If you minister in deliverance on any kind of regular basis, you will minister to people who are manifesting some kind of demonic spirit that will not come out when it should be coming out.  At some point,  you will have to search for something that is continuing to give that spirit a right to hold on to the individual to whom you are ministering.  Sometimes we miss the “something” because we are making assumptions about the person that we have not confirmed. For instance, we may assume they are saved because they attend church when they have never actually entered in to a covenant relationship with Jesus.  They may not believe that Jesus is more powerful than demons.  They may have a sin or a sinful relationship that they are not truly willing to give up.  Perhaps, there is still unforgiveness toward another or a judgment towards another person they have not renounced.  Maybe they have placed a judgment on God.

In spiritual warfare, one primary principle is that we must never come into agreement with Satan. If we agree with him, we empower him in our lives, give him influence, and give him a legal right to operate in our lives and family.   The principle is first seen in Genesis 3 in the Garden of Eden.  Satan, in the form of a serpent, engaged Adam and Eve in a dialogue about God and his commandments.  If you read the text, by way of a question, the serpent hinted that God was unfairly withholding good things from Adam and Eve. Satan was questioning God’s character.  The question hinted that God might be selfish, withholding, egocentric, and did not have their best interests in mind after all. 

As the dialogue continued, it is clear that Adam and Eve began to buy into the serpent’s view of God.  They judged God by choosing to distrust his command and his motives.  As a result, they ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and lost their place in Eden. Of course, their view of God suggested by Satan was a lie, but their agreement was enough for Satan to claim the authority on the earth that had once belonged to Adam.

When ministering deliverance to broken people, it is not unusual for those individuals to feel as if God has betrayed them or abandoned them at some time in their past.  Perhaps, they feel that God didn’t protect them or someone they loved when they were wounded, abused, or even died in some tragic incident.  They feel that God allowed some loss he could have prevented or that he was unfair in something he did.  When they hold that view of God, they have judged him and come into agreement with Satan and that agreement gives the enemy legal access to them.

You may want to explore their past hurts and see what their view of God is regarding those hurts.  If we doubt God’s goodness or righteousness, we will be a fertile field for the lies of the enemy to take root. Those conversations are not always easy but we need to be prepared for them.  Asking Jesus to speak to them about those hurts can be a powerful way to uproot the lies of the enemy.  Some conversation about the nature of free will may also be in order. Sometimes the individual has been only vaguely aware of the view he or she has been holding about God and once they recognize it are very willing to renounce the judgment they have placed on the Creator, which removes the demon’s legal right to continue to afflict the individual.

Even in our own lives, we can begin to questions God’s goodness or fairness without recognizing where that will lead.  If we are to navigate life and the troubles that Jesus told us we would face, we need to be anchored in a belief that, no matter what, God is good and he is good toward us.  If he is not…why pray?  If he is not…how can we have faith?  But he is good and all his judgments and actions are righteous.  All my experiences must be interpreted through that lens.  I may have to live with some mystery, but I cannot move off of those convictions or Satan will surely lead me away.  

Whenever we are ministering to hurting people, it is a good idea to explore their view of God and, if needed, to gently lead them back to the truth about who God is and his love for that person.  Remind them of the good things that God has done for them and help them understand that we live in a world where bad things can happen to good people.  It is the nature and risk of free will.  God has not promised to keep all trouble from us, but he has promised to walk with us in those troubles and see us to the other side. Be blessed today and stand on the truth that God is good…all the time.

I am part of a church that recognizes the reality of the spiritual realm…both angelic and demonic.  We talk about it, pray about it, and exercise spiritual gifts that touch the unseen realm.  Because of that, I often forget that a large portion of the American and western European church still gives little thought to the reality of the spiritual realm or spiritual warfare. These churches do seem to be comfortable with the idea of angels … especially, guardian angels watching over our children.  However, I wonder how many actually believe in the constant activity of angels or just think of angels in vague ways as a nice sentiment or a comforting thought with little reality behind the notion…kind of like Santa Claus?

In his book, Deliverance from Evil Spirits. Francis MacNutt wrote a chapter entitled, “Do Demons Really Exist?”  Let me quote a little from that chapter.  “Two hundred years ago few Christians questioned whether Satan and the demonic realm were real. Then there would have been no need to write a chapter like this. Even as recently as 1972, Pope Paul VI, reaffirming the age-old understanding of scripture (and human experience) wrote:  ‘It is contrary to the teaching of the Bible or the Church to refuse to recognize the existence of such a reality…or to explain it as a pseudo-reality, a conceptual and fanciful personification of the unknown causes of our misfortunes…’” The Pope would not have written that unless many were trying to write off the teachings of scripture about the kingdom of darkness as mythology and quaint stories told to explain why bad things happen in this world.

MacNutt goes on to say, “As we read through the Gospels, we cannot help but be struck by the extraordinary numbers of references to Jesus confronting Satan and the whole realm of demons. A major theme in the New Testament is the clash between the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Satan. The climax of human history, in fact, occurs when God, in Jesus, overpowers Satan and frees the human race from Satan’s dominion. Nor do I propose that the ministry of deliverance is simply one minor ministry among many that need to be resurrected in today’s Church, but that Jesus’ ministry of deliverance is central to an understanding of the gospel. ‘The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work’ (1 Jn.3:8).”  

Paul clearly states that our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against spiritual forces of evil (Eph.6).  He then discusses the necessity of implementing divine weapons in 2 Corinthians 10 because our enemy must be faced in the spiritual realm with spiritual weapons if we are to overcome him.  Currently, the activity of the demonic is raging in America because our national leaders have opened the door for him by declaring evil things to be good and good things to be evil. Many believers are being tormented, oppressed, and defeated and are unaware of the source of that oppression and torment.

Charismatic churches are exploding in third world countries because they bring the power of God into the battle against the demonic forces these people recognize and deal with through witch doctors and shamans. It is in the west that Satan has become invisible.  I didn’t say inactive, but invisible. He is invisible because our material, technological culture denies his existence. Many of us have a world view that simply filters out any recognition of his reality or activity. We see the same symptoms in people that were diagnosed as demonic affliction in the Bible, but diagnose them as psychiatric or physiological conditions that can hopefully be managed with medications.  Most Christian counselors will recommend medications for emotional torment but would never suggest deliverance.  The Biblical model demands that we seriously consider both forms of healing when ministering to the illness, torment, and bondage of people.

During the Civil War in America, we are told that more men died from infections than from actual gunshot wounds. The enemy was unseen bacteria. There was little understanding of the cause of infection and the care of wounds, so bacteria thrived and infections went untreated.  What was unseen and unrecognized caused thousands of deaths and amputations.  In the west, Satan seems to operate unseen and unrecognized because we have placed the demonic realm in the category of fiction or superstition.   Satan, then, has free reign to do as he wants as long as he can masquerade as mental illness or some rare physiological condition that is yet to respond to treatment. All the drugs in the world will not expel a demon and so mental health facilities cannot keep up with demand.  I know that Covid is a real thing but I also believe there are spiritual dimensions to Covid that have made the reality much more destructive than it has to be…especially spirits of fear, suicide, depression, distrust, isolation, and so forth.

I am not saying that all depression, suicidal thoughts, gender confusion, rage, violence, and so forth is demonic. But some of it or much of it is or is magnified by demonic spirits.  When Paul said that our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against spiritual entities and forces of evil, he wasn’t speaking metaphorically.

The western world has enthroned science and “reason” above revelation.  Many Christians have done the same and are even embarrassed to talk about things like demons and supernatural healing as if those are vestiges of some ignorant superstition that used to infect the church.  Many Christians often exhaust all natural healing possibilities before even beginning to pray for healing because they believe more in science than the promises of God.  However, Satan is very real and is still very active. I can’t list all the people we have ministered to over the past twenty years or so that were set free by Jesus in a few minutes while their therapists and medications had only been able to take the edge off their pain, fear, depression, or despair for years. They were delivered because someone believed the Bible and that biblical realities don’t go away as technology advances.

Doctors can help a great deal when the issue is rooted in the natural realm and I am very thankful for the grace if medicine.   But Jesus is the only physician that can provide a cure when the issue is rooted in the spiritual realm.  Wise people will consider both realms when someone needs help and discern where the root lies.  In many cases, both realms will need to be engaged, because all of us are both physical and spiritual and are touched by both realms.  To deny the demonic realm because it makes us uncomfortable or because it doesn’t fit the cultural view of reality is like a person who refuses to get a checkup for cancer because they are afraid of what they might find. In both cases, early diagnosis and treatment is the best approach.  Both cancer and Satan produce devastating results when they go unnoticed and untreated.

The gospel of Jesus Christ will never meet its full potential in the lives of God’s people until his church universally accepts biblical realities and goes to war with an unseen, but very real enemy.  The victory is already ours, but it still must be enforced because demons tend to be non-compliant types who won’t get out just because an eviction notice came in the mail.

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It’s hard to watch the news, read the paper, or listen to the radio these days without feeling overwhelmed, angry, discouraged and even fearful.  Whether its Covid, the economy, educational challenges, supply chain woes, or divisive politics, it hard not to feel as if everything is out of control and spiraling down.  When we feel helpless, it is because we forget who we are and whose we are.  

The prophet Isaiah also lived in a time of cultural decline, turbulent politics, economic woes and constant military threats. During that time, God spoke to him and said…

As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it 

without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, 

but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. Isaiah 55:9-11

In the beginning, God’s word had the creative power to reach into absolutely nothing and produce the heavens and the earth, the seen and the unseen.  The prophet Isaiah declared that the power of God’s word had not diminished and would still accomplish his purposes when it went forth from his mouth. We discover later that he often used the mouths of his prophets to launch his words on this planet. The beginning verses of Jeremiah confirm that God often chooses to send forth his word through the lips of his people.

But the Lord said to me, ‘Do not say, I am only a child. You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,’ declares the Lord. Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, ‘Now, 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 overthrow, to build and to plant.’  Jer. 1:7-10

God’s original intent was to rule the earth through his people who would represent him and rule as he would rule. Psalms 114:16 declares, “The highest heavens belong the Lord, but the earth he has given to mankind.”  He commanded Adam and Eve to subdue the earth and rule over it.  Initially, Adam was to be the “prince of this world.” But after his sin in the Garden at Satan’s prompting, he turned his authority over to Satan.  Satan then used his authority to distort and make perverse everything  God loved.

However, God still determined to rule this planet through his people and so God’s will was often declared by those he appointed as prophets.  Their declarations became a starting gun for God’s will to be manifested on the earth. Because God still intends to rule this planet through his people, he often honors that intent by waiting on us to pray or declare his word over a situation before he acts.  Jeremiah never led an army or a rebellion, but by declaring the word that God put in his mouth, nations and kingdoms were torn down and built up.  As God’s word was declared, God moved to make that word fulfill its purpose.

If we don’t understand this principle, then we will often wait on God to act while he is waiting on us to pray and declare his word, his promises, and his blessings over people or situations.  We are now his representatives on the earth and each of us walk in the authority of Christ while the Spirit of prophecy lives within us. If the Holy Spirit gives us a word or places something on our hearts, we need to begin to pray into it and declare what God wants to do.  Because he honors our position on the earth, he waits on us. 

Sometimes, I forget the role and the importance that God has given us (me) on the earth.  The enemy whispers that I am insignificant and weak while just the opposite is actually true. Sometimes, I get weary and lay aside the mantle God has given me as his authorized representative.  Sometimes, I slip into a season of “unbelief” about who I am in Christ and have to be reminded.  

Paul uses the metaphors of soldiers and athletes as he describes the Christian life.  Each of those must train, fight, endure, and remember the prize if they are to experience victory.  God wants to rule this earth through us. Our prayers, our declarations, our actions that release light and goodness into this world all matter and matter every day.  

In this season of national division and insanity, it is easy to believe we can’t make a difference and that all is lost.  But remember, the fervent, effective prayer of a righteous man accomplishes much.  We have more influence than we think and are more powerful than we imagine because of who we represent.  Don’t give up.  Pray harder, declare more.  Remember that you are launching the will of God on the earth each time his word goes forth from your lips.  Be encouraged.

As the emphasis on transgenderism, same sex attraction, and sexual identity continues to grow in America, we need to know what God says about these things so that we know we have firm footing wherever we stand.  Our senior pastor is about to preach on these issues so some of our discussions around his sermons has prompted me to share some of my thoughts in this blog.

The first time gender is mentioned in scripture is in the first chapter of Genesis where we are told, “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” (Gen.1:27).  

God created two sexes, both of which have been made in his image. In the beginning, before sin shattered our relationship with God and our environment, God made men and women.  If we follow the science (real science) we are told that there are vast differences between men and women – not just physically but also in their hormones, brain chemistry, and so forth. There is a real sense in which men and women complete and compliment each other.  That was God’s plan from the beginning and there is no biblical suggestion that God was ever going to change his mind about his creation, the nature of marriage, or that there are more than  two genders.  A man is to leave his father and mother and be united to his wife and they are to become one flesh. Jesus quoted the same scripture in his teachings about God’s intent for marriage.

Now, we have to account for all the views on sexuality, gender confusion, transgenderism and so forth that we see championed around us these days. The confusion around sexual identity was not introduced by God, but by sin when Adam and Eve stepped into Satan’s trap in the Garden and forfeited their authority over the earth.  At the point of their ejection from the Garden, not only did they lose their intimate spiritual connection with God, but became subject to both death and sickness.  The natural realm became subject to decay (Rom. 8:21). Satan took authority over the earth and began immediately to distort God’s creation. 

In my forty years of ministry, I have seen several things that contributed to gender confusion in men and women.  One is trauma.  When a boy or girl is molested at a young age, especially by the same sex, it seems to create questions about the individual’s sexual identity as he or she grows up.  Typically, shame and fear are both attached to the experience. None of that is brought about by God, but by sin and Satan who comes to kill, steal and destroy. 

A second source of gender confusion and, eventually, homosexual relationships can be spiritual.  I have personally ministered to several people (men and women) who were afflicted by a spirit of homosexuality or lesbianism to the degree that they pursued the lifestyle.  In these cases, deliverance set them free from their confusion and their God-given sexual identity was restored.

A third source I have seen is misinformation.  I have also personally ministered to individuals who decided that they must be “gay” because they had developed emotional ties to others of the same sex.  Scripture is clear that both men and women (David & Jonathan / Ruth and Naomi, etc. ) could be extremely close emotionally and relationally without being homosexual. Our culture has put a sexual imprint on every relationship so that we confuse love with sex.  We think that if we love someone, that love must have a sexual expression.  It does not.  Scripture says that David and Jonathan’s souls were knit together, but both were healthy heterosexual men.  One of the young men to whom I have ministered thought he must be gay and, therefore, became homosexually active with a friend although he had no sexual attraction to the other man.  After discovering that he could have deep friendships with men and not be “gay,” he was able to leave the lifestyle.  Solomon said, “There is a friend, who is closer than a brother.”  In our culture, Satan has perverted both sex and friendship.  The church needs to redeem both from a broken culture sl that men and women can love one another without a perverse sexual component.

We must also acknowledge a fourth source of gender confusion.  When the earth was cursed because of sin and became subject to decay, genetic damage and sinful predispositions also became part of the gene pool that gets passed down from generation to generation.  In the same way that birth defects are a side effect of sin and decay in the natural realm, due to genetic distortions that vary from God’s original intent, gender confusion can be experienced in the same way. Research suggests that we can be born with a propensity toward alcoholism or other addictions.  It also suggests that even emotional predispositions such as fear, anger, or depression can be transmitted generationally through genes.  It may also be that gender confusion is passed down through genetic codes. 

Each of these sources of gender confusion arise from the effects of sin on the world.  There is something so holy about our sexuality, that Satan has targeted that part of God’s creation with a vengeance.  Lust, pornography, human sex trafficking, sexual abuse, molestation, incest, transgenderism, and even homosexuality are a distortion of God’s intent for our gender identity and our expression of God-given sexuality. 

The first key to dealing with these issues is to understand that these are not part of God’s plan for his people. We don’t have to demonize those who have been victimized by sin and Satan.  In fact, we should love and have great compassion for who struggle in these areas.  Many of these men and women are truly tormented. Having said that, we cannot enable the pursuit, normalization, or even glorification of these things that depart from God’s intent.

For every sin, God has a solution.  For every wrong path, God has a way back.  Whether truth sets us free, deliverance, emotional healing, physical healing or simply the grace to say “No” to sin, as believers we cannot bow to cultural pressures orchestrated by the enemy to compromise God’s intent when it comes to gender and sexuality.  If we come into agreement with Satan on any of these issues, we empower him in our nation and our own lives. We must have faith for a solution so that every person damaged by sin can be redeemed and walk in a right relationship with the Lord. To do less, is to miss the mark.

In his book, The Jesus I Never Knew, Philip Yancey wrote, “How easily do we who live in material bodies devalue the world of spirit. It occurs to me that although Jesus spent much time on issues such as hypocrisy, legalism, and pride, I know of no television ministry devoted to healing those “spiritual” problems, yet I know of many that center on physical ailments. Just as I begin feeling smug, however, I remember how easily I am tormented by the slightest bout with physical suffering, and how seldom I feel tormented by sin.”

His point is that we focus too often on the material and physical part of our existence and seem to look to the spiritual only as a last resort.  In our healing and deliverance ministries, we must be careful not to be only concerned about emotional health and freedom from the demonic while not being concerned about developing the character of Christ in our people.

I have seen believers who were crushed by the weight of their freedom because they felt that their freedom was the stamp of God’s approval on their lives.  Torment had driven them to Jesus.  Freedom somehow took their eyes off the Lord and placed it on the pleasures of the world.  The outcome was ugly.  Some spirits returned and found the house clean and orderly.  They moved back in and brought a lot of friends. 

Even when praying for physical healing, we often think the only issue is faith.  But often, unconfessed and unrepented sin get in the way of healing.  James tells is that we must confess our sins to one another and pray for one another that healing might follow (Ja.5:16). In a rush to help people, we often pray before we help them examine their lives.  Our spiritual condition is ultimately much more important than our physical or emotional well-being.  

Freedom and healing need to be steps in the process of discipleship, not ends in themselves.  I believe that emotional healing and freedom from the demonic are God’s will for our lives, but we must not offer them as stand-alone benefits, but as an expression of God’s love and power that are simply aids to becoming like Jesus.  When ministering to people, I often have to remember to slow down. Do some work before praying or before deliverance.  As Yancy suggests, we may need to come to a place of being tormented by our sinfulness before attacking the other torments in our lives.  Just a thought.

Once upon a time, when I was many years younger and many pounds lighter, I had some talent for track and loved the sport.  One of my minor heroes in life has been an Englishman named Roger Bannister. When Roger was young, he was severely burned in a fire. Doctors told his parents that he would probably never walk again. Not only did he walk but he also began to run. Not only did he run, but also he became a world-class runner in college. Bannister competed  during an era when running a mile in under four-minutes was a dream that seemed impossible. In fact, doctors and scientists believed that the human body was not capable of such speed over that distance and believed that anyone who actually broke the mark would suffer irreparable damage to his body. Fortunately, Bannister did not “follow the science” in the matter.

On May 6, 1954, Roger Bannister did what most believed was impossible. He ran the mile in 3 minutes 59.4 seconds.   Within three years, sixteen other individuals had broken the four-minute barrier. So what happened? Did mankind suddenly make a spontaneous, evolutionary jump? No, a change in perception made the difference. When one man broke the barrier, others suddenly believed that they could do so as well. Through the centuries, psychological barriers have proven to be more formidable that physical barriers.

Jesus said, “Have faith in God. I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours^” (Mk. 11:2-24).

Often, we believe that great changes are made when large numbers of people begin to act or think in certain ways. But every movement has been given impetus by one person who did what others  believed they could not do. God is looking for those individuals, men and women, who will step out and do what others have believed to be impossible. When they do, other believers will follow.

There have been seasons in the church when miracles were the norm.  Certainly in the first century church, the gifts of the Spirit propelled the church into great seasons of revival.  Some of the gifts listed in 1 Corinthians 12-14 were, of course, prophecy, healings, miracles, tongues, interpretation of tongues, words of knowledge, etc.  On top  of that, dreams and visions seem to have been standard fare in the church.  

There have been others seasons when God healed in amazing sways through revivalists in the 1800’s and 1900’s in England and America.  Each time a season of the miraculous sprang up, atheists and agnostics along with “educated and dignified” believers were quick to write off such happenings as foolishness, superstition, and emotionalism.  The Pharisees in the first century did the same and even went as far as to credit the devil with the miracles, instead of God.

Over the last 300 years, the American and European church has, for the most part, denied the miraculous intervention of God and called those who claimed to heal and prophecy frauds and con men.  

However, In the past 50 years, a new generation of believers has embraced the supernatural once again and claims healings, prophecies, tongues, miracles, dreams, visions, and even the raising of the dead.  Of course, orthodox believers and intellectuals in the church still deny the reality of such things other than as a deception from the enemy.

But, I am convinced that  in the heart of every believer is a secret longing to see God do now what he did throughout the scriptures.  We long to see the glory of God demonstrated in the power of the Holy Spirit.  Many believers long to see it, but are afraid to believe because the paragons of their faith  have told them that God no longer works in those ways.

I believe God wants an army of spiritual Roger Bannisters who will believe that God is the same today as he has always been and, as he was always willing to display his power on behalf of his people, he still is.  I know that in many churches, if just one they knew were too break the miracle barrier, others would believe it possible and soon would break the barrier with him or her

Of course, there is risk in standing up for the supernatural move of God.  You might be distrusted.  You might be ridiculed.  You might be strongly encouraged not to “mislead the faithful” with such ideas.  On the other hand, you might just break the four minute barrier and open the door to an amazing move of God in your own circle  of influence.  

For those of us who want to believe God for miracles, the challenge is typically not whether we believe he can do such things, but that he will.  I met a man a couple of years ago that had moved away to become part of a church where a great number of miracles were reported on a regular basis.  After being there a year or two, he moved back to our area.  I asked him how the experience had changed him.  He said the real change for him was that he now expected God to move in miraculous ways, rather than just hoping he would.  

If we need that transformation in our own lives, we don’t have to move away but we may need to take some trips to actually see men and women “breaking the four minute mile” so that our own barriers of unbelief can be shattered.  

In the track world, a four minute mile is no longer considered impossible, but is simply a measure of any “decent runner.”  Wouldn’t it be amazing, if the church no longer considered the miraculous move of God to be impossible, but simply considered it to the the measure of any “decent church?”

The story of David illustrates the principle. As y of course, ou recall, Israel and Philistia had gone to war. Each army encamped along the hillsides on either side of a valley. Each day, a nine foot “giant” named Goliath would come out to challenge the army of Israel calling for someone to step out and face him man to man. Every day for forty days, Goliath issued the challenge. Not one man would take him up on his dare. Clearly, the entire army of Israel believed that defeating Goliath was impossible.

Then one afternoon, David was sent by his father Jessie to check on his brothers and to see how the battle was going. David witnessed Goliath’s taunts and offered to face the giant himself. He offered because he believed that God makes all things possible. Although the experienced soldiers in the army of Israel tried to convince David that he could not win against such an imposing figure, David ignored them and the rest is history. David charged Goliath was a sling and dropped the giant with one stone. He then proceeded to take Goliath’s own sword and cut off his head for good measure. Suddenly, the entire Israeli army that had shown no taste for battle for forty days charged the Philistine army and won a great victory. When one man, by faith, broke a spiritual barrier others had considered impossible, they suddenly had faith for their own victory.

Later, David gathered a number of men around him that were referred to as David’s mighty men. These thirty or so men accomplished great, almost impossible deeds on their own including one of them killing a large Egyptian about the size of Goliath (See 2 Sam. 23, 1 Chron.11-12). I suspect that David’s faith and his willingness to do what others would not do inspired those who followed him.

I believe, God is looking for “Davids” and “spiritual Roger Bannisters” in every generation who, by faith, will do what Jesus did and even greater things. When one does, others will suddenly have the faith and a whole generation will follow. We should ask God to make us that person for our family, our church, our fellowship and the kingdom of God. Faith is about breaking psychological barriers that reason against what God says is true and possible. Jesus walked on water by faith. He stilled storms by faith. He healed the sick raised the dead in the same way. He asks us to believe that through him we can shatter barriers. When by faith and tenacity one believer breaks the barrier, others will quickly follow. So what is your four-minute mile? What spiritual barrier will you overcome so that others will follow? Ask God to show you.

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Have you ever noticed that the gospels often provide little snippets of three or four verses that make you raise an eyebrow, but then we often run on to other things that are more clearly illustrated?  I think the cursing of the fig tree in Matthew 21 and Mark 11 is one of those.  The narrative in both gospels tells us that early in the morning, as Jesus was walking from Bethany to Jerusalem, he was hungry. He saw a fig tree in the distance, but as he drew near, he noticed it had leaves but no fruit.  He then cursed the fig tree and it began to wither immediately. Mark tells us that when the disciples and Jesus passed that way again the next morning, they saw that the tree was totally dead.  The disciples pointed out the obvious and then Jesus told them that whatever they ask for in faith they will receive.  

If we just run past that, it would be easy to believe that Jesus cursed the fig tree as an example of faith, but I think there is more to the story.  It is the only example I know of where faith brought death rather than life and a withering instead of a healing.  It seems that the fig tree would have been a greater example of faith if Jesus had blessed it and, in the morning, it had been burgeoning with perfect fruit.

If you look at Mark’s narrative, you find that Jesus cursed the tree and then went on to the temple where he drove out those who were selling merchandise in the temple courts.  He did so while declaring that the temple should be a house of prayer rather than a den of thieves.  Both Matthew and Mark state that the fig tree had leaves but no fruit.  From a distance, it looked healthy, but with close inspection, it was bearing no fruit, which was its God-given purpose.  The temple and Israel’s religious leaders may have looked grand and godly from a distance, but on close inspection they were failing to fulfill their God-given purpose.  The whole nation of Israel was in that condition and soon felt the full brunt of the curse of the fig tree when Rome destroyed both the temple and Jerusalem in 70 A.D.

There are numerous examples in scripture in which trees that are not bearing fruit are eventually cut down and thrown into the fire (example: Matt. 3:10, 7:19).  Although, the initial application is probably the nation of Israel, I think we should also examine our own lives to see if we are bearing fruit for the kingdom.  I see many believers who once served actively and intentionally in the kingdom, but have long since quit doing so.  Some go to church from time to time, but don’t serve there.  They don’t share the gospel with those they encounter in their daily lives.  They don’t serve the poor or the oppressed in their communities.  They don’t labor in prayer for others.  They live a rather moral life and do the things that bless their own lives and their families, but not the lives of others in any direct way.  With any objective measure, they are no longer a force for the kingdom of God.  

One of Satan’s great strategies is busyness.  We give into the constant demands of the world – a standard of living that takes seventy hours a week to maintain, a social agenda for us and our children that is exhausting, and a life with no margins for intentional serving or quality time with the Lord. When we have to choose, we usually choose the demands of the world because God is not threatening us or pressuring us like the world does.  

We need to see the hand of Satan in all of this.  I’m always amazed at Jesus.  He could have easily let the demands of notoriety and building his ministry overwhelm him, but he never seemed to be in a hurry.  In fact, in his busiest moments, rather than working harder or putting in more hours, he often slipped away from the crowds and his ministry for time with the Father.  

Jesus is the vine and we are the branches. Our fruitfulness depends on our connection.  The greater our connection, the greater the fruit.  In the kingdom of God, fruit is a big deal.  Read through the gospels with an eye to fruitfulness and you will see how important it is – for a nation or a person.  

I need to be reminded that busyness is not the same as fruitfulness.  Pastors can get so busy with “the work of the church” that our time with the Father gets neglected.  When I labor without spending significant time with the father, I can bear little fruit that matters.  I thought you might need a reminder as well.  

Take an inventory.  See how you spend your time, your energy, and your money. See if you can clearly identify the ways in which you are intentionally bearing fruit in the kingdom.  If need be, reprioritize and take action to redirect some, if not all, of your life.  Then set times to take inventory of your priorities on a regular basis so that you don’t skip back into old habits.  Most importantly, be honest with yourself about what you are doing and why.  Blessings in Him.

Throughout the gospels, Jesus performed miracles. Because of those miracles, crowds gathered…sometimes massive crowds. No matter what he had done, however, the skeptics in the crowd kept asking for more.  Changing water to wine while healing the blind, the lame, the deaf, the leprous outcasts, and raising the dead was simply not sufficient proof in their minds. They kept asking for a more convincing sign or miracle. On several occasions, Jesus said that the only sign he would give them was the sign of his resurrection.  For the most part, they still did not believe.

I love miracles.  I like to go where people are being healed. I like to see demons driven out in the name of Jesus.  I want to see someone raised from the dead and I believe that is happening today in this world by the power of the Holy Spirit.  And yet, I am often reminded that we need to keep miracles in perspective.  Yes…they point people to God.  And yes, they are often a continuing expression of God’s grace and compassion in a totally fallen world. But they are not always the evangelistic tool we believe them to be.  

We may wonder how anyone could see the works of Jesus and not fully believe….and yet the majority of those who personally witnessed them did not become his followers.  We must acknowledge the axiom that faith produces miracles but miracles do not always produce faith. Certainly, the religious leaders of his day seemed to be inoculated against any faith that would arise from witnessing a miracle.  On the other hand, one thing I have discovered is that radically changed lives are the greater miracles and the greater testimony.  

I remember the story of a little boy who told his agnostic teacher at school that he believed in Jesus.  The teacher sarcastically asked the little boy if he actually believed that Jesus turned water into wine.  The boy replied, “I don’t know about that, but I know he changed beer into bread at my house.” Perhaps, that is a greater miracle than raising the dead.  Sometimes, a supernatural act of God creates faith to change lives, but more often it is the love and acceptance of the body of Christ toward those who have only known rejection that makes Jesus real to them.

I’m not against miracles.  I’m all for them.  But we can’t forget the words of Jesus who said that the world would recognize his followers by their love, not their miracles.  1 Corinthians 13, clearly announces the truth that we can have all the spiritual gifts, that we can speak in the tongues of men and angels, and that we can have faith to move mountains…but if all of that is not motivated by love, then they are of no value.  So as we pursue the gifts and the miraculous, let’s pray even harder for love than we do for the gifts.

One of the most illuminating passages in scripture regarding spirituawarfare is found in the Book of Daniel.  In chapter 10, Daniel had a disturbing dream that he did not understand but could not shake.  He was confident that it was a prophetic dream from the Lord but had the wisdom not to venture the interpretation on his own.  Instead, he asked the Lord for the meaning of the dream and began to fast while he waited for his answer.  After twenty-one days of continued prayer and fasting, David was visited by an angel.

The angel spoke to him saying, “Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. But the prince ofthe Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia. Now I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the future, for the vision concerns a time yet to come” (Dan. 10:12-14).

In summary, the first day that Daniel prayed, God dispatched a powerful angel with the interpretation of the dream. However, a demonic prince assigned to the nation of Persia intercepted the angel and opposed him in the heavenly realm for twenty-one days.  The angel sent by God could not have completed his mission unless Michael the archangel had come to take up the battle.  What we see in this passage is that there is often demonic resistance to the answers to our prayers.  Part of me doesn’t like the notion that demons may work so that my prayers are hindered or side-tracked altogether, but it is a biblical theme.

I sense that most of us want to believe that once we lift up a prayer, there is nothing left to do.  Our sense is that Elohim (God Almighty) will command and everything will immediately fall into place.  But scripture suggests otherwise…at least in some circumstances. Sometimes, there is still a battle to be fought. As Israel was taking the promised land from enemy tribes, there were times that they simply watched and saw God route the enemy.  Sometimes in a moment of confusion and fear, enemy soldiers would turn on one another and kill each other.  At other times, God would convince an enemy army that another army was bearing down on them and they would flee. Later on in Israel’s history, God sent an angel among an army at night to slay thousands so that in the morning, those that remained alive would simply flee.  But most of the time, Israel had to wade into battle and trust that as they fought God would give them the victory.  Sometimes the battle lasted all day and into the night until Israel’s troops were exhausted.

In the same way that God limits his own sovereignty on the earth and chooses not to control every aspect of life here (free will),  he apparently has done the same in the spiritual realm.  There he also allows free will for the angels.  Satan and a third of the heavenly hosts exercised that free will as they rebelled against the King of Heaven and were banished to earth. Apparently, he also allows the enemy to resist his will and our prayers on earth. Typically, our part the battle is to persevere in prayer and faith as Daniel did until the answer manifests.

If I’m honest, I like instant.  I want to pray for healing and see cancer disappear overnight.  I want to pray for a marriage and see a supernatural change of heart before I meet with the couple the next week.  I want to pray for a job for a friend and hear that the phone rang the next day with an amazing offer.  And sometimes, I see an instant answer to prayer.  Bur at other times, I see nothing for days,  weeks,  months and maybe years.  

Here is the question. When I don’t see immediate answers do I assume that God is not going to say “yes” to that prayer or do I continue to pray, believing that I am partnering with heaven in overcoming demonic opposition? I believe that if Daniel had ceased to pray and fast after a few days, Michael would not have been sent to the battle and the other angel would not have delivered the interpretation of the dream.  

Sometimes there is war In heaven that has been activated by our prayers.  Sometimes, the war is in our hearts as Satan whispers unbelief and discouragement so that our prayers will cease before the victory is won.  Sometimes the battle is in the courts of heaven where “the accuser of the brethren” finds charges that he can bring against us in opposition to our prayers.  Those charges might be found in us when we have not forgiven those who have wronged is or have not repented of some persistent sin in our lives.  Sometimes, sin or a curse may exist in the life of the one we are praying for so that Satan has the right to oppose our prayers for the other.  

As we pray, we need to ask the Holy Spirit to show us what is giving Satan the right to oppose our prayers and then deal with those issues through the cross.  When we minister deliverance to people, we often encounter a spirit that is highly resistant to our commands. Typically, he is resistant because something in the life of the demonized person is still giving him a legal right to afflict him/her.   When the person or the Holy Spirit reveals the issue and it is dealt with through the cross the demon is then easily driven out.  

There are times when our prayers are quickly answered, but there are many times when we will have to contend for the answers.  We are not contending with God but with the enemy who wants to thwart God’s will on earth and wreck our destinies. I think we often give up too soon when prayers aren’t quickly answered.  In Matthew 7, Jesus said, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”  In the original language, the verbs tell us to keep on asking, keep on seeking, and keep on knocking in order to receive those things.  In Luke 18, we are told that Jesus imparted a parable so that his disciples would always pray and never give up.   Endurance is a key to spiritual warfare and victory.

If you have quit praying for something that you are confident is God’s will, pick it up again and begin to pray, declare, and command.  If you are just beginning to pray for something, know that you may see the instant answer, but you may also be required to wage war in your prayers for weeks to come.  

Victor Frankl was an Austrian neurologist, psychiatrist, philosopher and author who was also a survivor of German concentrations camps in World War II.  In his book, Man’s Search for Meaning, he wrote that the difference he saw in the men who survived the camps and those who didn’t, was the central issue of “meaning.”  Those who found no meaning in their suffering, succumbed and died.  Those who could find some meaning for what they were experiencing, some redeeming purpose for their suffering, survived.  I would argue that our greatest need today is still to find meaning for our life and our experiences.  Having suicide rates at all-time highs in a nation still prosperous and full of opportunities tells me that people, young and old, cannot find a reason to go on when life gets hard and disappointment dims their dreams.

Before coming to Christ, I struggled with depression as a college student.  Even in my 20’s, I already sensed a futility to life.  The idea of simply working for 75 years to bring home a pay check and then to die, was a very unfulfilling view of my future.  I had no sense of who I was or why I was or of any purpose beyond the moment. The thought of the rest of my life feeling that way was debilitating.  Discovering Jesus changed that. Jesus and the destiny assigned to me in heaven, gave my life purpose – not just for the years I have in this body, but for eternity.  When I began to discover who God had made me to be, I found fulfillment in the path laid out for me.

Satan loves to blind us from our purpose and the meaning that every experience has for our destiny.  One of his primary strategies is to make us feel disqualified for anything beyond disappointments and failures.  He takes those setbacks and whispers to us that we are unworthy of anything more and that our lives will simply be a series of failed attempts to find love and happiness.  

Paul says something interesting in his second letter to the church at Corinth. He wrote, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. (2 Cor. 1:3-4). Let me highlight a couple of truths from this passage and then tie it into the concept of “meaning.”

First of all, we will all experience troubles – failure, loss, hardship, betrayal, and pain.  It is the fabric of this world. If we believe that God has promised us a trouble-free existence then we haven’t read the Bible carefully and we will experience a great deal of disappointment. The fact that we suffer is not abandonment by God any more than pain and injuries in a football game are the coach’s fault.  It is simply part of the game and the price you pay to participate. Expect it.  Prepare for it.  Deal with it. Like all top athletes, you will have to play injured at times,  but God does promise that we win in the end.

Secondly, it is in the midst of trouble that we most clearly experience the hand and comfort of God if we will receive it. Remember, God did not keep Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego out of the fire.  He simply joined them in the fire.  It is when we struggle that we truly discover God in our lives if we are open to the discovery.

The other great truth in the passage is that whatever we receive from God in our suffering and even failures, we are to use to help others who are coming down that same dark road behind us.  

After years of ministry to hurting people, I have clearly seen that true healing only comes when we use our own pain from the past to comfort and direct others.  That ministry to the broken and the hurting gives our own suffering meaning.  It redeems our pain so that it has value. If we can find no purpose for what we have gone through or are going through, we inevitably blame God for being unfair or of betraying us.  We will then wither like those in the Nazi concentration camps who could find no meaning in what they were going through.  However, when we see God’s purpose for our suffering or have faith that he will use it for something significant, we can become partners with him in overcoming evil.  

Let me quickly say that God is not the cause of our suffering, but he will use it so that what we have gone through has redeeming value. The devil tries to convince us that our losses, abuse, and failures have disqualified us from our destiny –  that because we have failures in our past, God will not or cannot use us. He tries to convince us that our losses and failures determine our identity for all time. That is not true.  Those things that brought pain and even shame into our lives actually equip us to minister to others.   Those are actually the very things that make us qualified. 

I have served in full time ministry long enough that I have known several church leaders whose lives seemed to have been charmed.  They grew up in great Christian homes, had amazing careers, had “perfect” kids, and simply had no history of abuse, divorce, failure , or besetting sin that I knew of.  They were great people, but in every church the people I worked with – the abused, the divorced, the single mothers, those struggling with addictions -would never have gone to those men and women for counsel.  They not only feared being judged, but more than that, believed that those “charmed” individuals would simply have no empathy or understanding of their situation.  In order to be a perfect High Priest for us, Jesus had to be tempted in every way as we are. We need to be able to tell others that we have been down the same muddy roads as they are travelling now.  Our own hurts, betrayals, losses, and sin give us the wisdom and the credibility hurting people need when God has led us out of our own pain and shame.

I love Elevation’s recent song, Graves Into Gardens, as it speaks of how God redeems even death and turns it into something full of life.  He can do that in our own lives as we find our own meaning in Him and the destiny that Jesus has purchased for us.  The key is not to let out past define us, but to let the lessons we have learned in Christ, prepare us to pass God’s comfort on to others who also have a destiny in him.