Well, today is New Year’s Day, the first day of 2023 according to the western calendar. Sometimes we forget that New Year’s Day is a cultural construct more than a scientific absolute. For instance, the Chinese New Year will be on January 22 this year. The Hebrew calendar has its New Year begin in late summer or early fall as Rosh HaShana, based on the lunar calendar. The Islamic New Year also falls in the summer months and is also based on a lunar calendar.

No matter when you choose to celebrate the beginning of a new year, hope is always found in the possibilities of fresh starts, new promises, better choices (New Year’s resolutions) with better outcomes, and so forth. There seems to be something in each of us that persistently yearns for something new, something better, something more life-giving, than what we have been experiencing. Occasionally, we may have a year that we think couldn’t get any better, but eventually the realities of living in a fallen world will dull the shine and we will once again be hoping for more or better.

I believe that God has put that hope or yearning in each of us because it ultimately calls us home to an eternal heaven with the Father in which there will be no death, no dying, no pain, no suffering, no loss, no diminished capacity, no depression, no anxiety, no fear, no shame, and no regret. There will come a time when all of our longings for the new and better will be completely satisfied. In the book of Revelation we are told, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true” (Rev. 21:3-5).

As believers, we live with the eternal promise of God making things new. Not just renovated, but new. It actually seems to be his nature to keep creating, to keep moving ahead, and to keep making things new, making things better in ways they have never been before. He manifests that part of his nature over and over again in scripture. To Israel in Babylonian captivity he declares. “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland” (Isa.43:18-19). Paul declares, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”(2 Cor. 5:17). Jeremiah wrote, “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning;” ( Lam. 3:22-23).

In the New Testament we see the phrases new wine, new covenant, new self, new life, new creation, new heavens, new earth, new and living way, a new order, and more. God is about making things new. That is true in your life as well. If life has been bad, he wants to make it good. If it has been hurtful he wants to heal it. If is has been good he wants to make it even better in ways you cannot anticipate. , He delights in making things new, in doing new and surprising things, and in offering upgrades. It is his heart and his nature.

Because of Christ, this coming year has the potential of new and positive things that have eternal significance. Unfortunately, when we think of new things and upgrades, we usually define those in very worldly, temporary ways…a new house, a new car, a new relationship, and new job, and so forth. There is nothing wrong with those things by themselves, but God wants more for us….peace, joy, wholeness, security, identity, purpose, hope, and a deeper walk with the maker of heaven and earth.

If we judge the life of Jesus by worldly standards, there was not much to write home about. He grew up in near poverty, never traveled more than 100 miles from home, was actually not known by vey many, had only a few hundred followers, had no permanent home, had to walk everywhere he went, and was eventually misjudged, hated by many, and executed unfairly. No busts were sculpted of him like the Roman emperors of his day. We are never even given a physical description of him other than he was, at best, ordinary in appearance. Yet, Jesus would describe his life as abundant because he walked so closely with the Father, loved those around him so deeply, perfectly fulfilled the purposes of God in his life, and saw the power of God flow through him on a daily basis. He had enough joy and peace residing in him that it overflowed to others and a quality of life (not based on material possessions) that others saw and envied.

Perhaps, this is the year when the new and better things we hope for will be a deeper walk with the Father, more of the Spirit, greater fellowship with Jesus, a deeper capacity to give and receive love, and a life more in tune with the purposes of God. You may well need a better car, a better job, and more money to pay the bills, but Jesus clearly directed us to seek first the kingdom of God and then all the other things we need will be given to us by the Father. So often we believe that as soon as we get the perfect mate, the perfect job, the Lexus, and the income we want, we will then be able to serve Jesus and will gladly use those resources for him. But Jesus said our priorities, our first goals, should be just the opposite and in setting those priorities we will then find true love, joy, security and peace.

May I encourage you and myself to recognize that our yearnings for a new year, a better year, a more productive year are part of who God made us to be. We should long for the new that God produces but simply remember where the true upgrades reside and set our resolutions on more of God rather than more of this world. I hope you have a great 2023. And remember….

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord. Jeremiah 29:11-14

In my last blog, I shared that I was reading Jonathan Cahn’s latest book, The Return of the Gods. Very simply, his point is that when a person or culture has been demonized and then set free and the void is not filled by the presence of God, that spirit will return and bring other more wicked spirits with him. Ancient western cultures were filled with false gods which, according to scripture, represented actual demons until the dawn of the gospel changed that. As the gospel was preached and gained traction in the 3rd and 4th centuries, idol worship, human sacrifice, widespread sexual immorality of all kinds, and the great temples to those false Gods were destroyed and removed from western culture for nearly 2000 years.

However, beginning in the second half of the 20th century, these demonic principalities began to push their way back into western cultures through influential individuals and began to systematically remove God from our public schools, universities, stadiums, court rooms, and public morals. In the last seventy five years, we have redefined marriage and gender. We have aborted over 60 million children in America alone. We have declared what once was evil to be good and what once was was good to be evil. Truth has become a subjective concept rather than an objective reality and a clear war on Christianity has been launched by many segments of our society. All these changes were made in the name of social tolerance, but now anyone who does not agree with the “new morality” will no longer be tolerated.

In essence, Cahn argues that as we have rejected God in our culture, the old demonic principalities or “gods” of western cultures have once again established themselves and America has not become post-Christian as much as neo-pagan. If this continues, we can expect very dark days for those who follow Jesus or who hold to any traditional values. The question becomes, “What can we do and is it too late to do anything.?”

There are a couple of things that give us hope. First of all, the reversal by the Supreme Court of Roe vs. Wade exposed a subtle shift in the tide. This reversal did not make abortion illegal but left it up to states to determine what should be done about it. That is, at least, a step in the right direction. Another thing that gives me hope is that throughout the Old Testament history of Israel, wicked kings ruled generation after generation, but out of nowhere, God would raise up a righteous king who would rid the land of idolatry once again for a generation. Asa ruled over Judah for 41 years and brought revival (1 Kings 15). His son Jehoshaphat continued the revival for twenty five years. In 2 Kings 12, Joash became king and “did what was right in the eyes of the Lord” for forty one years. Along the way, kings like Hezekiah and Josiah would spring up out of a culture of wickedness and lead the nation back to seasons of righteousness and blessing. In the darkest of hours, God would raise uo a young king whose father had been wicked and light would shine in Israel once again. God did this as an act of mercy towards a nation he stilled loved and because of his promises to the patriarchs and his servant David. I believe God still loves America.

Historically, God intervened from time to time to raise up a righteous generation out of the ashes of wickedness. He might do the same for us. But for this to happen, we cannot be passive or depend on others to pray for us. We must be engaged in the spiritual battle as the church, the called out, and as individual followers of Jesus. Chan rightly points our that the same power that drove the gods from the ancient world still sits on the throne in heaven. His name is Jesus. He still has all authority in heaven and on earth. But like many things, he waits for us to join him in the battle. Gd could have drive the tribes out of Canaan before Israel even arrived on the scene. Instead, he ordained that they had to engage in the battle. He would with them, but they had to bear armor. The question becomes, how badly do we want righteousness restored to America and to our personal lives? How badly do we want America to continue as a nation? What future do we want for our children and grandchildren? A casual or ocassional commitment to the cause will not do.

This must begin with our own commitment to Jesus. Cahn writes, ” How then is one to live in the days when civilization around us has become a house of spirits? How can one stand against the darkness of the house, resist its intimidations, refuse its temptations, defy its powers? How can one stand against the gods? One cannot stand against the gods by serving them at the same time…And if we serve any of the gods we cannot stand against them. We must renounce any and all gods and any hold they have on our lives…We must take no part in their ways, have no communion with their spirits, leave no gap for their entrance, and pay no heed to their commandments.”

These are the days when we must all be Daniels, Shadrachs, Meshachs, and Abednegos. We must live in the culture but no be part of the culture and be willing to risk everything to be faithful to the true and living God. We cannot entrust out children to this culture for their education and moral upbringing because it will, in most cases, being anti-Christian and anti-biblical. We can no longer let our children indulge in the cultural media of America and hope it has no or little effect on them We can no longer be silent. Even Disney is pushing the culture of demons on our children.

Edmond Burke is often attributed with the words, ” All that is required for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.” Those are probably not his exact words but the sentiment is self-evident. If we withdraw from the battle, if we sit quietly at home, if we silo in our small groups, if we fail to speak up or vote, then evil will triumph. It is never too late with God, but he waits on us. Perhaps, in our 2023 resolutions this year, we should resolve to engage in the battle…not with violence or name calling, but with love, prayer, the word of God, courage, and personal holiness. This could be a great year for America or it can be one of her last. The fate of America is ultimately not up to Congress or the White House or the Supreme court, but up to the church and each of us who follow Jesus as our King. We live in such a time as this and God has given our generation stewardship of a nation. What will we do with it?

Jonathan Cahn’s most recent book, The Return of the Gods, is an interesting read and, I think, one I would recommend for your consideration. The book rests on a parable Jesus told in the Gospel of Matthew.

When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation (Matthew 12:43-45).

The gist of this parable is that a man was demonized by an evil spirit and the spirit was cast out. After a season, the spirit returned to see if it could regain entrance to the man. Because the man had not filled the vacancy in his soul with the Holy Spirit and the things of God, the unclean spirit moved in again with seven other spirits more wicked than before. The man was then worse off at the end than he had been in the beginning.

The interesting twist in the parable is that Jesus concludes the condition of the man in the parable actually describes the condition of the generation that was about to reject Jesus. Chan’s conclusion is that evil spirits can possess or demonize not only individuals but entire nations or cultures. That seems to be confirmed by scripture when all of Israel, as well as other nations, would worship the same idols (evil spirits) for generations. In the ancient world, idols were worshipped in every home, under every spreading tree, and in temples, large and small, throughout the known world. Scripture says that behind each of these idols is a demonic spirit drawing worship away from God and unto itself. Behind each idol is a demon whose ultimate goal is to kill, steal and destroy a person or a nation. Any study of ancient history clearly reveals that entire cultures – religion, politics, art, architecture, and science were organized around the pagan beliefs, rituals, and sacrifices related to these demonic spirits.

The cultural norms in these ancient nations included gross sexual immorality promoted even by state religions. These were the fertility gods (Baal and Ashteroth) whose temples were funded by temple prostitutes (male and female) and public taxes, along with parades displaying public and rampant homosexuality, transsexuality and public orgies (Ashteroth or Ishtar) . In addition, the norms included child sacrifice to Molech or his equivalent, witchcraft, sorcery, violence, political corruption, and more. By the 3rd and 4th centuries, the gospel had pushed these practices out of western civilizations and with them the ancient gods were driven out or greatly weakened as well.

Now fast forward. The thing that kept these demonic principalities at bay for 2000 years was Christianity – its value for life, its concern for the poor and the vulnerable, and its righteousness. I’m not saying that western Europe and America were fully holy nations, but there was enough of God’s standards woven into the culture that these demonic principalities had little comparative power over the nations.

However, in the 1960’s, the “sexual revolution” took place in the west and in America. Sex outside of marriage had once been shameful or even illegal, but in the last 40 years of the 20th century, it became not only tolerated but celebrated. At the same time, prayer was removed from public schools, the Ten Commandments were removed from the public square, marriage and sexuality was redefined, and 60 million children were sacrificed in the back rooms of abortion clinics so that men and women would not be inconvenienced by the burden of raising a child. In the last half of the 20th century and the first two decades of the 21st century, those things that were once called evil have now been declared good and those things that were considered good are denigrated as evil.

Cahn’s point is that when a culture has once been free from the demonic, but then pushes God out of society, the demons come back and bring many others with them that are even more wicked than before. The culture then becomes possessed and paganize once again. Demonic spirits begin to rule and direct the culture. In that context, Christianity can expect to be persecuted, witchcraft will flourish, sexuality and sexual morality will be turned on its head, and life will be devalued. The unborn, the elderly, and the infirm will be discarded as a drag on society as they were in pagan cultures before the gospel. Those things that replaced God will become idols with a demon behind each one and the nation will become a target of God’s judgment as was true in ancient Israel. In the 21st century, public idols may or may not be erected in the public square but science. government, sex, power, media, and pop culture will become cultural god’s that dictate truth rather than the revelation of God.

America has been called post-Christian. What it is becoming is simply a high-tech pagan nation that will be possessed or repossessed by demons. That is why we see things in our culture, in our schools, in politics, and in the media push an ungodly agenda and push it on children who cannot reason their way through the values being sold to them. That is why, even now we keep shaking our heads in unbelief at what we see and hear every day on the news and the accelerating demise of Christian culture in America..

Cahn makes a case that the dark trinity of Baal, Molech, and Ashtoreth (Ishtar) have returned to America and have reestablished their principalities in the heavenly realms. As Paul declared, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms (Eph.6:12). Since this is true, America will not be saved by politicians, technology, or science because this is a spiritual battle. It must be won by the church through prayer, the power of the Holy Spirit, and the re-evangelization of America. The gospel that drove these spirits from nations in the first place and is the only thing that can do so again.

I think Cahn’s book is a worthwhile read, even if you don’t agree with everything in it. We have seen the results of the demonization of a nation in Nazi Germany, North Korea, Iran, Stalinist Russia, The Cultural Revolution of China, and even in America. We cannot win this war for our nation and our children with the weapons of the world, but only with divine weapons (2 Cor. 10:4-5). First of all, we need to be convinced that we are in a war and, secondly, that it is a spiritual war which can only be won when we give no quarter to the enemy. We must speak out in the public square, push back against ungodly cultural trends, and share the gospel with a pagan nation again. We must pray and we must embrace the power of the Holy Spirit in our churches and the truth that there is no other name by which men can be saved but Jesus. We cannot outsource our prayer and evangelism to a few pastors but this must become the business of every member of the bride of Christ. Lord…make is all warriors in the kingdom of heaven.

Blessings in Him who has all authority in heaven and on earth.

In the latter years of King David, we are told that “the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying,”Go and take a census of Israel and Judah” (2 Sam. 24:1). As the account is laid out, David commanded Joab to go throughout Israel and Judah and count all the fighting men. Joab immediately objected, but David insisted.

The issue seems to have been that counting the fighting men was either motivated by pride or was a sign the King was trusting in the strength of his army rather than in the God of Israel. Either way, even Joab was offended by the idea and he was not a particularly spiritual man. Whatever the issue, it opened up David and, consequently, Israel to the attacks of Satan.

When the census had been completed, the text says that David was conscience stricken and asked forgiveness from the Lord (2 Sam. 24:10). However, things were already set in motion. The Lord sent Gad the prophet to David saying that David was to choose one of three punishments for Israel: three years of famine, three months of fleeing before their enemies, or three days of plague. David chose plague because it was totally in the hands of God, rather than choosing war and placing the nation in the hands of some human enemy. Before the plague ended, seventy thousand Israelites died over a three day period. Three are several spiritual principles that we should draw from this story.

1. A rebellious nation, at some point, will bring judgment on itself. God is patient and long suffering, but even that has limits. God is full of grace and love but he is also holy and righteous. He is very clear through scripture, that his love and grace abound toward those who love him and keep his commandments, but discipline and judgment will eventually come on those who rebel. He warns, he pleads, he sends partial judgments, but when the people insist by their continued rebellion, he will release the fullness of his judgment. Like any loving parent, he does not desire to punish his children, but he will do so when necessary for their sake.

2. Sometimes, God punishes a nation through its leaders. If you have ever wondered how in the world certain men were elected to high office when they were obviously unfit by lack of capacity or character, you might consider the sovereignty of God in the matter. We often blame political leaders for the woes of our nation, but the nation may well be the problem more than its leaders…especially when the nation elects its leaders. Poor leaders make bad decisions that cost those they lead…sometimes in disastrous proportions. During the Bill Clinton presidency, some raised the question as to whether character really mattered in a president as long as the was a shrewd politician. The biblical response would be absolutely. Scripture declares that thrones are established (maintained, secured) through righteousness (Pr. 16:12). Unrighteousness will undermine the throne and the government and people it represents.

In 1 Chronicles 21:1, when the same incident is reported, we are told that “Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census of Israel.” Here we have an account where God doesn’t cause a man to sin because God cannot be tempted nor does he tempt anyone (Ja. 1:13), but because of Israel’s rebellion, Satan procured a legal right to attack the nation through its king. In this case, Satan prompted the sin, but God determined the judgment. The “2 Samuel version” that says. “God incited David,” simply recognizes the ultimate sovereignty of God…that God allowed Satan to incite David. God allowed it because he is a just God and Satan brought the charge of rebellion against Israel. In doing so, God’s justice demanded that Satan be given the right to bring judgment on the nation.

3. Trust in God, not in men. When God told David to choose the judgment for the nation, David gave a wise response. He simply said, ” Let us fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercy is great, but do not let me fall into human hands” (2 Samuel 24:14). It is always better to trust God than to put your fate in the hands of men. God will bring judgment and discipline, but it is always measured and its purpose it to turn us or a nation back to him so that he can bless again.

It is a bad idea to try to avoid God’s discipline. When I was a kid, my parents would warn me. “Tell the truth. You may get in trouble, but it won’t be as bad as the trouble you’ll be in if we find you are lying to us.” In the Old Testament, God scolded Israel on several occasions because they tried to avoid his discipline and the second round of discipline was much harder than if they had simply submitted to the punishment God had directed toward them initially.

4. It is not a sacrifice, if if costs us nothing. As this story unfolds, seventy thousand Israelites die from a plague in a period of three days. As David was crying out for God’s mercy on behalf of the people, he was enabled to see the angel of the Lord standing over Jerusalem with a drawn sword that was releasing the plague. In a moment of mercy, God relented and called off the angel and the judgment before it took its full measure.

As God relented, David was instructed to offer a sacrifice on behalf of the people. He was instructed to build an altar on the threshing floor of a man called Araunah the Jebusite. David asked to purchase the threshing floor, wood, and oxen for the sacrifice. Araunah offered to give it to David for free, but David concluded, “No, I insist on paying for it. I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.” David paid full price, offered the sacrifice on behalf of the people, and the plague was stopped.

In the days of David, people had not forsaken the temple or the sacrifices. However, after “worship” and offering their obligatory sacrifices, they lived as they wanted to and their hearts were far from God. We can go through the motions of worship and sacrifice and yet not be doing those things as a sign of our love and surrender to God. In the days of David and there after, Israel often would sacrifice the sheep and cattle they didn’t want – the lame, the blind, the blemished.

Sometimes we only give God the leftovers instead of the first fruits or the best of what we have. We only serve when it is convenient, we only give when we have already bought everything we want. We only show up to encourage our spiritual family when we don’t get a “better offer.” We may be surprised to discover that those are not acceptable sacrifices because they were only tokens and cost us very little or nothing at all. God gave his best. We honor that sacrifice by giving our best.

When a nation who once knew and honored God begins to offer only lip service to God or says all the right things but then lives like the devil, judgment is on the way…not because God is unkind but because he is holy and just. The flaws may be noticed first in the leaders, because media may place them under the microscope, but the leaders may simply be a reflection of the heart of the majority of men and women in that nation and God has given the people what they wanted.

There may well be a core of God’s people who hate what the culture is doing, but judgment may still come and they will be effected. Remember Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego? They were righteous men who loved the Lord, but were still deported to Babylon and separated from their homes and families. God was with them, but they still underwent severe trials because their nation as a whole, had abandoned God.

Politics will not save us. Only re-evangelizing America will do so, so that righteous people will elect righteous leaders. God desires to bless, but he is also holy. Only revival in America, in the church and the nation, will keep Satan from retaining a legal right to devastate this nation through its own leaders and foreign enemies. Even now, many American leaders are sponsoring laws that promote and protect the very things for which God has destroyed nations. Pray for the nation by praying for the church to once again preach the gospel in America with boldness and righteousness…a sacrifice that will cost us something.

Tom Crandall wrote an article lately about fear. It captured my attention because when we have Freedom Weekends, about 75% of all participants stand to be ministered to regarding fear. Fear may manifest as anxiety, a crippling fear of rejection, an unhealthy fear of death, an anticipation of abandonment by those we love, etc. This is a very simple and basic approach, but one I think is worth commenting on.

Crandall enumerated 3 steps to overcome fear:

• Recognize fear is a demonic spirit.
• Understand that behind every fear is a lie.
• Invite the Holy Spirit to disarm fear with truth by writing out the real story.
  

Recognize Fear As A Demonic Spirit

Paul instructed Timothy, “For we have not been given a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Tim. 1:7). Fear is the anticipation of serious pain, loss, threat, or injury. A generalized belief that something bad is going to happen to create physical or emotional pain is anxiety. What we often fail to recognize is that feelings are always produced by beliefs. So if I feel anxious, I believe that something harmful is coming my way, even if I can’t define what that “something” is. Our belief may not be readily apparent to us, but it is there.

One of the strategies of the enemy is to assign a demonic spirit to us that fuels the belief that produces fear. That spirit will whisper uncertainty to us and cause us to interpret events so that we feel threatened by what is happening or by what may happen in the future. Our belief may be based on an experience from our childhood when we felt alone, uncared for, abandoned, abused, or as if no one could protect us from harm or from evil. That kind of experience typically makes us feel as if we are on our own and that no one will care for us, provide for us, or protect us except ourselves…and we sense that we cannot even protect ourselves at times.

When those beliefs are seated deeply in our hearts, we will find it almost impossible to trust someone else. We may suspect that there is something defective about is that ultimately keeps others from loving us and caring for us. We will typically be high on “control” because we only begin to feel safe when we are in control of our relationships and environment. We may even anticipate that anyone who loves us will eventually reject or abandon us. The enemy will fuel those fears and beliefs at every opportunity. In most cases, we will also project those beliefs onto God…that he can’t be trusted, that he won’t be there for us, and that he doesn’t really love us.

Understand That Behind Every Fear Is A Lie

What we believe determines nearly everything else in our lives. The ultimate lie that Satan peddles is that God isn’t looking out for us. The first lie peddled was in the Garden of Eden when Satan suggested to Adam and Eve that God was withholding good things from them and his promises were hollow. So, instead of trusting God for those good things, they took matters into their own hands and ate from the Tree. They turned their backs God and lost their place in the Garden.

Satan crafts his lies to draw us, at least our hearts, away from God. Like the Prodigal Son of Luke 15, we can decide that our Father is keeping good things from us and leave the protection and provision of his house. Once we do that, we are fair game for Satan. And, like the prodigal, one bad decision tends to lead to another as we try to control our lives and secure our own happiness or well being.

One of the core lies that Satan fuels is that if any hurtful experiences come our way, it means that God doesn’t love us, protect us, or provide for us. Satan whispers a false narrative that God promised to make our lives a rose garden and anything short of that is a betrayal by a God who cannot truly be trusted. But God never promised us life on this planet would be pain free. In fact, Jesus promised just the opposite. He declared that in this world we will have trouble (Jn.16:33). He also alerted us that we would likely experience persecution, rejection, and betrayal even by those we love.

The Word does not promise a lack of trouble or pain, but only that God will see us through those moments and seasons. The truth is that every human being will let us down at some level because we are human – weak and frail. The truth is that God is the only one we can ultimately trust to watch over us and deliver us from the hard times and attacks of the enemy. God has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you (Her. 13:5). We must count that as truth and believe it by faith rather than sight when hard times come or when God doesn’t bail us out of a crisis immediately because he is using the crisis to develop something in us or someone else we are involved with.

Invite The Holy Spirit To Disarm Fear With Truth By Writing Out The Real Story

Jesus told us that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth and will teach us all things (Jn. 14). Sometimes the lies of the enemy have been with us so long that we don’t recognize them for what they are but our agreement with them can give Satan a legal right to continue to harass and afflict us. David asked God to search his heart and show him of there was anything offensive (out of line with God’s truth) in him (Ps. 139:23). That should be our regular prayer as well. When we discover the lie we have agreed with, we must repent and renounce the lie.

If we are afraid, we can know that our fear is overshadowing our faith. The enemy will unrelentingly fuel that fear until his is discovered and driven out by the authority of Jesus. Once we have recognized the lie and repented of partnering with that lie, we can command the a spirit of fear to leave us. Many believers have commanded that spirit to depart without success because they still harbor a view of God that doubts his goodness, love, protection, and provision for them. We must decide that the Word of God is true and stand on that truth when our eyes cannot yet perceive what God is doing in our situation. We must choose to give God’s word more authority than our emotions or our interpretations of past experiences colored by Satan’s lies. We should also pray regularly for the Spirit to increase our faith when we find it lacking.

Jesus said, ‘Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free” (Jn. 8:32). The key to overcoming fear and the key to contentment, security, and confidence is knowing the truth and believing it. Root out those lies and then fill those spaces with the truth of God. Be blessed in this season of Thanksgiving.

Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: “What did you go out into the desert to see? A reed swayed by the wind? If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear expensive clothes and indulge in luxury are in palaces. But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written: “I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.” I tell you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John.” John 7:24-28

In the passage above, Jesus was referring to John the Baptist. He praised him in front of a large crowd of Jews who had weaned on stories about the great prophets of Israel. Jesus declared that among men and prophets, there were none greater than John. When you consider Moses, Elijah, Elisha, Jeremiah and Isaiah….that is quite a statement. Especially, when you consider that John never performed a recorded miracle. He didn’t write extensive books or prophecies against nations. He didn’t have a forty year career of prophesying and counseling kings. His ministry was brief, remarkably unrecorded, and he even had moments when he wondered if Jesus were the Messiah after all.

So what made him great and what makes us great in the kingdom of God? We can tell from the passage that John had been given a ministry of preparation – preparing the hearts of Israel to recognize and receive Jesus as their Messiah. He had one job. He pointed the broken to Jesus and confronted the self-righteous about their hypocrisy. No miracles, no extensive writings, no supernatural rescues. What he did bring was a few short years of uncompromised preaching about the one who was coming. He was totally faithful in the purpose that God had ordained for him.

We are clearly told by the Psalmist (Ps. 139:16) that everyday ordained for us was written in God’s book before one of them came to pass. The things written before our birth are the purposes of God for our life on the earth. His desire is that we discover and fulfill those purposes. Perhaps, our greatness in heaven will be measured by how well we fulfill God’s purposes for us. Those purposes will look different for each of us so we cannot compare ourselves to others or what they do for Jesus. Our call is to be sensitive to the leading of the Spirit and then be as faithful as possible to fulfill what God has called us to so. I think that was part of John’s greatness. That was certainly the greatness of Jesus. On the other hand, too many of us pursue our own purposes in this life and then expect God to bless our pursuit.

Sometimes we feel insignificant in the things we find ourselves doing for Jesus. We may serve quietly in the shadows week after week, we may never build a great church, we may never lead hundreds to Christ…but if we are faithful with the opportunities put before us, we can be deemed great in the kingdom of heaven. In a biography of Billy Graham we are told that he was born in a farmhouse outside Charlotte, North Carolina. He grew up on a dairy farm. When he was sixteen he was turned down for membership in a local youth group because he was considered “too worldly.” However, a farm worker named Albert McMakin, persuaded Graham to go hear an evangelist named Mordecai Ham. Graham was converted during a series of those revival meetings held by Ham and the rest is history.

Before reviewing the biography, I never heard of McMakin or Ham, but their willingness to fulfill their purpose in a moment offered to them was essential in the gospel being preached to hundreds of thousands of people with untold numbers of responses. If McMakin had not been working on a farm and had not pointed Billy Graham to a revival, who knows if God’s purposes for Graham would have been fulfilled. We tend to measure things by worldly standards (numbers, name recognition, magazine covers, etc.), but heaven measures them differently Fulfilling God’s purposes for us is the thing…not my will but yours be done.

We may not always be clear on the purposes, but if we sincerley want to fulfill everything written in his book, I’m confident God will lead us into moments when those purposes can be fulfilled…even if we are not always aware we are doing so. I’m also convinced that sometimes we turn down his small purposes while waiting for the one we think will carry more weight. But the principle is that we must be faithful in little before he will make us faithful in much.

God does not exist to fulfill our longings for the things of this world, but we exist to fulfill his longings for us. And when we fulfill his longings for us, we experience his pleasure and his blessings. Let me encourage you to think about his purposes for your life in the days ahead and ask him to reveal those to you. Each purpose is significant but only God may know how significant a farm hand can be extending one invitation to a worldly teenager on a little farm in North Carolina.

Do you ever find yourself experiencing a sense of longing for something that you can’t quite identify? Maybe it is the sense that something unidentifiable is still missing that would make your life complete. Maybe it’s a haunting feeling that someday you will lose something or someone that that is very central to your life right now and that anticipated sense of loss releases a kind of sadness that is vague but very real. Have you ever thought about things you love in his world that you might miss when you have departed…even if your destination is heaven. Maybe it is the warmth of family, the sound of children laughing, a sunrise on the ocean, stars sprinkled through a desert sky, or mist rising off a mountain lake. Maybe it is the warmth of holidays or a wedding that you sense you will never experience again once you leave this world.

As believers, we anticipate heaven and know that something marvelous waits for us there, but somehow we sense we will still miss things we have come to love and appreciate on planet earth. We may even feel guilty for wanting to hold onto this physical experience more than we want to go to heaven as if that is a “worldly” rather than a “spiritual” mindset. Part of the challenge is that most of us have a very vague notion of what heaven will be like. The stereotypes of culture about heaven aren’t helpful. You know … the idea that we will drift on clouds playing harps or that we all become etherial and angelic beings without substance…spirits floating around with little to do. There is also the pervasive view that we will simply worship God every moment of eternity and in doing so, lose our sense of uniqueness and identity. We may believe we will just be part of enormous crowd declaring the praises of God…forever. As much as I love worship and God is worthy of it, that sounds mind numbing after a thousand years.

Perhaps, we also wonder if we will learn in heaven, create in heaven, achieve in heaven, build in heaven, compete in heaven, have fun in heaven or simply live an eternity that, if we are honest, may sound boring and unfulfilling…yet, at the same time, we know we will be thrilled to be in the presence of the
Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. It seems confusing.

But here is the good news about heaven. Heaven, ultimately, will be on this earth that we were designed to inhabit. If we read scripture carefully and literally for the most part, God’s plan is not for us to drift in some ethereal spiritual realm forever, but to inhabit the earth that he will restore to its original state before sin. Remember, he looked at his creation, including man, and called it all “Good!” Solomon said that God has placed eternity in our hearts. Because eternity is the idea of everlasting and everlasting means a state that goes back forever as well as forward forever, some of our unfulfilled longings may be for the earth we were created for before sin and the curse prompted a down grade. When I feel sad that I will miss the sunrise, a spring rain, or the Grand Tetons when I transition to heaven, I may be longing for the very things God initially intended for me to enjoy forever.

Paul tells is in Romans 8 that the creation is groaning to he released from its bondage to decay and will be released when God’s children are resurrected at the end. At the resurrection, we will receive bodies no longer subject to decay or death and so will all of creation. There is, of course, a heaven now that we call Paradise that seems to be an intermediate heaven where the saved will wait in comfort for the end of time. But it is not all that heaven will be because heaven will be on earth and God will dwell with his people there. All indications are that it will be much like the earth we know but without sin, without death, without natural disasters, and will be an incredible upgrade in every respect.

It was God’s original intent that man would rule over the earth, develop it, cultivate it, establish godly culture with godly art, music and architecture. God will not give up on his original intent for men. I believe we can anticipate learning, discovery, amazing art and music, and certainly festivals. The heavenly Jerusalem will settle on this earth and we will go up to the great city to celebrate God and all of his blessings. We will all be family and so our sense of family and familiarity will not wane but will be enhanced. There will be animals such that the lion will lie down with the lamb. Who knows what technology or travel or music will be like, but it surely will be part of heaven. What we won’t have is pain, hospitals, war, crime, loss, grief, or cemeteries.

We need to think more about heaven in concrete ways. We don’t need to feel as if we will never see the things we love about this world again, but will see them and experience them as huge upgrades to what already thrills us. We don’t even need to feel unspiritual when we think we might prefer earth to heaven, because in the end, they will be the same. So the next time you see something or hear something on this world that takes your breath away, thank God for it and look forward to being thrilled by even greater things when we live under the new heaven and on the new earth!

This is the final installment of this Mad at God series. I simply want to add a few thoughts and a general summary. Again, I am writing this series because I continue to encounter believers who feel that God has betrayed them, kept something good from them, or failed to keep some promise. Inevitably, they have distanced themselves from God and his church. Often they are married and their anger hinders their spouse’s and even their children’s relationship with the Lord.

I want to reiterate that being disappointed with God is not the same as being angry with him or taking up some offense against the Father. I can be disappointed and confused without judging God to be unfaithful. But if I am angry with him, it seems I must have judged him to be untrue, unfaithful or uncaring. In every instance in which I have heard people vent their anger, they have judged God to be unfaithful for breaking promises he never made or for not trusting him to have made a decision in their best interest.

It is not uncommon for us to pray fervently for something, and when it is apparent that God has turned down our request, we feel cheated. After all, the Bible says that whatever I ask for, believing that I have received it, it shall be mine (Mark 11:24). That is essentially the foundational scripture for the “prosperity gospel.” It tends to view God as a vending machine or a doting, wealthy grandparent who will give us whatever we want as long as we can imagine him giving to us. That is the “name it and claim it” approach to prayer. But we need to understand prayer in the context of God as a wise and loving Father, because that is the Biblical description of our relationship with him.

The truth is that we sometimes earnestly desire something that would not be in our best interest in the long-run. Because we tend to live life with a short-term perspective, we don’t understand why the Father did not respond to our fervent prayer. On more than one occasion, I have known seventeen-year-old boys who earnestly desired the newest, hottest car on the road to impress their friends and, especially, their girl friends. In my day, those were 400 h.p. Firebirds or Dodge Road Runners with a 440 engine, or a Corvette with a 427 stuffed under the hood. In the majority of cases, when the father gave into the request, the car ended up being totaled within 90 days. The seventeen-year-old did not have the experience or judgment to drive a car with that much speed.

Inevitably, even after the wreck, these guys wanted their dads to buy them a new care just like the one they barely walked away from. Sometimes we desire a relationship, money, the bright new house, the bright new car etc. and believe that those would open a door for years of happiness. But God knows our hearts and our future and our assigned destiny. He may not say “yes” to a prayer for a desire that in the long-run would not be in our best interest. We cannot see down the road far enough to know whether or not that road is leading us to a washed out bridge or a sunny drive in the country.

When our desire is not met, we may tend to think God doesn’t love us. But the love the Father has for us is “agape” love which, by definition, means to “always act in the best interest of the other person.” Some things we believe will be the key to our happiness might actually spell devastating pain down the road. If we believe that the Father loves us and knows what is best for our eternal destiny, even when he says “no” to something we deeply desire, we may not understand, but we will be able trust. The idea that if someone loves me, he or she will always give me what I want, is a very immature and childish way to understand love. God always has a greater blessing waiting for us, customized to meet our deepest needs in the best way. If we take offense at God, we may miss that blessing because we turn our back on the one who holds that blessing in his hand.

Ultimately, we need to come to grips with the reality that the Father is committed to our eternal destiny in heaven and not so much to our comfort and worldly desires while we are on this planet. Sometimes the greatest gift is a season of hardship as he tools our character. Some “good things” could move us away from the destiny he has planned for us. Some relationships or other desires become idols in our lives so that God cannot give place to those idols. There are many things we simply don’t have the ability to understand because we are confined to the moment we live in, rather than being able to see the road all the way to the end. From his view, God sees every washed-out bridge, every flooded low place, every ambush by the enemy, and every fallen tree blocking the road. Faith trusts God to guide us safely to the end. Saying “no” to some of our deepest desires, may be part of that guidance.

The apostle Paul makes the point in Romans 8:32, that if God loved us enough to give us life through the death of his Son, will he not also give us all things that will truly bless us? If we trust God to always be guided by love in his response to our prayers, we will have no need to be mad at him. If we believe he is committed to our welfare, we will judge him by all the things he has done for us, rather than the one thing he has not done. Too many of us have not decided who God is on the basis pf revelation, but on our short-term view of whether he has given us what we want. There will be things that make no sense to us and that definitely remain a mystery, but deciding who God is before we experience disappointment is the key to drawing close to him and accepting his “no’s” when they come.

Many believers and “former believers” have taken offense at God because they believed he allowed bad things to happen to them when he should have prevented them. Their view was that if God loved them, he would not have allowed a child to be molested, a divorce to happen, a woman to be raped, or a war to take lives.

I worked with man years ago, when I was young believer, who seemed to have no regard for God and a bit of disdain for the church. I tried to share my faith with him on numerous occasion, but he always changed the subject. One day he told me that he did not want to hear about Jesus anymore, but out of respect for our relationship, he decided to tell me why. He confided that he once had been married and very involved in church. He said he was a group leader, a deacon, and coached the kids softball team. One day, he came home from work early and found his wife in bed with his best friend. He said that if God would allow that to happen to him after he was faithfully serving him, then he didn’t want anything more to do with God. So he left the church, discarded his faith, and wanted no more conversations about it in the future. He felt that God had betrayed him by letting his wife and best friend make a bad decision. I think many others are mad a God for essentially the same reason.

The issue here is a misunderstanding of free will. Most of us would acknowledge that at some level we don’t want people telling us what to do or what to think and certainly don’t want to be controlled. That impulse is the desire to exercise free will. Theologically, free will means that I am able to make decisions without being controlled by God. God can influence me but cannot control me without violating my free will. The problem with free will is that I can make bad decisions and those decisions can hurt other people.

Billions of men and women wandering the planet with the capacity to make their own decisions is very risky business. Free will got Jesus crucified. It has begin countless wars. It has seen millions of babies aborted. We could go on. So why did God create man and give him free will? I can think of a couple of possibilities.

First of all, God made a free will choice to make us in his image. One of the primary qualities of being like God is the quality of free will. Without free will, we would be no more like God than a programmed robot would be like the engineer who made it. Of course, God’s original intent was for man to live on the earth and choose to love God as we want children to love parents.

In addition, the apostle John tells us that God is love. Love can certainly be given unconditionally, but eventually is not fully satisfied unless love is returned. It seems to me that love cannot be satisfying or fulfilling unless given freely. I am fulfilled by my wife’s love because she chooses to love me rather than being “forced” to love me. When someone loves another, that love assigns value to the one being loved. Ultimately, love that is programmed or given without choice is not truly love and assigns no value to the recipient. Women caught in highly controlled or highly abusive relationships may say the right things or do the right things that might be mistaken for love, but we would not define those emotional responses as love as much as we would define them as survival techniques.

What we must recognize is that God has given us all free will, whether we approve of that or not. That free will allows us to love, but also to injure. It allows ups to sacrifice but also be selfish. It allows us build up, but also to destroy. It allows us to choose faithfulness, but also unfaithfulness. God tries to persuade us to love, to do good, to give life, and to make positive choices, but he does not force our choice. He reinforces godly choices with blessings and discourages hurtful choices with discipline, but he allows us to choose.

My friend who found his wife in bed with his best friend, blamed God rather than his wife and friend. It never occurred to him that God may have put a number of road blocks and detours in the developing relationship between his wife and friend or that the Holy Spirit may have tried to bring conviction and warning to them as they moved toward adultery. But ultimately, God will allow us to exercise our free will. When we are hurt, either by our own decisions or the decisions of others, God will be there to help us pick up the pieces, heal, and move on. I must also point out that because God allows something, it doesn’t mean he approves of it or won’t deal with the perpetrator in his timing. Scripture declares that all those who choose to hurt others without repentance will stand before God and answer for that in the end. In the end, through our free will, each of us will choose life or death, eternity in heaven or in hell.

I must admit that this world is a dangerous place because of free will. Sometimes I wonder if we have too much freedom to choose, but without it, what kind of world would it be? Free will is a privilege bestowed by God that can bring glory to man made in God’s image or shame to man when he rejects the God who made him. But, let’s stop blaming God for what he has not done and hold man responsible for his decisions…knowing that the grace of God can put it all back together when e hold on to him inspite of the pain we might be experiencing.

As a pastor for over 40 years, I have heard many, many believers express their anger toward God. Typically, it was because they expected something from God that he has not promised. Often it was because he or she had experienced some traumatic event that they believed God should have prevented. At other times, it was because a fervent prayer had gone unanswered. In this blog, I want to talk about one more reason that a prayer may go unanswered or that hurtful things may happen that few believers are aware of.

This may be an unfamiliar concept to many, but I believe it is a valid, biblical concept. Your prayer may have gone unanswered or is yet to be answered simply because of the devil’s resistance. I think most believers assume that when a prayer goes up to God, he simply gives it a “yes” or “no” or , perhaps, a “not now.” If he approves, then it is a done deal. However, even when the answer is yes, there can be significant demonic resistance to the answer.

The classic example of this reality is found in Daniel 10. In that chapter, Daniel had a disturbing vision about a great war. Daniel was troubled by the vision and so began to fast and pray for an interpretation of the dream. After twenty one days, a powerful angel appeared to Daniel. The angel told the prophet that on the first day Daniel had begun two fast and pray, he had been dispatched with the answer to Daniel’s prayer. However, a powerful demonic prince, the prince of the Persian Kingdom, withstood the angel for twenty one days and would not let him pass to bring the answer to Daniel. Eventually, Michael, the archangel, came to take up the battle with the demonic prince so that the other angel could continue on his assignment.

If you are not familiar with the passage, this may surprise you. First of all, many believers give little or no thought to the demonic realm and many of us simply assume that if God approves our prayer then everything automatically lines up for our answer. The truth is that Satan may and does oppose what God has said “yes” to. In this case, the answer was delayed for three weeks and, if Daniel had not continued to pray, it is possible that Michael would not have been dispatched to join the the battle and Daniel would not have received his answer.

This opposition is a reality in spiritual warfare. We have a part to play in the battle and that part is sometimes persisting in prayer until we see the answer or some breakthrough. That prayer may take longer than three weeks, three months, or three years. Some might argue that since Christ defeated Satan through the resurrection, demons can no longer oppose God’s will. However, the apostle Paul himself wrote to the church at Thessalonica, “For we wanted to come to you—certainly I, Paul, did, again and again—but Satan stopped us” (1 These. 2:18). In the New Testament, post resurrection, we are warned that we must be aware of Satan’s schemes against us. We are told that we must struggle against him. We are told that he still seeks to devour us like a roaring lion. If we allow ourselves to fall prey to one of his scenes against us, hardship may come our way even though it is not God’s heart for us. If we give up praying too soon, an answer may not come because we became weary and gave in to the devil’s resistance.

A second reality, attached to spiritual warfare, is that something in our lives may be giving the devil a legal right to oppose God’s blessings and maintain a curse that has been established over our lives. Curses may be established because of unrepented sin in our own lives or as a result of sin in our bloodline. We are told several times in scripture that the consequences or punishment for the sins of our fathers, may be passed down for three or four generations. The consequences of these sins may be a curse that us operating on an entire family line (see Exodus 20:5).

Curses give Satan a right to oppress or afflict even believers. These curses may manifest as repeated business failures, conflict in families, mental illness, miscarriages, physical illness, a history of divorce, rebellion in children, bondage (additions), etc. The spiritual realm is a realm operated under law. There are many courtroom scenes is scripture in which the enemy brings a charge against of of God’s people in an effort to obtain a legal right to afflict even God’s children. Because God is a God of justice as well as grace, if the devil brings a charge against us in the courts of heaven that gives him a legal right to afflict us or oppose an answer to prayer, then God must allow him to do so because God, as a judge, cannot show partiality even to his own children. Many times, bad things happen to us or blessings fail to manifest because Satan has obtained a ruling against us in a court of heavenly law.

Our part, then, is to not only continue to pray for good things but also to confess, repent of, and renounce any sins that we are aware of on behalf of ourselves or our bloodline. Contrary to popular religious thought, these things are not always taken care of automatically by the blood of Jesus. In the first few chapters of Revelation, Jesus gave warnings to several churches and called them to repent and change their ways or bad things would occur. This is not a threat by an angry Jesus, but an indictor that their unrepented sin would open the door to demonic attacks, through which bad things would come their way.

We may need to ask the Holy Spirit to reveal any thing that is giving Satan legal access to us or our children, our sins or the sins of our fathers, so that we can remove that legal access through the blood of Christ. Satan is described in Revelation as “the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night” (Rev. 12:10). That is his tactic so we must be diligent to eat with those issues in our lives or bloodlines so that he has nothing to use against us in court.

Some prayers may have gone unanswered because we did not persist. Other prayers may have gone unanswered or hurtful things may have occurred because something was giving the devil a legal right to harass, oppress, or afflict us or our families. Sometimes we are mad at God because of unanswered prayers or hurtful events in our lives or family lines. For the most part, the church has not taught us about the arena of spiritual warfare. Just as Israel had to engage in battle to posses the promised land, we too must often engage in battle to possess the blessings we are praying for. This is not God’s fault but our own or church leaders for not teaching us these realities.

Perhaps, God has given us more responsibility in obtaining our answers to prayers and his blessings than we may be comfortable with. And yet, scripture reveals these responsibilities and the power of the blood of Jesus to overcome the enemy. If you have not been schooled in spiritual warfare, I might suggest my book, Born to Be Free (published by Morgan James and available on Amazon), and begin to grow in your understanding and the strategies needed to overcome the resistance of the devil. There are other excellent books as well that address these issues. I encourage you to read one.

God is for us. He wants to bless us. He wants to answer our prayers. But there are things that can get in the way of blessings and answered prayer that he has revealed to us and for which he has provided solutions. It is true that God could sweep away the devil with one word, and keep us from all hurt and harm on this planet. And he will do so in time. But for now there is still a real enemy and real battle to be fought. Paul reminds us, “That our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore, put on the full armor of God…” (Eph. 6:12-13). Our lack of knowledge about these matters does not exempt us from their reality, it simply leaves us at the mercy of an invisible enemy who wants to steal, kill, and destroy and then blame God. Blessings in Him.