You have likely heard the term ‘the last days’ - it’s often used in
relation to events occurring in the days we live in as proof that we are
in the end times. 2 Timothy 3:1 says “difficult
times will come in the last days. For people will be lovers of self,
lovers of money, boastful, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents,
ungrateful, unholy…(HCSB)” - and the list continues. Looking at this
verse, we might agree that we are in the ‘last days,’ as this list of
‘symptoms’ seems to be prevalent in our society.
2 Peter 3:3
uses the term ‘last days’ in much the same manner: “First, be aware of
this: Scoffers will come in the last days to scoff, living according to
their own desires, ‘Where is the promise of His coming? Ever since the
fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they have been since the
beginning of creation (HCSB).’"
Acts 2 also uses the term
‘last days’ as a time frame for the pouring out of the Holy Spirit,
which began at Pentecost. Acts 2 records the events of the upper room
and the pouring out of what Jesus called the “gift” and “power from on
high (Luke 24)” as part of ‘last days’ events. Both Joel and Acts
record that this gift is for “you, your sons and daughters, and those
that are far off [into the future].” This same chapter of Acts states
that this gift of power is to be functioning and used between Pentecost
and the “Day of the Lord,” which begins at the opening of the 7th seal
in Revelation 8.
So we see that we are in the 'last days.' And
we also see that God has gifted us with power for these ‘last days’ in
the form of the baptism in the Holy Spirit, effective from the time of
Pentecost until the “Day of the Lord.” This is the time frame of the
'last days,' according to Acts 2.
This is how we allow
scripture to interpret scripture – in this case defining the term ‘last
days.’ I ask you to read and study these if you question the
involvement of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Church – especially if
you have been taught that the baptism of the Holy Spirit has ended.
This baptism is for the empowerment of God’s people – to be effective
witnesses for Him and to enable us to live a life of grace and power as
His representatives. If we agree that we are in the ‘last days’ then we
can be certain that this gift is still being poured out.
We
are in dire times – in the ‘last days.’ There is no time for disputes
over doctrine – we must simply read the Bible for ourselves and rightly
divide the words by His Spirit. Since we are in the ‘last days’, we
can accept the ‘last days’ gift of the Holy Spirit and be empowered as
His witnesses to the ends of the earth! All doctrinal differences aside
– these are the words of the Bible, not man’s doctrine. I implore you
to read it and then receive His empowerment as a ‘last days’ believer!
(Excerpts taken from writings on “Power for the Last Days” by Barbara Kopitzke)
In all circumstances we’re to give thanks to
God. Thanksgiving involves hindsight as well as foresight – thank You
for who You are and what You’ve done, and thank You that You will
fulfill what You have promised in Your Word and whispered into the secret places of our hearts.
1 Thess. 5:18 directs us to be thankful “in” everything – whatever
storm is going on, whomever is involved, no matter how difficult or
great things are – we thank Him IN the circumstance. We’re not directed
to thank Him FOR the circumstance – everything does not happen because
God brought it about and He does not condone every sin and grievous
situation. We know that God can take the worst situation (even one
we’ve created through our sin, errors and ignorance) and turn it around
for our good. That doesn’t mean God brought about that circumstance –
it’s just proof of His faithfulness to us even when we’re unfaithful and
fail to hear and follow Him completely. Thanking God for a situation
like this is like giving glory to the devil and the work he did in
getting us into the tight spot we’re in.
As an example,
consider a person who is destitute and can’t feed and support his
family: is he to thank God FOR that situation? Or is he to thank God
IN the situation for His unfailing faithfulness as he trusts Him to
guide and supply? We’re commanded to care for our families (1 Tim.
5:8), so thanking God that we couldn’t do so would be in disagreement
with His word. What about the person who's spouse had an affair -
should he thank God for the situation? Can you see the confusion this
type of thinking brings?
In any circumstance our place is to
trust God to give direction, reveal the reason we’re in it (if He so
chooses) and give us the power and plan to either press through or get
out of it. In sickness, danger, financial stress, relationship turmoil,
the chaos of the world….God has an answer and we can be thankful to Him
for His promises and faithfulness. Thanking God FOR a circumstance can
be the devils means of twisting our thoughts and emotions so he can
keep us bound up in that circumstance, wrapped in our sin and steeped in
defeat. How many of us have thanked God for being sick, or having a
sick child? If we truly think God brought on that circumstance, then
we’d best not try to get out of His plan!
Of course there are
circumstances that God leads us into; He will USE the sinful situations
of the world to fulfill his sharpening and refining process in us, show
us our own sin, and teach us to trust Him. But just as Jesus thanked God
IN His dire circumstances leading up to the cross, we are to do the
same. As we thank God IN our circumstances and storms, our eyes remain
focused on Him instead of on our troubles. In this way we are enabled
to view things through His eyes and believe that He can and will do the
impossible, instead of focusing on the storm and concerning ourselves
with the impossibilities!
I've been blessed to have various mentors in
my life, and I've also been a mentor to others. This is the sort of
partnership that the Gospel describes in Timothy's life: Paul mentored
Timothy while at the same time Timothy mentored others.
It's a simple pleasure in life that we grow in relationship with others
as we mentor and are mentored, discovering the things we have in common
yet respecting one another's God given differences in personality.
But it's not a necessity that we have all things in common with the one
we mentor or the one who mentors us. It's especially important that we
who mentor don't try to create 'spitting images' of ourselves and
regard differences in personalities and preferences as something that
needs to be fixed or corrected during the mentoring process.
Paul said "follow me as I follow Christ" (1 Cor. 11:1). In other words,
watch me and see how I live out the Word in my life, that's what a
mentee does, in large part. But you, as a mentee, are not required to
become like me, no matter how happy I am, or successful I am or
beautiful I am - this should never be a requirement for a mentee.
Mentee's need not transform their lives to look exactly like ours, or
serve God in the same way we do, to be acceptable in our sight. Jesus
fully accepted John the Baptist in all his quirkiness and camel's hair
clothing: in fact, this was an expression of the personality God had
given him to fulfill his calling. This isn't to say that we can't help
each other with the sanctification process, but that we must be careful
not to try and recreate individuals to our liking and call it
'sanctification.'
In short, mentors (and friends, and spouses,
etc.) have to respect the God-given individuality of other people while
helping them mature in Christ by being a humble example. Part of the
mentoring process is learning to shift our attention from our own
comfortable pleasures onto the one being mentored, and in the process
our own shortcomings and weaknesses are revealed - this is God's design
to mature us as we mature others. And perhaps some of those quirks we
want to 'change' in others are part of God's plan to completely fit the
Body of Christ with a 'John the Baptist' for every situation that arises
and every task that needs to be completed in the Body.
"God,
grant me the serenity [peaceful willingness] to accept the things I
[should not try to ] change, the courage to [inspire] change [towards
greater Godliness] for the things I can, and the wisdom to know the
difference." (Serenity Prayer)
You could be doing everything according to God’s plan - and carrying
those things out with kindness, understanding, compassion and grace -
but someone might still be irritated with you. It’s just impossible to please everyone!
To “please” means to oblige, satisfy or cater to the desires of others.
In some cases, we could very well be the hand and voice of God when we
strive to please others, but in other cases we could be the hand of the
enemy as we cater to the strongholds and ungodly desires of other
people. This can actually strengthen the enemy’s hold on them and make
us ‘slaves’ to their whims. When it comes to our relationship with
other people, pleasing and serving are not the same – one comes from
the desires of man, the other from the heart of God.
More than
making man happy and striving to have man befriend us and invite us into
his inner circle, our first goal must be to please God. If pleasing or
befriending man puts the Word or will of God in 2nd place, then we have
lost our first love and become servants of man (Gal. 1:10). While
loving others needs to be a top priority for us, love has to be defined
by God, not the world. The world sees love as that which satisfies the
flesh, while God’s love is self-sacrificing and purifies the heart and
soul. God is the author of love and He Himself is the embodiment of
love – but that doesn’t mean He is loved back - and neither will we
necessarily be loved back as we become more and more Christ-like.
We are here as God’s ambassadors – sent to carry out His work and will
in His stead. An ambassador must keep his allegiances to the country
from which he was sent – that’s where his authority comes from and
that’s his home base. If he shifts his affections from his country to
the people around him, he will not be able to carry out his assignment
for trying to keep people happy. But if he keeps his affections on the
One who sent him, he will keep his authority intact, do a greater
service for the people he’s sent to, and have a powerful backing from
his homeland.
If our motives are pure and we seek first to
lovingly carry out the will of God, we can rest assured that others will
not be happy with us – it’s that simple. But if our affections shift
to pleasing others for our comfort, then we may very well find ourselves
out of God’s will. As difficult as it is, we have to come to the
understanding that not everyone will like us or say ‘nice’ things about
us. Beyond examining ourselves, living in love and grace, and
apologizing when we’ve erred, perhaps the best thing to do in these
circumstances is to shake off the dust and keep our eyes focused on God.
"Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
but a body you prepared for me. Then I said, 'Here I am…I have come to
do your will, my God.'" (Ps 40, Heb 10)
Psalm 40 contains this prophecy about Jesus Christ, and although
the prophecy was set in motion at the death of Jesus, it was not
completely fulfilled. Prophecy is often like the opening of a well – it
takes the right circumstances to bring up the water, but once it’s
opened, it continues to flow.
While Jesus death is the opening
of this well and the ultimate subject of the prophecy, we are His Body
on earth, the Church, and the prophecy continues to be fulfilled through
us. God has prepared a Body (the entire church Body) to do His will,
but He has also prepared a body for each of us to individually do His will.
Our purpose is to follow suit and continue to be a participant in this
prophecy, offering ourselves up for the will of God – which is the
reason for our preparation. This does not mean that we’re to be martyred
or die on a cross, but that God has prepared us both physically and
spiritually to do the work He’s set aside in advance for us to do (Eph
2:10), just as He did with Jesus.
To be prepared means to be
equipped, framed, strengthened, taught, made sound, anointed and set
into place for a specific purpose. So if you’re wondering why you’ve
done some spiritual somersaults, been squeezed through some tough
circumstances, had your faith tested, and learned to press through – be
assured that your entire being has been prepared for God’s purposes and
you are equipped to carry out His will in this earth.
Our
perfect response to God's preparation is to say "Here I am, I have come
to do your will. I will follow the example of Jesus Christ and submit
myself: body, soul and spirit!"
Preconceived ideas can be detrimental to many
of life’s circumstances, but they can be toxic to our understanding of
the word of God. While we can appreciate doctrine that has been
instilled in us, it’s our responsibility
to search scripture on a continual basis throughout our lives so that
the Holy Spirit can progressively reveal His truths. How many times
have we thought we had truth only to find out later that our
interpretation had been gained from a scripture taken out of context or
someone else’s preconceived idea which was passed along to us?
This was my experience a few years back, and it dealt with not one
scripture but a great segment of doctrine in the church I attended. I
came to such an extreme point of being uncomfortable about the Jesus
that was being preached that I was compelled to re-search scripture in
its proper context. This meant no scripture stood alone – it could not
be taken out of context one line at a time, but I must read and study
greater segments to understand the circumstances and characters around
each chapter I read. This was a very difficult time for me as I lost
some friendships in this process and became a bit of an outcast in the
circle of people I had known as my church family. But this was the
choice I had to make - accept His truth or accept the the consequences
of turning away from the truth God was revealing. Slowly but surely God
began to reveal where my doctrine was erroneous – and He continues to
do the same for each of us as we humbly, diligently and persistently
take in His word through His Spirit.
When the Sadducees
challenged Jesus knowledge of scripture in order to prove their own
knowledge, he said to them “You are wrong because you know neither the
scriptures nor God's power “(Matt 22:29). God’s word and power go
together - one doesn’t exist without the other if we have real truth.
Inaccurate doctrine doesn’t produce God’s power-filled results, but we
can be so determined to make it come to pass that we’ll push it along in
the flesh to get the results we think it should bring. The truth of
God’s word comes to pass by His power, but God is not under any
obligation to bring about the fulfillment of our interpretation of His
word.
This is why we must remain teachable – and refrain from
being defensive when others bring up concerns about our doctrine. We’re
not to be ‘wishy-washy’ or ‘know it all’, but we’re supposed to be
ready to give a reason for what we believe (1 Pet 3:15). That means we
are to understand why we believe what we believe, give an explanation
that Biblically supports that belief (without stretching it to our
liking), and be willing to investigate and change our beliefs when they
don’t line up entirely with the Word of God. Breaking off wrong
interpretations of the word of God breaks off bondage and brings life.
God’s word is life to our bodies – but wrong doctrine has no power to
bring about God’s promises (Prov. 4:20-22).
If we remain fixed
in doctrine that is ‘somewhat’ correct, even if it sounds and feels
good to the flesh, we can expect that it might ‘somewhat’ have power and
‘somewhat’ come to pass. But if we are those who continually study to
understand and know our God, we will be vessels through which the truth
of His word is continually proven and overflows into the lives of
others.
Waiting for the fulfillment of a promise or prophecy is difficult - but
prompting its fulfillment through our fleshly actions is dangerous.
We can learn how to handle the promises of God by understanding
Sarah's mistake: she anticipated how God might fulfill the promise of a
son then pushed doors open to make it happen. This type of activity
generally doesn’t have good results - perhaps because God is not only
interested in the end result, but He’s interested in the journey itself.
Preparation to handle the end promise often comes on the road to the
fulfillment of that promise.
God promised a son to Abraham and
Sarah, but instead of letting the promise unfold in God’s manner and
timing, Sarah manipulated both her handmaiden and her husband to get
what she wanted. Her desire for a child (especially to take away her
shame of being barren) dominated her desire for God and she tried to
step into God’s shoes in bringing the promise to pass.
The
result of Sarah’s push to bring about God’s promise was that she found
herself living in the same house as the woman with whom her husband had
slept (Hagar) and the woman resented Sarah. Today's blended family
dynamics are often difficult, but living in the same house as the mother
of your step-children might make for a hellish atmosphere. In the end,
Sarah’s plan to obtain a child through her foreign handmaiden backfired
and brought out the worst in her, her husband, Hagar and Ishmael
(Abraham and Hagar’s son). It also made life a bit miserable for Isaac,
Abraham and Sarah’s son, who was later born in God’s manner and timing.
God later called Isaac the son who was “born of the spirit,” and
Ishmael the son who was “born of the flesh” (Gal 4:29). Isaac
represents freedom in God and Ishmael represents the bondage of fleshly
living: manipulating people and circumstances to satisfy the flesh and
its timing. True freedom comes by completely trusting God to fulfill
His words of promise and prophecy, then submitting to His will.
There is no way to 'manipulate' God (especially by manipulating others)
and get God’s desired outcome. If God has given you a promise, wait on
His timing instead of prompting others and pushing doors open to help
fulfill it in your own manner and timing. If we give the promise back
to God and cooperate with Him, He will fulfill it through the Spirit and
sanctify our hearts and minds in the process.
“ Behold, I am
the handmaiden of the Lord [fully submitted to Your Spirit]; let it be
done to me according to what you have said [your way of doing things and
your timing].” Luke 1:38
Jesus seldom applied the same method twice,
even when circumstances looked similar to one another. Concerning the
blind persons who were healed in the Gospels, one was told by Jesus
“Receive your sight,” (Luke 18:35) but
Jesus put mud and spittle on another sightless man’s eyes (John 9:6).
Matthew 15 records that Jesus healed a multitude more of blind persons,
but we are not told what ‘method’ He used for each healing. Perhaps
Jesus approach to prayer and healing, taking each circumstance
individually, is one of the reasons John said that it would take volumes
of books to record all that Jesus did (John 21:25).
Being
creatures of habit can often serve us well, however, we sometimes settle
into common methods of praying, effectively applying the same
‘medicine’ to every situation that needs a salve. Those methods may work
at times, but they are likely not the answer to every situation.
Taking some time to search the heart and mind of God may provide
powerful revelation about which salve to apply and how to apply it, both
physically and spiritually speaking.
What if, instead of
routinely using the standard methods we’ve learned to use, we went
before the throne of heaven and asked for wisdom on how to pray for each
circumstance? What if we didn’t assume there was a demon to bind or a
rebuke to be given, but we waited on God to reveal the root of the
problem then pulled it up as he directed? God is willing to give us
understanding and insight into the precise weapon that’s needed so we
can hit the prayer target with accuracy – but we must be willing to ask
Him and apply His wisdom.
We have been given a powerful
arsenal of weaponry for prayer and ministry – may God help us to choose
the one that hits the healing and deliverance target in His perfect
timing!
"Call to Me, seeking me and my understanding, and I
will answer you and show you great and mighty things which are hidden
from your sight (things you have not distinguished and recognized, nor
do you have knowledge of and understand them). I will reveal things that
you have not seen, and open your understanding to see what I see." (Jer
33:3 paraphrased)
