of value or purpose beyond the temporary rush of the new purchase. People drift from relationship to relationship, job to job, and fad to fad trying to find something beyond themselves to give their lives a greater sense of significance.

My sense of purpose finally came through a relationship with Jesus. The realization that God had established a destiny for me was intriguing but still vague in my early years as a believer. It was later when I began to delve into studies on my temperament and spiritual gifts that I started making the connections. Psalm 139 was especially helpful to me. David declared, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be” (Ps.139:13-16).

As I studied the Psalm, I recognized that God had a very intentional hand in my creation. At the point of conception, he seemed to have shaped me according to his purpose. In fact, he had apparently laid out a plan for my life before I was ever born. I have a choice as to whether or not I cooperate with his plan, but a sense of destiny was forming in me. The question still remained, however, as to how I could discover that destiny so that I could cooperate with God in my life’s plan.

The Apostle Paul added another very significant layer to discovering my purpose in his letter to the Ephesians. He wrote, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Eph.2:10). The idea of being God’s workmanship echoed Psalm 139 as he had a hand in developing who I was and what I would be doing. That thought then connected with “good works” which God had prepared in advance for me to do. My destiny did not just lie in being saved and going to heaven one day but in the realization that God has intentionally created me with specific purposes in mind.

If God had laid out good works he wanted me to accomplish, then he would have surely designed and equipped me to accomplish those works with some measure of excellence. My temperament and my abilities would both contribute to my capacity to do what God had called me to do. The additional layer of spiritual gifts that the Holy Spirit distributes then became a final clue. A number of temperament profiles exist today to help you understand your “wiring” and with those profiles you can discover a list of career paths toward which those temperaments gravitate. Add to that an awareness of spiritual gifts and you can begin to sense the kinds of life focus you have been designed for. One of the notions that we need to jettison is that careers in the market place are unspiritual while only church related ministries are spiritual. God wants to plant his people in every corner of society in order to reach people who are not attending anyone’s church and to spread the influence of kingdom values in those pockets of culture. Spiritual fruit must be sown outside the church walls and he has designed most of us to do that.

Other general indicators of “your call” are simple.  Has God placed a desire in your heart to do something or to operate in some spiritual gift? Do you find certain things that you do uniquely fulfilling even when it doesn’t place you in the spotlight or massage your ego? Have people told you that you made a difference in their life in a way that drew them closer to Jesus or allowed them to experience God’s grace? Do some things seem easy and intuitive for you while other things just don’t “compute?” Sometimes we keep trying to shore up the areas in which we are weak rather than pursuing and developing the areas in which we can flourish because God created us for those things. Sometimes we are trying to fulfill someone else’s call on our life and pursue those things in order to please a parent or another influential person in our life when God has not created us for those things as well. Frustration and an unfulfilling life is the outcome of that.

When I was in high school and early college, the question was always, “What do you want to do with your life?” Honestly, I didn’t have enough wisdom or life experience to even answer that question. The better question would have been. “What do you think God has created you to do?” You can not always know exactly what God is calling you to do because he will open doors for specific opportunities as you go, but you can discover the direction of your life that he has ordained for you by becoming aware of your temperament (wiring), your gifts, your desires, and those things that intuitively makes sense to you.

I believe we live in a world that has no sense of eternal destiny or purpose but is swimming in a sea of uncertainty trying to find personal significance. Purpose is everything. It makes us part of something bigger than ourselves. It attaches us to others who have a passion for the same purpose. It makes even the small things that contribute to your purpose significant. The ultimate questions for every individual is whether or not they matter and whether or not what they do matters. Purpose answers that and a knowledge that God has established your purpose with eternal dimensions is even more significant.

Helping your children discover who God has made them to be and how to walk that out would be one of the greatest gifts you could ever give them. Discovering that for yourself would be a tremendous gift for you as well. I hope you are clear on the call God has placed on your life or will begin to search for it if you have not yet discovered those things he has crafted you for and established for you even before the creation of the world. Blessings in Him.

One of the great healing evangelists of the early 20^th Century was John G. Lake. In his lifetime he established hundreds of churches in North America and Africa and healed hundreds of thousands. In 1910, he and his family believed that God had called them to Africa to preach the gospel. As they landed on African soil a plague was destroying the country. In less than a month, a quarter of the population had died in one large region. The plague was so contagious that the government was offering $1000 to any nurse who would go there and care for the sick. That was a lot of money in 1910. John Lake and his assistants went to help without charging anything.

He and an assistant would go into homes, carry out the dead and bury them, without ever displaying any symptoms of the plague. When asked by one doctor what he was doing to protect himself he simply stated that as long as he stayed closely connected to God with the life of the Spirit flowing though him, no germ could ever attach itself to him. In an experiment, the doctor took foam from the lungs of a patient who had recently died of the plague and placed it under a microscope. The foam was alive with germs. They then placed some of the foam in Lake’s hand. As the doctor watched through the microscope, the germs died almost instantly as they touched Lake’s skin. By the time Lake and his family returned to America, after five years in Africa, he and his ministry had trained 1,250 preachers, planted 625 congregations, and brought 100,000 men and women to Christ.

At one point in his ministry he moved to Spokane, Washington and established “healing rooms” in an old office building. Historians estimate that some one hundred thousand confirmed healings occurred there. There was so much interest in his ministry and the healings that occurred that local newspapers and the Better Business Bureau investigated his claims and determined that not only were the healings legitimate but that they had not heard half of what the Lord had done through those ministries.

Lake was totally convinced that all disease and disability was from the devil. He hated disease and death with a passion and believed that God did as well. Because of that he never doubted God’s willingness to heal those he prayed for. Was everyone healed? Not everyone, but hundreds of thousands were including late stage cancer victims, paralytics, plague victims, epileptics, and so forth.

There is much more to the story of John G. Lake. He certainly wasn’t perfect but the good news is that God can use imperfect people to do incredible things when they are passionate for God and the kingdom. The second point is that the power of the Holy Spirit makes a huge difference in the fruit that a person or a church can bear for Jesus. Those who want to live for Christ without the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the gifts of prophecy, healing, tongues, miracles, and so forth can do so, but will not impact the world as much as those who minister with the gifts. If the gifts are not needed for world-changing ministry then the first century church had no need for them either. However, God chose to equip the church with power on the Day of Pentecost so they could be effective witnesses for Jesus throughout the world.   John G. Lake simply followed in the footsteps of those he read about in the Book of Acts.

One resident of Spokane said, “Dr. Lake came to Spokane.   He found us in sin. He found us in sickness. He found us in poverty of spirit. He found us in despair. But he revealed to us such a Christ as we had never dreamed of knowing this side of heaven. We thought the victory was over there, but Dr. Lake revealed to us that victory was here.”

That would be a worthy prayer for all of us – that God would enable us to impact the world around us in the same way whether a community, a circle of business associates, or simply our family. God is waiting for the next John G. Lake. Maybe it could be you…or me. He simply needs a surrendered heart.

(Much of the biographical material referenced in this article is from God’s Generals by Roberts Liardon.)

As followers of Jesus, most of us have opportunities to pray for the sick or the disabled on a regular basis. If you are in any kind of a small group that is almost certainly the case. It is rare when we don’t know someone with cancer or some other life threatening disease these days as well. If you are like me, you long for a gift of healing in the church that would consistently banish disease with the simple words “Be healed in the name of Jesus.” The truth is, however, that the majority of believers who have prayed for the sick have not seen miraculous or convincing healings in response to their own prayers. As a result, they have begun to shy away from praying for anything more than a cold that will go away on it’s own anyway in a week or two.

One of the things we have been discovering over the past few years is that the best approach to healing prayer is typically not just jumping in and beginning to pray. In the spiritual realm, there are things that can block or greatly hinder healing and if they are not dealt with, the healing won’t occur or the symptoms will soon return. Taking a few minutes to talk about possible roots of the condition can increase the probability of healing significantly. Those who serve in deliverance ministries understand the concept when it come to demons but often forget the principles when praying for healing.

In deliverance ministries, we typically do some kind of interview to determine if a person is saved, if they have faith, if they have not forgiven others, or if some unrepented sin or some trauma has given the enemy a legal right to afflict the person. We would rarely try to minister deliverance without leading them through prayers of forgiveness or repentance or without breaking curses generated by the sins of their fathers or words spoken over them by others. The same process is a “best practice” before praying for healing.

One of the reasons for that approach is that demonic spirits are often involved in the illness or disability of an individual. Think about how many cases of back problems, blindness, deafness, muteness, and even seizures Jesus cured by first casting out a demon. Even secular doctors agree that about 80% of illnesses and conditions are rooted in unhealthy emotions. Fear, anxiety, worry, resentment, bitterness, etc. all promote high blood pressure, heart disease, suppressed immune systems and so forth. Those then lead to disease. Unclean spirits are experts at promoting unhealthy emotions. At a healing conference where Bill Johnson was speaking, I remember him saying that a very high percentage of the people they had healed first needed a spirit of infirmity cast out. If we simply go straight to praying for healing we may miss all those contributors.

For example, on several occasions, Jesus made a point of forgiving a man before healing him. That parallels Psalm 103:3 where David declares, “Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits – who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases” (Ps. 103:2-3). Unrepented sin is an open door to disease. When those sins are forgiven that door is shut and another door is opened to healing. Under the New Covenant, God declares that if we do not forgive those who have sinned against us, then he will not forgive ours sins. Unforgiveness, then, becomes a real hindrance to healing. Other spiritual issues can block or hinder healing in the same way.

We just finished another Freedom Weekend in which we spend the morning asking the Lord to heal emotional wounds in each individual. We then spend the afternoon ministering deliverance to all the attendees. About two years ago we began to finish the day by casting out spirits of infirmity and trauma. We have begun to experience a number of significant healings at each Freedom Weekend – typically at the end of the day. Bad backs, painful knees, stomach problems, vision problems, arthritis, deaf ears, skin disorders, etc. have become common place healings because we have dealt with the spiritual roots of these conditions before we finally pray for healing. Many of those healed have suffered from the conditions for decades and have been to doctors over and over without solutions.

I believe that if we would take the time to address spiritual issues that have led to the condition or that support the condition, our healing rates would be significantly higher. As we have better outcomes for our prayers, our faith will grow and we will see even more healings. Not only would those we pray for be better off physically but also emotionally and spiritually because we took our time to help them clean up things that have hindered their relationship with the Lord. Let me encourage you to minister forgiveness and freedom even before you pray for healing so that nothing can get in the way of what God already wants to do for his people. As you see people healed, you will be encouraged to pray for others rather than standing back in order to avoid another disappointment. Blessings in Him.

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. Isaiah 61:1-2

The text above is one of the most famous Messianic prophecies in scripture. We know that it was a passage looking ahead to the ministry of Jesus because Jesus said as much in Luke 4. If Jesus were crafting a “mission statement” for his non-profit that passage would be it. If you reflect just a bit, you will recognize that those verses summarize his three-year ministry to Israel.

For three years Jesus preached the good news of the Kingdom of God to the oppressed. Some translations say that Jesus preached to the poor but the better translation from the Hebrew is the “afflicted” or “oppressed.” The language harkens back to the Hebrews in Egyptian bondage and the days of Moses. In the days of Jesus, the Jews found themselves under the merciless boot of Rome. Under the power of Rome they were certainly afflicted and oppressed. That was true, not only in a political sense, but spiritually they were in the same boat. Not only were they in bondage to sin but the legalism of the Law as interpreted by the Pharisees and Levites was just as crushing. Speaking of the religious establishment, Jesus said, “They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger” (Mt.23:4). Peter called the Law a “yoke of bondage” (Acts 15:9). The preaching of the Kingdom of God and the grace God had for his people must have been a breath of fresh air. In contrast to the hundreds of laws the Jews had generated for God’s people, Jesus boiled it down to loving God and loving others. He said that the works of God were simply to believe on him. So Jesus came preaching the good news of God’s grace and mercy.

In addition, Jesus declared that his purpose was to bind up the brokenhearted. In other words, he came to heal broken hearts or bring emotional healing to people who were crippled by emotional trauma and shattered identities. It is amazing how many believers are still in bondage to past experiences that painted them as worthless, insignificant, and as orphans – someone that nobody wants. Jesus brought a different message calling us sons and daughters of God as well as friends of the King of Kings. He declared our worth and significance in the heart of God and the cross put the exclamation point on our value in the kingdom of heaven.

The third part of his mission statement, in general, was to set captives free. The idea was to release men by the power of the cross from bondage – bondage to sin, to disease, to infirmity, to fear, to addictions, and to the devil. When he referenced bondage, he spoke of two groups – prisoners who were in bondage due to their own choices and captives who were ambushed by the sins of others and the devil. Jesus came to liberate both.

Jesus delivered on his mission statement throughout his ministry. Everywhere he went he preached the good news, healed the sick, cast out demons, cleansed the lepers, and raised the dead. He loved the sinner and the “down and out” people of this world and his unconditional love as well as power transformed people like Mary Magdalene who at one time had seven demons and was, perhaps, a prostitute. Through God’s touch, she was no longer a woman tormented by sin and demons but was honored by being the first to whom Jesus appeared after his resurrection.

The pattern of preaching the good news, loving people, healing the sick and the brokenhearted, casting out demons, and raising the dead was carried on by the twelve, then by seventy-two others he sent out, and then by the church who was given spiritual gifts so that they could continue to do what Jesus did.

The point is that it took all of that to enable most people to live effectively for Jesus and to experience the abundant life that Jesus promised. What most people get today from the body of Christ is a salvation message and a little love from time to time. But their hearts are not effectively healed, they are not set free from sickness and infirmity, and they are not set free from demonic affliction. In many settings, the church is saved but still crippled. Due to the church’s inability to help set people free, many are sent out from the church to see secular doctors and therapists or “Christian counselors” who have only been equipped with the weapons and strategies of the world. They have little to no training in the use of divine weapons and are often powerless against the schemes of the devil.

My Bible says that the world should be coming to the church for solutions because we have the Holy Spirit who possesses all wisdom, creativity, and power. If we ever have to look to the world to fulfill the mission statement of Jesus, something is very wrong and something is very missing. Freedom ministries are beginning to take root in churches where people are finding freedom, healing, and truly transformed lives but the percentage of churches that minister at that level is very small. And yet, that kind of ministry should be as much a core of the church as evangelism, Bible study, and giving to the poor. That was the core of Christ’s ministry and he expects us to do what he did when he modeled the redeemed life on this planet.

I hope that if your church doesn’t have a “freedom ministry” of some kind where people find healing and freedom through the Holy Spirit, that you will pray about such a ministry and visit with your leadership about it. Many churches that have these well-developed ministries are glad to train and help other churches find their own expression of Christ’s mission statement. If the church is going to walk in the power and glory of God, her people cannot continue to be crippled by emotional wounds, lingering illnesses that never find a cure, and demonic oppression. That doesn’t look like “on earth as it is in heaven.” May every church be more committed to reproducing what Jesus did in the power of the Spirit rather than offering the world the best than we can do in the strength of men.

Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. Hebrews 2:14-15

The writer of Hebrews declared that Jesus, through his death, has rendered the devil powerless. The word that is translated powerless, means to make insignificant or ineffective. Too often, those who are involved in spiritual warfare give the devil too much credit and, in their minds, give him too much power. Paul wrote, “But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it says, ‘When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.’ (In saying, ‘He ascended,’ what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions of the earth?  He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things’” (Eph. 4:7-10).

Not only did Jesus render the devil powerless but he also descended into hell and either set those who had previously been held captive by the enemy free or brought enemy captives with him as trophies. Either understanding is possible. The probable picture Paul is painting is that of a Roman general coming home from war after securing a victory. Victorious generals were given a “triumph” by the Senate, which was essentially a tickertape parade through the streets of Rome. As he entered Rome, he would be riding in a chariot pulled by four horses. His chariot would be followed by prisoners that he had taken captive as a display of his power and his authority. After the prisoners, came all the spoils that had been taken from the enemy. Then the general’s soldiers and other dignitaries would come behind. After the parade, which sometimes took more than a day, the general would often throw a huge banquet, giving away gifts and providing food paid for by his part of the spoils of war.

This picture of Jesus confirms that by his sinless life, his willing death, and his resurrection he was completely victorious over the enemy. He rendered Satan ineffective and irrelevant for those who are in Christ. After the cross, the only power that Satan has over God’s people is the power we give him through sin, unbelief, fear, and by believing his lies. Ultimately, we are in the same condition Adam and Eve were in while living in the Garden. In the Garden, Satan could not assault them, kidnap then, take their lives, or even harass them until after they believed his lies and surrendered their authority to him.

Today, as believers, we give him the authority to harass us and afflict us by coming into agreement with him. Apparently, Satan has the ongoing right to tempt us and cause others to persecute us because we are told to beware of his schemes and that persecution will come to the righteous. But, he does not have the legal right to afflict us, take our lives, or harass us year after year unless something in our lives or the lives of those we are attached to has given him power. When those things are taken care of by the blood of Christ, his authority is revoked again.

I like what Jonathan Welton says about this. “ I do believe demonic forces are at work in the world, but not in the way many think. Most true spiritual warfare takes place in the arena of truth versus lies. The devil is a liar, and he uses his craftiness to get us to lay aside our identity and authority. Our battle must be understood as a battle to maintain our identity, because the authority we have been given as believers is contained in our identity.

Many Christians have reached a point emotionally where they feel as though they have been stripped of their armor. They have been beaten to a pulp. They have been chained and are being dragged behind the devil’s chariot as his spoils of war…The truth regarding our identity is that we have been put into Christ. ‘In him we live and move and have our being’ (Acts 17:28). We abide in Him and he in us (Jn.15:4). We have been seated with him in heavenly places (Eph. 2:6)…If we understand that we abide in Him (which also means that we abide in his authority), then our spiritual warfare is very different: we are not fighting for victory, we are fighting from victory” (Jonahtan Welton, The School of the Seers, DestinyImage Publishing, p.155).

In our own lives, when Satan shows up and seemingly rents a room in our house, we need to remember who Christ is and who we are in Him. We need to take a personal inventory and inquire of the Spirit to see if anything or anyone is giving the devil a key to our front door. If we find something, then we should immediately deal with it through faith and the blood of Christ. Having done that, we should reassert our authority as those who speak for Christ and represent him on this planet. When we command the enemy, we should do so with full confidence that we have the authority to do so and that he must comply because he that is in us is greater than he that is in the world (1 Jn. 4:4).

We already have the victory over Satan because Christ already has the victory. We should have no fear of this enemy who has been rendered powerless, but rather he should fear us for we sit in judgment on him. If we want to be effective in spiritual warfare we must maintain that mindset. When we go onto the field to face the enemy we should walk on with the swagger of those who already know that the game and the victory is theirs. It is that swagger in Christ, the certainty of who we are, and the total confidence that victory is already ours that intimidates demons and causes the devil to flee.

If we walk onto the field fearing defeat, being unsure of our Captain, and thinking that the enemy looks bigger, stronger and faster than we thought, we will be ineffective. We will empower and embolden the enemy by forgetting who our Captain is and who we are in him and we will not win the lopsided victory that was ours. I remember a scene from a cheesy vampire movie from my youth. It was the classic scene where a priest was facing the vampire, pulled out his silver cross, and shoved it in the face of the dark one. Instead of wilting, the vampire laughed and told him that the silver cross had no power in that moment because the priest had no faith. It didn’t turn out well for the priest. There is some truth in that for us as we face the enemy. Know who Christ is, who you are in him, and that Satan has been rendered powerless, in your case, by the resurrection of Jesus. Then exercise the authority of one who is already seated in heavenly places next to the King of Kings.

He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed” (Isa.53:3-5).

The text above is one of the most important scriptures in the Bible related to our healing and forgiveness. It is one of the most familiar Messianic prophecies in scripture that prophesies what Christ would accomplish for us at the cross. Notice that Isaiah points to the Messiah as a solution for two categories of issues in our lives. The prophet says that Messiah will take up our infirmities and sorrows (NIV) and our transgressions and iniquities. We understand transgressions and iniquities. These speak of sin and violations of the Law. But what about infirmities and sorrows? That category is a little vague.

Unfortunately, it has been poorly translated in most modern versions. The poor translation is most likely due to a theological mindset that healing is not for today. There are two important Hebrew words in this passage that we must take note of. The first is choli which means “sickness” and the other is makob which means “pains.” In most modern translations they are translated as grief or infirmities and sorrows.

Let me quote from F.F. Bosworth regarding this passage. “All who have taken the time to examine the original text have found what is universally acknowledged everywhere. These two words mean, respectively, “sicknesses” and “pains” everywhere else throughout the Old Testament. The word choli is interpreted “disease” and “sickness” in Dt. 7:15, 28:61; 1 Kings 17:17; 2 Kings 1:2, 8:8; 2 Chr. 16:12, 21:15; and other texts. The word makob is rendered “pain” in Job 14:22, 33:19, etc. Therefore, the prophet is saying, in this fourth verse, ‘Surely, he hath borne our sicknesses and carried our pains.’… Isaiah 53:4 cannot refer to disease of the soul, and neither of the words translated “sickness” and “pain” have any reference to spiritual matters but to bodily sickness alone. This is proven by Matthew 8:16-17: ‘…and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, ‘Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses’” (F.F. Bosworth, Christ the Healer, p.34-35).

The point is that Matthew quoted Isaiah 53:4 and clearly applied it to Christ as he was healing sickness and disabilities or physical infirmities.  So…when we are told that by his wounds we are healed, he means “healed from sickness and physical disabilities.” We tend to doubt these promises because as westerners affected by Greek thought, we somehow believe that God is only interested in our spirits and not our bodies. Yet, in every covenant, God provided for both. Forgiveness is for our spirits and souls. Healing is for our bodies. God is concerned with all three.

Isaiah is echoing what David wrote in Psalm 103 – who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases. Sin separates us from God. Separation from God because of sin opens us up to the curse of the Law, which includes disease. Leaf through the curses and blessings of Deuteronomy 28 and you will have a feel for the curse of the Law. Under law, sin still stands against us and gives the enemy a legal right to afflict us. When sin is taken away, the curse of the Law loses it power. Health and healing are then within reach. Healing can be received by those with faith and also administered by those with faith.

Remember the paralytic man in Matthew 9. Jesus declared, “Take heart, son, your sins are forgiven.” The Pharisees, of course, began to whisper that no man had the right to forgive sins. Jesus then said, “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” (Mt.9:5-7). Jesus demonstrated that the forgiveness of sin makes healing available to us. At the cross, Jesus not only bore our sins but also our sicknesses. Through the cross, God intends to heal the whole man – body, soul, and spirit.

Those in Christ walk in forgiveness and have been freed from the curse of the Law. “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us” (Gal.3:13). Therefore, healing is our inheritance in Christ. Like many blessings in Christ, the blessing is available to each of us but must be received by faith. As we reflect again on the Lord’s Supper, the blood represented by the cup symbolizes the forgiveness of our sins. The bread, which represents the broken body of Christ (his wounds), symbolizes the healing that is available to us as well. Both forgiveness and healing come by faith. Both are readily available to the children of God. We are quick to receive forgiveness, but most believers still doubt God’s healing for them – at least in their hearts. Most of us fall in the category of knowing that he can but not being certain that he will. On many days I tend to slip into that category as well. That uncertainty keeps healing from many of us who need it.

So then…how do we move from doubt to faith in the area of healing? We will discuss that in my next blog, Both Forgiveness and Healing – Part 4.