The Lord has been reminding me lately of a truth I know well, but still sometimes forget.  It is the authority with which we speak as children of God.  Sometimes my prayers feel powerless and my commands seem to have little impact.  Sometimes I begin to forget who I am in Christ and feel totally ineffective. I begin to feel as if my words don’t matter. Sometimes I need a refresher course in the power God has entrusted to his people. 

The first chapter of Jeremiah is incredibly instructive about the power of our words.  Early in the chapter, God reveals to Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, before you were born, I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations” (Jer.1:5).  Like many others called by God, Jeremiah’s first response was, “I do not know how to speak; I am too young!” Moses, Gideon, Jeremiah, and others strenuously objected when God called them to their destiny.  Each felt inadequate.  Each was acutely aware of his weakness.

But then God goes on to say, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.  You must go to everyone I send you and say whatever I command you…I have put my words in your mouth. See. today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and over throw, to build and to plant’” (Jer. 1:7-10).  

As you read the remained for the book, you discover that Jeremiah never led an army or directed a revolution.  Yet, by simply declaring the words of the Lord, he launched initiatives in the heavenly realms that tore down nations and built them up.  God could have certainly done those things without any prophet declaring them.  But God chose to use men to whom he had given authority on this earth. God waited on his people to declare what he was going to do before he would do it.  God honors the authority he has given us.

Remember, God’s original intent was to give men who represented Him dominion and authority over all the works of his hands (Ps. 8:6). Jesus demonstrated that perfectly in his ministry.  He walked in the Father’s authority to heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons, multiply bread and fish, and still the squalls of the Sea of Galilee…with words.  Then he gave authority to his disciples, who also healed the sick, raised the dead and cast out demon…with words. Jesus then declared that those who would follow and believe in him would not only do what he had been doing but would do even greater things (Jn.14:12).…with words.

As followers of Jesus, our words have power and authority.  But how often do we feel helpless and weak.  In a sense, just as Jeremiah recognized his own inadequacy, we too are inadequate by ourselves.  But, like Jeremiah, God makes us adequate by giving us and our words authority and backing up that authority with the power of heaven.  Our failure is to focus on our own abilities rather than His.

When we pray, we pray with authority.  When we command demons, we do so with authority.  When we command illness, we do so with authority.  Certainly, the outcome is not always immediate or automatic.  ‘There are many times we must contend for the outcome with persistence, faith, and fervor.  But when we are aligned with God’s word and will, then it is his word going forth from our mouths just as it was with Jeremiah. Then the promise is that whenever God’s word goes forth, it always fulfills its purpose.  

In the moments when you feel weak and are on the verge of giving up, remember who you are and the authority God has granted you. His word does the work, but we are the ones who must declare it. As followers of Jesus, we walk in authority.  When we are aligned with the Father, heaven heeds our words and the spiritual realm moves on our behalf. The key to authority is believing that we possess it as representative of Christ on the earth. From time to time, I encourage you to refresh your faith and remember who you are because of Him.

In judges 6, we find one of the great stories of the Old Testament…the story of Gideon.  As the chapter opens, we are told that because of Israel’s sin, God gave had given them into the hands of the Midianites, who severely oppressed Israel for seven years.  This was a familiar cycle in the life of Israel.  God would give them victory over their enemies and bless the land with fruitfulness.  But after a few years of blessing, Israel would forget God and reject his commands.  They often pursued the “gods” of the nations around them and slipped fatally into idol worship. In an effort to turn the nation back to him, God would then discipline them by letting their enemies oppress them once again.  They would then cry out to God and repent.  In response, God would raise up a man or woman as a judge over Israel who would lead them in victories over their enemies and restore their freedom. After a season of blessing, they would turn away from God once more.

In Judges 6, the people began to cry out to God again and he raised up an unlikely champion to lead them in battle against the Midianites. If you read the account, you will see that Gideon was highly resistant to the call of God to lead the nation, but finally began to trust Jehovah and won Israel’s freedom.  When God first commissioned Gideon to lead his people, his initial command was for Gideon to tear down his father’s altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pole beside it (Judges 6:25).  Baal was the god of fertiltiy and Ashera was his concubine. He was then ordered to build a proper altar to God in place of the pagan altar.

The Old Testament is clear that behind every altar and idol was a demonic spirit.  When the pagans offered sacrifices on these altars and prayed to their “gods,” demons were released to fulfill the desires of the worshipper.  You may recall in Numbers 22, that Balak asked Balaam to place a curse on Israel so that he might defeat them in battle.  Hoping that God would give him permission to do so, he built seven altars.  We are told that Balaam was a sorcerer and we can safely assume that he would have offered sacrifices on those altars and called on the powers of darkness to wage war against Israel if he had the opportunity. God did not allow him to do so, but it was in his heart to do it if he could.

Here is the principle.  When demonic assignments are made from an altar dedicated to demons, the assignment stands as long as the altar stands.  The demon is honored and empowered by the sacrifices made on that altar. In addition, the altar Gideon destroyed was a family altar that would have continued to give demons access to Gideon.  Perhaps, that is where his initial fear and doubt came from. That is one reason God always commanded the altars to be utterly destroyed.  Not only would remaining altars tempt Israel to begin to worship at them again, but their assignments against Israel would stand as well.  

You cannot maintain peaceful coexistence with demons. By their very nature, their only intent is to kill, steal and destroy. While you ignore them, they are plotting new strategies for your destruction. That is why Israel cannot trust in treaties made with their enemies because their enemies are not just driven by politics but by the dark forces of evil.  Any treaty simply allows the enemy to regroup and rearm themselves for the next inevitable attack.  

We would also be naïve to believe that there are not thousands of demonic altars operating in America right now where witches and warlocks are offering sacrifices and repeating incantations in an effort to curse God’s people, his churches, and those who stand for life, biblical values, and freedom in this nation.  We need a worldviews that includes spiritual dimensions for Paul says our true battle is not against flesh and blood but the spiritual powers of darkness (Eph. 6:12).

As I mentioned earlier, we cannot peacefully coexist with these agents of darkness.  We need to be clear that there is more than politics going on with these agendas.  We are not to hate the men and women Satan is using for his enterprise, for they are truly deceived. But we must resist and take back the territory that has been relinquished in this nation to Satan in the arenas of government, media and education. Prayer and spiritual warfare will need to increase among God’s people.   Holiness and alignment with the Lord will have to mark our churches.  We will need to begin to operate in the authority of Jesus Christ at a much higher level if we are going to be the instruments God uses to restore America.  Ultimately, turning the followers of Satan into followers of Jesus is our best strategy to save this nation.  

If this sounds like an impossible task, it is not. In Acts 19, Paul preached the gospel in Ephesus which was a stronghold of witchcraft and pagan worship. God did “extraordinary miracles through Paul” (Acts 19:8) in that city. .  As a result, a godly fear fell on the population and the name of Jesus was held in honor.  We are told that a number of sorcerers brought their scrolls and burned them in the public square. Many Satanists have come to Jesus already in America.  A Satanist does not have to be convinced of the reality of Jesus. He or she already believes that. What they need to discover is that Jesus is more powerful than Satan.  Once they discover his power, they know they have been deceived by the prince ion this world and they quickly embrace the kingdom of light. In view of that, the church must begin to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit more than ever before and tear down and utterly destroy the altars of demons in this nation. 

The future of America and even this election will not be determined by politics but by spiritual warfare on both sides.  We must pray, fast, declare, and evangelize if this nation is to stand.  I hope we will all take our assignment seriously at the altar of the Lord.  

Throughout the gospels, Jesus healed people in every village and crowd. On numerous occasions, he healed them by casting out a an unclean spirit. Typically, it was a spirit of infirmity or a deaf and dumb spirit. These spirits manifested as physiological conditions. Among those who were healed when spirits were cast out were the deaf, the mute, the blind, those with chronic back problems and those who suffered from seizures and mental illness.

As you scan the gospels, these healings by deliverance were fairly common. When the spirit was cast out, the source of the condition was removed and healing followed quickly. These spirits produced conditions that mimicked real physiological and psychological conditions. But Jesus and his disciples knew the difference.

In his gospel, Matthew records, “Then His fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics and paralytics; and He healed them” (Mt.4:24; NKJV). Later Matthew tells us about a father who sought the Lord for is son. “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and he suffers severely; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water” (Mt. 17:15; NKJV). In that case, Jesus drove out a deaf and dumb spirit and the boy was healed.

Over the past few years we have seen many healed as a result of deliverance. Two of those we have seen healed were told by doctors if they could not find the cause of the illness their lives were in jeopardy because their health was deteriorating so quickly, One woman was in her 40’s and had already been told by doctors to quit her job and stop driving. She was weak. She could not lift her hands above her shoulders and she was losing ground quickly. After visiting with her, we discovered that she had been raped in college, but had never told anyone. She had not forgiven the rapist…a professor of hers. She had not forgiven herself because she felt partly to blame. After forgiving him and herself and after breaking soul ties with him, we cast out a spirit of infirmity. She could immediAtely raise her arms above her head and within a week was back at work and driving again. Ten years later she is still going strong.

A second woman told us that the doctors had given her only months to live but they could not diagnose the source of her illness. Her health was simply deteriorating at a rapid pace. After visiting with her, the Lord revealed that a witch was putting a curse on her. Immediately, she knew who the woman was that was directing demonic spirits against her. After breaking the curse and casting out a spirit of infirmity, her health was restored within weeks.

Certainly, not every illness or condition is demonic. But many are…especially those that defy diagnosis or treatments that are usually affective. When you pray for people to be healed, be sensitive to the leading of the Spirit. If you sense a leading that the illness is spiritual, then deliverance is in order. If, as you begin to pray, the pain gets worse or begins to move around within the person, that definitely suggests a spirit’s involvement.

Sometimes we are hesitant to bring up the possibility of demonic affliction because it seems too weird or we think it will “freak out” the person we are praying for. But their healing is worth it. However, before commanding any spirit to leave, a brief interview is in order. You may need to visit with them too see if they were ever involved in witchcraft or occult activities of any kind; if there is someone they need to forgive; or if their is a sin they need to confess and repent of. Those things can give the afflicting spirit a right to be there and so that right needs to be removed before deliverance.

Deliverance is not always instantaneous. In fact, that is the exception. Usually you will need to command a spirit several times as well as declare the Lord’s authority over that spirit before it will leave. The spirit will often resist in an effort to tire you out or intimidate you so you give up. But persist. If the spirit continues to remain after a reasonable amount of time, you may need to visit more to see if there is something else giving the enemy a right to continue the affliction. Those rights are often found in the sins of the fathers or, in our culture today, the source may be witchcraft targeting the individual. If you can discover who might hold a grudge agains the sick individual, you may know the source. If a wrong has prompted the curse, then the sick person can repent and do their best to make amends. You can then cancel the curse by the blood of Jesus and cancel any assignment a demon might have on that person. Then you can drive out the enemy.

What I find among believers is that we often jump right into healing prayer without discovering whether there is some sin that may hinder our prayer or some spirit that is the source of the illness. Taking a few minutes to ask the right questions can make your prayer and ministry much more effective. Blessings in Him.

We usually take great pleasure when our enemy falls or fails.  After all, they would delight in our demise as well.   We may take their defeat as personal vindication or as a triumph of justice.  The following scripture adds a different dimension to our reaction that we should consider:

Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when he stumbles, do not let your heart rejoice, or the Lord will see and disapprove and turn his wrath away from him. Proverbs 24:17-18

We know that David was deemed to be “a man after God’s own heart,” so his life should be instructive to us.  King Saul falsely accused David of wanting his thrown and made numerous attempts to kill him.  Finally, when Israel engaged in battle against the Philistines, Saul and his three sons are killed. Saul had relentlessly hunted David and his men for several years.  David had been forced to live in the desert wilderness during that time with the threat of death hanging over his head daily.  

When the report of Saul’s death reached David, it seems it would have been cause for celebration, but his response was somewhat unexpected.  The text says, “Then David and all the men with him took hold of their clothes and tore them. They mourned and wept and fasted till evening for Saul and his son Jonathan…” (2 Sam. 1:11-12). Saul would have gladly killed all of them if he had been given the opportunity.  He had branded them as outlaws and many had been separated from their families for months or years because of Saul’s jealousies. And yet, instead of celebrating they mourned.

This response reveals the heart of God toward those who oppose him.  Sometimes we view God as an angry God who takes delight in destroying the wicked. However, God laments, “Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign Lord. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live” (Ezek. 18:23).

This does not suggest we cannot celebrate a victory, but our heart towards our defeated enemies must be one of compassion rather than vengeance.  We should, at least, regret the loss of what could have been if a nation or person had taken a different path.  We might regret the fact that a wicked man will never have an opportunity to repent and be saved if his life is taken. The key is to value all men and women who have been made in the image of God and to mourn or regret what could have been if other decisions had been made.  Remember, Jesus still calls us to “love our enemies.”

As we enter the last few months of this heated election season, it might be good to remember that those who hold very different views than we hold are still made in the image of God and are still loved by him.  Some may even be destroyed politically in this season and we, as God’s people, should not gloat or rejoice at their demise.  Instead, we might that God might use their humiliation to bring them to a place of repentance and salvation if needed. 

We see wickedness in this world and want it to be defeated.  That is a godly desire.  But how we view those we see as enemies is a place where we all need to guard our hearts.  I am sure that you, like me, would love for God to say that we are a man or woman after God’s own heart.  

I’m reading through 1 Samuel again and the accounts of Saul and David.  As you recall, Saul was the first king of Israel.  He was anointed to be king by Samuel and in the beginning seemed promising.  He appeared to be humble but the humility turned out to be massive insecurity and fear.  His reign was marked by moments of disobedience to God’s clear commands while always rationalizing why he had no options but to violate the commands.

In 1 Samuel 15, a revealing incident takes place. The Lord commands Saul to attack the Amalekites and totally destroy them for what they had done to Israel as they came from Egypt.  We are told that Saul attacked the Amalekites and killed most of them.  However, he took their king Agag prisoner and saved the best of their sheep and cattle. After the battle he encountered Samuel and said, “The Lord bless you! I have carried out the Lord’sinstructions.” But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears? What is this lowing of cattle that I hear?” Saul answered, “The soldiers brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the Lord your God, but we totally destroyed the rest.” “Stop!” Samuel said to Saul. “Let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night.” “Tell me,” Saul replied.  Samuel said, “Although you were once small in your own eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel. And he sent you on a mission, saying, ‘Go and completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites; make war on them until you have wiped them out.’ Why did you not obey the Lord? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the Lord?” “But I did obey the Lord,” Saul said. “I went on the mission the Lord assigned me. I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king. The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice them to the Lord your God at Gilgal.” (1 Sam. 15:13-21)

Saul’s character is revealed here and, to some degree, his view of God.  Saul seemed to think that if he generally did the will of God, he had done all that God had commanded.  He took the commands of God and then modified them to fit his situation, but then insisted that he had been fully obedient.  How many times do we obey God in some areas, but then find reasons to justify the part where we disobey while convincing ourselves that we are fully surrendered to God?

Over the years, I have known believers who were involved in immoral relationships but somehow decided that since they “loved one another” and were “faithful” to their lover that God was okay with what they were doing.   Others have embezzled money from their  company to “meet the needs of their family” and because the company owed them that money for all the years and hours they had put in without a raise or promotion.  Somehow, they were able to justify themselves because they “had to provide for their family” and because they were correcting their company’s injustice. I know others who have forgiven some, but have assigned others a special status where unforgiveness was justified because of how great the betrayal had been.  I have also known church leaders who excused their porn addictions because their wife wasn’t meeting their sexual needs and they were not having an actual affair. In all these instances, like Saul, they believed that because they were obedient in some things, they were obedient in all things.  Satan can blind us to the realities of our life and our disobedience to God.  If you had asked these individuals if they were submitted Christians who walked in obedience to God, they would have assured you that they were. 

Before we feel smug, I am pretty certain that we all have blind spots like these that we do not count as disobedience because we are obedient in many other areas and we find “reasons” why our disobedience should be acceptable due to “extenuating circumstances.”  Perhaps, we don’t give to the Lord or give to the poor as we should because we have other financial obligations – our boat payment, the big house we just purchased, the top-of-the-line pickup we really needed, the European vacation we had promised our spouse, etc.   Perhaps, we don’t serve at church because we are too busy with career, kid’s sports, our favorite recreational activities, etc.  Often, when we are financially blessed, we give money but not our time and so feel our money makes up for our time we don’t give the Lord because we are busy enjoying all the things money can provide.  None of these things are wrong in themselves except when they keep us from obedience.  Then, when we ignore or rationalize our disobedience, we have become like Saul. We fall into the view that God is pleased with “close enough.

We are all going to fall short in our obedience to God.  But our proper response is confession and repentance rather than rationalization and our insistence that we are submitted followers of Jesus in every area of our life. As we continue to read 1 and 2 Samuel, we see David fall into disobedience as well – the Bathsheba incident.  In many ways, what he did seems to far out rank Saul’s failures as sin.  The difference was that David acknowledged his sin, made no excuses, and threw himself on the mercy of God. Saul consistently denied his disobedience, insisted that circumstances had left him no choice, or blamed others for “forcing” him into his bad decisions.

As a result, God removed the kingdom from Saul and gave it to David.  Samuel declared, “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices in as much as obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice.”  May we be aware of our failures to obey, but repent rather than rationalize.  And may our prayer be the same as David’s: “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.”

My devotional time this morning took me to familiar passages in 1 Samuel 17. That is the chapter in which David confronts and kills the Philistine champion Goliath.  In that section, David shows unusual courage and seems to declare the death of Goliath prophetically.  You will recall that both the Israeli and Philistine armies had camped across a valley from one another.  Every morning and evening for forty days, Goliath had stepped out and challenged the army of Israel, inviting anyone who had the courage to step up and fight him.  According to scripture, he was nine feet, nine inches tall.

The response each day had been the army of Israel, along with King Saul, cowering as he issued the challenge. David, still a young man, had come to check on his brothers who were camping with Saul and waiting for an actual battle to occur.  As he arrived, he heard the morning challenge from the Philistine and actually took offense.  He was not offended that Goliath had such disdain for Israel or for Saul, but that he would defy the armies of the living God with disdain. David considered God’s name as the one being slandered.  

David then offered to face this “giant” on behalf of his God and Saul took him up on it.  Saul then gave David his armor and his sword with which to face the enemy.   The text says. “’I cannot go in these…because I am not used to them.” So he took them off. Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine. David seemed an unlikely individual to face Israel’s enemy.  He was young, had no armor or weapons other than a shepherd’s sling.  We are unaware if he had any military experience at all. Saul assumed that David would have to emulate him in order to win the day so he dressed him in his own tunic and armor and gave him his tools for war.  If David had accepted Saul’s judgment of him and faced Goliath in Saul’s armor, the story would most likely have had a very different end.

There are times when God calls us to step up in the kingdom and face a situation or a problem for which, at least in our own eyes, we seem to be vastly unqualified.  We assume we must become like someone else we think would be better suited…the pastor, an elder, a more experienced believer, and so we back away from the call.  Maybe others see us in the same way. But sometimes, God chooses the unlikely because the “tried and true” ways of solving the problem will not work for that situation.  Different gifts and different experiences may be just what God is calling for.

David had no experience in war but he had experienced God’s deliverance from a lion and a bear.  He had no armor but he had a shepherd’s sling that he had mastered.  He also had faith and the Spirit of God working in his life.  We are told when Samuel anointed David to be the future king of Israel (I Kings 16:13), “and from that day on, the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David.”  I believe that the Spirit directed him to face Goliath with the experiences and skills he already had and David submitted to those promptings.  When confronted by Goliath who despised this boy – this non-warrior – David replied, “it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves, for the battle is the Lord’s’ (1 Sam. 17:47). With that in his heart, David charged the Philistine and killed him with a single stone…undoubtedly directed by the Lord.

Here is the lesson.  When God calls us to step up to lead a ministry, share the gospel, pray for someone’s healing, confront an injustice, etc. we do not have to become like someone else.  God called us, not the other person and we already have the experiences and gifts needed for the moment.  After all, the victory doesn’t come through our greatness but through the greatness of God.  The more unlikely we are, the more glory God receives.  The greatness of David was not in his abilities but in his faith in the ability of God.  When the moment comes and the Spirit is prompting us to step up, remember David and his “unlikely” victory over the “giant” from Gath.

When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. He told them: “Take nothing for the journey—no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no extra tunic. Whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave that town. If people do not welcome you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave their town, as a testimony against them.” So they set out and went from village to village, preaching the gospel and healing people everywhere (Lk.9:1-6).

In the passage above, Luke tells us of the moment Jesus gifted the twelve apostles and sent them out on their own.  I think there are two important lessons we can draw from this account. First, the twelve had been living with Jesus and seeing him heal the sick and cast out demons on a daily basis.  Perhaps, he had invited them to do some of those things themselves as he was training them to carry on his ministry after his departure.  But the presence of the Master had been a security blanket for these followers of his.  If they stumbled or fell short he would instruct them or pick up where they had failed and finish the job.  

But now, it was time for them to try their wings.  Not only was he sending them out without him, but he was telling them to take no staff, no bag, no bread, and no money as they went. The crucial result of this outing would be for them to learn that the Father would provide and  work through them supernaturally as they preached, healed and delivered.  Many of us, and perhaps myself as well, have rarely been put in a position in which we would fail, be imprisoned, starve, or die without his miraculous intervention.  When we do find ourselves in those circumstances and see the Father keep his promises in supernatural ways, our faith can blossom.

We actually need to let the Holy Spirit put us in those positions more often that we normally do. Sharing our faith with someone hostile to the gospel, sharing a word we believe is from the Lord with a stranger at our favorite coffee shop, or praying for a man we just met at the grocery story to stand up and walk away from his wheel chair are moments in which we will be foolish failures, unless God shows up. The axiom is true that unless we take risks, no faith is required.  But when we do risk, faith grows.  Even if our prayers do not heal on that occasion or if the “prophetic word” simply leaves the recipient puzzled, God is pleased that we stepped out in faith and that we risked failure doing what we believed he wanted us to do.

Remember when Peter saw Jesus walking on the Sea of Galilee and impulsively leaped from the boat to join his Rabbi.  He took a few steps of faith, but then allowed the crashing waves to take his attention off Jesus.  Of course, as he sank, Jesus pulled him out of the water.  We may think Peter was foolish for doing such a thing, but as many have noted, no one else in the boat was even willing to try. I have to believe Jesus was more pleased with Peter at that moment than with the eleven others who huddled inside the boat.  

Faith only grows when we see Jesus deliver us from difficulties that we know we would not have survived or succeeded in without his intervention. We need to look back and recognize his deliverance in our past but also be willing to step into risky situations in the present to do his will.  As we do, faith grows and our spiritual gifts increase.

A second lesson here is more subtle.  The text tells us that the twelve were given power and authority to heal, cast out demons, and preach with power.  Judas was among those twelve and so we must assume that he also healed, cast out demons, and preached.  The question becomes, “How could he have experienced those amazing manifestations of God through him, and still betray Jesus?  Sometimes giftings run far ahead of character.  Not only did he betray Jesus to the Jewish authorities, but we are told he also stole from the money people gave to fund the ministry of Jesus.  Great gifts, no character.

As we seek to grow in spiritual gifts, we should seek even more to grow in character…to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ.  Some men have been thrust into notoriety on the basis of their extraordinary gifts…preaching, healing, prophecy, and so forth.  And yet, the weight of their “success” was more than their character could support.  It’s not to say that true men of God cannot be ambushed by the enemy in a moment of vulnerability, but when influential leaders have been hiding sin for years, there is a flaw in their character.

Sometimes, the enemy convinces gifted people their notoriety, their large churches, and their leading roles at huge conferences are marks of God’s approval so they minimize their sin or somehow believe that God will give them a pass for their transgressions.  Sometimes, they choose not to confess and deal with the sin because they believe it would cost them the notoriety and influence they love. However, God does not approve and eventually will reveal the sin if the man or woman does not confess and repent.  The lesson is…in the kingdom of God, the fruit of the Spirit is always of greater value than the gifts of the Spirit.  We must make sure the fruit always runs ahead of our gifts.

When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation(Mt.12:43-46).

This well-known teaching of Jesus has served as a warning for those who have experienced deliverance from a demonic spirit for centuries.  We sight it at the end of our Freedom Weekends as a warning not to return to the things that opened the door to demonization in the first place. If you do, you may not just end up where you started, but will be in much deeper anguish because the returning spirit will bring others with him you did not have to contend with before.

The thrust of the passage is not a warning against deliverance, but against creating a spiritual vacancy through deliverance that is left uninhabited.  If the vacancy left by an unclean spirit is not filled with the Holy Spirit, you are subject to the return of the demon…and his friends. I suspect that many believers walk around with a vacancy within them, because they do little to be filled with the things of God.

Paul called the Ephesians to eliminate any spiritual vacancy within them. “Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled withthe Spirit. Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Eph. 5:17-20).

We may have the Holy Spirit living within us, but that does not mean we are automatically “filled with the Spirit.”  Often, God gives us the basics for being a child of God or for operating in a spiritual gift, but then leaves it to us to pursue more of him and more of the gift if we want to maximize what he has made available.  We can walk around with the minimum and still be saved, but as we do so, we leave room for the enemy to enter our house with torment and oppression. If being “filled with the Spirit” wasn’t dependent on us to some degree, he would not have instructed the church to pursue that state of spiritual being.  When we prioritize the spiritual above the natural, we will be begin to be filled with the Spirit and there will be no room for the enemy.  

Being in the word, in prayer, in obedience, in fellowship with other believers, in praise, etc. on a daily basis and inviting God’s Spirit to fill us is the process for being filled. When we fail to do so, we begin to create empty places within us that invite the enemy…either invite him back or invite him in the for the first time.  In the arena of spiritual warfare, being casual invites disaster because the enemy is always seeking entrance to our lives.  Because of that, we need to take inventory of what we are filling our hearts and our minds with.  

In addition to applying Christ’s warning to individuals, he applies it to an entire generation.  His words seem to suggest that entire cultures can be demonized when they have once enjoyed the presence of God but have since pushed God out of their culture leaving a huge vacancy for the enemy.  In Jonathan Cahn’s book, The Return of the Gods, he makes the case that this very thing has happened to America and that our culture has been demonized so that the “insanity” we see all around us is because Satan has been given the reins to our nation.  

Our situation is not hopeless but individuals or nations must begin to push out the enemy and his influence by displacement.  When we once again begin to earnestly seek to be filled with the Spirit, that filling will push out the presence of the enemy.  However, it is better to never allow the enemy in than to have to push him out later.  So the question once again is, “With what are we filling our lives?”. 

Lately, I’ve been seeing God’s people get hammered by accidents, health issues, untimely deaths, unexpected job loss, home disasters (slab leaks, air conditioners going out, garage door openers failing, appliances breaking down, etc.) and failures in church leadership.  These are the normal pitfalls of living in a fallen world, but sometimes the frequency of these events signals that something out of the ordinary is going on…most likely spiritual warfare. When it keeps happening to month after month after month, it is easy to become weary and wonder where God is and what he is doing about your losses and hardships.  Some days it feels like the enemy is winning and God has left the building.

I’ve been reading through Psalms again in my quiet times and paying special attention to David’s writings. What I see are psalms that declare the goodness of God and thanksgiving for his protection and provision.  In these psalms. David likens God to his fortress, his deliverer, his rock, his shelter, his shepherd and so forth.  David sings the praises of a God whose grace, love, and power shield him from the onslaught of enemies.  There are also psalms in which Davis is lamenting and calling out for God to act on his behalf. In these verses, David seems weary, fearful, and almost abandoned.  However, inevitably the psalm ends with the hope that God will still come to his rescue and deliver him from the present pit he is in

Much of what we know about God comes from retrospect.  We look back at the times we thought would swallow us and then notice the hand of God moving and setting up a moment of victory or deliverance from our enemies. I think David’s psalms declaring “ten thousand may fall at your side but you will not be touched,” come from examining just how he escaped from the terror that he thought would surely devour him. When he saw no way out, a way would unexpectedly appear.  

We need to do the same. We need to notice God’s hand in our past and how he has brough us out of times of loss and despair and set our feet on solid ground again.  Having walked with God’s people for forty years as a pastor, I can tell you myriads of stories about men and women who believed life would never be worth living again, but then found that the grace of God had delivered them and provided joy and meaning again because they did not give up on the goodness of God.

We don’t learn to trust God in the good times because we don’t need to trust him. Everything is going our way and we feel in control of life.  We learn to trust when life is out of control and we are helpless to deliver ourselves.  Then we are confronted with the choice to continue to worship and serve a God who is allowing bad things to happen or to reject God because he is not protecting us from the pain and losses of life.  Those who hold on, see his hand of deliverance and restoration and learn, as David did, that God is our rock and our fortress…even when we can’t see it. When the hard times come, we don’t give thanks for the hard times but we give thanks in the hard times.  We do so because we know God is working to bring us out of the darkness into his warming light once again.  He has done so before so we can believe he will do so again. 

Let me encourage you to spend time tracing the hand of God in your life and in your past hardships.  Write it down. It will give you faith for his goodness in your future…even in the midst of hardship.  Blessings in Him today.

Most of us are familiar with the account of Daniel in the lions’ den.  We know he wasTossed into the den for not worshiping King Darius. In the morning he was found to be unharmed because God had shut the mouths of the lions during the night.  This, of course, is a story of faith and obedience and God’s care for those who serve him faithfully.  However, there is another element of the story I want to focus on in this blog.

In Daniel 6, we discover that a number of King Darius’ officials were envious of Daniel because he had the king’s favor and was given a very high position in the kingdom.  These officials schemed against Daniel.  They knew they would never be able to find him negligent or guilty of any mishandling of the king’s business, but might be able to accuse him on the basis of his relationship with his God. Appealing to the king’s vanity, these officials encouraged him to make a decree that for the next 30 days, no one could pray to their God or another human other than Darius.  

These officials knew that Daniel would continue to pray to his God and so “catching him the act,” they reported him to Darius and reminded him of the decree he had issued.  The text says, “When the king heard this, he was greatly distressed; he was determined to rescue Daniel, and made every effort until sundown to save him” (Dan. 6:14).  

Darius was caught by his own words.  He had declared the edict without thinking through the possible ramifications.  Because he was king, his words had authority and once spoken, could not be revoked.  I assume that his “every effort” was a hasty search of Medo-Persian law to find some legal loophole that would allow Daniel to avoid the death penalty.  He could find none, however, and Daniel was tossed to the hungry carnivores.  

When Daniel survived the night, scripture says, “The king was overjoyed and gave orders to lift Daniel out of the den.  And when Daniel was lifted from the den, no wound was found on him because he had trusted in the Lord. At the king’s command, the men who had falsely accused Daniel were brought in and thrown into the lions’ den” (Dan. 6:23-24). 

There are numerous lessons in this story, but my focus for the moment is the danger of declaring things we have not thought out when we are people of authority.  Once spoken, these words can become law and will be enforced whether we want them to or not.  Many of us, as we were growing up, may have ventured to talk back to our mothers.  If we did, we probably her tell us to “watch your mouth.”  That is a biblical concept.

In Matthew 12, we are told, “But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned” (Mt. 12:36-37).  We tend to discount our words and expect we will never be called to account for the things we say.  We declare that we didn’t mean what we said, we were taken out of context, we were misunderstood, we misspoke, etc. How many of our government officials have “plead the fifth” on words they have spoken as they deny what was even caught on video.

So, if we give little thought to our words and expect no real consequences for our verbal declarations, why is Jesus giving such a stern warning?  It is because, in the heavenly realm, our words as believers carry authority.  When we speak, spiritual beings may well act to enforce what we have declared over our families, our health, our finances, our marriage, our children, our nation, our church, etc.  We can plead we didn’t mean it, but if we didn’t mean it, like Darius, we should not have spoken it.

Our words often bring unintended consequences, but we spoke them just the same and we, as followers of Jesus, have authority. If we have the authority to command demons in an act of deliverance, then our other words can command them as well…even if we “didn’t mean it.” How often do we declare curses over ourselves and others because we have not thought through the ramifications of our words

Proverbs counsels us over and over to measure our words and to be thoughtful about everything we say for “the tongue has the power of life and death.”  The New Testament writers counsel (command) us to speak blessings rather than curses, even over our enemies.  Our words have power and authority. Too often we are like Darius who spoke something without considering the ripples his words would send out.  I know better, but I often become careless with my words and speak negatively over situations and outcomes.  I forget that I am speaking death rather than life and that Jesus warns me to measure every word.

May we pray for wisdom and the Holy Spirit to convict us of our words before they even leave our tongues when we begin to speak carelessly.  Our words have consequences for us, our families, our children, and our nation as we move into the days ahead.   We should submit to the spiritual discipline of measuring our words and always speaking life rather than death over any person of circumstance.  It is also true that so much of what we say is so automatic that we are not even conscious of words we say throughout the day as we “pop off” to others.  If we are wise, we may want to invite the people closest to us to remind us when we have been careless and thoughtless with our words so that we may repent and redirect our own tongues.