Crosslines

Here’s a puzzle that will rattle your theology. Picture a man so close to God that miracles followed him around like stray puppies but couldn’t spot a wolf in the pulpit if it wore a name tag. He had a good heart, but he either had no discernment or left it unused. Now his wife was controlling, cruel, with no sign of knowing the Lord. She discerned the collapse of two major ministries years before the headlines did. He had the power. She had the discernment. Explain that one?Sometimes the best way to understand a gift is by contrast. Let's go searching for truth among some of the oddest characters in Scripture. Firstly, every mature believer needs: God, character, and skill. Put God and skill together without character, and you get what this teaching affectionately calls “freaks,” people who get an astonishing amount done for the Kingdom and leave a trail of question marks behind them: Balaam, the hired curser who delivered one of the most beautiful Messianic prophecies in the Bible (Numbers 24:17). Gehazi, the servant who saw what the prophet missed in the Shunammite woman, then chased Naaman’s silver and came home a leper (2 Kings 4, 5, 8). And Joab, the general who told David the truth when no one else dared, and also stabbed the wrong man (2 Samuel 3, 19, 24).From there, you’ll learn to separate the true gift of discernment (1 Corinthians 12:8–10) from its look-alikes: worldly wisdom (James 3:15), plain shrewdness about human nature (Luke 16), being “familiar with the spirit” from years in the trenches, and the double-mindedness that makes a person impossible to read (James 1:8). Then comes the question: is it that you can’t discern, or that you just don’t want to know?The truth is, spirits must be tested, not trusted. (1 John 4:1). Come, let's go deeper. God is wanting to show you more than you know. 

What is going on between your ears? Are you thinking about the thoughts running through your head? The enemy's primary weapon is thoughts. A thought from the enemy can become the root of your problems and ruin any area of your life. But a truth received from God's Word can dismantle the assignment of the enemy and restore your life. Take every thought captive and exchange the lies of the enemy for the truth from God's Word.

"I HAVE A COVENANT!" Do you enter into fights with your covenant? Our covenant with God is built on the blood of Jesus, the names of God, and the promises in the covenant. God wants to establish His covenant promise with us on earth, but there are demonic things that try to keep the covenant from being established. You don't have to beg and plead with God as if it's not His will to do what He has already promised, but you do have to drive away the vultures and partner with God to see His covenant truly established. 

It's important to understand that much of your Bible is set up like a courtroom. So you need a defense attorney. Jesus is most definitely our defense, but there may come a time when you need to defend yourself with your own mouth. You need to plead your case between you and God. I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake, and I will not remember your sins. Put Me in remembrance, let us argue our case together. State your cause, that you may be proved right. Isaiah 43:25-26. Can we argue our case with God and be proved right? God is our Promiser, and our Guarannteer. Don't argue based on your own merit. Argue your case based on the promise and character of who God is.

People say, "I'll believe it when I see it," but in God's Kingdom, you don't see until you believe. Receiving comes from believing and speaking. Believing is what you are doing now, in the present, to receive from God later, in the future. Jesus isn't asking you to learn to live with the problems in your life. He said to speak to the mountain to be removed. Miracles start in the unseen realm. They start in a heart that is believing God. Believing always precedes receiving.