Lately, I have received prophecies about letting go of the past. I have worked on it, prayed about it, made the decision to do so, and reminded myself many times about that decision. But it wasn’t until this morning that the Lord revealed to me how important it is to truly let go of the past.
What He showed me is this: we have an enemy who hates us more than you can imagine. He wants nothing more than to destroy us—all humans, but especially Christians. And he is sneaky and cunning, highly intelligent, very dangerous, and he’s invisible most of the time, but able to manifest himself to look like an angel of light, among other things.
The Lord showed me that every time that I react to attacks by reverting to victim mentality, I make myself vulnerable to more and more devastating attacks. I also make myself less and less effective. Imagine a soldier that has been wounded. If the soldier sees the enemy coming and, remembering the painful wound, goes ducking for cover. This allows the enemy to advance, and the soldier actually ends up helping the enemy hurt (or kill) him, and his fellow soldiers.
One of the most devastating blows that our enemy has dealt the Church (the Body of Christ) is with the doctrine that God wants to bless and prosper us. God does want to bless and prosper us, but that is not His purpose or ours. If we focus on what we can get in this world, we’re going to lose everything. Again, if we think of it in terms of warfare, imagine a whole army of soldiers who joined up just so that they could wear the uniform and get the pay and healthcare benefits. When the fighting starts they run away because they don’t want their nice uniforms messed up.
We cannot afford to keep feeding new Christians the pabulum that God wants to bless and prosper them. First of all, although it’s true it’s not the whole truth. If we are not willing to serve, God will not bless us, and any prosperity will be short-lived. And second, concentrating on what we can get in this world weakens the Gospel and its effectiveness.
We’ve got to wake up. There’s a lot at stake, including our children and grandchildren. We need to be praying for revival and for God’s perspective on our lives. We’ve got to learn to fight to win, which means learning to pray to win. Revive us, O Lord! God is good!
Tag Archives: war
Betrayal
The Bait of Satan by John Bevere
Day Six
This is day 6 of a 21 day fast for understanding the End Times (now), and knowing how to prepare for the perilous days ahead. Today I heard a sermon by John Bevere based on his book The Bait of Satan. The key scripture is Matthew 24:10-12, in which Jesus is speaking of the End Times (NKJV):
And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold (emphasis mine).
He pointed out that the word translated as love is agape, Christian love. So Jesus isn’t speaking of unbelievers, He’s talking about God’s people. People in the church—Christians—will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Lawlessness will abound in the church—among Christians.
Lawlessness means being a law unto yourself, not submitted to God’s authority. So, not necessarily sinning, but definitely not submitted and following Jesus. In an atmosphere of lawlessness, of course many will be offended.
Proverbs 18:19 says: “A brother offended is harder to win than a strong city, and contentions are like the bars of a castle” (NKJV). In those days strong cities were surrounded by walls, also called strongholds. 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 says:
For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ (emphasis mine).
Instead of the word pretension, the Phillips translation says “every deceptive fantasy and every imposing defence that men erect. . .”.
Bevere said that an offended person’s thoughts become strongholds—arguments, deceptive fantasies, imposing defences—and that is how offense leads to betrayal. He defines betrayal as seeking to benefit or protect one’s self at the expense of someone you have a relationship with—the ultimate abandonment of a relationship.
Betrayal leads to hatred. Hatred is not a strong emotion like love or anger, but is the absence of love, lovelessness.
Going back to Matthew 24, verse 11 says: “Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.” An offended heart is the breeding ground for deception. They will genuinely believe that they are right, when in fact, they are wrong.
Offense and deception lead people to isolate themselves: “A man who isolates himself seeks his own desire; he rages against all wise judgment,” (NKJV, emphasis mine). Rather than seeking God’s wisdom or the guidance and counsel of their pastor or believing friends, the offended and deceived person isolates themselves and rages against all wise judgment. They seek only their own counsel. Isolation happens in the thoughts. It is very likely that the offended person still goes to church, but remains isolated in their mind, which makes them a perfect candidate for deception.
“. . . because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold,” (Matthew 24, verse 12). The person is not seeking God, and not submitted to God’s authority, and likely they were already lawless before the offense. When offended, their love (agape) will grow cold (hatred).
The person who can offend you the deepest is the person closest to you—your spouse, best friend, or pastor. And it is very likely that the offended person has been genuinely mistreated. But Bevere points out that if you want to walk with God, you don’t have the right to be offended.
This past year I have seen offense and betrayal up close and personal 4 times, in both marriages and ministries. Twice I was a participant. Once I was the party offended. I had been so angry as a result of the offense that I was literally out of my mind. It is true that this person genuinely mistreated me, and it is also true that there was no actual sin involved. My wake-up call came when I couldn’t stop myself from raging at this person to the point of tears and fleeing from my presence. That’s when I realized that my anger was way out of proportion with the offense. I sought God and asked forgiveness from Him and from the person, both of whom were gracious to me, and there was a full reconciliation.
In the other incident, I had thought that only the other person was offended by something I had done. In fact, we were both offended and we both betrayed each other. I had been so deceived as to believe that I hadn’t been offended and that I hadn’t betrayed this person. But in prayerful examination, I now see the truth. The devil had been working both sides of this situation. In this case, I’m not sure how to be reconciled to this person, but now that I can see my part in it, there’s at least the hope of reconciliation.
Be warned! The deception is very powerful. Verse 13 of Matthew 24 continues: “But he who endures to the end shall be saved.” You can be right as right can be, and still go to hell because of your attitude. We’ve got to be alert and firm in our love for one another.
To see John Bevere’s full sermon follow this link: The Bait of Satan. God is good! He’s also very patient with me!
Defining the Gift
Day Two
This is my 2nd day of a 21 day fast for understanding the things to come. Like Daniel in chapter 10, I have “set [my] mind to gain understanding and to humble [myself] before God,” (Daniel 10:12). Most Christians agree that we are living in the End Times. Jesus is coming soon to Rapture His Church, and many terrible things will follow, including the final war, usually called Armageddon (although in the Bible, the name actually refers to a place, not an event). However, there are probably things that we need to do to prepare for those terrible times.
I want to make it very clear that I am not asking God to reveal to me when the Rapture will be. Jesus said that only the Father knows the day and the hour. The angels don’t know, and even Jesus, Himself, doesn’t know (Matthew 24:36 & Mark 13:32). If the Father isn’t revealing that to Jesus, then it’s for sure that He won’t tell me.
What I want is to understand what is coming and how to help God’s people prepare for it.
This morning as I was praying and contemplating my role, the Holy Spirit reminded me of my main spiritual gift: Encouragements. In the King James Version, the gift is called Exhortation. The Spirit urged me to consider the difference between the 2 words: encouragement and exhortation.
So I looked it up in the online dictionary.
Encourage:
- to inspire with courage, spirit, or hope : hearten
- to attempt to persuade : urge
- to spur on : stimulate
- to give help or patronage to : foster
Exhort:
- to incite by argument or advice : urge strongly
- to give warnings or advice : make urgent appeals
Then I got curious about the original language: Greek. In the Greek, the word is paraklesis. Paraklesis is from the root parakletos, the word Jesus used to describe the Holy Spirit, and translated as comforter. That discovery is very encouraging to me. I love the thought that my spiritual gift is much like the Holy Spirit, Himself.
Paraklesis:
- a calling near, summons (esp. for help), importation, supplication, entreaty
- exhortation, admonition, encouragement
- consolation, comfort, solace; that which affords comfort or refreshment—thus of the Messianic salvation (so the Rabbis call the Messiah the consoler, the comforter)
- persuasive discourse, stirring address, instructive, admonitory, conciliatory, powerful hortatory discourse
In contrasting these definitions, it seems that encouragement is too soft. It seems to imply jollying-along someone who is depressed or unhappy. But exhortation seems too hard and cold, almost like how a teacher talks to a lazy student. Paraklesis is precisely what I do, which includes both encouraging and exhorting, and also refreshing and comforting.
C. Peter Wagner defines the spiritual gift of exhortation as frequently being part of the pastor’s gift mix:
The gift of exhortation is the special ability that God gives to certain members of the Body of Christ to minister words of comfort, consolation, encouragement, and counsel to other members of the Body in such a way that they feel helped and healed. “Your Spiritual Gifts Can Help Your Church Grow” © 1979, 1994 C. Peter Wagner, Regal Books.
Now, having defined and contrasted the definitions, I understand at least 1 thing: this time of fasting and praying for understanding is important for helping the missionaries and pastors of Europe that God puts into my path (and others who will read it on my blog or in my next book). God is good!
Contrarian Kingdom
When I was growing up in the 1960’s the popular wisdom was to life a lifestyle of non-conformity. The youth of those days could see that the so-called wisdom of previous generations had landed us into an unwinnable war in Vietnam, and many of us saw our fathers slaving away their hours at jobs that took them from the family at least eight hours a day, and left them too exhausted to do anything but veg-out in front of the TV at night watching the banalities of the day.
So in the 60’s youth culture non-conformity meant never trusting “The Establishment” or “The Man.” Non-conformity meant a carefree lifestyle, living fully in the moment, day-by-day.
Come to think of it, not much has changed, except that things have gotten even worse. Now we are in an unwinnable war against terrorism (how do you fight a concept?), and mothers have joined fathers in working themselves to exhaustion. Television has also gotten worse. Now (with a few exceptions) banality is the best one can hope for. Some popular shows are offensive and actually harmful (IMHO). Reality TV shows mostly bring out the very worst in people, who are willing to do just about anything to have their 15 minutes of fame.
And the worst part of all this? The Establishment is now composed of the very same people who embraced non-conformity back in the 1960’s. The long-haired, peace-loving kid of the 60’s is now The Man.
How did this happen? In a word: money. The truth is that without money, life is very difficult, if not impossible. Many of the youth of the 60’s came to the conclusion that a carefree lifestyle is impossible without money. Little by little those carefree kids became slaves to money.
But the original concept of a carefree life of non-conformity was and is right. And it is only achievable by living a life that is fully surrendered to Jesus. Check it out:
Fear [reverently respect] the Lord, you his holy people, for those who fear him lack nothing. Psalm 34:9
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Matthew 6:25-34
Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4
Some people think that God is stingy. God isn’t stingy at all, we’re the stingy ones. God is generous. Read yesterday’s post, if you don’t believe me: https://europeanfaithmissions.wordpress.com/2012/06/17/god-meets-radical-faith-with-radical-provision/. I took Him at His Word, and He proved it to me.
If you want to live that carefree, non-conformist lifestyle, put God and His Kingdom first.
Walking By Faith in Europe 