Separating God's thoughts from our own

Ever since I became a Christian 40+ years ago the Lord has given me dreams.  He has taught me how to interpret and apply their meaning. This has been a long process, and often I would sit for hours before the Lord to listen for His thoughts about the dreams and line them up with scripture. I would not have guessed that part of the refining of this gift was to take the dreams away, leaving me with my own. 

Though now I seldom have prophetic dreams from the Lord, He has comforted me with a more present relationship during the day.  Still, for a few years I have been grieved that there were very few dreams.  This last week the Lord brought a word about this.  He said that He took the dreams away because He wants me to know the difference between His dreams and mine.  It is the same process during the day, where I have learned to separate His thoughts from mine.  In my waking hours the Lord often asks what I think about a particular subject.  He does this not because He needs my input, but because He is teaching me to identify how I think about the subject . . . and then He would finish up with how He thinks about that subject.

By taking away His dreams, I was left with my own dreams.  I became familiar with them.  There is a stark contrast between God’s messages and the messages from my own heart and mind.  The contrast is what God wants.  The Lord told me that He already has bold and hasty prophets; He wants submissive, patient prophets.  God has men who speak their own words in His name, not having learned the difference between their own thoughts and His thoughts; the Lord wants prophets who speak His word in His name.  For this to happen, prophets have to learn to distinguish between their own thoughts and God’s thoughts; there needs to be a contrast between the two.

There is a scriptural reference about those who minister to others for the Lord, using their own ideas.  It is found in Ezekiel 34, where the Lord is correcting the Shepherds of His flock.  He then turns to the flock and corrects them as follows;

As for you, My flock, this is what the Sovereign Lord says; I will judge between one sheep and another, and between rams and goats.  Is it not enough or 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? (Ez 34:17-19)

If we sup with the Lord, and then pollute our ministry by using our own thoughts, we have “muddied the waters.”  It is not clear what God’s original message was.  The way to preserve God’s thoughts is by separating them from our own.  Then we can minister the clear water we have drunken from the Lord, and the grass from the field will be edible for them.

The flock deserves to hear what God has said from His prophets . . . from all Christians.  Today, listen for the Lord’s thoughts.  Let Him teach you how to keep them separate from your own, whether sleeping or awake.  Then your ministry will nourish the hungry and satisfy the thirsty.  Amen.

The Lion, Eagle, Ox and Man, part 2

Previously I wrote about the Living Creatures, found in Ezekiel’s vision and in John’s Revelation. I spoke about the Lion, and today I will write about the Eagle, Ox and Man.

The flying Eagle represents the Spirit of Wisdom (Eph 1:17). When an eagle flies, he sours on high where he can take in the whole picture of what is happening. The Eagle sees God’s purposes and how they can be accomplished on the earth. Before time began, God destined that wisdom should come to us (1 Cor 2:7). One with the Spirit of Wisdom will understand, and help implement, God’s purposes.

 God’s plans are eternal, and therefore He gives insight about the times and the season, as He did with the sons of Issachar (1 Chron 12:32). Because of their understanding, they knew what the people of God should do. This aspect of the Spirit of Wisdom helps men to implement the appropriate words and actions. This believer will glimpse what has gone before, what should take place in the present, and for what purpose the works are being done. Those who are interested in this present life, who love the world and what they have to gain by it, will not be given the Spirit of Wisdom.  Just as earthly wisdom begins with the fear of God, so the Spirit of Wisdom comes to the same. Those who love the world are not in love with God, neither do they honor and fear Him (1 Jn 1:15-17).

The Ox represents the enabler of the works of God, the reason we become human sacrifices (Rom 12:1). He is the Spirit of Prophecy. Jesus told His disciples that He could “do nothing by himself; He can do only what He sees the Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does” (Jn 5:19). Seeing God’s works is important. The only way we can do them on this earth is to “see” them in heaven. We can know what His “good, pleasing and perfect will” is by laying our lives down as a living sacrifice (Rom 1:1-2), just as an ox was laid down as a sacrifice in the Old Testament Temple.

Though most Christians believe prophecy is the ability to foretell the future, that is not its entire ministry. Foretelling the future occurs not because of a special anointing, but because God’s plans and the works He appoints to men are on a continuum that is from the beginning of time, to its end. The ability to see the future is connected to that which the Lord has on His heart to share, and not on “seeing” into events that have not yet taken place. Simply put, prophecy is hearing and seeing from God. This enables men to do the works of God, which is a pleasing sacrifice to Him.

John the Baptist said that Jesus would be One who “testifies to what he has seen and heard,” (Jn 3:32). The Testimony of Jesus, therefore, is the Spirit of Prophecy (Rev 19:10). One who hears the Lord speaking within, and does those works He sees from on high will be given the Spirit of Prophecy so that he can grow in his sensitivity to what God is showing and speaking of concerning the works of the Kingdom. The Spirit of Prophecy equips one to become perfect in obedience, as Jesus was when He walked the earth. Any man who does not lay his life down as a living sacrifice eventually will not want to

say and do what he hears and sees, and therefore will not receive the Spirit of Prophecy. However, the wise will see that it is the Testimony of Jesus by which they overcome their enemy, satan (Rev 12:11).

The fourth creature has the face of a man, and represents the Spirit of Truth. Man is called to be the “amen” to God’s words through his obedience. Satan challenged God’s words to Adam and Eve in the garden, bringing doubt and eventual separation from God (Gen 3:1). God has purposed that the final “amen”, or agreement to His words would come from Man himself, therefore defeating satan.

Jesus told His disciples that the Spirit of Truth would “come to teach you all things and (He) will remind you of everything I have said to you,” (Jn 14:26). Love of the truth keeps God’s people from falling away, or becoming deluded (2 Thess 2:10-12). The Word of God, written on our hearts, is an ever-present sword which divides truth from error. Therefore we see His promise of discernment to those who fear Him. “They will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not,” (Mal 3:18).

The Spirit of Truth ministers to Man by laying the foundation of the Word in order that Wisdom, Revelation, and the Prophetic Works of God can be built upon it. When he speaks of what is “yet to come,” (Jn 16:13) the Spirit of Truth equips men to pray, speak and act in order to bring those things to pass. This is an example of how the Spirit of Prophecy builds on the foundation of Truth. The Spirit of Truth also divides the intentions of the heart and the words and actions of men between good and bad, and truth and error so that one will use the Spirit of Wisdom to build on the foundation of truth. And he uses the Word of God written on our hearts to bring Revelation to us. In all these ways God’s ministry through the Spirit of Truth equips us to be like Jesus, the Word of God in the flesh. Without loving truth, we would lack the foundation upon which true ministry is built.

Let us seek God for all His gifts so that we may be complete, equipped for the works He predestined for us to do from the foundations of time (Eph 2:10).

Why Judgment?

Since I am writing lessons from the Book of Revelation, the topic of God’s judgment will come up.  Why did God choose to judge Man’s sins, and why do we live in a fallen world because of Adam and Eve’s sin? We tend to look at all Man, everywhere and in every time, as thinking, believing, and acting like we do.  God describes the world more like a woman in childbirth, and the creation groaning until we are birthed. (Rom 8:19 & 23; 2 Cor 5:4). Mankind is in a developing state, spiritually, and believers will one day become Sons of God.

We find another clue to the developing state of Man in Daniel 12:3; "Those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. 4"But as for you, Daniel, conceal these words and seal up the book until the end of time; many will go back and forth, and knowledge will increase."

Daniel saw that, in a much later time, men would be busier, and smarter.  But those who have “insight” would reflect the glory of the Son of God and have a permanent place with Him “like the stars forever and ever.”  We see that our time now has a tremendous increase in knowledge and busyness and could well be the time Daniel was shown.

So, what does the developing nature of Mankind have to do with judgment?  First, men and women were not always able to learn by deductive, inductive or analytical thought.  If we look at the religions that existed around the time that Moses received the Law for the Hebrews, many of those other religions had less informed ideas.  They believed that God needed human sacrifice so that their crops would grow and the harvest come in.  Relating God’s favor to good outcomes by doing wrong is the beginning of superstition.  It is small-minded to believe that Man’s thoughts affect God and cause the world to revolve around Man, as if God has no plan or thoughts of His own. And so, in earlier times men believed their thoughts were “good” and every man did what pleased him, according to his belief system (Judges 21:25). Man was not accountable for his life, because he was the one who led and approved it.

God wants a relationship with Mankind.  Abraham pleased God and was called His friend.  It is written, “For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD.”(Gen 18:19).  Though Abraham could have taught his family to follow his own ideas, his relationship with God brought God’s ideas into the family and it was the beginning of relationships with God. God caused Abraham and His family to follow, and to become accountable to His revealed word either by blessing them, or judging them.

God continued with Abraham’s lineage by establishing His relationship through Moses. He gave the Hebrews the Law, which not only held Man accountable to God, but to their fellow man. A man could not blame the weather, other gods, or any other superstitious thing for his own behavior.  The man himself was responsible. If he took another man’s possessions, he himself had to restore them plus some.

As the nation of the Hebrews, later called the Jews, progressed, God sought to establish more of a relationship with them, calling them his bride.  He used analogies of unfaithfulness when describing their behavior, for the Jews were promised to Him, and God loved them.  He called them His own people, and said that He wanted to dwell amongst them.  When they strayed and were acting like a spiritual harlot, God judged them.  When the Jews repented of having other gods and returned to God, He forgave them.  This taught the Jews that God loved just like they loved.  He had feelings of being hurt, and anger, just like they did.  And so the relationship between Man and God developed further.  If God had not held the Jews accountable for their behavior, their belief system would have become polluted by the religions around them, and they would have gone into darkness.  That was not God’s plan for Man.

God wants an honest relationship with His people.  David wrote “Behold, you desire truth in the inward parts.” Ps 51:6). God dealt with the Jewish leaders about thinking that their own thoughts were before God’s, and for calling good evil and evil good (Is 5:20).  God was developing Man’s relationship with Him because He had truth, wisdom and revelation for us. God was preparing His people to have the mind of Christ (1 Cor 2:16). God did not want men to go back into darkness, making up truth to excuse the pollutions from the world that had entered their hearts.  God wanted a holy people, set apart from the world.

One day we will literally give account of ourselves. “So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.” (Rom 14:12).  All throughout time God has disciplined and judged Man so that we would know about God and follow His ways.  His judgments have been disciplinary in intention, so that Man would know Him and have a good outcome.  But God’s coming judgment at the end will bring eternal rewards and punishments.  The righteous, or as Daniel said, those who have “insight”, will shine.  They have walked in relationship with God. I believe at that time that the purpose of judgment will be fulfilled, for Man will then know good from evil, right from wrong, God’s ways from the ways of the world.

God bless you as you walk with God this day.

Lion, Eagle, Ox and Man part 1

In John’s vision each of the living creatures had their own face; that of the man, ox, lion or eagle. Before Christ, God’s words to men were “packaged” to contain that which He would give men individually as gifts after the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In reading God’s words in the Old Testament we see Truth, Wisdom, Revelation, and Prophecy intermingled. Now they are individual gifts to those that follow Christ.

It is important that we do not look at the creatures with our own understanding. God has His purposes for the symbolism He chooses, each representing God’s ministry to Man. Also of note, they are not called angels. Though they are spiritual beings, the creatures embody aspects of God’s ministry to Man and their faces are visual representations of each distinct part of God’s nature which He imparts to His believers.

Ezekiel saw flashes of fire that traveled between each beast (Ez 1:13). This represented the One Spirit of God which communicated between each of the Living Creatures. It is difficult to write about the distinct faces of each Living Creature separately because their ministries interact with each other. What the Spirit of Prophecy builds up in us, the Spirit of Wisdom builds upon, and so it goes. Our nature becomes transformed each time the Holy Spirit ministers to us. In like manner, when we receive the ministry of the Spirit of Prophecy, Wisdom, Truth, and Revelation, our minds are changed. We begin to think more like God thinks, and to understand deeply what is the inheritance of the saints (Eph 1:18).

Jesus told His disciples that the Holy Spirit would take that which is His and give it to us (Jn 16:14). God purposed that we should be given ministry for our benefit, and to equip us for the works of the Kingdom of God. Paul’s prayer to the Christians at Ephesus was that they be given the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation so that they might know God better (Eph 1:17). The Lion symbolizes the inherent right to the knowledge the believer will rule by: Revelation. The saint with the Spirit of Revelation will learn and understand God’s nature and His ways.

We can understand the symbolism of the Lion by looking at Jesus being called the “Lion of the tribe of Judah,” (Rev 5:5). When Jacob prophesied to Judah concerning his inheritance, or what he had a right to, Jacob called Judah the “lion’s cub” (Gen 49:8-10). Therefore we know that the Lion has to do with inherited right. This was fulfilled in Jesus, who came from the lineage of Judah, revealed knowledge about His Father to Man, and Who now rules. One with the Spirit of Revelation knows the Father and is included in His family. Without knowing the Father’s ways and nature, revelation is mere imagination.

Revelation takes those pieces that are known in part and combines them into a whole (1 Cor 14:29-30). The Spirit of Revelation brings deep understanding into what God’s purposes are for speaking, for with the revelation comes the part of God’s nature that is being imparted. It is not a gift of interpretation, but a gift of revealing to men the heart of God behind the symbols. The more the Spirit of Revelation is at work in a believer, the more he will know God. However, if a man seeks to serve himself and not God, his works will be rejected (Mt 7:21-23).

Change in Heaven part 2

Yesterday I wrote about a change in heaven brought about by the sacrifice of Jesus, our Savior; God wanting to have a personal relationship with His people.  Today I will write about another change, which concerns the positioning of the living creatures. This builds upon the believer being able to hear and be guided by God through His Holy Spirit.

In Ezekiel’s vision, the creatures were below the sea of glass and the throne. The sea of glass was like a ceiling above them, towards which they reached their wings. In John’s vision the creatures are positioned “in the center, around the throne” which rests upon the sea of glass. Their proximity to the throne shows God’s desire to talk to believers. The four creatures symbolize ministry to God’s servants.  Not only can they hear what the Lord is saying, but we can too, because Jesus provided a place for us in the heavenlies.  “God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus . . .”(Eph 2:6). In John’s vision we no longer see a ceiling, but are near the throne and can hear the Lord directly.  As a side note, this angers satan, who was cast out of God’s presence. He no longer has access to the throne of God and so he will go after those who hear God (Rev 12:17).

Another difference between Ezekiel’s vision and John’s vision is that Ezekiel saw each living creature as having four faces; man, ox, lion and eagle. Each of the four creatures had the same four faces. These represent facets of God’s ministry to Man, for the four living creatures came with God to Ezekiel during a time of ministry. In John’s vision each of the living creatures had their own face; that of the man, ox, lion or an eagle. They were “differentiated”. Some would say each creature specialized.  This represents the fact that, before Christ, God’s words to men were “packaged” to contain that all that He had to say to men.  After Jesus rose from the dead He gave men gifts individually to accomplish God’s ministry. In reading God’s words in the Old Testament, we see Truth, Wisdom, Revelation, and Prophecy intermingled. Now they are individual gifts that are given to those that follow Christ, for the purpose of ministering to the body of Christ.

God is showing us the four living creatures so that we would see those spirits which are aspects of God’s ministry to us from heaven, and which are intended to reside on God’s ministers on earth. Facets illustrate aspects of the nature of someone or something. We are seeing parts of God’s nature in the four living creatures; parts that He wants to share with His believers. His Spirit is weakened when men’s ministries do not rely on what is imparted by God because men’s hearts do not contain His full counsel. God brings His full counsel through those who are seated with Christ in His Throne, listening so that they can impart in ministry to others (Rev 3:21).

Because the creatures are now before the throne, they receive from the Lord, and give to men. So we see that when the creatures speak, the elder’s reaction is to lay their lives down and worship God, submitting themselves to their Creator. There is a relationship between the creatures and the elders, not seen in Ezekiel’s vision. When these spirits minister to men, they are taking from heaven and giving to men, each creature according to the facet, or part of God that he represents.

I will write soon about the 4 faces on each living creature. Have a good day, and God bless.

Changes in Heaven

When we think about what Jesus did for us, our thoughts often go to salvation.  But His life, death and resurrection did more than save our souls. The death and resurrection of Jesus did more than redeem those that believe in Him: it gave all believers the Holy Spirit. Before this, God’s relationship was mostly through leaders upon whom the Holy Spirit rested, such as His prophets or kings. After Jesus rose from the dead, believers were invited to be sons and daughters of God in whom His Spirit dwells. God’s purposes for Man are seen also in the spiritual realm.   Jesus’ victory on the cross caused a change in heaven. I will write about how scripture shows us this change in the book of Revelation.

The book of Revelation has symbolism of the four living creatures that fairly well matches a vision given to the Prophet Ezekiel.  Ezekiel’s vision (Ez 1:4-25) was given approximately 593 BC. John’s vision (Rev 4:6-9) was approximately AD 95.  John’s vision varies from Ezekiel’s vision of the four living creatures in significant aspects. Please read these scriptures so that you are familiar with what I am writing about.  

The differences between Ezekiel’s vision and John’s vision show a change in heaven. The first difference  is that Ezekiel sees the creatures with their spirits in their wheels, which were covered with eyes and follow the Spirit of God. In John’s vision, the creatures had no wheels, but they themselves were covered with eyes. The wheels represent God’s leading, which previously had come from an external source and rested upon the human spirit. Now God’s leading rests upon His believers.

Jesus said “If anyone loves Me, he will obey My teaching.  My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” (Jn 14:23). God wants to abide with us, and lead us by His Holy Spirit.  He seeks a personal relationship with each believer instead of a relationship only with kings and prophets.

The eyes represent the mind of Christ (1 Cor 2:16). The believer is led by the Spirit of God directly, and is covered with the mind of Christ. Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would “guide you into all truth.  He will not speak on His own; He will speak only what He hears and He will tell you what is yet to come.” (Jn 16:13). God not only will guide us, and abide with us, but He will speak to us about what is true, and about what is to come.  The Jewish nation knew about God, but did not know God. However, this same God now wants to reveal His thoughts to His people. We see that the relationship between God and Man is becoming closer as Jesus brings people into the family of God.

Tomorrow I will write about more differences between Ezekiel and John’s visions of the four living creatures, and the changes Jesus wrought for us in heaven. Have a blessed day.

God's plan includes warning

In the Lord ’s Prayer, Jesus asks His heavenly Father to deliver us from evil (Mt 6:13). We often get deliverance through warnings.  However, when the Lord is warning of a possible mistake we might make or sin we may fall into, we can feel vulnerable and weak.  The question is, if God is so faithful and caring so as to warn us before danger or entrapment, why can’t we trust Him to deliver us?

When we have our eyes on our weakness our enemy takes advantage of our introspection.  He brings accusations, saying that we are abandoned, condemned, and despised by God.  This is the arsenal of satan. If we were smart we’d realize that our God sent the warning for victory. Our victory causes satan to feel threatened, and that is why he attacks us.

God’s weapons are greater than our enemy’s.  He exposes satan’s lies and sets his captives free, for we are assigned to freedom, love, and an eternal relationship with God. Today, let us rest in God’s great care of us and look forward to the victory’s assigned to us. Amen.

Crucifixion

I'm reading in the book of John about Jesus telling His disciples he was "going to the Father." The verses in John 13:1-3 say a lot about the mindset He had before His own crucifixion . . . which should help us when we are facing crucifixion in our own lives.

Jesus knew He had come from God.  He knew His identity.  In Jesus' identity was the work He did also, or  His mission.  Our enemy satan accuses us so that we will forget we belong to God, and think that there is really nothing important for us to do here on earth.  The only way to win this battle is to know Whom we belong to.

Jesus knew where He was going. He was going back to God.  Belonging to God is a relationship that endures after our physical life ends.  Satan throws dirt on us so that we will think that God rejects us. Perhaps this is where the helmet of salvation comes in . . . it protects our mind from thinking we are not saved.

Jesus knew that His Father had put all things under His power.  What was about to happen was His own death by crucifixion.  Jesus could have walked away.  But to be gloried by His Father (Jn 12:23), Jesus needed to lay down that power, submit to His coming death, and pick that power up again on the other side of the cross. Sometimes we think we'll get through our trials by sure will-power.  I think this could be partially right; it's setting our mind on God's will, and on what is on the other side of our cross (Phil 3:4 & Heb 12:12).

I truly believe that God does not set crucifying trials in to our lives to crush us beyond repair.  Using the above points I believe that God gives us tools to overcome satan, and that we never lose the mission for which God has set up upon this earth, our identity with Him, our salvation (due to the trial), or our choice in the matter. They crucified Jesus because they did not see Who He was and thought He was an impostor. But it was because of Who He was that we are saved.  So too, with us, satan accuses us in a similar manner.  But it is because of who we are in Christ that we will show Christ to our families and the world, and satan eventually will be defeated.

Do you see yourself as a person who has the power of God to pick up?  who is certain of belonging to God?  who is on this earth for a purpose?  God does.

Wisdom, Understanding and Knowledge

Wisdom, understanding and knowledge are 3 words we read a lot about in the book of Proverbs.  This morning I read that God created the earth and the heavens by wisdom, understanding and knowledge (Prov 3:19-20).  These intellectual traits and properties of the heart are tools shared with us by our loving God.  In one of my favorite passages we read that our house (symbolic for our home lives) is built and established by wisdom, understanding and knowledge.  On a smaller scale, we can do what God does.

It is because God made us in His image that He shares his tools with us.  He trains us like a father would train his children, and gradually entrusts His tools to us. Our intellect changes as our minds are renewed. (Rm 12:2)  God intends that, as we look at Him and His example, we will go “from glory to glory” in this life, with a changing heart and mind.

And we, who with unveiled faces reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, Who is the Spirit. (2 Cor 3:18).

Perhaps we do not believe we are made in His image (likeness) because of the errors of our ways.  Are we meant to believe only if we are perfect?  Or should the believing in God’s good intentions for our lives perfect us?  I believe it is the latter.  If we find continual fault with ourselves we miss the image we are patterned after, and we lack faith to use the tools available to us to build a great life.

Today, let us look at the One who created us as the One who had good intentions for doing so.  Let us use the tools of wisdom, understanding and knowledge to build good lives for ourselves and for others as a legacy of what can be done by those created in His image.

Amen.

More spiritual weapons for our battles

Sometimes the circumstances of our lives seem defeating.  But God plans for our success.  God works all things to our good, even bad situations (Rm 8:28). This knowledge can actually arm us with spiritual weapons to face the very enemy that seeks to defeat us with condemning thoughts and words.  If we believe God is working to our good, then we will trust Him.  When we trust the Lord for our outcome, we place our confidence in His capability instead of in our own nature, which is prone to failure.

Satan, our enemy, is the accuser of the brethren.  He often causes us to stumble into doubt by accusing us.  He blocks our growth by accusing us.  He prevents us from being effective by accusing us.  If we examine the thoughts we have during any spiritual battle, they are full of accusations, innuendos, and other wrong thoughts to make us back away from defeating him.  Truth be told, satan knows that we have a more powerful ally than he does and that if we overcame doubt and fear, our faith would cause us to overcome him.  To defeat satan in our spiritual battles, we need to get our eyes off of our weaknesses, and onto what God is doing in us.

“For those He foreknew He predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son.” (M 8:29)

We are being molded into Jesus’ image by those very trials and spiritual battles we go through.  When we realize that God’s eyes are on what we will become, we can have confidence that we will have a good outcome. God has invested His love and great care in making us into the image of His Son.  Knowing the purpose of God, and His dedication to bringing that purpose into being is another weapon for our spiritual battles. We may get weary along the way, but God has not gotten weary of our skirmishes yet. He Who began the work in us, will finish it (Phil 1:6). What God is doing in us? Making us into the great image of His Son.

We need to have faith in God’s plan, for it has strategy that will defeat our enemy. One thing our faith should encompass is the belief that God has justified us.  Even the scriptures ask who condemns us (Rom 8:33).  God is not in the business of delegating our condemnation to satan, or to other people.  Technically, since Jesus covered us with His blood and justified us through His sacrifice on the cross, no spirit or person has the business of condemning us. In fact, one way we overcome our enemy is by Jesus’ blood, covering our sins. We also overcome satan by the testimony of God’s work . . .  working “all things to good” in our lives (Rev 12:11). When the enemy uses condemnation to defeat us, we must meet it with faith that we are not condemned, but in fact, are justified. 

We also should have faith in God’s love for us.  His love endures through our battles and into all the unknown problems, trials, and weaknesses we have yet to face in the future.  What brought us to the point we are at today and fills our present life with spiritual strife cannot separate us from God’s love. The failures that we fear are going to fill our future cannot separate us from God’s love (Rm 8:33-34).  He is dedicated to loving us, and that is a very power weapon to use against the accuser when he condemns us. It takes great faith to believe God’s purely good intentions for you over satan’s rotten accusations.  Therefore, abiding in God’s love for us is one of our greatest acts of faith and will deflect satan’s fiery darts of accusation (Eph 6:16).

If the circumstances of your life have made you feel defeated, do not give up.  Take up the spiritual weapons available to you in the Lord.  Have trust and confidence in the Lord and what He is doing in you.  Let His love cover you. And remember the provision He has made for you through Jesus’ blood, to justify you against satan’s condemnation.  When you have done all this, stand.  Your faith will defeat your spiritual enemies.  Amen.

Weapons of our warfare: Innocence and Shrewdness

The Bible tells us that, when we are amongst wolves, we are to be innocent, or harmless, like a dove . . . but at the same time we should be shrewd like a snake (Mt 10:16). Today I’m writing about innocence, and being shrewd.

If you have been wronged by someone, you might wonder how to return to innocence afterward.  Is it by trust . . . is it by mercy? How does one not accuse those who have accused him?  Is it by love . . . forgiveness? It is clear that we are to be “wise about what is good and innocent about what is evil.” (Rom 12:16:19) However, when we are experiencing the pain of being wounded, is it possible to turn back the hands of time to when we had a pure heart towards the person who now wounded us? Innocence seems like a fragile and fleeting state.

How does such a fragile thing such as our innocence help us when we are getting wounded? Our innocence is part of God’s spiritual warfare.  The word innocence also means “harmless”, and “unmixed.” The goodness we feel towards people, when unmixed by bad feelings, is a force that overcomes the evil in others. To be innocent, a person needs to have purely good intentions.

“Do not be overcome with evil but overcome evil with good.” (Rm 12:21).

As Christians, we value the innocence that keeps our intentions “harmless” and overcomes the evil that besets us in the form of spiritual battles. Our enemy’s weapons make us feel violated.  When a person close to our hearts wrongs us, the pain of violation is even greater. The temptation to strike back at them grows with the deepening of our pain.

What our enemy wants is for us to use his weapons also.  Satan wants us to speak against the one accusing us, or to make ourselves look good and the other person look bad.  He wants us to pretend we are friends and then say bad things against people behind their backs. However, the pain of our wounds is not what brings satan his victory; his victory comes when we join his army and use his weapons against others. His weapons cause wounds to fester into bitterness, destroying love.  When satan can use Christians against each other to defeat their love of one another, he has won his victory.  It is time to take action before this happens. When we find ourselves on the offensive in a spiritual battle, God has weapons that are greater than our enemy’s. 

“We do not war as the world does.  The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world, on the contrary, they have divine powers to demolish strongholds.” (2 Cor 10:4).

Here are some of our Godly weapons: Bless our enemy (Rm 12:14); Pray for our enemies (Mt 5:44); Love our enemies (Mt 5:44); Overcome evil with good (Rm 12:21).

Using these weapons comes contrary to our nature. We need God’s grace to endure the pain of satan’s assault on us through others. It is the Lord himself Who will enable us to bless, pray, love, and overcome.   God’s weapons not only effect the person who has wronged you, but they protect your own heart from bitterness and hatred.

Which weapons we use, satan’s or the Lord’s, is a choice on our part. We don’t have to dig up all the dirt on the one who wronged us, for it is God who keeps score and ultimately judges all men (Rm 12:19). We can be innocent of discovering the full extent of wrong they have done, and their motives for doing wrong. We can be innocent, and wise at the same time.

When we are innocent like a dove, we should be shrewd, or wise at the same time.  We need to not mix our weapons.  If we give mercy, let us do so cheerfully (Rm 12:8), not mixing in cruel barbs when the other person’s defenses are down.  I’ve found that the best way to get to this innocence is by praying blessings on the one who hurt me.  It helps me to let go of the incident, and finally return to love.  Love is the vehicle for goodness and without it all our good is superficial and insincere.

Since our faith works through love (Gal 5:6), we can do great exploits for the Lord when we love the one who wronged us.  One hindrance to this work is to doubt that the Lord will act according to our prayers.  If we pray for peace with the one who wronged us but retain thoughts of war, we are double-minded.  Our thoughts of war may come from doubting God because we have not seen our prayers answered in the past, at least, not according to our understanding.  If you have no victory in your prayer life, look at what might be defeating your faith. 

Spiritual battles need a defensive strategy as well. Jesus also warns us to “be on your guard” against those who persecute us. (Mt 10:17). He cautions us to be strategic when we are amongst those who would hurt us.

“Do not give to dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces.” (Mt 7:6).

Sharing Christian lessons or personal confidences are examples of giving valuable things to dogs and pigs. Sharing with those who do you harm will not restore a relationship . . . it only opens you up for more wounding. Sharing will not cause a man whose heart is full of satan’s weapons to lay them down in repentance; he will only see your friendship and renewed trust as personal weakness.   It is by praying, blessing, and doing the works of love that the evil in a man’s heart can be overcome. These are the weapons God gave us, and by using them wisely we can remain in the state of innocence.

I hope this lesson will help those of you experiencing pain from spiritual warfare and encourage you to pray, bless and love.  God bless, Helen

  

How our lives look

Yesterday I was flying home from my vacation and found it an excellent opportunity to just listen, and pray.  No interruptions.  On the ride to my home I heard the following;

“Many do not think I care about what their lives look like to their enemy.  They do not believe Me for blessings.  A defeated life does not glorify Me.”

It is a true saying that many of us Christians get so caught up in our own sanctifications that we think first about crucifying ourselves to our old nature . . . and might not think at all about how the Lord loves us or how He would like to be glorified by blessing us.  What the world sees, and what the enemy sees, may not look like a fruitful blessed life because of our own attitudes towards blessing. And, we will lack endurance if we do not believe God’s personal promises pertain to this life as well as eternity.

Kind David said, “I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.” (Ps 27:13) His life is an example of believing for God’s blessings, and for success against his enemy while he lived.

David was not the only man who believed it was important for our lives to look successful. Moses believed that, for God to look good to the nations on the earth, His people needed to also look good, and have success against their enemies. Moses appealed to God’s ultimate goal of displaying Himself through His people, asking the Lord to consider how eliminating them would look to their enemy, the Egyptians;

 But Moses sought the favor of the Lord his God. “Lord,” he said, “why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? ¹² Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people.(Ex 32:11-13).

This event is know most famously for the fact that God can change His mind.  But just as important is the fact that God wants to be glorified, to be made to look good, by how He treats His people.

God not only wants to look good to the nations, but He also wants to make us to look good.  Here is what Paul said about our glorification on this earth;

²⁹ For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

³⁰ Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. (Rom 8:29-30).

God also wants to put our enemy and his rulers in their place by causing us to “look good.”  An example of us is found in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, which reads;

His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms (Eph 3:10).

You may gather from this verse that our heavenly Father is proud to display us, the Church, to the evil spirits who rebelled against serving Him. Our lives should show our enemy that God has chosen us. David says; “Give me a sign of your goodness, that my enemies may see it and be put to shame, for you, LORD, have helped me and comforted me.” (Ps 86:17). The favor God puts on us is a token of His goodness that tells the enemy we are loved, and that our God will win His battles.

Our blessings may be spiritual, or they may be physical.  God’s personal promises to us vary and are as unique as each one of us are.  Let us be certain of this; God is His word, and He intends on bringing His promises to pass.  And God is good; He cares about our lives and will bless them. What should the enemy see in our lives?  The goodness of the Lord resting upon us.  Amen.

armor of God

I once had a dream about a spiritual battle.  The battlefield was littered with bodies, and only a few soldiers were standing.  They had on “dough boy” helmets from a past war and stood motionless until the enemy launched his weapons against them.  They then fell to the field and became a casualty in the war. The enemy’s weapons were not bullets.  The enemy had defeated these soldiers by catapulting bodies at them from afar.

In this dream, the soldiers were Christian believers and their enemy was satan.  Satan’s weapons were the accusations he brings in one believer about another.  The enemy was defeating Christians through slander, malice, and gossip, among other things.  It was the power of words, wrongly spoken, that brought the believers to defeat.

In Ephesians 6 we are told that our battle is not against people, but against the powers belonging to satan.  Paul admonishes us to “Put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, after you have done everything, to stand.” (Eph 6:10-13).   The soldiers in my dream did not have to be defeated by words.  And the other men who were catapulted towards them did not have to be in satan’s camp, to be ensnared into his evil schemes against believers.  This could have been avoided if both groups of believers had put on the armor of God.

Paul describes the armor God as truth, righteousness, the preparation (or readiness) that comes from the Gospel of Peace, faith, salvation, the Word of God and the Holy Spirit, and prayer. (Eph 6:14-18).  If we, as believers, love the truth, we will not invent lies against others.  If we fail to be righteous, we will not receive slander from the Accuser of the Brethren against us, nor against our brethren, for Christ is our righteousness and washes us in His blood when we confess our shortcomings. We can pray for our brother who is failing, and through our fellowship and ministry, he will be strengthened instead of falling into disuse and unbelief (which is satan’s plan).

The readiness, or preparation that comes from the gospel of peace is most important to this battle.  If we sincerely desire to walk in peace with others we will not be tempted to war against them. When a brother wounds us with an accusation from the enemy’s camp, we will still stand and be effective in his life if we care about his outcome more than the temporary relief that comes by telling him off. Rage seems to embolden us to put our enemy down, but in fact, it puts us in our enemy’s camp where our words will be used as his weapons against others.

Readiness implies that the person who is ready has been through some sort of training, or preparation.  In this case, obedience to the gospel of peace . . . the good news that God loves and wants to have peace with us.  To prepare for this we must fortify our minds against the accusations that come against us and others. One of our greatest weapons is found in carrying out rightful thinking; thinking on what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, and praiseworthy (Phil 4:8). This cannot be used just when we are attacked, but must be practiced in our own minds as soon as accusations come there.  If we think about the good in our brother, and pray for him, we will not be defeated in spiritual warfare when confronted by accusations.

Faith is required on our part in order to proceed with our good thoughts towards those who speak evil against us. Not faith in our good outcome, but faith that the weapons we have been given will be effective in keeping us from the evil one and will bring us personally into victory.  We may not see our accuser’s victory, nor be able to reconcile him to God.  But our armor, and weapons from God will allow us to stand and not become a casualty ourselves.  This faith leads us into Christ-likeness as opposed to remaining in our own nature. The fleshly nature likes to learn juicy “truthes” about others and develops an appetite for gossip.  Christ’s nature seeks to love others, and restore those who are unwittingly wandering into satan’s camp.  His victory for us includes leading the weak to strength and capturing them for Himself.

There is more to be said about spiritual warfare but not room enough in this lesson.  God bless you this week and take care to pray for others, maintaining the practice of a good thought-life towards all.  Amen.

Spiritual Warfare

Dear readers,
.

Thanks for your prayers.  I’ve been praying for quite a while to know more about spiritual warfare.  I’ve read many books on the subject but just recently had 2 dreams where satan flew at me from a distance.  He seemed to be targeting my mind, and we know that our enemy intends to make our minds a playground for tormenting thoughts!

Tonight I read how God wants to lead us in “triumphal procession” (2 Cor 2:14). It is in this victory walk with the Lord that our fragrance goes out to others to bring them life.  What we do actually smells good, instead of stinking J Putting this verse in context it seems that the fragrance we have in victory comes from the Life that lives inside of us because of the death we are experiencing in that same place.  In other words, suffering brings the sweet smell, if we let it.

Since I was targeted in my mind, I read about what our thought-life should be; thinking what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, and praiseworthy (Phil 4:8).  These things are part of the weapons of our warfare. Obedience to these disciplines of the mind builds a strong arsenal inside of us. It prevents us from having buttons that can be pushed . . . or as Jesus said before his betrayal, satan is coming but he has nothing in us.  Obedience to Phil 4:8 prepares us to win.

I also have to have the full armor of God on so that I can stand in the day of evil (Eph 6:10-18). Truth, righteousness, the gospel of peace (not strife), faith, salvation, the Holy Spirit/Word of God, prayer and alertness need to be my armor or satan’s thoughts will defeat me.  Prayers are meant to be powerful.  In Rev 8:3-5 we read about the power released as a result of the prayers that have incense mixed with them.  It is hard to get to the point of praying when we’re hurting.  In fact, satan sends many things our way so that we will give up and not care about the outcome of the people who cause us pain.  But if we stop caring, we still experience torment, pain, and a feeling that we’re fighting our battles under our own strength.  In caring we carry the fragrance of Christ on our lives and His Life is shown through ours.  God’s intended outcome is victory.  Though each person we pray for has a personal choice to make, I see by these scriptures that we are the ones presenting the good choice to them. Those who fight against us then smell the fragrance of Christ and see His Life at work in us.

Seems hard.  I am confronted with my weakness and undisciplined mind daily.  But there are enough challenges in life that I get lots of practice making choices about how to think, and how to pray. I am sensing that this is the training we all need before each battle.  Let us keep our mind on the victory.  It will be a sweet day when it comes.  Amen.

Our Creator

Have you ever felt less-than-worthy to walk with God? When reflecting on the events of our day at times they seem to brand us with uncertainty about having thought, spoken and acted like a Christian.  Last night I was having one of those “less-than-worthy” moments . . . feeling as if I hadn’t met the requirements of fully loving those around me.  The Lord surprised me with the following conversation;

“I am everywhere, all the time. I don’t disappear when you walk in the flesh.  How can your opinion of yourself influence Me, and make Me walk away from you? Is your opinion what I should base My love on?”

When the Lord spoke of being everywhere all the time, I thought about God’s ominousness.  And when He said that He didn’t base His love on my opinion of myself, I sensed that He is our Creator and knows us better than we know ourselves.  We read about both these concepts in Ps 139:1-12;

You have searched me, Lord,

and you know me.

2You know when I sit and when I rise;

you perceive my thoughts from afar.

3You discern my going out and my lying down;

you are familiar with all my ways.

4Before a word is on my tongue

you, Lord, know it completely.

5You hem me in behind and before,

and you lay your hand upon me.

6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,

too lofty for me to attain.

7Where can I go from your Spirit?

Where can I flee from your presence?

8If I go up to the heavens, you are there;

if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

9If I rise on the wings of the dawn,

if I settle on the far side of the sea,

10even there your hand will guide me,

your right hand will hold me fast.

11If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me

and the light become night around me,”

12even the darkness will not be dark to you;

the night will shine like the day,

for darkness is as light to you.

As our Creator God not only knows and loves us, but He bears with our failures.  He does not assess our behaviors in the manner we do, for He has a truer measuring rod than we do.  That allows Him to value us, even when we see only failure in our days.  Today, let us remember that God is with us, and has invested His efforts in our lives so that we might be in His, now and forever.  Amen.

Stillness and Quiet

Stillness and quiet . . . not necessarily what we think are the works of the Spirit.  In fact, since faith is the evidence of the unseen, we take great comfort in the manifestations of the Holy Spirit.  His works validate our faith by giving us a peek into what God is saying and doing.

But stillness is what is prophesied in Revelation 7;

“After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or on the sea of on any tree.” (Rev 7:1).

The church Age began when the Holy Spirit came like a wind from heaven (Acts 2:2), baptizing believers with the fire of the Spirit. One wonders what must it be like when the Lord stills the wind . . . and why He would still the wind? 

We read in Revelation 7 that the angels are sealing the servants of God in their foreheads, or minds (7:3).  Since judgment would be coming to the earth, God’s people are sealed beforehand.  It is a sober time, a time of marking those who believe in God and treasure His salvation (7:10). And it is a time of personal relationship with God as the Lamb becomes the Shepherd, protecting them from harm and wiping all tears from His people’s eyes.

The stilling of God’s wind is followed by silence.  “When He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.” (Rev 8:1).  What follows is a time of powerful prayer as incense is mixed with the prayers of the saints.  God’s people seek the intimacy of prayer with the He who has sealed them, Who cares for them, and God partners with the people whose hearts He hears from.

I sense a time of stillness and quiet in the Spirit.  God has not changed, neither has Jesus stepped down from His throne.  Rather, it is a time for setting the foundation of intimacy in the hearts and minds of those who call on the name of Jesus.  Relationship with Him, and treasuring our salvation are the works God’s Spirit is doing in us during this season of stillness and quiet.

Some will be tempted to prophesy what they wish God would say.  Some will pray hasty prayers of proclamation.  Let us be those who enjoy the stillness and quiet for the short season, listening, praying, and become a Bride for the One Who loves us.  This relationship will keep us through all else that follows.  Amen.

Prerequisite for ministry

My mother just moved into our home 3 weeks ago.  In fact, I haven’t written much since March because I’ve been helping my husband paint.  He’s been building a second story onto our home and I finally had a job I could help with . . . so how could I pass up the opportunity?

But back to my mother.  8 years ago, when my husband and I moved back to my home town, the Lord laid my mother on our hearts.  We bought a home that she could move into, should we add the needed extra space.  She plays the piano, and has a lot of stuff.  Now she happily lives with us and has quite a lot of room in which to enjoy her independence.

If my mother would have moved in when we originally bought our home, she would have had more independence to enjoy.  8 years ago she drove, walked, and did everything for herself.  Now she has no balance, uses a walker, and even with people in the same room, falls over.  She cracked 3 ribs on the second day she after she moved in.

Are you thinking “what a nightmare”?  Many would not think this to be God’s calling for anyone.  Yet the Lord cares deeply for the elderly, and wants very much for us to care for our parents. Though Jesus asks us to forsake our families, from the cross He asked John to care for his mother as if she were John’s own.

“When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, ‘Dear woman, here is your son,’ and to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’ From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.” (Jn 19:26-27).

Jesus meant for us to place service to God in its rightful place, not being hindered by tradition or obligations.  But He did not say to turn our backs on our parents when they need us.  Yet some think they should bury their old parents’ needs in order to serve the Lord.

Old women seem to be the bane of churches, in some people’s eyes.  Perhaps they seem too needy.  In the New Testament, some of the believers neglected the widows, not even giving them their food.  If the Apostles had thought these widows to be too needy, would they have begun a ministry towards them?  The 12 not only began a ministry for the distribution of food to widows, but set the standard of ministers high.  The 7 men chosen for this ministry needed to be “full of the Spirit and Wisdom.” (Acts 6:4).  The Apostles even laid hands on them.  I think this was a ministry that was important to the leaders of the Church.

We can follow 2 of the 7 men chosen to minister to widows in Acts; Stephen and Phillip.  Lest we think that tending to widows or old people is a dead-end street as far as ministry goes, when reading about these 2 men we see that perhaps their care of the elderly was God’s prerequisite for their ministry.  Stephen was a mighty speaker of the Gospel of Christ, and the Church’s 1^st martyr (see Acts 6 & 7).  Philip preached, did miracles, cast out demons and healed the sick.  He obeyed an angel and had a divine appointment with an Ethiopian eunuch on the road, and was later translated to preach in another area (Acts 8).  Pretty exciting and powerful ministries for those who had been entrusted with the welfare of widows.

God will not forsake His calling on you if you take care of your parents when they need you.  In fact, your love and obedience are the prerequisite to the fulfillment of your destiny in the Kingdom.  In a time when many leaders in ministry charge money to train Christians in prophecy, healing, and the working of miracles, let me say that I believe they have missed the truth contained in the Bible.  Caring for people shows the Lord we are able to be responsible for the Kingdom works, and caring for the most needy brings His blessings on our ministry.  Amen.

Faith Pleases God

"And without faith it is impossible to please God . . ." (Heb 11:6a).

 Our acts of faith please God.  We may think that it would be our perfection that pleases Him, but striving for perfection will defeat our faith, for we are weak and often fail.

It takes faith to hear and obey the Lord.  Our enemy's job is to defeat our faith by accusing us of weakness and sin.  Satan will make us feel guilty that we aren't perfect, and in our disappointment in our own selves, we will doubt that God speaks to us.

Though we fail, and are weak, we can still have strong faith. It is Christ's righteousness that covers us, and not our own perfection.  Faith in God's provision through Jesus Christ makes our faith a shield that deflects the fiery darts (accusations) of our enemy (Eph 6:16).  This faith pleases God.  Today, do not strive for perfection, but lift up your faith in God.  Amen.

The Kingdom of God

Jesus said that the Kingdom of God is like yeast hidden in flour until it worked its way all through the dough (Mt 13:33).  When God speaks to us, we hide his word in our hearts so that it will grow there. Just as yeast raises bread dough, so the word of God grows in our hearts to produce the Kingdom of God.

In the parable of the seed Jesus confirms that His word is hidden in our hearts. "But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop." (Lk 8:15).

We may not understand what the Lord speaks to our hearts, but there is life in the Word of God. Jesus likens the Kingdom of God to a seed that matures into a kernel of grain (Mk 4:26-29). If we keep the word God has given us and do not discard it because of doubt, it will produce its own life, grow, and nourish us.  As the word of God matures, it converts our thinking and we yield a crop of dwelling in God's Kingdom-thoughts.

Each of the parables in this lesson has a common element; the passage of time.  Yeast will enlarge the dough, and seeds will produce a crop over time.  Today, be encouraged to hold onto the word of God. It is Life inside of you, working the Kingdom of God in your heart and mind.  Amen.

The Simple life

“I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.” Psalm 139:14 (KJV).

God did not make us simply.  King David writes in his Psalm that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made.”  My concordance mentions “be had in reverence” as one of the meanings of “fearfully.”  I believe David so respected the creative ability God used in creating his own person that he was in awe and reverence of God. For “wonderfully” my concordance uses “to distinguish, put a difference . . .” as some of the descriptors.  David knew that he was a distinct human being, and not made from a pattern used with others.

We do not often take time out of our busy schedules to think on what God made when He was making us.  In fact, the older we get, the more we inform ourselves about why we were made.  Often, our informing comes from our own opinions. We feel talented in a certain area and believe that is our calling.  We find some things to be easy, or pleasant, and prefer to do those things over harder, less pleasant things.  We simplify our identity.

One day I was driving home from work and saw a lady walking her dog. I was jealous and wished I had the leisure time to walk a dog; the “simple” life.  The Lord interrupted my thoughts, saying “you are fearfully and wonderfully made.” The understanding of how complex we are as humans came to my mind, and that God had not made most of us for a “simple” life.

If God had made us simply, we might be a reflection of a slug, or an amoebae. However, God made us in His own image, and we were meant to reflect Him. Ezekiel described God’s image, concluding with “and brilliant light surrounded Him. Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around Him.” (Ez 1:27b-28). The Lord is also fearfully and wonderfully made.

Though we are not the same as God, we reflect His image.  We do not see any scripture for God wanting a simpler life.  He equips us to do more than one thing in our lives (like walking the dog, my one “simple” thing).  Though we may have a calling, and gifts, we have many, many things we do.  Mothers also may hold down a job.  Fathers may repair their own homes, and work building others.  There is complexity to our lives . . . just as our own Lord is complex.  We were made to be multifaceted.

To illustrate being multifaceted, let us look at Ezekiel’s description of the Lord.  There was light surrounding Him, and it formed a rainbow.  When light fractionates, as in a prism, it forms a rainbow.  Whenever light hits an angle, or travels through an object that separates its wavelengths, we see colors. The rainbow surrounding the light of the Lord is a good illustration of Him being multifaceted.  A few of the things we read about the Lord is that He can have joy, be angry, work in love, give rewards, and meet out punishment.  He is a Creator, comforter, counselor, Teacher . . . there are not enough words to describe how many facets our Lord has. Yet all His different manifestations are in total agreement with Who His is: He is God.

Some of our greatest stress comes from not being in agreement with who we are and what the Lord made us for.  We like one facet of ourselves more than others.  We want to concentrate, develop one side of ourselves, and may come to resent other sides of our nature.  However, when we finally agree with all that God made in us, then we reflect His nature through our lives. Then the inner turmoil stops and there is less stress in living the lives God made for us.  We may not reflect every color there is, but we were made to reflect more than simply one color.  Amen.

Spiritual Warfare

I've been in prayer a lot the last few days.  When things seem hard, I wonder what type of spiritual warfare I should be fighting.  Offenses and woundings will come.  We've had bucket-loads of pain in our lives.  When we thought things might go better, trials seem to come at us from another direction.  So, I prayed, Lord, what would make a difference? Here is the scripture the Lord led me to read;

“And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ;… " (Phil 1:9-10)

People who hurt us need to be healed and brought to the love of God. I have varying degrees of energy in my prayers for them. Some people are easy to pray for because I love them. Love is necessary for the “real knowledge and discernment” to inform my prayers.  For others, my prayers are tepid because of past offences.  Ineffective prayers lack a sincere partnership with God. Eventually, it becomes obvious that our prayers may go nowhere near God’s throne unless we love the person or circumstances we pray for. If our relationship with God is suffering because we do not want to love our enemy, then how do we pray and expect Him to answer?

In Christ we have a gift called "grace" whereby we might overcome our pain, anger, and bitterness . . . and be healed.  But if we want to dwell on bitterness, we will turn cold towards those who have caused us the pain, and we eventually will have a "hard heart" towards them.  And, this is the strategy of satan; to make us ineffective in prayer and in action by causing our hearts to not care about the people who have hurt us . . . people whom we will one day will need to pray earnestly for in their hour of need.

Last night I saw a glimpse of strategy for the kind of prayer that wins spiritual wars.  It's not our strategy; there is God's, and satan's.  If I forgive the one who hurt me and love him, not only am I an effective person to be praying for him in his time of need, but my prayers have the fragrance of Christ on them. 

“But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing;” (2 Cor 2:14-15).

God’s strategy is realized when we are willing to pray and forgive, which causes us to have victory against satan. If we want to see the power of heaven unleashed onto earth, we need to pray with the incense, or fragrance of Christ’s nature on our lives.

“The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of God's people, went up before God from the angel's hand.” (Rev 8:4)

 If I am offended or angry at a brother and do not resolve those negative emotions, I become ineffective in praying for him, even if that's what God has appointed me to do.  And because of anger and bitterness, I lose my spiritual battle.

The scripture in Philippians 1:9-10 (see above) points out the value of Love.  Love allows us to know how to approve God's will, which is very important in prayer.  When our actions come from love we will be sincere, and blameless.  Love has that much power. And when we know and agree with, or approve God’s will and pray according to it, we will win spiritual battles. The love causes the knowing, and the knowledge, when prayed, brings the victory.

I think it is a sign that, when satan attacks us, God is partnering with us on an awesome victory wrought through prayer and blessing. We will determine which way that battle goes by deciding to love, or to be angry and bitter.  Let us press into God today for the grace that will enable us to love during difficult times, and for knowledge of His will so that we will win our spiritual warfare.  Amen.

The City of God

Almost 10 years ago I had a dream about those who enter the City of God by faith, and those who do not.  Before I share the dream I want to write these verses down for you.  

"But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the City of the living God.  You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven.  You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and tho the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel." (Heb 12:22-24)

These verses describe the spiritual life we come to, by faith, when we come to God through Jesus His Son. Also we read that God's followers in the Old Testament were "longing for a better country -- a heavenly one.  Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a City for them." (Heb 11:16). Both sets of verses let us know that there is a City of God prepared for those who long to abide with God, and that we come to the City by faith.  

The dream I want to share with you has a warning in it, but also shows the City of God.  Here it is:

I dreamt I was on a space craft with other people.  Right away there was a fire in the right engine, and no one could get off.  One lady said “Wouldn’t you know this would happen!”  I had an understanding that the fire was due to another girl’s carelessness.

I could then see the space craft from the outside, with its engine on fire, falling.  It landed in the front of a long line of cars, some dating back to the 1950’s, which were orbiting around the City of God.  I could see the City, with its lights on in the darkness.  A man came out from the City, flying without any plane.  He got a child from one of the cars in the orbit line and took him back to the City.  I could see other people from the City fly out towards the orbiting cars in the same way.  The space craft’s fire had gone out and its people didn’t burn up.  It remained in line as if the newest in a long line of vehicles orbiting the City.  End

Interpretation – Space craft – a large ministry, with power

Careless lady who started the fire – foolish virgin

Cars – individual ministries

Old cars dating back to the 50’s – a past generation

Orbiting – seeing and being attracted to, but not entering in

City – City of God

Man from the City – a person with faith for flying.  Sees those who are appointed to the City and takes them there.

Word of the Lord –"It only takes one foolish person to put a ministry which is headed for God’s glory in orbit, to remain there indefinitely.  All the wise planning of its leaders and the skills of those men and women of faith which enable the ministry to fly towards My City can be scuttled by one foolish person.  I have given the mission of going to the City to many ministries which have failed.  Indeed, if this generation had not seen some men and women who had landed in My City, there would be no one who would take it’s tales of glory back to the rest of My people in order that they might have the faith to join them there. 

I am separating the foolish virgins from the wise so that I will have a people who will see and enter in.  A man or woman who longs for Me will see that I am worth more than all the pleasures of the world.  Those who seek to abide in Me will enter in.  Amen"