Jesus is the King of Israel.
He came to save his people from their sins.
Who are his people? Israelites?
Israelites wrote the various books of the Bible.
Of the twelve apostles, only Paul was sent to the Gentiles.
Paul told Gentiles how to become Israelites.
Gentiles took Paul's works and assembled the Bible.
Then they created the Gentile Church, ... and scorned the name of Israel.
My mind is continually piecing "the puzzle" together. Automatically.
Introverted Intuition.
Intuitive Logic.
All behind the scenes; nobody knows it's happening, unless they realize what my silence and my staring off into the distance means.
In addition, The Holy Spirit is often in there giving me clues and guiding me, provided I am listening to Him.
I have a special friend and we have developed a deep relationship. She has a similar personality to my wife's, but is more of an adventurer than a shopper. I'm one of her walking buddies and we enjoy talking while listening to music in the park, at least when that activity is available in the Summer.
I took the photograph of the "twin oaks" when she and I were enjoying one of those music events.
She moved to Midland a few years ago because one of her daughters lives here. Her daughter is the wife of a pastor, and his church sponsors missionaries and missions to spread The Good News about Yehoshua. It is the same church my wife and I were members of two decades ago.
Unlike many people in my town, my friend listens to me. She is from another state. Isn't that interesting? She is also a recent widow.
I told her about my love interest right up front, and my dreams about India. She is fascinated and we often discuss it. She knows I need to express myself, as she needs to talk about the things going on in her life.
She typically does not read much and usually knits when we are together, but she acquired a particular book from her son-in-law's church and she devoured it. Then she loaned it to me and encouraged me to read it.
The book is the faith testimony of a Muslim man who found Jesus.
The author used to be very legalistic and was taught the world must be converted to Islam. He went to Afghanistan as a mujahid and did the kinds of things a mujahid would do, although he did not go into details. He saw Christians as his enemy, until God changed him.
He came to realize the Quran is not in conflict with the New Testament, as he had been told. It confirms it! This allowed him to accept the forgiveness that comes through Yehoshua while still identifying as a Muslim. He learned faith in Yehoshua has nothing to do with culture.
My friend saw a parallel between that man's situation and potentially my Hindu Twin-Flame's, and that is why she wanted me to read the book. For the same reason, I also consumed it.
As the puzzle of my life and mission comes together in my mind, I am realizing faith and culture must be disentangled in order for biblical faith to multiply on the Indian Subcontinent. This will be "the margin of victory."
I know it sounds trite, but God does work in amazing ways!
He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.” (Mark 16:15-18 NIV)
Go into all the world
That means go where the Holy Spirit sends us, leads us and confirms to us where we should be. It probably means going to someplace else. That's what all of his guys did.
We are to follow their example. That is our job.
Preach the gospel
That means proclaim the Good News (gospel, a religious term) about salvation and new life through Ye-HO-shu-a Ha-ma-SHEE-ach (Jesus the Christ or Messiah, King of Israel), and everything else the Bible teaches.
Whoever believes and is baptized (by immersion, like Jesus was) will be saved Whoever does not believe will be condemned
Our own belief is required.
Our own baptism is part of the job. It is not necessary for salvation, according to this text, but we aren't going to get much done without it. (Other places in the Bible say it is required for forgiveness of sins. Acts 2:38 is one of those places.)
These signs will accompany those who believe
In other words, if the following things are not happening, then logically we do not believe.
And if we do not believe then we are not saved.
Consequently, it is crucial we make an effort to do these things.
If we attempt to do these things, we will see them happen. If we don't, we won't.
If we see them happen, our belief will increase and we will become more confident.
If we become more confident, we will want to do these things more.
If we do these things more, we will bear much fruit. Fruit that will last.
In my (Yehoshua's, i.e. Jesus') name they will drive out demons
Jesus did it. His guys did it. We must do it.
Getting rid of demons is job one (1). It is listed first.
If infiltrators are allowed to remain embedded and entrenched, they are going to interfere with our work and we will accomplish nothing of eternal value. We will not be able to bear good fruit, fruit that will last.
Demons can be driven out with a single word (Matthew 8:32). We have the authority to do it. We must exercise that authority and power.
We must learn to value the man or woman who was made in the image of God and distinguish between them and the bondages and infirmities that plague and imprison them. Demons can be the cause of such things. Demons are not people. Having a demon, or demons, is not shameful. We are all susceptible to them.
Demons can affect our behaviors and beliefs. Getting rid of demons will give us clear minds and perspectives.
Jesus can fix all of our problems.
And he will do it through his people during this period of time. He is sitting next to the Father and intercedes for us as we do our work.
They will speak in new tongues
In other words, we will do many miraculous things when following Jesus through the Holy Spirit.
They will pick up snakes with their hands
In other words, we will not be afraid. God will be with us to protect us and to demonstrate his authority and power through us.
When they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all
The opposition will be powerless to oppose us. They can try, but they will fail.
They will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well
God will miraculously change people's lives through us, and it will cause those people to listen to our message and perhaps become believers themselves.
Jesus heals all sicknesses and diseases.
What part of "all" do you not understand?
Doing the above things is our job.
Nowhere in the Bible does Jesus say, "Go to church." It's not there.
Justifying our own behavior does not change that fact.
Some Bible translations convey doubt about the origins of this last part of Mark. In my opinion, the Darkness has done what it can to keep important and clear instructions from people by interfering with the stewardship of important and clear sections of God's Word.
But, God is sovereign and infinitely greater than any potential interference with His purposes.
When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him. “Lord, have mercy on my son,” he said. “He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.”
“You unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.” Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed at that moment.
Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”
He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matthew 17:14-20 NIV)
The woman with an infirmity had faith...
Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. She said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.”
Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed at that moment. (Matthew 9:20-22 NIV)
Peter eventually had faith, and so did the people who saw what he did...
The apostles performed many signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon’s Colonnade. No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people. Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number. As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by impure spirits, and all of them were healed. (Acts 5:12-16 NIV)
When our shadow is changing lives, we can be confident we have faith. Until then, we must ask for more.
The Pharisees knew the Scriptures, but they did not have faith.
Jesus came to show us how to do our jobs. His Father will put us through tests to build our faith.
I ran across this short, repetitive video yesterday. It was embedded in an article lamenting the current overuse and misunderstanding of the word "quantum".
"Fifteen senses" was new to me.
Of course, I knew about the five physical senses. We "live in a body"...
The Body
Sight
Sound
Smell
Taste
Touch
We "have a soul"...
The Soul
Mind -- "Your mind: what you think."
Will -- "Your will: your drive to act."
Emotion -- "Your emotions: what you feel."
Affection -- "Your affections: who you feel it for."
Imagination -- "And your imagination: your ability to see what isn't visible yet."
We "are a spirit"...
The Spirit
Prayer -- "Prayer: speaking truth to the divine."
Praise -- "Praise: declaring truth to your reality."
Worship -- "Worship: aligning with the highest version of yourself."
Faith -- "Faith: belief beyond evidence."
Meditation -- "And meditation: pure focus."
The video suggests "spirit" is the most important, and I agree. It says we are spirit, and I agree.
But, the things listed under spirit do not define existence, they define things we do. They are all actions.
Actions do not define us. Actions are what actors do. The root of those two words is "act".
The Greek word for actor is hypocrite.
The Book says we are made in the image of God (Genesis 9:6).
If God is a spirit, and we are made in God's image, then logically we must be a spirit, too. We are a spirit, which is what the video says.
God created our spirits to live with him, and he gave us the ability to choose to be with him. Unfortunately, the first man chose to go his own way and that messed up the entire creation. What if that had not happened? I wrote a fantasy about the first people doing the right thing: Standing Firm.
God's spirit exhibits these characteristics:
love
joy
peace
patience
kindness
goodness
faithfulness
gentleness
self-control (Galatians 5:22-23 NIV 1984).
Those are "fruits". Just like a pear tree produces pears, God's spirit produces those kinds of results.
People can act in those ways some of the time, but can they do it all of the time? Can they naturally do it without thinking; are they always consistent? Or do they produce bad fruit? ...
The Book says people who exhibit those manifestations will not be able to approach God.
Performing the actions attributed to the spirit's "senses" in the video has nothing to do with experiencing the traits produced by God's Holy Spirit living inside of us.
Some thoughts about the so-called "senses" of our Spirits mentioned in the video:
"Prayer: speaking truth to the divine."
God already knows the Truth. He is the Truth. He does not need our help.
"Praise: declaring truth to your reality."
Praising what or whom? Ourselves?
What is being declared as "true"? Is it really true and how do we know?
What exactly is our "reality"? Is our reality based on facts or fiction? Are we joyful or are we depressed? Our reality could be one of a plethora of vastly different states.
What does this statement really mean?
"Worship: aligning with the highest version of yourself."
We are wired to worship something, and this video is encouraging us to worship ourselves. Yeah, that's gonna work.
"Faith: belief beyond evidence."
My faith is based on evidence; it is based on truth and what I have actually observed. Believing in something without any evidence is simply foolishness.
"And meditation: pure focus."
Pure focus on what? Truth or lies? It matters.
In my opinion, these behaviors do not reveal anything to us, as actual senses do. They are attempts to find the Creator we are all wired to be with. They are gropes in the dark.
We must be "born from above" as described in John 3:3 in order to find God and see The Kingdom. Otherwise, we will not see anything.
Being "born" is something we cannot control. It just happens to us. God is the one who makes it happen.
But, we can ask Him to let us see the Kingdom. He will do it if we are serious.
The word "disciple" appears 294 times in the New Testament. The word "Christian" only appears three times, and Jesus never used the term.
Jesus calls us to be His disciples, not Christians. What is a disciple? I think the word "apprentice" makes more sense to us in our modern culture.
An electrician begins learning their trade by becoming an apprentice. An apprentice is a newbie, someone in training, a student. They find, or are assigned to, someone who already knows the trade, and that person is known as a "master" or "journeyman" electrician. They are an expert, and the apprentice will learn from them.
The disciples of Jesus were His apprentices. Jesus told them to follow Him, learn from Him and do the things He did. Jesus told them they would do greater things than He did. Jesus healed the sick, cast out demons and raised the dead. What kind of things can be greater than that? I certainly want to know!
I am an apprentice of Jesus. I want to be like Jesus, and so I follow Him and do the things He did.
Do you want to be an apprentice of Jesus, too? If so, read on.....
The Apprentice's Tool-Bag
An apprentice needs a tool-bag. It is the first thing his Master will require him to obtain. He cannot do any work without a tool-bag.
A tool-bag has critical parts. It cannot function properly without those parts. It needs a belt to keep the bag in the proper position at the apprentice's hip; it needs a buckle to keep the belt fastened; and it needs various pouches to hold the apprentice's tools.
The tool-bag of an apprentice of Jesus has four parts: repentance towards God, belief in Jesus, immersion (baptism) in water in the Name of Jesus for the remission of sins, and receiving the Holy Spirit.
Repentance
What is REPENTANCE? We may be sorry about our circumstances, but that is not repentance. We may have remorse for what we have done to others, but that is not repentance. Repentance is understanding who God is and who we are in comparison to Him, and realizing that we have sinned against a Holy and Righteous God. Repentance only happens when we respect and fear God, and it requires us to change our ways and to put things right that can be put right. Good Biblical examples of repentance are the stories of the sinful woman in Luke 7, Zaccaeus in Luke 19 and the jailer in Acts 16.
1) Repentance in THOUGHT. It is conviction of sin. It is thinking again about ourselves. Most of us use wrong standards when we think about our own character. We usually compare ourselves to other people, but we need to compare ourselves to Jesus. Only then will we start to feel dirty and unclean, which is how we should see ourselves. We need a higher view of God, and a lower view of ourselves. It is that comparison that begins repentance. God hates sin, and true repentance begins to share that hatred. Some sins are obvious, but many are not. In his talk, David discusses a number of behaviors we don't often think of as sin: worry, laziness, debt. He said he counted 120 sins in the New Testament. Seeing things through God's eyes brings repentance.
2) Repentance in WORD. This is confession of sins (plural) to God -- naming specific sins. God will show us our sins if we ask Him, and they can seem quite small, but they are still sins and they are a big deal to God. David discusses some examples. Confessing our sins often is a healthy thing to do.
3) Repentance in DEED. This is the correction of sin -- putting right what has been wrong. This is where people find repentance difficult, but where it also becomes real. David discusses several examples, including an instance when someone stopped biting their fingernails. (If you do that, your nails don't look right before God, and He made them.)
We need to be serious about this. We must be afraid of God -- the Bible says fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.
We need to be specific about our own situations. What sins do we want God to save us from? This is where repentance begins.
We need to be sensible. It is not about feelings. We can feel guilty for the wrong things, and not be aware of the things in our lives that are truly offensive to God. We need to be sensible about what can be put right -- nobody can put everything right that they have done wrong.
People need help with these things, and they need to talk about them with someone they trust.
Repentance will go on for the rest of our lives.
Belief in Jesus
What does it mean to BELIEVE IN JESUS? Many people have heard of Jesus, and some have become very familiar with him by reading the Bible. The Devil knows about Jesus, too. Believing in Jesus is trusting that Jesus is who He says He is, and relying on Him to do what He has promised. Mark 16 tells us that Jesus said people who believe will heal the sick and cast out demons. If we have never done those things, can we be certain we really believe? If we have never seen those things happen, how will we ever believe? The more we believe the more we will be able to do those things. Believing results in seeing supernatural things happen. If we have doubts, then we do not believe. Doubting is sin, and we can repent from it.
How do we believe? Pawson says there are five aspects:
1) HISTORICAL: Believe in historical facts. In a court of law, the impartial jurors are not witnesses of the crime. They are presented with eyewitnesses and circumstantial evidence. There were many eyewitnesses who saw Jesus crucified, buried and raised from the dead. Also, there are many, many examples of miraculous healings, deliverances, resurrections and miracles happening today, in our lives and in the lives of others. These things confirm what the Bible says is true. Jesus is alive, and these things confirm that fact.
2) PERSONAL: Believe IN Jesus. We trust a bank to keep our money secure; we believe IN the bank. We trust our spouse; we believe IN them. Jesus is alive, so we can believe IN Him. If we believe IN Jesus, then we will trust Him. We can trust Him with everything because He is God.
3) VERBAL: Talk to Jesus. Speak to Him aloud, treating Him as a real person. Also, talk to others about Him. These things will cement our faith and help us believe. Very importantly, we need to use our own words, not the words of others.
4) PRACTICAL: When we really believe, we do something about it. Paul and James are not in conflict. Paul says we are not saved by doing good deeds and following rules and rituals, and he is right. James says those who have faith will take action because of that faith, and he is right, too. It is hard to have faith today because we do not need it to survive. It is easy to get food, clothing and shelter, and there are many options for alleviating our discomforts and fears, such as medicines, therapies, weapons, insurance and communication tools. Relying on those things is not exercising faith in Jesus; it’s having faith in those things. God is a jealous god, and He does not share glory with idols.
5) CONTINUAL: Our faith is not “saving faith” unless it is ongoing faith. It is faithFULNESS that we need. Believing today and not believing tomorrow is no good. It’s the faith we finish with that saves us. The righteous will survive whatever happens by keeping faith.
Baptism
What is BAPTISM? John the Baptist "baptized" people by immersing them in water. Jesus was baptized by immersion. The Bible says nothing about sprinkling.
The word "baptize" is the Greek word for "immersion in water." Religious institutions and Bible translators have chosen to not translate that word into English for some reason. I think that is unfortunate because I believe it misleads people. I believe the Darkness is behind this deception.
Our reason for being immersed is important. If we do it only to please men, it is worthless. If we do it to be obedient to Jesus and to follow Him, then according to the Bible, it is supernaturally effective. Once we are immersed in the Name of Jesus, our sins are paid for by Jesus (Acts 2:38). Immersion does other things, too, but an apprentice must have their complete tool-bag before they are ready for the Master to teach them about other things.
How do we get immersed? Find an apprentice of Jesus and ask them to do it for you. I was immersed in a church, and my life changed from that moment. I can see it as I look back and reflect on my experiences. We only need to do it once, provided we did it for the right reasons.
Receive the Holy Spirit
What is RECEIVING THE HOLY SPIRIT? It is what happened to the first apprentices on Pentecost (Acts 2).
There is always a sign when someone receives the Holy Spirit, typically speaking in a strange language -- the religious term is "tongue." The language is an actual language, but the speaker does not understand what they are saying. God is the one speaking, and others will understand what is being spoken, if they happen to understand that particular language. Go read Acts 2. Foreigners understood what was being said.
Many people presume they have the Holy Spirit because they have been told that they do, but they do not. Receiving the Holy Spirit is unmistakable to the person receiving Him. God makes sure of that. Shortly after my immersion, I asked God to give me whatever He thought I needed, and He gave me a wonderful experience. I asked a pastor what it was, and he was unable to help me, but I eventually learned it was the Holy Spirit. I did not speak in a language at the time because I did not know I was supposed to, nor did I know I had the ability to do so. The church I attended taught nothing about it. Apparently, it was God's plan that I not understand those things right away. Everybody's experience is different. God is so creative!
The Holy Spirit is a key part of the tool-bag, and we cannot be an apprentice without Him. He is a person, and He is fully God.
How do we receive the Holy Spirit? Ask, and He will be given to you! That's what I did. Another apprentice of Jesus can pray for you to receive Him, too. If you truly want to follow Jesus, God wants you to have the Holy Spirit.
Deliverance
Demons are real, and are very common, although many churches rarely discuss them. Some churches do talk about them, but do not cast them out and get rid of them. Demons want people to doubt their existence, but they can be the cause of many issues for people. Jesus dealt with them a LOT.
I had a number of demons driven from me AFTER I had my tool-bag. I did not know they were there, but I knew some things were not right. Since then, I have learned a lot, and have written about some of it. If you would like to read about my story, I suggest you start with my post Free! I think you may also find The Car helpful.
Since I wrote those things, I have found I have the ability to drive unclean spirits (demons) from myself, and fend them off when I realize I am under attack. I have always had this ability, since I have had the Holy Spirit, and even before. The Name of Jesus is powerful, but believing and wanting to be right with God seems to be just as effective. Before I was immersed, my childhood belief in the Theory of Evolution was blocking my faith, and I wanted it gone. One day it just left, and I laughed at how silly the concept had been -- see Evolution Revolution. Well after I was delivered on Neptune Beach, I realized my "high school crush" was still lurking deep inside me. I wanted it gone and commanded it to leave -- and it went.
Jesus can help us with anything. He can help us by using other apprentices and he can help us to do things ourselves. We just need Him. He is really all we need!
So, WHAT GOES INTO THE TOOL-BAG? The Master reveals things to an apprentice once they have their tool-bag.
NOTES:
1. Most churches only teach some of these things. If you do not have all parts of your tool-bag, get them! You need them! If your church will not help you, ask Jesus what to do. If your church discourages you from obtaining the complete tool-bag, walk away. A message that is 99% true is still a lie.
2. Read Mark, Luke and Acts, especially Acts. The rest of the New Testament is true, but not pertinent to obtaining the tool-bag. Anything before Acts is before the Holy Spirit was given, and everything after Acts was written to those who already had their tool-bags. A person cannot fully understand what is written in the Bible without their complete tool-bag.
3. Jesus is alive. Anyone can talk to Him. He is King of the Jews, the King of Israel.
4. "Gentiles" are grafted INTO Israel. Identification with Israel is critical! This is a discussion for those who have a tool-bag!
All glory to God!
----------------------
UPDATE, August 7, 2022...
Obtaining our tool-bag is just the start. We must follow Jesus.
Jesus said seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and he will take care of all our needs. What does it mean to seek the kingdom?
I wrote a post back in 2016 called Keys to the Kingdom. It is an analysis of what Jesus taught his guys in the middle of the book of Matthew. It is rather long, but I think it is crucial for all apprentices of Jesus to understand. I encourage you to read through it at least once.
The first key is the most important one, in my opinion: "Follow Jesus and die." Here is a quote from the post...
Jesus told his disciples he would be persecuted and killed, and then rise again. He then told them they must experience the same thing. This is the first "key." As his disciples, we must deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Jesus. We must lose our lives in this fallen world in order to gain true life. We must give up what we want, and do what he wants. That is a tough message, but one we must heed if we want to enter the Kingdom (Matthew 16:21-28). Many people will turn away from this, but we must stick with Jesus because he is our only option for eternal life (John 6:68).
It is not our project and it is not our cause. We must let Jesus run His Project, and we must pursue His Cause. Jesus did not walk among us and die an agonizing and gruesome death in order to help us do what we want to do. We work for Him! If we are still pursuing things we were doing before we surrendered to Jesus, we are not following Him.
I was working as an engineer and I was pretty successful, but I committed my life to Jesus by being baptized in water and he followed that up by baptizing me in the Holy Spirit. Soon afterward, I learned I had signed up for something absolutely amazing and I began to learn about my job. You can read about it in other posts.
Eventually, he tested me to see if I would follow him. It was really, really hard, but I left my engineering job. He did not tell me why; I knew he would show me, like he did Abram.
There was silence for the first few weeks. It didn't take me long to start pursuing something I wanted to do: film-making. I began reading about it and taking steps to gain practical experience. I had the time so I spent it on my dreams.
Then the Father showed me what He wants me doing. Burned Toast. I will leave it to you to explore what that is about.
I still continued my pursuit of film-making for quite a while after that, and I certainly learned a lot of things that are useful in my walk, but I eventually realized God does not want me to be a film maker. The world uses film makers to control the masses. God wants me to be a disciple maker, and he does not use the world's methods.
I am more than twenty years down the road from where I was when I was baptized. I know my job. I know I am right where I am supposed to be. I have found the mustard seed and I have begun to water it. I am looking forward to seeing the huge tree and the birds nesting in its branches.1
Follow me. I am following Jesus. He has so many amazing things to show us.
Salvadora persica
UPDATE, August 8, 2022...
Once we are following Jesus there will be further tests. Difficult ones, particularly for those who have strong feelings for loved ones.
“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person's enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me..." (Matthew 10:34-37 ESV)
Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.” (Mark 10:29-31 ESV)
"...Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.” (Luke 12:51-53 ESV)
“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple..." (Luke 14:26 ESV)
Our love for Jesus must be greater than our love for family members and friends. This does not mean we do not love them. On the contrary, ...by following Jesus we can ultimately influence those we love to follow him. We must trust him and have faith he will eventually make it happen. (The word translated as "hate" in Luke 14:26 is a relative term in the Greek, not an absolute.)
Jesus' own brothers did not believe in him (John 7:5), but his brother James eventually did (Galatians 1:19), as did his other brothers and sisters (Acts 1:14; 1 Corinthians 9:5). The sons of Zebedee, James and John, left their father with the fishing nets (Matthew 4:21-22), but there is evidence they maintained contact with the family because their mother eventually made an impertinent request on their behalf (Matthew 20:21), so she had been listening to Jesus. By changing our behavior and following Jesus, those we love will see we are serious and perhaps ultimately be influenced to follow along, too.
The great news is we will find other people who will understand us and listen to us...
While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.”
He replied to him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” (Matthew 12:46-50 NIV)
These are our spiritual brothers and sisters, and they are part of the mustard tree that Jesus will grow.
UPDATE, August 21, 2022...
So, where is Jesus going? Where are we going when we follow him? The answers are in the Bible, of course.
These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ ..." (Matthew 10:5-7 ESV)
... Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.”
He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”
The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said. (Matthew 15:23-25 ESV)
Jesus taught his guys for forty days after his resurrection, and he told them they would soon be baptized in the Holy Spirit. Then...
[His guys] asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:6-8 ESV)
Notice Jesus did not correct them about the focus on Israel. He had just spent forty days teaching them, and he had not changed the message. It was still about finding the lost sheep of Israel and restoring the kingdom to Israel.
The Canaanite woman was one of the lost sheep of Israel. When Jesus went into the district of Tyre and Sidon all he did there was interact with her and then he immediately went home. The Centurion and Cornelius were lost sheep of the house of Israel, too. I covered this in great detail in the Paul's Mystery posts.
Jesus is looking for true Israelites so he can make them into his apprentices and use them to build his Kingdom. That is the task, and that is what we are supposed to do. Anything else is off-topic and unauthorized. We need to get with the Program and stay with it without getting distracted.
It will leave a visual memory in their minds that God might eventually use to bring them to repentance.
The methods Jesus teaches in the Bible are the best ways to do things, and this is one of them we need to learn to apply.
UPDATE, August 27, 2022...
1 Apparently the identity of the "mustard tree" in the parable is uncertain. I added the picture of Salvadora persica to show the kind of tree Jesus might have been referring to.
UPDATE, August 28, 2022...
Who Do You Work For?
The 1980 Olympic U.S. Men's Ice Hockey team accomplished a "miracle" by defeating the Soviet Union team, and Disney made a movie about it. There is a scene where the coach asks the young men who they play for, while putting them through a grueling workout after they played poorly in an international exhibition game. One of the players finally gives the right answer and the coach lets them go.
Jesus said...
“Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven..." (Matthew 10:32-33 NIV)
He also said...
“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money..." (Matthew 6:24; Luke 16:13 NIV)
The question is, "Who do we work for?"
I have this at the top of my Facebook profile...
I put it there because I take Jesus seriously and want to acknowledge Him before men. Was it easy to do that? No. Do I get spiritual flack for it from the Darkness because of it? Sometimes, but it's part of the job.
We need to decide who we work for, and then let the world know it. Otherwise, we are just another actor on the stage. (The Greek word for "actor" is hypocrite.)
UPDATE, September 1, 2022...
When I worked for the top person at my employment location, one of the production managers asked my boss for help. They had a problem with the quality of one of their products and his people could not solve it. My boss sent me out into the plant to find out what was going on.
One of the first things I did was show the team a picture of rowers. If rowers do not work together they are going to lose. It took some time, but we eventually figured out what had gone wrong and fixed the problem. Had the team been working together to begin with, I think they could have solved the problem themselves, and perhaps may have been able to avoid the mistake altogether.
Jesus is assembling his Team. He has equipped people with various abilities and he expects us to work together. There are different kinds of abilities.
Physical Abilities -- We all have physical bodies. Some are big, and some are small. Some are men, and some are women. Some have big hands and long arms, like me, and some are short-wasted, like my wife was. Some are athletic, and some cannot walk. Some are left-handed, but more are right-handed. Some are blessed with wealth, and some are unburdened by it.
Personality Abilities -- I recently learned about personality types, and in accordance with my particular personality type, have been learning to use this tool. There are four different aspects to personality:
How people interact with the world: Extroversion and Introversion.
How people comprehend the world: Intuition and Sensing.
How people deal with the world: Thinking and Feeling.
How people operate in the world: Perceiving and Judging.
This results in sixteen (16) distinct personality types (24 = 16), with variation in each, depending upon how extreme some of the functions are. There is no right or wrong personality; it's just the way people are. The LORD gives us each our own individual personalities, and Jesus can use them all for his purposes.
Spiritual Abilities -- The Bible talks about spiritual gifts that come from the Holy Spirit. Some churches talk about these things and encourage people to learn what their spiritual gifts are, but if people do not actually have the Holy Spirit living inside them they do not have anything from Him.
Some people may have spiritual gifts from other spirits. I recently had a conversation with a witch and she said she experienced some spiritual capabilities that seemed to fascinate her. I told her I believed her, but was not interested in what she was selling.
I have observed people who have strong intuitions seem to be more in-tune with the spiritual aspects of Creation, whereas those who are strong at sensing do not seem to notice or understand those things as well. Perhaps this is one reason Jesus taught us to heal the sick and cast out demons. Those who are strong at sensing will see the person has been physically healed, and those who have strong intuitions may need to have some garbage removed, which was true for me. In this way, all can learn the Truth and believe.
Experience -- We are each at different points in our walk, and the LORD uses our experiences to teach us and train us. Some have been at it longer than others, and that is the main reason the Bible encourages us to respect our elders and older people. If we listen to them talk about their mistakes and what they have learned, perhaps we can avoid making mistakes of our own and can begin operating at a higher level sooner than we might if we try to do things by ourselves.
Authority -- The LORD has established certain authorities. The little guy who sits in the stern of the boat calls out and tells the rowers when to pull on their oars to keep them in cadence. He also steers the boat to keep it heading in the right direction. He is small because it minimizes unnecessary weight, whereas the rowers are hulking beasts and are strong. God's ways are best and we must do things his way because he is the boss, ... and he is always right.
Paul wrote one letter to "the Ephesians." He visited Ephesus twice. The first time was just a brief visit (Acts 18), but the second time was for much longer and his influence resulted in a riot (Acts 19). He wrote to the Ephesians while he was a prisoner in Rome.
To whom was Paul writing when he wrote to "the Ephesians?"
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to God’s holy people in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 1:1-2 NIV)
He wrote to those he had been with while he was in Ephesus, to those who were his fellow, spiritual Israelites, who believed in Yeshua.
...be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. (Ephesians 5:18-21 ESV)
Then he got more specific:
Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. (Ephesians 5:22 ESV)
Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her... (v 25)
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. (v 6:1)
Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ... (v 6:5)
Masters, do the same to them, and stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and that there is no partiality with him. (v 6:9)
Earlier in his letter, Paul told them how to work together:
I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit -- just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call -- one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. (Ephesians 4:1-7 ESV)
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds [pastors] and teachers, ... (v 11)
And he told them why:
... to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. (vs 12-16)
Together, we are Jesus. Together. Us. We spiritual Israelites. Not "the neighbors;" not "the world." Us. We must learn to discern the difference, and submit to each other.
Paul was an apostle. I am not Paul, and I am not an apostle.
I am not an evangelist either, nor a pastor (shepherd). Those are not my things.
Whether I am a teacher, or not, is for others to decide.
What people should take note of, I believe, are my experiences -- those amazing things I talked about elsewhere in this blog. I believe those things point to what my role is.
Please listen to me and learn from me, ... as I try to listen to you and learn from you. We are Jesus in this present Age.
Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
Do not quench the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-22 NIV)
Beloved, I am going to share some things I have learned, and am still learning, as I try to follow Jesus. I love you and hope you can learn from my mistakes. I am nobody special, just a disciple of Jesus.
The Bible was, and is, and always will be, my primary source of literary spiritual information. What we get from the Holy Spirit will always be consistent with what is in the Bible, and we should always test what we hear from others against what we read in Scripture. Saying that, we must also be aware that Jesus ascended to the Father and sent us the Holy Spirit, not the Bible. We must be discerning about how we got the Bible, and remember that the god of this world is Satan. We must always go to Jesus, and be humble before him. We all sin, and are easily deceived. If we think we do not sin, we are deceiving ourselves.
A prophecy is a message from God, and false prophecy is error disguised as something from God. God sends his messages through the Holy Spirit, and other spirits send messages that are not from God. The Bible includes a letter written to believers many years ago discussing spiritual discernment...
Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. (1 John 4:1-3 NIV)
When this was written, religious opponents argued the Messiah had not yet come, but believers knew he had. That was the test. Lies and error versus truth. The technique still applies today. What follows is a summary of how I evaluate several prophecies to discern whether or not they are from God.
Years ago, when I was a spiritual newbie, I went into a Christian bookstore and my eyes fell upon three books. I still remember thinking God told me to buy them, although at this point I have my doubts about that. I took the books home and consumed them. The church we were attending at the time had been encouraging us to identify our spiritual gifts, and that was what I was trying to do.
Knowing Your Enemy
The first book I read explained angels, demons, Satan and the "Armor of God." It was written by someone who had graduated from a seminary and was a pastor. I still have it, and it contains a lot of truth, but it is missing some very important things. Error by omission is very subtle.
The most glaring omission is driving out demons. The book says absolutely nothing, but Jesus commands us all to do it.
He [Jesus] said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.” (Mark 16:15-18 NIV)
I shared that book with people I loved, and I exhorted them to read it. Did that make me a false prophet? Unfortunately, yes. Both the author and I were deceived and in error, but I have repented and renewed my mind.
Test Results: Rejected.
Fasting
The second book I read helped me overcome my fear of going without food for more than a day. It included a diary of one person's twenty-one-day fast, which was quite interesting.
With knowledge from that book, I fasted when the leaders of the church we were attending encouraged us to fast. At one time, my dad was sick with cancer, the leaders of our church proclaimed a fast for some reason, and a Christian Radio personality proclaimed a fast for a different reason. I decided to fast about all three things for as long as I could, in order to convince God to move. Around lunchtime of the third day, the Holy Spirit said to me, "I don't need your help." I repented and ended my fast.
Is fasting a necessary part of the New Covenant? That is what I am going to evaluate. The "fasting" book made a case that it is something we should be doing regularly today, but most of the Scripture it referenced was from the Old Covenant, and much of that was one-liners taken out of context. When I recently reread it, I realized the author had used Scripture to justify his own opinions, something we are all easily tempted to do. I am not going to spend a lot of time critiquing the book, but mainly want to look at what applies to us today.
Right after He was baptized in the Holy Spirit, Jesus was led by the same Spirit into the wilderness to fast for forty days. At the end of that fast, he was tested by the Devil, and then he began his ministry (Matthew 3:13-4:17). The Bible doesn't specifically tell us why those things happened, but the pattern and example are certainly relevant to us as disciples of Jesus. It is interesting, however, that Jesus did not have any of his followers do the same thing, which indicates to me it is not a general requirement. We should only follow that pattern if the Holy Spirit leads us to do so. We should also note that this took place during the Old Covenant, since Jesus had not yet been crucified and resurrected, and the Holy Spirit had not yet been sent.
The apostle Paul fasted for three days after he was blinded on the road to Damascus, but he began eating again after he was baptized (Acts 9:9 and 9:19). I can understand that. He had been seriously rebuked, as I have been, and I am sure he was processing what had happened to him. Eating and drinking can be very low priority in situations like that. During the time Paul was blind he was still living his life under the Old Covenant, but once he was baptized he was under the New Covenant and he ended his fast.
The word "fast," as in "going without food," only shows up a couple of times in the Book of Acts (Acts 13:2-3; Acts 14:23 NIV), and in both cases it is about Paul's behavior soon after his conversion. There is no mention of fasting in the rest of the Book of Acts, nor does the word appear (in that usage) anywhere in the rest of the New Testament, from Romans through Revelation. Here is a word-search for "fast" in the NIV, for your convenience.
NOTE: The King James Version, and a few others, have "fasting and prayer" in 1 Corinthians 7:5, but most just have "prayer." Asceticism had been rampant in the Church by the time that translation was made, and the inclusion of the word "fasting" may have had more to do with tradition than truth.
It is easy to understand that Paul, the super-pharisee-religious-guy before his conversion, might be inclined to continue some of his prior behaviors like fasting, but I think it is quite significant than even he is not carrying on with fasting later in the Book of Acts. He never even mentions it in any of his letters. That implies that the early disciples did not fast. Why? They had the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit tells me that I don't need to fast because He is with me. If I am listening to Him, and hearing Him, fasting is not necessary.
Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. Some people came and asked Jesus, “How is it that John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not?” Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them. But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast.” (Mark 2:18-20 NIV)
Jesus is my bridegroom, and He is with me through the Holy Spirit. As
long as my bridegroom is with me, I don't need to fast. If I find
myself without Him, or separated from him, fasting can help me get him
back, provided I am doing it to deny myself in order to repent and
confess my sins. Fasting can help me get my priorities right.
Jesus tells us that when we fast, we should do it in secret. He gave this instruction while he was teaching about the New Covenant, so it applies to us.
“When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” (Matthew 6:16-18 NIV)
The Holy Spirit had me leave my job at the peak of my career, and I did not work for a regular wage for 75 months. I considered it a fast. While we did that, we continued to live our lives as we always had, although we had to learn to be frugal. We went out to eat on most Sundays, and we did our best to generally keep what we were doing a private matter, because we were doing it out of obedience, and not to be seen by others. Our Father rewarded us greatly.
I think fasting can easily turn into religious behavior, and when it does it has no value with God. The only critique I'm going to make of the "fasting" book is to examine the Scripture it cites as its title and thesis statement, Isaiah 58:6.
"'Is not this the fast that I choose?' says the Lord." -- Isaiah 58:6
In a specific place in the book, the author claims the nature of the fast God has chosen is to loose men from bondage and be an instrument of liberation. However, that is not how I read the text at all. You can read all of Isaiah 58 here, and I have quoted the key part, below...
“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.” (Isaiah 58:6-9 NIV)
The way I see it, God's "chosen fast" is about loving and helping our neighbor, not going without food. Sharing food with the hungry, providing shelter for the poor and clothing the naked are not acts of fasting. They are actions of mercy requiring energy that a person obtains from eating food. We cannot do those things if we are spending our time fasting, and I think the prophet was being facetious.
It is interesting to note that the NIV translation gives Isaiah 58 a section title of "True Fasting," the NKJV gives it "Fasting that Pleases God," and the ESV says "True and False Fasting." It appears those Bible translators may have allowed some ascetic biases to influence their work. As I have said before, we must remember where the Bible and its translations have come from, and who exactly runs the world we live in.
Prophecies promoting religious behavior take us away from what Jesus wants us to be doing -- setting people free and making disciples. Jesus wants us to have mercy, not spend our time being religious...
In summary, I believe fasting is appropriate when we are specifically called to do so by the Holy Spirit, or we have lost contact with Him, but most of the behaviors promoted by this particular book are not relevant under the New Covenant.
Test Results: Rejected.
Spiritual Warfare
The last of the three books was about intercessional prayer. It talked about "strongholds," "prayers of agreement," "dominions," and other things picked out of the Bible, but mostly it was about human beings fighting the darkness through prayer. It talked about "generals of intersession," spiritual territories and conferences organized to coordinate strategy against Satan. It was exciting stuff, and it fed my pride. Too bad the Bible doesn't say anything about any of it.
Jesus did not command us to defeat Satan because He has already done it.
And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. (Colossians 2:15 NIV)
After I was set free in Jacksonville, I was re-exposed to "spiritual warfare" language the next day, and I found it easy to pray for all sorts of things. Eventually, I realized it is not my responsibility to do battle with Satan, like I had been taught by this book and by others. You can read more about it in my previous post, Rage of Neptune. When I repented, God set me free again by renewing my mind.
The apostle Paul certainly talked about the "full armor of God," and we should use it because God gave it to us to use, but it is for personal protection only.
Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. (Ephesians 6:13 NIV)
The only offensive weapon in the package is the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. Swords only work against things that are at arm's length.
We are not called to use the armor as an offensive weapon to engage in major offensive spiritual
combat. Armor is for
personal defensive purposes only, to protect us from shrapnel when bombs go off nearby. It is not
sufficient, or even effective, for assaulting enemy fortifications and tank formations. Jesus and his angels are the artillery, air force and navy, and they have the "nuclear weapons." We are foot soldiers who can call in an occasional "air strike" if we are being overrun, but our job is to simply obey orders.
True spiritual warfare is doing what our Commander in Chief, Jesus, tells us to do. Heal the sick, cast out demons, preach the Gospel and make disciples (Matthew 10, Matthew 28:16-20, Mark 6:7-13, Mark 16:15-20, Luke 9:1-9, Luke 10:1-24, Acts 2). Every healing, deliverance, repentance, baptism in water and baptism in the Holy Spirit is an act of war. The Devil fights against those things because they are effective against him, and they advance the Kingdom of Light against his kingdom of darkness. Those battles are usually met by opposition, so if we are not experiencing opposition then we are probably not doing our job.
“Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.” (Mark 10:29-31 NIV)
If God leads us to pray for something, we should immediately comply, and if a brother or sister asks for prayer, we should do it.
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should. (Ephesians 6:18-20 NIV)
What we pray for must be God's will. The name of Jesus is not a talisman to be used for whatever we want.
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’” (Matthew 7:21-23 NIV)
Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, “In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.” Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?” Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding. (Acts 19:13-16 NIV)
We should be concerned that our prayers are answered, especially our public ones, because if they are not, what does that say about us? And what about the people we follow? Does God answer their prayers and bring about what they prophesy and proclaim? If not, what does that say about them?
1...when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him. (Deuteronomy 18:22 NIV)
The prophet who prophesies peace will be recognized as one truly sent by the Lord only if his prediction comes true. (Jeremiah 28:9 NIV)
Most importantly, our prayers should be about exalting Jesus, not ourselves. People talk about the "power of prayer," but we should be demonstrating the power of God. Many of us put lots of prayers, "amens" and Scripture quotations in public places like Facebook, but what are our true motivations for doing so? Do we realize that when we use the name of Jesus to publicly ask for things that don't end up happening, we discredit that name in front of nonbelievers and ultimately reinforce their unbelief. Is that what we really want to do? Of course it isn't! We need to stop making holy things common. We need to think again about what we are doing. We need to repent.
“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites[i.e. actors], for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” (Matthew 6:5-8 NIV)
Learning we might have access to spiritual power can tempt us to do things that make us proud, but if we start playing on the Devil's turf, he will own us and we will become his tool. We need to stick with Jesus.
For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. (Matthew 23:12 NIV)
Test Results: Rejected.
Prophecy Interpretation
In addition to the three books, I also read things early in my walk about "end times" prophecies. The Left Behind series of books was very popular, and I read a bunch of them. I also listened to similar discussions at church, and was very interested in what the pastors had to say. It was all very exciting, but after a while I began to realize that none of them really knew any more about it than I did. I could read the Bible just as easily as they could. I also realized that nobody knows the day Jesus is going to return, except the Father -- not even Jesus!
“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” (Matthew 24:36; Mark 13:32 NIV)
The Bible certainly contains a lot of prophecy. Some of it was intended for each author's immediate audience, and some is intended for us today. The question is, what should we do with it? As the Scripture says at the top of this post, we should hold on to what is good. God gives us prophecy to reassure believers that He has everything under control, and to prove the things He does are from Him.
Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets. (Amos 3:7 NIV)
I used to think I could use prophecies to convince nonbelievers to believe, but prophecies are only for believers. Jesus spoke in parables to the crowds, and he spoke plainly to his disciples. His prophecy about "the day and the hour," mentioned above, was given to his disciples in private. Nonbelievers cannot understand these things, because they are spiritually discerned. That means they must have help from the Holy Spirit to understand them, and if they don't, they won't. That's just the way it is, and any attempts to preach these things to them will only harden them and drive them further away from Jesus.
“Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.” (Matthew 7:6 NIV)
Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers; prophecy, however, is not for unbelievers but for believers. (1 Corinthians 14:22 NIV)
I also used to worry about what had been prophesied in the Bible, and I think there is temptation to try to do something to counteract, or fight against, things God has ordained to happen. But, if we have faith in Jesus Christ, and are in touch with the Holy Spirit, we have nothing to worry about...
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matthew 6:25-34 NIV)
What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:
“For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:31-39 NIV)
Sharing prophecies with fellow believers to reassure and encourage them is a good thing, but it should not be our primary focus because it doesn't produce any fruit. It may reassure the disciples, but it doesn't make any.
Test Results: Mixed, at best.
Pray in the Spirit
I had heard about "praying in tongues," and always thought it was kinda weird. Something told me it wasn't important and not worth bothering with, although I knew the apostle Paul did it.
My primary motivation for going to Jacksonville was to get my mother baptized in water and spirit and my wife baptized in spirit, but while I was there I was led to ask someone to help me speak in tongues, and God delivered me from demons. Those demons had been preventing me from accessing the best way to communicate with our Almighty God. Since then, I have learned how to speak and pray in tongues, and the rewards are amazing. (If you are experiencing doubts about this right now, they are from Satan. They are lies.)
Many of my religious friends are skeptical and afraid of "tongues," probably for the same reasons I was, but tongues are a sign of the Holy Spirit.
All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. (Acts 2:4 NIV)
For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God. (Acts 10:46 NIV)
When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. (Acts 19:6 NIV)
Jesus predicted all believers would speak in tongues.
And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; (Mark 16:17 NIV)
Can tongues be faked? Sure, but we can look at other fruit in a person's life to discern if they are really from God and have been converted. Praying in tongues is actually a God-ordained tool for believers to commune with Him, and that is why the darkness doesn't like it and tries to discredit the practice.
For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people but to God. Indeed, no one understands them; they utter mysteries by the Spirit. (1 Corinthians 14:2 NIV)
Anyone who speaks in a tongue edifies themselves, but the one who prophesies edifies the church. (1 Corinthians 14:4 NIV)
Paul said that if tongues are spoken in the presence of others, they must be interpreted so what is said will be of value to those who hear.
If anyone speaks in a tongue, two—or at the most three—should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret. (1 Corinthians 14:27 NIV)
Praying in tongues is praying under the influence of the Holy Spirit. In his first letter to the believers in Corinth, Paul addressed concerns about when it is appropriate to pray in tongues, and he was doing it in a way that implies the people he was talking to were already well aware of the practice of praying in tongues -- how to do it, and its purpose. It is truly unfortunate that 1 Corinthians 14 is really the only place in the Bible that talks much about this vital tool God has given us.
For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my understanding; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my understanding. Otherwise when you are praising God in the Spirit, how can someone else, who is now put in the position of an inquirer, say “Amen” to your thanksgiving, since they do not know what you are saying? You are giving thanks well enough, but no one else is edified. (1 Corinthians 14:14-17 NIV)
The Scripture says we should not forbid speaking in tongues.
Therefore, my brothers and sisters, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. (1 Corinthians 14:39 NIV)
I pray in tongues by faith. When I do it, God rewards me with understanding, revelation and instruction. My mind is not engaged with my mouth, and I do not understand the "words," but it is enjoyable. I was told that the Holy Spirit is a gentleman, and He does not take a person over like a demon might. We just need to simply start speaking and then let come out whatever comes. I do it all the time: quietly to myself, when I am resting in my chair, mowing the grass, driving the car, walking down the street. It is a conscious decision to pray this way, and it pleases God.
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. (Ephesians 6:18 NIV)
But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. (Matthew 6:6 NIV)
Something I need to learn to do is speak in tongues while praying for people. Many times we do not know what to pray, or we find ourselves "in over our head" and struggling with unbelief. If tongues are from the Holy Spirit, then speaking in tongues should be an effective tactic when we need help. For as Paul says in Romans 8...
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:26-28 NIV)
God has been having me watch other disciples do these things on the Internet, and it has been teaching me a lot. Here is a clip from The Last Reformation's Pioneer School that includes a testimony of how a person began speaking in tongues when they didn't know what to do. It is an amazing story...
Yes, tongues are from God, and we should embrace them as the gift that they are. They are simple to do, put us directly in touch with the Holy Spirit, and help us access the power and life God intends for us to have...
But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit. But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. Be merciful to those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh. To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy—to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen. (Jude 17-25 NIV)
My mind is continually piecing "the puzzle" together. Automatically.
