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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This past Sunday I was teaching our monthly class for those who want to be water baptized at our church. I was covering the spiritual symbolism of baptism but also talking about the pre-requisites to baptism which should include belief and repentance.  Everyone seemed to be fine with the repentance part until I mentioned forgiveness.  There was an audible gasp in the room which seemed to say, “Do I really have to forgive those people before I am baptized?!!!

I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised by the response. After all, Jesus had to speak to the issue of forgiveness on numerous occasions and even Peter asked how many times he had to forgive someone.  I also know from leading years of Free Indeed classes that most believers have forgiveness issues with someone.

At the same time, most of these men and women were familiar with the teachings of Jesus declaring if we don’t forgive those who sin against us, then our heavenly Father will not forgive our sins against him. But knowing that, these believers still found reasons to hold onto their bitterness and anger, as if their circumstance was unique and exempt from Christ’s command.

This is a very serious issue and I believe often rests on the assumption of many wounded people that somehow forgiveness benefits the perpetrator rather than the victim…which flies in the face of justice!  They assume that if they forgive, there will be no real consequences for the person who harmed them. I counseled with a woman years ago who had been severely abused both physically and verbally by her husband.  She had run away in terror, moved to another state, divorced him and then remarried.  She had married a good Christian man but frequently flew into rages at him and sliced and diced him with her tongue. She admitted he did not deserve any of that, but she couldn’t help herself.   

Her second marriage was on the brink of ruin when I started meeting with her. She was clearly taking the rage from her first marriage and dumping in on the new spouse.  Her bitterness from her previous marriage was poisoning her current marriage.  It wasn’t hurting her “ex” at all, but was destroying her and those she was trying to love. Eventually, I asked her when she was going to forgive her first husband.  She quickly and firmly informed me that she didn’t plan to forgive him and hoped he burned in hell for what he had done to her.  Ultimately, I discovered her deep-seated belief that if she ever forgave her “ex,” then God would forgive him and justice would never be served.

We then talked about Paul’s admonition to the church at Rome.  “Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”  Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Rom. 12:17-21).

Paul knew some things about being persecuted, betrayed, abused, slandered and even stoned. And yet, he counseled forgiveness.  What he knew, however, was forgiveness is much more for the victim than the perpetrator. If the abuser does not repent of the wrongs they did to another person, God will deal with them.  Justice will be done.  You forgiving them does not get the perpetrator off the hook with God, it keeps Satan out of your living room.

Paul also wrote to the church at Ephesus saying, “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold” (Eph. 4:26-27). The idea here is to resolve anger and bitterness quickly.  Forgiveness makes that possible.  Holding on to anger opens a door so that Satan can gain a foothold.  The word “foothold” in the original language means to give someone a territory, a status, or even a sanctuary for worship.  Paul warns us that unresolved anger and unforgiveness brings us into agreement with Satan and gives him a legal right to set up shop in our hearts.

Forgiveness may bless the person being forgiven, but it is primarily about guarding our own hearts, keeping Satan at bay, and not hindering the blessings that God would want to send our way.  It is about letting go of the pain we keep resurrecting in order to maintain our feud with the other person. It is about keeping bitterness from our hearts so that the bitterness does not destroy our other relationships.  Ultimately, it is a huge weapon in spiritual warfare because it prevents the enemy from gaining access to us and poisoning our own hearts which leads to other sin and more pain in our lives.  

If you are holding onto a hurt or a grudge, give it to Jesus.  Let him judge and dispense justice.  Move ahead with your life and close the door on an enemy who rejoices in your misery.

Most of us want to fill significant roles in the Kingdom.  Our Father is a king.  As his children, we naturally should want to excel and be impact players for the Kingdom.  As we contemplate how we might serve and what we might accomplish for our King, most of us want to be appointed and anointed and moved quickly into those roles of significance. Detours discourage us and sometimes put us on a divergent road because we assume the obstacles mean that path is not God’s will for our lives.

I’m rereading Genesis right now and have just finished the chapters pertaining to Joseph. As you recall, Joseph was his father’s favorite and, reading between the lines, was, perhaps,  a prideful and arrogant brat of a young man.  Remember his dreams which he interpreted as prophetic dreams in which his brothers and, eventually, his entire family would bow down to him. The text does not seem to imply that he shared those dreams with a humble spirit.  Eleven brothers did not come to hate him enough to kill him or sell him into slavery just because his father showed favoritism…unless he gloried in that favoritism.I’m not sure how he imagined those dreams would manifest unless he thought his brothers and fathers would simply come to realize his superiority someday and then defer to him in all things.

Sitting in a dry cistern overhearing your brothers plans to kill you and blame it on a wild animal had to be a bucket of cold water poured over his dreams of greatness. Being sold into slavery and taken to Egypt was better than death, but it still had to undercut any ways he had imagined achieving his greatness. 

Even in Egypt, however, God’s favor kept creating upward mobility for him. He became the trusted steward over Potiphar’s estate and felt significant in that role. Perhaps, he could imagine some semblance of greatness in that role, but when life seemed good, he was unjustly accused of trying to force himself on Potiphar’s wife.  His next stop was humiliation and an Egyptian prison. Certainly, it was hard for him to imagine anyone ever bowing down to him in that season of his life.   Egyptian prisons were not upwardly mobile then or now. He seemed to be losing ground on any path to greatness.

But again, God gave him favor.  This time the prison warden saw qualities in him that engendered trust and he was given a significant role in the prison and some level of standing…for a convict. Time passed and two men joined the prison population that had been relatively close to Pharoah…his cup bearer and his baker (the head chef).  Both had stirred the anger of Pharoah and had been imprisoned because of it.  While still in prison, each of these men had a vivid dream.  They shared their dreams with Joseph and wondered if there was anyone who could interpret the dreams.  He said something significant when they asked about interpretation.  Joseph said, “Do not interpretations belong to God?  Tell me your dreams.”

There may have been a time in his youth when he interpreted to his own dreams but through servitude and prison, he no longer trusted his own understanding, but sought  the meaning from God.  He told the cupbearer that he would soon be restored to his position.  The baker was told he would soon be executed.  Both interpretations turned out to be spot on.  Joseph asked the cup bearer to remember him when his position with Pharoah was restored. Of course, the cupbearer forgot all about Joseph.  Joseph again had to be discouraged.  Would he be a forgotten man who would live out his life in a dark prison.  

But then…  Sometime later, Pharoah had a pair of dreams that none of his wise men could interpret.  Hearing the discussions, the cupbearer then remembered Joseph and mentioned him to Pharoah.  He was summoned to stand before the most powerful man in Egypt and was told the dreams.  Again, Joseph was clear with Pharoah that the interpretation of dreams belongs to God, but he was confident God would reveal the meaning.  

God did indeed reveal the meaning…seven years of abundance in Egypt to be followed by seven years of brutal famine. He was so impressed with Joseph and his understanding that he placed him in charge of all governmental response to the coming famine.  He was made second in command only to Pharoah.

After seven years of abundance, the famine began to take its toll, not just in Egypt but in the surrounding nations.  Joseph’s own family was driven to go to Egypt to buy grain.  The same brothers who had sold had him into slavery came before Joseph in order to purchase grain.  They did not recognize him but he knew who they were.  They indeed were bowing down before him.   Eventually he revealed himself to his brothers, put aside any thoughts of revenge, and brought his entire family to Egypt where they would grow and prosper.

Joseph had sensed a significant destiny in his life even when he was young.  But every turn seemed to deny that destiny and move him away from it instead of toward it. God had ordained that he would be great in Egypt, saving a nation and also his family.   However, character had to be shaped in Joseph before he could step into the greatness God had ordained for him.  You can see that pattern throughout scripture. 

We want to rush to the end, serve in that position of significance and believe we can do it based on our talent.  But in the kingdom, character is much more valuable than talent.  When we have a dream or a vision to do something great for God, that may well be a dream God has placed in our hear.  Detours and discouragement are often not God saying “No,” but are 
God’s tools for preparing us for that destiny.  We need to take Joseph’s lead in each of those circumstances. 

n each situation that seemingly was taking Joseph away from his destiny, he chose to be his best, serve with faithfulness, and still strive for excellence. He could have chosen despair and bitterness.  I believe he must have spent hours in prayer, asking God to keep those things from his heart. But when the character required to lead a nation had been formed, Joseph’s ultimate destiny was revealed.  When we yearn for leadership in ministry or business, yearn for a spouse and family, yearn for some success in a career that we want to use to glorify God, we must be patient and faithful…even in the detours.

The Bible presents the devil as a real, living entity who was once a powerful angel in the courts of heaven but who was cast down to earth because of his pride and wickedness.  Satan also has a host of demons who do his bidding and carry out his plans against the people of God. In addition to the demonic, there are men and women who have entered into covenants with Satan and who actively participate in Satan’s plans. These men and women function as witches, warlocks, Satanists, and sorcerers.  These are reasonably interchangeable labels for individuals who partner with darkness.  Just as Jesus has his disciples, Satan does as well.  Many Christians also believe the idea of witches, warlocks and sorcerers actually wielding power is fictional.  They consign those notions to Harry Potter and the tales of King Arthur. 

We know from Genesis, that the world before the flood became a cauldron of evil. If the “sons of God’ in Genesis 6, were fallen angels who married the “daughters of men” and spawned the Nephilim, evil and satanic practices had made their way deeply into the human gene pool. The Tower of Babel, which was erected to reach into the heavens, became the sight for Babylon which them became a byword in scripture for evil, rebellion and occult practices.  Those occult practices were built on centuries of demon worship.  Those practices spread out into the world so that wherever idol worship emerged, those who served those idols were knowingly or unknowingly partnered with Satan.  Now there is a proliferation of occult practices around the world and even in America. Go into any secular bookstore and you may see a larger section on witchcraft than you seen on Christian writings. 

We have numerous references in scripture that reveal the reality of the “dark arts” having genuine power. When Moses confronted Pharoah and demanded that he let God’s people go, Pharoah demanded a miracle from Moses.  At Moses’ direction, Aaron threw down his staff and it became a snake (Ex. 7:8-13).  But, we are told Pharoah summoned his sorcerers.  They threw down their staffs and they turned into snakes as well. When Aaron struck the Nile with his staff, the water turned to blood. Pharoah’s sorcerers did the same thing by “their secret arts.”  When Egypt was struck by a plague of frogs the sorcerers duplicated the miracle.  By the fourth plague, a plague of gnats, the sorcerers could not match what Moses was commanding and testified that the “finger of God” was producing that plague. My point here is that, although God has much more power than the enemy and those that serve him, they do have some authentic power in the supernatural realm.

In Numbers 22, the king of Moab called on a sorcerer named Balaam  to place a curse on Israel so he might defeat them in war.  God forbade him from doing so and sent an angel to kill him if he would not relent from declaring the curse.  The curse would direct demonic powers to afflict Israel.  God took the threat seriously and acted to prevent it. 

God has spoken very specifically about occult activities in scripture:

“Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord, and because of these detestable practices the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you” (Dt. 18:10-12).

“Do not allow a sorceress to live” (Ex.22:8).

“I will destroy your witchcraft and you will no longer cast spells” (Micah 5:12).

“Both of these will overtake you in a moment, on a single day: loss of children and widowhood. They will come upon you in full measure, in spite of your many sorceries and all your potent spells” (Isa. 47:9).

“…all because of the wanton lust of a harlot, alluring, the mistress of sorceries, who enslaved nations by her prostitution and peoples by her witchcraft” (Nahum 3:4).

In these verses and others, God acknowledges the reality and power of witchcraft, although his power is much greater. In Acts 8, we are introduced to Simon the sorcerer who had practiced witchcraft in a Samaritan city for some time.  We are told that he had amazed the people with his sorcery and was held in high esteem in that city.  The people even called him The Great Power of God.  That alerts us to the fact that some witchcraft may be attributed to the hand of God. In Revelation 22, we are told that those who cannot enter the city of God to eat of the tree of life are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, murderers and idolators. 

When I was a kid, witches were cast as evil. In Walt Disney films like Snow White, the witch was ugly and malevolent. But in recent years, Satan has led an effective PR campaign to open the door for the notion of good witches (Bewitched, Charmed, etc.) and good sorcerers (Harry Potter).  Wicca has taken on a respectable aura claiming it only empowers women and any incantations evoked by its members only produce good. Culture has drawn lines between white magic and black magic (good and bad). Eastern religions, psychics, tarot cards, horoscopes, etc.it seems  have all been assigned a neutral or acceptable status by society. 

Scripture, however, makes no differentiations.  Anyone reaching into the spiritual realm who is not calling on the Holy Spirit is partaking of an unholy spirit whether they know it or not.  The tree of The Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden, represented a supernatural,  alternative source of wisdom and knowledge…a source that excluded God…which is the definition of occult practices.   Concerning psychics, mediums and necromancers, God asked why man would inquire of the dead rather than inquiring of the living God. 

Satan’s strategy from the Garden until now has been to get men to seek life, power, revelation, wealth, significance, direction, etc. from any source apart from God. When I see believers dabbling in these things or letting their children choose “good witches” or “good sorcerers” as role models, I cringe.  

Satan is real and so are his demons.  Witches are real and so is witchcraft.  Some dabble in it while others are fully immersed.  Either approach opens up a believer or their children to demonic deception and influence.  As the world gives approval to these “God alternatives,” I believe we need to be clearer with the lines we draw for ourselves and our children.  Because something is a work of fiction, does not mean it does not convey values and perspectives that bleed over into the non-fiction world.  Without trying to impose some legalistic line of lists of movies and books to cancel, let me encourage you to pray about these things and ask the Lord to show you where to draw the line. 

Thousands of witches covens operate in America currently.  Colleges promote classes on Eastern religions and practices (including healing practices) that invite demonic spirits into a person’s life. Some get involved out of curiosity while others are looking for something to provide power and control for their lives.  Others dabble just for fun.  Whatever the motive, the outcome is a real and threatening connection with Satan and those who serve him.  We should not be silent on this matter as the church or as parents to our children.  God considers every aspect of the occult to be detestable and so should we.  Please be aware and wise in relation to every form of the occult, regardless of how it is packaged. 

Reading through Genesis once again, I was struck by God’s call on Abram.  “The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Gen. 12:1-3).

In essence, God commanded Abram to cut ties with everything that defined who he was.  We don’t know with certainty, but it was likely he and his family had significant standing in his community.  Like all of us, his sense of significance was rooted in his culture, his relationships, and his reputation.  God was calling Abram to give up everything that had defined him and that had given his life significance and security to make a journey where he had never gone before. 

I’m not sure what motivated Abram to walk away from his country, his people and his father’s household, but thankfully he did. Perhaps, it was simply an uncommon wisdom that chose the greater thing. Look at the promise.  If you will walk away from everything that anchors you to this world, I will make you great in heaven. I will bless you and the world through you.  I will make your name great and your descendants uncountable. God was offering Abram a new identity, a greater identity than he had ever known.  But to take on this new identity, he had to surrender everything that defined who he was before his encounter with God.

In the same way, Jesus calls each of us to uproot ourselves from this world to seek his kingdom: 

“Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Mt. 10:37-39). 

“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matt. 6:33)

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matt. 6:19-21).

For us to find greatness in heaven and to receive the true riches of the kingdom, we must be willing to walk away from country, people, households, riches, and reputation rooted in this world. Too often, we want to maintain our love and status with the things this world offers and simply tack on our identity in Christ.  We think we can keep one foot in the world and one in the kingdom, but Jesus declares we cannot serve two masters.

I typically cringe every time a celebrity “comes to Christ” and suddenly is given celebrity status by some Christian leader.  It typically ends poorly and reflects negatively on our faith because they bask in the limelight of their “new life” in Christ for a while, but then are entangled in the same old sins they had been walking in before.  Part of the failure is that no one has been discipling the new believer and no one has told him/he that, compared to Jesus, they must hate their old life and old ways. 

In all of this, I’m not saying that a believer must walk away from any measure of success or influence they have achieved in the world, but must be willing to do so if God calls them out of that. Certainly, if they are involved in careers and pursuits that are sinful, they must give that up and trust God to provide as they build a new life in the kingdom.  

Here is our self-check.  Are we investing in our spiritual life and eternity in heaven significantly more than in this world? Like Abram, have we uprooted ourselves from the world and planted ourselves, our identity, and out significance firmly in heaven? Am I more concerned about how God views me or how people view me, especially those who don’t follow Jesus? 

I have seen a lot of successful people who see themselves as faithful Christians but who pursue wealth and the accolades of this world much more that serving in the kingdom. For some, if they were judged on the basis of their Facebook posts, there would be little indication that thy had made the body of Christ and the kingdom of heaven a greater priority than all the pleasures offered by the world. God wants to be our greatest desire and not simply an afterthought when it is convenient.  From time to time, we may want to evaluate how far we have left the world behind and how far we have travelled in our journey with Christ. 

Our God is a jealous God.  He wants to bless us but not share us with the gods of this world. I believe he wants to bless us and others through us as he did Abraham.  He wants us to produce spiritual descendants for the kingdom of heaven.  He wants us to trust him in the journey by holding loosely anything that is anchored in this world.  We may not recognize how tied to this world we are, so I encourage you to ask the Holy Spirit and spiritual friends to point out any blind spots so that we might surrender those to the Lord as well.  Ultimately, like Abraham we will choose who we trust in and what we trust in.  Hopefully, we will make the same decision as Abram did when he encountered God.

But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you.

Luke 11:20

One of the spiritual skills we need to develop is the capacity to recognize the moves of God in our lives on a daily or even hourly basis.  In the Luke passage quoted above, the religious leaders had witnessed the hand of God right in front of them but did not recognize it as such.  Jesus was casting out demons, but the religious elite attributed the deliverance to Satan rather than God.  Even Pharoah’s magicians recognized the finger of God when Aaron struck the dust of Egypt with his staff and turned the dust to gnats (Ex. 8:19), but the Pharisees and Sadducees missed it.  In those moments of deliverance, Jesus not only pointed to God but made it clear that the power of the Father could flick a demon off with his finger as if swatting a bug.

One of the great faith-builders of a believer is the recognition of how often God speaks to them in various ways or intervenes for them in small ways as well as great ways on a regular basis.  King David took note of God’s intervention on his behalf and drew on that record when he needed an upgrade in faith. When Saul questioned his ability to face the Philistine champion Goliath, David responded that, as a shepherd, God had delivered him from a lion and a bear and believed God would do the same for him as he faced the enemy.

I think we often adopt the view that God inly intervenes in big moments of crisis when we are facing the giants of death, cancer, persecution, job loss, divorce, etc.  But God provides our daily bread. Any loving Father wants to bless his children in multiple ways.  In David’s 23^rd  Psalm, he praises the Lord for providing abundance in the midst of his enemies and being led through the Valley of the Shadow of Death. But he also he speaks of being led daily to green pastures and still waters.  There is that sense of thanksgiving for his “daily bread” which, perhaps, we take for granted as an ordinary experience of life.  David clearly saw God’s hand in that.  If you believe God provides the ordinary blessings of life on a daily basis, it is easier to believe when giants are knocking on the door.

I heard a preacher say that whatever we are thankful for, heaven provides more of.  That makes sense.  As a parent, I know that when my children were truly thankful and delighted about something, I found ways to make sure they received more of that.  When they had an attitude of entitlement or indifference, I wasn’t so motivated to provide special blessings.

I want to have faith that God is the source of every good thing in my life, so I notice those things and give thanks for those things throughout the day.  Some may think it foolish but I thank God for sunrises that reveal his glory, for sprinkles of rain in a dry land, for parking spaces that are handy, for cars that start, and squirrels that make me laugh. Although my health isn’t perfect, I thank him for the health I do have.  Noticing the hand of God in my everyday life gives me faith for the moments of crisis that come. 

Believing that he is orchestrating my day, makes me more sensitive to encounters with people that may need encouragement or a prayer.  It makes me mindful that I am representing Jesus to those I connect with throughout the day, so I treat them a bit better and speak a better word to them.  Every time I have faith that God is blessing me and revealing himself to me through the “ordinary” circumstances if life, I have more faith for the “giants” that raise their heads from time to time.  My awareness and thanksgiving help me see God as a good God who loves me and consistently wants the best for me.  When hard times appear, I remember that he is not the author of the pain in my life, but is still a good God who will walk me through the fires. 

Let me encourage you to begin and end each day with an eye toward seeing the finger of God in your life.  Most often he is subtle like the “still small voice” in Elijah’s cave.  But when we train our hearts to notice even the “little kisses” from heaven, our faith and our peace will increase. 

“So, as the Holy Spirit says: ‘Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.’” (Heb. 3:8)

I think we all go through seasons of hearing God more or less clearly.  Hearing God’s voice is an integral part of being led by the Spirit and being led by the Spirit is essential to a relationship with Jesus.  Paul wrote, “Those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God^” (Rom.8:12-14). The corollary to that statement is those who are not led by the Spirit are not sons of God.  If those things are true then we must guard our hearts against the condition of hardening. The hardening of a heart is dependent on our responses to the voice of God as he speaks to us day after day.  He speaks in many ways and we want to stay alert and submitted to his voice when he presents himself to us. Two primary things can cause us to push back on God’s voice or ignore it all together:  sin and woundedness.

The most obvious is unrepented sin.  Because God is committed to making us into the image of his Son, his Holy Spirit will push us toward repentance whenever sin begins to take root. Paul warns us, “Do not put out the Spirit’s fire” (1 Thess. 5:19). It is possible to quench the fire and influence of the Spirit in our life.  Indifference towards the Kingdom and indifference towards sin can harden our hearts so that we no longer feel the promptings or the leading of the Spirit.  The Bible speaks of calloused hearts that no longer respond to God.  It is the idea of skin becoming so thick that it loses its sensitivity to those things that prick or rub against it.  Our hearts can lose their sensitivity to the Spirit and to the voice of God as well.

Scripture declares in another place, “It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tastedthe heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace” (Heb. 6:4-6).  The writer of Hebrews is issuing a practical warning for every believer.  

He is not saying that God will no longer forgive but, in essence, we are told that we can resist the Spirit of God long enough that we will lose our capacity to repent.  Our hearts may become so calloused and hard, that even the promptings of the Spirit will no longer touch us.  By our own choices, we can develop a kind of spiritual neuropathy so that we can become numb and oblivious to the pricks of our conscience and the voice of the Father. When we nurture sin, we must push back on the promptings of the Spirit and, as we do, we lose sensitivity to his leading, Hardened hearts do not make good receivers for hearing the voice of God.  

Although sin heavily contributes to hardening, emotional scars may also hinder our hearing.  Many of us have been deeply wounded by life. As a result, we have developed extensive defense mechanisms to guard ourselves from being wounded again. We become emotionally guarded and distrustful. We are rarely open and vulnerable even with those closest to us. We still keep our deepest fears, hopes, and feelings to ourselves because fear rejection.  We work hard to stay in control of every situation in order to feel safe. We may even succumb to the temptation to lie and manipulate to avoid blame or rejection of any kind. 

When wounded, we may view God with the same suspicion and distrust. We are not open with him.  We offer partial confessions and tend to be inauthentic before the Father. We shy away from being honest about our fears, our unbelief, our lust, our bitterness and so forth.  We may fear his rejection and correction so we don’t truly want to hear his voice.  As we anticipate rejection from others, we may anticipate it from him as well so we keep our distance and have little faith that he will say “yes” to our prayers. 

If your heart has been hardened by life so that you are guarded, distrustful or controlling, ask God to dissolve those strongholds and give you a softened and responsive heart to his love and his Word. If you are choosing sin over a relationship with him, then repent. God is aware of your brokenness and your fear and is willing to heal those hurts. He is aware of your sins and eagerly forgives when we sincerely seek his forgiveness.  Remember, time is your enemy.  As we resist the voice of God for whatever reason, our hearts are becoming hard.  That is why the Spirit pleads, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts’” (Heb. 3:8)

Blessings in Him.  

There are still numerous denominations that hold the position that the Holy Spirit no longer does miraculous or supernatural acts through God’s people and that God no longer intervenes in the affairs of men in miraculous ways.  In other words, these churches teach that since the end of the first century, the Holy Spirit no longer activates the gifts of prophecy, tongues, words of knowledge, miracles, healing, and so forth given to the church.  Since those days, we should no longer expect angels to visit men with messages from God, or bodies of water parting for God’s people, or angels being sent out to defeat the enemies of God without a battle.  According to these denominations, for the last 1900 years or so, God has answered prayers through natural means rather than supernatural.  There have even been books written in the past ten years railing against the deception of supernatural spiritual gifts and the supernatural intervention of God in our circumstances.

I was part of one of those denominations for two decades.  Our people loved God and they loved the Word of God.  They prayed.  They worshipped.  They served.  I have no reason to doubt they were saved.  There was a common denominator among many of the people I fellowshipped with, however.  They all felt as if there was something “more” they should be experiencing, but were not sure what it was.  It just felt like something was missing.

I believe the missing piece was the opportunity to experience God, not just know about God.  If you think about it, the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation is a record of men and women encountering God in supernatural moments. Something happened to them outside the natural order of things.  God walked with Adam and Eve in the Garden.  God directed to Noah to build an ark.  God visited Abraham with angels and promises of a son to be born long after it was physically possible for Sarah.  Then we have Moses and the burning bush, the ten plagues, and the parting of the Red Sea.  These kinds of moments are recorded throughout the Old Testament. Visions and dreams, angelic visits, supernatural victories in war, deliverance from fire and lions, supernatural provision, and so on.  

In the New Testament that theme continues.  E very encounter with Jesus was supernatural…God in the flesh.  Healings, raising the dead, supernatural catches of fish, demons being dispatched, and storms being quieted with a word.  After Jesus returned to the Father, we see tongues of fire on Pentecost, jail breaks facilitated by angels, more healings, deliverance and people raised from the dead.  The church is given the spiritual gifts of healings, tongues, miracles, words of knowledge, prophecy, etc. and was instructed to use them for building up the body of Christ. 

The notion that God revealed himself to his people through miracles, visions, and angelic visits from the beginning of scripture to the end and then suddenly stopped the flow of power and supernatural encounters to his church seems unreasonable and out of character for God. In scripture, the very thing that propelled Gods’ people through each crisis was the expectation that God would move in some miraculous way to deliver them.  That attitude is what the Bible calls faith and without faith it is impossible to please God.

nterestingly, we see the Apostle Paul in Athens in Acts 17.  He is invited to speak to the intellectual elites of the day by sharing the gospel on Mars Hill.  Paul gave his best explanation of the gospel, perhaps using the learning and training he had received at the feat of his mentor, Rabbi Gamaliel, when he was growing up.  A few responded, but not many.  Paul was disappointed.  

His next stop was Corinth, and when he wrote his first letter to them, he recalled their initial encounters.  He said, “When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power” (1 Cor. 2:1-5).

It seems after his experience on Mars Hill, he put away intellectually persuasive arguments and rhetoric and began preaching a simple gospel…but with a demonstration of power.  In other words, he still preached but then enabled those who heard the word to actually experience God through the exercise of spiritual gifts…a supernatural moment.  The pattern of Jesus had been to preach the coming of the kingdom of God and then to demonstrate it through healing, deliverance, miracles (loaves and fish), and sometimes calling people back from the dead.  We can safely assume Paul did the same. After all, a gospel without power is no gospel at all.  

The “more” that most believers are looking for is an experience with God, not just more knowledge about him.  That is the biblical pattern from Genesis to Revelation and should still be our pattern in the church.  Can spiritual gifts and claims of miracles be abused?  Of course. They were abused in Corinth, but rather than telling the people to stop using the gifts or that the gifts were fraudulent, he simply instructed them about how to use the gifts as God intended.   Many believers suffer from a faith that is devoid of power.   Rather than confronting the attacks of Satan they are instructed to simply endure the attacks.  Without the use of the divine (supernatural) weapons that Paul describes in 2 Corinthians 10, we cannot confront spiritual forces.  Therefore, those who believe that God no longer intervenes or that the Holy Spirit no longer imparts power, simply have to take what Satan is handing out.  That is not the character of God nor should it be the character of his people. 

Let me encourage you to seek more experiences with God…biblically balanced and tested.  Those experiences will always have some supernatural component because God is supernatural. And remember that God is interactive not simply observational.  He always has been.  He has always extended the invitation to experience him whether at a burning bush, the Tent of Meeting, or through his Holy Spirit living in us,. So let’s accept the invitation and find the “more” we are looking for.
  

Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”

Therefore come out from them and be separate,says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty. (2 Co 6:14–18).


To some of us, this section of scripture sounds like the Old Testament injunctions for the Israelites to keep themselves separate from Gentiles and all their practices. They were not to marry Gentiles (non-Jews), they were not to eat with them and certainly not to worship their gods or participate in activities that honored those gods. There were, of course, foods that were considered unclean and numerous circumstances that would render a Jew unclean for a season, such as coming into contact with anything dead or diseased.

Although those laws were suspended under the New Covenant (bacon is back on the menu!), the principle of separation for the sake of holiness has not set aside. God is a holy God and his Spirit that lives in us is the Holy Spirit. In Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, he emphasizes this principle. In a city known for its idol worship and temples to false gods, this reminder was necessary. A great number of those in the church at Corinth were Gentiles who had placed their faith in Jesus but who also had families, friends, and employers who were still unbelievers. Contact with unbelievers was not forbidden, but certain kinds of relationships were forbidden for believers.

Paul describes these relationships as relationships in which two people are “yoked” together. In an agricultural society, everyone understood the concept of “yoking.” Two animals were bound together by a yoke. Where one went, the other was forced to go. When one stood still, the other was greatly hindered from moving. Under the Law of Moses, it was forbidden to yoke different kinds of animals together, such as a horse and an ox. That was to picture the principle of separation between God’s people and others. A relationship in which yoking occurs is a relationship in which two people are bound together by covenants, oaths, and/or influence such as a marriage. It may also extend to business partners or other relationships in which people are tied together by oaths such as in Free Masonry.

In a culture that emphasizes inclusion and the tolerance of all kinds of lifestyles, the church has begun to compromise and has allowed the culture to reach into the church. Many believers think nothing of marrying an unbeliever or an individual from another culture who worships other gods. Many believers never connect their faith with their business practices or associations they belong to.

But Paul was clear. If a person does not belong to Jesus, he belongs to Satan. He is part of darkness not light, wickedness not righteousness. He has the spirit of disobedience in him, rather than the Spirit of the Living God. If we enter into a covenant with that person we, be default, are entering into a covenant with Satan and he has full access to the believer through his or her relationship with the unbeliever. Paul’s injunction is not a recommendation for who you should or should not marry, but is a command. God is a jealous God and does not willingly share his people with those outside our covenant with him.

As a covenant people living in the midst of a depraved culture, we need to love the lost but avoid being yoked with them. Of course, I have known Christians who married unbelievers who later came to Christ. That does not suspend the command. I have known drug dealers and Satanists who have come to Christ, but that doesn’t commend drug dealing and Satanism. We always think we can win those people to Christ, but what we are doing is giving Satan open access to us if we enter into a covenant through some formal act, some oath, some promise or some intimate association with unbelievers.

Of course, we will be accused of bigotry and intolerance if aren’t willing to accept and engage with every person around us, but God knows his children and those that belong at his table. He is quite willing to adopt more children and give them a seat, but those who do not have his Spirit within them, are not his. Part of our problem is that we fail to see ourselves as different from the world and set apart in Christ. Being sons and daughters of God with his Holy Spirit living in us can seem abstract if we simply know about God without experiencing him. Since we “feel” the same as others, we assume being “yoked” with them isn’t problematic.

Perhaps; we need to spend some time asking God to show us who we truly are in Christ and how we need to “come out from among them,” so we can experience the Father in his fullness. This not bigotry or hating, it is reality. If I point out that a child is not mine because he belongs to other parents, would that be an act of hate toward the child or simply a recognition of who belongs to whom? So it is in the kingdom of God.

Let me encourage you to spend some time this week reading over the passage above, asking the Spirit to give you an understanding of it, and asking him to give you a clearer sense of who you are in Christ. Jesus challenged us to be Holy, even as our Father in heaven is holy. Knowing that we are set apart from the world and seeing ourselves through than lens is the first step in being what God has called his to be.