The highest heavens belong to the Lord, but the earth has been given to mankind. 

Psalm 115:16

The verse quoted above is an interesting verse that may explain a lot.  The Passion Translation words it this way: “The heavens belong to our God; they are his alone.  But he has given us the earth and put us in charge.”  

One of the primary meanings of the Hebrew word translated as “given” is “to transfer possession of a thing.”  In Genesis 1:28, the text says that after creating the earth and man, God blessed Adam and Eve and told them to fill the earth and subdue it, and to rule over the fish, the birds and the animals. The psalmist declared, “You made them (mankind) rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet” (Psm.8:6). In other words, God created the earth. Called it good, and them put man in charge.

Now, we weren’t put in charge to rule as we want to rule, but to rule as his representatives on the earth – to do what he would do if he were physically present.  Rulership in the kingdom is not about perks and power but about responsibility and stewardship.  He made us responsible to rule over the earth with care and good stewardship of both culture and the environment. Jesus summed up the principle of representation by saying, “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father.” The idea Is that we would care for the earth and one another just as God would do.

It seems that most people who believe in God seem to hold a theology that God is solely in charge of things on the earth. When bad things happen, we accuse God of being angry, harsh, and vindictive.   When school shootings occur or when tsunami’s kill thousands, we point at God.  However, if we are in charge, then we must take responsibility for most of those things.   The fact that God could control everything that happens on the earth is not the same as saying that he does control every event. It is true that God wields his power and sovereignty over nations and kings and people but he does not do so capriciously or at his whim. It is in response to a people or nations’ choices.

Think of it this way:  If God has given us authority over the earth, then he is compelled to honor our choices and the consequences of our choices. For example, if a father spends a lifetime building a business based on integrity, customer care, and quality products and then signs it over to hIs children, it is up to them to continue his good business practices or not.  If they do, the business will continue to thrive. If not, it will dwindle.  Even if he is available to help them out and give sage advice, it is up to them to involve him or leave him out.  In essence, God has given mankind the family business of operating the earth.

In Deuteronomy 28, God assembled Israel and declared that they could choose blessings or curses as the atmosphere in which they would live.  God promised that If they involved him and were careful to obey his commands, then he would bless then in every way. If, however, they chose to exclude him and live in disobedience to his commands, then curses would be released as the consequence of their choices.  God plead with them to choose blessing, but if they chose curses, he would honor that choice.

If you read the chapter, some of those curses are financial failures, war, disease, mental illness, crime, natural disasters, etc. When Kane killed Abel, the Bible says that the blood of Abel cried out from the ground and that the earth would no longer produce crops for him because of that sin.  That text and others suggest that the creation itself will respond to our sin. The more that sin prevails on the earth, more natural disasters will occur, more disease will afflict the planet, and more war will ravage mankind.  We may blame natural disasters on coal plants or car emissions, but the truth is that our sin contributes heavily to these disasters.

Paul declares in Galatians 6:7 that God will not be mocked.  Whatever a man sows he will reap.  If he sows to the Spirit, he will reap life.  If he sows to the flesh, he will reap destruction.  Our sin does not affect us alone but contributes to an atmosphere of curses because our sin gives Satan the right to kill, steal, and destroy.  It is not God’s desire for man to suffer, but he will honor our choices.  How can we shake our fist at God for earthquakes, forest fires, tornadoes, polar vortexes, famine, and outbreaks of devastating disease when the world is bent on disobedience?  The blood of every aborted child cries out.  Sexual sin and perversion flood the airways.  The word of God is removed from schools and places of government.  The heavens belong to God but he has given us the earth and we are in charge.

It has always been God’s intent to rule though his people and, as the church, he has given us authority in the earth. If we, then, as believers are in charge, then we should take charge – not through violence or religious tyranny, but first of all by obedient living ourselves…then, by evangelizing the world, being a true leaven for righteousness, standing against unrighteousness, and inviting God back into the business through massive amounts of prayer. 

 God is willing to get involved if we ask. God is waiting to bless the nations through his people and through his Messiah.  Because he has put us in charge, he will do all of this with us, but not without us.  God has called us to subdue the earth and rule over the works of his hands with an outpouring of love, truth, and the supernatural power of heaven to bless rather than curse.  God is not angry, he is just a God of his word and if we are in charge, then we should act like it.

As we push into 2023, I think it is helpful to be reminded of truths and commands, about which, we often become careless.   Ephesians contains one of those simple verses that says so much when we actually dig down into it. That verse is Ephesians 4:29 which says, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”  

Sometimes, the danger of reading modern translations is that we understand the text according to our current, cultural meaning of a word.  For instance, when I read the phrase “unwholesome talk” in the NIV, I immediately think about cussing or sexually explicit language.  If I don’t cuss or use obscene language, I may check the box and move on.  However, that is not what the original language means.  Paul talks about those issues in Ephesians 5:3-4, but not in Ephesians 4:29.

So, what does Paul mean by “unwholesome talk?”  The word in the original language is sapros.  It means rotten, putrid, rancid, decaying, things that lead to death, harmful, hurtful etc.  In his letter, Paul is forbidding language that imparts death, decay, weakness, emotional or spiritual harm to another person.  

We know that the tongue has “the power of life or death” (Prov. 8:21).  Our words have impact and even spiritual power to produce good or harm, life or death, health or sickness.  Because we walk in the authority of Jesus Christ, our words also carry authority.  When Jesus spoke healing over others, they were healed.  When he spoke life over the dead, they were resurrected.  When he spoke to the storm it was silenced.  When he commanded demons, they left. When he cursed the fig tree, it died immediately (Matt.21:19). All of those things were accomplished when Jesus spoke words. His words had authority and power.   Our words do as well. I believe the words of all men and women have some authority because God gave mankind dominion over the earth. The Psalmist declared, “The highest heavens belong to the Lord, but the earth he has given to man” (Ps. 115:16).

The words of believers have even more authority because we represent the King. Like it or not, we speak for him. Remember, Jesus said that those who have faith in him would do all that he did and even more (Jn. 14:12). We could not do those things unless our words and commands carry power and authority.  The Hebrews believed that words possessed spiritual energy that went forth and, like Elohim speaking the universe into existence, had power to create something that did not exist before. Words are the basis of blessing and cursing.  When spoken, they activate forces in the spiritual realm to either bring life or death to a person or situation. 

Unwholesome words impart death and decay like curses.  They may be in the form of constant criticism, telling someone that they are worthless, declaring that a child is stupid or will never amount to anything, or any words that demean, dismiss, or suggest that someone is unimportant and useless. I noticed early in my life that men, especially, use demeaning humor towards one another as a kind of self-promotion that declares “I am always superior to you and you are always inferior to me.”  Of course, we laugh at the “put downs” or the sarcasm, but for those of us who have already received a barrage of words undercutting our sense of value and significance, even the jokes burn.  A Greek philosopher once wrote, “The boys throw the sticks in jest, but the frogs die in earnest.”  In other words, we may mean no harm, but harm may be done anyway. Unintended consequences are still consequences.

Our careless words can be like those sticks.  Our mean words, can be like stones.  Each word carries power and pushes a person either towards life or death.  If we are prone to speak words that undermine health, joy, self-esteem, confidence, security, etc. over others or ourselves, Paul would call us to repent and begin to speak only words that encourage, build up, affirm, and bless.  We can curse without cussing.  I know many believers who do so in their marriage, over their children, over their spiritual leaders, over our national leaders, and so forth.  At times, I catch myself doing that. Social media is a reservoir of curses.  We all can fall into that trap when we forget who we are.

Jesus said that on the day of Judgment, each of us will have to give account for every careless word we have spoken (Matt. 12:36). It is not that we can never point out a fault or a flaw in another person, but we must determine how to speak the truth in love at just the right time rather than in a fit of anger as we assault their worth.  Ask the Holy Spirit to highlight any tendencies you have to speak negatively over others or yourself. It is not just that we hurt someone’s feelings or damage their self-esteem. That is serious enough, but because we have authority, the spiritual realm will take our words as an assignment for either blessing or cursing and will not relent.

Make a decision for 2023 to be a source of fresh water in everyone’s life and not a source of salt water that kills living things. James put it this way. “With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water” (Ja. 3:9-12).  

One of the life-changing decisions we cam make for this year, is to eradicate “unwholesome talk” from our words. It is not easy. Much of what we say is so automatic that we are not even conscious of what we saying. It will take the Holy Spirit and some close friends and family to even make us aware of what we speak. It will also take a steady diet of the word of God to renew our minds and our old patterns of speech. But remember, what you speak creates realities. What you speak truly imparts life or death and our God is a God of life.

For the past few weeks, I have been teaching the book of Ephesians at our church in Midland/Odessa.  The great thing about teaching a verse-by-verse study is that you are forced to look closely at verses you typically read over with the assumption that you know what they mean without going deeper, doing the word studies, or thinking through applications that go beyond the obvious.

There are some challenging texts in Ephesians that are subject to several interpretations – all of which have merit.  There are also some straight forward texts that are challenging in the application if we were to incorporate them in a lifestyle of following Jesus.

One of those is Ephesians 4: 1.  There Paul challenges the church by writing, “I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.”  We are called to be sons and daughters of the King, ambassadors of Christ, God’s chosen people, priests, and so forth.  Each of those positions carries the responsibility of representation.  In other words, we are called to represent God to the world – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  

Jesus lived out the principle of representation when he said, “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father.”  A King is first known by the qualities that others see in his ambassadors.  A Father will be judged by the quality of his children.  If a man’s representatives or a father’s children are confident, well-spoken, intelligent, and tactful truth-tellers, the assumption will be   that the King or father will be the same or even greater. If, however, the representatives are lazy, unkempt, arrogant, and deceitful…those who encounter them will assume the father or king will also be the same.

In many cases, first impressions about a father, leader, or a nation are established by encounters with those who represent them.  To live a life worthy of the calling we have received is to live a life that honors God, that imparts a positive and attractive impression of God, and that represents his values, laws, and character well.  Just as Jesus said, “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father,” Paul urges us to live in a way that we can say the same.  Our goal should be to live in a way that accurately represents the King and his kingdom – his heart, his character, and his righteousness.  

The truth is that God honored us with an incredible honor when he adopted us and gave us his name. Our role as a representative of the crown, is a privileged role that should be cherished and protected.  And yet, that seems to be the exception among believers today.  Many of us seem to live in ways that give little thought to how our lives will impact those who do not yet know the Lord.  They will naturally assume that we are like the God we serve.  

I’m not concerned when we try to live a life worthy of our calling and stumble or fall short.  I am concerned when we give little thought to living such a life and live in ways, speak in ways, carry on business in ways, and steward relationships in ways that dishonor God rather than representing him as those who reflect his goodness, holiness, and glory.  

When we give little thought to our representation, we give Satan all the ammunition he needs to discredit believers, the church, and even God himself in the minds of unbelievers.  Jesus was the perfect representative of the Father. His strategy was simple. He said that he only did what he saw the Father doing and only spoke what he heard the Father saying.  Our goal should be to act as Jesus would act and speak as he would speak if he were physically present.  

If we have forgotten that we represent or re-present Jesus, then we need to evaluate our words, actions, and attitudes to see where we are misaligned with the Father.  There is a story told about Alexander the Great.  He had a soldier in his ranks that was also named Alexander but he had a reputation for laziness, cheating at cards, and extremely poor hygiene.  One day he encountered Alexander the Great who said, “I understand that we share the same name.” The soldier replied proudly, “Why, yes we do.”  Alexander answered by simply saying, “Well soldier, either change your ways or change your name.”

I wonder if the Father feels that way about us at times as we misrepresent him to the unbelievers in the world who need to be drawn to him rather than repulsedd.  Paul’s message to the Ephesians challenges me and, perhaps, it challenges you as sell.

Most of us who minister in the arena of spiritual warfare are forced to talk about mainstream churches in America that have little theology and little interest in the supernatural move of God and his Holy Spirit.  It’s not that these churches don’t love Jesus and don’t preach the gospel.  Many have great ministries to the community, many reach hundreds of people each year for Jesus, but they have been victimized by a theology that declares that God no longer works through the “miraculous gifts of the Spirit,” nor does he supernaturally intervene in the lives of men as he once did in the biblical record.  These churches have a lack of balance in the area of spiritual warfare that leaves their members ignorant of many spiritual realities and gives them very few tools to work with even if they were to become aware.  Our usual cry is for people to embrace all the gifts of the Spirit, authoritative prayer, deliverance, and so forth.  It’s a valid cry.

However, on the other end of the spectrum is a theology that makes everything about demons and spiritual warfare.  I believe that position often gives Satan too much credit because if every bad thing that happens to me is demonic, then my prayers to God to keep the evil one from me are totally ineffective.  That means that either God doesn’t hear my prayers or that Satan and his minions are more powerful than God.  Both of those conclusions are bad theology. 

The truth is that we live in a fallen world and sometimes stuff just happens.  Sometimes I have a flat because people who drive will eventually run over a nail.  Sometimes my washing machine flies apart because it is old or wasn’t well made. Sometimes I find myself in a bad place because I consistently make bad decisions and the Word says that I will eventually reap what I sow.  

Even temptation is not always a demon whispering in my ear.  The New Testament says that we can be drawn away from God by three things:  the promises of the world, the desires of our flesh, or demonic strategies.  Only one of those is direct demonic assault.  Don’t get me wrong, I am not downplaying the demonic.  We minister deliverance and cleanse houses all the time. All of that is very real.  But what I do see frequently are believers who rarely say “No” to the flesh and consistently make bad decisions in spite of godly counsel, and then blame demons when the wheels come off. 

Demonic oppression and affliction are real, but deliverance and commanding demons is no replacement for godly wisdom and holy living.  Without those components, we constantly leave a door open for the enemy.  Without those components, the devil doesn’t need to spend much time on us because we are constantly derailing ourselves even without his help. If we blame every setback, every failure, and every sin on the devil (“The devil made me do it!”), then we will give no attention to our own need to grow spiritually. 

 Yes…we always need more faith, more authority, and greater spiritual gifts.  But to support all that, we need the fruit of the Spirit in our lives, the armor of God, personal holiness, and godly wisdom…not to mention self-control.  Unfortunately, I know several individuals who have amazing spiritual gifts for healing, impressive authority for deliverance, and keen spiritual discernment, but whose ministries and lives were wrecked because they didn’t pay attention to growing in character and wisdom.  Bad decisions took all of that away and it wasn’t just the devil attacking them.  

In scripture, some things are results of living in a fallen world, while other things are demonic.  If you search the gospels, you will see that sometimes a man was born blind and needed a creative miracle to gain his vision.  Others were blind because of a demonic presence. Deliverance restored their sight.  Some were deaf because of a spirit, while others had a physical defect that needed healing rather than deliverance. I could go on but my point is that we need wisdom to discern what is a spirit and what is simply a result of poor decisions and a lack of spiritual maturity in our own lives.  If we keep trying to cast out the flesh instead of crucifying it, we will not find the solution. 

I used to think that truth was on one side of the road, while error was on the other.  I eventually learned that truth is typically in the center and a ditch with tall grass, mud, and snakes lies on either side of the road.  That is true in spiritual warfare as well.  Sometimes Jesus cast out demons but at other times he simply called on the father to heal.  If the wheels are coming off in our lives, it may be an all-out assault of the enemy, but it may simply be a need in our own lives to say “No” to the flesh and “Yes” to godly wisdom for making better decisions.  Of course , it could be both but the closer we walk to God and the greater our alignment with him, the fe wer openings the enemy will have and the greater our authority will be.

One of the major keys to keeping the enemy at bay is holiness in our own lives.  Yes, we do stand before God as holy because Jesus has imparted his righteousness to us. He became sin for us that we might be become the righteousness of God (2 Cor. 5:21). Our position is righteousness, but that is not always our condition.  God saves us by grace and gives us the legal position or standing of being forgiven, being children of God, and being citizens of heaven, etc. That relates to our salvation, but other important things relate to our sanctification.

Sanctification is a theological word that simply means “how much have we become like Jesus?”  To the extent that we have areas of our lives that are unsubmitted to Jesus and his righteous standards, the enemy has access and authority to harass and oppress us.  Sanctification is not the same as salvation.  We can be saved and still have much of lives or thoughts that are not in agreement with God. 

My experience is that many believers (all of us from time to time) are blind to many areas that need to be confessed and repented of. That is typically because we compare our holiness to the world around us, rather than the standards of heaven. We look at the people we work with who are unredeemed and compare our lifestyles to theirs or we know those who are struggling with addictions or homosexual sin and we aren’t.  When we do, we think that we are living at a higher standard than those around us, so God must be pleased.  However, we often ignore or justify much in our own lives that needs to be submitted to the Lord…our words, our pride, our judgmental attitudes, our unbelief, our indifference to the lost and the poor, and so on. 

! believe that even the great prophet Isaiah fell into that trap because when he was given a vision of God in Isaiah 6, the text says he cried out, “Woe to me…I am ruined for I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have the King, the Lord Almighty” (Isaiah 6:5). Compared to the culture around him he was a righteous man, but compared to the holiness of God and the standards of heaven, he was overwhelmed by his own sense of sin and undone.

I know that I let the culture around me creep in and desensitize me to sin. Even on primetime television nudity, bad language, adultery, homosexuality, fornication, and violence are normalized and I believe we lose our sensitivity to such sin so that we are no longer offended by it.  When we are no longer offended, we no longer guard against it and eventually start to compromise with the world. However, the Holy Spirit has not been desensitized and as we willingly watch those things or read those things, we defile the temple in which he lives and grieve him. That willing participation (even passive participation) gives the enemy reason to accuse us and gives him access to us and our families.  

We must guard against the “culture creep” that numbs us to those things that offend the Father.  Let’s pray that the Holy Spirit would re-sensitize us to the things that offend God and open the door to the devil. Let’s pray as David prayed, “Search me O God and know my heart. Test me and know my anxious thoughts.  See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting” (Ps. 139: 23-24).

In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul wrote, “I pray that the eyes of your heart might be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe” (Eph. 1:18-19, NIV ). 

The Passion Translation renders the text as, “I pray that the light of God will illuminate the eyes of your imagination, flooding you with light, until you experience the full revelation of the hope of his calling – that is, the wealth of God’s glorious inheritance that he finds in us, his holy ones” (Eph. 118-19, Passion Translation).

The “eyes of your heart” or the” eyes of your imagination” is an interesting phrase because it implies that we can see something with our hearts or imagination that we cannot see with our physical eyes.  Of course, we could understand it to simply mean that we can perceive or understand something with our hearts or imagination that cannot be understood by intellect or natural reason.  I believe that is true.  But I also believe that God intends for us to see heavenly realities in a way that goes beyond understanding or reason.  

I subscribe to the idea that we all have spiritual senses just as we have physical senses.  Those believers with the gift of discernment or a “seer” gift can see into the spiritual realm.  They can see angels and demons just as Elisha saw chariots of fire around him (2 Kings 6).  Elisha asked God to open the eyes of his servant that he might also see the angelic guard around them. He didn’t ask for God to give his servant eyes, but to open his eyes that he might see into the spirit realm.  I believe those were spiritual eyes…the eyes of his heart or imagination.

With our spiritual eyes, we can see the spirit realm.  Some seers believe that they ae not seeing that realm directly but are seeing it on the screen of their Spirit-directed imagination. They can see Jesus when he is in the midst of his people.  The prophets can hear the voice of God and we all can feel his presence or the presence of evil at times.  Others smell the presence of demons or the presence of angels.  I believe we are born with these senses and what we need is for the Holy Spirit to activate those senses for us….so Paul prayed that God would open the eyes of their heart of imagination.

The object of Paul’s prayer was for God’s people to know the hope to which they are called, the riches of his inheritance in the saints, and the power that is available to God’s children.  God always wants us to know something beyond the level of simple information or facts.  He wants us to experience the truth or to have intimate knowledge of the realities he reveals to us. Seeing spiritual realities and getting glimpses of heaven through dreams and visions deepens our faith and understanding of his promises and revelation. 

I believe God wants the spiritual senses of every believers to be activated so that we can be anchored more deeply in his truth and so that we might better understand his ways for us and the immense depth of his love for us.  Just as we should pray diligently for the Spirit of wisdom and revelation that we discussed in my last blog, I believe we should pray just as diligently for God to open the eyes of our heart and to activate our other spiritual senses as well.  In the same way that the loss of a physical sense hinders us in the natural, the inactivity of any spiritual sense must also limit us in the spiritual realm.  I encourage you to ask God for the activation of those senses and to show you if anything is standing in the way of that activation.  

Blessings in Him

Three essential questions determine nearly everything else in our lives.  

• Does God exist?   
• Does God love me?
• Is God powerful? 

If God does not exist then we are on our own and “might makes right.”  There is no help coming and there is no judgment against evil.  The powerful rule like ruthless drug lords…imprisoning and killing anyone who opposes them…until a more powerful and more ruthless drug lord appears. Unselfish acts will be for the suckers because all that matters is to look out for number one.

If God does exist, but does not love me in a personal way, then he is still of no help. He will live detached from me, uncaring about my needs or crisis.  He will act as judge but not as savior or redeemer.  That is even more frightening that a world without God.

If God does exist and loves me, but is not powerful, then he may cry when I am wounded or in need but he will not be able to help. Like a poor and aging uncle who lives far away, he may be concerned, but I will still essentially be on my own like an orphan child.

However, if God does exist, loves me in a personal way, and is infinitely powerful then I can live unafraid, unselfishly, and with joy because the God of the universe is looking out for me. That is the message of the Bible and especially of the gospel. To the extent that I believe those things I will have peace, confidence, and freedom.  To the extent that I don’t believe those things, even as a believer, I will live with anxiety, try to control everything and everyone around me, and feel unwanted and unloved.

In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul said that the asked continually that God would give them the Spirit of wisdom and revelation that they might know Him better (Eph.1:7).  The truth is that we need revelation to know that God exists, that he loves us deeply, and that he is able to do more than we can ask or imagine.  We can get those biblical facts in our head but we can’t know them in our hearts without the Holy Spirit revealing that truth to us. The Holy Spirit writes God’s truth on our hearts.  The more we believe it in our hearts, the more we can walk in peace, in faith, and in love.

It’s fairly apparent that we need revelation to know those things in the sense of having them written on our hearts so that we live by God’s promises even when to do so is irrational in the face of natural reason.  But why wisdom?  One definition of wisdom is “knowing how to apply the word of God in a given situation.” In others words, wisdom is knowing not just God’s will, but also his ways.  I need to know his ways, so that when things in my life seem to indicate his lack of care or power as seen through natural eyes, I will not doubt because I know his ways and know that when the time is right, he always comes through.  That is an essential facet of wisdom.

In our present circumstance, America is in turmoil.  The prayers of millions of believers seem to have gone unnoticed in the courts of heaven. The future is uncertain and Satan seems to be having his way no matter which side of the political landscape you stand on.  Fear, division, hatred, and accusation are the flavors of the day…except in heaven. Those are the works of Satan but he does not work in heaven where we are seated with Christ and where we are now citizens.  

 As believers, we can reason ourselves to those biblical positions, but what we need is for those truths to be our very first thought in the face of every crisis or uncertainty. Our first thought must be underscored by a certainty that God is working powerfully in the shadows and he already has our welfare in mind.  Those are our first thoughts when the nature of God and the promises of God are written on our hearts.  

This is a season in which I pray that God will give each of us the Spirit of wisdom and revelation so that we may know Him better.  Paul said he prayed that prayer over and over for those in Ephesus because there is no end to the depth of knowing God.  I encourage you to make that your prayer as well…over and over.

I know.  Me too.  The last thing I want to think about is a 2021 that might be worse than 2020.  But what if it happens?  How will the church respond?  The American church has long been a church that has prayed for ease, comfort, favor, and for the hardships of life to simply pass us by in the name of Jesus.  At the same time, our spiritual brothers and sisters in the Middle East, in China, in Indonesia, in parts of Africa, and other places have undergone the most severe persecution, including torture and death.  We have had favored status in America so long that we believe comfort and acceptance of Christianity is the norm and what we should expect Christianity to look like.  When life becomes hard, we are tempted to feel betrayed by God.

However, the church was born in adversity.  Before Jesus was two years old Herod tried to murder him and Mary and Joseph had to flee to Egypt.  His family returned to Israel after the death of Herod, but essentially still hid out in the little town of Nazareth in Galilee far from Jerusalem.  John the Baptist was opposed by religious leaders and was killed for speaking out against sin and corruption in government.  Jesus and the twelve were conspired against by the religious ruling class of Israel and Jesus was crucified. After Jesus returned to the Father, those who preached the gospel were opposed, imprisoned, beaten, slandered, and scattered for the sake of the gospel. Jesus clearly said that in this world, we would have trouble and that if the world hated him, it would surely hate those who followed him.

I’m not saying that there have not been seasons of peace and even favor for believers throughout history but there has also been hardship and persecution – especially in these latter days.  There is more world-wide persecution against Christians now and more believers being martyred now than at any time in history. The church, by nature, is always counter-cultural unless an entire nation has been discipled.  If we stand with God, the culture will be offended.  If we stand long enough, the culture will either be converted or hate us.  There is clearly a war on Christianity brewing in this nation as we live in a culture that calls good evil and evil good. Whenever the church compromises with culture to keep the peace and curry favor with the powerful, the door is opened for the enemy to enter and he will.  

We may need to begin to consider how we will respond if our culture continues to align itself with Satan instead of Jesus. If our mindset is that God owes us comfort and safety, then we may surrender much of our faith to stay comfortable and safe (although not spiritually safe).

I’m not saying that we should reject the blessings of peace and favor when they come, but we must always be ready for conflict and willing to stand with God when the enemy rises.

The truth is, we learn more about faith and about God in seasons of hardship than we ever do when everything is going our way.  The fledgling church of Jerusalem quickly faced great opposition to their preaching. In Acts 4, Peter and John were threatened by the Sanhedrin and commanded not to speak in the name of Jesus any longer. Instead of compromising with the Sanhedrin in order to avoid persecution, they replied, “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you or to him?… As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard (Acts 4:18-20). 

Peter and John returned to their little band of believers and reported on the threats.  The response was instructive. “Now, Lord. Consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.  Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant, Jesus (Acts 4:29-30).  They didn’t pray for comfort, favor, or even protection.  They prayed for great boldness and world-shaking miracles in the name of Jesus.  

A lot of churchmen today would have counseled the church to soft pedal things for a while or adjust their stance on Jesus just a little to demonstrate more tolerance, etc.  That is not what the Jerusalem church did and the response from heaven was clear.  “After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken.  And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word boldly” (Acts 4:31).  

I don’t know what 2021 holds for the followers of Jesus, but we may want to decide now how we will pray then, if we find ourselves in a culture even more hostile to the faith than it is now.  We will have to decide which is more important – safety and comfort in this world or eternal life and glory with the Father.  We may not be able to have both.  

Blessings and boldness in Him.

More on Choosing Ministry Team Leaders

In Part 1 & 2, I talked about the need to screen out arrogant or prideful individuals when choosing ministry leaders.  In this part, I want to caution you about people who may be too broken to serve but whose brokenness is not immediately apparent.

At the other end of the spectrum from those afflicted with pride and a genuine sense of superiority are those who deeply struggle with a sense of worth and are looking for ministry roles that make them feel significant. Those who project abundant confidence or superiority to cover up deep feelings of inadequacy far outnumber those who truly sees themselves as superior.  These individuals may also be prime real estate for a Jezebel spirit. They want others to see them as gifted and mature and constantly seek the validation of others so they may aspire to leadership roles for the sake of significance rather than service. 

These individuals may not have a true confidence that Jesus will work though them which is essential in freedom ministry.  Believers that possess humility know who they are in Christ and have faith that Jesus will work through them when facing the enemy or when needing wisdom.  Those who struggle with self-worth aren’t sure who they are and fear that Jesus won’t work through them when the they face difficult situations or face the enemy.  They will not weather criticism or disapproval well and will blame others for their shortcomings.  In a ministry in which they encounter many broken and demonized people, they will sooner or later feel the rejection of some of those individuals. Their response to the rejection may be damaging. If they have no emotional resilience, they will crumble.   If you feel the need to correct them, they may begin to see you as their enemy.

The extremely insecure may also present themselves as more gifted, mature, or knowledgeable than they truly are and may set themselves up for failure because they take on more than they are ready to handle.  These individuals will not readily be transparent about weaknesses and, as a result, will not be able to grow in those areas of weakness.   Because they feel the need to present themselves as always having the answer or always “having it together,” he or she may not seem as approachable as they should to those who struggle with imperfections.  Approachability is essential as a group leader or a mentor.  If gifted, they may use their gift as a way to impress others more than a way to love others. Both the arrogant and the very insecure can hurt ministries if put in a role of leadership but they may also hurt themselves. 

Now…let’s be honest.  Nearly all of us struggle with pride or insecurity at some level and enjoy the affirmation and approval of others.   However, we need to be in a place where we recognize it, acknowledge it, usually manage it, and have others hold us accountable if it starts to get the best of us. You will have no perfect people on your team, but you are looking for people in a healthy emotional and spiritual range. That is a obviously a subjective measure but it is one you will need to assess through prayer, conversation, and the observations of others.

Spend time getting to know people who want to join your team.  Speak to others who know them.  Talk to leaders in other ministries with whom they have served.   If patterns of relational or emotional brokenness emerge or an unwillingness to submit to spiritual authority is apparent, those will be red flags and you may want to postpone their involvement in your ministry.

Another thing to consider is simply where a person is in his/her life at the moment and how spiritually stable or relationally stable that person is at the time they are wanting to serve.   Freedom ministry tends to put a person in the crosshairs of the enemy a little more than usual.  A struggling marriage, an out-of- control child, a person fighting old addictions or someone struggling with grief or depression may not be in a season when they need to serve.  Be prayerful and patient when adding team members.  

It is always painful to have to ask someone who is on the team to step down when you discover that they are not spiritually or emotionally ready to lead. Of course, we will need to explore issues we see with them and give individuals a chance to acknowledge those issues and change, but some will not acknowledge their shortcomings.  Sometimes they will attempt to damage the ministry on the way out, so be sure to follow Paul’s counsel to Timothy not to be hasty in laying hands on someone.  It is better to delay a bit than to place the wrong person in a position of leadership.  If we can be honest with those individuals about our concerns, we will be giving them a chance to grow or heal and they may become effective members of our ministry team at a later date.

Take it from someone who has not always acted with wisdom, when you are developing a ministry, you are building a foundation for the future.  Taking your time to build a solid foundation of leadership, processes for selecting and developing new ministry team members, and even processes for removing someone from a leadership role in rare instances, can pay huge dividends down the road. It’s worth giving time and energy to develop those processes.  Having a small subset of your most mature leaders act as an evaluation team to help choose new leaders or deal with problems that arise can also be invaluable.  Those decisions should not fall on one person.

You won’t have the answer or a process for everything that pops up, but having some things thought out and in place ahead of time may keep the enemy from taking advantage of a ministry that is reactive instead of proactive.  It will also remove the impression that one or two individuals in the ministry are acting out of their own impulses or acting arbitrarily instead of following biblical processes governed by biblical values.

I hope this short series has been helpful for those beginning or reviving freedom ministries in their church or area.  The enemy will not be unaware and will not let you grow without challenging you so please be prayerful, thoughtful, and engage some people who have already been down the road that you are beginning to walk.  Blessings in Him.

Jezebel Spirits

In Part 2 of this series, I introduced the need to be aware of any division or divisive person that is affecting your ministry and the possibility that a Jezebel spirit may be operating.  This spirit obviously carries the name of Jezebel of the Old Testament – the wife of Ahab who was one of the most wicked kings in the history of God’s people.  One of the reasons he was so wicked is that his wife manipulated him into even greater sins than he would have committed on his own. This spirit operates with the same characteristics that were displayed in Queen Jezebel. It creates a hunger for power and influence in an individual that achieves its goals through manipulation and seduction.  There are often components of haughtiness and witchcraft as well.

A Jezebel spirit does not always seek the primary leadership role in a ministry or a church but can simply want to be the “power behind the throne” and be close to those who have primary leadership roles. This spirit will create division by trying to discredit the primary leader or other leaders in the ministry as he/she attempts to gain more influence. This spirit tends to set leaders at odds with each other and can also use sexual seduction as a tool which can devastate a church or ministry.  

This spirit can operate in men or women but seems to operate in women more frequently.  It is not always easy to know whether a person is being motivated by a spirit or just a need to feel significant or a prideful belief that he or she should be leading a ministry.  Any source of division needs to be managed immediately using Matthew 18:15-17 as a template – gently at first, but then firmly when needed.  When a spirit is operating you will probably not see godly sorrow or repentance but will likely see anger and rebellion and an attempt to get other church leaders on his/her side.  Good communication with other leaders will be imperative to determine what is actually going on.  

A person demonized by a Jezebel spirit will not always be open to acknowledging the issues or to deliverance. This spirit often enters into a person when he/she is very young – especially one who has experienced a great deal of rejection or loss.  The spirit will provide comfort and feign friendship at first.  The demonized individual may see this spirit as a friend or even a mother figure and protector.  Letting go of that spirit will not feel safe even for an adult. Since deliverance with the individual’s cooperation may not be possible, making declarations and praying against this spirit will be essential as well as asking the Holy Spirit to make that person aware of the spirit and its damaging effects on the person’s life and relationships.  

In the meantime, the individual needs to be removed from the ministry and, at times, even from the church.  Division is such a powerful weapon of the enemy that Paul commanded Titus to deal with divisive people quickly.  “Warn a divisive person once, and then warn him a second time. After that, have nothing to do with him. You may be sure that such a man is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned” (Titus 3:10).  Dealing with people in such a way is difficult, especially if you have a mercy gift or a gift of compassion, because you fear damaging them or adding more rejection to their lives.

However, a lifestyle of creating division is sin and can’t be ignored.   It is critical that you respond to that issue biblically as well as any other persistent sin issues that show up on your team, since each one opens the door for the enemy to get footholds in your ministry that will eventually become strongholds. In our “don’t judge me” culture, we have typically laid aside or watered down the biblical commands to exercise church discipline, but to exercise discipline is best for the unrepentant sinner as well as for the body of Christ. Any discipline must be motivated by love and concern and should be an intentional process rather than a reactionary moment of anger or frustration.

A Jezebel spirit is one of the most difficult spirits to deal with so you may want to get some help from those who have health successfully with it before. Robert Morris (Gateway Church) has a very helpful teaching on dealing with this spirit that you should be able to find on YouTube.

Part 4 will discuss other issues in choosing leaders for your ministry team