What about this one? “Man has no advantage over the animal.” Anyone who knows their Bible knows they are both wrong. The destiny of those born-again, the sheep, is with the Lord; that of the goats—eternal destruction.
And unlike the animals, mankind is made in the image of God. So both statements are false. But both are in the Bible! (See Ecclesiastes 9:2 & 3:19.) Confused?
Hans Peter Gauser, Unsplash
Ecclesiastes is full of such errors. Written by King Solomon before his death, it is also rich with wisdom. Some scholars believe it’s the outpouring of a confused mind—worldly thought on the one hand, and godly wisdom on the other.
Placed at the center of the Bible, I see it like the bullseye of a target, painted black to highlight the surrounding white. It reflects the contrasting mindsets we all wrestle with. But it’s more than this.
The antidote
It’s also a heads-up for careful Bible study. We dare not take every verse literally, but consider each in the light of all Scripture. Many passages seem to be inconsistent with God’s love, placed there for our reflection and encouragement to read the whole, not just the part.
There’s another danger. If King Solomon, the wisest king, could fall into such confusion, what a warning for us more humble mortals! The cause of his decline? Idolatry.
Solomon became distracted by political correctness, marrying hundreds of wives. To keep the peace, he allowed their idols and even bowed down to them himself.
Are we falling into the same trap? Compromise and political correctness are fear of man; faithfulness and trust are fear of God. Let us not become confused.
When the Apostle Paul returned to Troas, he found the Lord had opened a door for him to preach the gospel there. On his first visit, he’d had no opportunity, being guided to Macedonia instead. Normally, he would have been delighted, thinking that the Lord had purposely led him back to Troas.
Peace of Mind
However, he writes in 2 Corinthians 2:13: I still had no peace of mind, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said good-bye to them and went on to Macedonia. Paul’s peace of mind was a greater guide of the Spirit’s will than even an open door to preach the gospel in a place he must have wanted to!
When our spirit is troubled, it’s important to pray it through until we come to a place of peace. If not, then it is likely the Spirit is guiding us to avoid whatever, or whoever, is troubling us. Let the peace of Christ rule [the Greek is brabeueto] in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful (Colossians 3:15).
Brabeuo means to arbitrate, in other words, let the peace in your heart be the judge of whether something is of God or not. How can we be sure? That’s pretty subjective! True.
But remember the Spirit of God lives in your spirit, and the Father himself is working everything out for good. The peace that passes understanding is more than a feeling―it’s a vital signpost of the Lord’s direction.
Let the peace of God rule in our hearts. That peace is the surest guide we have to the will of the Father. For this reason, we shouldn’t make important decisions when we are tired, angry, frustrated, worried or fearful. These peace-robbers will steal the guidance of the Holy Spirit!
Guest post by Julie Young, Canterbury Evangelism Network
Demons can put thoughts, songs or images in
your head or give you feelings (e.g. fear). Any negative thought is usually
from them. Over time you will get faster
at distinguishing between what is your thinking and what is not and getting rid
of it.
My experience
I used to think the words in my head were all mine and every now and then God would speak. But I have come to realise there are more voices; these include mine, God’s and the naughty angels. All the negative thoughts weren’t mine at all.
This has been great news! My days are much happier without all the negative thoughts in my head.
One of the biggest breakthroughs came the day I realised the devil and his naughty angels could speak into my mind. After five months of being really sick, some friends came around and prayed for me and anointed me with oil.
I believe their prayer helped me to realise a naughty angel had slipped up with his words.
I was thinking: How I would manage to get to the women’s conference for our denomination? I had attended six years in a row and didn’t want to miss it.
But now even having a shower was a problem. As I lay in bed planning how I would have a shower that night so I didn’t have to in the morning, and what I would wear, and how I would drive across town and find the room and walk into the conference, a voice in my head said, “You don’t want to do that again do you?”
I had a horrible vision of how I had got so unwell in the last conference; I even had my doctor friend taking my pulse, as I hadn’t been able to stand, thinking I would faint.
But . . . I realised the words had been in the third person “You don’t want to do that again do you?” I don’t speak to myself like that, and I’m sure it wasn’t God as he would want me to go to women’s conference.
So I learned that naughty angels can put thoughts into my head. Later I learned they can also put songs, images, dreams, and feelings into my mind. Anything negative is usually from them.
Over time I have learned more and more to distinguish between what is my thinking and what is not and have therefore shut them down more quickly.
Any thoughts not in accordance with how God thinks about you, and/or if it is accusing, it’s very likely the devil or his demons.
What to do
Say, “Stop it in the name of Jesus Christ.” You need to use Jesus’ name to stop the bombardment. He is much more powerful, having conquered and overcome.
Rebecca Brown suggests if we try saying “stop it” in our own strength, the demon’s persistence is likely to outdo ours. [1] Using Jesus’ name sorts it out.
Some people who have written about these things think you should speak out loud to demons (e.g. Rebecca Brown), while others such as Derek Prince think you can speak to them in your head as that is where they are speaking to you. If you’re in public it’s probably best to do it in your head.
Declare what God thinks by finding verses from the Bible or a
Christian song that declare God’s truth.
This is fighting with the sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:17).
Be persistent. If they are persistent then you need to be persistent using the name of Jesus and declaring the truth.
Only think about good things. Philippians 4:8 says, “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”
Here are some common lies and verses of truth.
You can use www.biblegateway.com or a
Christian friend/pastor to help you find verses.
Lie I’m believing / being told
What God says (Bible verse)
I
am a nobody
Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. John 1:12
Life
sucks
Jesus said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” John 10:10
I
can’t escape the devil
Submit to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. James 4:7 The one who is in you (God) is greater than the one who is in the world. 1 John 4:4
Letting
others down
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters. Colossians 3:23
I
am a failure
The Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him. Psalm 37:23
I am not lovable
I have no worth
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. Psalm 139:13-14. But whoever loves God is known by God. 1 Cor 8:3 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Matt 6:26 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Matt 10:29-30 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them. John 14:21 God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5
[1] Rebecca Brown, He
Came to Set the Captives Free.
“I haven’t heard from God for years.” “God only speaks to me through scripture.” I hear these comments regularly. But the Lord recently showed me something astonishing!
The Bible tells us we consist of spirit, soul, and body, and 1 Corinthians 2:11 says, “For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him.”
Thoughts
come from our mind, which is part of our soul. So this verse explains there is
a conversation going on between your soul and your spirit—those voices in your
head talking to each other. All the time. Chill out, it’s not madness! It’s
normal and Biblical.
But it gets
better. The Bible also says when we become Christians, the Holy Spirit comes
and lives in our spirit. We’re his temples. So now who’s voice is coming from
our spirit? The Holy Spirit’s!
Therefore, for Christians, this conversation in our head is between us and God. He’s talking to us all the time! And why wouldn’t he? He’s our Father. John 8:47:“He who belongs to God hears what God says.” His sheep know his voice.
Prayer is Broadband
Jesus promised, “And surely I am with you always.” Always! He never left. Prayer is not dial-up, where we have to perform certain rituals before God shows up. He’s always online.
Doesn’t the
devil also speak? Of course, but only to our minds. He can’t access our
spirits.
How do we know which is which? Well, how do you recognize any voice? Familiarity! You get to know the Lord through worship, prayer, and scripture. Spend time there, and you’ll know. He always speaks in character, and in line with his Word and purposes.
Then, John,
why don’t I hear from God? Because of earplugs, my next blog.
“Commissioned,” Ali said. “We’re
commissioned by the star. We can’t go home, Ben.”
Ben pointed behind them. “The king’s lying, that’s all. Didn’t you see his eyes?”
They left the city gates and passed a
lively market. Shouts echoed from the stone walls. Produce cluttered the pavement―melons,
onions and pomegranates. They steered their donkeys away from the crowds.
A third man, Saba, stroked his white beard.
“He’s right, Ali. The man’s poison, but we don’t have to obey him.”
“He’ll kill us, Saba!” Ben sliced his throat
with his finger.
Saba nodded. “So we travel at night.”
Ben spread his arms and shrugged. “Yeah, with the lions and bears and bandits. You’re nuts!”
Ali grabbed Ben’s shoulders. “Come on, Ben, let’s get this thing sorted. We’ve come a long way. We can’t turn back now. And anyway, don’t you want to see him?”
The cobbled road followed a ridge through sparse forest. Here they rested in the afternoon, letting the donkeys graze in the shade. They waited until the stars grew fat and journeyed on, reaching the village at dawn.
Roosters crowed. Dogs slunk into the
shadows. A flock of young girls, chattering like sparrows, carried water jars
on their shoulders.
“How do we know which house?” Ben asked.
Saba pointed to the sky. “Still present.”
Ben looked up and nodded. “I didn’t expect that.
Not here.”
“Commissioned,” Ali said.
They turned into a narrow alley, the
donkeys’ hooves kicking dust.
Saba coughed. “I think we’re here,
gentlemen.”
A small crowd clustered around an adobe and
thatch house. In the doorway, stood a young man, grinning. A teenage girl
emerged, holding a newborn child. Her face shone.
The crowd fell silent. They stepped back.
The three travelers knelt in the dust and bowed, their faces to the ground.
When we come together, what do we do? Sing,
pray, preach, offering, notices, communion and coffee. That’s church, surely?
Actually, the Scriptures suggest otherwise.
The Apostle Paul has a very different picture in mind. When you come together, he writes in 1 Corinthians 14:26, Everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue of an interpretation. Everyone? John, that would be chaos.
What about this then: And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first
speaker should stop (1 Corinthians 14:30). Have you ever seen it?
If that describes church, what we mostly do is celebration. That’s fine but allows little scope for the body of Christ to function in the gifts of the Spirit, for the common good.
Come with, not for
Jesus said he came to serve, not to be served. We call our meetings services. If so, we should bring something to serve others. In our entertainment age, have we forgotten? The Lord says, No one is to appear before me empty-handed (Exodus 34:20). Instead of coming for, we should come with.
It requires training, participation and faith. It’s also hard in large meetings. Perhaps we should redefine “church” to be a body of participating members.
Three levels
“Celebrations” could be less frequent gatherings of these churches, enjoying the buzz and encouragement of the larger group. This way several churches could even share the same facilities, structures, or staff.
“Churches” would be the regular mid-sized group where participation was both possible, taught and expected. Finally, members could still “do life together” in our homes – sharing meals, stories, prayer and support.
That would challenge our sense of unity! Which was precisely the problem in Corinth. For more, see my new book, The Seven Seals of the Holy Spirit.
Is anyone of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven (James 5:14-15).
But when Jesus healed the sick, he didn’t pray to the Father. He didn’t tell us to either.
In the book of Acts, the disciples heal many,
but they didn’t pray. Peter commanded the crippled beggar to “Walk.” He commanded
Aeneas, “Get up and take care of your mat.” He told the dead Dorcas, “Tabitha,
get up.” Paul told the crippled man in Lystra, “Stand up on your feet.”
So what is the prayer of faith James is referring to?
The
fig tree clue
In Mark 11, Jesus cursed the fig tree and
it died. Peter was amazed, “Look Rabbi!”
“Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. “I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him” (Mark 11:22-23).
Jesus goes on to describe the prayer of faith: “Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”
Reading this verse in isolation, I always
assumed the prayer of faith was petition or intercession. But the context of
this passage was a curse. Jesus said to speak TO the mountain, not pray ABOUT
it. Therefore the prayer of faith is a command.
That is the pattern of the Lord’s ministry,
and of the disciples too. We should follow their example. Using our God-given
authority.
It came as a shock to realize Jesus didn’t pray. I don’t mean he didn’t pray to the Father―of course he did. I mean he didn’t pray when healing the sick. Really?
At the Last Supper, Jesus took a towel and bowl, knelt
before his disciples and washed their feet, the job of the lowest slave. They
were horrified. Peter argued, but finally agreed. Afterwards, Jesus said, “I
have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you” (John 13:15).
Washing feet symbolizes both servanthood
and forgiveness. But the principle of example applies to his whole ministry,
for Jesus also said (Luke 6:40), “Everyone who is fully trained will be like his
teacher.”
To be like Jesus, we
should do what he did and not what he didn’t!
Five things Jesus didn’t do
He didn’t pray when he healed the sick – he just healed
them.
He never told us to pray for them. He told us to heal
them: “Heal the sick who are there
and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God is near you’” (Luke 10:9).
He never told anyone they were too sinful to be healed.
There must have been some ratbags in the crowds, but he healed those who needed healing (Luke 9:11).
He never said any disease was too hard. He cleansed
lepers and raised the dead.
He never set conditions before healing.
Therefore we
shouldn’t expect people to become Christians before they’re healed. We should be
willing to minister healing to the cases we consider hard. They’re not hard for
God! We should welcome the ruffians, the outcasts and the ratbags.
And when we minister healing, we shouldn’t pray to the
Father. The disciples didn’t. But aren’t we told to pray in James 5? True, but
that’s a special case, and the subject of a future blog.
I stood surrounded by thirty thousand others, watching the impossible. The biggest tent in the world soared seventy feet above me. Outside, Soweto, South Africa. Inside, holy chaos. People danced. People jumped and sang and praised God, their faces alight. No one praises God like Africans. Too reserved to join in, I merely grinned.
Then I heard these words. “Now put your
hand in the air.” In the row in front of me, a girl of about twelve raised her
right arm. An older African man stood facing her, smiling. “No, not that one,
the other one,” he told her.
The girl’s left arm was twisted and
withered. She turned to look at it. A frown clouded her face. She held her
breath and her mouth tightened. Her left arm quivered, the fingers straightened
and the arm grew. Her eyes opened in astonishment. Within ten seconds the arm
appeared normal.
The
tears that changed my life
I was a scientist. Miracles had explanations. Arms don’t grow. She must have a real arm underneath, and the crippled one is a toy. She must have a balloon in the shape of an arm. She must have, she must have . . . my set mind scavenged for plausible solutions.
Standing beside the girl, a lady stared at
her, a picture of radiant joy. Tears cascaded down her cheeks and dripped off
her chin. She wrapped the girl in a wild hug.
Those tears nailed me.
How hard it is to change our minds! “Be
transformed by the renewing of your minds,” the Lord tells us. “Set your minds on
things above,” he says. God is bigger than our imaginations. He created the
universe. He knows how to grow an arm―and recast the concrete of our minds.
