Stirring up Trouble

I have some continued thoughts on what I posted in Maturity Leading to Corporate Unity. When God delivers us out of bondage to the enemy, whether it be the initial salvation experience or through an area of ongoing, personal growth, we rejoice: God has removed us from our troubles and taken out of the situation that caused us distress. God has a bigger plan though that neither our spiritual enemy nor the natural mind of man anticipates.

In Judges 14, God began to move in the background of Samson’s life. His actions did not make sense to his parents, and the Bible says, “But his father and mother did not know that it was of the Lord—that He was seeking an occasion to move against the Philistines. For at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel”. Different translations replace “to move” with “to confront” or “for assailing” the enemy. God is still looking for an occasion to attack the enemy.

God delivers us from trouble, but he is at work in us and through us to stir up trouble. He desires to raise up a people who will assail the enemy. It is my prayer that God will use his people to give our spiritual enemy an enema. God will cause the enemy to poop his pants when he sees us coming. The enemy has the capacity to create misery through his dominion over the people of God, therefore, God is continually seeking an occasion to confront the enemy.

Get ready for battle against an enemy that cannot be seen with your natural eyes and who hides behind naïve people who do not understand that they are being manipulated! The Bible says that the whole world lies under the power of the wicked one. It also says that he who is in us, we who are in Christ, is greater than he who is in the world. Jesus is our refuge, and he is also the head of Heaven’s armies. We have the supply line of Heaven’s resources, the reinforcements of the angelic, the supernatural gifts and fruit of the Holy Spirit, and love of the Father to steady us.

Your spiritual enemy hates you and seeks to maintain his rule over the people of God. God wants to lead you into trouble, but this time, he desires to terrify the enemy through your life. Are you ready and willing for God to use you to stir up trouble?

Maturity Leading to Corporate Unity

This week, I have been considering two amazing crossing that the no-longer-enslaved nation of Israel made so long ago. They stood before the depths of the Red Sea with an enemy pursing them. They had no great faith of their own, so it was Moses that God used to divide the sea. When that process was complete, they walked across on dry ground. Their enemy was caught in the released waves and was no longer a threat to them.

As they progressed in their journey, God revealed his heart that they would all be priests to serve him in his presence. Sadly, they did not come into agreement with the very heart of God. Then when the time came to occupy their new land which had been prepared by God, they did not have his mind. Their hearts melted in fear and most of them died in that barren land.

When a new generation came of age, they followed Joshua’s leadership into the place that God had planned for their parents to have. This time, there was a difference. The priests walked together and carried the manifest presence of God. As their feet stepped into the Jordan River, God caused the river to stop flowing. The priests stood their ground on that dry ground until all the people had crossed.

There is a maturity that is not God’s best if it does not develop further. It is the maturity of the gifted leader that who represents an intermediate to God and who enters into the presence of God on behalf of other believers who look up to him or her. There is a greater maturity that this that is meant to develop. This type of maturity is described in Ephesians 4. Those called to the fivefold ministry are to work with Heaven’s empowerment to bring us into unity and into a maturity that is marked by an all-encompassing love.

To say that we come into corporate agreement with the manifest presence of God, we are touching on something more powerful than simply having our needs meet or of having a precious encounter with God. We are doing what Israel did when they crossed the Jordan into the land of Canaan. They were declaring that they would occupy the place in life that God prepared ahead of time for them to possess!

Paul put forth in the Book of Ephesians that we were created in Christ Jesus for good works which prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. The Book of Revelation tells us that we are kings and priests in the service of Jesus Christ and of God the Father.

Rise up, Church of God! Come forth people of God! You are intended to come into a maturity that leads to corporate unity and Kingdom occupation. Shake off the lies that the world and even the religious system told you about your identity. Enter into the presence of God by the Blood of Jesus. Let God ruin you for this world’s system. Let him declare to you who you are in the same way that God notified Gideon of who he was. It is your destiny as the Bride of Jesus Christ to occupy your place in the spirit realm and to bring Heaven to Earth.

Epic Lives

Some of the classic movies are epic films. When I search online for a definition for “epic film”, I find a range of possible meanings, but it can carry the concept of “journeys of heroes upon which the fate of a large number of people depend”. When I think of epic films, movies that come to mind are Gone with the Wind, Titanic, and Stranger than Fiction. In the case of some characters, the fate of only one person hinged on the hero’s or heroine’s life, and yet, this reflected even greater worth on the life being enriched.

If we were to see the sequence of our days from God’s eyes, it would appear much differently than how it looks in the morning mirror or in the eyes of those we rub shoulders with. We are each actors in a grand production. It is both scripted and ad hoc in its development. We are not victims, but we are all potential heroes. I once saw a prophetic picture of someone’s life. She walked across a piano. Each footstep pressed a set of keys. Taken by themselves, some of sounds produced were really dismal. From God’s perceptive though, the end result will be an amazing song when played from start to finish.

Your life is amazing. It might not seem that way to you though. In fact, it probably has regrets, pain, boredom, and even some anxiety of about lies ahead of you. Ask God to show you the events of your life through his eyes. He deeply loves you. He has felt every cringe of pain and every thrill of joy that you have ever experienced. He treasures you. He can take what seems like a sad, meaningless life and turn it into an epic story. Trust in him to. Expect him to. Let him…

Kingdom Stewardship

Last year, we purchased a used minivan. We paid for it in full using cash. We possessed the keys but not the title. After waiting the appropriate amount of time, we still had not received the title. It turns out that there was a mix up between the dealer and its parent company. They never did figure it out, and we were without a title for months.

My wife did some research and found that we could pay a small fee to get a “lost title” replacement. A short trip into town and a small fee gave us our title. Until that point, we could have argued that we owned the minivan, but we did not have the title as proof.

Recently, the Lord gave me a prophetic word for someone. The enemy had been robbing them for years in small ways. I was given the symbolism of the Borrowers. It is not the will of God that the enemy steal from us. Too many believers have believed the lie of the enemy that God is allowing low-level theft to keep them humble. Jesus came that we might live life to the fullest, and the enemy comes to steal from us.

What do you possess in your life that you do not own the title to? I am not referring to actual titles but the confidence that God has entrusted to your care. It sounds like humility to say thing like, “God can bless me if he wants to, but I will just be happy with I have.” and “Whatever will be, will be”, but it is passivity. Jesus, in the context of being ready for his return said in Mathew 24, “Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing”. We have a responsibility for what God has entrusted with, and we will give an account for what happened to it.

Today, I challenge you make a choice to claim the title for what God has given to you. Do not be OK with letting the enemy steal from you. Fully possess and own what God has made you a steward over. Use it to honor him and to serve others. Each of us will give an account of how we handled God’s resources. There will be no acceptable excuses on that day.

The Faithfulness of God

I dreamed last night of God’s faithfulness. In the dream, I was given an explanation of what his faithfulness looks like: He covers us fully in our life and in our being. He is the fully sufficient God. In certain areas though that will differ over the course of our lives, he will choose to not reveal himself in that area. It is with the intent that we would trust him by faith and not by sight. It is always temporary because he intends to reveal himself to us in that area too.

Here is a practical application of this principle: Identify the area of your life in which it seems as though God has not covered you and in which he has not revealed himself. Then, look over the rest of your life and identify where he has provided for you and revealed his nature. See that he has encircled the exposed area with his faithfulness. He is holding that area tightly. You cannot comprehend what he is doing there at the moment, but he has surrounded that area with his favor and his kindness. Trust him to increase your faith in his nature.