The contrast between the prayer of the Pharisee and that of the tax collector gives us a vivid picture of the attitude of prayer. Jesus Himself illustrated, in the form of a parable, the difference between the prayer of the self-righteous and the prayer of the one who seeks after God's mercy.
Jesus said, "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 will be exalted" (Luke 18:10 - 14, NKJV, emphasis added).
In the above particular passage of Scripture, Jesus was an eyewitness of what was happening at the temple. He was sharing with His disciples, the religious leaders, the Pharisees, and those who were around Him at that time, in the form of a parable. This incident was at the closing of His Jerusalem ministry before He left for the other cities. Jesus used a lot of parables because a parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning and it was easily understood by His disciples.
Jesus saw two characters at the temple, the Pharisee and the tax collector. Both of them went to the temple for the same singular purpose - to pray. The Pharisee's eyes were looking at God. But the tax collector's eyes were lifted up only half way and he would not look up to heaven. Jesus saw every little movement that was going on in the temple.
Similarly, Jesus is also in the midst of our Chruch services and our prayer meetings looking and observing every one of us. He knows there are also many "Pharisees" and many "tax collectors" in our worship services and in our prayer meetings.
The Prayer of the Pharisee
Let us turn our attention to the Pharisee. The word, "Pharisee" comes from the Aramaic word "parashiym" which means "separated". The Pharisees felt so strongly that they were the only chosen race because they belonged to the Jews. They gave themselves over to rigid practice of the Mosaic Law which they obeyed to great details. Each time they were quick to jump to the conclusion that the Jews did not obey or observe as much details as they were. And because of this they assumed that the Jews were all sinners and they could not come close to heaven. The Pharisees were "separated" and legally self-righteous.
Jesus said, "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.'" (Luke 18:11, 12).
Here are some statements of truth:
1. In his whole prayer, the Pharisee mentioned God only once. But five times he said, "I". His prayer was self-centered. Jesus said, "For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks" (Matt. 12:34). The Pharisee spoke thus because his heart was conceited.
2. The Phariseee congratulated God for having such a nice fellow as he was - unlike the extortioners, unjust and the adulterers! He even put down the tax collector by comparing himself favorably with him.
3. The Pharisee fasted twice a week. Moses Law requiered the Jews to fast only on the Day of Atonement which was called "the day of fasting" (Jer. 36:6) to remember God's goodness of the Passover Lamb. The school of the Rabbi and the school of the Pharisees were trying to suggest to us that the two days of the week, Monday and Thursday were special days of prayer. According to their traditional belief, Moses went up to Mt. Sinai on a Monday, and after he received the Ten commandments, he come down on a Thursday. And so the Pharisee not only fasted twice a week but also had special prayers in these two days.
4. Mondays and Thursdays were market days for all the Jews in Jerusalem and the surrounding cities. Before the people went to the market they would go to the temple to pray to God. The Pharisees had the greatest opportunity to have their prayers heard by a great naive audience. People would think how spiritual their leaders were. But Jesus was there and He saw the spiritual gimmicks and spiritual bankruptcy of the Pharisees who were His fellow Jews. Similarly Jesus sees what is going on in His Church today. Many of His people come to Church just to show others how religious they are, and not genuinely come to worship God and get to know Him.
5. The Pharisee tithed all that they possessed. Moses Law required the Jews to tithe crops, oil, wine, and herds of animals (Lev. 27:30 - 33; Deu. 14:22 - 29). The tithes were given to support the Levites (Num. 18:21 - 32). But the Pharisees tithed everything, even the garden herbs.
Jesus said to them, "But woe to you Pharisees! for you tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass by justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone" (Luke 11:42).
The Pharisees and the religious leaders were majoring on the minor. The major side of the Law they did not obey. You can also find many self-centered and self-righteous "Pharisees" and religious leaders in the Church today.
The Prayer of the tax collector
A tax collector was a Jewish agent or contract worker who collected taxes for the Roman Government. But he knew very little about Moses Law. All he knew was to carry out the wishes of Caesar. The tax collectors were despised by their fellow Jews because under the Law, a Jew could not tax another Jew. In fact a Jew could not even receive interest from another Jew because Jew and Jew were brothers.
The tax collectors were classified generally as "sinners" (Matt. 9:10, 11; Mark 2:15), because they were allowed to gather more than the government required and then to pocket the excess amount. Instead of collecting 20% tax, they usually collected 40% so that the other 20% could go to their pocket! John the Baptist addressed this when he urged tax collectors to gather no more money than they should (Luke 3:12, 13). Furthermore, the tax collectors were hated because their fellow countrymen viewed them as mercenaries who worked for a foreign oppressor of the Jewish people.
We need to bear in mind that Jesus always hates sin but loves sinners. And so it is not surprising to note that Jesus accepted and associated with tax collectors. He ate with them (Mark 2:16). he bestowed His saving grace upon them (Luke 19:9), and He even chose a tax collector (Matthew) as one of His twelve disciples (Matt. 9:9). By His attitude toward the tax collectors, Jesus showed that God's covenant of grace extends to all people - not only the "righteous" who observed the Law of the Old Testament. In fact, His message was that God would welcome the repentant and humble tax collector, while He would spurn the arrogant Pharisee.
With the above background in mind let us look at this particular tax collector who came to the temple to repent before Jesus and to ask for God's mercy.
Jesus said, "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!'" (Luke 18:13, emphasis added).
Here are some statements of truth:
1. The tax collector stood afar off because he was too ashamed to come near Jesus. He was conscious of his unworthiness to approach the sacred place where God had his Holy habitation. Furthermore he stood isolated from the others in the temple - the marketing crowd. The crowd would recognize him right away because his job was very prominent.
2. Jesus' statement concerning the attitude of the tax collector - "would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast", was symbolic of repentance. The tax collector was conscious of his guilt. He felt that he was a sinner. Shame and sorrow prevent his looking up. Men who are conscious of guilt always fix their eyes on the ground. He stood there, came to Jesus, broken and hopeless, knowing that God would anytime strike him dead. If not because of God's mercy he could never be never be found in the presence of Jesus.
3. The tax collector prayed, "God, be merciful to me a sinner"! Very short and straight to the point without justifying or finding excuse for his sin. He simply confessed that he was a sinner and acknowledged that he needed God's mercy. The only similarity between his praying and the Pharisee's prayer was that they both mentioned "God" once. But the Pharisee never admitted that he was a sinner and never admitted that he needed God's mercy.
The phrase "be merciful to me" in the Hebrew language is more vivid which means, "God, let your anger be removed from me. If you don't remove your anger and forgive my wrongdoing I will have no mercy".
Conclusion
Jesus said, "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 will be exalted" (Luke 18:14, NKJV, emphasis added).
The word, "justified" means "accepted and approved by God", or "just-as-if the person did not sin". God, therefore, declares the person as righteous. In this case it means that in their prayers, the tax collector and the Pharisee, one was approved and the other not; the "one went down to his house" with the favor of God in answer to his petitions, the other not.
The phrase, "for everyone who exalts himself ..." is God's universal way to deal with people - believers or non-believers. Men will perpetually endeavor to bring down those who endeavor to exalt themselves; and it is God's plan to abase the proud, to bring down the lofty, to raise up those that be bowed down, and show His favors to those who are poor and needy.
When we see the contrast of the prayer of the Pharisee and that of the tax collector we understand that Jesus loves pepentant sinners and opens His ears to their prayer. When we see the contrast of different type of believers in the Church we understand how Jesus readily answers prayers and grant the petitions of those who come humbly before Him, just as they are - without hypocrisy and without displaying a false facade.
God declared, "If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heave, and will forgive their sin and heal their land" (2 Chron. 7:14, emphasis added).
God's eyes see our heart and see our attitude in prayer:
"For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him" (2 Chron. 16:9).
One of the wonderful promises of God in this endtime hour is:
"It shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear" (Isaiah 65:24).
The condition to receive this promise of God is simply this - pray with the right attitude!
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
The Power of Prayer
I believe it is time I begin a series of messages concerning prayer. Churches, the world over, are talking about revival. But Church history tells us that there is no revival without Christians praying for revival.
Jesus said to His disciples, "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you" (John 15:7, NKJV, emphasis added).
The Amplified Bible says, "If you live in Me - abide vitally united to Me - and My words remain in you and continue to live in your hearts, ask whatever you will and it shall be done to you" (Emphasis added).
The phrase "shall be done" in Greek means "shall be created", "shall be ordained", "shall be generated" or "shall be performed".
Before you can receive this incredicble promise of God, you have to meet the two conditions given by Jesus. For example if you desires a revival in your Church you have to do two things:
First, you must abide in Him and secondly, His Word must abide in you. Every member of the Local Church must do this, from Pastors, leaders to the most "insignificant" person sitting in the pew.
How do you abide in the Lord? To abide means you have to make a continuous contact, continuous communion and communication with the Lord. It has to do with prayer. It is impossible to communicate with Jesus without prayer.
How to have His words abide in you? you must study His Words; you must put Bible study as the top priority in your life. And you must also apply His words in your daily living without compromise. Notice also that if His words abide in you, you will always pray according to the will of God.
The above two statements, abide in Him and have His words abide in us, are fundamentals to a successful Christian life. If you have a consistent prayer life, in constant presence of the Lord, and maintain an understanding of the Scripture, Jesus said, you can ask whatever you will and it shall be done unto you.
However, the above Scriptures have not been fully explored because we find it difficult to constantly abiding in Him. I believe the only person ever have explored to the fullest is the Lord Jesus. The secret of His Power comes from the fact that He was in constant unbroken communion with the Father.
The blessings of prayer
All of us desire a revival visitation of the Lord to our family, to our Church and to our nation so that the Lord can raise up God-fearing matured Christians. The answer to our desire for revival is not in the preaching of powerful sermons, not in Bible schools, not in better programs. The answer is closer relationship between us and the Lord. Where that relationship is unbroken but continuous, there is a release of Holy Ghost power to give us victory over all circumstances and situations in our life. The Bible is full of wonderful results and blessings that come from prayer - prayed according to the will of God (1 John 5:14, 15).
Think of the tremendous blessing when Joshua fought against the Amalekites (Exodus 17:8 - 10). Moses stood on top of a hill and as long as his hands were raised (an aspect of prayer) Joshua won the battle. But the moment when Moses got weary and let down his hands, Amalek prevailed. and so Aaron and Hur supported Moses' hands until Israel defeated the Amalekites.
Think of the amazing prayer of king Jehoshaphat (2 Chron. 20:6 - 12) when the enemies were coming against him and out numbered him more that 10 to 1. When Jehoshaphat sent out singers to praise and worship the Lord, God wonderfully stepped in and set ambushes against the enemies.
You should read the tremendous effective prayer and intercession of Nehemiah (Neh. 1:4 - 11). His prayer consists of confession of individual and national sins and pleading that God would remember His promises of mercy upon His people turning to Him. You should also read the prayers of Daniel and Esther.
The power of prayer
Prayer is an incredible powerful force from the human mind led by the human spirit. When you pray according to the will of God, you can touch the hands of God. It has been said by many prayerful men-of-God that the thoughts of men speak louder in heaven than the shouts of men on earth.
Revival and prayer
There can be no revival without prayer. Revival is actually the demonstration of the true power of God. Any demonstration of the true power of God must always be associated with prayer and our constant communion with the Lord. It is not just the case of speaking the right words; it is not just the case of positive confession; it is not just the case of doing exactly what Jesus did - laying hand on the sick and command the sickness to leave. There has to be a fervent prayer behind every case of those things in order for God to get the glory! And because there is a price to pay to get that kind of power, we are inclined to find easy ways out, like substituting the genuine power of God with psychology and the gimmicks of men. God will not be glorified in this way and any revival must glorify God.
Proverbs concerning today's complacent prayer-less Church
No man is greater than his prayer life. A man with a great prayer life is a great man. A sinning man will stop praying and the praying man will stop sinning. The secret of praying is praying in secret. A Pastor who is not praying is playing; the people who are not praying are straying.
We have too many organizers but few agonizers; we have many players and many payers but few prayers. We have many singers but few clingers; we have many Pastors but few wrestlers. We have many fears but few tears; we have many interferers but few intercessors. We have many actors but few fighters; we have many volunteers but few overcomers!
Shouldn't we set our house in order first, before we even think of revival?
Praying without ceasing
In the Old Testament we find David and Daniel prayed 3 times a day:
Concerning Daniel - "And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and give thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days" (Daniel 6:10).
Concerning David - "Evening and morning and at noon I will pray, and cry aloud, and He shall hear my voice" (Ps. 55:17).
The New Testamnet, however, teaches that Christians should not just have a quiet time now and then, should not just pray 3 times or more a day, but teaches that Christians should pray without ceasing!
"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you" (1 Thess. 5:17, emphasis added).
"... rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer" (Romans 12:12, emphasis added).
"Then He (Jesus) spoke a parable to them (disciples), that men always ought to pray and not lose heart" (Luke 18:1, emphasis added).
When the Bible makes statements like that, we can be sure that praying without ceasing is not such a demanding exercise that it is impossible to achieve. Furthermore, to pray without ceasing is the will of God! We should note that prayer does not mean that we have to kneel, does not mean that we have to stand, seated, close eyes, open eyes, and so on. Payer is an attitude. It is very much like breathing or the beating of our hearts - unceasingly, constantly and continuingly. We can therefore pray anytime and anywhere even while doing other things. We can pray while walking, running, driving a car, having a shower and so on. When we are doing other things, our spirit prays.
We need to be conscious of the Christ within us - the Holy Spirit, the second Person of the Godhead, taking the place of Jesus in our heart (our spirit).
Paul talked about the "inner man" (Eph. 3:16 - 21), and "Christ is formed" in us (Gal. 4:19), and "Christ in you the hope of glory" (Col. 1:27). And as we have seen earlier, Jesus talked about "If you abide in Me" (John 15:7) which means constant and continuous communication with Him.
That is the reason when we pray we don't have to shout or scream to get God's attention. That is the reason why baptism in the Holy Spirit is so important. Among other benefits, it gives us the consciousness of our inner man where Christ dwells.
Ways of praying
There are many ways we can pray or communicate with the Lord - let me mention just a few:
1. Silent mental communication - indication of a sorrowful spirit. Hannah's prayer is a good example:
"Now Hannah spoke in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli thought she was drunk" (1 Sam. 1:13).
Hannah said, "I am a woman of sorrowful spirit, I have drunk neither wine nor intoxicating drink, but have poured out my soul before the Lord" (1 Sam. 1:15).
2. Praying (or singing) with understanding - common tye of prayer. Paul said, "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" (1 Cor. 14:15).
3. Praying (or singing) with the spirit - or praying in tongue. Paul said, "For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful" (1 Cor. 13:14).
You pray in tongues whenever you don't know how to pray because you don't know what the problem you are facing. For example, when you are asked to pray for a very sick and old person and you don't know whether you should pray for healing (or deliverance) or pray that the Lord would take him home. There is release in your spirit when you pray in tongues as you pray according to the will of God.
4. Groaning in the spirit - we groan within our spirit when we fell despondent and depressed seeing the seemingly hopeless circumstances and situation around us. We cry out to the Lord from our inner man. Paul said we "groan within ourselves" eagerly waiting for the redemption of our body (Romans 8:23).
When Jesus came to the tomb of Lazarus He "groaned in the spirit and was troubled" (John 11:33). It was not because He could not raise Lazaruos from the dead, but because of his compassion for him and for his sisters, Mary and Martha.
5. Praying with tears -sometimes tears do move the hands of God. God heard the prayer of Hezekiah and saw his tears and added 15 years to his life (Isaiah 38:5).
David prayed with tears in many occasions - Ps. 6:6; Ps. 39:12. And in Ps. 56:8 David cried out to the Lord:
"You number my wanderings; put my tears into Your bottle; are they not in Your book"?
God has a bottle to hold our tears and a book to record our prayers!
God's Measuring Rod for His Church
We are living in the last of the last days and John was asked by an angel to measure three things - the Temple (God's sancturay), the altar of Incense and the number of worshippers there:
"The I (John) was given a reed like a measuring rod. And the angel stood, saying, 'Rise and measure the temple of God. the altar, and those who worship there" (Rev. 11:1).
God is putting His measuring rod in the Church today and He is shaking the Church to the very foundation. God is measuring the type of prayers that is coming from the Church at the altar of incense. In Scripture, incense always speaks to us of the prayers and intercession of the saints (believers) which ascent unto God (Ps. 141:2 and Rev. 8:3, 4).
Referring to the Tabernacle of Moses, someone said, "Martin Luther took us to the Brazen Altar; the Baptist took us to the Brazen Laver; the Pentecostals took us to the Golden Candlestick; the mighty moving of the Holy Spirit (Charismatic Churches) brought us to the Goldern Altar of Incense. And God is measuring the prayers of the worshippers at our prayer meetings!
We are now standing at the Altar of Incense, immediately before the Inner Veil (or the Second Viel) which leads us to the final move of God - into the Holy of Holies!
There is no easy road in prayer. It start with discipline, and then becomes a duty, and after that it becomes a desire. And if you keep at it, it becomes a delight! How do I know? All because of what Jesus said, "If you abide in Me and My words abide in you ...." (John 15:7)!
Jesus said to His disciples, "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you" (John 15:7, NKJV, emphasis added).
The Amplified Bible says, "If you live in Me - abide vitally united to Me - and My words remain in you and continue to live in your hearts, ask whatever you will and it shall be done to you" (Emphasis added).
The phrase "shall be done" in Greek means "shall be created", "shall be ordained", "shall be generated" or "shall be performed".
Before you can receive this incredicble promise of God, you have to meet the two conditions given by Jesus. For example if you desires a revival in your Church you have to do two things:
First, you must abide in Him and secondly, His Word must abide in you. Every member of the Local Church must do this, from Pastors, leaders to the most "insignificant" person sitting in the pew.
How do you abide in the Lord? To abide means you have to make a continuous contact, continuous communion and communication with the Lord. It has to do with prayer. It is impossible to communicate with Jesus without prayer.
How to have His words abide in you? you must study His Words; you must put Bible study as the top priority in your life. And you must also apply His words in your daily living without compromise. Notice also that if His words abide in you, you will always pray according to the will of God.
The above two statements, abide in Him and have His words abide in us, are fundamentals to a successful Christian life. If you have a consistent prayer life, in constant presence of the Lord, and maintain an understanding of the Scripture, Jesus said, you can ask whatever you will and it shall be done unto you.
However, the above Scriptures have not been fully explored because we find it difficult to constantly abiding in Him. I believe the only person ever have explored to the fullest is the Lord Jesus. The secret of His Power comes from the fact that He was in constant unbroken communion with the Father.
The blessings of prayer
All of us desire a revival visitation of the Lord to our family, to our Church and to our nation so that the Lord can raise up God-fearing matured Christians. The answer to our desire for revival is not in the preaching of powerful sermons, not in Bible schools, not in better programs. The answer is closer relationship between us and the Lord. Where that relationship is unbroken but continuous, there is a release of Holy Ghost power to give us victory over all circumstances and situations in our life. The Bible is full of wonderful results and blessings that come from prayer - prayed according to the will of God (1 John 5:14, 15).
Think of the tremendous blessing when Joshua fought against the Amalekites (Exodus 17:8 - 10). Moses stood on top of a hill and as long as his hands were raised (an aspect of prayer) Joshua won the battle. But the moment when Moses got weary and let down his hands, Amalek prevailed. and so Aaron and Hur supported Moses' hands until Israel defeated the Amalekites.
Think of the amazing prayer of king Jehoshaphat (2 Chron. 20:6 - 12) when the enemies were coming against him and out numbered him more that 10 to 1. When Jehoshaphat sent out singers to praise and worship the Lord, God wonderfully stepped in and set ambushes against the enemies.
You should read the tremendous effective prayer and intercession of Nehemiah (Neh. 1:4 - 11). His prayer consists of confession of individual and national sins and pleading that God would remember His promises of mercy upon His people turning to Him. You should also read the prayers of Daniel and Esther.
The power of prayer
Prayer is an incredible powerful force from the human mind led by the human spirit. When you pray according to the will of God, you can touch the hands of God. It has been said by many prayerful men-of-God that the thoughts of men speak louder in heaven than the shouts of men on earth.
Revival and prayer
There can be no revival without prayer. Revival is actually the demonstration of the true power of God. Any demonstration of the true power of God must always be associated with prayer and our constant communion with the Lord. It is not just the case of speaking the right words; it is not just the case of positive confession; it is not just the case of doing exactly what Jesus did - laying hand on the sick and command the sickness to leave. There has to be a fervent prayer behind every case of those things in order for God to get the glory! And because there is a price to pay to get that kind of power, we are inclined to find easy ways out, like substituting the genuine power of God with psychology and the gimmicks of men. God will not be glorified in this way and any revival must glorify God.
Proverbs concerning today's complacent prayer-less Church
No man is greater than his prayer life. A man with a great prayer life is a great man. A sinning man will stop praying and the praying man will stop sinning. The secret of praying is praying in secret. A Pastor who is not praying is playing; the people who are not praying are straying.
We have too many organizers but few agonizers; we have many players and many payers but few prayers. We have many singers but few clingers; we have many Pastors but few wrestlers. We have many fears but few tears; we have many interferers but few intercessors. We have many actors but few fighters; we have many volunteers but few overcomers!
Shouldn't we set our house in order first, before we even think of revival?
Praying without ceasing
In the Old Testament we find David and Daniel prayed 3 times a day:
Concerning Daniel - "And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and give thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days" (Daniel 6:10).
Concerning David - "Evening and morning and at noon I will pray, and cry aloud, and He shall hear my voice" (Ps. 55:17).
The New Testamnet, however, teaches that Christians should not just have a quiet time now and then, should not just pray 3 times or more a day, but teaches that Christians should pray without ceasing!
"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you" (1 Thess. 5:17, emphasis added).
"... rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer" (Romans 12:12, emphasis added).
"Then He (Jesus) spoke a parable to them (disciples), that men always ought to pray and not lose heart" (Luke 18:1, emphasis added).
When the Bible makes statements like that, we can be sure that praying without ceasing is not such a demanding exercise that it is impossible to achieve. Furthermore, to pray without ceasing is the will of God! We should note that prayer does not mean that we have to kneel, does not mean that we have to stand, seated, close eyes, open eyes, and so on. Payer is an attitude. It is very much like breathing or the beating of our hearts - unceasingly, constantly and continuingly. We can therefore pray anytime and anywhere even while doing other things. We can pray while walking, running, driving a car, having a shower and so on. When we are doing other things, our spirit prays.
We need to be conscious of the Christ within us - the Holy Spirit, the second Person of the Godhead, taking the place of Jesus in our heart (our spirit).
Paul talked about the "inner man" (Eph. 3:16 - 21), and "Christ is formed" in us (Gal. 4:19), and "Christ in you the hope of glory" (Col. 1:27). And as we have seen earlier, Jesus talked about "If you abide in Me" (John 15:7) which means constant and continuous communication with Him.
That is the reason when we pray we don't have to shout or scream to get God's attention. That is the reason why baptism in the Holy Spirit is so important. Among other benefits, it gives us the consciousness of our inner man where Christ dwells.
Ways of praying
There are many ways we can pray or communicate with the Lord - let me mention just a few:
1. Silent mental communication - indication of a sorrowful spirit. Hannah's prayer is a good example:
"Now Hannah spoke in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli thought she was drunk" (1 Sam. 1:13).
Hannah said, "I am a woman of sorrowful spirit, I have drunk neither wine nor intoxicating drink, but have poured out my soul before the Lord" (1 Sam. 1:15).
2. Praying (or singing) with understanding - common tye of prayer. Paul said, "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" (1 Cor. 14:15).
3. Praying (or singing) with the spirit - or praying in tongue. Paul said, "For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful" (1 Cor. 13:14).
You pray in tongues whenever you don't know how to pray because you don't know what the problem you are facing. For example, when you are asked to pray for a very sick and old person and you don't know whether you should pray for healing (or deliverance) or pray that the Lord would take him home. There is release in your spirit when you pray in tongues as you pray according to the will of God.
4. Groaning in the spirit - we groan within our spirit when we fell despondent and depressed seeing the seemingly hopeless circumstances and situation around us. We cry out to the Lord from our inner man. Paul said we "groan within ourselves" eagerly waiting for the redemption of our body (Romans 8:23).
When Jesus came to the tomb of Lazarus He "groaned in the spirit and was troubled" (John 11:33). It was not because He could not raise Lazaruos from the dead, but because of his compassion for him and for his sisters, Mary and Martha.
5. Praying with tears -sometimes tears do move the hands of God. God heard the prayer of Hezekiah and saw his tears and added 15 years to his life (Isaiah 38:5).
David prayed with tears in many occasions - Ps. 6:6; Ps. 39:12. And in Ps. 56:8 David cried out to the Lord:
"You number my wanderings; put my tears into Your bottle; are they not in Your book"?
God has a bottle to hold our tears and a book to record our prayers!
God's Measuring Rod for His Church
We are living in the last of the last days and John was asked by an angel to measure three things - the Temple (God's sancturay), the altar of Incense and the number of worshippers there:
"The I (John) was given a reed like a measuring rod. And the angel stood, saying, 'Rise and measure the temple of God. the altar, and those who worship there" (Rev. 11:1).
God is putting His measuring rod in the Church today and He is shaking the Church to the very foundation. God is measuring the type of prayers that is coming from the Church at the altar of incense. In Scripture, incense always speaks to us of the prayers and intercession of the saints (believers) which ascent unto God (Ps. 141:2 and Rev. 8:3, 4).
Referring to the Tabernacle of Moses, someone said, "Martin Luther took us to the Brazen Altar; the Baptist took us to the Brazen Laver; the Pentecostals took us to the Golden Candlestick; the mighty moving of the Holy Spirit (Charismatic Churches) brought us to the Goldern Altar of Incense. And God is measuring the prayers of the worshippers at our prayer meetings!
We are now standing at the Altar of Incense, immediately before the Inner Veil (or the Second Viel) which leads us to the final move of God - into the Holy of Holies!
There is no easy road in prayer. It start with discipline, and then becomes a duty, and after that it becomes a desire. And if you keep at it, it becomes a delight! How do I know? All because of what Jesus said, "If you abide in Me and My words abide in you ...." (John 15:7)!
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Suffering the Consequences of Sins
One of the most important laws of the Bible is that all children of God, both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, suffer consequences of their sins.
Paul admonished the Churches in Galatia: "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap" (Gal 6:7, NKJV).
We shall see, as we go along, what Paul stated above also applied to many great men of God in the Old Testament.
God's main purposes for mankind
Throughout the Scripture God has two main purposes He is trying to emphasize for mankind - One, He is constantly trying to reveal His plan for salvation and to get people to know Him. Secondly, He is trying to show His people how to live.
But we also see, throughout the Scripture, that there is a pattern of people wandering away and falling away. His people in both Old Testament and New Testament constantly fell away and God constantly trying to draw them back to Him. God wants a people who will serve Him with all their hearts all the time.
Four types of commitment
Let us take our examples from Israel's kings. The Bible says, in the New Testament, that we must learn from those in the Old Testament less we make the same mistake:
Paul said, "Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come" (1 Cor. 10:11).
In fact Christians have a higher accountability because you and I have greater revelation and insight by His Word and by His Spirit. Therefore if the Old Testament kings reaped what they sow, all the more Christians are going to reap what they are sowing!
King Solomon's commitment
Solomon was a king who went from commitment to compromise. He was a man went from great wisdom to foolishness. As we go along we shall see the consequences of Soloman's sins.
King Ahab's commitment
King Ahab and his idolatrous wife Jezebel constantly led God's people into idolatry. They were committed to do that and they had committed outright rebellion against God. Ahab died in battle with a tragic death and with dogs licking up his blood (1 Kings 22:38) as prophesied by Elijah (1 Kings 21:19). Jezebel also met with a violent death. Part of her corpse was eaten by dogs (2 Kings 9:30 - 37).
King Amaziah's commitment
Amaziah was a king who served God half-heartedly.
"And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, yet not like his father David; he did everything as his father Joash had done. However the high places were not taken away, and the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places" (2 Kings 14:3, 4).
He was assassinated by his enemies (2 Chron. 25:27).
King Uzziah's commitment
Unzziah, the son of Amaziah, was a king who served God whole heartedly but not throughout his life.
"Uzziah was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jecholiah of Jerusalem. And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father Amaziah had done. He sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God; and as long as he sought the Lord, God made him prosper" (2 Chron. 26:3 - 5).
When God began to bless him and he became powerful, the Scripture says, pride led to his downfall. Uzziah was so proud and presumptuous that he acted like a priest, entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense (2 Chron. 26:16 - 18).
The moment he rebelled against God leprosy broke out on his forehead. He was a leper until the day of his death (2 Chron. 26:19 - 21).
So, Uzziah only committed part of his life whole heartedly to the Lord.
In all the above four types of commitment, these Old Testament kings reaped what they sow!
God desires lifetime whole hearted commitment
God sesires our whole hearted commitment to Him all of our life. If you and I walk away from Jesus Christ where is there for us to go? Is it possible to go back to the pleasure oriented life style? You will find that every alternative you can think of, is a dead end.
Far too many Christians who start off very zealous for the Lord but get seduced along the way - It might be a relationship sexually; it might be some form of New Age religion or might be materialism or the love of money. We need to discover and learn from Solomon how to safe guard against this kind of luring away. Before God is going to use anybody God will create a situation so that, that person chosen by Him will be equipped to fulfill His purpose. God had to create a situation for David to tend sheep, doing something very monotonous and boring, so as to prepare him to take on Goliath. God had to prepare Moses, wandering in the wilderness for many years, before He could use him to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt.
Before we get unvolved in some kind of Christian ministry we need to humble ourselves and let God prepares us for a period of time. We need to walk with God, walk with fellow believers; listen to anointed preaching; spend a lot of time in studying the Scripture and praying. It might seems at times meaningless in putting too much of our effort to all this. But there will come a time, that training, that disciplining and that commitment is being put to test when we come face to face with the enemy. The enemy might comes in many forms - It might be spiritual warfare within your own household; it might be a spiritual encounter in your work-place or in a world scene; it might be an encounter with somebody, even in your Local Church fellowship, who is involved in occult and New Age religion. Whatever it might be, you will soon realize that you must be spiritually equipped to stand. If you are not spiritually trained and equipped to stand against the enemy you will get panicky when such situation arises.
King Saul panicked when a situation arose when his men were outnumbered by the Philistines. His pride and impatience caused him to offer sacifice of burnt offering to the Lord when Samuel delayed in coming (1 Samuel 13:8 - 13). He sinned against God by assuming the role of a priest.
On the other hand, Daniel would never panic even in the most fearful situation. He was thrown into the lion's den when he was found worshipping his God three times a day (Daniel 6). The Bible said Daniel was numbered as one of three most righteous men ever found (Ezekiel 14:14). Furthermore from his youth Daniel had decided to serve God whole heartedly and to live by God's Law (Daniel 1).
Consequences of sins in the life of great men of God
With the foregoing background in mind let me share some thoughts regarding the consequences of sins in the life of David and in the life of Solomon.
Consequences of sin in David's life
David was a man after God's heart (Acts 13:22). He, being the chief psalmist, constantly praised and worshipped the Lord. He also sought to obey the Lord's commandments.
Although David was a righteous king, he was subject to sin, just like any other human beings. He committed adultery with Bathsheba (2 Sam. 11) and then in an effort to cover his sin, he had her husband, Uriah, killed in battle. Then Nathan, a prophet, confronted David's double sin with a parable of "one little ewe lamb" (2 Sam. 12:1 - 9).
David wrote the beautiful Psalm 51 - A prayer of repentance and God restored him and He still considered him as a man after God's heart. But the consequences of David's sin manifested immediately. God raised up adversity against David from his own house (2 Sam. 12:11). The child born to David and Bathsheba died (V. 18). David's oldest son Ammon, raped and humiliated his half-sister, Tamar (Absalom's sister) and then Absalom killed Ammon (2 Sam. 13:28, 29). That was not all, and later on, Absalom, rebelled against his own father David. He secretly plotted a revolt against his father's throne. Absalom met his death under the hands of Joab (2 Samuel 18).
Even though David had to suffer the consequences of his sin, he continued to walk whole heartedly with the Lord. Near the end of his life, while giving instruction to his son Solomon to build the Lord a house, he said these words to him:
"As for you, my son solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a loyal heart and with a willing mind; for the Lord searches all hearts and understands all the intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever" (1 Chron. 28:9, NKJV).
David's words were similarly recorded in 1 Kings 2:1 - 3). This is also similar to what Jesus said to the Pharisees:
"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind" (Matt. 22:37).
Consequences of sin in Solomon's life
Solomon started out by taking heed what his father said and he obeyed the commands of the Lord. The Lord was pleased with him when he asked for wisdom and an understanding heart to judge the people of Israel. God not only granted solomon's requests, but He also promised him riches and honor if he would walk in the steps of his father David (1 Kings 3:4 - 15). Solomon's wisdom could be seen in his writing of much Scripture - Proverbs and Song of Songs. His wisdom could also be seen in the enormous task of construction of the Temple.
But solomon had many personal weaknesses and two of them are:
1. Solomon had a lust for woman. The Scripture said, "King Solomon loved many foreign women" (1 Kings 11:1). Some of these women were forbidden to Israelites (Deu. 7:3). He had 700 wives and 300 concubines and they turned his heart after other foreign gods (1 Kings 11:3, 4). The large number of foreign women in Solomon's life made many demands upon the king. He allowed them to practice their pagan religions. He began to worship the high places built by his foreign wives.
I believe there are two things, more than anything else, in Scripture that cause God's people to fall - Idolatry and sexual immorality. This fact is being reflected in the New Testament - Acts 15.
The apostles and elders came together in Jerusalem for a council concerning what Gentile Christians need to abstain from:
"For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burdern than these necessary things; that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well" (Acts 15:28, 29, NIV, emphasis added).
God hates four things listed above, but the two things He hates the most are idolatry and sexual immorality.
2. Solomon had a problem with power. He wanted power and he wanted fame. As a result he began to make alliances with foreign powers - With Tyre (1 Kings 7:13; 1 Kings 9:11, 26; 2 Chron. 2:10; 2 Chron. 8:2) and with Egypt (1 King 9:16; 1 Kings 10:28).
God already told Solomon not to look to Egypt and not to look to their horses and their chariots (Ps. 20:7), but look to the Lord for if he looks to men Solomon would be defeated.
The Lord was angry with Solomon because his heart had turned from the Lord God of Israel (1 Kings 11:9 - 11). Solomon had probably learned his lesson and repented in the end, for the Bible makes no mention of his fall. The last few verse of Ecclesiastes are probably the result of his melancholy.
"Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgement, including every hidden things, whether it is good or evil (Eccles. 12:13, 14).
Conclusion
I believe what God wants from each of us in a relationship, be it in a marriage relationship or a relationship between brothers and sisters in Christ can be summed up in one word - faithfulness. You can go ahead and justify, compromise or making excuses, but when all is said and done, it is your faithfulness to the Lord that really counts. When you are faithful to the Lord you will be faithful to others. Do not allow the enticement of life to lure you away, but be prepared to serve God wholeheartedly and to walk wholehearted with the Lord for He demands your fulltime commitment.
Paul admonished the Churches in Galatia: "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap" (Gal 6:7, NKJV).
We shall see, as we go along, what Paul stated above also applied to many great men of God in the Old Testament.
God's main purposes for mankind
Throughout the Scripture God has two main purposes He is trying to emphasize for mankind - One, He is constantly trying to reveal His plan for salvation and to get people to know Him. Secondly, He is trying to show His people how to live.
But we also see, throughout the Scripture, that there is a pattern of people wandering away and falling away. His people in both Old Testament and New Testament constantly fell away and God constantly trying to draw them back to Him. God wants a people who will serve Him with all their hearts all the time.
Four types of commitment
Let us take our examples from Israel's kings. The Bible says, in the New Testament, that we must learn from those in the Old Testament less we make the same mistake:
Paul said, "Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come" (1 Cor. 10:11).
In fact Christians have a higher accountability because you and I have greater revelation and insight by His Word and by His Spirit. Therefore if the Old Testament kings reaped what they sow, all the more Christians are going to reap what they are sowing!
King Solomon's commitment
Solomon was a king who went from commitment to compromise. He was a man went from great wisdom to foolishness. As we go along we shall see the consequences of Soloman's sins.
King Ahab's commitment
King Ahab and his idolatrous wife Jezebel constantly led God's people into idolatry. They were committed to do that and they had committed outright rebellion against God. Ahab died in battle with a tragic death and with dogs licking up his blood (1 Kings 22:38) as prophesied by Elijah (1 Kings 21:19). Jezebel also met with a violent death. Part of her corpse was eaten by dogs (2 Kings 9:30 - 37).
King Amaziah's commitment
Amaziah was a king who served God half-heartedly.
"And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, yet not like his father David; he did everything as his father Joash had done. However the high places were not taken away, and the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places" (2 Kings 14:3, 4).
He was assassinated by his enemies (2 Chron. 25:27).
King Uzziah's commitment
Unzziah, the son of Amaziah, was a king who served God whole heartedly but not throughout his life.
"Uzziah was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jecholiah of Jerusalem. And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father Amaziah had done. He sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God; and as long as he sought the Lord, God made him prosper" (2 Chron. 26:3 - 5).
When God began to bless him and he became powerful, the Scripture says, pride led to his downfall. Uzziah was so proud and presumptuous that he acted like a priest, entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense (2 Chron. 26:16 - 18).
The moment he rebelled against God leprosy broke out on his forehead. He was a leper until the day of his death (2 Chron. 26:19 - 21).
So, Uzziah only committed part of his life whole heartedly to the Lord.
In all the above four types of commitment, these Old Testament kings reaped what they sow!
God desires lifetime whole hearted commitment
God sesires our whole hearted commitment to Him all of our life. If you and I walk away from Jesus Christ where is there for us to go? Is it possible to go back to the pleasure oriented life style? You will find that every alternative you can think of, is a dead end.
Far too many Christians who start off very zealous for the Lord but get seduced along the way - It might be a relationship sexually; it might be some form of New Age religion or might be materialism or the love of money. We need to discover and learn from Solomon how to safe guard against this kind of luring away. Before God is going to use anybody God will create a situation so that, that person chosen by Him will be equipped to fulfill His purpose. God had to create a situation for David to tend sheep, doing something very monotonous and boring, so as to prepare him to take on Goliath. God had to prepare Moses, wandering in the wilderness for many years, before He could use him to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt.
Before we get unvolved in some kind of Christian ministry we need to humble ourselves and let God prepares us for a period of time. We need to walk with God, walk with fellow believers; listen to anointed preaching; spend a lot of time in studying the Scripture and praying. It might seems at times meaningless in putting too much of our effort to all this. But there will come a time, that training, that disciplining and that commitment is being put to test when we come face to face with the enemy. The enemy might comes in many forms - It might be spiritual warfare within your own household; it might be a spiritual encounter in your work-place or in a world scene; it might be an encounter with somebody, even in your Local Church fellowship, who is involved in occult and New Age religion. Whatever it might be, you will soon realize that you must be spiritually equipped to stand. If you are not spiritually trained and equipped to stand against the enemy you will get panicky when such situation arises.
King Saul panicked when a situation arose when his men were outnumbered by the Philistines. His pride and impatience caused him to offer sacifice of burnt offering to the Lord when Samuel delayed in coming (1 Samuel 13:8 - 13). He sinned against God by assuming the role of a priest.
On the other hand, Daniel would never panic even in the most fearful situation. He was thrown into the lion's den when he was found worshipping his God three times a day (Daniel 6). The Bible said Daniel was numbered as one of three most righteous men ever found (Ezekiel 14:14). Furthermore from his youth Daniel had decided to serve God whole heartedly and to live by God's Law (Daniel 1).
Consequences of sins in the life of great men of God
With the foregoing background in mind let me share some thoughts regarding the consequences of sins in the life of David and in the life of Solomon.
Consequences of sin in David's life
David was a man after God's heart (Acts 13:22). He, being the chief psalmist, constantly praised and worshipped the Lord. He also sought to obey the Lord's commandments.
Although David was a righteous king, he was subject to sin, just like any other human beings. He committed adultery with Bathsheba (2 Sam. 11) and then in an effort to cover his sin, he had her husband, Uriah, killed in battle. Then Nathan, a prophet, confronted David's double sin with a parable of "one little ewe lamb" (2 Sam. 12:1 - 9).
David wrote the beautiful Psalm 51 - A prayer of repentance and God restored him and He still considered him as a man after God's heart. But the consequences of David's sin manifested immediately. God raised up adversity against David from his own house (2 Sam. 12:11). The child born to David and Bathsheba died (V. 18). David's oldest son Ammon, raped and humiliated his half-sister, Tamar (Absalom's sister) and then Absalom killed Ammon (2 Sam. 13:28, 29). That was not all, and later on, Absalom, rebelled against his own father David. He secretly plotted a revolt against his father's throne. Absalom met his death under the hands of Joab (2 Samuel 18).
Even though David had to suffer the consequences of his sin, he continued to walk whole heartedly with the Lord. Near the end of his life, while giving instruction to his son Solomon to build the Lord a house, he said these words to him:
"As for you, my son solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a loyal heart and with a willing mind; for the Lord searches all hearts and understands all the intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever" (1 Chron. 28:9, NKJV).
David's words were similarly recorded in 1 Kings 2:1 - 3). This is also similar to what Jesus said to the Pharisees:
"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind" (Matt. 22:37).
Consequences of sin in Solomon's life
Solomon started out by taking heed what his father said and he obeyed the commands of the Lord. The Lord was pleased with him when he asked for wisdom and an understanding heart to judge the people of Israel. God not only granted solomon's requests, but He also promised him riches and honor if he would walk in the steps of his father David (1 Kings 3:4 - 15). Solomon's wisdom could be seen in his writing of much Scripture - Proverbs and Song of Songs. His wisdom could also be seen in the enormous task of construction of the Temple.
But solomon had many personal weaknesses and two of them are:
1. Solomon had a lust for woman. The Scripture said, "King Solomon loved many foreign women" (1 Kings 11:1). Some of these women were forbidden to Israelites (Deu. 7:3). He had 700 wives and 300 concubines and they turned his heart after other foreign gods (1 Kings 11:3, 4). The large number of foreign women in Solomon's life made many demands upon the king. He allowed them to practice their pagan religions. He began to worship the high places built by his foreign wives.
I believe there are two things, more than anything else, in Scripture that cause God's people to fall - Idolatry and sexual immorality. This fact is being reflected in the New Testament - Acts 15.
The apostles and elders came together in Jerusalem for a council concerning what Gentile Christians need to abstain from:
"For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burdern than these necessary things; that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well" (Acts 15:28, 29, NIV, emphasis added).
God hates four things listed above, but the two things He hates the most are idolatry and sexual immorality.
2. Solomon had a problem with power. He wanted power and he wanted fame. As a result he began to make alliances with foreign powers - With Tyre (1 Kings 7:13; 1 Kings 9:11, 26; 2 Chron. 2:10; 2 Chron. 8:2) and with Egypt (1 King 9:16; 1 Kings 10:28).
God already told Solomon not to look to Egypt and not to look to their horses and their chariots (Ps. 20:7), but look to the Lord for if he looks to men Solomon would be defeated.
The Lord was angry with Solomon because his heart had turned from the Lord God of Israel (1 Kings 11:9 - 11). Solomon had probably learned his lesson and repented in the end, for the Bible makes no mention of his fall. The last few verse of Ecclesiastes are probably the result of his melancholy.
"Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgement, including every hidden things, whether it is good or evil (Eccles. 12:13, 14).
Conclusion
I believe what God wants from each of us in a relationship, be it in a marriage relationship or a relationship between brothers and sisters in Christ can be summed up in one word - faithfulness. You can go ahead and justify, compromise or making excuses, but when all is said and done, it is your faithfulness to the Lord that really counts. When you are faithful to the Lord you will be faithful to others. Do not allow the enticement of life to lure you away, but be prepared to serve God wholeheartedly and to walk wholehearted with the Lord for He demands your fulltime commitment.
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
Walking in Humility
Humility is the opposite of pride. All of us have a choice - either we walk in humility or we walk in pride. But God hates pride and in fact He has appointed a day when He shall come upon everything that is lifted up!
Isaiah said, "The lofty looks of man shell be humbled, the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. For that day of the Lord of hosts shall come upon everything proud and lofty, upon everything lifted up - and it shall be brought low. The loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be brought low. The Lord alone will be exalted in that day, ..." (Isaiah 2:11, 12, 17, NKJV).
By the grace and mercy of God before that day comes He will continue to resist pride in you life and my life. A spiritual principle is: If you do not humiliate pride, pride will humiliate you. But if you let pride to humiliate you, you will begin to lose the anointing and lose the hand of God in your life.
Greatest place of freedom
I believe the greatest place of freedom that a Christian can be in is, when he is in the place where he is willing to let anyone knows anything about him. If I am willing to come to the place in God and let the light of God exposes the inner thought of my heart then I will find myself walking in the light and at the same time walking in humility. Humility is the willingness to be know for who you are.
On the other hand, if I am not willing to open any area of my heart that God asked me to, then there is pride in my life. There is too much pride in the body of Christ. In a sense it is true what many people say about Christians - They say there are far too many hypocrites in the Church. Christians come to Church, they put on a "holy facade" in both speech and action. They are actually people who are full of pride.
Pride is the unwillingness to be known for who you are - the very opposite of humility. Contrary to what most people believed, when you go against your feelings of fear, and begin to walk in the light, and you begin to share with people what is in your heart, you are going to have more friends, more love, more freedom and more fellowship than you ever had before.
The Scripture says, there is going to be a day when everything is going to be made known:
Jesus said, "For nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light" (Luke 8:17, NKJV).
Therefore, to humble youself is a good preparation for the time when everything is going to be know about your life.
Both James and Peter said, "God resists the pround, but gives grace to the humble" (James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5).
So, if we are not embracing humility then we will miss out a lot of God's grace - a very hard truth. On the other hand, when we embrace humility, when we confess and repent over the pride of our lives, we will experience revival in our Local Church. And this will lead to greater revival in our city and our nation.
James said, "Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up" (James 4:10, emphasis added).
The phrase "He will lift you up" means "He will change you from the condition of a penitent child to a forgiven child; He will wipe away your tears; He will remove the sadness of your heart, fill you with joy and clothe you with the garment of salvation".
James echoed what Jesus said earlier, "And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted" (Matt. 23:12).
James also said, "And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Confess you trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much" (James 5:15, 16, NKJV).
Here are some statements of truth:
1. Unless believers are walking in humility and walking in the light they will not be able to do what the above Scriptures require them to do - to confess their trespasses and wrong-doing to one another and to pray for one another.
2. The phrase "confess your trespasses to one another" does not mean that Christians are to indulge in indiscriminate confessions in public or even in private confessions. Believers are to confess their trespasses or their faults only that they may pray for one another. There is no place for pride when you are on your knees.
3. Confession of sin is closely related to those who are sick and such confession would contribute to the restoration to health.
Fellowship and Unity in God
Fellowship in God
We can only come into fellowship in God when we walk in the light and we can only walk in the light when we walk in humility. Fellowship is living and walking in the light and in humility among God's people which also means baring our hearts with one another; bearing one another's burdens, and so fulfilling the law of Christ (Gal. 6:2).
It is important to note that darkness and light cannot fellowship together. That is the reason why believers cannot fellowship with unbelievers. We can have friendship and not fellowship with unbelievers. If we want to have fellowship with God who is light, we ourselves must walk in the light.
"If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But 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 1:6, 7, emphasis added).
Therefore the condition for genuine Christian fellowship with one another is that we all walk in the light as He is in the light. When we continue to walk in the light the blood of Jesus continues to cleanse us from all sin.
Christian unity and fellowship
One of the things the world cannot create is genuine unity - only the Sprit of God can created unity.
Paul said, "I, therefore the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (Eph. 4:1 - 3, emphasis added).
"Lowliness and gentleness" speaks of humility.
Paul said, "God is faith, by whom you are called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord" (1 Cor. 1:9, emphasis added).
The word "fellowship" comes from the Greek word "koninonia" which means having things in common, partnership and sharing things together. This is one of the important key concepts of the New Testament Christianity.
Paul was writing to believers in the Church at Corinth. When he said "you are" he did not refer to individual persons but he referred to the entire Church. When all believers come into fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ they come into common sharing with the Lord as well as common sharing with one another. In other words, believers are to participate with Christ and become partakers with Him and with one another in all things in Christ.
Some of the things that Christians are expected to participate with Christ are:
1. In His Spirit - "But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His" (Romans 8:9).
2. In His trials and sufferings, being subjected to temptations and trials similar to His - "Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you, but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy" (1 Peter 4:12, 13, emphasis added).
Paul said, "... that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to resurrection from the dead" (Phil. 3:10, 11, emphasis added).
3. In His heirship - "The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are Children of God, and if children, then heirs - heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together" (Romans 8:16, 17, emphasis added).
4. In His triumph in the resurrection and future glory - "Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel" (Matt. 19:28).
Yes, Jesus was speaking to the 12 apostles who were all Jewish, but He also spoke to the end-time Church with Gentile believers:
"To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne. As I also overcome and sat down with My Father on His throne" (Rev. 3:21).
Fellowship brings forth spiritual birth
Genuine Christian fellowhip is coming together to enjoy Jesus Christ, to worship Him, to wait upon Him and to share Him together. Out of that fellowship of sharing and praying, the Holy Spirit will bring forth a spiritual birth even in a Local Church committee meeting!
The general spiritual principle is, until God's people come together to fellowship there is no genuine spritual birth. This can be illustrated by the birth of the Church. Most Bible teachers say the Church was brought forth on the Day of Pentecost. But, I rather believe that the Church was actually brought forth during a prayer meeting preceded the Day of Pentecost!
"These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother Jesus, and with His brothers" (Acts 1:14, emphasis added).
There were 120 believers who spent 10 days of prayer and supplication with one accord. That was true fellowship between believers. Notice that fellowship always includes prayer. From then until now the only place of spiritual birth in the Church is the place of fellowship.
Let us look at another example of a spiritual birth that was brought forth by fellowship. At the beginning of the first missionary assignment of the Church (Acts 13:1 - 3), a group of believers including prophets and teachers, were fellowshipping in the Church at Antioch. They were having fellowship with the Lord, ministering to Him, fellowshipping with one another, and out of that came forth a divine purpose.
The Holy Spirit said, "Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them" (Acts 13:2).
This assignment was not born out of a committee meeting or out of a program, but out of fellowship. The end result was that they accomplished the purpose of God as recorded at the end of Acts 14.
"From there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work which they had completed" (Acts 14:26).
They have got the job done because it was born of the Spirit and not out of the flesh like many of our Local Church programs and projects!
John said, "Whatever is born of God overcomes the world" (1 John 5:4).
What is born of God must succeed and cannot fail. What is born of God cannot be touched or defeated by Satan!
Isaiah said, "The lofty looks of man shell be humbled, the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. For that day of the Lord of hosts shall come upon everything proud and lofty, upon everything lifted up - and it shall be brought low. The loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be brought low. The Lord alone will be exalted in that day, ..." (Isaiah 2:11, 12, 17, NKJV).
By the grace and mercy of God before that day comes He will continue to resist pride in you life and my life. A spiritual principle is: If you do not humiliate pride, pride will humiliate you. But if you let pride to humiliate you, you will begin to lose the anointing and lose the hand of God in your life.
Greatest place of freedom
I believe the greatest place of freedom that a Christian can be in is, when he is in the place where he is willing to let anyone knows anything about him. If I am willing to come to the place in God and let the light of God exposes the inner thought of my heart then I will find myself walking in the light and at the same time walking in humility. Humility is the willingness to be know for who you are.
On the other hand, if I am not willing to open any area of my heart that God asked me to, then there is pride in my life. There is too much pride in the body of Christ. In a sense it is true what many people say about Christians - They say there are far too many hypocrites in the Church. Christians come to Church, they put on a "holy facade" in both speech and action. They are actually people who are full of pride.
Pride is the unwillingness to be known for who you are - the very opposite of humility. Contrary to what most people believed, when you go against your feelings of fear, and begin to walk in the light, and you begin to share with people what is in your heart, you are going to have more friends, more love, more freedom and more fellowship than you ever had before.
The Scripture says, there is going to be a day when everything is going to be made known:
Jesus said, "For nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light" (Luke 8:17, NKJV).
Therefore, to humble youself is a good preparation for the time when everything is going to be know about your life.
Both James and Peter said, "God resists the pround, but gives grace to the humble" (James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5).
So, if we are not embracing humility then we will miss out a lot of God's grace - a very hard truth. On the other hand, when we embrace humility, when we confess and repent over the pride of our lives, we will experience revival in our Local Church. And this will lead to greater revival in our city and our nation.
James said, "Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up" (James 4:10, emphasis added).
The phrase "He will lift you up" means "He will change you from the condition of a penitent child to a forgiven child; He will wipe away your tears; He will remove the sadness of your heart, fill you with joy and clothe you with the garment of salvation".
James echoed what Jesus said earlier, "And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted" (Matt. 23:12).
James also said, "And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Confess you trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much" (James 5:15, 16, NKJV).
Here are some statements of truth:
1. Unless believers are walking in humility and walking in the light they will not be able to do what the above Scriptures require them to do - to confess their trespasses and wrong-doing to one another and to pray for one another.
2. The phrase "confess your trespasses to one another" does not mean that Christians are to indulge in indiscriminate confessions in public or even in private confessions. Believers are to confess their trespasses or their faults only that they may pray for one another. There is no place for pride when you are on your knees.
3. Confession of sin is closely related to those who are sick and such confession would contribute to the restoration to health.
Fellowship and Unity in God
Fellowship in God
We can only come into fellowship in God when we walk in the light and we can only walk in the light when we walk in humility. Fellowship is living and walking in the light and in humility among God's people which also means baring our hearts with one another; bearing one another's burdens, and so fulfilling the law of Christ (Gal. 6:2).
It is important to note that darkness and light cannot fellowship together. That is the reason why believers cannot fellowship with unbelievers. We can have friendship and not fellowship with unbelievers. If we want to have fellowship with God who is light, we ourselves must walk in the light.
"If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But 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 1:6, 7, emphasis added).
Therefore the condition for genuine Christian fellowship with one another is that we all walk in the light as He is in the light. When we continue to walk in the light the blood of Jesus continues to cleanse us from all sin.
Christian unity and fellowship
One of the things the world cannot create is genuine unity - only the Sprit of God can created unity.
Paul said, "I, therefore the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (Eph. 4:1 - 3, emphasis added).
"Lowliness and gentleness" speaks of humility.
Paul said, "God is faith, by whom you are called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord" (1 Cor. 1:9, emphasis added).
The word "fellowship" comes from the Greek word "koninonia" which means having things in common, partnership and sharing things together. This is one of the important key concepts of the New Testament Christianity.
Paul was writing to believers in the Church at Corinth. When he said "you are" he did not refer to individual persons but he referred to the entire Church. When all believers come into fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ they come into common sharing with the Lord as well as common sharing with one another. In other words, believers are to participate with Christ and become partakers with Him and with one another in all things in Christ.
Some of the things that Christians are expected to participate with Christ are:
1. In His Spirit - "But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His" (Romans 8:9).
2. In His trials and sufferings, being subjected to temptations and trials similar to His - "Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you, but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy" (1 Peter 4:12, 13, emphasis added).
Paul said, "... that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to resurrection from the dead" (Phil. 3:10, 11, emphasis added).
3. In His heirship - "The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are Children of God, and if children, then heirs - heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together" (Romans 8:16, 17, emphasis added).
4. In His triumph in the resurrection and future glory - "Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel" (Matt. 19:28).
Yes, Jesus was speaking to the 12 apostles who were all Jewish, but He also spoke to the end-time Church with Gentile believers:
"To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne. As I also overcome and sat down with My Father on His throne" (Rev. 3:21).
Fellowship brings forth spiritual birth
Genuine Christian fellowhip is coming together to enjoy Jesus Christ, to worship Him, to wait upon Him and to share Him together. Out of that fellowship of sharing and praying, the Holy Spirit will bring forth a spiritual birth even in a Local Church committee meeting!
The general spiritual principle is, until God's people come together to fellowship there is no genuine spritual birth. This can be illustrated by the birth of the Church. Most Bible teachers say the Church was brought forth on the Day of Pentecost. But, I rather believe that the Church was actually brought forth during a prayer meeting preceded the Day of Pentecost!
"These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother Jesus, and with His brothers" (Acts 1:14, emphasis added).
There were 120 believers who spent 10 days of prayer and supplication with one accord. That was true fellowship between believers. Notice that fellowship always includes prayer. From then until now the only place of spiritual birth in the Church is the place of fellowship.
Let us look at another example of a spiritual birth that was brought forth by fellowship. At the beginning of the first missionary assignment of the Church (Acts 13:1 - 3), a group of believers including prophets and teachers, were fellowshipping in the Church at Antioch. They were having fellowship with the Lord, ministering to Him, fellowshipping with one another, and out of that came forth a divine purpose.
The Holy Spirit said, "Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them" (Acts 13:2).
This assignment was not born out of a committee meeting or out of a program, but out of fellowship. The end result was that they accomplished the purpose of God as recorded at the end of Acts 14.
"From there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work which they had completed" (Acts 14:26).
They have got the job done because it was born of the Spirit and not out of the flesh like many of our Local Church programs and projects!
John said, "Whatever is born of God overcomes the world" (1 John 5:4).
What is born of God must succeed and cannot fail. What is born of God cannot be touched or defeated by Satan!
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
Be Anointed with Fresh Oil
As we have seen in my previous messaged, in the Old Testament, men were set apart or consecrated to the sacred offices of prophet, priest, and king by the anointing oil. Oil is a type of the Holy Spirit. The anointng with oil symbolizes that the Holy Spirit would come upon men or women to anoint them to stand in a particular office.
In the New Testament all believers are made kings and priests:
"To Him (Jesus) who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen" (Rev. 1:5, 6, NKJV, emphasis added).
"And has made us kings and priest to your God; and we shall reign on the earth" (Rev. 5:10).
Romans 5:17 tells us that we are now reigning and ruling through Jesus as kings and priests:
"For if by the one man's offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ" (Emphasis added).
Therefore, just like the kings and priests in the Old Testament, we need the anointing of the Holy Spirit to reign as priests and kings. Not only we need to be anointed, we also need to be anointed with flesh oil.
The psalmist said, "But my horn You have exalted like a wild ox; I have been anointed with fresh oil" (Ps. 92:10, NKJV, emphasis added".
Horn and wild ox are symbols of great strength or power. Therefore the anointing with fresh oil enables us to reign with power. It is reasonble to assume that the psalmist had already been anointed previously with oil. He couldn't very well be anointed with fresh oil, unless he had already been anointed with oil some time before.
An important Biblical principle is revealed here. After a person is born again, there should be an initial infilling with the Holy Spirit, but then there should be many refillings of the Holy Spirit or many flesh anointing in his Christian walk.
Full Reservoirs and not Empty Cisterns
The Lord said, "For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves cisterns - broken cisterns that can hold no water" (Jeremiah 2:13).
God was saying that His people (both Israel and the Church) left God's plan and made their own plans. And because their own plans were man-made, they could not prosper. Believers need to be anointed with fresh oil in order that they might continually follow and fulfill God's plan for their individual lives. God wants His people to continually receive a fresh anointing so that they would not be empty cisterns. And God has made provision for all believers to be full reservoirs at all times, even in the midst of tests and trials. Continually receiving a fresh anointing will enable God's people to be full reservoirs to His glory.
God wants our reservoirs to be continually filled with two things:
1. Full of His Word
It is the will of God that all Christians be filled with His Word to the full.
Paul said, "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord" (Col. 3:16, emphasis added).
In what manner the Word of Christ should dwell in us? The Word is to dwell in us richly and in all wisdom. We need wisdom to know how to rightly divide the Word of God (Please refer to my previous message - "Rightly dividing the Word of Truth") so that we can apply it correctly in our lives. Many Christians, including Pastors and professional Bible teachers, abuse the Word by taking it out of context and saying things that God doesn't say.
2. Full of the Spirit
To be full of the Spirit means to be fervant in Spirit.
Paul said, "Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer" (Romans 12:10 - 12, NKJV, emphasis added).
No one can be fervent in Spirit without first being filled with the Holy Spirit continually. it is interesting to discover that other translations read: "Be aglow with the Spirit" (RSV); "Be aglow and burning with the Spirit" (The Amplified Bible).
To be fervent in Spirit, or to be on fire with the Spirit, or to be aglow with the Spirit involves both your spirit and the Holy Spirit. It is God's will for you to maintain the glow of the Spirit, but unless you were filled up to overflowing with the Spirit you cannot maintain the spiritual glow of the Spirit. and it means you have to be anointed with fresh oil to be aglow with the Spirit.
Characteristics of those with a Fresh Anointing
Many Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians failed to understand that there is one initial infilling of the Holy Spirit in the baptism of the Holy Spirit, but they cannot be full reservoirs without numerous refillings or numerous anointing with fresh oil.
This becomes clear if you listen to what Paul said to the believers in Ephesus:
"And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit" (Eph. 5:18, NKJV, emphasis added).
Paul was writing to born-again, Spirit-filled Christians. They had already received the baptism of the Holy Spirit as recorded in Acts 19:1 - 6. By saying to them, "Be filled with the Spirit", Paul was telling them to maintain a constant experience of being filled with the Holy Spirit - by being anointed with flesh oil.
Let us now consider the results of being anointed with fresh oil and the characteristics of those who maintain a fresh anointing of the Holy Spirit in their lives. let us study a few verses in Ephesians 5:
"And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God" (Eph. 5:18 - 21, NKJV, emphasis added).
1. Speaking supernaturally to one another and to the Lord
Speaking supernaturally is speaking by the unction of the Holy Spirit. When you are filled with the Holy Spirit, other than speaking in tongues, you can also speak to one another supernaturally in psalms, hymn, and spiritual songs by the unction of the Holy Spirit.
When the Scripture talks about psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, it is not referring to singing songs out of a songbook. It is talking about a supernatural utterance given by the Spirit of prophecy. Psalm, hymns and spiritual songs are given by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit at the spur of the moment; they are not learned or rehearsed. Notice these are prophetic utterances and we must not to be confused this with that of the ministry of a prophet.
There is a parallel Scripture which gives us some further revelation on speaking in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord:
"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord" (Col. 3:16, emphasis added).
We are to minister to one another, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.
2. Giving thanks to God for all things
The Scripture does not admonish us to give thanks if it suits us, but to give thanks for all things. This does not mean that we are to thank God for what the Devil is doing. But in the midst of every circumstance, no matter what it is, we can thank God for His goodness. We can thank God that we have another opportunity to believe Him and trust Him. We can thank God that we have another opportunity to exercise our faith and see His faithfulness and righteousness being performed on our behalf.
"Give thanks to God for all things" means, in every circumstance maintain a heart that is full of thanksgiving and praise to God. you should give thanks and praises to God even if no one ever recognizes you in the Church; even no one ever notices you or no one asks you to do anything in the Church. No matter what happens, maintain a thankful attitude.
3. Submitting to One Another in the Fear of God
To submit to one another means to give in to one another. It certainly does not mean that you rule over one another. It means that you give in to one another but that you are not hardheaded and stubborn and always demanding your own way. Submitting means giving in to one another in a spirit of love and meekness. Sometimes it might be better to just keep your mouth shut and not say anything, even if you do have the right to have something to say in the matter.
Submission indicates a broken and humble spirit. Christians are to learn to submit to one another in the fear of God. It is easy when you are constantly filled with fresh oil to submit to the other fellow in the fear of God.
Wrong concept of submission
Paul said, "Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord" (Eph. 5:22).
The above does not mean the husband should tell the wife what to do and rules over her. When the Bible talks about submission in the marriage relationship, it is not talking about the husband ruling over his wife with an iron fist, so to speak, any more than it is talking about believers ruling over one another. Biblical submission is referring to Christians getting along with one another by submitting to each other in love. We are to maintain a teachable, humble spirit, and walk in love toward one another.
The danger of the non-submitting attitude
In the body of Christ, if someone comes to you and says: "I'm right and you've better listen to me. you can't tell me anything because I know it all and I can tell you a thing or two!" For a Christian to have an attitude like that is extremely dangerous. God may just have something He wants to get across to the person with the wrong attitude through someone else in the body of Christ (or in the Local Church). With an attitude of not submitting himself to anyone, this person is liable to wind up dying prematurely, or sick or with all sorts of infirmities. Spiritually, he is similarly judged as taking the Lord's Supper in an unworthy manner.
Paul said, "For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep (die). For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged" (1 Cor. 11:29 - 31, emphasis added).
The word "discerning" comes from the Greek word "diakrino" which means "rightly judging". Therefore, "not discerning the Lord's body" literally means, "not rightly judging other members of the body of Christ". In other words, this believer is presumptuous and does not recognize the unity and function of the body of Christ - the Church.
Having and maintaining a Teachable Spirit
A teachable spirit is a submissive spirit. I don't mean you should accept someone's ideas or someone's opinion blindly, without checking with the Scripture first. What I mean is that if someone brings me light and revelation from the Word of God, I will receive it, an I will be ready to walk in the light of God's Word.
A person, someone who is born again and filled with the Holy Spirit, without a teachable spirit, comes along, and when you bring the truth of God's Word to him, he will be offended. Christians ought to have a teachable spirit. By not having a teachable spirit, we can miss many blessings that God has for us. When people have the right spirit, they do not mind the least bit in the world for being corrected. It is true that we need to be careful to correct people in the right way - in a spirit of love and gentleness.
Paul said, "Test all things; hold fast what is good" (1 Thess. 5:21).
He also said, "Let all things be done decently and in order" (1 Cor. 14:14).
We are to submit to one another in the fear of God and not be un-teachable with one another.
In the New Testament all believers are made kings and priests:
"To Him (Jesus) who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen" (Rev. 1:5, 6, NKJV, emphasis added).
"And has made us kings and priest to your God; and we shall reign on the earth" (Rev. 5:10).
Romans 5:17 tells us that we are now reigning and ruling through Jesus as kings and priests:
"For if by the one man's offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ" (Emphasis added).
Therefore, just like the kings and priests in the Old Testament, we need the anointing of the Holy Spirit to reign as priests and kings. Not only we need to be anointed, we also need to be anointed with flesh oil.
The psalmist said, "But my horn You have exalted like a wild ox; I have been anointed with fresh oil" (Ps. 92:10, NKJV, emphasis added".
Horn and wild ox are symbols of great strength or power. Therefore the anointing with fresh oil enables us to reign with power. It is reasonble to assume that the psalmist had already been anointed previously with oil. He couldn't very well be anointed with fresh oil, unless he had already been anointed with oil some time before.
An important Biblical principle is revealed here. After a person is born again, there should be an initial infilling with the Holy Spirit, but then there should be many refillings of the Holy Spirit or many flesh anointing in his Christian walk.
Full Reservoirs and not Empty Cisterns
The Lord said, "For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves cisterns - broken cisterns that can hold no water" (Jeremiah 2:13).
God was saying that His people (both Israel and the Church) left God's plan and made their own plans. And because their own plans were man-made, they could not prosper. Believers need to be anointed with fresh oil in order that they might continually follow and fulfill God's plan for their individual lives. God wants His people to continually receive a fresh anointing so that they would not be empty cisterns. And God has made provision for all believers to be full reservoirs at all times, even in the midst of tests and trials. Continually receiving a fresh anointing will enable God's people to be full reservoirs to His glory.
God wants our reservoirs to be continually filled with two things:
1. Full of His Word
It is the will of God that all Christians be filled with His Word to the full.
Paul said, "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord" (Col. 3:16, emphasis added).
In what manner the Word of Christ should dwell in us? The Word is to dwell in us richly and in all wisdom. We need wisdom to know how to rightly divide the Word of God (Please refer to my previous message - "Rightly dividing the Word of Truth") so that we can apply it correctly in our lives. Many Christians, including Pastors and professional Bible teachers, abuse the Word by taking it out of context and saying things that God doesn't say.
2. Full of the Spirit
To be full of the Spirit means to be fervant in Spirit.
Paul said, "Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer" (Romans 12:10 - 12, NKJV, emphasis added).
No one can be fervent in Spirit without first being filled with the Holy Spirit continually. it is interesting to discover that other translations read: "Be aglow with the Spirit" (RSV); "Be aglow and burning with the Spirit" (The Amplified Bible).
To be fervent in Spirit, or to be on fire with the Spirit, or to be aglow with the Spirit involves both your spirit and the Holy Spirit. It is God's will for you to maintain the glow of the Spirit, but unless you were filled up to overflowing with the Spirit you cannot maintain the spiritual glow of the Spirit. and it means you have to be anointed with fresh oil to be aglow with the Spirit.
Characteristics of those with a Fresh Anointing
Many Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians failed to understand that there is one initial infilling of the Holy Spirit in the baptism of the Holy Spirit, but they cannot be full reservoirs without numerous refillings or numerous anointing with fresh oil.
This becomes clear if you listen to what Paul said to the believers in Ephesus:
"And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit" (Eph. 5:18, NKJV, emphasis added).
Paul was writing to born-again, Spirit-filled Christians. They had already received the baptism of the Holy Spirit as recorded in Acts 19:1 - 6. By saying to them, "Be filled with the Spirit", Paul was telling them to maintain a constant experience of being filled with the Holy Spirit - by being anointed with flesh oil.
Let us now consider the results of being anointed with fresh oil and the characteristics of those who maintain a fresh anointing of the Holy Spirit in their lives. let us study a few verses in Ephesians 5:
"And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God" (Eph. 5:18 - 21, NKJV, emphasis added).
1. Speaking supernaturally to one another and to the Lord
Speaking supernaturally is speaking by the unction of the Holy Spirit. When you are filled with the Holy Spirit, other than speaking in tongues, you can also speak to one another supernaturally in psalms, hymn, and spiritual songs by the unction of the Holy Spirit.
When the Scripture talks about psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, it is not referring to singing songs out of a songbook. It is talking about a supernatural utterance given by the Spirit of prophecy. Psalm, hymns and spiritual songs are given by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit at the spur of the moment; they are not learned or rehearsed. Notice these are prophetic utterances and we must not to be confused this with that of the ministry of a prophet.
There is a parallel Scripture which gives us some further revelation on speaking in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord:
"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord" (Col. 3:16, emphasis added).
We are to minister to one another, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.
2. Giving thanks to God for all things
The Scripture does not admonish us to give thanks if it suits us, but to give thanks for all things. This does not mean that we are to thank God for what the Devil is doing. But in the midst of every circumstance, no matter what it is, we can thank God for His goodness. We can thank God that we have another opportunity to believe Him and trust Him. We can thank God that we have another opportunity to exercise our faith and see His faithfulness and righteousness being performed on our behalf.
"Give thanks to God for all things" means, in every circumstance maintain a heart that is full of thanksgiving and praise to God. you should give thanks and praises to God even if no one ever recognizes you in the Church; even no one ever notices you or no one asks you to do anything in the Church. No matter what happens, maintain a thankful attitude.
3. Submitting to One Another in the Fear of God
To submit to one another means to give in to one another. It certainly does not mean that you rule over one another. It means that you give in to one another but that you are not hardheaded and stubborn and always demanding your own way. Submitting means giving in to one another in a spirit of love and meekness. Sometimes it might be better to just keep your mouth shut and not say anything, even if you do have the right to have something to say in the matter.
Submission indicates a broken and humble spirit. Christians are to learn to submit to one another in the fear of God. It is easy when you are constantly filled with fresh oil to submit to the other fellow in the fear of God.
Wrong concept of submission
Paul said, "Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord" (Eph. 5:22).
The above does not mean the husband should tell the wife what to do and rules over her. When the Bible talks about submission in the marriage relationship, it is not talking about the husband ruling over his wife with an iron fist, so to speak, any more than it is talking about believers ruling over one another. Biblical submission is referring to Christians getting along with one another by submitting to each other in love. We are to maintain a teachable, humble spirit, and walk in love toward one another.
The danger of the non-submitting attitude
In the body of Christ, if someone comes to you and says: "I'm right and you've better listen to me. you can't tell me anything because I know it all and I can tell you a thing or two!" For a Christian to have an attitude like that is extremely dangerous. God may just have something He wants to get across to the person with the wrong attitude through someone else in the body of Christ (or in the Local Church). With an attitude of not submitting himself to anyone, this person is liable to wind up dying prematurely, or sick or with all sorts of infirmities. Spiritually, he is similarly judged as taking the Lord's Supper in an unworthy manner.
Paul said, "For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep (die). For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged" (1 Cor. 11:29 - 31, emphasis added).
The word "discerning" comes from the Greek word "diakrino" which means "rightly judging". Therefore, "not discerning the Lord's body" literally means, "not rightly judging other members of the body of Christ". In other words, this believer is presumptuous and does not recognize the unity and function of the body of Christ - the Church.
Having and maintaining a Teachable Spirit
A teachable spirit is a submissive spirit. I don't mean you should accept someone's ideas or someone's opinion blindly, without checking with the Scripture first. What I mean is that if someone brings me light and revelation from the Word of God, I will receive it, an I will be ready to walk in the light of God's Word.
A person, someone who is born again and filled with the Holy Spirit, without a teachable spirit, comes along, and when you bring the truth of God's Word to him, he will be offended. Christians ought to have a teachable spirit. By not having a teachable spirit, we can miss many blessings that God has for us. When people have the right spirit, they do not mind the least bit in the world for being corrected. It is true that we need to be careful to correct people in the right way - in a spirit of love and gentleness.
Paul said, "Test all things; hold fast what is good" (1 Thess. 5:21).
He also said, "Let all things be done decently and in order" (1 Cor. 14:14).
We are to submit to one another in the fear of God and not be un-teachable with one another.
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