I’ve noticed that every time I draw close to God and experience deeper things in Him I’m always hit a few days later with horrible junk in my mind. Last night I struggled with sinful thoughts over and over again. I woke up this morning and felt bad about it so I figured I might as well let my mind wander again on fleshly, carnal thoughts.
I just read in Romans 6:11 and 12 that I am not to let sin reign in my mortal body nor give in to its lusts! It's says that I’m supposed to reckon myself dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. I am to take control over my mind and my body and see to it that sin not reign in me. I have the authority to say no to sin and the flesh, and say yes to God and righteousness!
The battle for a life of intimacy with Jesus really is in the mind. The enemy puts all kinds of thoughts and temptations there to see if we will give in to them. We gain the victory only when we fight those thoughts with the truth. If we aren't actively renewing our minds and purposely fighting the lies with the truth then we will live in defeat. The enemy never tires of trying to keep us in bondage to sin. May we never tire at replacing the lies with truth and walking in victory over all the plans of the enemy!
One of the things the Lord has been speaking to me lately is that He wants to take His people past a defensive approach to opposition and begin to be on the offensive for His Kingdom. Jesus said that He would build His church and the gates of Hell will not be able to prevail against it. God has given us real power and we don't have to succumb to the onslaught of the enemy against our lives and our city. It's time that we begin to rise up in the fullness of His power. He says that the One living in us (Christ) is greater than the one living in the world. He has given us authority over all the power of the enemy (Luke 10:19). Let's quit being scared of when the enemy is going to attack us again and let's start pushing back the kingdom of darkness and advancing the Kingdom of God.
I have witnessed the power of God falling on high school students around me in the past few weeks. I have literally seen students on their faces, for hours, crying out for more of Him. I have seen them prophesy over one another. I have seen them drunk in the Spirit. I have seen them shaking in the presence of God.
God is doing a real work right now among the youth and they aren't going to be weak and timid in their approach of Him any longer. God is about to usher in a massive amount of young people into salvation. We are going to literally see many students filled with His power, ministering in their gifts on their campus. They will pray for healing and it will happen. They will move in the prophetic and students will be saved. They will move in miracles and signs and wonders and the kingdom of darkness will be pushed back as more and more ground is taken by these young 'Caleb's and Joshua's'. They will boldly proclaim to their enemies "we will possess the land that the Lord has given us for we are well able!"
An offensive Christianity is about to emerge. Be ready. But most of all... don't be left behind!
One of the biggest affronts to the move of the Holy Spirit in our lives is not sin. Sin in our lives can be easily recognized and can then be dealt with. But a much bigger problem we must overcome is a self-reliant and individualistic heart. It is in these that the religious spirit is able to take root.
The result of man eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the garden was that man starting looking at himself. He began to try to ‘measure up’ and obtained an innate drive to do good.
A self-reliance and individualism can give the feeling of “doing good” causing man to take control of his own destiny by finding ways to do things that would seem right. Many false religions are based on this form of existentialistic thought. Most Christians struggle with this. But we must understand that everything we do through this nature is of the flesh and at its very best will be opposed to the plan of God. (Remember that it was the most religious people of the day that wanted to crucify Christ. Our individualism and religiousness will always oppose God.)
James 4 says, “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit’".
Think of this verse. It sounds very noble to say, “I will go to such-and-such a place and work and make money and grow the family business” or “find a better job” or “try to improve my life”. Or “I want my life to turn out this way or that, so I am going to do all that I can to make it happen.” But all of these things are birthed in the natural, fallen nature of man and not from the Spirit.
“Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.’ But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.”
What matters most is not what you want or what you think will be the best thing for you but what God wants. God wants to improve your life but understand this… it will never come from your own abilities and will power. God has a solution for our self-reliance and our individualism. It’s called DEATH! The only thing He wants us to do in our flesh is to die to it. There is nothing good in our flesh. Not even when we have all these wonderful plans to do good and live right. Our righteousness is as filthy rags! That’s why Paul said that he was crucified with Christ.
So please understand the will of the Lord before you make decisions on what to do. Find out in the Scripture how He works and what He has for you. Listen to the godly people that He has placed in your life. Don’t continue to make the same mistakes that humankind has made since the fall. Die to self and live to God!
May I ask you a question? Would you rather be more like a prostitute or a really good person? Would you rather have been more like a drug dealer (I'm using this term to correlate with 'tax collectors' as they were known as unethical people) or someone that has never really done anything bad? These are rhetorical questions as I am trying to help you to see a very important truth that Christ is trying to establish in our minds.
We, in our fallen nature, have a desire to feel like we are good. Many of us, even after we have committed our life to Christ, still trust in our actions or in our comparisons of people that are not as good as us, to determine how we are doing spiritually. Many of us even feel that since we never have done anything really bad and since we desire to do many good things that we are better off than other people. We feel confident and comfortable in our spiritual well-being and we go through life much as good people do.
But before you start to get upset with where I am going with this I want to show you one more passage of Scripture and then sum up the point I'm trying to make. It's the story of the Pharisee (a religious person) and the Tax Collector. Please read the full passage in Luke 18:9-14 as I will only give the condensed version.
But let me make my point as I think you understand where I am going with all of this: God is not as concerned with how good or bad you have been or are now. He is looking for one thing that exceeds all these other qualities... desperation for Him. It matters not if you were a prostitute or a prophet. It matters only if you are desperate for Him and His presence. It doesn't matter if you were a druggie or a deacon in your church. It only matters whether you have placed your full dependence and desire upon Him. Please understand that it is Christ and Christ alone that saves and no amount of tithing or bible reading can replace a simple heart of desperation that cries out for more of Him everyday. Decide today to quit looking at yourself to measure how good or bad you are and look to Him with a passion for His presence. Become desperate for Him, in whatever past you have had, and you too will become one that "was justified before God"!
So if I may jump right to the point of what I really want to say, it is this: Too many of us (and our churches) operate in the power of the flesh and not in the power of the Spirit. Sure, we believe in God and we’ve gone to church all of our lives but still we see no power and no manifestation of the Holy Spirit in our everyday lives. We are so unfamiliar with life in the spirit that we only know how to operate in our own might and power. Yet Zechariah tells us, “It is not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord.” It will only be through His Spirit and obedience to His voice that anything will be accomplished for good.
There is a definite plan of the enemy to keep us bound in our own strength and power and limit us to living in a world where the only things accomplished are things that are originated from man and not from God. This system poses no threat to his evil kingdom. Consider the following quote from John H. Dietrich, a Unitarian minister that signed the Humanist Manifesto I. He wrote a booklet called Humanism, in which he said,
Now I want to ask you a question that I hope will provoke you to think: Does your life and/or your church reflect the words spoken by this Humanist or the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians 2:4-5, which contrastingly says, “And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”?
So what do we do? Maybe you’re convinced, as I am, that we need to walk in the spirit and not according to the flesh—but how do we get there? After all, dying to the flesh does not mean that we sit around and do nothing. However, it does imply that we no longer live as though we can accomplish the will of God in our strength. Romans 6:14 says, “we are not under law, but under grace”. Law represents what we can do for God; grace represents what God does for us. We have been set free from trying to measure up. We need to give up on trying to please God and learn what Christ has already done for us. We need to see that Christ working through us is the only thing that pleases the Father. Living in this revelation is the beginning to walking in the spirit. We must learn what He has done for us before we will see His power flow through us. Then we will be able to echo the words of the ancient prophet that it is not by our might nor by our power, but by the Spirit of the Lord that we accomplish His will.
The thought behind this excerpt (which is best expressed in the 2nd paragraph) is that our will-power does not benefit us if we think we can carry out God's call on our life in our own strength. Think about this: God does not call us to do anything that we can do. Did Moses part the Red Sea? Did the armies of Israel defeat their enemy's even when they were greatly outnumbered? Did the children of Israel rain down manna from heaven? Did they produce the water that came out of the rock?
Or consider Abraham. Did he give birth to Isaac at 100 years old through his own strength, or did God do that? What about Peter healing the sick, Paul planting churches, John getting the revelation on the island of Patmos, etc. Did they do this in their strength and by their own will-power? I think you would agree that it was God and God only that performed these acts.
My desire is that we would get back to this level of faith in our life. We need not try to fulfill God's will for our lives in our own strength but agree with Moses in Exodus 14:13,14 that says, "stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. The Lord will fight for you and you shall hold your peace."
Enough about my ramblings, read the excerpt below from a much more qualified individual:
...Two things follow after he receives this revelation [that Christ dealt not only with our sin but with our sinful nature]. In the first place he reckons that he has died and risen with his Lord. In the second place, recognizing God's claim upon him, and that he has no more right over himself, he presents himself to God as alive from the dead. This is the commencement of a beautiful Christian life, full of praise to the Lord.
But then he begins to reason as follows: "I have died with Christ and am raised with Him, and I have given myself over to Him forever; now I must do something for Him, since He has done so much for me. I want to please Him and do His will." So, after the step of consecration, he seeks to discover the will of God, and sets himself to carry it out. Then he makes a strange discovery. He thought he could do the will the will of God, because he thought he loved it, but gradually he finds he does not always like it at all. At times he even feels a distinct reluctance to pursue it, and often when he tries to put it into practice, he finds he cannot. Then he begins to question his experience. He asks himself: "Did I really know? Yes! Did I really reckon? Yes! Did I really give myself to Him? Yes! Have I withdrawn my consecration? No! Then whatever is the matter now?" For the more this man tries to do the will of God the more he fails. Ultimately he comes to the conclusion that he never really loved God's will at all, so he prays for the desire as well as the power to do it. He confesses his disobedience and promises never to disobey again. But scarcely has he got up from his knees when he falls once more; before he reaches the point of victory he is conscious of defeat. Then he says to himself: "Perhaps my last decision was not definite enough. This time I will be absolutely definite." So he brings all his willpower to bear on the situation, only to find greater defeat than ever awaiting him the next time a choice has to be made. Then at last he echoes the words of Paul: "For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me, but to do that which is good is not. For the good which I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I practice" (Rom. 7:18-19). He has reached the point of desperation.
On January 4, 2007, Keith Ellison, a Democrat in Minnesota, was sworn in as a Democratic Member of the 110th Congress by placing his hand on the Koran. It's becoming clearer and clearer that in a country once founded on biblical principles and morality, religious tolerance has become the order of the day. A man that is not convicted by a standard of beliefs that helped form this country can be sworn into Congress on a book that calls for jihad (holy war) against all infidels.
What strikes me as particularly odd is the fact that radical Islam was responsible for the 9/11 tragedy that killed nearly 3,000 Americans. Radical Islam is also responsible for the numerous terror attacks that happen almost daily in the world and any small google search will reveal the many atrocities that have occurred by Muslims trying to obey the Koran. Yet somehow this religious belief is now accepted as a standard of authority within our legislative branch of government.
I cannot help but to think that the Muslim community in the world is rejoicing that the United States has a Muslim congressman sitting in the Capital Building. As a matter of fact, Anis Shorrosh, a Christian Arab-American lists his following analysis of Islamic invasion of America, the agenda of Islamists and visible methods to take over America by the year 2020. These are only a couple of points listed from their strategic plan:
- Encourage Muslims to penetrate the White House, specifically with Islamists who can articulate a marvelous and peaceful picture of Islam.
- Acquire government positions and get membership in local school boards.
- Train Muslims as medical doctors to dominate the medical field, and research pharmaceutical companies. (Ever notice how numerous Muslim doctors in America are, when their countries need them more desperately than America?)
- Take over the computer industry.
- Establish Middle Eastern restaurants throughout the U.S. to connect planners of Islamization in a discreet way.
America is, without doubt, at war. But this war will not be fought using traditional warfare methods and tactics. This war won’t even be primarily a natural war at all. This is a spiritual war and will only be won in the spirit. This is a war marked by increasing evil in our world against a people (the church) that will be full of the Holy Spirit that walk in power to build and establish God’s Kingdom. His Kingdom is a kingdom that will ultimately overthrow every other kingdom of man and will last forever! (Dan. 2:44)
So how can you prepare for this fight? First, understand that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God for the pulling down of strongholds. (2 Cor. 10:4) And we do not fight against flesh and blood but against the demonic realm. (Eph. 6:12) So we must understand that we are not fighting against people or a people group. This could lead to prejudice and racism if not understood, and would lead to greater evil being released.
Second, we pray and seek the Lord for His Kingdom to come and His will to be done. We need to get serious about living in the spirit and not walking according to the ways of the flesh. (Gal. 5:16) We need to get our spiritual perceptivity up. This will only happen by spending time with Him. Jesus must become our everything if we will be effective for Him.
Let us believe God to build a church in the earth that will walk in the full power and authority of Jesus Christ. Let us pray for our Muslim friends for the Truth to be revealed to them. And finally, let’s get ready to wage war in the heavenlies for Truth and Light to once again be established as foundational stones upon which our great country is built!
“I would rather have wild fire than no fire. We may die from many things, but boredom won’t be one of them.”
When I hear comments like this (especially from pastors) I have to admit that it makes me excited about where the church could be heading.
When I read of the experiences of the early church in Acts we see everything but boredom. We read of men that laid hands on the sick and they were instantly healed. We see dead people being raised back to life. We see miracles like people being healed when someone’s shadow touched them. We see blind eyes opened, deaf ears able to hear again, crippled men jumping and praising God after being touched. We also see more than just physical manifestations. We see the gospel spreading rapidly, many people being added to the church daily, and the advancement of the church in the world. It was once said of the early church members, “these are them that have turned the world upside down.”
Do we still see this same flame in the church today burning bright in the world? I think we both would agree the answer is an overwhelming “NO”. We have exchanged our passion for passivity, a burning relationship for religiosity, our tenacity for God for the traditions of men. We have erected too many walls of separation between each other and have ‘denominationalized’ ourselves so much that it’s near impossible for us to walk together!
It’s time for change in the church. It’s time for change within me. I’m ready for something more. Something so much more! I want the holy fire of God to burn in me and in my church to break us free from what we have become and transform us into a church against whom “the gates of hell cannot prevail”.
I am praying for ‘wild fire’ in my church. It’s time for us to open ourselves up to the move of the Holy Spirit and model our gatherings after the biblical form (e. g. 1 Cor. 12-14). We must give people the freedom to hear the Holy Spirit for themselves and enable them to step out in what He is leading. It WILL get messy. This is where a lot of church leadership stops because they want control, and they want things to flow according to what they think best. But have you ever wondered why Paul had to instruct the Corinthians to have only two or three speaking in tongues and prophesying in a service? Because it had been getting messy! He had some wild fire on his hands and he trying to lead them in a more effective way. There will always be a need to tweak and shape and mold our services to become more effective but let’s resolve to get to a place where there is something happening in our midst and God is moving in a major way. Let’s resolve that we would “rather have wild fire than no fire”. God is waiting to burn bright in us!
Lord, I want to burn in a passionate pursuit of You. I want to be a part of a movement that will burn bright in the world demonstrating Your glory. Break us free from our traditions and passivity. Bring a holy fire back to Your church that we may see Your kingdom come and Your will be done. Amen.
I recently pondered the current state of the church in America as compared to what we see in the book of Acts. In the bible we see a church that had real problems to deal with (like one guy that slept with his fathers wife!) but that also moved in some serious power of the Holy Spirit. I believe that many of the things we see in that church should be just the starting point for what we should expect the church of today to look like. However, we seem to be extremely bound by our traditions and expectations.
Most Christians walk in far less of all the freedoms that Christ has purchased for them and we certainly walk in a miniscule amount of the power available to us. "Why is that?", I pondered to myself as I'm sure you have as well. I don't have all the answers but I have seen some things become clearer to me in Scripture. One is that we have become used to a church that is completely led by a small number of men 'on the platform'. Now I am an advocate of a pastor, worship leader, elders, etc., leading the church and the service but I'm also perplexed by some of the verses in Scripture like 1 Cor. 14:26 "When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation." It's like we expect the 'leaders' in the church to do everything but it's stated clearly that we each have something!
George Barna states that by the year 2020 almost 85% of all Christians will be in a house church. I don't necessarily agree with that statistic (although this stat could be off a percentage point or two seeing as though I didn't research it again before posting this). However, I believe there is a big push towards the house church model for a lot of people simply because people want to be used. They want to move in their gifts and talents and they should. They want to be able to speak out on the things that God is doing in them and put into practice the things that God is putting on their hearts. This is not possible in the 'institutionalized' church.
People need freedom to flow in their gifts and talents and most importantly they need the freedom to hear the Holy Spirit for themselves! Without the abiding presence of the Lord in us and His voice gently leading and guiding us through life then we are nothing more than caged animals that are trying to 'do the right thing' while all the while being cooped up in a cage of traditions, and a 'fall in line' attitude that permeates most of the church.
If you're still reading at this point, then let me leave you with one more final thought. (I saved the best for last! so all those other readers that couldn't make it past the 2nd paragraph won't be privy to this information!) I did a quick google search on 'caged animals' to see if there were any resemblance between them and most Christians today. Here's what it said... and I'll let you decide if there are any similarities:
An Essay by Napoleon Beazley
Have you ever been to the zoo?
Scientists say that there is a certain territory, or space, that is needed by every animal. If this certain amount of space is not given to that animal, scientists report that it is bound to go insane. So, a zoo is like a human phenomenon because it's an unnatural situation, of which animals are forced to live in a closed, aberrant state, for an inhumane exhibition.
Wild animals need miles and miles of area to remain free and to remain sane, which is definitely not available in cages. Behind the locks and keys, they go crazy. They attack their own species, they become destructive; they even sometimes commit suicide. Insanity, for them, is inevitable. Because their domain; has dramatically decreased from the whole wild world to just a small cage surrounded by tourists, visitors, and strange unsympathetic people.
I was driving home the other night and praying as I sometimes do while no one is in the car with me. I said something to God that really hit me as I heard it come out of my mouth. What I said to Him was that "I love my life"! I have lived such an adventure with Him and I have seen so many things happen by faith and I have really enjoyed my life as a Christian.
It struck me because I thought of how many people in the world would say that. I know what my life was like before I became a Christian and I didn't really enjoy it much. I guess that's the irony of it all... before I was saved I searched in vain for things that I thought would satisfy but now, through a desire to please God my life is so fulfilling. There are definitely other things that I want to see happen but I know through time they will. In the meantime I am so thankful to God for allowing me this life and the opportunity to come out of the ways of the world to know Him. John 17 says that "this is eternal life, that you may know Him and Jesus Christ whom He has sent." I'm living a great life because I know Him!
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integritysinger said:
The enemy never tires of trying to keep us in bondage to sin True enough. But I'd rather keep my... read more
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integritysinger said:
If I may expound? But please do not take this as gospel truth. I am neither pastor nor evangelist. Just... read more
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Mike T said:
I just looked at this again, and realized you're flashing some SKIN there, Joe! Ooooo.. you naughter flasher, you! ;-p read more
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How are you doing, brother? :) I hope life is good for you. :) read more
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