Last week, we began a brief look a the gift of tongues, which has been a stumbling block for many who were considering the supernatural gifts of the Spirit. I have visited with a number of individuals who actually attend our church from faith backgrounds that minimized the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Many of them are cautiously open to prophecy and healing and even deliverance but balk at the idea of tongues because to them it seems so “weird.” Actually the word “weird” is defined as unusual, unexpected or not natural. So, tongues, as well as any other gift of the Spirit, qualifies as weird. But the question for most is, “What is the point of tongues?”

Last week we looked at the manifestation of tongues as a human language not known previously by the speaker…such as on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2. The advantage of such a gift for evangelism is clear. But what about the manifestation of tongues as a “spiritual language” that is not understood as a human language by anyone? This form is what some have called “ecstatic utterances” and these utterances are directed to God rather than men. Paul says, “For anyone who speaks in tongues does not speak to people but to God. Indeed, no one understands them; they utter mysteries by the Spirit” (1 Cor. 14:2).

He goes on to say that we may pray in tongues as well as speak in tongues. “For this reason, one who speaks in a tongue should pray that they may interpret what they say. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unfruitful.So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my understanding. I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my understanding” (1 Cor. 14:13-15). In summary, Paul will command the church to only speak in tongues (speaking to the church), if there is someone present who has the gift of interpretation of tongues. Otherwise, no one is strengthened or encouraged because they have no idea what has just been said and all gifts are given to build up the body of Christ. So why tongues at all?

The value of tongues is found in the phrase, “they utter mysteries by the Spirit.” In other words, it is the Spirit himself who is prompting our utterances. It is the Spirit who is speaking through us or praying through us. Remember in Romans 8, Paul declares, “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weaknesses. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans” (Rom.8:26). When we speak or pray in tongues, we are stepping aside and surrendering control to the Spirit. We are letting him speak to the church or pray through us. Sometimes, the Spirit is praying for us as we pray in tongues and sometimes he is prompting us to pray for others that the Lord wants to touch. Either way, tongues makes us more sensitive to the Spirit and allows us to practice submitting to him and letting him have his way,

When tongues are interpreted for the church, everyone is built up in the same way a prophetic word for the church builds them up. When we pray in tongues, we are built up personally as the Spirit prays for us and intercedes for us. Paul teaches us that speaking or praying in tongues edifies (builds up, strengthens, encourages) the speaker (1 Cor. 14:4). Jude 20 also suggests that we build ourselves up by praying in the Spirit. So as we speak or pray in tongues, we are “edifying” ourselves. The Greek word is oikodomeo. It means to build as a house, repair, construct, strengthen, promote growth, make more able, or embolden. It appears that as we surrender our mind and tongue to the Holy Spirit, he is doing a work in us that matures, emboldens, and even repairs some things that need his touch.

As we surrender to the Spirit through the gift of tongues, we also experience an intimacy with the Spirit that may come in no other way. We sense his leading and even his emotions as he speaks through us. In doing so, I am more aware of his move at other times. I will also confirm that when I pray in tongues on a regular basis, my understanding of the word increases along with my recall of scripture. My times of praying with the understanding seem more effective and wisdom in counseling seems more readily available. Praying in tongues is a way to actively spend time in the presence of the Spirit so that our anointing increases as well.

There is much more I could say about tongues, but this is sufficient for now. The gift of tongues has a ministry aspect as well as a personal edification aspect. The ministry aspect may not be a gift everyone receives, but I am convinced that God wants each of his children to have the gift of praying in tongues. If you do not have a prayer language (praying in tongues), I would encourage you to seek it. Ask the Spirit to release that gift in you. Ask others who already possess a prayer language to lay hands on you and ask the Spirit to give you that gift. It is the only spiritual gift that is specifically designated to build us up as we exercise it. It is also a gift that requires surrender to the Spirit in a way that aids us in surrendering to him at other times. If you ask for it, but don’t receive it right away, keep asking. In the kingdom, those that are hungry get fed. If you hunger for all God has for you, you will keep asking and he will answer.

Blessings in Him and in His Spirit.

One of the things I love about our church is that we are a non-denominational, community church. We have people from just about every faith background come through our doors and many become part of our spiritual family – Baptist, Church of Christ, Lutheran, Bible Church, Catholic, Methodist, Assembly of God and even a few Mormons. We are also a charismatic church which means we believe in the present operation of all the spiritual gifts and we believe in the present operation of miracles.

Many of our visitors and members have a faith background that spoke little about the Holy Spirit, or spiritual gifts (especially the “miraculous” gifts) , and consigned miracles to the “Bible age”… which means “not now.” One of the gifts of the Spirit that some of our folks have the most difficult time understanding is the gift of tongues. Initially they think the whole idea is weird and they just don’t see the point. However, in his letter to the Corinthians Paul commanded the church to exercise the gift of tongues along with all the other gifts because each were needed to build up the body of Christ. It is also the singular gift that is meant to build up the one speaking or praying in tongues.

I believe the Holy Spirit prompted me to write this blog, and a few others, concerning the gift of tongues. I haven’t written on the subject in a while, so I am assuming that someone needs to receive some explanation of what this strange gift is all about. So…let’s begin trying to make sense of this unusual gift.

Our first encounter with this gift is on the Day of Pentecost. Luke tells us, “When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language” (Acts 2:1-6).

The background to this text is that the followers of Jesus had gathered in Jerusalem after his resurrection and his return to the Father in heaven. They were gathered together and praying, What were they praying about? We are not explicitly told, but Jesus had commanded his followers to wait in Jerusalem until they received power from the Holy Spirit to be his witnesses to the world (Acts 1:8). Jesus also told them that the experience of receiving power would be a moment when they were baptized with the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:5). I assume they were praying for God to fulfill those promises.

In this particular episode, we are told that after the Spirit had fallen on them they began to go out into the Temple courts, speaking in tongues as the Holy Spirit enabled them. From the context we can tell that they were preaching in native languages to the Jews who had gathered in Jerusalem for the feast day from nations around the known world. The leaders were unlearned Galileans and yet they were declaring the wonderful works of God in languages they had not known previous to that moment. In the first century, nearly everyone spoke Greek to some extent because it was the international language of the day. But each person also had a native tongue and dialect that was not spoken widely. They were hearing the followers of Jesus preach in their native dialects and they were astonished.

The gift of tongues exercised on that day, was the gift to speak in human languages unknown to the speaker before that moment. That miraculous experience prompted many who were there that day to believe in Jesus. When he was preached after the miracle, we are told that at least 3000 responded to the preaching that day and became followers of Jesus.

It is easy to grasp the value of his manifestation of tongues in evangelizing nations. But does the Holy Spirit still operate in this way today? The answer is “Yes.” I have a friend Dana who was trying to evangelize two young muslims on a college campus several years ago. He and another friend had been trying to build a relationship with the two muslims and so invited them to lunch. Before they ate, Dana’s friend asked if he could pray for the meal. The two young muslim men agreed. For some reason, Dana’s friend felt prompted to pray for the meal in tongues. When he had finished, one of the muslim men asked where he had learned to speak that language. Dana’s friend explained that he was not sure what he was praying but felt the Holy Spirit spoke through him. The muslim who had asked, told Dana and his friend that the prayer was offered in the language of his grandfather’s village back home. Both muslim men gave their lives to Jesus that day.

I have another good friend who makes regular visits to Peru for preaching and healing services. On one of his trips, he told me that an older Peruvian woman had received the “gift of tongues” at the meeting. As she began to pray, she had no understanding of what she was saying, but she was declaring the works of God in perfect English. We could relate any number of stories that illustrate the current manifestation of tongues as languages of men never studied by the one speaking. Sometimes the Holy Spirit gives them understanding of what they are saying, but typically they are unaware until someone who speaks the language tells them what they have declared.

The first manifestation of tongues we encounter in scripture then is the declaration of the gospel or the wonderful works of God in human tongues or languages. However, in the the book of Acts and 1 Corinthians, it becomes evident that another form of tongues is the verbalization of a spiritual language that is not a language spoken on earth but in heaven. Paul begins 1 Corinthians 13 by saying, “If I speak in the tongues of men or of angles, but do not have love…I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.” Although he is beginning his great chapter on love, he suggests that believers might speak in the tongues of men or of angels…a spiritual language. Paul has much to say about that form or manifestation of the gift of tongues in 1 Corinthians 12 and 14 and Romans 12. We will begin to look at that expression of tongues in next week’s blog.

Blessings until then.

I’m amazed how often great men of the kingdom finish poorly or even badly. Hezekiah was one of the great kings of Judah, but in 2 Chronicles the text says, “In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. He prayed to the Lord, who answered him and gave him a miraculous sign. But Hezekiah’s heart was proud and he did not respond to the kindness shown him; therefore the Lord’s wrath was on him and on Judah and Jerusalem. Then Hezekiah repented of the pride of his heart, as did the people of Jerusalem; therefore the Lord’s wrath did not come upon them during the days of Hezekiah” (2 Chron. 32:24-26).

The important phrase in this text is, “he did not respond to the kindness of the Lord.” As humans, we clearly have a propensity to forget the Lord by forgetting the good things he has done for us. That seems to come in two forms. One is that we forget all the good God has done for us because we are disappointed in the outcome of one thing. The second is that we forget that God has been the source of our blessings and success and start to believe that we are successful because of how amazing we are.

I was visiting with a Free Indeed leader in another state last night who shared that a woman in her church who had lost a six-day-old child, no longer trusts the Lord. She has two other children who are healthy and happy, but she has measured God’s goodness and faithfulness based on one circumstance that did not turn out as she had hoped. Obviously, her loss no small thing, but to decide that God cannot be trusted is even a bigger thing. I have seen numerous others do that as well because they faced some hardship or disappointment and believed that a good God or a faithful God would not have let them experience that loss or hardship. In difficult moments we must remember that the absence of pain is reserved for heaven not for our time on this earth.

In addition, we need to remember that God is also the source of our success. Certainly, our abilities and hard work can bring some level of success, but our abilities and capacity to work are from God. I have also seen talented and hardworking people that never seemed to reap the rewards of their efforts. The Bible tells us in numerous places that wealth and blessings come from God. We are also told that stewarding that wealth in a godly way can be a huge challenge. Remembering that our wealth is a blessing from God is essential to stewarding it well and not ending up in the ditch because of our pride.

Hezekiah had brought revival to Judah and had served God in may ways, but in his later years he apparently took credit for all of that in his own heart and, perhaps, even believed that God had healed him of a terminal illness because he had earned the blessing, Pride became a huge stumbling block for a man who had once honored God with all of his heart.

The question is how do we guard against taking offense with God because he failed to respond to one situation as we wanted him too and how do we guard against forgetting that our accomplishments and successes are also gifts from God?

One essential way to guard against failing to “respond to the kindness of God” is to develop the habit off giving thanks not only for all the big blessings but for the very small blessings of life and seeing those blessings as gifts from God that we don’t deserve any more that we deserve salvation. David declared, “Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name” (Ps 100:3–4).

Thanksgiving opens the gate that lets us into the presence of God and prompts our praise. When I am disappointed in one outcome, I must remember how often God has been good to me in other circumstances. A practice of thanksgiving reminds me of his goodness in every other part of my life so that I don’t judge him to be unkind or unfaithful when I am disappointed.

Thanksgiving also reminds me of the source of my blessings, my wealth, and my success. It guards against pride because it is a constant reminder that every good thing in my life has come to me by the grace of God. Men and women in the kingdom of God who have been great servants at one time can begin to take credit for all they have accomplished and become proud. It seems that in our later years, we are especially vulnerable to that temptation. Solomon forgot God in his later years and became an idolator. Hezekiah became proud and invited the discipline of God on himself and his nation. Through the years, amazing church leaders and evangelists have also fallen prey to spiritual pride and sexual temptation and have forgotten that the God they had been preaching was the source of their gifts and the source of their accomplishments in the kingdom.

A life of thanksgiving for the little blessings and the big, is one practice that can help us stay on track. Thank God for a beautiful morning, for the capacity to get out of bed and go to work, and for seasons in your life when you are not facing a crisis. Thank God for the handy parking spot and for the blessing of friends. Thank God for a night’s rest and for everything that makes you smile. When trouble comes, thank him for his promises and when disappointment comes, thank God that he has promised to bring good out of every hard circumstance.

I attended a funeral of a church leader in our area yesterday who had just died of cancer. The preacher said, “When you can’t understand what God is doing with his hands, you can always trust his heart.” I thought that was a good word. Constant thanksgiving can train our hearts to trust in him and in his heart. May we all be known in heaven for our thanksgiving because God is good…all the time and his goodness drips on us in many, many ways large and small. To forget that is to invite failure.

Questions are important and if you don’t ask the right questions you will miss much of what is most important in life. There are four essential questions in life. How you answer them determines almost everything else.
1. Does God exist?

2. Is God powerful?

3. Is God good?

4. Does God truly love me?

You may want to consider what you really believe regarding those questions.  If God doesn’t exist, all bets are off. You (and everyone else) are on your own in a dangerous world.  If God is powerful but doesn’t love you, you are still on your own and must protect yourself  at all costs…perhaps even from  God. If God is not good all the time, then he may abandon you or even hurt you on any given day on a whim.. And if God loves you but has no power, then you are  gratified but must still protect and provide for yourself.

All of us as Christians would probably answer “Yes” to all four of those questions if they were asked in a group of fellow believers.  But would we be expressing our aspirational beliefs or our actual beliefs?  Aspirational beliefs are those we aspire to have because we know we should believe certain things or want to believe certain things.  Actual beliefs can be different (and often are) and are revealed not by what we say, but how we consistently act.

To say God exists, he is good, he truly loves me, and he is unimaginably powerful answers the most important questions of life: Do I matter? Am I safe? Am I loved? Will I have enough? Can I face the future? To the extent that can honestly say I believe those things, I can live with peace and joy because I believe good is always coming my way, even in troubling circumstances.

Jesus believed that about the Father. I know he did because he slept through storms while others cried out. With small prayers he confidently took a few scraps of bread and fish and fed thousands. He walked on stormy seas and faced hostile leaders with the confidence that God would send a legion of angels to defend Him if requested. He walked confidently through crowds bent on his destruction because he knew that his appointed hour to suffer had not come and the Father would allow no harm to come to him until then. In the midst of a world in war and turmoil, he possessed peace.

But what about us?  How often do we worry day after day about having enough because we are not certain God will provide?  How many of us are “high on control” in our life and relationships as a means of self-protection because we doubt that God will protect us?  How many of us are plagued by anxiety and persistent fears of abandonment?  How many of us believe in our heads that we are children of the King, but believe in our hearts that we are orphans living on our own, left to meet our own needs, and always on the brink of disaster…about to lose whatever is precious to us?

Knowing who we are in Christ and believing it in our hearts is critical in every circumstance.  If we could answer “Yes” to each of those questions at a heart level, then peace would rule our emotions.  Paul prayed that God would give the church at Ephesus the Spirit of wisdom and revelation that they might know God better.  Many of us have aspirational faith in the character and promises of God but our actual faith lags behind. How do we know? Just look at what we do and feel consistently rather than what we say. We need these essential truths revealed to our hearts more than we need them deposited in our heads.  That is the work of the Spirit who reveals truth to God’s people.

Why did Adam and Eve eat forbidden fruit in the Garden? Satan convinced them that God wasn’t always good and didn’t always love them completely. Convinced that God was withholding good things, they took and they ate. How often do we too disregard God’s commands and go our own way in an effort to meet our desire for love, our need for security or our hunger for significance? We do that while we claim to love God and trust him completely. I’m not exempt from failing to fully trust God for all things at all times either. It is the human condition but one for which faith is the cure.

What we need is a daily revelation of God’s presence, his power, his love, and his goodness toward us. Ask the Holy Spirit every day to write “yes” on your heart to each of those three questions so that you can live with the peace and confidence of Jesus. Ask him to give you eyes to see God’s goodness and faithfulness in your life each day. And as Paul prayed, may the Lord give you His Spirit of wisdom and revelation today and everyday so that you may know Him better (Eph.1:17).

For the word of God is living and active. Hebrews 4:12
The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. John 6:63

The two verses above speak about God’s word. The text from the book of Hebrews describes it as living and active. The Greek word translated as “living” means that it contains its own vitality. It is as much alive as humans or plants or animals. The fact that it is living suggests that it grows and bears fruit. The parable of the soils (Lk.8:4) that Jesus taught, compared the word of God to seed that would bear tremendous fruit if planted in fertile soil. Just as one seed produces much more than itself, , the word of God produces much more than itself.

The Greek word that is translated “active” means more than just moving around or animation. It is a word that means something is surging with energy in a way that significantly impacts its environment. It indicates that something alive and powerful is moving and accomplishing a divine purpose in both natural and the supernatural realm. This definition takes the word of God far beyond information to be simply transmitted or principles to be learned. It is much more than a philosophy of life. While we study the word, meditate on it, and quote it, we can be sure that something is at work in the unseen realm that is fulfilling that word in ways we may or may not be aware of. It may be accomplishing something in us or something external to us that the spiritual realm is operating on.

The second verse from above was spoken by Jesus and adds to our understanding. Jesus declared that his words are spirit and they are life. What does it mean that his words are spirit? I believe they are spirit in two senses. First of all, his words originated in the spiritual realm. While on earth, Jesus still operated as a citizen of heaven whose perspective was always anchored in heaven. In addition, he said that he spoke only what he heard his Father saying. To his disciples he said, “Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work” (Jhn.14:10). His words flowed from the spiritual realm to the natural realm, not the other way around. When Jesus spoke the words of the Father, they went forth guaranteed to fulfill the Father’s purpose. It is the same when we, as children of God, declare his word.

Secondly, they came to him from the Father via the Holy Spirit. Jesus declared that the Spirit gives life. As they came from the Father through the Spirit, they were infused with the life-giving power of the Spirit. God declared to Isaiah, “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it” ( Isa.55:10-11).

That is how the word of God becomes living and active (Heb.4:12). As his words are broadcast, they are infused with spiritual power by the Spirit of God. They activate something in the spiritual realm that fulfills God’s purpose as in those words as they impact the natural realm. As a result, the words of Jesus created life in various forms. For some it was spiritual life. Men were born again in response to the gospel. For others, it was physical life. Thousands were healed and physically restored and some were literally raised from the dead. For others, emotional life was imparted to them as broken hearts were healed. And for even more, life was restored as men and women were set free from their bondage to demons and addictions. His words imparted life because his words carried authority and were infused with the same power that created the universe through the words of God.

But what about today? How is the word activated? There is life in a seed – enough to grow a giant redwood – but that life is not manifested until it is planted and watered. The word of God rests on the pages of a Bible or in the heart of a believer. It may do a work in the believer but not in the world that surrounds the believer until it is activated. It is activated when it is spoken or declared with faith. Throughout scripture, God deposited his word in the hearts of his prophets and empowered those words when they were proclaimed. Moses declared each plague before Pharaoh and then God produced each one. He put his words in the mouth of Jeremiah and as Jeremiah declared that word over nations, those words came to pass. I have heard today’s prophets put it this way –   prophetic words don’t tell the future, they create it.

God’s word is filled with power and purpose. When we pray it or declare it, those words go forth alive and energized by the Spirit to produce more life and fulfill their purpose. When we speak healing, hope, provision, or peace over a person or ourselves, we should believe by faith that something is going to happen because the word has been activated and is filled with God’s energy and purpose. When we declare his word by faith, the fuse is lit and power will be released at the proper time.

Read the word, hear the word, pray the word, write the word and declare the word. When we partner with God, he will honor his word. What situation do you need to be declaring the word of God over right now? Find your scripture and activate it in your life or in the life of someone you know by faith.

About twenty years ago, a small book was published by Bruce Wilkinson entitled The Prayer of Jabez. It swept through the Christian community as a model of prayer and influenced numbers of believers in the way they prayed. However, I have heard little about that short prayer in the last fifteen years. I was reminded of Jabez and his prayer recently and wanted to mention it in my blog.

The text of 1 Chronicles 4 says, Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez, saying, “I gave birth to him in pain.” Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, “Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.” And God granted his request. (1 Ch.4:9-10).

The remarkable things about this verse is that Jabez is mentioned in a genealogical list of hundreds of names, of which only a few are said to have done anything of note. Either his prayer prompted God to call him more honorable than his brothers or his more honorable character prompted the prayer.

My focus is actually more on the man than the prayer. Notice that his mother named him Jabez because she gave birth to him in pain. The most obvious understanding of her words is that he was a very difficult birth and that he had been a source of severe pain to her. As you know, Hebrew names often had prophetic undertones in terms of what a child would be like. Jacob meant deceiver and that is what he was until he encountered God. Jabez could have easily deduced that he would forever be a source of pain to his mother and those around him. Perhaps, his brothers often reminded him that he was “a real pain.” However, I sense that Jabez came to believe God determined his destiny and not his mother or his brothers.

Too many of us have had parents speak negative words and failure over us and have taken them on as our identity rather than taking what God has spoken over us as our identity and destiny. I have known many believers, myself included, who were criticized, demeaned, and declared worthless by a parent. They have all had difficulty overcoming the negative self-image that was ingrained in them by those words. We may have also looked at the negative outcomes of a parent’s life and believed that we would end up the same. I have also known several men whose fathers died in their fifties of heart complications and these sons grew up believing that they too would die young. Fortunately, by faith, they came to believe that God established their destiny and their date of departure, not their parents. Each of these men have long outlived their fathers age. Others have seen their parents divorce, do drugs, or spend time in prison and have believed that their destiny was to follow in their parent’s footsteps. God says different.

It is possible that the prayer of Jabez was more honorable or noble (some versions) than his brothers because it reflected his faith that God determined his destiny rather than his mother or any man. His prayer of faith was that God would bless him so he could be a blessing to others rather than a source of pain. He also asked for more territory to extend his influence for good, Our true real estate in this life is our influence for the kingdom of God. The more we bless others, the more influence we gain. He asked God to direct his steps and to keep him from the pain his mother had prophesied. God gladly answered his prayer.

Our prayer should be for God’s identity to settle into our hearts and for our lives to fulfill the purposes he has established for us. Psalm 139 declares that everyday ordained for us was written in his book before one of them came to pass. It is the nature of a good father to desire blessing, fruitfulness, and health for his children. Whatever destiny God has written in his book for us would be a rich life in which we are blessed so that we can be a blessing to others. By faith we need to claim that life rather than some limited, broken, life of disappointment.

Our prayers reflect our expectations for God and for ourselves. Let’s pray honorable prayers that honor God as a good father who wants the best for his children and for his children to live exceptional lives worthy of a child of God full of influence and blessings for those we touch! That is a prayer God is willing to answer!

There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community. Proverbs 6:16-19

We all embrace the revelation that God is love. We focus on that in our sermons, in our group, in our books, and especially in our evangelism. We should focus on love because it is the greatest gift and most defining thing about our God. We focus on that truth so much that it sounds almost sacreligious to talk about God hating anyone or anything. The truth is, however, that scripture talks about God hating things in numerous places. The proverb quoted above is one of those texts. The original language means hate in the same sense that we mean hate – an intense disliking, a strong aversion, a strong rejection of, etc.

God hates these things because they are contrary to his nature and are contrary to love. He hates these things because they are destructive. I don’t want to go into a discussion of each of the items God hates, but I want to very briefly remind us that if we are going to be godly (God-like) we must not only love what he loves, but hate what he hates. We must have a strong aversion, an intense dislike, and a steadfast rejection of the same things that God rejects.

Our challenge is we live in a culture that preaches tolerance as if tolerance is the only virtue. We live in a culture that defines any opposition to any kind of lifestyle as hate speech. We live in a culture that has taken the idea of sinful behaviors or evil thoughts and has morphed it into the idea of being a disease (that someone has no control over) or simply an alternative lifestyle that you don’t have to adopt but you must accept others who adopt it without objection. This is the cultural moment where we begin to declare that good things are bad and bad things are good. In our culture, we are very close to the point where the only sin is standing up for a righteous standard. We have come to a place in some parts of America and Canada where simply reading passages of scripture in church can now be defined as hate speech and can be cause for criminal prosecution.

In a culture that pressures us to give up the notion of absolute truth (versus personal truth) and that pressures us to accept nearly any kind of deviant behavior, it is easy for us to become “tolerant” too. Instead of being offended or shocked by certain behaviors or instead of hating the behavior and calling it sin, we may simply take on an attitude that the behavior is distasteful or personally offensive. Once we start down that road, we lose our moral compass. Instead of certain behaviors being absolutely right or wrong, sinful or righteous, we step into a world of all gray where black and white no longer exist. We step into a world of personal preference or taste versus a world where God has clearly spoken and drawn lines between good and evil.

When we no longer feel any kind of indignation or anger toward the very things that God hates, we have begun to let our godliness slip away. When we find ourselves no longer offended by certain behaviors which culture approves, we know the constant drumbeat of sin around us has dulled our spiritual sensitivities. Like those who live next to railroad tracks, we learn to tune out the noise and the sin so that we no longer notice it. When we no longer speak out against these things as being wrong and intolerable, our hearts become “out-of-sync” with God’s heart. I’m not talking about hating people, but behaviors, because these will ultimately lead to the destruction of the individuals who practice them and the destruction of nations that tolerate them. Most of us would say we hate cancer, especially if we have lost loved ones to its diabolical destruction of the body. We should hate the things that God hates with the same perspective because these things will also destroy.

The danger for most of us as believers, is that we simply lose our sensitivity to sin because we are surrounded by it day after day. It is normalized, it is celebrated, it is ignored, and it is approved of 24 hours a day on television and social media. It is hip. it is cool. It is the new morality. If you speak the truth about these things you will quickly be branded a hater, locked up in Facebook jail, and silenced at every opportunity. The prophets of Israel faced the same opposition when they spoke God’s truth and were actually blamed for all of Israel’s woes.

Elijah had such an encounter with Ahab, probably the most wicked king in Israel’s history. “Ahab went to meet Elijah. When he saw Elijah, he said to him, “Is that you, you troubler of Israel?” “I have not made trouble for Israel,” Elijah replied. “But you and your father’s family have. You have abandoned the Lord’s commands and have followed the Baals” (1 Kings 18:16-18). The judgments of God kept hammering Israel and the wicked blamed the righteous for all their calamities. It will be no different in our time. And yet, we must continue to hate what God hates without hating the people trapped in sin and deception. We must speak the truth to them and our culture in love..

I believe we must give some thought to our desensitization to sin so that we don’t become indifferent to sin rather than hating it. We have to watch our intake of television programs, movies, and social media where vulgar language, nudity, adultery, fornication, homosexuality, witchcraft, etc. are standard fare. These are things God hates. We feel as if we are unaffected by watching these thing because we don’t practice them. I think, however, if we are honest we are no longer repulsed by these things as we once were or we wouldn’t continue to watch them night after night. If we are honest, we disapprove but can we say we hate these things?

Perhaps, our prayers need to include a constant request that the Holy Spirit would once again restore our sensitivity to sin, our indignation towards those who promote such things, and our voice that pushes back on cultural norms that invite death and judgment. Of course, We should also ask God to teach us to love what he loves even more. As followers of Jesus, we must not only be lovers but haters as well…not of people, but of the sin that destroys people and nations. Lord will you match our hearts to yours so that we love what you love and hate what you hate.

How many stories and movies have been written about people hunting for buried or sunken treasure? How many people have purchased metal detectors to search for lost coins or ancient artifacts in abandoned fields. Something in us identifies with Indiana Jones or Captain Jack Sparrow or real life treasure hunters digging through Egyptian pyramids to find the next “King Tut tomb” or those diving for lost Spanish galleons hoping to find a king’s ransom in gold. There is a hankering in each of us that hungers to discover something as big as a lost city or some small, unnoticed treasure sitting in the dark corner of a dusty antique shop off the beaten path.

This desire is such a universal phenomenon in the hearts of men and women that God must have placed it there. Solomon declared, “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings” (Prov. 25:2). The proverb suggests that God hides some things in order for us to discover them like parents placing Easter eggs in unlikely locations. When he commanded Adam and Eve to subdue the earth and take dominion over it, I believe part of that command included the idea of discovery…new lands, new technologies, new scientific principles, new strategies for solving problems, etc.

When we discover something new, unearth a treasure, or solve a baffling problem we feel immense excitement and pleasure. God’s intention was that we would all search for truth. There are two kinds of truth in the universe. The first is discovered truth. That is the province of science. How did God make things, how do they work, how do we work, how can we partner with God’s design to do good in an earth plagued by war, disease and poverty? Good science discovers the things God hid in his creation for us to search out. There is no contradiction between good science and faith. All truth belongs to God and if it is true, it is God’s truth. Scientific discoveries guided by godly principles bring amazing blessings to this damaged world.

The second kind of truth cannot be found in a lab or examined under a microscope. It is revealed truth that comes to us by the Holy Spirit. This truth cannot be found apart from God, but is a treasure that exceeds all the gold and silver in all the sunken ships and ancient tombs in the world. The writer of proverbs declared, “My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding” (Prov. 2:1-6).

The Holy Spirit counsels us to seek revelation about God and from God as we would seek hidden treasure. Jesus likened the kingdom of God to a man finding a treasure in a field and then selling all that he had to buy the field and obtain the treasure. God wants us to give into the hunger within us to find hidden riches as long as we remember that he is the greatest treasure. Our bible study, our prayer, our worship and our spiritual discernment should have the expectation of discovery and the payoff of delight when we discover something new about God, his word, or his kingdom. There is nothing better than an “Aha!” moment with God when his truth is written on our heart as a revelation of the Spirit rather than a pondering of our own intellect. Perhaps, our constant prayer should be that God reveal the treasures that he has hidden in the spiritual realm, so that we might grow closer to him, experience the excitement of discovery, and walk in is understanding and knowledge of life. May we all be treasure hunters as well as disciples.

This is what the Lord says, he who made the earth, the Lord who formed it and established it—the Lord is his name: ‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know. Jeremiah 33:2-3

When they came to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and the teachers of the law arguing with them. As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him. “What are you arguing with them about?” he asked. A man in the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not.” Mark 9:14-18

For many, this is a familiar story. Jesus had just taken his students, Peter, James, and John on a memorable field trip. He took them to the top of a mountain where they encountered Moses and Elijah as they spoke to Jesus. As they spoke, Jesus’ clothes became dazzling white and God spoke audibly to the little group saying, “This is my son whom I love. Listen to him!” Shortly after that, they left the mountain to rejoin the other apostles and disciples of Jesus. As they joined them, the text quoted at the beginning of this blog was unfolding.

From accounts in the other gospels, we know that Jesus had given his apostles and seventy-two other disciples the power and authority to heal and cast out demons. He had sent them out on their own to preach, heal, and deliver people from demons. They had great success in doing so. But now, some of his disciples and apostles encountered a spirit that they could not drive out. The father was dismayed, believing there might be no cure for his boy. The disciples were puzzled and probably embarrassed that no matter how hard they had commanded and no matter what they had declared, they could not drive out the demon.Anyone who has been involved in deliverance ministries very long, probably can identify with these men.

Interestingly then, Jesus rebuked the crowd for their lack of faith and immediately commanded a deaf and dumb spirit to leave the boy. The spirit complied and the boy was set free. Later, in private, his disciples asked why they could not drive out the demon. Jesus explained that particular spirit could only be driven out by prayer and fasting. (Some manuscripts only say “by prayer” ) And yet, no one said, “Well, let’s pray and fast for a day or two and then go after this spirit again.” Jesus simply commanded the spirit and it left.

i believe the key here is that Jesus had lived a lifestyle of prayer and fasting. Even though his disciples did not do so, Jesus began his public ministry with a forty day fast in the wilderness and often went off by himself for periods of prayer and fasting. Two things seem evident from this short account.

First, some demons are harder to cast out than others. There are hierarchies of power and authority among demons. When we encounter one with more authority than the ordinary demon, we may have difficulty dislodging that unclean spirit with the level of authority we are opening in.

Second, a practice of fasting and prayer apparently appropriates more authority in the spiritual realm for believers, so that the extra measures of authority to cast out a demon are available when needed. It may also suggest that it takes a lifestyle of prayer and fasting, rather than just an occasional day or so of prayer and fasting to accrue the spiritual authority needed for some situations. I would anticipate that healing might fall in the same category.

So how do prayer and fasting garner us more authority and power than simply living by faith. After all, we are actually operating in Christ’s authority rather than our own. I’m not certain, but I have two thoughts about that.. First of all, extended periods of prayer and fasting (individual and corporate) are attached to breakthrough moments, deliverance from enemies, and life-changing decisions throughout scripture. These two things, which should include worship, seem to bring us into the presence of God more than anything else we can do. And presence imparts.

I’m reminded of Moses coming down from Sinai with his face glowing because he had spent extended time in the presence of God. The night Jesus walked on the Sea of Galilee, he had just gone up on a mountain by himself to pray. Before Jesus chose twelve of his disciples to be apostles, he spent the evening in prayer. Throughout the Book of Acts, prayer and fasting played a significant role in miraculous, breakthrough moments for the church. Time in the presence of God imparts something of God to us. Apparently, God rubs off. The more time we spend in his presence with prayer and fasting, the more of himself God will give to us.

Secondly, desire matters. James tells us that the fervent or earnest prayer of a righteous man accomplishes much (Ja. 5:16-17). Fervency reveals desire. How bad do we want something? All the children in the kingdom will have their basic needs met, but if we want more, we must seek it. Seek, ask, and knock. Extended prayer and fasting reveal our desire for the thing we are asking for. A casual prayer does not get the attention that a desperate or fervent prayer garners. It’s the hungry in the kingdom who get fed. Jesus taught, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” (Matt. 5:6).Prayer and fasting reveals our level of hunger for the things of God and the requests we bring before him.

As this year begins, many churches are beginning with a season of prayer and fasting. That is essential for the year to come. But in our own lives, many of us need to consider regular times of fasting and prayer throughout the year. I have a friend who faithfully fasts one day a week, every week. If we like him, were to give one day a week to fasting and used our meal times for extending our prayer, by the end of the year we would have fasted 52 days and increased our prayer time significantly. Fasting and prayer seemed to have marked the New Testament church even though they were saturated with spiritual gifts. Perhaps, prayer and fasting fueled those gifts. Ask the Lord. See what he thinks. But, according to Jesus, we know some things in the kingdom will only be accomplished by prayer and fasting.

Be blessed this week.

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