What are you feeding?

Whatever you feed lives.  And whatever you refuse to feed dies.

I don’t know if you got the memo, but there is a war going on inside you between your spirit man and your flesh.  And as the old saying goes:  “An army marches on its stomach.”  In other words, with out sustenance, a soldier quickly loses his ability to effectively resist or defeat his enemy.

So…when you choose to regularly spend hours watching worldly entertainment on TV and online, etc., you are choosing to strengthen and inflame your flesh — by feeding it what it wants.  Maybe that is why your spiritual life has sucked so much lately.  Doh!

But if instead you have been choosing to deny your fleshly appetites and to feed your spirit man (by spending time with the Lover of your soul in worship, prayer, and in the Word, as well as being encouraged by some great teaching and fellowship), then that is probably why you have seen real peace and lasting joy and true spiritual vision increasing in your life.

The choice is up to you.  In the end, where you end up in eternity won’t be rocket science — it will be very simple and apparent to all — you either chose, as an act of love (and outrageously obvious wisdom), to feed your spirit man and, daily, to become more and more like Jesus — or you chose to cooperate with your adversary by feeding and encouraging that which despises your soul and wants to kill it.

“For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.” (Romans 8:13)

“Put to death , therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.  Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.” (Colossians 3:5-6)

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things.” (Philippians 4:8)

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To speak or not to speak…

Why should we be surprised when we are persecuted or yelled at for speaking the truth?  Jesus said it would happen.  It happened to basically every real christian in the New Testament.  It has happened throughout the history of the church.  Currently about 200 million Christians globally are being persecuted.“Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets.” (Luke 6:26)

“All men will hate you because of Me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.” (Mark 13:13)

Jesus did a perfect job of speaking the truth — He spoke with perfect wisdom and love — and they killed Him.  And 11 out of 12 apostles were killed as well.  And what these scriptures are saying is that even when we do it perfectly, there will still be persecution and controversy.  “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:18)

But dude — don’t misunderstand me – I do not think the American church is anywhere close (in general) to doing it perfectly.  It dismays me to see much of the church slowly imploding spiritually before our very eyes.  And besides the hypocrisy in the Church, many have also settled for a powerless, miracle-less Gospel, so that often our words are not backed up by love or power.

But even though mistakes are being made, we cannot allow humanist, atheist and demonic pressure to silence or determine the prophetic voice of the church.  And it is easy to see that the enemy is in the midst of a very powerful, impacting campaign to silence this prophetic voice through cultural intimidation.  I call it cultural fascism.

What I am not saying is that we need to speak and not act.  We need to lay down our lives for the lost.  We need to pray.  We need to walk in holiness and kindness, seeking to serve and bless all those around us (and not scream at strangers on street corners that they are going to hell).  We need to love and forgive.  But we are not just called to be the hands and feet of Jesus.  We are also called to share the truth of the whole gospel, which includes a call to holiness and obedience to true Biblical values — and this includes the reality of judgment for those who reject Jesus.

Jesus said that we would know the Truth and that the Truth would set us free — the whole Truth and nothing but the Truth.  And anyone who is a real friend of humanity will be willing to share this whole Truth, even when there is a risk of rejection and persecution.

“Better are the wounds of a friend, than the deceitful kisses of an enemy.”  (Proverbs 27:6)

A true liberation theology…

It’s a wonderful thing when Christians decide to make a positive difference in their world. There is so much suffering — poverty, starvation, slavery, etc. And it is exciting to see the Church taking a lead in such things as ending sex trafficking. (These issues are very important to us as well. Over the years, my wife and I have been blessed to minister to the poor at shelters, food pantries, orphanages, and other places — as well as working with ministries focused on ending sex trafficking)

But in the midst of our efforts to advance social justice, we must never lose sight of the real prize: people coming to know Jesus. It would be a great tragedy for the world to become a “better” place, with less poverty and misery, and yet not see the SPIRITUAL REVOLUTION break forth that our glorious Messiah paid such a horrific price to begin. And it would be a calamity beyond words to set people free from slavery and poverty without introducing them to the only One who can break the chains of darkness that bind their souls.

So, I want to encourage everyone, as you go about doing good works: to dare to say the Name — the only Name and reality that can make a real, eternal change in anyone’s life. And ultimately…it’s all about eternity.

Without revelation, your brain will always become your enemy.

Without revelation, your brain will always become your enemy.

What I mean by that is that our natural minds cannot totally understand God and that left to our own devices and natural abilities and insights, our spirituality always becomes merely the traditions and ideas of men, which, ultimately, will always war against the truth and reality of God.  I am not saying that we should ignore our brains or that we should not be thinking people.  But the human mind was never meant to be the center of our reality.  God is.  And even though He gave us our brains (wonderful and amazing and useful as they are), they will never be enough to walk in the fullness of our callings as spiritual beings.

“I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.” (Ephesians 1:17-18)

“to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge;” (Ephesians 3:19)

“lean not on your own understanding;” (Proverbs 3:5)

“No, we speak of God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. However, as it is written: ‘No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him’ — but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 2:7-10)

A perfect example of this is in Matthew 16, where Peter receives a revelation of who Jesus really is, and Jesus says, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.” But just a few moments later, Peter stops relying on revelation and starts using his mind to figure things out, and he is rebuked by Jesus as one who opposes God: “Get behind me, Satan! [ie – opposer] You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”

So…spend time with God, getting to know Him. This is ABSOLUTELY important to your eternal destiny. You need Him to tell you stuff — important stuff that you can know no other way than that He reveals it to you:

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD.  “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9)

“Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” (Jeremiah 33:3-4)

Spend more time in His Word, yes. But also spend time listening for His voice. And as you begin to hear, respond to Him. Because then the real adventure begins — the adventure of the Spirit-led life.

“Those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” (Romans 8:14-15)

Roots in the heavenlies…fruit in the earth!

May this be the year God turns your life upside-down.
May you be one who is uprooted from the world and gloriously flipped (!)
— so that your roots are in the heavenlies and your fruit is in the earth.