What Is My Spiritual Temperature? (pt. 2 of 7)

The second step on the path of spiritual growth is probably the most crucial of all and one I have repeatedly overlooked in my walk with Christ. Having made the conscious decision to submit my life to Christ as Lord (first step) I must now make a concentrated effort to separate myself to Him.

Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. (1Pe 1:16)

When I make a determined effort to strip away everything in my life that holds me down; old ways of thinking, old habits, old desires, worldly relationships etc. I am, in effect, clearing away the darkness and debris that insulates me against the light of Christ that desires to shine on and through me. This light is the essence of true holiness, and holiness is the armor that guards us against the enemy’s temptations. When I get myself clear of the “white noise” of my former way of life, I find myself positioned to receive the Lord’s “true signal”, a signal that’s always being broadcast, but rarely received because of the spiritual interference I’ve allowed in my life.

Setting myself apart to Him certainly raises my spiritual temperature. But there is more to learn that will take me higher still…

To be continued…


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What Is My Spiritual Temperature? (pt. 1 of 7)

When I was first born again I was on fire for the Lord. His Spirit was working overtime in me. It was as if I had been transported to another realm of understanding. This stirred up all kinds of feelings, joy, repentance, hope, and a desire for the “more” that was promised in the word. If you were to take my spiritual temperature at that time I’m sure it would’ve read off the charts hot. But, as often happens in the lives of believers, it would not remain so. After awhile I found myself just going through the motions. I had become “lukewarm” not because I consciously chose to, but because I had no real compass to keep me on course. I thought, if I just kept reading my bible and faithfully going to church I’d just naturally grow into the greater things God has for me. I was wrong. I’ve since learned that spiritual growth follows a path, and that path must be known if I’m to have any hope of staying on it.

That’s when the Lord showed me that the first step of the path is to make Christ my Lord. This means more than simply accepting Christ as my savior. I must make the conscious choice to put Him above everything else in my life. I must be willing to submit every problem, anxiety, or concern directly to Him. I must be committed to going anywhere or doing anything He calls me to do. Until I’ve made this choice and declared it out loud, I will remain off the path of spiritual growth. And in that place, all the prayers and bible reading and church going I can muster won’t move me beyond square one.

But once I make this commitment and begin to take action towards it, my spiritual temperature immediately begins to rise.

To be continued…


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The Tears of Heaven

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes... (Rev 21:4)

Ever wonder what we could possibly be crying about in Heaven? Until recently I believed this probably referred to saints with loved ones who did not know the Lord and were, consequently, not with them in the hereafter. That would certainly necessitate the drying of a few tears. However, I believe there may be a better answer to this mystery and it’s one that should give pause to everyone reading this.

I believe that Genesis chapter 1 is an account of God’s restoration of creation after satan had corrupted it by making it “formless and void”. God’s first act of restoration was to speak light into this darkness of corruption, just as He spoke the light of His gospel into my heart filled with the darkness of sin and satan’s lies. Once I believed and received that gospel, light came into my darkened soul, forever negating the curse of sin and death and opening a door to a relationship with the living God.

But that was only the beginning. On the second day, God began realigning things to put them back the way He always intended them to be. Satan had mixed the waters, the holy with the profane. God’s second work was to separate them again. This speaks of His second work in me, to separate the new me from the dead weight (thought patterns, behaviors, values etc.) of the past and present me. He does this to set me free from the hindrances and distractions that would keep me from reaping the full benefits of a right relationship with Him.

On the third day, God causes the hidden soil of my heart to come into view. It’s here He begins to sow in me the deep things of His word and Spirit as the reward for my diligence in setting myself apart to Him.

On the fourth day, the fruit of the seeds sown in intimacy with God begins to manifest as a witness, a “greater light” to the world. It’s here I begin to develop the “evidence to convict me” as a true, born-again Christian.

On the fifth day, God lets me begin to see with my heart the “fish” that will become my ministry to the Kingdom. It’s here I receive my “calling”, “burden” and “vision” for the “greater things” the Lord Jesus said every believer would do.

On the sixth day, the “beasts and creeping things” also known as MY motives and MY agendas, for MY ministry, begin to rear their ugly heads. The Lord must show me the corrupt and hidden motives of my heart and purge me of them before He can fashion me into “the image of God”.

By the seventh day, He has taught me how to rest completely in Him. My own agendas have been nullified. I understand it’s not my ministry but His. He is responsible for the bills and expenses. He is responsible to deal with the false witnesses, allegations, persecutions etc. It’s in this place, where my motives have been purified, and my only reason for doing anything is TO BE WITH HIM, that He can use me to slay any giant, raise any corpse, champion any cause, and fill any void in the Kingdom where a saint of God is needed.

The bottom line of all of this… When I get to Heaven I can either stand with the saints who have “stayed the course” through all seven days of God’s work of restoration… or I can stand with those who simply heard and received the gospel on day one, those whose works of “wood, hay, and stubble” will not make the trip with them, those who “cast out devils in Jesus’ name” but never took the time “know” Him.

I choose the former because I’m convinced that when God lines us all up and shows us the incomprehensible destiny He’s had for each and every one of us in this life…

That’s when the tears will start to flow.

David and Goliath

I know what you’re thinking, “not this story again”. But indulge me a bit because I believe the Lord has something more to say on this subject.

First of all consider that, though the scripture is silent on this, Saul and all of Israel had to have been praying to God, night and day, for deliverance from the Philistines and Goliath in particular. Consider also that David became the answer to their prayers only because he ACTED in faith while the others were merely PRAYING in faith. There is also no account of David, himself, praying before he acted. There was nothing more to pray about. Saul was the anointed king and he had prayed for God’s deliverance. What could David’s prayer possibly add to that? Action, not prayer was called for, and David stepped up to be God’s instrument of deliverance for all of Israel. God worked a miracle through David because David trusted in Him enough to act.

We know that “faith without works is dead”. But often we substitute prayer as the work, believing that somehow the act of praying to God is sufficient to trigger God’s response. I don’t find this evidenced anywhere in scripture. Hebrews 11, the great “hall of faith” chapter, gives us dozens of examples of men and women of faith throughout old testament history, and every one of these accounts reveals faith in ACTION, God moving miraculously through men and women who didn’t merely pray for deliverance, but became the vessels of it.

This is in no way an attempt to diminish the role of prayer in the church. Rather it is an exhortation to take prayer to the next level by learning that it isn’t the end of our work of faith, but merely the beginning of it. David could easily have dropped to his knees and began to pray along with Saul and all of Israel for God’s deliverance. He could’ve waited day after day, sacrificing animal after animal to try and move the heart of God. We would call this “waiting on the Lord” but I believe God would call it “waiting on us”.

And why does God do this? Why doesn’t He simply take action based on our prayers? Because He has given all authority and dominion on earth to mankind, and what He has established with His word, even He cannot take back.

My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.
(Psa 89:34)

This means, like it or not, the red sea doesn’t part unless Moses stands and raises his staff over it; the walls of Jericho don’t fall unless Israel marches around it for six days; Lazarus doesn’t rise from the dead unless Christ calls to him… and our individual, personal destiny remains dormant until we DECLARE AND ACT on it in faith.


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Kingdom Law (pt. 2)

And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years, and had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse, When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment. For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague…


As I consider this woman who suffered with the issue of blood, I’m struck by several things:

--She heard of Jesus. Word about Him had spread throughout Jerusalem and the surrounding areas. She had, undoubtedly, heard of His teachings and miracles and believed what she heard enough to seek Him out for her healing. This is the first principle of faith, that it comes by “hearing” the word of God.

--She said what she wanted, not what was wrong with her. By declaring in faith that she would be made whole by touching Jesus’ garment, she was implementing the Kingdom law that commands us to “speak” to the problem.

--She touched His garment. She didn’t merely say it, she did it. Had she not, her healing would not have manifested for “faith without works is dead”.

And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes? And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me? And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing. But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth. And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.
(Mar 5:25-34)

This is an amazing and often overlooked point. Jesus did not know who touched Him, therefore, He did not grant her healing based on His approval of her, her sincerity in wanting to be healed, her fasting and praying, or any other condition about which He was unaware. Her healing came directly as a result of her adherence to Kingdom Law. When she believed the word she heard, spoke aloud what she expected to happen, and acted in faith, she brought into alignment the conditions required by God for His power to flow, and it did.

In the natural, when all the conditions are right, electricity flows. If any of the laws governing this flow are violated, electricity simply will not flow. Pleading with the power company won’t accomplish a thing if the toaster’s not plugged in.

The same is true in God’s Kingdom. I can plead with God to the point of tears, fast, increase my giving, all in an attempt to “move the heart of God”, or I can simply follow directions, plug in, and watch His power and promises flow through my life and ministry to the Glory of His Name.

Kingdom Law

My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.
(Psa 89:34)

God has established His word as an unmovable, unshakable law. Whatever He has said is irrevocable, regardless of when or where He said it.

For I am the LORD, I change not...
(Mal 3:6)

Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
(Heb 13:8)

This should be a source of great comfort to me for it establishes, without controversy, the parameters for flowing in the power and promise of God’s earthly Kingdom. But as I examine these laws, I find myself in violation of some. And just as the natural laws that govern the flow of electricity cannot be violated without consequence, the Spiritual laws that govern the Kingdom must also be in alignment to avoid short circuiting the flow of God’s Presence into my life.

Without faith it is impossible to please God… (Heb 11:6)

Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word (rhema) of God.
(Rom 10:17)

…whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.
(Mar 11:23)

Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
(Jas 2:17)

I’ve heard and continue to hear rhema from God. It has produced in me a true faith which I do my best to live by. But the law that says to “speak to the mountain” or speak directly to my circumstance (health, finances, relationships etc.) has been repeatedly violated by me, as has the mandate from James to add “works” or action to my faith. The Lord is revealing to me how this failure to complete the “circuit” is blocking access to the flow of His Spirit and promises into my life.

I can’t simply pick and choose which of God’s laws I will obey. There are serious consequences for approaching a Holy God in such an unholy way. I must understand and practice the whole law if I want to see the whole Kingdom unfold in and through my life.

This is not legalism. This is the way things work in the Kingdom of Heaven. If I call myself a citizen of this Kingdom, then I’d be wise to understand and honor all of its laws and protocols, both for my safety, as obedience to these laws denies satan access to me, and for my effectiveness as a witness of Christ and His eternal Kingdom.

Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
(Psa 1:1-3)

Noah, The Dove, and the Olive Leaf

Then he (Noah) sent out a dove to see whether the water on the earth's surface had gone down, but the dove found no resting place for her foot. She returned to him in the ark because water covered the surface of the whole earth. He reached out and brought her into the ark to himself.
(Gen 8:8-9)

The dove, here, is symbolic of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament. Noah is a type of the Father who sent His Spirit into the O.T. world searching for a place to land, a place where the waters of unbelief had receded. Finding no such place, the dove (Spirit) returned again to Noah (the Father).

So Noah waited seven more days and sent out the dove from the ark again. When the dove came to him at evening, there was a plucked olive leaf in her beak. So Noah knew that the water on the earth's surface had gone down.
(Gen 8:10-11)

This speaks of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament. The olive leaf represents dry land, a place where the waters (unbelief) have receded enough for the dove to land.

After Jesus was baptized, He went up immediately from the water. The heavens suddenly opened for Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming down on Him…
(Mat 3:16-17)

In this beautiful verse we see the conclusion of Genesis 8 as the dove (Holy Spirit) finally finds rest for her foot in a place where the waters of unbelief have taken no ground, the faithful heart of Jesus.

For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the whole earth (like a dove) to show Himself strong in those whose hearts are completely His...
(2Ch 16:9)

When I operate in unbelief the fruit is self evident; disobedience, fear of man, fear of insignificance, discord with others, pride, personal agendas, bitterness, unforgiveness, deceitfulness, all of which keeps the dove flying right over me in search of higher ground.

But when I operate in true, undiluted faith, giving no place to unbelief and its smothering waters, the dove will not only land in my heart and life, it will remain there.