I was reading through Matthew the other day and was struck with a paradox. One the one hand, Jesus seems too be telling us that we should think of ourselves as weak and lowly while in other scriptures we are told how significant we are in the kingdom of heaven.   The two thoughts sometimes seems contradictory.   However, throughout the Bible there seem to be numerous scriptures that hold us in a kind of tension between two absolute positions. For instance, we are told, “Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you will be like him yourself “ (Prov. 26:4).  The very next verse says, “Answer a fool according to his folly, or he will be wise in his own eyes” (Prov. 26:5). Somewhere in the middle of those two positions we are called to exercise judgment and to be sensitive to the leading of the Spirit in a given situation…one  situation calling for no answer and another calling for an answer to the “fool.”

I find that same kind of tension in the New Testament where we are clearly called to humble ourselves if we desire to be great in the kingdom while at the same time knowing that we have this amazing identity of status and authority in the kingdom of God.  Matthew records a moment when some of Jesus’ apostolic band asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Mt.18:1).  Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

The word humble in the original language means lowly, weak, insignificant, or poor.  So to be great in the kingdom we must see ourselves as lowly, weak, or insignificant.  Yet, at the same time we are told over and over that we are priests, royalty, friends of the Most High King, ambassadors, co-heirs with Christ, sons and daughters of God, saints, and so forth. We seem to be called to see ourselves as insignificant, while, at the same time, knowing how significant we are.  We get the same flavor in James when he directs us to humble ourselves before God and then to resist the devil and he will flee from us. We are to humble ourselves before God but we are to have a very different bearing when we face the devil.

So do we see ourselves as insignificant or highly significant?  Do we see ourselves as weak or strong enough to send the devil to flight? Do we see ourselves as lowly or highly favored and established in heaven?  The answer seems to be “yes” to all of that.  The key seems to be in knowing that our significance, strength, and standing in heaven has all come to us as a gift, rather than as something we possess apart from Christ.

Our humility comes from knowing that apart from Christ we are weak, insignificant, powerless and lost.  He has given us value, significance and position but on the basis of his inherent greatness not ours.  We walk in strength, authority and confidence because it is his strength and authority operating in us.  To feel less than we are in Christ is to take away from what he has done and who he is, but at the same time we walk in humility knowing that all we have has come from him.

Paul put it this way,  “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor. 12:9-10). Knowing that we have no strength, power, authority, or glory of our own allows Christ’s glory to shine through us.  We actually are not self-confident but Christ-confident so that we can walk both in humility and glory at the same time.

Jesus modeled the tension between these truths as he walked the earth knowing he was the Son of God who could call twelve legions of angels at any time, yet at the same time totally submitting himself to the Father.  The Son of God simply made a decision to only do what he saw the Father doing and only speak what he heard the Father speaking.  That was God himself operating in humility.  Ultimately, humility is a mindset of total dependence on another for our needs.  Jesus was humble in that he chose to be totally dependent on the Father in every circumstance even though he knew heaven would come running at his call.  When we walk with that mindset, both humble and significant,  we can be great in the kingdom of God.

I have noticed a lot of social media comments this week about the half-time show at the Super Bowl.  I watched the game but not the half-time show.  Of course, the objections were for the over-sexualized production at half time that has been described as disgusting, shocking, perverse, and so forth. This was just the latest addition of such half-time shows going back to Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction and Beyonce channeling her spirit (demon) in a hypersexual way.  The debate over the production reminded me of an article that our pastoral staff discussed only a week or so before the Super Bowl.  I thought you might be interested in some takeaways from the article related to a sexualized culture.  The article was written by Kirk Durston and was based on a book entitled Sex and Culture written by J.D. Unwin, a Cambridge social anthropologist. He studies a number of cultures contemporary and historic based on several criteria – one of which was a cultures level of sexual restraint.  It is a highly academic book so I will try to keep the quote brief.

Why Sexual Morality May be Far More Important than You Ever Thought

A few days ago I finished studying Sex and Culture for the second time. It is a remarkable book summarizing a lifetime of research by Oxford social anthropologist J.D. Unwin.  The 600+ page book is, in Unwin’s words, only a “summary” of his research—seven volumes would be required to lay it all out. His writings suggest he was a rationalist, believing that science is our ultimate tool of inquiry (it appears he was not a religious man). As I went through what he found, I was repeatedly reminded of the thought I had as a philosophy student: some moral laws may be designed to minimize human suffering and maximize human flourishing long term.

Unwin examines the data from 86 societies and civilizations to see if there is a relationship between sexual freedom and the flourishing of cultures. What makes the book especially interesting is that we in the West underwent a sexual revolution in the late 1960’s, 70’s, and 80’s and are now in a position to test the conclusions he arrived at more than 40 years earlier.  

Unwin’s degrees of sexual restraint

Degrees of sexual restraint were divided into two major categories—prenuptial (pre-marital) and postnuptial (married). Prenuptial categories were:

1. Complete sexual freedom—no prenuptial restraints at all
2. Irregular or occasional restraint— cultural regulations require an occasional period of abstinence
3. Strict Chastity —remain a virgin until married

Postnuptial categories were:

1. Modified monogamy: one spouse at a time, but association can be terminated by either party.
2. Modified polygamy: men can have more than one wife, but a wife is free to leave her husband.
3. Absolute monogamy: only one spouse permitted for life (or until death in some cultures) 
4. Absolute polygamy:  men can have more than one wife, but wives must “confine their sexual qualities (i.e., activity) to their husband for the whole of their lives.”

So what did he find?

Here are a few of his most significant findings:

1. Effect of sexual constraints: Increased sexual constraints, either pre or post-nuptial, always led to increased flourishing of a culture. Conversely, increased sexual freedom always led to the collapse of a culture three generations later. 
2. Single most influential factor: Surprisingly, the data revealed that the single most important correlation with the flourishing of a culture was whether pre-nuptial chastity was required or not. It had a very significant effect either way.
3. Highest flourishing of culture: The most powerful combination was pre-nuptial chastity coupled with “absolute monogamy”. Rationalist cultures that retained this combination for at least three generations exceeded all other cultures in every area, including literature, art, science, furniture, architecture, engineering, and agriculture. Only three out of the eighty-six cultures studied ever attained this level.
4. Effect of abandoning prenuptial chastity: When strict prenuptial chastity was no longer the norm, absolute monogamy, deism (a culture in which considerations about God shape the culture, and rational thinking also disappeared within three generations.
5. Total sexual freedom: If total sexual freedom was embraced by a culture, that culture collapsed within three generations to the lowest state of flourishing — which Unwin describes as “inert” and at a “dead level of conception” and is characterized by people who have little interest in much else other than their own wants and needs. At this level, the culture is usually conquered or taken over by another culture with greater social energy.
6. Time lag: If there is a change in sexual constraints, either increased or decreased restraints, the full effect of that change is not realized until the third generation.

The conclusions of the writer were that America is far along the path (Super Bowl) and that we hit the self-destruct button, which began our countdown back in the 60’s.  The Cambridge scholar did not try to determine why cultures that showed sexual restraint flourished while those that did not began to circle the drain, but he thought maybe the energy that would have been expended on sexual pursuits were actually channeled intoscience, technology, the arts, etc.

I have another thought on that:  Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people (Proverbs 14:34 ). God created sexuality to be a holy thing shared by one man and one woman in the covenant of marriage. He designed it to knit hearts and emotions together in a way that would strengthen the bond of marriage more than almost anything else.  It is such a holy thing that adultery was a capital offense under the Old Covenant.  Satan has made sexuality a prime target since the Garden of Eden.  In our time, a lack of sexual restraint has created a generation of fatherless children, a bevy of sexually transmitted diseases, a world haunted by gender confusion, an inability to bond properly with a spouse because of multiple sexual partners before marriage, a epidemic of brutal sex trafficking – both boys and girls, an additional epidemic of pornography, and most importantly, the removal of God’s blessing from nations.

So does the Super Bowl half time show really matter?  In one sense, it is just one more expression of a culture that has become sexualized to the point of shamelessness.  But more importantly, it is a probable indicator of the impending collapse of a great nation once blessed and used by God.  The good news is that there are still many who find such expressions objectionable.  We should.  The church must be the conscience of a nation for who else will speak out for righteousness?  Of course, speaking out is only part of the battle.  The only true solution is to evangelize the nation with the good news of Jesus Christ and the true freedom found in Him.  There are so many things the enemy has stolen from our culture that need to reclaimed and taken back by the church. A holy sexuality is one of those things and we must be in the fight…beginning with our own personal purity based on the Lord’s standard not the standard of our culture.

We have been considering keys to obtaining our promises in Jesus by looking at the Book of Joshua as they finally entered Canaan to obtain the promises for them that were first spoken to Abraham.  In my last blog we looked at the fall of Jericho and keys for obtaining promises related to that conquest.  I want to consider one more element of obtaining and maintaining promises as we end this little series.

After the great victory at Jericho, Israel was full of confidence for the battles ahead.  Jericho had been the first, the greatest, and the most significant city in Joshua’s campaign  to take the Promised Land from the foreign tribes that were living there.  As a kind of “first fruits” of battle and the promises to come, God had instructed them to dedicate Jericho to him.  They were to take no plunder and no slaves but to destroy and burn every part of the city.  They would be allowed to take plunder from the remaining battles, but this first one was to be given to God as an acknowledgement that he was the one who gave them victory and as judgment on the false god’s the inhabitants of Jericho had worshipped for hundreds of years. They indeed destroyed the city, except for Rahab and her family, and prepared for their next conquest – the city of Ai.

Ai was a much smaller city with inferior defenses. Joshua sent men to scout out the city that was to be eliminated next and they came back suggesting that Joshua send only two to three thousand men to Ai.  After the way God had given Jericho into their hands they thought Ai would be a picnic.  The text says that Joshua sent three thousand men, but they were routed by the smaller forces in Ai and thirty-six were killed. The people of Israel were devastated by the defeat.

“ Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell facedown to the ground before the ark of the Lord…And Joshua said, ‘Ah sovereign Lord, why did you even bring the people across the Jordan to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us?’ … The Lord said to Joshua, ‘Stand up. What are you doing down on your face? Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenant.’”  In the ensuing verses, Joshua discovers that a man named Achan had taken gold, silver, and clothing from Jericho and had hidden the plunder in his tent.  Because of his sin, God had removed his hand of protection from Israel so that they were defeated in battle.  In addition to that, Joshua had not first inquired of the Lord to see if they should attack Ai.  The Lord would have told him then that the covenant had been broken and they would be defeated.

There are several lessons in this for us. First of all, many promises of God are conditional.  Under the new covenant, faith and faithfulness are required to receive most of the promises.  In the New Testament, we see in the Parable of the Talents that financial success and favor are given when we have been good stewards of what God has already given us. Healing comes to those who have faith to receive it and the gift is given to those who believe God for it.  Peter could walk on water as long as he did not take his eyes off of Jesus and his faith did not waiver.   James tells us that we have not because we ask not or because we ask with selfish motives. We do not have to have perfect faith but we have to continue to pursue our relationship with God or the manifestation of the promise may be withdrawn.

Sometimes we are faithful until we receive what we wanted and then begin to act independently of the Lord as Joshua did when he attacked Ai without inquiring. When we begin to “maintain” the promise in our own strength, then the blessing of God may be withdrawn.  However, we also see in Joshua 7-8, that once the sin was discovered and dealt with, the promise still stood and God once again began to give them victories.

The principle is that sin can hinder the promises of God being fulfilled – our own sin or the sin of others we are associated with. The sins of leaders in nations, businesses, churches, or families can limit blessings that could have otherwise come to those they lead.   The sin of a spouse can hinder the fulfillment of God’s promises in the lives of family members. There is a way back to the promise through repentance but only if the sin is dealt with and repentance is genuine.  Paul tells us that we must not be yoked together with unbelievers (2 Cor. 6) in marriage, treaties, and business covenants. Our salvation may not be affected by those relationships but our blessings, answers to prayers, and fulfillment of promises may well be hindered.

I am convinced that many of our prayers go unanswered and the power of God is not displayed because our churches have little regard for holiness. We live in the age of compromise and tolerance.  Many of us have begun to tolerate in our own lives, our own churches,  and society things that God’s word calls sin. When there is “sin in the camp,” everyone is affected.  As individualistic Americans, we tend to view that principle as unfair.  Why should the sin of others cost us?   We need to remember that God makes the rules, not us.  When we tolerate sin in our own lives or in our church, it may well cost us. There is wisdom in that dynamic, however, because if I know someone else’s sin will cost me or my family, I will encourage them to live for the Lord and seek holiness…for their benefit as well as my own.  Of course, we have to guard against legalism and self-righteousness but Jesus was perfectly holy without being either of those. He accepted people where they were but did not leave them there. He was very gracious with the woman caught in adultery, but in the end instructed her to go and sin no more.

God has made many promises to his people and Paul tells us that in Jesus Christ every promise is “Yes” and “Amen.”  He wants to fulfill those promises for us. When there is a problem in the fulfillment of a promise, the problem is not on his end.  Of course, some promises are simply put on hold because of timing but we do need to examine ourselves to see if we are failing in one of the conditions of that promise.  Ask the Holy Spirit to show you if there is something lacking or if sin is blocking the way. If there is, then repent and deal with the sin. If not, then keep seeking, asking, and knocking. Our God is a generous God who loves to give to his children and who loves to fulfill his promises. It is to his glory to do so.

The New Testament has a great deal to say about who we are in Christ. As a result there are many declarations among Christian writers and teachers outlining our identity.  In our own ministry we encourage those to whom we are ministering to read a two-page declaration out loud each day that states who we are in Christ. We ask them to do that for sixty days.

We say sixty days because recent brain research has demonstrated that it takes about that long for new neural pathways to form in our brains that contain the thoughts we have been repeating and reinforcing with our verbal declarations.  There are other strategies to strengthen the process of getting God’s word into our mind as part of the renewal process Paul calls us to in Romans 12:2. Writing out the declaration, using different colors to do so, using the non-dominant hand, and listening to a recording of the declarations in your own voice are examples.

What we believe about ourselves is a reliable indicator of whether we will succeed or fail in life – not just in careers but also in relationships, health, and even spiritual matters. Our self-image or our identity sets us up for confidence or insecurity.  It determines whether we face new relationships with an expectation of acceptance or rejection.  It determines whether we face the future with hope or fear.  It determines whether we feel strong or woefully vulnerable. We could go on, but you know the concept.

Ultimately our identity or self-image boils down to whether we think we are reasonably capable, significant, valuable, and lovable or whether we believe that we are defective, incapable, insignificant, and unlovable.

Scripture tells us over and over that in Christ we are loved, we are very significant, we are highly capable, and that we matter so much that Jesus died for us while we were still sinners.  We are new creations, kings and priests, more than conquerors, sons and daughter of the Most High, God’s craftsmanship made for a divine purpose, totally forgiven, holy, and totally accepted by God.

When most believers read the things that God says about them, they discount the message and think that those things might be true for others but not for them.  Even after receiving salvation and the Holy Spirit, they continue to walk in their old identity – the old man -which we are commanded to put away. That image is typically negative. Sometimes the church has even wrapped a garment of acceptability around that negative self-image by calling it humility.

However, to discount or dilute the word of God on any topic is simply unbelief and unbelief invites the enemy and opens the door for him. We must always give God’s word more authority than our emotions, what our parents said, or what we have come to believe through past experiences. If we continue to walk in the shadow of a broken heart and a broken identity, we will never have faith that every one of God’s great promises are truly for us, and we will never face the enemy with confidence.

Whenever we minister deliverance, the standard thoughts pouring through the person’s mind to whom we are ministering are thoughts from the enemy such as:

• You belong to me and you will never be free.
• These people have no power over me.
• You will be alone and helpless without me.
• I don’t have to leave, I own you.
• And so forth.

His goal is to make God’s people feel helpless, weak and inadequate so that they back down from the confrontation. God has given us amazing promises.  He has told us that we have power and authority over the enemy.  We can resist the devil and he will flee from us.  We can join Jesus in destroying the works of the devil and we can do the works that Jesus did and even greater things by faith.  Believing that is the issue.

What I have discovered is that if we do not believe who we are, we will not believe what God is willing to do through us. In the face of Satan’s boasting and lies, we will wilt.  Faith is not just about what we believe about God, but about who we are in Christ as well. We have authority to cast out the enemy because of who we are in Christ.  We have strength to stand against his schemes because of who we are in Jesus.

As we disciple people, we should spend a great deal of time helping them know and believe what their position is in Jesus, because it is that position that gives them access to the throne room of God and the power and resources of heaven. Know one will truly know what their authority is in Christ until they know what their identity is in Christ as well. We should make a habit of not only declaring who God is on a daily basis, but also who we are in Christ on a daily basis as well.  When both of those things are settled in our hearts and minds, Satan has no chance.

We are continuing to discuss the theology of Cessationism that has been prevalent among most evangelical, mainstream churches in America and Western Europe for the past 500 years.  Those influenced by this theology hold the position that God worked miracles through men during certain historic seasons of the Old Testament and during the first century, but that miracles ceased to occur toward the end of the first century because they had fulfilled their purpose in establishing the church.  The idea that God has ceased to perform miracles for and through his people is where the term Cessationsist comes from. Its not that God does not answer prayer, but that he works within natural laws and natural processes as he answers prayer.  He no longer speaks to his people directly by his Spirit but only through his written word. He heals through doctors as he helps them to do their best, but does not heal supernaturally or raise the dead. He may quicken a man’s mind so that he learns a foreign language more quickly than others but he doesn’t supernaturally reveal the language as he did to the apostles on Pentecost with the gift of tongues.

If you are in a church that does not pray for supernatural healings, does not minister deliverance, and would never have someone stand in front of the church to prophesy, your pastor or church leaders have more than likely been indoctrinated with this view since they came to faith and were taught by men for whom they had great respect.  For them it is not just a theological position that some hold, but it is doctrinal truth.

Those who hold to this theology deny that God still intervenes in the natural order of things through miracles and especially deny that the Holy Spirit still distributes the “miraculous gifts” of prophecy, healings, tongues, miracles, words of knowledge, etc. I remember attending a meeting several years ago where mainline churches in our city had gathered together to pray for revival.  The second or third night of the meeting, one of the leaders of a large evangelical church came to the microphone with a prayer request.  He reported that a young woman in their church who was widely known and widely loved was in a hospital in Dallas, Texas where she was suffering from end-stage heart disease and had only days left to live without God’s intervention.  He asked if he could pray on her behalf.  I expected a prayer asking for God to heal her heart, but instead the prayer was for God to provide a heart for a heart transplant.  In other words, we prayed for someone to die so she could receive the heart and live. We prayed for God to manipulate the natural order of things so that they swung in her favor, but it never seemed to occur to the pastor to pray for direct, supernatural healing because God “doesn’t do that anymore.”  I’m not at all opposed to heart transplants, but it seems we should always pray for God’s supernatural and perfect healing first.  That is an example of Cessationsist theology.

Their argument for the end of miracles is based on several assumptions.

1. They have never seen an “authentic” miracle, like we see in the pages of the New Testament, therefore, they know that God no longer performs miracles, especially through men operating in the gifts of the Spirit.
2. God performed miracles through Jesus to confirm that he was the Son of God.After his resurrection and ascension, the miracles he performed had fulfilled their purpose.
3. God performed miracles through the apostles, in order to confirm that they were approved by God and that their teachings and writings were, therefore, inspired.
4. Once the historical record of the miracles of Jesus and the apostles was compiled, the purpose for miracles was fulfilled and miracles ceased.
5. The primary proof text for this position is found in 1 Corinthians. “Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears” (1 Cor. 13:8-10). The argument is that the perfect thingor perfection is the completed New Testament.  Once the inspired scriptures were penned, there was no further need for the miracles because the Biblical record is sufficient to produce faith that leads to salvation.

There are, of course, other layers of the argument, but these are the main pillars on which this theology rests.  Once you have been taught and convinced of this theology, you are rarely open to any other possibility.  Those who claim to operate in the miraculous gifts are viewed as misled or charlatans ripping off ignorant people in tent meetings or on television. Anything that might hint of an authentic healing is written off as a psychosomatic condition that was relieved by the power of suggestion rather than a true disease being cured. Those who prophesy or speak in tongues are viewed as agents of the devil trying to mislead God’s people and anyone who would teach that the Holy Spirit still operates as he did in the Book of Acts is tagged as a teacher of false doctrine.

In my experience, there are many church leaders and pastors in Cessationist churches who long for more or suspect that God may still do something supernatural and outrageous from time to time, but they are uncertain of their view and keep their thoughts to themselves for the most part rather than risking being labeled as theologically suspect. I served in Cessationist churches for over 20 years and never saw an authentic miracle like you see on the pages of the New Testament (although I have seen many since becoming part of a charismatic or Continuistchurch).  I certainly saw abuses of the gifts of the Spirit and charlatans who were taking the money of desperate people.  Because of my theology, I tended to view all claims of the miraculous through that filter. I rarely traveled outside my own fellowship so I never encountered people I respected who held the view that the Holy Spirit still moves in power among his people.

Since we had no faith for the miraculous we neither asked for miracles nor expected them, so we saw none.  All of these things functioned in a way that only confirmed what we already believed.  Its not that the believers in these churches don’t love God or think he could do mighty works, they simply believe he chooses to no longer act in those ways.  As a result, good people who love God tend to live out a rather  powerless faith because they have no access to the powerful gifts of the Spirit meant to bless the church, evangelize the world, and set people free from all forms of bondage and torment served up by the enemy. Interestingly. in these churches the subject of demons and demonization rarely surfaces.  It may be because they have no answer if they don’t have the power of the Spirit operating today but when someone declares that God no longer works in supernatural ways, he or she tends to dismiss or minimize the supernatural in all forms.  As a result, demons often act without consequence and without opposition in these fellowships.

In my next blog, I will respond to the basic tenants of Cessationism and hopefully help some who read this blog step toward the full ministry of the Holy Spirit knowing that  they are on solid biblical ground when they do so.

If you minister to Christians who have been emotionally wounded and demonically oppressed, it doesn’t take long to discover that very few Christians know how to fight in the spiritual realm. Many don’t know how to fight because they have been taught by their churches that there is actually no spiritual realm here on the earth or they have been taught nothing and so come to that unconscious conclusion. For many, there is only earth, heaven, and hell.  In their view, we live on the earth the best life we know how and then we die and go to either heaven or hell which are thought of as spiritual locations far away that ouch us only after death.  Although these churches acknowledge temptation and, perhaps, some angelic activity, they don’t seem to connect the dots that point them to an active, spiritual realm right here on earth.

The spiritual realm on earth is a dimension that is separated from the natural realm by only a thin membrane rather than a location far, far away. When spiritual activity does occur around these believers, they don’t recognize it for what it is and, therefore, the spiritual realm, demons, angels, and moves of the Holy Spirit go unnoticed even though they may be greatly affected by it.  The devil does his best work when he is not recognized like the invisible man moving through a crowd picking pockets while never being seen.

There are many other Christians who definitely believe in the spiritual realm and are very aware of demons and angels. It is amazing how many people see demonic manifestations in their homes. They are often seen as dark shadows and sometimes appear as more terrifying figures. Children see the spiritual realm readily because they haven/t yet been taught to ignore what they see and write it off as imagination. But although they experience demons and recognize them for what they are, they still don’t know how to fight and many don’t even know that they can fight.  They live with fear and anger and sometimes the experience of being choked on their beds with a resignation that there is nothing they can do about it.  Often they are embarrassed to tell anyone for fear that others will think they are crazy.

Many spiritually oppressed people have come to believe that they have no power against the enemy.  Satan loves to intimidate and make claims that no one can deliver a person from his hand.  As we do deliverance, we usually instruct the oppressed individual to command the spirit to leave.  They often beg the spirit to leave or tearfully ask the spirit to leave – which is not at all commanding.  They clearly still believe that the devil has the upper hand and cannot be forced to leave, so they plead with a demon to leave who will never leave unless sternly commanded by the authority of Christ.  When a demon begins to manifest, in that individual, they rarely resist as if they have no power to refuse to cooperate with the unclean spirit.  Again, these believers have never been taught who they are in Christ and how to fight. After a season of ineffective resistance to a spirit, they simply give in to the torment. I have seen this over and over in God’s people.

Knowing how to fight with divine weapons in the spiritual realm should be a part of every believer’s basic discipleship.  Paul tells the church at Ephesus, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms,”  (Eph.6:10-12).

According to Paul, the devil schemes against us and our real struggle is not against flesh and blood but against spiritual authorities in heavenly realms. If we do not disciple our people in the realm of spiritual warfare they will be helpless against these enemies and, for the most part, that is what we see in the church. Many believe that prayer is the answer. So they pray for God to take away the torment but it continues. Because it continues, they give up.

I am not minimizing prayer because it is essential to everything we are and do as believers and is a significant part of spiritual warfare.  But the apostles and the early church were not taught to simply pray for God to remove the enemy, but to confront the enemy in the name of Jesus and command him to come out. God is not helpless to remove the torment but has chosen another way.

God did not instruct the Israelites to sit on the banks of the Jordon River and pray until he drove the enemies of Israel out of the Promise Land.  He told them to cross the Jordan and engage in battle.  His promise was to give them victory but they were to take sword in hand and confront the enemy.  We are to do the same. That is why prayer alone does not always bring freedom. That is why God has given us spiritual armor, the sword of the Spirit, which is his Word, and authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy (Lk.10:17).  We are to resist (oppose, take a stand against, push back) the devil and he will flee from us. And we are to exercise divine weapons to pull down strongholds or fortified places (2 Cor. 10:4).

When believers who have been oppressed by the enemy, finally discover who they are in Christ and discover the authority he has given them to drive out the enemy, they are transformed.  Their faith grows.  Their view of God grows. Their view of Satan shrinks and they are ready to free other captives in the name of Jesus. If you have not been trained in spiritual warfare, find someone to train you.  If you have been trained, then train others.  It is not for a few specialists in the church but for every believer so that they can defend themselves, their families, and push back the borders of darkness as soldiers of the Lord.  We have his authority, we have his power and we have an assignment to establish God’s kingdom on the earth.  The enemy will not go quietly or at our request.  It will take God’s people engaged in spiritual warfare on every front to clear the land. The victory is assured, but only when we confront the enemy in faith, with God going before us.

For God did not give us a spirit of fear but of power, love, and a sound mind.

2 Timothy 1:7

A spirit of fear is one of the most pernicious spirits in the demonic realm.  We have all heard the axiom that fear is the opposite of faith and if faith produces peace, this fear produces inner turmoil.  Fear, phobias, and anxiety are almost epidemic in America – even among believers.  In a country where we should feel more secure than any other place in the world, our people are full of fear.

Fear is a natural response to danger and often is quite appropriate.  If you are walking through a West Texas field or canyon and hear a distinct rattle, fear is a very appropriate response. It stops you in your tracks, heightens every sense, and usually produces the good judgment to back up slowly.

But fear that becomes a resident in your life is not appropriate.  It robs you of peace, confidence, and a future because you fear moving into the future. It may make you timid and prompt you to stay in the shadows or it may make you an aggressive controller who only feels safe when you are in charge and telling everyone around you what to do. It is the source of worry that Jesus counsels against in Matthew 6.  It robs us of joy, of relationships, and eventually our health.  We often give into it, medicate it, and excuse it because we don’t know what else to do.

The phrase “Don’t be afraid” or “Fear not” is sprinkled throughout the scriptures. If fear were not so prevalent in the human race, God would not have said it so often.  Our first look at fear came immediately after Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden.  They covered themselves and hid.  They were clearly afraid because they were suddenly aware of their nakedness and clearly believed at some level that the love and care of their father had been suddenly removed.  They feared punishment and the prospect of becoming orphans in a dangerous world.

Our current epidemic of fear is based on the same assumptions.  Somewhere in our lives, we had an experience that left us believing that either there is no God and we are on our own in a dangerous world or that God exists, but he is angry or detached, or powerless and we are still on our own in a world that wants to hurt us.   The spirit of fear and an orphan spirit always work together.  One whispers that no one cares for us or is looking out for us and the other prompts us to worry, seek control, and live with a generalized fear (anxiety) that disaster and loss is always in the pipeline.

God speaks to that over and over and the cure is simply faith that God will never leave us nor forsake us (Heb. 13:5). When Moses encountered God at the burning bush, Moses was afraid to return to Egypt. He made every excuse possible for his unwillingness to obey God’s call. God’s consistent answer was that He would go with Moses. God’s presence would ensure his protection and provision. He promised the same to Israel and he promises the same to us.  There are hundreds of such promises in the Bible. The question is whether we will believe them.

Anxiety gets down to what we truly believe about God. Do we believe that he exists? Do we believe that he is good and that he cares about us?  Do we believe that he is willing to involve himself in our lives as our daily bread?  Do we believe he is powerful so that he cam provide our every need and overcome the enemy’s attacks in our life?

We could list all kinds of reasons that we might find it hard to overcome our human experiences and trust God when we have never met anyone else who would not eventually let us down.  But the truth is that we must come to believe God if we are going to live without fear.  That is where a spirit of fear operates.  He whispers that God can’t be trusted.  He whispers that God was there for us in the past but we can’t count on him in the future.  He whispers that God is there for other believers but not for us because we are too defective, too perverse, and too unbelieving.  He simply whispers that, like others, when we need God the most, he won’t be there for us. Not only that but he pervades the airwaves.  The news and the talk shows are full of fear that we are always on the edge of extinction and catastrophe.  When we watch or listen to the pundits, we absorb the fear from our environment. We feel as if the problem is so big or so pervasive that even God can’t deliver us.

So…how do we come to believe God…not just at an intellectual level but in our hearts as well?  How do come to believe that he exists, he loves us, he wants to be actively involved in every second of our lives, and that he is an all-powerful Father who wants the best for us? How do we come to believe that when we have experienced trauma, loss, and betrayal in this life more than once and wonder where was this powerful, loving God when I lost my spouse or my child or contracted MS? I will share some thoughts on all of that in my next blog.

We are continuing to consider who we are in Christ.  As I have said in previous segments, our identity is, perhaps, the single most important thing about us.  Who we believe we are and what we think about who we are touches every part of our life. Our Heavenly Father has gone to great lengths to reveal our identity in Christ, so it must be very important.

In the Gospel of John, the apostle begins with a great deal to say about Jesus. He identifies him as the Word of God and the one through whom and for whom all things were made. He speaks of his incarnation and then wraps up this amazing section of scripture by saying, “Yet, to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God – children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God” (Jn.1:13).

In this section, John reveals that the very reason Jesus came was so that we might become children of God.  In the beginning, God determined to make man and to give him a position of a son or daughter of God.  In Luke 3, we are given a genealogical record from Jesus back to Adam. He ends that genealogy by saying, “the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God” (Lk. 3:38). Adam was not a son in the sense that Jesus was the Son,  as fully God and fully man, but was given the position of a son who yet knew no sin.  Satan’s temptation and
Adam’s moral failure in the Garden cost us our position as sons and daughters of the King, but through Jesus, that opportunity has been offered to us again.

Although mankind has been made in the image of God, only those who believe in Jesus have been given a position of sonshipor daughtershipagain.  This is not just a matter of legality.  It is true that we have been adopted, but something more has happened.  Each of us who have been declared sons and daughters in the household of God were born again.  Our very nature, our DNA,  has been changed by a work of the Holy Spirit.

Paul tells us that before we knew Christ, we were slaves to sin.  We had no ability to resist our fallen nature.  However, since being born again, we still have the capacity to sin but we also have the capacity to choose righteousness.  He says, “For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin” (Rom. 6:6). Not only has our very nature been changed, but we have also been given a position of righteousness before our Father.  We are told, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him, we might become the righteousness of God (2  Cor. 5:21).

The amazing thing about being born again as children of God is that we have a capacity for righteousness that the remainder of mankind does not have.  Not only that, but your heavenly  father relates to you on the basis of your sinless position in Christ rather than your inconsistent performance.  Too many of us think that God sees us as saved, but still rebellious sinners.  We may see him as an angry father punishing us for every stumble and every misdeed.  When life doesn’t go our way, we think God is withholding his blessing from us because of past deeds or our imperfection. We may see him as a father who only tolerates us and only grudgingly answers our prayers from time to time. Many of us take the template of our own earthly fathers who were broken, angry, controlling, and selfish and lay that template on a heavenly father who isn’t broken; who is totally unselfish; who loves us unconditionally; and does not hold our sins against us – love keeps no record of wrongs.  In fact, what he does see when he looks at us is the righteousness of Christ.

As children of the King, we carry the royal seal in the spiritual realm (Eph.1:13).  Because of that status we have authority, privilege, and responsibilities in the kingdom. First of all, we are to represent our Father well and live in a way that honors his name. As children of the king, we are to be courageous, confident but not arrogant, and kind.  We are to have integrity in everything we do and should be marked by faithfulness since our father is faithful.  We are also to be about our Father’s business of making disciples and destroying the works of the devil.

Secondly, we have the resources of heaven to meet our personal needs and to meet the challenge of those things we are involved in that are kingdom business…missions, caring for the poor, ministry to the hurting,  redeeming culture, and so forth. As children of the king, we should jettison any since of being an orphan and have a mindset that there will always be enough.  When Jesus fed the 5000, his reference point was the resources of heaven because he was a child in the household of God.  The apostles looked at their own resources and concluded there was no way to feed the crowd. Jesus gave thanks for what he could access in heaven and fed everyone with twelve full baskets left over. Jesus did that to demonstrate that there is no shortage in heaven and that the king will provide for every good work of his children.

As children of God we are promised provision, protection, and victory in our battles.  We always have the ear of our Father. We have angels to assist us.  We have the direction of the Holy Spirit and the same power that raised Jesus from the dead working in us. We are loved, forgiven, provided for, anointed, and given a great destiny in Christ.  The only thing that limits us is a lack of faith that these things are true for us.

When I first became a Christian, I knew that God loved his children.  However, I understood  that as a generalized statement in which God loved “all his children” as a class, but not as individuals.  I still felt like just a face in the crowd.  And yet that is not the witness of scripture. Because his Spirit lives in us, he knows us each by name.  He knows our every need and even knows the number of hairs on our heads. We are not just a bunch of kids that he hardly knows but each has a special relationship with him.  The writer of Hebrews tells us, “But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven” (Heb.12:22-23).  The writer is not talking about a future tense for us, but present tense. In the spiritual realm, we already belong and are already present. Interestingly, the phrase “church of the firstborn” is a plural, meaningfirstborn ones.  The idea is that each of us is loved by God as if we were his firstborn.  Paul says, “Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ” (Rom.8:13). In other words, we have tremendous standing in the courts of heaven and in the heart of our father.

As believers, we need to know who we are, how favored we are in heaven, and how much is available to us for our personal needs and as we conduct kingdom business. Too many of us still see ourselves as orphans, weak, broken and insignificant. We expect little and dare little.  That is not God’s will for his children. We must begin to say what God says about us and speak that over one another. One of Satan’s great strategies is to keep us from knowing who we truly are in Christ, because if we ever grasp it, the kingdom of darkness is done.

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 got be good and good things to be evil. Many believers are being hammered 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.

When you get into the business of helping people deal with their brokenness through counseling, prayer, and deliverance, you are never more like Jesus.  However, there is a side effect to going down that road.  As you choose to help people deal with their wounds and their pasts, more and more broken folks will show up in your life. Broken people know broken people, and if you are caring and helpful, they will send others your way. Undoubtedly, God will be entrusting some of these individuals to you so that you can dispense his grace in their lives.

Let me warn you, however, that Satan will also deposit some of these folks in your life.  Those individuals will have the uncanny ability to suck the life out of you for months and months and distract you from some very important things that God has ordained for you.  Many of us that are drawn to healing ministries have a spiritual gift of mercy and compassion.  That’s the way it should be. But sometimes, that mercy gift morphs into a “rescuer” theme that develops in our lives and we can find ourselves in bondage to a mindset that feels responsible for the well-being of every victim or broken person we encounter.

In itself, being a rescuer is very Christ-like. After all, Jesus came to seek and save the lost.  That sounds like rescue work.  I would agree, but Jesus also set some very healthy boundaries around his rescue missions. You should as well. He displayed some of those when he went to the Pool of Bethesda and asked the lame man, “Do you want to be healed?”  Whenever we are working with broken people, that is a question we need to keep in mind. The truth is that not everyone wants to be healed, although everyone says they do.  Some do want to be healed but do not want to do any work to get to that place.  They want you to heal them and then want you to take up their mat and carry it for them.

Over the years, in our ministry at Mid-Cities, we have settled on a position that clearly states, “If you want to change, you have to do the work.”  Our belief is that when it comes to healing and freedom, God won’t do the work for us but he is more than happy to do it with us.  When Israel finally made it to Canaan, God could have cleared the land of Israel’s enemies with one sweep of his hand. He could have sent plagues, a band of destroying angels, or displayed any number of other supernatural acts to drive the tribes from the land.  Instead, he required Israel to go to battle.  He would lead them and assure their victories, but they still had to endure the hardships of warfare.  They had to face the enemy, check their faith, and swing the sword.  In doing so, their character was refined and their relationship with God was enhanced.

People who want their lives to be transformed have to fight some battles.  Our job is to equip them to fight and, at times, fight along with them. But our goal should be to equip them to engage with God and defeat the enemy on a daily basis or simply make better choices in the future.  Those who fall into the trap of becoming a rescuer tend to make the individuals they are rescuing dependent on them  – their wisdom, their gifts, and their resources. Part of the trap may be that the cycle may feel good to the rescuer because he or she see is making a difference in the life of a person and also because he or she enjoys the gratitude and admiration of those they are rescuing.  However, they are not teaching them to fight and they are not teaching them to depend on Jesus.  Everyone needs to be rescued from time to time, but when being rescued becomes a lifestyle for broken people, there is something wrong.

My wife Susan has a very wise saying when it comes to ministry to broken people. She says, “If you are doing more work than they are, something is wrong.” What you notice about Jesus is that his compassion met people where they were, but he did not leave them there.  He didn’t beg people to follow him or stay in one place long to make sure people followed through on his prescriptions for life. He pointed them to God, gave them godly counsel, got them started and then let them be responsible for their next steps.

There are those who truly want to change and are ready to do the work.  Invest in them.  There are others who want you to fix them and their life, but won’t do their part. They want God to magically change their hearts, their minds, and their circumstances while they sit and watch. God doesn’t work that way and neither should we. Let that person contact you when he or she is actually ready to do the work.  Others don’t really want to change, but simply love the attention and care they get as person after person pours into them without seeing much progress. That person needs to repent. And still others, want you to take away their pain but don’t want to give up some sin in their lives that has created the pain. They simply want you to rescue them from the consequences of their actions without changing their behaviors or choices. These too need to repent.

When you have begun to minister to a person who needs healing and freedom, you may have to carry most of the load initially. But that person should soon begin to make progress.  He should be engaged in the fight.   She should be in the word and in prayer.  That person should also make your appointments on time and consistently and must be willing to start aligning his or her life with God’s word and his commands.

Too often, our mercy gift kicks in and we keep meeting, keep rescuing, keep rescheduling for weeks and months because we feel responsible to “save the person.”  It is often necessary to remember that Jesus is their Savior, not us. Too often we enable irresponsible behavior and allow them to continue to see themselves as helpless victims who always need a hero to rescue them from the dragons in their lives.  Too often we keep them from experiencing the very consequences that would have been their best teachers.  God does not require that we fix broken people.  That is his job.  Our job is to give them godly counsel, point them to Jesus, and equip them to live as children of the king if they are motivated to do so.  We are to be responsible to them, but not for them.

As hard as it is, there are times when we just have to cut someone loose to whom we have tied ourselves because we realize we are trying to plant God’s seed in poor soil. No real fruit is being produced. The soil may improve over time, but for the moment, there are better investments for the wisdom, experience, mercy, and gifts God has entrusted to your stewardship.

I think we need to see ourselves as mentors or coaches rather than rescuers.  As we enter into a mentoring or coaching relationship with a broken person, we need to kindly and gently set expectations for growth and the work they need to be doing in order for authentic change to take place. That person should know that our goal is to make him/her dependent on Jesus, not on us and for them to become mature in their faith.  Growth and change will be an expectation in order for us to continue to disciple them. If it becomes apparent that you are working with a person who does not want to change or is not ready to change, you can still love them but you don’t have to pour into them.  We are certainly not requiring perfection.  After all, Jesus had to display a great deal of patience with the twelve who often seemed like spiritual knuckleheads, but they were on a growth trajectory and their hearts truly desired to be men who pleased the Master. I also suspect Jesus has had to be patient with us and give us second chances. But if the person you are pouring into is not displaying change or doing the work over a period of time, you may need to invest in someone else.

I’m not really writing this to instruct you in mentoring, as much as I am wanting to encourage you to avoid the rescuertrap and to even give you permission to cut yourself loose from unfruitful relationships that are keeping you from investing in other relationships that will bear great fruit and give you life rather than sucking life from you.  Remember, God sends some people your way, but so does Satan. A wise person will learn to discern who wants to be healed and who truly doesn’t.