Knowledge; lesson #10
Prophecy should have knowledge in it. Though this seems obvious, it is the person who is prophesying’s responsibility to convey knowledge in a precise, understandable way to the listener. Paul says “If a trumpet does not sound a clear call, who will get ready for battle? . . . Unless you speak intelligible words with your tongue, how will anyone know what you are saying? You will just be speaking into the air.” (1 Cor 14:8-9). In Habakkuk we find that the Lord told him to “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that the herald may run with it. (Hab 2:2). It does no good to speak vague, unclear things as if somehow the Lord will make it clear later on. The knowledge is important, and we who prophesy must make it a clear message to the listeners.
We are familiar with the practice of horoscopes. They are purposefully vague so that anyone who reads one sees a “fit” for themselves. I’ve heard many people say “That just fits me” or “that fits my day”. However, the information given in the horoscope could fit just about any person, just about any day. The writers of horoscopes do not get their information from God. If they did, the information would be precisely for the person spoken to, and convey understanding of what was being said. The purpose behind the giving of horoscopes could be anything from gaining employment to becoming famous. The purpose behind giving prophecies is to speak God’s Words, for His purposes or goals.
The knowledge that we find in prophecies is not just information. Many people love information and seek God for more and more data. They are opening themselves up for deception. We do not seek God for what He can give us, as if we are a purveyor of goods. His knowledge is precious, like jewels, and it should be a treasured experience when He shares knowledge with us.
It is our human nature to not want to take too much risk, or place ourselves in a situation where we might be wrong. God understand this. He knows that we don’t want to offend people, appear to be a “know-it-all”, or err. However, this aspect of our human nature can cause us to be purposefully vague, withholding details that might bear witness in the heart of the listener if we had given the full message. It is hard to follow a conversation in which the listener shares secrets which you withheld from the prophecy with “I also heard that.” The believability cannot be gendered in the same way as when you had included the information in your prophecy before you knew it. Remember that the Lord speaks a thing before it happens so that we cannot say “I already knew that,” (Is 48:7) or, so that the information would not seem to come from another source (like “mother nature, or a spirit other than God’s. See Is 48:5). Keeping knowledge in the prophecy puts the prophesier at risk for being wrong, mistaken, and rejected. Yet it is the nature of prophecy to contain knowledge which God is revealing for His purposes.
I remember a time when a friend returned from studying at a charismatic Christian school. She shared that the practice they had learned concerning prophecy was to suggest that the Lord might be leading a person in a certain way. Her words of ministry were littered with “I think” and “Please pray about this yourself, but perhaps the Lord is saying . . . “ A few nights after our visit the Lord gave me dream wherein I was dressing up for an important occasion. I had on a royal blue dress with princess seams, which was close-fitting. I sat before a mirror, putting earrings on, when my husband appeared at the door and announced “come on, it’s time to go.” As I rose and turned to follow him, I glanced back at the mirror and discovered to my horror that the back of the dress plunged down to my waist! After praying about this dream, the Lord shared with me that to be one who speaks His words was a “royal” position, but though it may seem “fitting” to be “suggestive” (suggest), He would not “back” me. In other words, the Lord would not bear witness to watered down words that I suggested might be from Him.
You might wonder what to do with leadings from the Lord which seem vague or ill-defined. These often precede a leading by the Lord towards team work. It is not unusual for intercessory prayer to begin with a feeling, or a piece of knowledge from the Lord. Through group prayer more knowledge is brought in because more people are bringing their gift of prophecy into use. Paul writes about groups of prophets speaking in church. He gives greater importance to hearing from the one who receives a revelation (1 Cor 14:29-30). The revelation is the full picture of all the “pieces” the prophets are seeing. It should not be discouraging that we “prophesy in part” (1 Cor 13:9). God can put all the parts together, giving revelation to impart to all who are listening. The knowledge and understanding that is missing from one person’s prophecy can be supplied through another’s.
I often get “knowings” from the Lord that have no words attached to them. It takes time and practice to put language to things that are imparted by the Lord which by-pass our language center. If you have had this experience do not fret. The Lord has given you a gift He himself will help you to develop. He will ask you questions so that you will find words to answer Him. He will show you things so that you will describe them. The language will come. Wait on the words, for God is in the business of words. When we “sense” something, or “know” something that needs a language to describe it, it is like having the gift of tongues without the oral part of the gift. David writes that he will “open my dark saying upon the harp” (Ps 49:4). Without the light of understanding we do not have much useful knowledge. In the NIV Bible the translation states “with the harp I will expound my riddle.” The meaning of the little bit of information or knowledge David began with grew as he sang. “Knowings” are opportunities for “growings”. We grow dark sayings into productive prophesies by spending time with the Lord. If you receive knowings, you have a divine appointment with God. He awaits your time.
Knowledge helps a person work towards preparation and prevention. Without knowledge there would be no obedience, understanding, or discernment. Though this lesson has no application section, let the Lord lead you in developing a language to speak more precisely on those things which He is sharing with you, and to “grow” your “knowings” for the benefit of others.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
God overcomes our past and our future
God has overcome our past. When I went to church earlier in my Christian walk there were invitations for people to share how the Lord had changed their lives. I would hear about drug addicts who were set free, and alcoholics who had a new life in Christ. The stories were wonderful, and this part of the church service was called “testimonies”. I believe there are scrolls in heaven that document such glorious testimonies to the redeeming strength of Jesus’ blood in the lives of men.
God is eternal, and has overcome our future also. If we believe our past sins, and circumstances which bound our life outside of His Kingdom are covered and forgotten, then why is it so hard to have faith for the future? One of the things that would help us to have faith for the future is to revisit the past victories. In the Old Testament we read about this experience when the Israelites would erect an altar. Their worship of God, who had revealed Himself and changed their lives, was not just a one-time experience. Remembering. This is the key to faith for our future.
Does the Lord expect us to remember the victories from the past? In Numbers we read the account of how the Israelites refused to go into the Promised land for fear of its inhabitants (14:2-4). The Lord’s response was “How long will these people treat Me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in Me, in spite of all the miraculous things I have performed among them?” (14:11). The Israelites looked at their own strength and immediately forgot about God’s strength. They forgot their testimony.
I remember a time in my life when I had prayed through a difficult experience, and received victory. I felt relief as my circumstances changed, and thought this trial was one I would never have to face again. Yet a more serious trial of similar nature was right around the corner. It was then that the Lord shared one of His ways with me. “I always build on my Word.” His word of victory in my recent trial was a stepping stone to the victories in my future. If I had failed in the lesser trial, the greater trial would have defeated me altogether. God always walks into our future ahead of us to secure our victories, handing us smaller skirmishes to prepare our faith for the greater battles ahead.
David wrote that the Lord “trains my hands for battle,” (Ps 18:34). This Psalm begins with praise to God and an acknowledgement that “The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer . . .” It would seem that there would have been no battle that could come near David if he were safely tucked away in the shelter of God’s strength. Yet David became sorely vexed over the injustices done against him and said “the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me,” (vs 4). After the Lord dealt with David’s foes, He equipped David for future battles. David shares with us that “It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect. He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; He enables me to stand on the heights. He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You give me your shield of victory and your right hand sustains me; you stoop down to make me great. You broaden the path beneath me, so that my ankles do not turn.” (vs 31-34). God’s intention during the present trial was not only to bring David through to victory, but to equip him for future victory. God was teaching David to think and war like Himself.
In Psalm 18 David states that he considered his enemies “too strong for me.” (vs 17). There was another time in David’s life when his enemies were stronger than himself. When David sought to convince king Saul to let him go up against Goliath, David told the king that he had slain a lion and a bear. David remembered his past victories and brought them forward into the present as his testimony. He had faith to fight a giant because of his past victories. After David killed Goliath, his victory led him on to fight other battles, and win. God had armed David with strength of faith so that David could walk perfectly before Him.
We do not fight against literal giants today. Paul writes that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Eph 6:12). It is an unseen and impersonal enemy that sometimes overwhelms us. How do we gain victory when we feel that the forces against us are stronger than we are? In Revelation 12 we read about a foe that is terrifying and powerful; the dragon, who is satan himself (vs 9). Though the dragon made war with God’s people, “They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.” (vs 17 & 11). As strong and as powerful as the dragon is, he cannot overwhelm our faith. The word of our testimony about past victories gives us present and future victories over satan. If we look at our own strength we will fail. But if we visit the “altars” of our past victories we will remember God’s strength, and will be strengthened ourselves to overcome. Remembering brings equipping strength to our present circumstances.
God is eternal, and has overcome our future also. If we believe our past sins, and circumstances which bound our life outside of His Kingdom are covered and forgotten, then why is it so hard to have faith for the future? One of the things that would help us to have faith for the future is to revisit the past victories. In the Old Testament we read about this experience when the Israelites would erect an altar. Their worship of God, who had revealed Himself and changed their lives, was not just a one-time experience. Remembering. This is the key to faith for our future.
Does the Lord expect us to remember the victories from the past? In Numbers we read the account of how the Israelites refused to go into the Promised land for fear of its inhabitants (14:2-4). The Lord’s response was “How long will these people treat Me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in Me, in spite of all the miraculous things I have performed among them?” (14:11). The Israelites looked at their own strength and immediately forgot about God’s strength. They forgot their testimony.
I remember a time in my life when I had prayed through a difficult experience, and received victory. I felt relief as my circumstances changed, and thought this trial was one I would never have to face again. Yet a more serious trial of similar nature was right around the corner. It was then that the Lord shared one of His ways with me. “I always build on my Word.” His word of victory in my recent trial was a stepping stone to the victories in my future. If I had failed in the lesser trial, the greater trial would have defeated me altogether. God always walks into our future ahead of us to secure our victories, handing us smaller skirmishes to prepare our faith for the greater battles ahead.
David wrote that the Lord “trains my hands for battle,” (Ps 18:34). This Psalm begins with praise to God and an acknowledgement that “The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer . . .” It would seem that there would have been no battle that could come near David if he were safely tucked away in the shelter of God’s strength. Yet David became sorely vexed over the injustices done against him and said “the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me,” (vs 4). After the Lord dealt with David’s foes, He equipped David for future battles. David shares with us that “It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect. He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; He enables me to stand on the heights. He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You give me your shield of victory and your right hand sustains me; you stoop down to make me great. You broaden the path beneath me, so that my ankles do not turn.” (vs 31-34). God’s intention during the present trial was not only to bring David through to victory, but to equip him for future victory. God was teaching David to think and war like Himself.
In Psalm 18 David states that he considered his enemies “too strong for me.” (vs 17). There was another time in David’s life when his enemies were stronger than himself. When David sought to convince king Saul to let him go up against Goliath, David told the king that he had slain a lion and a bear. David remembered his past victories and brought them forward into the present as his testimony. He had faith to fight a giant because of his past victories. After David killed Goliath, his victory led him on to fight other battles, and win. God had armed David with strength of faith so that David could walk perfectly before Him.
We do not fight against literal giants today. Paul writes that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Eph 6:12). It is an unseen and impersonal enemy that sometimes overwhelms us. How do we gain victory when we feel that the forces against us are stronger than we are? In Revelation 12 we read about a foe that is terrifying and powerful; the dragon, who is satan himself (vs 9). Though the dragon made war with God’s people, “They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.” (vs 17 & 11). As strong and as powerful as the dragon is, he cannot overwhelm our faith. The word of our testimony about past victories gives us present and future victories over satan. If we look at our own strength we will fail. But if we visit the “altars” of our past victories we will remember God’s strength, and will be strengthened ourselves to overcome. Remembering brings equipping strength to our present circumstances.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Lesson # 9; Time
When we hear God speak to our hearts it is thrilling. The trial of waiting for the Word to come to pass can be painful though. I have known many saints who have abandoned God’s personal Word for them because of their frustration over waiting. We are not always given a time-line by God concerning prophecy. However, if we understand some things about how God has used symbolism in relation to time, it helps us to in gaining understanding. Much of the symbolism in the Bible is from dreams and visions. This happens in our own lives also. If you are given a dream concerning another person, it helps to be familiar with the symbolism that tells about timing, or about sequence of events.
I want to share a caution before proceeding; though it may seem helpful to think that the fulfillment of prophesies are for a time far off, this type of thinking is not always true. If a prophecy is sent to warn of an upcoming event, or to prepare you for something, you will not likely be ready when that prophecy comes to pass if you have not taken the content of God’s rhema word seriously. Thinking a Word is far off in its fulfillment is not wise in either case.
Let’s look at the symbolism that can indicate God’s time for His Word.
• God gives clues so we can interpret the weight and urgency of the Word
o Repetition – soon to come to pass; needs immediate attention. When the Lord gave Pharoh a dream, it came in two forms; seven cows, and seven heads of grain. After Joseph interpreted the dream he told Pharoh that when God repeats the matter, it has been firmly decided and will happen soon. (Gen 41:32)
o Dynamic, or moving symbolism – shows transition and change. When the Lord gave Ezekiel the vision of dry bones (Ez 37:1-14) the prophet saw change each time the Lord had him prophesy to the bones, until they lived. As a nation, the Lord foretold that they would be brought back to Israel where they once again would live.
o Static or still symbolism – Could be a waiting period. To use an example from my dreams, the Lord has used the symbol of a kitchen counter top to indicate counting time. The longer the counter top, the longer the time. It is not a transition, therefore a non-moving, static object is chosen.
o Vague or incomplete details – far off. When Daniel asked for the outcome of his vision about the end times, he was told “Go your way, Daniel, because the words are closed up and sealed until the time of the end.” (Dan 12:9). Though he had some information, it was not enough to bring understanding, and the vision seemed incomplete to him. If our dreams or vision seem unclear or incomplete, it is because we need to wait on God.
Minute details – near. The closer you get to the destination, the more specific the details. It is like getting directions from a relative on how to get to their house in another state. First you are told the freeway to take, and the direction to travel in. But after the city and exit are given, you are told very specific details, like “turn right, turn left, yellow house on the right”, etc. A highway sign is for distance travel, but a street sign means you are near your destination. So as the time draws near for a prophecy to come to pass, God’s word will become more specific. He will “mark” the road for us. In Heb 12:1 we read that our race is marked out for us. In dreams the Lord has often put markers, which are events that, when they occur in my life, all that follows in my dream will come to pass. Not only will I know what I should do and when, but for what purpose.
To illustrate how God’s symbolism goes from less detail to more detail as the time draws nearer, let’s look at the vision in Daniel 12 compared to the similar vision in the book of Revelation. We will find that there is much more detail in Revelation, and that there is more shown (the vision is much longer). Though both visions were for the end times, the vision given to John is much closer to the end, naturally.
• Daniel has time of distress, deliverance of those whose names are written in the book, the resurrection of the saints, and 1290 days (@ 3 ½ years), angel raises both hands to heaven to swear by God about how much time is left (Dan 12:7)
• Rev 7:14 has the great tribulation (as does other books of the New Testament), deliverance from deception for those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life (17:8), the resurrection of the saints (Rev 20:4-5), 3 ½ yrs (Rev 12:14), angel raises his right hand to heaven to swear that there is no more delay, for during this time all things would be accomplished (Rev 10:6).
We often do not know the exact timing of a prophecy, but can be given a sense of urgency, or pressing of our spirit, when an important matter is coming upon us. This section on urgency talks about symbols that draw our attention to an important event about to happen, or that needs our intervention through prayer and/or action to prevent it.
Urgency
The symbolism is dynamic, lively – an example is a wave seen as large, or swiftly moving. Waves have movement (dynamic) and force. If it is larger than life this indicates a spiritual element is involved.
Horses with riders - Have greater authority. Delayed action would be unwise. A man on a horse is greater than a person on his feet. Horses are swift (dynamic) yet not as forceful as a wave.
Purposes of an urgent message are prayer, preparation, and to be on our watch for our enemy. If you receive an urgent message it is best to find someone to join you in prayer, such as an intercessor’s group. If the thing shown in the dream never happens does that mean you had a pizza dream? No. It usually means that all your prayers were answered.
Non-urgent
Static (not lively) symbolism. Above I used the example of a counter-top, representing time.
Less details with the symbolism. More symbolic, with less understanding. We see that, in Revelation, the angel explained more to John about the beast. In Daniel, he had less explanation from the angel about the beast because it was not an urgent matter for him.
More markers. Unusual events or people which make no sense to you will appear in dreams and visions, to only make sense when the time comes for you to meet them/experience the event.
The purposes of non-urgent messages are to prepare our obedience, watch for the markers, pray for discernment (are the people in your dream promoting the kingdom of God, or against it?), and pray to know your role with these people (are they purposefully trying to do something wrong, or are they ignorantly making a mistake?). When you are informed about who the “players” are in your dream or vision, then you will pray and act correctly.
Not all prophecies have an element of time in them, yet I find that it is important to address this component. As mentioned in the beginning, it is frustrating to wait on God’s timing. Yet we can hold the Word of God in our heart and wait on the Lord for His timing. As one who prophesies, we should also pray for those we prophesy to so that they will have strength to endure the waiting period often attached to personal prophecies to try the heart.
I want to share a caution before proceeding; though it may seem helpful to think that the fulfillment of prophesies are for a time far off, this type of thinking is not always true. If a prophecy is sent to warn of an upcoming event, or to prepare you for something, you will not likely be ready when that prophecy comes to pass if you have not taken the content of God’s rhema word seriously. Thinking a Word is far off in its fulfillment is not wise in either case.
Let’s look at the symbolism that can indicate God’s time for His Word.
• God gives clues so we can interpret the weight and urgency of the Word
o Repetition – soon to come to pass; needs immediate attention. When the Lord gave Pharoh a dream, it came in two forms; seven cows, and seven heads of grain. After Joseph interpreted the dream he told Pharoh that when God repeats the matter, it has been firmly decided and will happen soon. (Gen 41:32)
o Dynamic, or moving symbolism – shows transition and change. When the Lord gave Ezekiel the vision of dry bones (Ez 37:1-14) the prophet saw change each time the Lord had him prophesy to the bones, until they lived. As a nation, the Lord foretold that they would be brought back to Israel where they once again would live.
o Static or still symbolism – Could be a waiting period. To use an example from my dreams, the Lord has used the symbol of a kitchen counter top to indicate counting time. The longer the counter top, the longer the time. It is not a transition, therefore a non-moving, static object is chosen.
o Vague or incomplete details – far off. When Daniel asked for the outcome of his vision about the end times, he was told “Go your way, Daniel, because the words are closed up and sealed until the time of the end.” (Dan 12:9). Though he had some information, it was not enough to bring understanding, and the vision seemed incomplete to him. If our dreams or vision seem unclear or incomplete, it is because we need to wait on God.
Minute details – near. The closer you get to the destination, the more specific the details. It is like getting directions from a relative on how to get to their house in another state. First you are told the freeway to take, and the direction to travel in. But after the city and exit are given, you are told very specific details, like “turn right, turn left, yellow house on the right”, etc. A highway sign is for distance travel, but a street sign means you are near your destination. So as the time draws near for a prophecy to come to pass, God’s word will become more specific. He will “mark” the road for us. In Heb 12:1 we read that our race is marked out for us. In dreams the Lord has often put markers, which are events that, when they occur in my life, all that follows in my dream will come to pass. Not only will I know what I should do and when, but for what purpose.
To illustrate how God’s symbolism goes from less detail to more detail as the time draws nearer, let’s look at the vision in Daniel 12 compared to the similar vision in the book of Revelation. We will find that there is much more detail in Revelation, and that there is more shown (the vision is much longer). Though both visions were for the end times, the vision given to John is much closer to the end, naturally.
• Daniel has time of distress, deliverance of those whose names are written in the book, the resurrection of the saints, and 1290 days (@ 3 ½ years), angel raises both hands to heaven to swear by God about how much time is left (Dan 12:7)
• Rev 7:14 has the great tribulation (as does other books of the New Testament), deliverance from deception for those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life (17:8), the resurrection of the saints (Rev 20:4-5), 3 ½ yrs (Rev 12:14), angel raises his right hand to heaven to swear that there is no more delay, for during this time all things would be accomplished (Rev 10:6).
We often do not know the exact timing of a prophecy, but can be given a sense of urgency, or pressing of our spirit, when an important matter is coming upon us. This section on urgency talks about symbols that draw our attention to an important event about to happen, or that needs our intervention through prayer and/or action to prevent it.
Urgency
The symbolism is dynamic, lively – an example is a wave seen as large, or swiftly moving. Waves have movement (dynamic) and force. If it is larger than life this indicates a spiritual element is involved.
Horses with riders - Have greater authority. Delayed action would be unwise. A man on a horse is greater than a person on his feet. Horses are swift (dynamic) yet not as forceful as a wave.
Purposes of an urgent message are prayer, preparation, and to be on our watch for our enemy. If you receive an urgent message it is best to find someone to join you in prayer, such as an intercessor’s group. If the thing shown in the dream never happens does that mean you had a pizza dream? No. It usually means that all your prayers were answered.
Non-urgent
Static (not lively) symbolism. Above I used the example of a counter-top, representing time.
Less details with the symbolism. More symbolic, with less understanding. We see that, in Revelation, the angel explained more to John about the beast. In Daniel, he had less explanation from the angel about the beast because it was not an urgent matter for him.
More markers. Unusual events or people which make no sense to you will appear in dreams and visions, to only make sense when the time comes for you to meet them/experience the event.
The purposes of non-urgent messages are to prepare our obedience, watch for the markers, pray for discernment (are the people in your dream promoting the kingdom of God, or against it?), and pray to know your role with these people (are they purposefully trying to do something wrong, or are they ignorantly making a mistake?). When you are informed about who the “players” are in your dream or vision, then you will pray and act correctly.
Not all prophecies have an element of time in them, yet I find that it is important to address this component. As mentioned in the beginning, it is frustrating to wait on God’s timing. Yet we can hold the Word of God in our heart and wait on the Lord for His timing. As one who prophesies, we should also pray for those we prophesy to so that they will have strength to endure the waiting period often attached to personal prophecies to try the heart.
Monday, May 24, 2010
fruit
In 2007 the Lord told me that this was the season He would be asking for His fruit. He was referring to the parable of the tenants and the landowner. Today's lesson begins with this parable.
In Jesus’ parable about the tenants we read about a landowner who rented his vineyard out to some farmers (Mt 21:33-40). The farmers were to tend to the vineyard and give the landowner fruit when the harvest time came. However, the farmers tried to seize the inheritance due to the son of the landowner by killing the son. Jesus told this parable to the Pharisees to illustrate that the kingdom of God would be taken away from them and given to a people who would produce fruit (vs 43).
If we look at Jesus’ words in the parable of the tenants, we understand that He was the son of the landowner. The leaders of the Jews thought that they had the kingdom of God coming to them and killed Jesus, the Son of the Landowner. What, therefore, is the fruit that God, the landowner, wants? Let’s look at Jesus’ discourse on the vine and the branches in John 15. He explains that when we abide in the vine (Jesus) we, the branches, bear fruit. If we remain in Him and His words remain in us, then we bear fruit (vs 7). Not only do Jesus’ words need to remain in us, but we need to obey them (vs 10). The fruit God seeks will be found by hearing and doing what Jesus’ says. We will actually produce something tangible by listening to and following what He shares with us.
The substance of the kingdom of God in the first parable was fruit. God desires fruit and hired farmers to help Him with His vineyard. We have many who help with the fruit-producing branches in God’s kingdom. Paul uses the illustration of God’s laborers being husbandmen, or farmers in 2 Tim 2:6, and James, in 5:7. We who labor for Christ should be helping others to bear fruit. This concept is found in Ephesians where Paul states that the 5-fold ministry is to “prepare God’s people for works of service . . . “ (4:12). God’s kingdom, run God’s way, will produce people who bear fruit.
The farmers in the parable of the tenants did not want to give the landowner His fruit, though. They wanted to take the inheritance of the kingdom by force. If the ministers of God encourage the people of God to believe for the kingdom of God without equipping them, there would be a vineyard that was not bearing much fruit. Or, if there were husbandmen who wanted to take credit for bringing the kingdom of God to the earth, and denied Jesus His glory, then they would be trying to take the kingdom by force. In essence, ministers who try to steal God’s glory are saying they can have the kingdom without having the King rule over them.
Can we take the kingdom by our own efforts? Jesus told us that the violent take the kingdom by force (Mt 11:12). The difference between Jesus’ statement of taking the kingdom, and the parable of the tenants is that in the latter the farmers tried to take the kingdom unlawfully. The farmers did not want the Son to rule over them and so they killed him.
In looking at obtaining the Kingdom of God, it would be helpful to not only look at our role in obtaining it, but God’s purpose in giving it. As early as the book of Daniel we read the “kingdoms under heaven be(ing) handed over to the saints”(Dan 7:27). We see that “His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will worship and obey Him.” Our role is to receive a kingdom in which we rule, and yet we, and all authority, are under God’s authority.
The farmers in the parable of the tenants had a very small agenda; kill the Son and take His inheritance. Though Jesus became the sacrificial Lamb and was slain, God has a much bigger agenda for bringing His kingdom to Mankind. Rather than leave this story at the point of the Heir slain by the farmers, God planned on taking it to the point of success for all Mankind. His agenda is much larger than any glory we can think of here on earth. And God is involving His people in His kingdom works, as we abide in and obey what we hear Him share with us. It is the fruit we bear for Him that brings the kingdom to the earth. Let us look at some scriptures that tell us about the work the Lord is doing to establish that kingdom.
“Christ, the first-fruits; then, when He comes, those who belong to Him. Then the end will come, when He hands over the kingdom to God the Father after He has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. . . . “(1 Cor 15:25-28). The purpose of having a King is to exert His authority over His enemies, until they are all under His feet. Jesus is putting all His enemies under His feet through us, His saints. This is why Paul writes that “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.” (Rm 16:20). Part of Jesus’ kingdom business is to work in His saints to defeat His enemy. Jesus is still destroying the works of the devil (1 Jn 3:8). Though some teach that this was accomplished by Jesus on the cross, we read that “at present we do not see everything subject to Him.” (Heb 2:8). Jesus is gaining victory through the faith and actions of those who abide in Him.
There is a definite war-like attribute to Jesus’ character as portrayed in the book of Revelation. We see that those who will not repent of their sins and false teaching will see Jesus as One who fights with them by the sword of His mouth (Rev 2:16). Jesus is not passive about establishing His kingdom in His Church but uses the words of truth, yielded by the Spirit, to bring whom He can back into alignment with the truth. In this end time we will see more men and women being used by the Holy Spirit to confront falseness and sin than ever before. Lest we think the kingdom will be established peacefully by Jesus Himself, let us look at our history of martyrs who laid their lives down before us as an example of those heroes willing to take a stand for the truth. Their words were no more popular than the One whom they served. Yet because of them the gospel was kept pure for our generation. We also must keep it pure for our children’s generation.
Jesus is at work preparing a people whom He and the Father can live amongst (Rev 21:3). He created us all with a richness that He labors with us to accomplish. He also put a richness in the nations that He wants us to share with each other. Jesus extends reconciliation between God and Man so that we can dwell with Him, and He works in us to extend reconciliation between men. God’s kingdom will be a place where whole nations will bring their God-given splendor to share with others (Rev 22:2). Their special abilities will be known, and their character or personality from God, discovered. We will all be enriched by living in peace amongst each other. So that this peaceful place can exist, Jesus works in us to care about each other more than ourselves. It is this nature in us that will reconcile men to each other and prepare a people for His kingdom on earth.
Jesus labors amongst us to nurture us, giving us truth and teaching us His way. You might say this is symbolized by the words “light” and “water.” As we walk with the Lord, listening to Him teach us, we grow in understanding. If we are thirsty for His Spirit, the Spirit will help us to apply all that is written and spoken by Him to our lives. This is our “training for reigning”. In the Kingdom, Jesus and the Father are the light (Rev 21:23). There we find the water of life (Rev 22:17; see also Jn 4:10). By giving us the Holy Spirit Jesus has been working in us to listen to and follow all He shares with us, both teaching and personal guidance, ministry and fellowship. He also puts individual qualities of ministry in us to teach and nourish one another.
In sharing the above scriptural lesson I hope to leave you with a picture, in part, of God’s extensive agenda by which He is setting up His Kingdom here on earth. It is called the Kingdom of God and, though we stand alongside Jesus to establish it, the Kingdom belongs to Him. If we seek after works of power, authority over men, riches or fame we will find ourselves to be as the farmers, wanting the Kingdom without the King. The Kingdom belongs to the King (Rev 11:15-17; 12:10; & 19:6). When we truly labor alongside Jesus to establish His Kingdom we will bear fruit and prepare others to bear fruit. This is what the Father is sending the Son to do; collect the fruit of our faith. As we listen and obey, let us encourage one another to abide in Him so that each one will bear his fruit. Amen.
In Jesus’ parable about the tenants we read about a landowner who rented his vineyard out to some farmers (Mt 21:33-40). The farmers were to tend to the vineyard and give the landowner fruit when the harvest time came. However, the farmers tried to seize the inheritance due to the son of the landowner by killing the son. Jesus told this parable to the Pharisees to illustrate that the kingdom of God would be taken away from them and given to a people who would produce fruit (vs 43).
If we look at Jesus’ words in the parable of the tenants, we understand that He was the son of the landowner. The leaders of the Jews thought that they had the kingdom of God coming to them and killed Jesus, the Son of the Landowner. What, therefore, is the fruit that God, the landowner, wants? Let’s look at Jesus’ discourse on the vine and the branches in John 15. He explains that when we abide in the vine (Jesus) we, the branches, bear fruit. If we remain in Him and His words remain in us, then we bear fruit (vs 7). Not only do Jesus’ words need to remain in us, but we need to obey them (vs 10). The fruit God seeks will be found by hearing and doing what Jesus’ says. We will actually produce something tangible by listening to and following what He shares with us.
The substance of the kingdom of God in the first parable was fruit. God desires fruit and hired farmers to help Him with His vineyard. We have many who help with the fruit-producing branches in God’s kingdom. Paul uses the illustration of God’s laborers being husbandmen, or farmers in 2 Tim 2:6, and James, in 5:7. We who labor for Christ should be helping others to bear fruit. This concept is found in Ephesians where Paul states that the 5-fold ministry is to “prepare God’s people for works of service . . . “ (4:12). God’s kingdom, run God’s way, will produce people who bear fruit.
The farmers in the parable of the tenants did not want to give the landowner His fruit, though. They wanted to take the inheritance of the kingdom by force. If the ministers of God encourage the people of God to believe for the kingdom of God without equipping them, there would be a vineyard that was not bearing much fruit. Or, if there were husbandmen who wanted to take credit for bringing the kingdom of God to the earth, and denied Jesus His glory, then they would be trying to take the kingdom by force. In essence, ministers who try to steal God’s glory are saying they can have the kingdom without having the King rule over them.
Can we take the kingdom by our own efforts? Jesus told us that the violent take the kingdom by force (Mt 11:12). The difference between Jesus’ statement of taking the kingdom, and the parable of the tenants is that in the latter the farmers tried to take the kingdom unlawfully. The farmers did not want the Son to rule over them and so they killed him.
In looking at obtaining the Kingdom of God, it would be helpful to not only look at our role in obtaining it, but God’s purpose in giving it. As early as the book of Daniel we read the “kingdoms under heaven be(ing) handed over to the saints”(Dan 7:27). We see that “His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will worship and obey Him.” Our role is to receive a kingdom in which we rule, and yet we, and all authority, are under God’s authority.
The farmers in the parable of the tenants had a very small agenda; kill the Son and take His inheritance. Though Jesus became the sacrificial Lamb and was slain, God has a much bigger agenda for bringing His kingdom to Mankind. Rather than leave this story at the point of the Heir slain by the farmers, God planned on taking it to the point of success for all Mankind. His agenda is much larger than any glory we can think of here on earth. And God is involving His people in His kingdom works, as we abide in and obey what we hear Him share with us. It is the fruit we bear for Him that brings the kingdom to the earth. Let us look at some scriptures that tell us about the work the Lord is doing to establish that kingdom.
“Christ, the first-fruits; then, when He comes, those who belong to Him. Then the end will come, when He hands over the kingdom to God the Father after He has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. . . . “(1 Cor 15:25-28). The purpose of having a King is to exert His authority over His enemies, until they are all under His feet. Jesus is putting all His enemies under His feet through us, His saints. This is why Paul writes that “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.” (Rm 16:20). Part of Jesus’ kingdom business is to work in His saints to defeat His enemy. Jesus is still destroying the works of the devil (1 Jn 3:8). Though some teach that this was accomplished by Jesus on the cross, we read that “at present we do not see everything subject to Him.” (Heb 2:8). Jesus is gaining victory through the faith and actions of those who abide in Him.
There is a definite war-like attribute to Jesus’ character as portrayed in the book of Revelation. We see that those who will not repent of their sins and false teaching will see Jesus as One who fights with them by the sword of His mouth (Rev 2:16). Jesus is not passive about establishing His kingdom in His Church but uses the words of truth, yielded by the Spirit, to bring whom He can back into alignment with the truth. In this end time we will see more men and women being used by the Holy Spirit to confront falseness and sin than ever before. Lest we think the kingdom will be established peacefully by Jesus Himself, let us look at our history of martyrs who laid their lives down before us as an example of those heroes willing to take a stand for the truth. Their words were no more popular than the One whom they served. Yet because of them the gospel was kept pure for our generation. We also must keep it pure for our children’s generation.
Jesus is at work preparing a people whom He and the Father can live amongst (Rev 21:3). He created us all with a richness that He labors with us to accomplish. He also put a richness in the nations that He wants us to share with each other. Jesus extends reconciliation between God and Man so that we can dwell with Him, and He works in us to extend reconciliation between men. God’s kingdom will be a place where whole nations will bring their God-given splendor to share with others (Rev 22:2). Their special abilities will be known, and their character or personality from God, discovered. We will all be enriched by living in peace amongst each other. So that this peaceful place can exist, Jesus works in us to care about each other more than ourselves. It is this nature in us that will reconcile men to each other and prepare a people for His kingdom on earth.
Jesus labors amongst us to nurture us, giving us truth and teaching us His way. You might say this is symbolized by the words “light” and “water.” As we walk with the Lord, listening to Him teach us, we grow in understanding. If we are thirsty for His Spirit, the Spirit will help us to apply all that is written and spoken by Him to our lives. This is our “training for reigning”. In the Kingdom, Jesus and the Father are the light (Rev 21:23). There we find the water of life (Rev 22:17; see also Jn 4:10). By giving us the Holy Spirit Jesus has been working in us to listen to and follow all He shares with us, both teaching and personal guidance, ministry and fellowship. He also puts individual qualities of ministry in us to teach and nourish one another.
In sharing the above scriptural lesson I hope to leave you with a picture, in part, of God’s extensive agenda by which He is setting up His Kingdom here on earth. It is called the Kingdom of God and, though we stand alongside Jesus to establish it, the Kingdom belongs to Him. If we seek after works of power, authority over men, riches or fame we will find ourselves to be as the farmers, wanting the Kingdom without the King. The Kingdom belongs to the King (Rev 11:15-17; 12:10; & 19:6). When we truly labor alongside Jesus to establish His Kingdom we will bear fruit and prepare others to bear fruit. This is what the Father is sending the Son to do; collect the fruit of our faith. As we listen and obey, let us encourage one another to abide in Him so that each one will bear his fruit. Amen.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Lesson # 8; Truth
Components of the Word of God
The Word from God’s mouth has been written, and it has been spoken. We call the Word of God “logos” for written, and “rhema” for spoken. They are one and the same. Not only are they the same, but they are in agreement, as I said in earlier lessons. Today I will begin a 4-part lesson on the components of the Word of God; truth, time, knowledge, and wisdom. We will also look at the enemy’s opposition to these components. Here is the component, truth.
• Truth – God “chose to give us birth through the word of truth . . . “ (Jms 1:18). Truth is alive, and is what gives "birth" to our new life in God. The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Truth (Jn 14:17). He, the Holy Spirit, will help us by teaching us, and by verifying consistency in the Bible. There is no one verse in the scriptures that disallow other verses, unless the Father has set about a change. If the Father changes something, He will speak about the change and we will know a change is coming. An example of this is that we know about the change in sacrificing animals in the temple. This practice was changed when Jesus became our sacrifice. But if God does not change something in scripture, then there is no stand-alone verse which will disallow other verses in the Bible.
In the scriptures it is prophesied that men with wrong spirits (not the Holy Spirit) will try to change the consistency of truth. We find an example of this in Daniel, where he writes that the Beast tries to change the set times and seasons (Dan 7:25). We see that John also talks about the beast in Revelation, and that deceiving spirits proceed from the mouth of the dragon, beast, and false prophet (Rev 16:13-14). Paul, Peter, Jude and John also wrote about false apostles (2 Cor 11:13), false brethren (2 Cor 11:26 & Gal 2:4), false prophets (1 Jn 4:1), and false teachers (2 Tim 4:3 & 2 Pet 2:1). Jude has a longer discourse dedicated to exposing false brethren who “secretly slipped in among you” (Jude 1:3). These scriptures show us the enemy's plans to oppose truth. Here are some of the warnings against the false things being spoken during the 1st century reign of the Church;
o Took away freedom and made them slaves (Gal)
o denying sovereign Lord, exploiting Christians with greed, and making stories up (Pet)
o are of the world, speaking from the viewpoint of the world, do not listen to the truth (Jn)
o inventing teachings to suit themselves (2 Tim)
o change the grace of God into a license for immorality, deny Jesus , reject authority, slander celestial beings, speak abusively against whatever they do not understand, follow their basic instincts into sin, flatter others for their own advantage (Jude)
Application - Though we can reason with our mind that the examples above do not line up with scriptures, which scriptures do they not line up with? Can you find the appropriate scriptures (at least one) for each false teaching? In 2 Thess 2:10-12 we learn about the importance of loving truth. What is the warning for those who do not love the truth?
The Word from God’s mouth has been written, and it has been spoken. We call the Word of God “logos” for written, and “rhema” for spoken. They are one and the same. Not only are they the same, but they are in agreement, as I said in earlier lessons. Today I will begin a 4-part lesson on the components of the Word of God; truth, time, knowledge, and wisdom. We will also look at the enemy’s opposition to these components. Here is the component, truth.
• Truth – God “chose to give us birth through the word of truth . . . “ (Jms 1:18). Truth is alive, and is what gives "birth" to our new life in God. The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Truth (Jn 14:17). He, the Holy Spirit, will help us by teaching us, and by verifying consistency in the Bible. There is no one verse in the scriptures that disallow other verses, unless the Father has set about a change. If the Father changes something, He will speak about the change and we will know a change is coming. An example of this is that we know about the change in sacrificing animals in the temple. This practice was changed when Jesus became our sacrifice. But if God does not change something in scripture, then there is no stand-alone verse which will disallow other verses in the Bible.
In the scriptures it is prophesied that men with wrong spirits (not the Holy Spirit) will try to change the consistency of truth. We find an example of this in Daniel, where he writes that the Beast tries to change the set times and seasons (Dan 7:25). We see that John also talks about the beast in Revelation, and that deceiving spirits proceed from the mouth of the dragon, beast, and false prophet (Rev 16:13-14). Paul, Peter, Jude and John also wrote about false apostles (2 Cor 11:13), false brethren (2 Cor 11:26 & Gal 2:4), false prophets (1 Jn 4:1), and false teachers (2 Tim 4:3 & 2 Pet 2:1). Jude has a longer discourse dedicated to exposing false brethren who “secretly slipped in among you” (Jude 1:3). These scriptures show us the enemy's plans to oppose truth. Here are some of the warnings against the false things being spoken during the 1st century reign of the Church;
o Took away freedom and made them slaves (Gal)
o denying sovereign Lord, exploiting Christians with greed, and making stories up (Pet)
o are of the world, speaking from the viewpoint of the world, do not listen to the truth (Jn)
o inventing teachings to suit themselves (2 Tim)
o change the grace of God into a license for immorality, deny Jesus , reject authority, slander celestial beings, speak abusively against whatever they do not understand, follow their basic instincts into sin, flatter others for their own advantage (Jude)
Application - Though we can reason with our mind that the examples above do not line up with scriptures, which scriptures do they not line up with? Can you find the appropriate scriptures (at least one) for each false teaching? In 2 Thess 2:10-12 we learn about the importance of loving truth. What is the warning for those who do not love the truth?
Friday, May 21, 2010
Power is in God's Word lesson #7
IN this lesson we will look at what can detract from the conveyance of God's power with the word of prophecy we are ministering.
Role of faith
Mix faith with the Word of God for yourself and for others (Heb 4:2). We can’t expect the Holy Spirit to bring the words we speak to life in another if we do not have faith that we speak from God. Peter tells us that “each one should use whatever gift he has to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God.” (1 Pet: 10-11) We want to leave the person or people we are ministering to with God’s presence in His words and not with our unbelief.
A few years ago I heard a man sharing with a large group of Christians. He told of a brother that was very humble about prophesying. Though the man sharing was very impressed by what the second man prophesied, he spent many words relating how this man spoke (what I call damage control) in phrases as follows: “I may have heard the Lord say . . . please pray about this . . . I could be wrong . . .” Then the man sharing spent one sentence on what the contents of the prophecy actually said. As my husband and I walked away from the gathering, I turned to Dave and said “I can’t remember what the prophecy was. Can you?” Dave couldn’t remember either. All we could remember was the man sharing about how humble the prophesier was. Saying “I could be wrong” is something we should say to our mentor before we get up to prophesy. It is a matter for prayer beforehand and should not precede a prophecy. Also, too many words introducing a prophecy, no matter how well-meaning we are, distract from the power of what God wants to say.
Pollution of the Word
An example of how a minister of God's word can pollute it with words of his own is found in Ez 34:18-19 “Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture? Must you also trample the rest of your pasture with your feet? Is it not enough for you to drink clear water? Must you also muddy the rest with your feet? Must my flock feed on what you have trampled and drink what you have muddied with your feet?” In this portion of scripture we read about how the Lord feels when His Word gets polluted. The symbolism of the feet represents preparation, getting ready. (Eph 6:15). What was given to the sheep was pure. But what was prepared for the flock by those sheep was muddied, polluted. What follows are more examples of how the word of God can become polluted.
Thinking that what comes from our own mind is as important as the Word (1 Cor 1:17) “For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel – not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.” Earlier in this lesson I mentioned that we should not speak many words of our own before we prophesy. It diverts the attention towards us and away from what the Lord intends to say. In my experience the Lord has had me hold a prophecy when the speaker preceding me uses so many words that He (the Lord) does not think the listeners can take in much more. When this happens I write down the prophecy and post it on my own site, referring people to it. I have had people tell me later how “powerful” the prophecy was. It would not have been powerful in a service wherein the listeners were full.
Cultural boundaries (Mk 7:9-13) “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions!”and “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.” (Mt 16:6) As Christians, we have a culture in our various areas. We have denominational ways of doing things, and we have traditions that originate from how people think things operate best. Just as in Jesus’ time, our traditions do not always measure up to God’s scriptures. In this section we are going to take a look at some traditions that influence the content of prophecy.
• It is all about relationship – If our ministry depends on our relationship with the other person, we would never prophesy to a stranger, or one who is just an acquaintance. There is no scripture to support this. In fact there is scripture that shows Christians prophesying to unbelievers who come to their worship service. “But if an unbeliever or someone who does not understand comes in while everybody is prophesying, he will be convinced by all that he is a sinner and will be judged by all, and the secrets of his heart will be laid bare. So he will fall down and worship God, exclaiming “God is really among you!” (1 Cor 14:24-25) Having someone recognize that God is present among us is really good fruit!
• Prophecy is not corrective- In the above passage from 1 Cor 14 we see that the “secrets of his heart will be laid bare.” This is the nature of prophecy; to see the secret. This man was “convinced” that he had sin, and needed to repent of it. Though we should not be condescending to the one we minister to, the nature of prophecy is to tell the unknown but real truth, with the goal in mind that God initiated the words for. In this case, repentance. Yes, God does correct people.
I have heard it said that, since each Christian has the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit will correct people, in private. I agree that is the ideal which the Lord works towards. However, we have an entire New Testament full of corrections (which we know as “scriptures”). So we see that God still corrects us through others. I find comfort in that. I am only a toe on the body of Christ and consider it necessary to receive from my brothers and sisters according to their gifts also. Personally hearing from God was never meant to reduce scripture or prophecy to only nice things.
Man-pleasing
• Justifying ourselves before others (Lk 16:15) “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s sight.” To justify ourselves is to state that the reasons we think and do the things we say and do are good, and may be better than the scriptures. In Jesus’ day the leaders took money that they should have given for support of their parents and gave it to the temple. They justified this within themselves as being good because it resembled service to God. It is our nature to justify what we do within ourselves, and to think our motives are good. But the basis of this is that we want to appear good to others also. Giving large sums of money to the church makes us look good. Regarding the ministry of prophecy, we might justify ourselves as seeking the unity of the brethren by withholding a prophecy we think would stir up “trouble”. Or, we might cut out the part that could possibly offend some people, reasoning within ourselves that they would reject it anyway.
• Seeking the praises of men (Jn 12:42-43) “Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in Him (Jesus). But because of the Pharisees they would not confess their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the praise from men more than praise from God.” Fear of Man will produce a person who seeks to please Man. When we are more concerned with our reputation and acceptance in the church than pleasing God with our service, we will fall into fear of what a man can do to us. If we try to protect our ministry from being censored or rejected, we will find many reasons for tampering with the purity of God’s word flowing through us. Seeking the praises of men needs to be laid at the foot of the cross, where the One who hangs there caused great offense to many.
Application –
1. Give an example on how the Word may get muddied. Has this happened to you, or through you?
2. Do you feel as if you must minister in prophecy according to the traditions of men? Or have you set in place your own traditions? What are they?
3. It is understandable to not want to “get in trouble” when we prophesy. Have you felt the need to manipulate the prophecy to please the listener, or those in authority? Is there a standard set in place that interferes with the purity of prophecy?
Role of faith
Mix faith with the Word of God for yourself and for others (Heb 4:2). We can’t expect the Holy Spirit to bring the words we speak to life in another if we do not have faith that we speak from God. Peter tells us that “each one should use whatever gift he has to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God.” (1 Pet: 10-11) We want to leave the person or people we are ministering to with God’s presence in His words and not with our unbelief.
A few years ago I heard a man sharing with a large group of Christians. He told of a brother that was very humble about prophesying. Though the man sharing was very impressed by what the second man prophesied, he spent many words relating how this man spoke (what I call damage control) in phrases as follows: “I may have heard the Lord say . . . please pray about this . . . I could be wrong . . .” Then the man sharing spent one sentence on what the contents of the prophecy actually said. As my husband and I walked away from the gathering, I turned to Dave and said “I can’t remember what the prophecy was. Can you?” Dave couldn’t remember either. All we could remember was the man sharing about how humble the prophesier was. Saying “I could be wrong” is something we should say to our mentor before we get up to prophesy. It is a matter for prayer beforehand and should not precede a prophecy. Also, too many words introducing a prophecy, no matter how well-meaning we are, distract from the power of what God wants to say.
Pollution of the Word
An example of how a minister of God's word can pollute it with words of his own is found in Ez 34:18-19 “Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture? Must you also trample the rest of your pasture with your feet? Is it not enough for you to drink clear water? Must you also muddy the rest with your feet? Must my flock feed on what you have trampled and drink what you have muddied with your feet?” In this portion of scripture we read about how the Lord feels when His Word gets polluted. The symbolism of the feet represents preparation, getting ready. (Eph 6:15). What was given to the sheep was pure. But what was prepared for the flock by those sheep was muddied, polluted. What follows are more examples of how the word of God can become polluted.
Thinking that what comes from our own mind is as important as the Word (1 Cor 1:17) “For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel – not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.” Earlier in this lesson I mentioned that we should not speak many words of our own before we prophesy. It diverts the attention towards us and away from what the Lord intends to say. In my experience the Lord has had me hold a prophecy when the speaker preceding me uses so many words that He (the Lord) does not think the listeners can take in much more. When this happens I write down the prophecy and post it on my own site, referring people to it. I have had people tell me later how “powerful” the prophecy was. It would not have been powerful in a service wherein the listeners were full.
Cultural boundaries (Mk 7:9-13) “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions!”and “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.” (Mt 16:6) As Christians, we have a culture in our various areas. We have denominational ways of doing things, and we have traditions that originate from how people think things operate best. Just as in Jesus’ time, our traditions do not always measure up to God’s scriptures. In this section we are going to take a look at some traditions that influence the content of prophecy.
• It is all about relationship – If our ministry depends on our relationship with the other person, we would never prophesy to a stranger, or one who is just an acquaintance. There is no scripture to support this. In fact there is scripture that shows Christians prophesying to unbelievers who come to their worship service. “But if an unbeliever or someone who does not understand comes in while everybody is prophesying, he will be convinced by all that he is a sinner and will be judged by all, and the secrets of his heart will be laid bare. So he will fall down and worship God, exclaiming “God is really among you!” (1 Cor 14:24-25) Having someone recognize that God is present among us is really good fruit!
• Prophecy is not corrective- In the above passage from 1 Cor 14 we see that the “secrets of his heart will be laid bare.” This is the nature of prophecy; to see the secret. This man was “convinced” that he had sin, and needed to repent of it. Though we should not be condescending to the one we minister to, the nature of prophecy is to tell the unknown but real truth, with the goal in mind that God initiated the words for. In this case, repentance. Yes, God does correct people.
I have heard it said that, since each Christian has the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit will correct people, in private. I agree that is the ideal which the Lord works towards. However, we have an entire New Testament full of corrections (which we know as “scriptures”). So we see that God still corrects us through others. I find comfort in that. I am only a toe on the body of Christ and consider it necessary to receive from my brothers and sisters according to their gifts also. Personally hearing from God was never meant to reduce scripture or prophecy to only nice things.
Man-pleasing
• Justifying ourselves before others (Lk 16:15) “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s sight.” To justify ourselves is to state that the reasons we think and do the things we say and do are good, and may be better than the scriptures. In Jesus’ day the leaders took money that they should have given for support of their parents and gave it to the temple. They justified this within themselves as being good because it resembled service to God. It is our nature to justify what we do within ourselves, and to think our motives are good. But the basis of this is that we want to appear good to others also. Giving large sums of money to the church makes us look good. Regarding the ministry of prophecy, we might justify ourselves as seeking the unity of the brethren by withholding a prophecy we think would stir up “trouble”. Or, we might cut out the part that could possibly offend some people, reasoning within ourselves that they would reject it anyway.
• Seeking the praises of men (Jn 12:42-43) “Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in Him (Jesus). But because of the Pharisees they would not confess their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the praise from men more than praise from God.” Fear of Man will produce a person who seeks to please Man. When we are more concerned with our reputation and acceptance in the church than pleasing God with our service, we will fall into fear of what a man can do to us. If we try to protect our ministry from being censored or rejected, we will find many reasons for tampering with the purity of God’s word flowing through us. Seeking the praises of men needs to be laid at the foot of the cross, where the One who hangs there caused great offense to many.
Application –
1. Give an example on how the Word may get muddied. Has this happened to you, or through you?
2. Do you feel as if you must minister in prophecy according to the traditions of men? Or have you set in place your own traditions? What are they?
3. It is understandable to not want to “get in trouble” when we prophesy. Have you felt the need to manipulate the prophecy to please the listener, or those in authority? Is there a standard set in place that interferes with the purity of prophecy?
Thursday, May 20, 2010
personal prophecy
We can learn much about God from the way He speaks to others. The following is a prophecy I sent to one of our readers. God bless.
God’s personality is multifaceted; He is many things at once. He also accomplishes many purposes at one time. Though we are like Him, yet we are simpler. We may experience more than one personal emotion at t time (such as grief and anger) but they do not overtake us with the same intensity. And our purpose gives us a direction and a goal by keeping us focused. If not, we would be confused. God can weave many purposes into His goals and is clear-minded about them all, never becoming forgetful or confused.
Certain emotions pertain to Man. Melancholia and self-pity are not emotions that are part of God’s personality. These emotions, when dwelt on, can bring evil spirits to our side, as if we are inviting them into a chat room with us. This is why a person who feels sorry for himself will hear more than one voice. Self- pity finds its root in feeling lack of justice, and justice belongs to God. But joy, faith, hope and love are all God-emotions. Angels are drawn into our chat room to converse with us, ministering to us.
Satan’s first accusation was that God was unjust by withholding from Adam and Eve the fruit that seemed good. Because they believed Satan, they lost their inheritance, the garden of Eden. We all suffer lost because of their unbelief in the just-ness of God’s character. On the other hand, the daughters of Zelophehad believed God would be just, and asked for an inheritance in the Promised Land (Num 27:1-11). Because they believed in just-ness they received their inheritance, and all daughters after them did also.
Satan accuses God of being unjust, but the angels affirm God by saying He is just and holy. We may not understand all of God’s ways, but His just-ness lays a foundation for us to know that He is just, fair, and good. If we accept Him as such, He will reveal Himself to us by showing us His heart and His purposes.
Often God will show us His heart and purposes in a matter so that we will know how to pray. God’s sense of justice doesn’t begin with His decisions to reward or punish, but they begin with His preparations and works towards His goal. When the Lord sends His word to create faith for a work by and in a person, He equips that person for success. Many are the efforts on God’s behalf, patiently working in the man to develop him in his character and skill. Therefore that man has a reward to look forward to at the end of his work. Yet if a man shrinks back, not developing his faith, he will lack both skill and character, and will remain sadly ignorant of God’s ways. He will not realize that God is just, and that He will require from the man . . . for all God’s wonderful efforts and gifts in the man will put him as a debtor to God if that man never serves Him.
IF a man is in debt to God, God will seek intercessors to stand in the gap for him. Perhaps the man’s heart will be changed. God will seek those who will speak with the man to turn his heart to faith and rightful action. This is part of God’s just nature; to restore a man to righteousness so that he can receive reward instead of punishment.
It is our high calling in Christ to represent God by reconciling men to Him as He is the One who will reward men according to their works. But it is the failure of many to dwell in pain, self-pity, and silence. Go, pray and speak according to the heart and purpose of God, for He will reveal it to you. And what an awesome standing you will have, in His presence. Amen.
God’s personality is multifaceted; He is many things at once. He also accomplishes many purposes at one time. Though we are like Him, yet we are simpler. We may experience more than one personal emotion at t time (such as grief and anger) but they do not overtake us with the same intensity. And our purpose gives us a direction and a goal by keeping us focused. If not, we would be confused. God can weave many purposes into His goals and is clear-minded about them all, never becoming forgetful or confused.
Certain emotions pertain to Man. Melancholia and self-pity are not emotions that are part of God’s personality. These emotions, when dwelt on, can bring evil spirits to our side, as if we are inviting them into a chat room with us. This is why a person who feels sorry for himself will hear more than one voice. Self- pity finds its root in feeling lack of justice, and justice belongs to God. But joy, faith, hope and love are all God-emotions. Angels are drawn into our chat room to converse with us, ministering to us.
Satan’s first accusation was that God was unjust by withholding from Adam and Eve the fruit that seemed good. Because they believed Satan, they lost their inheritance, the garden of Eden. We all suffer lost because of their unbelief in the just-ness of God’s character. On the other hand, the daughters of Zelophehad believed God would be just, and asked for an inheritance in the Promised Land (Num 27:1-11). Because they believed in just-ness they received their inheritance, and all daughters after them did also.
Satan accuses God of being unjust, but the angels affirm God by saying He is just and holy. We may not understand all of God’s ways, but His just-ness lays a foundation for us to know that He is just, fair, and good. If we accept Him as such, He will reveal Himself to us by showing us His heart and His purposes.
Often God will show us His heart and purposes in a matter so that we will know how to pray. God’s sense of justice doesn’t begin with His decisions to reward or punish, but they begin with His preparations and works towards His goal. When the Lord sends His word to create faith for a work by and in a person, He equips that person for success. Many are the efforts on God’s behalf, patiently working in the man to develop him in his character and skill. Therefore that man has a reward to look forward to at the end of his work. Yet if a man shrinks back, not developing his faith, he will lack both skill and character, and will remain sadly ignorant of God’s ways. He will not realize that God is just, and that He will require from the man . . . for all God’s wonderful efforts and gifts in the man will put him as a debtor to God if that man never serves Him.
IF a man is in debt to God, God will seek intercessors to stand in the gap for him. Perhaps the man’s heart will be changed. God will seek those who will speak with the man to turn his heart to faith and rightful action. This is part of God’s just nature; to restore a man to righteousness so that he can receive reward instead of punishment.
It is our high calling in Christ to represent God by reconciling men to Him as He is the One who will reward men according to their works. But it is the failure of many to dwell in pain, self-pity, and silence. Go, pray and speak according to the heart and purpose of God, for He will reveal it to you. And what an awesome standing you will have, in His presence. Amen.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Jesus as the Word of God Lesson #6
If we were to meet Jesus face to face, we wouldn’t expect to meet a book with legs sticking out of the bottom of it. Yet the concept of Jesus being the Word of God seems to be a hard one to grasp. Jesus not only knew the Word of God, but said that He ate God’s Word and lived by the Words from God’s mouth (Mt 4:4). Jesus was setting a principle for us to follow; our life comes from eating the Word of God. This wasn’t a new concept. Jesus was actually quoting Moses speech to the Israelites (Dt 8:3). God our Father has always meant that Man would live by His Word.
Jesus is our example of One who did just that. He lived by the Word of God, and was the Word of God in His flesh. He not only lived by the scriptures, but He correctly used them, not becoming entangled with false interpretations of the written Word of God. He also spoke and acted on what He heard and saw His Father say and do (Jn 5:19; 12:49-50). This tells us that the Word of God is not static, as words on a page are. They are living and flow continuously from God’s mouth.
Just as Jesus followed the Father’s Words and actions, so we are asked to follow His. Jesus is the Word of God in human form (Jn 1:14). He invited His disciples to eat His body and drink His blood (Jn 6:53-58). He is asking us to live by His words, for He only spoke what the Father told Him to speak. We are to become the Word of God in the flesh also. This has been God’s plan all along.
As we “eat” the Word of God, we will speak the Word of God. Here are some foundational building blocks that make our foundation for prophesying solid;
1. No scripture is of private interpretation. Peter writes “that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” (2 Pet 1:20-21) We can accept scripture, and prophecy, as from the mouth of God. It is not a human invention. Therefore we base our thinking on it as “true”. Any revelation that comes to our minds which does not agree with scripture should be considered false and tossed out.
2. It is our responsibility to “eat” scripture. Paul instructed Timothy to be a “workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.” (2 Tim 2:15). He was to study the scriptures in order to know how to handle them. We do not lean on our own understanding of the scriptures when reading them, but the Holy Spirit comes along side of us to instruct us as we read (see Jn 14:26).
3. The Word of God is one Word. Whether Old Testament or New, written or spoken, it has only one source; God. It is in agreement with itself, you might say. One night the Lord sent an angel into my dream who told me that “the Bible is interpreted by the Bible.” God considers all words that proceed from His mouth in agreement with what is recorded. We can find the basis for what He says in the scriptures, and we can establish the interpretation of scriptures by comparing them to other scriptures.
4. It is up to the “workman” or prophet to prove his own work, or words (Gal 6:4). When I first began to prophesy the Lord had me “prove” or test my words by finding their basis in the Bible. He would quicken me to scriptures and I would look them up. In this way He taught me not to “bend” the meaning of scriptures to fit what I want to say, and to keep my spoken words in line with the written scriptures. We also need to be willing to defer our words to the purity of His Word, and not hunt around for some obscure sentence in the Bible that will substantiate our current feelings or beliefs.
5. Every word we prophesy may not be found in the Bible as a literal statement or example. However, there are accounts of men’s actions and behaviors along with God’s words, telling us His heart on the matter. We find that the scriptures tell us how God feels about the actions of Man. Some things occurred to the Israelites which should have formed them into God’s people, but actually became the basis for their rebellion to God. When we read about their unbelief in the wilderness, we are told “these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did.” (1 Cor 10:6-10). Paul identifies their sins as idolatry, sexual immorality, grumbling, and testing the Lord. He goes on to say that “These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come.” (1 Cor 10:11). All the sins that the Israelites committed in the wilderness are still things that displease God. You might argue that it is plain from scripture that we should not have such sins in our lives, however it may not be so easy to recognize these same sins in our current times if we are literal about the Bible’s examples of sin. An example is that our new car may be an idol to us, however there is no mention of a car in the Bible.
Prophecy may also contain instructions for a person’s safety or a warning of an upcoming event, such as Agabus’ prophecies to Paul (Acts 11:28; 21:11). We know that it is God’s nature to warn and predict, but the actual content of Agabus’ prophesies come from the Spirit of Revelation and not from the written scriptures. Agubus could not look at past written scriptures to verify that there would be a famine in the Roman empire, or that an Apostle named Paul would be bound when he went to Jerusalem.
6. Jesus’ sheep know His voice (Jn 10:27). How do we become comfortable “hearing” His voice when He reveals something that cannot be found in the written scriptures? The answer is that we become familiar with Jesus’ voice. We grow in confidence that we hear His voice by obeying what He tells us. Jesus spoke at length about abiding in Him, and told us that the way to do this is to obey what He tells us (Jn 15). We take baby steps at first, being quickened by scripture and personal spoken words from the Holy Spirit to our heart. We do the things we know to do, such as loving our brother, and doing good works. We find the scriptures come alive in our flesh as we do not succumb to personal sins. Our victories and person working of obedience to the scriptures become the basis for “knowing” Jesus’ voice. He can tell us that He personally loves it when we put cut flowers on the table (is that in the Bible?) or that He dislikes it when we intimidate others with our constant use of “the Lord told me . . . “ (not exactly in the Bible, literally, but we might assign this behavior to being pre-eminent). Now we see that the Holy Spirit’s personal ministry to us takes on a voice that can express itself with confidence to others. When we walk into a room and see that it is nicely decorated the Holy Spirit can comment on His pleasure and we won’t be suspicious of what He is sharing with us. So we become familiar with God’s character through His personal dealings with us, and yet the character can be traced back to the scriptures as well. Does the Lord like it when a room has flowers, or is decorated nicely? We find the concepts in Song of Solomon, and in the beauty of the Temple.
For an application exercise, I’d like to encourage each of you to write down something personal that the Lord has spoken to you and find a Biblical example of at least one verse that illustrates the same principle. If there are verses that contradict what you feel the Lord has said to you, find another person to pray with over this with you.
The second thing I will ask you to do is not an exercise, but a practice. If you do not already do so, begin to “prove” your own prophecies with the scriptural references that substantiate them. This can be personally spoken words from the Holy Spirit to you, and those spoken out of your mouth to others.
The third thing I am asking you to do this week is to write down what your heart is concerning what you hear the Lord speaking to you. Do you agree with it, and why? Are you suspicious of it, and why? Remember that His thoughts are not our thoughts and that His personal instruction to us does not rely on our own understanding, but is often instructional and leads to personal growth (2 Tim 3:16).
Jesus is our example of One who did just that. He lived by the Word of God, and was the Word of God in His flesh. He not only lived by the scriptures, but He correctly used them, not becoming entangled with false interpretations of the written Word of God. He also spoke and acted on what He heard and saw His Father say and do (Jn 5:19; 12:49-50). This tells us that the Word of God is not static, as words on a page are. They are living and flow continuously from God’s mouth.
Just as Jesus followed the Father’s Words and actions, so we are asked to follow His. Jesus is the Word of God in human form (Jn 1:14). He invited His disciples to eat His body and drink His blood (Jn 6:53-58). He is asking us to live by His words, for He only spoke what the Father told Him to speak. We are to become the Word of God in the flesh also. This has been God’s plan all along.
As we “eat” the Word of God, we will speak the Word of God. Here are some foundational building blocks that make our foundation for prophesying solid;
1. No scripture is of private interpretation. Peter writes “that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” (2 Pet 1:20-21) We can accept scripture, and prophecy, as from the mouth of God. It is not a human invention. Therefore we base our thinking on it as “true”. Any revelation that comes to our minds which does not agree with scripture should be considered false and tossed out.
2. It is our responsibility to “eat” scripture. Paul instructed Timothy to be a “workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.” (2 Tim 2:15). He was to study the scriptures in order to know how to handle them. We do not lean on our own understanding of the scriptures when reading them, but the Holy Spirit comes along side of us to instruct us as we read (see Jn 14:26).
3. The Word of God is one Word. Whether Old Testament or New, written or spoken, it has only one source; God. It is in agreement with itself, you might say. One night the Lord sent an angel into my dream who told me that “the Bible is interpreted by the Bible.” God considers all words that proceed from His mouth in agreement with what is recorded. We can find the basis for what He says in the scriptures, and we can establish the interpretation of scriptures by comparing them to other scriptures.
4. It is up to the “workman” or prophet to prove his own work, or words (Gal 6:4). When I first began to prophesy the Lord had me “prove” or test my words by finding their basis in the Bible. He would quicken me to scriptures and I would look them up. In this way He taught me not to “bend” the meaning of scriptures to fit what I want to say, and to keep my spoken words in line with the written scriptures. We also need to be willing to defer our words to the purity of His Word, and not hunt around for some obscure sentence in the Bible that will substantiate our current feelings or beliefs.
5. Every word we prophesy may not be found in the Bible as a literal statement or example. However, there are accounts of men’s actions and behaviors along with God’s words, telling us His heart on the matter. We find that the scriptures tell us how God feels about the actions of Man. Some things occurred to the Israelites which should have formed them into God’s people, but actually became the basis for their rebellion to God. When we read about their unbelief in the wilderness, we are told “these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did.” (1 Cor 10:6-10). Paul identifies their sins as idolatry, sexual immorality, grumbling, and testing the Lord. He goes on to say that “These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come.” (1 Cor 10:11). All the sins that the Israelites committed in the wilderness are still things that displease God. You might argue that it is plain from scripture that we should not have such sins in our lives, however it may not be so easy to recognize these same sins in our current times if we are literal about the Bible’s examples of sin. An example is that our new car may be an idol to us, however there is no mention of a car in the Bible.
Prophecy may also contain instructions for a person’s safety or a warning of an upcoming event, such as Agabus’ prophecies to Paul (Acts 11:28; 21:11). We know that it is God’s nature to warn and predict, but the actual content of Agabus’ prophesies come from the Spirit of Revelation and not from the written scriptures. Agubus could not look at past written scriptures to verify that there would be a famine in the Roman empire, or that an Apostle named Paul would be bound when he went to Jerusalem.
6. Jesus’ sheep know His voice (Jn 10:27). How do we become comfortable “hearing” His voice when He reveals something that cannot be found in the written scriptures? The answer is that we become familiar with Jesus’ voice. We grow in confidence that we hear His voice by obeying what He tells us. Jesus spoke at length about abiding in Him, and told us that the way to do this is to obey what He tells us (Jn 15). We take baby steps at first, being quickened by scripture and personal spoken words from the Holy Spirit to our heart. We do the things we know to do, such as loving our brother, and doing good works. We find the scriptures come alive in our flesh as we do not succumb to personal sins. Our victories and person working of obedience to the scriptures become the basis for “knowing” Jesus’ voice. He can tell us that He personally loves it when we put cut flowers on the table (is that in the Bible?) or that He dislikes it when we intimidate others with our constant use of “the Lord told me . . . “ (not exactly in the Bible, literally, but we might assign this behavior to being pre-eminent). Now we see that the Holy Spirit’s personal ministry to us takes on a voice that can express itself with confidence to others. When we walk into a room and see that it is nicely decorated the Holy Spirit can comment on His pleasure and we won’t be suspicious of what He is sharing with us. So we become familiar with God’s character through His personal dealings with us, and yet the character can be traced back to the scriptures as well. Does the Lord like it when a room has flowers, or is decorated nicely? We find the concepts in Song of Solomon, and in the beauty of the Temple.
For an application exercise, I’d like to encourage each of you to write down something personal that the Lord has spoken to you and find a Biblical example of at least one verse that illustrates the same principle. If there are verses that contradict what you feel the Lord has said to you, find another person to pray with over this with you.
The second thing I will ask you to do is not an exercise, but a practice. If you do not already do so, begin to “prove” your own prophecies with the scriptural references that substantiate them. This can be personally spoken words from the Holy Spirit to you, and those spoken out of your mouth to others.
The third thing I am asking you to do this week is to write down what your heart is concerning what you hear the Lord speaking to you. Do you agree with it, and why? Are you suspicious of it, and why? Remember that His thoughts are not our thoughts and that His personal instruction to us does not rely on our own understanding, but is often instructional and leads to personal growth (2 Tim 3:16).
Monday, May 17, 2010
Morning Star Lesson #5 in Hearing God's voice
The Voice of God seems like an elusive thing to many. How does one hear God? Let us first understand that God has spoken to Man in the past, and we “hear” Him by reading the scriptures. This is the beginning of hearing God; reading what He has already said to us.
Peter writes about hearing God during the Transfiguration wherein the Father spoke “This is My Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.”(2 Pet 1:17-18). Peter and other disciples heard the audible voice of God. He uses this experience to explain to the saints that he and the rest of the Apostles do not follow “cleverly invented stories” (vs 16) but that they follow the leading of the Lord. Peter is addressing a very real concern many of us have when listening for the Lord to speak to us; are we inventing stories, or listening to our own imagination? How do we know it is God that is speaking to us?
Recently my husband was asked this question, and his answer was “We wait on the Lord.” I would like to expound on that, for it is in the next part of Peter’s writing. Here is the text;
And we have the word of the prophets more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.(2 Pet 19).
The word of God is like a light that shines, whether it is written or spoken. We have no understanding at first and are like the night, or darkness. But we should not let that deter us from paying attention, or holding on to what He is telling us. As the dawn comes, the light grows stronger. It is a time when the morning star may be seen. This illustrates holding onto what the Lord has told you when there has been little light, waiting for more light to come. We see this example in the church at Thyatira as the struggle between spiritual faithfulness and spiritual adultery. Those who overcame were given authority over the nations, and the morning star (Rev 2:26-28). God could trust them to hold onto all that they knew to be true until He brought more light to the subject.
Peter uses the word “until” to indicate that we are waiting for more light. We let our understanding take the back seat to the small amount of “light” we have, holding onto the light and waiting for more light (understanding) to come. The example of the sun rising, to shine on those in darkness, is used to illustrate how Jesus will rise and shine on us to “guide our feet” (Lk 1:78-79). We cannot have the guidance until we have enough light to “see” where we are going. If Jesus is the light, then what is the morning star?
In Revelation 22:16 Jesus tells us that “I am the Root and the Offspring of David (He was before and after David), and the bright Morning Star.” We know Jesus to be the Word of God (Rev 19:13), but here He is referring to prophecy, or the rhema word. We find the clue to what the Morning star is in the preceding sentence; “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches.” The testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of Prophecy (Rev 19:10), and it is the Spirit of Prophecy which must rise in our hearts to give us understanding of what God says.
Jesus lives in us and certainly speaks to us. He also speaks prophetically to and through us. We must wait on Him for His full understanding. We must not succumb to spiritual adultery . . . being pulled aside by false teachings that would cause us to discard our personal relationship with the Lord . . . for our faithfulness will be rewarded by receiving the Voice of God in our hearts and minds. If we are sincere in our relationship with Jesus, He will share with us, for we are the desire of His heart.
Peter writes about hearing God during the Transfiguration wherein the Father spoke “This is My Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.”(2 Pet 1:17-18). Peter and other disciples heard the audible voice of God. He uses this experience to explain to the saints that he and the rest of the Apostles do not follow “cleverly invented stories” (vs 16) but that they follow the leading of the Lord. Peter is addressing a very real concern many of us have when listening for the Lord to speak to us; are we inventing stories, or listening to our own imagination? How do we know it is God that is speaking to us?
Recently my husband was asked this question, and his answer was “We wait on the Lord.” I would like to expound on that, for it is in the next part of Peter’s writing. Here is the text;
And we have the word of the prophets more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.(2 Pet 19).
The word of God is like a light that shines, whether it is written or spoken. We have no understanding at first and are like the night, or darkness. But we should not let that deter us from paying attention, or holding on to what He is telling us. As the dawn comes, the light grows stronger. It is a time when the morning star may be seen. This illustrates holding onto what the Lord has told you when there has been little light, waiting for more light to come. We see this example in the church at Thyatira as the struggle between spiritual faithfulness and spiritual adultery. Those who overcame were given authority over the nations, and the morning star (Rev 2:26-28). God could trust them to hold onto all that they knew to be true until He brought more light to the subject.
Peter uses the word “until” to indicate that we are waiting for more light. We let our understanding take the back seat to the small amount of “light” we have, holding onto the light and waiting for more light (understanding) to come. The example of the sun rising, to shine on those in darkness, is used to illustrate how Jesus will rise and shine on us to “guide our feet” (Lk 1:78-79). We cannot have the guidance until we have enough light to “see” where we are going. If Jesus is the light, then what is the morning star?
In Revelation 22:16 Jesus tells us that “I am the Root and the Offspring of David (He was before and after David), and the bright Morning Star.” We know Jesus to be the Word of God (Rev 19:13), but here He is referring to prophecy, or the rhema word. We find the clue to what the Morning star is in the preceding sentence; “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches.” The testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of Prophecy (Rev 19:10), and it is the Spirit of Prophecy which must rise in our hearts to give us understanding of what God says.
Jesus lives in us and certainly speaks to us. He also speaks prophetically to and through us. We must wait on Him for His full understanding. We must not succumb to spiritual adultery . . . being pulled aside by false teachings that would cause us to discard our personal relationship with the Lord . . . for our faithfulness will be rewarded by receiving the Voice of God in our hearts and minds. If we are sincere in our relationship with Jesus, He will share with us, for we are the desire of His heart.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Christ's Body
There are many purposes for which our Savior Jesus came to the earth. While He lived, Jesus was called Rabbi, or Teacher (Jn 3:2). He was called the Prophet (Jn 6:14; also see Dt 18:15-16), Shepherd (Heb 13:20), and Apostle (Heb 3:1). One reason Jesus was sent to the earth was to show the fullness of God to Man (Col 2:9). God’s essence lived in His Son, Jesus.
In the past, God spoke face-to-face with Moses. However, it frightened the Israelites for God to speak to them, therefore He spoke to them through Moses. Moses was God’s prophet to God’s people, yet he spoke of the future when God would raise up a prophet greater than him. That man was Jesus.
After Jesus was crucified He rose from the dead and gave gifts to men. Paul writes that “it is he that gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, . . .”(Eph 4:11). Jesus actually imparted the essence of His own personal gifting to Man when He rose from the dead. All that Jesus was as a man walking the earth, He gave to the Church to become. Though Man may be afraid to hear God speak face-to-face with him as He did with Moses, Man can hear God speak through the various gifts He has placed in the members of the Church. It is as if the congregation were each a piece of Jesus, becoming His body here on earth. The communion we partake of symbolizes that each member of the Body of Christ, His Church, is partaking of Jesus’ flesh and blood.
Collectively, the body of the Church should knit itself together as the Body of Christ (Eph 4:16). This is accomplished by each member doing his particular part. In fact, if an unbeliever should come into the church, he should see the sum total of Christ in the activity and words of the congregation.
The purpose of the gifts of the five-fold ministry is to prepare the Church in each member’s particular part, or their “works of ministry,” (Eph 4:12). This brings unity to the body. Each member has a part to play, a work he was predestined to do. It is Jesus that supplies the growth by the Life that He gives, and that Life is in His blood. He courses through the veins of our churches to bring Life and build us up, person by person doing their part as they abide in Him and use the gifts He gave to them for the edification of the Body. Jesus covers our sins as He passes through the body, qualifying each member to function in his God-given role.
Though this lesson could end here and be a scholarly paper about the purpose of Jesus’ gifts to the Body of Christ, there is more to say. I will begin with a dream I had several years ago. In this dream many Christians sat in a room situated like a class room, with stadium seating. They quietly listened to the teacher, who only had a head. He taught them what seemed to be Christian principles, yet spoke against the blood of Jesus. When we left the class many thought his words were correct. That was the end of the dream.
You might recognize that stadium seating is constructed so people can listen, but not participate. And a talking head is a leader or speaker who operates without the rest of the body. Also, until the listeners could appropriate the blood of Jesus for forgiveness of sins, they would not have a sense of being a body; they were only spectators. What the Lord was showing in this dream was a dysfunctional church system that exists in some bodies of Christ.
There is one thing that has become apparent to me since this dream, and that is this; the main hindrance to the individual members of the church serving God is that they don’t see the strength God put in the blood of Jesus. If and when we believe that we can walk in forgiven sins, then we can be a functioning part of His body. If a speaker lessens the qualifying quality of the blood of Jesus, he (the speaker) will be the only one who serves God. Until God’s people feel qualified they are vulnerable tofeel disqualified by the talking heads.
There is great scrutiny in the body of Christ these days, trying to discern if and when a man can serve God in the church. Could it be that some are not seeing through the eyes of Christ the accomplished work of His blood in Man? I am not suggesting that the church should ignore unrepentant sin. However, if leadership sees most of the congregation as unqualified, their church will have only a few talking heads and they will not become a body. Rather, the leadership should encourage the individual members of the church to use their gifts as Christ intended.
Collectively, we the Church are Jesus to the world. When someone comes into our congregation they should meet Him in us, individually and collectively. This was the wisdom that God displayed to the rulers and authorities in heavenly places (Eph 3:10). God lifts up His Church to the spirits, both evil and good, to show that His plan stands, and it stands in us. Christ was not defeated on the cross; He was dispersed amongst His brethren. Let us do all we can to encourage one another to serve Him as a functioning part of His Body. Amen
In the past, God spoke face-to-face with Moses. However, it frightened the Israelites for God to speak to them, therefore He spoke to them through Moses. Moses was God’s prophet to God’s people, yet he spoke of the future when God would raise up a prophet greater than him. That man was Jesus.
After Jesus was crucified He rose from the dead and gave gifts to men. Paul writes that “it is he that gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, . . .”(Eph 4:11). Jesus actually imparted the essence of His own personal gifting to Man when He rose from the dead. All that Jesus was as a man walking the earth, He gave to the Church to become. Though Man may be afraid to hear God speak face-to-face with him as He did with Moses, Man can hear God speak through the various gifts He has placed in the members of the Church. It is as if the congregation were each a piece of Jesus, becoming His body here on earth. The communion we partake of symbolizes that each member of the Body of Christ, His Church, is partaking of Jesus’ flesh and blood.
Collectively, the body of the Church should knit itself together as the Body of Christ (Eph 4:16). This is accomplished by each member doing his particular part. In fact, if an unbeliever should come into the church, he should see the sum total of Christ in the activity and words of the congregation.
The purpose of the gifts of the five-fold ministry is to prepare the Church in each member’s particular part, or their “works of ministry,” (Eph 4:12). This brings unity to the body. Each member has a part to play, a work he was predestined to do. It is Jesus that supplies the growth by the Life that He gives, and that Life is in His blood. He courses through the veins of our churches to bring Life and build us up, person by person doing their part as they abide in Him and use the gifts He gave to them for the edification of the Body. Jesus covers our sins as He passes through the body, qualifying each member to function in his God-given role.
Though this lesson could end here and be a scholarly paper about the purpose of Jesus’ gifts to the Body of Christ, there is more to say. I will begin with a dream I had several years ago. In this dream many Christians sat in a room situated like a class room, with stadium seating. They quietly listened to the teacher, who only had a head. He taught them what seemed to be Christian principles, yet spoke against the blood of Jesus. When we left the class many thought his words were correct. That was the end of the dream.
You might recognize that stadium seating is constructed so people can listen, but not participate. And a talking head is a leader or speaker who operates without the rest of the body. Also, until the listeners could appropriate the blood of Jesus for forgiveness of sins, they would not have a sense of being a body; they were only spectators. What the Lord was showing in this dream was a dysfunctional church system that exists in some bodies of Christ.
There is one thing that has become apparent to me since this dream, and that is this; the main hindrance to the individual members of the church serving God is that they don’t see the strength God put in the blood of Jesus. If and when we believe that we can walk in forgiven sins, then we can be a functioning part of His body. If a speaker lessens the qualifying quality of the blood of Jesus, he (the speaker) will be the only one who serves God. Until God’s people feel qualified they are vulnerable tofeel disqualified by the talking heads.
There is great scrutiny in the body of Christ these days, trying to discern if and when a man can serve God in the church. Could it be that some are not seeing through the eyes of Christ the accomplished work of His blood in Man? I am not suggesting that the church should ignore unrepentant sin. However, if leadership sees most of the congregation as unqualified, their church will have only a few talking heads and they will not become a body. Rather, the leadership should encourage the individual members of the church to use their gifts as Christ intended.
Collectively, we the Church are Jesus to the world. When someone comes into our congregation they should meet Him in us, individually and collectively. This was the wisdom that God displayed to the rulers and authorities in heavenly places (Eph 3:10). God lifts up His Church to the spirits, both evil and good, to show that His plan stands, and it stands in us. Christ was not defeated on the cross; He was dispersed amongst His brethren. Let us do all we can to encourage one another to serve Him as a functioning part of His Body. Amen
Saturday, May 15, 2010
doing good - Lesson #4 on hearing God's voice; prophecy
Prophecy is a treasured gift according to Paul (1 Cor 14:1). It allows the receiver to benefit from hearing directly from God, and when shared with others, brings the same benefit to them. By hearing God speak we learn about His nature and His will. We also receive personal ministry from God through prophecy.
If we learn how to separate our thoughts from God’s thoughts we will gain faith and be able to receive from God all He wants to share with us. Today I want to speak about our hearts. Since God created Man in His image, we have the potential of having a very good heart. We also are aware of sins that can or have lived in our hearts. It is not difficult for a Christian to identify when he desires good things from when he desires bad things. But there is another area that is more difficult to discern. It is our desire to do good. We were born with a desire to do good, and when we are born again by the Holy Spirit the desire to do good multiplies as our love for Man grows. Sometimes our hearts feel like they will burst with all the good thoughts we have towards others.
You might wonder how wanting to do good could interfere with hearing and discerning God’s voice. Logically, doing good seems right. It is our desire, or will to do good. And here is issue with hearing God’s word; our thoughts are not God’s thoughts, and our desires do not always line up with God’s will. Here are some points that the Lord has taught me concerning prophecy and my desire to see good come to the person I minister to;
1. First determine what I want to have happen, then share that in a prayer with the Lord, waiting on Him for His answer. It is not wrong to pray for what we want to happen; that is called a petition. It is wrong to prophesy what we want to have happen because, in this case, the word originates from our will and not from the Lord’s will.
2. Giving a word of encouragement is good. However, do not confuse the word of encouragement with prophecy. When the Lord leads you to scriptures and encouragement for someone, if you have no insight as to what else the Lord would say, simply state what you have and do not guess about God’s further leading. In 1 Cor 4:6b Paul writes “Do not go beyond what is written.” In other words, do not add to what the Lord has imparted to you, and then you will not go wrong.
3. Though we may want to make a declaration over someone for good to come into their life, a prophetic declaration originates in God and is imparted to us through the Spirit of Revelation (Eph 1;17b). We often call the Spirit of Revelation “insight”, and Paul talks about this in Ephesians as having the “eyes of (our) hearts opened,” (1:18). God can give insight in one word, in a sentence, in a simile, in a vision with its interpretation . . . there are many ways that God stirs our mind by His Spirit of Revelation. It seems like a light bulb is turned on in our mind when this happens, and we have just the right words to say to the person we are ministering to. What we say may become a Word of Knowledge, increasing the listener’s awareness that God is speaking personally to him. Paul talks about this as “laying the secrets of . . .the heart . . . bare.” (1 Cor 14:25).
4. Set aside what you want the person you’re ministering to to feel, or how they should react. If you can’t be impartial to their feelings then you will find yourself tailoring the message to fit the feelings you want them to express. God knows that it is hard to be rejected. However, He also knows that many who have rejected His words later on remember them and give God the glory for the words you have spoken to them. Let the “stream” of water be pure . . . the pure word from God.
Application - Take time now to pray for those whom you would like God to bless. Tell the Lord just how you would like Him to bless that person or people. Then write each name down with the blessing or intervention you prayed for across from their names. Be sure you have blank space so that you can write what you hear the Lord saying. If you do not sense He is saying anything, listen for scriptures that will rumble around in your spirit. Look them up and write them down across from the names. Wait on Him at least 5 minutes, then set the paper aside. Do not feel discouraged if you did not receive a prophecy for someone on your paper. The paper is a way of you coming before the Lord, and an indication that you will be available for His input concerning the people whose names you have written down. Later, come before the Lord and mention the blank spaces. Tell Him you are available and listening, should He have something to talk about. Sometimes He “readies the vessel” first. In other words, He moves things around in our own heart so that we can receive what He has to say about someone else. Be patient, and never go beyond the word, spoken or written. Amen.
If we learn how to separate our thoughts from God’s thoughts we will gain faith and be able to receive from God all He wants to share with us. Today I want to speak about our hearts. Since God created Man in His image, we have the potential of having a very good heart. We also are aware of sins that can or have lived in our hearts. It is not difficult for a Christian to identify when he desires good things from when he desires bad things. But there is another area that is more difficult to discern. It is our desire to do good. We were born with a desire to do good, and when we are born again by the Holy Spirit the desire to do good multiplies as our love for Man grows. Sometimes our hearts feel like they will burst with all the good thoughts we have towards others.
You might wonder how wanting to do good could interfere with hearing and discerning God’s voice. Logically, doing good seems right. It is our desire, or will to do good. And here is issue with hearing God’s word; our thoughts are not God’s thoughts, and our desires do not always line up with God’s will. Here are some points that the Lord has taught me concerning prophecy and my desire to see good come to the person I minister to;
1. First determine what I want to have happen, then share that in a prayer with the Lord, waiting on Him for His answer. It is not wrong to pray for what we want to happen; that is called a petition. It is wrong to prophesy what we want to have happen because, in this case, the word originates from our will and not from the Lord’s will.
2. Giving a word of encouragement is good. However, do not confuse the word of encouragement with prophecy. When the Lord leads you to scriptures and encouragement for someone, if you have no insight as to what else the Lord would say, simply state what you have and do not guess about God’s further leading. In 1 Cor 4:6b Paul writes “Do not go beyond what is written.” In other words, do not add to what the Lord has imparted to you, and then you will not go wrong.
3. Though we may want to make a declaration over someone for good to come into their life, a prophetic declaration originates in God and is imparted to us through the Spirit of Revelation (Eph 1;17b). We often call the Spirit of Revelation “insight”, and Paul talks about this in Ephesians as having the “eyes of (our) hearts opened,” (1:18). God can give insight in one word, in a sentence, in a simile, in a vision with its interpretation . . . there are many ways that God stirs our mind by His Spirit of Revelation. It seems like a light bulb is turned on in our mind when this happens, and we have just the right words to say to the person we are ministering to. What we say may become a Word of Knowledge, increasing the listener’s awareness that God is speaking personally to him. Paul talks about this as “laying the secrets of . . .the heart . . . bare.” (1 Cor 14:25).
4. Set aside what you want the person you’re ministering to to feel, or how they should react. If you can’t be impartial to their feelings then you will find yourself tailoring the message to fit the feelings you want them to express. God knows that it is hard to be rejected. However, He also knows that many who have rejected His words later on remember them and give God the glory for the words you have spoken to them. Let the “stream” of water be pure . . . the pure word from God.
Application - Take time now to pray for those whom you would like God to bless. Tell the Lord just how you would like Him to bless that person or people. Then write each name down with the blessing or intervention you prayed for across from their names. Be sure you have blank space so that you can write what you hear the Lord saying. If you do not sense He is saying anything, listen for scriptures that will rumble around in your spirit. Look them up and write them down across from the names. Wait on Him at least 5 minutes, then set the paper aside. Do not feel discouraged if you did not receive a prophecy for someone on your paper. The paper is a way of you coming before the Lord, and an indication that you will be available for His input concerning the people whose names you have written down. Later, come before the Lord and mention the blank spaces. Tell Him you are available and listening, should He have something to talk about. Sometimes He “readies the vessel” first. In other words, He moves things around in our own heart so that we can receive what He has to say about someone else. Be patient, and never go beyond the word, spoken or written. Amen.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
lesson #3 on hearing God's voice; being His friend
This is the 3rd lesson in a series about hearing God speak. I began with “Making ourselves available for the relationship of a Lifetime”, and followed with a lesson about becoming a friend of God. Today’s lesson is about getting to know God’s heart.
Lesson #3
We have friends and we have acquaintances. We share with our friends, and if they are especially close, we can divulge the contents of our hearts to them. It is not a sudden thing, this sharing of one’s heart, but a gradual opening up to the other person. If our trust is betrayed then we close back up again, and that person may not even be on “friend” status with us any more.
Before we open up to someone, we notice things about them that tell us if it is safe to be open with them. If they enjoy our company we feel good about them. But if they come to get information from us for their work, then they are more like a co-worker than a friend. If they care enough about us to ask how we are, and listen to our answer, we see that they have a good heart. But if they are self-interested then we guard the contents of our hearts, for we do not know what wrong use they might put our “contents” to.
I have noticed that being friends with the Lord is somewhat the same as being friends with men or women. If we care about Him we learn about His heart. He is not like a person who has needs we can meet. But He does enjoy our presence and we can enjoy His also. When God made the garden of Eden, He fellowshipped with Adam and Eve there. He walked with them in the cool of the evening and enjoyed conversation with them. I doubt that God came with a to-do list, or unloaded all His needs onto Adam and Eve’s shoulders. But I do believe that God enjoyed their presence, and they enjoyed His. Enjoying God’s presence for Who He is begins our friendship with Him. Knowing He enjoys our presence makes it special.
God will listen endlessly to us pour out our hearts to Him. But He will also seek the heart of His own special friends to share His own heart with. If we come seeking a prophecy for publication, or a word to meet our own personal quota, then we are a laborer, and may be full of self-interest. But when we lay aside any earthly gain we could seek from our relationship with God and just enjoy Him, this pleases God. And He will share His heart with you. What could be more precious than hearing the heart beat of God?
Lesson #3
We have friends and we have acquaintances. We share with our friends, and if they are especially close, we can divulge the contents of our hearts to them. It is not a sudden thing, this sharing of one’s heart, but a gradual opening up to the other person. If our trust is betrayed then we close back up again, and that person may not even be on “friend” status with us any more.
Before we open up to someone, we notice things about them that tell us if it is safe to be open with them. If they enjoy our company we feel good about them. But if they come to get information from us for their work, then they are more like a co-worker than a friend. If they care enough about us to ask how we are, and listen to our answer, we see that they have a good heart. But if they are self-interested then we guard the contents of our hearts, for we do not know what wrong use they might put our “contents” to.
I have noticed that being friends with the Lord is somewhat the same as being friends with men or women. If we care about Him we learn about His heart. He is not like a person who has needs we can meet. But He does enjoy our presence and we can enjoy His also. When God made the garden of Eden, He fellowshipped with Adam and Eve there. He walked with them in the cool of the evening and enjoyed conversation with them. I doubt that God came with a to-do list, or unloaded all His needs onto Adam and Eve’s shoulders. But I do believe that God enjoyed their presence, and they enjoyed His. Enjoying God’s presence for Who He is begins our friendship with Him. Knowing He enjoys our presence makes it special.
God will listen endlessly to us pour out our hearts to Him. But He will also seek the heart of His own special friends to share His own heart with. If we come seeking a prophecy for publication, or a word to meet our own personal quota, then we are a laborer, and may be full of self-interest. But when we lay aside any earthly gain we could seek from our relationship with God and just enjoy Him, this pleases God. And He will share His heart with you. What could be more precious than hearing the heart beat of God?
Sunday, May 2, 2010
works
We serve God by faith. We believe God and our actions proceed from our beliefs, by faith. Today the Lord brought a statement out of my heart along this topic; “I serve a bigger God than you have faith for.” Though that seems kind of brash to me, I continued listening, for I perceived there was a lesson coming.
Certainly God is bigger and more complex than all our thoughts about Him combined. Who, then defines the boundaries of our faith? In my years as a Christian I have seen elders that encouraged faith in the brethren, and those who have discouraged faith. Since we each individually receive a portion of faith along with our gifting (Rm 12:3,6),That faith should define to what extent we serve God. But when it comes to serving God in ministry, sometimes our faith becomes defined by the unbelief of others. This dampens the spirit in the Church overall.
We see that one of the functions of the 5-fold ministry is to equip the saints for their works (Eph 4;12). When we realize that our works were “Prepared in advance for us to do” (Eph 2:10) those works take on a greater importance than anything we ourselves could think to do. These works are so important that God gave the gifts of the 5-fold ministry to help prepare each individual to do them (the works).
On 10/27/2002 the Lord shared with me in a night vision something that continues to burn in my heart. In that dream an angel brought the crucified body of Jesus forward, setting Him on a table in front of me. Then the Holy Spirit overwhelmed me, praying through me for the Church to do the works of Christ. After praying and interceding for the Church, I awoke. God’s message was clear; our works are important.
On 2/23/06 the Lord shared a dream with me that illustrates our works are not only important, but they are part of the strategy He uses to establish His kingdom. In this dream an angel instructed my husband and I, using the tongues of angels. We understood the interpretation and began instructing small groups of people, saying “Pray to find your brethren in need, who are serving the Lord. Come along side them with the gifts the Lord has given you, and serve them.” As each person left, coming along-side their brethren in need, healings and miracles were released.
The question remains in my mind; should we let others define the faith we serve God with by their own faith . . . or unbelief? Or should we grow in faith and service to our God? I would like to encourage you today to serve the Lord with the gifts and calling He gave you, and to encourage other to do the same. My husband and I are starting a ministry called “Come Along-side” and will be encouraging, strengthening, and building up those that we minister to in our home. God, be glorified in your people. Amen.
Certainly God is bigger and more complex than all our thoughts about Him combined. Who, then defines the boundaries of our faith? In my years as a Christian I have seen elders that encouraged faith in the brethren, and those who have discouraged faith. Since we each individually receive a portion of faith along with our gifting (Rm 12:3,6),That faith should define to what extent we serve God. But when it comes to serving God in ministry, sometimes our faith becomes defined by the unbelief of others. This dampens the spirit in the Church overall.
We see that one of the functions of the 5-fold ministry is to equip the saints for their works (Eph 4;12). When we realize that our works were “Prepared in advance for us to do” (Eph 2:10) those works take on a greater importance than anything we ourselves could think to do. These works are so important that God gave the gifts of the 5-fold ministry to help prepare each individual to do them (the works).
On 10/27/2002 the Lord shared with me in a night vision something that continues to burn in my heart. In that dream an angel brought the crucified body of Jesus forward, setting Him on a table in front of me. Then the Holy Spirit overwhelmed me, praying through me for the Church to do the works of Christ. After praying and interceding for the Church, I awoke. God’s message was clear; our works are important.
On 2/23/06 the Lord shared a dream with me that illustrates our works are not only important, but they are part of the strategy He uses to establish His kingdom. In this dream an angel instructed my husband and I, using the tongues of angels. We understood the interpretation and began instructing small groups of people, saying “Pray to find your brethren in need, who are serving the Lord. Come along side them with the gifts the Lord has given you, and serve them.” As each person left, coming along-side their brethren in need, healings and miracles were released.
The question remains in my mind; should we let others define the faith we serve God with by their own faith . . . or unbelief? Or should we grow in faith and service to our God? I would like to encourage you today to serve the Lord with the gifts and calling He gave you, and to encourage other to do the same. My husband and I are starting a ministry called “Come Along-side” and will be encouraging, strengthening, and building up those that we minister to in our home. God, be glorified in your people. Amen.
Weeds and stones
Today I am weeding. When I was a girl I hated weeding. Who would have ever thought I’d grow up to garden in my spare time? But it is a good way to slow down, and to listen to the Lord.
Because it had just rained, the soil was perfect for weeding. When I was pulling up weeds I had good success as long as there were no rocks in my way. The rocks interfere with my grasp on the weeds, and no matter how I try, I cannot pull the weeds out of the ground. This venture became a picture, illustrating a lesson for me.
I was reminded of a scripture that says to remove the stones from the highway of the Lord so that it will be prepared for people to walk on (Is 62:10). God’s people need sure footing, and on a clear path. Rocks used to be under the road, and now are ground finer to make a subsurface for asphalt to be poured on. We see in these examples that rocks are for support. But a rock on the road could be a cause for stumbling, or a hindrance to the traveler on the road.
To take the example of my weeding adventure further, the rocks interfere with the grasp on weeds, and weeds represent the planting of our enemy, satan. What would hinder us from traveling on the highway of the Lord, except sin in our lives, the love of the world, and pride of life? If the stones prevent us from getting a firm grasp on these things, then how can we yank them out? We need to identify the stones.
Jesus identified one of the stones for us. He had just told His disciples that he was to die and be raised up on the third day. Peter told Jesus “Never Lord . . . This shall never happen to you! Jesus turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.’" We see from this passage that a rock can represent putting the things of men in the way of the will of God. Paul bears this out when he asks us not to put anything in the way that could cause a brother to stumble . . . “For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved.” (1 Cor 10:31-33). This illustrates that the “things of man” Jesus mentioned could be our rights, such as the right to eat or drink whatever we want.
If we think of our brother or sister traveling down the highway, keeping their focus on Jesus, it would be good to not let what we do or say hinder them. If they need to pull a weed out of their heart to get to where they are going, then we want them to have a firm grasp on what wrongful thing is growing there. If we put ourselves in the way by saying there is no weed, or that Jesus had victory over all weeds so they cannot possibly grow in our hearts, then we are a hindrance to our brother’s walk in the Lord.
My husband Dave has had a few dreams wherein there were rakes leaning against the wall, ready for use. A rake could remove rocks from my garden. This would be an effective thing to do before the plants break through the ground in the Spring, even if the weeds are growing. If we need a rake so as to remove the rocks and therefore get a firm grasp on the weeds, what is the rake in the room, ready for use? It is the Holy Spirit, clearing debris away. If we listen to Him talk about our attitudes and preferences, He will reveal the stones that would cause others to stumble. If we would give permission for a brother to hold a grudge, or indulge in a lustful activity he will never be able to grasp the “weed” in his heart and will be hindered in his walk with the Lord. But if we want our brother to make it to his destination on the highway of the Lord, we will remove the “things of men”.
Because it had just rained, the soil was perfect for weeding. When I was pulling up weeds I had good success as long as there were no rocks in my way. The rocks interfere with my grasp on the weeds, and no matter how I try, I cannot pull the weeds out of the ground. This venture became a picture, illustrating a lesson for me.
I was reminded of a scripture that says to remove the stones from the highway of the Lord so that it will be prepared for people to walk on (Is 62:10). God’s people need sure footing, and on a clear path. Rocks used to be under the road, and now are ground finer to make a subsurface for asphalt to be poured on. We see in these examples that rocks are for support. But a rock on the road could be a cause for stumbling, or a hindrance to the traveler on the road.
To take the example of my weeding adventure further, the rocks interfere with the grasp on weeds, and weeds represent the planting of our enemy, satan. What would hinder us from traveling on the highway of the Lord, except sin in our lives, the love of the world, and pride of life? If the stones prevent us from getting a firm grasp on these things, then how can we yank them out? We need to identify the stones.
Jesus identified one of the stones for us. He had just told His disciples that he was to die and be raised up on the third day. Peter told Jesus “Never Lord . . . This shall never happen to you! Jesus turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.’" We see from this passage that a rock can represent putting the things of men in the way of the will of God. Paul bears this out when he asks us not to put anything in the way that could cause a brother to stumble . . . “For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved.” (1 Cor 10:31-33). This illustrates that the “things of man” Jesus mentioned could be our rights, such as the right to eat or drink whatever we want.
If we think of our brother or sister traveling down the highway, keeping their focus on Jesus, it would be good to not let what we do or say hinder them. If they need to pull a weed out of their heart to get to where they are going, then we want them to have a firm grasp on what wrongful thing is growing there. If we put ourselves in the way by saying there is no weed, or that Jesus had victory over all weeds so they cannot possibly grow in our hearts, then we are a hindrance to our brother’s walk in the Lord.
My husband Dave has had a few dreams wherein there were rakes leaning against the wall, ready for use. A rake could remove rocks from my garden. This would be an effective thing to do before the plants break through the ground in the Spring, even if the weeds are growing. If we need a rake so as to remove the rocks and therefore get a firm grasp on the weeds, what is the rake in the room, ready for use? It is the Holy Spirit, clearing debris away. If we listen to Him talk about our attitudes and preferences, He will reveal the stones that would cause others to stumble. If we would give permission for a brother to hold a grudge, or indulge in a lustful activity he will never be able to grasp the “weed” in his heart and will be hindered in his walk with the Lord. But if we want our brother to make it to his destination on the highway of the Lord, we will remove the “things of men”.
Friend of God
Friend of God
Our relationship with God takes faith on our part. It also takes patience. Though we try to quiet our hearts, sometimes we wonder if who we hear is really God. Or, is it “us”. Actually, then there’s that other spirit called satan . . . so there are three sources that we might hear from. In listening for the Lord I have found the following to be true;
1. Sometimes God asks us questions to stimulate our thinking - In the Old Testament we read that the Lord asked His prophets “What do you see?” (Amos 7:8; Jer 1:11,13). The Lord will often ask me what I think about something, and then why I think the way I do. He’s asking me how I “see” it. Then He speaks about His view point, and why He thinks the way He does. The result of our question and answer session is that there is a distinct separation between my opinions and reasonings, and God’s.
2. Separate God’s thoughts from your own, then confusion will stop – Paul writes that we should capture our thoughts and make them obedient to Christ (2 Cor 10:3-5). If the Lord isn’t stimulating our thinking by asking us questions, we can still sort out our thoughts into good ones, or “arguments, and pretensions that set themselves up against the knowledge of God”. When we bring our thought-life under submission to Christ, confusion about who is speaking to us goes.
If it seems difficult to silence a good argument going on in our heads, we can fall back on Philippians 4:8 for good advice. It says “Finally brethren, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.” Arguments and pretensions don’t fit into the “whatevers.” By putting all our thoughts into submission to God’s word, (Christ is the Word in the flesh), we are unifying our heart to love God.
I have heard many frustrated Christians tell me that it is just too hard to hear God, or that God doesn’t talk to them. It isn’t possible to have a relationship with someone who is silent. God isn’t silent to us: He wants to reveal His heart to us. He wants to show us His nature, and knows that we will be thrilled to know Him. God wants us to know how He feels about us, and to carry His heart towards others in our daily walk.
If we separate our thoughts and feelings from His, we see that He thinks and feels differently from us. When we prefer His ways over our own, then our relationship goes to a deeper level. God trusts us to prefer mercy over revenge, and love over anger. When He awakens us at night to intercede for someone, He knows we will put our heart into it because we care about what He cares about. God shares the unseen or secret things with us little by little to see what we can handle. Will we let offence or pride live in our hearts? Or will we grieve when He grieves and serve Him and not ourselves? If we prefer to have His heart towards others, then He calls us His friend.
Our relationship with God takes faith on our part. It also takes patience. Though we try to quiet our hearts, sometimes we wonder if who we hear is really God. Or, is it “us”. Actually, then there’s that other spirit called satan . . . so there are three sources that we might hear from. In listening for the Lord I have found the following to be true;
1. Sometimes God asks us questions to stimulate our thinking - In the Old Testament we read that the Lord asked His prophets “What do you see?” (Amos 7:8; Jer 1:11,13). The Lord will often ask me what I think about something, and then why I think the way I do. He’s asking me how I “see” it. Then He speaks about His view point, and why He thinks the way He does. The result of our question and answer session is that there is a distinct separation between my opinions and reasonings, and God’s.
2. Separate God’s thoughts from your own, then confusion will stop – Paul writes that we should capture our thoughts and make them obedient to Christ (2 Cor 10:3-5). If the Lord isn’t stimulating our thinking by asking us questions, we can still sort out our thoughts into good ones, or “arguments, and pretensions that set themselves up against the knowledge of God”. When we bring our thought-life under submission to Christ, confusion about who is speaking to us goes.
If it seems difficult to silence a good argument going on in our heads, we can fall back on Philippians 4:8 for good advice. It says “Finally brethren, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.” Arguments and pretensions don’t fit into the “whatevers.” By putting all our thoughts into submission to God’s word, (Christ is the Word in the flesh), we are unifying our heart to love God.
I have heard many frustrated Christians tell me that it is just too hard to hear God, or that God doesn’t talk to them. It isn’t possible to have a relationship with someone who is silent. God isn’t silent to us: He wants to reveal His heart to us. He wants to show us His nature, and knows that we will be thrilled to know Him. God wants us to know how He feels about us, and to carry His heart towards others in our daily walk.
If we separate our thoughts and feelings from His, we see that He thinks and feels differently from us. When we prefer His ways over our own, then our relationship goes to a deeper level. God trusts us to prefer mercy over revenge, and love over anger. When He awakens us at night to intercede for someone, He knows we will put our heart into it because we care about what He cares about. God shares the unseen or secret things with us little by little to see what we can handle. Will we let offence or pride live in our hearts? Or will we grieve when He grieves and serve Him and not ourselves? If we prefer to have His heart towards others, then He calls us His friend.
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