Category Archives: grace

Click on following links for: Part 1,  Part 2 and Part 3.

The Who’s Who List of socialites sat in the tea garden, listening to the internationally acclaimed concert pianist performing a Mozart concerto.

When the pianist finished, the ladies clapped their hands. The pianist stood and bowed.

One lady, sitting near the  pianist, proclaimed, “Oh, I would just give anything to play the piano like him. Just anything.”

The pianist pivoted around and stared at the lady. “No, you would not,” he said.

The crowd gasped at the man’s rebuke of one of New York’s most respected women. How dare he make such a disrespectful remark?

Tears streamed down the embarrassed lady’s face onto her Paris designer dress. In her hurt, she defiantly mouthed, “Yes, I would.”

The man stepped toward her. “No, you would not,” he proclaimed. “Because if you truly meant that, you would have given up your childhood and your teenage years practicing the piano. And even now, you would be willing to give up eight to ten hours everyday practicing so that you could play like me.”

He pointed toward her. “You see, there’s a price to sit on this bench. I’ve been willing to pay it and you haven’t!”

This story illustrates a truth, one that is especially true about the prophetic gifts.

Now, as I mentioned in the comment section of Part 2 to jeremiah17:

Perfect character is not a mandatory requirement for the spiritual gifts. But just like a soldier in the U.S. Army, there are different levels of marksmanship for these spiritual tools or weapons. Consider the spiritual gift levels to be akin to marksman, sharpshooter and expert.

To raise above the entry marksman level demands godliness and a continuing effort to be like Jesus…

The Body of Christ needs believers who are willing to pay the price so that they rise above the entry grade of just giving low-level prophetic words. We need sharpshooters and experts for what’s waiting ahead of us, just over the horizon.

So, what does the price involve, right?

*I have used the word prophesy in a general sense to denote prophecy, words of knowledge and words of wisdom (1 Corinthians 12: 8-10).

(Continued in Part 5)

Let’s say, somehow, someway, you have decided to obey 1 Corinthians 14: 39, and be a prophetic person which the Holy Spirit can use to speak to His people.

Good decision, but let me ask you a few questions, okay?

At what point will you quit prophesying?

Will you quit if you prophesy about a person on her deathbed that she will live and not die; and yet she dies?

Will you quit if a prophet calls you out in front of a crowd and prophesies that you are not called to prophesy?

Will you quit if all of your family thinks you’re a nut?

Will you quit if all the pastors in a city think your prophecies are in error?

Will you quit if you prophesy that a man will win the presidency; and he doesn’t?

I’ve gone through all of the above and more, and I can tell you, it was unpleasant. In fact, a part of me – each time – felt like crawling into a cave and never ever walking out again. You know, loving the Lord from inside my little cave, just me and Jesus.

One memorable morning, after receiving a blistering rebuke from an internationally-known prophet, I was standing on a ladder, wondering about my calling. Was it really worth it?

As I dipped my brush into a paint bucket, I looked up. There right above me was a gigantic yellow-jacket wasp. Without provocation, it swooped down and stung my forehead.

Ouch! Double Ouch! It was unbearably painful.

And guess what? Then, the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart and said:

“Like adamant stone, harder than flint, I have made your forehead, do not be afraid…” (Ezekiel 3:9)

You need to make up your mind that once you put your hand on the prophetic  plow, you never look back (Luke 9:62). Just keep on prophesying. If you make mistakes, ask forgiveness, learn the lessons, and then, keep on prophesying.

And if you can’t do this, ask the Lord to give your prophetic anointing to me. I have countless believers I am praying for, they will use it.

Swimming Upstream appears at this blog site on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. It’s  a little of this and a little of that, all written  to encourage and exhort believers in their Christian journeys.

“I’m going to shoot your mom,” I said to Honey as we slipped into bed at the end of a long day.

“Sweetheart, what?” she replied, her eyes blinking in unbelief.

“After, I shoot her, I’m going to hang her by her neck, and then, drop her off a cliff,” I continued on, dredging in the same cesspool of thoughts.

“Dear – that’s not like you at all,” she said. “You wouldn’t hurt anyone, especially not mom.”

“After today, I’ve changed my mind about a lot of things; and I’m going to shoot your mom right between the eyes,” I said.

Then, we fell to sleep.

This conversation actually took place in Glidden, Iowa, when Honey and I were staying with her mom on Fern’s five-acre farm. At the time, Fern was seventy-eight years old, but don’t go thinking she was a weak link, not pulling her own weight around the farm. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Everything had been great between Fern and me up until that week. She was bright and fun to be around. But all the warm fuzzies ended when sweetcorn season arrived.

Now, let me set the stage. It was late July. The temperatures were in the upper-90’s. Humidity was somewhere in a tropical rain forest range. No air conditioning. Ten zillion, pesty, ornery farm flies. Three acres of sweetcorn.

At the time, Honey worked for a company in Carroll, Iowa, and I had just finished detasseling seed corn. So, when Fern asked, “Larry, would you like to help harvest some sweetcorn?”

“Sure, of course,” I said.

The four days were an absolute  “Hell on Earth” for me. The heat, humidity and flies took their tolls, but what pushed me over the edge was Fern constantly saying, “Do this. Don’t do that. Be careful. Watch out. Grab this. Let go. What’s wrong with You?”

Now, I’m not silly; I knew I had a problem. So, long before sunup the next morning, I crept out of bed and went down to the family room. There I dropped to my knees. “Lord, what’s my problem? Why do I want to kill a sweet, seventy-eight year old woman?” I prayed.

A long time later, the Lord spoke to my heart. “You’ve given up on senior citizens. You think they just want to collect their social security and sit on a porch, taking it easy until they die. You don’t believe I will use them in a move of My Spirit in America,” He said.

Then, He added, “I haven’t given up on them; and neither should you. So, repent of your attitudes.”

Once again, I’m not silly. I repented right then and there.

So, when I read where believers are asking the Lord to move on young people here in America and wherever, I want to shout aloud: “Don’t forget the geezers! God wants to use them, too.”

Fern Fielder, a great mother-in-law (1920 – 2008)

Swimming Upstream appears at this blog site on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. It’s  a little of this and a little of that, all written  to encourage and exhort believers in their Christian journeys.

Click on following links for: Part 1 and Part 2.

What can we learn about the use of prophetic gifts from Jim Jones’ life?

For clarification, I see Jim Jones as a deceived Christian believer, not as an atheist as many have portrayed him. This belief is supported by the small pentecostal church, the Methodist superintendent who supported his ordination, the woman who prophesied to him and William Branham. All saw him as a believer with strong prophetic gifts. (See Part 2.)

An elder must not be a new Christian, because he might be proud of being chosen so soon, and the Devil will use that pride to make him fall. (1 Timothy 3:6, NLT)

Sadly, what seems to have happened to Jones has occurred over and over again throughout church history, and furthermore, still continues today. A man was  elevated not because of his godly character, but rather for his spiritual gifts.

We can see it in Jones’ ministry as a young child-preacher, as a nineteen year-old student pastor and as a co-minister with William Branham, he was thought of as the man. A man who spoke for God. People were in awe of his prophetic gifts.

Now, this is not meant as a blanket excuse for Jones’ errors, but it should cause us to pause for a moment, and check ourselves. Do we admire spiritual gifts more than godly character?

If so, we need to repent.

Look at the qualifications for an overseer:

An overseer, then, must be above reproach…temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not addicted to wine or pugnacious, but gentle, peaceable, free from the love of money…manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity…not a new convert…a good reputation with those outside the church, so that he will not fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. (1 Timothy 3:1-7)

In other words, an overseer is required to have a godly character. Did you notice that there is no mention of spiritual gifts as a requirement for being an overseer?

And by the way, what are the qualifications for the spiritual gifts to flow in a believer’s life?

But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills. (1 Corinthians 12:11)

The spiritual gifts are given to us believers by grace (Romans 12:6). It is His decision, not ours.

Jim Jones’ life and ministry illustrates an extreme example of how not to walk in the prophetic gifts. What is the right way?

(Continued in Part 4)

*I have used the word prophesy in a general sense to denote prophecy, words of knowledge and words of wisdom (1 Corinthians 12: 8-10).

“Ladies and gentlemen, Carnac the Magnificent,” announces the sidekick, as a turbaned man steps through the curtains, onto the stage.  He turns left, realizes his error and then spins around, heading over to the desk. On the way, he trips slightly, but catches himself, before sitting down.

“Welcome, old great sage, it’s good to see you,” says the sidekick, sitting in front of the desk. “I hold in my hand the envelope which is hermetically sealed and has been kept in a mayonnaise jar on Funk and Wagnalls’ porch since noon.

Carnac jerks his head. “Hermetically sealed?”

The side-kick nods. “Yes, and no one knows the question contained in this envelope except you in your border-line mystical way. You will ascertain the answer before even hearing the question which is in this envelope. An amazing feat, but true, right?”

“Could you repeat that?” says Carnac, shaking his head in unbelief. “No…yes, of course it is.”

“Here’s the envelope,” says the sidekick, handing it to Carnac.

“May I have absolute silence,” whispers Carnac. He holds the envelope to his head for a moment and closes his eyes in deep meditation.

Then, he says, “The answer is: Obama, national debt, illegal aliens and terrorists.”

“Obama, national debt, illegal aliens and terrorists,” repeats the side-kick in a matter of fact tone.

Carnac looks around, wondering where the voice came from. The side-kick points to himself. Carnac rips open the envelope, blows into it  and removes a sheet of paper.

Then, he reads it aloud.  “And the question is: how will the Lord remove apathy and lethargy from the American church?”

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28)

(And of course, I borrowed the idea for this post from the Carnac Magnificent routines on The Tonight Show, performed by Johnny Carson and Ed McMahon.)

Swimming Upstream appears at this blog site on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. It’s  a little of this and a little of that, all written  to encourage and exhort believers in their Christian journeys.