Devotionals, January End Of The Month

January 22nd, 2021

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. Romans 1:16.

For the remaining 10 days of the month of January, we will be doing a devotional on the theme “The Gospel is power.”  We will start this topic with this verse from Romans 1.

Apostle Paul had not yet visited the church in Rome (Romans 1:15) but was looking forward to go there and preach the Gospel there. Jesus had sent the disciples to go to all nations (Matthew 28:18-20) and Jesus would eventually save people and raise up a church in Italy (Hebrews 13:24). With Rome being the center of the Roman empire, there was something significantly strategic in preaching the Gospel there. Thanks to this divine wisdom of how He ordered the Gospel to go to the nations—starting with Europe first, it has eventually reached the whole world.

Now, there’s talk that places that had the Gospel first are actually now becoming secularized and places that had the Gospel last are becoming the centers of church growth. This is something I do not find to make sense or even want to accept. I don’t believe that God has less power to save sinners in USA than He does in Nigeria or South Korea or Brazil. God remains the same. So why do we talk of decline or apostasy in the Western Church? Why not revival? Why not an awakening?

Paul starts by saying that he is not ashamed of the Gospel. For him, it was personal. Despite the “I” of the Christian being often a testimony of God’s work—many religious people—who may or may not be true Christians can have a problem with the “I.” To be honest, it is possible that “I” can be sinful and self-centered.

“I” can be associated with the “pride of life” (1 John 2:15-17). The Greek word used in 1 John 2:17 for life is “bios.”  In the New Testament, it is used not just to talk about our biological life, but also everything else related to the biographical or natural condition of our lives. People can be proud of their skin color, their birth in rich families, citizenship in free societies, pretty looks, lean bodies, expensive cars, high-paying jobs, and accomplishments measured by worldly standards. Because since the time the new birth and its accompanying immortality have been proclaimed the only thing that matters now is the Zoe life, Paul wrote that “we know no man after the flesh” —2 Corinthians 5:16. So, if someone boasts, “I have a 2 million US Dollar house” or “I bought a $100,000 Tesla car” or “I was voted as Miss California and everyone said I was the hottest in the pageant,” or any other “I” related to the bios life, they are making fools of themselves. “Therefore, as it is written: ‘Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.‘ “—1 Corinthians 1:31. This is actually a quote of Jeremiah, which says ” let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me” (see Jeremiah 9:23-24). So, it is not any kind of boasting in God. It has to carry a spiritual or eternal significance. Even if someone were to say, I thank God for giving me a $100,000 Tesla, though it would be theologically correct to attribute God the blessing rather than owning it as a personal achievement, and therefore that gratitude would be better than simply flaunting the wealth, that in itself would be saying nothing about that person’s soul. It would remain a bios thing, a temporal life object. Does he or she know the Lord ? Have understanding of Gospel mysteries ? Is he or she born again ? Is he or she holy ? We know no man after the flesh and those are the most important questions we have to answer first.

Boasting in the Lord is praising Him for what He has done. Fanny Crosby sings “ Praise Him! Praise Him! Tell of His excellent greatness. ” That’s really what boasting in the Lord means. ” Let the weakling say, ‘I am strong!’ -Joel 3:10. Why ? Because it is God’s work! It is what the Lord has done for them (2 Corinthians 12:9-10). So, the use of “I” is not always prideful or as some would say narcissistic.  We see Paul using it a lot and he always gives God the credit. It can be difficult to judge the use of “I” if we do not know the person’s motives. While Scriptures say that Christians can judge fruits, which are self-evident, they do not teach that they can judge motives. There’s a difference between wrong motives, which are hidden, and outward wickedness, which is obvious. One awaits the day it will be revealed and judged at the judgment seat of Christ, the other is judged today and will be judged on judgment day as well. One is only God’s concern, the other may also be our concern. (1 Corinthians 4:5; 1 Peter 4:17). Just like other vices such as partiality, judging motives with no evidence of actual wrongdoing can put Christians in the crowd of those James confronted “have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?“—James 2:4. If the Christian with the “I” is abiding by written Scripture, then those actions done in obedience to God matter more. 

When we take a closer look, for Paul, often the “I” and the “me”  were written or spoken in an utter amazement, not self-glorification. “Unto me is this grace given”—Ephesians 3:8. It’s like, why me? I am less than the least. “I worked harder than them all yet not I but the grace of God”—1 Corinthians 15:10. So, it’s not Paul who is to be praised here for working hard because he did not accomplish anything—the grace of God did. “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners–of whom I am the worst.”—1 Timothy 1:15. So, if the worst sinner can become one of the greatest apostles, who will ever have an excuse on judgment day? “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.”—1 Corinthians 11:1. Who is he to say that? Well, that’s a challenge he is giving us. “If I can do it, you can do it too “- kind of thing.   “I no longer live but Christ lives in me, the life I live, I live by faith…” Galatians 2:20, etc, etc. Could the lack of the testimonies of God’s works like these be the first symptom of a “head-faith” of Western Christianity, and therefore, one of the possible culprits for apostasy? There’s a difference between head-knowledge and heart-believing. “With your heart you believe.“—Romans 10:10. A personal testimony is not the Gospel but without the power of the testimony, incarnation does not have a whole lot of meaning for those who hear the Gospel. The Gospel must become flesh in us. 

What has the Lord done for you? Do you know Jesus personally ? Are you washed in the blood of the lamb ? Do you walk with the crucified Savior ? Are you born again ? Have you seen Jesus raise someone from the dead with your eyes? Have you laid your hands on someone who was seriously ill to see the person miraculously rise up after the power of the Holy Spirit fell upon him/her? If you lost your job today, would you trust God to provide for you ? God is not a book knowledge. God is a real, supreme being, directly involved in the affairs of mankind every day. This is the God that Paul knew. This is the Jesus that Paul preached. This is why he says “ I am not ashamed.” Who is ashamed of the Gospel ? Christians who do not know God by experience. There are Christians who wouldn’t even be willing to answer the question whether they are Christians (Luke 9:26).

I remember watching an interview between a media personality and a Hollywood movie director—who happened to be a Christian. He said that there are many Christians in Hollywood but they are usually hiding because they fear that it could cost them their career if they were to be known as Christians. Now, that’s really one of the most heartbreaking things true Christians can hear. That’s tragic in God’s eyes. “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”—Mark 8:36-38.

Perhaps to understand why Paul  had unshakable faith in Christ and was not ashamed, we should look at the reason He gives us: “it is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes.” One of the things that I have seen in USA is how churches are uptight about members who do “church shopping.” I do not think it’s a good idea either. I think it’s good for church members to stay with the same church for as long as possible. But I am afraid that stability is not the only concern when some people talk about church shopping. Possibility that some church members could go elsewhere is another underlying concern. This betrays the actual serious problem—the conversion rate of those who are non-Christian is small at best and negligible at worst. There’s no earth-shattering revival in city to city that ensures a steady stream of new comers who turn to God and make the pastoral work too laborious to carry on without having “left-overs” who can be taken by other churches with less members. That is the major problem that should be confronted and solved. Not only should churches expect new members added to the church daily, they should also expect that they will stick around long enough to mature into complete disciples. For this to happen, we have to first of all believe that the Gospel is power. It is the power of God that saved us and if we are humble to believe that we are bad enough—the chiefs of sinners—then that power should be enough for everyone else.

I am not one who does a lot Christian apologetics—at least not in the traditional way it is done—like the reasons we are alive on earth or expose underlying assumptions that unbelievers may have. There are some people who have been very good at doing that. Like Tim Keller who wrote “Reason for God” or Ken Ham, the leader of Answers In Genesis. I think Christians need those resources to educate themselves—as Scriptures command us to have “gnosis” that would be useful for the kingdom (2 Peter 1:5; 1 Peter 3:15), but I realize that traditional apologetics is not my kind of ministry based on how I understand how the church unfolded through supernatural works of God in the book of Acts.  I am on the Blaise Pascal’s skeptical side on the strategy of Christian apologetics. He once quipped “He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; He is not the God of philosophers.” Blaise Pascal, a world-renowned Mathematician and philosopher, known to discover the calculator at age 16, believed that God was primarily known by experience not by reasoning. In his book “Pensées” he wrote: “It is an astounding fact that no canonical writer has ever made use of nature to prove God. They all strive to make us believe in Him. David, Solomon, etc., have never said,  ‘There’s no void, there’s a God.’ “They must have had more knowledge than the most learned people who came after them, and who have all made use of this argument. This is a worthy attention. “- I agree with that.

I want as many people saved as possible and if there are those who are saved through Christian apologetics, praise the Lord for that.  God forbid we should discourage something that can save even a single soul from eternal flames. However, based on what we see in the book of Acts, this is probably not the most effective way to evangelize. The Gospel is power and the way that power works is less often about reasoning with sinners—it is more about showing and telling sinners what the Lord has done and what He is doing. The cross and resurrection carry enough power to save—so we can cut out the middleman of reasoning and jump to faith (1 Corinthians 2:2). Wisdom or philosophy is reserved for the mature— even with that, our approach is not like that of the world— as the world’s wisdom has little value in God’s eyes (1 Corinthians 2:6).

I would rather see unbelievers have an impartation of God’s presence and their eyes opened by the grace of Jesus Christ. There might be room for reasoning where other religious faiths are involved—for comparative religion purposes like what does the Bible vs any other Holy Book teach—why do you guys believe what you believe? In this instance—for example between Judaism vs a Christian debates —might find application in witnessing to outsiders. What about atheists? Should we leave them unevangelized? They have no religious book of reference—unless we count “The communist manifesto” of Karl Marx or Philosophies of Rene Descartes or publications of the New York Times as authorities of reference. By all means, atheists who demand reasoning or want to engage in apologetic debates should not be left unevangelized. Apologists can do their part in reaching atheists in such situations. However, we must understand that Power Evangelism—a term coined by John Wimber—he actually has a book on the topic—is probably closer to the way the early church reached the lost than how apologetics is done today. There are many gifts and God uses those gifts. There are different talents and God uses those. But what we all must agree on is that the Gospel is power and it can turn the world upside down today as it did 2000 years ago. Perhaps we could even do “Power apologetics” or “Supernatural apologetics.” Why not ? The driving force of the Gospel is and has always been supernatural power. If we don’t believe that, then we really don’t believe the Gospel.

Prayer: Father God, I thank you that you have given us salvation in Christ and we know you personally. Who am I to know this God of the universe—the creator of all things? Who am I to fellowship with Him? Father God, as we start the new year of 2021, we pray that you will reveal the power of the Gospel again to America, Europe, and beyond. We believe Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever—and your arm is not too short to save. Awaken your people so that they can seek you, find you, and testify about your power in the Gospel. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen!

January 23rd, 2021

The people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus’ feet, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. Those who had seen it told the people how the demon-possessed man had been cured.  Luke 8: 35-36

“Return home and tell how much God has done for you.” So the man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him. Luke 8:38

We continue the devotional “The Gospel Is Power,” for the remaining days of January. Today, we will be looking at this miracle that took place in the region of the Gerasenes as we read in Luke 8:26-39.

The man is described as not to have worn clothes or lived in a house for a long time. He was demon-possessed. At the very beginning, we can take note of a huge chasm that exists between now and then. Today, this person may not even know or be told to have demon-possession. But this is what the Bible calls it. In the 21st century, this person who was naked everyday for a long time and lived in tombs rather than houses—would most likely be in a psychiatric hospital or perhaps even long term institutionalization in an asylum. There are many places where deliverance ministry for people like these is still done all over the world, even here in America. For that to happen, first of all, you have to believe that the spiritual world is real and demons can cause this. Those who wish to have that or family members who believe that Jesus is still able to heal should seek that help. Modern medicine has somehow developed many medications for conditions that would have been in a such category. Such medications work on the brain and can help regulate the thought processes and calm people. The way Haloperidol, for example, works as a dopamine antagonist and all the details of psychiatry will not be addressed here, as this is simply a Bible study. Those medications usually do not deal with the spiritual aspect of such illnesses. They also usually do not uncover the possible underlying cause that might have started that or opened a door to that.

Anyway, Jesus found this man, and as soon as they met, the demons began begging Him not to torture them. The man had had seizures and was able to break metal chains with which he was handcuffed. Deliverance ministry concerns Jesus because “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.”—1 John 3:18. Do you or the church you belong to practice deliverance ministry? If not, why not? This is something to consider. Jesus did it. This is one of many other reasons that He came to the earth. It’s amazing that Jews that weren’t necessarily Christians were doing deliverance before Jesus came and even after Pentecost they did, but as the name of Jesus became more and more widely known, some started to actually use His name to cast out demons, even though they may not have necessarily been His followers.  (Matthew 12:27; Acts 19:13-17; Luke 9:49-50). So, exorcism has traditionally been considered a major part of spirituality. Whether in Judaism of those days or early church Christianity, this was taken seriously. Unfortunately, this is not the case today. As we mentioned earlier, a person diagnosed with schizophrenia is unlikely to know of possible demonic activity involved in that— even those who are Christians—because both the religious world and the scientific world solely look at things from a somatic perspective. The religious may offer counseling, and perhaps even Biblical counseling for those who are willing, but counseling is not exorcism. Demons must be cast out. Jesus indicating the anointing and power involved in deliverance ministry asked a question the Pharisees who charged that Jesus may have been possessed by Beelzebub in His ministry  “How can anyone enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can plunder his house.”- Matthew 12:29. Deliverance ministry demonstrates the superiority of Christ’s power over the dark forces. Satan does not like it because he knows the damage it does to his kingdom. His kingdom will not stand wherever deliverance is taken seriously (Matthew 12:25; Mark 3:23-24; Luke 11:20).

 “Jesus asked him, ‘What is your name?’ ‘Legion,’ he replied, because many demons had gone into him.”—Luke 8:30. The demons then entered a bargain, pleading not to be sent into the Abyss. Demons have always had great fear and trembling in the presence of Christ’s majesty, even though they have been shut out of redemption and cannot repent their rebellion (James 2:19).There was a large herd of pigs and demons wanted to go there. It seems that demons prefer to be in some kind of body. If they are cast out and go into the wilderness, they are restless and usually try to find some kind of weaknesses in the person they were driven out of and once there’s an open door, they come back (Matthew 12:43-45). An open door gives Satan and his demons some “legal entry.” Satan would not enter a consecrated body of a Christian who is sanctified in spirit, soul, and body. They have no legal entry there. The topic of whether a Christian can ever be affected or not will not be reached—because that’s simply beyond the scope of this devotional. But a book “Healing through Deliverance,” by Peter Horrobin, which has Volume 1 and Volume 2, is an excellent resource that can help those interested in that topic. Those books are scholarly and rigorous for those who enjoy a solid and challenging theological study. It’s kind of unfathomable that demons are afraid of going to the Abyss, because they know the torment of that place, and yet men and women, who weren’t made to go there, make choices that will lead them there eventually. Why do you think demons can be more sensible about the torments of hell than majority of people ? Jesus allowed them to go into those pigs because the time for demons to be cast into hell forever has not yet come—in the meantime they continue to wage warfare on earth. Now, if these demons can extract such small concession out of the Son of God, how much more the saints who have Christ as their High Priest should be crying to God expecting answers to their well-intentioned requests and holy desires ? This is not the only time we see the Lord making concessions to the Devil (Job 2:6). I don’t know how some Christians may think about this but, for me, this reminds me of Jacob having his name changed from Jacob to Israel, the name of the prevailing prince, when he stood adamant that God was going to bless him. We read in Genesis 32:26 “Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” It reminds me of Jabez, who had been called such a name perhaps because of a difficult childbirth, and did not want “sorrowful” to be the end of his testimony, and cried out to God to bless him indeed and enlarge his territory, and that prayer was heard because our God is so wonderful (1 Chronicles 4:10). His night was turned into morning, his mourning into joy because of the power of God to change destinies. Is this the Christ you hear preached in your church or is it another Jesus ? We have a generous and mighty Savior, we must be bold and full of faith in asking large.

It is after this man is healed; we see the multitudes of the town coming out to see what had just happened. The thousands of pigs that went into the sea had people who looked after them and they were shocked that their properties were drowning in the sea. It is at that time they begin to beg Jesus to leave town. They were shocked by the deliverance of the man, but they were also terrified by the magnitude of power they had just witnessed. The man, then, comes at Jesus’ feet and asked the Lord to become one of his disciples. Jesus, in His wisdom, sends the man to his home and friends in the town instead. Since the town did not want to have Jesus there, perhaps the miracle that had just taken place would be enough evidence to touch and convert that town. The Greek word used for “proclaim,” in the verse we read how this healed man started to tell the town about his deliverance, is “Kerysson,” associated with “Kerusso,” which we see used in Matthew 3:1, where John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness; and Matthew 9:35, how Jesus went about preaching in the Synagogues. So, this man who had no theological training, who had been demon-possessed just 5 minutes earlier, was considered by Jesus to be ministry-ready through telling testimonies of his own deliverance. The only reason we may not be seeing this on a large scale today is simply because many churches do not love Jesus. Sinners are going to hell and Jesus died for them. Why exactly don’t we see this happening everywhere ? Just 1 person who is born again converting 3 sinners per month would result in a national awakening by the end of the year. 20 million saints would easily reach 300 million lost souls. The Gospel is power and if you have a testimony of something powerful that Jesus has done for you after you prayed and asked of Him, it will be astonishing for many people who do not know Him who will hear that testimony.

In Mark 5:20 we read of the effects of this man’s ministry: “So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.” The area was large and those 10 cities included Gerasa, Capitolias, Beit She’an, Hippos, Gadarenes/Gerasene, Pella, Philadelphia/Amman, Canatha, Raphana, and Damascus. So, the area was quite large, the guy was quite busy. In America, cities like New York, Chicago, Washington DC, Seattle, Portland, Boston, and Philadelphia are seen less and less places of thriving churches and much less revivalism. Biblical Christianity now is considered to be the opium of rural people.  Even if those cities happen to want churches, they want a Christianity different from that of the Bible. How amazing it would be if those cities heard awesome stories like that of this man and were transformed! We see that people who heard that man were “amazed” and the Greek word used is “thaumazo,” for “wonder” or “admire” or “marvel.” The power of the Gospel eventually leads witnesses and hearers to marvel and wonder.

It’s true that wonder or awe is one of the emotions that stirs in us worship, a crucial goal of the Gospel (John 4:23-24). To be able to worship in spirit and truth, you have to be willing to accept the Lordship of Jesus and submissive to His holy will. You cannot worship and also try to make up your own rules of Christianity. Since worship leads to submission, it is an important objective of proclaiming the Gospel. Worship starts the moment people stand in awe of God’s majesty. That’s what that miracle did.

How long does it take for people who have met Jesus at your church to start touring 10 cities proclaiming the Gospel ? How many strangers have you seen who heard the Gospel for the first time and immediately started to worship Jesus? Shouldn’t that be something we want to see happening ? Not years of theological training before someone can be ministry-ready. Yes, Jesus had 12 disciples who went through intensive training for 3 years, but we can see that this man could minister through testimonies in a pretty short time. After witnessing that kind of power or watching those testimonies, people may not need months of learning about God before they can start to worship in spirit and in truth. This sounds like something that could birth a revival.

Prayer: Father God, I thank you that we all have testimonies of how good you have been, the power that you have shown us, the leadership of your Spirit, the provisions from your hands, the healing of sicknesses, and mighty spiritual transformations after knowing your saving grace. We pray that you will help us to be good stewards of your works, that each of us will at least touch 10 cities around us—perhaps by your grace even the very ends of the earth. In the mighty name of Jesus, we pray. Amen !

January 25th, 2021

How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him- Acts 10:38

We continue the devotional “The Gospel Is Power,” for the remaining days of January. Today, we will be looking at this verse in Acts 10.

Apostle Peter had been sent by God to go to Cornelius house when Peter spoke the words of these verse.

In our previous devotional, we saw how Jesus healed a demon-possessed man in Gerasene. The man walked around naked, lived in tombs, hurt himself—the kind of things commonly seen in some psychiatric conditions/mental illnesses. The name of the demon was Legion, because they were many demons inside of him. It’s possible that people could be afflicted with more than one demon. Impure spirits are clearly behind people who hurt themselves, commit suicide, or do many other obviously abnormal things. The challenge is that, today, with advanced science, people who are agitated could be given Benzodiazepines to calm them down—and they could assume that just because their brains have been inhibited—the root cause of the problem is going away. This is also why many people end up drug-dependent. If you are drugging a person who has emotional and mental health problems, you are only managing the symptoms. It is superficial. You are not going to the root to deal with the underlying holes that have opened a door to the mess. A decade ago, Michael Jackson died of Propofol overdose for that reason.  Whitney Houston followed 32 months later, dying of possible Cocaine and Methamphetamine intoxication in a bathtub that drowned her because of reduced consciousness. These are stories of superstars that everyone has heard about but millions of victims of ordinary people suffer without having that kind of publicity. America is now known to be in an opioid crisis, not forgetting the benzodiazepines crisis, antidepressant crisis, catecholamines/amphetamines crisis, and hypnotics crisis. Marijuana for recreational use, not just medicinal purposes, is being encouraged by legislation in some Western countries though it remains a prosecutable offense in many countries. All these come to add to the most ubiquitous drug of all time, alcohol. In short, the methods and opportunities to get intoxicated have multiplied.

One of the works of the flesh that Paul mentions in Galatians in 5:20 is sorcery and this sounds clearly outlandish and sinful that no Christian or even non-Christian reasonable person would want that. However, the Greek word that Paul actually uses is “Pharmakeia.” That word doesn’t necessarily translate as sorcery if we want to be diligent. Besides the use of spells in magic, it can also mean the use of drugs. Clearly, heroin and cocaine are illegal—so their use would be prohibited even by law. But what about benzodiazepines that are used for anxiety, insomnia, and other behavioral issues ? Is dependence on such drugs compatible with Christian spirituality ? I believe addiction to these drugs or dependence upon them would fall under the works of the flesh “Pharmakeia” that Paul forbids in Galatians 5:20. Even by law, these are controlled substances, and when they are prescribed inappropriately, it can jeopardize the practice of the provider who prescribes them. So, we can see that a demonic attack that leads to enslavement to one problem could orchestrate addiction to something else—thus compounding the problem. Meanwhile, the underlying cause that is at the root of all these things remains untouched.

For many people, the cause-effect of spiritual dark forces and mental illnesses is obvious, but what about other diseases that affect the body ? Could there be a link? Or is the link established only for mental illnesses?

In Acts 10:38, Peter says that God anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit and power and He went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed by the devil.  This is true because we read in Matthew 9:35: “Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.” We also read in Matthew 12:15: “Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. And many followed him, and he healed them all.” We can see that Jesus healed everyone.

Sometimes John 5:5-6 is quoted to say that Jesus does not necessarily intend to heal everyone because that invalid man by the pool was picked from the rest of other disabled people and was healed alone. If we want to speculate like that, perhaps we should add “ they were not healed that day.” We don’t know if all of those people remained disabled the whole time. We don’t know if they would later meet him in those of Matthew 12:15, ” …A large crowd followed him, and he healed all who were ill, ” or perhaps in those of Matthew 14:14, “And having gone out, He saw a great crowd and was moved with compassion toward them, and He healed their sick ,”and who knows if they could have been healed in Matthew 15:30 “ Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at his feet; and he healed them.” The point is that Jesus generally healed everyone. The John 5 passage doesn’t seem to outweigh the entire New Testament record. Remember John 5 was on the Sabbath. The man was actually confronted that he should not even take up his mat after being healed by the Lord because it was the Sabbath day. While Jesus did heal on the Sabbath, He was also conscientious and did not necessarily try to arouse controversy for no good reason. We can settle the interpretation of John 5 by simply saying that we don’t know why He picked that man from the crowd and healed him while leaving the rest with their infirmities, this way we would be affirming the overall revelation of the Gospels that shows us Jesus healing everyone. This is what we should believe for those who are sick today. This is the bottomline. Jesus is always the same, yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). You need to have a demonic agenda to ignore this record. You need to want to have another Jesus to say that He can’t do this anymore. If the Bible is true and God really does not change, then we would expect Jesus to do the same things today (Numbers 23:19; Malachi 3:6; Titus 1:2; Exodus 15:26; Exodus 23:25; Psalms 103:3 Matthew 4:23-24; Matthew 9:35; Matthew 8:16-17)

For divine healing to occur, 4 things must be understood: God’s power to heal, God’s willingness to heal, God’s compassion on those who are sick, and God’s timing. God is Omnipotent, so His power to heal everyone is never in doubt. God’s will to heal is revealed in Scriptures. They are inalterable, therefore, it is fixed what He has revealed to mankind in Scriptures about His will (Psalms 119:89; Matthew 24:35). His love and compassion are unmatched. If the saints and the Elders want to anoint the sick with oil in obedience to the Word of God and they are moved with compassion for the afflicted, we may be sure that God’s love and compassion are even greater ( Colossians 3:12; James 5:14-16 ;Luke 10:36-37; Isaiah 54:10; Isaiah 49:15; Jeremiah 33:6; Psalms 145:8; Exodus 34:6; Numbers 14:18; Matthew 7:11; Romans 8:32; Matthew 15:26-28). As for timing, this varies from one person to another, but timing was never something that Jesus spent time teaching. He spent more time urging people to have faith in God. Some people like the 10 lepers He told to go to show themselves to the priest did not get healed immediately. They were healed as they obeyed His instructions. Sadly, only one remembered the Lord healed him and came back to give thanks. If we consider that healing was the default ministry of Jesus, John 5 will not become a stumblingblock. It will just help us have a more robust divine healing theology. Jesus only followed the Father’s leading (John 5:19).There must be a reason He healed one person that day. No sickness was ever too complicated for Jesus. No afflicted person who asked to be healed was ever turned away. He healed them all.  He healed every sickness and every disease among the people. That’s the Jesus we know. That’s the Jesus of the Bible. That’s the only Jesus we will ever accept. A mutated Jesus is a false Christ. Our Lord has not changed. 

Peter tells Cornelius that the people Jesus healed were oppressed of the devil. We must understand that after the fall of man in the garden of Eden, “the whole world is under the control of the evil one”—1 John 5:19. This means Satan is involved in more things than we realize. Not just diseases but also public policy and other things. For example Jesus tells the church in Smyrna “Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. “—Revelation 2:10. Is persecution caused by God or by the devil ? Clearly, it is the devil. Are government authorities in communist countries who persecute Christians considered the devil ? No, they are not. They are human beings. However, their decisions are influenced by the devil. If they do something good mixed in with the evil they do, does it mean they have stopped working for the devil ? No, they have not. The good could deceive, but it doesn’t change that the devil is influencing them. This is what Jesus told that church in Smyrna. Jesus may allow it, but it is the devil’s work. He also sets a limited time for that to take place, and then, through providence, puts a stop to it. That’s why He mentioned 10 days. 

Is sickness caused by God or by the devil ? As we see in Job’s illness, God may allow it, but it is the devil who actually causes it. When Jesus healed the woman who had a back deformity we read: “and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all… … …Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?”—Luke 13:11, 16. Here, we have a clear situation of someone who is bent over with a musculoskeletal deformity, whom Jesus says had been bound by Satan for 18 years.  From a medical point of view, this could have been discussed otherwise. Pathophysiology in medicine studies how diseases develop—how someone goes from the normal to the abnormal—discussing, for example, how cancer develops in a human body or how hormonal changes take place in the thyroid and other endocrine glands. Jesus is looking at the disease from a spiritual world point of view. 

In order to put Luke 13 into context, let’s suppose someone has Potts disease. It is a complication of tuberculosis that affects the spine. A person could have a mass that protrudes from the back on the spine and the person could seem like being bent forward while walking. This disease is less common to see in the developed world, where tuberculosis incidence rate is low. But in Asia, Africa, and Latin America it is common to see. This can be taken as a positive thing about modern medicine. Why ? If TB cases are fewer in developed countries, that should be considered to be a good development brought about by modern public health strategies and early treatment of tuberculosis. Our understanding of communicable diseases has significantly reduced the mortality rate of these infectious diseases. However, this did not work well with COVID 19 that spread around the world in 2020 as it was a novel virus in humans. This is a warning that modern public health strategies do have certain limitations about predicting deadly diseases, preventing them, and limiting the damage they can cause to people’s health, their businesses, and macroeconomics of the whole world. No matter how much man advances in science, the spiritual world that Jesus lived in and revealed presents to us an undeniable answer to many things we are still trying to figure out intellectually. He just arrived at solutions from another angle different from the scientific method. Somehow, Jesus said the woman who had a bent back was under Satan’s oppression. We are not very sure what caused her back to be like that; but, for Jesus, Satan was behind it. The Bible doesn’t present modern pathology and pathophysiology. It is primarily a book of spiritual principles and spiritual realities behind those principles. It opens our eyes to see the spiritual realm. Like Elisha’s servant who could only see enemy armies and was terrified while Elisha could see chariots of fire from heaven and was full of faith, the way we see and interpret spiritual realities can have an impact on our faith and the results we see (2 Kings 6:17-20). If Jesus says Satan caused that bent back, that’s the truth we want to focus on. So, in conclusion we see that not only Satan is behind illnesses of the soul—or what we call mental illnesses, he is also involved in diseases of the body—those that may cause physical abnormalities.

The world has changed in the last 2000 years and somehow because we usually focus on what we can see with our eyes—we walk by sight—we may not necessarily interpret things the way Jesus did—as He walked by faith not by sight. We speak of what we study under the microscope and what we see on MRI or laboratory data, Jesus spoke of what He saw in the spirit. Could this explain why Jesus healed everyone and why today we do not see everyone healed ?

How did Jesus do all of this ? He was anointed with the Holy Spirit and power and went about doing good. The Holy Spirit has been given to us for a purpose—to do good works that the Lord has prepared for us beforehand (Ephesians 2:10). Even though many Christians do good works, they still give misleading teachings about good works, that themselves are doing, which can confuse people who are not necessarily trained well theologically. Works do not save us. We are saved by grace through faith. That’s the teaching of Ephesians 2:8-9. But the verse that follows tells us that, as new creations in Christ, we have been created to do good works. So we are not saved by good works but we are saved to do good works through faith. Good works are various—they can be helping the poor like Mother Theresa in Calcutta, India—it’s understandable that such works do not save—at the risk of being self-repeating—but for those who are born again, such good works adorn the Gospel. It could be running an orphanage. It could be committing to give $100 a month to a missionary organization. It could also be being involved in healing ministry whether in a small capacity or on a large scale. We are commanded to do good works like these (Galatians 6:10; James 4:17). It is not good to block the power of God to heal. In fact, James says that if we know the good we ought to do and do not do it, we are committing sin. If we have divine revelation about healing the sick as the good thing that Jesus did and that we should follow and reject that, we are sinning. Misery loves company, so those who refuse to do good in healing the sick, will obviously not want other Christians to do it. 

Jesus did good works by being involved in healing ministry on a large scale. How were the sick healed ? By the power of God.  In Luke 5:17, we read: “One day Jesus was teaching, and Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there. They had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with Jesus to heal the sick.” This is the NIV. In the NKJV we read “And the power of the Lord was present to heal them.” So when Peter says that the Father was with Jesus, he is saying, the presence of the Lord was involved in healing the sick. Even though Jesus was doing teaching ministry here in Luke 5:17, the power to heal was also present. He did not do split sessions—one for teaching and another for healing. He could do both. When Luke writes a sequel book to Theophilus, in Acts 1:1, he says that he had mentioned what “Jesus began to teach and to do.” Jesus was teaching and doing. 

This is what we see in the Luke 13:11-16 story we mentioned earlier. The woman was healed of her infirmity after a teaching session. We read that Jesus invited her to come forward in the synagogue after he finished teaching. If we have been filled with the Holy Spirit, we have the anointing to teach us and help us understand divine revelations and also help us articulate those truths to other people in ways they can understand (1 John 2:27). That anointing doesn’t stop with teaching. The Holy Spirit’s presence also moves in power to heal those who are sick. As Don Moen sings echoing Exodus 15:26  “I am the Lord that healeth thee, I am the Lord, your healer.”

Prayer: Father God, we thank you that you have shown us the power, willingness, and compassion to heal sicknesses through your Son Jesus. We thank you that He went about doing good and doing all of this to relieve those who were afflicted. We pray, Lord, that you help us to know the works of your Holy Spirit today, that you will anoint us with the Holy Spirit and power, so that we can heal every sickness and every disease in all who are afflicted that you will bring our way—in the compassionate name of Jesus, we pray. Amen!

January 26th,2021

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit  has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.  Acts 1:8

We continue the devotional “The Gospel Is Power,” for the remaining days of January. Today, we will be looking at this verse  in Acts 1 where Jesus promised Pentecost, which was fulfilled in Acts 2. In the previous 2 devotionals we had looked at how Jesus walked in power to heal and deliver; today, we see that we have the same promise.

Many of us have heard about Charles Finney. But I do not think we read as much about him as we do read about George Whitefield—at least from my experience. It’s not because of lack of curiosity. Since I got born again, much of the Christian literature that came my way was Calvinist and many of the authors did not seem to have a high regard of Charles Finney for doctrinal reasons. For that reason, I may have developed less interest into him than I had had in George Whitefield. My love for George Whitefield was fired up by reading Bishop J.C.Ryle’s biography of the leaders of the 18th century revivals. I wasn’t aware of an equally powerful biography for Charles Finney written by someone of the same status as J.C.Ryle.  This is important because it’s crucial to steward testimonies of God’s works for the next generation. Somehow denominationalism can stand in the way of this.

The Psalmist reminds us: “One generation shall praise Your works to another, And shall declare Your mighty acts”—Psalms 145:4 and “Posterity will serve Him; they will declare the Lord to a new generation”—Psalms 22:30. This is not a small matter because the more one generation understands and appreciates the great works of God done in the previous generation, the more likely to sustain reverence for God in future generations (Judges 2:10-11; Deuteronomy 31:16; Deuteronomy 4:9; Deuteronomy 6:7; 2 Timothy 2:2). Inspite of all of this, what we read about Charles Finney is not short of awe-inspiring.

Here are a few accounts: 

“The whole community was stirred. Religion was the topic of conversation in the house, in the shop, in the office and on the street. The only theater in the city was converted into a livery stable; the only circus into a soap and candle factory. Grog shops were closed (liquor stores); the Sabbath was honored; the sanctuaries were thronged with happy worshippers; a new impulse was given to every philanthropic enterprise; the fountains of benevolence were opened, and men lived to good.” This testimony is given by a pastor in New York who witnessed it. Quoted from Eddie Hyatt’s book on church history of the last 2000 years. The influence of the second great awakening on the movement to abolish slavery in the USA is also well documented.

Another story goes like this: “There was one old man in this place, who was not only an infidel, but a great railer at religion. He was very angry at the revival movement. I heard every day of his railing and blaspheming, but took no public notice of it. He refused altogether to attend meeting. But in the midst of his opposition, and when his excitement was great, while sitting one morning at the table, he suddenly fell out of his chair in a fit of apoplexy. A physician was immediately called, who, after a brief examination, told him that he could live but a very short time; and that if he had anything to say, he must say it at once. He had just strength and time, as I was informed, to stammer out, “Don’t let Finney pray over my corpse.” This was the last of his opposition in that place.” This is quoted from Daniel Jennings’ writing of the Supernatural Occurrences of Charles Finney.

Behind all of the powerful stories we read about Charles Finney, there was a sustained passionate intercessory prayer led by Daniel Nash, who sometimes worked with Abel Clary.  These would go ahead of Finney for 3 days to 2 weeks to prepare the city for revival. We read: “On one occasion when I got to town to start a revival a lady contacted me who ran a boarding house. She said, ‘Brother Finney, do you know a Father Nash? He and two other men have been at my boarding house for the last three days, but they haven’t eaten a bite of food. I opened the door and peeped in at them because I could hear them groaning, and I saw them down on their faces. They have been this way for three days, lying prostrate on the floor and groaning. I thought something awful must have happened to them. I was afraid to go in and I didn’t know what to do. Would you please come see about them?’ “‘No, it isn’t necessary,’ Finney replied. ‘They just have a spirit of travail in prayer.‘” This is narrated in the Prevailing Prince of Prayer by J Paul Reno.

When we read these stories we can exclaim: surely, the promise of the Lord Jesus that He gave in Acts 1:8 came to pass in those years of the 1830s in the USA.

The moment Jesus said “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you,” He was giving an enduring promise. It was a promise for Peter and John. It would later be a promise of Paul who had initially persecuted the church. And it would become the promise of millions of other Christians who would come later (Acts 2:39). It is a promise with no expiration date. You will receive power.

Besides lack of thirst to be endued with power from on high (John 7: 37-39; Luke 24:49), the second common reason I have noticed that seems to hinder this outpouring today is false humility about our own weaknesses. Our frailties are beyond obvious. But if we truly believed that, then we would seek to be endued with power from on high until that’s the only thing that the church is known for. The fact that God’s power is little to be seen proves that our own confession of weakness is self-contrived and fake. Once Christians are truly sensible of their weaknesses and admit them, they receive power (James 4:6; Zechariah 4:6;Hebrews 4:15; Hebrews 11:34; 2 Corinthians 12:9). When the disciples heard about the promise of the Father, they waited, prayed in one accord and Jesus did not disappoint (Acts 1:14; Acts 2:1-4; Matthew 18:19-20). They were very thirsty for the river of the Holy Spirit that Jesus had promised. If people have not been baptized in the fire of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 3:11), they should fervently seek that. The complete doctrine of the baptism of the Holy Spirit will not be addressed in this devotional. The bottom line is that Christ promised power to the saints and all Christians should earnestly seek that.

Here are some motivations that seem compelling for those who are seeking this power of the Holy Spirit.

The first compelling motivation is the cross and blood of Jesus. Our Lord paid a price too great for it to go to waste. Sure, God doesn’t need us and He is satisfied with Himself. But Jesus did not go to the cross thinking that way. He went there because He wanted to save. Jesus wants more sinners radically saved than we will ever desire, wish, or pray for. He died for them for that reason (1 John 2:2;Ezekiel 18:23-32; Ezekiel 33:11). So, He stands ready to pour His spirit upon this generation like He has never done in the past (Acts 2:33; Acts 2:17; Isaiah 53:12).

The second compelling motivation is that these are the last days—of the last days—and our God has delayed the apocalyptic prophecies for one simple reason—He does not want anyone to perish (2 Peter 3:9; 1 John 2:18; 1 Timothy 2:4-5). In other words, the need of humanity—with over 8 billion people on earth today—is great. Yet, the need of humanity is not greater than divine compassion. Somehow when Jesus told disciples to pray—He didn’t tell them to pray for the harvest—he told them to ask the Lord of the harvest to send laborers (Matthew 9:38). In other words, the harvest is already plentiful, what is lacking is equipped laborers—those with fire and power from on high (Jeremiah 23:29; Acts 2:37; Jeremiah 3:15).

The third compelling motivation is to know the Lord. Each time I have witnessed a life-altering miracle after prayer, it dramatically shifted the way I understood God and His ways. Those moments God’s presence is palpable. When Christ’s power is manifest, there’s a deep-knowing that goes beyond a mere acknowledgement of Christ’s presence among believers (Matthew 18:19; Acts 4:31). I know that the Holy Spirit does teach all Christians regardless of their theology on the baptism of the Holy Spirit (John 14:26; 1 John 2:27); however, there are different dimensions of learning when it comes to the power of God (Deuteronomy 3:24). Learning about God as a distant sovereign King who will do what He will do when He feels like it and walking with Him and see Him actually do miracles when we call upon Him to heal the sick, seek to understand His secrets and mysteries, and bring other pressing needs to Him produce different kinds of believers (Isaiah 65:24; Genesis 18:17-18; Amos 3:7; John 15:15; Isaiah 59:1; Isaiah 64:4). I have reached a point where I can’t finish a sentence of prayer without being 100% certain that God will do it. It was not always that way. I remember being challenged to earnestly seek a close relationship with the Holy Spirit as a young believer. I was told “He is the Author of this book—the Bible. If you want to know the Bible in-depth, you need to know the Holy Spirit, His presence, and manifest power (2 Timothy 3:15-16; 2 Peter 1:20-21).” A great benefit of this is a heightened sense of the Holy Spirit as a person of the Trinity—rather than a mere anointing or power. There are magnitudes of divine power that will shake foolishness out of our hearts no matter how much we have known or reverenced the Lord in the past. It is one thing to read that God is great in the Bible, hear other people affirm or sing that in a praise song, it is something out of this world to actually witness His astounding greatness with your eyes (Job 42:5-6). Such terrifying moments of beholding God’s majesty with our eyes can shake even the holiest of saints (Isaiah 6:1-5; Exodus 3:5; Revelation 1:17). They do not necessarily have to be in forms of visions though visions were prophesied to be associated with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:17). Powerful manifestations could simply give a sense that you are standing on holy ground. With one miracle one may be able to learn something that could take 10,000 sermons. Since knowing and experiencing the Holy Spirit in that way is so important, we must know Him and how to please Him. Though pleasing certain friends can be sinful if it goes against God’s truth, we know how important it is to seek to work with friends, accommodate their wishes, and please them (Galatians 1:10; Romans 15:1; Amos 3:3; Philippians 2:2; Ephesians 4:3; Galatians 2:5; Luke 16:15; James 4:4). This balance can be challenging for Christians, especially in ministry, where there’s risk of being too soft or too harsh when doctrine is involved, but generally speaking, friendship is cultivated by pleasing people. There’s a person with whom we can never go wrong when it comes to please Him—the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 4:30 says “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” The Holy Spirit is more than a power for miracles or anointing for prophecy and teaching. He is the third person of the Trinity who has come to help us reach the world for Christ and bring us close to the Father. He is the One who guarantees the resurrection of our bodies on the day of redemption (Romans 8:11; 1 Thessalonians 4:16; Ephesians 1:14). We will never know Him or experience His delight beyond what pleases Him (Colossians 1:10). For some Christian traditions, friendship with God can sound a bit extraordinary, but this is really what we were called for (John 15:15; James 2:23). The Holy Spirit will help us cultivate this friendship through fellowship with Him (2 Corinthians 13:14; Romans 8:26-27). We must be sensitive and zealous for the things that He delights in like evangelism, church planting, healing the sick, deliverance, discipleship, standing for doctrinal truth, living by faith, and walking in holiness. The more we experience His manifest presence and miraculous power, the greater our responsibility to make sure that He is properly honored, His truths are cherished, and God’s Word is received, believed, and obeyed. 

When we understand these things and earnestly desire and pursue experiences of His presence, intimacy with His person, and manifestations of His power—we will see a great revival in America, Europe, Asia, Jerusalem, Samaria, and to the very ends of the earth. God’s arm is not too short to save (Isaiah 59:1-2). The saints simply need to repent. Repent of apathy, repent of doubts, repent of unbelief, repent of worldliness, repent of self-sufficiency, repent of all the sins that Jesus accuses Laodicea—the church obsessed with money (Revelation 3:14-21), and seek out this fire that comes from the throne. Let those cherubim bring that fire from heaven’s altar like burning coal to touch our hearts and lips so that we can proclaim His gospel and demonstrate His power. Do we want the next generation to see the works of God through our lives and exclaim “my God, my God, the chariots of Israel, and their horsemen ?“— 2 Kings 2:12. Then, we must accept and receive this divine power that even Elijah was not privileged to walk into. 

Prayer: Father God, we thank you that Jesus Christ baptizes us with the Holy Spirit and fire and this promise has no expiration date. As it was for Peter, Paul, and Charles Finney; it is also for us and those who may come after us. Lord, we humbly and reverentially ask that in your great compassion you will forgive our sins—how we have forgotten and forsaken all of these promises—and we see increasing darkness and ungodliness around us. We acknowledge you as the answer and ask you to pour your Spirit upon the church so that He may move in power and glory to save, heal, cast out demons, raise from the dead, and strengthen those who believe. In the name of the Faithful Savior, Jesus, we pray. Amen!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

January 27th,2021

After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. Acts 4:31

 We continue the devotional “The Gospel Is Power,” for the remaining days of January. Today, we will be looking at this verse in Acts 4, when the disciples called upon the Lord in the midst of great trials they were going through.

By this time the promise of Acts 1:8 had already been fulfilled. Pentecost had come (Acts 2:1-4) and they had started to witness for Jesus in Jerusalem. On the day of Pentecost alone, 3000 people repented and believed in Jesus Christ. “Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.”—Acts 2:41. That was the first day of the church-proper. Up until that time, they were just “disciples.”

After a little while, the day that the crippled man who used to beg, sitting near the temple, was healed; we see the Lord adding thousands more believers again: “But many who heard the message believed, and the number of men grew to about five thousand.”—Acts 4:4. That healing of the crippled man is seen in Acts 3:6. We don’t see Peter making supplication or requesting or even praying. He told the man “In the name of Jesus, rise up and walk.”  It was a command of authority (Luke 10:19; Matthew 10:1). That authority they had already been given had now been set ablaze with the power they received on Pentecost. They were baptized in fire. The exousia to heal and the dunamis to heal are different. The authority to heal was delegated by Jesus while He was still with them, the power was because of the presence of the Holy Spirit. Even the disciples who had already healed the sick through that authority of Jesus Christ (Matthew 10:8; Luke 10:17), still needed to be baptized in the Holy Spirit.  As the healed man began to jump and praise God, crowds came and Peter preached. That’s when more thousands of people repented and believed in Jesus.

The figures of 5,000 we are getting are those of men.  So, if we count women and children, this could have been close to 15,000 in just a few short days after Pentecost. The growth that the Holy Spirit brought to the church was spectacular and this did not go unnoticed by the powers-that-be. Immediately after that verse, we see that in Acts 4:5, a council of political and religious leaders convened to discuss “the new problem.” Peter was called to testify before the Sanhedrin where the rulers and priests were. He tells them that it is by the name of Jesus, whom they crucified, but whom the Father raised from the dead, that the crippled man was healed. He, then, quoted an Old Testament Scripture of the stone the builders rejected, which they should have been familiar with (Isaiah 28:16; Matthew 21:42). It is after that time that He speaks one of the most quoted verses in evangelism: “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”—Acts 4:12.

This new revelation was problematic because these were the gatekeepers of Judaism he was talking to—they weren’t just anybody. They had been opposed to Jesus all along, but now that Jesus had died and these people were claiming that He rose from the dead—the miracle intrigued them “But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say”—Acts 4:14. They had the evidence and it was against their prejudice. The testimony spoke for itself. It is after being harassed, flagellated, imprisoned, and told not to preach in the name of Jesus again that we see them praying in Acts 4:30 and God answering them as we see in the verse that opens our devotional today—Acts 4:31.

What did they pray about? “Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”—Acts 4:30. Does your church pray like this? If not, why not ? This is how the true church of Jesus Christ prays—so if you do not pray this way, on what other Scriptural basis are you a true saint or a true church ? This seems like a simple and yet powerful prayer. The results were shocking and there’s no way we could say the prayer was unbiblical or too ambitious or any other similarly blind comment. Why were they going to change a strategy that Jesus Himself had used, that themselves had seen working more than once since the day of Pentecost? 

In the book “Mighty Manifestations,” Reinhard Bonnke writes: “the challenge to experience must come from Scripture. Experience must not challenge Scripture, nor adapt Scripture to what happens to happen.” Sometimes when I look at what some denominations of Christians teach today, I wonder, do these people have the same book of Acts like we do? If they do, they surely don’t believe what is written in the whole book (Acts 7:51). There’s no way you can read the book of Acts chapter 1 to 28 and miss the importance of healing ministry in the church today. We have to believe the whole truth. We must preach the full gospel.

Notice that in their prayer they didn’t ask for a gift of miracles. They asked for God Himself to stretch His hand and be involved. Of course, they did receive that gift and it’s likely that some of the miracles took place because of spiritual gifts “ As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by impure spirits, and all of them were healed ”—Acts 5:15-16, but seeing this as a development solely brought about by a healing gift can make many Christians miss the Giver as the one doing all of this. God is Jehovah Rapha. Gift or no gift, He heals. It is His nature. This was not just for Peter as we see later Stephen and Philip healing the sick. And even later on apostle Paul. Outside of the book of Acts, there’s even a passage where Paul mentions of Epaphroditus almost dying because of illness, still God healed him as Paul prayed (Philippians 2:27). The whole early church firmly stood in faith about this.

Now, there is something amazing about Peter’s shadow healing the sick. It is just like the woman who touched the hem of Christ’s garment being healed. We see the same with handkerchiefs that Paul had prayed over that were taken to people in distant locations. I think this phenomenon is often misunderstood, even in those who practice divine healing. Let’s first of all be clear that Peter’s shadow and Paul’s handkerchiefs themselves have no sacred value. God only cares about the faith people have in His power to heal and in His abundant mercy He may allow His power to flow through certain objects or instruments prayed over by His servants simply because of lack of people who are qualified to do the same where they are or there is no sufficient time to pray for everyone. It also raises questions about how far supernatural manifestations can go and what are we supposed to consider to be red flags. Can people fall over or be “slain in the spirit” after prayer ? Well, there was a time when Jesus answered his captors who had come to take Him to be crucified that He was the one they were looking for and they fell to the ground (John 18:4-9). He did not even touch them. Surely, God’s power can do this. Is it possible for this to happen out of emotionalism or desire to impress ? It is possible.

I remember reading how F. F. Bosworth, one of the Pentecostal pioneers who was among the founders of the Assemblies of God denomination in 1914 later left that denomination over concerns that some evangelists within that Pentecostal denomination would push people to speak in tongues during services and it seemed that the emphasis of saying that speaking in tongues is the evidence of the baptism of the Holy Spirit had reached a point where tongues had become more important than the presence of the Holy Spirit himself, he worried whether some manifestations were being faked. So, clearly, it is possible that manifestations can occur because of emotionalism of recipients, manipulations of ministers who are trying to impress observers, or simply ignorance of both recipients and ministers. A person does not have to fall to be healed but we would never limit the possibilities of what God could do that someone might fall while they are being prayed for. When Hezekiah was going to be healed through Isaiah’s ministry, the shadow of the sun moved by 10 steps (Isaiah 38:5-17). This was a “sign.” It is part of the Gospel that signs and wonders follow preaching the message of the cross and resurrection of Christ. A sign does not have to occur to assure someone of God’s willingness to heal or prove that God will perform what He has already promised. Some Christians have prayed for hundreds of thousands of people and saw the lame walk, the blind see, the deaf hear, without any such thing as falling to the ground or shadow manifestations, or even handkerchiefs. The name of Jesus was invoked and the authority invested in that name manifested God’s power. Do people who are healed through that simple method experience “less divine power” than those who have more dramatic experiences of signs and wonders ? I do not believe God operates in that limited box like many groups or denominations may think. So, we can expect just about anything when the Lord’s presence is in the room or outdoor field. 

If a church prays for God’s power to be revealed, should it expect for flames in the form of tongues of fire to be upon all believers in the church like it happened on the day of Pentecost ? Absolutely not. We do not see that happening in this passage of Acts 4. Should all churches expect “shaking of a building” as a sign that God heard their prayers like He did here. Again, that’s an error. Remember, Jesus said blessed are those who believe without seeing (John 20:29; 2 Corinthians 5:7). So, healing miracles do not necessarily have to be attended by some kind of outward manifestations to be real or have permanent effect, though there is nothing wrong if such manifestations happen. 

It should suffice to us that we are encouraged to pray like these early disciples because there is no Bible passage that teaches that we cannot pray the prayer of Acts 4:30 today and expect the same results. God heard their prayer and the place where they were was shaken and they were filled with the Holy Spirit. This is very interesting because Pentecost—the day they were baptized in the Holy Spirit and fire—is described as being filled with the Holy Spirit. So, we are seeing that it is possible to receive a post-baptism of the Holy Spirit impartation or infilling or re-empowerment—whatever we want to call this.

As Christians on earth, receiving power does not have a destination or limits because there’s always greater power we can receive and higher levels in God we can climb. This is important because if people are baptized in the Holy Spirit and begin to believe there’s nothing more God has for them, they could end up being stagnant in their walk with the Holy Spirit and their prayers could become dry because they are no longer thirsty and hungry for more of God’s presence and power.  They become deceived that they have arrived. That was not the attitude of the church in Jerusalem when they prayed in Acts 4:30 and that’s definitely not what God thought when He answered them in Acts 4:31. There’s more. So much more. The fact is that, if we could receive all that God is and has for us, we could probably be immediately taken to heaven and be there permanently. Then, perhaps we may not need more as we would be in heaven already. But until the earth is a copy of heaven and until our lives are fully conformed to that of Jesus Christ, or until we have been glorified, there’s always going to be more we can pray, more we can request, more we can pursue, more we can receive, and more we can enjoy. That will be answered according to the authenticity and passion of our cry and hunger.

After that new infilling of the Holy Spirit, we read that they spoke the Word of the Lord boldly. Looking at that location that man had been healed—on the sidewalk not far from the temple—and how Peter had witnessed to the Sanhedrin—they did not think that sharing this Gospel message was limited to “church service.” It was part of life. It was everywhere. What are you going to do next time you pass by a blind beggar or lame fellow ? If you have the name of Jesus and the authority of that name like Peter had, you now know what to do. The Greek word used for boldly in the Acts 4:31 verse we read is “parresias” and it could also be translated as publicity, all out-spokenness, frankness, and assurance. They had assurance of what they spoke of and preached with conviction. They did it publicly and were no longer the timid disciples who hid inside the house like they had done after Jesus was crucified (John 20:19). This is how we are to live out the resurrection power that flows inside of us. This is how we manifest the glory of Christ that we carry. 

Public witness naturally flows from loving Jesus and having assurance of His resurrection and glory. It doesn’t matter who thinks otherwise—the believer is fully persuaded and that truth is as real as the palm of his right hand that he/she sees infront of him/her. Lord, stretch forth your hand to heal and fill us with your Spirit like you did for that early church.

Prayer: Father God, we thank you that you have been patient all this time, not wanting anyone to perish, but that all may come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Lord, we pray that in the little time that is left for human history, that you will stretch forth your hand to heal diseases and raise many from the dead—on a global scale—that many signs and wonders and miracles will take place to convince those who doubt that Jesus is risen. May the lost billions of souls be translated from the kingdom of darkness and brought into the kingdom of God. In the name of your Holy Son, Jesus, we pray. Amen!

January 28^th,2021

His incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms–Ephesians 1:19-20

We continue the devotional “The Gospel Is Power,” for the remaining days of January.

Today, we will be looking at this verse in Ephesians 1. The passage of Ephesians 1:17-23 is really one of my most favorite in the Bible. I remember as a young believer being challenged to pray this prayer daily by one of the leaders who influenced me in those honeymoon months after the new birth, and at one point, I might have prayed this prayer for no less than 6 months straight. It takes probably 2 minutes to read through Ephesians 1:17-23 while praying through that, but the benefits and impact are incalculable.

The invitation we find in this prayer of Paul is that there’s no limit to the power of God that He wants His children to experience. This is something that sounds far-fetched for some Christians who come from denominations where they are constantly beaten with harsh words of unbelief, but it is the Word of God, nevertheless. 

A story that has impressed me about God’s “incredibly great power” for  us who believe, having expanded my understanding for many years, is the one of John.G.Lake in South Africa during the bubonic plague. It was during an epidemic in South Africa 100 years ago. The dates of that plague are close to the Spanish flu pandemic but it seems it was a different epidemic. Many people were as afraid of being infected just like they are afraid of COVID 19 now. Except that in the 1910s they didn’t have the advanced medical science that we have today. What John.G.Lake did is not something I would recommend for anyone to try with COVID 19. It is simply a testimony of God’s power I am posting. The story can be read in several biographies of John.G. Lake. As far as I am aware, its authenticity is indisputable.

It goes like this:

They walked into a plague in the area so contagious that the government was offering $1000 for anyone who would help. Lake and his assistants went to help free of charge. He would go into the houses bring out the dead and bury them – no symptom of the plague ever touched him. A doctor sent for Lake and asked: “What have you been doing to protect yourself?”. Lake replied, “I believe that as long as I keep my soul in contact with the living God so that His Spirit is flowing into my soul and body, that no germ will ever attach itself to me, for the Spirit of God will kill it”. Lake asked the doctor to experiment by taking the foam from the lungs of a dead plague victim and put it under a microscope. The doctor did, and found masses of living germs. The doctor spread the deadly foam on Lake’s hand and found that the germs died instantly.

Again, don’t try this on COVID 19, please. It’s just a testimony of what the “incredibly great power of God” that He has for believers can do.

In 1 John 5:18, we read “We know that God’s children do not make a practice of sinning, for God’s Son holds them securely, and the evil one cannot touch them.”- NLT. In the NKJV we read: “but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him.” The Greek word used for “cannot touch” is “haptetai,” it can also be translated as “fasten to, attach one self to, lay hold of, know carnally, modify or change by touching, touching something or someone in a way that alters.”  We see it used in Matthew 9:20-21, when the woman with the issue of blood touched the hem of Christ’s garment. We see it used in Matthew 9:29, where Jesus touched the eyes of the blind and healed them. We can see that this is a bodily touch. Someone could say, isn’t eternal life the only thing we should be concerned about ? Not true. Jesus spent a significant part of his ministry healing sick bodies. He even fed those who had no bread and caught fish for those who had toiled all night without catching anything. Paul prays for the Thessalonians to be whole and blameless in spirit, soul, and body (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24). On one hand, we see that God is not concerned about souls alone, He also cares about our bodies. On the other hand, we discover that we should not be overly concerned about our bodies, we should make sure we also feed our souls.  When Jesus healed people, he was concerned they could be sick again and admonished them how to stay healthy (John 5:14), by remaining in faith and obedience to God. Jesus also did not shy away from warning those he healed that something worse could happen to them if they did not walk with God, just like He told the man by the pool of Bethesda, and what could have been worse than 38 years of disability than going to hell to burn for eternity ?

We have already seen that Jesus believed that Satan was the one who had bound the woman with a back bent forward (Luke 13:16), that He healed all who were oppressed by the devil (Acts 10:38), that He came to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8). We also know that Jesus himself had nothing the devil could use against him (John 14:30). Maintaining health is spiritual warfare and that can only be guaranteed not just through forgiveness and cleansing by the blood (1 John 1:7-9) and imputed righteousness (Romans 5:17), but also “perfect holiness.”—2 Corinthians 7:1. If our conscience accuses us of anything we may have fallen short in, we should repent and ask forgiveness quickly (1 John 3:20-21). Our spirit, soul, and body have to be sanctified at all times. We are a single entity and God is concerned with our whole being. If the devil can touch the soul, he can touch the body (look at 1 John 3:8 and 1 John 5:18 again). So, John assures us that if we live consecrated lives, the devil cannot touch us. Sickness is for sinners. Christians are not meant to get sick.

In December 2020 I travelled to Orlando to attend the Jesus Conference. Some of my housemates of 9-10 years ago when I used to live in California had rented an Airbnb apartment and invited me to stay with them the day before the conference. When we started to talk about Coronavirus—they said—we know you can’t get sick, so you don’t even need a mask. I said “No way I would go to a 10,000 or more crowd without a mask .” God protects me, but I am not stupid. Not wearing a mask to me sounds like the devil tempting Jesus to cast himself from the pinnacle of the temple while quoting Psalms 91:11 to claim safety . Divine protection does not mean we should be reckless. God protects us by His power, but we should also be good stewards of our health. Believing in the power of God should not be confused with testing God.

Besides recklessness, now I have realized that even when we take good precautions, it’s still very hard to walk in that kind of Christian perfection and maintain health. In 2018, I was diagnosed with diabetes. The endocrinologist actually put DKA as my diagnosis at the time as my blood sugar was above 600 mg/dl (33.3 mmol/L). I think it’s highly debatable that it was really DKA. Before that diagnosis, I used to put syrup on pancakes or honey on my bread and drink milk with honey mixed in it. After being diagnosed, I was given treatment. I started to take it but I used it only for 1 week and my blood sugar started to fall below 60 mg/dl (3.3 mmol/l).  I realized that if I were to continue taking treatment, I would be hypoglycemic. I stopped it because my blood sugar had stabilized. I was healed. I had calculated the algorithm of my life expectancy which had fallen from 84 years I could live to 69 years with that diagnosis.  I decided I didn’t want that in my 30s. It’s been 3 years and it has remained stable. I discovered that just by eating vegetables, chicken, other proteins, and stopping rice and macaroni was enough to keep my blood sugar normal.

As I write this, my reading before lunch yesterday was 83 mg/dl (4.6 mmol/L) and I had eaten breakfast. Clearly, God did this. Now, I do not even mind eating apple pie on Thanksgiving. Praise God!

If you read this and have diabetes, you have to keep taking whatever treatment you were given whether Metformin and others for type 2 diabetes or Insulin for type 1 diabetes, until HbA1C is <5.7%. You have to follow all the instructions of your doctor. I stopped mine because after changing my diet, the treatment would reduce my blood sugar below the normal levels and I no longer needed that. Besides, I decided that I could save $350 a month or $4,000 a year by being healed. Praise God!

Health is a very complex thing. Even if you are free from communicable diseases, you still have to be careful about metabolic diseases that can be associated with diet. Not only you have to be soaked up in the Word of God and pray without ceasing, you also have to eat healthy and exercise and all of those things. The more I understand the complexity of Scriptures, the more I realize how difficult walking in that kind of spirituality and faith it is. I still want to walk in the same faith and God has protected me for the last 15 years I have been believing this—excluding that 1 week I was diagnosed with diabetes, which was self-inflicted, but from which nevertheless God saved me—yet, now I have become more understanding that some other Christians can be sick for different reasons. Also considering that Paul recommended Timothy to take wine for his stomach, Christians who may need medications for some reason and feel that’s where their faith is, they should take them(1 Timothy 5:23). This power is available for Christians only. If you are not born again, don’t try it. 

The Greek word that Paul uses in Ephesians 1:19 that has been translated as “incomparably” in NIV is “hyperballon.” It is translated as “surpassing” in NASB, as “exceeding” in NKJV, as “immeasurable” in ESV, and as “incredible” in NLT. The dictionary says it means to throw beyond the usual mark. To exceed transcendence. We could never hype the resurrection power of Christ because it is that great. We must embrace that lifestyle.  The word that is used for great or greatness is “megethos” and it can also mean vastness or magnitude. This is like the power that shook the prison cell in Philippi, like a great magnitude earthquake, causing Silas and Paul’s chains to break off as they praised God (Acts 16:25-26). This is the power that is so incredible that your first response after hearing its manifestation could rightly be “No way that happened.” Paul is praying that the saints in Ephesus will know this power. I want every Christian in the 21st century from Guangzhou to Cape Town, from Moscow to Monrovia, from Inuvik to Ushuaia to walk in this power. This is our inheritance that Paul wanted us to possess. 

The Greek word used for “mighty” is “ischyos” and it can mean “absolute strength” or “forcefulness,” while the one used for strength is “kratous,” which can also mean dominion, vigor, and mighty deed. God, the Father, forcefully plucked His Son, Jesus, from the tomb. Life came into His dead body and He rose up. To whom is this power given? “For us who believe.”  Isn’t that amazing? It is not just for the apostles and prophets. It is for Christian believers. All saints. Think about some of the greatest Pentecostal evangelists of the 20th century you admire, some of the greatest apostles of the 1st century, the most amazing Catholic mystics of the 3rd-19 th century, the anointed charismatic prophets of the 21st century, all that power, is given to all saints. Paul says that not only this is the same power that the Father used to raise Jesus from the dead, it is also the power that exalted Him in ascension to sit at the right hand of God (Ephesians 1:20). It is going to be the same power at our rapture when the trumpet is blown (1 Corinthians 15:51; 1 Thessalonians 4:17).

I want all of us to eagerly desire and possess this incredible dunamis power that Paul is talking about. I have seen it at work in healing people but I want more of it. I have seen it at work in judgments but I want more of it.  I believe there’s more divine power we can experience. I believe we should be hungry and thirsty for this. We should fast and spend some night vigils for this. The world doesn’t believe in Jesus and we who believe owe them a demonstration of God’s transcendent power so that they can make up their minds whether they want to be saved by Jesus or damned in hell for eternity.

Prayer: Father God, we thank you that you have made available to us who believe your incredibly great power that surpasses understanding and blows our minds away. We pray that this power will not be imprisoned by doubts and unbelief, that as your people we will manifest to the world that all things are possible for those who believe, and there’s absolutely nothing impossible with God.  We pray that you will open the heavens that all kinds of miracles will take place to heal, raise people from the dead, deliver supernatural provisions, deliverances from calamity and danger, and demonstrate the glory of the Risen King who is above all authority, dominion, power, and every title of honor that can be given. In the majestic name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.

January 29th,2021

Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.” Matthew 22:29

We continue the devotional “The Gospel Is Power,” for the remaining days of January. Today, we will be looking at this verse in Matthew 22.

There has been an observation made by different leaders that some of the disputes between Calvinists and Charismatics in America are a mirror of this Scripture. It is reported that Charismatics love to talk about the power of God and miracles without a rigorous study of the Bible. Calvinists, on the other hand, see themselves as the true defenders of Scriptural integrity, even though they may not embrace signs and wonders. This part of our devotional does not intend to settle those disputes, rather to try to continue our journey to understand the power of God we should be walking in to see our generation touched by Jesus, and how we can balance these 2 important things.

I contend that since the “Gospel is power,” current apostasy in America and church decline throughout the Western hemisphere are artificial problems that have a solution—the power of God (2 Corinthians 10:3-6; Proverbs 21:22; Ezekiel 37:2-12; Romans 4:17). Secularized cities and lost sinners can be radically saved by the power of God. In this devotional, we understand that Jesus doesn’t tell us to choose between knowing Scriptures thoroughly and walking in supernatural power like He did Himself. He considers both equally important. 

Why could knowing or having one without the other produce error?

First of all, let’s look at the context.

The Jewish leaders had a hypothetical question of a woman who married 7 husbands.  One died, the other too, and the third one, and so forth and so on. It’s like the Pharisees are quoting the story of Tobias and Sarah, from the apocryphal book of Tobit, considered to be Scripture by the Catholic church.

Sarah had a demon that killed every man that wedded her on their wedding night, until Tobias came around and was helped by archangel Raphael, the healing angel of God. Rapha-el is one of the 3 archangels highly involved in spiritual activity on earth besides Michael, the commander of heaven’s armies; and Gabriel, the messenger (Daniel 10:13; Jude 1:9; Luke 1:19; John 5:4; Tobit 12:15; Exodus 23:20; Genesis 24:40; Hebrews 1:14). The Greek word used in Hebrews 1:14 for “ministering spirits” is “Leitourgikos” from which we get the English word, “liturgy,” meaning holy service or ministry consecrated to a Holy God. This suggests that angelic activity is not limited to the Bible days but is a present reality in church services and outreach ministries. Archangel Raphael’s healing ministry is only specifically identified in the book of Tobit. Though the book of Tobit is considered apocrypha by Protestants, for the purpose of analyzing the 7-husbands challenging question of Matthew 22, we will look at that story in Tobit from a non-inspired historical or Jewish oral tradition perspective. We read in that book that after several men die, killed by the demon that possessed Sarah, Tobias is rescued by Raphael, as the angel helps cast out the demon. The wedding goes smoothly, and they live happily ever after. The Jewish leaders wanted to ask Jesus—which husband will get Sarah after the resurrection? Jesus considers that question proof of their ignorance. None of those men would have her as wife in heaven because there are no virgins to marry in heaven or any marital relationships like those that exist on earth. Glorified saints, ‘considered worthy of resurrection,’  become like angels and are immortal beings not involved in marriage (Luke 20:35-36).

Our sonship or adoption as children of God will be perfected in the resurrection, which is why Jesus calls them “God’s children SINCE they are children of the resurrection,” that would imply a difference of sonship before and after resurrection. They are God’s children not because of the new birth, that was what they were while they were still mortals on earth, but God’s children since they are children of the resurrection. We know that born again children of God on earth can get married. The Greek word used in this Matthew 22 passage to say children is “huios,” which the New Testament prefers when it is talking about mature sons of God (Romans 8:14), not immature babies in Christ, usually called “nepios” (Galatians 4:1-3; Luke 10:21; 1 Corinthians 3:1)  or brephos for infants who are newly born again (1 Peter 2:2; 2 Timothy 3:15) or  “teknon” that focuses on our dependence upon the Father (John 1:12; Matthew 7:11; Matthew 15:26). Only mature sons are fit for inheritance.

The Brephos infants are instructed to drink milk, learn the Gospel well, know about the cross of Jesus, and how His blood washes away their sins. They learn about how they can be free from sin through the Gospel. Nepios is generally used in a negative sense, 1 Corinthians 3:1 for example, it’s like children who are stunted willfully, they have growth delay. They may doubt their salvation even though they are genuinely saved, perhaps because of their struggles in sanctification. They do not understand prayer and getting answered prayers, therefore, they look to the world to meet their needs. Their spiritual state is constantly in danger of wolves from without and mortal sin from within. They are always “tossed about” (Ephesians 4:14; James 1:5-7). The place where Nepios is used in a positive way is Luke 10:21. The 70 disciples were babies in Christ but they were able to cast out demons, something that doctors of the law could not do. As long as someone is in the kingdom of God, even if he barely knows a few things about Christ, he is still better off than a scholar or PhD expert who is outside of the kingdom. The Teknon are dependents. They have a right to be children of God, who are dependent upon the Father, both for their earthly needs as well as their heavenly calling. They can expect God to provide for them housing and jobs. They know they have the right to be dependents, therefore patiently wait on the Father to handle things for them. They can trust the goodness of God and His care. They know healing is the children’s bread. They can expect God to give them spiritual gifts for ministry. That’s what we see in John 1:12, Matthew 7:11, and Matthew 15:26. The Huios have advanced knowledge of Christ through rigorous Bible study and close walk with the Holy Spirit. They are “led by the Spirit.” They understand the mysteries of the kingdom. God does not need to speak twice to them. They know how to interpret dreams and visions and when they hear God’s voice directing them in a certain direction, they obey promptly. The perfect will of God and fulfillment of His purposes on earth have become their food and passion. They are ready to take over the Father’s business just like Jesus was ready at age 30. Even though by the age of 12 Jesus already had enough knowledge to debate Pharisees and they were amazed at his insights, He was not ready to take over the Father’s business until age 30. At that time the Father was already well pleased with His only begotten Huios. God is willing to forgive and host in his house the Nepios who falter and make mistakes but He is pleased with the Huios who are ready to represent the interests of His kingdom as faithful ambassadors on earth. They know they have the authority and power to do things on a divine scale— doing “the works of God” (John 6:28-29; Deuteronomy 3:24; Psalms 111:6; Psalms 71:17; Psalms 66:3; Psalms 92:4; Acts 2:11; John 14:12). They are well trained to walk in that authority and power to advance the kingdom of God. A fully trained disciple becomes like his Master (Luke 6:40). The fully trained huios, who have attained maturity, can see, hear, say, and do things like their Risen Master, the Lord Jesus Christ. Even the mature Huios are imperfect sons who may occasionally make mistakes (Philippians 3:12-14), as we see Peter and Paul arguing in Antioch, a story recorded in Galatians 2. 

After our resurrection, we will become the perfect Huios like angels are (Job 1:6, Job 38: 7, 1 Kings 22:19, Matthew 18:10, Psalms 103:20, 2 Kings 19:35; Daniel 3:25 ). In the book of Job, the angels are known as sons of God. Right now, we are able to taste and experience portions of the glories of the coming age (Hebrews 6:5; John 14:12; James 5:17; Acts 19:12-13; Acts 13:8-13; 2 Corinthians 12:4; Acts 28:3-6; Mark 16:18; Acts 5:19-20; Acts 12:7) , but we will not know it fully until the rapture of the church and the resurrection of the just. In our resurrection we will not be mere resurrected spirits, we will have resurrected bodies (1 Corinthians 15:19-54). It’s because angels are not meant to marry and have children that God had to destroy the world polluted by the Nephilim in the days of Noah (Genesis 6:2-6). They had procreated strange human beings with superhuman powers, men of renown, who were powerful just like Samson was physically powerful, but in a dark way. The antediluvian world had grown exceedingly wicked. Procreation will be over on the resurrection day and a new dawn of the new creation will be ushered in. So, the children of the resurrection will not marry or be given in marriage. Our current state as new creatures in Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 4:24; 2 Peter 1:3-4), recreated after the image of God and partaking in His divine nature, prepares us for that glorious apotheosis after the resurrection. 

What was the error of the Pharisees? They did not understand our state after the resurrection. They also did not realize the power of God involved in arranging that state. They had studied the Scriptures but in many places we can see that they did not understand. They were like that Ethiopian eunuch of Acts 8 that Philip finds reading Isaiah 53 in his chariot. Scriptures are understood by study and revelation, and then, internalized or become flesh as we obey what they say. Miss any of those 3 steps and you could be in error as far as the Scriptures are concerned, unable to reach fruitful maturity (Mark 4:27-29; Isaiah 28:9-10; Hebrews 5:12-14; Galatians 4:19). First, you study. Second, you understand. Third, you apply what you know. In that Isaiah 28:9-10 passage, in its KJV translation we read “whom shall He make to understand doctrine?” We see a pattern there how truth is perceived precept upon precept, line upon line. The Word of God is the seed that Jesus plants. Our hearts are the soil, and the seed will germinate based on the nature of the soil, how well watered and soft, and the fertilization of that soil. For example, soil fertilization can ensure a chemical pH of 5.5 -7.0 for plant growth because some plants may not grow in acidic or alkaline environments. God makes the plant grow without man’s efforts, which is why in Mark 4:27-29, Jesus talks about growth even when the husbandman is sleeping. There is also a space of time for the seed to grow to produce after its own kind.  One can look up the growth stages of a corn that is planted as a seed until its tasseling stage, silking, dough, and maturity to understand more. Truths and revelations we learn from God will go through these stages in our lives. 

Study is our obligation but understanding and revelation are given by divine grace. Usually when I do a series or post something on social media, I use combined synthesis of hundreds of Scriptures in one teaching or one post. I have been surprised by how sometimes even people I suspected were mature Christians will not catch on until I expand the teaching in a longer and more detailed teaching. We must all grow to the point where, not only we memorize Scriptures like God had commanded Joshua to do (Joshua 1:8), but also have the ability to combine a multitude of doctrines, passages, verses, and books into a 140-2800 character post or teaching that could sound like it is a brand new revelation for the uninitiated, but is nothing more than what is actually “thus says the Lord” from Scripture. The Bible is a single entity, which is why we see Paul talking about Christ as our Passover in 1 Corinthians 5, referring to the time the Israelites were redeemed from Egypt’s grip by the blood of a lamb, and in 1 Corinthians 10 he writes that the Rock that provided water for the Israelites in the wilderness was Christ. He manages to link unrelated things effortlessly. Established eternal truths are transferable and can be connected. Since the current state of the church is much like these Pharisees, with rote memory but poor understanding, it is good to also use simple teachings that even babies can understand. But the goal of Hebrews 5:12-14 still stands. We should not be derailed by those who are satisfied with an infinitesimal knowledge of the Word of God when God has clearly marked out our race of how to reach the full stature of Christ in Hebrews 5:12-14, Ephesians 4:11-16, and several other Scriptures. So, we know that those who emphasize little knowledge of the Scriptures are liars. 

Everything God wants us to know and considers to be of utmost importance has already been revealed in Scripture (Deuteronomy 29:29;  2 Timothy 3:16; Isaiah 8:20; Acts 1:7). Scripture can never be broken (John 10:35; Matthew 24:35; Matthew 5:17-19; Psalms 119:89). God expects all Christians, from rich and poor countries, from highly intellectual societies to poorly educated villages, to study the Scriptures to get to know Him (John 5:39; Acts 17:11; Luke 24:25; 2 Timothy 3:15; 1 Peter 2:2). But studying the Scriptures is never enough, we also need revelations from God because that is how grace is imparted to us to be able to grow and be transformed by the Word of God.

Why did Jesus mention David eating the consecrated shewbread when he was confronted by Pharisees about His disciples who were eating grain on the Sabbath? (Matthew 12:1-7). This is a random question, not connected to this particular passage of Matthew 22 of the 7-husband challenge, but it is used as an illustration that shows you how Jesus dealt every challenge he faced with quoting Scriptures. Do you understand why Jesus used that question about David in that passage of Matthew 12 ? Jesus was connecting both stories by revelation—the story of the disciples eating wheat on the Sabbath day and the story of David eating the consecrated shewbread. On the surface, there seems to be no connection between the Pharisees’ challenge and the Lord’s explanation. It almost sounds like Jesus is trying to justify the disciples’ breaking of the Sabbath by an out-of-context Old Testament quote. If David broke the law, are the disciples supposed to break the law ? Could that be the message that Jesus was conveying ? That would be strange considering that Jesus taught Scripture cannot be broken. As we look at the details, we realize that the issues Jesus raises show that the Pharisees were selective in their Scripture application. The Sabbath was made for man and man was not made for the Sabbath (Mark 2:27). Yes, in the 10 commandments, they were commanded to honor God on the Sabbath and keep it holy (Exodus 20:8), but that did not change God’s final intent of creating the Sabbath: it was made for man and not the other way around. It was lawful to do good for man on the Sabbath. Man could be healed on the Sabbath if he was sick. Man could eat on the Sabbath if he was hungry. Now, we are discovering something about the glory of man that we actually hear little about in today’s Christianity (Hebrews 2:6-10). We are also seeing that there are degrees and dimensions of truth that have to be understood and discerned spiritually because one truth of Scripture may have priority over another truth of Scripture.

Let us explore those degrees of truth in Scripture and how we can balance them so that we will avoid the same pitfall of the Pharisees. For example, we know humanity fell and in many ways we must be humbled to know the dust we are (Genesis 3:19, Genesis 18:27) , on the other hand, we must also correctly confess what the Lord has made us both in creation and redemption (John 1:12, John 10:34-35; 2 Corinthians 5:21, 1 Corinthians 15:10). We have just had a breakthrough understanding with what is wrong with modern Christianity just like it was with the Pharisees: selective doctrinal beliefs breed ignorance of what is left out. It is not uncommon today to find Christians with an overemphasis on the fall and sinfulness of man at the expense of the redemption and justification of the saints. This can be quite destructive to people’s faith and ability to pray with results or engage in spiritual warfare with courage. Here are a few Bible truths we are going to contrast for the purpose of practicing our knowledge. It is true that man sinned against God and fell from glory; it is also true that the saints are the righteousness of God and have come to the glorious Mount Zion. It is true that God will bring about the glorious Second Coming of Christ in His own time; it is also true that the saints can hasten that day. It is true that Jesus prepares His bride, the church, for glory, but it is also true that the bride will make herself ready. It is true that God is full of mercy and pardoning iniquity but it is also true that mercy and justice kiss each other. It is true that mercy and justice kiss each other but it is also true that mercy triumphs over judgment.  It is true that Satan caused Job’s illness though he had done nothing wrong but it is also true that those who were sick or died in the Corinthian church were under the judgment of God because they had done something wrong. It is true that justification gives us access before the throne of God and we can boldly approach the throne on the basis of Christ’s obedience, not our own performance, but it is also true that Jesus promised to do the will of the obedient children of God who are filled and possessed by His words. It is true that we are children of God by grace and Jesus is our High Priest who sympathizes with our weaknesses, it is also true that we shall be called sons of God when we are perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect. There are degrees and dimensions of truth that may be prioritized based on situations and circumstances where those truths are applicable. If you think that only the Pharisees were selective in their doctrinal beliefs and it is no longer the case with the Catholics, Baptists, Presbyterians, and Pentecostals today you will be in shock on judgment day. 

Selective doctrinal beliefs are rampant today and sometimes churches even claim being justified because perhaps another church made some mistakes in adopting a certain doctrine, as though churches should measure themselves by how they fare compared to other churches, rather than measure themselves by the standard of the Word of God. Just because a healing evangelist made some false comments in some doctrines, it does not change God’s command that the sick should call the elders of the church to pray for them with anointing oil, expecting a supernatural healing (James 5: 14-16). But what if the Elders of a church don’t believe in miracles or do not want to practice James 5:14-16 ? Well, they are disobedient to God and they are not fulfilling their duty as elders. Who serves who ?Are they God’s boss or is God their boss ? Just because a church does not want to preach healing will never change the fact that God is Jehovah Rapha. Just because a pastor does not believe that Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and this belief will affect the interpretations of the church on the doctrine of divine healing, will not alter Christ’s nature or character as a Healer. Since miraculous healing results from believing that Jesus does heal today, absence of miracles would not prove God’s intent to heal or not. It would prove unbelief, however (Mark 9:23). So, our study of Scriptures must be illuminated by the Spirit of God for us to benefit from studying them (Ephesians 1:17-23; John 14:26; John 16:13; 1 John 2:27; Psalms 119:30; John 8:12; Philemon 1:6; Ephesians 3:4; Matthew 13:11; Matthew 11:27). Searching the Scriptures is a pre-requisite to understanding the Scriptures but searching the Scriptures does not guarantee revelations in those scriptures. You have to open the book to be able to study it, but you need another key beyond the pages you see to start to receive revelations (Mark 8:18; John 9: 39-41;Matthew 6:22-23; Luke 24:45; Acts 16:14  Revelation 3:7; Job 32:8; Psalms 147:5). We must plead with God to show us His mercy and grace and give us revelation and understanding in His Word.

Understanding increases as we prayerfully meditate upon the Word of the Lord and even more so when we have become so hungry for God’s presence that we choose to let go of food to hear the words of His mouth (Matthew 4:4; Job 23:12;  Psalms 43:3; Psalms 25:5; Psalms 143:10; John 7:17; Isaiah 54:13) . Understanding is crucial for worship and obedience as you cannot worship or obey what you don’t know or understand ( John 4:22-24; Matthew 15:8; Psalms 119:104; Joshua 1:8; Luke 8:11; Matthew 13: 19; Hosea 4:6; Ephesians 4:18; Proverbs 10:21; Ezekiel 44:23; Titus 2:14). Obedience of the faith is the end of studying Scriptures (Romans 16:26; Romans 6:16; Romans 8:29; James 1:22) . If that’s not the goal of studying the Word of God, then all efforts to learn Scriptures are pointless. Every truth we don’t understand, will be stolen by Satan as we see in that parable of the Sower. We will be in error as a result of stolen truths. Satan doesn’t just steal truth just by making you forget what you heard when you are busy with your daily work, or after exhaustion at home, but also when you hear false teachings from preachers who have no reverence for the Word of God. Last night I read online that a certain prophet in West Africa told people that “if you give to the poor you will never prosper. You can only prosper if you give to anointed men of God” —now, this is clearly, a heretical teaching. Remember how an angel visited Cornelius in Acts 10 ? His alms and prayers had ascended before the throne of God as a memorial (You can also read Matthew 6:3-4 and Isaiah 58). So, that false teaching that you cannot give to the poor and receive divine blessing would steal this truth because it is from Satan. We must guard the truth of the Word of God we read so that it will not be stolen. We must also obey it after understanding it. Every truth we understand but don’t obey, will result in false worship and judgment.

Our hearts must be in tune with our lips. We can’t worship God with our lips while our hearts are away from Him. It is only after we understand the truth of the Word and obey the truth of that Word that we are able to worship in truth. Once we worship in truth, we know that the power of the truth will work in us and transform us from our previous stage of glory to a new level of glory (2 Corinthians 3:18; John 4:22-24; John 8:32; Psalms 119:144; Ezekiel 36:27; 2 Corinthians 3:2-3; John 15:3; John 17:17). Ultimately, all of this has to have an impact upon our lives or what Jesus calls to be “fruitful.”—John 15:4-5. Whether for the fruit of the Spirit in us or to influence others who will want to know the same God that we know. It is in this light we see that Peter encourages wives to behave in a such a way their husbands could be impacted by their behavior (1 Peter 3:1-2). There may even be a high likelihood of conversion, simply by fleshing out the Word of God in the home. Some people carry this teaching to extremes and say that preaching is not necessary only living the Gospel will touch lives. There has been a quote falsely attributed to Francis of Assisi, “Preach the Gospel at all times. Use words if necessary,” used for that misleading purpose, but no single biographer of Francis ever mentioned this, though the Fransciscan rule commended that friars can preach by their deeds. Thomas of Celano wrote a biography that shows how Francis of Assisi highly spoke of the ministry of the Word of God preached in sermons. We can apply our earlier lesson of truth contrast here: It is true that you can convert sinners by showing them the transformation of your life without using words, but it is also true that God has commanded the foolishness of preaching the Gospel as the primary means of salvation (1 Corinthians 1:21; Romans 1:16).Our goal is not to create a conflict between character that comes from obedience and the preaching of the Word in the Gospel. The point here is that complete obedience to Christ is the end-game of discipleship (Matthew 28:19). We must conform to Christ’s image. The Word of God we know profits us nothing if we are not a reflection of the Word. 

The devotional we did for the Christmas season “Hail the incarnate deity,” especially the study on John 1:1 and John 1:14 can further complement in understanding well the importance of the Word of God for those who need it.

Now that we have addressed the issue of Scripture, let us address the issue of God’s miraculous power, dunamis. The power of God that works miracles is often described as the Holy Spirit upon us (Acts 8:16; Acts 10:44; Acts 1:8). In the book of Acts, this was accompanied with visible manifestations. But the power of God that transforms us through His words is the Holy Spirit within us (Romans 8:9-13). While in these series we have focused our study on the Holy Spirit who is upon us to do wonders, we must realize that our eternal safety is only guaranteed by what He does within us. Sanctification supersedes visible signs and wonders. The power to walk in holiness is greater than the power to heal sick bodies (Matthew 7:21-23; Hebrews 12:14).

I have heard stories of Lonnie Frisbee, one of the most well-known charismatic preachers of the Jesus Movement who died of HIV/AIDS in 1993. Hopefully, he had the opportunity to receive forgiveness in his last hours. But nobody should ever wait the final moments of life to commit life to Jesus entirely. That preacher simply did not know Jesus throughout his ministry and we know several similar stories of people who walk in supernatural power with a scandalously poor knowledge of Scripture, just like that prophet in West Africa mentioned in a paragraph above. What about signs and wonders that followed Lonnie Frisbee’s ministry ? That was God’s power upon him. It was not proof of the power working within him (Luke 10:20; 2 Timothy 3:5; Titus 2:11-12).  It’s like the Spirit falling upon Saul to change him into another man even though in the end he proves to be a reprobate (1 Samuel 10:6; 1 Samuel 28; 1 Samuel 31:4; 1 Chronicles 10:13). Being changed into another man and being changed into a new creature are two totally different concepts. Saul was unfaithful and was killed despite the initial anointing that he had. Faithfulness is the fruit of the Spirit working within. That kind of disconnect can only occur when a person is selective by choosing to focus on knowing the power of God upon him to do miraculous exploits  while ignoring the practice of the truth of the Scriptures from the inside.

The Scriptures have the ability to make the saints wise unto salvation by reproving them, correcting them, and turning them into mature people of God—who work out salvation with fear and trembling so that they can receive an inheritance among those who are sanctified (Philippians 2:12; 2 Timothy 3:15-16; Acts 20:32). Understanding eternal judgment and reading some of the Old-Time sermons, like the sermons of George Whitefield, John Wesley, J.C.Ryle, and Charles Finney, for example, can help many people in the 21st century to put emphasis on holiness because simply many contemporary churches are way out of line in this regard. Surely many Holy Fathers and mystics, like Sadhu Sundar Singh and Francis of Assisi, who have left the world for Christ, teach us that being holy and obeying God’s commandments is not burdensome (1 John 5:3). The Spirit makes it all easy when you have a passion for His presence and want nothing but Christ alone. Are you hungry to eat of Christ as your heavenly bread ? You can ! (John 6:53, 63). It is the glory of His presence that makes obedience as easy for us as it was for Christ (1 John 4:17). Now, that’s the bread you can eat legally without the Pharisees haunting you. We must be hungry for more of Christ. There is nothing in this life that is worth losing heaven’s treasures over. We are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses that reminds us of the greatness and worth of Christ (Hebrews 11; Hebrews 12:1-3). We must take note of the end of their holy lives and imitate their faith by following their example (1 Corinthians 11:1; Hebrews 13:7). All Christians can gladly and confidently walk away from the world and live for one thing—knowing God and making Him known—because being considered worthy of the resurrection into God’s kingdom and furthering the Gospel to the ends of the earth is great gain indeed.

We conclude our study by observing that the goal of miracles is to produce reverent worship, and when this is grasped, it can help with the work of sanctification (Deuteronomy 3:24, 2 Chronicles 7:3). If we miss that invitation, our hearts could be hardened rather than softened by signs and wonders.    

Satan is, night and day, looking for new tricks to deceive and destroy us. We should wake up learning new wisdom to defeat and destroy His works. Walking in the miraculous power of God, with signs and wonders, without holding to the truth of Scripture and obeying that truth is deception. Knowing the Scriptures without believing in the supernatural power of God and practicing the miraculous is deception (Mark 9:18-19;1 Corinthians 4:20; John 6:28; Mark 16:17-18; John 14:12; John 11:40;  Hebrews 11:6; 1 Corinthians 2:4;  Hebrews 1:3) . Either camp today would be in error as far as Jesus is concerned. We don’t have the option to be selective which doctrine we want to obey. We need both.

Prayer: Father God, we thank you that you have given us your Word as we read in Scriptures and have access to the stories of Moses, David, Jonah, Isaiah, Jesus, and Paul to be able to learn from their examples and revelations. We also thank you for giving us the Holy Spirit to help us understand what is written in Scriptures as well as anointing us for the supernatural works of God that display the surpassing greatness of your majestic power. We pray that you will correct our errors in the knowledge of the Scriptures and help us to learn how we can correct our deficiency in understanding and walking in your supernatural power—so that we can be complete, lacking nothing, and faithfully testifying the message of your Gospel. In the compassionate name of Jesus, we pray. Amen. 

January 30th,2021

And to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us. Ephesians 3: 19-20

Today we will finish our devotional “The Gospel Is Power,” for the end of the month of January. We will end this panorama of revival-bringing revelations with another of my most favorite Scriptures in the Bible. When I say “revival-bring revelations” I am not saying it lightly or hyping things. We have already shown that you can’t hype the “incredibly  great power of God for us who believe.”— Ephesians 1:19. We saw that the English word translated as “incredible” or “surpassing” or “incomparable” is actually “huperballo” in Greek. So, God’s power is already great and you can never believe in miracles too much. If anything, you can only dilute and undermine it. The power that shook Paul’s prison cell in Philippi has not changed but the saints no longer push like they used to do. So, yes, this message that has worked for 2000 years is still a revival-bringing revelation wherever preachers will take it seriously. 

I would challenge any discouraged Christian who prays for revival in America or anywhere else to go through “The Gospel is Power” devotional of the last 10 days for at least once every quarter or three times this year of 2021. I purposely wrote the devotional to clear out all stumbling blocks that seem to create unbelief in people’s hearts and minds and convince them that God’s promises have expired, falsely believing that this generation has no hope. There are also plenty of other resources that can really stir up anyone who is hungry. I have been finishing up a “Miracle Evangelism Manual” , which we will be using as the soul-winning standard for our ministry evangelists, and in my final chapter I wrote short biographies of the 20 greatest evangelists of the last 300 years. I had read the lives of these people several years ago at least twice for each of them. But this week, it did not feel like simple reading for inspiration as I couldn’t stop praying. I love to pray always, but as I have been reading about them again this week it has been different. When I read how people laid prostrate at Bowland Mission in Bradford where Smith Wigglesworth was a minister before he went to Sunderland to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, I just want to lay prostrate as though I am back there in that very building in 1907. Or on Azusa Street in Los Angeles. I want that uncontainable spiritual hunger that is like lavas of a volcano that John. G. Lake was experiencing before he left Zion city, IL.

Are you really seeing thousands of people saved every week in your city ? Becoming committed disciples who will also disciple other people ? That’s the Bible way. I don’t want just to read stuff. I want all of these things we see in George Whitefield, Charles Finney, John. G. Lake, F.F. Bosworth, Smith Wigglesworth, Reinhard Bonnke, and Billy Graham. I want souls and more souls.  I want to see the power of God so demonstrated that people can’t leave a church building without surrendering to Christ.  So, I believe that If we are reading or hearing any teaching about the power of God, we should do so prayerfully in order to see the fruit of this. “God is no respecter of persons“—Acts 10:35, Peter said, when he realized what the power of God was doing for the Roman soldier, Cornelius. He realized that even a pagan soldier who had truly repented and diligently sought God could receive the same anointing as the holy apostles of Jesus Christ.  Wherever Christians will become very hungry, the same thing will repeat over and over again. 

John. G. Lake tells a testimony of how William Seymour used to wake up and pray from 4 am to 8 am everyday for 2.5 years before Azusa Street Pentecostal revival and the Holy Spirit told him “you must pray more.” I believe that if we will love God and be hungry for His presence like that, Jesus Christ will touch our desperate generation. I have also worked hard to ensure that this information can fit into a small booklet that answers many dilemmas some Christians seem to assume they have so that they can actually see that we do truly have Scriptural basis to hope and have faith for a turnaround. The truth is, it is easier to have unbelief and doubt than it is to have faith like this. It is easier to think that the Christ of George Whitefield and John Wesley was great, but ours is sleeping or His arm is too short to save. Some of us are so timid that we can’t even say “where is the God of Elijah?” as we strike our Jordan to cross to the other side. There are people who seem to think that apostasy in Western Christianity should be the norm. No, it should not. The statistics of thousands of churches that close every year in America and Europe can be reversed. “They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated.”—Isaiah 61:4. Somebody says, don’t dream of building on past revivals or restoring former things, think of something new. I am like, which Bible are they reading ? Certainly not Isaiah. Definitely not Habakkuk.  “O LORD, I have heard the report of you, and your work, O LORD, do I fear. In the midst of the years revive it; in the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy.”— Habakkuk 3:2, ESV.  The NIV of this passage says “ LORD, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, LORD. Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy.” That restoration of Baltimore, Chicago, Detroit, Geneva, and Montreal to their former glories is for us who believe in this “incredibly great power.” You see, that Isaiah 61:4 of restoring cities and rebuilding ancient ruins comes right after the Isaiah 61:1-3 that Jesus quoted “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because He has anointed me…” We can’t claim we are anointed and then accept decline, desolation, and apostasy at the same time. But this generation does not want that, times have changed, someone could say. Well, can a tectonic faultline tell lavas that a volcano will not erupt ? Revival and awakening are not upto the world to decide. 

Until Christ returns, the great commission remains in force, so are the promises to be endued with power from on high to fulfill it. That’s why God is patient. He does not want anyone to perish (2 Peter 3:9). He will certainly supply the power to make that possible. There are no excuses not to see revival and abundance of miracles. 

Don’t we all want to see the nations turn to Jesus? Don’t we all believe that nothing is impossible with God? Don’t we all believe that God has been slow to bring about apocalyptic prophecies because He doesn’t want anyone to perish but that all people may come to repentance? Don’t we all believe that the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation for all who believe? So, why not go from teaching to practice ? Why not go from believing to receiving ? Why not go from knowing this is true to start seeing this happening all around us? Why not stop wishing things were different so that we can actually be compelled with love to become the change agents of our cities, states, and nations? Why not cancel news, TV, food, and everything else in order to pray until God moves ?

“Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men…For the love of Christ compels us…” 2 Corinthians 5:11,14. Some preachers misunderstand John’s teaching in 1 John 4:17-20, where he says that there is no fear in love. They think that preaching hell causes fear, therefore, if you love people you can’t preach it. If so, Jesus must have been the most hateful person in the world (see Luke 16:19-31). What John is actually saying is that “God is greater than our hearts”—1 John 3:19-21. If our hearts condemn us in fear, If we have not attained the assurance of salvation, if we are standing in fearful expectation of the fire that will consume God’s enemies, it is proof that we are not really the Christians we should be, because we have not yet embraced the blood of Jesus through which we should approach the throne of grace with boldness, we have not seen our sins washed away by that blood, and we are not living like Christ lived—because only those who can say “as He is so are we“—1 John 4:17— can live without fear of judgment. Now, these days, there are plenty of Christians who can say that there is no fear in love, but they will never be able to join John in saying that as Jesus Christ is so are they perfectly like Him. They are deceived. “As He is, so are we” must always precede “ there is no fear in love.”  Also, keep in mind that it is this same John who wrote John 3:18. In other words, if you are not born again, or if you identify yourself as a Christian but you are not living a perfectly holy life both in moral behavior and the inner principles of your heart, you have good reasons to fear (Acts 24:25; Isaiah 33:14). So, next time you want to say there’s no fear in love, you must say “as Christ is, so am I.” Not positionally, as that’s not what John says, rather practically, really, in experience. Positionally, we are already seated in heaven (Ephesians 2:6), but are we living from Mount Zion, by experience, day to day (Hebrews 12:22-29) ?  Since Paul knew this, the love of God compelled him with passion, “warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.”—Colossians 1:28.

Longing for God and acting on those longings to pursue your passion for God has a way of shaping desires to deepen for the things of God—this in turn creates a sense of a call to serve Him, and when that happens, a choice has to be made to surrender the will to God. Desiring to know and worship God ultimately leads to submission under His Lordship. Perfection is a process but it does not have to take years or even months. When God draws you with the cords of love and you accept His embrace, you find that there is pleasure rather than anxiety or fear in knowing Him. When you look at the disciples in the Gospels, you find that they were very excited to be with Jesus, even though they had so many questions about Him. Of course, we know that there was one disciple who did not make it in the end. It’s terrible when such deceived disciples are caught by surprise, having banished all fear that could have warned them. So, it is important to do an honest assessment of one’s relationship with the Lord and see if there is really progress and perfection taking place. If you are burning for God intensely, it will usually result in an automatic sense of continued acceptance in His presence. You know you belong to Him. 

With that being said, let’s turn to our Ephesians 3:14-21 passage that we have today. The starting verses open our eyes into the second prayer that Paul was praying for the church in Ephesus as we see him kneeling down to pray, just like he had made supplication on their behalf in Ephesian 1:17-23. Both of these are powerful prayers that can have a great impact on any saint who prays them regularly. As he concludes this chapter, he is praying for both power and love. We know that even if we have the faith that moves the mountains but have no love, we are nothing (1 Corinthians 13:1-2). It doesn’t say, we have nothing. After all, we could have the gift of speaking in tongues, the gift of faith, and the gift of prophecy—and yet be nothing. We should pursue the gifts but we are only something according to the love we express. Jesus wants us to have the faith that moves mountains (Mark 11:22-24)—that’s just something we should not forget—but He is showing us that having that faith along with love is the most excellent way. There are people who say, well, love is the most important thing, we should not worry about the faith that moves mountains. Is that really what Jesus taught ? Not at all. We should not exchange one false teaching with another false teaching. Love is at the core of Christian identity and true faith will work by love (Galatians 5:6).

What is love ? When I was younger in the late 1990s I used to hear the song by the Trinidad-German singer, Haddaway, asking “what is love ?” There are probably hundreds of secular songs like that trying to define what love is.  The love that Paul was praying for the church in Ephesus to experience is Agape. We do know that he certainly wanted Christians to have storge love, as he saw lack of natural love between family members or blood-relatives as evidence of God’s wrath (Romans 1:31; 2 Timothy 3:3). We also know that he encouraged Phileo love, to spread brotherhood among the saints (Titus 3:15), just like other New Testament passages show us the benefits of that Phileo love (John 11:3; John 20:2; Hebrews 13:1)—but we are called to a higher love than brotherly love—we are called to agape. We are called to sacrifice and laying down our lives. That love cannot be defined by the world.  It cannot be defined by Hollywood. It cannot be defined by corporations. It cannot be defined by the government. The world in its false wisdom does not understand the cross of Jesus. That love can only be defined by Jesus and what we see in Scripture. Anything called love that is unbiblical is demonic (1 Corinthians 5:1-5; 1 John 2:15-17; 1 John 3:8; James 4:4; Romans 1:25;  2 Corinthians 6:14; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; 2 Timothy 3:1-5). He that loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Friendship with the world is enmity with God. Saints can’t drink on the altar of idols and then share in the communion at Christ’s altar, no matter how good their intentions are, since light has no fellowship with darkness. All of those are strong words that show us that God holds a monopoly on defining what love is. “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God…”—Matthew 22:27, that love must always come first and define every other relationship. 

In 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, Paul tells us what that agape love is. In those 5 verses, he describes what agape love is and what it is not in 17 characteristics, before concluding that love never fails. None of us wants to fail, so we should want to be proficient in this agape love. A closer look of those 17 traits of love, however, reveals a disturbing fact: even many professing Christians don’t understand or practice love like this. For example, love always trusts. Who is trusted? Do you always trust? Love always protects. Who is protected? Do you always protect? Love endures all things. Is that what we see in Christian marriages? Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. We know plenty of churches that would not be willing to call what is sinful as actually sinful and they would give money, support, and advocate for something they know is Biblically wrong. We know Christians who will change their value system under pressure because rather than be persecuted they are willing to compromise the truth. So, we realize that love, in many ways, is not what we see people call it whether in the secular world or even in the church. Because love and God’s eternal truth are so intertwined that they can’t be separated, it’s almost guaranteed that we will all fall short in love at one point or another, but we have to press on to live in the fullness of this love.

We can’t talk about love without talking about holiness because Jesus who was crucified to save sinners was killed as punishment for their sins and is also the one who calls those who believe to walk in holiness. Love without holiness is deception. That’s really the only ground for miracles of judgment (1 Corinthians 5:5; 1 Timothy 1:20; 2 Timothy 4:14; Luke 18:7; 1 Peter 4:17; Acts 5:3-11; 1 Corinthians 11:30-32; John 20:23; Acts 13:10-12; Luke 17:1-2; Acts 12:21-24; 1 Corinthians 16:22; 2 Corinthians 10:4-6; 1 John 5:16; Revelation 2:20-24). When the Antichrist and the false prophet show up as prophesied in these last days, they will deceive only people who don’t understand this fact of love-truth union (2 Thessalonians 2:9-10; Revelation 13:1-4; Revelation 13:13-14; Revelation 16:13; Revelation 19:20). There will be working of signs and wonders—and demonstrations of power—but they will be done in support of a lie—a false religion, a false belief system, a false doctrine. Run away from preachers who talk about love without demanding truth, expressed in correct Biblical teaching. You can be 100% certain that the spirit of the antichrist is working through them, even though they may not be aware of what they are doing (1 John 4:3). Every miracle that is not accompanied with correct doctrine and leading to holiness can be associated with demonic activity. That may sound harsh for some Charismatic and Pentecostal churches. I have nothing against those churches, I actually would prefer Charismatic churches that practice signs and wonders over those that do not. But correct doctrine is extremely important. It is so important that Paul warned us that before the rise of Antichrist, lying signs and wonders would be preferred over the truth. Read 2 Thessalonians 2 over and over again until you get it. We must love the truth, no matter the costs. Go wrong on doctrine and it doesn’t matter how many miracles you have. We have sufficiently covered that in the last devotional, how it is possible to be in error because of failure to know, understand, and apply the Scriptures. The love that surpasses knowledge that Paul is praying for us to experience will be a well-rounded and balanced love, having all the 17 Biblical characteristics it should have. But Biblical truth can be offensive for some people, how can that be love ? Remember, God has a monopoly on defining what love is. Love always rejoices in the truth, not in error. If you believe that Biblical love pampers sinners without calling them to repentance and holiness, you are already deceived. When people are thoroughly sanctified, we can be sure that God’s power and love are at work within them.

It is when we have this amazing combination of love and power that we are truly filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Think about all the things you could see happening if this was true in your life. Think about how the world would change even if just 50% of all born again Christians were like this. 50% of  Christians caring for those in need like the Good Samaritan. 50% of Christians fellowshipping in love like the disciples in Antioch. 50% of all churches seeing the shadow of their pastors raising people from wheelchairs like it was in Jerusalem. If we had that, we wouldn’t even be praying for revival or an awakening, we would be living in it. Being filled to the measure of all the fullness of God is the reason we were saved. It is the reason we are alive. It is what we should wake up obsessed with in our minds, every morning, and what we should go to bed overwhelmed with at night (Song of Solomon 2:5; Song of Solomon 5:8;Song of Solomon 8:6; Matthew 22:37; Psalms 27:4; Philippians 1:21; Psalms 17:15; Ephesians 6:24; Ephesians 5:18). Smith Wigglesworth used to say that he wanted to be so filled to the measure of all the fullness of God to the point that the only thing that would ooze out of his body would be divine, that whenever he touched someone with an infirmity that person would be instantly healed. How true is that ! Jesus wouldn’t place his hand on someone with cancer and the tumor continue to have life. It would be dead and vanish from that person’s body. It is a disgrace to claim that you are filled to the measure of all the fullness of God and yet pray for someone in a wheelchair and the poor fellow goes away like he/she was when you started to pray. Jesus is not like that. That’s not the measure of all the fullness of God.

It is after we are filled to the measure of all the fullness of God that we will be able to witness that He is “able to do infinitely more than we ask or imagine.” What about you sit down and write down 10 Great Commission goals that you want to see in the world that are not yet visible and see for yourself whether God is able to do more than you imagine ? Does this mean that God will raise every dead person we pray for? The rules of the fall remain in effect until the resurrection of the just (Romans 5:14; Romans 8:10). That’s the correct doctrine (2 Timothy 2:18). But Jesus also commanded us to raise the dead (Matthew 10:8; Acts 9:36-42; Acts 20:9-11). So, we can expect that some people will be raised from the dead while others will not be raised. Our motivation shouldn’t be about fleshly love for the people we want to raise but rather the glory that Jesus will get and the value of the testimony that can come out of that miracle. But we must have expectations that people will be raised.

Many Christians have decided to live a substandard faith. Jesus says that the least in the kingdom is greater than Elijah or John the Baptist (Matthew 11:11; Matthew 17:10-13). We know that not only Elijah was mightily anointed and raptured to glory with chariots of fire, one of his disciples, Elisha, was also so anointed that even his bones raised someone from the dead after he had passed away (2 Kings 13:21). That’s an Old Testament level power-impartation. How much more the New Testament ? James challenges us to have the faith of Elijah in praying the prayer of the righteous but Jesus already identifies us as greater than Elijah and expects us to do greater works than He himself did (James 5:16-18; John 14:12; Acts 5:15-16; Acts 19:11-12). So, even if we did all the miracles of Elijah and Elisha, we would still be considered to live below the New Covenant promises. We, the saints of these final days of world history, who have been baptized in the Holy Spirit and fire, should be expecting much more 

Whether we are praying for those who are sick or we are trying to raise someone from the dead, we should be sensitive to what the Holy Spirit is prompting us to do—If He wants to do a miracle—He knows far better than we do why He wants to do that. While God is able to give us many luxuries of life, it would be wise to focus our asking on the things that will accelerate the advance of the kingdom around the world. Not every imagination that we can pray and receive is always wise, but “he who wins souls is wise”—Proverbs 11:30 (see also  Daniel 12:3). So, why don’t you go ahead to start fasting and asking God for the salvation of 3 billion souls? God is omnipotent and great in compassion and He does not want anyone to perish. That’s the kind of prayer that not only will result in a multitude of miracles and conversions but will also delight His heart greatly.

Prayer: Father God, we thank you that you have called us to know the depth and heights of the love of Christ and to be filled to the measure of all the fulness of God. We thank you Lord that you are faithful to answer our prayers and as Jesus has called to ask and receive so that our joy may be full, we pray that your Spirit will continue to bring opportunities that we can receive to enlarge our territory and expand your kingdom. Lord, we approach your throne with boldness, knowing that you are able to do immeasurably above and beyond what we ask or imagine, and therefore, we plead the blood of Jesus for the salvation of 3 billion souls between now and the rapture. In the generous name of Jesus, we pray. Amen