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What’s the Bible Say About MOTHER EARTH?

Worship of the earth can be traced back to the Slavs’ polytheistic religion wherein Mat Zemlya — “Mother Earth” — was the oldest deity. There were no temples because rituals were performed in nature. The concept of “Mother Nature” is similar and can be traced to prehistory.

There are people today who embrace the concept of “Mother Earth” or “Mother Nature” with varying levels of devotion. To most of them it’s just a general assumption and they’re pretty casual about it. Some take it more serious.

Such people have a sense of awe of the earth that should be respected. I have a great awe toward creation and regularly seek out places to hike and explore, but the main reason I go to these places is to commune with the Almighty. Jesus did this, as shown in numerous passages (e.g. Matthew 14:23, Mark 1:35 & 6:30-32, Luke 5:16 & 6:12). There’s just something about the beauty and serenity of nature that makes it conducive to communing with the Creator.

Yet this reveals the difference between Christianity and religions that worship the earth or nature. The latter worship the earth as a divine entity whereas the former regard the planet as an awesome created thing yet reserve their highest adoration for the Creator of the created thing. Are you following?

People who worship the earth are worshipping according to their limited understanding of God (Ephesians 4:18). They mistake the created thing for the Creator because the created thing has some degree of glory since it was created by the King of Glory (Psalm 24). Such people should be respected and regarded with compassion, but they’ve fallen into an error that Paul talked about in the Scriptures: “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served created things rather than the Creator” (Romans 1:25).

Why worship the created thing when you can worship the Creator?

Related Topics:

Religion and Christianity — What’s the Difference?

Godliness and Religion—What’s the Difference?

The Basics of Christianity

Prayer—Communing with God

Is Christianity a “Relationship with God”?

Created in the Image of God — What Does it Mean?

(Pseudo) Science is the “New God” and Dubious Scientists are the “New Gods”

Does the Bible Say the Earth is Flat or Spherical?

The Five Earths of the Bible (and the Eight Ages)

How Old Is the EARTH According to the Bible?

How Do You Receive a HEALING?

Many times Jesus said to people who received healing, “your faith has healed you” (e.g. Mark 5:34, & Mark 10:52). All this means is that they believed it was God’s will for them to be healed and they received from the conduit of God’s healing power, which was Jesus Christ. In the case of James 5:14-15 the conduit would be the elders of an assembly (an “elder” would refer to the fivefold ministers in a fellowship or any anointed mature believer). Yet the believer can also receive healing by faith without any conduit. Remember, Jesus said: “whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours” (Mark 11:24).

I had an irritating skin rash on the back of my hand for over two years. I showed it to my doctor and he referred me to a dermatologist. I had no desire to waste time on a skin doctor so I continued to put up with the rash until I got righteously angry over it one day. The Spirit impressed me to curse the rash repeatedly and speak healing over the back of my hand until it was gone, so that’s what I did. I cursed the rash, commanded it to die and leave my body; and blessed my hand, loosing healing. Guess what happened? The rash completely disappeared, but it took a while — 9 weeks, in fact — and I had to be stubbornly tenacious, especially when it would reoccur after starting to die out. This is perseverance or following through.

Faith and the Word of God are not enough in such cases; we must add perseverance, which is patience (2 Peter 1:5-6). The Bible emphasizes that it’s through faith and patience that we inherit what is promised, not just faith (Hebrews 6:12). Actually, faith without perseverance isn’t really faith because true faith doesn’t believe for a little bit and then give up. True faith continues to believe no matter what.

It’s also important to understand that speaking in faith can be canceled out by speaking in unbelief because words have “the power of life and death” (Proverbs 18:21). Unbelief cancels out faith and vice versa; it’s a common sense principle. So when you’re speaking in faith for something never contradict your faith with words of doubt because, if you do, you won’t receive that for which you’re believing. Contradicting your faith with words of unbelief is tantamount to being double-minded, and the Bible emphatically declares that the double-minded person “should not think that he will receive anything from the Lord” (James 1:6-8).

Put a guard on your tongue after you speak in faith so that you don’t succumb to words of doubt and grumbling, which is especially tempting when it’s taking a while for your miracle to manifest.

For  details please see the following video and chew on the relevant Scripture passages to build your faith so that you can receive your healing…

This article is available in book form (with way more details) as chapter 8 of…

Both links allow you to “look inside” the book.

Related Topics:

Should I get the Surgery or BELIEVE for Healing?

When You should ASK and when You should SPEAK IN FAITH, aka DEMAND

Faith — What Is It? Why Is It Important? How Does It Grow?

If Healing Comes by Faith, Why Use Anointing Oil, Handkerchiefs, etc.?

WORDS have the Power of Life and Death

Your Thoughts RUN Your Life!

What are the Nine Gifts of the Spirit?

What is Cessationism and is it Biblical?

Slain in the Spirit—Is it Biblical?

RELIGION and CHRISTIANITY — What’s the Diff?

‘Religion’ literally means “to bind back” and refers to the human attempt to bind back to God, that is, reconnect with him. Christianity, by contrast, is God connecting with humanity through the gospel of Christ and spiritual regeneration by the Holy Spirit. Putting it another way, religion is what people try to do for God in their own strength while Christianity is what God does for us through Christ. Religion is what people do for God in the flesh while Christianity is what God does for us in the spirit.

Religionists are focused on their own attempts to connect with God when they should be focused on God’s superior method of connecting with us. Man’s way is of the flesh while God’s way is of the spirit. As such, religious people lack the life, power and joy that only the Fountain of Life can give (Psalm 36:9).

Jesus plainly pointed out the failure of religion when his disciples asked him who could be saved:

“With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”

Mark 10:27

You see, salvation through the flesh — through religion — is impossible. But with God it’s not only possible, it’s available to all. That’s Christianity — real Christianity, not the counterfeit legalism or religious “Christianity.”

There’s an excellent saying that distinguishes religion from Christianity: Religion says “do” while Jesus says “done”; religion says “slave” while Christianity says “son” (or daughter). Let’s consider both parts of this saying in light of what the Bible teaches: Concerning the first part, religion stresses rules: “Do this” or “Don’t do that,” whereas Christianity stresses that the law has been completed through Jesus Christ. As Romans 10:4 points out: “Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.” Before Jesus breathed his last on the cross he said, “It is finished,” which literally means “Paid in full.” concerning the second part, religion is all about making people slaves to the religious system, whereas Christianity is about making people a part of God’s family through spiritual rebirth (Titus 3:5). This regeneration includes the attainment of righteousness:

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

2 Corinthians 5:21

The word ‘become’ in the Greek is a variation of ginomai (GHIN-oh-may), which means “to come into being; to be born.” Hence, believers are born the righteousness of God spiritually, which explains why the Bible says the new self — i.e. your born-again spirit — was “created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:22-24). As such, believers walk in righteousness simply by learning to live out of their new nature with the help of the Holy Spirit, not by trying to force their flesh to conform to a never-ending list of religious laws!

Needless to say, the difference between religion and Christianity is like night and day.

The Failure of Both Religion and Irreligion

Because Christianity is often confused with religion and many believers and sects take on religious elements, people tend to think that Christianity is all about delivering people from irreligion or lawlessness when, actually, the LORD’s calling us out of religion just as much as He’s calling us out of irreligion.

You see, both religion and irreligion are two sides of the same bad coin. You could also refer to them as legalism and libertinism. Legalism is sterile religiosity whereas libertinism is lawlessness or fleshly license. Both legalism and libertinism are ineffective in solving humanity’s root problem — the sinful nature and the corresponding separation from God — and therefore the “coin” needs thrown out altogether in favor of God’s way, which is “the Way” (Acts 9:2). What is the Way? spiritual regeneration through the awesome news of the message of Christ and the resulting redemption from sin, reconciliation with the Creator and attainment of eternal life. Praise God!

For details on this topic see our video…

Related Topics:

Godliness and Religion—What’s the Difference?

The Basics of Christianity

What Is a DISCIPLE? (The Answer Might Surprise You)

It’s not wise to cop a ‘know it all’ spirit because, when people do this, they cease to be learners. This is not good because the Greek word translated as ‘disciple’ means “learner” (mathétés, pronounced math-ay-TEEZ). As such, anyone who’s a disciple of Christ must also be a learner of Christ, who is “the way, the truth and the life.”  Even those who are apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers in the Church are still disciples of Christ so they must still be learners, not only learners of the living Word but also the written Word; both are sources of truth (see John 14:6 & 17:17). Being a disciple of Christ — a learner of God — is a foundational calling that believers will always have, regardless of how far they go in the Lord and how great they are (or become) in the Church.

There’s a saying: The more you know, the more you know you don’t know. The meaning is obvious: The more you acquire knowledge the more you realize the many things that you don’t know and the innumerable things that remain mysterious and wondrous. This has to do with humility because it takes humility to admit you don’t know something. But religionists infected by legalism become proud of their ‘great learning’ and consequently become stuffy, know-it-all windbags. Even if someone comes along who shows that they know more on a particular topic or has more understanding, they won’t likely admit it or receive from him or her.

Take, for example, Jesus and the Pharisees. Christ showed them over and over that he was more advanced than they were in knowledge, understanding and wisdom, not to mention his great anointing (Matthew 4:23  &  John 3:2). His arguments repeatedly stunned proud religionists to silence. He performed incredible miracles again and again (Acts 10:38). Yet they were so stubborn they refused to be open to even the possibility that Jesus was more spiritual than they were, that he was perhaps closer to God, or that he knew things they didn’t.

Nicodemus was the only Pharisee recorded in Scripture who was moved by Christ’s ministry and open to his instruction. He had to meet Yeshua under the cover of darkness for fear of the backlash of his fellow Pharisees (John 3:1-10). On another occasion Nicodemus openly spoke up for Jesus (John 7:45-52) and the Scriptures give evidence that he ultimately became a believer (John 19:38-42). This is great news for legalists throughout the ages — just because someone’s a religious fuddy duddy functioning within a highly legalistic group doesn’t mean he or she has to stay that way!

Arrogance Stops Learning

The question needs to be asked: Why are legalists so stubborn that they can’t receive from someone like Jesus or even admit that he was anointed of God? Because legalism produces arrogance, which is a superiority complex. It looks down on everyone else except other legalists in their organization who are higher up on the “totem pole.” Anyone who functions outside of their spiritual tunnel vision, like Christ did, won’t be given the time of day. Why? Because they’ve already studied within their religious circles and think they have everything down. As far as they’re concerned, they already know everything there is to know and you can’t give something to someone who thinks they already have everything,

People like Jesus are a threat to the authority and livelihood of legalists and so must be ignored, discredited or even killed. If the legalists can’t kill them literally they’ll cowardly kill them with words to discredit them by ruining their reputation. It’s what arrogant people do (see this article for details). If the Pharisees and other legalists actually dialogued with Christ it wasn’t to learn something spiritual and get closer to God, but rather to somehow trap him in his words so they could denounce him to the people as a violator of God’s Word.

If you know elders or leaders in the church who regularly speak ill of legitimate ministers who are doing wonderful things for the kingdom of God, at least as far as their assignment goes, beware! They’re infected by pride & legalism.

Be a Learner, Not a Spurner

The infection of arrogance can puff-up people so much that they stop being learners in preference to being spurners — always quick to respond to anything outside of their limited prism with scorn, disdain and contempt. Paul said, “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know” (1 Corinthians 8:1-2). Paul was well-familiar with this since he used to be a Pharisee named Saul who thought he knew it all about God and Mosaic law. He also thought Jesus Christ was a false teacher and therefore severely persecuted his followers, that is, until Jesus appeared to him on the road to Damascus and humbled his arrogant behind (Acts 9:1-22). Saul suddenly discovered that he was believing a lie, that his sect wasn’t the one true sect and, in fact, they were actually enemies of God!

Think about Paul’s words in the above passage and what he was saying between the lines: When we truly start knowing as we ought to know we’ll become increasingly aware of our ignorance! True spiritual growth creates a spirit of humility and wonder concerning God and the many mysteries of life whereas religion creates arrogant legalists and rigid sectarians who shut themselves off to greater knowledge and the marvels of the universe. Humility, by contrast, maintains that childlike wonder we need in order to grow spiritually. Reflect upon this passage: “God opposes the proud but gives his grace to the humble.” This is an Old Testament proverb quoted by both James and Peter in the New Testament (Proverbs 3:34, James 4:6 & 1 Peter 5:5). As such, the passage appears three times in the Scriptures. Do ya think God’s trying to tell us something? God’s grace — his favor — only flows to the humble, but he opposes or resists the arrogant. Think about it.

Every genuine believer is excited about the things of God when they first turn to the LORD, but this sense of awe can gradually wane as they settle down into the day-to-day activities of churchianity and everything that goes with it — the expectations, the endless rules (many of them unnecessary, unbiblical and even eye-rolling), the grind, the constant demands on one’s time, etc. Don’t get me wrong here, healthy ministries with godly, loving servant-leaders are always good, but experiences with pompous religious people or ministries infected by legalism will sap the life and faith right out of you, unless you’re very mature and familiar with spiritual warfare tactics that are Scriptural. (“Spiritual warfare”, by the way, simply refers to overcoming evil through spiritual measures, like prayer, blessing, speaking in faith, teaching and valid correction).

The Importance of Being Teachable

Paul asked the Roman Christians an important question: “You, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself?” (Romans 2:21). This is a rhetorical question and, as such, the answer is obvious: Those who are teachers or want to become teachers must be teachable themselves. Why? Because being teachable goes with humility. Proud people think they know it all and are therefore unteachable whereas humble people — no matter how much they know — realize they couldn’t possibly know it all and, consequently, remain open to learning and, in fact, continually crave more accurate and enlightening information.

It goes without saying that we need to guard ourselves against an unteachable, know-it-all spirit as we grow in the Lord because this is a characteristic of legalists who (1) don’t really know God as they claim they do, and (2) have actually ceased from growing spiritually. You heard that right. Anyone who is infected by stubborn arrogance will actually stop growing. Spiritual rigor mortis will set in. The Lord said: “I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it” and “the kingdom of God belongs to such as these [children]” (Mark 10:15 & Matthew 19:14). Christ wasn’t encouraging childish behavior, of course, but rather childlike humility, innocence, receptivity, faith and lack of self-sufficiency in regard to God and his kingdom. This is meekness. It attracts God’s grace — his favor —  whereas arrogance repels him.

Receive from Others     

Only a fool refuses to receive from others in their areas of strength. When you need major dental work do you do it yourself or do you go to a reputable dentist? It’s the same thing in the kingdom of God. The LORD has provided gifts for the Church to equip us for service (ministry) and increase our faith and knowledge; these “gifts” are people who are anointed as pastors, teachers, prophets, etc. (Ephesians 4:11-13). They include people outside of the group with which you’re familiar, like Jesus was. Every valid ministry has its areas of expertise and weakness. Take the good and leave the bad (1 Thessalonians 5:21).

Please be sure to maintain your child-like wonder before the LORD as you continue in the faith. No matter how far you go in Christ, no matter how great your calling or works, you’ll always be a learner of Christ — a disciple.

For important details straight from the Scriptures be sure to check out this live sermon with all passages cited in the video for your convenience:

Related Topics:

Is Christianity a “Relationship with God”?

Prayer—Communing with God

Spiritual Growth — The Four Stages

Spiritual Growth is Like Climbing a Mountain

The Seven Keys to SPIRITUAL GROWTH

Hermeneutics — Proper Bible Interpretation

DRINK UP from the Fountain of Life (video)

Christ’s Church Is NOT a Building!

I was reading an article by a respected minister recently where he lamented how church buildings are looking more like office complexes than churches. The problem with this statement (amongst others) is the last word: He called a facility where believers meet a church. Yes, I realize this is regularly done in our culture and there’s nothing wrong with using ‘church’ in this sense per se, but let’s focus on the biblical definition of the term here. No where in the Bible is a building where believers meet called a church. The original Greek word for ‘church’ is ekklesia (ee-KLEE-see-ah), which literally means “called out of.” It refers to genuine believers — people — who have been “called out of” this lost, dark world into God’s kingdom of light through spiritual regeneration (Colossians 1:12-14,1 Peter 2:9 & Titus 3:5).

In the early years of the Church, believers simply met in houses. As such, you’ll regularly see passages in the epistles that make references to “the church that meets at So & So’s house”. Examples include Romans 16:5, 1 Corinthians 16:19, Colossians 4:15 and Philemon 1:2. As you can see, the “church” refers to the believers — the people — who met at these houses. The houses where they met were not the church and neither are the facilities where Christians meet today (or in the past).

This issue is important for several reasons. For one, believers need to understand that they are the church, not some building that they go to a couple times a week to meet with other believers. When believers start to realize they are the church their Christianity and service to the LORD becomes a 24/7 thing rather than a 1-3 times a week thing (or less).

In the Old Testament the Israelites met at the temple or tabernacle where the Ark of the Covenant was located. The lid of the Ark was where God’s very presence dwelt. This has all changed in the New Testament where believers’ very bodies are God’s temple and the LORD dwells in us by the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19), which was made possible through spiritual rebirth.

We have to get away from this Old Testament mentality that God only dwells in certain buildings. No, God indwells the believer himself or herself. “Church” isn’t a once-or-twice-a-week thing. YOU are the church. It’s an every-second-of-every-day thing!

I’m not saying that there’s anything wrong with church buildings of one type or another, including the beautiful Gothic ones. I’m just saying that the real Church — in a biblical sense — is the believers who meet at the particular structure or otherwise. Are you following?

Additional questions about the Church — like When did it (the body of Christ) begin? and What is the “one true church”? — are addressed in this article.

Related Topics:

Church of Christ — What Is It?

Ark of the Covenant — Why Isn’t it in the New Testament?

The BASICS of Christianity

The Basics of SPIRITUAL WARFARE

It’s imperative that Christians get hold of the fact that our fight is not with people but with the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 6:12).

Many believers will respond, “Okay, but I don’t know how to fight evil spirits.” Others are understandably intimidated by the concept of “spiritual warfare,” which simply refers to overcoming evil through spiritual means. I was too at one point. Knowledge is the key to overcoming these hurdles. Hosea 4:6 states that people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. It takes one key to open a treasure vault. Just so, you may be one piece of vital information away from entering new realms of victory in the spirit. Of course, knowledge by itself isn’t enough; you have to understand it, which is where insight or revelation enters the picture and, most importantly, you have to apply it, which is wisdom. Wisdom is the application of what you know and understand.

The Three Foundational Truths of Spiritual Warfare

The first thing you must understand about spiritual warfare is that the devil is already defeated. Jesus Christ triumphed over the kingdom of darkness by the cross:

And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

Colossians 2:15

Satan and his angels have been disarmed! The Messiah triumphed over them through his death, burial and resurrection. They’ve been stripped of their power and authority for all those who believe and are in covenant with God through Jesus Christ. This explains why the forces of darkness do everything in their power to hinder the good news of the gospel from coming to people. Every time someone turns to God in repentance and faith it’s one more person they’ve lost and no longer have authority over.

The second thing you must understand about spiritual warfare is that the believer has authority over Satan and his minions. Notice what Jesus said to his 72 disciples:

“I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. (20) However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

Luke 10:19-20

“Snakes and scorpions” are figurative of the devil and demonic spirits. Jesus gave his disciples authority to trample them under their feet, that is, overcome their power. Hence, filthy spirits had to submit to them and the disciples were understandably elated (verse 17). They delivered people from demonic oppression and possession; they healed the sick and brokenhearted; they set the captives free because they had the authority and power to do so.

If Jesus’ disciples, who weren’t even spiritually regenerated at the time, had authority to overcome the powers of darkness, how much more so Christians who have been spiritually born of the imperishable seed of Christ (1 Peter 1:23)?

Get a hold of this fact: If you’re a believer YOU have authority over the kingdom of darkness! All the spiritual forces of evil are under your feet! They don’t have the authority to overcome you; you have the authority to overcome them!

Words have the power of life and death (Proverbs 18:21), so make this powerful positive confession:

I [state your name] have the authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the devil and his wicked angels. Nothing will harm me. I have the victory – Hallelujah!!

Make Biblical statements like this your regular confession. Speak them with fervor! Never speak disempowering words of doubt, defeat, fear or grumbling. Cast such things off on the LORD in prayer, which is venting (Psalm 55:22 & 1 Peter 5:7). When you spend quality time praising, adoring and communing with the Most High the very light of his presence will squelch emotional waste like doubt, fear and worry. Do this regularly. God is the Fountain of Life and in his light we see light (Psalm 36:9); darkness naturally vanishes!

The devil may prowl around like a roaring lion trying to frighten people immobile with his intimidating roar, but for the believer who walks in faith he’s a toothless, clawless lion. More than that, the Bible describes Jesus Christ as the genuine Lion of Judah. In other words, Jesus is the real deal, while the devil is just a counterfeit – a fake – who prowls around like a roaring lion. Oh, sure, he can attack since he’s “the god of this world” and we’re invading his turf, but the Bible says all we have to do is “submit to God and resist the devil” “standing firm in the faith” and the devil will literally “flee” from us (James 4:7 & 1 Peter 5:8-10). This is what the apostle Paul called fighting “the good fight of faith” (1 Timothy 6:12). When we stand in faith with our spiritual armor on and swing our spiritual swords the forces of evil have no recourse but to “flee.” One minister I heard said the imagery in the original language is of a dog running away with his tail between his legs – “Yipe, yipe, yipe yipe!!” Picture that the next time you take a stand in faith against the enemy and have yourself a knee-slapping victorious laugh.

The third foundational truth of spiritual warfare is that believers have the authority to bind and loose.

The Principle of Binding & Loosing

Jesus unveiled the incredible authority that believers have in a discussion he had with his disciples in Matthew 16:13-19. He asked them if they knew who he truly was. Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (verse 16). Notice Jesus’ potent response:

Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. (18) And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. (19) I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

Matthew 16:17-19

What is the “rock” on which Jesus said he would build his church mentioned in verse 18? It’s not Peter whose name in Greek, petros, means “stone.” The “rock” on which Jesus will build his church is petra, meaning “large rock” or “bedrock.” When you’re driving down an interstate highway and pass through a section with sheer rock cliffs on either side it’s obvious that the road-workers literally blasted through a big hill or mountain. When I see this I often marvel at the solid mass of rock underlying the topsoil. This is petra or bedrock. Jesus said his church would be built on such bedrock, figuratively speaking – an incredible mass of solid rock. What is this “rock”? It’s the revelation – the fact – that Jesus is the Christ or Messiah, the Son of the Living God, who died for humanity’s sins and was raised to life for our justification, disarming all diabolic powers and authorities. This is the gospel or “good news.” Jesus’ church is built on this incredibly good news. It is through this gospel that people escape bondage from the kingdom of darkness and become part of God’s kingdom.

Why did Jesus emphasize Peter’s name, petros? Because, although Peter was a little “stone,” he would become a part of the bedrock of the church of Jesus Christ, as are all believers. We’re all little “stones” that together make up the bedrock of the church, Christ’s body on earth!

Jesus adds in verse 18 that the “gates of Hades” would not overcome his church. The “gates of Hades” was a colloquial Jewish phrase for death, which makes sense since Hades (or sheol in Hebrew) is the realm of the dead and consequently a person would have to die to go there. Jesus was saying that even death, Satan’s ultimate weapon (Hebrews 2:14-15), couldn’t stop the Messiah from birthing and unleashing his church. And it didn’t. He was raised to life and the rest is history. Furthermore, death has no power to destroy the church, period. Every Satanic attempt to wipe out believers and stop the church’s spread has failed; in fact, the blood of martyrs has always served to advance God’s kingdom rather than diminish it (e.g. Acts 7:59-8:4).

Now we get to the meat of Jesus’ statement. In verse 19 he said that he would give “you” the “keys to the kingdom of heaven.” “You” is not limited to Peter but refers to any believer who acknowledges and embraces The Christ. Keep in mind that Jesus was originally addressing all the disciples present and not just Peter (see verses 13 & 15); it’s likely that he switched his attention to all the disciples in verse 19, especially considering he addressed all his disciples when he taught the very same thing in Matthew 18:18. With this understanding, Jesus said he was going to give believers the “keys to the kingdom of heaven.” “Keys” refer to authority or power. If you have the keys to a vehicle you wield the power to take advantage of it. The “kingdom of heaven” of course refers to God’s kingdom, the kingdom of light. What Jesus was saying is that he was giving his disciples the power to take advantage of God’s kingdom. This is driven home with the remaining text: “whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” You could put it this way, Heaven will literally back us up in any legitimate effort to manifest God’s kingdom on earth via faith and love, which are the terms of the new testament (Galatians 5:6).

Jesus said to the disciples “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven,” which is future tense. Although Jesus dispersed authority to his disciples as he saw fit during his public ministry on earth, he didn’t give all believers the keys of the kingdom until he was resurrected and properly disarmed Satanic powers and authorities, as shown in Colossians 2:15 above. Ever since, the church has possessed the keys to the kingdom of God. If you’re a believer this means YOU.

The Amplified Bible puts verse 19 like this:

“I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind (declare to be improper and unlawful) on earth must be what is already bound in heaven; and whatever you loose (declare lawful) on earth must be what is already loosed in heaven.”

Matthew 16:19 (Amplified)

This is a straightforward, non-parabolic statement of fact: Believers have the authority to bind on earth what is bound in heaven and to loose on earth what is loosed in heaven. The statement is not linked here to any specific activity, which indicates that it’s a general principle.

Jesus shared this principle in this same straightforward fashion one other time as recorded in the gospels , also in the book of Matthew:

“I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

(19) “Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.”

Matthew 18:18-19

Here the principle is linked to prayer. If believers on earth agree in prayer about something it will be done by our Father in heaven. This doesn’t, of course, negate the power of singular prayer as James emphasized how effective the prayer of a righteous individual is and cited Elijah as an example. Elijah prayed successfully all by his lonesome (James 5:16-18). In fact, Jesus himself set the example of solitary prayer, as shown in Luke 5:16 & 9:18, and taught believers to regularly pray in private (Matthew 6:6). Nevertheless, Jesus’ words in verse 19 signify the power of agreement in prayer. He adds in verse 20, “For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.” This bespeaks of a ‘corporate anointing,’ a special sense of the Lord’s presence when engaging in united prayer. This itself is linked to the principle of binding & loosing: Jesus is in heaven at the right hand of the Father but through prayer believers loose his ‘manifest presence’ into their very midst on earth.

What exactly does it mean to “bind” or to “loose”? The Greek word for “bind” is deo (DAY-oh), which means to literally bind or figuratively in the sense of prohibiting or hindering, while “loose” is luo (LOO-oh), which means to unbind or release. What this means is that believers have the authority to hinder or prohibit the kingdom of darkness on earth and to release God’s kingdom. The kingdom of darkness is prohibited in heaven so we can prohibit it on earth; the kingdom of light reigns in heaven so we can loose it on earth. It’s that simple, and we’ll see numerous Scriptural examples of such “binding” and “loosing” as we proceed.

Binding & Loosing Through Prayer

The principle of binding & loosing is supported by what we know as ‘the Lord’s prayer,’ the prayer outline Jesus gave his disciples:

Our Father in heaven, hallowed by your name, (10) your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Matthew 6:9-10

Verse 10 is not talking about praying for Jesus’ return and the set-up of his eternal kingdom on earth, whether in the Millennium or eternally, it’s talking about the principle of binding & loosing in this “present evil age.” This means now. Do you want God’s kingdom to reign in your life and the lives of others? You have to release it through prayer. Do you want God’s will to be done in your life and the lives of others? You have to loose it via prayer. In other words, God’s kingdom will not come and reign on this earth unless a believer releases it through prayer and action; and God’s will is not done on earth unless the church looses his will via prayer and action. Simply put, believers have the power to bind the kingdom of darkness and loose the kingdom of light.

Someone might understandably respond: “Well if God’s so Almighty why doesn’t he just automatically do everything? Why does he need believers to ‘release’ his will through prayer?”

It’s true that the LORD is Sovereign, meaning he reigns supreme; the Bible describes him as “the King of all the earth” (Psalm 47:7) who owns the earth and everything in it (Psalm 24:1, 50:12 & 1 Corinthians 10:26). Jesus himself called Father God “Lord of heaven and earth” (Matthew 11:25). So there’s no disputing that the Almighty reigns supreme and “does whatever pleases him” (Psalm 103:19 & 135:5-6).

However, it’s also clear in Scripture that the devil is the “god of this age” and the “prince of this world” who rules the kingdom of darkness or underworld , which is the dark spiritual dimension that underpins and enshrouds the world (John 12:31 & 14:30). Anyone who’s not part of God’s kingdom is subject to this dark kingdom because they’re “by nature objects of wrath” (Ephesians 2:3) ; this includes everyone who doesn’t have a covenant with the Almighty, meaning all unbelievers:

We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.

1 John 5:19

…the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray.

Revelation 12:9

The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ,

2 Corinthians 4:4

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, (2) in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.

Ephesians 2:1-2

These passages are mind-blowing and convincingly show that the “whole world” is presently under the control the kingdom of darkness, which is why the Bible refers to this current era as “the present evil age” (Galatians 1:4). This doesn’t, of course, mean that all unbelievers are frothing at the mouth with evil, but rather that they’re subject to the kingdom of darkness whether they realize it or not. The depth of their subjugation is dependent upon how far they choose to embrace the flesh, which is the Satanic nature. We see evidence of Satan’s rulership and influence all around us constantly: wars, crime, corruption, broken families, immorality, injustice, poverty, disunity, disease, death, etc. Don’t be alarmed, however, because – as you can see in the passages above – the devil’s control is limited to those designated as “the world,” which doesn’t include blood-bought, spiritually regenerated believers, Hallelujah! Christians are the “church” of Jesus Christ, literally “the called-out ones” in the Greek. This means believers have been rescued from Satan’s kingdom:

For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves,

Colossians 1:13

Not only have we been delivered from the kingdom of darkness we’ve been placed in God’s kingdom as his beloved sons and daughters!

Binding the “Strong Man”

Further evidence of the principle of binding & loosing can be seen when Jesus exorcized a demon from a mute/deaf man and healed him (Matthew 12:22). Jesus then explained the principle at work behind this successful deliverance and healing:

“…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 rob his house.”

Matthew 12:29

Jesus likened the devil, and the powers of darkness in general, to a “strong man” with “possessions” in his “house.” The only way you can successfully rob this strong man is if you first tie him up, that is, bind him, then you can rob him of his spoils. This is precisely what Jesus did, spiritually speaking, when he exorcised the demon from the man and healed him. He “tied up” or bound the demonic spirit and robbed Satan of his possession. Jesus prohibited the kingdom of darkness from continuing to hold this man in bondage and loosed healing. Parallel accounts are detailed in Mark 3:20-27 and Luke 11:14-22 while a similar example of exorcism and healing can be found in Luke 9:42-43.

Speaking of healing, James 5:15 addresses church elders praying over a sick person: “And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up.” This is an example of binding & loosing – the elders loose the Lord’s will via prayer and the sickness is prohibited; healing flows and the individual recovers.

So far we’ve seen clear Scriptural evidence that the principle of binding & loosing can be applied to prayer, exorcism and healing. These three alone involve a wide breadth of activities.

We Are “In Charge” Until Christ Returns

Further support for the principle of binding & loosing can be seen in the analogy of the church as the “body of Christ.” This obviously signifies that the “head” – Jesus – is in heaven, at the right hand of the Father, while his “body” – the church – is on earth carrying out the Lord’s will as his arms, legs, tongue, hands and feet (Ephesians 1:20-23). The church manifests God’s will on earth and hinders the devil’s kingdom. We – the “body” – just have to make sure we’re tight with the “head” so that we properly get ‘orders from headquarters.’ If we attempt to conduct God’s will on earth separate from the orders of the “head” in heaven we’re destined for dead works and disillusionment. Needless to say, get close to the LORD and stay close; only perform the specific assignment(s) he gives you to fulfill. Each believer has his or her specific assignment from the Head in heaven and each group of believers, or church, has their specific tasks. Jesus effectively illustrated this:

It’s like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with his assigned task, and tells one at the door to keep watch.

Mark 13:34

Christ has gone away and is in heaven at the right hand of the Father. He’s left his servants in charge while he’s away. Each believer has his or her “assigned task.” Each church has their “assigned task.” The fact that the servants are put “in charge” clearly signifies that believers have authority to act in his place and carry out his will until he returns. This authority is the power to bind & loose: We prohibit the kingdom of darkness whenever or however possible and release the kingdom of light as the Spirit leads. We thus advance God’s kingdom on earth.

Binding & Loosing Via the Word of God

It stands to reason that the principle of binding & loosing also applies to the teaching and preaching of the Word of God. How so? Since godly knowledge, understanding, wisdom, insight and revelation are transferred via the sound teaching/preaching of God’s Word, we can safely conclude that doing such manifests God’s will on this earth and naturally spreads his kingdom’s reign through transformed lives that produce the fruit of the spirit. The fruits of the spirit are the very qualities of God’s character and kingdom. This automatically hinders the kingdom of darkness since light displaces darkness.

Notice what the Bible says about Jesus sending out his twelve disciples:

When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, (2) and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.

Luke 9:1-2

When Jesus sent out the Twelve he gave them authority to stop the kingdom of darkness and release the kingdom of God. This is binding & loosing. Note the four things they did: They drove out demons, cured diseases, preached the truths of God’s kingdom and healed the sick. We’ve seen clear evidence that the principle of binding & loosing applies to exorcizing demons and healings, which means three out of four of these activities definitely fall within the spectrum of binding & loosing. It naturally follows that preaching the Word of God’s kingdom also falls within this spectrum. When the twelve disciples returned and gave a good report of their activities they all “withdrew by themselves” to the town of Bethsaida (Luke 9:10). This indicates, incidentally, that Jesus recognized the need for ministers to retreat for rest and refreshing after significant ministry endeavors, which naturally protects ministers from burnout (take heed if this applies to you and don’t feel guilty about it). When the crowds learned of their retreat they followed them to Bethsaida where Jesus kindly welcomed them and “spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed healing” (Luke 9:11). As you can see, teaching God’s kingdom is put on a par with healing (see also verse 60). Both are examples of releasing the kingdom of God on earth, which naturally stops or hinders the enemy’s kingdom.

Binding & Loosing Via Speaking in Faith

Speaking in faith, as depicted in Mark 11:22-24 and Luke 17:5-6, also falls within the parameters of binding & loosing, which Jesus taught in the same breath as praying in faith:

“Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. (23) “I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in this heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. (24) Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”

Mark 11:22-24

Speaking in faith includes blessing someone or something, as when Paul blessed the believers in 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17. It would also include cursing something like when Jesus cursed a fig tree as an illustration (Mark 11:12-14, 20-21).

Let me give an example from my own life. I had an irritating skin rash on the back of my hand for over two years. I showed it to my doctor during a check-up and he referred me to a dermatologist. I had no desire to waste time or money on a skin doctor so I continued to put up with the rash until I got righteously angry over it last winter. The Spirit strongly impressed me to curse the rash from the roots repeatedly and speak healing over the back of my hand until it was gone and that’s exactly what I did. I cursed the rash, commanded it to die and leave my body; and then blessed my hand, loosing healing and health. Guess what happened? The rash completely disappeared, but it took a while – nine weeks, in fact – and I had to be stubbornly tenacious, especially when it would reoccur after starting to die out. This is perseverance or following through. Faith and the Word of God are not enough in such cases; we must add perseverance, which is patience (2 Peter 1:5-6). The Bible emphasizes that it’s through faith and patience that we inherit what is promised (Hebrews 6:12), not just faith.

It’s also important to understand that speaking in faith can be canceled out by speaking in unbelief since words have “the power of life and death” (Proverbs 18:21). Unbelief cancels out faith and vice versa; it’s a common sense principle. So when you’re speaking in faith for something never contradict your faith with words of doubt because, if you do, you won’t get or accomplish what you’re believing for. Contradicting your faith with words of unbelief is tantamount to being double-minded, and the Bible emphatically declares that the double-minded man “should not think that he will receive anything from the Lord” (James 1:6-8). Put a guard on your tongue after you speak in faith so that you don’t succumb to words of doubt and grumbling, which is especially tempting when it’s taking a while for your miracle to manifest. I had to do this when speaking in faith over my skin virus for nine weeks.

Ever since the healing manifested, the back of my hand has been a 24/7 testimony to God’s healing power that is released through persistent faith! The great thing about these types of experiences is that they naturally build one’s faith and confidence. Just as David took on a lion and a bear before having the faith to fight Goliath (1 Samuel 17:33-37), so we’ll have to take on lesser ailments like skin viruses before conquering something bigger, like high blood pressure and stroke. This is just common sense.

Jesus illustrated that speaking in bold faith like this is mountain-moving and tree-uprooting, hence manifesting God’s will and spreading his kingdom through the believer who’s “in charge” while the Messiah is in heaven.

A General Principle

Since it’s clear that the principle of binding & loosing involves prayer, exorcism, healing, teaching/preaching God’s Word and speaking in faith, we see innumerable examples of this principle all over the New Testament. Jesus, the apostles, and other believers regularly performed these activities. They regularly bound the kingdom of darkness and loosed the kingdom of God. Yet, with the exception of Jesus figuratively equating an exorcism to binding up the strong man and taking his spoils, we don’t see evidence of anyone saying “I bind” or “I loose.” This doesn’t necessarily mean believers can’t use these terms, or similar terms like “I prohibit” or “I release,” it just indicates that the principle of binding & loosing is a general principle that transcends the usage of such terminology. In other words, if Christians are interceding, teaching and preaching, exorcizing demons, healing and speaking in mountain-moving faith they are binding & loosing, period. Yet some believers unfortunately get in the habit of saying “I bind this” or “I loose that” so often it becomes redundant and tiresome. This isn’t necessary since we don’t see evidence in the New Testament of individuals utilizing this terminology when binding & loosing, with the exception of Jesus’ analogy of binding the strong man when he exorcised a demon and healed a mute man.

What we do see is believers simply operating in these varied activities as led of the Spirit. For instance, we see believers praying for others, which automatically releases God and his will in the people’s lives and situations for which they’re praying. One good example is where Paul prayed for the Colossian believers in Colossians 1:9-12. By praying for them Paul was actually loosing God into their lives – his will to be done and his kingdom to reign – even though he didn’t use the terminology “I loose.” Praying for people like this is effective because, as already noted, when the light of the LORD’s presence enters the picture, darkness flees. In short, prayer itself looses God and automatically binds up the enemy.

Another example would be when Jesus was confronted with a demon-possessed man in Luke 4:35; he simply but sternly told the evil spirit, “Be quiet!” What was he doing? He prohibited the demon from speaking and then exorcized it from the man. You see, Jesus had the authority to bind on earth what is bound in heaven and evil spirits are certainly prohibited in heaven. He walked in this truth but he didn’t say, “I bind you demon!” Again, I’m not saying you can’t say “I bind” or “I loose.” By all means, use this terminology if you feel led to do so; I myself use it, just be careful not to overdo it. God is not one-dimensional and we are called to imitate him (Ephesians 5:1). Be led of the Spirit. Follow the example of Jesus Christ and the New Testament believers as illustrated in the Biblical blueprint. Amen.

Recapping Binding & Loosing

Let’s now summarize the Scriptural support for this powerful principle for easy access and reflection. I’ll include some additional tidbits to keep it interesting:

 

With this Scriptural support in mind, let’s observe multiple examples of binding & loosing from just one chapter of the Bible, the first chapter of Mark:

 

This is just one chapter of the New Testament! Amazing, isn’t it?

I realize we went into quite a bit of detail on binding & loosing, but it’s vital that every believer understand this powerful principle to effectively manifest and advance God’s kingdom in his or her arena of influence on earth.

One closing thought: In addition to being tight with the Head in heaven, please be sure that when you practice these activities you do them in love as defined in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. Why? Because faith works in love, which means our faith is activated and energized by love (Galatians 5:6 Amplified). Consequently, any binding & loosing we do separate from agape love is “nothing” but dead religious works (1 Corinthians 13:2).

To illustrate, my wife and I visited a couple churches last winter, both with less than 40 people. We had the opportunity to meet the apostle of these churches who had his own small ministry school and quite a few small satellite churches in “third world” areas. After he preached a sermon my wife wanted to compliment one aspect of his teaching, so we approached him. Unbelievably, he just blew her off and walked away, totally ignoring me in the process. It was so bad it was funny. Bear in mind that there were only 25 people present so it’s not like he had masses of people to attend to, nor did he have a plane to catch. Not to mention my wife and I were the only two to approach him, the only two new people in the bunch. Wasn’t he the leader? The apostle? Where’s the kindness? The hospitality? The humility? The love? The fruit?

Being an “apostle of nations” and doing a lot of binding & loosing around the world is wonderful, but it’s all nothing if we forsake the simple tenets of agape love. It goes without saying, no matter how great your work for the Lord always resist the temptation to fall prey to the worldly arrogance of the “Rock Star Syndrome.” Amen?

“We Are More Than Conquerors”

Some like to give the impression that spiritual warfare is rigorous and woeful, a heavy religious drudgery, but nothing could be further from the truth. Although you have to be stern and authoritative when you stand in faith and “swing your sword” – the Word of God spoken in faith – particularly when dealing with cases of demonic possession or environmental cleansing, spiritual warfare is actually easy and can even be fun. Don’t let anyone fool you (like those who try to impress others with how hard they labor for the LORD, which is a trait of legalism or counterfeit Christianity, the same trait of the prodigal son’s older brother who didn’t know his father and therefore didn’t have the heart of his father; see Luke 15:11-32). Remember, the devil and his cohorts are already defeated. Jesus did the hard part. All we have to do is fight or resist in faith. It takes effort and bold tenacity but it’s no sweat, really.

The Bible says “we are more than conquerors” (Romans 8:37). A conqueror is someone who fights and defeats a foe. A person who is “more than a conqueror” is someone who partakes of the blessings of victory because the foe is already defeated. Make no mistake, you are more than a conqueror since Jesus has already defeated the enemy and you have authority. Simply believe the Word, speak it authoritatively and stand your ground in faith.

To help understand this concept of fighting a foe who’s already defeated let’s look at an Old Testament comparison. As previously pointed out, the Israelites couldn’t fight spiritual forces of evil because they weren’t spiritually regenerated and therefore lacked the nature or position to do so; hence, they only had the authority to fight people, not all people of course but the ones the LORD commissioned them to fight. When this happened the Almighty would say that the enemy in question was defeated before the Israelites even drew their weapons. A good example of this is when the Israelites conflicted with the Amorites in Joshua 10. The LORD declared in verse 8, “Do not be afraid of them; I have given them into your hand. Not one of them will be able to withstand you.” Notice that God spoke of the foe as defeated before the Israelites fought – “I have given them into your hand.” It’s past tense. Yet even though these enemies were declared defeated by the LORD it was still necessary for the Israelites to pull out their weapons, boldly go forth and fight. Similar examples from the book of Joshua include the Israelite’s conflicts with Jericho (6:2) and Ai (8:1).

In our covenant, however, our fight is not with people but with the spiritual forces of evil that seek to afflict and manipulate people for their own wicked ends. Even though the devil and his unclean angels are already defeated, believers still have to put on their armor, draw their weapons and fight. When we are faithful to do this victory is guaranteed, just as it was for the Israelites when they boldly faced their foes. How can victory be guaranteed? Because God has declared that the enemy is already defeated!

Get excited because the devil and his fellow losers are already defeated and you have the authority to trample them under your feet and overcome!

Although spiritual warfare isn’t some tedious religious chore it does of course take faith, boldness, effort and tenacity, as shown in this statement by Jesus:

“From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it.”

Matthew 11:12

This obviously suggests that the kingdom of heaven is taken hold of and advanced by those with “forceful” or “violent” faith and diligence. Yes, the poor in spirit possess the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:3) but genuine meekness obviously includes bold tenacity, particularly when it comes to spiritual warfare, which is the example set for us by Christ himself in the gospels. So rise up in bold faith and don’t shrink back! You’ll never outgrow spiritual warfare; you must simply learn to fight. That’s what this teaching is for – learning to fight, God’s way. He’ll teach you how to fight in your covenant just as he taught David how to fight in his (Psalm 18:34 & 144:1).

Let me share an example of spiritual warfare from my own life: My wife and I were attending a local church where I taught a handful of sermons. The first one was, by far, the most difficult teaching I ever gave. It felt like I was being choked by some unseen presence the entire time; the resistance was incredible. My wife and I prayed about the matter over the next several weeks and the next two times I ministered it was better but I could tell the people were in some sort of religious stupor, even though I did everything in my power to stir them up and get them excited about the fascinating truths of God’s Word and kingdom. Three days before I was scheduled to teach the fourth time the Spirit moved me to ask for the keys to the building so I could pray inside. Up to that point I had prayed a number of times outside the facility, but the problem was inside. There were suffocating spirits present who resisted the truth and kept the people captive in a religious coma. I informed the pastor that it was time to “break out the heavy artillery” and he knew exactly what I meant, so he gave me a key. That night my wife and I went into the facility and blasted some jubilant praise & worship. We sang, wept, danced and prayed in the spirit. I anointed and blessed the podium, the altar, the pews, the doors, the walls and every room. My wife knelt at the altar and wept and, later, laughed. I ran, danced and leaped around the sanctuary and through every pew, stairwell and room. We spoke the Word of God boldly, authoritatively and joyfully. We laughed often, loudly. We bound up the atmosphere of religious formal death and loosed the spirit of freedom, life, joy and power. I came back the next two nights for some more action. What were we doing? We were conducting spiritual warfare. The church facility needed cleansed of life-sapping unclean religious powers. By Sunday morning the environment was cleared up for me to minister effectively. The people were awakened from their religious stupor and hungrily ate up the Word of God, which was the first time I witnessed this since my initial visit there eight months prior. Praise God!

Some might understandably argue that unclean spirits don’t reside in church sanctuaries. They do in the ones where a lifeless religious spirit is tolerated and encouraged! I know because I personally experienced their suffocating presence. They were literally camped out there, facilitating an utterly sterile environment. Everything looked right on the outside – there wasn’t a speck of dust and everything indicated that it was an authentic Christian environment – but there wasn’t any life. In fact, the atmosphere was completely resistant to life, truth and faith. It needed cleansed, pure and simple; and spiritual warfare was the answer.

What my wife and I did certainly took time and effort and we had to be bold and stern at times, but it wasn’t some woeful religious drudgery. No, it was easy because the enemy’s already defeated and we’re more than conquerors. In fact, it was a blast.

When you engage in spiritual warfare do the same, even if it’s simply interceding for people who need salvation. Speak the truth of God’s Word loudly; speak it authoritatively. Fast and pray when necessary (Matthew 17:21.) Pray in the spirit and sing in the spirit. Do it with passion. Have a praise & worship celebration. Dance in the spirit. Since you are a royal priest or priestess you have the authority to bless (1 Peter 2:9). Take note of the priestly blessing in Numbers 6:22-27. Place your hand on people and objects and bless them; so shall you put God’s name on them and the LORD will, in turn, bless them. Smear them with anointing oil if you so feel led of the Spirit. When the light of God’s presence enters the picture darkness flees; it has no other recourse. It’s like flicking on the lights in a dark room.

So have a good time conducting “spiritual warfare.” Never view it as some tedious religious chore. No, it’s a powerful and effective service because you have the authority to trample on the devil and his minions and to “overcome all the power of the enemy” (Luke 10:18-19). Remember, you’re not just a conqueror, you’re more than a conqueror!

How to Recognize an Attack

Our subject is spiritual warfare. How do you recognize when you or someone else is under attack?

Keep in mind that we’re not talking about temptation to sin here. A person is tempted to sin via his or her own evil desire, which stems from the sinful nature (James 1:14-15). This is the conflict of the two natures within every person, flesh and spirit, as detailed in numerous passages, such as Matthew 26:41, Romans 8:5-13, Galatians 5:16-24 and Ephesians 4:22-24. This is an inward battle that each believer must master through Christ, but it is not the outward battle we’re addressing here. The outward battle involves the kingdom of darkness attacking or hindering you from the outside. Even in cases of demonic oppression or possession the unclean spirits originate from beyond oneself.

With this understanding, how do you recognize when the kingdom of darkness is attacking you? After all, how can you effectively “fight the good fight of faith” if you’re not even aware you’re under attack?

The Bible says that Jesus came to “destroy the devil’s works” and to heal “all who were under the power of the devil” (1 John 3:8 & Acts 10:38). Being “under the power of the devil” is the result of falling prey to his attacks. All of the enemy’s various attacks can be reduced to five basic categories:

 

These five encompass all the numerous curses of the law listed in Deuteronomy 28. The Old Testament agreement that the Israelites had with God was simply this: If they obeyed the law the LORD would bless them; if they failed to obey the law they’d be cursed. In the latter event, God would remove his protective hedge and allow the devil and his minions to attack the Israelites, or perhaps God did it himself; either way they would consequently suffer any manner of the curses of the law. These myriad curses can be distilled into the five general categories noted above.

For further proof consider the case of Job. In the first two chapters of the book of Job we observe him being hailed as a righteous man by God Himself, but Satan argues that Job was devout simply because the LORD blessed him. In other words, he was in it solely for the blessings. Consequently, God allows the devil to attack and we see Job assaulted in all five of these areas:

 

All five of these general curses come from the devil’s bag of tricks. When Satan attacks he’s not going to appear as some cartoonish figure with a pitchfork. He’s going to assault you in one of these five areas. You must get a hold of this. Why? Because you can’t very well take a stand and resist in faith, as the Bible instructs, if you don’t know you’re being attacked. How can you effectively conduct spiritual warfare if you’re not even sure you’re under attack?

Am I saying that Christians can walk in victory over all five of these general maladies? Yes, absolutely. What I’m not saying is that you won’t be attacked in these areas. When you are attacked – and you will be attacked – you must recognize it and take a stand. Resist in faith. In fact, put up your shield of faith even before you’re attacked, which will shield you from many of the enemy’s flaming arrows (Ephesians 6:16); in other words, his fiery darts will be extinguished before they can harm you. Pull out your sword as necessary. Your sword is the Word of God (Ephesians 6:17). Slice down all lies and curses. Take a stand in faith and persevere. Continue walking according to the Word in general and learn to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. Don’t back back. If you make a stand in faith and persevere I guarantee you the devil will flee like a yelping cur with his tail between his legs. The Bible guarantees it. It’s your covenant agreement with the Most High. Just make sure there’s no sin in the camp, so to speak. Keep your spiritual arteries clear of the build-up of unconfessed sin. Always be quick to repent when you miss it and God will faithfully “purify you from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:8-9).

Hebrews 6:12 says we need “to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.” The text is speaking to Christians who are already saved, so what exactly are the promises we can inherit through faith and patience? The promises correspond to the five areas noted above:

 

As you can see, the “good news” of the gospel is more than just reconciliation with God and eternal life, as awesome as these are, it’s “reigning in life” by walking in victory over all five of these general maladies (Romans 5:17). But you won’t fully reign over these curses unless you learn how to put off the flesh, live out of your spirit by the Holy Spirit and apply faith and patience. This is a learning process. It takes time and application. It may not happen overnight but it will happen as you grow through learning and applying. Yes, you’ll make mistakes. We all do. When you miss it, get back up! Be honest about your failings, repent where applicable, and then move on (Proverbs 24:16, Psalm 145:14 & 1 John 1:8-9). The only bad mistakes are the ones you don’t learn from. Also keep in mind that it’s always good to have someone near who’s spiritually further on than you, so you can observe and imitate his/her example.

Always be cognizant that your spiritual enemy will attack you in one or more of these areas. The good news is that “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us” (Galatians 3:13). This means that the Bible promises freedom to every new covenant believer from all the curses of the law listed in Deuteronomy 28, which comprise the five general maladies listed above. None of these have any right in your life as long as you’re “keeping in repentance” (Matthew & Luke 3:8). You must learn to recognize when the enemy attacks via any of these five basic curses and resist the assault by standing firm in faith and patience (1 Peter 5:8-10). Since the devil and his filthy minions are already defeated and you’re in covenant with the Victor and, in fact, are spiritually born of his loins, the enemy will eventually grow weary and flee in frustration, and the LORD will restore you. This makes perfect sense when you understand that laziness is a trait of the Satanic nature. The enemy prefers to attack those who won’t put up a good fight of faith; in fact, they’re the only people he can overcome.

Examples From Paul’s Life

Let’s briefly look at some examples from the New Testament where the apostle Paul was attacked and overcame in all five of these general areas:

Physical illness. Paul was stricken with some type of physical ailment according to Galatians 4:13, which provided the opportunity for him to preach the gospel to the Galatians. The word for “illness” in this text could also be translated as “weakness” as it does in Matthew 26:41, which reads, “The spirit is willing but the body is weak” (emphasis added). If it does refer to physical weakness, some theorize that it could apply to Paul after he was stoned and left for dead in the Galatian city of Lystra (Acts 14:8-20). They speculate that Paul would surely need time for his body to fully heal from the abuse, which may be why he referred to the situation as a trial for the Galatian Christians (Galatians 4:14). But this seems unlikely since Paul received an immediate healing and walked right back into the city (!), not to mention he left to preach in another city the very next day (!!). Other possibilities include malaria, which was common in the area, or an eye disease in light of Paul’s statement, “If you could have done so, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me” (verse 15), although this could simply be a figure of speech. Regardless of what Paul’s physical problem was, he resisted the attack in faith and patience, received healing and lived over another decade to fulfill God’s apostolic assignment from Jerusalem to Rome and all points between, not to mention write many other important epistles, like Romans and Ephesians, etc.

Mental illness. The apostles went through many hardships as they determined to advance the kingdom of God. Second Corinthians 11 details Paul’s numerous sufferings, including being thrown into prison multiple times, severely flogged five times (typically 39 lashes!), beaten with rods three times, stoned and left for dead, shipwrecked three times, and more. Not to mention all his labor, sleepless nights and the pressure of all the churches he oversaw (verses 23-29). Facing such horrendous attacks, trials and pressures, Paul and the other ministers were understandably assaulted by negative emotions at times, like fear, doubt, frustration, anxiety and wanting to quit. This is why Paul said they were “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing” (2 Corinthians 6:10); he also mentioned “fears within” and being “downcast” (2 Corinthians 7:5-6). But they never allowed such dark emotions to take root in their hearts. There’s no evidence of this in Scripture. They withstood in faith and patience and overcame. Take, for example, when Paul was about to be shipwrecked due to a great storm in Acts 27:21-26; instead of caving in to the fear and despair of the situation – e.g. “We’re all going to die!!” – he received instruction from the LORD and boldly spoke in faith.

Poverty or financial lack. Paul pointed out in Philippians 4:12-13 that he knew what it was like to be in need and also to have plenty; he knew what it was like to be hungry and to be well fed. He also testified to his brushes with poverty in 2 Corinthians 6:10. So we know Paul went through experiences where physical resources were limited. Yet, in the Philippians passage he shared his secret of being content in any situation, whether living in plenty or in want: he said he could do all things through the Lord Jesus Christ who strengthened him. In other words, he stood in faith. He didn’t give in to worry or despair in times of need and cry, “God has forsaken us – we’re not gonna make it!” Likewise, in the Corinthians passage he admitted to having nothing but counteracted it with an expression of faith, “yet possessing everything.” Consequently, he always made it through times of lack with a peaceful contentment. He fully understood that blessings come via faith and patience in our covenant, and faith works in love. Jehovah Jireh always provided and Paul fulfilled his many missionary assignments. Late in his life, when Paul was in custody in Caesarea, Governor Felix frequently went to him hoping Paul would offer him a bribe (Acts 24:26). This indicates that even under house arrest Paul was financially blessed since wealthy politicians don’t try to milk people who are impoverished and have no money.

A good example from the life of Christ would be when tax collectors required Peter and Jesus to pay the annual temple tax, which came to about $500 each (Matthew 17:24-27). Jesus wasn’t taken off guard and, interestingly, didn’t even ask Judas to take the money from their ministry earnings. He had faith that God gives the power to get wealth (Deuteronomy 8:18) and knew precisely were to get the amount they needed by the Spirit. Hence, the LORD provided.

Human attack and defeat. Paul was attacked by a man named Alexander the metalworker who caused him “a great deal of harm” (2 Timothy 4:14-15), but Paul overcame and wasn’t defeated or dead. He was able to warn Timothy and believed that the Lord would pay Alexander back for what he had done. Another good example is from Acts 16:22-34 where we observe Paul and Silas being unjustly attacked in Philippi after exorcizing a demon from a slave girl. They were beaten, flogged and thrown in prison. This was a serious attack indeed, but Paul and Silas withstood in faith and perseverance. At midnight they were praying and singing hymns in their gloomy, smelly jail cell (!). They refused to be defeated. They refused to give in to doubt, frustration and despair. They knew that victory was theirs no matter how bad the situation appeared. The next thing you know there was an earthquake and the cell doors flew open! God clearly responds to such stubborn, fervent faith. Not only did they escape, the jailer and his family were saved and baptized! Paul and Silas even stayed and ate at their house that night.

Premature death. Paul healed a crippled man in Lystra, which was a powerful testimony to the people there, but some Jews came and stirred the crowd against him. As noted above, they stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, supposing him to be dead. But Paul received an incredible healing after the disciples gathered around him and he went right back into the city! The next day he was well enough to leave for another town to preach, which indicates a total healing (Acts 14:8-20). Another example would be when Paul sailed to Rome as a captive in Acts 27. A great storm came and seriously threatened all their lives. Keep in mind that, according to Job 1:16, 19, Satan has the ability to utilize nature for his own purposes. The devil didn’t want Paul to fulfill his divine commission of carrying the gospel to gentile kings; hence, he tried to kill him on the open sea via the storm, but it didn’t work because Paul received divine instruction and stood in faith (verses 21-26). Yet the devil didn’t stop there. No sooner was Paul shipwrecked on the island of Malta then a deadly viper bit him (Acts 28:1-10). The islanders expected the apostle to drop dead at any moment but he withstood in faith and instead held a powerful healing revival!

Like Paul, who is our example, we can walk in victory over these five common maladies as long as we boldly resist in faith and persevere, energizing our faith via love. Not to mention simply walking according to God’s Word in general and following the leading of the Holy Spirit. Life’s a fight, fight it. And, remember, we’re more than conquerors, so it’s really no sweat.

Give the Lord a shout of praise and have yourself a victorious laugh!

(I should add here that serious study needs to be balanced out by serious praise. You’ll see many examples of jubilant praise in the Psalms. Being over-intellectual or over-stoical is just as bad as being over-emotional. Balance is the key, which is why Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 emphasizes “There is a time for everything”).

Allow me to reiterate: One of the reasons it’s important to grasp these basics of spiritual warfare is so that you’ll recognize when you’re being assaulted by the kingdom of darkness. After all, you can’t very well resist in faith if you’re not even sure you’re under attack.

The Person of God vs. the Principles of God’s Kingdom

Some may respond by pointing out that they know certain believers who love the LORD with all their hearts, but they’re not walking in victory over one or more of these curses. The reason for this is simple: There’s a difference between the person of God and the principles of his kingdom. It’s possible to be genuinely tight with the Lord but ignorant of the principles of the kingdom, including the fundamental truths of spiritual warfare. Similarly, it’s possible for an unbeliever who doesn’t even know the LORD to apply the principles of God’s Word in certain areas and be blessed to some degree.

In short, there are highly spiritual Christians out there who are overcome by these curses sheerly due to ignorance! Meanwhile the devil’s having himself a big laugh. And he throws a wild party when some of these dear brothers and sisters inevitably mold their theology to accommodate their defeated experiences. The remedy for this is simple: knowledge. Hosea 4:6 says that God’s people are destroyed because of lack of knowledge – not Satan, not twelve legions of demons, not people, not a bad economy, not negative circumstances, but lack of knowledge. The sole antidote to lack of knowledge is accurate knowledge. Proverbs 11:9 says that the righteous escape through knowledge.

Make no mistake, your biggest enemy is ignorance. It takes one key to open a treasure chest. Just so, you may be one principle of wisdom away from unlocking floodgates of blessing in your life! Even if you’re ten or twenty principles away, the proof of longing is PURSUIT: “Get wisdom, get understanding… Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding” (Proverbs 4:5, 7 emphasis added).

Distinguishing S.I.T.s, M.I.T.s and D.I.T.s

David Servant came up with a good way to categorize human trials in his book God’s Test – S.I.T.s, M.I.T.s and D.I.T.s.

  1. S.I.T.s refer to Self-Inflicted Trials, like when someone bangs up his/her body due to careless snow skiing or gets nausea after eating too much unhealthy food. In both cases the pain the individual suffers isn’t some diabolic plot, but simply the person’s own foolish choices and actions.
  2. M.I.T.s refer to Maturing/testing Intended Trials, which include the five general curses detailed above. Take Job’s trials as documented in the first three chapters of Job. God permitted Satan to assault Job with the five general curses for the purpose of testing his motivations. Was Job so godly and devout solely for God’s blessings? Would he curse the Almighty or deny his existence if his many blessings were temporarily removed? Although Job severely vented to God in his misery and frustration he didn’t turn away from him and therefore passed the test. God restored him. When new covenant believers are attacked by one or more of these five curses we need to recognize it for what it is – an attack of the enemy – and resist in faith, like Paul in the many examples detailed above. If we do this, the devil will flee like a pathetic cur with his tail between his legs (James 4:7) and we will experience greater maturity or favor with God as a result.
  3. D.I.T.s refer to Discipline Intended Trials, which refer to God permitting us to be inflicted by one or more of the five general curses as a means of rebuke for disobedience. This is why some of the carnal Corinthians were sick or prematurely died, because they brought judgment on themselves due to disobedience (1 Corinthians 11:27-31). The same thing with a woman in the church at Thyatira and the people who were foolishly following her bad example. Jesus said he gave them time to repent but they were unwilling so he was going to inflict some of them with sickness (“a bed of suffering”) and even strike some of them “dead” (Revelation 2:20-23).

 

Needless to say, when we experience one or more of the five general curses – physical illness, mental illness, poverty or financial lack, human attack and defeat, or the threat of premature death – we need to ask ourselves if it’s a S.I.T, a M.I.T. or a D.I.T. If it’s a Self-Inflicted Trial, we simply need to acknowledge our folly in the matter and make the necessary changes. If it’s a Maturing/testing Intended Trial, we should “fight the good fight of faith” with perseverance and victory will be ours. If it’s a Discipline Intended Trial, we need to seek the Lord concerning what it was we did to incur his discipline, humbly acknowledge it, and repent, i.e. change for the better.

For example, two weeks ago I got back from a 5-day vacation in the Breckenridge, Colorado, area and it was just awesome, and inexpensive to boot. Unfortunately, when I got home I copped a grumbling attitude due to some minor grievances. Instead of overflowing with thankfulness for my wonderful God-given vacation I allowed some small mishaps to damper my attitude to the point of being childish. Sickness immediately came upon me and I fought it in faith but it wasn’t working. Then I knew – God was rebuking me for my negative, complaining spirit. Once I realized this, I humbly repented and resisted in faith. I was then delivered from the illness.

Something similar happened to my wife this past week. Carol’s a healing warrior and the epitome of health, but she came down with a sickness that was spreading around the office. Yet, when she tried to fight it off with faith it wasn’t happening. She then knew by the Spirit that it was a D.I.T. She had been holding a minor grudge against a subordinate at work because she caught him speaking negatively about her behind her back. She confronted him and he apologized, but she maintained an attitude against him. In other words, she didn’t truly forgive him despite his apology. Once she got the matter straightened out with the Lord, she resisted her sickness in faith and it left her. This disciplinary trial lasted 24-hours in total.

If you’re faced with such suffering you need to search your heart and deal with it accordingly. You’ll instinctively know in your spirit if it’s a Discipline Intended Trial, unless of course you’re arrogant and stubborn. If it is a D.I.T., immediately make things right with the LORD and then fight the good fight of faith. Victory is promised in your covenant and the enemy has no recourse but to flee. And please don’t get too down on yourself because “the Lord disciplines those he loves” (Hebrews 12:5-8 emphasis added). You’re his precious child and he doesn’t want you walking in the ways of the world.

Now, someone might point out that Discipline Intended Trials complicate the issue because they require the believer to determine if the malady in question is an attack from the kingdom of darkness for righteousness’ sake or a disciplinary measure on God’s part due to unrepentant disobedience. Well, that’s just the way it is. Besides, this very factor calls for an actual relationship with the LORD, which is what true Christianity is all about and separates it from mere human religion. What do I mean? If a believer has a genuine relationship with God s/he will be able to fairly easily discern if the curse in question is the result of a M.I.T. or a D.I.T, as Carol and I did in the two examples above. On the other hand, believers who fail to cultivate such a relationship will have a harder time distinguishing M.I.T.s from D.I.T.s. So, in reality, this is a great spur to go deeper in God!

Spiritual Warfare and Human Attack

As you can see, one of the five general assaults involves human attack through no fault of your own, meaning you did nothing to deserve the mistreatment; people are attacking you simply because you’re light and they’re darkness, you’re spiritual and they’re carnal, you’re of God and they’re of the devil. This type of polarizing language is no more popular in today’s politically correct climate than it was in the first century, but it’s what the Bible clearly teaches as shown in 2 Corinthians 6:14-18. While this passage is not addressing Christian ethics (Jesus and Paul had regular associations with unbelievers, albeit not intimate relationships) it certainly does distinguish between believer and unbeliever, of which the latter includes counterfeit believers, i.e. modern-day Pharisaical religionists.

When you realize that such an attack is spiritual in nature – in other words, it’s not just that person attacking you, he or she is backed up and manipulated by spiritual forces of evil – it changes your mindset on the situation and helps you effectively strategize for victory.

Let me give an example: I was working a secular job years ago, walking down a hallway, when I overheard two guys behind me mocking and laughing. Since I did nothing wrong to deserve such treatment I recognized it as a spiritually motivated attack. I didn’t allow their derogatory and disrespectful antics to get me down; I didn’t turn around and start cussing or challenge them to a brawl. The Bible teaches that the spiritual believer should avoid quick-temperedness and violence, as far as is possible (Titus 1:7). In fact, a smile beamed on my face and I was laughing in my heart at how pathetic they were because, whether they knew it or not, they were the devil’s little puppets. I maintained a completely peaceable spirit toward them, gave thanks and praise to God, and prayed for them, which released God’s will and power into the situation. In essence I just waved them off as bothersome gnats. Within ten days there were some cuts at the workplace and they were both removed.

What happened? I refused to handle the situation in the flesh, which would’ve automatically tied up the hands of God. I “overcame evil with good” according to Romans 12:14-21 and the Lord was released to take care of the situation for me. It was no sweat.

Here’s another example: Years ago, I observed an enemy at work talking with another employee, “Joe,” whom I got along with. When I saw them together the Holy Spirit revealed to me that this enemy was poisoning Joe’s mind against me. Sure enough, about half an hour later I came in contact with Joe in a secluded room and saw the hostility on his face. Even though there was another worker with him, he immediately started yelling and cussing at me. The other guy was aghast and remained silent. I searched my spirit to receive instructions from the Holy Spirit and He moved me to say nothing and show no hostility. So I just looked at him with a blank face and said nothing; in other words, I overlooked the insults, which is a wise Biblical principle when applicable (Proverbs 12:16). I finished my work, and left the room.

I should point out that Joe was an overweight man, out of shape and well into his 50s. Needless to say, I wasn’t afraid of him. I knew if it came down to it I could take him in a physical challenge, but I didn’t consider this an option since my fight isn’t with people, not to mention two adults brawling in the workplace (or anywhere) is childish. There are exceptions, of course, like self-defense, but it would depend on the leading of the Holy Spirit. No, my fight was with the dark powers behind the assault. Consequently, I prayed for Joe over the next several days and cast my cares. Again, prayer is the catalyst that releases God and his will into a situation on earth. And when the light of the LORD’s presence appears darkness flees.

As it turned out, I saw Joe about a week later and he went out of his way to be nice to me and treat me with respect. He was overtly smiling and making good-natured jokes. This was his way of apologizing and saying, in effect, “I’m sorry for the way I treated you last week, Dirk; it was wrong and I hope we can still be friends.” It’s important to read between the lines in situations like this as people can apologize without necessarily spelling it out, particularly men who often have a hard time with anything bordering on sappy. Take, for example, the criminal Jesus forgave while hanging on the cross (Luke 23:39-43); Jesus forgave him and promised salvation even though the man never verbalized repentance, but Jesus discerned his genuine change of heart. Besides, communication isn’t limited to words; my pets communicate with me all the time in various ways beyond words.

In both these cases I was able to resist my flesh’s knee-jerk compulsion to lash back because I understand the dynamics of spiritual warfare. I know my covenant (agreement) with God and fully realize that my fight is not with flesh and blood but with the spiritual forces of evil underpinning the attacks (Ephesians 6:12). Any type of verbal or physical resistance of human enemies is an option to be resorted to as led of the Holy Spirit, usually a last-resort, but not always, e.g. Paul and an antagonistic magician as shown in Acts 13:8-12.

Years before I met my wife she worked at a department store where she was faced with a hostile situation. Carol’s the quintessence of sweetness; there’s not a single rude or mean bone in her body. Without reason, a surly lady in charge of receiving took a serious dislike to Carol and heaped on the abuse. One day she came home from work in tears the mistreatment was so bad. Discussing the matter with management didn’t help, if anything it made it worse. Most realize that situations like this can make the work environment a living hell. Carol was at her wits end and simply didn’t know what to do. Although she was a Christian she wasn’t the Word-warrior she is today and so wasn’t up on the Scriptural techniques for overcoming evil with good. Fortunately the LORD brought the Word to her another way. In a dream she was clearly shown that she needed to pray for her enemy, so that’s what she did. Carol refused to repay evil for evil, insult for insult and slander for slander. Instead she “killed” the lady with kindness and bathed the matter in prayer behind the scenes, which – again – is the vehicle that releases God’s will and power into situations. Carol discerned a gradual change in the woman over the next several weeks until the woman actually befriended her and couldn’t say enough good things about her!

I’m not promising the exact same results when you face your enemies. Situations and people vary and the LORD’s will is the principle thing. What God’s Word promises is that you won’t be defeated by your foes as you implement the principles of overcoming evil with good and persevere in faith. For instance, I had an enemy at work years ago who routinely mocked me to others (but not to my face) and habitually stirred up strife. I regularly implemented the appropriate Scriptural techniques and was able to generally get along with the man. I prayed for him for literal years, but he never warmed up to spiritual things and it seemed like the LORD refused to remove him from my life. It wasn’t until almost ten years that he was taken out due to budget cuts. In the meantime I learned a lot about dealing with enemies, patience and overcoming evil with good, not to mention it kept me humble. The latter is more important than most of us realize as the LORD is very interested in his children cultivating and maintaining a humble spirit because his favor only flows to the humble, not the arrogant (see Proverbs 3:34, James 4:6, 1 Peter 5:5 & Proverbs 14:6).

As you can see, it is of supreme benefit to grasp the basics of spiritual warfare when faced with such situations. It’ll keep you active and free from the ruts of helplessness, frustration, self-pity or bitterness. It’ll empower you to activate the principle of overcoming evil with good and pave the way for ultimate victory. Even in the last example above I had the eventual victory, it’s just that this case took more prayer, effort and patience than I was used to, but it was for my ultimate good because it made me stronger and meeker (not weaker).

Remember, knowledge is the key to empowerment and success, as it is written:

A wise man has great power, and a man of knowledge increases strength;

Proverbs 24:5

This article was edited from chapter 7 of…

Related Topics:

Armor & Weaponry of God

Spiritual Warfare — Do You know What You’re Fighting For?

The BASICS of Christianity

Understanding GENTLE LOVE and TOUGH LOVE

John was the great “apostle of love” who wrote the Bible’s “epistle of love” (1 John), yet notice this interesting instruction he gave concerning judging the fruit of false teachers in the church:

If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take him into your house or welcome him. (11) Anyone who welcomes him shares in his wicked work.

2 John 1:10-11

What “teaching” is John talking about? He’s referring to what he just taught in the brief letter, which was that believers should live lives of love, follow the Word, and acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh (verses 5-9). So-called believers who teach or live contrary to this are not to be welcomed into our houses! The phrase “If anyone comes to you” indicates that John was talking about those who go from house to house, church to church or Bible study to Bible study hawking their hatred and false doctrines. We’re to disassociate from them as far as close familial relations go since welcoming them would be tantamount to approval and “sharing in their wicked work.”

According to our quaint modern notions of love and niceness, which includes unconditional tolerance, this instruction appears decidedly unloving. Much of Christendom today embraces this sentiment but the Bible teaches otherwise. As always, we need to be balanced on the issue. Yes, there’s a soft side to agape love, but there’s also a hard side, often referred to as “tough love.” This hard type of love isn’t at odds with the softer variety; it goes hand-and-hand with it. After all, John’s instruction to walk in tough love above is preceded by this admonishment to live lives of love:

I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another. (6) And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.

2 John 1:5-6

As you can see, John stressed living a life of love and even defines love as walking in obedience to God’s commands, which is supported by numerous other passages (1 John 5:3, John 14:15, 14:21, 14:23-24 & 15:10). Needless to say, if people say they love God but refuse to walk according to His Word or obey the instructions of the Holy Spirit they’re not, in fact, loving him.

The Full Definition of Agape Love

When you think of love in a non-romantic sense what automatically comes to mind? Usually things like niceness, patience and peaceableness, right? These are all accurate descriptions of agape love, but observe the full Biblical definition:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. (5) It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. (6) Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. (7) It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

A whole book could be written on this simple passage, but I’d like to focus on the fact that love is much more than just being nice. Yes, “love is kind” but sometimes doing what is kind or good may not necessarily be what is nice. What do you do when you see a dear brother keep falling back into booze or drugs as a crutch, limiting his life and destroying it? You’ve been patient and have continued to encourage him and pray for him, for months or years, but he keeps sliding back into his pet sin and you know one day he may not come out of it. I’ve seen it happen. In such cases the kindest thing you can possibly do is offer a sharp correction or warning by bluntly telling him the truth. After all, didn’t Jesus say it’s the truth that will set us free? Sometimes people need to hear the awful truth before they’re willing to embrace the gospel truth. For instance, you may be provoked in your spirit to say (or yell): “Why are you idolizing alcohol (or drugs)?! Why are you ruining your life?! Turn away from this foolishness – seek the LORD while he may still be found!!” Such an approach may not be nice, but it may be the very thing that’ll snap the man out of his carnal stupor. What would provoke you or any person to such un-nice measures? It’s simple: You can’t stand seeing evil and folly swallow up someone you love. This is tough love. Verse 6 says “Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.”

The Balance of Gentle Love and Tough Love

Are there examples of this type of “tough love” in the New Testament? Of course. Jesus called Peter “Satan” for being a mouthpiece for the devil (Matthew 16:23). Let’s keep in mind, however, that Jesus also highly commended Peter in the very same chapter just a handful of verses earlier (17-19). This shows balance – Jesus didn’t hesitate to commend people’s positive qualities, yet had no qualms about correcting folly or evil either. This is the equilibrium of gentle love and tough love. Another good example is Paul’s open rebuke of Peter in front of others for his hypocrisy (Galatians 2:11-14). Of course the most extreme example of tough love is when Jesus cleansed the temple of selfish, greedy riff-raff, which he did twice – once at the beginning of his ministry (John 2:13-17) and later near the end (Matthew 21:12-13). Although it wasn’t his normal every-day manner, Jesus threw over tables, scattered coins, cracked a whip, yelled and chased people & animals out, hardly the actions of a nice-guy doormat. And no one dared challenge him; he was a holy terror, pure and simple. How do we explain these nigh shocking accounts? Doesn’t the Bible say God is love (1 John 4:8,16)? Isn’t Jesus one with the Father (John 10:30 & John 1:1)? Absolutely, but some situations call for the softer side of love and some the hard side. We have to be led of the Spirit realizing that sometimes doing the good thing may not be the nice thing.

This, incidentally, disproves the theory that the fruit of the spirit stem only from ‘feminine’ softness rather than ‘masculine’ sternness. If you’re not familiar with this position, it postulates that a Christian man must deviate from the fruit of the spirit in order to walk in his true masculine strength because the fruits of the spirit are feminine in nature. In short, if a man walks in masculine power he can’t at the same time produce fruit of the spirit. This is nonsense and wholly unbiblical.

The fruits of the spirit are diverse and perfectly balance each other out. For instance, although gentleness is a fruit of the spirit, so is power (Acts 1:8 & 1 Corinthians 4:20). The Greek word for power is dunamis, which is where we get the English dynamite. Does “dynamite power” sound soft and gentle or potent and explosive? Jesus walked in this power when he radically cleared the temple, which amazed the onlookers and provoked fear in the religionists (Mark 11:18). Also, consider the fact that, although ‘kindness’ can mean “niceness,” that’s not all it means. As illustrated above, sometimes the kindest thing you can do for a person is to make a judgment of his/her bad fruit and offer a much-needed wake-up call. Goodness is also a fruit of the spirit but, again, sometimes doing what is good for a person or situation may not be very nice or lovey-dovey. For instance, when Peter sharply corrected Simon the sorcerer he wasn’t being nice, but he was definitely producing the fruits of love, kindness and goodness (Acts 8:9-24). Similarly, when we read of Paul’s open rebuke of Elymas the sorcerer (Acts 13:8-12) it may not seem very loving to modern Westernized readers, but nothing could be further from the truth. Paul did this deceitful trickster the kindest thing possible – he told him the awful truth about himself in order to spur repentance. It can’t be argued that Paul wasn’t producing fruit of the spirit because the text plainly states that he was “filled with the Holy Spirit” when he judged and rebuked the magician (verse 9). As noted earlier, righteousness is also a fruit of the spirit (Ephesians 5:9 & Philippians 1:11); sometimes doing the right thing may not necessarily be the polite thing.

The “Eli Syndrome”

Consider Eli, the priest at Shiloh. His two sons were “in the ministry” but are described in the Bible as wicked men who had no regard for the LORD and even fornicated with the young women who served at the tabernacle! Read it yourself in 1 Samuel 2:12,17,22. Although Eli rebuked his sons at one point it’s clear that his heart wasn’t in it, so to speak, and his sons continued in their wicked ways (verses 23-25). What was going on there? Eli loved his sons, as any parent, but he foolishly only loved them with soft, feminine love. This was a huge mistake and ultimately resulted in God’s judgment, which entailed the premature death of both sons, as well as the capture of the Ark of the Covenant, Eli’s own death, the death of his daughter-in-law and the departure of God’s anointing from his direct bloodline (1 Samuel 4:11,18-22). This could have all been avoided if only Eli was willing to love his sons with the necessary tough love, which would involve more than just a half-hearted verbal correction. It would mean a stern public rebuke and removal from the ministry altogether until they humbly repented and proved themselves. Loving his sons solely with gentle love resulted in their deaths whereas implementing tough love would have saved them. Are you getting this? Tough love would have literally saved their lives, not to mention Eli’s ministry. It goes without saying that tough love is sometimes necessary. It’s a good thing, not bad.

You’ll occasionally see evidence of this “Eli Syndrome” in today’s churches. A pastor will grant status to some undeserving kin, usually children, grandchildren or siblings, which doesn’t necessarily have to be an official position. The pastor will then tend to condone the relatives’ carnal antics, making excuses for them, etc. As long as you get along with these relatives you’ll have the pastor’s favor, but if you dare take a stand against any carnality you’ll be blacklisted in one way or another and eventually forced to leave. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. Like Eli, the pastor may offer a weak verbal correction for appearances sake while the relatives continue to wreak havoc, overtly or covertly. There’s only one sad end to the Eli Syndrome: The corruption of the ministry as sin works like yeast through the dough of the fellowship and the inevitable departure of God’s presence and anointing. If only the pastor would implement tough love!

“Do Everything in Love”

We must remember that loving God is the greatest commandment and to love God means to obey his commands, which includes obeying the promptings of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 22:37-40 & 1 John 5:3). Hence, when Jesus radically cleared the temple it was an act of love – love for God and love for the people. This was no time for gentle, soft love; it was time to break out the whip and render tough love by the dynamite power of the Holy Spirit!

This brings to mind Paul’s directive to the Corinthians: “be men of courage; be strong. Do everything in love” (1 Corinthians 16:13-14). There will be occasions that call for decisiveness, boldness and raw spiritual passion, like when Jesus vigorously chased the fools out, but the foundation of any such actions must always be agape love – love for God and love for people. Make no mistake, Jesus did those ungodly clods a favor when he sternly rebuked them and drove them out of the temple on two separate occasions. Those who possessed even an iota of wisdom learned an unforgettable life-changing lesson. Wisdom declares: “Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses” (Proverbs 27:5-6).

Agape love is the primary fruit of the spirit and is, in fact, the fruit of the spirit; all the other fruits are manifestations of agape love (Colossians 3:12-14 & 1 Corinthians 13:4-7). If we’re to “do everything in love,” as Scripture instructs, this means that we’re producing fruit of the spirit even when we’re spiritually compelled to do something audacious and seemingly unloving, like when Jesus openly rebuked the religionists as “blind fools,” “snakes” and “brood of vipers” (Matthew 23). In other words, the believer is still producing fruit of the spirit when s/he shifts to tough love mode and potentially becomes a holy terror. Are you following? Producing fruit of the spirit entails more than just 24/7 sugary sweetness.

When Paul wrote to the Corinthian believers they were decidedly immature, characterized by divisions, jealousies and quarrels rather than godliness, as shown in 1 Corinthians 3:1-3. Paul likely had Jesus’ whip-cracking example in mind when he said: “What do you prefer? Shall I come to you with a whip, or in love with a gentle spirit?” (1 Corinthians 4:21). Obviously Paul would prefer to come to them in a spirit of gentle love but was prepared to break out the whip, figuratively speaking, and dish out the tough love if necessary. Can you imagine a minister saying this to a worldly congregation today? It would be scandalous. “How dare he! He’s supposed to be our servant!”

“Blows and Wounds Cleanse Away Evil”

This brings to mind the proverb: “Blows and wounds cleanse away evil, and beatings purge the inmost being” (Proverbs 20:30). The text isn’t advocating abuse, of course, and some would contend that it’s only applicable to parents properly disciplining their children, yet there’s no indication that it’s limited to this. The proverb is a general truth, period. Yes, proper parental discipline will certainly drive out the folly bound up in the heart of a child, as shown in Proverbs 22:15, but what about children who are not trained in this manner by wise, loving parents? They’d still have evil bound up in them as adults since their parents or guardians failed to deal with it. I know firsthand because I was one of them. Unless they pursue and discover wisdom on their own, which is certainly a possibility, the only way their folly will be purged is via society’s rod of discipline or life’s blows. Such “discipline” can come in many forms.

Some people, even professing Christians, are so calloused, so arrogant, so disrespectful, so insulting, so demeaning, so deceitful, so greedy, so hypocritical, so selfish, so malicious, so slanderous or so Pharisaical that the only thing that’s going to provoke positive change is a severe blow, like a sharp rebuke, jail or literally getting the tar beat out of them. Don’t attempt to shield them from such blows in the name of so-called love. It’s precisely what they need.

This reminds me of a Vietnam vet I worked with years ago. He was fifty years old and virtually homeless – he had no vehicle and lived off & on at his girlfriend’s apartment. He was a great guy to work with, but he was obsessed with alcohol. It was his favorite topic of discussion. Although he didn’t allow his alcoholism to interfere with work, it was clear he had a huge problem. Then one day he just mysteriously disappeared. It turned out he was at some bar flapping his jaws one weekend and got beat up so bad he had to go to the hospital. After about ten days he finally called me from a distant VA hospital testifying that he was done with booze and needed to sober up before reentering society. This verifies the truth of the above proverb – “beatings purge the inmost being.” It took the wake-up call of a severe beating to effectively purge his soul of alcohol idolatry.

Now, tell me, was getting beat up a bad thing for this man or a good thing? It was a negative experience, to be sure, yet it produced positive results. The few months I worked with the guy I regularly prayed for him, and intercessory prayer is the vehicle that releases God into lives and situations. The LORD obviously resorted to tough love to set him free from a destructive life-dominating sin problem. There was no other way.

A good example from the Bible is Nehemiah, the godly leader of the rebuilding of Jerusalem and governor of Judah for many years. After spending some time in Persia he returned to Jerusalem only to find the Israelites sliding back into error. Some Judean men had married pagan women and half their children couldn’t even speak Hebrew or Aramaic. This was opposed to Mosaic Law (Deuteronomy 7:3), as well as Ezra’s relatively recent reforms (Ezra 9-10). Nehemiah was a righteous man and powerful leader in whom an entire book of the Bible is named. How did this great man of God handle this situation? He rebuked these men, citing Solomon’s pathetic fall as the quintessential example of this type of folly; in fact, he beat some of them up (Nehemiah 13:23-27)! Why did he do this? Because “blows and wounds cleanse away evil.” Such radical measures were necessary in view of the seriousness of the situation – Nehemiah was attempting to reestablish Jerusalem and God’s holy nation after a horrible Babylonian exile that lasted many decades. There could be zero tolerance for fools who would stubbornly forsake God’s Word in such vital areas.

Since striking someone except in self-defense is against the law in most cultures today, I’m obviously not advocating beating people up in the name of tough love, as Nehemiah did. But a stern rebuke may sometimes be in order or some type of bold stand or audacious display, e.g. throwing over tables, yelling, scattering coins or cracking a whip. Jesus did all of these. It wasn’t an everyday occurrence, of course, but the Scriptures show that he did such things on at least two occasions. It’s righteous radicalness. If you’re moved to such actions, be sure you’re led of the Spirit, like Jesus, and not of the flesh or you yourself will be at fault and culpable of rebuke. Never be a hotheaded, reckless fool (Proverbs 14:16) and always shun the fleshly bent toward authoritarianism and machismo posturing. I can’t stress this enough.

No Condo!

Speaking of authoritarianism, this includes the spirit of condemnation, or “condo” for short. What is a spirit of condemnation? It’s when a minister regularly tears down and beats up a congregation, which is an abuse of the pulpit. Such ministers tend to motivate others based on shame, e.g. “You’re not reading the Word of God like you should! (Or witnessing or praying or coming to church or giving, etc.) And you call yourself a Christian?” The obvious root of this type of wicked spirit is arrogance, which is a superiority complex. How so? When these ministers tear down others they automatically elevate themselves. Its pride, pure and simple, and it’s truly sad when ministers fall into such a religionist rut. Sometimes they never get out and, if they do, it’s either due to intense intercession or because someone dared to walk in tough love and openly correct them, or both.

The spirit of condo is completely at odds with the true ministerial spirit, which Paul summed up nicely when he spoke of the authority ministers have for building believers up and not tearing them down (2 Corinthians 10:8 & 13:10). He also stressed this in Ephesians 4:11-12 where he pointed out the purpose of all fivefold ministers: “to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up” (emphasis added).

It goes without saying that if you’re hooked up with a church where the pastor regularly tears down the congregation, and is stubborn and unrepentant about it, head for the hills! Never submit to a spirit of condemnation. Pray about it, boldly confront it as led of the Spirit and, if necessary, disassociate from it. Make no mistake, if you unwisely opt to tolerate such a spirit you’ll be poisoned one way or another because “Bad company corrupts good character” (1 Corinthians 15:33). It’s an axiom.

Strive for a Balanced Love Walk

Needless to say, we need to keep a balanced perspective when it comes to our love walk. Like Jesus, Paul, Peter, John and others, take the middle road between the extremes of soft love and tough love, moving to one extreme or another as the situation demands and as led of the Spirit. Avoid being one-dimensional. The LORD’s not one-dimensional and we’re called to imitate Him (Ephesians 5:1). Being a perpetually passive doormat that enables people to continue in their error is not what the Bible encourages, nor does it advocate being a rash fool who’s overly gung-ho with confronting and rebuking, which is abusive and usually results in unnecessary strife. Some situations call for the more gentle forms of agape, while others the harder variety. Stubbornly holding to a one-dimensional (and erroneous) notion of agape is sloppy agape. Stay in prayer and trust your spiritual instincts. If you miss it, be honest about it, get cleaned up (1 John 1:9), and continue on in love toward God and people, which are the two most important commands (Matthew 22:35-40).

For details see our corresponding video:

Related Topics:

Is There Such a Thing as RIGHTEOUS ANGER?

Jesus Christ — Milksop or Mighty Lord?

Law of Christ—What is It?

Ministerial Abuse — The Diotrephes Spirit vs. the Davidic Spirit

Ministerial Pitfalls and Abuses

Dealing with Personal Offenses vs. Criminal Acts

Pacifism — Absolute Pacifism (Unbiblical) and Limited Pacifism (Biblical)

Military Service — Is it Okay for Believers to Serve in the Armed Forces?

This article was edited from chapter 5 of…

What Are the BASICS OF PRAYER?

Prayer simply means communion with God. It’s talking with your Creator. Jesus’ disciples asked him how to pray and this was his response:

“This then is how you should pray:

Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen”

Matthew 6:9-13

This is typically referred to as “the Lord’s prayer” and people sometimes pray it word-for-word, particularly when the occasion calls for a ritualistic or brief prayer to open or close ceremonies. This is fine, but it’s really not a prayer to be spoken by rote. “The Lord’s prayer” is actually an outline of different types of prayer. It’s a prayer skeleton that needs to be filled in with the “flesh” of our spontaneous prayers according to our unique expressions, communion, needs or desires and the specific people and situations touching us. The outline can be broken down as such:

As you can see, each part of “the Lord’s Prayer” refers to a specific type of prayer. Let’s look at four of them a little closer:

“Our Father in heaven”

This refers to communion with God since the believer is addressing God as his or her “Father.” ‘Father’ indicates familial relationship and relationship requires communication, hence fellowship. Christianity at its core is a relationship with the Creator of the universe, which is why the gospel is referred to as the message of reconciliation in 2 Corinthians 5:18-20. I encourage all believers to cultivate an intimate relationship with their heavenly Father where you’re in constant communion throughout the day, even when you’re in bed. Paul referred to this as “praying without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17 KJV) and the “fellowship of the Holy Spirit” (2 Corinthians 13:14).

Please notice, by the way, that Jesus instructed us to pray to the Father, not to him (Matthew 6:9). Praying to the Father in the name of Jesus is prayer protocol (John 16:23).

“Hallowed be your name”

This type of prayer refers to praise & worship. To ‘hallow’ means to honor as holy and venerate, that is, treat with respect and reverence. God’s name represents the Creator Himself so we are to hallow the Great “I Am.” The only way you can accomplish this in prayer is by telling him. Praise is celebration and includes thanksgiving, raving and boasting, whereas worship is adoration. Praise naturally attracts God’s presence and is in accordance with the law of respect: What you respect moves toward you while what you don’t respect moves away from you. Worship, on the other hand, is adoration or awe, and is the response to being in his presence. See Psalm 95:1-7 and Psalm 100 for verification.

We could further differentiate praise & worship as such:

Every believer is called to deeper praise & worship. It will literally revolutionize your life, as it has mine and continues to do so.

“Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

This type of prayer is not talking about praying for Jesus’ return and the set-up of his eternal kingdom on earth, whether in the Millennium or eternally, it’s talking about the principle of binding & loosing in this “present evil age.” This means now. Do you want God’s kingdom to reign in your life and the lives of others? You have to release it through prayer. Do you want God’s will to be done in your life and the lives of others? You have to loose it via prayer. In other words, God’s kingdom will not come and reign on this earth unless a believer releases it through prayer and action; and God’s will is not done on earth unless the church looses his will via prayer and action. Simply put, believers have the power to bind the kingdom of darkness and loose the kingdom of light. See Matthew 16:19 & 18:18-19. The principle of binding & loosing is covered in detail in the article Spiritual Warfare — The Basics.

“Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”

When in prayer believers need to be honest and transparent with their Creator. He knows everything anyway so you might as well be transparent. Cultivate and maintain a humble, pliable heart that’s open to correction. We need to always be willing to search our hearts – our attitudes, motives and actions – and make adjustments where necessary. Never put off repentance; make it a priority. This keeps our spiritual arteries clear and life flowing, whereas unconfessed sin will clog them up and block God’s power. Humility attracts God’s favor and he forgives the repentant.

Similarly, we need to extend grace to those who sin against us and humbly repent. That’s what this type of prayer refers to: forgiving those we should forgive. It shouldn’t be misinterpreted to mean we’re obligated to forgive everyone for everything all the time, no conditions whatsoever, because Jesus didn’t teach this and the Bible doesn’t support it. Take, for instance, the unrepentant brother in Jesus’ illustration from Matthew 18:15-17. Since the man refused to repent Jesus instructed that his sin should be held against him. He was to be defellowshipped and regarded as a non-believer until he repents. Paul dealt with a real-life situation like this and instructed the Corinthians to do the same (1 Corinthians 5:1-5). Thankfully, the man later repented and therefore Paul encouraged the believers to warmly welcome him back into their fellowship (2 Corinthians 2:6-11). Luke 17:3-4 is another example.

Closing Word & Blessing

The other types of prayer from Jesus’ outline of prayer are self-explanatory and I encourage you to practice and develop in each area.

God Bless You as You Seek & Serve!

This article is available in book form (with way more detail) as chapter 18 of…

Both links allow you to “look inside” the book.

Related Topics:

Prayer — Communing with God (scroll down to the section “Communing with God” since the first part is an abridged repeat of this article)

Support for PRAISE & WORSHIP in the Bible

The BASICS of Christianity

PROPHETS — New Testament and Old Testament (There’s a Difference)

Beware of Authoritarian Prophets

There are misunderstandings regarding the gift of the prophet in the Church; and false teachings as well. For instance, I’ve heard it taught that when a prophet prophesies over a believer the believer is obligated to obey the prophecy to the letter and that church leaders are to hold him or her accountable to it. For instance, if the believer feels she wants to leave the assembly, for whatever reason, but is informed that she must stay because it was prophesied that she belonged to that fellowship. Or if the believer intends on going to college or start a career but he’s told he can’t because the prophet prophesied that he was to be a missionary to Africa (or whatever). Absurd, you say? It’s been known to happen, typically in Pentecostal churches that adopt an authoritarian spirit.

This is obviously a form of bondage. It’s using the gift of prophecy for the purpose of manipulating people. Manipulation like this is condemned in the New Testament. It’s a form of authoritarian abuse where the prophet’s words are viewed as the spoken Word of God to which the believer cannot disagree.

Before I say anything else, I want to stress what a wonderful gift prophecy is to the church. Prophecies are very encouraging and are able to touch believers in that specific area where they need ministered. For example, Acts 15:32 says, “Judas and Silas, who themselves were prophets, said much to encourage and strengthen the brothers.” This is the purpose of the prophetic gift in the Church and reveals why it is so necessary – it encourages and strengthens believers. The original Greek word for ‘encourage’ in this passage means “to cause to move forward.” In other words, a prophetic word will inspire believers and provoke them to go forward and fulfill God’s call on their lives. Have you ever been in the spiritual doldrums where you’re not necessarily walking in sin, but you just seem to lack that spiritual drive and passion for the Lord and your calling? The gift of prophecy has the ability to wake believers from such doldrums and spark them onward! It’s an awesome gift and a needed gift. As such, the office of the prophet should be valued and esteemed in the Church. Unfortunately, too many assemblies and sects are ignorant of it or, for various reasons, the gift lies dormant.

While the word of prophecy is important and necessary in the Church this does not condone the abuse of it where people are made to feel like they’re in bondage to a prophetic word that may be off or even completely wrong. Nor does it condone the dictatorial antics of prophets who think their prophecies are the inerrant Word of God which must be blindly accepted and obeyed to the letter.

Confusing New Testament Prophets with Old Testament Prophets

The reason such abuse exists is because believers are largely ignorant of the gift of prophecy in the New Testament era. They confuse the office of the Old Testament prophet with that of the New Testament prophet, which shouldn’t be done because they’re very different. In the Old Testament, what the prophet said was equal to the Word of the LORD and kings made extremely important decisions at their word, like going to war. The primary purpose of the Old Testament prophet was to lead and guide Israel through the Word of the LORD and, in fact, a lot of their words became Holy Scripture and are included in what we know today as the Old Testament.

For this reason, the words of a prophet had to be 100% accurate. If their words were proven to be false, they were to no longer be regarded as prophets and, in fact, were to be put to death (Deuteronomy 18:20-22). If an Old Testament prophet missed it just once, they were done. This, of course, didn’t happen in cases where the king and other leaders were corrupt and actually wanted false prophets to comfort them with lies, which occurred all too often in Israel and Judah.

Jesus Christ was the last person to operate in the anointing of an Old Testament prophet (Hebrews 1:1-2) and, in fact, he was The Prophet that the Hebrews were waiting for almost 1500 years (Deuteronomy 18:15, John 6:14 & 7:40).

The New Testament prophet is different. The gift of prophecy was not given to the body of Christ for the purpose of leading and guiding God’s people, as was the case in the Old Testament, because believers are born-again spiritually and have the Holy Spirit within them for this very purpose. As Jesus said, “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come” (John16:13). Since it’s the Holy Spirit’s job to guide believers in the New Testament era, we don’t need the gift of prophecy for this function. So when a prophet prophesies over you and says you’re to do this or that or go here or there, don’t receive it unless the Spirit has already been leading you in this direction. In other words, prophecies in the New Testament are to confirm what the Holy Spirit has already been leading you to do. You could say it’s an external source to confirm or compliment the believer’s internal source of direction from God. I suppose it’s possible that the order could be reversed sometimes, particularly in cases where the believer isn’t sensitive to the moving of the Spirit, but both external and internal should match up.

There may be times, of course, when this is somewhat inapplicable because the prophet may warn you of a forthcoming negative situation, like a job loss. The purpose of this type of prophecy is to prepare you and encourage you to get through the negative situation. This was the function of Agabus’ prophecy to Paul when he warned him of the severe persecutions he was going to face in Jerusalem, which we’ll look at momentarily. With these types of prophecies, if the event doesn’t come to pass then the prophet obviously missed it and I’d be a little leery the next time he or she gives you such a word.

Why am I bringing all this up? Because in the New Testament era you are not in bondage to the words of some prophet who likes to throw his or her weight around. You are to be led and guided by the Holy Spirit, not a prophet. So if some prophet prophesies over you and it doesn’t bear witness with your spirit, throw it out! Never allow yourself to be manipulated into to doing something you don’t have a peace from God about doing!

Judging Prophecies in the New Testament Era

I want to prove to you beyond any shadow of doubt that you are not obligated to accept any prophecy spoken over you that you don’t have a peace about in your spirit. In fact, the New Testament repeatedly instructs believers to judge prophecies before embracing them.

Let’s look at three such passages, starting with:

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

1 John 4:1

As you can see, the topic is false prophets and their false prophesies, which is why he encourages believers to “test the spirits,” which means to try or examine the prophecy. If you have to test the prophecy then this means there’s the possibility that it might be wrong.

How do you test prophecies? (1.) By the Word of God, and (2.) by the leading of the Holy Spirit in your spirit. If a prophet says to a married woman, “You are to attend to my sexual needs” it can be thrown out as a false prophecy because it violates the morality of the bible; in fact, the “prophet” himself should no longer be considered a prophet since his “fruit” has exposed him (see Matthew 7:15-23). If a prophet tells you to quit your job in order to do such and such for the church and you don’t have a peace about it then don’t accept it. My wife, Carol, was at a church were someone told her that she was to do secretarial work for the church, even though they already had a secretary who didn’t work outside the church. This was to free-up the secretary to concentrate more on worship, etc. Carol rejected this “word from the Lord” right away because she already had her hands full with a full time job as a general manager. More importantly, she didn’t feel any moving by the Spirit to do secretarial work in her spare time. None. The woman who gave this word was a sincere woman of God, but she missed it on this occasion, pure and simple.

Let’s look at another passage:

Be joyful always; (17) pray continually; (18) give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

(19) Do not put out the Spirit’s fire; (20) do not treat prophecies with contempt. (21) Test everything. Hold on to the good.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-21

The reason I include verses 16-18 in this quote is to show that Paul was referring to all believers in Thessalonica and, as such, his words apply to all believers today.

With that understanding, he says that we are not to treat prophecies with contempt, meaning we should never look down on the gift of prophecy. Why would a believer be tempted to look down on prophesying? Because they’re not always 100% correct. You heard me. They’re not always completely accurate. Let me explain.

New Testament prophets speak by unction, that is, by spiritual influence. In other words, they pick something up in the spirit and speak by faith from there. Since those with the gift of prophecy are human beings and human beings are imperfect, it’s always possible for a person who’s prophesying to be inaccurate in some ways, even though they’re legitimately picking something up in the spirit. It might simply be a matter of immaturity or inexperience where they have not yet fully learned to distinguish the vile (flesh) from the precious (spirit).

For instance, someone with the gift of prophecy may legitimately pick something up in the spirit but may wrap their prophecy in their pet doctrine or their conviction. For instance, “Yea, I the LORD love thee greatly and you are greatly blessed, now go out and witness door-to-door in your neighborhood.” In this case, the prophet had an encouraging word from the Lord, but then throws in his own conviction.

This explains why Paul added “Test everything. Hold on to the good” after instructing believers not to hold prophecies in contempt. Why? Because it’s possible for the prophecy to be partially right-on and partially off. Keep in mind that there were no verse numbers in the original text. What I’m saying is that verses 20 and 21 go together. In verse 20 Paul’s talking about prophecies and then instructs the believers in verse 21 to test or judge every prophecy with the conclusion that they are to hold on to the good, that is, what is accurate.

Say a prophet gives you a personal prophecy but only half of it bears witness with your spirit. The rest of it simply doesn’t apply, and you know it. Should you discard the entire prophecy? No. Paul says to hold on to what is good. The rest of it should be thrown out or, at least, put on the shelf until you have a peace about it. Are you getting what God’s Word is saying? Don’t despise prophecies just because people with this gift miss it in certain ways now and then. The prophetic word is good because it encourages believers to move forward and fulfill their calling. Yet don’t just blindly embrace every jot and tittle prophesied over you. Only accept what you have a peace about, as confirmed by the Holy Spirit. Put the rest aside or throw it out entirely, if necessary. But please don’t throw out the person who prophesies or their ministry, unless of course their “fruit” has exposed them as false (Matthew 7:15-23).

Let’s look at one final passage on this matter:

Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said. (30) And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop. (31) For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged. (32) The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets. (33) For God is not a God of disorder but of peace.

1 Corinthians 14:29-33

This passage specifically addresses the New Testament prophet. It’s not talking about someone in the body who gives a prophecy, but those who are in the office of a prophet, which is part of the fivefold ministry (Ephesians 4:11-12). Like the two other passages above, this one stresses that believers should weigh carefully what the prophet says, meaning examine and judge it.

Some have suggested that “the others” refers to other prophets, as if the only valid people who can test the prophecy of a prophet are other prophets. This isn’t so for four reasons:

  1. The other two passages above say that believers in general are to examine and judge prophetic words. Why would this text change that?
  2. The natural reading of the passage shows that “the others” refers to the same people Paul was addressing in verse 26 where he said, “What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation.”
  3. Since Paul was clearly addressing all believers in verse 26 he would have naturally specified who “the others” were in verse 29 if he was referring only to prophets, but he didn’t.
  4. The notion that only another fivefold ministry prophet can judge a prophet’s words just doesn’t make sense and it creates all kinds of obvious difficulties. What if there’s no other prophet present at the church gathering, which is often the case? Would this mean that the believers would have to blindly embrace what the prophet says, including the pastor? Even if there are other prophets present, wouldn’t it be silly for the pastor to have to turn to another prophet and ask, “Is what he said true?” What if two or three prophets got into cahoots and agreed to agree with one another’s prophecy? In other words, this notion that only another prophet can judge a prophet’s prophecy opens the door for authoritarian abuse.

In summary, it’s the believer’s responsibility to examine and judge prophecies based on God’s Word and the leading of the Holy Spirit within, hold on to the good and throw out the bad. This is a good thing, a wise thing, because it protects the believer from abuse, which includes the manipulating of people to do things that aren’t even God’s will for their lives.

The Example of Agabus, the Prophet

All this information is good, but it helps to see an actual example from the scriptures, so let’s look at Agabus. Agabus was a New Testament prophet, a good and respected prophet. Notice how he successfully predicted a famine:

During this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. (28) One of them, named Agabus, stood up and through the Spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world. (This happened during the reign of Claudius.) (29) The disciples, each according to his ability, decided to provide help for the brothers living in Judea. (30) This they did, sending their gift to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.

Acts 11:27-30

As you can see, Agabus was a prophet. He came to Antioch from Jerusalem with some other prophets and prophesied a famine that would negatively affect the people of Judea. The great historian, Josephus, documented this famine as occurring around 46 AD when Claudius was the Roman emperor. So Agabus was right about the famine and it was good that the Christians at Antioch believed his prophecy and compassionately sent an offering to Judea.

Agabus was obviously a highly respected prophet otherwise the believers wouldn’t have sent aid to Judea. Think about it, if some Joe Blow off the street wandered into your fellowship and said there was going to be a famine in a bordering nation would you blindly accept it and dish out the cash? Not likely, and wisely so. This indicates that Agabus was a renowned and respected prophet. Also notice that the believers “decided to provide help” (verse 29), meaning no one commanded them to give with a dictatorial air. Furthermore, this gives the impression that they decided after weighing the prophecy carefully and discerning the leading of the Holy Spirit. They had a peace about it so they generously gave.

I mention this passage to show that Agabus was a good prophet, a respected prophet, and an accurate prophet. But this doesn’t mean he was perfect. If he and other New Testament prophets were 100% right 100 % of the time the Scriptures wouldn’t instruct us to examine & judge their prophecies and hold on to the good. As a matter of fact, Paul had to do just this with another one of Agabus’ prophecies:

Leaving the next day, we reached Caesarea and stayed at the house of Philip the evangelist, one of the seven. (9) He had four unmarried daughters who prophesied.

(10) After we had been there a number of days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. (11) Coming over to us, he took Paul’s belt tied his own hands and feet with it and said, “The Holy Spirit says, ‘In this way the Jews of Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.’ “

Acts 21:8-11

Agabus obviously picked up something about Paul in the spirit and proceeded to speak in faith. Notice the impact this prophecy had:

When we heard this, we and the people there pleaded with Paul not to go up to Jerusalem. (13) Then Paul answered, “Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” (14) When he would not be dissuaded, we gave up and said, “The Lord’s will be done.”

Acts 21:12-14

The other believers unwisely accepted Agabus’ prophecy at face value and took it in a negative sense, that is, they assumed it wasn’t God’s will for Paul to go to Jerusalem to minister. They consequently tried to discourage Paul from going, even to the extent of weeping! Yet notice that Agabus never said it wasn’t God’s will for Paul to go to Jerusalem, he merely informed him of the intense persecutions he would experience by going there. Acts 23:11 verifies beyond any shadow of doubt that it was God’s will for the apostle to witness in Jerusalem. With this understanding, the obvious purpose of Agabus’ prophecy was to warn Paul of the troubles he would face so that he’d have the grace to trust God and persevere when it happened.

After hearing the prophecy and being discouraged by the others who took Agabus’ prophecy the wrong way, Paul practiced precisely what he taught: He weighed Agabus’ prophecy carefully, held on to the good, and made the decision to go to Jerusalem based on the leading of the Holy Spirit. In other words, Paul had a peace about going to Jerusalem despite Agabus’ warning and despite the other believers’ discouraging antics.

But there’s more: Agabus’ prophecy was good in that it prepared Paul for the severe persecutions he would face in Jerusalem, but the details of his prophecy weren’t wholly accurate. Agabus said that the Jews in Jerusalem would bind up Paul’s hands and feet and deliver him to the Roman government, but this is not what happened. Nine days after arriving in Jerusalem the Jews apprehended Paul for the purpose of murdering him, not to turn him over to the Romans; and the Romans actually saved Paul from the Jews. The soldiers then bound him with chains and took him into custody, but as soon as they found out he was a Roman citizen they released him. This is all detailed in Acts 21:30-33 and 22:25-30.

As you can see, Agabus was a respected prophet and rightly so. He accurately predicted that Paul was going to suffer great persecution in Jerusalem and he was right that Paul was going to be bound hand and foot. This warning helped prepare Paul for his mission and gave him the grace to persevere when persecuted, but – clearly – some of the details of Agabus’ prophecy were off.

What this indicates is that Agabus legitimately picked up something from the Spirit, something Paul needed to hear, but as Agabus spoke in faith he missed some of the details. Frankly, these details are insignificant in the grand scheme of things because it was enough that Paul was warned of the troubles he was about to face. And, remember, Agabus never told Paul not to go to Jerusalem; it was the other believers who mistook the prophet’s words and tried to stop the apostle from going.

This information is important because it proves that New Testament prophets can miss it even while they legitimately pick something up in the spirit. This is why believers must test prophecies by the Word of God and the leading of the Holy Spirit. This is what Paul did and he was blessed because of it. Amen.

This article was edited from chapter 7 of…

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Related Topics:

The Fivefold Ministry Gifts — Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Pastor and Teacher

What’s the Difference between TEACHING and PREACHING?

Mentor & Protégé Dynamics

Should You “Obey” Your Pastor?

Ministerial Pitfalls and Abuses

Ministerial Abuse — The Diotrephes Spirit vs. the Davidic Spirit

Condemnation & Authoritarianism

Official Prophets (Ministers) and Independent Prophets (Ministers)

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