Showing posts with label fruit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fruit. Show all posts
Thursday
An Upgrade by way of a Dream
I had a dream. The next morning I told it to a friend, and as I told it, I realized that God was speaking to me.
In the dream, I had visited with my family, at my parents’ home. At the end of that visit, someone across the way started shooting at us from the undergrowth. Because of the danger, everyone else left, and as he drove off, my dad told me that he had a weapon I could use. It was in the hall closet.
I ran to the closet, and searched under the bed linens. I remember checking the shelf from left to right; I found a tiny handgun, a pea-shooter, really. It didn't even look like a gun; it looked like a tiny tambourine. It was obviously not going to be accurate at any distance beyond a yard or so, and wouldn’t pack much punch. It was a weapon, but not as powerful a weapon as I needed.
After a great deal of hard work and persistence, which were not part of the dream, I overcame the enemy.
Later, as the family was driving back up the driveway, I realized I stopped looking before exploring the whole closet. I dug into the linen closet again. On the same shelf, a bit farther to the right, I found another weapon: a large, semi-automatic pistol, probably a .45 caliber. Next to it was a package of extra ammunition wrapped to protect it from age. It had been there all along for me to use.
On reviewing the dream, I believe God was telling me that He has made another weapon available to me, beyond the weapon of worship that I'd been using, a new weapon that I hadn’t yet. It was a much larger & more powerful weapon. (And indeed, that was my experience.)
I suspect there's a fair bit of this going on, God upgrading his kids' weaponry, training our hands to war.
A Purpose for the Battle Against Us
War, it has been said, is hell. It gets tiring.
I find myself looking forward to the end of each battle. I don’t plan to, but I find myself considering “life without a battle raging around me” as a sign of success. Whew! I made it!
I don’t think Father agrees.
I believe that sometimes God specifically and intentionally brings the battle to me. I get it that I don’t always embrace the “overwhelming conqueror” moniker, and so he needs to help me get there. And yeah, I understand that sometimes I open a door that the enemy would love to exploit.
But I’m coming to believe that he brings the battle to me for another reason. I suspect that he lures the enemy into battle – and it must be with his sons, the enemy wouldn’t survive battle with God for even a nanosecond – as part of His almighty plan to plunder the devil.
In fact, I’m going to go so far as to say that sometimes the battle that I’m in right now, especially the battle that I didn’t expect to be in right now, is really more of an announcement, like the “Coming Attractions” features at the movie house. This is what you’re going to get for plunder after you’ve beaten this puny little stronghold.
We’ve talked about God’s promised wealth transfer. Proverbs 13:22b talks about how “the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous.” I think we’ve misunderstood this.
I’ve heard this taught as a promise we just need to claim: “Receive it by faith,” they shouted (and it wasn’t always during the offering message!). I don’t think it’s as easy as that.
First, I’m not convinced that the “wealth” God is speaking of is merely financial, just as the inheritance we leave to our kids (13:32a) is merely financial (see also Hebrews 12:16).
I’m also aware that Father wants his kids to be overcomers (see Revelation 2 & 3). It’s tough to become a competent overcomer without practice overcoming stuff.
I’m beginning to suspect is combining these two values. He’s luring the devil into our gun-sights so that we can overcome him, and also so that we can take back what he’s taken from us. (Remember that the devil was broke when God threw him out of Heaven; anything he’s gained since then has been by deceit, trickery or outright theft.)
It’s pretty important, and in my own world, it’s increasingly difficult (probably some more of my training, as in Hebrews 12:7-11) to discern exactly what the battle is that we’re fighting. Yeah, stuff is going wrong. Yeah, my soul and my spirit are wrestling with an oppressing thing. Yeah, hope is difficult, or clear thought is a greater fight than usual. But WHAT IS THE REAL BATTLE ?
As we discern the nature of the enemy who has been lured against us, we’ll see more clearly how to kick his buttocks up between his ears, but more importantly, we’ll also get a glimpse of the plunder, the wealth, that Father has planned for our inheritance.
If seeing is believing, then what are you looking at?
Offense at God Stops the Promises
John the Baptist was aware, perhaps more than most people, that Jesus’ mandate (in Luke 4) included the anointing “To proclaim liberty to the captive...”.
But by Luke 7, John was himself a captive, a political prisoner rotting in a Roman jail, who presumably wanted his freedom. So he sent some boys ’round to ask Jesus, “Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?”
Jesus let them watch his ministry for a while, and then replied, “Go and tell John the things you have seen and heard: that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the gospel preached to them.” In other words, “Yeah, I’m the one.”
And then he adds the kicker. He says to tell John, “And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.”
And then Jesus goes on for fourteen verses – this is a pretty long speech for Him – who John is and why he’s awesome. “…there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist.” That’s pretty high praise from the Incarnate Son of God.
One of the greatest offenses we can ever experience is “Why does it happen to them, but not for me?” It’s not hard to get discouraged in those circumstances. It’s hard NOT to be offended. John was offended: Jesus’ cousin, and the prophet sent to announce him. If the greatest prophet in the world got offended, it’s possible that it happens to more people than admit of it.
It’s hard not to see someone else get healed of something that you’ve been asking for healing of. It’s difficult not to be jealous when someone else gets the financial breakthrough that you need so desperately.
And it’s almost impossible (almost – but not quite) to not be offended when the promises that God has declared for you sit there, unfulfilled, despite your best efforts, despite your faithfulness, despite the fact that you have personally prepared the way for that other person that got the fulfillment of YOUR prophecy!
It’s so easy to be offended because of Jesus, especially when he does things that are different than you think he ought to do. When he does things in different ways, with different people, than you think he ought.
And then he adds the kicker. He says to us, “And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.” Our blessing comes from avoiding that offense.
Said another way, being offended hinders our being blessed. One of the greatest hindrances to my promises being fulfilled is when I’m jealous of others’ blessings.
If my reaction to someone else getting a large amount of cash is to wish that it happened to me, then I am, by that offense, hindering God’s blessing in my own life.
If my response to your newfound ministry is to wish that it had come to me (“instead of to you,” or “as well as to you,” it doesn’t matter), then I’m hindering my own release. I’m demonstrating that I cannot yet “rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:15), and therefore I’m not yet ready to be trusted with that blessing.
If I can rejoice with others, weep with others, without thinking of myself before I think of them, then I’m getting past being offended with Him.
Fundamentally, if I see your blessing and I think of my lack, that’s a manifestation of self-centeredness. If I see your sorrow, and I breathe a sigh of relief, that’s a manifestation of self-centeredness.
I suspect that Father is breathing on that verse right now: “Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.” (Romans 12:15)
If we want to keep up with what he’s doing, if we want to be part of what he’s doing, we’ll want to avoid being offended by Him, and rejoice – or weep – with others.
The chariots and Horsemen of Israel!
My attention today was drawn to the fact that a whole lot of
Kingdom-minded believers are being pummeled by many challenges and problems.
A lot of us are facing formidable challenges. Many of us are
facing a conspiracy of thousands of little issues that, taken together,
threaten to be overwhelming. Some among us are facing victory that is so
different than we expected, that is more complicated than we were expecting
that it works as a weapon against our peace, breaking our focus. Some of us are
feeling overwhelmed, but when we’re asked, we have a hard time identifying what
is overwhelming us.
And as I saw that, I realized that it was on purpose: this
is for a purpose. This is strategic. There is purpose for this. It’s not Father’s
purpose, but the conspiracy of distractions is the enemy working overtime to
distract us.
Father brought my attention to Second Kings:
2 Kings chapter 2:
“When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me,
what can I do for you before I am taken from you?”
“Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit,” Elisha
replied.
“You have asked a difficult thing,” Elijah said, “yet if you
see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours—otherwise, it will not.”
As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a
chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them,
and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. Elisha saw this
and cried out, “My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel !” And
Elisha saw him no more. Then he took hold of his garment and tore it in
two.
Elisha then picked up Elijah’s cloak that had fallen from
him and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan . He took the cloak that
had fallen from Elijah and struck the water with it. “Where now is the Lord,
the God of Elijah?” he asked. When he struck the water, it divided to the right
and to the left, and he crossed over.”
As I saw this, I heard Father say, “I’m watching to see if
you can be distracted, or if you’ll keep your eyes on the prize in the midst of
all of the distractions.” We can’t be overcomers without overcoming, and Father
really wants us to learn to overcome.
If we can be distracted, even by amazing things like “a
chariot of fire and horses of fire,” then we aren’t ready for the double
portion anointing. We will still have the testimony of having seen, possibly
even ridden in a chariot of fire, and that’s not nothing! But we’ll miss the
bigger prize that comes from keeping our focus where it ought to be.
Some of us have not even recognized, not remembered our
heart crying out, “Let me inherit a double portion!” and some of us may
never have gotten to the point of using words. But that cry really is in your heart.
May I say this to you: Father heard that cry, and it made
his heart skip a beat to hear it! This is HIS heart’s desire, children that
want more of him, more of his anointing, more of his ways! So it is with giddy
joy that He is permitting the distractions: we really have asked a difficult
thing, a thing that is only given to overcomers, and so he is giving us
opportunity to overcome.
All that is hard to see, but the other part is more hidden. Father
stands back and watches, biting his lip, to see if we’ll maintain our focus, to
see if we’ll look past the distractions and the discouragements and see the
thing he’s doing. But all the while, his other hand is reaching around behind
us, touching us, pointing, drawing our attention, even occasionally grabbing
our head and pointing it where we need to be looking. He’s doing everything in
his formidable power to keep our attention where it needs to be in order that
he can have the joy of giving us the double, the triple portion, beyond
everything that our heroes and forerunners have had.
He really wants to have a bride that is not completely distracted by the trials, by the conspiracy of distractions, by the complications and nattering voices. He will have a bride that will overcome, and he wants you.
He really wants to have a bride that is not completely distracted by the trials, by the conspiracy of distractions, by the complications and nattering voices. He will have a bride that will overcome, and he wants you.
He’s conspiring, conspiring in favor of the cry of your
heart.
Brass Heavens? Consider Some Options.
The phrase “brass heavens” comes from the King James translation of Deuteronomy 28:23. “And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron.” It was part of the consequences that God warned Israel would experience if they wandered off and rejected God in their new Promised Land.
We use the term “brass heavens” to describe an environment where it’s tough to connect with the heavenly realms, it’s difficult to hear from God, rare to experience his presence. Fundamentally, it’s about our experience of interacting with heaven.
Have you ever felt like no matter what you did or prayed, God didn't hear, didn't show up? That’s what we’re talking about.
There are a number of reasons for us to experience brass heavens. Deuteronomy says it’s a natural consequence of abandoning God. Indeed, it’s hard to connect well with God when we’re avoiding him. It is also commonly inferred that if the population of a region rejects God, then the heavens in that area may become brazen to them, and also to anyone else who comes into the region. Hmm. Maybe.
Personally, I believe that sometimes the “brass heavens” are a lie. There are times that the enemy simply accuses God before us: “He didn’t respond to us quickly or personally enough. You must be on the outs with God!” No, the devil just talks louder and faster than Father does.
There are times (Daniel 10:13 is an illustration) where the “brass heavens” are the result of events in the heavenly realms which we cannot see. Job also experienced this. It’s real, and it happens. In fact, in the Bible, it appears to only happen to good people.
There are undoubtedly other causes for that sense that we have which we describe as a brass heaven. Hold that thought; we’ll be back in a minute. Right now, let’s take a detour through the woods.
Some time ago, I was walking in the woods, and my attention was captured by something I saw there. I saw the same conflict acted out in two different ways, in two different parts of the forest.
I saw a giant fir tree, a grandfather, perhaps eight feet in diameter. The only tree of its size in the area, it was accompanied by its adult children: thousands of mature fir trees two to three feet in diameter surrounded it.
But the detail that caught my attention was the third generation of trees. There were not many saplings in the shadow of the larger trees. There were only a few young ones there, but they were thin, weak and yellowed from never having seen the direct light of the sun, their source of life. There were many that had died.
As I walked further, I came to a part of the forest that was dominated by great maple trees. A few giants spread their canopies, well separated from each other, the light through their leaves coloring the undergrowth a bright green.
Unlike the fir trees, the grandfather maple trees were not closely surrounded by their children. Between the great trees was a bright meadow, thickly populated by shrubs and berry bushes, but not a single young tree was growing in the meadow, though the meadow was surrounded by younger maple trees competing with younger fir trees for the light.
I’ve studied botany a little, enough to know that both behaviors are defense mechanisms for the mature trees. The fir trees grow tightly together so that there is no light left for any competitors, even their own offspring. The grandfather fir trees, the old growth giants, have no need to hinder the growth of any competitors: they tower above all others, secure in their own capacity to reach the sunlight, though the less mature trees still scratch and claw for their provision, even at the expense of the next generation of fir trees.
The great maple trees do it differently. The great giant trees give off a chemical that poisons the soil near them so that no tree can grow there, thus eliminating any competitors for the precious sunlight. Grandfather maple trees are broader, not taller, than their younger competitors. They cannot tower securely above the younger trees as the old growth firs can, so they must eliminate the competition.
Here’s a radical thought: what if the “brass heavens” over some people is the “forest canopy” of others?
I have lived among a metaphorical stand of fir trees. The community of saints were largely mature (both in age, and in their walk of faith), and they were so closely connected with others their age that there was no room for someone young in their faith to break in and discover the life that they needed to thrive.
Do you know how many churches have fights about the worship music? Just the question of “organ music or pop-rock music” has destroyed thousands of American churches. Other communities continually preach the same salvation message for sixty years, or, on the other extreme, the same marriage-and-family messages, ignoring the needs of the younger members, forcing them into the darkness, stunting their growth. The “brass heaven” there comes, at least in part, from the unwillingness of the adults to become parents, the inability to make room for the young ones.
I’ve also served the metaphorical mature maple trees, where the ministry is all about the one leader, and where no real growth is permitted among any other leaders who might challenge the position of the senior leader.
I’ve seen churches where the founding pastor is still the senior pastor 40 years later, but no youth pastor or worship leader is kept for more than 2 or 3 years, and the only associate pastors are those who’ve learned never to grow beyond a certain limit. The “brass heaven” in those places is, at least partly, the result of the senior leader’s ego.
As I’ve reflected on my lessons from the forest, I’ve been very grateful that I have feet instead of roots. I’ve used those feet to depart those deadly forests. There are thousands of folks like me, unwilling to sacrifice our own growth for the comfort of the fathers and grandfathers that have gone before us. Unfortunately, there are millions more, lost in the shadows, withering, dying without the sun.
Of course, wherever I go, there is always the temptation to gather a tight group of friends who support each other, but really don’t make room for another generation to be part of the community. Or there’s the temptation to create my own forest, where I’m the reigning monarch, and everybody else is reduced in order to serve my own needs.
The old growth fir tree is easily the best model from this particular day in the forest: tall and strong, secure in his own relationship with the sun of life, he broadcasts seed, carried by wind, and he populates entire regions, reshapes the environment within his influence.
The drawback, of course, is that it is incredibly costly to become the old growth fir tree: costly in time. It requires, in the tree’s case, centuries of growth to reach that size, centuries of avoiding the forest fires and logging companies and diseases that are the end of so many of its peers.
But I suspect that we can, ideologically, at least, become the old-growth giant long before we’re either old or giant. Being creatures that (unlike the trees) are created in God’s image with a free will, we can exercise our will.
We can choose to not participate in the closed relationships that keep others at a distance. We can choose to let others grow and thrive around us, encouraging the ones that will eclipse our own growth or gifting, so that they become greater and more successful than we’ve ever been.
We can choose to raise up and release a generation that’s just now encountering the “brass heavens” of the saints.
The Symphony
I enjoy classical music. More than any other kind of music,
the composers of great classical music wove melodies and harmonies together, often
mixing layer upon layer of different music, weaving it together into a glorious
piece. The fact that some, like Beethoven, couldn’t hear what they were
composing overwhelms me.
You couldn’t ever play a symphony on a single instrument.
Which melody would you play? They’re all woven together, each instrument taking
our turn at the forefront, taking a turn in the background. When they’re all
playing the symphony together, the result is glorious!
“Symphony” is an interesting word. It’s actually a Greek
word that’s so unique that we don’t translate it, we just use English letters
to pronounce it with.
The Greek word συμφωνέω
(“symphōneō “) means “to agree together,” or “to agree with one in making a
bargain, to make an agreement, to bargain.” Our working together – not all
doing the same thing, but working, each in our own way, toward the same end – is a symphony.
Our word συμφωνέω is
the heart of Jesus’ declaration in Matthew 18:19: “Again I say to you that if
two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done
for them by My Father in heaven.” This is a symphony.
I suppose that there are a few things that stand out to me
in this:
§
Our “agreeing together” makes beautiful music in
heaven. I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess that it makes Jesus really
happy.
§
This isn’t about numbers. He doesn’t say
anything about “If you gather all the Christians in the city….” The symphony begins
with “two of you.” I think we miss this one sometimes.
§
Our “agreeing together” isn’t about us doing
stuff in unison. If every instrument played the same line, the only variation
would be when someone missed the note, and it would sound like a junior high
school band concert. There is nothing beautiful in the “symphony” produced that
way, except that little Johnny is actually playing something; I sure wish he’d
practiced his part.
I think we’ve missed this one sometimes as well. I’ve been browbeaten in the name of “unity” to do the thing that the browbeater is doing, in the way the browbeater is doing it, rather than playing my own part on my own instrument. I’m not sure that browbeating someone into submission is the best method of achieving beautiful music. I grieve that we’ve done that.
I think we’ve missed this one sometimes as well. I’ve been browbeaten in the name of “unity” to do the thing that the browbeater is doing, in the way the browbeater is doing it, rather than playing my own part on my own instrument. I’m not sure that browbeating someone into submission is the best method of achieving beautiful music. I grieve that we’ve done that.
§
Our “agreeing together” is powerful. That
symphony moves Father’s hand to do “any thing” (“each, every, any, all, the
whole, everyone, all things, everything”) that we agree about. This is some of
the beauty of the symphony, I think: actually seeing “on earth as it is in
Heaven” happening, and us getting to take part in it.
The fact that we don’t see as much of Father’s hand being moved by unit may be a good clue: maybe the way we’ve been striving for unit isn’t the most effective way.
The fact that we don’t see as much of Father’s hand being moved by unit may be a good clue: maybe the way we’ve been striving for unit isn’t the most effective way.
I suspect that we’ll accomplish the symphony of unity much
better if we’re all playing the music that our great Conductor places before us:
following the Conductor will be more symphonic than following another musician,
no matter how good they are. The trombonist will never make beautiful music if
he’s trying to play the timpani’s part. Or the piccolo’s part. Or the violin’s
part.
More to the point, the trombonist will never be judged for how well he played the second violin’s part. His only reward will come from how well the trombone part came out when it was called upon.
More to the point, the trombonist will never be judged for how well he played the second violin’s part. His only reward will come from how well the trombone part came out when it was called upon.
My encouragement is for us to look to the Holy Spirit for
the part you’re to play in this whole symphony, not to human leaders. We must
fellowship together, yes. We can learn from each other, of course. We do well
to “encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing.”
Don’t follow the leader of the brass section just because he’s
loud. Learn to play your own instrument, your own calling, your own gifting.
And having begun, follow the Holy Spirit who’s conducting this symphony.
Prayer From a Poverty Spirit
I felt Father saying recently that one reason that some of our prayers aren't
answered is because they're asked too early in the process, and thus, they’re
not an expression of faith, but an expression of lack of faith.
Sometimes
we are facing a journey, an obstacle, and we ask for help overcoming the
obstacle BEFORE we start the process of overcoming it. We ask for help
overcoming an enemy, a habit, a temptation, a struggle, but we ask before we've
started to fight, before we’ve started the struggle (Heb 12:4), which means we
don’t need that answer yet.
Sometimes,
we feel the need to understand the process BEFORE starting the process; we want
help in the warfare BEFORE we’ve engaged in the warfare. In other words, before
we need the help.
Sometimes we feel the need to ask in advance because we don’t trust that Father will provide for us IN the process. We ask BEFORE we need because we don’t trust Father to provide IN our need.
Functionally, this is the expression of a poverty spirit: a lack of confidence that Father will be a good father to us; a lack of confidence in our place as favored son or daughter.
Sometimes we feel the need to ask in advance because we don’t trust that Father will provide for us IN the process. We ask BEFORE we need because we don’t trust Father to provide IN our need.
Functionally, this is the expression of a poverty spirit: a lack of confidence that Father will be a good father to us; a lack of confidence in our place as favored son or daughter.
If
we understand before we start, then the process, the journey, is not a journey
of faith, it's a journey of knowledge. And suddenly, verses like Rom 14:23,
1Cor 8:1, and Gen 2:9 come into play:
[Romans 14:23b] "for whatever is not from
faith is sin."
[1 Corinthians 8:1b] "Knowledge puffs up,
but love edifies."
[Genesis 2:9b] "The tree of life was also in
the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil."
When we’re asking for God to give us NOW what we don’t yet need, we are not walking in faith, in trust. Or rather, we’re not trusting in him; we’re trusting in what we have, what we know, our own strength. That is a prayer that Father, because of his great love for us, cannot answer.
When we’re asking for God to give us NOW what we don’t yet need, we are not walking in faith, in trust. Or rather, we’re not trusting in him; we’re trusting in what we have, what we know, our own strength. That is a prayer that Father, because of his great love for us, cannot answer.
Having said that, it’s very appropriate to ask
NOW for provision once we engage in the battle. I refer to these as time-warp
prayers. “I expect to be engaged in this battle soon, Father, and I’m asking,
now, that you’ll put into my hand the weapons that I need, when I need them.”
I believe that a good part of the solution to this is to change our trust from trusting the provision, to trusting our Provider. In application, this means more time in prayer knowing Him, and less time asking him for stuff; more time on the couch next to Him, and less time across the desk from him; more time in relational prayer, less time in business prayer.
Asking for What’s Already Been Promised
Dealing
with a promise from God – whether a promise from the Scriptures or a prophetic
promise – is in some ways a little counter-intuitive.
So
when you encounter a promise – whether in the Book or in a prophetic message –
my recommendation is that you treat it like God has just described the “Specials
of the Day” and order the ones that you want.
We
tend to think, “He’s promised. He’s God! He’s probably not going to forget!”
No,
God’s not going to forget, but that doesn’t mean that we can forget, and just
expect the Bluebird of Happiness to drop promised blessings on our heads
whenever he gets around to it.
King
David was awesome. He’s the most “New Covenant” character in the Old Testament.
I love learning from David! In 2 Samuel 7, God makes this epic promise to him.
So
how did David respond to the epic promise from God? He walked out on the
prophet.
He
walked out without even a polite word, got on his face in God’s presence,
worshipped, and then did something really strange.
He
asked God to do the very thing that God had just promised he’d do.
"Now, O LORD God, the word which You have
spoken concerning Your servant and concerning his house, establish it forever
and do as You have said. "So let Your name be magnified forever, saying,
'The LORD of hosts is the God over Israel .' And let the house of Your
servant David be established before You. [2 Samuel 7:25-26 NKJV]
So David receives the promise from God, and then
immediately asks God for the exact thing that God had just promised.
First
of all, that sounds like a good way to get your prayers answered: ask God for
what he’s already promised.
But
more to our point today, it seems like a wise response to a promise: When God
promises something that you like, respond by asking him for the very thing that
he’s promised.
Jacob does the same thing in Genesis 32, and he, also, knows that he’s doing it: he’s asking God for what God has promised.
Jacob does the same thing in Genesis 32, and he, also, knows that he’s doing it: he’s asking God for what God has promised.
It’s
easy to complain, “But he promised! It’s up to him to fulfill it! I shouldn’t
have to do anything!” I understand that complaint, as I used to whine it at God
with some regularity.
Have
you ever been to a sushi bar that has thousands of plates of sushi on conveyor
belts? They’re kind of fun. All kinds of yumminess rolling on by, and you can
reach out and pick the one you like.
I suspect that God’s promises are a little bit like that. Or think of them like a menu: he’s making the offers, but it’s up to us to order what we want off the menu, or to take the sushi we want off the conveyor belt.
Why would God expect that of us? I’m so glad you asked. I believe there are two reasons.
I suspect that God’s promises are a little bit like that. Or think of them like a menu: he’s making the offers, but it’s up to us to order what we want off the menu, or to take the sushi we want off the conveyor belt.
Why would God expect that of us? I’m so glad you asked. I believe there are two reasons.
First,
he is honoring his promise to us. In Psalm 115:16, God declares, “The heavens
are the heavens of the LORD, But the earth He has given to the sons of men.” This
is the same commission he gave us in Genesis 1:26: he has delegated authority
for what happens on this planet to us: he is asking for someone with that
delegated authority to partner with him, to give him permission to do what he
has indicated is his will to do. But he won’t go around our authority.
And
second, he’s training us, as any good father will, for the job that we’re
inheriting. We are heirs of the kingdom
of Heaven , and if we don’t
learn how to administrate the kingdom with little things (like believing him
for the things that he has already promised), then we’ll never be ready for the
work he’s planning for us.
This
has the additional advantage of changing how our soul deals with things: if I’ve
spent time in prayer on the topic, then it’s much easier for me to trust God in
that area than if I’ve just seen it on the menu, and assumed that he’ll deliver
it to my table.
Monday
The Gate of Heaven
In Genesis 28, Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely
the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” He was afraid and said, “How
awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the
gate of heaven.”
The house of God is the gate of heaven.
Hebrews 3:6 says “And
we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in
which we glory.” Paul was even more direct in 1 Corinthians 3:16: “Don’t you
know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your
midst?”
So I am [or we are, as a community, depending on how you
read the pronouns] the gate of heaven.
Certainly, that applies in the evangelistic sense: it’s hard
to become a child of God without having encountered the people of God first.
(Possible, but hard.)
But that is clearly not
the way that Jacob meant it in Genesis 28. This is his description of “the gate
of heaven”:
He had a dream in which
he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and
the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. There above it stood the
LORD, and he said: "I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the
God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are
lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread
out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on
earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will
watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will
not leave you until I have done what I have promised you."
I believe that it is not unreasonable that we, the people of
God, the heirs of the Kingdom
of Heaven , should expect
to be a “gate of heaven,” with these effects:
- We are
a point where heaven and earth connect.
- We are
a place where angels connect with earth.
- We are
a place where God reveals himself as who He really is.
- We are
inheritors of the promises of God: this is OUR land, and all peoples on
this entire planet will be blessed through us, and through our offspring.
- Wherever
we go, God goes with us, in us, through us!
- Wherever
we go, God fulfils promises made to us, that infect all the residents of
that place.
This is who we are. This is what we need to expect from our
life in God. Our goal is not faithful attendance at a Sunday service for 30
years. Our goal is that wherever we go, heaven leaks out of our footprints, and
grows into the manifestation of the Kingdom
of Heaven every place we
go, and in every person we meet.
Our goal is nothing less than heaven on Earth. Through us.
Run to Win!
“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but
only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.” ~1 Corinthians 9.24.
I was reflecting on this today, and Father drew my attention
to the fact that this is a race. Once we’ve entered the narrow gate of the
Kingdom, it’s easy to be entranced with the beauty and the riches and the glory
of the route we’re on. It’s easy to look at our life as a saunter in an amazing
park on a sunny Sunday afternoon.
But it’s in exactly that context that the apostle writes: “Guys,
don’t forget! This is a race! If you’re not pressing yourself beyond what you’re
comfortable with, you’re not even in the race! Run in such a way as to get the
prize! Run to win!”
I don’t know if we get to saunter in the park later or not;
the evidence isn’t clear, but it suggests that we’ll be “ruling and reigning,”
and that sounds like work.
If it wasn’t clear enough, he goes on:
“25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict
training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a
crown that will last forever. 26 Therefore I do not run like someone running
aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. 27 No, I strike a blow
to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I
myself will not be disqualified for the prize.”
This does NOT say, “Never rest,” nor does it say, “Do this
in your own strength,” which are the two ways the American church has generally
interpreted it, and why the American church has ignored the command altogether.
If we’re not pressing forward, if we’re not stretching
ourselves, if we’re not more deeply invested than we think we can handle, we
may not be even in the race.
Run to win.
Thursday
Milk or Meat?
There are a couple of places in the NT where
the apostles contrasted the intake of believers, using the metaphor of “milk”
as the food for babies against “meat” as the food for mature men & women.
(1 Corinthians 3, Hebrews 5, 1 Peter 2 are the clearest.)
The apostles (Paul, the anonymous author of
Hebrews, and Peter) all seem to reference something similar to John’s stages of
Christian growth (1 John 2:12-14): that there are clearly stages of growth for
us as Sons of the Most High. John makes it clear: believers in different stages
of growth have different needs (for a discussion of those stages, see here: http://bit.ly/QMANqF)
§
There are several places where
believers are described as children, as milk-drinkers, often bemoaning the fact
that by this stage of their growth, they should be eating meat and changing the
world.
§
There appear to be NO places where
any of the apostolic writers of the NT acknowledge a group that has progressed
from milk-drinking to meat-eating. This may be simply because the epistles were
all written to address problems among one church or another, and the churches
that made the transition didn’t need corrective letters. There is no epistle to
the church at Antioch ,
for example; it may be that this early center of the Church may have gotten
some things right, though we have no record of it.
§
When we are young believers, we
require milk. And when we become mature believers, milk is still good.
§
We are expected to progress beyond
the basics. We are expected to graduate from being nourished by the “elementary
principles” of “milk” to digesting and being nourished by “meat.”
§
So much of the church in our day
has not even well learned the “elementary principles”; These are the “milk” or “baby
food” of Christian nurture (Quoting Hebrews 6:1 here):
1. repentance
from dead works and of
2. faith
toward God, of
3. the
doctrine of baptisms (note the plural), of
4. laying
on of hands, of
5. resurrection
of the dead, and of
6. eternal
judgment.
A number of prophets and apostles are
speaking of the need, now upon us, but growing in necessity, of believers being
established enough in theses topics that they are comfortable (and safe) moving
on to more challenging topics. In fact, Holy Spirit has been speaking to a
substantial number of believers about what some of those more meat-like
discussions will be about, but they would only serve as a distraction in this
conversation.
As He speaks to me about some of the meatier
topics of growth that I see coming to us, I am reminded of two applications
that have relevance in this conversation:
1) There will be people (possibly people who
are invested in a spiritual “milk-delivery service”) who will not understand of
believers’ need for meat, who will speak against it (even accusing meat-eaters
of apostasy and heresy), and, sadly, who will succeed in preventing hungry
believers in their sphere of influence from obeying the scriptures and pursuing
more advanced topics.
2) Those who choose to leave the discussion
of the elementary principles of Christ, and go on to perfection, not laying
again the above foundation, will likely have to go on in the face of such
opposition. A very likely booby-trap will be to engage argumentative
milk-delivery devotees in extensive discussion about the need for meat, though
it will be necessary to discern between those committed to not moving on from
milk from those who have only known milk but long for more. A wiser response
may be just to “set our face like flint” toward digesting and practicing that
which Father is feeding us, and leaving the nay-sayers to themselves.
I believe it will be valuable to recognize in
advance (if it is in advance) the opposition that will be confronting us more
and more as we run the race set before us. Such battles are often won in
advance, when we make our determined decisions of how we will respond before we
meet the opposition.
How will you respond when faced with this
choice? Will you choose a steak knife, or a warm bottle?
An Expanded Understanding of Corporate Worship
In my experience with God, coming
to Him in worship is a glorious thing, and there are several interesting things
that happen when I'm in his presence worshiping.
One of the things that I've
observed that happens in that place is what I am calling freedom in creative
expression. I noticed it first when playing an instrument in a worship band:
it's like I'm a better musician in His presence than I was ten minutes before.
It's certainly easier to sing spontaneously in that place, and my instrument is
more responsive to me there, too.
In some places, we've recognized
that other creative expression is released in worship, and some worship events
now have artists painting during worship. Occasionally a dancer will be part of
the worship ream, too.
Prophetic expression, which I would
argue is also a creative expression, is also freer when in association. That's
why Elisha said "Bring me a minstrel," when he needed to prophesy to
an ungodly king, and why prophetic ministry often comes during or after
worship.
And that's about as far as I've
ever seen it taken, at least publicly.
The question occurs to me: why
should the musicians (and maybe a painter or prophet) get all of the fun? Do we
think that the other gifts don't count as much, or that they wouldn't benefit
from the anointing as much?
Occasionally, I've taken it a
little further. Sometimes during corporate worship, I've snuck off in a corner
and drawn on the anointing that is in God's presence with my writing, or in
study, wielding my teaching gift. I'm sure that others have done this, too;
I've just never met them. (I know: now my secret is out!)
I'd love to experiment with: how
far could we take the idea of exercising whatever gift we happen to have as an
expression of worship?
What would happen if we blessed
teachers and scribes and writers and poets to worship in the corporate
gathering with their gifts, too? What if we made room to experience the results
of their gifting, like we listen to the work of the guitarist's and the
drummer's giftings?
What if we gave space to tattoo
artists, to graffiti artists, to mimes, to potters and sculptors and chefs and
jewelry makers and leather workers and wood carvers and pipe makers and hair
stylists and massage therapists? Who was it that decided that their gifts
weren't appropriate to worship our Heavenly Father with?
Obviously, I'm just letting the
thoughts run free here (as I'm worshipping, actually), but I can't get away
from the question: how far can we take this? How many more people can we
release to worship God in the community with the gifts that God has given them?
(Curiously, as I sat in a small corporate worship environment, compelled to write these thoughts on a mobile device, at the same time a prophet friend of mine, a writer, was outlining the same topic, having been drawn into it unexpectedly in a private time with God.)
Sunday
There Is No Hell Prepared For Sinners (Don't jump to conclusions here...)
Let
me just come out there and say it: There is no hell that has been prepared for
"sinners." Dante was wrong.
Now
don't jump to conclusions. That doesn't mean that there isn't something
hellish; there is. The Bible doesn't talk much about it, and I can understand:
it's an ugly subject.
Jesus
taught about "everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his
angels." Maybe this is the "lake of fire" of Revelation 20. Sure
sounds like it.
But
did you see who it's prepared for? It's prepared for the devil and the rest of
the angels that followed the angel named Lucifer when he was tossed on his ear
out of Heaven.
It's a topic that the Bible never answers very clearly (for all
that there are a lot of Bible thumpers that seem to have all the answers!), so
I can't speak clearly about it except this: it isn't prepared for people.
I
guess there are some people who are so completely committed to the things of
demons (often called "sin"), that they refuse to be separated from
them. I guess that when the devil and his angels are chucked into that
"everlasting fire" that the people that refuse to let them go...
well, ... they go with them.
(I
understand that this is not consistent with what you and I were taught in Sunday
School. The truth is that a lot of what we were taught in Sunday School can't
be supported by the Book. Let's stick to the book.)
Wednesday
Properly Discerning Judgment
Recently,
I'd been asking Father for an upgrade in the gift of discernment, as He’d been emphasizing
1 Corinthians 14:29 to me (“Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others
judge.”). And what do you know, but suddenly I began getting scores of
submissions for the www.northwestprophetic.com
website, many of them with what I would call a fairly judgment-oriented interpretation.
Cool! I was getting schooled!
Cool! I was getting schooled!
So I
brought each word to Him for my lessons, and he’d have me separately discern
the revelation portion of the prophecy from the interpretation portion.
In those particular prophetic words, over and over, I sensed the Holy Spirit in the revelation, but
not in the interpretation.
“They’re
interpreting through their expectations. They’re not listening to me, but they’re
listening to what they already believe,” he said.
One
illustration from this season: one of the prophecies came from a fairly mature
prophet, a mature man whom I knew and trusted personally. It spoke about the county where
he lived, and it carried a deadline: two weeks away. The revelation spoke of
earthquakes and volcanoes, and I could sense God in it. The interpretation
spoke of disaster and judgment, and I did not sense God on it (whew!). I heard
Father say, “This is not a literal revelation; it’s a metaphor. The earthquakes
are about things that he thought were stable getting shaken, and the volcanoes
are about deep, hidden things being brought to light, violently.” I had the
fairly strong sense that the word applied to him personally.
I
asked the prophet if maybe that word could be metaphorical rather than literal, and he rejected
it out of hand. OK. Maybe I’m wrong. But God was not directing me to respond as
if it were literal and I did not publish the prophecy on the website.
Three
weeks later the deadline was behind us, and no earthquake or volcano had struck. He called me: “That word was
right, but I got the date wrong!” and he gave me a new date. Then he added, “But
could you pray for me? My whole life is getting shaken, and there’s stuff I
thought was way behind me that’s becoming public now!” The revelation had been correct, but the interpretation, and therefore the application, were incorrect.
Frankly, I’m
one of those prophetic folks who was always quick to interpret prophecies with
words like “judgment” or “the remnant.” He corrected me: in this season, Father
asked me, “Son, why do you expect judgment? Everything – every sin – that deserved
judgment was paid for in the Cross.”
I have since come to believe that one day, those who rejected his payment for their sin would have the “privilege” of paying for their own sin (Revelation 20:12), but there were no sins – past, present, or future; individual or corporate – that were not covered by the blood of Jesus on the Cross.
I have since come to believe that one day, those who rejected his payment for their sin would have the “privilege” of paying for their own sin (Revelation 20:12), but there were no sins – past, present, or future; individual or corporate – that were not covered by the blood of Jesus on the Cross.
This
is not to say that I don’t think
real trouble is coming to America ,
and to our region in particular. I actually do believe we’re in for tough times,
and I’m asking for more revelation for how to prepare. But from the way I think I’m learning to understand the
cross, those troubles are not about judgment, certainly not about judgment from
God, and a good number of the prognostications of disaster are errors in interpreting true prophetic revelation.
More
recently, He’s been teaching me more about the power of our declarations as
believers. It’s a lot. We’re made in God’s image, and he did his first big
project by words: “And God said… and it was so.” That’s my Dad! I'm in his line of work.
Here’s
where I’m going: there are a lot of believers who don’t understand the cross
very well. (Yeah, I was one for a bunch of decades, durn it.) And a lot of
believers have been declaring disaster coming to America , or declaring Mr. Obama’s
incompetence, or similar things. Recently, I’ve begun to question whether our
declarations of disaster may have a hand in causing disaster to come about,
about whether our declaring icky things about Mr. Obama are bringing some of those
things to pass, whether we are seeing the fulfillment of our own declarations.
By
way of illustration, God himself (Genesis 18:21) seems to declare that the
reason that Sodom & Gomorrah were judged was because of the
outcry against it. I wonder– if there is judgment coming against our nation, or
against “famously sinful” cities in our nation (San Francisco, Las Vegas, New
York, New Orleans, etc) – whether the judgment is not from God, but from God’s
people.
So
I’m pretty careful about speaking un-lovely things about people or nations; I’m
really, really careful that I’m not
interpreting prophetic words according to my own expectations.
Thursday
A Legacy From Adam
“You
come of the Lord Adam and the Lady Eve,” said Aslan. “And that is both honor
enough to erect the head of the poorest beggar, and shame enough to bow the
shoulders of the greatest emperor on earth. Be content.” CS Lewis, Prince Caspian
As a man, as a human being, I am heir to the strengths and many of the peculiarities
of those who have gone before me.
I have brown hair and blue eyes: I inherited these genes from my
parents.
I sunburn easily. I inherited this characteristic from the Scotsmen and
Englishmen who populate my family tree.
I also inherited something from one of my more distant forbears, the
first Man, Adam himself. While I am certainly not his only descendent on planet
Earth, I am one of his descendents,
and one of his heirs. I believe that you and I, Adam’s heirs, have the right to
name ourselves inheritors of his calling.
What was Adam’s calling? What was the first responsibility given to
Adam?
Out
of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of
the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever
Adam called each living creature, that was its name. –Genesis 2:19
Adam’s first responsibility
was to give names to every creature that God made. “Whatever Adam called each
living creature, that was its name.”
I had a revelation recently about how important it can be that we – Adam’s
heirs – are inheritors of Adam’s calling, Adam’s authority.
One night, a group of prophetic intercessors had gathered together in
our home, and were praying about a minor stronghold in our hometown. There was
a high bridge downtown, a favorite among the despondent members of our
community; it became known as “Suicide
Bridge.” For years, it
had been known by that name, and used for that purpose.
Recently, several of us had noticed that when we crossed that bridge,
thoughts of suicide, temptation to jump, came upon us: we who were healthy,
satisfied, happy individuals. These clearly were not our thoughts: they came
from outside of us, from something
associated with death, and associated with that location.
As we prayed together, we understood that there had been enough
suicides, enough wrongful deaths in that place, that the enemy had capitalized
on all the death, and assigned a demon to the bridge, to become a stronghold,
whose responsibility, it seemed, was to maximize the enemy’s investment in the
form of suicides from the bridge.
Most of the intercessors gathered together that night had learned that
the “right way” to deal with things like this was to discern the name of the
demon, and then to use that name, with the authority of the name of Jesus, to
break the creature’s right to live there and to work there.
But we didn’t know the creature’s name.
As we were looking for the name, God spoke up: “You are heir to Adam.”
Hunh? What? “You have inherited Adam’s authority to name living creatures.”
And the light went on!
We named the demon, “Bob,” and then we broke “Bob’s” authority and
assignment in that place, and kicked him out. The “urge to jump” was gone the
next morning, and within a week, the city “just happened” to raise all the
railings on the bridge to eight feet high. There have been no more suicides
that I know of off of that bridge. More importantly, there is no “urge” to end
it all when passing by that place.
Hmm. That was interesting. I suspect we may be onto something.
Another time, we were involved in a wonderful and glorious session of
healing and deliverance, in a wonderful, family-based environment. Most of the
words of knowledge that directed our ministry came through pre-teenagers that
night. Everything was going well, our friend was finding real freedom, until we
came upon one demonic stronghold that would not let go.
After we fussed and fumed for a bit, God said it again. “You are heir to
Adam.” We named the beastie “Squiggly” (as that was the dominant
characteristic: he squirmed and slipped out of our “grasp” as we prayed). We
assigned him the name, seriously: we took up the authority we’d inherited from
Adam, we stripped it of whatever (unknown) name it had gone by, and we gave it
a new name: its name was now Squiggly. Then we commanded it by that name, and the
demon submitted quickly and left peacefully.
If you’ve been part of deliverance ministry, if you’ve been involved with
a team breaking down demonic strongholds, you may have encountered the
obstruction of a demonic beastie whose name you did not know, and therefore you
may have had difficulties overcoming the thing.
Based on our revelation, supported by our experience and by the Biblical
description of Adam’s calling, I believe that we as heirs of Adam have the
right to Adam’s commission: “Whatever Adam called each living creature, that
was its name.” If you can’t find the thing’s name, then give it a name, and use
that name to get rid of it.
(I am not arguing for a
theology that says our authority in Christ is limited only to those
circumstances wherein we know the enemy’s name; I’m merely observing that many
intercessors and ministers have encountered obstructions that we have
associated with not knowing the demonic spirit’s name. And of course, I am not
encouraging rookies to wield this weapon as if it were a talisman; I remind you
of the seven sons of Sceva.)
Finally, I observe that there is, in practical terms, a substantial
difference between referring to a spirit, and naming a spirit. Talking about
“that squiggly demon” is not at all the same thing as naming the thing “Squiggly,” assigning it the name, exercising Adam’s
authority. If I am just talking about
a spirit, a demon, then I am not exercising the authority I’ve inherited from
Adam; I’m merely talking (to it, to
God, about it…) as a man. But to name
something is to both claim and exercise authority over it, authority that you
actually have, authority that you’ve inherited. Step into the authority you’ve
inherited from Adam: wield the authority you’ve been given.
I’m interested to hear if others have found this weapon, and what
experiences they’ve had when wielding it. Please comment here, or email me at nwp@northwestprophetic.com. I look
forward to hearing from you.
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