Who Is Kenneth Hagin’s Jesus From “The Believer’s Authority” Part Two

We have been looking at Kenneth Hagin’s teaching from his book “The Believer’s Authority. This is part two of our series “Who is Kenneth Hagin’s Jesus?” The next few ideas we should examine from the book are in chapter 2 which is called “Seated With Christ.” In part one we talked about how the book of Revelation talks about Christ designating the church of Laodicea to sit on his throne with him after they are taken to heaven, and after they  have fought the good fight, and they are sanctified completely. Going now to page 11, Hagin begins laying down spiritual sounding ideas not based in scripture that he is going to say over and over throughout his book and give them to us without backing them up, but will simply state them repeatedly as his choice way to make them sound plausible. The first of these is, “When Christ ascended, He transferred His authority to the Church.” But there is simply no scripture that tells us he transferred all his authority to the church, neither before he ascended, nor when he ascended, nor after he ascended.

If we consider Hagin’s vision, the Jesus in his vision was showing such an absence of authority in his actions that there seems to be a complete transfer of authority where no authority is retained by Jesus. This helplessness of the Jesus in the vision comes through loud and clear. But the Bible actually tells us that Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth. There is no scripture that says Jesus gave up, gave away, transferred or for some other reason does not currently possess that same authority that he had from the foundation of the world. The Lord maintains this authority which in essence is Jesus being in control, or in other words, is in essence the quality of his Sovereignty.

Scriptures That Back Up the Continued Sovereignty of Christ

The Bible tells us Christ continues to possess Sovereignty even AFTER His ascension. Acts 4:24b reads, “…Sovereign Lord,” they said, “you made the heavens and the earth and the sea, and everything in them.”. John 1:3 tells us “All things were created through Him, and without Him nothing was created that was created.” We know John in 1:3 is speaking of Christ who created the heavens and the earth and the sea, because John 1:1 and 1:2 is talking of the Word that is God, and that is Jesus. So John 1:3 is speaking of Christ and Acts 4:24b is telling us that the person who created the heavens and the earth is Sovereign, so because of what we know from John 1 about Christ creating the heavens and earth that Acts 4:24b is telling us it is Christ that is Sovereign. All of these scriptures were written AFTER Christ’s ascension. There therefore could not have been a transfer of Christ’s authority at his ascension! Being Sovereign means you have authority!

To add to this point, 2 Peter 2:1b reads “…They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.” The Sovereign Lord who bought them we know was the Lord Jesus who bought them with his blood, so this is saying the Lord who bought them-is Christ who is the Sovereign Lord. There could not have been a complete transfer of authority at the ascension because we could not call Jesus after he ascended one who is Sovereign if he in fact transferred all of his authority away from himself as Hagin claims Jesus did. Hagin’s Jesus was emphatic about not having any authority that he retained for himself but gave it all to the church!

To add again to this point, Jude 1:4b reads, “…They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.” This very clearly says Jesus Christ is the Sovereign and Lord. And it was written about him after his ascension which is when Hagin says he transferred away from himself all his authority.

Just what is Sovereignty?

According to Easton’s Bible Dictionary found at https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/sovereignty/ the definition of sovereignty is speaking of God’s “absolute right to do all things according to his own good pleasure”. All these scriptures speak of Christ’s Sovereignty or in other words having full authority or full power to operate as he so desires in heaven and on earth. Hagin’s Jesus is not able to do everything he could desire. His Jesus said “If you hadn’t done something about the demon, I couldn’t”, shows us the anti-Sovereignty of God. To add to this point, the God of the Bible declares in Jeremiah 32:17-18 ‘Oh, Lord God! Behold, You Yourself have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for You…”. And we know it was Christ who made the heavens and the earth by his great power and nothing is to difficult for Christ, either before the resurrection, or after, because it takes the Sovereignty of Christ to create heaven and earth, and that quality didn’t change about Christ from the Old to New Testaments, or from before the ascension to after the ascension.

To be clear in order for Jesus to have fully transferred his authority away from himself to the church, it by necessity had to have meant Jesus didn’t have all his wits about him, because what kind of Jesus would have given all his authority away so that he could not still remain in charge when he is King of Kings and Lord of Lords? Could God trust a broken church still in the process of sanctification and fallible or could such a God be trusted who put that weight of responsibility upon the shoulders of the fallen church? An emphatic NO is the correct answer!

What if it Was Just a Boundary Jesus Set on Himself to Get the Church to Act?

What if we looked at the possibility that there are people in the course of everyday business who might say something to another business associate like “I’m sorry, I can’t help you” and although they may be able to help someone, they are limiting how much they are willing to help someone due to their personal boundaries by simply saying “I can’t help you”. What they mean is their conscience won’t let them help the person seeking help. But the Jesus of Hagin’s vision is not in this category because of the way he speaks and acts. As noted before, he says to Hagin, “If you hadn’t done something about the demon, I couldn’t have.”, not “wouldn’t have”. According to His own words, he didn’t have a choice, he simply “couldn’t” help. We then know it was not that his conscience was the issue nor was it an issue of personal boundaries. Furthermore, the Jesus in Hagin’s vision contradicts Hagin’s own assessment of why Jesus could not help. Hagin says on page 27 that Jesus refused to deal with the demon, which gives him a choice about dealing with the demon because refusing is a choice. So Hagin can’t even make his story to line up with what Jesus said to him in the vision.

Hagin goes on to prop up his ideas of authority on page 11: “He is the Head of the Church, and believers make up the Body. Christ’s authority has to be perpetuated through His Body, which is on the earth”. Hagin expounds on this saying throughout the book that “it is ONLY through the body of Christ on the earth that Christ can perpetuate his authority.” To say this is again to rob Christ of His Sovereignty on the earth, and make him dependent on mortals. A quality similar to Sovereignty that God possesses is his aseity or self-sufficiency. According to https://www.biblestudytools.com/ in an article entitled “15 Amazing Attributes of God: What They Mean and Why They Matter” on the definition of self-sufficient, it reads “God Is Self-Sufficient – He Has No Needs. “For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.” – John 5:26 As limited humans, we have incredible needs, which left unfulfilled, result in death. God, however, has never once been in need of anything.  As Tim Temple writes, “God is perfectly complete within his own being.”

Hagin hasn’t considered all the implications or the meaning of what would happen if through the church was the only way Christ could perpetuate his authority. Christ would fall terribly short in the self-sufficient category, and therefore cease to be God. In all of Hagin’s writings there is no evidence that Hagin has put any thought into how many parts of the universe are in operation as a result of the fact that God has self-sufficiency over countless things. To try to separate God or Jesus from his self-sufficiency of having control over every huge and infinitesimally small part of the universe and everything in between is an impossibility. It is not even remotely possible in the lamest sense.

The Insufficiency of Man Compared to the Self-Sufficiency of Christ

To take the responsibility of a perfect sinless God who does not have any blemish and who does not have any darkness or flaw but who is bursting with goodness and virtue and who has all power and authority because He is infinite and He is the source, and creator of everything we see, if the church was made the sole avenue by which Christ could perpetuate his authority, the heaviness of that responsibility would utterly crush us to powder in a split second, because it would be something we could never make a mistake with, and the cost of one mistake would utterly collapse the whole universe because God would not be upholding it anymore. He would have entrusted the care of the universe to a limited, sinful church which does not have perfect knowledge of how everything should be run, nor do most of us even know the names of half the elements that exist as part of the periodic table. But Hagin shows just how much he has not thought through the implications of what God’s authority and self-sufficiency are all about by thinking and saying that a limited and flawed church or person could share the same authority as the throne of Christ has. Hagin says this many times throughout his book. We will cover this more in part three of this series.

Jesus is The Light and Light Scatters Darkness

And to examine Hagin’s Jesus, there is no Bible scripture anywhere that says Christ has no longer any more authority to act against the demonic powers with self-sufficiency or to even rebuke a mere demon except through the church because Christ would never divide away from Himself any of the divine characteristics which only God has. Christ is light, and demons are of the kingdom of darkness. Light always scatters darkness. Jesus is the light of the world. So the very substance of Jesus that he carries with him when he shows up in any place is enough to cast out demons.

Isn’t the Ascended Jesus More Free to Act With Spiritual Power?

Divine authority is so much a part of the personality and fabric of the nature of God, that if you take it away from him you don’t have God anymore because the light of Jesus is pure light and more powerful than darkness. So we could easily expect the resurrected Jesus to rebuke a demon. Jesus is the light of the world, and light scatters darkness. Surely the resurrected Jesus seems to be more powerful than Jesus before he ascended, because the ascended Jesus could no longer be tempted in any way, even though the Jesus on earth underwent temptation. The Jesus with the spiritual body in heaven is unveiled as far as his power goes, but the Jesus who walked the earth because of his earthly body limited his free exercise of power. But Hagin misses this obvious truth over and over throughout his book. Even though he limited his power while walking on earth, the earthly Jesus did battle with the devil on every front and won by standing his ground and not giving into temptation on any front. So it would seem the ascended Jesus would have more freedom to use his heavenly privileges of spiritual powers freely and unveiled by the flesh and blood body that he had when he walked on the earth and be free to rebuke a demon.

Authority is a Spiritual Matter, Not Just a Physical One

1 Corinthians 15:44 reads, “it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.” Jesus had a natural body on the earth, and it has been raised as a spiritual body in heaven that he operates in. So his authority which he possesses everywhere although his body is in heaven is a spiritually based authority, one could argue, because his body has been raised a spiritual body. He completed every battle of the physical nature so he ascended into heaven. And not only for that reason, but because authority is a spiritual matter, not merely a physical matter.

God Can Operate Simultaneously in Multiple Realms

The fact that Jesus has a physical group of people on the earth does not mean that his spiritual authority does not preside over the physical group of people. And while Jesus walked on the earth, Jesus rebuked demons, so as he is spiritually intact in his spiritual authority in heaven, he operates on the earth with that same spiritual authority from heaven. His spiritual authority can reach the material world of the earth, because if we go by 1Cor 15:44, we know that every spiritual body on the earth has a spiritual body in the spiritual world. And if we limit our view of Jesus’s power, we still must believe he has full authority over everything in the spiritual world. Who says God can only operate in one realm at a time? His spiritual authority can operate in every dimension of the universe all at the same time because he is God, and if he wants it that way, he can operate that way, in the physical realms of earth, as well as in all the spiritual realms, because to believe anything less about Jesus is to believe in something far less than the Jesus of the Bible. Quite clearly he perpetuates his authority from his spiritual person in heaven which transcends time and space and matter.

Our Capacity

Even if this were the only obvious point Hagin missed, this would be enough to collapse every argument in his book. Therefore the reality about Hagin’s Jesus being not able to rebuke a demon because he “couldn’t” is enough to cause Hagin’s whole book to crumble into nothing as we see that authority comes with and from a spiritual source—God and/or Jesus who both exist in spiritual form in heaven to be exact. Furthermore, God and Jesus who are spirit, can operate in every dimension of the universe because they are God, and Jesus would have been out of his mind to transfer all authority away from himself and to the church upon his ascension. If we just look at who we are compared to God, we simply do not have the capacity to share equal authority with the Christ to be the only avenue by which Christ can perpetuate his authority on the earth, nor is the church an avenue by which Christ’s authority can operate without flaws, bumps, and wobbles.

What About the Possibility of Some Authority Transferring at The Ascension of Christ Even if a Complete Authority Transfer Did Not Happen?

One of the scriptures Hagin uses to tie into the idea of the complete transfer of authority of Christ to the church is found on page 17 where he mentions Matthew 28:18. It reads, “And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.” Hagin is implying that what Jesus next said was the transfer of all authority. Verse 19 reads “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” This command that Jesus gave which Hagin links up with the transfer of authority happened before Jesus ascended into heaven, not after. And even though this happened before Jesus ascended, it wasn’t a transfer of Jesus’ full authority, it was Jesus telling them that He is the one who has all authority in heaven and on earth, not that he was giving away all of his authority to them for going into all the world. Logically we can say it would never take the full authority of heaven and earth to evangelize the world because Jesus has infinite authority, and he is unlimited and nothing takes all of the authority of Jesus to accomplish because nothing is infinite except God himself. So, nothing can drain the infinitude of God.

Also, it was in Luke 10:19 that Jesus gave the disciples a measure of authority. It reads “Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you.” Jesus gave them authority only over all the power of the enemy, and he did not give them authority over speaking things into existence, telling the sun when to rise and set, nor did he give them authority over getting all their bills automatically paid on time, nor authority over raising every person from the dead that they could lay their hands on, and many other things they did not receive the full authority Christ. Even Jesus did not raise a lot of people from the dead. In his 3 and ½ years, there had to have been several dozen, if not hundreds of people in the cities he preached in who died, and he only raised Lazarus, Jairus’s daughter, and the widow’s son from the dead. The disciples were not designated to do works greater in stature than Jesus, but to do works in greater number, them being a group of 12 disciples, and Jesus being one person, and there is only a couple accounts of the disciples raising people from the dead, which should not surprise us, because raising someone from the dead should not be a common thing, unless you are God himself. Some scholars say most of the works they did were a lot of preaching and teaching and the authority for healing miracles dissipated from the apostles including Paul within a few dozen years after Jesus ascended. Wouldn’t there be a clear record of the healing miracles continuing for centuries after Jesus ascended if Christ meant for healing miracles to be an everyday thing? One would think this to be true.

When Was the Partial Authority Transferred? Matthew 28 Was Not About an Authority Transfer and Not About The Disciples Casting Out Demons or Devils.

Luke 10:19 was about when the disciples received a partial transfer of authority was spoken long before Jesus’ death and ascension, and they received authority over all the power of the enemy. In Matthew 28:18 Jesus was merely telling them that He was the One who had all the authority in heaven and on earth, but no authority transfer is given of all authority in heaven and on earth. Earlier in the beginning of Matthew 28, the disciples had just heard about the chief priests telling the soldiers to make up a lie about the disciples stealing away his body. The disciples knew that if they were to go out and preach that Jesus is risen from the dead they would be in direct opposition to the lies that the authorities or chief priests and soldiers were clearly planning to spread about why Jesus’s body was not in the tomb anymore. Starting in verse 11, it reads “Now while they were on their way, some of the men from the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all that had happened. 12 And when they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, 13 and said, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came at night and stole Him while we were asleep.’ 14 And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will appease him and keep you out of trouble.” 15 And they took the money and did as they had been instructed; and this story was widely spread among the Jews and is to this day.”

So it was possible that the soldiers could get into trouble if the proof got out that Jesus actually did rise from the dead. This was the thing that they did not want to believe because they did not want people to follow Jesus as God, because they wanted to regard him as man. They believed he would attract too many followers if they considered him s coming from God and they would lose their positions of power. But the truth of the resurrection would save people, and that is why Jesus spoke of having all authority in heaven and on earth and that the disciples should go ahead and preach anyway about Jesus rising from the dead even though they might get into conflicts with the priestly authorities.

What Matthew 28 Does Not Say

Furthermore, this passage in Matthew 28 is saying nothing about the disciples being told to cast out demons or having authority over devils. Jesus was the one with the authority over devils, and he gave it to the disciples in Luke 10:19. Luke 10:19 reads, “Behold, I have given you authority to walk on snakes and scorpions, and authority over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you.” But even in this transfer of partial authority there was never a time when the Lord walked the earth that He warned the disciples that He would become unable to help them fight the devil, nor was there any warning that the disciples would become the sole wielders of this authority. There was never a prophecy of the Old Testament given to warn the followers of Christ that they should get ready for a huge transfer of responsibility. Surely Jesus would have considered a transfer of authority of such monumental caliber to be told to his disciples, but he never told them “All the responsibility for perpetuating My authority on the earth will soon rest on your shoulders!”

Ready to Haphazardly Wield Authority?

To pull the story line from Hagin’s vision of fiction, there was never a time spoken of by Jesus of how he would sit down in heaven to take a break from his work on the earth in order for the weightiness of that work to be continued at the hands solely of the body of Christ. But Hagin spends much of his time in his book telling his audience that they are “not doing enough with the authority Christ gave them” because they “don’t know anything about authority.” And whether intentional or not, Hagin has now primed the pump of the imagination so to speak of his audience and they audience grasps for what that could mean and ready to try their hand at “wielding their authority” because Hagin never comes out anywhere in his book in a clear exhaustive way to tell his audience what it looks like to walk in authority. He just gives hints of it, speaking of healing and of dominating the devil, and of not being defeated, and repeats the same statement that “most of the body of Christ just don’t know that they have authority.”

We will see Hagin prime the pump again to keep the reader’s appetite for authority to flow as the plot unfolds and thickens in the next post about Hagin’s vision of this thoroughly unbiblical Jesus. LG

Who is Kenneth Hagin’s Jesus?—A Critical Look at the Jesus in “The Believer’s Authority” Part One

Because Kenneth Hagin is the grandfather of the Word of Faith Movement and many of his teachings are used widely within Christendom today, I thought how doing a critique of his books would be eye opening for the body of Christ. I am starting with his book the Believer’s Authority and in this series of articles, my aim is to expose the roots of Word of Faith Teaching that come out of this book.

     I don’t want people to think I don’t have a Biblical precedent for doing this article series, so to begin with let’s look at 1 John 4:1. It tells us, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.” Every book of the New Testament except Philemon gives us healthy warnings to be on the alert for potential false doctrine in the church. One of the goals I have in this blog, is to look at the doctrinal beliefs held by different Christian media authors, and compare our findings with Biblical doctrine. From our results we will determine if the teachings are Biblical or not. For the last few years, I have been interested in learning about the doctrine of the Word of Faith Movement to examine it, to see if there are any deviations from the word of God. Now, I am here to share my findings with you. 

     Hagin’s book The Believer’s Authority is 70 pages with indications of false doctrine on almost every page. I wanted to begin with Hagin’s teachings to expose the root beliefs of this movement because many of the fundamental Word of Faith doctrines began with Hagin and for many years have crept in and fooled the unsuspecting churchgoer widely across mainstream Christianity. I hope what we will uncover today will open your eyes to what you may have heard taught over the years and give you the firmness of conviction to stay away from these teachings and possibly even warn others to get free from these dangerous deceptions. 

Did Hagin Really See Jesus?

     Hagin bases much of his book on interpreting what is going on in a vision he has of Jesus who appears to him and speaks to him. The question is, “Is it really Jesus?” If the Jesus of Hagin’s vision is real he would have words and actions that match the words and actions of the Jesus of the Bible. Hagin misinterprets what goes on in the vision and builds on one false idea after another stemming from the wrong assumptions he makes from his vision.

     Hagin makes the claim in different videos, and in his writings that he has had 7 or 8 visions of Jesus beginning in 1951. The vision this book is based on is one from 1952. Hagin didn’t write his book until 1967 which is 15 years or a decade and a half after the vision. It is important to consider if the vision is the basis for the book or if scripture is the basis for the book. Did Hagin’s view of his vision shape his understanding of scripture or did his understanding of scripture shape his view of his vision? A Biblical approach to understand his vision would mean we start with the Bible and examine one idea at a time related to the vision to see if each of the ideas from the vision are Biblical or not. An unbiblical approach would place the Bible on the back burner and the ideas from the vision front and center. Since the Bible is the test for prophecy and vision, we must keep the Bible front and center for proper discernment, while we look at the information from his vision one piece at a time. Now that we have determined the best approach, let’s get started and jump right in. 

     Hagin starts talking about his vision in chapter 5 under the subheading “The Demon Jesus Refused to Deal With”. The first questions we can ask are-Did Jesus refuse to deal with the demon or did Jesus have a choice? How did Jesus go about refusing to deal with the demon? Hagin clearly said in his writing that Jesus refused, but let’s read how Hagin describes this vision of Jesus. Hagin describes that Jesus appeared to him and spoke to him for about 90 minutes about the devil, demons, and demon possession. He says at the end of the 90 minutes a monkey like demon appeared between him and Jesus and put out a smoke screen between them and began jumping around crying out in a shrill voice saying “Yakety-Yak! Yakety-Yak! Yakety-Yak!” He says he couldn’t see or hear Jesus and wondered why Jesus didn’t do anything to help him. He began to worry and said, “I almost panicked. I became so desperate I cried out, “In the Name of Jesus, you foul spirit, I command you to stop!” The minute I said that, the little demon hit the floor like a sack of salt, and the black cloud disappeared. The demon lay there trembling, whimpering, and whining like a whipped pup. He wouldn’t look at me. “Not only shut up, but get out of here in Jesus’ Name!” I commanded. He ran off.”

“The Lord knew exactly what was in my mind. I was thinking, Why didn’t He do something about that? Why did He permit it? Jesus looked at me and said, “If you hadn’t done something about that, I couldn’t have.” That came as a real shock to me—it astounded me. I replied, “Lord, I know I didn’t hear You right! You said You wouldn’t, didn’t You? “He replied, “No, if you hadn’t done something about that, I couldn’t have.” I went through this four times with Him. He was emphatic about it, saying, “No, I didn’t say I would not, I said I could not.” “I said, “Now, dear Lord, I just can’t accept that. I never heard or preached anything like that in my life!” By Hagin’s reaction we know just what Hagin’s Jesus is saying. It is not that his Jesus would not do something about the demon, but that he could not! In other words it was not a choice that Jesus made to not help, he simply couldn’t help him. Hagin’s Jesus didn’t refuse to do something about the demon. His Jesus said I didn’t say I would not help, but I could not help. Not that I wouldn’t, but couldn’t. The Jesus of Hagin’s vision did not have a choice, because he couldn’t deal with the demon. Hagin is rightly surprised, and astounded, and says, “Now, dear Lord, I just can’t accept that. I never heard or preached anything like that in my life”. 

      There are so many reasons why this quote should tell us that this is a false vision Hagin had of a fake Jesus, but I will start with just a couple eye opening reasons. The first is if Jesus couldn’t do anything about the demon, does that mean Jesus never could do something about any demon? Jesus has to be the same today, yesterday, and forever. The same Jesus who defeated all the powers of darkness on the cross is the same Jesus that is alive in heaven today. Because the same Jesus who defeated every spirit of darkness at the cross would need to be the same Jesus who would have interacted with Hagin and the demon that jumped between him and Jesus, we know that Hagin’s Jesus is completely weak and powerless in comparison with the Jesus of the Bible. Looking at the Jesus of the Bible you have a Jesus according to Colossians 2:15 which reads, “When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.” Friends, that victory was an eternal victory.

       Furthermore, Hebrews 9:12 reads, “Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, HAVING OBTAINED ETERNAL REDEMPTION FOR US”. Hebrews 13:20-21a  speaks of an ETERNAL COVENANT, and says, “Now may the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, that is, Jesus our Lord, 21 equip you… ”. The covenant Christ made with God on our behalf was an eternal covenant. The victory of the cross is by the shed blood of Jesus, speaking of the eternal redemption. The eternal blood speaks of a victory over the kingdom of darkness and the eternal redemption, eternal covenant, and eternal blood give us an eternal victory.

     In addition to the victory of the cross, throughout Jesus’s life, he maintained victory over the devil as he never gave into any temptation from the devil and therefore never became subject to any kind of submission to the devil, but has always maintained all power and authority and supremacy over the devil. Hagin’s Jesus makes no sense in that he can’t battle one demon when the Bible tells us of a Jesus who defeated every spirit of darkness.

     To build on this narrative, Hagin has set up the first four chapters of the book to say that Jesus transferred or delegated all of his authority to the church when it says nothing of the sort in the Bible. Later we will look more closely at how Hagin intertwines and conflates the meanings of the words transfer, delegate and confer to mean the exact same thing, when transfer, delegate, and confer have different meanings and how Hagin uses these words, they either oppose the reality of the Sovereignty of Christ, or he uses the words interchangeably to make the way he uses them to not seem so hard to believe. To be brief, this idea that Jesus transferred his authority to the church is foreign to every New Testament scripture that we have. Nowhere in the Bible does it say anything about Jesus giving his authority away to the church. By saying that God gave the church the responsibility to do something about the devil, and removing the responsibility of Jesus doing something about the devil, Hagin can then blame the believer if they are not healed, blame the believer if they have money problems, blame the believer if they have any hardship or difficulty and blame the believer if they want someone like a pastor to pray for them. Hagin does a whole lot of blaming in this book, and I will get into uncovering more of that later. This book fuels not only the healing movement, the name it and claim it or the blab it and grab it movement, but also the spiritual warfare movement seen today in churches across America. 

Do We Really Share Christ’s Throne With Him And All The Authority of Christ’s Throne?

    On page 17 Hagin writes we are seated with Christ on His throne. He writes “The elevation of Christ’s people with Him into the heavenlies clearly points to the fact that we are to sit with Him, sharing not only His throne but also His authority. That authority belongs to us!”  No, that authority belongs to Christ! Hagin uses two scripture passages by twisting them to get us to believe him. The first is Ephesians 1:18-23 which is about the believer knowing the glory of our inheritance in the saints, and his mighty power (Eph 1: 20) “which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places.” He starts by saying Christ is on his throne, and because the body of Christ which is the church is attached to Christ the head, that is supposed to mean the church therefore is sitting on Christ’s throne, because the body is attached to the head. But Ephesians 1 tells us nothing in the whole chapter of the church sitting on Christ’s throne. Nowhere in the whole book of Ephesians does it say anything about the church sitting on Christ’s throne. Where is the church seated?  The Bible tells us and Hagin even uses the right scripture to tell us, but he misses the point! Ephesians 2:5-6 says “even when we were dead in our trespasses, (he) made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus”.

     As we can see, the Bible simply says we have been seated with Christ in heavenly places. But Hagin is conflating the meaning of heavenly places to mean Christ’s throne. Going back to the quote, “The elevation of Christ’s people with Him into the heavenlies clearly points to the fact that we are to sit with Him, sharing not only His throne but also His authority. That authority belongs to us!” is a blasphemy of raising up mankind to equality with God. Other translations use the phrase “we are seated in the heavenly realms with Christ”, and it should be very simple to understand there is a difference between a heavenly realm and a heavenly throne.    

      Let’s look at the preposition the Bible uses. We are seated WITH Christ. Logic can tell us we can be seated with friends at dinner tables, but that doesn’t mean we are seated on the same chair together. We can be seated with family on a sofa but that doesn’t mean we all sit on the same cushion. Now, we can assume that with all the people Christ plans on taking to heaven, and all the people there now, there must be a lot of different places to sit in the heavenly realms. If you are in a realm, chances are you are in a larger place than a single seat. There have got to be millions of seats in the heavenly realms, aside from the Throne of God the Father and aside from the Throne of Jesus. So, we can also assume Paul meant exactly what he said when he said we are seated in the heavenly realms and nothing about being seated on the throne with Jesus Christ because Paul could have written the words plainly that we are seated with Christ on His throne, but he did not. Paul simply said we are seated with Christ in the heavenly realms. 

     There is a single scripture in the book of Revelations about how the Bible says Christ promises the church of Laodicea if they repent, and overcome they will be given the right to sit with Jesus on his throne. This promise was only given to the Church of Laodicea and not directly given to each of the other 6 churches of the book of Revelations. Although it may be possible that Christ means for this promise to be given to every one of the churches, but we should not assume each Christian will receive every one of the blessings given to every church because Christ speaks different blessings to the different churches. We should keep in mind that the whole prospect of being saved and not going to hell is such a huge incredible blessing that will take eternity to wrap our minds around, that Christ freely gives everyone who believes. He bestows blessings as he sees fit.

     This blessing of sitting on Christ’s throne is only made for the Laodiceans after they have been physically taken to heaven, after their earthly life is over, after they have fought the good fight, kept the faith, and finished the race. It is after they have been perfected in heaven, and therefore the danger of having sin involved in any decision is taken away. This is not how it is while we are on the earth—we still sin and our decisions are not perfect. It is not talking about something that happens while we are in this present life, nor does it mention being seated with Christ only in a spiritual sense as Ephesians speaks of. Therefore, we cannot take the idea that Christ has seated the body of Christ on His throne with him in heaven in a way that enables us to possess the authority of Christ’s throne to use as we see fit in this life as a fact because there is no sound Biblical evidence for this. We therefore do not share throne authority with Jesus. And with this clarity we see several arguments from Hagin’s book completely fall apart, because he gets a lot of mileage for writing his book from using the faulty ideas just mentioned.  

     Christ may back us with his authority, but it is a backing only and Christ has full oversight and he remains in control. According to John 1:12 he has backed the believer with the authority to become the children of God, and does not take that away. Rather He tells us to humble ourselves in the sight of God, to lean on God, and depend on God. But just as we are dependent on God to answer our prayers it is not our decision to decide for Christ which of our prayers he approves of answering and which he may want to answer in a different way than we have requested. That authority is not at our disposal, it is at Christ’s disposal. LG

Spiritual Washing with 1 Corinthians 1-3 with a Focus on 3:1-15

Author: Lisa Groen

Category: Unpacking the scripture

After reading again the first 3 chapters of 1 Corinthians, I have noted that unless the Christian is building the kingdom of God carefully, we are not following your will and might be wasting our efforts. 1 Corinthians 3:10b-15 tells us “But each person must be careful how he builds on it. 11 For no one can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw, 13 each one’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each one’s work. 14 If anyone’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet only so as through fire.”

How I sincerely want to build in the Spirit with quality materials and not with wood, hay, or straw. Each time we read the scripture is the time to examine whether or not we have applied the scripture. Paul has taken some time in 1 Cor 3 in talking about jealousy, strife and comparison with those that seem to have a better deal in this life than we do. If we are not careful if our eyes are drawn to worldly goals, we run the risk of allowing for crooked building practices. Our building is only built right when we allow Christ to be our Chief Cornerstone, and aligning our building to fit rightly with Him!  1 Cor 3:1-3 tells us “And I, brothers and sisters, could not speak to you as spiritual people, but only as fleshly, as to infants in Christ. 2 I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to consume it. But even now you are not yet able, 3 for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like ordinary people?” It looks as if Paul is saying some of the root problems and the definition in part of being fleshly, are jealousy, strife and comparison, and that these things block our being able to take in the solid food of the word of God. So, now that we have a short running definition of worldly comparison we truly see that after the fleshly Christian misses taking in the solid food of the word of God, he is not nourished correctly, and his habits become off center. The work the Christian does when his habits are off center when he makes room for the world could build a building that will be constructed off center. It only takes a little veering off course for a whole building to become crooked. With this scripture, do you sense The Lord prompting you to examine your life to look for the glimpses, the sounds and signs of worldly jealousy, strife, and comparison? The scripture beckons me to ask if my life will pass the test. That comparison I observe is not the key to happiness and not the key to gauging where God would have me to stand.

Prayer: With the guidance of your word Lord, I turn my attention to your goodness, and I let these old pieces of worldly clothing fall away from me. May we remember the gift you have given us of being wise builders of your kingdom, and the gift of grace for valuing what is eternally valuable—the salvation of people! As we consider how to hold to the right perspective for building the kingdom, Lord please help us make room in our thinking of how to steer closer to Christlike values, and away from worldly values within every area of life. May the treasure we possess be You Lord and Your kingdom and may we keep You as the number one value of our lives. May 1st Corinthians 1-3 remind us of what would set us free whenever we might have our eyes on the wrong pursuits! Amen!

Keep on growing in the Word! LG

Prayer of Dependence on God-7

Author: Lisa Groen

Category: Christian prayer aiming for true Christian growth

Gracious Heavenly Father, even though we sometimes have a lack of passion Lord, and struggle with apathy, you do not change. Your purposes remain constant and fixed as surely as you are All-Wise and All-Powerful Oh Lord! We know this is an important thing to pray about, but lack the know-how for exactly what to pray! We all sense mistakes have been made by our economic leadership, perhaps some bad choices may have been directed by your hand for a greater good still to come. Many in the US sense a cognitive decline in our President Oh Lord, and see him as the fragile leader of the free world. Lord, some of us are embarrassed by our stagnation in our corporate conscience towards the self-protection of our republic. We avoid confronting the obvious issues of decline we see in our president seemingly just waiting to see if someone will “do something” to snatch the US from the flames of an implosion coming from the effects of this “Emperor with no clothes”. We quietly worry that our lack of political sensibilities in the US could result in bringing us down several notches in protection on the world scene and reduce our self-sufficiency and defense capabilities to basically a laughing matter in the eyes of our enemies—if those things have not happened yet! Lord, I pray the US is not in such a state as was the nation of Israel in Habakkuk’s time who cried in 3:16 “I heard, and my inner parts trembled; At the sound, my lips quivered. Decay enters my bones, And in my place I tremble; Because I must wait quietly for the day of distress, for the people to arise who will attack us.” But whether there may be coming a time like this or not, may we still be as strong as Habakkuk in 3:17-19 as likened to one who instead of crying over the fig tree that has failed to blossom, is still praising God anyway. It reads, “17 Even if the fig tree does not blossom, And there is no fruit on the vines, If the yield of the olive fails, And the fields produce no food, Even if the flock disappears from the fold, And there are no cattle in the stalls, 18 Yet I will triumph in the Lord, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. 19 The Lord God is my strength, And He has made my feet like deer’s feet, And has me walk on my high places.”

Lord, although the slump in the economy many say comes from our hefty sanctions on Russia, and our lack of fuel solutions from the fact that the Saudis who are our “ally” would not answer the telephone when the White House called to make deals about oil, the truth is some of our difficulties could be you lifting your hand of protection due to our sin in the United States. Please guide us in a country regarding our much needed repentance, and it’s many areas of needed repentance. Like Habakkuk may we still praise you and worship you. May we become worshippers who defy the enemy because we fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author of our hope, The Lord our God, our Maker. Amen

Keep on growing in the Word! LG

How The Christian Faith Should Inform Our Response to School Shootings

Author: Lisa Groen

Category: Devotional and prayer

If we have looked on the news over the last year, we have seen more reports of yet all too numerous barbaric school shootings. To learn from the past, the intercessors, or stable men of prayer seen in the Old Testament such as Daniel, Moses, David or Jeremiah would most likely be in a process of grieving, mourning, or wailing to God, and possibly fasting, throwing dust on their heads and sitting in the oldest sackcloth, in similar kinds of bloody times of war in the Old Testament. Both in Biblical times as well as today, we who know who God is, know Him to be gracious, kind, loving hearted, patient, and redemptive. However, while we live on the earth, to keep our faith alive, we must place before our attention the many good things God has done for us which can be counted as things that range from numerous profound miracles, to everyday type provisions in times of God’s blessing on our nation to keep our perspective accurate. For an accurate perspective, we must count our blessings, and become familiar with the one who blesses nations and makes wars to cease to the ends of the earth, as the scripture says who also delivers people from death. Psalm 46:8-10 reads, “Come, see the works of the LORD, who brings devastation upon the earth. 9 He makes wars to cease throughout the earth; He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; He burns the shields in the fire. 10 “Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted over the earth.” When we make the choice to lift our eyes up to heaven despite times of bloodshed or unexpected loss, recounting His power to make bloodshed and war to cease, we can benefit greatly as we truly look to the realities of God’s personality alone. This reality can inspire worship, and the worship can take on a purity when we go to God as people who worship Him in faith. What I mean is that when we who trust in Christ take God at his word and familiarize to ourselves the identity of God as is shown to us through the Bible, we hold true the belief that his personality is eternal and does not change. The reality of the stability of God and his power to cause evil to cease should give stability to our faith as long as we are in this dark world.

We can have the hope of safety with God alone, and in Him through faith in Him we have a solid place to stand. When we remember the dark world we live in is not the anchor for our hope, but believe that Christ overcame the world of sin and all temptation, we are inspired to bow before him as king, and we can believe it is He who is our anchor in the midst of tragedies that happen. This can result in a pure kind of worship. This dark world was never a satisfactory place for our hope to be settled in. We must know Christ came to rescue us out of the world laden by sin. he came to settle us in a place where sin and decay does not corrupt. Heaven is the one place God has set apart for himself and to bring to himself those who believe in him who also want to be done with doing acts of sin in their life.

The bloody school shootings we see are just one of a million different things that tell us this world of darkness cannot be, and will not be sustainable as a permanent home for anyone. The world is getting more and more full of sin, and the earth is grieving under the weight of the heaviness of it. As we painfully and clumsily “wake up” to the numbing injuries of these assaults on children and adults but mainly children, we have few words that seem fitting to bring before our God of salvation, except something perhaps like “Lord! Save the people in need! Rescue the dying, both spiritually and physically!”

As we go grieving for the reality that America the country that some of us have grown up in is sadly churning out murderous beasts like these unredeemed killers, it seems so surreal, yet we must process this along with the many other tragedies America has faced, if we aim to comfort the hurting or confused. Why God allows evil has never been fully answered by God or by man at any time but we must still hold the beautiful parallel reality that He allows good to happen to evil people. The Bible speaks of overcoming evil with good and encourages us to not be overcome by evil but to overcome evil with good. One way this can happen is for us to get into the habit of crying out “Lord Jesus, bring people out of their sins! May your salvation change the lives of people in the United States!” “Lord, reveal your stable love to the lost, and woo the dark world to yourself even if it means through these times of bloodshed and broken exasperation.” “Come to us as we come to You in prayer! And grant that would-be murderers would instead be set upon a different road with changed lives, dispositions and plans. May people not lose their faith in times like this!” “Yet, for others that are shell shocked, and worn out with the gun violence in the US, save the broken people of our country out of the pressure they feel in the darkness and may it be redeemed as one of the many ways people can seek you and be led to your light!”

Prayer: Lord, save the lost! Save those trapped in the darkness! Lord, save those who have not yet heard of the God who sits in the heavens and laughs at the plans of the rulers of darkness. You are the God who wishes none to perish but all to come to the saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. You are the God who does not take pleasure in the death of the wicked, and you are the God who rejoices not with evil, but you rejoice in the truth. We pray that truth would be upheld, as many children and adults are swooned with darkness and heaviness, and as many barely have the strength to look up. We ask for many to be given the grace to look up and to believe in the God who cares and has deep compassion. We ask for grace to be given to countless children and adults to believe in You Lord as the God who holds the way of salvation, who himself is The Way out of darkness. Lord Jesus as You have called yourself The Way, The Truth, and The Life, You are The Way out of sinfulness, and the way out of evil. You rescue many in this life, and promise a home in heaven with You, in a place separated from all evil.  We ask for the hope of salvation to be shed abroad in people’s hearts because one day Jesus, you will make all things new, and all knees shall bow to You. We ask Jesus for you to visit this hurting grieving world, and for you to bind up the brokenhearted and heal all the wounds, of these our neighbors, these in our community, these in America, in these dark days of evil. We lean on You Alone for salvation to reach countless people dear Lord of Mercy! Amen! 

Keep on growing in the Word! LG

Borders Around the Biblical Jerusalem and How Christians in the United States Can Submit our Prayers for Borders to the Lord

Author: Lisa Groen

Category: Devotional and prayer

Students of history will tell you history repeats itself when the lessons The Lord puts before a people fail to be learned by that people. Yet, even more deeply it should be considered that when the Lord would have a people learn a lesson, it should not just be learned, but retained. A lesson retained in the heart should be able to be brought forth from a fountain of wisdom so to speak to be accessible for meditation and reference in future times of need.

During the time Nehemiah came to organize the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem, Israel had been in captivity for about 70 years. The Babylonians were their captors. Some of the Jews had already been released to populate Jerusalem again, and the temple had been rebuilt. It is widely known that Nehemiah led the people of God to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem in a record of 52 days.

Before we get too excited about making 52 days a “magic number” that we tack on any massive project in our minds about saving America today we may imagine ourselves aspiring to, we must first imagine what the heart condition and meditations and posture was like for any average Jew in that day just having come from out of the land of their captivity. They had come from a place where there were no freedoms. They had come from a place where there was no professional advancement or free enterprise among the Jews. They had come from a place where there was much forced physical labor, and forced servitude. They owned no property themselves. They were beggars, and depended on whatever their captors might have thought they could count “as trash or leftovers” that ended up becoming the “savings and capital” of the Jews. In those kinds of times, we can imagine they did not get to eat what they liked, or travel at will, or even see next of kin for any type of holiday or family reunion-like event. They were estranged from the joys of what God had done for them in previous times of victory and their worship of God was most likely gagged by the enemy’s mockery and by their own shame and isolation from corporate times of celebration.

These events and circumstances no doubt created a refining fire I would dare say and a “holy breeding ground” for their hearts to become “ripe with humility and contriteness” and very likely a hunger and perhaps even a deep desire to pursue God for scraps of mercy. Truths from the word of God may have spoken loud and clear to them about how God is a God of mercy and a broken and contrite heart the Lord will not despise. They might have recalled the great mercy and compassion of the Lord from other times of victory in the Old Testament documents they may have had that would have pointed to times where they “would just need to show up for the battle and stand still and see the deliverance of their God”. But whatever the case was in their day, it is logical to believe they knew their God was a God of mercy who responds to a broken and contrite heart. They knew who God was, and they knew who they were—a desperate, helpless group of beggars. This was not false humility—this was their reality. For 70 years.

Our problem today in America is much of America does not know how desperate we are, how Revelation 3:17 is so much more true of us than anything else as a nation. It reads, “Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have no need of anything,” and you do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked,”…!

Unfortunately, it is not just the worldly pagans and the lost in America that are like this, but the Lord directs his statement in Revelation to “his bride” which he rebukes and says to the church—“…you do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked,”. We can venture to say in our times of coldness to prayer and fasting, we have no doubt some level of lukewarmness to God, and it can be said in those times his church doesn’t even know “…that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked,”. However, the solution God gives is found in verses 18-19: “I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, white garments so that you may be clothed and your shameful nakedness not exposed, and salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see.  19Those I love, I rebuke and discipline. Therefore be earnest and repent.”

Because of the evidence of the sins in America, and the weakness of our borders and broken southern wall, we have much to cry out to God for. Our God is a God of mercy, compassion, and grace, slow to anger, and rich in love. Let his truth be the fuel for us to seek God in spite of our sins. Let not our sins as a nation or our broken walls and breaches become a “sore spot” for the devil to poke at us to mock or harass and exploit our weaknesses, become a reason to get us to give up praying for protection against invaders and terrorists. Let our prayers and heart condition become like how the Israelites presented themselves before God, as a people aware of their utter weakness, aware of their inability to save themselves or make themselves into anything great, and as a people who looked to their faithful God who had a purpose in establishing a people for Himself, in spite of the problems his own people created for themselves. 

Prayer:

Lord, we recognize our deep sins and apostacy in the United States of America. We ask for you to heal the breaches of the church buried within the USA, and keep us for yourself. Please let us keep our eyes on you as we pray and fight in the Spirit for the welfare of your people in this USA. Please heal the breaches of our walls in keeping our Christian rights alive and well. Please heal our breaches in our voice declaring the truth about homosexual marriage and transgender laws when we need to speak. We pray the right people would hear and listen to the truth. We pray you would soften the hearts of those who love abortion rights and those who get involved in racial battles, whether it be a battle within themselves or a battle within their communities. Remind us in our time in the word how to raise our children and how to live for you in the midst of a dark and perverse generation. Please help us stay the course and pray through these times when it seems like many people are doing what is right in their own eyes. May we pray with passion and contriteness and humility and steadfastness. Lord, we ask for a safe leader in the Whitehouse. We ask for one who will uphold your laws, your desires, your ways, your plans, and your righteousness and goodness. We ask you would remove or crush the enemy and keep us from getting taken over by any invading country. Help us to pray for problems in our political procedures that keep our southern border so dangerous and pitiful and weak and turn it around for our good! Make us not the laughingstock of the nations. Heal our breaches oh Lord, Heal our land! We humble ourselves and pray, and by your grace may we fast and seek your face and turn from our wicked ways, so you might hear from heaven, and heal our land! May we buy from You gold refined by fire so that we may become rich, white garments so that we may be clothed and our shameful nakedness not exposed, and salve to anoint our eyes so that we may see. Help us pray these things Oh Dear God until we see them fulfilled, Oh Dear Lord our Rock and our Redeemer! Lord have mercy! Amen and Amen!

Keep on growing in the Word! LG

Unpacking Philippians 3:1-12

Author: Lisa Groen Category: Unpacking the scripture To start this study, let’s begin with Philippians 3:12, and see how the previous verses 1-11 get us to this point. We will begin by looking at Philippians 3:12 in 3 different translations in order to unpack it. NASB Not that I have already grasped it all or have already become perfect, but I press on if I may also take hold of that for which I was even taken hold of by Christ Jesus. CEB It’s not that I have already reached this goal or have already been perfected, but I pursue it, so that I may grab hold of it because Christ grabbed hold of me for just this purpose. ESV Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. I like to ask questions of the text as I am studying. What is Paul pursuing/pressing on for? What did Paul mean by pressing on? Or in the CEB version, what did Paul mean to pursue? and how does he press on in the ESV for something that seems as intangible as being made perfect? Being made perfect if we take a closer look in verse 12 is not exactly the phrase that tells us what Paul is pursuing, although people might believe that at first blush. We have to back up to previous verses to get a clear picture of what Paul is pursuing that he has not already obtained yet. Verse 11 tells us “that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead”. And what does verse 11 tell us if we want to get the whole story? “That” is the word in the very beginning of this verse—really, it is the shortened version of “so that”. So what came before the “so that”? We must now find out what it is from previous verses 1-11 to get a clear picture of what verse 12 is talking about. In this passage, Paul is speaking of some of the big-ticket items of what it takes to live the type of life in Christ that Christ will cause to attain the resurrection from the dead. When I say big-ticket items, I am speaking of being of the true circumcision group—or in other words, the being born again group. Paul lists some things that are either prerequisites, or for him disqualifiers. That is the simple way of understanding this. Everything Paul does or becomes prior to his telling us of his hope to attain the resurrection of the dead he lists in verses 2, 3, 7 and 8. I do not believe this is an exhaustive list, but that many items in it will automatically imply other elements or duties or states of being for the resurrection-bound Christian. In verses 5-6 Paul tells us of fleshly dispositions which he does not put confidence in. In verses 7-8 he tells us why he gave up his fleshly actions in order for Spirit led better things. Let’s break this passage down into Spirit-led actions and confidence, and into the opposite fleshly dispositions which are reasons for fleshly confidence Paul says he counts as dung. The right understanding and placement of these things in life sets Paul up so to speak for being a recipient of the resurrection from the dead. Philippians 3:1-11 Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you. 2 Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. 3 For we are the circumcision, who (do the following 3 Spirit-generated actions) (1) worship by the Spirit of God (Spirit led action of Paul) and (2) glory in Christ Jesus (Spirit led action of Paul) and (3) put no confidence in the flesh (Spirit led action of Paul) — 4 though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. (Paul will go on to nullify some fleshly confidences that could cause flesh-led actions he wants to avoid as we continue). If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more:5 circumcised on the eighth day, (Paul nullifies this because it is not a Spirit-led action) of the people of Israel, (Paul nullifies this because it is not a Spirit-led action) of the tribe of Benjamin, (Paul nullifies this)  a Hebrew of Hebrews; (Paul nullifies this) as to the law, a Pharisee; (Paul nullifies this) , 6as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; (nullified) as to righteousness under the law, blameless. (nullified) 7But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. (Paul has just now nullified everything in verses 5-6 in order to establish the following Spirit led actions in verse 8 for the sake of Christ) 8Indeed, I count everything as loss (action of Paul to nullify the flesh) because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things (action of Paul to nullify the flesh) and count them as rubbish, (action of Paul to nullify the flesh) in order (in order that 5 Spirit led things may happen. Paul now has 5 Spirit led actions coming up in verses 8-11 where he now says “that I may” which fall into place because he has just counted the fleshly gains as rubbish in verses 5-6. These things are indicators that he is now in position of one who is able to receive or attain to things that happen concurrently with the resurrection from the dead)(1) that I may gain Christ 9and (2) that I may be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith 10(3) that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and (4) that I may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11(5) that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead Now having put those clarifications in place for the groupings of Spirit led actions and the groupings to see what Paul tells us is of the flesh, my goal is to put us in position to be much better off to know the difference between fleshly and Spirit-led positions and actions to hopefully see the conditions of life they are joined with. As we can expect, the fleshly actions or states of being are joined with Paul’s life prior to his conversion, and the Spirit led actions and states of being are joined with Paul’s life after conversion. When we keep in mind the differences, we can steer clear of the traps of legalism that we all can face which tempt and threaten a believer’s trust in Christ alone through grace alone, and we can pursue the Spirit led actions and states of being Paul clarifies for us that go with our life in Christ and with the resurrection from the dead. When we have these things clear in our mind, we can see then how we should press on to attain to making the resurrection our own, without it becoming a legalistic pressing or fleshly striving, by clothing ourselves with Spirit led actions and states of being. The pressing on Paul speaks of in verse 12 is for pressing on to not trust in the flesh, our seeming advantages, and not trust in “our own abilities or fleshly position” and press against these temptations. Like Paul we should also count them dung, by pressing on to do Spirit led actions, and to remember the spiritual position of grace Christ has placed us in by faith to know Him more, through pressing away from the flesh, and pressing towards the living knowledge of Christ. Let’s end with Philippians 3:12 again with these things in mind: NASB “Not that I have already grasped it all or have already become perfect, but I press on if I may also take hold of that for which I was even taken hold of by Christ Jesus.” And to end our study with grace—isn’t it good to know we were taken hold of by Christ Jesus, which is the grace to see glimpses of WHY Christ desires us for himself; it is to His glory, and not our own, that He draws us to Himself, as we press on to take hold of that!! Prayer: Lord, may you teach us how to walk in the Spirit and steer clear of legalism and trusting in the flesh. May areas where we have been tempted into legalism and the complacency caused by the flesh be exposed in our lives so we can turn away from these faulty trusts, repent of them, and press against them through the Spirit. May we make room for your Spirit to live and move and breathe in us, and make us flexible, pliable clay, Oh Lord, in your all-Wise hands who has given us circumcised hearts before You Oh Lord! Continue to work in us, and may we see you ever more clearly, Amen!  Keep growing in the Word!  LG

Prayer of Dependence on God-6

Author: Lisa Groen

Category: Christian prayer aiming for true Christian growth

Dear Heavenly Father, we come to you today seeking your face, seeking to lift up your name and to ask your will to be done. We surrender our hearts. You have taken us your people through some painful times. At times we have faced insurmountable odds, extreme situations that seemed to press on our hearts as much as an olive press would press the olives in Bible times, and found your grace pulling us through tricky situations that show us that your ways are not our ways but are keeping us ever so dependent upon you. We praise you that we have seen your hand of love move on our behalf. We give you praise for your unmerited favor. We praise you for bringing us through fire, deep waters, things like hailstorms, windstorms and spiritual earthquakes. We give you praise for taking our brokenness, our inabilities, our failure, our weakness, our griefs and doing something with them we could never do that point to your shaping ability, shaping our lives to praise you through our pains and suffering. We praise you Lord for how excellent you are at getting your will done, and we get to go along for the ride, and you are placing your fingerprints more deeply into our lives. We praise you for showing your goodwill toward men, and for somehow making something of us that we never could have become without you, till something else in our lives points to your glory and goodness. We praise you for the fact that it is you alone who sustains us, provides for us, grants hope to us, for putting into us personality characteristics, gifts, talents, potential and limitations that you are somehow sovereignly shaping by your goodness to shape us into the image of your Son, and for giving us the Holy Spirit Comforter to bear with us in our weaknesses and to somehow bring something through our lives that will reflect your light, bear witness of you, and spark hope, endurance, perseverance, virtue and the stamina of your Spirit by your heavenly power. We praise you for the Comforter, who cries with groaning that words cannot express to bring or birth something into our lives, or out of us for a witness to the world that will in hope make us vessels fit for your use, and endue us with your heavenly garments, as we are sown a mortal body, and one day we believe we will be raised a spiritual body. We are sown in dishonor, but one day we will be raised in honor, we are sown in weakness, one day we will be raised in power, we are sown in corruption, and one day we will be raised in incorruption… I believe the following passage will greatly encourage those of us who are going through the pains of the death of the flesh, so let us consider carefully the words that Paul has written, and stay encouraged, friends.

1 Corinthians 15:37-58 reads, “And as for what you sow—you are not sowing the body that will be, but only a seed, perhaps of wheat or another grain. 38 But God gives it a body as he wants, and to each of the seeds its own body. 39 Not all flesh is the same flesh; there is one flesh for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. 40 There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is different from that of the earthly ones. 41 There is a splendor of the sun, another of the moon, and another of the stars; in fact, one star differs from another star in splendor. 42 So it is with the resurrection of the dead: Sown in corruption, raised in incorruption; 43 sown in dishonor, raised in glory; sown in weakness, raised in power; 44 sown a natural body, raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 So it is written, The first man Adam became a living being; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, then the spiritual. 47 The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. 48 Like the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; like the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. 49 And just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven. 50 What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor can corruption inherit incorruption. 51 Listen, I am telling you a mystery: We will not all fall asleep, but we will all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed. 53 For this corruptible body must be clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal body must be clothed with immortality. 54 When this corruptible body is clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal body is clothed with immortality, then the saying that is written will take place: Death has been swallowed up in victory. 55 Where, death, is your victory? Where, death, is your sting? 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! 58 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the Lord’s work, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” Amen!

Keep on growing in the Word! LG

Is It Our Weakness, Or God’s Opportunity?

Author: Lisa Groen

Category: Devotional and prayer

Jeremiah 9:23-25 “‘This is what the Lord says: The wise person should not boast in his wisdom; the strong should not boast in his strength; the wealthy should not boast in his wealth. 24 But the one who boasts should boast in this: that he understands and knows me—that I am the Lord, showing faithful love, justice, and righteousness on the earth, for I delight in these things. This is the Lord’s declaration. 25 “‘Look, the days are coming—this is the Lord’s declaration—when I will punish all the circumcised yet uncircumcised:

So having a circumcised heart goes right along with knowing the Lord who delights in faithful love, justice, and righteousness on the earth. The Lord shows that he overrides a person’s strength, money, and wisdom to put them level on the same playing field as the man or woman without these things that still knows the Lord. It is a true blessing to be able to come to God without wisdom necessarily, without strength per se, without wealth as a prerequisite, and to receive the benefit this scripture speaks of which is the privilege still of being able to understand and know God, and to be among those who have a circumcised heart.

Isaiah 40:28-29 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary; His understanding is beyond searching out. 29 He gives power to the faint and increases the strength of the weak. 

So, the Lord overrides the weak man’s weakness and faintness, and he blesses them with strength. It is a true blessing to be able to come to God being on the verge of fainting, and to receive the benefits this scripture speaks of which is the privilege still of having your power and strength to be increased.

Romans 9:16 So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.

What else could it be but the mercy of God to override our lack of will and lack of taking action and grant us something good we don’t deserve? It is a true blessing to be able to come to God being on the verge of not having your own will set for action, and without your body set for performance and this scripture speaks of the privilege still of being a candidate for God’s mercy.

2 Chronicles 20:12 O our God, will You not judge them? For we are powerless before this great multitude who are coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are on You.”

So, Jehoshaphat had faith that God could override the power of his enemies and level the playing field and take the powerlessness of his own army, and “work something out on their behalf”

I am not one to promote lack of wisdom, poverty, lack of taking action, weakness, or a lack of battle strategy or to say we don’t need to apply ourselves in our faith-walks. But it is encouraging to know that in all these situations it was clear the messages God is showing us are  that when we feel like we have absolutely nothing to give out or draw from out of our personal reserves, we can lean upon our God, and his strength will be made perfect in our weaknesses.

2 Chronicles 20:3-4 Jehoshaphat was afraid and turned his attention to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. 4 So Judah gathered together to seek help from the Lord; they even came from all the cities of Judah to seek the Lord.

In Jeremiah 9:23-25, Isaiah 40: 28-29, and the Romans 9:16 scriptures, what we see highlighted are the wonderful transcendent virtue attributes of God, based on God’s initiative and willing action on his people’s behalf. But when a little bit of fasting gets involved, then this happens: In 2 Chronicles 20:3-4, Jehoshaphat was afraid and turned his attention to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. 4 So Judah gathered together to seek help from the Lord; they even came from all the cities of Judah to seek the Lord. Then later in vs. 21-23 When he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who sang to the Lord and those who praised Him in holy attire, as they went out before the army and said, “Give thanks to the Lord, for His lovingkindness is everlasting.” 22 When they began singing and praising, the Lord set ambushes against the sons of Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; so they were routed. 23 For the sons of Ammon and Moab rose up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir destroying them completely; and when they had finished with the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to destroy one another. 25When Jehoshaphat and his people came to take their spoil, they found much among them, including goods, garments and valuable things which they took for themselves, more than they could carry. And they were three days taking the spoil because there was so much. 30 So the kingdom of Jehoshaphat was at peace, for his God gave him rest on all sides.

When we aim to add fasting, praise and worship, to our seeking God out of our weaknesses, we can expect him to magnify his gracious attributes before us despite our weaknesses, however ugly they may seem to cling to us or cover us, and His glory is shown in spite of what we are not.

Let’s be encouraged in who our Gracious Heavenly Father Is— “the Lord, showing faithful love, justice, and righteousness on the earth, for I delight in these things”, He says.

Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, as we meditate upon your Godly attributes which you possess in your reliable self-autonomous self-existence, you shed your grace upon us. How wonderful it is that you are so unchangeable, and your steadfast love and your loving-kind ways are often magnified before our very eyes. Your desire is towards your people Oh God, and you draw us with chords of compassion. May we meditate this week on the countless ways in which your strength is made perfect in our weaknesses, and may those who are led to do so fast, pray, and worship you Lord! For you are worthy above all else and above everyone else, Oh God our Gracious Rock and Redeemer! Amen!

Keep growing in the Word! LG

Yokes Broken By Our Carpenter Jesus

Author: Lisa Groen

Category: Devotional and prayer

Maybe you have seen those special glasses that people are giving to their color-blind friends and family of late that help the red-green color-blind folks to see reds and greens in bright vivid color. This is a perfect illustration of what it is like to become a Christian. It is right to say God gives us something comparable to real, tangible “glasses” to use for viewing the world around us. Let’s take stock of that! What was it like when you first became a Christian? Did the world become more clear to you? Did colors become more vivid to you? If we think about it—I would venture to say that seeing in color for the saved person in a real and tangible way is only a little slice of the pie of change that happens for the saved person with how we encounter the world around us once we start comparing before salvation to after salvation changes in perception. Joe is a minister friend who told me of a dream he had one time in which he was sitting at the foot of a tree trunk smashing eggs with a hammer. The next thing he knew is he was inside the tree, that was tipped over and the top was leaning towards the ground, and he was coming out of it, like he was being squeezed out of it down to the earth. When he came out, he saw everything in color. Everything was pale and black and white before he came out of the tree trunk, but everything he began to see once out of the tree was in vivid beautiful colors.

When talking with him about this dream, it seemed to be that he became born again when he was as it were “birthed out of the tree trunk” and began to see everything in color. When I thought about the eggs he was smashing, the idea of “breaking every yoke” came to mind—and that is a play on words, which I have found the Lord to use sometimes in visions and dreams he has given which I have heard related to me from other Christians. Did we or could we take stock of everything this entails for us?  What are the implications truly for each of us becoming born again, and shall we not relish the changes God has wrought inside of us? Are these types of changes in perception not the very reason we sing praises to our Great God and Eternal Father of Lights?

Is not the roaming grazing and pastureland abiding with the Lord as we walk through his word, and not a walk to the inside of a rainbow of marvelous lights when we stroll through, gazingly at the word to soak in every morsel and every droplet and eat the delicacy of the finest of wheat which is saturated with the water of life itself? Take some time to relish the droplets of the water of life and soak them in deeply. Soak them in as you read the word until your constitution is changed and you begin to bubble up with praise songs for God allowing you to take in the hearty morsels of the richest of fare. They are not only hearty, but delightful, and beautifully orchestrated words of life that sing with a melody all their own! God tunes our ears as well! We can somehow see the vibrating words of the Love of Jesus melting over the very people around us and giving us a different disposition of love towards them and awakening something in our hearts that might somehow have lain dead within us prior to our being born again, and now alive toward people who may have somehow seemed unloving if we were in our pre-Christ state. Now our love can melt over them and the scent of Christ is left in our relationships when before we may have left blandness and staleness, now the aliveness of Christ is tasted, as we overcome our blandness, our previous lukewarmness, even overcoming our prior coldness as Christ leads us in our redeemed walk with him full of those discerning real life as we have been born again and made alive with Christ!

Here we get just a smidgen of the pie of the perception of being born again and see it written about in 1 Cor 2:9 which says, “but just as it is written: “Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, And which have not entered the human heart, All that God has prepared for those who love Him.” NASB

Let’s take the time to unpack this and relish in every drop of the goodness of God through his word we can discern! The downward tipping of the tree trunk shows the Lord “stooping down to make us great” or perhaps Jesus kneeling down to wash our feet. Maybe that is just what we need the Lord to do for us today—to wash our feet. And along with that, most of us could tolerate to have a few yokes broken, because as we are all aware we are at the moment on this side of heaven where the Lord is in the business of smashing yokes in whatever places we find them showing up. Just remember to take your hammer, hammer in the morning, hammer in the evening, all over this land. It’s a hammer of justice, it’s a bell of freedom, it’s a song about love between my brothers and my sisters…(circa Peter, Paul, and Mary). But seriously, Joe is a building trades worker who does remodeling, and assignments like this for a living. His business is to “swing a hammer”. My take on the dream is God wants us to “Make it OUR business to hammer away at our yokes” until we see clearly, until we see vividly, until we see colors not yet discerned by us, and until we see through the eyes of the Spirit. Make it OUR business until we are so done with sin in our lives that we want to see it crushed through the Spirit. Jesus too was a Carpenter, so through HIS WORK as he lived in the form of a man, and as He lives through us, WE, as men and women should SWING that hammer upon our sin in the natural as Jesus works in us swinging his hammer in the Spirit, making it his business to kill our sin, and us swinging our hammers along with him until the sin yokes we had in our lives are broken and gone! If our eyes have gotten blurry, we can ask the Lord to renew our vision as well! Crush our yokes, and open our eyes, Oh Lord again, I pray!!

Singer/Songwriter Steph Macleod had a similar experience as my friend Joe in that when he got saved, he went outside and saw colors he never saw before, everything went from drab grey to bright and lively, and he said he actually noticed people smiling at him for the first time that he could remember. He wrote a song about it called “Light Beams” and I share the link to it below. Hi full testimony on the writing of this song can be seen in his full-length online concert YouTube videos, (which I highly recommend, but I didn’t have time to find the specific videos– there are at least 2 or more recorded testimonies that yes make me cry). I am also sharing a link to Peter Paul, and Mary’s “If I Had A Hammer”, from the 60’s if you are part of the young crowd and have no idea what real good American folk music is like!

Prayer:

Dear Lord, there is a lot to take stock of in the act of your making us born again! You grant us power to love! Power to us to pray for the Lost for them to see! Power for the discernment of looking with the eyes of the Spirit! You are a great and mighty God Lord, Yet You have bowed down to make us great, giving us the great and invaluable gift of being born again, to be saturated with the good news and the water of life! Saturated with the joy unspeakable and full of glory! To be lifted out of the dungheap, given robes of righteousness, and our feet washed, and we have been saturated with the scent of Christ and seated along with You Oh Lord in the Heavenly Realms! What a Savior! What a salvation! OH Halleluiah! These are the riches of the finest of fares! Praise your name Dear Lord, for all you have done and shown us! Praise You for all you want to show us! Praise you for what you continue to do in us! Praise Your Name Forever, Lord, Amen!

Steph Macleod’s “Light Beams”- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IT2A4KT8IM

Peter, Paul, and Mary’s “If I had A Hammer” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxWTDcP9Y5E

Keep growing in the Word! LG