“I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves”- Matthew 10:16
One danger of civilized faith is that we become so domesticated, we begin to live as shrewd as a dove. We are blind to the spiritual nature of life and the unseen reality in which we reside.
Another danger is that we become as innocent as a snake. For far too long, sincere followers of Christ have had to live with the consequences of those who use religion to manipulate others and camouflage hypocrisy.
Jesus made it clear to those who were choosing to be His disciples what kind of leader He was and what kind of followers He required.
It says in John 2:24-25 “But Jesus didn’t trust them, because he knew all about people. No one needed to tell him about human nature, for he knew what was in each person’s heart.”
Jesus both understood the inner parts of man and the spiritual realities which contributed to man’s bondage. He was not fooled by them. He was as shrewd as a serpent! He knew the hearts of man.
Jesus, knowing this, still went to the cross. He still died a sinners death to purify us from our sinful condition. He was in His actions as innocent as a dove.
The expectation Jesus has for His followers is to model His words, actions and behaviour.
Are you using discernment when dealing with people? Do you acknowledge the depravity of man? Are your eyes open to the spiritual realities that are present in your conversations; to the actions of the people around you? Do you recognize what rests in the heart of man? Do you see how utterly vile human nature is without the nature of Christ coming to rest within?
Seeing all you see, knowing all you know, can you turn around and love your neighbour? Is it within your will to love your enemy and to pray for those who persecute you? Can you give sacrificially to those same people who do only what is right in their own eyes?
Do you believe in the power of the Holy Spirit to transform these broken vessels? Do you trust in the blood shed by Christ to wash away the old nature and leave your brothers and sisters spotless and clean?
Jesus asks us to be like Him. Do not be fooled, be as shrewd as a snake, yet in love, be as innocent as a dove.
It is illegal in the Kingdom to be born again and yet carry on with the carnal mind. We will not be able to grow in intimacy with God if we are continually mixing the ‘old man’ with the ‘new man’. The ‘old man’ is suppose to be dead. The ‘old man’ is limited because it is fuelled by human nature. The ‘new man’ has no limitations because he is fuelled by the living Spirit of Jesus Christ.
“And you call upon the name of your god, and I will call upon the name of the LORD, and the God who answers by fire, he is God.” And all the people answered, “It is well spoken.”
1 Kings 18:24
There are many false gods today: wealth, popularity, sex, drugs, admiration and worship of others etc., etc.
None of these will sustain us in our needs or rescue us from our dead-end lives. All they do is increase our death drive. All they do is increase our hunger and thirst for that which does not satisfy.
In 1 Kings Chapter 18 we find the story of Elijah and his challenge to the prophets of Baal.
The prophets of Baal called and called, begged and pleaded to their false god. He gave no answer.
“They raved all afternoon until the time of the evening sacrifice, but still there was no sound, no reply, no response.” – 1 Kings 18:29
On the flip side, The One True God answered in fire and in power:
“Immediately the fire of the Lord flashed down from heaven and burned up the young bull, the wood, the stones, and the dust. It even licked up all the water in the trench!– 1 Kings 18:38
This passage testifies with evidence to the legitimacy of The One True God. The Living God comes in Fire and power!
He answered Elijah that way. He came upon the early disciples on the day of Pentecost in this way; with fire and power! Baptizing them with the Holy Spirit.
He comes upon all believers in the same way.
This is the evidence of God in every believers life: Fire and Power.
The fire of the Holy Spirit manifests it’s self in peculiar ways at times.
Jasmin said something to me once, along these lines, “If you are not involved in the Church, all this stuff would seem weird. We must look like mad men to those looking in on this” (paraphrase)
Does the power of God look strange to those on the outside looking in? Yes it does!
Does the fire of God manifest itself in strange ways at times? For sure!
So how are these things not strange to believers? What makes the difference?
Relationship and revelation.
There are several ways that one can react to God’s manifest power.
The people who gathered on that hill with Elijah saw the fire of heaven fall down. Many of those present reacted to this fire by following Elijah as he put to death the prophets of Baal. (verses 39 & 40)
King Ahab reacted by running back to his wife Jezebel with his tail between his legs. He told her what had happened and together they plotted Elijah’s death. (1 Kings 19:1-2)
Some reacted to the power they saw that day by acknowledging that Yahweh was truly God. (Revelation)
Some reacted to the power they witnessed with fear and anger. Fearful, that THERE IS INDEED A TRUE GOD; angry that their false gods were exposed for what they were. Angry that their prophets (keepers of their lies and falsehoods) were slaughtered.
It is the same today. One can see the Holy Spirit move in mighty miracles and react in fear and anger.
Many of those who violently oppose the teachings of Jesus fall into this camp. Many others who claim to be Christians are guilty of the same fear and anger. They discount the works of the Holy Spirit because they would rather make an idol out of a book so they can use it to control and manipulate others.
They are fearful of a Living and Active God. They are angry that He would dare move apart from their say so. If the Bible can be used as a static object, rather than “living and active”, then it can be dissected and misinterpreted to give men power over others.
When the God of the Bible shows up in power, this disrupts these leader’s “teaching” and exposes them as the charlatans that they are. Their natural response to these disruptions (the power of the Holy Spirit) is fear and anger. This is the same religious spirit that moved in King Ahab and Jezebel, the same religious spirit that moved within the Pharisees and Sadducees who put Jesus to death.
Some of those who witnessed the fire of God fall upon Elijah’s sacrifice continued on in their sin and pride while others humbled themselves and submitted and committed their lives to the One True God (Relationship).
“And when all the people saw it, they fell face down on the ground and cried out, “The Lord—he is God! Yes, the Lord is God!”– 1 Kings 18:39
And God told Elijah, “... yet I will preserve 7000 others in Israel who have never bowed to Baal or kissed him.” (1 Kings 19:18)
How will you react to the Living God today? How will you react to His calling, to His power?
The Holy Spirit falls in fire on the sacrifice of obedience. He consumes the sacrifice presented.
In Elijah’s day the sacrifice was the flesh and blood of bulls and goats. On the day of Pentecost it was the living sacrifice of the early believers. In both cases the fire of the Holy Spirit fell when the followers of the One True God responded in obedience.
Jesus is calling you into relationship with Himself. He died on the cross to purchase your freedom. To free you from the false gods you have aligned yourself with. He died so that you can come into relationship with Him. He rose again so His power can live within you and flow through you.
Jesus is acting right now for your benefit. He is drawing you close to Himself so you can become who He created you to be. Jesus works in power to draw all of His lost children back to Himself.
This is the character of Father God.
How you respond to this fire is your choice. How you respond to the revelation of Jesus is your choice! You can react in fear and anger or you can react by coming into relationship with the One True God—- Jesus Christ!
The Spirit of God falls like fire on those who are open to Him. He will consume you with fire and power if you call upon His name and obediently submit your life to Him as a living sacrifice.
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“ Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm. For love is as strong as death, its jealousy as enduring as the grave. Love flashes like fire, the brightest kind of flame. Many waters cannot quench love, nor can rivers drown it. If a man tried to buy love with all his wealth, his offer would be utterly scorned.”
Song of Songs 8:6-7
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“More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
“I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.
Remember what I told you: I am going away, but I will come back to you again. If you really loved me, you would be happy that I am going to the Father, who is greater than I am. I have told you these things before they happen so that when they do happen, you will believe.
I don’t have much more time to talk to you, because the ruler of this world approaches. He has no power over me,but I will do what the Father requires of me, so that the world will know that I love the Father. Come, let’s be going.“
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
“For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he makes sinners right in his sight when they believe in Jesus.”– Romans 3:25-26
We see throughout the Old Testament that God shows grace and mercy to His people. He forgave the Israelites’ continual rebellion. He answered all of Gideon’s challenges with His power. He surely didn’t need to! (Judges 6:17-22, 36-40). God had a deep, unique, intimate relationship with Moses despite his past as a murderer and his continual impatience and rash behaviour.
We also read that God is holy and righteous. He is just and cannot come in contact with anything vile or profane. His standard of holiness will not allow it. Humans are evil, sinful and profane, yet we see story after story in the Old Testament of God meeting with His creation and showing them grace.
How can this be?
Romans 3:25-26 tells us! It’s because of Jesus Christ! Because of what He would do on the cross! His blood-bought salvation is applied to all creation, even to those we read about in the Old Testament.
How is this possible? Jesus had not been born and He had not died and rose from the dead in Old Testament times?
God is outside of time! Jesus was present in creation. His death and resurrection applies to all man-kind, “through all time.”
These men and women looked forward to the day that Christ would come and redeem them from their shackles of shame, guilt and condemnation. It was this faith that activated God’s grace through Jesus Christ to the saints in the Old Testament. (Hebrews 11:13-16, 40)
There is grace and mercy through no one else but Jesus Christ!
Though it was a great mystery to those who lived before Calvary, Christ’s sacrifice still paid for their sins and showered them with His grace.
It was through Christ that Moses could hear God’s voice in the burning bush (Exodus 3) and experience the glory of God on Mount Sinai (Exodus 19).
It was through Christ that Gideon could boldly ask the powerful, Holy God to show Himself true! Without grace, he would have been struck dead for his lack of faith and arrogance.
It was through Jesus Christ and His sacrifice on the cross that the Israelites were not wiped out in their entirety, when they time and time again murmured, complained and rebelled against the Living God.
Through both the Old and New testaments we see the grace and mercy of God that was purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ.
Now this is the confidence we have before Him: Whenever we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears whatever we ask, we know that we have what we have asked Him for.
-1 John 5:14-15
Prayer is not some kind of lottery or a wish on a magic star.
It has a specific purpose and flow.
We often ask Christ for things out of selfish want. Christ will not answer prayers that will harm us or those around us. Christ desires for us to ask out of our deepest needs. For He gives to those who truly seek His provision. When we ask, we are shaped. We are shaped into people who ask according to His will. As we pray, we grow; grow from being selfish people to selfless people. This is the process and power of praying into Christ’s Kingdom.
“Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
What is the will of the Father for our lives? Do we pray these things? Do we even want these things?
When we become in tuned with the Father’s will; when we begin speaking to Jesus Christ through prayer, we get to know His heart for us and His world. We begin praying into His will. We come into agreement with God. We begin partnering with Christ to bring His kingdom to earth.
And when we do pray into His will, when we pray kingdom minded prayers, we can be confident that He not only hears us but that He will answer these prayers.
It may be instantaneous. It may not even look like we imagined. But I can tell you they will be answered with a gracious, joyous ferocity that will be beyond anything we can imagine. They will be answered in the right time and in the right way that will not only benefit you but all creation.
Because that is the God we serve, powerful, gracious and concerned, not only for each individual but for all of creation.
Let Christ’s people come to Him and join Him with the purpose and desire to see His kingdom come and His will be done.
Dead 2 Myself Ministries 