The Work of God

Sometimes we get it right. Sometimes we get it wrong. That applies to all of us who tread this sod in human form. God never gives ministry to people who always get it right. Nobody does. Let the record reflect: I am not as smart as you probably think I am. My IQ tests put me a couple steps above average and I have a fairly good memory for things I consider important, although it is not nearly as good as it used to be. Still, at family gatherings, I look at several people, including my own children, who are smarter than I am. By the way, for the record, I live right here in this skin. I am not all that impressed. I am just a guy doing my best to do what I am supposed to be doing. There is one thing I do better than most that makes people think I am smarter than I am--and I can only wish I did it better than I do.


The inter-working of the spirit, soul, and body has long been an area of interest to me and is a specialty in my teaching. We have discussed that before. (The Image of God--Spirit, Soul, Body 6-14-09) I claim some level of expertise in that area. It is because of this expertise that I feel fairly comfortable saying, I seem to have an above average ability to function out of my spirit rather than out of my soul. That is strictly an observation on my part and admittedly subject to personal bias. Nonetheless, living in the spirit is something I aspire to do more and to do better, and it is my considered opinion that you should too.


Functioning out of the spirit is foreign to the human nature. As with most things in the kingdom of God, what we think to do, feel to do, know to do, and will to do are almost exactly opposite from what we should be doing. King Solomon recognized this concept when he wrote, "There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death." (Proverbs 14:12) What we think, feel, and do out of our human nature will always be wrong. That is why it is imperative that we think, feel, and do as Jesus would. He was our perfect example of how to live life on this earth, and He operated out of His spirit through the power of the Holy Spirit. Of course, it also did not hurt that He did not have to deal with a sin nature every day.


Most Christians, it seems, think they operate out of their spirits, but most do not. There are a couple axioms that will help in determining how effectively we are operating out of our spirits besides the one from Proverbs mentioned above. The first axiom is that believing is seeing. In our minds, seeing is believing. The word for this is counterintuitive. That means it seems backwards to our intellect (soul). The second axiom is that the physical world is the real world. In fact, the spiritual world affects everything that happens in the physical world. That is not some sort of mystical, or religious science concept, it is simply fact. The enormity of the ramifications of this second axiom are impossible to overestimate. (I know. I actually wrote that sentence in such a way that most people would have to stop and think about it after reading it more than once.) That means if we really understand the second axiom, the benefits to us are huge.


When we understand the physical world is subject to the spiritual world we understand we need to do things differently. One example of this is that we would never try to hoard the resources God puts into our hands. The Bible is full of instructions to give. The great verse we see almost every Sunday of football season in the endzone is the ultimate example of this principle. John 3:16 tells us that God loved the world so much that He gave His only Son, Jesus. Jesus did not hold onto His equality with God, but gave it up to go to the cross for us. (Ph. 2:6-8) God gave His Son. The Son gave His life. We have not begun to touch that level of giving.



I remember shortly before Christmas in 1979 I was ushering at church, probably for a Sunday morning service. One of the men I was working with asked me how I was doing, you know, one of those polite, friendly questions. My answer became a revelation from God to me. I listened to myself say, "I am great! This is my first Christmas with a son." It instantly became very real to me what God had done in giving His Son. I am not giving up my son. (I actually have a word from the Lord that I will not have to give up my son. That is another story.) Do not misunderstand me here. I love my girls. I am not giving them away either, but in that moment I really knew what God had done. Ok so I already gave two of my daughters to husbands, but I told every one at the wedding receptions the daughters and still mine and now I have more sons as well.


The Bible tells us why God gave His Son. He did it because He made the laws by which the universe is governed. One of them says whatever is given will be multiplied and given back. It is called the Law of Sowing and Reaping. Because it is a law it always works. God applied this law in giving His Son because He wanted more sons. There was no way for us to be born again and be sons of God (rather than being just His creations) until Jesus submitted Himself and became the sacrifice for our sins. If one accepts the Law of Sowing and Reaping, he does not even need to be spiritual to understand this. Simply apply logic and we see God giving, Jesus dying (giving His life), people being born again and becoming sons of God.


"...now we are the children of God," the apostle John says, "and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him..." (1 John 3:2) That sounds a little oblique. What does it mean anyway? Perhaps it is not the whole answer, but Jesus has been revealed to us, so at least part of the answer has to be that we are to work the works of God on the earth while we are here. He did say we would do the works He did. (John 14:12) There is also a future element here which is the usual interpretation. Jesus is coming back and our mortal bodies will be changed. Then we will be doing the same work He is doing somewhere else.

This is sort of sounding like the previous post. Suppose we leave this one right about here and start doing whatever it is the Lord is calling us to do individually.

The Weapons of Our Warfare, Part 8

When we first heard we could command God to do things it sounded like heresy or something. There it was in black and white, Isaiah 45:11, "...And concerning the work of My hands, you command Me." God is telling us to command the work of His hands. Surely there is some theologian or exegete out there who can tell us God did not really mean exactly what He said. Until we hear from that person, let us just go with what we have--the eternal word of the unchanging God. God is telling us to command the works of His hands. Certainly He knows what to do without us telling Him? Of course He does. He wants us to be His partners in doing things on the earth. He is waiting for us to figure that out. That is why we are to command the works of His hands. In case you are inclined to think this verse is isolated in all of God's word, keep reading. You are likely to have an "ah ha" moment just as I did.


We have all read the Lord's prayer--or the disciples' prayer if you like. It is repeated probably millions of times a week around the globe. The prayer is found in Matthew's Gospel and in Luke's Gospel. We are quoting from Luke 11:2-4:


"So He said to them, 'When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one.' "


We think it was Yonggi Cho--remember him, Seoul, Korea, pastors the largest church in the world--who first began teaching that prayer in earnest. We think it was in the mid '70s. He noted the imperative mood in the prayer. For those not familiar with the imperative mood, it would be one person telling another what to do. It is not a begging or a pleading, but rather a command. Did I say command?


Look at the verses above from the lips of Jesus. Your kingdom come, your will be done, give us this day, forgive us our sins, and deliver us from the evil one are all in the imperative mood. Note that "hallowed" which actually means "be kept holy" is also in the imperative mood. The difference is the passive voice. (I know, grammar is a little confusing, even in English.) The rest of the phrases in the list are in the active voice. Jesus is telling us to tell (yes tell) God to do those specific things. How would it affect our prayers if we knew our heavenly Father was just waiting for us to tell him to "go ahead and do something" so He could get busy doing it? The fact is, at least according to Jesus, if we believe Him, God is doing exactly that. He is waiting to hear us tell Him what we want so He can do it for us. We do apologize if that messes with anyone's theology. You might have noticed we do not have a lot of respect for bad theology.


Interestingly, when Jesus started the model prayer by saying, "When you pray, say" He did not use the imperative mood. He was not telling us to pray. He was expressing His desire that we do. Well, I think it is interesting anyway. I am not the jumping up and down and shouting type, but in my mind, that is something to jump up and down and shout about. Let me say it again. Jesus suggests that it would be good if we were to tell God what we want Him to do for us. I believe I have just written myself happy.


Now that we know what God wants us to do, let us consider the ramifications of doing it. We know that God is not going to tell us to do anything that is bad for us. In fact Jesus told us how foolish we would be to think that just a few verses further down in Luke 11. We already knew where the real power in the universe resides, in the Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

We might as well use our real life situation as an example. We are interested in ridding the area of a religious spirit. We do not have the ability to do that. We know God wants to move. God is going to move in response to our prayer, praise, and worship. In fact, He is already moving or we would not even be having this discussion. It is time to begin to command the work of God's hand. Right now is not too soon to start. Let us agree together to, at least once a day, say something like, "Father God, we command the works of Your hand against the religious spirit in the Santa Maria valley." You can then go on and speak against the manifestations you see. Refer back to the series on the manifestations of the religious spirit if you need to.

When you have a chance, give us some feedback as to what is going on and anything the Holy Spirit might show you. Do remember we are not speaking against people. We are speaking against the religious spirit. If you do not think you are quite ready to discern the difference, do not start until after you have at least read the next post. God bless.