Rhema Revelation

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. (Romans 10:17)

That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. (Ephesians 1:17)

Which is more important — faith or revelation? Which is more important — your left leg or your right leg? The answer in both cases, of course, is that they both are equally important. They are two sides to the same coin.

We need to hear the Word of God because it is itself a revelation of God given by the Holy Spirit. In the Greek New Testament, there are two different words for “word.” The first is logos, and refers to words in general. All the words of Scripture are logos (or logoi, plural). They are all God-breathed and given to us by the Holy Spirit (2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:21). By themselves, they convey a certain understanding of God, His ways and His purposes. But there are things in them that are not going to be understood by the natural man. Paul tells us why:

We speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age know; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written:

“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”

But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.

Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.

These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of god, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

(1 Corinthians 2:6-14)

Long passage, I know. But very helpful to understanding the dynamics involved in the Word of God. You see, without the Spirit, so much of the Scriptures seems like foolishness. The wisdom of the world simply does not comprehend the things of the Spirit. The words (logoi) of Scripture are given by the Holy Spirit, and that means that we must have the Holy Spirit at work in us before we can come to a full understanding of them.

Paul says that the Holy Spirit “compares spiritual with spiritual” (the word “things” is not in the Greek text). That is, He teaches us Holy Spirit truths using Holy Spirit words. The natural man does not understand because they are “spiritually discerned,” that is, discerned by the Holy Spirit revealing them to our spirit.

That is why Paul prayed for Christians in Ephesians that God would give them the Spirit of wisdom and revelation — that is, revelation by the Holy Spirit — so they could know God more and more in intimate relationship.

So what does that have to do with “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God?” That brings us to the other Greek word for “word,” rhema. Logos refers to words generally, but rhema refers to words which are acutely spoken, words that are especially needed in a particular instance.

All the words of God are true all the time. But there are some words I need particularly for this hour to deal with specific circumstances in my life. All the words of God are wisdom, but there is a particular guidance I need for this moment. It is when the Holy Spirit takes from the words of Scripture the thing that I especially need to hear today, and speaks it to my heart — then it has become a rhema.

Perhaps you have experienced, in your quiet time with God, reading a passage from Scripture that you have read dozens of times before. The words may be very familiar to you, and though they are inspired, they may seem very uninspiring to you. But then one day, while you are reading that same passage, all of a sudden the words seem to leap off of the page and strike up an excitement within you. Now you understand them with a depth you did no have before and you have an intense realization of what they mean in your life and in your relationship with God. You have had a rhema moment. The Holy Spirit has taken the Word of God and spoken it to your heart with an astonishing acuteness and clarity. The light has come on and now you can see. God has awakened your spirit with Holy Spirit insight.

That is what Paul is talking about in Romans 10:17, “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” The word for “word” here is rhema. When the Holy Spirit speaks the Word of God to your spirit with precision and simplicity, it has become a rhema. Then faith begins to arise and become powerful inside you.

Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the rhema of God. If you have been born again by the Spirit of God through faith in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit dwells within you. If you listen very carefully, He will bring the Word of God to you today with such amazing lucidity and relevance that it will change your life forever.

You Don’t Have to Take It

Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?

(Matthew 6:31)

The New King James Version reads, “Therefore do not worry, saying …”

Many people worry all the time. Some worry about implausible things, things that are not very likely to happen, but somehow grip the mind and fill the heart with fear anyway. Others worry over “sensible things,” like the basic necessities:

• How shall we pay the rent?
• How shall we buy our food?
• What will we do for clothes?
• How shall we get to where we need to go?
• What will we do for money?
• How shall we pay the doctor bills?
• How will we ever get out of debt?

These are the people Jesus is addressing, and He tells them, “Take no thought.” This reveals something very important about how we get into the place of worry. We have generally been conditioned by the world to think that we have to take whatever thought comes into our head and accept it as our own. We do not. We are perfectly free to choose the thoughts we will accept and which ones we will reject. Jesus shows us that there are some thoughts that do not belong to us and we don’t need to accept them.

Notice another thing Jesus teaches us about worry — how we activate it. Once we have taken the worry thought, we usually then give voice to it by our words. But Jesus said, “Take no thought, saying.” What we say is very important because our words cause things to happen.

Words are very powerful. In the beginning, when darkness was on the face of the deep, God spoke a word, “Light, be,” and there was light. He did not worry over the darkness and start talking about how terrible it was. He simply spoke the answer. We are created in the image of God, we have the breath of God in us, and we have been given the mandate (authority and responsibility) to subdue the earth and exercise dominion over it. We do this in the same way God did — by words. (See Having Dominion)

When we take thoughts of worry and then begin speaking them, we are calling for the very things we dread. We are giving place to them in our lives by our words. Jesus says don’t do that.

Look in the next verse: “ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things” (Matthew 6:32).

Here is another reason why we get into worry: We think that it is our job to seek after the necessity of our lives. That’s the way the world thinks, and that’s the way the way the world has taught us.

Pagans (that is what the word “Gentiles” actually refers to) have no covenant with God, and so they think their provision is all up to them. But if you know the Lord Jesus Christ, you have a covenant with God. You have a heavenly Father who already knows your need. You don’t have to take thought about it because Father God has already considered it and made all the provision you’ll ever need.

Instead of getting into worry and fear, we can start taking different thoughts, speaking different words and seeking after something the world does not even know to seek after.

1. Take God’s thoughts.
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts higher than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9). That does not mean you cannot know the thoughts of God. He sent His Word precisely so you could know His thoughts and think them with Him. Your mind was made to think His thoughts. (See Created to Know and Speak the Mind of God)

So when the world tries to plant thoughts of worry, you do not have to take them. You can take the thoughts of God instead. His Word has a promise for every need and circumstance of your life. Start finding those promises and thinking them with God.

2. Speak God’s words.
Jesus said, “For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says” (Mark 11:23). Just as worry is activated by what you say, so it is with faith. The words of Jesus are pretty straightforward: Believe in your heart, say with your mouth, and receive what you say.

Now, God always knows what to say in any given situation. So find out what He says, then start saying it with Him. That is how Jesus operated. “I speak to the world those things which I heard from Him … I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things” (John 8:26, 28). If that was His modus operandi, shouldn’t it be yours also? Your mouth was made to speak the Word of God.

3. Seek God’s Kingdom.
The world seeks after the necessities of life and gets stressed out over it. That is completely upside down, for Jesus said, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). The way to get your needs met is not by seeking what you need. The way to get your needs met is to seek God’s kingdom, for that is where every provision has already been made for you.

The kingdom of God is His rule and reign. His righteousness is His rightness — His way of doing and being right. Your heart was made to seek His heart and walk in His ways.

The world teaches you to take thought for your needs, which leads to anxiety and stress. But you have a choice. You can think God’s thoughts, speak Gods words and seek God’s kingdom. When you do, you will find that they are more than enough to take care of everything you’ll ever need.

(See also How to Not Worry)

Faith Gets Heard

One who turns away his ear from hearing the law,
Even his prayer is an abomination.

(Proverbs 28:9)

There are two kinds of people in the world: Those who delight in the law of the Lord (Psalm 1:2) and those who turn away from even hearing it. Those who delight in God’s Word, who meditate on it and obey it, are blessed. Those who refuse to hear will themselves not be heard by the Lord.

A word about God’s law. People often think of it as nothing more than a series of do’s and don’ts, a system of “Thou shalt not’s” and “I’m gonna get ya’s,” designed to control and manipulate and smother the joy of living.

Not so. The Hebrew word for “law” is torah, and can just as well be translated as “instruction,” which sets a much different tone. Instruction helps us, enables us, frees us. The Word of God, which is the law of the Lord, presents us with the precepts, the beginning principles, of living successful, fulfilling lives.

That is all well and good — but why is it that the one who turns away from hearing the law does not get his prayers heard by God?

The answer is that God specifically tunes in on faith. The Bible says, “Without faith it is impossible to please Him” (Hebrews 11:6). And how do we get faith? By hearing the Word of God (Romans 10:17). Faith is believing what God has said. Those who have never heard the promises of God’s Word are not in any kind of position to believe them. Those who refuse to hear have cut themselves off from relationship with God.

There are three things: faith, doubt, unbelief.

Faith is hearing and believing the Word of God. God always listens to faith when it prays, and is very pleased by it. John said, “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him” (1 John 5:14-15). Faith gets heard — and receives the answer.

Doubt is lack of knowledge about what God has said. When you don’t know what God has promised and provided on your behalf, you are uncertain about what He will do for you. Your prayers will be tentative and feel like a “crap shoot.” James said, “But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he shall receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways” (James 1:6-7). Doubt has no guarantee of ever getting heard. The solution to doubt is simple — start getting into the Word of God, listening to His promises and following His instructions. Faith will come.

Unbelief is the deliberate turning away from the Word of God. This is what Proverbs 28:9 is talking about, a man who is not simply ignorant of what the Word says, but has turned away and refuses to hear what it says. Faith is far from him, for he has despised the very source of faith. Consequently, when he prays, his prayers do not get heard. God is in no way pleased by them because they have nothing of faith to them.

It might seem odd that there would be someone who turns away from the Word of God and still prays. But that is where the spirit of religion, which is prevalent in the churches, leads people. Listen to the story Jesus tells of two very different men who went to pray:

Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, “God, I thank You that I am not like other men — extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.”

And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!”

I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself shall be exalted.

(Luke 18:9-14)

The Pharisee observed the outward form of the law, but his heart was turned away from hearing the heart of God in the torah. He had plenty of pride, and tons of faith in his good works, but he did not have the Bible kind of faith, which comes only by hearing the Word of God. Jesus says that the Pharisee prayed “with himself.” His prayer got all tangled up with his pride and never reached the ear of God.

The tax-collector heard enough of the Word of God to know that he was a sinner, but more than that, he heard the promise of God’s mercy. He was full of faith about both those things and he believed the mercy with everything that was in him.

Result: The Lord despised the haughty prayer of the Pharisee, who turned from hearing the law of God, but was greatly pleased by the humble prayer of the tax-collector, who fully believe the Word of God’s mercy.

God always listens to faith, and His passions are aroused by it. Faith comes by hearing what God has said. If you will hear Him, He will hear you.

Four Views of Joy

But let all those rejoice who put their trust in You;
Let them ever shout for joy, because You defend them;
Let those also who love Your name Be joyful in You.
For You, O LORD, will bless the righteous;
With favor You will surround him as with a shield.

(Psalm 5:11-12)

Here are four words used for “joy” in the Old Testament:

• samach — to be cheerful, light-hearted.
• ranan — shouting for joy.
• alats — jumping for joy.
• gul — spinning, whirling, twirling for joy.

We see the first three in the passage above:

But let all those rejoice [samach] who put their trust in You;
Let them ever shout for joy [ranan], because You defend them;
Let those also who love Your name be joyful [alats] in You.

We find the fourth one in this well-known verse:

This is the day the LORD has made;
We will rejoice [gul] and be glad [samach] in it.

(Psalm 118:24)

The Bible says, “In Your presence is fullness of joy” (Psalm 16:16). The word for “joy” there is simcha, from the same root as samach. God is all about joy. In fact, it is in His presence that joy originates and finds its complete fulfillment and expression.

In the verses above, we discover that joy comes from trusting the LORD, knowing Him as our defender, loving His name, living in the victory day He has made for us, and pressing into His presence.

Yes, we can rejoice mightily in the LORD. But did you know that He also rejoices over you? Its true:

The LORD your God in your midst,
The Mighty One, will save;
He will rejoice [sus] over you with gladness [simcha],
He will quiet you with His love.
He will rejoice [gul] over you with singing [rinnah].

(Zephaniah 3:17)

Sus, like samach and simcha, means to be bright and cheerful. Rinnah comes from ranan.

Good news! God is not mad or sad at His people — He’s glad! He is lighthearted and cheerful over us. He comforts us with His love and whirls and twirls over us with shouts of joy.

You can get in on this wonderful celebration by receiving the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Mighty One Who Saves (even His name means “salvation”). He came to carry off everything that stands between you and a personal relationship with the Father.

Put your trust in the Lord and be lighthearted and cheerful. Shout for joy as you look to Him as your defender. Love His name and jump for joy. Whirl and twirl with joy because God has created this day to be a day of victory for you. Rejoice and dance with God as He rejoices over you — whirling, twirling, spinning and shouting with delight. The kingdom of God is a party!

God’s Desire for You

Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers. (3 John 2)

This verse perfectly expresses God’s will and desire for you. It was written by the Apostle John, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The Bible says that “God is no respecter of persons” (Acts 10:34), that is, He is ready to show equal favor to all who come to Him. That includes me and you.

In this verse, we see three things God desires to bring forth in your life:

1. Prosperity of soul. This is key, for out of it flows everything else. The Bible says, “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life” (Proverbs 4:23). Jesus said, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:33).

2. Prosperity in all things. Not just spiritual things, not just physical things, not just financial things, and not in everything except finances — but in all things.. Listen to what the Lord says about those who delight in His Word and make it their constant meditation: “He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper” (Psalm 1:3).

3. Health. Not just healing, but health. The Greek words means wellness, soundness, wholeness. Some Christians try to make a deal with God: “Heal me of cancer, Lord, and I’ll keep the diabetes.” That misses God’s will — He wants to heal us of everything, not just some thing, so that we can walk in divine health. God has identified Himself to us as “The LORD Who Heals You” (Exodus 15:26).

Wow! Consider what this means:

• God does not want you to be soul-sick: full of anger, envy, jealousy, bitterness, unforgiveness, fear and doubt. Instead, He wants you to be full of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness and self-control (the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23).
• God does not want you to be broke. Poverty and lack do not come from Him. His plan for you is just the opposite — full provision and prosperity. Paul said, “God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:8, study this passage and carefully note the financial context).
• God does not want you to be afflicted with sickness or disease. He does not send them to punish you, teach you or humble you. In fact, they do not come from Him at all. He can certainly teach you in the midst of sickness, to help you overcome by faith, but He does not send them to you.

Now, some Christians (especially those afflicted with a religious spirit) are so blown away by these promises that they feel they have to explain them away. “Oh, that’s John’s way of greeting people. He doesn’t really mean all that.” Or, “John simply means spiritual blessing, nothing more” (as if the spiritual realm has nothing to do with the natural realm — see The Connection Between Spiritual and Natural). Or “It is just John’s wish, not God’s will.” They are not ready to give themselves fully to the abundance of God’s grace.

But the Holy Spirit does not use words lightly. Neither does John. John’s prayer is given to us precisely because it reflects the heart of God for His people. You and I might say, in a very perfunctory manner, “Hi, how are you? Hope you’re doing well,” and not really be thinking about what we’re saying. But God is not like that. He does not use words lightly — what He says, He means. He will do all that He promises, and if we are willing to believe, we shall receive it.

John much more than spiritual prosperity in mind. He covers that aspect under “just as your soul prospers.” The health he prays for is the health of the body. Prosperity in all things includes physical, financial, family, business, ministry and every other kind of prosperity — in addition to prosperity of soul. As we have already seen, prosperity in all other things is actually based upon prosperity of soul.

Of course, there are many Christians who do not experience prosperity in all things, in their bodies, or even prosperity in their souls. That is because, although God desires to bring these things forth in their lives, they are not automatic. We must receive them by faith and resist the devil. You see, it is the devil, not God, who sends sickness, lack and failure into your life. But the Bible says that, if you submit to God and resist the devil, he will flee from you (James 4:7).

You submit to God by believing His promises and obeying His Word. You resist the devil by refusing to accept sickness, lack and inner turmoil in your life. This does not mean that you deny their reality, but that you deny their right to be in your life. If you have somehow given those things a right to afflict you, you can deal with that by repenting, confessing and renouncing whatever has given the devil a place in you. God is faithful both to forgive and to cleanse you from all everything that is not right in your life (1 John 1:9). Then keep speaking the promises of God over lack, sickness and confusion. The devil will flee and the abundance of God will begin to come forth.

God’s desire is for you to prosper in all things and be in health, even as your soul prospers. So submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you, taking his afflictions with him.

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Healing Scriptures and Prayers
by Jeff Doles

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The Story of Inheritance

Inheritance — we find it in the Old Testament from beginning to end. In Genesis 1, we see that every thing is to reproduce after its kind. That is, each generation receives its character, nature and destiny from the generation that precedes it. Dogs give birth to dogs; cats give birth to cats, and so on.

Man, though a different class of being, is told to be fruitful and multiply — to reproduce and pass on the inheritance. What is that he is to multiply upon the earth? The image of God. For that is how man was created. So we might even say that God reproduces after His kind. Man is not God, but He is a divine creature — made in the image of God and given the very breath of God in his mouth. This cannot be said of any other creature, not even the highest order of angels. Man (Hebrew, Adam) is the only creature who is called “son of God” (Luke 3:38). That is why it is just as important that Jesus is called “Son of Man” as He is “Son of God.” And that is why He is called the Second Adam.

We find inheritance also in the very last chapter of the Old Testament, Malachi 4. There the promise is given of one who will come in the spirit of Elijah, whose purpose will be to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to the fathers. Anytime you see the word “father” or “fathers,” you can know that there is an inheritance involved, for inheritance is the very essence of fatherhood.

From the beginning, God has desired to see the whole world filled with an inheritance that comes from Him. That is why He commanded Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply, to fill the earth and have dominion over all things. From the beginning, the adversary, satan, has desired to stop that inheritance from filling the earth. In between Genesis 1 and Malachi 4, we see the conflict.

That is why there must be those who come in the spirit and power of Elijah. John the Baptist fulfilled this role in the New Testament by heralding the kingdom of God and the need for repentance. He pointed us to Messiah — the Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus has already done all that is needed — He has won the victory. All that is left is repentance, the turning of the heart — fathers to their children, children to their fathers — and Man turning his heart back to the Father. In this way, the inheritance we be complete, and the whole earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of God.

Rain for the Just and the Unjust

But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. (Matthew 5:45)

These are the “red words,” the words of Jesus. But often I hear people take the last line of the verse and grossly misuse it. They say, “Well, you know, God lets it rain on the just and the unjust,” and from the tone of their voice and the context of what they are saying, they mean it in a negative way. Like the old song that said, “Into each life some rain must fall.”

But Jesus meant this in a very positive way. For a day at the beach or a picnic in the park, you probably don’t want to see much rain. But for an agrarian economy, farmers looked for, even longed for, the early and latter rains. Rain is a very good thing.

So Jesus was not saying here that God sends bad things upon the just as well as the unjust. He is not even saying that God sends bad things upon the unjust at all. Quite the opposite: God sends sunshine for the those who are evil as well as those who are good. And He gives rain, not just for the just, but for the unjust as well.

Notice that Jesus started out by saying, “Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those you hate you.” Love, bless, do good—not just for your friends, but for your enemies as well. That is God’s way, and when we follow it, we show ourselves to be sons of the Father. “Sons” speaks of maturity, and our love and kindness toward our enemies demonstrates that we are indeed part of the family of God—we’re living up to the family name.

There are, without a doubt, battles and negative circumstances which God’s people must face, even as the unjust do. But they do not come from God. God gives only good gifts (James 1:17). So when He sends the sun, it is to bless, even the unjust. When He sends the rain, it is to do good, even to the unjust.

God’s purpose is for us to be a means of blessing. When He blesses us, it is not only for ourselves, but for all those around as well. In that way, even our very presence becomes a blessing to others, for God will always watch out for us and take care of us. He blesses with such abundance that we cannot help but for it to splash over onto others. It is designed for their benefit as well as ours, for the goodness of God leads to repentance (Romans 2:4).

We are called to partner with God in blessing. We are to demonstrate our love, even to our enemies, to bless even those who curse us, to do good, even to those who hate us. That’s what it means to be “grown up” in the Lord, and everyone will see who our Father is.

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The Kingdom of Heaven on Earth
Keys to the Kingdom of God
in the Gospel of Matthew
by Jeff Doles

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The Knowledge of the Glory

For the earth will be filled
With the knowledge of the glory of the LORD,
As the waters cover the sea.

(Habakkuk 2:14)

Notice that the prophet is talking, not just about the glory of the LORD, but of the knowledge of the glory of the LORD. The earth is already filled with the glory of the LORD. We see this in Isaiah’s vision, where the angels cry out,

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts;
The whole earth is full of His glory.

(Isaiah 6:3)

The glory of God is already here — always has been, always will be. What is really needed is the knowledge of His glory. And that is what Habakkuk is prosphesying — that the knowledge of His glory will fill the earth.

Knowledge is awareness, perception, acknowledgement, discernment, wisdom or understanding concerning a thing. The knowledge of the glory of the LORD comes by revelation. That is how it came to Isaiah, that is how it comes to you and me. Paul’s prayer for believers in Ephesians was that the Father of Glory would give them wisdom and revelation by the Holy Spirit, so that they could know Him more and more (Ephesians 1:17).

The Hebrew word for “fill,” mala, means to accomplish, confirm, consecrate, or fulfill. When the earth is filled with the knowledge of God’s glory, there is a setting apart for the purposes of God, and a completion of those purposes.

Notice the extent of this revelation that is to come upon the earth: “As the waters cover the sea.” Now, we know that seventy percent of the earth’s surface is covered with water, but one hundred percent of the seas are covered with water. Either way you want to take it, the point is that this revelation of God’s glory is going to be all around us.

But how shall this be, and when? Habakkuk gives us a clue:

Behold, is it not of the LORD of Hosts
That the peoples labor to feed the fire,
And nations weary themselves in vain?

(Habakkuk 3:13)

There is a feeding of the fire, the vanities of peoples and nations being revealed as God comes to set things right. In the Bible, fire is a judgment which purifies the good and destroys the evil.

• “For our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:29). But also, “God is love” (1 John 4:8). So the fire is ultimately an expression of His love.
• Speaking of Jesus, John the Baptist said, “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Matthew 3:11).
• Paul said, “No other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is” (1 Corinthians 3:11-13).
• Peter concluded, “Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness; looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:11-13).

Whenever the vanity of man is burned up in the fire, the knowledge of God’s glory comes forth. For it is the goodness of God which not only reveals the sinfulness of man, but also deals with it.

When Isaiah had his vision, as he became aware of the glory of the LORD, it would have killed him, had it not been veiled by smoke. In that moment, Isaiah also became aware of his sinfulness.

Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of Hosts. (Isaiah 6:5)

But the love of God had a solution — fire!

Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth with it, and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips. Your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged.” (Isaiah 6:6-7)

The revelation of the glory of the LORD is an “end time” event, but in Bible terms, we have been in the “last days” ever since Jesus came. For it is ultimately in Him that we come to the knowledge of the glory of God. Paul said,

But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age had blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake. For it is God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:3-6)

It is when the gospel of Jesus Christ is proclaimed — and believed — that we begin to see the glory of God made known. For the fire of His love reveals the vanity of our own works and points us to the Lord Jesus Christ, who took the judgment of our sin upon Himself.

Those who reject Him will be totally unprepared when the glory of God is revealed, and the brightness of that glory will be as a fire that torments them. But those who receive Him will be baptized with the Holy Spirit and with fire, cleansed and set apart for the divine destiny for which they were created. For in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ we behold the glory of God.

Who’s the Boss?

Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. (Ephesians 5:22-24)

Many Christians (mostly men, but not a few women) look at this passage and think it is about who’s the boss. They completely miss the point. It is the sort of question people ask who don’t understand very much about intimate, personal relationships.

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word. (Ephesians 5:25-26)

Notice that Paul does not say, “Husbands, boss your wives,” or “Husbands, make your wives submit.” Nothing of the kind. Rather, he says something completely different: “Husbands, love your wives.”

Then Paul gives definition to that love. It is not the world’s idea of love, but God’s idea. We see this clearly portrayed in the Lord Jesus Christ: “Just as Christ also love the church and gave Himself for her.”

The Bible says that God is love (1 John 4:8), and it is the nature of love to give and serve. God so loved that He gave His only begotten Son (John 3:16). Jesus came, not to serve, but to be served, and to give His life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45).

So Paul is not talking at all about “who’s the boss.” Rather, he is talking about “who’s the servant.” When he says, “Husbands, love your wives,” he is saying, “Husbands, give yourselves to your wives, and serve them.” BIG difference!

Some husbands go to God and complain, “Lord, that woman you gave me won’t submit.” They sound like Adam when he was caught in sin: “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate” (Genesis 3:12). As if that made any difference at all concerning his own responsibility.

Husbands are to love and serve their wives regardless of whether their wives submit to them. In fact, husbands are to submit to their wives, for Paul speaks in verse 21 of “submitting to one another in the fear of God.” Husbands are supposed to submit to their wives every bit as much as wives are supposed to submit to their husbands.

In fact, the greater obligation is on the husband to love, serve and give — even if the wife does not submit.

Husbands, forget about who’s the boss — you will not like where it leads you. Focus instead on who’s the servant-lover, then you will be much more like Christ. For God is love, and love gives and serves.

How Praying in the Spirit Helps Me

This is a response to someone who asked about speaking mysteries in the spirit (1 Corinthians 14:22). See Downloading in the Spirit.

Jeff, I'm guessing that you have experienced this downloading of something from God that is ministering to your inner man. Can you please give me an example of this in your life? What do think this “something” is that is going on in the spirit that the mind cannot understand? It seems rather pointless to have something going on within me that I don't understand and is therefore useless to my spiritual growth. Do you speak in tongues? If so, what languages do you speak in?

Dear Stan,

Yes, I believe I have experienced the downloading of things from God which minister to my spirit. For example, whenever I go to preach or teach or lead worship, I spend some time praying in the Spirit. Since I have started doing this, I have found that my ministry time has been much more empowered and effective, with a much greater clarity.

I also pray in the Spirit when I need to make a decision about something, or need the answer to a problem. I often find that, immediately afterwards, the guidance or answer I am seeking from God shows up.

If it seems pointless to have something going in me that my mind does not understand, that is probably because my mind always wants to be in charge. But my mind was not made for that. The Bible says, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5-6). Notice that it does not say, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart AND lean on your own understanding.”

The mind was never meant to be the boss. On the day Adam and Eve ate of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, man died spiritually and the soul lost its connection with God. In that vacuum, the mind just assumed control.

There is nothing illogical about my spirit being edified by things my mind does not understand. There are also plenty of things that go on in my body that my mind does not understand (and medical science still has much to discover about it, as well), but the physical function of my body proceeds merrily along anyway. For example, my breathing is an involuntary process, not something I regulate by my thoughts.

My mind is not my spirit, nor is it the master of my spirit—it is the servant of my spirit. My mind functioned before I ever experienced the new birth, the spiritual birth from above by the Spirit of God. But I am not a mind, I am spirit, and I have a mind.

So what is the “something” that is going on in my spirit that my mind does not understand? I think there are a number of things that happen through praying in tongues.

1. Wisdom and revelation. Paul prayed in Ephesians that God would give his readers the spirit of wisdom and revelation (Ephesians 1:17). Paul was a very articulate communicator, but he wasn’t asking for better skills at preaching and teaching, or to make him more cogent or coherent in his letters. I think he realized early on that his communication would not mean a thing unless the Holy Spirit was ministering it to the heart. Now, I don’t think Paul necessarily had speaking in tongues in mind when he prayed this prayer. But I do think that speaking in tongues is a powerful way for this to happen.

2. Intimate fellowship with God. That was the purpose Paul prayed that prayer in Ephesians in the first place. God’s thoughts are higher than our thoughts and His ways higher than our ways (Isaiah 55:11). But that does not mean we cannot experience them. In Isaiah 55, we see that He sent the revelation of His Word. In 1 Corinthians 2:9-10, we see the revelatory work of the Holy Spirit bringing forth the deep things of God:

Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of ma the things which God has prepared for those who love Him. BUT God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.

When we pray in the Spirit, we are not limited by our own understanding because the Holy Spirit knows the mind of God (1 Corinthians 2:11).

3. Unhindered worship. When we pray in the Spirit, we give thanks to God well (1 Corinthians 14:17). Worship is a spiritual activity, that is, a Holy Spirit directed activity. No one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:3).

In Acts 2, speaking in tongues was worship, for the people declared, “We hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God” (Acts 2:11). Peter’s evangelistic sermon was apparently in his own language, not speaking in tongues.

4. Effective prayer. Paul said that the Spirit helps us because we do not know what or how we should pray (Romans 8:26). “But the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” Now, whether one wishes to take “groanings that cannot be uttered” in an absolute sense or simply understood as things which cannot be articulated by our own words, the point remains that in 1 Corinthians, praying in tongues was an activity involving the Holy Spirit.

When we pray in the Spirit, our prayers are focused because the Holy Spirit is not distracted. They are pure because the Holy Spirit has pure motives. They are effective and powerful because the Holy Spirit knows exactly what to pray.

By this time, you probably realize that, Yes, I do speak in tongues. But I don’t know what languages I pray in. There are so many known languages and dialects in the world (and that’s not counting the languages of angels) that I would not even know where to begin to try to figure out which ones I am speaking. Fortunately, identifying languages is not a Biblical prerequisite for speaking in tongues.

The Lord bless you in all things.

(See also Benefits of Praying in the Spirit.)

"Ask Me, Command Me," Says the LORD

Thus says the LORD,
The Holy One of Israel, and his Maker;
“Ask Me of things to come concerning My sons;
And concerning the work of My hands;
you command me.”

(Isaiah 45:11)

Here is a verse that makes a lot of Christians uncomfortable. Everyone is cool with “ask Me.” It’s when they get to “command Me,” that they start to get wobbly. They think, “Are we supposed to boss God around?”

No, that’s the kind of question people ask who don’t understand what intimate personal relationships are about. For them, to command means to insist that someone do something that is against their will. We need to grow up.

God is love, and the nature of love is to give and serve. When we get close to God and begin to understand His heart, our heart will become more like His, and we will begin to understand that this is about relationship, not about religion, rules or regulations.

In Isaiah 45:11, the word “ask” means to inquire, request, or even demand. Now, to demand does not mean to be controlling, abrasive, abusive, belligerent or petulant. It simply means to lay claim to or call for something. You might notice on any check you write or receive that is says, “Pay to the order of ...”

That check is a promise to pay the sum specified. The bearer of the check then demands that which has already been promised. He does this by endorsing the check and ultimately presenting it to the bank and account upon which it has been drawn. The demand presents no breach to the authority of the person who issued the check. In fact, the demand actually acknowledges and honors the sovereignty of the check writer.

For another example, if my father promises to do such and such a thing for me at such and such a time, it does him no dishonor when I go to him and say, “Poppa, the time has come. Do what you have promised.” Rather, it honors him because it honors his freely given word.

In the same way, God has made certain promises to His people. Therefore, to demand — to lay claim to or call for — that which He has promised does not in any way take away from the fact that He is God and that He is sovereign. No, it actually honors His sovereignty and pleases Him greatly. For it is taking God at His Word — and that is what faith is all about. In fact, it displeases God when we do not make demand on His promises. For without faith, the Bible says, it is impossible to please Him (Hebrews 11:6).

The use of “command” in Isaiah 45:11 operates in the same way. It is not about bossing God around or getting Him to do anything against His will. It is about taking Him at His Word and honoring His authority by exercising the authority He has given to us. We command what He has promised.

So how do we know what that authority is? How do we know what we can call for and lay claim to? How do we discover what we can demand of Him and command His hand concerning?

One word: Ask.

The LORD says, “Ask Me of things to come concerning My sons.” The Bible says that if you have received the Lord Jesus Christ, you have the right to be called a “son of God” (John 1:12). God has also made certain promises concerning you and you have the right to ask what those are. And if you ask, God will tell you. He will reveal it to you in His Word and by His Spirit.

Don’t be afraid to ask God what He has promised concerning His children. Then boldly go to Him and command His hand concerning those promises.

(See also Commanding the Hand of God?)

The Weaned, Quieted Heart

LORD, my heart is not haughty,
  Nor my eyes lofty.
Neither do I concern myself with great matters,
  Nor with things too profound for me.

Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul,
  Like a weaned child with his mother;
  Like a weaned child is my soul within me.

O Israel, hope in the LORD
  From this time forth and forever.

(Psalm 131)

This is called “growing up” in the LORD. Paul said, “As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God” (Romans 8:14). He is not talking about “children” in the Lord, but about “sons,” that is, those who have come to a place of maturity in their relationship with God.

It has nothing to do with chronology. There are many who are old in years but still children in the Lord — they just never grew up. On the other hand, there are those who are very young in years but who know how to be led by the Spirit of God — they are the mature sons Paul is talking about. (It is not about male and female either. If men can be the “bride” of Christ, women can be the “sons” of God.) In Psalm 131, David shows what that maturity looks like:

My heart is not haughty, nor my eyes lofty.

There is no pride or arrogance, no unjust assumptions about what we see with the eyes (for our eyes can easily deceive us).

Nor do I concern myself with great matters, nor with things too profound for me.

We don’t have to figure everything out with our reasoning. The Bible says, “Trust in the LORD with all you heart and lean not on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5-6).

There are things too profound for our own understanding. God’s ways are higher than our ways, and His thoughts than our thoughts (Isaiah 55:11), but God sent His Word and His Spirit so that we could operate according to His ways and thoughts. Paul said,

But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God” (1 Corinthians 2:9-10)

That’s why it is important for our maturity to be led by the Holy Spirit, for He searches and reveals the things that are too profound for us.

Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul,
Like a weaned child with his mother;
Like a weaned child is my soul within me.

This maturity is about relationship, not about reasoning. The weaned child is calm and quiet with his mother, not because he has figured everything out, but because he has learned to trust his mother, that she loves him and will take care of him.

Notice that this is a decision we must make. God cannot calm and quiet our soul if we are not willing. We must choose to trust Him, then the peace of God comes and we know that all shall be well. One way to begin is simply by saying, whatever the circumstance, “God, I choose to trust You.” Say it often, at every turn in the road. Instruct your soul with this and let it become big inside you.

O Israel, hope in the LORD
From this time forth and forever.

This is David’s conclusion, his kingly counsel to the people of God. To “hope” means to trust, with a positive expectation, a joyful anticipation.

When we have our expectation in God, there is no haughtiness or arrogance, because now we know that it is all about Him and not about us. This is our “standard operating procedure” from now on.

Set your trust, your hope, your expectation upon God in all things — now and forever. Let the Spirit of God search the deep things of God and reveal them to you (simply ask Him, and the Word of God will “come alive” for you). Learn to hear His voice and be led by Him. Then you will move forward in your life in calmness, quietness and confidence.

Psalm ~ An Open Invitation

Anybody who has kept up with The Faith Log soon discovers that a lot of what I write about is instigated by some passage in the Psalms. I've been praying through the Psalms for over 15 years now, and it really has become an ongoing conversation between me and Yahweh. Psalms lend themselves so wonderfully for that because that is exactly what they are — living conversations between the LORD and His people.

There is the “give and take” of relationship, and the psalm-writers don't hold anything back. Sometimes they are exuberant in praise, sometimes they whine and complain, sometimes they breathe out venom on their enemies.

Sometimes there is a real wrestling with God, Jacob-style. I like the title Mark D. Roberts has given to his book about the Psalms — No Holds Barred: Wrestling With God in Prayer. VERY appropriate. Sometimes there is confusion and disappointment. Psalm 88 does not have a happy ending –“The darkness is my closest friend” (NIV).All these things are held in tension. In Spirituality of the Psalms, Walter Brueggemann describes it as orientation, disorientation, reorientation. But it all becomes part of the Book of Praises (Hebrew tehillim), as the Psalms are called, because it is all brought to the LORD for Him to deal with.

Does that entice you? The Book of Psalms is an open invitation for you to come and lay out all the issues of your heart before the LORD. In the process, you will discover the heart of God.

The Breakthrough of a Broken Heart

There is an old Jewish proverb that says, “The teacher cannot place the truth in the heart of his student. He can only place it on top, so that when the heart breaks, the truth will fall in.”

There are things that God wants to do in our hearts, but He will not force His way in to do them. Yes, He is the healer of the brokenhearted, but sometimes a heart cannot be healed until it is broken. Then we are ready to let the Lord come and do a work in us.

There are things that I have been crying out to God for, and this morning my heart has been breaking over something I have been reading. It is not tragic things I have been reading about, but some very good things — ways that God is using people to bless others. My heart is bursting because I very much want to be a part of it — to hear the voice of God in such a powerful way, and to declare it boldly, that many will be blessed by the revealing of their heart before God and turn to Him.

One of the touchstone verses of my life has been this:

The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of disciples,
  That I may now how to sustain the weary one with a word.
He awakens me morning by morning,
  He awakens my ear to listen as a disciple.

(Isaiah 50:4 NIV)

That is what my heart cries out for this morning.

Sometimes the breakthrough we need the most is the breaking of our hearts.

Opening Your Heart to the Voice of God

He is our God,
And we are the people of His pasture,
And the sheep of His hand.
Today, if you will hear His voice,
Do not harden your heart.

(Psalm 95:7-8)

The LORD is our God, but He is also our Shepherd. David brought this out very well in Psalm 23. In the New Testament, we see Jesus declaring, “I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd gives His life for the sheep” (John 10:11). Then He says, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27).

Notice that in Psalm 95, after calling us the “sheep of His hand,” there is an invitation, “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your heart.”

Now, notice that the vehicle for hearing the voice of the Shepherd is not the ear, but the heart. Jesus said a number of times, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear,” but He was not talking about the flaps on the sides of our heads, He was talking about our hearts.

If you want to hear the voice of the Lord, you must open your heart — the core of your being — to receive His Word. Faith comes from hearing the Word, and will be followed up by willing obedience. As James said, “Be doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves” (James 1:22). Hearing without obedience is a deception, a hardness of heart.

Our hearts have long been discipled by the world, conditioned to be hard toward the voice of God. But God has given the Holy Spirit as an anointing oil to soften up the hardened heart.

Perhaps you are thinking, “It’s too late. My heart is already too hard to hear. What’s the use?” But I tell you there is something you can do. You can go to the Lord, whatever your condition, confess your heart to Him and ask Him to change it:

• Father, my heart is hard toward You, but I want to hear Your voice. Please soften my heart.
• Father, my heart does not even want to obey You, but please come and open my heart to Your words, and give me a heart of joyful obedience.
• Father, there are things in my life I want to hold on to, even though they keep me from You. But come and change the desires of my heart to line up with Yours.
  

God will not turn you away. He is ready to come and do a powerful work in your heart and change your life for the better. Listen to His promise:

I know the thoughts that I think toward you, say the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, says the LORD and I will bring you back from your captivity. (Jeremiah 29:11-14)

Open your heart to the LORD and you will hear His voice. He will reveal His heart to you and bring you into the blessing He has prepared for you all along.

Downloading in the Spirit

For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however in the spirit he speaks mysteries. (1 Corinthians 14:2)

Someone asked “What do you think it means in this verse when it says, ‘in the spirit he speaks mysteries?’” To answer that, let us first look at 1 Corinthians 14:14, where Paul says: “For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful.”

Praying in tongues does not primarily yield something to the intelligence of the mind. Nonetheless, there is something going on in the spirit. It is a kind of prayer that the mind does not understand.

What is a mystery? Usually in the Bible, a mystery is a secret, not one that God is keeping from His people, but one that He is revealing.

That is what is going on in 1 Corinthians 14:2, “in the spirit he speaks mysteries.” He is downloading something from God that is ministering to his inner man. For in verse 4, Paul says “He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself.”

“What is the conclusion then?” Paul asks in verse 15. “I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding. I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding.”

In other words, Paul recognized that some of what he prayed was not going to be intelligible to his mind, but there would be edification going on in his spirit — the speaking of mysteries, or downloads from the Spirit of God, so to speak.

That seems to be quite okay with Paul, who decided he was going to pray both ways in his personal prayer life. “I thank my God I speak with tongues more than you all,” he says in verse 18.

Then in verse 19, he draws the distinction between the dynamics of private prayer and public assembly: “Yet in the church I would rather speak five words with my understanding, that I may teach others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue.”

That is why tongues, when addressed to the church, must be accompanied by interpretation. At that point, the mysteries a man speaks when he prays in tongues can become a prophesy that edifies the congregation.

(See also The Benefits of Praying in the Spirit.)

Are you hearing from God when you pray?

That You May Believe

These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God … that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God. (1 John 5:13)

Here is the final reason John offers for writing his letter: That you may believe in the name of the Son of God. Or as you may have noticed in the NKJV, “that you may continue to believe.”

This is the same purpose he gave for writing his Gospel:

And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name. (John 20:30-31)

John is passionate about Jesus. He is not speaking theoretically, but out of personal experience, his relationship with Jesus Christ, the Living Word.

But there were false teachers about, then as now, creeping into the midst and leading believers away from this personal relationship with the Lord Jesus. These teachers denied that Jesus is the Son of God, that the Son of God came in the flesh. These were antichrists, denying that Jesus is the Anointed One, the Christ.

So John very purposefully brings forth his testimony about Jesus. His purpose from the beginning has been to bear witness and declare what he had looked upon with his own eyes, heard with his own ears, touched with his own hands, to declare of Jesus

• That He is the Son of God, that is, He is fully divine.
• That He has come in the flesh, that is, He is fully human.
• That He is the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One of God.

John writes, “That you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.” For he desires to have fellowship with his readers, all of them together enjoying deep and intimate fellowship with the Father and the Son. This is where fullness of joy is found, in continuous fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Faith in Jesus Christ is not a matter of the mind, giving mental assent to some theory. It is a matter of the heart, entering into personal relationship with who Jesus really is — the Son of God come to bring us back into fellowship with the Father.

Releasing the Favor of God

But You, O LORD, shall endure forever,
And the remembrance of Your name to all generations.
You will arise and have mercy on Zion
For the time to favor her,
Yes, the set time has come.
For Your servants take pleasure in her stones,
And show favor to her dust.

(Psalm 102:12-14)

God has favor for His people, and He has established a time for that favor to come forth in powerful manifestation. It is associated with a “remembrance,” a reminder to point all generations to God and His promises. For He is the Lord of all eternity, and the blessing He has determined for His people — salvation, restoration, healing, deliverance, prosperity — shall fully come to pass.

The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.

(Luke 4:18-19)

We are now living in “the acceptable year of the LORD,” the year of the LORD‘s favor.

Now, notice what releases the favor of God in the set time: “For your servants take pleasure in her stones, and show favor to her dust.” The word “for” shows a causal relationship. The set time of God’s favor has come because His servants have shown favor. In other words, the servants of the Lord have become intercessors on behalf of God’s people and God’s purpose. You see, whenever God wants to do something in the world, He speaks a word and gets His people to pray in agreement with it. We see this in Isaiah, where the LORD says:

I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem;
They shall never hold their peace day or night.
You who make mention of the LORD, do not keep silent,
And give Him no rest till He establishes
And till he makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.

(Isaiah 62:6-7)

The watchmen are intercessors who take the promise of the Lord and present it before Him as a memorial, a reminder. The Hebrew root word for “make mention” in Isaiah 62 is zakar (Strong’s no. 2142). It has the same root as zeker, the Hebrew word behind “remembrance” in Psalm 102:12 (Strong’s no. 2143).

These intercessors “make mention” to the Lord, relentlessly reminding Him of His promises. Day and night they bring up the promises He has made over His people, and they do not stop until He establishes what He has said He will do.

In other words, they show favor to the dust of Zion. The word of “favor” in Psalm 102 literally means to stoop in kindness. Causatively, it means to implore, or petition for kindness.

God releases His favor because His servants intercede, seeking His kindness and reminding Him of what He has spoken. They have so much confidence in His Word that they are bold enough to “get in His face” with it.

That is faith, and it pleases God greatly. It arouses His desire and stirs up His passion. For He has found what He has been looking for — people who trust fully in Him and Him alone.

Now look at what happens as a result:

So the nations shall fear the name of the LORD,
And all the kings of the earth Your glory.
For the LORD shall build up Zion;
He shall appear in His glory.
He shall regard the prayer of the destitute,
And shall not despise their prayer.

(Psalm 102:15-17)

Notice that, when the favor of God is released, it is a blessing, not only for the people of God, but for all earth: Nations come to fear the Lord, and so begin to move in wisdom and understanding. Heads of state begin to recognize His glory, and the name of the LORD is hallowed, that is, received as uniquely holy. Zion is built up, and the presence of the God is manifested in the midst of glory of it all.

What is more, the LORD hears and answers the prayer of the destitute, the “poor in spirit” who have come to that place in their lives where they see that that they are totally dependent upon God. They cast themselves upon Him in faith, and He answers their cry. The Good News is preached to them. They are healed of their broken hearts and all their afflictions. They are set free from all their captivities. For it is the acceptable year of the LORD — and God’s favor has been released!

The set time has come for God’s favor to be released into your life and into your world. Will you be an intercessor who shows the favor of the LORD to others, bringing His promises to bear and crying to God on their behalf? Will you be a watchman on the wall, reminding God of the provisions in His Word until His salvation appears, His kingdom abounds and the whole earth is filled with the knowledge of His glory? You hold the key.

That You May Know You Have Eternal Life

These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. (1 John 5:13)

John has been writing about eternal life from the beginning of his epistle. His testimony has always been of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is all about eternal life.

From John’s Gospel

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)

He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life. (John 3:36)

“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.” (John 6:47).

“I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10)

“And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.” (John 10:28)

“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26)

“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6).

“Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that You Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him authority all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” (John 17:1-3)

From John’s epistle:

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of Life—the life was manifested, ad we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us. (1 John 1:1-2)

And this is the promise that He has promised us — eternal life. (1 John 2:25)

We know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brethren. He who des not love his brother abides in death. Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. (1 John 3:14-15).

And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. (1 John 5:11)

These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. (1 John 5:13)

We know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. (1 John 5:20)

How to know
It is possible to know that we have eternal life, and that is why John writes. The reasons for how we can know are all throughout the epistle.

• We can know by the fellowship we have with the Father and with the Son (1:3).
• We can know by walking in the light, for God is light, and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin (1:5-7).
• We can know by God’s faithfulness to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1:9).
• We can know by the anointing of the Holy Spirit in us to teach us all things (2:20, 27).
• We can know by abiding—Him in us and us in Him (2:27).
• We can know by the love of God at work in us and through us (3:16-19; 4:7-11, 20-21).
• We can know because our heart does not condemn us (2:20-21).
• We can know because we do what is pleasing in His sight (2:22), for without faith it is impossible to please Him (Hebrews 11:6).
• We can know because we believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another (3:23-24).
• We can know because we confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh (4:1-3).
• We can know because He who is in us is greater than he who is in the world (4:4-6).
• We can know because He has given us of His Spirit (4:13).
• We can know because we confess that Jesus is the Son of God (4:15).
• We can know because we have known and believed the love that God has for us, for God is love and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him (4:16).
• We can know because there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear (4:17).
• We can know because He first loved us, and we love Him in return (4:19).
• We can know because we believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One (5:1).
• We can know because we love God and keep His commandments (5:2-3).
• We can know because we overcome the world, and the victory that overcomes the world is our faith (5:4). We overcome because we believe that Jesus is the Son of God (5:6).
• We can know because of the water—1) the baptism of Jesus, by which He identified with us in or sin. 2) the sign of water baptism by which we identify with His life, His righteousness and His resurrection (5:7-8).
• We can know because of the blood of Jesus, shed for us, which cries out on our behalf (5:7-8, see also Hebrews 12:24).
• We can know because of the Holy Spirit bearing witness (5:7-8).
• We can know because He who has the Son has life (5:12).
• We can know because if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And it we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions we have asked of Him (5:14-15).
• We can know because the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. (5:20).
  

Now, understand that this is not how we have eternal life. We have, or receive, eternal life purely by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Rather, this is how we know that we have eternal life. These things give us the assurance that eternal life is indeed at work in us.

If you believe in the name of the Son of God, then you can know you have eternal life.

It Will Not Be Taken From You

One thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her. (Luke 10:42)

There was Mary, sitting at Jesus’ feet — listening to His voice, enjoying His presence, learning of Him. Cut to Martha, serving with a scowl. “Lord, don’t you care? Do something about Mary!”

Jesus quickly gets to the heart of the matter, gently but firmly: “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things.”

There’s the problem: a heart crowded and distracted by many things. One thing and one thing only is necessary — to be with Jesus. When you choose that good part, it will not be taken from you.

Because Some Are Trying to Deceive You

These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you. ( 1 John 2:26)

John offers another reason for writing: Because some are trying to deceive you. This goes along with his earlier reason: Because you know the truth.Paul, like John, also warns us that there is a spirit of deception at work:

But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age had blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. (2 Corinthians 4:3-4)

There are those who try to bring something that sounds very good, but ultimately denies that Jesus is the Son of God who came in the flesh. The beginning stages of Gnosticism, in John’s day, represents such a teaching. It presented Jesus as divine — which is true — but they denied His humanity.

Ironically, there are many philosophers of religion today who celebrate the Gnostic view as a sophisticated form of Christianity. The so-called Jesus Seminar, of recent years, represents such a proclivity. For example, they wished to promote the gnostic Gospel of Thomas as the “Fifth Gospel,” as if it had some sort of canonical or sem-canonical status. It does not and never has. There are various other groups about who try to separate the “Christ of faith” from the “Jesus of history,” seeking to drive a wedge between the divinity and humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ.

That denies the very basis of our salvation. The truth is that Jesus Christ is able to redeem us and reconcile us to God precisely because He is both fully human as well as fully divine.

There are many other forms of error that center on the nature of Jesus Christ. But John declares, “Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also” (1 John 2:23).

It is never enough to know the truth simply as a proposition. We must know the truth as a person, the person of Jesus Christ, who said of Himself, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6).

So the testimony John brings is one the comes from personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ:

That which was from the beginning which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of Life—this lie was manifested, and we have see, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifest to us—that which we have seen and heard we declare to you. (1 John 1:1-3)

This is that testimony John preached all along, the same testimony his Christian readers heard and believed from the beginning of their faith. It was not just a proposition they received, but a person. It was not a religion they had entered into, but a relationship. They were born from above by the Holy Spirit of God. The Spirit not only birthed them, but actually lived in them.

Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that He has promised us—eternal life. These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you. (1 John 2:24-26)

It is this abiding relationship that will aid them in discerning deception and standing strong in the truth. For it comes with the anointing of the Holy Spirit:

But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you, but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all thing, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him. (1 John 2:27)

This is what Jesus promised His disciples on the night of the “Last Supper.”

I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth, for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you. (John 16:12-15)

It is very important to recognize that there are those who would deceive us. For there is no life in a lie, only dead religion. But if you have received the Lord Jesus Christ, you have entered into a vibrant, personal relationship with God — Father, Son and Holy Spirit — full of light and life. Don’t let it be obscured by deceptions, but let the Holy Spirit take the things of Jesus — the things that come from the Father — and reveal them to you. Then you will be filled with a joy that remains.

How to Have Mountain-Moving Faith

So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says” (Mark 11:22-23)

First, hear the Word of God. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17). What do you give your attention to? What do you listen to? What do you let in through your eyes and your ears? That is eventually what you will believe. Show me what you devote yourself to today, and I’ll tell you what you will be believing tomorrow. Listen to the Word of God. Open yourself up to it and hear it. Faith will come.

Second, immediately stop speaking words that contradict or disagree with the Word of God. “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your path” (Proverbs 3:5-6). Your understanding was made to serve you. It was never meant to be your master.

Your mouth can be your best friend, or your worst enemy. It can be your biggest asset, or your greatest detriment. So if you cannot yet speak words of faith, at least refrain from speaking things that do not line up with what God says.

You might be silent for a while. There is no harm in that. Abraham Lincoln said that it is better to keep silent and be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.

Third, let the Word of God fill up your heart. Jesus said that it is out of the abundance, or overflow, of the heart that the mouth speaks (Matthew 12:34). David prayed, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my strength and my Redeemer” (Psalm 19:14).

Without faith, it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). When the meditation of your heart is acceptable, or pleasing, to God, it is because your heart is filling up with faith. Then the words of your mouth will be powerful and full of faith.

Finally, when you have filled your heart in abundance with the Word of God, open up your mouth and speak it forth. Don’t be afraid even to shout it out (there is a great release in that). Whatever circumstance you may be facing in your life, God has a promise. Open your mouth and proclaim that promise. Whatever your mountain is, declare the Word of God to it. Every mountain must eventually line up with God’s Word.

Have faith in God. Get to know Him in His Word and let Him fill your heart with His heart. Then speak out of your heart the promises of God. Mountains will move.

Because You Know the Truth

I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth. (1 John 2:21)

Here is another reason John writes his epistle: Because you know the truth, and that no lie is of the truth. Where does this knowledge of the truth come from? From knowing Jesus. You see, truth is personal. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life” (John 14:6). Through faith in Jesus, we have fellowship with the Father.

Not only that, but we have an anointing from God that pertains to the truth. In 1 John 2:20, John said, “But you have an anointing form the Holy One, and you know all things.”

An anointing is an empowerment from God that lifts burdens and destroys yokes (Isaiah 10:27). This anointing is a work of the Holy Spirit. “The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD” (Isaiah 11:2).

John’s readers were being led by Gnostic teachers to think that they need some special, esoteric knowledge in order to really know the truth. Not so, says John: “I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know the truth, and that no lie is of the truth.”

The recipient’s of John’s letter not only knew the truth, but they knew how to discern between what is the truth and what is the lie, for they had come into fellowship with the Father through faith in the Son, and they have received an anointing of the Holy Spirit to free them from the bondage of deception.

In other words, what they needed, they already had. They simply need to trust the work of God in their lives.

Now here was the key for discerning between the truth they had received and the lie they were hearing from false teachers: “Who is a liar, but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son” (1 John 2:22).

What does this have to do with the anointing? Everything. It is not readily apparent in the English text, but if you read it in the original Greek text, you would quickly see that “anointing” and “Christ” have the same root. “Christ” actually means “Anointed One.” The one who denies that Jesus is the Anointed One, he is anti-christ, or anti-anointing.

The Gnostic teachers, believing that flesh is evil, denied that Jesus was the Anointed One. They rejected His humanity and thus denied both the Father and the Son. They were therefore antichrist and of the lie.

So we see it is the anointing that we receive from the Holy Spirit that helps us discern the truth from the lie, and identify those who are against the anointing. For those who are against the Anointed One are the same ones who are against the anointing.

If you know the Lord Jesus Christ, you not only have fellowship with the Father, you also have an anointing, a witness from the Holy Spirit to help you discern the truth from the lie. Whoever denies that Jesus is the Anointed One of God is of the lie, not of the truth.

Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled

Simon Peter said to Him, "Lord, where are You going?"

Jesus answered him, "Where I am going you cannot follow Me now, but you shall follow Me afterward."

Peter said to Him, "Lord, why can I not follow You now? I will lay down my life for Your sake."

Jesus answered him, "Will you lay down your life for My sake? Most assuredly, I say to you, the rooster shall not crow till you have denied Me three times. Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me."

(John 13:36-14:1)

At the darkest hour, and with Peter's coming betrayal revealed to him, Peter hears these words from the Lord Jesus, "Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me."

Every sin is a betrayal of the Lord Jesus, but He tells us, "Let not your heart be troubled." His ability to deal with the darkness of our heart is much greater than the darkness itself. He gives us the promise of forgiveness and cleansing (1 John 1:9). So we can confess our heart to the Lord (He will not be shocked — He already knows what is in it), let Him take care of it, and move on in the joy of the LORD.

God Doesn’t Send Anyone to Hell

God doesn't send anyone to hell — He lets them go.I think it was C. S. Lewis who said this (or something very like it): In the end there are only two kinds of people: 1. Those who say to God, "Thy will be done," and they enter heaven. 2. Those to whom God says, "Thy will be done," and they enter hell.

If people don't want God and His ways, He doesn't make them have to have them. But they will be miserable, for there is no place where God is not present. Even in hell — God is there! It is His presence that makes it hell for those who are in rebellion to God — they do not want Him but they cannot avoid His presence. They are totally unprepared for the experience of His glory — for them the glory of God is will be a tormenting flame.

God cannot cease being who He is, He cannot cease being omnipresent, and He will not veil His glory forever just because some people don't want it. He is, after all, God.

Step into the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ. What in hell do you want?

That You May Not Sin

My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. (1 John 2:1)

Here is a third reason the apostle John gives for writing his letter: That you may not sin.Now, John is not ignoring sin, as if sin did not matter. That was an error of the Gnostics, whose philosophy so separated the spirit from the body that they thought the acts of the body had no real consequence upon the soul.

Nor was he denying sin, as if it did not really exist. That, too, was a Gnostic error, for whom the solution to sin was not the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. To them, the problem was one of ignorantly supposing that sin had any reality at all, so their solution was the so-called “knowledge” that sin is not real. (The Greek word for “knowledge” is gnosis. Hence the name Gnostics.)

No, John’s teaching is that sin is real, that it is universal, and that it has consequences which must be addressed. That is why he says,

• If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. (1 John 1:7)
• If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)
  

Even so, John says, “These things I write to you, so that you may not sin.” This does not mean that it is impossible for the believer to fall into sin. For John declares God’s provision:

And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. (1 John 2:1)

What does John mean, then, when he says, “I write to you, so that you may not sin?” Was he describing a purpose for writing that could never be achieved? No, for he was writing by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and God would not set before us a purpose that could never actually be fulfilled, for He does not lie.

John’s purpose is simply this: Though it is possible for a believer to fall into sin, it is also possible for the believer to not sin. There is never a time in which we can excuse sin by saying, “Oh, it could not helped.”

As Paul tells us:

No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful [i.e., full and faith, and dependable], who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. (1 Corinthians 10:13)

It is always possible for us to walk in the light as He is in the light and pursue deeper fellowship with God. He will never lead us into sin, but always away from it. It is important to understand that it is not enough to run from sin. That tactic will always fail. What we must do is run to God and walk with Him. David was called a “man after God’s own heart” not because he was without sin — he broke all the commandments — but because, even when he found himself in sin, he ran to God and not from Him.

Even if we do sin, there is forgiveness with God, and He is faithful to cleanse us from sin, so that we may be increasingly free of its power in our lives. That is why Jesus came.

Dear friend, I write this to you so that you may be free from sin. But if you do find yourself in sin, even habitual sin, do not despair. For the purpose of God is to deliver you, not only from the penalty of sin, but from the power of sin, as well. One day, we shall even be delivered from the presence of sin.

That Your Joy May Be Full

And these things we write to you that your joy may be full. (1 John 1:4)

That your joy may be full. The first reason John gave for writing his epistle was that we might have fellowship with the Father and the Son, and the people of God. Along with that is a second reason: That your joy may be full.

Whenever we get into deep fellowship with God — Father, Son and Holy Spirit — joy is inescapable. As David said to the LORD, “In Your presence is fullness of joy” (Psalm 16:11). The presence of God is all about joy. It is where joy dwells and is experienced in all its fullness.

Jesus, also, talked about fullness of joy. He said, “Until now you have asked nothing My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full” (John 16:24). Here again, we see that joy is all about the Lord. When we ask in Jesus’ name we receive whatever we ask, and our joy is made full.

You see, asking in Jesus’ name means to ask as He would ask. We discover how Jesus would ask in any situation by getting into fellowship with Him and learning His heart. Those prayers will always be answered, for the Father will not deny the Son: “You have given Him His heart’s desire, and have not withheld the request of His lips” (Psalm 21:2).

Fullness of joy always traces back to the presence of the Lord and intimate fellowship with Him.

God’s desire for you is to walk in fullness of joy. This is established by the mouth of three witness: David, Jesus and John. Enter into fellowship with the Father through faith in Jesus Christ, and the new birth by the Holy Spirit. Seek after His presence and get to know Him more and more intimately. Explore His heart in prayer and meditation on His Word. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you that things that belong to Jesus (John 16:14). Spend your life with Him. Then your joy will be full.