From one perspective, the life of Jesus is a study in spiritual warfare.  From his birth, the enemy was targeting Jesus.  First of all, Satan incited Herod to kill all the males in the region of Bethlehem under the age of two in order to eliminate the possibility that one of them would grow to be a king who threatened Herod’s throne.  The fact that Joseph, Mary, and Jesus became political refugees fleeing to Egypt while Jesus was still a toddler also put the family in danger.  The fact that angels drew near to pronounce both promises and warnings in visions and in-person tells us that there was much afoot in the spiritual realm.

As Jesus began his ministry, God himself spoke audibly confirming that Jesus was his son in whom he was well pleased.  Then, after his baptism by John, we are told that Jesus was led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit for forty days of fasting and temptation.  Some versions say that the Holy Spirit drove him into the wilderness.  This would be a difficult introduction to spiritual warfare launched by the public ministry of Jesus.  The language of the gospels suggests that he was tempted throughout the forty days, with an ultimate confrontation at the end.

At the end of his fasting, Jesus had a personal confrontation with Satan who challenged him to demonstrate his deity if he really were the Son of God. He was betting that Jesus had an element of pride and arrogance that would prompt him to demonstrate who he was when Satan questioned him.  After all, Satan was filled with pride and arrogance and would have gladly demonstrated his power if it had been questioned. The first two temptations…turning stones to bread and jumping from the pinnacle of the temple mount… were kind of a dare. In essence, the accuser was taunting Jesus with, “I dare you to prove who you are.”  

The last temptation was to take a shortcut to becoming king and ruling over the nations of the earth, whichis his appointed destiny.  Satan offered Jesus all the kingdoms of the world if he would simply worship Satan. The offer was to fulfill his rightful destiny without the cross and the suffering.  We all want “a crown without a cross” and Satan tempts us with spiritual short cuts all the time.  Jesus responded with the word of God in all three moments of temptation which is the ultimate way to resist Satan.

Later we see Satan manipulating Judas so that he ultimately betrayed Jesus.  In fact, we are told that Satan entered into Judas just before the final betrayal.  We can’t know for sure, but it seems likely that Satan was in Gethsemane that night whispering that none of us were worth what Jesus was about to go through. On that night, Jesus asked the Father if there was any other way.  Of course, the flesh in any of us would have been looking for an exit from the appointed plan but, perhaps, Satan was amplifying the moment and the fear Jesus was wrestling with.  Remember, Jesus was tempted in every way that we have been tempted, yet was without sin.  As Jesus resisted the temptation, angels came and ministered to him.

I am convinced that we, like our master, are in the midst of spiritual warfare ourselves much more than we recognize.  Failing to derail Jesus, he is busy trying to derail those who follow him.  The problem is in recognizing his activity.  The most effective demons are those who work subtly in our lives to move us out of God’s will inch by inch rather than in catastrophic ways that would immediately raise a red flag in our minds that we are under spiritual attack.  He takes his time, studies our vulnerabilities, looks for things in our life or bloodline that will give him a legal right to afflict us, and studies our wounds to see how to use those against us.  

The best strategies of the enemy leave us feeling as if life and time are simply taking their toll.  Our health issues, our discouragement that moves into mild depression, our insecurities that develop into generalized anxiety, our view of ourselves as victims and questions about God’s goodness or fairness seem to come up like weeds. We have thoughts that we know are contrary to God’s word and we wonder why we think that way. We wonder why we don’t have the faith we once did, why lustful thoughts seem to dominate our imagination, why anger or jealousy begin to define us, and why we can’t forgive certain people in our lives.

In many cases, we simply conclude that we are not spiritual; that we don’t love Jesus anymore and that God tolerates us but is not pleased with us as his children.  We become discouraged and often give up on our spiritual growth or our relationship with God all together.  The truth us, many times the fear, the depression, the bitterness, and the lust are not originating in us, but are demonic spirits constantly whispering those things that stream across our minds as though they originated in our hearts.  Then the accuser fills us with shame and discouragement and tries to convince us that we are beyond hope and that spiritual growth is out of our reach.

Certainly we need to recognize the thoughts that are contrary to God’s word and repent of them, but even more we should recognize the source of those thoughts as demonic and banish those demons from our presence by the authority of Jesus Christ.  Thoughts that persist in the face of repentance and prayer or that press in even harder when we resist, are most likely demonic affliction.  Until the demons leave, the thoughts will gain ground rather than fading away.  My experience has taught me that more of our struggles are spiritual than we think. When resisting thoughts, impulses, or destructive behaviors, we should assume first that a spirit is operating.  We should command the spirit to leave and then deal with the flesh through prayer, repentance, and the word.  We should command these spirits to leave as soon as we see a pattern of thoughts contrary to God’s word and will for us.  We should command them before we start to come into agreement with them. If we assume out thoughts are always our own, those thoughts may become a stronghold that will be more difficult to dismantle.

Satan loves to work in the shadows and make us just miserable enough, tired enough, and depressed enough that we assume it is just life in a fallen world. We then look to doctors and counselors for help when the underlying cause is spiritual.  Until the spiritual realm is addressed, no counseling or treatment will be sufficient.  Paul declares that our struggle is not against flesh and blood but spiritual powers. Let me encourage you to start there when life isn’t as it should be and God’s blessings always seem to slip away. When you recognize a pattern of ungodly thought, make sure there is nothing in your life giving the enemy a legal right to afflict and oppress you. After that, command the thought as if it is a spirit. Command it to leave and never return. If the thoughts weaken then the spirit has left and you and the Word can continue to renew your mind.  If the thoughts press in harder, then command harder until the spirit leaves. 

In 1 Samuel 13, we are told of an incident between the Prophet Samuel and King Saul, Israel’s first king.  In this section of scripture, we are told of a number of battles between Israel and the Philistines.  As they prepare for an upcoming major encounter, Samuel told Saul to take his troops, go to Gilgal, and wait for Samuel to come and offer sacrifices on behalf of Israel before going into battle.  Samuel told Saul he would come on the seventh day to offer the sacrifice (1 Sam. 10:8).  

In chapter 13, we are told that Saul was waiting at Gilgal on the seventh day.   His troops were terrified.  He was frightened and yet Samuel had not yet arrived. As the day wore on, some of Saul’s men began to scatter. Saul decided to take matters into his own hands and he himself offered the burnt offering and fellowship offering that Samuel was to offer.  Saul was not a priest.  He was not authorized to offer sacrifices and yet he did so out of fear of losing his army.  Of course, the moment the last billow of smoke drifted up from the offering, Samuel arrived. 

The text reads, “What have you done?” asked Samuel. Saul replied, “When I saw that the men were scattering, and that you did not come at the set time, and that the Philistines were assembling at Micmash, I thought, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the Lord’s favor.’ So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering.” “You acted foolishly,” Samuel said. “You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him leader of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command” (1 Sam. 13:11-14). Notice that Saul decided to take matters into his own hands, blamed Samuel, and then said he needed God’s blessing even if he had to obtain it through disobedience. His thinking was skewed like that throughout his entire life.

Ultimately, this event and others like it cost Saul his kingdom and his life. We could take numerous lessons from this passage, but the one I want to emphasize now is the principle of waiting on the Lord.  Saul had received instructions from the Lord though Samuel to wait at Gilgal until the prophet, who was also a priest, arrived and offered sacrifices.  Saul depended on his own abilities and the abilities of his men for victory.  As they began to leave, he apparently had no thought that God could give them victory regardless of their numbers.  In fear, he went ahead and offered the sacrifices rather than waiting on God’s man to arrive. Saul believed that God would honor his actions even though they were disobedient. Saul always felt that the end he wanted justified the means.

There was a test woven into this circumstance.  Would Saul obey God even when it began to look like obedience might cost him his victory?  In a similar incident later, Samuel would say to the king, “Does not God desire obedience more than sacrifice?”  The issue is whether we will trust God and be obedient when things aren’t going according to our time table or our presuppositions about life and what it should look like.

Satan is quick to show up and whisper that God is not going to show up so we must take matters into our own hands.  When that happens, a lack of faith rushes ahead and tries to engineer the outcome we are wanting.  That is not a good idea! Remember Abram and Sarai.

God promised Abram a son, even though Sarai had been unable to bear children.  I’m sure they got busy trying to fulfill that promise, but time passed and nothing happened.  In Genesis 16, we are told that Sarai decided the promise was not going to be fulfilled through her, so she offered her handmaiden to Abram and he fathered a child though Hagar.  From a natural, fleshly perspective that made sense, but it was something that could be accomplished apart from God. God often wants to do something supernatural in our lives that leaves no question his hand was in it.  That brings him glory, increases our faith, and builds relationship with him.  But I have seen many people who waited on a promise or a prayer to be answered for a while…but then decided to make the promise or prayer come to pass in their own way by their own efforts.  

The enemy was busy injecting thoughts that God wasn’t going to come through for them or didn’t care about the need they so desperately wanted him to meet.  So, they moved ahead only to find that the decisions and the outcomes they engineered were catastrophic.  Just as Saul went ahead with the sacrifices, they ran ahead on relationships, marriages, job opportunities, major moves, and so forth.  Just as Saul lost his kingdom, they found the things they engineered did not work out well.

Very often, Satan prompts us to run ahead and take matters into our own hands. God wants to do things by his Spirit.  Satan wants us to operate in the flesh.  Abram and Sarai thought they would help God fulfill what he had promised.  But the way the promise was fulfilled was just as important as the promise itself.  Abram got Hagar pregnant.  But then Hagar began to despise Sarai and flaunt her pregnancy.  Sarai became enraged.  When Hagar bore a son, he was not welcome.  Ishmael and Isaac became estranged brothers and their descendants (Arabs and Jews) have been fighting ever since.  

Certainly, we have a part in many promises, but waiting on the Lord can be a significant part of spiritual warfare because God is aligning all things to birth the answer to our prayer and his promise.  If we run ahead, some ingredient(s) that will make the answer amazing will be left out.  The answer will fall flat, lack flavor, be bitter, or be inedible all together. Satan will have taken the best part and we will be disappointed. Satan will then rush to get us to blame God rather than ourselves for not having the faith to wait.

As we pray for significant things, we may also need to pray for God to give us the patience and even endurance to wait on his answer.  His supernatural outcome will always outpace whatever we can do in our own strength.  

Over sixty years and sixty pounds ago, I was typically the fastest guy in my school.  In the city, there was only one other sprinter my age that was competitive with me in the hundred.  We ran against each other frequently and it was always close.  We began to develop a friendship because we knew we were the best.  One spring afternoon we had a track meet that was open to some of the smaller rural schools in the Texas panhandle.  I still remember lining up with eight of us in the blocks.  My friend was two lanes to my left.  The only question would be which of us would win that day as we showed the country boys how we ran in the city.  

The gun sounded, we leaped from the starting blocks and as we crossed the finish line we both looked each other in the eyes as we humbly tied for last place.  The country boys had smoked us…not by inches but by feet.  We both recognized at the same time what had happened and could only laugh.  We spent the rest of the afternoon in the stands licking our wounds.  Here was the thing…we had measured ourselves against the track teams in our city and grade level and assumed every other track team in the country was like those we competed against each week.  We had a false measure of comparison.  It cost us a race.

From time to time, I visit with people who have a problem with God.  They get how he might send really wicked people to hell, but cannot accept a God who would send “good people” to torment simply because they had not accepted Jesus.  I think that issue is worth a response.

In the first place, God is not sending them to hell, but is feverishly trying to rescue them from the hell they are sending themselves to.  Our problem is, like my friend and I, a false measure of comparison.  We measure the righteousness of men against the righteousness of men rather than the righteousness of God.

We look at an Adolph Hitler or a Jeffrey Dahmer and determine that they were evil and deserve some form of extreme punishment.  But then we look at our neighbors who work hard, pay their bills, go to the lake every weekend with their family, and volunteer to coach little league.  These are “good people.”  They give little thought to God and do not follow Jesus, but they are “good people.”  We make that comparison on the basis of the other people we know who live in   this very perverse world.

In doing so, we assume God grades on the curve and if you are in the top 30-40 %, you get in.  But that is not how it works.  The standard for righteousness is God’s holiness not ours and he is a God who dwells in unapproachable light.  The judgment of heaven is that all have fallen short of the glory of God and that there is none righteous, no not one (Romans 3:10).  In fact, Isaiah declares, “How then can we be saved? All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags” (Isa. 64:5-6).

Isaiah is pointing out, that based on our own righteous acts none of us can come into the presence of God because the best that the best of us can do is like filthy rags (the rags women sat on during their menstrual cycle in the days of Isaiah) compared to God’s holiness. Isaiah should know because, even though he was a great man of God, he was overwhelmed with is own sense of sinfulness when he received a vision of God. He cried out, “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty” (Isa. 6:4-5).  The word translated as “ruined” here means destroyed, devastated, or to cease.   When Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up, he thought he was going to die because of his own sense of unworthiness and sinfulness compared to the holiness of God. Likewise, Ezekiel, Daniel and other prophets found themselves face down, unable to move or even breath when they encountered the holiness of God or even his representatives.  

The point is that none of us are “good people” by the standards of heaven.  We have just lived in the swamp so long we no longer smell or notice the decay all around us. Some parts stink less than others, but every part stinks. Even people who look good on the outside have all kinds of ungodliness on the inside and God judges not only our actions but our hearts and thoughts as well.  Even the best of us have pockets of pride, lustful thoughts, judgmental hearts, selfish ambitions, jealousy, envy, unforgiveness, lies, and self-justifications.  It is our fallen nature.  So, by heaven’s standards of goodness and righteousness, none of us are “good people.”  

But God, knowing that none of us could stand in his presence on the basis of our own righteousness, provided a righteousness by faith through Jesus Christ who became sin for us that we might be the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus (2 Cor. 5:21).   By our own sin we condemned ourselves to hell, but God in his righteousness and love provided a way of escape, a rescue plan for those who would acknowledge that at their best they fall short, but who trust God to make a way through his Son.

Our own rebellion has condemned us.  God has gone to extreme lengths to save us from our own wickedness.  Our problem is we don’t know wickedness when we see it because we have never seen true holiness.  And yet the grace of God is abundant and he has no desire to see anyone cast into hell.  He declares, “Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign Lord. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live? (Ezek.18:23).  God is not the bad guy in this equation…Satan is.  We need to remember the extent to which God has gone to save us from ourselves.  For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son (Jn.3:16).  There are no “good people” by heaven’s standards, but there is certainly a good God.


 

 

We have had a wave of funerals at our church lately…two this week.  I’m always struck by our desire to prolong life – to live forever if we could.  It is amazing what people will go through to live a few months or a year longer.  Their loved ones sometimes encourage them to go through excruciating treatments just to have a little more time with them as well. When we die, even at an advanced age, it seems wrong – as if the universe has betrayed us.  I believe there is a part of every one of us that does want to live forever.  We want that because it was God’s original intent.  When Adam and Eve were placed in the Garden, they were given free access to the Tree of Life.  As long as they ate from the tree, they would live forever.  That was God’s original for his entire creation.  Sin, of course, inserted a great parenthesis in that intent.

Solomon declared, “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men” (Ecc.3:11).  Every culture looks beyond this world for some form of eternal life, whether they look for it in reincarnation, some version of paradise or becoming one with the world soul.  Something tells each of us that physical death should not be the final chapter.

We are entering the Easter season.  It comes early this year but always brings a sense of hope.  It comes as Spring approaches and everything that appears dead begins to show life again. Our rose bushes are blanketed with fresh green leaves.  Fruit trees in West Texas, barren just a week ago, are covered with white blossoms.  Life is emerging again. It is a metaphor for eternal life in Christ.  When we thought all had ended, God had more.  An empty tomb is the promise of eternal life.  Physical death does not have the last word. Jesus has the last word.

His word is, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this” (Jn. 11:25-26)?  Through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, God has restored his original intent.
Jesus is the Tree of Life.  As long as we partake of him, we live.  Our eternal physical life will not be apparent on earth until the Lord returns with his saints and restores the earth to its pre-curse glory. In the meantime, we are with Christ in Paradise.  Ultimately, Satan will not beat the Lord out of anything.  The earth he set in motion with a pristine environment that partnered with man rather than opposing him, will spin through space once again.  God will live with his people and death will not be found in the dictionary.  

I have come to believe that our desire to hold on to life in this world is not so much a lack of faith about God’s goodness and a home in heaven, but is proof that we were never meant to die in the first place.  Death always seems wrong.  So, we comfort one another at each funeral with the hope that God has placed inside of us. We do so because we can, in fact, live forever with those we have loved and thought we lost. As Easter approaches, remember that physical death is not the end even as winter only hides life that emerges each year by God’s grace. Physical death for those in Christ is only the prelude to the eternity God has placed in our hearts. 

Last week I wrote a blog affirming that becoming a follower of Jesus does not mean life will be trouble free.  In fact, Jesus assured us that in this world we will have trouble.  In hostile environments such as China, Russia or the Middle East, that trouble could be for a life time as believers are targeted for persecution by the state.  And yet even in those environments, it seems that certain seasons produce more trouble than others.

In the west, Christians are not so blatantly targeted but may find more subtle persecution in certain environments such as in universities, the entertainment industry, some corporate environments, families, and so on.  If you live or work in a “Woke” community and verbalize biblical values, you will be opposed and probably censored.  There is a price to be paid for our faith in this world.  We need to be at peace with that reality.

After my last blog, someone asked if trouble was simply going to be their lot for a lifetime.  In the context, it was not trouble from persecution but simply from things in life never working out.  There are believers who seem to face a disproportionate amount of loss and failure which might include a number of deaths in a family in a relatively short time, financial stress even though they work hard, promotions going to less qualified people at the workplace, and constant vehicle breakdowns and expenses around the home that just always keep them under water.  Sometimes it is a disproportionate amount of sickness that makes life hard.  Perhaps, you have known those individuals or families.

I believe it is normal for all believers to have seasons of hardship, but not for that to be the standard of their entire life.  In cases like that, it seems that some kind of curse is operating that gives the devil a legal right to afflict or oppress an individual or family. The idea of curses seems very antiquated to most Americans, but it is a very biblical theme.  In fact, in Deuteronomy 28, God spends a great deal of time explaining to Israel that diligent obedience to the Lord would bring abundant blessings, but persistent disobedience without repentance would bring abundant curses that touched every part of life.  Abundant blessings include health, financial prosperity, fruitfulness from their efforts, blessed relationships, peace from their enemies, and even the promise of rain at the right times to bless their crops.  Curses would bring just the opposite…health problems, financial failure, broken relationships, war, natural disasters, and so forth.

There are several sections in scripture that picture Satan standing before the Lord bringing accusations against God’s people.  As he brought those accusations, he was looking for a legal precedent that would allow him to afflict those people on the basis of their sin or the sins of their fathers or on the basis of words they had spoken or oaths they had taken.  Those things may constitute a curse which the enemy can enforce as long as that curse remains.

When hardship, other than persecution persists, and is clearly over-proportionate to what most believers are dealing with, a curse may be operating.  An unrepented sin may clearly present itself as the probable cause of the curse.  Unforgiveness towards others who have wronged you would be the first thing to search for in your heart.  Other ongoing sins that you are excusing would be the next place to look…sexual sin, materialism, an immoral relationship, gossip, judging others, bigotry, discrimination (especially against Jews), ignoring the poor, idolatry, addictions, violence, abortions, etc. are things that need to be identified, acknowledged, repented of and renounced in order to take away the legal right of the enemy. 

Sins of the fathers (Ex. 20:5) is another thing you must consider.  It is not aways easy to know what our ancestors have done that may have opened the door to a generational curse that can be passed down from generation to generation. Violence, defrauding another, adultery, involvement in the occult in any form, molestations, antisemitism, participation in false religions, etc. can be found in most family lines.

You may research your family history for clues or spend a season in prayer asking the Holy Spirit to reveal the root of the curse operating in your life.  When you sense what it is, then confess it and repent of it on behalf of your bloodline. Then renounce the sin and cancel the curse in the name of Jesus.

Words spoken over us by those who have had spiritual authority over us can also establish a curse.  A parent telling us we will never amount to anything or that we will never be loved or announcing that they wish we had never been born can open the door to sickness, business and relationship failures, etc.  If we said those words over ourselves, they can also establish a curse.  If any words like that that have been spoken, they need to need to be renounced and repented of as well.

Ask the Holy Spirit to show you the root of any curse that may be operating.  It is God’s will to bless his people so if curses predominate instead of blessing, seek to know the root. Have those with prophetic gifts and gifts of discernment pray with you to see what they hear from the Lord as well. Trouble will come our way, but God is also a God of blessing who wants to bless his children even in the midst of trouble. Blessing should be the rule of our lives rather than the exception.  

In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

Many have turned their back on Jesus because they believed following him meant they would not have to face trouble or crisis or heart-breaking loss in this world.  When the trouble and trauma came, they felt betrayed by God as if he had not kept his promise to them. I have seen this after someone discovered their spouse had been unfaithful.  I have seen it after the death of a child. I have seen it after healing did not come.  Each one felt betrayed because life did not turn out as they expected and because God did not answer their prayers as they hoped. They had believed for a relatively trouble-free life.

To be sure, there are many promises of blessing, healing, protection, and deliverance in scripture.  However, there are also assurances that those who follow Jesus will experience trouble, persecution, and betrayal in this world.  Some trouble comes from our own bad decisions.  Our walk with Jesus does not exempt us from the law of sowing and reaping.  Bad decisions bring negative outcomes. Some are minor.  Others are catastrophic. David’s adultery with Bathsheba is front and center as evidence.  David repented of his sin but there were still serious consequences from his bad decisions.  The child born to David and Bathsheba died.  His son Absalom conspired to take his thrown.  That son then died in battle.  Because of his repentance, David was forgiven.  His relationship with God was restored.  God walked with him through the consequences, but he still had to deal with the loss and betrayal his sin had triggered.

At other times, we will face trouble and crisis simply because we still live in a fallen world and operate in enemy territory.  Our unseen enemy is very real and works tirelessly to derail us and, if possible, snuff out our faith. Even without his attacks we are broken people living with broken people. Hurts and losses come out of living in a world of broken people with free will. Often it is free will to hurt others.  Sometimes, because the earth has been cursed because of sin, natural disasters will also bring their share of pain.  

What we must remember is that our pain does not come from God but from sin and the accumulation of billions of people reaping what they have sown through their rebellion against God.  Unfortunately, we also reap what others sow…like innocent bystanders being killed because of a drunken drive or a deranged person walking in to a school with an AR15.  

That seems discouraging, but here is the good news.  First of all, we know that God often does protect us and provide for us when things could easily have gone the other way.  He has saved us many times, even when we did not know we were in danger. He does bring healing … sometimes supernaturally and sometimes through the grace of healing.  And yes, he does sometimes deliver us from the consequences of even our own actions and the actions of others…but not always.  However, I have seen time and time again that in our worst moments we are not alone. He brings grace to the moment that sees us through to another day.

And although trouble may come and we may face our worst fears, one promise stands that gives hope to every situation. The apostle Paul declared, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Rom.8:28). The challenge is in accepting that what may be in our eternal best interest is not always what we have in mind. God’s primary commitment to us is to get us across the finish line with our heavenly citizenship intact.  We naturally want everything this side of the funeral to be as smooth as everything in the other side.  We will have seasons like that but we will also have seasons that belong to living in a fallen world. 

All in all, we will get scrapes and bruises in this world that we don’t always understand.  God will not cause those but will use those to shape us, mature us, and prepare us to fulfill the destiny he still has for us.  We may feel like Joseph in an Egyptian prison, but those bitter days prepared him to lead a nation as Pharoah’s second in command.  At other times, we may not sense the good that God is working for us until years later when we look back to see his hand.  Don’t be surprised when trouble comes.  Blessings are promised but so is hardship at times.  God has not forsaken you and his grace will be sufficient.  Ultimately, he is working to get us home with him where there will definitely be no pain or sorrow ever again. 

One of the things I have consistently seen through the years in counseling, deliverance, and in my own life is Satan’s attempt to make us feel disqualified.  Let me explain.  The enemy’s first strategy ys is to keep us from receiving God’s grace though the sacrifice of his Son. In the Parable of the Sower, Jesus explained that, for many, the enemy simply takes the word of God from their hearts before they can believe.  He works hard to keep us from an encounter with God’s word and then works hard to keep us from opening our hearts to God.

Having failed at keeping a man or woman from being touched by God’s word and his Spirit, one of his standard strategies is to make the saved or those close to salvation feel disqualified.  Satan is referred to as the accuser of the brethren.  He accuses us before God, but he also accuses us in our own hearts and minds.  To those close to salvation, he whispers that they need to be better and do better before God will accept them.  They never surrender to Jesus because they don’t feel “good enough.” Perhaps, past sins haunt them and Satan whispers that  they are beyond God’s grace.  Of course, that is a total misunderstanding of grace.  We don’t clean ourselves up so we can come to Jesus, we come to Jesus so he can clean us up.  But in a world of highly conditional love, grace can be a difficult concept to grasp. Satan somehow seems to skew the message of grace so they don’t hear it clearly. Their sense of disqualification keeps them from moving ahead.

Even if a person surrenders to Jesus, Satan continue the accusations.  He will whisper continually that even though we are saved, we are still disqualified from God’s further blessings or from serving him in any significant way.  He reminds of past sins and suggests that we were not sorry enough, did not repent enough, or did not hate the sin enough for God to forgive that sin.  We live as if God is still holding something against us.  The enemy always implies that the blood of Christ is not really sufficient…for us. Feeling as if God is holding something against us, we have little faith that he will answer our prayers, bless us by meeting our greatest needs or deepest desire, or that all the promises in scripture are available to us.  When asked to serve in any significant capacity in the kingdom, we retreat, feeling that we simply don’t measure up.  We may even feel as if God would be angry if we took such a “presumptuous” step.

The truth is that none of us measure up, are “good enough,” or are worthy of His promises based on our own merit and righteousness.  It is only by the blood of Jesus that we can stand in the presence of God and be confident that he will answer our prayers.  Jesus gives us a position in heaven long before our condition matches that.  When we can accept our position as sons and daughters who are seen by God through the lens of his Son’s righteousness, we can then begin to pray with faith and expectation that God will care for us and use us in his kingdom in ways that we could not anticipate.

Faith is certainly based on our view of God and his character, but Satan uses our own doubts, insecurities, and self-image issues to cloud our view of the Father and the complete adequacy of his son’s blood to make us totally acceptable to our Father.  This, I believe, is the primary area in which we must take every thought captive and align our thoughts with the Father’s truth.

Most of us can stand a healthy dose of what God says about us on a daily basis by speaking the things that God has said about those who belong to him.  You can probably Google “Our identity in Christ” and get a great list of scriptures that declare what God has said about his children. When other thoughts enter our minds regarding our standing with God, we need to rebuke those thoughts as lies and speak God’s truth over ourselves.  Old ways of thinking are engrained in our brains and it takes an intentional season of declaring God’s truth over the old thoughts before God’s truth becomes our primary way of viewing ourselves…especially when the enemy keeps whispering our disqualifications to us. 

Sometimes we assume that what we think about the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is all that matters. But, all of His truth matters and what he has done for us through the cross is just as significant because our righteousness in Christ and our state of being “new creations” also reflects on God.  The quality of a sculptor’s work reflects on him as a person and God is sculpting us through Christ.  

So…when the accuser of the brethren comes around, recognize him, reject him, and silence him by declaring God’s truth about you in response to the lies he whispers.  Part of our transformation comes from the renewing of our minds and that renewing comes from saturating our thoughts and words with God’s truth.  You are not disqualified but made totally acceptable in Jesus Christ for salvation, blessing and even challenging assignments.

In the 13^th chapter of Matthew, the former tax collector records an incident that occurred in Jesus’ home town.  Jesus had been touring Israel, preaching in villages and along the shore of Galilee.  After a season of ministry, he went home and began to preach in the synagogue.  Those who had known him previously were amazed at his teaching and his miracles. Perhaps, they had heard of his healings more than having witnessed them.  

Interestingly, after being amazed, they began to be offended.  The text reads, “Coming to his hometown, he began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed. “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?” they asked. “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? Aren’t all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” And they took offense at him” (Matt. 13:54-57).

Instead of being excited and celebrating what God was doing in the life of the man they had known as a boy, they took offense.  They fell into the trap of not being able to see what a man had become, but only seeing him as he once was.  Jesus had all the markers of a great prophet, but they could only see him as the carpenter’s son.  

Apparently, his teaching with authority felt as if he were talking down to them.  The last sentence in that section said, “And he did not do many miracles there because io their lack of faith.”  Jesus reflected on the experience by saying, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town and in his own home.” Remember that even his own brothers did not believe until after the resurrection.

Perhaps, you have had the same experience trying to share Jesus with your family or old friends.  They may be polite, but still only see you as their child, their sibling, or their old “running buddy.”  It’s hard for parents to see even a grown child as one who can teach them or give direction to their lives.  Even when you are grown you are still their child.  Our siblings fall into the same trap.  It’s hard to submit your heart and intellect to someone you played with in the mud and carried with whom you carried out childhood rivalries. Old friends may be offended because you don’t share in their lifestyle of pursuing sin and pleasure anymore.

If you have a real burden for these people you love and care about, you may feel frustrated or feel like a failure because they won’t hear you.  Jesus gets you! He definitely knows how that feels.  How could anyone turn him down as a prophet with his stellar teaching and amazing miracles?  And yet they did.  We often forget that more people turned Jesus down than accepted him.

Let me encourage you.  Don’t measure your testimony or witness by those in your old circle of friends or even family.  Certainly, we need to share the gospel and tell them how Jesus has changed our lives.  Some will respond and reach out to Jesus.  But if they don’t…continue to love them and let your life be your testimony.  But in addition, pray that the Holy Spirit will birth faith and spiritual hunger in their hearts.  Just as importantly, ask the Lord to bring someone into their life to share the gospel whom they can hear – a peer, someone they look up to, or someone inserted into a circumstance at just the right time.  They may not be able to see us as someone who can give them direction, but we can pray and we can continue to model Jesus for them.  Take heart, Jesus’ entire family came to believe eventually.

This is an extension of last week’s blog that focused on Ezekiel’s “valley of dry bones.” God keeps reminding me about the promise of persistence so, perhaps, I or someone reading this needs the encouragement.

In his letter to the church at Galatia Paul wrote, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (Gal. 6:7-9).

These verses serve both as a warning and a promise. The spiritual law is confirmed in natural law. Whatever seeds you plant, will produce a crop of the same. Apple seeds produce apple trees. Watermelon seeds invariably produce watermelons. The seeds of thorn bushes produce thorn bushes. The spiritual law demands that whatever we sow will produce a harvest of the very things we have been planting.

In general, if we sow or do things to please our flesh, destructive things will eventually come our way. If we sow or do things that please the Spirit, we will receive life giving responses and blessings . Blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy. Proverbs 18:21 declares that the tongue has the power of life or death. If we consistently speak negative words or “death,” negative things will come our way along with failure. If we speak positive things – life and hope, success will be birthed out of our words. This spiritual law is also reflected in the words of Jesus: “With what judgment you judge, you shall be judged” and those who will not forgive, will not be forgiven.

Paul’s point in his letter was that to believe we sow one thing and receive another to that we can sow without a harvest, is mocking God. His promise is that we will reap what we sow. Like harvest in the natural realm, the more seed you spread, the more you harvest. The more people you bless, the greater will be the blessings that come back to you.

One of the challenges of this law is is that there is a season of waiting between seed time and harvest. In the spiritual realm, it can be a more than a few months. For those who sow to the flesh, this extended season between sowing and reaping can be deceptive. Those who do evil may interpret the lag time as evidence that they can act without consequence. Paul assures us however, that God will not be mocked. Destruction is in the pipeline for those who sow to the flesh without repentance.

On the other side of the spectrum, we may become discouraged from doing good, from hoping, from trusting, from continuing in prayer, from slogging through a disappointing marriage, because we don’t see “green shoots pushing up through the ground” from our efforts or prayers we have sown into the spiritual realm. But once again, the promise is that God will not be mocked. Paul says we should not grow weary in doing good because God guarantees we will reap a harvest for the good we have sown, the prayers we have uttered, the ministry or relationships, we have been pouring into, the life-giving words we have spoken, and so forth.

So…whatever you have been sowing that pleases the Spirit, be assured a good harvest will come. You may see it soon, see it later, or only see it in your bank account where you have laid up treasures in heaven, but God promises a rich return. If you consider timelines in scripture regarding deliverance from bondage, children being born to barren women, the Messiah coming, and so forth, there are just as many prayers that took decades as there are the overnight, miraculous interventions we delight in. Even those may have been preceded by someone sowing seeds of prayer and life-giving words. If weariness has set in, take heart. God knows and God promises.

This past week I’ve been reading through Ezekiel again.  It’s always a fascinating read with his prophetic visions and pronouncements.  Once again, I came to Chapter 37 which is the “valley of dry bones” chapter. Ezekiel is taken by the Spirit to a sight where some ancient battle had been fought and where hundreds or thousands of bodies had been left without burial. All that remained were dry, bleached, and scattered bones.  It was a scene of absolute desolation. As Billy Crystal would say in the Princess Bride, these guys were “all dead” not just “mostly dead.”

Then the Lord questions Ezekiel.  “Son of man, can these bones live?”  The obvious answer would have been, “No way, Yaweh!”  But Ezekiel was wiser and simply replied, “Sovereign Lord, only you know.”  Then the Lord commanded Ezekiel to prophecy over the bones. “This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin. I will put breath in you, and you will come to life.  Then you will know that I am the Lord!” 

As Ezekiel began to prophecy, the bones began to rattle and come together.  Then tendons and flesh appeared, then skin, but they were not yet living. Then the Lord told him to prophecy for breath to enter these bodies.   The word in Hebrew for breath is the same word as Spirit.  When “the breath” came into these bodies they stood up as a vast army.  Then God explained to Ezekiel that these dry bones represented Israel.  From a human perspective Israel had been destroyed.  Most of the Israelites had died in battle or had been taken to foreign nations as slaves.  The land was desolate and no one believed the tiny nation could ever live again.

But God still had a destiny for Israel and he swore he would make her a nation once more.  It would be that miracle that would convince Israel that God was their God. All through the Old Testament, God declares he will restore Israel and bring his people back from the nations where they have been scattered.  That reunification of God’s people to the land he had given them began in 1948 and is continuing.

We could go into all of that, but the principle I want to point out is that God is a God who breathes life into hopeless situations.  There are times when we may find ourselves hopeless…a marriage on the rcoks, a child caught in addictions, a bad report from the doctors, too much month at the end of the money, and so forth.  But God raises the dead…not just those who have been dead for a few days, but whole valleys of bleached bones.  

He does these things because he has already written a destiny for nations and individuals.  He does these things to draw people to him and for the glory of his name.  Sometimes when God calls people to Jesus, they feel as if their life is such a train wreck that no one, including God, could ever make it live again.  My wife Susan and I talked to a friend last night who is living in a large metropolitan area in Texas.  She told us about a young woman she had encountered who was making a living as a prostitute.  She has a teenage daughter she is trying to raise and doesn’t know how to make enough money any other way.  But, bit by bit, she is coming to Jesus.  She is slowly opening her heart. She is coming to believe that God can breathe real life into her again. She hasn’t yet given up her profession, but it is coming and she will soon be changed forever by the Lord…her and her daughter.  Like the bones coming together – bones, then tendon, then flesh, then skin, then breath, resurrection can be a process rather than an immediate event.  

If your life feels like a trainwreck and you’re wondering if you can ever recover and breathe again, remember the valley of dry bones.  God still has a destiny for you.   He wants to restore that destiny, set you on your feet, and breathe life into you again. Nothing is beyond his reach.  It may be a process instead of an overnight event, but he specializes in such things for your sake and for the glory of his name.  Hang on. Cry out. Don’t give up.  As Ezekiel prophesied over the bones, begin to speak life over your situation in the name of Jesus.  See what God does.