For anyone alive on the planet during 2011, it was hard to be unaffected by the massive earthquake that occurred off the coast of Japan. Only a handful of years prior, in December 2004, the great South Asian tsunami roared along the Indian Ocean, suddenly rising and striking the coastlines of nine nations. More than …
A religion without love is an abomination to God. The church needs to learn that God desires love and compassion, not merely an adherence to ritual and sacrifice. Thus, Jesus said His Father’s house would be a “house of prayer for all nations” (Mark 11:17). True prayer is born of love and comes in the …
Much of what we are living today we were speaking yesterday. Of course, not everything in one’s future is determined by his words. However, in real ways, our words are seeds that bloom in future hopes and fears; they are the trailblazers of our future, the pioneers of our tomorrows.
Still, most of us are too casual, or ignorant, about the weightiness of our words. Recall: it was Jesus Himself who warned, “For every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.” He continued, “For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned” (Matt. 12:36-37).
We will each stand before God and give an account for our words. We actually will be justified or condemned by the things we uttered in life. In truth, idle words create idols, false realities and hollow goals, to which we bow down and serve.
Many Christians debate whether the devil is on the earth or in
hell; can he dwell in Christians or only in the world? The fact is,
the devil is in darkness. Wherever there is spiritual darkness, there
the devil will be.
For most, the term spiritual warfare introduces a new but
not necessarily welcomed dimension in their Christian experience. The
thought of facing evil spirits in battle is an
unsettling concept, especially since we came to Jesus as lost sheep,
not warriors. Ultimately, some of us may never actually initiate
spiritual warfare, but all of us must face the fact
that the devil has initiated warfare against us. Therefore, it is
essential to our basic well-being that we discern the areas of our
nature that are unguarded and open to satanic assault.
Jude tells us, “And angels who did not keep their own domain,
but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under
darkness for the judgment of the great day” (1:6, NASB).
When Satan rebelled against God, he was placed under eternal
judgment in what the Bible calls “pits” (2 Pet. 2:4) or “bonds”
of darkness. The devil and the fallen angels with him have been
relegated to live in darkness. This darkness does not simply refer to
areas void of visible light. The eternal darkness to which this
Scripture refers is essentially a moral darkness, which
ultimately degrades into literal darkness. However, its cause is not
simply the absence of light; it is the absence of God, who is light.
If you find
yourself more drawn toward prayer than promotion, more toward humility
than hype, you are being prepared by the Lord for the glory of God. What
He is working in you is typical of what God is establishing in
thousands of other believers.
However, before
the Father ultimately reveals Christ as Lord over the earth, He will
first reveal Him as Lord over the church. And while we should rejoice,
we must also take heed. For until we are standing face to face in glory
with Jesus Himself, we are going to be in transition. To each of us,
Christ’s call remains, “Come, follow Me!” (Luke 18:22). If we will walk
with Him in obedience, He will take us into the fullness of His
presence.
Still, transitions
can be frightening. The uncertainty of those passages between spiritual
plateaus can hold us hostage to yesterday’s blessings. Let us recall
with godly fear that the bronze serpent, which brought healing to Israel
in the wilderness, by Hezekiah’s day had become an idol that had to be
torn down.
Our hearts must
bow to God alone, for even spiritual gifts, when isolated from Christ
the Giver, can become idolatrous. Therefore to successfully navigate
this season of change, the Lord will require of us a fresh surrender to
His Lordship. He will demand that our preconceived ideas and
expectations be submitted to Him. For if we are continually telling the
Holy Spirit where we expect to go, we neutralize our capacity to hear
where He wants to take us.
As
the year 2011 comes to a close, it is hard to be unaffected by the
massive earthquakes that occurred these past years. Remember, it was
just 2004 when the great South Asian Tsunami roared along the Indian
ocean, suddenly rising and striking the coastlines of nine nations.
Over 230,000 people died, and millions more were left grieving and
homeless. Scientists tell us that this great disaster not only
changed the landscape of Asia, it actually caused the planet to
wobble on its axis.
In the beginning, the earth
was formless and void, but that did not deter the Almighty. He looked into the
fathomless depth of its darkness and concluded, “All it needs is
light!” Likewise, in the beginning of our spiritual lives, we also are
“formless and void” and God, just as confidently, is still saying,
“All they need is a little light!” Remember: it’s the Lord’s
responsibility to create and our responsibility to submit to His creating.
The Lord only needs three
things to fashion life. First, He needs a “nothing.” The Almighty
always begins His great, creative works with a nothing (and this is where we come in!).
What could be more important than finding God? Take a day, a
week or a month and do nothing but seek Him, persisting until you find Him. He
has promised, “You will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all
your heart” (Jer. 29:13).
If we truly find Him, no one will have to tell us to be
humble. No one need convince us our old natures are as filthy rags. As we truly
find God, the things that are so highly esteemed among men will become
detestable in our sight (Luke 16:15).
There are three basic
categories of Christians. The largest group consists of people who, though they
try to avoid the darkness in the world, have no hope that the world can be
redeemed. Assuming Christ’s return is imminent, they retreat into what seems a
shelter of apathy concerning the non-Christian world around them. Yet most are
not truly apathetic. Their souls, like Lot’s, are vexed by the conduct of
unprincipled men (2 Pet. 2:7-8). Their compassion, though, is kindled even if
it’s limited. Rarely do they extend themselves beyond the needs of their
immediate family and closest friends.
Why the prophetic movement has become hit-and-miss—and what we can do about it
When I came to Christ in 1970, America was already prewired with end-of-the-world forebodings. Nuclear war seemed inevitable, as Barry McGuire’s dire hit “Eve of Destruction” warned. Revolution and lawlessness were spreading everywhere. Yes, the “times” were certainly “a-changin,’” as Bob Dylan sang, and indeed so were we. From the rapture-ready hippie revival of the Jesus Movement to Hal Lindsey’s culture-shaping book The Late Great Planet Earth, the charismatic movement emerged upon the world scene overstocked with prophetic anticipations.
Thus, our preoccupation with all things prophetic has been a kind of spiritual birthmark. It is a prominent characteristic of who we are as charismatic Christians. Indeed, the ’70s produced at least eight major end-of-the-world warnings from prominent authors and various church groups. Other warnings came in the 1980s, punctuated by the book 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988. In the 1990s, especially with the approach of the year 2000 and the widespread computer failures expected from the Y2K “Millennium Bug,” still more warnings came.
I do not doubt the sincerity of anyone who sounded the alarm prematurely. To me there is a difference between a false prophet and a wrong prophet. Yet when will we honestly look at this issue? False alarms have repeatedly misrepresented the Lord’s coming over the last 40 years.
What does holiness have to do with your needs? Francis Frangipane reveals the answer from Matthew 3. According to Scripture, John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit “while yet in his mother’s womb” (Luke 1:15, NASB). We are also told his coming was in the spirit and power of Elijah. Historians tell us …
Throughout the history of God’s dealings with man, He has
revealed Himself as a covenant-making God. The Almighty made major covenants
with Noah, Abraham, Moses and David; He renewed His Abrahamic covenant in His
call to Isaac and Jacob. Each covenant initiated a new wave of redemptive power
into the world and forever impacted the human condition. The word covenant means, “to fetter” or
chain together. It was the highest form of commitment that two individuals
could share. Any of several rituals were employed to express the covenant
partners’ unity.
Taxes,
threat of terror attacks, illness and aging, finances, political
conflicts, family relationships, church struggles, fears, insurance
issues, air travel impositions, job loss, gasoline prices, war,
injustice, death—these are just a few of the enemies most of us
face daily. Yet, let me also tell you what the Lord has spoken to my
soul:
“Be
anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication
with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the
peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your
hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:6-7, NASB).
I have discovered that as we seek the Lord our most
difficult periods can be transformed into wonderful breakthroughs into
God’s love. For me, one such season occurred during the years 1979 to
1981.
The association of churches with which I was aligned had
fallen under spiritual deception. Not only were its core doctrines
increasingly seeded with New Age influences, but also immorality crept
in, and key leaders began leaving their wives for other women.
In spite of escalating turmoil in our world, there remains one last, great outpouring of mercy during the end times (see Matt. 24:14; Acts 2:17). This supernatural season of grace has been predetermined. It is an “appointed time” of the Lord.
For those unaware, an appointed time is, in truth, an open display of the sovereignty and power of God. In it we discover with absolute certainty that nothing is impossible for God. For this is a season when God fulfills His will on earth, fulfilling in the process His promises, and the hopes and dreams of His people.
The psalmist wrote, “But You, O Lord, abide forever, and Your name to all generations. You will arise and have compassion on Zion; for it is time to be gracious to her, for the appointed time has come” (Ps. 102:12-13).
