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

Lay Hands Quickly on No Man

We are in a short series that began as a two-part series but has developed into a four-part series aimed at those who are beginning freedom ministries (or other ministries) in their church or community.  One of Paul’s warnings to Timothy, as a pastor, was not to be hasty in laying hands on others. (1Tim. 5:22). The “laying on of hands” could have two connotations in Timothy’s ministry and both apply to freedom ministries…especially in the developing stages.  When a leader laid hands on someone, he was either symbolically transferring authority for a leadership role or was imparting a spiritual gift…or both.

Paul’s admonition is a caution to delay designating leaders or imparting spiritual gifts until you know the person well enough to be confident that their character, emotional health, or spiritual maturity can bear the weight of the leadership or the gift.  I tend to say “yes” too quickly to people who want to serve in our ministry and have learned the hard way to slow down the process.  I have also learned to involve other people on our team who have strong discernment gifts.  Once someone is on the team, it is a messy process to remove someone whom you discover is not spiritually mature or emotionally healthy enough to be leading.

We should always remember that not only does God draw people to ministries, but so does the enemy.  We shouldn’t be paranoid about designating new leaders and team members but we should be wise and maintain a view for the long-term health of the ministry.  In the early stages of developing a ministry, we are typically desperate for other leaders and spiritually gifted people to be part of our team. We are looking for someone to carry the vision of the ministry with passion and excitement.  We are looking for spiritual gifts that strengthen the ministry.  When a person shows up that apparently has those qualities, we may rush to add them to the team.  Sometimes we’re glad we did so and sometimes, six months down the road, we regret the invitation. The regret sometimes is related to damage that was done to the ministry, but sometimes we regret damage that was done to the person we invited to be on the team.

Team members, especially in freedom ministries, need to be people who have a genuine grasp of their limitations and a genuine dependence on the Lord.  They must be quite willing to submit to others in roles of spiritual leadership because to have authority we must be under authority.  At the same time, those individuals need to have a healthy sense of who they are in Christ and confidence that Jesus can do and will do significant things through them.    

Occasionally, you will encounter genuinely arrogant or prideful people who will want to serve in your ministry…especially if it is impacting the church you serve in and is gaining some notoriety.  The danger is that those individuals always feel that they know better or are more qualified than current leadership.  It may be because they have exceptional spiritual gifts … prophecy, discernment, or a seer gift that peers into the spiritual realm.  Unfortunately, we have discovered that highly gifted people do not always have the character to govern the gift.  They may even have a “spirit of pride” or arrogance that fuels the fire.  In Part 1, we discussed the need to maintain a genuine humility in freedom ministries.  A few spiritually arrogant people on your team can mark the whole ministry.

Arrogant people will always be offended when they are “overlooked” for roles that that they see as significant.  With that mindset, they will either consciously or subconsciously seek to undermine other leaders in an attempt to elevate their own standing in the ministry.  They feel that they should be in charge or, at least, have significant influence, and so they subtly or not so subtly will seek that position. Unfortunately, position and praise tend to simply confirm their own view of themselves that they should be in charge because they are always the smartest, the most correct, or the most spiritual person in the room. 

Jezebel spirits may attack ministries through those men or women  and create division by suggesting that current leadership is not adequate, just as Absalom did in the days of King David (see 2 Samuel 15).  Arrogant or prideful men and women are prime real estate for Jezebel spirits whose primary function is to create division and to undermine leaders through gossip, inuendo, and even sexual sin. A Jezebel spirit will inevitably show up in a freedom ministry, so keep an eye out for the signs of that particular spirit. 

In Part 3 we will talk more about a Jezebel spirit and its impact on ministries as well as choosing other ministry team leaders.

Recently we have had the privilege of working with several parachurch groups and churches that are wanting to launch freedom ministries in their area.  These ministries are full of hope and potential for setting people free and increasing the health and power of the kingdom of God by doing so.  But they are also vulnerable to the strategies of the enemy.

When a ministry is beginning that specifically focuses on healing the brokenness of people and setting them free from demonic oppression, you know that Satan will give that ministry special attention.  If Satan cannot keep individuals from being saved, he will then work hard to limit their effectiveness and fruitfulness in the kingdom.  Keeping them in bondage to fear, anger, distrust, depression, self-hatred, and a bevy of addictions is his ongoing strategy to limit the impact of the kingdom on planet earth.  Freedom ministries confront that agenda head on so we need to be especially aware of his schemes when we serve or lead ministries in those areas.

In this blog and the next, I want to make you aware of a few of the schemes that need to be prayed against, trained against, and sometimes confronted so that those ministries are not weakened or eventually fail.  

Spiritual Arrogance

First of all, there must be an environment  of genuine humility in every freedom ministry.  I have visited with more than one senior pastor who had a bad experience with such ministries in the past and who was not interested in developing a new freedom ministry out of fear of having the same experience.  Their experience was that those within the ministry had begun to see themselves as spiritually superior to those who were not involved or “in-tune” with deliverance, inner healing prayers, words of knowledge, spiritual authority, and so forth. That arrogance damaged relationships and created division within their church.

It’s tempting to slip into a sense of spiritual superiority because freedom ministries are typically bringing something new to the church that people are excited about. It may be the only ministry in the church that is consistently experiencing the supernatural power of God. Suddenly, the “freedom ministry team” knows about spiritual truths that no one else seems to know about.  

In that environment, the flesh is quite willing to feel superior, but that sense of superiority will create division in the church, especially when ministry team members accuse anyone who questions or criticizes them of  “having a demon” or being “spiritually immature.” James 4:7 declares that we can resist the devil and he will flee from us, but the verse before it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.  Submit yourselves, then, to God.”  Unless we humble ourselves before him, he will not empower the ministry and failure will inevitably occur.

One of Satan’s primary strategies is always division, whether in a nation, a family, a church, or a ministry.  Where division exists, love is not operating as it should.   Where love is not operating as it should, spiritual gifts will not be operating as they should.   Division will be spawned by anyone who feels that they are God’s elite in a congregation or community.  Those individuals always see themselves as being right, being more mature than others, and being more approved by God that others.  Criticism and a subtle or not so subtle attempts to undermine other  leadership will be part of the fabric of that elitist mindset.  Obviously, those attitudes reflect the character of Satan, not of Jesus.  When they show up in a ministry, they must be dealt with and corrected immediately.  If those attitudes are displayed in the ministry from day one and demonstrated by core leaders, the corrections will be easier.  You must also maintain the realization that freedom ministries are not for everyone even if they desire to be part of the ministry. 

Freedom ministries are exciting and impactful, but are no more necessary or spiritual than children’s ministry (I would rather face demons any day than two-year old’s), host ministries, worship, or the cleaning crew.  God has called everyone to a ministry and we are simply to be faithful in what he has called us to do while being cheerleaders for those he has called to other things. That attitude must permeate the leadership in any freedom ministry . Division will open the door to the enemy more quickly than anything and pride or arrogance will always create division.  

Next Week…Lay hands Quickly On No Man

There is an axiom in spiritual warfare circles that says, “Whatever or whomever you agree with,  you empower.”  When Adam and Eve aligned their thinking with the serpent’s suggestions about the character of God and eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, in some way they submitted to his authority.  By agreeing with Satan, they joined the ranks of the cursed.

One of the rules of debate is that you never allow your opponent to establish the premise upon which the debate will be argued. If the premise is faulty, there is no way to arrive at the truth. When we agree with Satan, we have inevitably accepted one of his premises that God is not good, that God does not have our best interest in mind, that God is not true to his word, or that God does not have the power to protect us from the enemy. Think about the people you know who have abandoned the faith, and you will recognize that they came into agreement with one of those premises. When Adam aligned his thinking with the serpent’s, he gave up his position as God’s representative ruler over the earth and Satan became the prince of this world.  Agreement matters.

Have you ever seen a child who got a cut or scrape on his hand while playing?  He cries and screams as if he is dying until Mom comforts him and puts a band-aid on the cut.  It’s not long until he is absorbed with other things and forgets all abound his terrible wound…until he notices the bandage again and then, suddenly, he is once again in terrible pain and needs emergency care from his mother.  When he noticed the bandage again, he came into agreement with the idea that his life was in mortal danger from the “terrible wound” he had suffered. The pain that was unnoticeable for a while, suddenly was empowered and became unbearable when he came into agreement with the idea that he was injured.  

It’s not that the child did not have a legitimate wound or did not feel some pain. Agreement simply gave the scratch more power over the child than was warranted. If he had not focused on the band-aisd, he could have conti ned to play and enjoy his day. His focus and his belief about what the band-aid represented side tracked his play time and took him back to a place of fear and pain.

The principle of agreement is found in 2 Corinthians 10:4-5. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

Paul reminds us that there are many things the enemy will throw at us that argue against the truths that God has revealed in his word.   But we are told to take hold of our thoughts and make them obedient to Christ.  That is another way of saying that we must make sure we align our thoughts and words with the truths and promises of God and not with the lies and inuendoes of the enemy.  Like the boy with the band-aid, we must keep our eyes on the promises of God rather than the problems we encounter.  If we focus more on the problem than the promises, we give the problem power in our lives.  If we focus enough, it will begin to have absolute power over our lives. For every problem and every challenge, Jesus and the promises he has purchased for us with his blood are the answer.

Remember when Moses sent the twelve spies into Canaan to check out the land they had been promised by God and were preparing to invade.  Ten came back overwhelmed by the size of the inhabitants and the walled cities in Canaan.  They came into agreement with fear and I’m sure the doubt that Satan had been whispering in their ears.  There words reflect their agreement with the problem and the whispers of the enemy. “We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes and we looked the same to them” (Num.13:33).     Joshua and Caleb declared that with God’s help they could surely take the land.  The ten never entered the promise-land while Joshua and Caleb were honored by God for their agreement with him. They entered the land and took possession of it.  

We are certainly facing challenges right now – Covid19, divisive politics, racism, a nuclear Iran, and a controversial election that threatens to splinter America even more than it already is.  Every headline and every news report is leavened with fear and hate.  Too many believers are believing the headlines rather than the promises of God.  

If we spend more time watching CNN or browsing social media than we do meditating on the promises of God, we will find ourselves in agreement with the world and the prince of this world rather than being in agreement with God. Our lives will be infected with fear and hopelessness rather than faith and courage.  If there ever was a time that we need to make every thought obedient to Christ, this is that time. I see believers shrinking back in fear, seeing themselves as grasshoppers when the word of God promises us his presence, his protection, and his provision.  Mediate on his promises and thank him for who he is for us.  If you have come into agreement with fear and anger, repent.  Change that today.  Psalm 91 and Romans 8 are two great places to live right now.  You might begin and end every day by spending time in those passages.

As the writer of Hebrews declares: So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For in just a very little while, “He who is coming will come and will not delay. But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him.” But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved. Heb. 10:35-11:1