The Bible instructs us to “Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may be well with you in the land which the LORD your God is giving you” (Deuteronomy 5:16).  This is a big deal to God…it made it into the Ten Commandments and was also reiterated by Jesus and then the apostle Paul (See Matthew 15:4-6 and Ephesians 6:2).  If things are not “well with you” you may want to evaluate this area of your life.

This morning at church I felt a sense of the Lord’s grief regarding the lack of honor given to parents, especially mothers.  In our culture it is common to disrespect authority and dishonor parents.  The long term effects of this is disaster.

My Mom

My mom is truly a hero.  She carried and gave birth to seven children; six of these were born in a six and a half year period!  (After seeing my wife experience pregnancy, labor, and delivery my respect for my mom increased even more.)  My mom decided to stay home and raise the kids; this was her full time “job.”  And I am so grateful that she made that decision.  I have no doubt that she could have been successful in a number of fields, but she chose to let our home be her field.  She knew that this was her God-given calling and she is now reaping a harvest of things she has sown.

My mom has always been (and continues to be) such an example of selfless love.  She truly gave of herself for the well-being of our family.  She didn’t complain about the hard work of being a mom to seven kids.  She put up with a lot, and did it with incredible grace.  My mom set a standard of a godly wife and mother for all of us to see, and I am so thankful for this.

There were times when I clashed with my mom, especially when I was in a rebellious season in High School.  Looking back, I am so grateful that she (and my dad) always stood for what was right and always instilled godly values in me and the rest of my siblings.  Everyday when we would go to school she would say “remember who you belong to.”  She always pointed us to the Lord.

Thank you mom for all that you have given- for all the prayers you have prayed, for all the tears that you shed, and for all of the values you instilled.  I love you!

1 John 4:1 says “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God.”  The Bible also tells us to “test all things; hold fast what is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21).  With these admonitions, it is clear that discernment is needed.  I have been in meetings where it seemed that everyone was expected to simply accept every manifestation without question.  A meeting (or a movement) should not object to manifestations being questioned or tested.  In some circles, anyone who questions a manifestation is deemed “religious.”  I am certainly against the religious spirit, but we need not blindly accept everything without proper testing.

The Danger of Mixture

“You shall not sow your vineyard with different kinds of seed, lest the yield of the seed which you have sown and the fruit of your vineyard be defiled. You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together. You shall not wear a garment of different sorts, such as wool and linen mixed together.”
-Deuteronomy 20:9-11

One of the most dangerous things that can happen in the church is mixture; mixing worldly philosophy with the Word of God, mixing fleshly demonstrations with the genuine power of God, and mixing false teaching with true.  Mixture creates confusion.  It muddies the waters and makes it harder to determine the source of a teaching, ministry, or movement.  In the Old Testament, the children of Israel were constantly getting in trouble by mixing with pagan philosophies and idols.  They tried to worship the Lord and worship idols as well.  They wanted to mix the rituals and practices of the gentiles with their own worship.  This always brought the judgment of God.

Today, the same thing is happening in the church.  Some are teaching self-help methods along with biblical principles.  Some are espousing New Age practices along with genuine gifts of the Spirit.  Some are allowing for demonic counterfeits along with the genuine manifestation of the Holy Spirit.  The result of this mixture is seen in the passage quoted above: “lest the yield of the seed you have sown and the fruit of your vineyard be defiled.”

We need to separate the “precious from the vile” (see Jeremiah 15:19).  Let’s pray for the discernment to recognize the true from the false, and uproot the mixture that is among us.  We must have the cleansing fire of the Word of God wash us from all defilement that has come through mixture!

-Exodus 7:10-12

The above passage describes a fascinating event; a supernatural showdown between the power of God and the power of Satan. There are several things that we can glean from this passage in order to understand the supernatural world.

There are two sources of supernatural ability

It is clear from the Scriptures that God is a supernatural God and that He empowers believers to walk in supernatural acts. However, He is not the only source of supernatural ability; Satan also has supernatural powers and can give these powers to people as well. Moses and Aaron were clearly operating in the power of God, and when Aaron threw his rod to the ground, it became a serpent. Pharaoh’s magicians and sorcerers were also walking in supernatural power, and they were able to cause their rods to become snakes as well. But their power did not come from the one true God; it came from the devil.

There are two sources of supernatural ability; God and Satan. God is supernatural, but supernatural is not necessarily God. Fascination with Jesus will lead you to the supernatural, but fascination with the supernatural may not lead you to Jesus. Some believers are so afraid of deception that they reject anything supernatural. On the other hand, some believers are so desperate for the supernatural that they open themselves to demonic counterfeits. We need to move in the genuine power of God, and expose the enemy’s counterfeit.

When it comes to supernatural activity, there are generally two categories: knowledge and power. Any attempt to access supernatural knowledge or power outside of the one true God is spiritually dangerous, and is considered involvement in the occult. This opens the door to demonic influence in a person’s life.

Results do not determine validity

When judging between whether something is of God or the devil, results do not determine the source. In other words, just because Pharaoh’s sorcerers could turn their rods into snakes does not validate them as being from God. The power of God and the power of Satan can look very similar. This in fact is the nature of a counterfeit; to look as close to the real thing as possible without actually being the real thing.

The magicians were able to perform the same miracle as Moses and Aaron. In the same way, those who operate in the occult and the New Age can have real power and get real results. You can go to a psychic and find that they have supernatural knowledge about your life. You can see a New Age healer and find that there is actual healing that takes place. This is what makes the realm of the occult tricky and why there is a great need for discernment.

Just because something “works” does not mean that it is from God. Some believers dabble in New Age activities, and because there is a positive result believe that it must be from God. When evaluating whether a practice is of the Lord or not it is important to remember that getting results is not what validates something as being from God. We must ask questions like this: what is the source of the results? What are the governing principles and philosophies behind this practice? Does this method line up with the overall counsel of the Bible? Does it point people to Jesus?

God’s power is greater than Satan’s

It goes without saying that the power of God is greater than the power of Satan. This is illustrated by the fact that the rod of Aaron swallowed up the rods of the magicians. God is eternal and all-powerful; the devil is a created being, with limited power and knowledge. The answer to the rise of occult and New Age power is for the servants of God to display the true power of God and swallow up the false.

In Acts chapter 8 Philip the evangelist went into the city of Samaria that was dominated by the influence of a sorcerer named Simon. Many people were astonished by Simon’s magic power and followed after him as a result. Philip preached Jesus and demonstrated the power of the kingdom of God by healing the sick and casting out demons. The result was that the city turned to God, with even Simon being converted. The power of God swallowed up the power of Satan (see Acts 8: 4-13).

Light is more powerful than darkness, but if light does not shine darkness will reign. It is time for the church to take up our rod of authority, demonstrate God’s power, and swallow up the tide of occult and New Age influence!

Below is a brief description of my understanding of the fivefold ministry gifts.  Keep in mind that these gifts refer to a person.  With the nine manifestation gifts in 1 Corinthians 12 a person may have a gift or operate in a gift; with the fivefold ministry gifts the person is the gift (Click here to read my article on the manifestation gifts of the Spirit).

Apostle
The apostle, more than the others, is focused on the kingdom of God advancing in the earth.  An apostle is “one who is sent” in order to extend the borders of God’s kingdom and establish it in a region or sphere.  Apostles operate in great spiritual authority, move in signs and wonders, establish church order, build according to the pattern of heaven, impart spiritual gifts, father others into ministry, and bring the church into maturity. An apostle will probably have first been one of the other ministry gifts, and will be able to flow in various roles.

Prophet

The prophet, more than the others, is focused on the immediate voice of God (or the rhema word). Prophets have great ability to receive the heart and mind of God and declare it to people, churches, cities, and nations.  Prophets receive revelation from the Lord in various ways but I would say that the most common is through hearing and seeing.  They equip the church to hear the voice of God for themselves, and to move in the supernatural gifts of the Spirit.

Evangelist

The evangelist, more than the others, is focused on the lost.  Evangelists burn with a passion to see the lost come to the saving knowledge of Jesus and make this the primary aim of their ministry.  They are gifted in reaching the lost in various ways, whether by preaching or personal connection. They also equip the church to evangelize.

Pastor

The pastor, more than the others, is focused on the flock.  The pastor builds long term relationships with a group of believers and provides oversight, spiritual nourishment, care, healing, and correction when needed. Pastors are true shepherds – they love the people of God and want to see them healthy and whole, and living in the destiny that God has for them.  I have observed that many people who carry the title “pastor” are not really pastors, but one of the other ministry gifts.  If this is the case, the congregation will not flourish unless someone else in leadership is fulfilling the pastoral role.

Teacher

The teacher, more than the others, is focused on the written Word of God (or the logos).  Teachers have a great love for the Scriptures and are concerned that the people of God become grounded in the Word.  They have the ability to communiate the Word in ways that people understand and they cause others to hunger for the Word. The teacher and the prophet bring a great balance to each other, as we need to be both grounded in the Bible and open to the voice of the Holy Spirit.

Here is the result of the fivefold ministry gifts functioning properly in the church:

“…the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love” (Ephesians 4:12-16).

Let’s ask the Lord for a true restoration of all five of the ministry gifts and for team ministry to once again be the norm in the church. The result will be glorious!

“And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up—if in fact the dead do not rise.For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen.And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.”

The resurrection of Jesus is absolutely essential to the Christian life and faith. The fact that Jesus came into history, lived among us, gave himself for our sins, and then rose from the grave is the core of our faith. If Jesus did not raise from the dead, then like Paul stated, our faith is futile. But the resurrection validates all that Jesus said and did.

If Jesus did not raise from the dead then there is no use believing His claims. If Jesus did not raise from the dead, then He really was not the Savior of the world and the cross did not really accomplish what the Bible says. Frankly, if Jesus did not raise from the dead, He was a complete liar.

But…the tomb is empty! Because the tomb is empty He is who He says He is. Because the tomb is empty He is worthy of our worship and our devotion. Because the tomb is empty we have life and hope in Him. Have a great Easter weekend and remember the power of the corss and resurrection!

So Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, and took away the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king’s house; he took everything. He also carried away the gold shields which Solomon had made.
-2 Chronicles 12:9

The next verse is what I want to focus on: “Then King Rehoboam made bronze shields in their place…” (2 Chronicles 12:10).  An enemy nation had invaded the house of God and took away its treasures, including some gold shields that Solomon had made. The response of Rehoboam was to make a cheap substitute in their place. In the same way, the church has lost some of its treasures, and the enemy has plundered our camp. The problem is, we have settled for “bronze shields” instead recovering what has been lost!

We have settled for a Christianity that is void of the presence and power of God. We have settled for church and ministry that is more soulish than spiritual. We have settled for teaching that “tickles the ears.” We have settled for entertainment instead of equipping. We have settled for programs instead of prayer. We have settled for “success” instead of fruit.

I for one refuse to settle! I have a long way to go, but there are three areas that I am constantly seeking to grow in: intimacy with God, purity of heart/godly character, and the power of the Holy Spirit. I recognize that there is a difference between my life and what the Bible says is available to me, and I simply refuse to settle for “bronze shields.” These three categories are all available to us by the finished work of Jesus; it is not a matter of earning them, but walking in the grace and promises that God has given us.

What would happen if believers and churches refused to settle for cheap substitutes and went after the real thing? Will you be one who refuses to settle? In the midst of a complacent church, God is raising up a company of believers who refuse to settle for less than all that He has for us. Be one of those believers; don’t settle!

Jesus was teaching that prayer is not something we do so that others can see how “spiritual” we are, but so that we can spend time alone with our Father in heaven.  There is a time for public and corporate prayer, but at the heart of prayer is the concept of being alone with God.

There is simply no substitute for spending time alone with God.  Bearing fruit requires having roots; and the roots are the part of the tree that is unseen.  When we spend time alone with God- meditating on His Word, worshipping Him, praying, and waiting upon Him- our roots are going deeper which prepares us for greater fruitfulness.  Psalm 1:3 says that the person who regularly meditates on the Word will be “like a tree planted by the waters, that brings forth its fruit in season.”

Fruitfulness in the Christian life is born out of intimacy with God; and intimacy requires time in the secret place.  This was the pattern of Jesus’ ministry.  The Bible says that He “often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed” (Luke 5:16).  Though the crowds were gathering around Him to hear His teaching and to receive His healing touch, Jesus would get away from the multitudes to be alone with God.

How about you?  Do you make the time to get alone with God?  If you miss this, you are missing the key to a true relationship with the Lord and genuine fruitfulness for His kingdom.  Pursue the Lord in prayer- not out of religious duty- but out of a desire to know God and be with alone Him.  Make the time to be in the secret place!

When God created the earth, He gave authority over it to mankind (See Genesis 1:26-28).  God has chosen to work on the earth through people, which creates the scenario for things to happen on the earth that are not His will.  This does not negate the fact that God is sovereign or all-powerful; it is simply the way that He designed things to be.

Let’s look at two short Scriptures to illustrate this:

“For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality” (1 Thessalonians 4:3).

“It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you” (1 Corinthians 5:1).

It is absolutely clear that the will of God for Christians is to abstain from any type of sexual immorality, and yet the believers in Corinth had this type of sin among them.  The same is true today; even though it is God’s will for us to live holy lives, many have fallen into sexual sin.  So, the fact that it is God’s will for us to be sexually pure does not automatically mean that we will be sexually pure.  In a broader sense, the fact that something is God’s will does not automatically mean that it will happen!

There are several other examples that I could use to illustrate this point, but I want to focus on one more.  Jesus taught us to pray this way: “Your kingdom come.  Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).  If God’s will always happens on earth automatically, why would Jesus teach us to pray for His will to be done on earth?  This is an important question, because too many Christians take a passive stand on things, thinking “if God wants it to happen it will.”  This type of thinking removes our responsibility from the equation.

I am not advocating the other extreme, a man-centered mentality that “everything is up to us,” but instead a partnership between man and God.   In this partnership, we take responsibility to establish God’s will “on earth as it is in heaven” while remaining completely dependant on Him.  Think of it this way: We can’t do it without God, but God won’t do it without us!  That is the way He created it to be.

I hope this article will cause you to rethink some common notions about the will of God.  Let us submit to God’s sovereignty and take up our responsibility at the same time!

The Up Conference is about breaking free from the hindrances that keep us from going up higher in the Lord. The teaching and prayer ministry will be geared toward getting people cleaned up, freed up, healed up and then built up, and filled up so that they can rise up into their God-given purpose and destiny!

Ann Kern of Touched by Jesus Ministries is hosting the conference and I will be teaching along with her. Ann’s ministry is one of healing and restoration and I am blessed by her compassion for the brokenhearted.

Donnie Kittle will be leading worship. I’ve had the privilege of knowing Donnie for almost five years and count it an honor to minister along side of him. He carries a strong anointing in praise and worship, leading people into the presence of the Lord.

Along with Donnie, Shawn Wilkerson will be ministering in praise and worship. I have known Shawn for over six years now. She has a true heart for worship, a powerful voice, and a gift to release the manifest presence of God.

I am excited about working together with this team for kingdom purposes. If you are near Fort Myers (or can make the trip there) plan on coming to the Up Conference for a powerful time of transformation and encounter with God!

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One thing that is clear is that there is a big difference between the ministry of Jesus/the early church, and what we are presently experiencing today. Jesus healed people everywhere He went and never refused to heal anyone who came to Him, and yet today it seems to be so rare. Why is this the case? My belief is that the cause of this gap is on our (the church’s) end of the equation.  In other words, it is NOT because God does not want to heal anymore or has changed His agenda.

Here are some general reasons why I believe we are not seeing more healings take place today.

-Unbelief in the church: There is an atmosphere of unbelief in the western church when it comes to divine healing and other supernatural works of God. This was a hindrance even in Jesus’ ministry. When He went to His hometown, Nazareth, He could not do many miracles: “Now He could do no mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them.  And He marveled because of their unbelief” (Mark 6:5-6).

-Wrong view of sickness: We have tended to see sickness as coming from God, while Jesus viewed it as a work of the devil that needed to be destroyed. Acts 10:38 says, “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.” For other examples see: Luke 13:11-16, Matthew 12:22, Matthew 17:14-18 (In these cases the sickness was actually caused by an evil spirit).

-Wrong theology: Much of the church has a theology that teaches that God does not perform the same kind of miracles that He did in the Bible and that certain supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit (such as healing) are no longer available to the church. It seems that because we are not seeing the miracles of the Bible we have created a theology to explain why. But, this theology has no real scriptural basis.

When a believer is sick, there is often a question as to whether or not it is God’s will to heal them. When answering this question, it is important to look to the Scripture for our answer and not what we have experienced (in other words, our experience would tell us that it is probably not God’s will to heal since we have not seen it happening like in the Bible). I believe that it is God’s will to heal based on the following:

-The name and nature of God: “I am the Lord who heals you…”(Exodus 15:26). In the Hebrew it is Jehovah-Rapha. The fact that one of the names of God is “Healer” denotes that it is His nature to heal.

-The promises of Scripture: See Exodus 15:26, Psalm 103:1-3, James 5:24-15

-The model of Jesus’ ministry: Jesus is the perfect representation of God, and He never refused to heal anyone. He also commissioned His followers to heal the sick.

-The cross: The Bible teaches that healing is available to us in the finished work of Jesus on the cross. See Isaiah 53:5, Matthew 8:16-17, 1 Peter 2:24

-The kingdom of God being here: When God’s kingdom comes, healing is a byproduct (See Matthew 9:35, Luke 9:11, Luke 10:9, Matthew 4:23). We are taught by Jesus to pray that God’s kingdom would come and His will would be done on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10).

When a person does not get healed we often assume that it must not have been God’s will to heal them. However, God’s will does not happen automatically on earth (or else Jesus would not have taught us to pray for His will to happen on earth as it is in heaven).

When I pray for someone for healing, I do so with the belief that it is God’s will to heal them. In my experience over the last several years in praying for the sick I have seen three different results: 1.) Instant supernatural healing. 2.) A measure of healing, but not total. 3.) No measurable difference in the condition. It is not usually apparent why healing happens sometimes and other times it does not…I do not understand this but I choose to continue to pray according to the Word of God. There could be various factors involved in why the healing did not happen, and while I encourage people to believe God I try to never put pressure on them or tell them that they did not get healed because of their lack of faith. I encourage people to view sickness as something to be fought against, not something that God wants us to have (It is not that we will not have trials or suffering, but sickness should not fall into this same category).

I believe that if the church will take up the responsibility to heal the sick like Jesus commanded, and we have a renewed mind about what the Bible teaches about healing, we will see more and more supernatural healings from the Lord. In many ways, we are like the Israelites in the Old Testament who did not go into the Promised Land because of fear and unbelief. God had promised the land to them, but they had to go in and take possession of it. In the same way, we as the church need to take possession of the promises that God has given us!