Category Archives: reformation

June 26, 2010 · 6:25 am

Waiting on the Lord, You Know, Just Waiting on the Lord (Part 5)

An Updated Rerun Series

Click on following links for earlier articles: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4.

So, what can a New Testament believer do to help bring a personal prophetic word to pass in his (or her) life?

C. If The Prophetic Words Are Confirmed, Then What? (Continued)

And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets, who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. (Hebrews 11: 32-34)

The above verses in the book of Hebrews point out an important fact: obtaining prophetic promises by faith is akin to warfare. It’s a battle.

Now remember: the Lord is not the one fighting us. He wants His prophetic words to be manifested in our lives, especially about our callings. And He will bankrupt heaven to supply us with whatever we need to obtain them.

So, who is the fight of faith with? Demons and ourselves (via the flesh).

This is the command I entrust to you, Timothy, my son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you fight the good fight, keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith. (1 Timothy 1:18-19)

What does heaven consider a good fight? Winning the battle. Period.

Let’s consider my personal situation in 1987:

I was an unknown nobody in a small Midwestern town. No money. No car. A marital separation. A 1o’ x 8′ apartment. A minimum wage job at a motel. I walked in all types of weather wherever I had to go. No one believed in me or my calling. And I had no open doors to preach, teach or prophesy, as in none, zilch, nada and zero.

Then, what did the Lord do? He gave me a vision that I would eventually preach, teach and prophesy in large cities and large inner cities of the United States; and I believed in the vision.

Now, I could have said, “Okay, God, I’ll just wait and see if You can do this in my life or not. Who knows, right?” But I didn’t. You see that’s not fighting a good fight, that’s sitting on the sidelines, covering yourself with fear and doubt.

So, what did I do?

I hung a map of the United States on the wall with all of the major cities and the toughest inner cities marked on it. Then, each morning, I would get up and place my hand on the map and proclaim, “Lord, I’m coming to these cities. And I command these cities to open up to me because I’m on my way!”

Then, I walked around my small apartment and proclaimed, “Lord, You called me; I didn’t. And Lord,  I’m fully persuaded that You are able to do what You have promised to do. Furthermore, I don’t believe any man or demon can stop You and Your promises. So, unless You kill me, I’m going to preach, teach and prophesy in those cities.”

Nobody heard me or saw my faith while I was doing this. It was strictly between God and me.

I did this for years until I knew that God knew how determined I was to obtain His prophetic promises.

But I did other things, too.

(Continued in Part 6.)

4 Comments

Filed under Christianity, Church, church planting, Faith, Gifts of the Spirit, God, Home Church, jesus, Kingdom of God, Prayer, Prophecy, reformation, spiritual warfare

June 25, 2010 · 8:28 am

Thank God for Women, But… (Part 6)

Click on following links for earlier articles: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5.

In college, I dated a Jewish girl who was a member of a Jewish sorority.

Now at the time, 70% of the students at the University of Illinois were from the Chicago area and there was a sizable percentage of them who were Jewish.

But you have to remember, this was forty-five years ago,  and America was much different back then. Plus, I was a farm boy from a rural town with a population of 1,100 people and my high school only had an enrollment of two hundred and twenty students.

There was one Jewish family in the community. And the only reason that I knew that they were Jewish was that my parents and others, whenever they talked about this family,  prefaced their remarks by saying,  “Well, of course, you know that they’re Jewish…”

So, as you can see, dating a Jewish girl was a big deal for me.

For instance, ordering food was always an interesting undertaking. If we went to Nate’s Hot Dogs, Poor Boy’s Polish Sausage and Ribs, Illini Pizza or the Pancake House, there was a huge problem called pork.

Sometimes, she overlooked the fact that sausage, hot dogs, ribs, ham and bacon were essentially pork products; and at other times,  she didn’t. And looking back now, I’d guess whether or not she ate pork had more to do with her guilty feelings during the various Jewish feast seasons than for any other reason.

Once, I picked her up for a date at her home in Chicago and being a girl, she was not quite ready when I rang the doorbell. Her father answered the door. He stared at me for a few seconds and finally said, “Carol will be ready shortly.”

Then, he quickly pivoted around and left me there, standing all alone in the entry foyer. To say, I felt uncomfortable and uneasy would be a gross understatement. The minutes seemed like hours. She eventually arrived and made excuses for her parents.

Jokingly, she and her friends referred to me as her “goy friend.” (Goy being short for goyim which is a Yiddish word for gentile.)

I admit that I dated her because she was cute and fun. It had nothing to do with her or my religious values at the time.

But sadly, most of us Christians, read the Bible in much the same manner that I dated this Jewish girl; in that, we are naive about Judaism and the bondage the Law has on people.

Especially women!

(Continued in Part 7)

10 Comments

Filed under Christianity, Church, church planting, Gifts of the Spirit, God, Home Church, jesus, Kingdom of God, Prophecy, reformation, spiritual warfare

June 24, 2010 · 6:52 am

Waiting on the Lord, You Know, Just Waiting on the Lord (Part 4)

An Updated Rerun Series

So, what can a New Testament believer do to help bring a personal prophetic word to pass in his (or her) life?

C. If The Prophetic Words Are Confirmed, Then What?

And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets, who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. (Hebrews 11: 32-34)

Chapter Eleven of Hebrews is a “Hall of Fame for Old Testament Saints.”  In it, we read that mighty men and women of God, such as Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David and others had testimonies which pleased God.

What was it these believers did?

They acted and persevered by faith. In fact, the phrase, by faith, is mentioned nineteen times and is the underlying emphasis for the forty verses of the chapter.

And why were these mighty people of God exercising their faith? They had prophetic words for their lives.

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men of old gained approval. (Hebrews 11:1-2)

And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. (Hebrews 11:6)

Our faith must be in God and it must be exhibited before Him. And whether or not, anyone else is able to see or understand our faith, is not important at all for the fulfillment of our prophetic promises.

You see, our approval comes from God, not men. He is the One who brings our prophetic words to pass and rewards our faith and faithfulness.

For myself, I knew I was called to preach, teach and write within a few weeks after my salvation on May20, 1985. It came through a nighttime vision which I did not mention to anyone else for years after it happened, not even my wife.

But even as a young, know-nothing believer, I knew enough that I needed to prepare myself for my calling. I prayed. I studied the word. I listened to hundreds of tapes. I read hundreds of books.

Work hard so God can approve you. Be a good worker, one who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly explains the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2: 15)

Also, I rearranged the priorities in my life. TV, entertainment,  sports, career, many relationships and whatever became secondary to my pursuit of  God and His calling for my life.

Except for my family, no one knew anything about my spiritual discipline. I was an unknown in a small town. And there were no open doors for me to preach, teach and prophesy. As in none. Zero. Zilch. Nada.

Yet, I did things to show my faith to God.

(Continued in Part 5)

3 Comments

Filed under Christianity, Church, church planting, Gifts of the Spirit, God, Home Church, jesus, Kingdom of God, Prayer, reformation, spiritual warfare

June 23, 2010 · 8:33 am

Thank God for Women, But… (Part 5)

Click on following links for earlier articles: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4.

Before we continue onward, here’s something that needs to be examined: what roles should women play in modern churches?

Most of us believers can give some sort of knee jerk response; and our answers will probably mirror the teachings of the churches where we now attend.

But remember: almost 70% of Christian men do not attend churches on any given Sunday, but a large majority of Christian women do. Thus, one would think that women would attend churches where they believe that women are free to be what they are called to be in Christ Jesus. Right?

Well, do they? And what are women really called to be in the church, according to scriptures?

Looking back through the Old Testament, we’ll soon discover that the role of women under the Law was almost nil. Yes, there were a few prophetesses, such as Miriam, Deborah, Huldah, Noadiah and Isaiah’s wife; and also Deborah was the leader of Israel as a judge.

But, by and large, women were considered second class believers under the Law.

For instance, where did the women worship God in the Temple? The women worshipped God in their own court, apart from men, behind the men’s court (or Court of Israel) and many steps below the men’s court.

In other words, the male believers were ahead of the women and above the women when the people worshipped God. Thus, you can easily understand how men were thought to be closer to God under the Law than women.

Can you name all of the women priests mentioned in the Old Testament? There were none, as in zero, nada,  zilch. Under the Law, only men from the Tribe of Levi were allowed to be priests and work in the Temple.

What was the sign given by the Lord for the Old covenant? Circumcision. And of course, women were forever excluded from this important covenant truth.

And at the time of Jesus, how many women were members of the Pharisees? Once again, none! The Pharisees were estimated at being 6,000 male members strong with no women in the movement. In fact, the Pharisees felt it was the women who caused many of the sin problems for men, such as lust, fornication and adultery.

So, when Jesus eventually went into full-time ministry and preached His gospel of the kingdom of God, what group was the happiest people in Israel to hear Him speak? WOMEN! They rushed to hear Him.

Why?

(Continued in Part 6)

15 Comments

Filed under Christianity, Church, church planting, Gifts of the Spirit, God, Home Church, jesus, Prayer, Prophecy, reformation, spiritual warfare

June 22, 2010 · 5:58 am

Waiting on the Lord, You Know, Just Waiting on the Lord (Part 3)

An Updated Rerun Series

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

So, what can a New Testament believer do to help bring a personal prophetic word to pass in his (or her) life?

B. If The Prophetic Words Are Not Confirmed Right Away, Then What?

Many years ago, I hear a pastor say, “If a prophecy is not confirmed by the Lord in a timely fashion, just place it on the shelf. Eventually, the Lord may confirm it.”

At the time, I thought what the pastor taught was wisdom, but since then, I have changed my mind. His words are not only unscriptural, but they are also foolish.

Are you shocked?After all, isn’t this an example of waiting on the Lord?

For the kingdom of God does not consist in words but in power. (1 Corinthians 4:20)

And my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God. (1 Corinthians 2:4-5)

The Apostle Paul preached the gospel to the Corinthian Church; he was their spiritual father. When Paul stated that his preaching was a “demonstration of the Spirit and power“, he was talking about the gifts of the Spirit and prophecy. Who do you think first taught the Corinthians about the gifts of the Spirit? Of course, it was Paul.

So then, prophecy and the gifts of the Spirit are a part of the kingdom of God benefit package for us believers, okay?

But Jesus made an important point about the kingdom of God when He said:

Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all. (Mark 10:15)

Now, let’s say, you tell your four year-old son that you are going to give him a new bicycle. What will happen next?

Your son will start pestering you and asking questions. “When can we go? Can we go now? Why not? Let’s go. Can I have a red one? Aren’t the stores open yet? Why can’t we go now? Huh? Huh?”

He will continue until you either take him to buy one or tell him he can’t have a bicycle. He is not going to allow your words to collect dust on a shelf and just wait for a time in the future. He wants action now!

This is the attitude the Lord wants us to have with unconfirmed prophetic words. He wants us seeking Him until we know the answer.

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek , and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. (Matthew 7:7-8)

(Continued in Part 4.)

3 Comments

Filed under Christianity, Church, church planting, Gifts of the Spirit, God, Home Church, jesus, Kingdom of God, Prayer, Prophecy, reformation, Sarah Palin

June 21, 2010 · 7:21 am

Thank God for Women, But… (Part 4)

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

Do you realize that on any given Sunday only one out of three Christian men attend churches? And of those men who do attend churches, most do not want to be there.

You see, by and large, most men attend traditional churches just to placate a wife or a girl friend.  (Who said women do not have strengths, huh?)

But the fact remains: most men do not like attending traditional churches. Period.

So, what are traditional churches doing to rectify this problem?

Most have followed the examples of the corporate world and taken a Madison Avenue approach to their men problems. Exhaustive surveys are conducted to understand their markets; seminars are put on to explain the survey findings; and then, marketing plans are established.

But of course, the marketing plans really just repackage everything with a more masculine look. Maybe, the music choices are manned-up a little or the worship style is remodeled to appear more male friendly or the church is redecorated or the sermons are muscled up a bit.

But all in all, nothing is really changed. It’s still the same old, same old!

But what if…

I contend that the Lord has called most Christian men to leave the traditional church system and pioneer something new. A home church. A church in a business. A church in a park. A church in Starbucks. A church outside the four walls of a traditional church, with no strings attached to traditional churches, except for loving the brethren. A church where men can be apostolic trail blazers and not gelded pew sitters.

I further contend that the Lord has allowed the feminization of the Church to take place over the last thirty or forty years because the pendulum had swung too far toward the male side of the church. And when this happened, the females were ignored, especially the women with callings on their lives.

If my contentions are accurate, what should women do?

(Continued in Part 5)

11 Comments

Filed under Christianity, Church, church planting, Gifts of the Spirit, God, Home Church, jesus, Kingdom of God, Prayer, Prophecy, reformation, spiritual warfare

June 19, 2010 · 6:55 am

Waiting on the Lord, You Know, Just Waiting on the Lord! (Part 2)

An Updated Rerun Series

Click on the following link for an earlier article: Part 1.

So what can a New Testament believer do to help bring a personal prophetic word to pass in his (or her) life?

A. Confirmation of True Prophetic Words by the Lord.

And He has confirmed His words… (Daniel 9:12)

And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. (Mark 16:20)

The Lord is not an idle babbler. His words spoken through a prophetic voice to you have a purpose behind them. So much so, that He will confirm them to you in His own perfect timing.

Biblically, there are four possible time periods in which the Lord will confirm every true  prophetic word:

(1). The personal prophecy could confirm what you have already known and heard via the Holy Spirit through an earlier dream, vision, another prophetic word, prophetic impression or by hearing the voice of the Lord for yourself.

Except that the Holy spirit solemnly testifies to me in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions await me. (Acts 20:23)

(2)  The personal prophecy may be confirmed to you at the moment it is spoken to you. Maybe, you’d say, “My spirit really witnesses with this prophecy.”

They said to one another, “Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?” (Luke 24:32)

(3)  The personal prophecy may be confirmed to you after it is spoken to you. It could be days, months or years later.

Jesus prophesied to Peter: “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan, has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” (Luke 22: 31-32)

(4)  The personal prophecy could be confirmed to you after your death.

All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. (Hebrews 11:13)

At some point, you can be assured that the Lord will confirm His true prophetic words spoken to you via prophetic voices.

(Continued in Part 3.)

8 Comments

Filed under Christianity, Church, church planting, Gifts of the Spirit, God, Home Church, jesus, Kingdom of God, Prayer, Prophecy, reformation, spiritual warfare

June 18, 2010 · 8:45 am

Thank God for Women, But… (Part 3)

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

Sometimes, I focus so much on where I’m heading that I overlook the importance of the present. This happened in the comment section of Part 2.

Grace, of Serious Whimsey, commented:

…But I wonder if, rather than the Lord pushing it into the Honda, the enemy was allowed to do it, via the opening through your flawed reasoning/attitude?

Sadly, I penned one of my quickie, soft-shoe, glib replies and headed on down the road, not looking back. For this, I’m sorry, because Grace’s comment was a valid point of discussion.

Now again the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and it incited David against them to say, “Go number Israel and Judah.” (2 Samuel 24:1)

Then Satan stood up against Israel and moved David to number Israel. (1 Chronicles 21:1)

The above two scriptures are the opening verses by two different authors giving their accounts of David’s sin of taking a census of Israel. Both accounts agree with each other, almost verbatim, but their opening verses reveal two different viewpoints.

The 2 Samuel 24 version shows the Lord and His anger stirring up David to sin, and 1 Chronicles 21 states that it was Satan who was the inciter.  How can both be correct?

Graham Cooke, states in the book, Permission Granted:

God allows in His wisdom what He could easily prevent by His power.

Like most of us, King David had sin issues; and also like us, most of David’s issues were covered by the grace of God so that He dealt with David’s problems with the king alone on a God to person basis.

But God also had a plan for Israel and He wanted to make some adjustments in the nation. So, God allowed one of David’s sins to come into full bloom.

Like a sparrow in its flitting, like a swallow in its flying, so a curse without cause does not alight. (Proverbs 26:2)

David had sin; and the curse from the sin allowed Satan to attack Israel. So, was it God or Satan who incited David to sin?

It really depends on where in the process you are viewing the answer. Sadly, I have a habit of jumping to the ultimate conclusion where believers are bought with a price, which means God owns us and He causes all things to work for good in us.

But, by doing this, I skip over some important steps of biblical logic.

So in Part 2, soon after my truck accident, I should have mentioned that I sought the Lord on whether or not I had sin. He then showed me my improper thinking on the weakness of women which I described this way in Part 2:

Now, as I contemplated the accident and how it happened, this thought kept coming into my mind:  The Lord pushed the rear-end of my truck into the Honda Pilot.

Why would He do that? To reveal my judgmental, hypocritical heart and wrong thinking to myself.

Now, the Holy Spirit speaks to me and you in ways that we each understand, but this does not mean that others will have the same understanding.

You see, I understood what the Holy Spirit meant by showing me the Lord pushed the rear-end of my truck into the Honda Pilot. But I skipped too many steps in explaining it for all to understand in a like manner.

So, was Grace correct with her comments? Yes, of course she was.

My error was skipping over that particular step and then jumping to my ultimate conclusion. Hopefully, I will do better in the future.

(Continued in Part 4)

14 Comments

Filed under Christianity, Church, church planting, Gifts of the Spirit, God, Home Church, jesus, Kingdom of God, Prayer, Prophecy, reformation, spiritual warfare

June 16, 2010 · 8:11 am

Thank God for Women, But… (Part 2)

Click on following link for earlier article: Part 1.

A True Story

“Great,” I mumbled to myself when I saw the address for my next pizza delivery. It was just down the street and in a golf course community.

Usually, a short run like this meant a big tip for only about ten minutes work. Easy pickings!

As I drove my truck on the delivery, the radio was tuned to a classical music station which allowed my mind to wander here and there. Finally, my thoughts centered on my friend, Claire, and a recent crisis she and her family had endured.

It seems that Claire’s car was broken into and her purse was stolen. And like most women, her purse contained money, cards, ID’s and all the things everyone needs to live in our modern world.

She mentioned all of this on Facebook and from her comments I could tell just how devastated she was by the incident.

So, as I turned into the golf course community, I thought:

“Well, you know Claire is a woman and all. And women are much more emotional than us men, what with their hormonal system and mothering instincts. You know, women are just created weaker than us men. Now if this would have happened to Tony, her husband, then…”

CRUNCH!

I sideswiped an almost new Honda Pilot SUV which was parked in front of the house, next to the address of my pizza delivery. I could not believe it!

As soon as I pulled over to the curb, I jumped out and surveyed the damages. My Tundra pickup had some minor scratches on its rear, passenger-side wheel well. But the Honda, now that was a different story! Its front bumper and fender had been ripped open by my truck. Yipes!

I delivered the pizza and then went to the Honda owners’ house. I knocked on the door. No one home. I left a note on the Honda’s window and on their door. Then, I returned to work.

But I was so emotionally worked up, frazzled,  frizzled and shaken by my accident that I took the rest of the night off.

Now, as I contemplated the accident and how it happened, this thought kept coming into my mind:  The Lord pushed the rear-end of my truck into the Honda Pilot.

Why would He do that? To reveal my judgmental, hypocritical heart and wrong thinking to myself.

You husbands in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with someone weaker, since she is a woman; and show her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered. (1 Peter 3: 7)

Eventually, the Holy Spirit showed me that the weakness assigned to women in the above verse refers only to a physical and a muscular weakness. It in no way refers to a spiritual weakness or any other weaknesses on the part of a woman as compared to a man.

Why is this so important?

(Continued in Part 3)

23 Comments

Filed under Christianity, Church, church planting, Gifts of the Spirit, God, Home Church, jesus, Kingdom of God, Prayer, Prophecy, reformation, spiritual warfare

June 15, 2010 · 6:25 am

Waiting on the Lord, You Know, Just Waiting on Him! (Part 1)

An Updated Rerun Series

“Larry, you told me the Lord was going to give me my own business,” she said, her eyes locking on mine. “So, where is it?”

This is the situation we prophetic voices hate, as in absolutely, positively hate.

On the one hand, we need to boldly speak by faith what we feel is a prophetic word to a person. But then, on the other hand, we have to recognize we can make mistakes.

“Well,” I replied, “what do you think? Was my prophetic word about the Lord giving you a business a true word or not?”

Her eyes blinked. “At the time, I really believed it was from the Lord,” she said. “But now, after all this time, I’m not so sure.”

“Okay, what have you done to bring this particular prophetic word to pass in your life?” I asked.

She sighed. “Well, I’ve been waiting on the Lord, you know, just waiting on Him.” Her eyes narrowed a bit, daring me to say something.

In my twenty-plus years of speaking prophetic words to people about their callings or their ministries or their businesses or prospective marriages or having babies or whatever, I have heard this answer countless numbers of times. In fact, I’ve heard it so much that I have to quell a scream from spewing out of my mouth whenever I hear it uttered.

What most Christians think waiting on the Lord means, compared to what Scripture actually reveals it to be, is about like the difference between night and day. Or in the case of New Testament prophetic words, it’s the difference between having a prophetic word come to pass or one that fails.

A young Roberts Liardon said, “I knew that I was called to preach so I went out to meet my calling.”

Liardon’s words may sound brash to many of us believers, but they are scriptural.

So what can a New Testament believer do to help bring a personal prophetic word to pass in his (or her) life?

(Continued in Part 2.)

11 Comments

Filed under Christianity, Church, church planting, Gifts of the Spirit, God, Home Church, jesus, Kingdom of God, Prayer, Prophecy, reformation, spiritual warfare