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.

Years are measured in seasons. In much the same way, life is also lived in seasons. Although there is some continuity as we move from season to season, there can also be great differences and those differences can demand different perspectives, attitudes, and strategies to navigate well. We must navigate three feet of snow and eight-degree temperatures in February in very different ways than we navigate 95 degree heat in August.   One extreme requires a roaring fire while the other begs for air conditioning. One requires heavy clothing and lots of layers while the other demands light, breathable cottons. One season is lived primarily indoors while the other calls us outdoors. Just about the time we get one season figured out another presents itself. That change can be frustrating, but on the other hand, most of us are also eagerly awaiting the variety that a new season brings.

Sometimes, the God who created seasons for a planet spinning in space, may also call us to a new spiritual season as well. Sometimes the call comes at unexpected times for us while for God that time was appointed before the creation of the world. Moses is a prime example. The hand of God was clearly on Moses as a child who was marked for a great destiny. As you recall, to avoid extermination by Pharaoh, Moses had been placed in a waterproof basket and hidden in the bull rushes along the Nile by his Hebrew mother. The daughter of Pharaoh found him in the water and adopted his as her own. He was raised in the palace and given the training and advantages of Egyptian royalty. At some point he became aware of his Hebrew heritage and began to sense that somehow he was to be a major player in delivering his people from slavery. One day, he witnessed an Egyptian beating a Hebrew and in a moment of anger killed the Egyptian and hid his body. Within hours, Moses had been discovered and fled from Egypt to the backwater country of Midian where he married, settled down, and became a shepherd. He fled Egypt at the age of 40 giving up every advantage he had as a son in the royal house. Then for 40 years he lived the quiet, unassuming life of a shepherd.
At the age of 80, however, Moses had an unexpected encounter with God in a burning bush and a new season was thrust upon him. Suddenly, out of nowhere, God picked up the thread of the destiny he had assigned to Moses and called him to return to Egypt and finish the job. Moses was not excited. He had left Egypt confused and afraid with a quick demotion from the palace to the pasture. All he had experienced related to the call that God was resurrecting was failure. He no longer saw himself as a leader or a hero. He simply saw himself as a hapless shepherd destined to live and die living in dusty tents in Midian.

With each excuse Moses offered, God responded that he would go with him. Moses continued to push back. “Who am I to do such a thing? Who will I tell them sent me? What if they won’t believe me. I’m no public speaker. Lord, send someone else.” The text tells us that the Lord began to get angry. He had given Moses every assurance and had even demonstrated a coupe of miracles. More than anything, God kept assuring Moses that he would be with him and enable him every step of the way. God never sets his people up for failure.

So what was Moses’ problem? There are probably several themes that created pushback in Moses about this new season to which he was being called. First of all, he no longer saw himself as a leader or anyone special. He had tasted failure and disappointment forty years earlier and he had no desire to taste that again. Secondly, life was comfortable and predictable. It wasn’t great, but he had adjusted to it and found a sense of security and contentment in what he was doing. Now God was wanting to launch him into the unknown. If he were younger that might appeal to him but he was two-thirds of the way through life. Moses died at 120. He was already 80. For us, if we think we might live to be 90, then two thirds of our life would be 60 years old. Most of us aren’t willing to step into a totally new season at that age. But that is exactly what God was calling him to do.

Even though the call to lead Israel out of Egypt and into the wilderness might seem better suited for a younger man, God seems to be more concerned about character than age. He can impart strength but he waits on us to develop character. The Moses who saw himself as a great leader was arrogant and rash. A man who was humble and had shepherded sheep for 40 years could now shepherd people and would lean on God rather than his own abilities. For Moses, the fullness of time for this new season came after Moses himself had been seasoned.

So what if your season is about to change? What if God is not calling you to the next thing (a continuation of what you have already been doing) but a new thing that is totally different from what you have known before? What if he is wanting to pick up the thread of your destiny that you laid aside years ago. Would you be willing to step into that season that would be full of spiritual productivity and adventure? Or would you, like Moses, find every reason to stay where you are and die peacefully but without having experienced the fullness of God and his glory that Moses discovered after he finally said yes.

We are in a season of acceleration. Maybe it’s an “end-times” thing but global and social changes are happening at an incredible pace. I believe God will be asking many of his people to step into new seasons with him that may be an expansion of what they are already doing or something very different from what they have ever known before.

The world is shifting and God has a hand in it. Every shift will open up new opportunities for his kingdom to expand on earth and he will be looking for people to use in significant and, perhaps, unprecedented ways in those moments. If the call comes will you be available? I ask myself that question as well. Perhaps, if we actually anticipate the possibility we will be much more ready to say yes. Pray about it. Dream about it. Even ask for it…if you dare.

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.

We are currently discussing the promise of healing in the New Covenant. If, in fact, healing is promised in the covenant we have through Christ and he purchased healing for us as well as the forgiveness of our sins through his suffering, then healing and divine health are available and desirable for every believer. It is part of our inheritance in Christ so that we should believe as easily for healing as we do for forgiveness.

To underline this covenant aspect of healing, we need to look a little further into the past to see if health and healing were typically part of God’s covenants before the cross. When we look at the beginning of all things, health was obviously God’s will in the Garden of Eden. No one would suggest that illness or infirmity existed in the Garden. As long as Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Life, they would live and apparently not be subject to disease or infirmity of any kind. I would say that disease did not exist in the Garden environment any more than it exists in heaven so that, in many ways, it was never to be part of the equation of life.

Many believers today hold the position that God is not willing to heal everyone because sickness or infirmity often draws people closer to God. They hold a theology that asserts that suffering often purifies us and makes us more spiritual. They say that when people suffer and maintain their faith, God is glorified. Since suffering draws us closer to God and often glorifies him, it is, therefore, God’s will for some believers to be sick or blind or paralyzed.   They would suggest that God sends disease and infirmity to make us better Christians. In that case, why did God not create Adam and Eve with some disabilities or cause them to suffer from some exotic disease in the Garden to mature them spiritually?Why do we never see Jesus laying hands on some person in order to impart disease so that the man or woman could draw closer to God or become more spiritually mature?

I am not saying that God can’t use suffering to mature us, but that is a different thing from wanting us to be sick or willing us to be sick. We must also acknowledge that sickness has often been part of some judgment that has come on God’s people when they have forsaken him. However, it was never what God wanted for his people and repentance brought healing or the cessation of some plague. God never sent disease, tragedy, or war on his people when they were serving him in order to upgrade their spirituality. In the Garden, health was his desire for his people.

Now, let’s go to the other end of the timeline. In John’s vision of the end, he sees a river of water flowing out to the nations from the throne of God. He says, “On each side of the river stood the Tree of Life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the trees are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse” (Rev.22:2-3). In the beginning, God provided a Tree of Life to keep his people walking in divine health and at the end of time he does the same. My point is that God’s perfect will for his people is health. How many of us would believe that heaven is full of disease and paralyzed people? The very idea seems like a contradiction. Why? Because we know that disease and infirmity is not a blessing and that God does not want illness, birth defects, or disabilities for his children. Can he use it? Yes. Does he want it? No. Not only that, but we are to pray for his will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. Since there is no illness in heaven, we are to pray against illness here.

When we look at the patriarchs, we see them sick and infirm at the end of their days, when they are greatly advanced in age, but never get a sense of them struggling with illness or infirmity before their appointed days had been fulfilled. Part of God’s blessing was health along with a fullness of days.

The fact that God’s blessings do not include illness or infirmity is very apparent in the covenant he made with Israel. To Moses, the Lord declared, “Worship the Lord your God, and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you, and none will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will give you a full life span” (Ex.23”25-26).

A consistent expression of God’s love for his people has always been health. In another place he says, “If you pay attention to these laws and are careful to follow them, then the Lord your God will keep his covenant of love with you, as he swore to your forefathers. He will love you and bless you and increase your numbers. He will bless the fruit of your womb, the crops of your land—your grain, new wine and oil—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks in the land that he swore to your forefathers to give you. You will be blessed more than any other people; none of your men or women will be childless, nor any of your livestock without young. The Lord will keep you free from every disease” (Dt.7:12-15).      In fact, God reveals that it is his very nature to heal those he loves. He said, “If you listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you” (Ex.15:26).

God’s blessings always include health. The curse of sin is alienation from God, eternal suffering, and disease and infirmity if anyone is not delivered from the curse by the blood of Jesus. When Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil they became subject to death and those things that produce death. They were removed from the Garden of Eden so that they could no longer eat of the Tree of Life and walk in perpetual health. Sin changed all of that. As sin impacted the soul, illness impacted the body. Disease is a manifestation of sin in the human race.

Sin and a fallen nature became a gateway to disease and infirmity. It became the natural state of man….unless man entered into a covenant with God in which he promised to take away sickness and infirmity as part of his covenant blessings for his people. Under the Old Covenant, the presence of plague or disease that was not was not being healed, were both signs of rebellion and disobedience and a call to repentance. When repentance came from the heart, however, both forgiveness and healing followed. If that was true under the Old Covenant, how much more should it be true under a better covenant? If that was true under a covenant where the blood of bulls and goats opened the door to healing, how much wider should the door be under the blood of the Lamb?

More in my next blog about the healing found in the New Covenant.

The gift, the gifts, and the fruit of the Spirit seem to create confusion from time to time. What do these terms refer to?

The gift of the Spirit is spoken of in several places. One of those texts occurs in Acts 2 on the day of Pentecost. We are told, “Peter replied, ‘Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit’” (Acts 2:38). The gift of the Spirit is the Spirit himself taking up residence within each believer, quickening our spirits, teaching us, leading us, counseling us, enlightening us, and transforming us.

But in other places, the gifts of the Spirit are referred to. “God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will” (Heb.2:4). The gifts of the Spirit are the charismata or spiritual gifts discussed and listed in 1 Corinthians 12-14, Romans 12, and other texts. These are the gifts, abilities, or capacities given by the Spirit to each believer that enables him or her to be effective witnesses for Jesus. These spiritual gifts include prophecy, teaching, healings, miracles, tongues, mercy, encouragement, administration, generosity, hospitality, service, and so forth.

The fruit of the Spirit is listed by Paul in his letter to Galatia. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law” (Gal.5:22-23). These are character traits and qualities of Jesus that also belong to the Spirit. He wants to impart those qualities to God’s people. We see all of these in Jesus. The Spirit himself descended and remained on Jesus at his baptism. Then we see Jesus operating in power through healings, miracles, teaching, discernment, casting out demons, and so forth. But, we also see in him the qualities of love, joy, peace, gentleness, self-control, etc. God’s desire is for each of us to be like Jesus – filled with the Spirit, reflecting the Spirit’s character, and administering God’s grace in the form of spiritual gifts to the people whose lives we touch in his name.

In these last days, God is restoring everything to the church. The offices of apostle, prophet, evangelist, teacher, and pastor are being restored in remarkable ways. The Spirit is distributing all his gifts again in unprecedented measure and in unprecedented numbers. Legitimate, world-wide ministries of healing, prophesy, evangelism, demon-busting, miracles, raising the dead, and so forth are abounding. More than that, the gifts are being given not just to a few “leading lights” in the church or a few spiritual superstars, but are being distributed to the rank and file of God’s people. I love seeing that. It’s exciting. I want to be part of that.

It’s easy to love the gifts. Who doesn’t want a priceless prophetic word? Who doesn’t want to be able to pray over a loved one or a stranger racked with cancer and see him or her walk out of the hospital cancer free? Who doesn’t want to see angels in the sanctuary or raise a dead child at the scene of an accident and hand her back to her distraught mother? Who doesn’t want to feel the Spirit speaking through us in tongues or watch hundreds or thousands come forward in response to a gift of evangelism? Who doesn’t want to minister in music in a way that takes God’s people into the very throne room of the King?

We love the gifts, and yet the character of the Spirit is of even greater value. In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul dedicates an entire chapter to love. The chapter rests in between two chapters entirely about spiritual gifts in an effort to curtail their abuse. Paul tells us early in his letter to the church at Corinth that they lacked no spiritual gift (1 Cor.1:7). Authentic spiritual gifts were rampant there, but so was the misuse of these gifts for personal glory and status in the church. The gifts, in large part, were being exercised for personal exaltation and feelings of “super-spirituality.” A kind of spiritual pecking order was being established there. Paul corrected the situation, not by telling them to curtail the gifts, but by telling them to be motivated by love to use the gifts for the benefit of others rather than themselves. In order to emphasize the importance of the fruit of the Spirit over the gifts of the Spirit, Paul told them that the time would come when gifts would cease to operate but that faith, hope, and love – the fruit of the Spirit – would always remain.

Sometimes men and women are given impressive spiritual gifts. At the same time, they are expected to grow in the fruit of the Spirit because only when the gifts are directed by the character of Jesus in our hearts, will they bear the true and lasting fruit that Jesus desires. Not all of them live up to that expectation. History records a number of men who moved in the power of the Spirit in remarkable ways but whose ministries and lives came to miserable ends because they allowed their gifts to run ahead of their character. They became proud and arrogant and even immoral, believing that their gifts demonstrated God’s approval of their actions. Speaking to the church at Corinth that was abounding with impressive spiritual gifts, Paul said, “But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?” (1 Cor.3:1-3).

Operating in spiritual power without spiritual maturity is like a sixteen year old being given a shiny new Lamborghini with a top speed of 201 miles per hour. The combination of the two represents lots of possibilities – most of them disastrous. As we love the gifts that are being liberally distributed by the Spirit, we should remember to love the giver more than the gifts and to seek character ahead of power and influence. Even with amazing gifts of preaching, healing, prophecy and so on, the rule still applies that God exalts the humble and humbles those who exalt themselves.

In the Kingdom, greater gifts are always given to the man who has been a good steward of the gifts already entrusted to him.   According to Paul, good stewardship of anything is not so much about ability as it is diligence, faith, faithfulness, and love. As you pray for the gifts (and you should), be sure to pray first for the fruit of the Spirit that will make you an effective steward of what God entrusts to you. Simon the Sorcerer saw the gifts of the apostles and became enamored with them (Acts 8).   He was so affected by the miracles he saw that he wanted to buy them. Peter rebuked him strongly and told him that his heart was captive to sin. In these days of increasing miracles, we would be wise to guard our own hearts in this matter. Paul instructs us to earnestly desire spiritual gifts. We should do so, but always with a heart for blessing others and glorifying God rather than feeling the rush of the gift or glorifying ourselves. May we have wisdom to always place his presence and his character before his gifts. Blessings in Him.

On several occasions, Paul spoke of being a spiritual father to other believers – those he had not only brought into the faith but had helped grow up in the faith. To the church at Corinth he wrote, “Even though you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel” (1 Cor. 14:15). In addition, he often spoke of Timothy as his true son in the faith.

Paul knew that making disciples did not stop at the “sinner’s prayer,” but continued in a relationship of teaching, encouraging, and sometimes correcting. As a culture, America has lost her fathers. Half of all children will grow up in a single parent family during part or all of his or her childhood. Research indicates that the identity of most children is formed from the father. His opinion of a child carries much more weight than even a loving mother’s opinion. If the father speaks and acts in ways that communicates value and significance for a child, that child will grow up with a healthy sense of self and self -worth. If the father is abusive, critical, or absent the child will grow up with sense of defectiveness and inadequacy. God has created us in such a way that a father is the primary parent for communicating identity, safety, and security to a child. It’s just the way it is.

Kris Vallotton shares a story that underlines this reality. “Curses are the powerful and painful cost of absent and broken covenants. I know this firsthand…After the death of my father, my mom gave birth to my little brother Kelly, the son of my first stepfather. Their marriage disintegrated when Kelly was five years old. After their divorce, Kelly’s dad would call drunk, about once a month to exercise his visiting rights. He would say, ‘I’m going to pick Kelly up at 5:00 tonight.’ Kelly would be so excited to go see his dad that he would be packed early in the morning. He would take his little suitcase and sit out on the front porch, usually an hour or two early. He would sit there hour after hour whether he was in the blazing son or in the freezing cold winter. He would wait outside late into the night…He would fall asleep on top of his little suitcase and I would pick him up and carry him to bed…This pattern continued for years, resulting in deep wounds and a broken heart” (Kris Vallotton, The Supernatural ways of Royalty, p. 132-133; Destiny Image). Kris goes on to say, “The same condition is prominent in the Kingdom. Much like my little brother who was not fathered, we in the Church have given birth to children and then left them fatherless and trying to survive on their own. Jesus never intended for us to maker Christians but rather to make disciples”

I know your first response might be to say “No way.” But think about it. Hundreds of churches teach their members how to share their faith and bring someone to Jesus by leading them through the sinner’s prayer. Then they tell them they love them and go on as if that is all there is. Many times we bring these “spiritual newborns” into the kingdom of God and then immediately leave them to fend for themselves. The great majority of those who are not discipled in a continuing relationship will soon slip back into the world. I have read follow-up studies on all the great Billy Graham crusades of the past where people packed into stadiums to hear this famous man preach.

Through the years, tens of thousands went forward to be “counseled” by a stranger who led them in their confession of faith with an encouragement to go find a great church. The majority didn’t know what a great church was nor were they connected to believers who continued to walk with them. Follow-up research discovered that only a tiny fraction of those men and women continued in their faith. Most slipped back into the world they knew.

Those just born again need spiritual parents in the faith who continue to sow into that man or woman imparting value, identity, and spiritual life skills. They especially need men to sow into their lives but spiritual mothers make a huge impact as well. Parenting is inconvenient most of the time. It is costly and time consuming. It requires loving someone on days when you don’t even like him or her. There will be days when you bandage spiritual scrapes and cuts and days when you wonder if that newborn will ever grow up. But, in time, with the right investment, they will grow up and become spiritual parents on their own.

We need men and women in churches all over America to step up and be parents to new or immature believers. The kingdom is not about programs or sheer numbers, but about relationships. Jesus taught us to identify God as our Heavenly Father, first and foremost. It’s not complicated. For the most part it is spending time with that new believer, speaking spiritual greatness into his or her life, praying with them, imparting values by example, taking them with you to serve, and talking about the things of the Kingdom.

If you are not already being a spiritual parent or mentor to someone, you may feel that no one would want you to be a spiritual mother or father to him or her. What I have found is that a fatherless world is clamoring for someone to be a father or a mother – to value them and to believe in them even if they are already forty years old. If nothing else, just let your pastors know that you are willing to invest in a new believer. Invite a new believer to your home for a meal and start a conversation. Invite a long time believer who hasn’t matured much to your home or your group and ask that person if he or she wants to get on an accelerated growth curve. Commit to give them a year of meeting on a regular basis, doing Bible study together, serving together in a ministry, speaking greatness over them, and answering lots of questions about faith and life. Doing life together is God’s way of making disciples much more than attending another class or reading another book.

Most of the brokenness in the world comes from father wounds. Those wounds will not be healed without the touch of our Heavenly Father through spiritual parents in the church. Without a mentor or a spiritual parent, our growth in the Lord becomes years of trial and error with lots of opportunities for the enemy to capitalize on our mistakes. Like children without a biological father or mother, we can spend years trying to discover who we are and wondering about out true value in the world or the church – usually looking for love in all the wrong places.

If you are that new believer or an immature believer truly wanting to grow in the Lord, ask someone you know and admire to give you some time to help you grow and discover who you are in Christ. Even breakfast or lunch, once a month for a year could be invaluable. The relationship you establish over those twelve months will last a lifetime and bless both of you in innumerable ways. If the first person you ask is too busy, don’t take it as rejection. They may, in fact, be too busy to take on another relationship at this time and do it justice. Ask God to connect you with just the right person for your growth and development and trust that he will. You may also join a small group and find a group to mentor you rather than just an individual. God wants none of his children to be orphans. Don’t be too proud to ask for help and don’t be too busy or insulated to offer it. God delights in those who are fathers to the fatherless.

If you read this blog on a regular basis, you are probably interested in increase – more of the Spirit, greater expressions of your spiritual gifts, and more kingdom power operating in your life. All those are legitimate desires if we want them in order to be more effective in representing Jesus on the earth. If you desire an increase, then you are probably praying for the increase and pursuing it through books, conferences, and hanging around men and women who operate in the gifts you want to develop. You are probably going after impartations of the gift as well. Praying for increase tracks with Paul’s injunction to “eagerly desire spiritual gifts” (1 Cor.14:1). In order for us to receive the increase we desire, we need to make sure that we have dealt with any hindrances in our lives that may be inhibiting that increase.Let’s consider a few so that each of us can perform a spiritual CT scan to see if something needs to be dealt with.

First of all, in his extensive writings on spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians, Paul discussed the need to be motivated by love and a desire to build up the body of Christ. As you read Paul’s entire letter, it’s easy to see that the church at Corinth was extremely spiritually immature. They were exercising all the spiritual gifts in impressive ways but, apparently, the motive of many was self-serving: celebrity status, power, a sense of spiritual superiority, and so forth. Paul was quick to condemn any sense of spiritual elitism in the church or self-promotion, along with divisions and confusion in the church prompted by wrong motives in the exercise of spiritual gifts.

Spiritual gifts are to be an expression of God’s love directed toward those to whom the gift is touching. “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms” (1 Pet. 4:10). Any other motive will hinder the exercise of the gift and God will certainly hesitate to give an increase. We should check our motives from time to time. I’m not saying that we should not experience some kind of personal fulfillment through the exercise of gifts. We should and will. But if your thoughts are constantly about others admiring your for your gifts, advancing in personal influence in your church, or experiencing financial gain though your gifts, then check your heart.

A second hindrance is found in giving into the desires of the flesh and giving those desires a higher priority than the priorities of the Spirit. Paul says, “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please” (Gal. 5:16-17). Since our gifts operate as an extension of the Holy Spirit, anything in us that is in opposition to the Spirit will hinder the flow of the Spirit in our lives.

Very few of us have all of our actions, thoughts, or emotions fully submitted to Jesus. We tend to be spiritually mature in some areas of our lives while still giving in to the flesh in other areas.

Some of us operate well in mercy gifts but have no boldness to confront sin or share out faith. Some of us are great intercessors but have little compassion for the poor. Some of us have great leadership qualities while harboring a secret addiction. Others of us prophesy while our eating and health habits are out of control. Others lead amazing ministries in their church while their marriage is rotting at home. You get the picture.

Without condemning ourselves, we need to acknowledge areas of our lives in which we are not walking by the Spirit. Paul clearly says that if we walk by the Spirit we will not carry out the desire of the flesh. He doesn’t say that our fleshly desires will disappear, we just won’t give into them and their attraction will diminish overtime if our desires for the things of heaven are greater than the promptings of our flesh.

In order to surrender an unsubmitted part of our life to the Spirit, we need to acknowledge it first. The truth is that some of us are unaware of our unsubmitted parts or rationalize them as being spiritual in some way. A rude and critical person may frame those qualities as being honest and transparent. A stingy person may call his lack of generosity good stewardship of his God-given finances. A judgmental person may define that judgment as a “gift of discernment.” We can all have blind spots. David knew that so he prayed, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Ps.139:23-24) Ask God to show you any unsubmitted areas and ask your friends or spouse to tell you kindly, but honestly, what they see.

Once we have discovered an area of our life that is out of step with the Spirit, then we should search to see what the Word says about our thoughts or behaviors and then repent. Having done that we need to make transformation in that part of our life a point of prayer until we know we have matured in that area. Asking a few close friends to hold us accountable for change is typically needed as well.

A third step is to check to see if some demonic influence is keeping us out of step with the Spirit and, in doing so, limiting the increase we desire. Satan certainly doesn’t want you to have more of the Spirit, be more effective with your gifts, or walk in greater spiritual power. Many of us believe that if we are in church, serving in ministries, and even serving as leaders in the kingdom, we could not possibly be under the influence of a demon.

My experience is that leaders and spiritually gifted people are often under the influence of a spirit that has subtly gained entrance through the years and that is manifesting in subtle ways. A spirit of heaviness may simply be written off as stress and fatigue – for the last eighteen months. Many leaders struggle with discouragement, frustration, anger, nagging jealousies, lust, love for money, loneliness, condemnation, and so forth. A demonic spirit may well be the source. A wise believer and a mature believer, from time to time, should have someone who is experienced in deliverance check out the possibility that a spirit is hindering his/her walk.

As we seek more, we should be wise enough to stop occasionally to determine whether there may be something in our lives that is inhibiting the increase. A hunger for more is a positive spiritual quality but it is not the only condition for receiving more. Perfection is certainly not required but ignoring glaring issues in our lives is not the way to increase. There may be something we need to submit to Jesus before we can be good stewards of more gifts or greater anointing. Blessings in Him.

They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor. Isaiah 61:3

In Isaiah’s prophecy regarding the Messiah, he refers to the people Jesus would someday heal and set free as mean and women who become “oaks of righteousness.” The figure brings to mind tall, powerful, and stately oaks that stand the test of time and withstand the strongest storms.   We all want to be that kind of believer.

This morning, in a men’s group I am part of, we began to discuss the concept of spiritual fruit in the kingdom and how certain trees and vines grow to produce more fruit. One of our men, who owns and operates his own landscape business, told us that certain trees, after germination, grow root systems for up to two years before the trunk begins to appear above the ground. Nutrients and stability come from the root system and without strength there, the tree will eventually fail. As a result, the tree gives all of its energy to growing down before it gives energy to growing up.

As a church that believes in the operation of all the spiritual gifts, it is not unusual to see new believers or believers who have just begun to experience the power of God get very excited and very focused on operating in those gifts. After all, there is nothing like being part of a miracle that God has just released into another person’s life. I think it is appropriate that new believers are hungry for the manifestations of God and want to experience more and more of his Spirit and his supernatural ways.

However, there is one caution that needs to be extended regarding the pursuit of such gifts or even the pursuit of bearing a great deal of fruit in the kingdom of God. The caution is that before we start operating abundantly in the gifts and before we start wanting to bear abundant fruit, we need to make sure that our roots go deep into the soil. Otherwise, the fruit that is produced quickly will wither just as quickly or the weight of the gifts will pull us over and uproot us in the midst of a strong storm.

In Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, he was quick to point out that they operated, as a church, in all the gifts of the Spirit. In Chapters 12-14, he began to mention those gifts specifically: prophecy, healings, miracles, tongues, interpretation of tongues, words of knowledge, supernatural wisdom, and so forth. That’s pretty heady stuff for a young church.

The real problem for Corinth is stated in Chapter 3. “Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men (1 Cor.3:1-3)?

Although the church at Corinth was producing impressive fruit above ground, the root systems were still extremely shallow. The weight of their fruit or gifts was more than their foundation could support. As a result, there were jealousies, divisions, cliques, arrogance, self-promotion, and confusion in the ranks. The tree was unhealthy and beginning to topple. Ultimately, Paul pointed out in Chapter 13 that the evidence of true spirituality was not to be found first in the exercise of spiritual gifts, but in the exercise of love.

If the analogy is true, then the question becomes, how do I develop a deep root system that provides both nourishment and stability. In practical terms, digging into the Word of God each day and hearing from him is crucial. Jesus said that man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. We need to personally dig into the Word itself, not just books by our favorite author about the Word.

Secondly, we need to be familiar with the whole counsel of God, not just one thin slice of that pie. It’s easy to get excited about prophecy, end-times, healing, leadership, worship, or any other facet of God’s word and pursue only that, listen to sermons about only that, and hang out with others who talk about only that. The problem is that we can develop tunnel vision and stay ignorant about God’s will in all the other areas of life. We can be filled with knowledge about one narrow slice of our faith and have no wisdom, perspective, or character for the remainder of our Christian living. It’s like taking tons of vitamin C but never getting adequate amounts of all the other vitamins and minerals that you need for life. Get in the Word daily, chew on it, talk about it, and ask God about it as you read through entire books discovering God’s directives for a multitude of things.

In addition, putting down roots depends on staying in one place for a while – plugging into a church, serving there, getting to know people, and letting them speak into your life. Too many believers these days shop around…for years. They are spiritual drifters who never stay anywhere long enough to develop meaningful relationships with others. John goes so far as to tell us that if we don’t love the brothers, we can’t love God. If we don’t stay put, we can’t love the brothers – at least not in any substantial ways.

Ultimately, our roots have to go down in a relationship with Jesus. Prayer and obedience facilitate that relationship. Regular times in prayer, praise, and doing what he directs us to do – being doers of the word and not hearers only – deepens that relationship so that when the wind blows, we stand on solid ground rather than shifting sands.

My point in all this is to encourage you to seek the gifts but even more than that and before that, seek to be rooted deeply in the whole counsel of God and in a relationship to Jesus. I am convinced that God is even more concerned about the character and heart of Christ being formed in us than he is in us doing miracles in his name. There is no doubt that God desires fruit, but years of fruit bearing is only possible if your roots grow deep. Be blessed today and put energy into going deeper even before growing taller.

I was sitting through a training on Christian life-coaching two days ago when the presenter, pastor David Houston, spoke about a self-help gospel that is so often preached in America these days. As he talked the Holy Spirit downloaded this phrase to me: “The gospel doesn’t promise a better you, it promises a new you.” I thought about that and it is absolutely true.

Jesus talked with Nicodemus about being “born again” (Jn.3:3) as if we don’t just receive a course correction when we come to Jesus but, rather, we start over entirely with a whole new set of potentials and a new nature.   Paul said, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come” (2 Cor. 5:17). Too many of us view ourselves as being somewhat upgraded rather than transformed. We think of ourselves as struggling sinners saved by grace rather than God’s ordained representatives on the earth. “Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen” (Rev. 1:5-6, KJV).

Many of us grew up singing the classic hymn, At the Cross, by Isaac Watts. The first verse says, “Alas! and did my Savior bleed? And did my Sov’reign die? Would He devote that sacred head,  For such a worm as I?” If Isaac was referring to our state before the cross, he might be correct. If he was referring to those who have already been saved, then he was miles from the truth. I have heard many sermons announcing our state as believers as still worm-like, arguing that the only difference between us and the unsaved is that we are forgiven. I’m sure those messages were an effort to keep us from being self-righteous and to help us maintain our humility – but they were wrong.

We are new creations as different from the worm as the butterfly is from the caterpillar. We know that transformation in nature as metamorphosis. In his letter to the Romans, Paul commands us to no longer conform to the patterns of this world but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Rom.12:2). The Greek word that is translated as transformed is metamorpho. In addition to this verse, that word shows up in several other New Testament passages:

And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. (2 Cor. 3:18)

But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,             who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. (Phil. 3:20-21)

There he was transfigured (transformed) before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. (Mt. 17:2)

In each of these verses, the referenced change is radical change. Some word study guru’s suggest that the term implies a glory or a nature from within, finding expression on the outside. On the Mount of Transfiguration (same word that is translated as transformation), it is as if the glory of Christ’s spirit in the eternal realm, suddenly manifested in the natural realm. Our transformation suggests that the change that has taken place in our spiritual nature, is to make itself known in the natural realm – Christ in us, being seen and experienced through us.

Since that is true, we are not worms nor broken sinners that are merely forgiven, but carriers of God’s Spirit, his glory, and his eternal promises. We are children of God, ambassadors of the King, Messiah’s inheritance, citizens of heaven, his holy ones, priests of the Most High God, and personal friends of the Commander of the Armies of Heaven. That’s not a bad resume. When we came to Christ, our status in heaven was changed from sinner to all of that and more.

If we hold on to our old, pre-salvation identity we will progress very little for “as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Prov.23:7, KJV). As we recognize and acknowledge our transformed status, our condition will begin to align with our position…from glory to glory. Paul reflects on that change in his letter to the church at Corinth. “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor.6:9-11).

Notice the past tense. And that is what some of you were. By the work of the Holy Spirit, these men and women had been changed, their very nature altered. There were not who they once were but were radically different. Their status had been changed as well as their identity. They were not just “drunkards” whose sins had been forgiven. They had been transformed. They were someone else.

I think 12-step programs have done a great deal of good in the world but they tend to deny that the very heart and nature of a person can change. Even if a person has been sober for 15 years, the introduction is still, “Hi, I’m Bill and I’m an alcoholic.” I know some former alcoholics who were delivered from that bondage by God and they are no longer alcoholics. They don’t just manage the addiction, they are free from the addiction. Transformation has taken place.

If you struggle as a follower of Jesus, you may want to spend some considerable time meditating on who you are in Christ. Don’t worry that you don’t feel like you are those things. If God says you are, then you are and you need to say that you are. His truth does not depend on your feelings to be true. We are all of those things in his eyes and his Spirit will help us begin to see ourselves in the same way if we will take hold of those truths. If you are a follower of Jesus, you have standing in heaven is much more than any president, celebrity, billionaire, dictator, athlete, or supermodel. Get that in your heart and everything changes. Continued blessings in Him!

Now Elisha was suffering from the illness from which he died. Jehoash king of Israel went down to see him and wept over him. “My father! My father!” he cried. “The chariots and horsemen of Israel!” Elisha said, “Get a bow and some arrows,” and he did so. “Take the bow in your hands,” he said to the king of Israel. When he had taken it, Elisha put his hands on the king’s hands. “Open the east window,” he said, and he opened it. “Shoot!” Elisha said, and he shot. “The Lord’s arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Aram!” Elisha declared. “You will completely destroy the Arameans at Aphek.” Then he said, “Take the arrows,” and the king took them. Elisha told him, “Strike the ground.” He struck it three times and stopped. The man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck the ground five or six times; then you would have defeated Aram and completely destroyed it. But now you will defeat it only three times.” (2 Kings 13:13-19)

This is a unique section of scripture because it is an account of one of the last prophetic declarations of the great prophet Elisha. Elisha was an intern of Elijah and at the departure of Elijah into heaven, Elisha received twice the anointing or spirit that his teacher had walked in. Elisha was a powerful prophet but was not destined to be taken up to heaven in a whirlwind (2 Kings 2:1) as his predecessor was, but would simply die of an undisclosed illness. Jehoash, the king of Israel mentioned in this section, was not a particularly godly king but came to Elisha anyway after hearing of his illness. From the context, we can infer that Jehoash had a concern about going to war against Aram (Syria) and had probably come to inquire of the Lord before going to battle.  Even in the grip of his illness, Elisha heard from the Lord and apparently had a heart for Israel even though the nation had been in rebellion against God during most of Elisha’s tenure.

At the coming of the king, Elisha instructed him to take a bow and some arrows and shoot an arrow out the east window. Elisha placed his hands on the king’s hands to symbolize the promise that God would strengthen Jehoash’s hands in battle. This was a prophetic act symbolizing a military victory over Aram. In a sense it was like Moses raising his staff over the Red Sea symbolizing authority over the waters – God’s authority working through his representative.

After Jehoash fired the arrow, Elisha declared that Jehoash would completely destroy the Arameans in an upcoming battle. He then gave the king a handful of arrows and instructed him to strike the ground with the arrows. The better translation is that he was instructed to shoot the arrows into the ground as he had shot the first arrow through the window. Jehoash shot three arrows into the ground and stopped. Elisha was angry saying that he should have shot more arrows because he established his own destiny with the number of shots. More arrows would have brought more victories for him and for Israel.

At first glance, I’m puzzled by Elisha’s anger. He didn’t tell the king how many arrows to shoot into the ground or clearly why he was doing so. However, the king knew the first arrow was a sign of one victory and could have deduced that more arrows meant more victories. My guess is that he still had arrows in his hand when he stopped shooting. Either his faith or his passion for victory or both fell short.

I wonder how often we stop short of God’s promises either because our faith won’t imagine more or because we are content with a little rather than battling for all that God is willing to give us. I have learned through the years that most prophecies and promises are conditional on our response. If God tells us he will do great things through us, the condition is that we prepare ourselves for great things and risk doing more than we thought we could. If he promises to move mountains do we settle for an anthill because our faith can’t imagine the mountain or because our part in moving that mountain seems too hard or too long?

Jude challenges us to “contend earnestly for the faith” (Jude3). I once thought of that as a call to defend pure doctrine. I’m sure that contending may include teaching the truth in the face of opposition but I have also come to believe that it includes contending for the promises imbedded in our faith. Jacob had to wrestle with an angel for an entire night to get the blessing he was seeking. We need to endure in faith, prayer and action refusing to settle for less than the promise implies – for healing, for a nation, for salvations, or for a marriage. God wants us to shoot until all the arrows are gone.

Sometimes I wonder if God is bored because his children ask and settle for ordinary things rather than the extraordinary. Paul tells us that God is able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine (Eph.3:20) and so I’m confident that he wants to do that. A strong man who can bench press 360 pounds wants to be challenged to do that and even more. To ask him to bench only 100 pounds is boring and even insulting. We need to ask for more. We need to ask for the impossible rather than the probable. We need to hear the promise or own true prophecy and then shoot every arrow, launch every prayer, and believe the word until we hold the promise in our hands. Don’t give up, don’t give in, don’t settle. Contend.