Jonathan Brenneman's Blog, page 6

Look For The Little Cloud!

A few months ago I wrote a post called Revival Is Here. I shared testimonies from Sean Feucht`s tour of the United States. I’m writing about the same topic again today because I feel like the Holy Spirit is continuing to highlight it to me.

Years ago, God highlighted the story of Elijah to me with supernatural rain in my house and other signs. Elijah heard a word from God and declared it as a fact when there was no natural sign of it. Then he sent his servant seven times to look for rain. Finally, the seventh time when his servant saw a little cloud the size of a man’s hand coming out of the sea, Elijah said “Go down before the rain stops you!”

I feel like the Holy Spirit is applying this scripture passage to the topic of revival right now. When I think of revival, I think of everybody’s attention being seized by an awareness of God’s presence and of the gospel. I’ve read many testimonies of revival and I’ve had a taste of it. I think of loud weeping and wailing turning to laughter and even businesses and schools halting their activity because the Holy Spirit is grabbing a hold of men’s hearts. I think of masses of people deciding they don’t want to live their own sinful, selfish lives anymore, but they want to receive Jesus’s life. I think of newspapers and TV stations reporting God’s miracles, of Jesus becoming the center of attention within entire cultures.

Many times we have looked to political solutions to the corruption and evil that has raised it’s head, but nothing will solve the problems we face if men don’t come to repentance. We need to see people’s hearts transformed. There’s a story from the Welsh revival where the defendant in a court case cried out “I’m guilty,” the judge preached the gospel to him, and the jury sang a hymn to close. I am praying for such a work of the Holy Spirit in men’s hearts that even high profile corrupt officials would begin to cry out “I’m guilty!” confess their wrongs, and find peace in Christ’s forgiveness and redemption.

Rumblings of Revival

Some of my friends began to do online zoom meetings or share the gospel through TikTok during the worldwide lockdowns, and they reported they were seeing more salvations than they ever had in their lives. People were being brought to a point of decision, looking for hope. Then we heard of baptisms on the street during Sean Feucht’s worship events. Recently, Mario Murillo has been reporting on rumbling’s of revival.

Hundreds of people have been saved every night during his tent meetings in Bakersfield, California. They are also seeing Jesus glorified through healing miracles. Mario reports that more than once, people were already crying out loud under the Holy Spirit’s conviction as he was just beginning the meeting with announcements, and he had to pause and give them the opportunity to give their lives to Christ.

Mario says “I want you to understand that if we had the workers…if we had the opportunity, we could harvest the entire central valley of California in a matter of weeks…because that’s how acute the hunger of God is.” They are seeing gangsters, business people, the rich and poor born again.

Jesus said that the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few. Will you get to work laborer in God’s harvest? Will you speak up and share the gospel will people who need hope? Will you let Jesus weep through you for the lost? Guys God’s river is raging, He is moving, so let’s jump in and be a part of it!

Yesterday I went to church with my wife and I heard the sound of weeping and wailing as the speaker talked about God’s love. I’ve heard that sound before, followed by laughter as people experienced the joy of reconciliation with God. It is the sound of revival. I only heard that sound coming from a few people yesterday, but I recognized it. And I know from ministering healing to people-when that person starts feeling heat, starts feeling the pain melt away, any manifestation, you start jumping and hollering and yelling “Thank you Jesus! God is healing you!” And that is also the appropriate way to respond when you start hearing the weeping and wailing coming from even just one person, “Thank you Jesus! Revival is here! It’s here!” Because when you rejoice like that you are joining your agreement to what God is doing and it starts multiplying. Guys, I’m seeing a small cloud coming out of the sea and it’s gonna rain!

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If You Try To Save Your Life You`ll Lose It!

When I was pretty young, I came to the point where I was sick and tired of living a life of self-seeking and self-preservation. I was miserable, and I realized that kind of life never lead to anything good. It wasn`t a life worth living. God reached me with his love, and I decided I didn`t want to live my life anymore. I wanted to live Jesus`s life.

Then I encountered God`s love again and again, starting when I was 12 years old. I wept and wept as I felt His love and it became stronger until I could physically feel it as a force field, a tingling current of power, goodness so real and tangible it had weight.

Somewhere I heard or read about people who made a pact with the devil. They sold their souls to the devil. Maybe to get rich or something else. I also learned about people who meddled with witchcraft or magic arts until they got themselves way in over their heads. Crazy things started happening, and not good. It led to all kinds of destruction.

I saw that it never went well for those people. So I thought, “If they could sell their souls to the devil, why can`t I ‘sell my soul’ to Jesus Christ? Why can`t I keep opening myself up to the Holy Spirit until I`m completely taken over by him?” If it was ever possible to go past the point of no return in giving myself over the Holy Spirit, I wanted to. I figured it was the only life worth living anyways. Nothing else went right for me. By the time I was 14, I became fully resolved that I wanted to live my life completely for Jesus, that my supreme goal in life was to become completely possessed and given over to God`s love and work.

I stumbled, failed, and went astray many times since then. Yet in spite of all that, I never let go of this goal. I learned to keep telling the Holy Spirit “I want your work in my life!” In spite of all the failings, I would pray “Holy Spirit, here is my heart. Fill every part of it and take every part of who I am!” I learned to welcome His work. If my heart was hard I asked Him to soften it, and if I felt like I couldn`t love someone or I’d failed, I would open my heart and say “Holy Spirit, I don`t feel like I can love this person or be strong in this area, but I want you to do your work in me, love through me, strengthen me.” And I have done that consistently since I was 14.

And in spite of all the stumbling and failures along the way, that decision to try to open myself up as fully as possible to the Holy Spirit has born fruit in my life. The other day I just finished teaching some English classes and a Christmas carol was in my heart, “Oh Come Let Us Adore Him!” And as a sang, I felt a weight around me and a current of love flowing through my heart. Physically. And it`s not so out of the normal for me to feel that. I don`t depend on it or live by it. On the contrary, the tangible experience is something that manifests out of a reality that has grown in my heart: an awareness of God that is not dependant on circumstances of feelings.

The Sobering Side Of Love

Not long after I resolved I wanted to go all the way in giving my whole heart and soul over to the Holy Spirit, I read the book “Tortured for Christ,” and “Fox`s Book of Martyrs,“ as well as the stories of other Christians around the world who suffered severe persecution. I didn`t want to be tortured! But what if God`s love led me into such hard places? Would I say yes? I realized that giving myself fully over to God`s love would have to mean going wherever that love would take me. It could mean pain, suffering, severe hardship, abuse. I didn`t feel like I was strong enough to go through that. But how could I say “no” to this love I had experienced? I realized knowing such love, giving myself over to God`s love, was heaven on earth. (See Present Access To Heaven) It was the only life I wanted to live. Yet heaven coming into our hearts leads us to confront hell. So I prayed “God, I don`t really want to be tortured, beaten, imprisoned. But I want my life to be completely given over to your love. I want to go on even if it comes to that. So please help me! Even if your love leads me to a place where I have to risk my life, I say yes.”

I recently heard Robby Dawkins share a story that reminded me of that sobering side of experiencing God`s love. He was in Afghanistan teaching Christians to evangelize with power and healing. His hosts were freaking out because at any moment the nearby Muslims could attack and kill them. And then the government officials arrested him on made-up charges of stealing something.

They locked him in a shipping container and left him there for a long time in the cold. I have read stories of many persecuted Christians who were left in cold shipping containers as a form of torture, often killed by the extreme cold or the extreme heat. From what the authorities said, it sounded like he was never getting out. He thought he might never see his family again.

Meanwhile, someone praying for Robby heard the Lord and prophesied exactly when they would let him go. And at that time, the authorities came and took him out. A Muslim businessman, who had previously persecuted Christians, had seen the healing miracles. And he told the authorities…“Let him stay under house arrest while you investigate. I will vouch for him. If he runs away I will go to prison in his place. He is a good man.” They set him free but warned that they would be watching him every moment.

The next day, the streets were filled with rioting because Donald Trump had moved the US embassy to Jerusalem. The authorities were so busy dealing with that, they completely forgot about Robby Dawkins, and he continued evangelizing freely! He was not about to back down from expressing God`s love just because he just narrowly escaped getting locked in an Afghan prison for the rest of his life!

Are You Willing To Open Your Heart Fully To God`s Love?

Knowing God`s love starts with receiving his love for us. Knowing his love is completed when our hearts are possessed by his love. And that leads into pain, hardship, suffering.

I`ve seen so many times when the Holy Spirit was imparting his love to people, they would weep with compassion, sometimes even wail or groan. It is so holy. Compassion compels us to face hardship, not to run away from it. Often the very supernatural experiences with God`s power prepare people to persevere through the hardships they will face in the places where love compels them to go. Will you open your heart for God to express his love through you? Will you say “God, I want to know your love! Give me your compassion! Holy Spirit, I rip my heart open to you and invite you to fill every nook and cranny of my being! Jesus, if you want to weep through me for hurting and broken people, here I am! Here I am Jesus! Send me! Express yourself through my life!”

What does that mean for you? It may mean leaving everything and going as a missionary to radical Muslims, or it may not. It does mean to be willing to go where God`s love compels you, to stop trying to preserve your own life, and to confront hell instead of avoiding it! It does mean stepping out of your comfort zone and ministering to people instead of avoiding their problems! It does mean allowing Jesus to weep through you with compassion for the lost and oppressed.

If You Lose Your Life For Christ`s Sake, You`ll Find It!

Lately, we have seen a huge rise in totalitarianism and tyranny. Many in other nations who have lived under totalitarian and communist governments recognize recent events in the United States as a Marxist coup. They recognize the toppling of statues, violence on the streets, censorship, media manipulation, kangaroo court impeachments, and threats of violence and job loss against anybody who stands in the way. Venezuelans recognize what has happened in the US as what happened in their country. A Chinese immigrant told me that if Joe Biden was put in office in 2021, democracy would cease to exist in the world. I hear similar things from South Americans, Asians, Africans, people all over the world. Many people all over the world are afraid as it seems to them that democracy is failing in the United States.

You guys know I`m not a pessimist or fatalist. I hold to Victorious Eschatology. Yet I still believe we need to be vigilant and if we are going to follow Christ we must be prepared to face persecution and even death.

Here`s the thing: When Christians are absorbed with preserving their own lives, when our version of Christianity becomes only about receiving God`s blessings but not about participating in his love that leads us into suffering, that is when evil advances. In that case, the salt has lost its saltiness. Without the move of the Holy Spirit through people who have laid down their lives for love, society will self-destruct. Those who are absorbed with preserving their own lives will lose them anyway. Many people right now are realizing what I realized as a young teenager: that life we try to preserve isn`t secure anyways! We might as well determine to lose our own lives for Christ now, and by doing so find real life, eternal, glorious, victorious life that starts now, that completely frees us from fear, and can never be taken away from us!

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose”-Missionary Jim Elliot who was killed on the mission field

Matthew 10:29-30 (NRSV) Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news,  who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age—houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life.

1 Peter 4:13 (NRSV) But rejoice insofar as you are sharing Christ’s sufferings, so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when his glory is revealed.

Romans 8:17 (NRSV) …and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

By losing your life you will find it, and this is really the only life worth living. It is a life of suffering and glory. It is a life of courage, a life of risk, a life of miracles. Those who want to live a life of miracles must be willing to face impossibilities by the power of God. It`s not always easy, but it’s worth it!

The post If You Try To Save Your Life You`ll Lose It! appeared first on Go to Heaven Now!.

God`s Mighty Strength At Work In You!

Incomparably Great Power For Those Who Believe

Ephesians 1:18-21 (NIV) I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people,  and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 

The same power that raised Jesus from the dead, that overcame every other power in the universe, is available to us who believe. How many will believe?

Many Are Called But Few Are Chosen

Matthew 22:1-14 (NRSV) Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come. Again he sent other slaves, saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready; come to the wedding banquet.’ But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.’ Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad; so the wedding hall was filled with guests.

“But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe, and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.”

Why did Jesus say “Many are called but few are chosen?” Wasn`t it the guests who chose whether they would go to the banquet or not? This doesn`t seem to make sense in English, but with a little examination of the original language, it makes perfect sense. Jacques More explains here and here why the word elect (here “chosen” Greek “eklectoi”) should not be in our English translation of the Bible. It means “choice” in the sense of being “the most excellent.”

Why would God call so many if we was not going to choose them? That`s not the idea here! The point is that God calls many. In fact Jesus said he would draw all men to himself. God calls, but few respond with excellence.

God`s incomparably great power is for us who believe. Many are called but few respond with excellence and venture deeply into the glorious possibilities of life with Christ. Will you see all that Jesus has made possible for you and respond with excellence? Will you feed yourself with testimonies and feed yourself with God`s word, meditating on it day and night? Will you make praise and thanksgiving a discipline in your life? Will you make Jesus Christ your obsession and your life? Will you rip open your heart to him and invite his Spirit to fill every nook and cranny of your being?

This is not about being a super-Christian, never failing. Don`t think for a moment that your weaknesses disqualify you. It is about continuing to turn your focus back to the Lord, again and again boldly coming to God`s throne of grace through Christ, and receiving his grace, allowing him to turn your weakness into strength. Just keep opening your heart up completely to the Holy Spirit. Keep going back to that place in your heart where you have seen God`s glory before by recounting, remembering what he has done in your life. God loves you! Keep yourself in the awareness of that love. Fill your heart and mind with the truth of all Jesus has done for you. Step out in faith to minister healing to people and to proclaim God`s word to others.

Look at those who came before you. Let their testimonies encourage you. They had the same weaknesses you do! But they chose to respond to God`s call in faith, and they didn`t give up!

It`s According To His Power At Work Within You!

Ephesians 3:14-21 (NIV) For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,  and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen.

Do you want to see a great move of God? Do you want to see his power and his glory? So many people are waiting and hoping God will do something, but all of his power, all the power in heaven and earth, is available to you if you believe! Why wait? He is able to do immeasurably more than you can ask or imagine, but it is according to his power at work in you. Look internally not externally. It`s not going to happen through God all of the sudden deciding to rend the heavens and come down. He already did that when Jesus came. It`s going to happen as you are strengthened with power through God`s spirit as Christ dwells in your heart through faith!

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Rejoice Because God Is Coming To Judge The Earth!

[image error] Good News! God is a Just Judge!



God Is In A Good Mood!

When I was a young teenager, I read books and prophesies by some Christians who seemed to think God was constantly on the verge of crushing everybody under his big boot because he was so mad at them. Every earthquake, hurricane, or tornado was seen as God`s judgement. As I grew, and especially as I started to see healing miracles, I rejected that kind of theology. I found out that God is in a good mood, and He is yearning to bless people and show them his goodness. He blesses the righteous and the unrighteous and is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. When a storm came, Jesus rebuked it, when a person was sick, Jesus healed them, and when a mother`s child died, Jesus raised the dead.

Much of the church has moved away from that “angry God” paradigm, as I did. However, I think that in the process some have almost missed the truth of God`s judgement in scripture. Scripture presents God`s judgement as good news! It is part of the gospel!

Romans 2:16 (NRSV)…on the day when, according to my gospel, God, through Jesus Christ, will judge the secret thoughts of all.

Acts 10: 42-43 (NRSV) He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.

God`s Judgement Is Good News!

If the first thing we think of when we read about God`s judgement is sending a disaster to kill lots of people, it`s hard to understand how this could be good news. But I have come to increasingly understand God`s judgement as setting things right. And to the oppressed, that is great news!

Psalm 96:10-13 (NRSV) Say among the nations, “The Lord is king! The world is firmly established; it shall never be moved. He will judge the peoples with equity.” Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it; let the field exult, and everything in it. Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy before the Lord; for he is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with his truth.

Even God`s judgement in our own lives, dividing between what helps us and what hurts us, is to be desired. It can prevent much greater pain. But it is better to judge ourselves:

1 Corinthians 11:31-32 (NRSV) But if we judged ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.

Rejoice in this Time Because God is Judging!

Lots of crazy things are happening in the world right now, and many people feel confused, disoriented, afraid, and disturbed. But I feel like God`s perspective is that this is a time of judgement and it is reason to rejoice. And no, I don`t mean God is giving people covid because they were bad and he`s mad. Nothing like that. I mean this is a time when everything that was hidden is being exposed. It is when things are being set right. All the turmoil we are seeing is a result of things that were hidden and are now being judged and uncovered. Rejoice, because God is coming to judge the earth!

Yes, scripture does speak of a day when God will judge the righteous and the unrighteous. Yet we also see him coming in judgement throughout history, working to set things right. Psalms talks quite a bit about God`s judgement and his workings with the nations.

Psalms 141:9-10 (NRSV) Keep me from the trap that they have laid for me, and from the snares of evildoers. Let the wicked fall into their own nets, while I alone escape.

Psalms 9:16 (NRSV) The Lord has made himself known, he has executed judgment; the wicked are snared in the work of their own hands.

Proverbs 28:10 (NRSV) Those who mislead the upright into evil ways will fall into pits of their own making, but the blameless will have a goodly inheritance.

Psalm 37:12-15 (NRSV) The wicked plot against the righteous, and gnash their teeth at them; but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he sees that their day is coming. The wicked draw the sword and bend their bows to bring down the poor and needy, to kill those who walk uprightly; their sword shall enter their own heart, and their bows shall be broken.

Luke 12:1-3 (NRSV) Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees, that is, their hypocrisy. Nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. Therefore whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be proclaimed from the housetops.

Judgement is painful for people who have wrong foundations, who have believed lies, who have been living lies, whose house is built on sand. It`s not easy to find how much you were hanging on a lie, to see what you trusted in crumble. It`s not easy when God exposes the lie, but it prevents much greater pain in the future. I have the feeling that many media companies are going to lose all credibility in the coming months. The wicked will fall into their own trap. It won`t be easy for those who have been lead astray by them, but it will set many things right.

A lot of financial corruption, money under the table, is also in the process of being revealed in the secular realm. At the same time, God is putting his finger on the church where money has corrupted our wisdom. Leaders in the church accepting gifts from the atheist billionaire George Soros is one example.

3 John 7 (NRSV) for they began their journey for the sake of Christ, accepting no support from non-believers.

Last year, I had a word from the Lord that He was putting his finger on the issue of tithing and putting trust in money corrupting the wisdom of Christians. (Get “The Trojan Horse of Tithing” free here) Since then, I have been seeing this play out. In fact, several months ago I had a very clear vision with the strongest confirmation and actually sent the word to a church leader that the Lord was cutting him down like Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 4, but he could be restored when he humbled himself. Understand guys, I`m all about encouraging pastors, I almost always give words for edification, and I only gave that word because I was sure it was the Lord. And I`m finding out that word is coming to pass. No bitterness or malice, just a tender heart, burning love, and passion to see God`s purposes for the church come to fruition. Things need to be set right.

This is a good time to let the book of Psalms inform your worldview. I encourage you guys to read Psalm 37, meditate on it, and hold on to its promises. And here is Psalm 98. I believe it is a word for this time. When you see from God`s perspective you won`t be freaking out, anxious, confused. You will rejoice because God is judging the earth, and then set yourself to pray the prayer of faith for revival and in accordance with God`s purposes!

Psalm 98 (NRSV) O sing to the Lord a new song,
    for he has done marvelous things.
His right hand and his holy arm
    have gotten him victory.
The Lord has made known his victory;
    he has revealed his vindication in the sight of the nations.
He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness
    to the house of Israel.
All the ends of the earth have seen
    the victory of our God.

 Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth;
    break forth into joyous song and sing praises.
 Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre,
    with the lyre and the sound of melody.
With trumpets and the sound of the horn
    make a joyful noise before the King, the Lord.

 Let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
    the world and those who live in it.
 Let the floods clap their hands;
    let the hills sing together for joy
 at the presence of the Lord, for he is coming
    to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with righteousness,
    and the peoples with equity.

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Revival Is Here!

Recently Youtube started suggesting some Sean Feucht videos for me. He is doing a tour of open-air worship gatherings around the country.

A little after one hour and 13 minutes into this video, Sean introduced Dr. Charles Karuku, a pastor from Minneopolis. After George Floyd died, God spoke to Dr. Karuku and told him to go to that street corner and start a revival. He and his wife stood on the corner with a bullhorn on Pentacost Sunday. Hundreds of people came from everywhere and a revival broke out on the street corner. They continued the meetings. Thousands of people came, hundreds gave their lives to Christ, and many were baptized right on the street. Then when the riots started and businesses were burning, the Lord spoke to him again about going to Kenosha. They started the Riots to Revival movement and are expecting to see the same move of God all around the country.

Hearing Dr. Karuku speak excited me. A few times, I`ve seen someone really filled and overflowing with the Holy Spirit. I remember seeing a Pakistani pastor who was glowing with God`s glory and gold dust covered his face as he spoke. I`ve seen footage of revivals, like of Claudio Friedzon in the Argentina revival. And something about Dr. Karuku reminded me of it. I don`t  know how to explain it, but when I saw him it was like he was radiant with God`s presence. He really looked to me like a guy who is carrying revival, and I got excited!

The Prayer Of Faith For Revival

As I was continuing to watch videos of Sean Feucht`s tours, he was saying “Revival is here! Declare it even if you don`t see it fully yet!”

2 Corinthians 3:13-14 (NRSV) But just as we have the same spirit of faith that is in accordance with scripture—“I believed, and so I spoke”—we also believe, and so we speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus, and will bring us with you into his presence.

I thought of how Mark Hemans heard God say “Go to Indonesia and pray the prayer of faith for revival.” That phrase lit my heart on fire. “The prayer of faith for revival.”

I remembered when God gave us signs of supernatural rain and a supernatural umbrella to point us to the prayer of Elijah. I wrote about those supernatural events in the article Supernatural Rain in my House. Then in Elijah, the Prayer of Faith, and Supernatural rain, I wrote about what Elijah`s story teaches us about the prayer of faith. Elijah turned a nation from idolatry back to God. He prayed for rain and sent his servant seven times to look for a cloud, and when his servant finally saw a small cloud the size of a man`s hand, he told the King “Hurry before the rain stops you!”

Do You See The Cloud?

This is what I felt like the Lord is saying. The small cloud is here. It`s time to get excited and like Elijah declared “Hurry up! It`s gonna rain!” we declare “revival is here!” Even when we see just a small cloud like what has started happening at Dr. Karuku`s street meetings. I think Sean has it right. Revival is here, so let`s get engaged with what God is doing!

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Perfect Love Frees You From Fear!

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In our last post, we talked about the words of Jesus that you will find your life if you lose it for his sake. We are continuing by talking about the perfect love that casts out all fear.

What Would It Look Like To Be Totally Free From Fear?

1 John 4: 15-21 (NRSV) God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. So we have known and believe the love that God has for us.

God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. We love because he first loved us. Those who say, “I love God,” and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.

Imagine what it would be like to live totally free from any and every kind of fear! How often do we take this scripture seriously? Our hearts sometimes get hardened and dulled to Gods promises because of what we havent experienced. Often we fail to lay hold of and experience Gods promises because of what we dont yet understand, or because we deceive ourselves by hearing God`s word but not putting it into practice. I like to do a little evaluation and when I read a scripture, ask myself “Am I really acting like this scripture is true?” 

What Is Perfect Love?

The context of 1 John 1:18 often gets missed. Of course, God`s love is perfect, so many people think “receiving God`s love sets us free from all fear.” However, that`s missing what 1 John is saying perfect love is in context. This is even easier to miss in some translations because some like the NIV say “In this God`s love is completed” and then talk about perfect love casting out all fear. It`s clearer in a translation like the NRSV. Before saying that perfect love casts out all fear, it talks about knowing and believing the love God has for us, and then it says “Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world.”

“As he is, so are we in this world.” In this love is perfected. It starts with receiving God`s love, but it is perfected when we become love as he is love. 

Ephesians 3:16-19 (NRSV) I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Genesis 4:1 (NRSV) Now the man knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have produced a man with the help of the Lord.”

Ephesians is talking about a participatory knowledge of Gods love. When scripture says "Adam knew his wife" it is talking about a participatory, experiential knowledge. The kind of "knowing Gods love” that Ephesians is talking about looks like a human being filled with all the fullness of God! To fully know Gods love is to participate in it. We love because God loved us. It starts with receiving Gods love but is perfected in us when we love as God loves.

1 Peter 1:3-5 (NRSV) His divine power has given us everything needed for life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Thus he has given us, through these things, his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of lust, and may become participants of the divine nature. 

Will You Decide To Lay Down Your Life?

John 15:9-13, 17 (NRSV) As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends…I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.

Jesus laid down his life for us. The Only Begotten Son of God has loved us with the same love the Father has for him! And he commands us to love each other as he has loves us. He commands us to lay down our lives for each other. This is the perfect love that casts out all fear, his love perfected in us! You can know God loves you but continue living for yourself and you will always be afraid of what people can do to you or what might happen to you, but when you lay down your life for Christ you will find it, and that is what will fully deliver you from fear.

We must share in Christ`s death if we are going to share in his ressurrection. We consider ourselves dead to the old self-centered life and we lay down our lives for others. Our joy now comes from loving others and since our joy no longer is about our own situation nothing can take it from us. When we live with this attitude, we can live a completely fear-free life. There is no fear of what can happen to us, no fear of what people might do to us, because our joy and life spring from love and nothing can every take it from us. You can kill me but I will rise again in victory! We have heavenly treasure that is worth far more than gold and nothing can take it away!

If you like this post and havent picked up "Present Access to Heaven"  yet, you may want to check it out. Im sure the scriptural truth in this book will challenge you and the testimonies will encourage you!

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I Don’t Know If I’ll Live Or Die, But As Long As I Live I’ll Live For Jesus!

[image error]Something Worth Living And Dying For

About two years ago, when we were facing one crazy circumstance after another and living in Rio de Janeiro, I sometimes could relate to what Paul wrote:

2 Corinthians 1:8-10 (NIV) We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us…

One night I started singing “I don’t know if I’ll live or die, but as long as I live I’ll live for Jesus.”

Sometimes life is tough. The pressure, even not knowing if we will survive, brings things into focus. This life is short. Am I going to waste it or will I live for a purpose? The human soul longs for a purpose, something worth living and dying for, and that purpose is found by partnering with the cause of Christ and his redemptive work.

You Must Lose Your Life To Find It!

Matthew 16:21-26 (NIV) From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 

A life of faith is a life of courage. Those who live in fear, trying to preserve their lives, will find that they’ve wasted their lives. But those who lose their lives for a cause worth living and dying for, are those who find a life worth living.

If you’ve been around and reading my blog for very long, you know that I am a proponent of victorious eschatology. I believe God’s kingdom and peace is constantly expanding and I reject the notion that the world is always getting worse.

However, there is still a cost to following Christ. There are still many Christians in the world today who are facing severe persecution, being beaten, imprisoned, and having their property seized. And we still need to count the cost of living for Christ. Are we willing to lose everything but find our lives in Jesus?

Luke 14:25-33 (NIV) Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’ “Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.

I’ve read the stories of Christians facing imprisonment and torture for their faith. It’s not easy to consider, “Am I committed to Jesus if it comes to that?” I feel like I don’t know if I could stand through what some of those people went through, but I have decided “Jesus, I want to follow you in everything. Help me! I commit myself to your grace.” Although it’s not always easy, a life lived for Jesus is a life worth living, and in the end, the sufferings we face are light and momentary in comparison to the glory revealed. Our attitude in the face of sufferings reveals our faith in Jesus’s resurrection.

Open Up Every Nook And Cranny Of Your Heart And Soul To The Spirit Of Christ!

I’ve listened to this song again and again over the last two years. It has often moved my heart, moved me to tears, and I’ve felt God’s glory come on me with tangible power. Tell Jesus “I’m giving you everything again!” It feels so good to give Jesus everything again!

This isn’t about being a “strong Christian” by your own willpower. It is about moving forward with Christ, even after you fail or lose focus, refusing to live in the past or waste time with guilt and condemnation and deciding “I’m going on with Jesus.” Even when you feel weak, invite the Holy Spirit to influence you, to correct you, to work in your life, to change what needs to be changed, to make you willing and strong where you are not, to come in and invade every nook and cranny of your soul until it is permeated with the spirit of Christ. “Jesus, I open every room in my heart to you!” Believe me, God is patient, and even if you fail many times, keep opening up your heart to the Holy Spirit and inviting his influence, and he will keep working in your life! God is able to do more than you could ever ask or imagine by his power that’s at work in you!

We find our lives when we lay them down, and this is also what sets us totally free from fear. In our next post, we’ll talk about total freedom from fear.

The post I Don’t Know If I’ll Live Or Die, But As Long As I Live I’ll Live For Jesus! appeared first on Go to Heaven Now!.

The History of Tithing in Evangelicalism

[image error]So guys, even though the PDF has been free for a while, I just officially published The Trojan Horse of Tithing. The ebook is free on multiple platforms and 99 cents on Amazon. If you prefer the paperback version or want to give it to someone as a gift, it is also available now.

Click here for the ebook on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Apple books and more.

Click here for the paperback.

For now, here’s an excerpt from the book with a little of the history of tithing since the protestant reformation.

The Protestant Reformation and Opposition to Tithes

Martin Luther said of the tithe:

“But the other commandments of Moses, which are not by nature, the Gentiles do not hold. Nor do these pertain to the Gentiles, such as the tithe and others equally fine which I wish we had too.”

 Luther liked the idea of a tithe as a civil tax, since it would be a much lighter burden than the taxes of his day. However, he said that the tithe did not pertain to the Gentiles and was not a part of natural law. Zwingli entered the Reformation over the issue of tithing, but later seemed to backpedal a bit. The Anabaptists reacted radically against tithing and called for its abolition., Calvin’s position was unclear and confusing. John Smyth, often credited as being the first Baptist, said that Christ abolished tithes. John Robinson, the pastor of the “Pilgrim Fathers” before they left on the Mayflower, wrote that tithing was abolished and ministers should be maintained with voluntary contributions.

The English Baptists and Quakers also opposed tithing, with particularly fierce resistance coming from the Quakers. Quakers said they were not bound to obey the civil authorities when they gave commands in contradiction to scripture. Quakers were imprisoned, beaten, heavily fined, and had their goods seized for refusing to tithe., Any Quaker who did tithe was threatened with expulsion from the group.

Many English Baptist groups continued paying the tithe as obedience to a civil law, but not because they believed scripture mandated it. One said that tithing “over throws the priesthood of Christ.” They concluded that a minister who accepted tithes should be dealt with according to Matthew 18:15-17, be put on church discipline, and excommunicated if they didn’t repent.

John Bunyan was the author of Pilgrim’s Progress, known as the best-selling Christian book in history next to the Bible. He was imprisoned for his faith. He said that the tithe was ceremonial, passing away with the ending of the Levitical priesthood.

Again, quoting Dr. David Croteau:

“Contrary to the conclusions of most, the Reformation period closed with no (major) reformer explicitly advocating tithing. Their hesitancy to support tithing was based largely on scriptural arguments, not as a reaction to Catholic abuses of the tithe system.”

 

Up to the Present Time

I’ve already left out quite a lot of names and quotes from historical Christian figures who did not believe in tithing. As we continue in history, the number of famous Christians and Bible commentators who taught that tithing ended with the old covenant becomes overwhelming. I recommend reading the works of Dr. David Croteau and Dr. Russ Kelly if you’d like to go into more detail.

Charles Noble wrote an open letter to C.H. Spurgeon’s church in July, 1918. He complained about certain changes in the church since the death of Spurgeon:

“Many other offensive changes were allowed—amongst them Tithes. Tithes were demanded and money grabbed in every way.”… “Then later Tithes were introduced, and the Law was hooked on to the Gospel. ‘But we are not under the law, but under grace,’ which you so soon forgot. It was Paul speaking by the Holy Ghost, who said that ‘Christ had abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments’; and James, speaking to the Church at Jerusalem, of the Gentiles, said, ‘we will lay on them no other burden than that they abstain from fornication and from things offered to idols and from blood.’ Tithes were not named, nor called for in the early Church for hundreds of years. Only when she became corrupt were they called for, and then by a greedy, extravagant, pocket-picking priesthood. Tithes caused trouble enough in this country, and yet you allowed Dr. Dixon to preach sermon after sermon on our duty to pay tithes.”

 Campbell Morgan, a famous preacher and pastor of Westminster Chapel, said the following in a sermon called “The Grace of Giving.”:

“I hear a great deal about the tithing of incomes. I have no sympathy with the movement at all. A tenth in the case of one man is meanness, and in the case of another man is dishonesty. I know men today who are Christian men in city churches and village chapels, who have no business to give a tenth of their income to the work of God. They cannot afford it. I know other men who are giving one-tenth, and the nine-tenths they keep is doing harm to their souls.”

Tithing was not the norm among churches for several hundred years in the United States, where many persecuted groups such as the Quakers fled. Various other methods of support were practiced, including voluntary contributions, renting or selling pews, and at times taxes. The Baptists continued to oppose tithing for hundreds of years. Then major change seems to have begun in 1876. Quoting Dr. Russ Kelly and then Dr. David Croteau:

“Except for state-run churches such as the Anglican Church of England, the Lutheran Church of Germany and the Catholic Church of Spain and Germany, tithing did not appear in other churches in the U. S. A. until the late 1890s. It was not even introduced until the 1870s.-Dr. Russel Earl Kelly

The fact that a tithing advocate (i.e. Salstrand) mentions a ‘rediscovery’ of tithing indicates that tithing must not have been very widespread or popular in America in the nineteenth century. Regardless, Kane wrote a pamphlet in 1876 and sent it out to 75 percent of the evangelical pastors in the United States free of charge. For years he distributed his pamphlets free of charge.”-Dr. David Croteau

Even the writing of Kane himself, a strong proponent of tithing, establishes that the tithe was almost nonexistent in the first few hundred years of American church history. :

“The twin laws that the seventh of our time and the tenth of our income shall be devoted in a special sense to God’s service have never been repealed or abrogated, although until recent years the law of the tithe was almost universally disobeyed; indeed, comparatively few had any distinct knowledge of its existence.” 

 

What Does the History of Tithing Tell Us?

I have only given a very brief history on tithing. Of course, history doesn’t establish doctrine. However, history shows us that the debate about tithing isn’t new. The lack of tithing in the first generations of the church is also cause for serious question. In general, the tithe became established along with other changes that most evangelicals don’t view positively. Dr. Russ Kelly’s observation hits the nail on the head:

“The introduction of tithing emerged in direct proportion to the disintegration of the doctrine of the priesthood of believers and the emergence of the power of the bishop-priests.”

 In fact, Chapter 17 of an early document advocating tithing, The Constitutions of the Holy Apostles, uses the following points as its argument that a bishop should receive tithes and other old-testament offerings that went to the priests and Levites:

“The bishop, he is the minister of the word, the keeper of knowledge, the mediator between God and you in the several parts of your divine worship. He is the teacher of piety; and, next after God, he is your father, who has begotten you again to the adoption of sons by water and the Spirit. He is your ruler and governor; he is your king and potentate; he is, next after God, your earthly God, who has a right to be honored by you.”

 Most evangelical Christians consider such doctrine to be extremely dangerous and even blasphemous, yet it’s the ecclesiology that went hand-in-hand with the rise of tithing in church history. With the Protestant reformation came increased emphasis on the authority of scripture and the priesthood of all believers. People began to read the scriptures for themselves. Along with these changes came a flood of resistance towards the tithe. Here is Dr. Stuart Murray’s conclusion:

“Those who advocated reform of the tithing system or who resisted the tithe itself and proposed alternatives often did so on the basis that tithing—at least as it was currently practiced—was contrary to the gospel or not supported by scripture.

“Rather than tithing being viewed as a marker of spiritual renewal, the groups that resisted tithing were groups who advocated spiritual renewal and radical discipleship.”

My personal observation has been that the more regularly Christians begin living out the priesthood of all believers, the more they become open to reconsidering tithing. In the last decade, the street-healing movement has paved the way for many people to reconsider what they’d been taught about tithes.

A look at tithing in history should provide some serious food for thought to anybody who assumes that opposition to tithing is rooted in stinginess, half-hearted faith, or lack of Christian commitment; even more so to anybody who accepts teachings saying that non-tithers will go to hell. Many who did not practice or even opposed tithing gave their lives for their faith or were imprisoned, even imprisoned specifically for resisting tithing as a matter of conscience.

The Quakers excommunicating anyone who tithed, and the English Baptists subjecting pastors to church discipline if they received tithes, shows that they considered the doctrine a serious affront to the gospel. They lost far more for refusing to tithe than it would have cost them to tithe, because they took the matter as seriously as the circumcision issue which Paul addressed in Galatians.

A great number of others who disagreed with Christian mandatory tithing were famous preachers and theologians, of whom I’ve named only a very few. It is very difficult to accuse such preachers, like G. Campbell Morgan, of having any motive to disagree with the tithe other than love for the truth.

The United States was a refuge for those seeking religious freedom, including the Quakers and Anabaptists who radically opposed tithing, and other groups which did not practice it. Therefore, there is little history of tithing in the United States until the late 1800s, and Mormonism has a much stronger history of tithing than American Evangelicalism does. In church history, it was often those who persecuted others in Christ’s name who mandated tithing, and those who were persecuted who opposed it.

Even today, many major Bible reference works, large seminaries (such as Moody Bible Institute and Dallas Theological Seminary), and influential teachers and theologians, conclude that the tithe ceased with the Old Covenant. Both Dr. Russ Kelley and Dr. David Croteau have compiled lists with some of these. It seems absurd to me that tithing would so often be treated as if it were a fundamental of the Christian faith.

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You’ll Never Get To The Point Where You Don’t Need Faith Anymore!

[image error]Prophesying Over Mr. X

I was recently in a prophetic practice class called “Prophesying over Mr. X” with our friend Sheila at the Inside Out Training And Equipping School. I’ve heard God many times accurately before, but when I take a class like this I still feel like I’m about to jump out of an airplane.

Sheila has also been prophesying for a long time and given many accurate words of knowledge. She was the one who prophesied about us moving northwest to the interior of Brazil just a few weeks before we got the opportunity to do so. She said something in this class that I could really relate to. I don’t know if I remember it word-for-word, but paraphrasing “God will never bring us to the place where we don’t need faith or don’t need to trust him anymore.” She also gets words that don’t seem to make any sense to her, and it takes faith to share and not be sure if she’s right.

She gave the example of seeing a cowgate when she was praying for someone. Being a city girl, Sheila didn’t even know what a cowgate was, or that there was such a thing! But the person who received the word began weeping. When she was young she would round up the cows and then go come, knowing her parents were about to beat her. God used this word that Sheila didn’t understand to set a person free from oppression. The person was also healed of headaches as God healed the emotional trauma.

How I Used To See People Who Walked In The Supernatural

When, as a teenager, I saw people who walked in the supernatural, I thought “If only I had that experience or gift that they did, if I could only hear God like they do, life would be so much easier!” It was as if I thought that if I were in their shoes I would no longer have to stand firm in faith, resist doubt, or keep going in faith regardless of my feelings. Boy was I wrong! Now that I have seen the Holy Spirit’s work in ways I barely imagined, I realize what a misconception this was.

I’ve now experienced many of the manifestations I saw in those people’s lives, and although it was thrilling it didn’t feel like I had imagined it would. Many miracles actually came when I was persevering in the middle of crazy circumstances and didn’t let introspection or my personal situation stop me from stepping out and seeing God touch someone else. If I was not living by faith and only looking at my situation I would have felt like God was far from me and doubted his favor on my life, and would have never stepped out to see a stranger healed.

We Will Always Need To Walk In Faith

[image error]No matter how much we have seen God do in the past, today is a new day and we must rely on God now and receive his grace for today. We are weak and helpless in ourselves, we can do nothing of ourselves, but we can do anything with Christ and his word empowering us. The key is not to rely on ourselves, and not even on our knowledge or past experience, but on the Holy Spirit helping us. Jesus himself said “By myself I can do nothing.” 

Even after having seen everyone healed before, miracle after miracle, I’ve found myself facing new situations with a person in front of me who needs to be healed and feeling absolutely helpless. I still need to confront and reject feelings of unbelief, persevere, and act according to the truth even if my feelings are telling me otherwise.

Likewise, I’ve given quite a lot of accurate words of knowledge by now, some really specific and amazing, but I still regularly feel like “I’m not sure if this is God or just my imagination”  when I get a picture or a word from God. I don’t feel like I’m always the best at hearing God’s voice or quieting my own thoughts. It’s still a risk to share and not be sure if I’m totally missing it. And as Sheila said, often the words that are right on are the ones that seem most bizarre to us!

The other day I prayed for a guy and a picture of Jesus laying hands on his ears came to the screen of my imagination. I wasn’t sure if it was just me but I stepped out and said “I see Jesus laying hands on your ears. Do you know what that’s about?” It turns out he was having nightmares in which he heard a lady screaming, and Jesus was there to set him free from a tormenting spirit that had entered his ears.

Yes, there’s such a thing as having an open vision or hearing God’s voice audibly. But often some of the most detailed, accurate, and powerful prophesies or words of knowledge come as a very subtle impression that you’re not even sure is God and you know needs to be tested, but you step out and risk being wrong.

We will always have to walk by faith and not be sight. We will always have to trust God. Even when you’ve had experience after experience with God, when Jesus Christ is the most real person in the world to you, you will always have to live by faith. We still have to hold to God’s word when things we see look contrary. We still have to resist the temptation to doubt and despair. Even Jesus had to live by faith and resist temptation! He had to walk by faith when they killed his friend John the Baptist, and through many other things. And no matter how much you have seen God do, walking in God’s power will still involve stepping out to walk on water when you don’t see everything but you rely on God.

Isaiah 42 is a Messianic prophecy, a prophecy about Jesus. Why does it say Jesus was blind and deaf? At times when we walk by faith, it is like we are blind and deaf, we don’t see, but we trust God and not our sight or our natural capabilities!

Isaiah 42:18-19 (NIV) “Hear, you deaf; look, you blind, and see! Who is blind but my servant, and deaf like the messenger I send? Who is blind like the one in covenant with me, blind like the servant of the Lord? You have seen many things, but you pay no attention; your ears are open, but you do not listen.”

2 Corinthians 5:7 NIV For we live by faith, not by sight.

2 Corinthians 1:10 NIV He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us.

Hebrews 10:38 (NIV) But my righteous one will live by faith…

1 Corinthians 13:13 (NIV) And now these three remain: faith, hope and love…

 

 

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Let God’s Word Be Made Flesh In You

[image error]We Are Deceived If We Are Missing The Revelation Of Jesus!

In the last post, we talked about how human tradition has influenced scripture translation. We are into considering scholarship, history, and context. However, if our approach to scripture is merely intellectual, we end up being deceived. God’s word is a seed, and it is meant to grow and produce something in us. God wants his word to be made flesh in us!

John 1:14 NRSV And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.

This scripture is about Jesus. God’s word and his invisible nature were manifest in a man. Scripture teaches we are the body of Christ, joined to him, his Spirit indwelling us. It says Christ in you is the hope of glory. So God’s word also must be made flesh in us! God’s word being made flesh in us is his nature, peace, joy, grace, love, power, and glory becoming evident in our lives and not just theories we talk about. Scripture is about revealing Jesus, and if you miss the revelation of Jesus, you are deceived. Yup, I tell this to myself all the time! How do we know if Jesus is being revealed to us?

2 Peter 1:2 (NRSV) May grace and peace be yours in abundance in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

Some other versions say “Grace and peace be multiplied to you.” If Jesus is being revealed to me it is evident in a superabundance of grace and peace. It’s evident in the fruit of the Spirit. It’s evident in the ability to love my enemies. And it’s evident in power. To the extent these things are lacking, I am deceived!

Is your theology leading you into an encounter with Jesus?

John 5:37-42 (NRSV) And the Father who sent me has himself testified on my behalf. You have never heard his voice or seen his form, and you do not have his word abiding in you, because you do not believe him whom he has sent. “You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that testify on my behalf. Yet you refuse to come to me to have life. I do not accept glory from human beings. But I know that you do not have the love of God in you.

Two Ways To Be Deceived When You Read The Bible

There are two ways to be deceived when we read the Bible. One is failing to correctly handle the word of truth.

2 Timothy 2:15 (NIV) Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.

In many cases, people’s theology is not producing a revelation of Christ because their theology is twisted by human tradition and is absolutely unable to produce the fruit of power, love, and righteousness. God’s word correctly handled or “divided” (as the KJV puts it) always produces a revelation of Jesus. If it is not producing the revelation of Christ, it must be questioned! There are all kinds of theologies out there that produce powerlessness, dead religion, and anything but the nature of Christ manifesting in people! Is your theology producing an abundance of grace and peace multiplying to you in the knowledge of Jesus?

I recently interacted with a young church leader who is going into error. I challenged him because his pastor told everyone “If you want to receive my anointing and be a part of this ministry, you must eat my flesh and drink my blood.” We only eat the flesh and drink the blood of Jesus! Yet this young guy insisted that he wants to eat the flesh and drink the blood of his pastor, and he insisted it is a justifiable statement. This is a grave error that is far more obvious than many of the subtle errors that sneak in with human tradition and powerless religion! He was also angry with me for questioning him. After conversing with this guy, I challenged him. “The way you are going is not going to produce the grace and peace that come from the knowledge of Christ in your life. My communion with Christ enabled me to turn around and pray for the guy who threatened to kill me and kidnap my daughter. But the way you are going is not going to enable you to love your enemies like that. This is how you can know it is deception. It will not bring life to you.” I am sure that the more he continues on his current path, the mental torment will increase. And I pray he remembers my words and repents!

There is yet another way to be deceived. Even if we have quite a bit of the right theology but are hearers only of God’s word and don’t put it into practice, if we do not have God’s word and his love abiding in us, made flesh in us, producing fruit in us, we are deceived! So we have nothing to boast about! It’s not enough to intellectually understand God’s word. We must receive it

James 1:21-25 (NRSV) Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like. But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act—they will be blessed in their doing.

How Right Can You Be And Still Be Wrong?

Lately, I’ve been writing a few things more related to current events and politically charged topics. I don’t believe Christians should stay out of such discussions! Yet I’ve had to do this quite prayerfully and be careful that I’m always beholding Christ in the middle of it. I can be so right about many things, but if God’s word isn’t being manifest and abiding in me, I am deceived! 

Dan Mohler recently shared a word he felt was from the Lord for the whole world. I felt it was on target. We need to be careful in these times to never start seeing people as our enemies. The deception that blinds them is our enemy. Is grace and peace manifesting in abundance in my life? If not, I can be all right and still wrong!

Inoculated Against The Gospel?

There came a time when I realized I had been inoculated against the gospel. Scientists produce a weakened, half-dead version of a virus and introduce it in order to make people develop resistance against the real thing. Similarly, a weakened, half-dead, powerless version of the gospel, truth mixed with error, produces resistance against the real thing.

Romans 1:16 (NRSV) For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

1 Peter 1:8-9 (NRSV) …you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

A gospel message with no power is an inoculation. It’s not pure. So is a gospel message that doesn’t produce joy. Is the gospel you believe producing unspeakable job in you, manifesting in power, and enabling you to behold God through Christ so that your face glows with his glory? I ask myself this all the time. If what I’m looking at isn’t producing that joy, I’m deceived. Either my gospel is warped and weakened, or I have my eyes off of the gospel message and I’ve lost sight of what Jesus has done for me!

Christians need to hear the gospel proclaimed with fresh power, because many of us have been inoculated against living by the power of the gospel! More than once, I have needed to be re-sensitized to a pure and powerful gospel message. Everywhere I go, my desire is that Christians be re-sensitized to the gospel, de-inoculated, presented with the real thing in it’s purest and strongest form so that they realize they’ve been duped!

John 6:63 (NRSV) It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.

How do we read the Bible? Yes, we appreciate scholarship, historical context, and Greek words. But we don’t approach it in a merely intellectual fashion. Read the Bible in the spirit and not in the flesh! God’s words are spirit, so as you read the Bible, receive the Spirit of Christ and let the implanted word become flesh in you, manifesting Christ’s power and nature through you!

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