"And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt: but God led the people about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red sea..." (Ex. 13:17-18).
This is a day of "fast" things: fast foods, fast trains, fast cars, fast planes, fast pleasures, fast communications. But God's way into the life of the Spirit is still the long way around. Many do not think so, and there are many in the Church who deride the thought of exercising "patience" in order to win the race that is set before us. "Let us run WITH PATIENCE..." may sound a little contradictory to a man in a race; but it remains God's way of winning "the race that is set before us" (Heb. 12:1). God's direct route to Canaan life is the long-way-around. There may seem to be a shorter way, a more direct way, and many continue to explore that route, only to end up rolling in the dust. "God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near..." Now the word "Philistine" comes from a word meaning "to roll in the dust, to wallow." And though it is a well-beaten pathway, as it was in the days of Israel, and though it would seem to lead in a more direct route to the land of our inheritance, it will leave the one who travels this road wallowing in the dust. And why? Because there is nothing in common with the way of the Philistines and the way of God. The Philistine spirit is that spirit of the world, of the natural man, that knows nothing of the Spirit of God. But because it is a well-worn pathway, and because it seems to be leading in the general direction of our pursuit for God, it is enticing to the natural mind. It is the logical approach to the things of God. It is the positive, the most direct approach to things spiritual. But it leaves you wallowing in the dust of the old Adamic life, rather than soaring into the heights of the Spirit of God.
"You do not have to take that long, uncharted, entangled way into the things of God... We can show you a simpler way... We can point you to a shortcut... You can know the joy of Canaan living without all the distress of becoming entangled in the wilderness." This is the reasoning and counsel of the natural mind.
But the fact remains, we did not choose the wilderness way. We simply chose to go God's way. It is He who goes before--by day in a pillar of cloud, and by night in a pillar of fire--to give direction and light for the journey. It is by the Light of His Glory that we find ourselves entangled in the wilderness. He leads us this way that He might have all the glory, and that our enemies might be consumed in the very midst of our own perplexity and dismay. For it is only when we find ourselves "hemmed in," with no place to go, that we are inclined to go to God for help. This is why He hems us in... that we might flee into His arms. God knows the Enemy will say,
"They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in" (Ex. 14:3). And so God deliberately sets a trap for the Enemy by bringing us into that place where we have no other recourse, but in God alone. As long as there is room for the heart and mind of man to calculate and plan his own deliverance, God is left out of the picture. We don't really need Him, or so we think. But if we are followers of the Cloud, God will lead us into areas of utter hopelessness and despair, that we might prove Him to be the God who makes a way where there is no way, and a path in the mighty waters...
"Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known" (Ps. 77:19).
"The LORD, which maketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters" (Isa. 43:16).
People of God, beware of the shortcuts. There are many that are offered in this day and age, shortcuts to true spiritual life and progress, but they will not bring you there. You may try to find an easy way into spiritual gift and blessing. You may learn how to get, and how to operate spiritual gifts the easy way, without total commitment, without waiting upon God, but sooner or later they will fade away. You may think you have discovered a secure and safe covering in some church structure or institution, assuring yourself that you are being spared the pangs of finding your own way in the entangled wildernesses of life. You feel that if you trust in certain leaders, in certain apostles and prophets, in a certain "New Testament Church Order," that it is a much safer, much easier pathway. But sooner or later you are going to discover that the rest and comfort you sought in sheltered areas of this nature, are nothing less than the bondage of Babylonish systems; and you will discover that this is far more distressing and more captivating than the way of the Lord from which you sought to escape. When you see the "wars of the Philistines"--the striving for lordship, the striving for power and authority and for a place of preeminence--your hearts will become discouraged, and you will wonder why you ever chose to walk in that kind of a pathway. If we would examine our hearts, we might discover that what we are really looking for is some kind of a religious system that will make it easy for us or for our children. We want to shrug off the heavy burden that is associated with finding God for ourselves by way of total commitment to Him. So when someone offers us a place of rest in some kind of a structure that promises clear direction, we are quick to grasp it. God does want us to have fellowship with one another in Christ; but there is no true fellowship except as "we walk in the Light." And in our searching after God, there is no such thing as immunity to the trials and struggles and heart-searchings and perplexities that have always been the appointed lot of any man or woman who seeks to come into a living, vital relationship with the Lord.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Friday, January 25, 2008
Materialism/Greed
Here is an email I recently received from a friend in Winnipeg:
A missionary friend from Turkey , sent this to me in the wee hours of the morning.He and his family are living and working in Turkey . He continues to EXORT me to live a life spent for Jesus Christ, and what it means to live out His teachings.
Enjoy a few moments to think about Finances…
Subject: Facing financial woes!? ...the economy!? ---> FINANCIAL ADVICE FOR CHR'STIANS <--- (Surely there is no lack of materials, investment seminars etc... to "bring balance" to these teachings.)
Be Christian
Follow Jesus Christ
A. Don’t save up for yourselves.
B. Liquidate what you have regularly, and give away the money.
C. Loan to all who ask.
D. Give (but without pretense).
E. Rejoice when your money and possessions are taken from you.
F. Don’t be anxious about how you will provide food, clothes, shelter, heat, etc…for your family next month: Trust your Heavenly Father.
G. Give the Government what they want.
H. Help the poor in your town.
I. Labour!...not to ‘earn a living’ but for God’s great purposes!
J. Take all jobs and or positions for the main purpose of making the Gospel known in those circles.
K. Don’t serve any financial agenda (making decisions on a financial basis)…thereby hating Jesus. (Take steps of faith based on obedience to the Lord Jesus.)
L. Beware of:
a. nonsinful, affordable, distracting pleasures.
b. The cares of this life (note: more possessions & investments will require more care and attention!)
c. The deceitfulness of wealth. (these three things paralyze our ability to change our lives in response to God’s Word!)
M. Don’t serve money (i.e any financial agenda). Don’t make decisions on a financial basis,…thereby despising the Lord Jesus. (Live by faith, taking solid steps of faith based on obedience to our Lord Jesus.)
Brothers and sisters,
Take pride in your high position, if you have impoverished yourself/yourselves for Jesus and the Gospel’s sake! Our Master, the Lord Jesus, chose to sink himself into poverty for our sake! Don’t be of want for more things! Things for yourself, things of no eternal value! BE CONTENT with the things you have! You have the very presence of the very precious Lord Jesus Himself! Don’t use any form of credit or loan! The subsequent obligations will unequally yoke and bind you to something or someone other than the Lord Jesus. Jesus Christ himself has purchased us and all these days or our lives for God, His Father, with His own blood.
Precious Brothers and Sisters, Christ will return to Earth! When He returns, let us ‘be found’ taking care of and being “ALL ABOUT” our Father’s Business! Take care of your Father’s business, and HE will take care of yours!
A missionary friend from Turkey , sent this to me in the wee hours of the morning.He and his family are living and working in Turkey . He continues to EXORT me to live a life spent for Jesus Christ, and what it means to live out His teachings.
Enjoy a few moments to think about Finances…
Subject: Facing financial woes!? ...the economy!? ---> FINANCIAL ADVICE FOR CHR'STIANS <--- (Surely there is no lack of materials, investment seminars etc... to "bring balance" to these teachings.)
Be Christian
Follow Jesus Christ
A. Don’t save up for yourselves.
B. Liquidate what you have regularly, and give away the money.
C. Loan to all who ask.
D. Give (but without pretense).
E. Rejoice when your money and possessions are taken from you.
F. Don’t be anxious about how you will provide food, clothes, shelter, heat, etc…for your family next month: Trust your Heavenly Father.
G. Give the Government what they want.
H. Help the poor in your town.
I. Labour!...not to ‘earn a living’ but for God’s great purposes!
J. Take all jobs and or positions for the main purpose of making the Gospel known in those circles.
K. Don’t serve any financial agenda (making decisions on a financial basis)…thereby hating Jesus. (Take steps of faith based on obedience to the Lord Jesus.)
L. Beware of:
a. nonsinful, affordable, distracting pleasures.
b. The cares of this life (note: more possessions & investments will require more care and attention!)
c. The deceitfulness of wealth. (these three things paralyze our ability to change our lives in response to God’s Word!)
M. Don’t serve money (i.e any financial agenda). Don’t make decisions on a financial basis,…thereby despising the Lord Jesus. (Live by faith, taking solid steps of faith based on obedience to our Lord Jesus.)
Brothers and sisters,
Take pride in your high position, if you have impoverished yourself/yourselves for Jesus and the Gospel’s sake! Our Master, the Lord Jesus, chose to sink himself into poverty for our sake! Don’t be of want for more things! Things for yourself, things of no eternal value! BE CONTENT with the things you have! You have the very presence of the very precious Lord Jesus Himself! Don’t use any form of credit or loan! The subsequent obligations will unequally yoke and bind you to something or someone other than the Lord Jesus. Jesus Christ himself has purchased us and all these days or our lives for God, His Father, with His own blood.
Precious Brothers and Sisters, Christ will return to Earth! When He returns, let us ‘be found’ taking care of and being “ALL ABOUT” our Father’s Business! Take care of your Father’s business, and HE will take care of yours!
Thursday, January 24, 2008
The Akedah (Binding of Isaac)
An excerpt from The Jesus Way by Eugene Peterson
The Akedah was a three-day journey for Abraham, but it cannot be understood apart from a hundred years of road-tested faith that comprises the Abraham story. The way of Abraham is the first chapter of the people of God to whom Abraham is father, the one in whom all the people of the earth will be blessed. Abraham furnishes the context that permeates everything that follows. The Akedah is not isolated, not a text without a context; it is a summing up and clarification of a long life of reorientation from the ziggurat of Ur to the altar on Moriah, from self-aggrandizement to God-gifting.
God has tested Abraham’s faith at every turn. To live by faith – better, to live a faith life – means to be tested. Abraham’s faith did not always survive the test: his faith failed the test in Egypt , failed the test in Gerar, failed the test with Hagar. Untested faith does not yet qualify as faith…
The test is the catalyst in which our response to God, the raw material of faith, is formed into a life of faith. Or not. If the test dissolves whatever we were calling faith into romanticized sludge or pietistic ooze, we are blessedly rid of what will dissipate our life in self-deception.
Abraham left Ur and Haran freely obedient to a command of God, a single-syllable imperative, unsupported, unexplained, unadorned: “Go.” He went in what we might call good faith, that is, without calculation, without suppressed motives, without superstitious fear. He wasn’t enticed; he wasn’t bullied. He was commanded, “Go.” He went. His faith was perfectly adequate to keep him going, but it also required repeated testings along the way. By the time of the Akedah, Abraham’s faith had been tested, and tested, and tested. Sometimes (in Egypt with the Pharaoh, at Gerar with Abimelech, in dealing with Hagar and Ismael) the testings had exposed his so-called faith as no faith at all. But, incrementally, across those miles and through those years, his faith deepened and matured.
The Akedah strikes us as outrageous, the God of promises and covenant acting totally out of character. But maybe not to Abraham. Sacrifice was the motif by which he had lived for years, the letting go, the leaving behind, the travelling light. Faith, repeatedly tested by sacrifice, was a way of life for Abraham. Each sacrifice left him with less of self and more of God. Each sacrifice abandoned something of self on an altar from which he travelled onward with more vision, more promise, more Presence. In the command to leave Ur , Abraham had abandoned his past. He has been learning to do that now for thirty-five years or so, losing nothing in the process. Now he is asked to abandon his future.
By now he has a lived history in which God has provided for him in unanticipated ways. Maybe by now he is used to living trustingly in the seemingly absurd, that which he could not anticipate, that which is beyond his imagining. Maybe he is accustomed by now to the operations of providence. If we arrive at Mount Moriah without having prayerfully and imaginatively participated in the decades of Abraham’s testings, God seems to us to behave outrageously out of character. But not to Abraham. He is now a veteran in the way of faith that is at the same time the way of the faithful God. He is not nearly as surprised as we are. Mount Moriah is the centerpiece of a life of faith that is completed in Jesus, who absorbed the Akedah entire in his Gethsemane prayer, “Not my will but thine…”
The Akedah was a three-day journey for Abraham, but it cannot be understood apart from a hundred years of road-tested faith that comprises the Abraham story. The way of Abraham is the first chapter of the people of God to whom Abraham is father, the one in whom all the people of the earth will be blessed. Abraham furnishes the context that permeates everything that follows. The Akedah is not isolated, not a text without a context; it is a summing up and clarification of a long life of reorientation from the ziggurat of Ur to the altar on Moriah, from self-aggrandizement to God-gifting.
God has tested Abraham’s faith at every turn. To live by faith – better, to live a faith life – means to be tested. Abraham’s faith did not always survive the test: his faith failed the test in Egypt , failed the test in Gerar, failed the test with Hagar. Untested faith does not yet qualify as faith…
The test is the catalyst in which our response to God, the raw material of faith, is formed into a life of faith. Or not. If the test dissolves whatever we were calling faith into romanticized sludge or pietistic ooze, we are blessedly rid of what will dissipate our life in self-deception.
Abraham left Ur and Haran freely obedient to a command of God, a single-syllable imperative, unsupported, unexplained, unadorned: “Go.” He went in what we might call good faith, that is, without calculation, without suppressed motives, without superstitious fear. He wasn’t enticed; he wasn’t bullied. He was commanded, “Go.” He went. His faith was perfectly adequate to keep him going, but it also required repeated testings along the way. By the time of the Akedah, Abraham’s faith had been tested, and tested, and tested. Sometimes (in Egypt with the Pharaoh, at Gerar with Abimelech, in dealing with Hagar and Ismael) the testings had exposed his so-called faith as no faith at all. But, incrementally, across those miles and through those years, his faith deepened and matured.
The Akedah strikes us as outrageous, the God of promises and covenant acting totally out of character. But maybe not to Abraham. Sacrifice was the motif by which he had lived for years, the letting go, the leaving behind, the travelling light. Faith, repeatedly tested by sacrifice, was a way of life for Abraham. Each sacrifice left him with less of self and more of God. Each sacrifice abandoned something of self on an altar from which he travelled onward with more vision, more promise, more Presence. In the command to leave Ur , Abraham had abandoned his past. He has been learning to do that now for thirty-five years or so, losing nothing in the process. Now he is asked to abandon his future.
By now he has a lived history in which God has provided for him in unanticipated ways. Maybe by now he is used to living trustingly in the seemingly absurd, that which he could not anticipate, that which is beyond his imagining. Maybe he is accustomed by now to the operations of providence. If we arrive at Mount Moriah without having prayerfully and imaginatively participated in the decades of Abraham’s testings, God seems to us to behave outrageously out of character. But not to Abraham. He is now a veteran in the way of faith that is at the same time the way of the faithful God. He is not nearly as surprised as we are. Mount Moriah is the centerpiece of a life of faith that is completed in Jesus, who absorbed the Akedah entire in his Gethsemane prayer, “Not my will but thine…”
Sunday, January 20, 2008
The Posture of a revivalist - Proclaimation
This post was copied from this link to "Revival Generation"
http://revivalgen.multiply.com/journal/item/18
There are seasons whereby the Revivalist will stay in obscurity and seek the face of God. However in God appointed time, the revivalist comes out of obscurity and began to proclaim the Word of God.
We see this in the life of Elijah.NAS 1 Kings 18:1 Now it came about after many days, that the word of the LORD came to Elijah in the third year, saying, "Go, show yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the face of the earth."
Elijah came out of obscurity and began to proclaimed the Word of the Lord. He gathered the people at Mount Carmel together with the false prophets of Baal and proclaimed to the people "How long will you hesitate between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him." But the people did not answer him a word.(1Kings 18:21)John the Baptist spent many years in the dessert, praying, seeking the face of God and at the appointed moment and began to proclaim the Word of God."the word of God came to John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness. And he came into all the district around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins;"(Luke 3:2-3)The Revivalist is one who will proclaim the Word of God at the appropriate time. The message of the revivalist
1. A message of repentance. The message of the revivalist can be largely unpopular to the masses. He does not preach to please man or to tinkle the ears of the people."Repent and be baptize!" was the hallmark of John's preaching. Peter proclaimed a strong message on the day of pentecost. Many today will accuse him of not being seeker sensitive!
Acts 2:
22 "Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know--
23 this Man, delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.
2. A message that brings conviction. While some may get offended by the message of the revivalist, many will be convicted by it. During times of revival, masses of people would run to the altar with loud weeping and cries of repentance.
In 1741, Johnathan Edward preached a message entitled "Sinners in the hands of an angry God." After its initial presentation, the audience was so moved that many attendees were found openly weeping. There were also a number of reports of swooning, outcries and convulsions from audience members.In 1994 shortly after I was married, Lillian and I decided to go to the interior of Sabah. We were there for about three months before God led us back to Singapore to be enrolled in a bible college. The three months which we spent in Sabah was one of the most memorable times of our lives. There, we travelled from village to village to preach the word of God. The message which the Spirit planted in my heart was the message of repentance. From village to village we proclaimed the message of repentance and in many of the villages the whole congregation was gripped with conviction. In one particular village we visited, while I was preaching, the children were sleeping every where. When I gave the altar call, suddenly all of them woke up and they responded. Soon the whole church was weeping and crying including the children. We asked the children why are they crying. They replied that they were convicted of stealing, lying and other sins. It was truly amazing.The message of the revivalist brings conviction.
3. A message of authority and boldness. The revivalist proclaims his message with boldness.
Matthew 7:
28 The result was that when Jesus had finished these words, the multitudes were amazed at His teaching;
29 for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.
Jesus spoke with authority.
Acts 13:9 But Saul, who was also known as Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, fixed his gaze upon him,10 and said, "You who are full of all deceit and fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to make crooked the straight ways of the Lord?11 "And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and not see the sun for a time." And immediately a mist and a darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking those who would lead him by the hand.12 Then the proconsul believed when he saw what had happened, being amazed at the teaching of the Lord.
Paul spoke with authority.
The revivalist understands the delegated authority given unto him. Carlos Annacondia is of the vessels whom God used in the Argentina revival. One notable characteristics of his ministry is the authority he exhibit as he proclaims the Word of God. Demons manifested and were cast out as he preached or prayed. He rebuked sicknesses and commanded tumor to shrink in the name of Jesus.
I pray that that God will raise up more revivalist who will take on the posture of proclamation. Revivalists who are not men pleaser but God fearers who dares to proclaim the truth even when it offends. Let us walk the trails of Elijah, John the Baptist, Jonathan Edwards, Smith Wigglesworth, John Sung, Leonard Ravenhill, all who proclaimed the truth with conviction. Let us not be satisfied with tickling the ears of the congregation....Let us call th church back in repentance
http://revivalgen.multiply.com/journal/item/18
There are seasons whereby the Revivalist will stay in obscurity and seek the face of God. However in God appointed time, the revivalist comes out of obscurity and began to proclaim the Word of God.
We see this in the life of Elijah.NAS 1 Kings 18:1 Now it came about after many days, that the word of the LORD came to Elijah in the third year, saying, "Go, show yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the face of the earth."
Elijah came out of obscurity and began to proclaimed the Word of the Lord. He gathered the people at Mount Carmel together with the false prophets of Baal and proclaimed to the people "How long will you hesitate between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him." But the people did not answer him a word.(1Kings 18:21)John the Baptist spent many years in the dessert, praying, seeking the face of God and at the appointed moment and began to proclaim the Word of God."the word of God came to John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness. And he came into all the district around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins;"(Luke 3:2-3)The Revivalist is one who will proclaim the Word of God at the appropriate time. The message of the revivalist
1. A message of repentance. The message of the revivalist can be largely unpopular to the masses. He does not preach to please man or to tinkle the ears of the people."Repent and be baptize!" was the hallmark of John's preaching. Peter proclaimed a strong message on the day of pentecost. Many today will accuse him of not being seeker sensitive!
Acts 2:
22 "Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know--
23 this Man, delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.
2. A message that brings conviction. While some may get offended by the message of the revivalist, many will be convicted by it. During times of revival, masses of people would run to the altar with loud weeping and cries of repentance.
In 1741, Johnathan Edward preached a message entitled "Sinners in the hands of an angry God." After its initial presentation, the audience was so moved that many attendees were found openly weeping. There were also a number of reports of swooning, outcries and convulsions from audience members.In 1994 shortly after I was married, Lillian and I decided to go to the interior of Sabah. We were there for about three months before God led us back to Singapore to be enrolled in a bible college. The three months which we spent in Sabah was one of the most memorable times of our lives. There, we travelled from village to village to preach the word of God. The message which the Spirit planted in my heart was the message of repentance. From village to village we proclaimed the message of repentance and in many of the villages the whole congregation was gripped with conviction. In one particular village we visited, while I was preaching, the children were sleeping every where. When I gave the altar call, suddenly all of them woke up and they responded. Soon the whole church was weeping and crying including the children. We asked the children why are they crying. They replied that they were convicted of stealing, lying and other sins. It was truly amazing.The message of the revivalist brings conviction.
3. A message of authority and boldness. The revivalist proclaims his message with boldness.
Matthew 7:
28 The result was that when Jesus had finished these words, the multitudes were amazed at His teaching;
29 for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.
Jesus spoke with authority.
Acts 13:9 But Saul, who was also known as Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, fixed his gaze upon him,10 and said, "You who are full of all deceit and fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to make crooked the straight ways of the Lord?11 "And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and not see the sun for a time." And immediately a mist and a darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking those who would lead him by the hand.12 Then the proconsul believed when he saw what had happened, being amazed at the teaching of the Lord.
Paul spoke with authority.
The revivalist understands the delegated authority given unto him. Carlos Annacondia is of the vessels whom God used in the Argentina revival. One notable characteristics of his ministry is the authority he exhibit as he proclaims the Word of God. Demons manifested and were cast out as he preached or prayed. He rebuked sicknesses and commanded tumor to shrink in the name of Jesus.
I pray that that God will raise up more revivalist who will take on the posture of proclamation. Revivalists who are not men pleaser but God fearers who dares to proclaim the truth even when it offends. Let us walk the trails of Elijah, John the Baptist, Jonathan Edwards, Smith Wigglesworth, John Sung, Leonard Ravenhill, all who proclaimed the truth with conviction. Let us not be satisfied with tickling the ears of the congregation....Let us call th church back in repentance
Saturday, January 19, 2008
The High Calling
Let not the height of the Vision dismay you, or discourage you as you walk towards it. Remember this.., that the high calling is not too high for you, or God would not have called you to it. And take courage in the fact that the HIGH calling is really an UPWARD call, as the Greek word means, and as it is translated in some versions. It is an UPWARD call! This gives us hope and courage. If it were simply "high," I could very well look up and say, "It is just too high for me." I might gaze at the heights of the call, and flounder in discouragement. But it is an UPWARD call! God is saying to you and to me, "I am calling you UPWARD... I want you to go on... I want you to come higher... I do not want you to stay where you are, frustrated and perplexed and bewildered. The reason you abide in those realms is because you do not see the Vision. And if you see it you think I have set before you a goal that you know you can never reach. You do not understand that I only ask you to take one step at a time, and I only ask you to climb the steps with Me, as you take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me... for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls."
And so we take but one step at a time, and God is pleased. But we must not lag behind or yield to the enticements that come our way from time to time to take a shortcut. For there are many that appear to be good. You can get gifts of the Spirit freely. You might even develop for yourself a ministry, that may satisfy your heart for a season, and from which you might find a certain fulfillment. And certainly you need His gifts! But pray God that He will cause you to sit and learn from ministries that will lead you to His feet... ministries that will encourage you to take His yoke, and follow His ways. Gifts and ministries must not be considered to be in any sense ultimate... they are but means to the end... and the end pursuit of gift and ministry is to come to know Him, to be joined in like spirit unto others in the Family of God who are seeking to come to the "fullness" of Him... so that together you might be able to comprehend, to apprehend, to receive fully... the living Christ, in the full expression of His Being.
And let us not be dismayed when in spite of all our noble efforts to climb higher we feel... we just know... that we are getting lower and lower. For as we travel this way we are going to discover, as men and women of all ages have discovered... that...
The way UP is DOWN...The way OVER is UNDER...The way to SUCCESS is through FAILURE...The way to true PROSPERITY is through spiritual BANKRUPTCY...The way to the true RICHES, is through POVERTY...The way to VICTORY, is through DEFEAT...The way to LIFE, is through DEATH.
And therefore, for the people of the UPWARD WAY God has set before us a very clear pattern and example:
"Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God (Or, 'He did not consider that equality with God was something He should grasp after'): but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name" (Phil. 2:5-9).
For the Son of God, the Captain of our Salvation, the Author and the Finisher of our faith... for Him the UPWARD CALL was one that brought Him lower, and lower, and lower... even unto the death of the Cross.
And so it must be with you and me. God deliver us from all that striving we see today to excel... striving for highness, for exaltation, for greatness, for bigness... even among many who profess to know the "end-time" message, and who profess to be heirs of the "Kingdom." Let us make no mistake about it... the pathway of SONSHIP leads to none of these. It takes one lower, and lower, and still lower... in order that in the Spirit of Christ we might rise higher... and higher, and still higher...
And so we take but one step at a time, and God is pleased. But we must not lag behind or yield to the enticements that come our way from time to time to take a shortcut. For there are many that appear to be good. You can get gifts of the Spirit freely. You might even develop for yourself a ministry, that may satisfy your heart for a season, and from which you might find a certain fulfillment. And certainly you need His gifts! But pray God that He will cause you to sit and learn from ministries that will lead you to His feet... ministries that will encourage you to take His yoke, and follow His ways. Gifts and ministries must not be considered to be in any sense ultimate... they are but means to the end... and the end pursuit of gift and ministry is to come to know Him, to be joined in like spirit unto others in the Family of God who are seeking to come to the "fullness" of Him... so that together you might be able to comprehend, to apprehend, to receive fully... the living Christ, in the full expression of His Being.
And let us not be dismayed when in spite of all our noble efforts to climb higher we feel... we just know... that we are getting lower and lower. For as we travel this way we are going to discover, as men and women of all ages have discovered... that...
The way UP is DOWN...The way OVER is UNDER...The way to SUCCESS is through FAILURE...The way to true PROSPERITY is through spiritual BANKRUPTCY...The way to the true RICHES, is through POVERTY...The way to VICTORY, is through DEFEAT...The way to LIFE, is through DEATH.
And therefore, for the people of the UPWARD WAY God has set before us a very clear pattern and example:
"Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God (Or, 'He did not consider that equality with God was something He should grasp after'): but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name" (Phil. 2:5-9).
For the Son of God, the Captain of our Salvation, the Author and the Finisher of our faith... for Him the UPWARD CALL was one that brought Him lower, and lower, and lower... even unto the death of the Cross.
And so it must be with you and me. God deliver us from all that striving we see today to excel... striving for highness, for exaltation, for greatness, for bigness... even among many who profess to know the "end-time" message, and who profess to be heirs of the "Kingdom." Let us make no mistake about it... the pathway of SONSHIP leads to none of these. It takes one lower, and lower, and still lower... in order that in the Spirit of Christ we might rise higher... and higher, and still higher...
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Selflessness..
I'm including part of an article by Randy Thomas. His article is very enlightening in that it strikes at a deep chord as to what is wrong with our "Westernized" form of Chrisitanity..its a call to grow up and become mature sons and daughters. Selflessness must be part of the foundation of our lives - it is the basis of Christ-likeness....
If you want to read the whole article, its excellent - go to: http://randythomas.org/other-writings/ and then click on the article/testimony: "Same-Sex Struggles". So here it is:
I could sit here and write about the importance of going to church, worshiping the Lord, developing a disciplined life, seeking out mentors and accountability partners, and exposing yourself to edifying art and entertainment. I could make a list of all the authors and speakers who have been instruments the Lord has used to speak into my life.
While all of that is important, the theme that I keep coming back to in life is that we were created to know and be known. And if we want to know and be known by God and others in way that is true to who He is and what He wants, we have to do so selflessly.
Much of what I have seen in the Western Church before and after becoming a Christian is geared toward the believer and helping the believer be a more fulfilled Christian. The problem is that we're so distracted in our efforts toward fulfillment that we forget the greatest commandments: to love our God with our whole being and to love each other as we do ourselves. That Christian axiom is the epitome of a selfless expression of knowing and being known. We live in a great time and place to be edified as much as we are, but such knowledge doesn't become wisdom without selfless application in all of our relationships.
It is selflessness that makes me yearn to know a God who has His own opinion, an opinion that might be contrary to my wishes or desires. It is selflessness that makes me want to defer my agenda and be open to His. It's selflessness that moves me to lift up others in prayer when my soul would rather worry about my own circumstance. It's selflessness that refuses to view men as sexual objects and instead see them as Christ does, and to treasure women for how they uniquely reflect God in a way that neither I nor any man ever will. It's selflessness that drives me to forgive and seek forgiveness.
Every time I come to what I see as the end of the road, I give up my self. I hand Him all of me. That is where every single one of my Christian "greeting card" moments have come from. This is what sustains my walk and transforms my life in so many ways. Romans 5:1-5 states
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 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.
That passage provides a template for developing Christ-like selflessness. It helps us to realize that tribulation eventually leads to hope by transforming our very own character, a character expressed in our relationship with God and others.
I want you, dear reader, to walk away encouraged to know that God knows you and all you have done, and He loves you regardless. I want you to discover what I have discovered: that self-sufficiency never works; the only real freedom is a selfless approach to all of our relationships. By living this way, the Lord releases us to live up to our potential for which He created us.
If you want to read the whole article, its excellent - go to: http://randythomas.org/other-writings/ and then click on the article/testimony: "Same-Sex Struggles". So here it is:
I could sit here and write about the importance of going to church, worshiping the Lord, developing a disciplined life, seeking out mentors and accountability partners, and exposing yourself to edifying art and entertainment. I could make a list of all the authors and speakers who have been instruments the Lord has used to speak into my life.
While all of that is important, the theme that I keep coming back to in life is that we were created to know and be known. And if we want to know and be known by God and others in way that is true to who He is and what He wants, we have to do so selflessly.
Much of what I have seen in the Western Church before and after becoming a Christian is geared toward the believer and helping the believer be a more fulfilled Christian. The problem is that we're so distracted in our efforts toward fulfillment that we forget the greatest commandments: to love our God with our whole being and to love each other as we do ourselves. That Christian axiom is the epitome of a selfless expression of knowing and being known. We live in a great time and place to be edified as much as we are, but such knowledge doesn't become wisdom without selfless application in all of our relationships.
It is selflessness that makes me yearn to know a God who has His own opinion, an opinion that might be contrary to my wishes or desires. It is selflessness that makes me want to defer my agenda and be open to His. It's selflessness that moves me to lift up others in prayer when my soul would rather worry about my own circumstance. It's selflessness that refuses to view men as sexual objects and instead see them as Christ does, and to treasure women for how they uniquely reflect God in a way that neither I nor any man ever will. It's selflessness that drives me to forgive and seek forgiveness.
Every time I come to what I see as the end of the road, I give up my self. I hand Him all of me. That is where every single one of my Christian "greeting card" moments have come from. This is what sustains my walk and transforms my life in so many ways. Romans 5:1-5 states
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 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.
That passage provides a template for developing Christ-like selflessness. It helps us to realize that tribulation eventually leads to hope by transforming our very own character, a character expressed in our relationship with God and others.
I want you, dear reader, to walk away encouraged to know that God knows you and all you have done, and He loves you regardless. I want you to discover what I have discovered: that self-sufficiency never works; the only real freedom is a selfless approach to all of our relationships. By living this way, the Lord releases us to live up to our potential for which He created us.
Thanks to Randy for his transparency and honesty. My prayer is that the "church" will become a place of transparency, honesty and healing...much like a spiritual hospital...that means all of us as the "church" need to become whole and fully integrated as persons (body, soul and spirit)one step at a time, one person at a time.
Acceptance of one another as sons and daughters made in the image of our God & yet not afraid to challenge one another to live a life worthy of the true gospel - this is grace and truth in perfect balance.
Monday, January 14, 2008
Thursday, January 10, 2008
WORD of the Lord for 2008 and Beyond--
January 10, 2008
C. Peter Wagner, Cindy Jacobs and many others:
"Released from the Apostolic Council of Prophetic Elders"
This Word is the compilation of the prophetic words and consensus of the Apostolic Council of Prophetic Elders (ACPE). Last year, the council met at the beginning of the Jewish calendar, September 12-13, 2007, rather than at the January time period in order to have time to distill and hear the Word of the Lord before the turning of the Gregorian calendar. (Note this in light of several of the prophecies that have already come to pass since this word was given in September of 2007.)
While this is a prophecy for the year 2008, it is difficult at times to put a prophetic word in a certain chronological time structure as the lives of individuals and the choices they make can also have an effect on the timing of what God has shown to us. Some of these prophecies are more appropriately given for the "next season" of our lives rather than simply a one-year timeframe.
2008: The Year to Possess the Gates
"...blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the Heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall 'possess the gate of their enemies.'" Genesis 22:17
"The one who breaks open will come up before them; they will break out, pass through the gate, and go out by it; their king will pass before them, with the LORD at their head." Micah 2:13
This year the Holy Spirit keyed off of the number "8" to us. The number 8 represents new beginnings. God wants us to go through new doors (or gates) to go to a new level in everything we do. The Lord cautioned us that while many want to experience the new wine (i.e., new moves of God), there are some who want to "wear their old robes," or that which is comfortable to them, into this new season of time. This will not work. It is critical that we all are willing to give up old practices, structures, and the influence of relationships that tie us to the old if they refuse to allow us to move into the new things.
As we met as prophets, this was probably one of the most fertile times that we have had in the release of not only the word of the Lord, but spiritual instruction on how to get into the "new things" and "new gates." This includes the shutting of old gates and doors, seeking the Lord for how to move into the new in a proper way, and asking God for wisdom for the move.
Biblical Patterns for the Number 8
Here are some significant aspects we were shown about the number eight for this year from some Biblical patterns:
1. David was the eighth son--new DYNASTY for Israel. (This includes the word ''legacy'' as a key word.)
2. Circumcision takes place on the eighth day--new life through covenant. A new holiness movement that will require personal circumcision or the cutting away of sin issues in our lives, and then the Church will see a national move of holiness.
3. Eight souls on the ark--new beginning of the earth, new revelation of God's judgment and His grace.
4. Eighth note on the piano begins a new octave. Look to God for the release of new sounds and songs.
5. Seven colors in rainbow spectrum--eighth color begins new spectrum.
6. Eighth day is the beginning of a new week.
7. Josiah began his reign at age 8 bringing a new reign in the midst of idolatrous predecessors. He began to seek the Lord for himself in the eighty years of his reign, which later resulted in his purging Israel of the altars of Baal. Look to a new reformation generation arising who will purge their lands of sin and bring Biblical reformation. Solomon also began to purge the idols from Israel in the eighth year of his reign.
8. Jesus appeared to Thomas, the doubter, on the eighth day after his resurrection. Many doubters will convert and be visited by God in special and unique ways.
The Number 8 In "New Beginnings"
Genesis is the book of beginnings in Scripture. Here is a prophetic emphasis from it for us today:
1. The anointing to create
Creative and innovative ideas. God is going to release upon His people many ideas that will lead them to prosper in spirit, soul and mind. This creativity will also help us to "work smarter, not harder." The curse of toiling under heavy burdens with huge moments of frustration has caused delay and exhaustion. Seek the Lord for new ways to do things that will release the finances you need and streamline your life without working to simply get by on a day-to-day basis.
2. The anointing for dominion
This is the anointing needed to fulfill the Biblical mandate found in Genesis 1:28 to "be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion." Seek the Lord for a way to be fruitful in evangelism and fill your cities with the doctrine of Christ (Acts 5:28). New evangelism outreaches will fill our cities along with visitations of God upon young revivalists. Young people will study the lives of Leonard Ravenhill and E.M. Bounds once again--with the fire for winning souls burning in their hearts.
Each sector of society will begin to be touched by the power of God in new fresh ways from government, education, the medical fields, media, the arts and other areas. No longer will the Church bemoan what is going on around them in society but ask themselves the question, "What are we going to do about it?" and "What is my assignment in seeing this happen?"
3. The anointing for creative miracles
The frequency of the miraculous will increase; particularly--unusual creative miracles. In this season, we will see not only churches filled with miracles, but whole cities. "Cancer-free zones" will be the medical talk of the day as some churches and cities have such frequency of seeing cancer healed that it catches the attention of many including the secular news.
The Transfer of Wealth
While many have believed there is going to be a great transfer of wealth, there is a frustration on some that have "believed but not yet seen." In seeking the Lord about this, one revelation came that there has been a demonic "spirit of delay" sent against the Body of Christ; particularly to those in the marketplace. ''Chronos'' under Strong's definition #5550 also can mean "delay."
Therefore, it important to understand that while God means to release the wealth, satan is releasing His strategies to keep the wealth "locked" that we are working to "unlock." God wants to open locked gates in '08. In order to possess the gate of wealth to, among other things, develop plans to eradicate systemic poverty, we need to develop new structures of intercession to do the spiritual warfare necessary to transfer wealth.
Among other things, here are some forms that need to take place:
1. New prayer movements with a focus on marketplace intercession.
2. More businesses hiring intercessors to pray for their workplace.
3. Focused intercession and training for specific targeted sectors of wealth and business. Intercessors need to be trained to understand business so that they can pray intelligently.
New and Greater Emphasis on Intercession
God is going to pour out new wine upon the intercessors and new prayer structures across the face of the earth. Many 24/7 prayer movements will spring up in university campuses. Christians will ask for prayer rooms in their places of employment. It is time for us to "come out of the closet" and let our prayers and voices be heard in society. Teachings that were done in the 80's and 90's on prayer and intercession need to be revisited with a new eye and taught to the Church.
Cyrus Anointing
God is going to anoint in a profound way some of His children with a Cyrus anointing to fulfill Psalm 107:16, "For He has broken 'the gates of bronze and cut the bars of iron in two.'"
Spiritual Eldership
God is anointing leaders who will run for political office, become the presidents of corporations and principals of schools, and others who will sit in the gates of influence in society like Boaz did in Biblical times.
Open the Floodgates
"'Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house. Test Me in this,' says the LORD almighty, 'and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of Heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.'" Malachi 3:10
It is time to possess the floodgates that will open the doors of favor and influence and finance. As long as we are obeying the mandate to tithe, God is going to flood us in several areas that will help us open these doors. Ask the Lord how to incorporate the word of the Lord for '08 to open your personal floodgates of blessing and influence.
Key Words for You--Full Circle in '08
Revelation: God wants to pour out new revelation on how you are to function in this season of your life. Be flexible in your life at this moment for God's changes and adjustments to occur in your schedule and way of doing things.
Wisdom: God will give you wisdom not of this world, but of His Heavenly wisdom if you seek Him with all of your heart for it. He will give wisdom for the shift, for new ways for new assignments, and how to apply the revelation to go to new levels in your life.
This is a season for things to come "full circle" in our lives. Things left unfinished in your life will be finished. Relationships that were broken will be restored. Broken dreams will be healed and come to life again. It is time to dream again! Go back and revisit the prophetic words that God gave you in the last season and past years that were not fulfilled, and refuse to let go of them until you see them go into fruition. War over the words and believe them (read I Timothy 1:18, 2 Chronicles 20:20).
President and Upcoming Elections
God spoke to us specifically that we had fallen down in our intercession for President Bush, and God wants us to pray that he will finish as the "Burning Bush," which God showed us was his destiny before the elections. He admonished us to pray for him as the authority God had put in place as our President (read I Timothy 2:1). In seeking God for the next leader, we have failed in our intercession for our current one. God wants President Bush to finish well as He spoke to us two years ago.
An interesting word was released for the meeting in September '07 that is particularly pertinent for the elections of '08:
God has provided a righteous man who will begin to emerge towards the end of '07 and begin to shine in '08. We will not be left scratching our heads or feeling like we are throwing our vote away on someone who cannot win. God will put His very apparent light of favor upon this man, and we will know how to pray and to vote.
The Lord also prophetically admonished us to press through to see the courts shifted and that--we cannot fail in our prayers to see abortion overturned in the United States. (As of now, 49 million babies have been aborted since 1973.) This is a "make it or break it" time, and we must not be weary in our intercession.
Admonition for Prayer Cover
God gave us a specific word that satan will try to bring premature death to the Body of Christ. Please prayerfully cover yourself, your family, pastors, and those of influence specifically in your life.
Philanthropy
A new generation of philanthropists will arise out of the Body of Christ. A focus will be on the poor and needy. There will also be a major emphasis on using wealth to gain influence to be a voice in society for righteousness. This will lead to Christians and Christianity in general to be seen in a new light by those who thought that God and the Church were unfeeling and uncaring.
New Emphasis on the Teaching Gift
The teaching gift will once again arise to the forefront as the Lord brings an emphasis on knowing the foundations of Biblical truths. This will mitigate against the Body of Christ going off course and falling into error.
Holiness Movement
Holiness will come to the Church again. With this will come a great exposure of sin in the pulpit. The Lord warned us that many would come under governmental scrutiny during the last half of '07 and '08, and we need to examine ourselves so we are clean in every area of the ministry, financially as well as spiritually.
New Civil Rights Movement
A new generation of civil rights leaders are going to emerge in the nation who will be a righteous voice. Their anointing will be so strong that they will supersede and be stronger and have more influence than those who are unrighteous that align with unbiblical stances. They will speak against the influence of the unholy side of hip-hop and new prayer movements will also arise in the black community.
Kingdom Government of God
The government of God will become a new wineskin for the future move of God (see Matthew 6:10). Reformation back to the original design of Genesis will be a major focus and God's creative anointing will be on those who move in this direction.
Specific Focus on Nations
There were five international areas that we specifically felt God's spotlight on in the coming hour:
1. China.
2. The "Ring of Fire" (Pacific Rim nations).
3. India.
4. Israel and the Middle East.
5. South America and Venezuela.
We felt there was going to be an extreme battle between light and darkness for a season, with increased persecution of believers. On the other hand, great harvest and advancement for the Kingdom of God will also take place. We all need to pray specifically for these regions of the world.
Submitted by C. Peter Wagner, Cindy Jacobs, and the members of the Apostolic Council of Prophetic Elders (ACPE)
C. Peter Wagner, Cindy Jacobs and many others:
"Released from the Apostolic Council of Prophetic Elders"
This Word is the compilation of the prophetic words and consensus of the Apostolic Council of Prophetic Elders (ACPE). Last year, the council met at the beginning of the Jewish calendar, September 12-13, 2007, rather than at the January time period in order to have time to distill and hear the Word of the Lord before the turning of the Gregorian calendar. (Note this in light of several of the prophecies that have already come to pass since this word was given in September of 2007.)
While this is a prophecy for the year 2008, it is difficult at times to put a prophetic word in a certain chronological time structure as the lives of individuals and the choices they make can also have an effect on the timing of what God has shown to us. Some of these prophecies are more appropriately given for the "next season" of our lives rather than simply a one-year timeframe.
2008: The Year to Possess the Gates
"...blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the Heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall 'possess the gate of their enemies.'" Genesis 22:17
"The one who breaks open will come up before them; they will break out, pass through the gate, and go out by it; their king will pass before them, with the LORD at their head." Micah 2:13
This year the Holy Spirit keyed off of the number "8" to us. The number 8 represents new beginnings. God wants us to go through new doors (or gates) to go to a new level in everything we do. The Lord cautioned us that while many want to experience the new wine (i.e., new moves of God), there are some who want to "wear their old robes," or that which is comfortable to them, into this new season of time. This will not work. It is critical that we all are willing to give up old practices, structures, and the influence of relationships that tie us to the old if they refuse to allow us to move into the new things.
As we met as prophets, this was probably one of the most fertile times that we have had in the release of not only the word of the Lord, but spiritual instruction on how to get into the "new things" and "new gates." This includes the shutting of old gates and doors, seeking the Lord for how to move into the new in a proper way, and asking God for wisdom for the move.
Biblical Patterns for the Number 8
Here are some significant aspects we were shown about the number eight for this year from some Biblical patterns:
1. David was the eighth son--new DYNASTY for Israel. (This includes the word ''legacy'' as a key word.)
2. Circumcision takes place on the eighth day--new life through covenant. A new holiness movement that will require personal circumcision or the cutting away of sin issues in our lives, and then the Church will see a national move of holiness.
3. Eight souls on the ark--new beginning of the earth, new revelation of God's judgment and His grace.
4. Eighth note on the piano begins a new octave. Look to God for the release of new sounds and songs.
5. Seven colors in rainbow spectrum--eighth color begins new spectrum.
6. Eighth day is the beginning of a new week.
7. Josiah began his reign at age 8 bringing a new reign in the midst of idolatrous predecessors. He began to seek the Lord for himself in the eighty years of his reign, which later resulted in his purging Israel of the altars of Baal. Look to a new reformation generation arising who will purge their lands of sin and bring Biblical reformation. Solomon also began to purge the idols from Israel in the eighth year of his reign.
8. Jesus appeared to Thomas, the doubter, on the eighth day after his resurrection. Many doubters will convert and be visited by God in special and unique ways.
The Number 8 In "New Beginnings"
Genesis is the book of beginnings in Scripture. Here is a prophetic emphasis from it for us today:
1. The anointing to create
Creative and innovative ideas. God is going to release upon His people many ideas that will lead them to prosper in spirit, soul and mind. This creativity will also help us to "work smarter, not harder." The curse of toiling under heavy burdens with huge moments of frustration has caused delay and exhaustion. Seek the Lord for new ways to do things that will release the finances you need and streamline your life without working to simply get by on a day-to-day basis.
2. The anointing for dominion
This is the anointing needed to fulfill the Biblical mandate found in Genesis 1:28 to "be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion." Seek the Lord for a way to be fruitful in evangelism and fill your cities with the doctrine of Christ (Acts 5:28). New evangelism outreaches will fill our cities along with visitations of God upon young revivalists. Young people will study the lives of Leonard Ravenhill and E.M. Bounds once again--with the fire for winning souls burning in their hearts.
Each sector of society will begin to be touched by the power of God in new fresh ways from government, education, the medical fields, media, the arts and other areas. No longer will the Church bemoan what is going on around them in society but ask themselves the question, "What are we going to do about it?" and "What is my assignment in seeing this happen?"
3. The anointing for creative miracles
The frequency of the miraculous will increase; particularly--unusual creative miracles. In this season, we will see not only churches filled with miracles, but whole cities. "Cancer-free zones" will be the medical talk of the day as some churches and cities have such frequency of seeing cancer healed that it catches the attention of many including the secular news.
The Transfer of Wealth
While many have believed there is going to be a great transfer of wealth, there is a frustration on some that have "believed but not yet seen." In seeking the Lord about this, one revelation came that there has been a demonic "spirit of delay" sent against the Body of Christ; particularly to those in the marketplace. ''Chronos'' under Strong's definition #5550 also can mean "delay."
Therefore, it important to understand that while God means to release the wealth, satan is releasing His strategies to keep the wealth "locked" that we are working to "unlock." God wants to open locked gates in '08. In order to possess the gate of wealth to, among other things, develop plans to eradicate systemic poverty, we need to develop new structures of intercession to do the spiritual warfare necessary to transfer wealth.
Among other things, here are some forms that need to take place:
1. New prayer movements with a focus on marketplace intercession.
2. More businesses hiring intercessors to pray for their workplace.
3. Focused intercession and training for specific targeted sectors of wealth and business. Intercessors need to be trained to understand business so that they can pray intelligently.
New and Greater Emphasis on Intercession
God is going to pour out new wine upon the intercessors and new prayer structures across the face of the earth. Many 24/7 prayer movements will spring up in university campuses. Christians will ask for prayer rooms in their places of employment. It is time for us to "come out of the closet" and let our prayers and voices be heard in society. Teachings that were done in the 80's and 90's on prayer and intercession need to be revisited with a new eye and taught to the Church.
Cyrus Anointing
God is going to anoint in a profound way some of His children with a Cyrus anointing to fulfill Psalm 107:16, "For He has broken 'the gates of bronze and cut the bars of iron in two.'"
Spiritual Eldership
God is anointing leaders who will run for political office, become the presidents of corporations and principals of schools, and others who will sit in the gates of influence in society like Boaz did in Biblical times.
Open the Floodgates
"'Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house. Test Me in this,' says the LORD almighty, 'and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of Heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.'" Malachi 3:10
It is time to possess the floodgates that will open the doors of favor and influence and finance. As long as we are obeying the mandate to tithe, God is going to flood us in several areas that will help us open these doors. Ask the Lord how to incorporate the word of the Lord for '08 to open your personal floodgates of blessing and influence.
Key Words for You--Full Circle in '08
Revelation: God wants to pour out new revelation on how you are to function in this season of your life. Be flexible in your life at this moment for God's changes and adjustments to occur in your schedule and way of doing things.
Wisdom: God will give you wisdom not of this world, but of His Heavenly wisdom if you seek Him with all of your heart for it. He will give wisdom for the shift, for new ways for new assignments, and how to apply the revelation to go to new levels in your life.
This is a season for things to come "full circle" in our lives. Things left unfinished in your life will be finished. Relationships that were broken will be restored. Broken dreams will be healed and come to life again. It is time to dream again! Go back and revisit the prophetic words that God gave you in the last season and past years that were not fulfilled, and refuse to let go of them until you see them go into fruition. War over the words and believe them (read I Timothy 1:18, 2 Chronicles 20:20).
President and Upcoming Elections
God spoke to us specifically that we had fallen down in our intercession for President Bush, and God wants us to pray that he will finish as the "Burning Bush," which God showed us was his destiny before the elections. He admonished us to pray for him as the authority God had put in place as our President (read I Timothy 2:1). In seeking God for the next leader, we have failed in our intercession for our current one. God wants President Bush to finish well as He spoke to us two years ago.
An interesting word was released for the meeting in September '07 that is particularly pertinent for the elections of '08:
God has provided a righteous man who will begin to emerge towards the end of '07 and begin to shine in '08. We will not be left scratching our heads or feeling like we are throwing our vote away on someone who cannot win. God will put His very apparent light of favor upon this man, and we will know how to pray and to vote.
The Lord also prophetically admonished us to press through to see the courts shifted and that--we cannot fail in our prayers to see abortion overturned in the United States. (As of now, 49 million babies have been aborted since 1973.) This is a "make it or break it" time, and we must not be weary in our intercession.
Admonition for Prayer Cover
God gave us a specific word that satan will try to bring premature death to the Body of Christ. Please prayerfully cover yourself, your family, pastors, and those of influence specifically in your life.
Philanthropy
A new generation of philanthropists will arise out of the Body of Christ. A focus will be on the poor and needy. There will also be a major emphasis on using wealth to gain influence to be a voice in society for righteousness. This will lead to Christians and Christianity in general to be seen in a new light by those who thought that God and the Church were unfeeling and uncaring.
New Emphasis on the Teaching Gift
The teaching gift will once again arise to the forefront as the Lord brings an emphasis on knowing the foundations of Biblical truths. This will mitigate against the Body of Christ going off course and falling into error.
Holiness Movement
Holiness will come to the Church again. With this will come a great exposure of sin in the pulpit. The Lord warned us that many would come under governmental scrutiny during the last half of '07 and '08, and we need to examine ourselves so we are clean in every area of the ministry, financially as well as spiritually.
New Civil Rights Movement
A new generation of civil rights leaders are going to emerge in the nation who will be a righteous voice. Their anointing will be so strong that they will supersede and be stronger and have more influence than those who are unrighteous that align with unbiblical stances. They will speak against the influence of the unholy side of hip-hop and new prayer movements will also arise in the black community.
Kingdom Government of God
The government of God will become a new wineskin for the future move of God (see Matthew 6:10). Reformation back to the original design of Genesis will be a major focus and God's creative anointing will be on those who move in this direction.
Specific Focus on Nations
There were five international areas that we specifically felt God's spotlight on in the coming hour:
1. China.
2. The "Ring of Fire" (Pacific Rim nations).
3. India.
4. Israel and the Middle East.
5. South America and Venezuela.
We felt there was going to be an extreme battle between light and darkness for a season, with increased persecution of believers. On the other hand, great harvest and advancement for the Kingdom of God will also take place. We all need to pray specifically for these regions of the world.
Submitted by C. Peter Wagner, Cindy Jacobs, and the members of the Apostolic Council of Prophetic Elders (ACPE)
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
Titus 3:3
Titus 3:3 For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another
Spurgeon once put it...
No man here has any idea of how bad he really is. You do not know how good the grace of God can make you, nor how bad you are by nature, nor how bad you might become if that nature were left to itself.
W E Vine comments that
"the remembrance of the fact that we once manifested some of these characteristics of our unregenerate nature, should in itself be an incentive to us to fulfill the exhortations just given. We ourselves stood in need of kindness, gentleness, meekness, on the part of others, and were so treated by God in His long-suffering. How then can we refuse kindness to those who stand in need of it?" Vine goes on to write that "Foolishness is evidence of a blunted mind; disobedience is evidence of a hardened heart; deception is evidence of a perverted will; bondage to lusts and pleasures is evidence of a carnal mind; malice and envy and hate are proofs of selfishness, pride and grasping ambition. And all are the effects of sin."
Paul has a similar commentary on humanity's state outside of Christ writing that...
We also once "were (spiritually) dead in (our) trespasses and sins, in which (we) formerly walked according to the course of this world (under the sway of the tendency of this present evil age), according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience (unwilling to be persuaded, obstinate, rebellious, unbelieving, striving continually against the purposes of God) Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh (our behavior governed by our corrupt and sensual nature), indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children (born with a sinful nature inherited from Adam) of wrath (objects of God's holy hatred of sin representing His attribute of necessary antagonism to everything evil), even as the rest." (Eph 2:1-3)
Disobedient, deceived, enslaved - Spurgeon comments...
That is what we were once; and if the grace of God has made a change in us, we must not boast, we must not censure others, we must not set up as self-righteous judges of others. Oh, no! our action must be the very reverse of all this.
DISOBEDIENT: apeitheis: (Mt 21:29; Acts 9:1-6; 26:19,20; Eph 2:2; 1Pet 1:14)
Disobedient (545) apeithes from a = without + peítho = persuade, literally describes one who refuses to be persuaded (unpersuadable), thus picturing one who willfully disregards authority. Impersuasible, incompliant, contumacious.
In studying apeithes it is important to understand that the stem peith- (pith-, poith-) has the basic meaning of trust (cf. Latin = fido, fides; English = fidelity). Trust can refer to a statement, so that it has the meaning to put faith in, to let oneself be convinced, or to a demand, so that it gets the meaning of obey, be persuaded. The active meaning of the verb stem peith- then is to convince and persuade and is especially characteristic of Greek thought. In secular Greek it interesting to note that "Peitho" (art of persuading) was even regarded as a goddess!
Apeithes pictures a stubborn, stiff-necked attitude and speaks of disbelief manifesting itself in disobedience. Apeithes is opposed to pistis or belief (trust).
TDNT says apeithes...
means “unworthy of belief,” then “disobedient.”
Marvin Vincent in discussing apeitheo in John 3:36 writes that..
Disbelief is regarded in its active manifestation, disobedience. The verb peitho means to persuade, to cause belief, to induce one to do something by persuading, and so runs into the meaning of to obey, properly as the result of persuasion...Obedience, however, includes faith.
From these comments, it should not surprise you to discover that in the New Testament the Greek words translated disobey, disobedience, disobedient (apeitheo apeitheia; apeithes) do not stand in contrast with obedience but in contrast with faith!
In the present context apeithes describes the person who refuses obedience to God, resisting His Word and remains steadfastly rebellious against God's natural laws and those which human society requires.
Paul describes a progression is from an unwillingness to use one's mental faculties (foolish) in order to understand the truth about God and His glorious gospel, in turn and inevitably leading to an unwillingness to be persuaded by the truth. Men do not avoid the gospel of Christ because of insufficient facts but because of proud and unrepentant hearts. Such is the natural character of the human heart, Jeremiah recording that the
heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick. (Jer 17:9)
Solomon wrote that
the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil, and insanity is in their hearts throughout their lives (Eccl 9:3).
Apeithes is found 6 times in the NT...
Luke 1:17 "And it is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous; so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."
Acts 26:19 "Consequently, King Agrippa, I did not prove disobedient to the heavenly vision,
Romans 1:30 (note) slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,
2 Timothy 3:2 (note) For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,
Titus 1:16 (note) They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being (continually = their "lifestyle") detestable and disobedient, and worthless for any good deed.
Titus 3:3 (note) For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.
Apeithes is used 5 times in the Septuagint (LXX) ...
Numbers 20:10 and Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly before the rock. And he said to them, "Listen now, you rebels (Hebrew = marah [04784] = be contentious or rebellious; Lxx = apeithes) ; shall we bring forth water for you out of this rock?"
Deuteronomy 21:18 "If any man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey his father or his mother, and when they chastise him, he will not even listen to them,
Isaiah 30:9 For this is a rebellious (Lxx = apeithes) people, false sons, Sons who refuse to listen To the instruction of the LORD;
Jeremiah 5:23 'But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart; They have turned aside and departed.
Zechariah 7:12 "And they made their hearts like flint (Lxx = apeithes = disobedient! Flint is a good metaphor for such a hard heart!) so that they could not hear the law and the words which the LORD of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets; therefore great wrath came from the LORD of hosts.
Jesus taught that from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. (see note Matthew 7:21; 7:22)
This is who we once were outside of Christ. Paul is saying that this truth should motivate believers to treat others the way God in His grace treated us when we were involved in ungodly activities
"for while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly", God demonstrating "His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (Isa 44:20; Ob 1:3; Luke 21:8; Gal 6:3; Js 1:26; Rev 12:9; 13:14)
DECEIVED (4105) (planao from plane which describes "a wandering" and gives us our English word "planet") means literally made to wander and so to be led astray or made to err from the right way, the highway of truth and holiness.
Matthew Henry adds that
"Man in this his degenerate state is of a straying nature, thence compared to a lost sheep; this must be sought and brought back, and guided in the right way, Ps 119:176. (See Spurgeon's Note) He is weak, and ready to be imposed upon by the wiles and subtleties of Satan, and of men lying in wait to seduce and mislead."
Clarke writes that deceived is
"erring - wandering from the right way in consequence of our ignorance, not knowing the right way; and, in consequence of our unbelief and obstinacy, not choosing to know it."
Basically deception refers to a deliberate misrepresentation of the truth, especially in moral and spiritual matters, in order to purposely mislead another person. In this sense, the truth can be misrepresented first of all by our own sinful heart (which is the control center of our character and our moral and spiritual life) (Jer 17:9, Hebrews 3:10 [note], Js 5:19, 1Jn 1:8), by false prophets (Jer 29:8, Mt 24:4-5, Revelation 13:14 [note]), by false teachers (Eph 5:6, 2 Peter 2:14 [note], 1Jn 2:26, 1Jn 3:7, 2Jn 1:7, Jezebel Revelation 2:20 [note]) and of course especially by the ultimate "Deceiver", our old Adversary, the consummate Liar (Jn 8:44), Satan himself (see notes Revelation 12:9, Revelation 20:3, 20:8, 20:10). Satan’s objective is to deceive sinners into ever greater sin and ungodliness.
Note that the verb planao is in the passive voice which indicates an outside force or influence (e.g., the unregenerate heart in unbelievers, the power of sin rendered ineffective but unfortunately still latent in believers, false prophets, false teachers, the Devil) is causing the deception that leads one down the wrong path. The present tense indicates the sad truth that unsaved men and women are continually being led astray from God, even to the point that they refuse to believe that in the end they will be judged by Him (cf notes Revelation 20:11; 20:12; 20:13; 20:14; 20:15).
Expositor's Bible Commentary writes that...
Those who deceive others impair, in so doing, their sense of the distinction between truth and falsehood, and thus weaken their power of resistance to self-deceit and to imposition by others. Peter writes that prior to salvation we "were continually straying (planao - being led astray) like sheep, but now (we) have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of (our) souls." (see note 1 Peter 2:25)
This miraculous transition from walking in darkness to walking in the light, should motivate every believer to conduct themselves in a manner worthy of the gospel (submit to and obey the government, do good deeds, don't malign, don't quarrel, be gentle and show meekness to all men, including the foolish, deceived, disobedient, etc!)
Clarke adds that
It is a true saying, “There are none so blind as those who will not see.” Such persons are proof against conviction, they will not be convinced either by God or man.
Although deceived in context describes who we once were (unbelievers), do not be deceived for believers can still fall prey to the wiles of deception! So beware!
James writes
Do not be deceived (literally stop being deceived - indicating that deception was already a fact), my beloved brethren. (James 1:16)
Paul warns the Galatians that when dealing with one caught in any trespass, they must be careful for if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. (Gal 6:3).
James writes that
If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless. (Ja 1:26)
Clearly, the tragic truth is that the one who is deceived does not even know he or she is deceived! Given the "deceptive nature" of deception, it is not surprising that the writer of Hebrews exhorts us to encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called "Today," lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. (see note Hebrews 3:13)
Sin will deceive you. You are not getting away with that "little sin"...in fact your heart is being gradually hardened by it (and you don't even realize it!) Kill sin or it will kill you.
Paul goes on to warn the Corinthians of the danger of deception writing
Or do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God (the spiritual sphere of salvation where God rules as King over all who belong to Him by faith)? Do not be deceived (stop being deceived) neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God. (1Cor 6:9-10)
This list convicts us all...who among us does not covet from time to time? Occasional sins is not what Paul is referring to. Don't be deceived. If an individual habitually and as manner of their lifestyle commits these sins, Paul says they are not saved.
Ryrie agrees writing that
People whose lifestyles exhibit wickedness, not fruit, show they are unsaved and will, therefore, not inherit the kingdom of God.
In a similar warning to the Galatians Paul writes
Do not be deceived (stop this) God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh shall from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit shall from the Spirit reap eternal life. (Gal 6:7-8)
Spurgeon once put it...
No man here has any idea of how bad he really is. You do not know how good the grace of God can make you, nor how bad you are by nature, nor how bad you might become if that nature were left to itself.
W E Vine comments that
"the remembrance of the fact that we once manifested some of these characteristics of our unregenerate nature, should in itself be an incentive to us to fulfill the exhortations just given. We ourselves stood in need of kindness, gentleness, meekness, on the part of others, and were so treated by God in His long-suffering. How then can we refuse kindness to those who stand in need of it?" Vine goes on to write that "Foolishness is evidence of a blunted mind; disobedience is evidence of a hardened heart; deception is evidence of a perverted will; bondage to lusts and pleasures is evidence of a carnal mind; malice and envy and hate are proofs of selfishness, pride and grasping ambition. And all are the effects of sin."
Paul has a similar commentary on humanity's state outside of Christ writing that...
We also once "were (spiritually) dead in (our) trespasses and sins, in which (we) formerly walked according to the course of this world (under the sway of the tendency of this present evil age), according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience (unwilling to be persuaded, obstinate, rebellious, unbelieving, striving continually against the purposes of God) Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh (our behavior governed by our corrupt and sensual nature), indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children (born with a sinful nature inherited from Adam) of wrath (objects of God's holy hatred of sin representing His attribute of necessary antagonism to everything evil), even as the rest." (Eph 2:1-3)
Disobedient, deceived, enslaved - Spurgeon comments...
That is what we were once; and if the grace of God has made a change in us, we must not boast, we must not censure others, we must not set up as self-righteous judges of others. Oh, no! our action must be the very reverse of all this.
DISOBEDIENT: apeitheis: (Mt 21:29; Acts 9:1-6; 26:19,20; Eph 2:2; 1Pet 1:14)
Disobedient (545) apeithes from a = without + peítho = persuade, literally describes one who refuses to be persuaded (unpersuadable), thus picturing one who willfully disregards authority. Impersuasible, incompliant, contumacious.
In studying apeithes it is important to understand that the stem peith- (pith-, poith-) has the basic meaning of trust (cf. Latin = fido, fides; English = fidelity). Trust can refer to a statement, so that it has the meaning to put faith in, to let oneself be convinced, or to a demand, so that it gets the meaning of obey, be persuaded. The active meaning of the verb stem peith- then is to convince and persuade and is especially characteristic of Greek thought. In secular Greek it interesting to note that "Peitho" (art of persuading) was even regarded as a goddess!
Apeithes pictures a stubborn, stiff-necked attitude and speaks of disbelief manifesting itself in disobedience. Apeithes is opposed to pistis or belief (trust).
TDNT says apeithes...
means “unworthy of belief,” then “disobedient.”
Marvin Vincent in discussing apeitheo in John 3:36 writes that..
Disbelief is regarded in its active manifestation, disobedience. The verb peitho means to persuade, to cause belief, to induce one to do something by persuading, and so runs into the meaning of to obey, properly as the result of persuasion...Obedience, however, includes faith.
From these comments, it should not surprise you to discover that in the New Testament the Greek words translated disobey, disobedience, disobedient (apeitheo apeitheia; apeithes) do not stand in contrast with obedience but in contrast with faith!
In the present context apeithes describes the person who refuses obedience to God, resisting His Word and remains steadfastly rebellious against God's natural laws and those which human society requires.
Paul describes a progression is from an unwillingness to use one's mental faculties (foolish) in order to understand the truth about God and His glorious gospel, in turn and inevitably leading to an unwillingness to be persuaded by the truth. Men do not avoid the gospel of Christ because of insufficient facts but because of proud and unrepentant hearts. Such is the natural character of the human heart, Jeremiah recording that the
heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick. (Jer 17:9)
Solomon wrote that
the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil, and insanity is in their hearts throughout their lives (Eccl 9:3).
Apeithes is found 6 times in the NT...
Luke 1:17 "And it is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous; so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."
Acts 26:19 "Consequently, King Agrippa, I did not prove disobedient to the heavenly vision,
Romans 1:30 (note) slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,
2 Timothy 3:2 (note) For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,
Titus 1:16 (note) They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being (continually = their "lifestyle") detestable and disobedient, and worthless for any good deed.
Titus 3:3 (note) For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.
Apeithes is used 5 times in the Septuagint (LXX) ...
Numbers 20:10 and Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly before the rock. And he said to them, "Listen now, you rebels (Hebrew = marah [04784] = be contentious or rebellious; Lxx = apeithes) ; shall we bring forth water for you out of this rock?"
Deuteronomy 21:18 "If any man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey his father or his mother, and when they chastise him, he will not even listen to them,
Isaiah 30:9 For this is a rebellious (Lxx = apeithes) people, false sons, Sons who refuse to listen To the instruction of the LORD;
Jeremiah 5:23 'But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart; They have turned aside and departed.
Zechariah 7:12 "And they made their hearts like flint (Lxx = apeithes = disobedient! Flint is a good metaphor for such a hard heart!) so that they could not hear the law and the words which the LORD of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets; therefore great wrath came from the LORD of hosts.
Jesus taught that from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. (see note Matthew 7:21; 7:22)
This is who we once were outside of Christ. Paul is saying that this truth should motivate believers to treat others the way God in His grace treated us when we were involved in ungodly activities
"for while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly", God demonstrating "His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (Isa 44:20; Ob 1:3; Luke 21:8; Gal 6:3; Js 1:26; Rev 12:9; 13:14)
DECEIVED (4105) (planao from plane which describes "a wandering" and gives us our English word "planet") means literally made to wander and so to be led astray or made to err from the right way, the highway of truth and holiness.
Matthew Henry adds that
"Man in this his degenerate state is of a straying nature, thence compared to a lost sheep; this must be sought and brought back, and guided in the right way, Ps 119:176. (See Spurgeon's Note) He is weak, and ready to be imposed upon by the wiles and subtleties of Satan, and of men lying in wait to seduce and mislead."
Clarke writes that deceived is
"erring - wandering from the right way in consequence of our ignorance, not knowing the right way; and, in consequence of our unbelief and obstinacy, not choosing to know it."
Basically deception refers to a deliberate misrepresentation of the truth, especially in moral and spiritual matters, in order to purposely mislead another person. In this sense, the truth can be misrepresented first of all by our own sinful heart (which is the control center of our character and our moral and spiritual life) (Jer 17:9, Hebrews 3:10 [note], Js 5:19, 1Jn 1:8), by false prophets (Jer 29:8, Mt 24:4-5, Revelation 13:14 [note]), by false teachers (Eph 5:6, 2 Peter 2:14 [note], 1Jn 2:26, 1Jn 3:7, 2Jn 1:7, Jezebel Revelation 2:20 [note]) and of course especially by the ultimate "Deceiver", our old Adversary, the consummate Liar (Jn 8:44), Satan himself (see notes Revelation 12:9, Revelation 20:3, 20:8, 20:10). Satan’s objective is to deceive sinners into ever greater sin and ungodliness.
Note that the verb planao is in the passive voice which indicates an outside force or influence (e.g., the unregenerate heart in unbelievers, the power of sin rendered ineffective but unfortunately still latent in believers, false prophets, false teachers, the Devil) is causing the deception that leads one down the wrong path. The present tense indicates the sad truth that unsaved men and women are continually being led astray from God, even to the point that they refuse to believe that in the end they will be judged by Him (cf notes Revelation 20:11; 20:12; 20:13; 20:14; 20:15).
Expositor's Bible Commentary writes that...
Those who deceive others impair, in so doing, their sense of the distinction between truth and falsehood, and thus weaken their power of resistance to self-deceit and to imposition by others. Peter writes that prior to salvation we "were continually straying (planao - being led astray) like sheep, but now (we) have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of (our) souls." (see note 1 Peter 2:25)
This miraculous transition from walking in darkness to walking in the light, should motivate every believer to conduct themselves in a manner worthy of the gospel (submit to and obey the government, do good deeds, don't malign, don't quarrel, be gentle and show meekness to all men, including the foolish, deceived, disobedient, etc!)
Clarke adds that
It is a true saying, “There are none so blind as those who will not see.” Such persons are proof against conviction, they will not be convinced either by God or man.
Although deceived in context describes who we once were (unbelievers), do not be deceived for believers can still fall prey to the wiles of deception! So beware!
James writes
Do not be deceived (literally stop being deceived - indicating that deception was already a fact), my beloved brethren. (James 1:16)
Paul warns the Galatians that when dealing with one caught in any trespass, they must be careful for if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. (Gal 6:3).
James writes that
If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless. (Ja 1:26)
Clearly, the tragic truth is that the one who is deceived does not even know he or she is deceived! Given the "deceptive nature" of deception, it is not surprising that the writer of Hebrews exhorts us to encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called "Today," lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. (see note Hebrews 3:13)
Sin will deceive you. You are not getting away with that "little sin"...in fact your heart is being gradually hardened by it (and you don't even realize it!) Kill sin or it will kill you.
Paul goes on to warn the Corinthians of the danger of deception writing
Or do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God (the spiritual sphere of salvation where God rules as King over all who belong to Him by faith)? Do not be deceived (stop being deceived) neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God. (1Cor 6:9-10)
This list convicts us all...who among us does not covet from time to time? Occasional sins is not what Paul is referring to. Don't be deceived. If an individual habitually and as manner of their lifestyle commits these sins, Paul says they are not saved.
Ryrie agrees writing that
People whose lifestyles exhibit wickedness, not fruit, show they are unsaved and will, therefore, not inherit the kingdom of God.
In a similar warning to the Galatians Paul writes
Do not be deceived (stop this) God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh shall from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit shall from the Spirit reap eternal life. (Gal 6:7-8)
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