The spiritual gifts are essential in evangelizing and equipping the followers of Jesus.
Essential.
Essential to such an extend that, when Jesus left Earth for Heaven, he expressly forbade his followers NOT to do any ministry until they had received the empowerment of the Holy Spirit who is the source of all the gifts. His giftedness and effectiveness was based on his relationship with the Father through the Holy Spirit. It is no different for anyone following in his footsteps.
Let’s take a look at the vast variety of spiritual gifts. For they are diverse. And, despite their diverseness, they are all credible.
When people peruse the lists of spiritual gifts as outlined in Scripture they generally refer to them in two categories – “the normal ones” and the, for lack of a better phrase, “the weird ones.”
The normal ones are the gifts that are, well... normal. You know - the ones we can understand - like gifts of teaching, administration, hospitality, mercy, service, giving, and encouragement - things that are pretty much in the box.
This is an example of a normal gift of the Spirit in action:
When I was a college student I used to attend a Friday night gathering where there were other students, a lot of food, a really nice house, and a Bible study. I lived for those Friday evenings. Every time I passed through the door and entered the house I felt like I was coming home - always welcomed unconditionally with smiles, hugs, attention, and, perhaps most significantly, with honor. I could walk into the kitchen, nab a glass from the cupboard, wander into the living room, plop down on the sofa, kick off my flip-flops, and take a nap if I wanted. I just felt normal there. I didn’t have to look the part; didn’t need to act the part. Even if I was in the worst mood it didn’t matter. Something about being around those people lifted my spirits and made me feel human again. When I left their house I felt renewed, affirmed as a child of God, and at rest in my soul.
I later learned that the hosts of the home had (and had been practicing) the spiritual gift of hospitality – the gift of welcoming people and making them feel like family. The gift of hospitality is a so-called “normal gift” of the Spirit. You don’t have to be a spiritual heavyweight (or even look weird) to pull it off. Like many gifts, it is seen in our culture about everywhere we go. We’re used to it.
No so with the other category, “the weird ones.” They are subjective, supernatural, super-sensationalistic, and secret. When people talk about them, their voices drop to a whisper and they look around the room to see if anyone is looking. They include gifts of healing, discernment of spirits, dreams, prophecy, tongues, visions, exorcism, and so on. Sometimes they are called the "revelatory" gifts because their actions depend on the revelation of God for them to work.
This is an example of a weird gift of the Spirit in action:
Recently, I was praying for a young adult at a service when, in my spiritual vision, I saw the ringleader of a three ring circus. He was dresses in a red coat and tall black hat - just like the ones in the movies - and standing in the center ring. It was a small, knee-high ring which, as I watched, began to enlarge and and grow in its parameter. Within a few moments the ring expanded completely out of my sight.
I opened my eyes and told the young adult that I believed God was going to expand the parameter of his tent – that everything he knew was going to be multiplied and increased in a very significant manner. He sort of smiled and went back to the pew. The service ended and we all went home.
A few weeks later he pulled me aside in church and shared with me some recent events that had occurred in his life. He told me that a firm - with an entirely different product and focus than what he been schooled for - had contacted him “out of the blue” and had offered him double the salary of what he was then making. Remembering the vision of the ringleader and the expanding center ring, he decided to go for it. In the process of leaving his old firm for the new firm the old firm decided, in attempt to keep him working for them, to match the new firms offer - and even increase it. When the new firm realized he was reconsidering staying at the old firm, they increased the increase of the doubled salary and won him back!
This is a wonderful example of how the weird gifts work. (Of course, by now you know there are not “weird gifts of the Spirit” and “non-weird gifts of the Spirit.” All gifts are credible and provide wondrous ways wherein God manifests Himself to others.) While all the gifts of the Spirit are alive and well in the church today, not all Christians believe that. Contrary to consumer belief, we are not free to pick and choose the gifts that make sense to us and those who don't – or even place historical limitations forbidding the operation of gifts we “have trouble” with. It is God himself who distributes the gifts and he distributes the gifts as he desires. Who are we to pick and choose the ones we consider theologically relevant?
I had a terrible struggle with this. Perhaps you have, too. As a young believer I had actually been taught by sincere followers of Christ that the spiritual gifts were no longer “effective” for our day and age. Thus, whenever a person was seen using a spiritual gift it had to be a counterfeit and, in short, “of satan.”
Now I had spent enough time under his dehumanizing influence and wasn’t about to return to that. At the same time, I knew that God was bigger than satan and, if satan had gifts, then God must have had gifts as well. If not, what was he counterfeiting? If all the devil was doing was copying God, then what was he copying? That’s where I wanted to be. Surely, I reasoned, God wasn’t going to set me free me from the bindings of my enemy, meet me, and call me into the continuation his miraculous work with a powerless hope and questionable praxis that is no longer relevant and for this day and age!
So I talked to a lot of people. And the answers were all over the charts. The pentecostals were closest to what I was thinking. They told me satan counterfeited the all gifts - even tongues and healing - and that, in itself, was proof they were still around. The evangelicals told me that only the normal gifts of the Spirit were operative because the revealed will of God now came through the Scriptures - the “living, breathing Word of God.” The fundamentalists were quite skeptical of all things experiential and told me none of the gifts were around!
What a broad spectrum!
Once I was tanning on a beach when a couple of good people from Campus Crusade for Christ came up to me and asked, if I were to die “tonight,” would I go to heaven. I sat up and we had a wonderful conversation. At one point I asked one of them about the gifts of the Spirit - especially the gift of tongues. (I was particularly struggling with tongues.) He gave me a very interesting look and, with a twinkle in his eye, told me that I would have to seek those answers out for myself. That was an amazing answer - probably the gift of wisdom! So I took him up on it. And today I have come to the understanding that all the gifts of the Spirit are still being poured out on the church today - even the weird ones.
It's interesting to note that over the course of His three-year ministry, Jesus exhibited all the gifts of the Spirit - excluding tongues and their interpretation.The early church relied heavily on the power of the Holy Spirit and his manifested gifts, day in and day out. It’s also interesting to note that, in our day and age, the vast majority of the world-wide Christian Faith embraces all of the gifts as well.
So our summary of this chapter is a reminder that the gifts of the Spirit – those we can mentally understand (such as mercy, teaching, helps, and administration) along with those that are more mystically-centered (such as tongues, discernment of spirits, visions, dreams, and prophecy) – are given by God, and specifically designed for the evangelizing and edification of the followers of Christ.
Some are weird. Others are not.
All are credible.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Monday, February 16, 2009
2 Love Never Fails
There is an essential relationship between a spiritual gift and the role of the Spirit when the spiritual gift is in use. Spiritual gifts need to be used in harmony with the Holy Spirit, and always with love.
You mean, it’s possible to use my spiritual gift independently of the Spirit? Yes. Left to our own devices, we can do a lot of things independently of the Spirit. Gifts are no different.
If I run into the street decided to sing a ten minute rock-opera in tongues (which, theoretically, I suppose, I could do) it would be fruitless. Yet, if I take that same gift and, when prompted by the Spirit, exercise it at His perfect pleasure, it will bear fruit.
Once a spiritual gift is revealed it does not guarantee spiritual nirvana. Many people have been loaded with gifts and filled with the Spirit and – in spite of such magnificent graces – will be turned away from entering heaven when Jesus returns at the end of the Day. While spiritual gifts are wonderful tools in the toolbox they are just wonderful tools in the toolbox . The do not automatically assure a “greater spirituality” nor even assurance to heaven.
And, for those of you who have neglected or even forgotten about your gifts – perhaps, for example, you used to be in a place where you used your spiritual gifts all the time but, today, those days are long gone – I have great news for you: You haven’t lost it!
Perhaps you’ve been a very naughty fellow and think that you deserve to loose the good things God has given (and you probably do). But God doesn’t play it that way. I’m here to tell you that you can’t out-sin your gifts. God has promised that he will never take away your gift.
Isn’t that wonderful?
Many older saints are now in places where circumstances have left them on the banks of the river. They have been watered-down into thinking that the glory days are over for them or, even worse, that God is no longer doing the same exciting things anymore. But that’s not true - he is - and you can reenter the rapids and minister in the same wonderful ways you used to, you so many years ago!
Oh, sure – you may need to blow out the cobwebs and re-sharpen your sword a bit. But, when the dust settles and you reengage your gifts in the glory of God, you will find they are still there like never before; still fruitful, still glorious, and still evangelizing and edifying people of all ages in the all-consuming love of the Father.
Again - and it bears repeating - why is that? It’s because the Holy Spirit lives within you. If he still lives in you then, by default, you still have your gifts.
So, in summary, the gifts of the Holy Spirit are once given and never revoked. They are as good for as long as the world needs to be evangelized and the church needs to be edified. Additionally, we need to demythologize the “possessors” of the gifts. We sometimes yearn for gifts (and to use gifts) believing they assure some sort of spiritual nirvana. They do not. We sometimes believe, if we can be operating in the gifts of the Spirit, we will have finally arrived and all our cares will vanish - or, worse yet, that spiritual gifts assure us of an eternal future.
They do not. While it’s true that God gives the gifts, the gifts are tools in the toolbox and are also - and can be abused - by very broken people. Like all things fruitful, they are to be used in living concert with the love and will of the Father as revealed in the Holy Spirit.
You mean, it’s possible to use my spiritual gift independently of the Spirit? Yes. Left to our own devices, we can do a lot of things independently of the Spirit. Gifts are no different.
If I run into the street decided to sing a ten minute rock-opera in tongues (which, theoretically, I suppose, I could do) it would be fruitless. Yet, if I take that same gift and, when prompted by the Spirit, exercise it at His perfect pleasure, it will bear fruit.
Once a spiritual gift is revealed it does not guarantee spiritual nirvana. Many people have been loaded with gifts and filled with the Spirit and – in spite of such magnificent graces – will be turned away from entering heaven when Jesus returns at the end of the Day. While spiritual gifts are wonderful tools in the toolbox they are just wonderful tools in the toolbox . The do not automatically assure a “greater spirituality” nor even assurance to heaven.
And, for those of you who have neglected or even forgotten about your gifts – perhaps, for example, you used to be in a place where you used your spiritual gifts all the time but, today, those days are long gone – I have great news for you: You haven’t lost it!
Perhaps you’ve been a very naughty fellow and think that you deserve to loose the good things God has given (and you probably do). But God doesn’t play it that way. I’m here to tell you that you can’t out-sin your gifts. God has promised that he will never take away your gift.
Isn’t that wonderful?
Many older saints are now in places where circumstances have left them on the banks of the river. They have been watered-down into thinking that the glory days are over for them or, even worse, that God is no longer doing the same exciting things anymore. But that’s not true - he is - and you can reenter the rapids and minister in the same wonderful ways you used to, you so many years ago!
Oh, sure – you may need to blow out the cobwebs and re-sharpen your sword a bit. But, when the dust settles and you reengage your gifts in the glory of God, you will find they are still there like never before; still fruitful, still glorious, and still evangelizing and edifying people of all ages in the all-consuming love of the Father.
Again - and it bears repeating - why is that? It’s because the Holy Spirit lives within you. If he still lives in you then, by default, you still have your gifts.
So, in summary, the gifts of the Holy Spirit are once given and never revoked. They are as good for as long as the world needs to be evangelized and the church needs to be edified. Additionally, we need to demythologize the “possessors” of the gifts. We sometimes yearn for gifts (and to use gifts) believing they assure some sort of spiritual nirvana. They do not. We sometimes believe, if we can be operating in the gifts of the Spirit, we will have finally arrived and all our cares will vanish - or, worse yet, that spiritual gifts assure us of an eternal future.
They do not. While it’s true that God gives the gifts, the gifts are tools in the toolbox and are also - and can be abused - by very broken people. Like all things fruitful, they are to be used in living concert with the love and will of the Father as revealed in the Holy Spirit.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
1 What is A Spiritual Gift?
The other day my daughter asked me about spiritual gifts. It happened after I had told her that from a very early age I had prayed for her and her sister to be prophetesses.
“What’s a ‘prophetess,’” she asked.
“It’s a person who can sense God’s word over a person or situation and share it with others to encourage them in the faith. It’s one of the spiritual gifts,” I added.
“What’s a ‘spiritual gift?’”
Here’s a kid, raised in the church her whole life – involved in worship leading, Bible study, and other spiritual leadership and she asks, “‘’What’s a spiritual gift?” Her friend was with her. She didn’t know what a ‘spiritual gift’ was either.
So I’m stepping out. Of course you have access to deeper discussions than this. (Can you say, “Google?”) For our purposes, I’m going to spend a bit of time just talking through the gifts, making random comments here and there. The intent, of course is that, once discovered, they will be used.
That being said, let’s talk about spiritual gifts. Every Christian has at least one spiritual gift. A spiritual gift is an accolade, given to the the followers of Jesus for edification and evangelization.
I have come to believe that every Christian has access to ALL the spiritual gifts (we’ll talk about that later on down the line) because every Christian has the Holy Spirit residing in them. The Holy Spirit is the big gift and He has all the gifts residing within Him. He can distribute all known spiritual gifts to any one person - or, at least has the potential to do so. Usually, however, people find themselves majoring in just a few gifts.
Spiritual gifts don’t happen once you’ve attained a certain age, or a rite of passage – like a spiritual puberty or something. They are bestowed on any person – young or old – who has given him or herself to Christ and entered into the life-long journey of following Jesus. That means if a elementary student, teen, young adult, or old guy accepts Christ they enter into a new birth which includes the infilling of the Holy Spirit. Age has no bearing here. And no ministry of Christ happens without the empowerment and gifts of the Holy Spirit. Ministry happens when a person employs his or her gift. I’ve seen elementary kids speaking in tongues and grandma’s healing the sick. It’s not about age; it's about who lives in you.
So that’s the word for this chapter: everyone (young or old) who follows Jesus and has been born into his spiritual reign has spiritual gifts. They differ from skills, hobbies, interests, or things you learn in that they are given from God to build up other Christians and grow the church. If you are a Christian, you have at least one – probably more. And if you have the Holy Spirit abiding within you – which all Christians do – you have potential access to all the gifts, from prophecy to teaching, mercy to administration, or tongues to hospitality.
And he has given your spiritual gift(s) according with the desire of his heart, not yours.
“What’s a ‘prophetess,’” she asked.
“It’s a person who can sense God’s word over a person or situation and share it with others to encourage them in the faith. It’s one of the spiritual gifts,” I added.
“What’s a ‘spiritual gift?’”
Here’s a kid, raised in the church her whole life – involved in worship leading, Bible study, and other spiritual leadership and she asks, “‘’What’s a spiritual gift?” Her friend was with her. She didn’t know what a ‘spiritual gift’ was either.
So I’m stepping out. Of course you have access to deeper discussions than this. (Can you say, “Google?”) For our purposes, I’m going to spend a bit of time just talking through the gifts, making random comments here and there. The intent, of course is that, once discovered, they will be used.
That being said, let’s talk about spiritual gifts. Every Christian has at least one spiritual gift. A spiritual gift is an accolade, given to the the followers of Jesus for edification and evangelization.
I have come to believe that every Christian has access to ALL the spiritual gifts (we’ll talk about that later on down the line) because every Christian has the Holy Spirit residing in them. The Holy Spirit is the big gift and He has all the gifts residing within Him. He can distribute all known spiritual gifts to any one person - or, at least has the potential to do so. Usually, however, people find themselves majoring in just a few gifts.
Spiritual gifts don’t happen once you’ve attained a certain age, or a rite of passage – like a spiritual puberty or something. They are bestowed on any person – young or old – who has given him or herself to Christ and entered into the life-long journey of following Jesus. That means if a elementary student, teen, young adult, or old guy accepts Christ they enter into a new birth which includes the infilling of the Holy Spirit. Age has no bearing here. And no ministry of Christ happens without the empowerment and gifts of the Holy Spirit. Ministry happens when a person employs his or her gift. I’ve seen elementary kids speaking in tongues and grandma’s healing the sick. It’s not about age; it's about who lives in you.
So that’s the word for this chapter: everyone (young or old) who follows Jesus and has been born into his spiritual reign has spiritual gifts. They differ from skills, hobbies, interests, or things you learn in that they are given from God to build up other Christians and grow the church. If you are a Christian, you have at least one – probably more. And if you have the Holy Spirit abiding within you – which all Christians do – you have potential access to all the gifts, from prophecy to teaching, mercy to administration, or tongues to hospitality.
And he has given your spiritual gift(s) according with the desire of his heart, not yours.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Healing on the Sabbath
In the story of the healing of the paralytic in Mark 3:1-5, the great fault of the Sadducees and Pharisees was that they had become enslaved to their liturgical calendar.
Healing could not have happened on the Sabbath because man-made laws were more important than the men for whom they were created to serve, they would say.
How sad when the loving compassion of the Living God grows stale under the uncompromising devotion of religion.
Healing could not have happened on the Sabbath because man-made laws were more important than the men for whom they were created to serve, they would say.
How sad when the loving compassion of the Living God grows stale under the uncompromising devotion of religion.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Chain Prayers need Deliverance
I just received another one of those dumb chain prayers in my inbox - you know, the ones that have a nice prayer for prosperity and then say if you forward it to "7 other people within the next 10 minutes" it promises some sort of blessing?
I get two or three of these a week. "If you want God's blessing," they say, "Don't break the chain."
I have some advice for you. Break the chain.
These "Chain Prayers" are about the furthest thing from authentic Christianity that I can imagine. It borders on the practice of superstition, luck, and good fortune and flies in the face of people who have been called out of the practices of the world for a vibrant and living relationship with Jesus Christ.
Don't be fooled. Jesus doesn't not allow Himself to be manipulated. Do you think the power of these letters forces Him to act on your behalf?
Woe to us for thinking we can create anything good by "passing this prayer onto 10 of your best friends - and, be careful; if you break the chain you'll be out of the blessing!" How absolutely silly!
Well meaning Christians have sent me things like this. You've probably received them as well. Perhap even forwarded them along. (It's okay, you won't loose your salvatoin over it.) These prayers contain wonderful, sympathetic, touch-feely sentiments but they invite us into a practice that lies outside the scope of who we are called to be.
Our "promise of blessings" and "divine favor" do not rise and fall with the forwarding or deleting of a Chain Prayer. We serve a Heavenly Father who delights in giving us all things, simply for the asking. We have been ushered into the very throne of Grace and been invited to speak with Him as a friend. Our blessing, favor, healing, and salvation can only be found there. When we place the source of our blessing in anything less than the Person of Christ we have once again succomed and demoted ourselves back to our old sinful, pagan practice - things that have no place (nor carry any weight) in the Kingdom of God.
So the next time you receive an email promising you fame, success, good fortune, or a special blessing, break it, delete it, and cancel it's power. Don't worry. You won't be keeping another person you love from a special blessing, nor will their day be miserable. What even gives you the idea you have the power to do that in the first place?!
Let's put an end to these chain prayers. Make the decision now to simply tell Jesus your need. (Ask Him to bless everyone in adress book as well!)
I get two or three of these a week. "If you want God's blessing," they say, "Don't break the chain."
I have some advice for you. Break the chain.
These "Chain Prayers" are about the furthest thing from authentic Christianity that I can imagine. It borders on the practice of superstition, luck, and good fortune and flies in the face of people who have been called out of the practices of the world for a vibrant and living relationship with Jesus Christ.
Don't be fooled. Jesus doesn't not allow Himself to be manipulated. Do you think the power of these letters forces Him to act on your behalf?
Woe to us for thinking we can create anything good by "passing this prayer onto 10 of your best friends - and, be careful; if you break the chain you'll be out of the blessing!" How absolutely silly!
Well meaning Christians have sent me things like this. You've probably received them as well. Perhap even forwarded them along. (It's okay, you won't loose your salvatoin over it.) These prayers contain wonderful, sympathetic, touch-feely sentiments but they invite us into a practice that lies outside the scope of who we are called to be.
Our "promise of blessings" and "divine favor" do not rise and fall with the forwarding or deleting of a Chain Prayer. We serve a Heavenly Father who delights in giving us all things, simply for the asking. We have been ushered into the very throne of Grace and been invited to speak with Him as a friend. Our blessing, favor, healing, and salvation can only be found there. When we place the source of our blessing in anything less than the Person of Christ we have once again succomed and demoted ourselves back to our old sinful, pagan practice - things that have no place (nor carry any weight) in the Kingdom of God.
So the next time you receive an email promising you fame, success, good fortune, or a special blessing, break it, delete it, and cancel it's power. Don't worry. You won't be keeping another person you love from a special blessing, nor will their day be miserable. What even gives you the idea you have the power to do that in the first place?!
Let's put an end to these chain prayers. Make the decision now to simply tell Jesus your need. (Ask Him to bless everyone in adress book as well!)
How I Got Filled with the Spirit
Here's a blurb from my book entitled, Meet Me in the Desert. It describes how our Heavenly Father baptised me in the Holy Spirit - enjoy!
I surrendered my life to Christ in November of 1977 on a beach in Central Florida. For me it was all about “giving in” to the Lordship of Christ. I had been wallowing in mud and squandering my wealth for far too long and it was time to get on with the things God had planned for me.
So late one night, sitting in the sand with the roar of waves in the backround, I did it. It felt goofy. But I was just that desperate. I said, “God, I don’t know who you are or what you are. But I’ve heard it said that I need to invite Jesus Christ into my heart and I will be saved. So, I now invite Jesus into my heart. I guess that’s it. Amen.”
When I arose from that beach I had a sense that something “very right” had happened. Over the course of the following months I bought a Bible, read it every day, and began to see the beauty of my Lord Jesus Christ everywhere I went.
While things on the inside had changed dramatically things on the outside were still the same: I still lived in the same beach house, still hung out with the same people who still had their same parties each and every night. For a while I had great satisfaction in having the strength to being able to be in the same room with them without sharing in the same old activities. As the nights wore on, however, there were times when I lacked discipline to stay the straight and narrow road.
“Where is your power, Lord?” I prayed.
Previous to my conversion I had experienced cult and occult power – some of which was frighteningly powerful. I knew God was bigger than Satan, yet – up to that point – had not experienced the fullness of God’s power in my life. I grew increasingly frustrated and “backslid” more times than I care to admit. Where was this so-called “victorious life in Christ”?
Shortly thereafter I received a call from a friend who invited me to a “church meeting at the Quality Courts Hotel on A1A,” in Cocoa Beach. I hitchhiked up and we met in the lobby. The moment we walked into the banquet hall I was literally overcome with something I had never experienced: the power of God’s love. I looked around in awe. People everwhere were laughing, hugging; the room was filled with electricity – and the band hadn’t even played yet!
As the worship began, the Presence of God filled the songs with a sweet fragarance of grace. It was a thick, almost cloud-like. And, though the people leading music looked normal, like me (young, blue jeans, t-shirts, and long hair), their faces grew ablaze with the visible presence of God’s undeniable joy. I didn’t know any of the songs, but it didn’t matter. I felt that even if I sang the wrong notes it would still be “right” somehow.
At one point the worhip leader strummed one chord and invited us into a time of free-form worship. As I observed, everyone around me began singing their own words and melodies in adoration to the Lord. It was beautiful. None of it was rehearsed, but it was choreographed piece of music I have ever heard. Most people were standing, eyes closed and hands upheld. I was astutely aware of the sacredness of the moment and slowly dropped to my chair, burying my head in my open palms.
I heard behind me a man singing, in what I now know to be “tongues.” As he sang my heart was strangly attracted, spiritually riveted to his voice. The more he sang, the more my being seemed to rock with the ebb and flow of his song. It was then when I began to experience the power of the Father’s love poured out to me through the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5)
In the midst of it all I saw (in my mind) a vision of a door. It was cracked opened about an inch and had intense white light pouring in from its sides, top and bottom. I gazed in awe and wondered how something so brilliant wouldn’t hurt my eyes. I leaned forward and tried to get a better look.
That’s when I heard God say, “Bill, you know I love you.”
I nodded intently. “Yes, Lord, I do.”
“And you know I will never love you any more, or any less, than I love you right now – right?”
“Yes, Lord, I do.”
“There’s nothing you can do to make me love you any more, or any less, than I do at this moment. You know that, right?
“Yes. I do.”
“But, listen: I have more for you.”
“More? For me?”
“Do you want more of Me?”
(Did I want more of Him? By that time in my life I had already realized that everything in the world paled in the face of the love and knowledge of Jesus. I was a fully devoted, fully sold-out, Jesus Freak and wanted – needed – anything and everything He died to give to me. Did I want more of Him? You bet I did!)
“Oh yes, Lord,” I cried. “You know I – “
And before I could finish the statement, the door flew open and I was immersed in the overwhelming light of Christ. In an instant, I saw the horridness of my sin – its effect and stain – completely and wholly swallowed up by God’s unconditional, holy love. I keeled over in my chair and sobbed as the love of God cleansed, restored, and empowered me in the depth of my being. My friends surrounded me, laid their hands on me, and blessed me. I was finally experiencing the power of God, filling me from head to toe, giving me the power I needed to be a victorious follower of Jesus Christ.
The whole time this man behind me was singing away, praising God in his own tongue; his voice rising and lowering with the ebb and flow of the miracle happingin in my heart. God was breaking my stubborn pride. In His unrelenting and undeserving mercy, He was restoring the years the locusts had eaten, giving me a heart of flesh for a heart of stone, and trading my sorrows for the joy of the Lord!
Afterwards I couldn’t wait to get home. I ran through the door, headed down the hallway, turned on the bathroom light and looked at myself in the mirror. The experience of God’s power had been so intense that I had to see if I had changed on the outside! In my reflection I saw the radiant face of a young man who had finally found what he was looking for – the peace and power of God in his life. The waters of the Laver had been poured out upon my heart, washing me clean of my sin and filling me with the unimaginable power of the Holy Spirit.
I remember looking at myself in the mirror and saying, “Don’t you ever loose this!” And, today, some thirty years later – by God’s grace and His everlasting faithfulness – I haven’t.
A few years later I heard a song by the late great Keith Green which articulated the experiance:
Like a foolish dreamer, trying to build a highway to the sky,
All my hopes would come tumbling down,
And I never knew just why,
Until today, when you pulled away the clouds that hung like curtains
On my eyes,
Well I've been blind all these wasted years
And I though I was so wise,
But then you took me by surprise.
Like waking up from the longest dream, how real it seemed,
Until your love broke through,
I've been lost in a fantasy, that blinded me,
Until your love broke through.
All my life I've been searching for that crazy missing part,
And with one touch, you just rolled away the stone
That held my heart,
And now I see that the answer was as easy, as just asking you in,
And I am so sure I could never doubt your gentle touch again,
It's like the power of the wind.
Like waking up from the longest dream, how real it seemed,
until your love broke through,
I've been lost in a fantasy, that blinded me,
Until your love, until your love, broke through.
(From the song, Your Love Broke Through, Keith Green)
That was my first visit to the Laver. And I have returned to it many, many times (remember Ephesians 5:18!). The Laver is always there for us. Why not pause now – just for a moment – bow your head to His throne of Grace – and ask the Father to fill you afresh with the power of the Holy Spirit?
I surrendered my life to Christ in November of 1977 on a beach in Central Florida. For me it was all about “giving in” to the Lordship of Christ. I had been wallowing in mud and squandering my wealth for far too long and it was time to get on with the things God had planned for me.
So late one night, sitting in the sand with the roar of waves in the backround, I did it. It felt goofy. But I was just that desperate. I said, “God, I don’t know who you are or what you are. But I’ve heard it said that I need to invite Jesus Christ into my heart and I will be saved. So, I now invite Jesus into my heart. I guess that’s it. Amen.”
When I arose from that beach I had a sense that something “very right” had happened. Over the course of the following months I bought a Bible, read it every day, and began to see the beauty of my Lord Jesus Christ everywhere I went.
While things on the inside had changed dramatically things on the outside were still the same: I still lived in the same beach house, still hung out with the same people who still had their same parties each and every night. For a while I had great satisfaction in having the strength to being able to be in the same room with them without sharing in the same old activities. As the nights wore on, however, there were times when I lacked discipline to stay the straight and narrow road.
“Where is your power, Lord?” I prayed.
Previous to my conversion I had experienced cult and occult power – some of which was frighteningly powerful. I knew God was bigger than Satan, yet – up to that point – had not experienced the fullness of God’s power in my life. I grew increasingly frustrated and “backslid” more times than I care to admit. Where was this so-called “victorious life in Christ”?
Shortly thereafter I received a call from a friend who invited me to a “church meeting at the Quality Courts Hotel on A1A,” in Cocoa Beach. I hitchhiked up and we met in the lobby. The moment we walked into the banquet hall I was literally overcome with something I had never experienced: the power of God’s love. I looked around in awe. People everwhere were laughing, hugging; the room was filled with electricity – and the band hadn’t even played yet!
As the worship began, the Presence of God filled the songs with a sweet fragarance of grace. It was a thick, almost cloud-like. And, though the people leading music looked normal, like me (young, blue jeans, t-shirts, and long hair), their faces grew ablaze with the visible presence of God’s undeniable joy. I didn’t know any of the songs, but it didn’t matter. I felt that even if I sang the wrong notes it would still be “right” somehow.
At one point the worhip leader strummed one chord and invited us into a time of free-form worship. As I observed, everyone around me began singing their own words and melodies in adoration to the Lord. It was beautiful. None of it was rehearsed, but it was choreographed piece of music I have ever heard. Most people were standing, eyes closed and hands upheld. I was astutely aware of the sacredness of the moment and slowly dropped to my chair, burying my head in my open palms.
I heard behind me a man singing, in what I now know to be “tongues.” As he sang my heart was strangly attracted, spiritually riveted to his voice. The more he sang, the more my being seemed to rock with the ebb and flow of his song. It was then when I began to experience the power of the Father’s love poured out to me through the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5)
In the midst of it all I saw (in my mind) a vision of a door. It was cracked opened about an inch and had intense white light pouring in from its sides, top and bottom. I gazed in awe and wondered how something so brilliant wouldn’t hurt my eyes. I leaned forward and tried to get a better look.
That’s when I heard God say, “Bill, you know I love you.”
I nodded intently. “Yes, Lord, I do.”
“And you know I will never love you any more, or any less, than I love you right now – right?”
“Yes, Lord, I do.”
“There’s nothing you can do to make me love you any more, or any less, than I do at this moment. You know that, right?
“Yes. I do.”
“But, listen: I have more for you.”
“More? For me?”
“Do you want more of Me?”
(Did I want more of Him? By that time in my life I had already realized that everything in the world paled in the face of the love and knowledge of Jesus. I was a fully devoted, fully sold-out, Jesus Freak and wanted – needed – anything and everything He died to give to me. Did I want more of Him? You bet I did!)
“Oh yes, Lord,” I cried. “You know I – “
And before I could finish the statement, the door flew open and I was immersed in the overwhelming light of Christ. In an instant, I saw the horridness of my sin – its effect and stain – completely and wholly swallowed up by God’s unconditional, holy love. I keeled over in my chair and sobbed as the love of God cleansed, restored, and empowered me in the depth of my being. My friends surrounded me, laid their hands on me, and blessed me. I was finally experiencing the power of God, filling me from head to toe, giving me the power I needed to be a victorious follower of Jesus Christ.
The whole time this man behind me was singing away, praising God in his own tongue; his voice rising and lowering with the ebb and flow of the miracle happingin in my heart. God was breaking my stubborn pride. In His unrelenting and undeserving mercy, He was restoring the years the locusts had eaten, giving me a heart of flesh for a heart of stone, and trading my sorrows for the joy of the Lord!
Afterwards I couldn’t wait to get home. I ran through the door, headed down the hallway, turned on the bathroom light and looked at myself in the mirror. The experience of God’s power had been so intense that I had to see if I had changed on the outside! In my reflection I saw the radiant face of a young man who had finally found what he was looking for – the peace and power of God in his life. The waters of the Laver had been poured out upon my heart, washing me clean of my sin and filling me with the unimaginable power of the Holy Spirit.
I remember looking at myself in the mirror and saying, “Don’t you ever loose this!” And, today, some thirty years later – by God’s grace and His everlasting faithfulness – I haven’t.
A few years later I heard a song by the late great Keith Green which articulated the experiance:
Like a foolish dreamer, trying to build a highway to the sky,
All my hopes would come tumbling down,
And I never knew just why,
Until today, when you pulled away the clouds that hung like curtains
On my eyes,
Well I've been blind all these wasted years
And I though I was so wise,
But then you took me by surprise.
Like waking up from the longest dream, how real it seemed,
Until your love broke through,
I've been lost in a fantasy, that blinded me,
Until your love broke through.
All my life I've been searching for that crazy missing part,
And with one touch, you just rolled away the stone
That held my heart,
And now I see that the answer was as easy, as just asking you in,
And I am so sure I could never doubt your gentle touch again,
It's like the power of the wind.
Like waking up from the longest dream, how real it seemed,
until your love broke through,
I've been lost in a fantasy, that blinded me,
Until your love, until your love, broke through.
(From the song, Your Love Broke Through, Keith Green)
That was my first visit to the Laver. And I have returned to it many, many times (remember Ephesians 5:18!). The Laver is always there for us. Why not pause now – just for a moment – bow your head to His throne of Grace – and ask the Father to fill you afresh with the power of the Holy Spirit?
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Can Love NOT Heal? Yes.
When our faith is met with God's power, healing happens. Faith has to be present somewhere, in someone, for healing to happen. Without faith it is impossible to please God. That being true, I might also add, without faith it is impossible to create access to God. Praise God for the gift of faith!
We have the glorious experience of interfacing with the Creator many times in life. While God has chosen to give us experiences of His grace sovereignly, there are also times when He withholds the experience of His Presence until beckoned by the simple faith of one of His own. In the case of the friends who lowered the man from the ceiling to be healed by Jesus, it was their faith which provoked the Son of God to forgive the ailing man from his sins. When He saw their faith, He moved to meet it. (See Mark 2:3-5.)
Sometimes a person leaves the ministry of the Holy Spirit unhealed and, though it would seem, untouched. Yet this is God's wisdom – the choice not to heal. For, in the words of St. Gregory of Nazianzus, "healing is not reasonable in the case of those who would afterwards be injured by unbelief." (St. Gregory of Nazianzus, Fourth Theological Oration, 10. B#7, p.183)
Only God knows what our faith levels will be in the future. If we are sore intent - perhaps even dying - to to live within the trajectory of discipleship, he heals. Yet, if he knows that we might, after the room being swept clean, open it up again to the same critters for which we needed healing in the first place, it is an act of Love NOT to heal - or even to consider what we think we need best.
Would He bestow a blessing? Sure. A special grace/anointing to make it 'round the next bend? Well of course. Perhaps even gifts of ministry wherewith to serve others? It happens all the time. But would He bestow healing to that which He knows will be fractured or undone by one action or another?
In cases such as this, love demands He NOT heal.
God lives as Master over Death itself. Nothing is impossible for God. Yet, there are things He chooses not to accomplish in our lives – and that for good reason, reasons for which we simply need to trust. And while His “inaction” may lie behind disappointment, frustration, anger, pain, and even bitterness - it too, in itself, is an act of healing – an act of preventative healing, if you will, motivated by His knowledge of your future, faltering faith. In this case, God's greatest healing for you would be, and perhaps is, not to heal.
Why? Because He loves you.
We have the glorious experience of interfacing with the Creator many times in life. While God has chosen to give us experiences of His grace sovereignly, there are also times when He withholds the experience of His Presence until beckoned by the simple faith of one of His own. In the case of the friends who lowered the man from the ceiling to be healed by Jesus, it was their faith which provoked the Son of God to forgive the ailing man from his sins. When He saw their faith, He moved to meet it. (See Mark 2:3-5.)
Sometimes a person leaves the ministry of the Holy Spirit unhealed and, though it would seem, untouched. Yet this is God's wisdom – the choice not to heal. For, in the words of St. Gregory of Nazianzus, "healing is not reasonable in the case of those who would afterwards be injured by unbelief." (St. Gregory of Nazianzus, Fourth Theological Oration, 10. B#7, p.183)
Only God knows what our faith levels will be in the future. If we are sore intent - perhaps even dying - to to live within the trajectory of discipleship, he heals. Yet, if he knows that we might, after the room being swept clean, open it up again to the same critters for which we needed healing in the first place, it is an act of Love NOT to heal - or even to consider what we think we need best.
Would He bestow a blessing? Sure. A special grace/anointing to make it 'round the next bend? Well of course. Perhaps even gifts of ministry wherewith to serve others? It happens all the time. But would He bestow healing to that which He knows will be fractured or undone by one action or another?
In cases such as this, love demands He NOT heal.
God lives as Master over Death itself. Nothing is impossible for God. Yet, there are things He chooses not to accomplish in our lives – and that for good reason, reasons for which we simply need to trust. And while His “inaction” may lie behind disappointment, frustration, anger, pain, and even bitterness - it too, in itself, is an act of healing – an act of preventative healing, if you will, motivated by His knowledge of your future, faltering faith. In this case, God's greatest healing for you would be, and perhaps is, not to heal.
Why? Because He loves you.
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