Teachings

Apostolic Career Progression

2007-06-13T07:20:00.000-05:00

I’ve waited seven years to release this word. It’s time has come.

With all kindness and in the fear of God, allow me to first warn you. Once you know something, you become responsible. You can’t hear a word from God without either becoming obedient to the word or else facing judgment. It is a sin to know the truth but not act on it. God doesn’t dispense useless information.

So proceed with caution. If you are happy as a passive pew-sitter, or if you are a pastor who is fat while the sheep are kept dumb, or if you are a traditionalist who is content with the status quo, then don’t read any further. Close your Bible and go to sleep. But if you have eyes to see and ears to hear, whether you’re called to business or to the ministry of the Word, your world-view is about to change.

For instance, do you know that most of the global church is now charismatic and experiencing gifts of the Holy Spirit? Do you know that a huge percentage of believers meet in homes, not in religious buildings? That church buildings didn’t develop until after Constantine’s edict in AD 313 and then the dark ages began? Do you know there are two dozen apostles identified by name in the New Testament- not just the original Twelve? Do you know that in the New Testament pastors were all initially unpaid volunteers of house churches? Do you know that denominations were non-existent, churches formed city-wide networks, and God used teams of traveling apostles to plant and water the churches?

Do you know that war has broken out in the heavens and is affecting the earth and its people? Do you know that God is preparing an enormous transfer of wealth from the wicked to the righteous to fulfill His end-time purpose?

None of these things imply that I am attacking the church. Christ loves the church and so do I. But we need a new reformation. For example, if a pastor has a building and draws a salary, wonderful. Just don't make pastoral maintenance the primary goal: get on with your apostolic mission, make disciples, and advance the kingdom. Move beyond surviving into thriving. Go further than success and have sons as successors.

Face it: there are lots of things we don’t know. One of the most profound things I ever heard God say was, “You don’t know what you don’t know, and you’ll never know it unless I show it to you.” It is humbling to admit we may not have it right or we may not know it all. Additionally, a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing. In my youth I considered a career as a physician. The Hippocratic oath says “First, do no harm.” With that as a preamble, let me get on to our topic.

Before my wife and I went to Africa seven years ago, a team of ministers met with us and asked us what our mission was. They were considering partnering with us. With no forethought, I said aloud words that I had never heard nor even thought about before. “I believe I’m called to equip emerging apostles in the developing church.” That amazing confession startled me and everyone else around the table. Who was I to say such a thing?

Later that evening, some pastors from the team formed a prophetic presbytery in front of the congregation and asked a respected prophet, David Ireland, to join them to pray over us to see what the Lord would say. (1 Tim 4:14) This beloved prophet had not been present for the afternoon discussions. As we gathered and waited on the Lord, David began to prophesy. He started to describe our future ministry of assisting churches and leaders. He paused as though listening, then he said, “Ron I’m hearing a conversation. I’m hearing you say, ‘I am called to equip emerging apostles in the developing church.’ Son of man, you’ve got it right. This is your job description, says the Lord.” He went on to prophesy many other things that had great encouragement.

With that amazing experience, we went forward with our plans. We traveled to various churches across the southeast and raised funds for our support and then embarked on a year-long missionary journey that was amazing, delightful, and also quite painful.

While we were living in South Africa during 2000 to 2001, the Lord gave me a revelation regarding the cycle for emerging leaders: a pattern for making spiritual sons, training them, and releasing them. It began while we were staying in Johannesburg working with Jackson Xhosa, a Christian leader in South Africa.

During that time, I had a vivid dream of a father who had a large home and many sons. In this dream, the father of the house was adding more rooms on to his own home so that his sons were kept on the property. He provided for them, but kept them dependent. The father’s house was becoming larger and larger as the sons married and moved in, but they were never sent out to have their own home or raise their own family. It was all about the patriarch’s increase, not the son’s fulfillment. The dream carried a strong sense of frustration that the sons were being denied their right. The family farm had become a prison compound. The next generation was prevented from maturing and moving on.

Not long after this, we went to Zimbabwe for a leadership conference. This was when President Robert Mugabe began violently dismantling his nation’s once-prosperous white-owned farms. He thought the way to get the land into the hands of blacks was to rob the white settlers. It didn’t work. There is a lesson here about transitions and unexpected consequences. In the midst of this chaos and fear, as we gathered with precious, brave native pastors, the Lord gave me a startling twelve-step pattern for emerging new leaders. This revelation came quickly, arriving almost full blown. Of course, I have given much prayer and biblical study to the concept since then.

The concept is called “Apostolic Career Mapping.” It has in it a matrix for evaluating the maturity, ministry, and mindset of young apostles. So, for the first time I am releasing The Twelve Steps of Apostolic Career Progression. I’ve nursed these ideas since the Lord gave them to me. I know that I don’t see everything fully; that we all see through a glass darkly; and that other Bible teachers or prophets may have a different piece of the puzzle. Yet, it is time to act in faith, trusting God to reveal more as we walk it out.

After seven years of waiting on the Lord, I feel free for the first time to release this word. As I do so, I am aware that a majority of Christians in America hold to the erroneous view that the major or only office in the church is that of the pastor. It is not. Pastors ought to relate to apostles, who are the primary gift of Christ to the Church. (1 Cor 12:28) Many labor under the assumption that building a local church is the goal. It is not. Raising and releasing spiritual sons is the goal; the church is a by-product. (Mt 28:19) Others believe that only specially trained people can have a ministry. That is wrong. Every believer in Jesus has a ministry. (Rom 12:6) Many also believe that apostles disappeared when we got our complete Bible. That’s wrong. There is no Scripture anywhere that justifies such an argument.

These ideas are now disproved by present reality and by reputable Bible scholars. The Holy Spirit is now testifying and the Bible confirms it that God is restoring contemporary apostles and prophets in the modern church. Why? So we can finish the Great Commission in our generation! The whole church is becoming apostolic and prophetic and we are seeing this transformation occur rapidly in our generation.

Here are the main thoughts- like the rungs of a ladder- that are the markers for the concept of Apostolic Career Mapping. The core idea is that the ministry of an apostle can be measured, evaluated, and pinpointed for the various stages they all must go through.

Please take these twelve steps and understand that they need to be fleshed out, experimented with, and detailed further. These ideas also require that fences be built around them so that abuse or bad doctrines don’t occur. The worse thing that can happen is for someone to take what is birthed by the Spirit and try to reproduce it in the flesh. God makes a man or woman into His servant for the benefit of the church.

Only God can give the gifts of the Spirit to Christians. (1 Cor 12) Only Christ can give His office gifts to the church. (Eph 4:11) While mature leaders may train or ordain young future leaders and thus recognize the call of God on their lives, it is Jesus the Head of the Church who personally calls, qualifies, and equips foundational fathers- the apostles and prophets. (Eph 2:20) These are the ones who can receive orders from the Holy Spirit. (Acts 1:2) These are the ones who lay foundations. (1 Cor 3:10) Ultimately, Jesus makes them who they are by His grace, not seminaries or church programs or Bible schools, although they must know the Bible and ought to know church history. Jesus takes them and trains them through fiery trials or difficult circumstances. Christ apprentices them and usually lets them fail many times. Like Joseph of old, they endure rejection. Like Saul of Tarsus, they suffer on the way to being recognized as an apostle. The Lord uses spiritual fathers as trainers, ministry or business coaches, or special educational classes. But apostles and prophets know Jesus, are from Jesus, and are sent by Jesus.

Please take these Steps of Apostolic Career Progression and consider them. God may be choosing you through a furnace of affliction in order to qualify you for the job of Pioneer. Are you a business owner? Think about partnering with an apostle or his team. Are you a believer who feels called to the ministry? Ask God to place you in relationship with a spiritual father who will go beyond preaching, who will relate to you and mentor you.

Here are the twelve steps a young apostle takes in his stages of development. The details can be enumerated in depth in personal presentations. But unless spiritual fathers begin to make spiritual sons, the whole concept is empty talk.

Personal walk with Christ is confirmed:
1. Saved
2. Sealed
3. Sanctified

Corporate experiences accrue under authority:
4. Set In
5. Set Apart
6. Sent Out

Young apostles display distinct hallmarks:
7. Signs
8. Seals
9. Sons

Mature apostles wage war in the heavens:
10. Seen
11. Suffered
12. Seated

There- I’ve sketched it out. That’s all that I can share by print. May God allow us to participate in the maturing of the Bride until the return of the Groom. May the Lord send forth laborers into His harvest. The climax of history, the end of the age is upon us. May we all move into our place in the Body of Christ, partner with our yokefellows, begin to perform our various ministries, and bear much fruit for the glory of God. May Jesus receive His rightful inheritance among the nations! May God arise and His enemies be scattered! Even so, come Lord Jesus!

Apostolic Career Progression © 2007 by Touched by Grace Inc. All rights reserved. Permission to copy granted provided byline is included and no editorial changes occur. Ron Wood is a pastor, a writer, a business owner, and a prophet. He lives in NW Arkansas. Contact him at rewood1@cox.net. Please- no spam emails!

Healing the Orphan Spirit- Part 4- The Coming Revival

2006-08-16T11:56:00.000-05:00

Healing the Orphan Spirit- Part 4
The Coming Revival
By Ron Wood

Earlier this year, I gave this prophetic word to a pastor: "Your next church is 13 years old."

When I returned to his church weeks later, the Lord had given me insight as to what that strange word meant. It meant his church was now a teenager, and he had to quit treating his followers like children. With children, you do everything for them. With teenagers, you realize they are growing up so you delegate duties in order to train them. The age of thirteen, for most teenagers, is a turning point in their lives. Raging hormones make their bodies mature. Do you remember how awkward this period was? Teenagers become able to reproduce, but don’t yet have the maturity to handle that responsibility. They are insecure in their identity and unsure of their abilities. This is when they need a father’s strong guidance even more than a mother’s gentle care. It is a transition time.

My prophetic word was an insight into that developing church’s age and stage and was intended by the Lord to help the pastor focus on his primary mission at this point in time.

Last month, I sat in another meeting where the spirit of prophecy was very strong. I pulled out pen and paper and wrote what I was hearing by the Spirit…. "I’m laying the ax to the orphan spirit that has invaded the church. I’ll no longer tolerate systems and structures that abandon my children. Grace to become a father and a mother in the faith is returning to rescue this orphaned generation. I will heal the bitter root of rejection and put in its place the certainty of acceptance. You will feel the Father’s love and see his goodness and share his glory and grace. For it pleases the Lord to bring many sons to glory in this day, and through his family, to heal the land, and to end the curse."

As I reflected on this word over the next few days, I realized that in the modern church, we have many preachers, but very few fathers. Most of the preachers, as they become successful, adopt the business model of the church rather than the family model. Just like natural dads, they can become so consumed with their work that they have no time left for personal relationships. They spend all their energy keeping the programs going but fail to invest significant time in developing the next generation. The work becomes more and more impersonal. Or, they mistakenly think teaching can replace training. A lecture in a classroom will never do the job. If that were true, school teachers could raise our kids for us. Teaching might impart more information, but it falls short of character formation or on-the-job training or discipline which is necessary for adulthood.

What is an orphan spirit? Why is God angry at this attitude; this deceptive mindset?Whatever it is, I believe it is the opposite of the spirit of adoption which comes from our Heavenly Father.

Pastors, churches, even whole denominations can be infected with this attitude of cold love. Cold love is like artificial light- it lacks the warmth of the sun and stunts growth to maturity. God’s kind of redeeming love takes spiritual orphans and places them into spiritual families-- healthy families with both mothers and fathers. It isn’t an orphanage run by a director. Even a well-run, well-organized orphanage is still an orphanage. God wants healthy communities, kinship groups, spiritual families, much more love, honesty, and real relationships than provided by the typical organizations we now call churches. He wants his family to express a spirit of adoption so that lost people can discover their identity in Christ and develop their gifts and be deployed on their mission. That identity should be reinforced by familial love guided by the truth of God’s word.

The worth of each person is validated in Christian community, not in splendid isolation. Anyone living in an orphanage knows that it isn’t an ideal family.The process God uses to heal the orphan spirit is called the spirit of adoption.

Adoption is first an attitude of unconditional love, a spiritual posture of acceptance, before it is ever verbalized or recognized. This Godly attitude manifests divine love for someone else before they are worthy, while they are still weak, before they have ever deserved it or are able to appreciate it. We love others because God first loved us. God’s love is redemptive and it is inclusive. I’ve seen it work in peoples’ lives, as I shared previously concerning my own wife who was an adopted child. "That which we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, that you too may have fellowship with us, and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ" (3 John 1:3 NAS) (This is the original U2… the "you too" phrase of inclusion for people to whom we testify!)

The end of salvation is more than a solo experience; it is being adopted into God’s family. Our modern church methods have disembodied God’s word until we just share a word of salvation instead of sharing a way of salvation; a way that includes sharing our lives as well. The testimony of Jesus is more than an abstract truth with eternal life attached: it is a transforming power that incorporates us now into Christ’s living body.

People afflicted with an orphan spirit do not feel like they belong. Like kids left to raise themselves, they are often misfits, strangers at the table, without a spiritual home or a spiritual father. Disconnected from covenant love, they feel lost in a crowd, just another number on a list. Frustrated, they may even want fathering in the Lord, but feel neglected or rejected by those who should take them under their wing. Or, maybe normal people have run from fathers who were not normal: dictatorial, controlling, or power-hungry. Amen… get quickly away! B

ut often the church’s CEO is just too busy running the church business, preparing sermons, being distracted by the BIG picture of lofty goals. Many a man of God has worked to save the world but risked losing his own children in the process. I know… it nearly happened to me.

There is a notable reference from the last word in the Old Testament, a word spoken by the prophet Malachi. Afterwards, God was silent for three hundred years until John the Baptist, with the spirit of Elijah upon him, thundered forth, "Repent!" This last word under the Old Covenant also spoke of a curse that comes when fathers are absent. It describes the prophetic task of Elijah, using him as a symbol of the anointing upon certain prophets to restore foundations of the faith. Malachi said that God would use the Elijah anointing to turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers. In other words, it would repair the breach between fathers and sons and build a bridge from one generation to the next. (Malachi 4:6)

For this breach to be healed, there has to be in place identifiable fathers in the faith. God has been preparing the fathers and now he is pointing them out for all of us to see. True spiritual fathers may be any of the five-fold ministries named in Ephesians 4:11. However, Ephesians 2:20 tells us that the foundational spiritual fathers for each generation are the apostles and prophets ministering in the Body of Christ. For many folks this comes as a shock, since their dispensational bias is to think that only pastors and teachers still survive, along with a few evangelists. Not so. These offices are "set in the church" and haven’t gone away, they've just been ignored (1 Corinthians 12:28).

If all we have are pastors-- the "caring for the flock" ministries-- then the aggressive advance-the-kingdom pioneer ministries will go lacking. The family DNA and the model of Christ’s ministry will be incomplete. Just like in an ordinary home, the healthiest family unit has both male and female leaders- a father and a mother.

Yes, the church needs tender mothering care, especially young believers, but the maturing adolescent church needs fathering in the faith by masculine apostles and prophets! Their grace gift is unique. That equipping task for maturing the saints is a work that local pastors or teachers cannot accomplish by themselves. It will go unfinished apart from working with apostolic or prophetic teams who are resident in their ranks or extra-local teams who come alongside for a season.

Today we need ministries with diverse gifts teaming up to finish equipping the church at the end of the age.

How do I know that the next move of God has two stages-- the first a restoration of fathers to heal the orphan spirit rampant in the church; and the second, a wave of miraculous power?

Because Lord says so. The Spirit of God is bearing witness through many prophets about the times and season we are now living in. The Scriptures foretell significant events that help us discern the times. A year ago, I heard the Spirit of God say to me, "If you can hear it, if you can bear it, if you can receive it, the Spirit of Elijah has come." The implication was that this is not an easy anointing to welcome in most religious circles. Certainly, the Scribes and Pharisees didn’t like the anointing that was on John the Baptist when he called them a brood of vipers and urged people to repent. He required the most religious people on earth to repent in order to step into a new season in God. It is still so today.

All of my life, I’ve been fascinated with Elijah. Unlike Moses, Elijah was a prophet of God who never wrote a book for our Bible. He was brash, extreme, and probably a difficult man to be around. He had the gift of faith so as to pray down fire from heaven or to pray and stop the rain. He confronted Jezebel, rebuked Ahab, and turned Israel away from Baal worship thus saving Israel from extinction. Jesus said this "Elijah endowment" of spiritual grace was on John the Baptist and made him "more than a prophet." (Matt. 11:9) He also said this gift is coming again. (Mk. 9:12)

This refers to an unusual anointing on certain modern prophets to confront idolatry, repair the breach, and point people back to God’s ways. As I said, I believe there are two waves of revival yet to hit the church. I also believe that both are coming in our generation. They will involve God’s good ways and God’s mighty deeds. Religion as we know it will either be transformed and become potent or it will become dry as dust and barren. There will be no escaping God’s move.

The Father is serious about giving his Son Jesus his inheritance among the nations. (Ps. 2) The first wave of revival will be a restoration of God’s ways that will turn the hearts of fathers back to their children, naturally and spiritually. This will heal damaged families and will transform church structures. This requires a rediscovery of the primary purpose of God’s apostles, that is, to make spiritual sons. The second wave will be a restoration of miracles, signs, and wonders that will confirm God’s word about Christ’s kingdom, causing people to be astounded at the great power of God.

This will occur when the church learns to value and receive God’s prophets, his agents of the covenant, his fiery messengers. Sadly, most of the church will try to quickly skip over the first phase while intensely craving the second, but it won’t happen that way. Choosing God’s deeds over God’s ways, they will miss the mark and lose their blessing.

Here are Scriptures from the Bible that prophetically describes this two-stage end-time revival.
Hear these words of Jesus which he spoke soon after the Father’s anointing was manifested for the first time on his life. He said in Luke 4:25-26 that Elijah was sent to a widow, to a mother with a fatherless son (1 Kings 17:9). In this illustration, this Elijah anointing refers to providing for a fatherless generation. Later, Elijah raised this widow’s son from the dead (vs. 17-24).

What a picture of the end-time ministry of prophets carrying an Elijah anointing! But that isn’t all, the move of God wasn’t yet finished. There’s more to come. Jesus referred to the next anointing in Luke 4:27 with the story of the gift of grace that appeared on Elisha. Elisha was Elijah’s protégé, his servant, who was like a son to Elijah. He caught Elijah’s mantle, the great symbol of the anointing on the man of God.

This next-generation gift manifested in twice the power and twice the miracles as Elijah, as for example, when he healed the foreign businessman of leprosy (2 Kings 5:1-14). I repeat- I see two waves of revival coming. The first has to do with character, relationships, responsibility, structure, purpose, goals, methods, and the shape of the church in our generation. The second wave has to do with charisma, gifting, power, authority, attestation to God’s word and Christ’s kingdom being supreme over all.

We can’t have the second without embracing the first. We can’t have the equipment if we don’t have the men who can use it. As one U.S. military commander said prior to the war in Iraq, "We equip the man, we don’t man the equipment." God is well able through his awesome gifts of grace to release the equipment we need to finish the work of the Great Commission, but we first have to have soldiers of the faith who are able to endure battlefield conditions, be under authority, and be men of courage and integrity.

Yes, God is an equal-opportunity-baptizer for male or female when it comes to the things of the Spirit. But in this area, "Only real men need apply."

Healing the Orphan Spirit, © 2006 by Ron Wood, President Touched by Grace Inc. Subscribe/Unsubscribe at www.touchedbygrace.org. Permission to forward or reprint with no changes to content. We are Touched by Grace to Touch the World! Mailing address- P.O. Box 12749, Wilmington, NC 28405. Your partnership is appreciated.

Healing the Orphan Spirit- Part 3- Fathers in the Church

2006-08-16T11:52:00.000-05:00

Healing the Orphan Spirit- Part 3
Fathers in the Church
By Ron Wood

Picture a dining table in a typical home. Seated around the table at dinner time are the mother, her two small children, and at the head of the table, an empty chair. The empty chair belongs to daddy, but he’s not there. Where have all the fathers gone?

In too many homes the father is either physically absent due to divorce or emotionally absent due to his own issues that have never been dealt with. So the wife feels the pain of betrayal or the struggle of poverty from being a single mom, and the kids feel abandoned or rejected from an AWOL man. The girl never feels the security of a strong man’s protection and thus falls prey to the affections of some young stud. Or the boy battles insecurity or lack of confidence since he never heard his father’s voice saying to him "You are my son!"

The personal economic cost, the vacuum of manly values, and the social chaos are perpetuated into the next generation. Fatherlessness is the primary factor in unwanted pregnancies, gang membership, and grinding poverty in American homes. Why does this happen? Because a man-- a key man for that real family-- abandoned his post and reneged on his duty. In the human situation, there is no substitute for a faithful father.

Years ago if people walked into the church you could assume they came from a two-parent home with a pretty good idea of how to live a successful life. The role models were still intact. But for pastors to say to young people today, "Receive the Lord and when you die you’ll go to heaven," is an inadequate answer to their confusion as they come from the culture of MTV, materialism, drug experimentation, biblical ignorance, dabbling in the occult, sexual promiscuity, gender blending, welfare addiction, and failed families. They need a new lifestyle based on God’s word; built on kingdom values.

If men are not masculine and emotionally whole, if they are given to insecurity or fits of anger, if they are over-controlling or abusive, they will kill romance, alienate their kids, and distort the image of our Heavenly Father they were meant to model. This is true in the home, the church, and even in business. Since so many men are damaged emotionally and never get healed, it is no wonder that so many churches led by these men are also filled with spiritual orphans; people who are saved, but still alone. These people never get adopted into the family. They carry their unhealed hearts like invisible scars.

Somehow, the version of church we’ve created and marketed in the 21st century has become anti-masculine. The virile DNA of our founding apostles and prophets has been genetically snipped out. One author* who has researched this problem writes "Western Christianity has become part of the feminine world from which men feel they must distance themselves to attain masculinity." He also says, "Men can be taught to be men only by other men, and all too many pastors are not real men."

Primarily, the modern church has been mothered but not fathered. Despite being prejudiced against women and having mostly men for leaders, the modern church has taken on a decidedly feminine culture. Manliness often seems out of place. To be a real man of God, most men think they have to become emotionally vulnerable like a TV preacher weeping into his handkerchief or like a patronizing pastor who holds your hand and says it will all be okay. Most men see this and mistakenly think, "Real men aren’t needed here."

For years I’ve declared, "The time will come when it will be more important for you to know what apostolic father adopted you than what denominational mother birthed you." I’ll say more on this subject in the next section on The Coming Revival.

It is time for fathers of families and fathers in the faith to arise and pay attention to the next generation. For too long, men have sacrificed their offspring on the altar of their success. They have lived well while their children have been left to themselves. It is the same attitude in mothers who abort their babies or in fathers who abandon their children that is anti-child, alien to God’s nature, and for which we must all repent. When my first son was born, I remember returning home that evening alone to our house, falling to my knees in awe and gratitude and crying out to God, "Father, I know how you feel!"

Real fathers invest in their children and provide an inheritance for them. It is time for fathers to lay up riches for their children, both naturally and spiritually. The only treasure you can take to heaven is your children. Apart from imparting biblical vision and kingdom values to your offspring, there is no real success in this life. To succeed without successors is in reality to fail.

If you read between the lines in the New Testament, you’ll discover spiritual bonds, fathering relationships, by mature men in Christ toward the young leaders they were mentoring. This was the case for the elders and the deacons, both men and women. It was so natural and so common-place that it was taken for granted as THE method of reproducing new leaders in the movement known as The Way, the early church.

Today we use impersonal methods to mass-produce new leaders. We send them away from their local church and trust strangers in distant seminaries or Bible colleges to finish our job. We institutionalize young leaders rather than apprentice them. Yes, biblical knowledge, sound theology, and awareness of church history are important for church leaders, but nothing can take the place of being equipped under the wings of an experienced God-called man or woman. And it shouldn’t happen for only a few paid staff members.

Paul said this about several of his spiritual protégés, "I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me." (1 Corinthians 4:14-16 NASB)

These words from Paul could lead us to ask some diagnostic questions of ourselves. First this observation: Paul did not use manipulation or religious shaming as a method of coercing their obedience. He did use clean, clear warnings or precautions to admonish them, reminders like (and I paraphrase), "If you indulge in carnal pursuits, you’ll reap the things of the flesh; if you invest in spiritual things you’ll reap what the Spirit can give." Re-read the words from Paul in the verses above then ask yourself these questions: Who is my spiritual father? Who cares enough to admonish me? Whose way of life or ministry am I attempting to imitate? What spiritual family has adopted me? Who am I being a father or mother to as they grow up in Christ?

Today, we have thousands of powerful preachers and Bible teachers, but not many genuine leaders willing to devote the time or trouble to personally equip the emerging young leaders around them. In fact, many well-established senior pastors view people with gifts or callings in their flock as a threat to their own position or security, someone to keep down, not someone to value, to recognize, to rise up, or to release. They fail to realize that the greatest thing any leader can do is multiply ministries and send them into the world.

The leaders of western Christianity have almost universally adopted a fatherless form of church structure. This method can effectively merchandise Biblical faith to crowds while leaving individuals neglected as orphans within their own house. It has the illusion of success but sacrifices goals that go beyond preaching or teaching, that is, training and equipping. It is a weakened type of Christian structure that can’t mold emerging leaders for the church, much less for business or government. Real fathers in the faith lay enduring foundations that equip the next generation so they can go further than us. Our ceiling should be their ground floor.
For decades, I’ve prayed this life-text from the Psalms. It describes my purpose: "O God, You have taught me from my youth, And I still declare your wondrous deeds. And even when I am old and gray, O God, do not forsake me, Until I declare your strength to this generation, Your power to all who are to come." (Psalm 71:17-18 NASB)

The next generation is vitally important to God. The church is always one generation away from graying out into retirement and declining into extinction. Christianity is multi-generational. We follow in the steps of the faith of father Abraham, who discovered that God keeps covenant from one generation to the next. He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God is a covenant-keeping God.

Earlier this year, I stood with my son, Scott, as we dedicated to the Lord his third child-- our first grandson-- Israel Barak Wood. I looked at my two children and my three grandchildren and realized that the Lord had been true to His word when he first called me to preach, when He told me that the Word he had put in my mouth and the Spirit that was upon me would not depart from me, my children, nor my children’s children. I was seeing the evidence that God had kept covenant even to the third generation.

Without intending to do so, an orphan spirit in a preacher or pastor uses people rather than invests in people. It values big crowds rather than a few disciples. It sacrifices long-range results for the immediate gratification of feeling good about itself. The orphan spirit is impersonal and performance-oriented. It won’t let people get close or be real. An orphan spirit treats people as disposable; as a means to an end, rather than the end itself, which is maturing in Christ and thus bearing much fruit.

The Bible offers this promise from the Lord, found in 2 Corinthians 6.8- "I will be a Father to you…" Our Lord Jesus said, "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." (John 14.18) and "…for the Father Himself loves you…" (John 16.27) What magnificent good news, that we can become God’s child simply by receiving Jesus and obtaining new birth! What a privilege to walk with God as our Heavenly Father!

But children cannot raise themselves. They are ushered into a world helpless as babies, and then go through years of childhood needing constant supervision. It takes work to raise a child. But they do grow up and the way you fulfill your role as a parent does necessarily change over time, whether you are guiding a natural child or a spiritual child, someone you are mentoring in the faith. As I said to my son when I performed his marriage, "I spent the first third of your life raising you, the next third resisting you, and this final third before your adulthood releasing you."

Most churches are filled with spiritual babies, still needing milk from the word, not meat, never being disciplined for righteousness sake, never being trained in the family business, never being put to work in the Father’s fields. It is time for the perpetual childhood of the believer to be finished and for mature sons and daughters in the faith to arise. This task requires spiritual fathers and mothers. Who are the spiritual fathers? Why don’t we see more of them fulfilling this role?

Being a father requires being present to the moment, knowing where your children are geographically and relationally. At home or in the church, daddy may live in the same space, but if he is distant in his affection or distracted in his attention, he will renege on his responsibilities. A renegade is a rebel. For that reason, Bible teacher Derek Prince used to say, "Most American men are rebels."

As we come to the fullness of time, and as the world stage is being set for the conflict of the ages and for the return of Christ, God is moving to raise up, restore, and repair the missing foundations in our lives. These foundations are not just spiritual gifts or fundamental doctrines, but they are also men with vision, virtue, and values embedded in their hearts and minds and lifestyles imparted from the Word of God. To be a man of God, first you have to be a man.

I pray with all my heart that I may play my part in turning fathers toward their children and children toward their fathers, to see genuine fathers in the faith arise and take their place to help rescue this demonized generation from despair. Amen.

*excerpts from The Church Impotent: The Feminization of Christianity by Leon Podles, thanks to Andrew Strom for circulating the article in his email newsletter.

Recommended Reading: the excellent book, Fatherpower by my brother, Don Wood. Available at his website which is: www.fatherpower.com.

Healing the Orphan Spirit- Part 2 - Real Men Aren't Religious

2006-08-16T11:46:00.001-05:00

Healing the Orphan Spirit- Part 2
Real Men Aren’t Religious
By Ron Wood

The men Jesus selected weren’t religious. They weren’t preachers, priests, or seminarians. Ordinary men captured by the extraordinary call of Christ, they became the foundation for His new kingdom culture on earth. Nothing has changed, has it?

Growing up, my Dad believed in God but wanted nothing to do with the church. He thought church was for silly women or weak men. My Dad was a man among men; he didn’t have any lace on his drawers. Despite his dislike of church, after many years of resistance, he eventually came to terms with the Lord Jesus and was wonderfully saved.

When I was pastoring a Baptist church in Florida, a man in my congregation invited me to go hunting and fishing with him. I never did get to shoot a buck, but I had some awesome experiences in the lovely wilderness woods and swamps, all familiar turf to me since I grew up in that environment as a boy. We fished on the Suwannee River and caught hundreds of bluegill.
But I had been "citified" on the big streets of Dallas, and needed to get re-oriented to the ways of the wilderness. Delton was patient with me and didn’t make fun of me as I got familiar again with the ways of the woods. Yet he knew novices with guns could be dangerous.

Delton loved his wife, Ena. She was very devoted to the Lord and to church, and Delton was devoted to her. He faithfully sat beside her every Sunday morning, but never was vocal or expressive when it came to the things of God. Delton like beer and he smoked cigarettes. But he never cheated on his wife and I never heard him take the Lord’s name in vain.

He took me hunting one Saturday morning before dawn in an area where he knew we had a good chance for a kill. "Wear your boots," he said. I wondered why he would say that.

At 5:00 am that morning, I opened the truck door, stepped down into a foot of cold black water, and shined my light around me. Our trail led us through fallen cypress trees, brackish water, and dark woods. "Look out for moccasins and alligators," Delton said.

A quarter-mile into the woods, we hit higher ground. "This is your tree," he said. "I’ll be a tenth of a mile further on." He disappeared into the woods leaving me to climb the tree with my gun and to get settled to wait for dawn and hopefully, some deer.

I prepared my two-piece tree stand so I could inch my way up the soft bark of the palm tree. As I did so, my 30.06 rifle slipped from my grasp and speared straight down into the soft wet earth. My rifle stood there like a grave marker on a battlefield. All it needed was a combat helmet to make the picture complete.

I pulled it out of the ground, saw the plug of mud, and knew it was now suicidal to try to shoot it. I broke off a branch, whittled it sharp, and tried to unplug the barrel. No luck… the stick was now broken off in the barrel.

I stood there wondering what to do. Finally, I decided to go back to the truck and get my shotgun. But Delton had the keys. So off I went, lost as a goose in a snowstorm, trying to find my hunting partner.

I was just about to give up when I heard a voice over my head say, "What do you want?" I looked up and saw Delton. "I need the keys. I’ll tell you why later." Without saying a word, he dropped the truck keys to me. "If you go that way," he pointed, "you’ll hit a tram and if you turn right at the corner you’ll see the truck."

I turned and headed for the old logging trail he had indicated. After a while, I saw it, but it was guarded by water along the side of the road. A log had fallen across it and I thought I could make it. Stepping on the wet log, I slipped and landed waste deep in icy water. Determined, I hiked ahead until I saw the truck and retrieved my shotgun. Grimly determined now, I forged ahead. Entering the woods, I miraculously found our original trail and in a few minutes arrived back at the base of the tree where my gear and rifle were waiting.

How to get safely up the tree while carrying my gun?

I hit upon a solution. I tied a cord around the shotgun and left it lying on the ground while I slithered up the tree on my tree stand to about ten feet above the ground, then secured my position, turned around and sat down, and hauled my shotgun up and laid it across my lap.
Finally, I was set. I relaxed, looked around, and saw dawn’s early light starting to break. Leaves drifted down from tall trees in the shaded forest. It felt like a sanctuary, so still, so pristine, so peaceful. I glanced down at the shotgun lying across my lap and saw that the safety was still on. I wondered, How loud is the click if I take it off safety now? Better to do it now before any deer might hear it. So I snicked the safety button off.

BOOM!!! It blasted a load of buckshot and the recoil jetted the gun horizontally six feet out and ten feet down, lying fully loaded on the ground with the safety off, the cord still tied around the trigger guard where I had forgotten to remove it.

I was shocked, scared, embarrassed, and instantly angry! If I had been any good at cussing, I would have done it. I knew I had spoiled the hunt for Delton and myself. The only deer we would see that morning would have to be totally deaf. At that precise moment of utter humiliation and discomfort, God clearly spoke to me: "You’ve been mad a lot lately, haven’t you?"

I instantly became meek from His reproof. I responded, "Yes Sir… I have." That was all He said about that, as though just observing it was enough to help me repent, and it was. Then, as though I could see His face turn toward the direction where Delton was, the Lord asked me, "Do you know how uncomfortable you are in this hunting environment? Delton is just as uncomfortable in your church environment."

I sat there amazed. Immediately, I got it. I realized that the woods are full of men who love God, but are not comfortable with the feminized church world we’ve offered them. We’ve expected them to change their culture in order to adapt to the church. Maybe it’s our religious traditions that need to adapt so men can fit in and follow a manly Savior.

If this is true, then we need to ask ourselves: In our religious structures, what encourages transformation among men? What activities waste our time and energy?

Healing the Orphan Spirit- Part 1- Men and Marriage

2006-08-16T11:41:00.000-05:00

Healing the Orphan Spirit- Part I
Men and Marriage
By Ron Wood

My wife and I watched the video, An Unfinished Life, starring Robert Redford, Jennifer Lopez, and Morgan Freeman. This film portrayed the agony of a man who had lost his beloved son, then had to overcome the anger in his heart so that he could again become the kind of man who was able to show love to his family. He was a good man but eaten up inside. Like a wild bear, anger can devour us.

A missing element in many families is a good man. A good man with integrity can provide a stable environment as he fulfills the role of faithful husband and loving father. His presence in the home provides something that is irreplaceable. Just like the Marines, the Lord is looking for a few good men to recruit into his kingdom.

I grew up in a home where the only emotion my Dad displayed was anger. He had a violent temper that raged out of control when he was drunk. He was a brilliant leader at work and could handle any crisis, but at home he was tormented by his own demons.

On one side of the living room, Dad sat forward in his recliner with a lit cigarette sending a slow plume of smoke toward the ceiling from his nicotine-stained fingers. His right index finger was short by one knuckle, having been cut off in an accident. Beside him was a hotel-sized ash tray with an open carton of Salems on the table beneath the lamp. Directly across from him was the big color television that was always turned on. At most meal times, Dad wanted food brought to him on a TV tray. Later, when I was newly married and my wife set the table for a lovely meal for us, I was impressed!

Across the room my mother sat on her sofa with several Bibles stacked up beside her along with some Oral Roberts commentaries. Mom was a deeply committed Christian. The Lord had healed her of TB. She had started the prayer chain at her church that eventually saw thousands of answers to prayers. Stretched across the back of the sofa was her five-foot long white sign with twelve-inch tall letters from the Red Cross where she was an instructor. It read, "Thank You for Not Smoking!" They were quite a pair.

I caught some things from my parents, some good and some bad. Most of us do. Without realizing it, I grew up with a smoldering anger laced with embedded shame. In addition to that quick temper, I also developed a very deep love for the Lord and for His word.

The anger inside me came from two sources. One was ADD, Attention Deficit Disorder. God gave me a great intellect but a short attention span. I kept feeling constant frustration with myself over my inability to finish projects due to being easily distracted. I could make straight A’s at school anytime I set my mind to it, but I had too many interests. Later as an adult, I was diagnosed and learned coping skills and accepted medical treatment (see Random Notes on ADD available on my website).

But most of my anger and low-level depression came from being shamed as a child. You must understand that shaming a child always produces low self-esteem and self-hatred. Shaming and blaming are never good discipline tools, just forms of verbal abuse.

My shame was not from his words toward me but from his life lived in front of me. What I saw made me feel ashamed. I grew up with a constant dread of his explosive temper, and a continual question of what kind of Daddy would I see when I came home from school? Would I see the capable leader who could manage hundreds of men as he supervised a complex mining operation? A self-educated man who could intelligently discuss any current news topic? Or a brilliant man who could skillfully write poetry at the drop of a hat? Or would I find my Dad disheveled, lying drunken in a stupor, filthy with his own vomit? Would he be the dad we had to help stagger from the bar and carry home to his bed? It was never safe for me to bring friends over to my house.

Until I got healed of shame by Father-God’s agape kind of abba love, until I faced and got rid of the fear of my father’s anger, I wasn’t a whole man. Part of me was locked up inside. Despite being a Christian and a pastor, this emotional pain affected all of my relationships at home and at church. I had to learn through my experiences, by God’s grace, about being a whole man and about becoming a good father.

God is in the business of turning unsaved, carnal, selfish men into Christian men worthy of his kingdom; into Godly followers of Christ, faithful husbands, and effective fathers. God loves men and wants their dignity restored so they can earn and deserve respect. God loves women and children and wants every woman to know a representation of his husbanding care and every child to know a representation of his fatherly love.

I know a woman who lived in New Orleans years ago. She ran away from an abusive husband with her small son and was divorced. In her distress, she fell in with the wrong crowd, got careless in her behavior, and became pregnant by another man. What should she do? This was years ago when the stigma of having a baby out of wedlock was a great scandal. When the young man heard she was pregnant, he hopped on a plane and flew home to Arizona. She followed him, confronted him, and said "This baby will have a father and will not be illegitimate!" They were married, she returned to New Orleans where she gave birth to the baby, and then filed for divorce. At least her baby was not a bastard.

Her sister in Mississippi, married for two years but still childless, heard of her plight. She and her husband agreed to take the baby and adopt it. They gave her a new name, Lana, and raised her as their own in a new home with a father who happened to be a preacher and a mother who was his hard-working partner. God’s redemptive love kept that little girl from being raised without a daddy and instead gave her exceptional poise and self-confidence. I know… I’ve been her husband for thirty-seven years!

Real fatherhood is a spiritual connection-- a deliberate relationship-- even more than it is a biological event. I honor Lana’s adoptive father, Rev. Douglas Stone, for raising a lovely woman who loves Christ and who is my partner in life and in the Lord’s work.

Lana grew up knowing she was adopted. Her parents had prepared her with information that became more complete over time. She always felt she was special because she was selected on purpose. She has never felt the need for tracking down her biological father. Lana says, "I have a Daddy and I know who he is." It’s the same way with God. "The spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God." (Romans 8.16) To our Heavenly Father, each of his children is his favorite! We are not an accident, but are chosen, wanted, dearly loved, and especially adopted by our Father in heaven.

God's Transition Teams

2005-12-14T20:28:00.000-05:00

God’s Transition Teams
By Ron Wood

When I was first hired at Verizon Wireless they used a technique to orient me into the business. They put my class under the care of a Transition Team. That team’s job was very specific: they were to prepare us with the knowledge and skills necessary to succeed in our new environment. Much of my success can be attributed to the job they did of training me. They gave me the tools to succeed and I put those tools to work.

In today’s complex world, any business recruiting and training people for a new job might use a transition period. This stage is embarrassing for new-hires as they make mistakes and feel lost. Trainers handling new recruits during this transition period have to be patient. They also must thoroughly know the company’s business, its products, and especially, its core Values and Vision. These “2-V’s” underscore everything else.

Ideally, the greatest enterprise on planet earth, the billion-member Body of Christ (aka the Church) will utilize skilled teams to transition people out of their old way of thinking into the new values and vision of Christ’s kingdom. Using a business analogy The HR department screening, recruiting and hiring new recruits could be evangelists or local pastors but the Transition Team ought to be veteran apostles and prophets. They alone have the wisdom, insight, calling, and gifting to transition people out of their old worldview, identify their gifts, and deploy them into their work in the kingdom of God.

Traveling Teams
In the New Testament these traveling teams of apostles and prophets had the huge task of converting people from paganism and idolatry to faith in God or, in the case of Jews, lifting them out of religious traditions. When their task was completed local pastors, teachers, and evangelists could take over the care of the flock. Biblical history showed us these teams succeeded admirably. Today something seems to be missing in the church. We have congregations full of people but empty of ministry. If these transition teams remain missing, or if they don’t do their job properly, then the corporate culture of the modern church will deteriorate further and we will fail at our vital mission.

Who are these Transition Teams? How do we recognize them and relate to them?

Let me flash back to a few years ago. In a hotel room in Ft. Worth, Texas, while ministering at a large Christian family camp I awoke one morning to hear a voice speaking to me from beside my bed. I saw no one but I distinctly heard these words: “I want you to re-write your personal mission statement. Every where you go I want you to bear witness to three things- Jesus Christ is the Chief Cornerstone of the Church; The Scriptures are the Word the Holy Spirit confirms with signs and wonders; and The Restoration of contemporary Apostles and Prophets.”

Since that event several years ago I’ve been on a journey of discovery. It has required experiencing hardship for the Lord’s sake and also involved seeing the best of people and the worst of people as they tried and frequently failed to walk out the implications of changes in their paradigm regarding the ministry. Although I’ve spent most of my career as a pastor of various churches I’ve been known as a prophet with an apostolic anointing. I can’t explain it but I know it’s true. Prophets are forerunners of change. They stir us and they point to the path. Apostles are the pioneers who blaze the trail and take us there.

Much has been said about on-going changes in the Body of Christ. We can’t ignore the release of radical new ideas emerging from the Scriptures which are causing us to re-think the infrastructure of the church. Rapid changes have made us feel like the word “transition” is almost worn out. Change feels uncomfortable to all of us. All change at first seems like heresy or revolt. But it may be a reformation, not rebellion (ie.-Luther’s courageous stand). At some point we have to decide what we believe, take a stand for it, and start walking our talk.

I appreciate the Bible teachers who have wrestled with some of these major issues and have given us new terminology to discuss them. One such Bible scholar is Dr. Peter Wagner, formerly of Fuller Theological Seminary where, along with Dr. John Wimber, he specialized in missions and church growth. Dr. Wagner coined the phrase “The Second Apostolic Reformation.” I like this descriptive term and believe it to be accurate.

Are We There Yet?
As an avid student of church history in Bible College I developed a sense of the progressive restoration of the church through the ages. The Lord’s revelation of His ways and the rekindling of His gifts have taken centuries to progress to this point. We still can’t say that we’ve arrived at the glory and power of the church in Acts but we’re a lot further along than we were decades ago. Many of the great truths of the Bible are now common: justification by faith, the new birth, the priesthood of believers, sanctification, Holy Spirit baptism, spiritual gifts, expelling evil spirits, intercessory prayer, and spiritual warfare. These are kingdom pearls worth paying for.

But there is more ahead! Yet to be fully discussed or implemented are the profound adjustments to our thinking and our ways which are occurring from one phase of the restoration, that is, the reappearance of apostles and prophets today in the Body of Christ. More than anything else, this particular move of God is making us reconsider our basic assumptions regarding how we do church. Up until this point, almost all of the waves of renewal were personal and could nicely fit into our old wineskins. Not so with this aspect of God’s kingdom, the two foundation gifts, apostles and prophets.

Two Critical Issues
In this short article I won’t try to justify these two offices or deal with their function in the church. That has been written about and taught about in other places both by myself and others. Instead I want to address two issues that are emerging based on the present reality that God is sending these vital ministries among us. Two practical issues for today are: How do we receive them? How do we do financially support them? To put it another way, the two questions before us are: How do we connect? What do we do with tithes and offerings?

Understand, whenever God says something to the church, He already knows the way to walk it out. It isn’t wise to invent some new method and then think that we’re smarter than God! The Lord gave us a pattern in Jesus and He expects us to follow it. This same pattern was repeated by the early apostles. That pattern is in the Scriptures if we will take the time to remove the glasses of tradition and see with new eyes.

For example the modern notion of church in today’s language usually refers to a building on a certain street corner with a label on it: Baptist, Methodist, Assembly of God, etc. In the New Testament Greek language, this was not so. Instead, the word church (ecclesia) has to do with an assembly (Acts 19:41). It always referred to the people, not to the place they met. In secular usage it meant an assembly of citizens in a city called out to corporately decide a matter. It had governmental implications. In the kingdom of God, this is still true today (Mt 16:18; & Mt 18:19-20). The Church is an assembly of called out ones, the living Body of Christ, united under Christ’s headship (Eph 1:22-23). The church is not a building. A church is always the people.

The Church is a Living Body
After the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in AD 70, Christ’s followers met mostly in homes. The Church transitioned from being Jewish and having priests to being a multi-ethnic kingdom of priests with every believer exercising authority under Christ. The Lord deposited within each believing community people who had differing gifts of grace. These gifts were for healing, delivering and edifying one another (1 Cor 12-14), serving and blessing others in the community (Rom 12:1-13), and reproducing Christ’s ministry in others (Eph 4:11-16). There wasn’t a hierarchy of priests over laymen, or of males over females, or an elite leadership over common believers. They all stood on level ground. They all had varieties of gifts of grace that made them distinct. There was no room for pride due to position or authority.

We are all the same at the foot of the cross. This does not mean that everyone is equal in ability. By God’s choice and endowment, certain ones are given special abilities by grace in order to fulfill unique job descriptions.

Let me pause here and explain a fundamental difference in ministries. There are two differing roles which leaders can occupy in serving the Body of Christ. Those two vital positions are either local or trans-local. Local means non-mobile; that is stationary. They don’t move around a lot. Their sphere of influence is within their own house and not much beyond it. “Local ministries” refers to local elders. Usually local elders have secular jobs, earn a living, are tied to the land, and don’t always need to draw a salary from the church. This is especially true for house church leaders.

Trans-local refers to mobile ministries. These ministries are larger than any single house. Perhaps they touch several houses, or impact a whole city or region or nation. They are set apart for the work (Acts 13:2) and not tied down to a single area. They are free to travel as the Lord directs. In fact, their work requires that they be supported by the church so they can be mobile. They may stay awhile to do their work but should remain un-entangled. Otherwise, they would be unfaithful to their employers every time they relocated for the work of the ministry. They need to be devoted to the Word of God rather than to other legitimate but worldly pursuits. This job description more aptly fits apostles and prophets, not local pastors. Pastors by the nature of their work are strongly connected to their flock in a certain area and thus usually stay close to home. Many good pastors today are bi-vocational and still very successful in their ministry.

The Ephesus Church as a Pattern
When the apostle Paul was passing by Ephesus where previously he had finished the work of planting a network of house churches, he called for the elders of the church in the city to come meet with him. This is fascinating insight into church growth! This happened in Acts 20:17. They knew who they were and they responded to his call. This shows us that house church leaders should not be independent, but should network with a spiritual father (or his team). When these elders gathered, Paul gave them final instructions for carrying out their pastoral ministry (see Acts 20:20). These were all laymen, not religious professionals, not seminary graduates, not men with clerical collars who stood behind pulpits, but ordinary people with real jobs and real families who happened to be serving portions of the Body of Christ who were meeting in their homes.

Who were these local elders in the city? They were, in a word, pastors. They were men and women chosen by the Holy Spirit to shepherd portions of the Lord’s flock.

They had been trained by Paul but they were now on their own yet still accountable. This shows the principle of apostolic release. Whenever an apostle (think, spiritual father or mother) fails to release his sons (or daughters) into their sphere, he is like a farmer standing on top of his seed. The ground can’t produce while his weight is still pressing down. Failure to hand-off from one generation to the next is a major reason for a slow harvest. This can be due to a spirit of control, or to pride, or to wrong thinking about how church functions or how leaders develop. Regardless, it needs to be cured or we will keep undermining our own success.

A Title May Be Real or Phony
A word of warning about ministry titles: Titles may become substitutes for genuine character, gifts, or achievements- artificial badges of unearned honor. Paul wasn’t afraid to call himself an apostle. Eventually he had the signs, the sons, and the seals (and scars) to prove who he was. Immature or ambitious people tend to forget their gifts are by grace and are for the benefit of the church. Deceived, they think their popularity entitles them to privileges. They begin to accept adulation and start to wear a ministry mask. Paul said we as believers are not to tolerate this misuse of power (2 Cor 11:20)!

False fathers use their followers to grow their own ministry while true leaders will spend and be spent to see their sons sent out and succeed (2 Cor 12:14-15). Never follow someone who uses their office or title to enlarge their sphere at your expense. To quote my brother Don (author of Fatherpower), “False fathers reduce their sons to keep them; true fathers enlarge their sons to release them.” Preening peacocks or pompous jackasses make poor servant-leaders and eventually show their true nature. That was the story of Saul and David. In fact, the more anyone increases in grace, revelation, and glory in their union with Jesus Christ the Head of the Church, the less they use authority on people and the more they use it against spiritual powers.

Back to the major questions: How do we link up with apostles or prophets? How do we honor God with our tithes and offerings in a non-institutional way?

In the current religious culture we think that we ought to meet on Sunday to worship and to hear preaching. This is good, but it isn’t the biblical picture. The Bible shows the pattern for New Testament gatherings as being a simple meeting, mostly in small groups, with ministry open to anyone who had a gift or insight to share. That’s quite different from the order of service of most churches today. A quick study of Acts 2:42-47 shows the pattern of church activity that transformed a whole city. How did they do it? They met in homes- houses of prayer scattered all over the city. They did easy, natural things that were fun and social and satisfying. It was naturally appealing to lost people. Miracles happened in homes!

Every Member Has a Ministry
Another study of the operation of spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12-14 shows that the Holy Spirit wants to use every believer, not just the clergymen behind the pulpit (1 Cor 12:7, 11; 1 Cor 14:26). Only in the context of informal small groups in homes is this kind of liberty with order truly possible. It is natural church, organic, not organized to the point of artificiality or sterility.

Yet leadership is necessary and is established by the Lord. In this same context, notice the apostle Paul makes a distinction in gifts and some would say, in rank among ministries. He says in 1 Cor 12:28 that God has set in the church “first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles…” This is the only place in the New Testament where an order of importance or degree of authority is presented. A similar thought is introduced in Ephesians 2:20 where Paul states that the church is built on the foundation of apostles and prophets (not on pastors or teachers), with Jesus as the Cornerstone, the carefully placed foundation stone to which everything else has to line up. So there is the idea of more importance being given to two mobile ministries in the church, apostles and prophets. They are foundational to all that God does in the Body of Christ in all ages.

Modern Christians think that to serve God we need to affiliate with a certain group that meets in a certain building that has a certain historic denominational creed. That used to be the case and for many believers it is still acceptable and good. We “joined the church.” In the new order of renewal, more spontaneity and originality is allowed. We don’t relate to the church per se, we relate to the ministry which oversees it. We are joined to the church by new birth, already part of the Body of Christ. We find ourselves easily meeting together for prayer and instruction in one another’s homes or rented halls. We can network with an apostle or his team and become part of their developing sphere. The church is in transition! The day will come when it will be more important to know what spiritual father adopted you than what denominational mother birthed you. Theses new relationships are personal and practical, not institutional. There is mutual edification and teaming up for tasks. It is not a passive classroom model.

Money Matters- to God!
In the same manner we might handle finances in a fresh way. In the old order we gave tithes (the first ten per cent of our increase) or offerings (gifts beyond the tithe) to the church treasury. It was counted, put in a bank account, and used to pay the mortgage and the church staff. We related to the building or to the group and supported the church program. In the new order our tithes still show honor to God (Prov 3:9-10) and should be removed from our house to avoid a curse and to receive a blessing (Mal 3:8-12). This Biblical principle is unchanging. Jesus still receives tithes (Heb 7:8). The idea is sowing and reaping, spiritually and naturally (Gal 6:6). Everyone has something to give. No one comes to the Lord empty-handed. Jesus is worthy of praise, honor, and riches.

Tithes are a special category, holy unto the Lord (Lev 27:28-30). Additionally, tithes are devoted; that is they are designated for supporting workers, those who forfeit careers to be servants of the Word. If that’s so, then how do we give offerings for their support?

Tradition says we wait for a bag to pass in front of us while a song is sung or perhaps we drop a check in a box by the door as we exit. It is all very polite and anonymous. But what if we’re in a house church? Why not hand your offering to an apostle or a prophet? Or mail it. Or send it electronically. Or collect it and then give it when your teacher arrives, as Paul did. If our relationships are personal, why not let our giving be personal as well? In the new order, we team up by giving and receiving and thus we relate to the Five-Fold leaders, not to the building or to the organization. It is perfectly alright to use non-profit corporations for tax purposes but it is not necessary for the Lord.

Paul showed us in the New Testament that several churches in different cities partnered with him again and again to support his ministry (Phil 4:10-19). Since most of the early converts were Jewish, it is logical to assume they were using tithes to support Paul. It is also quite clear from the Scriptures that the grace of God was manifested in the New Testament by abundant giving beyond the minimum of the tithe (see 2 Cor 9:6-15 & Acts 2:45). Giving and receiving were vital aspects of God’s order in both old and new covenants. Paul reminded Timothy that workers in the field were just as worthy of support as builders in the house (2 Tim 2:6-7). The idea is that laborers are never to be defrauded of what they deserve for their work (Prov 3:27, Mal 3:5).

These many verses add up to HUGE sections of Bible devoted to supporting Jesus’ workers. Jesus said in Luke 10:7, “The laborer is worthy of his wages.” We say, “He’s worth his salt.” At one time in history, salt was a form of wage. We get the word “salary” from it. We recognize someone’s worth when we give them an honorable wage or an honorarium. Christ said that a blessing of peace (well-being, prosperity, & favor) would rest on the house of anyone who helped sponsor the laborers He sent. Beyond wages, the Lord wants us to respect and esteem those who represent the Lord and do His work, especially anyone laboring in the Word (Rom 12:8-10, 1 Tim 5:17-18).

Honoring the Past; Embrace Present Truth
In addressing both these critical issues (church structures, apostolic relationships, and supporting non-local ministry teams) we should always be careful to “build fences” to avoid inadvertently promoting bad things. So let me say that I know many excellent traditional pastors with wonderful congregations who live from their ministry and who are doing the will of God. I know also that any doctrine, even a good one, can be pushed too far until it becomes, if not an error, at least a deviation or a wrong emphasis. For example, I don’t believe the New Testament divine order for the saints is “believe, be baptized, and tithe.” In some churches that celebrate giving, you’d think those were the fundamentals of the faith! Idolatry due to greed can infect anyone. The best antidote for greed is generosity by honoring God, giving to help the poor, and supporting worthy ministries. In our walk with God, we all will eventually come to a place where financial obedience is a major fork in the road if we are to continue further in doing God’s will.

What is the bottom line to these practical questions? It starts with relationships! Get to know the workers the Lord is raising up in your area, especially those with apostolic or prophetic grace. Partner with them by prayer and by giving. Spend time with them hearing what the Spirit is saying. Gather with other believers who are like minded and start to pray for God’s kingdom to come to your family, your church, and your city. Even if two or three assemble in Jesus’ name, become a temple of the Spirit!

Small gatherings can be impromptu or planned but they should be orchestrated by the Holy Spirit. Meet informally in homes or rented halls; edify one another; pray for laborers for your city; network with local apostles or prophets by honoring and receiving them. The Lord wants an apostolic team in every city! Freely contribute from your income with these apostles or prophets as you have the ability, systematically, in faith and love. Help empower God’s Transition Teams! Support people whom the Lord is preparing and setting apart so they can be available to equip new leaders, able to travel to new assignments, and be fully devoted to the ministry of the Word.

© 2005 God’s Transition Teams by Ron Wood
More material available at www.touchedbygrace.org
We are touched by grace to touch the world!

Random Notes on ADD

2002-09-14T08:12:00.000-05:00

For years I wondered why walking through a busy shopping mall was unpleasant and disorienting. There was too much visual stimulation. Too much input felt overwhelming. It made me feel uneasy, almost nauseous like I had mild motion sickness. So I would walk with my eyes down and try to avoid scanning all the neat images and pretty colors, so I could keep focused on why I was there and what I came to purchase. Then I learned that I had symptoms of ADD.

ADD is an abbreviation for Attention Deficit Disorder. It can include Hyper-Activity Disorder, especially in children, then it is called ADHD. There is a lot of controversy about its diagnosis and its treatment. This is because the usual treatment for school children is Ritalin, a drug that stimulates certain portions of the brain thus making the part of it that monitors outside stimulus work better. This helps to control restlessness and impulsivity. Children with ADHD have shown dramatic improvement in their education when properly diagnosed and treated. It is generally the over-use of prescriptions or reactions to the idea of the drug itself that causes the controversy. Prescriptions that benefit adults with ADD are similar. They make part of the brain more alert.

My perspective on this subject comes from two viewpoints: 1) Seeing my own children (now grown adults) struggle with ADD and thus by observation discovering I had it also; 2) Fitting this problem into my understanding of what it means to live as a Christian with shortcomings.

These notes on ADD (random because they were written by someone with ADD!) are a digest of thoughts and opinions and experiences from various writers and from my own life. They are not intended for medical advice and should not replace your own consultation with a physician. I believe we should be on the way toward becoming whole people in body, mind, and soul to the fullest degree humanly possible. That wholeness or wellness or mature integration of self includes freedom from addictions, healthy emotions, physical fitness, right thinking, and a vital spiritual connection with God. Jesus said, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick.” (Matthew 9:12) He said this in the context of urging compassion, not criticism. All of us have some disorder that needs curing, whether by medicine or counseling or by prayer. All of us have some disease (dis-ease means lack of ease or lack of rest) that needs to be brought to peace. Rather than judge those who are weak, let’s show mercy. Let’s find out how to help our self and others along the way.

Tom Hartmann is a writer who has led thousands of hours of discussion groups on ADD on Compuserve’s online forums. In his book, Think Fast, he says the human race is divided into two camps: Hunters, and Farmers. The hunters (picture a tiger) are constantly monitoring every movement and capable of short bursts of incredible energy. The farmers move steadily and slowly and plow straight lines and wait for grain to grow. The hunters live among the farmers. The hunters are people with ADD while the farmers represent normal people. Which are you?

What’s it like to have ADD? If you always have your checkbook balanced, if you are able to sit still in a chair, if you never speak out of turn, then you don’t know. A Psychotherapist MD who himself has ADD says this: “It is like driving in a hard rain with bad windshield wipers, constantly straining to see clearly.” Isn’t that an amazing description? Can you picture what that is like? He goes on to say, “You get an idea and you have to act on it immediately, before you lose it. Your head is buzzing, spinning, and your body is tapping, moving. The definition of time is, ‘…the thing that keeps everything from happening at once.’ With ADD, time collapses.”

He also says, “You fight inner turmoil, panic, loss of control. Your brain rhythm is either full speed ahead, or full stop, with no in between. You have a constant quest for stimulation for your mind but you have to withdraw from people due to over-stimulation. You are always either under-focused or over-focused. Either your body or your mind is racing all the time.”

Knowing this, you can see why to someone with ADD, boredom is actually painful. The structured American school classroom, moving at the snail’s pace of the slowest child, feels like a prison, a torture trap to be escaped from at all cost. Most ADD kids don’t do well in school.

While too much rigid structure seems like a cage, some structure is exactly what ADD adults like me need in order to harness creativity, reduce distractions, and stay on track to completion of goals. For me, the discovery that I had ADD was a relief. My years of self-recrimination and frustration for dropping important dates, forgetting things, losing track of figures, getting lost in a project, putting trivial things at the same priority as urgent tasks, searching for my keys only to find them in my hand, etc, came to an end. I could forgive myself and recognize that I had a handicap. At least now I could identify it as an attribute like being tall or short or near-sighted and learn to cope with it in a realistic way.

My major symptoms have been three-fold: easy distractibility, especially visual distractions; crowded thinking, with floods of thoughts rushing in simultaneously; and what I call compacted time, where clocks and calendars become a blur and everything seems to happen concurrently with no sequence or space in between. In addition, numbers don’t communicate to me like words. Words are fluent, marvels of revelation, while numbers are a maddening mystery. Numbers lie to me! But I have found that putting things on paper in a visual form greatly aids my comprehension of numbers-- whether handling finances or budgeting time for a project. Then of course, I have the challenge of handling the paper I have produced, which for ADD-afflicted people like me can become a flurry of drifting white stuff spilling over the edge of my desk.

If you discover you have ADD, there are usually stages you go through. 1. Denial. 2. Anger. 3. Bargaining. “If I take my medications, the problem will go away.” 4. Depression. “Depression is a serious (and common) problem for people with ADD,” says Susan Roberts. 5. Acceptance. You decide you will take your meds & cope, just like people wear glasses to correct their vision.

ADD has been described as a disorder, but with “positive attachments.” ADDers are usually very creative, highly intuitive, usually intelligent. Adders are typically Global Thinkers. They think “outside the box” and are able to leap to correct conclusions that logical thinkers have no way of understanding. When included as part of a team that appreciates their value and also understands their limitations, they can move from being simply unique to being extraordinarily gifted.

“Sustained attention is expensive for an ADDer,” says Thomas Whiteman, PhD, in his book, Adult ADD. “The mental energy expended is enormous and taxing. ADDers fight forgetfulness all the time. They have severe self-recrimination for their inability to stay focused. Failure in relationships makes them retreat from emotional intimacy. Then they often deceive themselves and pretend they have no problem. Anger is another common problem, due to frequent battles with frustration. They can be accused of being self-focused and may indeed have a poor self-image. They often have a running internal dialogue of habitual self-criticism.” Constant self-criticism is not a characteristic of true biblical humility. It is just a bad habit.
ADD is NOT a moral shortcoming. It is a condition at birth of unknown origin, a certain way that a person’s brain is wired, a permanent situation that can be moderated but not eliminated. Here is a checklist that helps identify people who might have ADD (not all these will apply, and symptoms improve with self-awareness):

Do things impulsively
Always on the go
Need help handling emotions, fight frustrations
Need to build your self-image
Hard to control your temper
A substance abuser
Can’t organize a schedule
Can’t put tasks in order or do important things first
Trouble managing finances; Start without finishing
Difficulty planning time and following through
Forget things easily
Difficulty in school classes
Trouble communicating
Not a good listener
Relationships often in crisis, constant turmoil
Can’t focus on one thing at a time (easily distracted)

Medically, ADD-afflicted individuals have been termed “minimally brain damaged.” It appears first in childhood, often with hyperactivity, and usually persists into adulthood. Dr. Ratep says in “Living with ADD- a Workbook for Adults”, that “ADD is a problem of the frontal lobes (of the brain) where information is sorted out and acted upon.” He calls ADD an “impairment.”

While several types of ADD have been identified, three major areas are categorized socially by one counselor who herself has ADD. These three are:
The Active Entertainer - expressive, outgoing, a risk-taker, a salesman.
The Restless Dreamer - who fights frustration. He is inward focused. This kind of ADD person is often misdiagnosed. They can battle severe depression due to stuffing their real feelings. Both of these first two ADDers need structure in order to succeed. The Restless Dreamer also needs encouragement.
The Conscientious Controller – compensates by extreme control, rigid rituals and excessive structure, requiring constant perfectionism. Makes a good accountant.

Many ADD individuals battle feelings of anxiety, irritability, and depression. Some have a strong “startle reflex” or they battle panic disorder. Those who suffered repeated failures from undiagnosed ADD also battle low self-esteem and lack of self-confidence.

Many ADDers hyper-focus in order to achieve success, then suffer an emotional letdown afterwards. Everyone has this experience for example, when reading or concentrating. But for ADDers, it is much more intense. Hyper-focus means to be so intent and so deep in thought that it is painful to be jerked away from it. Periods of time spent hyper-focusing can be emotionally draining. For ADDers, Mood swings are common. Mood control can be improved by:

Become aware of your moods (ADDers are notoriously poor self-observers!)
Deep breathing from the diaphragm (the Yielded Breath, a prayer of surrender, of peace)
Meditation (stilling your mental storm, practicing “Be still and know that I am God!”)
Physical exercise- aerobic is best. Move your body- still your mind. Exercise every day!
Visualization (ex- see yourself on a peaceful desert island)
Music (soothes the brain and harmonizes the thoughts in a powerful way)
Laughter (a healthy release of pent-up emotions. “Does good like a medicine!”
A Good Night’s Sleep (very important for the body and the brain, restores functionality)

ADD adults have been diagnosed with impulsivity. “Impulsivity is born of a low tolerance for frustration.” Says Susan Roberts, PhD. “Impulsivity is the tendency to act too quickly and without thinking.” These impulsive actions are independent of reason. They occur before you think. They are “not based on knowing what to do, but doing what you know,” says Russell Barkley. Quick thoughts, quick feelings, quick actions. This characteristic can be moderated by self-discipline or medication but not totally eliminated. Not everyone is designed to think the same way. Some attributes of personality we must live with and indeed, should celebrate.

Anger is often a component of ADD, yet is often disguised as another emotion. With ADDers, anger quickly escalates. It is important to stop anger before it builds. Anger can be checked. Unchecked, with impulsivity, it can lead to rage and do harm. My counselor says, “Own your emotions. Anger is what it is. Be honest about it. Don’t deny it or stuff it. Deal with it rightly.”

Treatment does not make ADD go away. But treatment “turns down the noise of self-recrimination.” If you have ADD, do this-

Seek treatment.
Accept yourself. (If you have a history of failure, realize there is real hope for you!)
Decide to be honest. Tell trusted people about your issues.
Give gifts of attention to other people. (Excellent idea!) Realize, a lifetime of distraction has taught you bad habits. Your attention costs you- give it away to those you love.
Practice active listening. Repeat and clarify. Ask, ‘What happened next?’ ‘How did that make you feel?’
Make contracts with others. Put it in writing so you are accountable.
Establish a system together so you have structure.
Use reminders (NO guilt or shame) like whiteboards, beepers, DayTimers, PDAs, etc.

Admit to yourself and others that sometimes “I need space.” Eliminate stress from your life even if it restricts your lifestyle. Understand and accept your limitations.

Since ADDers are unable to set priorities, they need help coping. First things First is more than a motto, it is something they desperately need but cannot manage without considerable effort and/or help. Here are some coping skills for Time Management:

Adopt a Daily Routine. Every morning make a list of 3 things to do (no more!). Rank them in order of importance. (ADDers cannot handle longs lists or easily prioritize tasks.) Weekly Habits. Choose the same day of each week to do certain tasks. For example, shop for groceries on Saturday. Routinely pay bills on the same day or date. Time Management will always be a challenge, so organize your day the prior evening. Break tasks into small steps. Work in short bursts. Organize three “S” areas: Space, Self, and Stuff. Space- Everything must be in its place and there must be a place for everything. Ex- a hook for your car keys. Get into the habit of placing them there. Use files, boxes, labels. Use color codes for different stuff. Simplify! Take ten minutes to toss out clutter on a daily basis. (Pay me now or pay me later!) Self- Reduce reading material, distractions, visual clutter, wasted time. Ex- magazines. You’ll try to clip and save everything! Make lists before you shop. Don’t carry credit cards, checkbook, or too much cash. Stuff- Handle paper only twice, once to scan it; then again to “ftd”-it: file it, toss it, or delegate it. Stacks of papers on your desk are a sure sign of ADD, or of information overload.

Other healthy ADD adjustments and coping skills include these lifestyle areas:

DIETARY CHANGES-
- High Protein-Low Carbohydrate diet - perfect for ADDers.
Eat three meals a day plus two snacks. Include protein (lean meats, eggs, nuts, protein powder, cheese, cottage cheese, cream cheese) in all your meals (has amino acids needed for neurotransmitters in the brain).
- More complex carbohydrates, not white bread, pasta or potatoes. Use oatmeal, whole grain bread or bagels.
- Watch out for juices and candy. Sugar is not good for ADDers.
- Reduce or eliminate simple carbohydrates (bread, pasta, white rice, potatoes, sugar, corn syrup, honey, candy).
- Increase omega-3 fatty acids - tuna, salmon, walnuts, brazil nuts.
EXERCISE -is essential! Increases blood flow to brain, raises serotonin levels. Exercise five times a week for 30-45 minutes each time. Walk fast to elevate your heart rate. A regular sex life with your spouse is also very healthy and therapeutic for ADDers.
MEDICATION- is helpful for many but should not be the sole treatment (Ritalin, Adderal, plus other drugs that deal with depression or anxiety). Medication does help the majority (about 75%). Also should have counseling and coaching.
COACHING- Have someone who agrees to help train you to deal with your disability. Help you to develop good internal supervision skills. Set personal goals, learn skills of organizing, planning. Monitor you for consistent performance; be there to encourage you.
COPING- Get real about you! Use visual reminders, practice active listening, enlist the family or team. Control your environment so you are not overwhelmed with input or drop the ball.
ANTS- eliminate Automatic Negative Thoughts. (Critical self-talk, negative mental programming) These tend toward depression, isolation, & self-hatred. For ANT killers, I recommend using the prescription of quoting the Scriptures. See Philippians 4:6-8.
STRUCTURE- ADDers need structure. Organize your space, your self, your stuff. Establish priorities after discussion with family, team. Write it down. Hold yourself to it.
EMOTIONAL TRAUMA- Very common. Anxiety may be present to the point of Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome. Deal with it using spiritual, familial, and professional help.
ERRONEOUS BELIEFS- Is your sabotage success by repetitive bad habits? Have you failed so often you now believe the lie that you are a failure? (In debt again? Divorced again? Fired again?) Why does this happen? Your beliefs drive your behavior! Change your beliefs, change your thoughts, change your ways, and thus, change your destiny! Remember this and say it aloud to yourself- The Good News is that the Bad News is wrong! You can change your life, and with God’s help and a little helpful insight and honesty, all things are possible for you!

Recommended Reading: Find these at your local bookstore or your favorite on-line bookseller.

Think Fast- The ADD Experience by Tom Hartmann and Janie Bowman
Living with ADD- A Workbook for Adults by Susan Roberts (practical, very good)
Attention Deficit Disorder- A Different Perspective by Tom Hartmann
Healing ADD by Daniel Amen, MD (Dr, Amen has done extensive original medical research with brain scans showing defined physiological brain images common to those with ADD.
Adult ADD by Thomas Whiteman and Michelle Novotini (my favorite if I had only one book)
Honey Are You Listening? (my wife’s favorite!) (I can’t remember the author’s name, but we read it years ago and I still remember how very helpful it was.)
A. D. D. Wandering Minds and Wired Bodies, a booklet by Edward T. Welch (especially helpful for Christian parents.)

Finally, from a Christian perspective, I have some personal observations: I believe God’s grace grows stronger when we acknowledge our weakness. The power of God is especially drawn toward the humble. “God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Honestly facing our limitations is a form of humility. Faith can then focus on God’s power, not our abilities. We all need help in different ways. We are not created equal, at least not in talent and abilities. We can’t expel a built-in weakness like we can drive out an evil spirit. But we can take carnality to the cross, and we can learn to cope with our deficiencies.

There is transforming power available to followers of Christ. But, we need to admit our need of it. The Lord said to the apostle Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9) As the Holy Spirit indwells us and as we allow God’s Word to adjust our way of thinking, we take on more of God’s nature, thus becoming the very best we can ever be. But what if we discover we have ADD? We are not immune to flaws and afflictions just because we know Jesus. In fact, Christians are ultimate realists, facing the human situation with no illusions. Sin is real and we are powerless to save ourselves from it, therefore, we need a Savior. Jesus proved His love when He died on the cross to bring us to God. He proved His power to save us when He rose from the dead with eternal life as a free gift for who receive Him.

As a Christian, with all this help available to me, I have no excuse for staying angry or frustrated or depressed or impatient. Yes, I have ADD. No, I won’t use it to justify irresponsible behavior. I will not say, “But that’s the way I am!” Instead, I will rely on God for help. I take the practical steps of making lifestyle choices to moderate my weakness. For example, I worship God every day, sometimes several times a day. I know from experience that time spent in prayer, in quiet adoration, in respecting His presence and contemplating His Word, softly singing praises or choruses from my heart to the Lord, is as soothing to my mind as oil poured on troubled water. It has a lingering affect on me for hours afterward. Wow!

There is no “exception clause” in the list of “Fruit of the Spirit” in Galatians 6 that exempts ADDers from showing Christ-likeness, such as patience, gentleness, forbearance, self-control, etc. These things are hard for ADDers! I conclude after much consideration and after my own wrestling with this ailment, that the solution (for me) is increased dependence on the Lord. I must abide in Christ, walk in the Spirit, meditate on the Scriptures, humble myself and admit my weakness, draw on others’ strengths and team up with those around me, take my carnal tendencies and traits to the cross, and ask God for His grace and power to manifest the uplifting life of Jesus in my body, in my ways, and in my personality.

Christians have the privilege of relying on God’s Word rather than changeable feelings. The Bible says we are created in God’s image, that we were redeemed from sin by the sacrifice of God’s Son on the cross. Therefore we are uniquely loved and valued for who we are despite any of our individual weaknesses or handicaps. That is good news! Facing reality, we should resist self-condemnation (read Romans 8) and instead live by faith in the awareness of God’s great love, including a healthy love and respect of our own self as a human being and as a child of God. Indeed, our Heavenly Father is delighted to show His mercy to us in the midst of our daily struggles, giving us His peace and His power to overcome.

If you think you may have ADD, my informed but by no means professional advice is this: Don’t jump to conclusions. Don’t diagnose yourself. Don’t start using ADD as an excuse for irresponsibility. Do talk it over with your spouse, a trusted pastor, or a qualified health care provider. Read more on the subject so you can be armed with good information. Pray and ask God to help you truly and honestly know yourself. If you conclude you might have ADD, evaluate its affect on yourself and those around you. Consider obtaining professional counseling with someone who specializes in this disorder in order to deal with the emotional damage you have suffered if you have been affected in your work, your education, or your marriage.

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Random Notes on ADD was compiled and written 2002 by Ron Wood.

My gratitude to the many writers whom I freely quoted for their valuable insights. Read the books I have listed to learn more! I also want to thank Dr. Daniel Patterson (clinical psychiatrist) and Ms. Ann Foltrauer (counselor and LCSW), both of Wilmington, NC, for their friendship and for their many helpful comments.

Special heartfelt thanks goes to my lovely wife, Lana, who knows first-hand the trials and tribulations of living with ADD in her family. She is a champion mother and wife, and a true straight-line thinker!

For copies of this booklet, please write to us at Ron and Lana Wood, P.O. Box 12749, Wilmington, NC 28405. We also supply training materials to young leaders in struggling nations. To see a list of resources or to learn more, visit our website at HYPERLINK "http://www.touchedbygrace.org" www.touchedbygrace.org.

Team Integrity

2001-09-13T16:53:00.000-05:00

When God put Adam and Eve in the garden, a paradise of heaven on earth was his goal. Unfortunately, an evil interloper interfered with God’s ultimate intentions. Satan slithered into camp, caused a disruption in the harmony of God’s team, and cost mankind our inheritance. Thankfully, God’s grace has appeared in the person of Jesus Christ to repair the breach, restore our relationship, and return us to our rightful inheritance.

How did Satan succeed in infiltrating God’s first apostolic team? If we can understand this, then we can uncover his tactics today, because Satan hasn’t changed. He is still attempting to disrupt harmony and disqualify headship. He uses one basic tactic: lying accusations. His lies provoke sinful reactions which in turn dissolve our unity and erode our vision. Divided we always fall, and the devil knows it. So, doubting God, we fall from grace. We no longer experience the grace of God helping us overcome and achieve. Absent God’s blessing and presence, w are on our own and it isn’t easy. The way of the transgressor is hard. God means it to be. He wants us to repent.

If Satan can insinuate his doubts, then he can divide our team (marriage, company, church, etc.), divert us our direction, delay our mission, and destroy our effectiveness. Satan did this with Eve and then with Adam when he distorted God’s word and caused them to doubt God’s motives.

Satan kissed up to this Primary Couple, our progenitors on planet earth. The Master of Deceit led humanity down a trail of tears and sorrows that have caused untold suffering for six thousand years. It is time we learned how to live in the light of God’s word rather than the darkness of deception. We need to decide if God is true so we can stay in agreement with God’s word (and with each other) so that we can possess our inheritance and enjoy God’s blessings.

The components of the fall are these: Eve was deceived; Adam was disobedient. On this First Team, Adam represented headship; Eve represented the heart of their relationship. Both head and heart need to be guarded from deceit. They momentarily turned away from the words of their loving Creator who had been walking and talking with them every day. They listened to the lies of a fallen angel. His whispers seduced them into unfaithfulness by means of independent action, rebellion against the rules of Eden, and ultimately, a fall from life into death.

Team integrity disintegrated due to doubting the words of their Leader, God. They allowed seeds of doubt to take root. Discord, deception, and disaster ensued. Did this fall begin with a thought subtly sowed into someone’s mind? At what point could Eve have taken every thought captive and confessed God’s word instead of Satan’s lie? How far did she go before there was no turning back? When did the insanity of sin control her thinking? When did Adam disbelieve the warnings of His Eternal Father? At what point did he forfeit his leadership and abdicate his responsibility to husband Eve to guard Eden? Could he have said something to stop the downward spiral? Who he listened to eventually affected what he believed.

Never forget, the words you incubate today will be the words you are controlled by tomorrow. Your future circumstances are being forged in the furnace of your beliefs today. What you believe is critical, but who you believe is just as important. Adam and Eve didn’t need to know everything in order to be safe. They just needed to know the One they were believing, their Savior. By turning away from Him, they chose soulish knowledge rather than spiritual life, pride rather than humility, self-government rather than holy headship. We have all been on a long road trying to find our way back from confusion ever since. It will take the return of Christ to finally put back everything that was lost. But look at the price we have paid in the souls that have been damned and the damage that has been inflicted. Sin extracts a terrible price.

The integrity of this husband-wife team under God’s headship could have been preserved. Unlike Adam and Eve, we are no longer naive concerning evil. We now have something they didn’t have: a Savior, God manifest in the flesh, and a Bible, God’s infallible word, to give us wisdom and power to overcome Satan’s campaign of discord and deception. We also have a decisive edge only possible since Christ’s death and resurrection: the new birth, whereby we are given a new nature, one that is empowered to freely choose to do God’s will. By God’s grace and indwelling presence, we can, if we want to, walk our talk and maintain our integrity.

Our Lord is the ultimate realist. He knows that sin will enter in, that confession will need to be made, that reconciliation will have to occur. God has already made provision for us to be restored to Himself and to one another into righteous relationships. God wants the "tie that binds" to remain intact. When it fails, He wants us to repent so we can be "super-glued" back together.

In the gospels, it seems to me there are three primary directives from our Lord. Jesus gave us very few commands, but the few He gave us are crucial. Here are three I consider most vital: 1) Follow Me. Nothing else works if Jesus isn’t front and center in our faith and conduct. 2) Love one another. Perhaps the hardest of all His commands, this one requires building bridges of trust and community under the watchful eye of our Chief Shepherd. 3) Go with the gospel to every creature. This is our great Commission, to preach the good news to the whole world. Three basic things: Follow Jesus. Love each other. Go with the gospel. If we do these things, we can be saved, we can serve one another, and we can send out workers and be faithful witnesses. These three things are also the basic ingredients for the success of an apostolic team.

Jesus fulfilled his mission by calling together disciples whom he built into a functioning team. Team-building enables a leader to multiply his efforts. Jesus used the "principle of twelve" to reproduce his ministry. He gave away everything he had to 12 trusted followers, then told them to go do what he had done. The purpose of Pentecost was to empower them to obey that command. Pentecost did not occur in a vacuum. It did not happen to super individualistic ego-driven loners. It happened to an Upper Room community, a team that had come into unity and prayed through to power, together. God has all power and can repeat the outpouring of the Spirit anytime and in any place. The question is: where is the upper room community? Can we get our act together?

Togetherness is not a fancy word for a "touchy-feely" group hug. It is the secret ingredient of supernatural power to defeat Satan. So, how do we keep our team together?

King David sought togetherness with his band of followers. God had anointed him. Saul was pursuing him. Pressure was forming them into a team. Loyalties were being decided. In the midst of this sorting out process, men of valor joined themselves to David. They saw the favor of God on him and were drawn to swear allegiance. The Bible says they "helped David with an undivided heart." (1 Chron. 12:33). An undivided heart is the opposite of being double minded. A double minded person is unstable. Leadership teams can’t be composed of unstable individuals without disastrous consequences. God builds his kingdom based on covenant love from commitments made by stable people.

Sorting out relationships sometimes requires sifting through our commitments. Often we find that we really are "our brother’s keeper." And sometimes only loving confrontation will rescue our brother from the error of his ways (James 5:19-20). What do you do when you see someone self-destructing? What do you do when you see unity disintegrating due to sin? Does cordiality make us cower behind a facade of politeness, or does covenant love compel us to speak out in love? Biblically, we have no choice: Love covers ((1 Pet. 4:8) and love confronts (Gal. 6:1-3).

We are to speak the truth but only in love, not harshly. The Apostle Paul said his ministry to the Thessalonians included aspects as gentle as a nursing mother (1 Thess. 2:7) and as firm as a forceful father (2:11). Both are appropriate at different times in a person’s life. A friend will risk the relationship by speaking the truth. True friends can tell each other the truth without destroying the friendship. In fact, real friendship can’t exist without truthfulness, otherwise it is an illusion built on shifting sand.

Here is a key I believe God has shown me to undergird honest mutual commitments. Realize that God is watching between us. He is the author of righteous relationships. He superintends our fellowship so that God’s light, love, and honor are reflected in our links with one another. This works best in community, where we "know no man after the flesh." We don’t follow leaders or love our brothers because of worldly reasons, but because of God’s grace and purpose. In Christ, we order our relationships around the joints and ligaments the Holy Spirit creates (Eph. 4:16).

Fellowship together as maturing Christians naturally progresses from superficial contact to affection enjoyment to covenant love to functioning together as a team. Part of the process involves permitting others to speak honestly into your life without recoiling in rejection. Wholesome fellowship, free of co-dependency or any spirit of control, has a wonderful sanctifying effect on us. We don’t lose our individuality, but we begin to enjoy our diversity. We distinguish the differing grace gifts and find that we are stronger togther than we are apart. This is the miracle of Christ Incorporated, the Living Church.

Proverbs 27:5-6 provides a pattern for integrity in relationships. "Better is open rebuke than love that is concealed. Faithful are the wounds of a friend, But deceitful are the kisses of an enemy." The Lord wants us to ask ourselves these questions: Do you want friendship or enmity? Do you want faithfulness or deception? Do you want wounds or kisses. The open rebuke can be manifestation of great love, while cordial concealment of true feelings may be great treachery.

Team building is not a social experiment invented by corporate presidents. It is an intrinsic part of the kingdom of God modeled by Christ and urged by the apostles. A New Testament team can build a New Testament church. But New Testament churches can only be constructed of materials that measure up, believers who are refined in the fellowship-furnace of truth and love, not pampered in splendid isolation.

© 2001 by Ron Wood. Ron and his wife, Lana, have been pastors more than 30 years. He has served as a State Coordinator for the U. S. Strategic Prayer Network. Ron is best known for his prophetic writing ministry. Ron & Lana are a ministry team. They are members of Reconciliation Ministries International led by Bishop Joseph Garlington. Ron & Lana were sent to Africa to help equip emerging apostolic leaders in the developing church. If you wish to copy this article for free distribution, permission is hereby granted to duplicate it provided there are no changes or omissions made to this article and this byline is included. The author asserts his moral rights of ownership. For more information or helpful literature, visit our web site at touchedbygrace.org, or e-mail us at ron@touchedbygrace.org.

Holy Spirit Baptism

2001-09-13T16:51:00.000-05:00

As I continued praying, I became aware of an enveloping warmth coming upon me. The hair on the back of my arms was standing up. I tingled like I was in a mild electric field. It seemed to increase when I lifted my hands toward heaven in worshipful surrender. I had been praying alone in my darkened bedroom. I had lost track of time. I was hungry for more of God. I told him so. I said I wanted more. I couldn’t stand to live without the awareness of his presence. I wanted to preach with power. I travailed to see people healed when I prayed for them. These things had driven me to secret, persistent prayer.

The room seemed somehow filled with light. The presence that had been around me now began to fill me up, like a water pitcher with a rising level. It felt like liquid love. I was intoxicated! No words can describe the joy that flooded my soul as God himself came and answered my cry for more of him.

As I was filled up to the brim, my praise became inadequate. My throat was choked with emotions and words that seemed to jumble together, like I was trying to speak in two languages at once and it wasn’t working. My heart was bursting with praise and love and mere words were no longer able to express the depth of my adoration.

With trembling lips, I gave vent to the gushing of heartfelt worship deep in my soul. I began to pray in the Spirit aloud with words I had never learned.

Since that momentous day in my youth, I have discovered that this precious gift of prayer is always available to me anytime I take time to wait on God and yield to him. Two words describe what began in my life that day: power, for service and prayer; and rest, for a new relationship with Christ whereby he does his work through me. I would hate to think that I would have to live my Christian life without this treasure.

I believe the Baptism in the Holy Spirit is the missing ingredient in the modern church. It is the critical key to successful evangelism of this lost world, to a satisfying personal prayer life, and to the development of true community among believers. Anything that helps us win more souls, have more intimacy with God in prayer, and develop stronger ties of love with fellow believers must be a desirable thing. We need the gift of the Holy Spirit to live the Christian life.

Being baptized in the Spirit was the expected experience–not the exception to the rule–for believers in the Bible. This baptism is often overlooked by modern Christians due to wrong church traditions. Here are three issues that need to be addressed—

"I got it all." Some believe that you get all you can get when you are first saved, that being born of the Spirit is all there is. If that is the case, then why did Jesus, when he first met the disciples after his resurrection, breath on them and say, "Receive Holy Spirit," (John 20:22) then on the Day of Pentecost pour forth the same Holy Spirit on them again?

We are born again by the Holy Spirit at conversion. We are baptized in (immersed, filled with) the Holy Spirit in a subsequent event. It is a separate experience from being born again. This was established in Acts 8 when new converts were baptized in water and then received the gift of the Holy Spirit in a separate experience through laying on of hands.

"It isn’t for today." Another problem some believers encounter is the idea that gifts of the Spirit ceased about the same time that the apostles’ collection of letters was compiled into our Holy Bible. But Peter said in Acts two that this gift was for all who were "far off" and for the last days. No scripture anywhere states that gifts of the Holy Spirt are to cease. Has the Holy Spirit left the church?

Church history shows that there have always been in every generation those believers who were filled with the Spirit and displayed God’s gifts in their lives. On a global scale, half of all believers today are now charismatic Christians.

"Tongues cause confusion." Finally, there is confusion among some regarding the initial evidence of speaking in tongues versus the similar but different gift of unknown tongues for the assembly. This latter public gift is a manifestation of the Spirit that should normally be accompanied by the gift of interpretation, thus being equivalent to prophecy. Indeed, the public gift is not for everyone. "Do all speak in tongues? The answer, at least for public ministry, is "No." But privately, "Go for it!"

How do you know if you are filled? The evidence is the fruit and the gifts. (See Galatians 5 and 1 Cor 12). The primary fruit is love. Anyone who claims to be filled with the Spirit but doesn’t have love is deceived. Fruit validates gifts. In the book of Acts, the most common initial sign that believers had received the Holy Spirit was speaking in tongues. This is a valuable gift to edify believers in their private devotions.

The gift of tongues is a spontaneous utterance in a heavenly language, an overflow of the Holy Spirit which liberates the prayer life of the believer. (Acts 2:1-4; 1 Cor. 14:4) It flows from the heart, not from the head. Another manifestation of being filled with the Spirit is prophesying. This is declaring the mind and heart of God in a known language, flowing up out of your heart, not composed logically in your mind. (Acts 19:6) This distinguishes it from preaching.

Prophecy is the primary gift of the Holy Spirit for the church. We are all encouraged to seek this gift so the church can be built up in the Spirit.

What is the normal pattern for receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit? For you, there may be no pattern! God may fill you in a way that is unique and wonderful. Yet we do see God repeating certain aspects of this experience. Peter defended the Holy Spirit coming upon the Gentiles by saying, "As on us at the beginning..." (Acts 11:15) He appealed to an authentic pattern.

This pattern is laid out for us in Acts chapter two. Let’s examine this pattern and see how it applies to us today.

And when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent, rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance. (Verses 1-4 NASB)

Remember, they had just been praying, waiting on God for his presence and power. They were all in one accord. They were expecting something from heaven. They were not disappointed!

Here is the sequence of events–four stages, if you will–of Pentecost.

The presence of God came into the place where they were.
The power of God came upon each person in a bodily way.
Each one was filled internally with the Holy Spirit.
Each one began to speak forth the Spirit’s promptings.

Do you see the stages of God’s increasing manifestation? God’s presence (not just his omnipresence, but his tangible manifest presence) first came into the place, then came upon them physically, then filled them up inside, then overflowed through them with supernatural praises in a language given by the Spirit. It had discernible stages.

In my experience of assisting people to have faith to receive this wonderful gift, I have noticed that anyone can halt this progressive pattern at any point they wish. For instance, the Holy Spirit can come upon a person and we can notice the trembling, the flushed face, the heat of God’s energy, and stop right there and go no further. Or, the Holy Spirit can fill someone and they can sense the supernatural joy, the explosion of peace, the rising song of the Spirit in their heart, and stop right there.

The Holy Spirit is a gift offered to us, not a force that controls us. In fact, when I am being filled with the Spirit (an on-going repeatable experience- See Ephesians 5:18), my mind is clear and I am fully aware of my circumstances and in control of my faculties. I choose to yield to the Spirit. If we say, "No more, Lord!" he will respect our wishes.

Jesus said in John 7:37 that those who thirst and believe will be filled with the Holy Spirit. The secret to an overflowing heart is having a desperate thirst for more of God. In one sense, the overflow of verbal gifts is simply the visible icing on the cake to the invisible power and presence of God that fills your soul. Are you really thirsty? Then come to Jesus and ask him to fill you. He is the Baptizer in the Holy Spirit!

In my experience of over forty years, this gift has magnified my love for Jesus, given me power to pray heart-felt prayers, prompted me to know the will of God, and "primed my pump" to prophesy mysteries. My personal prayer language is a precious source of edification to me. With the apostle Paul, I can say, "I thank God I speak in tongues" (1 Cor. 14:18) and "do not forbid to speak in tongues." (1 Cor. 14:39)

Let’s realize that the baptism in the Holy Spirit is healthy and normal. Maybe our Christian walk has been sub-normal for so long that when we see normal we think it is strange!

Be grateful for God’s manifest presence. His wonderful love-gifts are signs of grace. They should produce a sense of awe, a reverential fear and acknowledgment that God is here, that his kingdom has come among us in power.

Church in Your House

2000-09-13T16:49:00.000-05:00

Bill opened the door with a smile as he welcomed the Smith’s from down the street. This was their first visit to Bill’s home meeting and they were a little anxious. But the friendly folks inside soon put the newcomers at ease. The light refreshments at the start of the gathering gave them an opportunity to mingle and get to know other people by name.

Soon, everyone was enjoying the informal fellowship. After a little while, Bill got everyone’s attention and the seats around the room were filled. Bill asked an ice-breaker question to help people tell something about themselves. The answers provoked lots of laughter. Before long, the meeting turned to spiritual matters as Bill guided the discussion toward issues they faced in everyday life.

Bible verses were used to answer the questions that arose. By the end of the meeting, several asked for prayer or expressed concern for others who were facing difficult situations. Anyone wanting prayer was able to receive it with no embarrassment. During prayer, one person volunteered the impressions she sensed were from God. The Smith’s felt genuine love from the group as prayer was offered for their wayward son.

They left the meeting that night planning to return the next week, having felt that they had finally found real relationships with sincere believers in Christ.

This short scenario is a description of a cell meeting. A cell meeting is a small group of believers gathered in a private house to worship God, study the Bible, and edify one another. This kind of event is now happening in millions of lives in thousands of homes in hundreds of nations. Notice, it took on a different flavor due to newcomers being present. If everyone attending was already experienced with life in the Spirit, it might have gone in a different direction.

Paul addressed these variations of small-group dynamics in his letter to the Corinthian church. He said we are to show care for one another and to wait on one another (1 Cor. 11:33, 12:25). But if an unbeliever or someone who is untaught is among us, then we are to focus on the gospel addressing their felt needs and not offend the newcomer with our liberties (1 Cor. 14:23-24). The operative principle is to always show respectful love for all people, while the goal is to edify one another with our gifts of grace as we share Christ (1 Cor. 14:40).

In this context of a small group setting, God’s grace and goodness is ministered one to another effortlessly. Spiritual growth occurs spontaneously. Members realize their gifts and callings. Prayer is offered for friends and neighbors to be saved. Needs are addressed and sharing occurs. The gospel’s power is multiplied as more people are equipped for ministry. These benefits are a natural result of permitting and promoting the church as it meets in homes.

I tell my congregation, "The church is what meets in your house. The Sunday gathering is what the church does." This little statement takes the focus away from "doing church" to "being church." Too much of our mind-set is organizational, rather than organic. The church is a living body, not a building. The Bible says we are the body of Christ. We have to move away from powerless traditions back toward the New Testament emphasis on koinoia, or true fellowship, rather than just assemble as strangers under the same roof. The apostles grew churches around community–life shared in common because of Christ’s salvation.

A question I often ask on Sunday is "When does church begin?" Some folks will answer, "Ten o’clock!" They are partially right. But Jesus said whenever two or three of us gather together, He is present. Therefore, church begins when the second person arrives. As soon as we gather in His name, as soon as we come into agreement, church has begun.

The church is Christ Incorporated, His living body, a sacred assembly. It is growing rapidly on the earth. Under God’s authority, we are free to pray, "Thy will be done," and to model God’s kingdom with our love for one another.

We need to stretch our thinking until we see the mystery of the new wineskin of the church. We need to enlarge our concept of what the Church really is.

More than a building, more than a denomination, more than a confessing creed, it is a living body, a growing temple, a house not made with hands, an international and interracial network of relationships connected to Jesus, designed by God’s creative genius (Eph. 1:22-23; 2:19-22; 4:16). It is Corpus Christi, the Body of Christ. By His Spirit He indwells us individually and connects us corporately (1 Cor. 6:19, 3:16).

We need to understand the building blocks of the church in order to better obey our Lord’s great commission. To grow larger, we need to think smaller.

The New Testament often uses the phrase "the church which is in your house." Paul used it four times— in First Corinthians 6:19, Romans 16:5, Colossians 4:15, and Philemon 2.

Paul greeted a couple, Priscilla and her husband Aquilla, and sent letters to the church that met in their house. This couple held home meetings in both Corinth and later in Rome. Paul sent similar greetings to Nympha, a lady who led a house church in Laodicea. From his prison in Rome, Paul also wrote to Archippus whose home held a church.

In all of these occasions, the apostle remained in relationship with groups of Christians whose normal mode of gathering was house to house (see Acts 20:20). They had no building or formal hierarchy, but they did have effective ministry based in their homes. And they had a relationship with a spiritual father.

This methodology won whole cities to Christ and changed nations. In fact, so many in the cities were won to Christ by this method that the word for those outside the city, pagans, became synonymous with unbelievers.

Our Lord Jesus set the pattern for the church when He started small. He called twelve disciples. This small group spent time with Him in prayer. Crowds got miracles and parables, but His proteges got personal fellowship, character development, on-the-job training, and strong commandments to walk in love.

They were commissioned to repeat with others what Christ had done with them. We can’t improve on Jesus’ methods. Big programs make a big splash, but lasting fruit comes from a simple plan that loves individuals and equips them for the work of the ministry.

This simple plan was demonstrated by the early apostles. In Acts 2:46, the church gathered in the Temple and in homes. Later, the Jewish element of the church was outnumbered by Gentile converts. Still later, the Temple was destroyed and persecution prevented public gatherings. The house church became the model for Christian lifestyle, the basis for community. The next 300 years was a period of amazing growth.

Acts 2:42 shows four components of the daily life of the early church. They are: 1) doctrine, 2) fellowship, 3) meals, and 4) prayer. Doctrine refers to teaching. Teaching should disseminate from the apostolic office. It explains the Bible, God’s orthodox standard for revealed truth. Fellowship is time spent in each other’s company, enjoying one another, laughing, worshiping, serving. It is what families do. Meals are times spent at each other’s table, inviting newcomers to join the oikos group, blessing one another with our gifts and love. Prayer describes all we do in addressing God the Father in worship, intercession, praise, and giving of thanks.

Small groups facilitate edification, evangelism, and intercession. The church at prayer is the engine of the kingdom. Preaching targets the unconverted. Prayer-Cells are designed for believers.

These four activities were carried out under the supervision of apostles. An independent house church is not a church set in order. The Body of Christ must have organic unity and true accountability with Christ’s governmental gifts, else we model lawlessness to an already lawless world. Isolated cells need to be in the sphere of apostles and prophets, someone with a larger grace gift. In cells, we pray for one another. In Sunday gatherings, we connect with 5-fold ministry.

When I am asked how folks can find their proper spiritual oversight, I ask two diagnostic questions: "Who watches out for your soul (or your cell-group leader’s soul) and feeds you with God’s word?" And, "To whom do you pay tithes?" Apart from a covenant relationship with Five-fold ministries, there is danger of heresy or harshness. Healthy units in the Body of Christ will have a wholesome desire to integrate with the larger part, the rest of the Body.

The apostles preached publicly and taught privately. New groups of disciples learned covenant love and fervent prayer by gathering in each other’s homes. Thus new churches were formed (Acts 14:21-23). Paul ended his ministry in Ephesus by gathering the house-church leaders and charging them to continue the work after his departure (Acts 20:17-32).

He rehearsed his tactics. They had met publicly and from house to house. In those settings, Paul taught them repentance and faith. He bore witness to and demonstrated the power of the kingdom of God. He told the leaders to shepherd (or, feed) the flock among them, those bought with the blood of Jesus.

Our mission remains the same today. God’s power is manifested when we meet for prayer in small groups. This is the new wineskin for the Church of the 21^st Century. These are the little flocks that will receive the kingdom, love the lost, and destroy the gates of hell.

© 2000 by Ron Wood. Ron and his wife, Lana, have been pastors more than 30 years. He has served as a State Coordinator for the U. S. Strategic Prayer Network. Ron is best known for his prophetic writing ministry. Ron & Lana are a ministry team. They are members of Reconciliation Ministries International led by Bishop Joseph Garlington. Ron & Lana were sent to Africa to help equip emerging apostolic leaders in the developing church. If you wish to copy this article for free distribution, permission is hereby granted to duplicate it provided there are no changes or omissions made to this article and this byline is included. The author asserts his moral rights of ownership. For more information or helpful literature, visit our web site at touchedbygrace.org, or e-mail us at ron@touchedbygrace.org.

The Church in the City

2000-09-13T16:48:00.000-05:00

Dr. Peter Wagner says, "The church is God’s power plant to destroy the works of the evil one. It is now waking up to the most powerful weapon in its arsenal–unity." (Breaking Strongholds in Your City, Regal Books, 1993)

Have you ever wondered why your efforts to evangelize your community are frustrated? Why does an area seem resistant to the gospel? A few people might get saved, but overall nothing really changes. Our witness is not working.

The answer lies in the hidden spiritual infrastructure that operates behind the scenes. We have been chopping off the shoot but leaving the root.

God is now preparing the church in each city to wage war against entrenched evil powers. This is not a battle with flesh and blood, but against the devil, a war waged by humble prayer-warriors and committed preachers. (Eph. 6:12)

The victory we envision is not only saved souls, but transformed cities– where drugs, gambling, alcoholism, prostitution, school violence, gangs, bribery, and corruption are greatly reduced; where families are happy; businesses prosper; and churches grow daily. Our weapons are unity, faith, prayer, and proclamation. Jesus wants us to win.

This battle is winnable. But we need to ask ourselves, "Is it worth the effort? Can I pay the price?" "A wise man attacks the city of the mighty and pulls down the stronghold in which they trust." (Prov. 21:22 NIV)

Spiritual warfare, when joined with bold proclamation of the gospel, has the power to transform communities. George Otis Jr. has documented this effect in numerous modern cities in his excellent video, "Transformations." (To order, call The Sentinel Group, 1-800-668-5657)

The battle is more than persuading people. It also requires resisting Satan. The army of the Lord advances on its knees. We gain ground by repenting of corporate sin and ancestral idolatry.

The location for spiritual warfare is geographical and spiritual. Geographically, the focus is your city. Spiritually, the focus is the heavenlies, the invisible angelic realm energizing evil behavior. Effective and concerted prayer can target the unseen dimension where evil remains undisturbed. We can stop its tentacles of spiritual darkness at their source.

To do this, our concept of the church must be revolutionized. Our mentality has to change before our methods can change. If the way we think and perceive reality doesn’t shift, nothing changes.

It is not enough to build a house of worship where we feel safe from a wicked city. We live in our city. God loves our city. We are salt and light in our city. We hold the keys to transforming our city. We must train believers to go to war. And the only way we can do that is by becoming generals in the battle.

Modern English language has reduced the meaning of the word "church." It now describes a building that sits on a street corner or congregations which are mostly segregated from one another. This is incorrect.

The Bible’s picture of the church differs from our current image. For example, each of the New Testament epistles was addressed to the saints at Ephesus, at Corinth, etc.. They were not addressed to the Baptist church, or the Catholic church, or the Pentecostal church. There was only one church in each city. It was not fragmented.

When the Lord looks down from heaven on your city, he sees one church. Yet from the world’s viewpoint, the church is filled with factions. A divided society is looking for unity and not seeing it. We are discrediting our witness.

The original apostles asked, "Is Christ divided?" The answer was, "No." In their day, the church had unity and power. Could the modern church’s decline of power be due in part to its fragmentation?

In many cities today, pastors from different backgrounds are gathering together to pray. Without undoing denominational affiliations, new networks of local leaders are rapidly emerging to facilitate prayer and mutual accountability. This is unity in the Holy Spirit.The New Testament used the Greek word "ekklesia" for church. It meant "an assembly called out." It is composed of all the Christians in the city. It includes all the pastors and their congregations or cells. The church’s unity is real and relational, not theoretical or theological.

A major problem in the modern church is that people are resistant to relating to one another. Strangers show up at a church building, sit on pews beside other strangers, and then depart to their homes with little sense of community. (I call community "common-unity.") Fellowship is missing.

Even pastors are often isolated from the rest of the Body of Christ. The problem begins in the pulpit, not the pew. Pastors model the message, either of unity or sectarianism.

The New Testament church was regional and relational. It was filled with people connected to one another in covenant love and led by pastoral leaders who knew one another.

The church is a living organism, not merely an organization. Its unity is brought about by the Holy Spirit. His principle ministry is to bear witness to Jesus, to the truth, and to gather us together under Christ, the head of the church. (See Eph. 1:10 NIV)

The Holy Spirit joins believers to Christ and indwells them. He relates members together, giving them community. The church is the product of the corporate effects of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit knits members together in their respective flocks. He also joins pastors together within a region or a city, creating unity for the church.

Perhaps the greatest revelation of the church is in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. In Acts 20:17 and 20:28, he addresses the elders of the church of Ephesus with words that easily apply to us today. He says the church is not divided but is one body organized by one Spirit (Eph. 4:4). This one church is governed by one Head, manifesting His ministry to the church through his apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. In their office of government, these ministers are elders or overseers in the city.

The Ephesian church was exhorted to maintain its unity "in the Spirit." This meant unity was already present. The church’s birth had unity in its DNA. Disunity is an aberration.

This Ephesian pattern of church development was repeated in other cities. In Crete, Paul told Titus to finish the work by setting in elders in each city. The apostolic call is concerned with cities, not just congregations.

Unity affects authority. Elders in a united church in the city have spiritual authority. It affects the whole city when they pray. They sit at the gates of the city. Divided elders have diminished authority, or none at all. Disunity prevents effective corporate prayer.

Reconciliation repairs the breaches in the walls of our cities. Racial and denominational barriers will diminish as pastors make a determined effort to walk together. (Core beliefs can exclude heresy. For example, "Jesus is the Son of God" and "the Bible is God’s Word.")

Unity of purpose makes us proclaim the gospel to the lost instead of talking about each other. Conversion growth instead of transfer growth will be the result. Real evangelism causes a net increase for the kingdom of God in a city.

What are the requirements to have a whole church in a city? Begin with prayer. Two levels of prayer must emerge: strategic, at the leadership level, and cell-church level, block by block. This involves the pastors and the people.

1) Pastors in a city need to know one another. Developing close ties between area leaders requires time and work. We need to fellowship beyond our comfort zones. This is for the sake of Christian unity, to obey the prayer of our Lord that "they all might be one." While healthy diversity is the norm, as with the tribes of Israel, there is "one Lord, one faith, one baptism." Christ only has one bride, his church. There is only one gospel to share with the lost and only one enemy, the devil. We can love each other without sacrificing our traditions. We can make friends of fellow pastors.

2) Pastors in a city need to pray together in order to tear down spiritual strongholds. This is the only way we can preach the gospel with power. The devil mocks our pitiful efforts at spiritual warfare when we are divided behind denominational barriers or racial walls. A divided army can’t win a fight. A house divided can’t even stand, much less pull down evil principalities.

3) Pastors in a city need to have a relationship of mutual accountability among themselves. This is not only for their own benefit, but also for the safety of the flocks, to deal with issues of discipline or heresy. As Paul said at Ephesus, "Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock..." Pastors need to be spiritually related to other pastors. While accountability to an ecclesiastical organization or to an apostolic team is good, we must also embrace covenant relationships among shepherds in a geographical area.

4) All the pastors need to accept responsibility as a team to evangelize their whole city. One congregation may have abilities or gifts that another lacks. God gives different parts of the task to different congregations. Together, we can break down barriers so we can better share Jesus with our community. When believers and church leaders love one another, a powerful testimony impacts the unsaved. It takes a whole church to take a whole city for God.

The Headship of Jesus

1999-09-13T16:54:00.000-05:00

As I gathered with intercessors for our weekly prayer time, we followed our usual pattern. We scattered around the sanctuary and praised God privately for about thirty minutes. Then we collected in a circle near the altar for thirty minutes of coordinated prayer. As we assembled and began to worship the Lord, the Holy Spirit suddenly gave me a vision.

I saw a spine descending from a head, but it was terribly misaligned with the disks slipping this way and that. Obviously, the body was experiencing a lot of pain from this. Of course, pain in the body is felt in the head. Then I heard these words, "Prayer is the backbone of the church."

With this picture also came insight that God was going to give the backbone a chiropractic adjustment. He was going to correct the problem causing pain in the body. He was going to bring the backbone into alignment with the head.

This picture describes intercessory prayer warriors out of alignment with headship. Disjointed prayer is a pain in the neck to the body of Christ.

Warfare prayer is powerful. While devotional prayer is for our own souls, warfare prayer is wrestling in behalf of others. It impacts churches and cities. It engages God’s grace in behalf of our suffering world. It uproots evil powers from their positions of influence.

This kind of prayer is so potent that it must be safeguarded. Like nuclear weapons, it cannot be handled naively or used indiscriminately. There are several parameters that should be in place so that power-filled praying doesn’t degenerate into soulish witchcraft, wasted energy, or go cross-purpose to God’s revealed will.

Four simple safeguards are: 1) Our praying ought be in agreement with God’s Word. 2) Our prayer life should flow out of a crucified will. 3) Intercessors require increasing sensitivity to the Holy Spirit. 4) Prayer warriors must be accountable to spiritual authority.

A principle of God’s kingdom is this: The more authority we carry, the more we must desire to be submitted to God’s authority wherever we see it.

Independence is the essence of sin. It should be obvious to everyone if we are truly under God’s government, honoring the head of the church, the Lord Jesus.

Three times in the Book of Ephesians, Paul referenced the headship of Jesus Christ. (See Eph. 1:10, 1:22, 5:23)

If we engage in warfare apart from the initiative and authority of the Head, we are liable to be wounded or captured. Winning the battle requires strategic wisdom. War has to be fought with the Commander-in-Chief coordinating the army, not everyone doing their own thing.

Paul wrote the letter to the Ephesians while in prison near the end of his ministry, about A. D. 60. He had already been on many missionary journeys. By the time he got to Ephesus, he was able to plant a thriving church that epitomized his doctrine.

If you follow Paul’s itinerary, you can see how he grew in apostolic grace along the way. He didn’t waste his life-experiences. For instance in Athens, Paul tried to minister alone. None of his team was with him. The city was filled with idols. Paul preached the most eloquent sermon every recorded. Yet it had no effect. There was no church planted in Athens, no subsequent letter in our Bible to the church at Athens. Paul failed as a church-planter in that city.

Next, Paul went to the pagan city of Corinth. He determined to know nothing but Christ crucified. He established their faith in the power of God rather than the wisdom of men. He had his apostolic team with him, partners in prayer, supporting him financially. In Corinth, using this different strategy, a powerful new church was planted.

Paul then went to Ephesus. Starting with twelve disciples who had a power encounter with the Holy Spirit, a growing church began to impact the whole region. A fortune in occult literature was burned. The city was in an uproar. The kingdom of God had successfully colonized that city!

Paul’s letter to this Ephesian church contains the highest revelation of the kingdom of God in the New Testament. The letter addressed no major problem. In many ways, it was a model church. Like all of Paul’s writings, it moved deliberately from theology to lifestyle, from doctrine to application.

Do you know the climax of Paul’s practical word? Spiritual warfare! Paul gave us a protocol for how to do this without being killed in the process.

Understanding the structure of the letter to the Ephesians, let’s move backwards from its climax and see the foundation Paul lays for successful (and safe) spiritual warfare. Going in reverse order, there are ten major themes which are apparent. These should be dealt with in our lives prior to waging war.

10. Employees. Serving gladly is proof of humility, the mark of true rank in God’s kingdom.

9. Parenting. How can you have power over demons if you can’t control your own toddler?

8. Marriage. THE crucible of covenant love. Can’t get along? Then your prayers are hindered. Agree together in God!

7. Thankfulness, a true sign of being filled with the Spirit. Critical? Fault-finding? Not a genuine charismatic!

6. Morality, integrity, truthfulness in our hearts and lives. Put on Christ. This is the transformation of the inner man!

5. Ascension-gift ministries and relationships with them as members in the body. Recognize, Receive & Relate!

4. Unity in the Body of Christ, even between converted Jews and Gentiles. One Lord, one faith, one Body!

3. The riches of God’s grace. We will spend eternity trying to appreciate the depths of this awesome truth!

2. The Headship of Jesus over the Church, over ALL authority and every power in every dimension. He is Lord!

1. Redemption through the blood of Christ. It is finished, settled for all time once for all on the cross. Praise God!

The pivotal verse in this book is Ephesians 1:10. This verse speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ being the head of the church. The rest of Ephesians is merely addressing how the headship of Jesus is worked out in our lives in the context of Christian community. For example. If you are truly a disciple of Jesus, you will put in an honest day’s work for your boss. You won’t rob your boss by showing up late or pilfering from the store. If you can’t respect secular authority or ownership, you aren’t ready for spiritual warfare.

Look at another way the headship of Jesus is addressed–relationships with five-fold ministries. Paul says the Body of Christ is composed of members connected together in covenant love, the supporting ligaments of Ephesians 4:16.

God doesn’t dwell in buildings. He dwells in relationships in the Body of Christ. If Jesus is the Head, then his authority is mediated through his servants he has sent to minister to us. God is restoring respect for these offices in the church. The day will come when it will be more important to identify with your apostolic father than with your denominational mother.

The Greek word Paul used in Eph. 1:10 is anakephalaiomai. If is translated in the KJV as "gather together in one." This gathering is to occur in the "fullness of time," a kairos moment in history. It is to unite heaven and earth under Christ. The New American Standard Bible translates this word, "the summing up of all things in Christ." It means this world’s administration is going to be added up under one head, Christ Jesus.

Perhaps this verse is best translated in the New International Version, which reads "to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ." Anything that resists coming under the headship of Jesus opposes God. God’s will is for every knee to bow, of things in heaven and things in earth.

The spirit of anti-Christ says, "Do your own thing." The Spirit of Christ says, "Obey the Son."

Sadly, headship has been misunderstood and used to dominate people. Many women have suffered abuse or prejudice due to mis-guided men lording it over them. Headship is not male superiority, but a role we are assigned to play within certain relationships under God.

Headship is an organizing principle in God’s kingdom. Every healthy living thing has a head. When we dishonor our head, we despise authority. The number one problem in American society today is disrespect for authority.

In the Bible, Elisha looked to Elijah as his head. (2 Kings 2:5 KJV) Paul said divine order in the home came by the husband’s headship. (1 Cor. 11:3) Isaiah said God’s government would rest on Messiah’s shoulders. (Is. 9:6-7)

Shoulders carry weight. Every head of every government has an administration to implement their policies. Jesus’ administration uses apostles and prophets, teaching the whole Church the obedience of faith (Romans 1:5).

It is mission-critical that all of us who are intercessors recognize Christ’s headship by relating to spiritual authority. This does not mean letting anyone or anything replace Jesus. (Col. 2:19) But it does mean commitment to apostolic community in our city. We must have accountability and covenant relationship with the representatives of Christ’s headship. Then we can get into proper alignment with the Head of the Church.

Apart from doing this, our posture of being under God’s authority is only pretense. When we go to war in prayer, the devil will know it and laugh at us.

© 1999 by Ron Wood. Ron and his wife, Lana, have been pastors more than 30 years. He has served as a State Coordinator for the U. S. Strategic Prayer Network. Ron is best known for his prophetic writing ministry. Ron & Lana are a ministry team. They are members of Reconciliation Ministries International led by Bishop Joseph Garlington. Ron & Lana were sent to Africa to help equip emerging apostolic leaders in the developing church. If you wish to copy this article for free distribution, permission is hereby granted to duplicate it provided there are no changes or omissions made to this article and this byline is included. The author asserts his moral rights of ownership. For more information or helpful literature, visit our web site at touchedbygrace.org, or e-mail us at ron@touchedbygrace.org.

The Fear of the Lord

1998-09-13T16:57:00.000-05:00

"Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in his ways. You will eat the fruit of your labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours." (Ps. 128:1-2 NIV) Some blessings come by faith. Other blessings come our way because of God’s mercy. But the greatest blessings of all are reserved for those who walk in the fear of the Lord. "He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the LORD is the key to this treasure." (Isa 33:6 NIV)

A revival of the fear of the Lord is returning to the church. In both the Old and New Testaments, the return of the fear of the Lord to God’s people preceded unprecedented outbreaks of God’s glory. Miracles follow the fear of the Lord.

When God reveals Himself, that disclosure is often more intense than casual Christians can handle. Our sin-prone flesh isn’t equipped to live in light that bright! A revelation of God’s holiness produces a realization of our sinfulness. We see our need of additional grace from God’s throne. Humility is generated in us. Then, God’s mercy transforms us and God’s love embraces us.

When God discloses Himself, we get more than we expect. He shows Himself as both Savior and Lord. "Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God"

(Rom. 11:22). He is both the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world and the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. He is both the merciful and faithful High Priest and the soon-coming King Who will shake the nations. God reveals Himself as He actually is, not as we want Him to be. He is a sovereign ruler, not a cosmic Santa Claus. He is the Judge of all the earth, not an absentee landlord who never inspects His property. Indeed, He owns planet earth and His tenants are going to give an account for their behavior. Even now, the judgements of God are being released upon the earth.

The fear of the Lord has often come to God’s people in times of crisis. Any Christian, church, or nation that lacks the fear of the Lord is deficient and will soon decline. We need God to give us the gift of holy fear so we can be fully formed as obedient children (See 1 Peter 1:13-17).

Apart from the fear of God, we will not pass the test of being true to His Word. Without reverence, we will not be able to take the land or withstand our enemies. The fear of the Lord is the final stage of maturity in Christ.

The fear of the Lord is an antidote to lawlessness and rebellion. King Saul is a biblical example of a man who did not fear God. His arrogance and presumptuousness disqualified him and he failed in his opportunity. David, on the other hand, so feared God that he wouldn’t lift up a hand against God’s anointed servant even when Saul was persecuting him. David passed the test of integrity of character and humility of heart because he knew the fear of the Lord.

The fear of God will preserve us from evil. The reverential awe of our holy God will cause us to make right decisions when pressure to sin or temptation to retreat comes against us. In the Bible, these times of testing were highlighted with renewed respect for God.

When God lets us see His glory, holy fear is the good result. An example in the Old Testament occurred when Joshua encountered the Lord after Israel crossed the Jordan River (Joshua 5). A New Testament example was when the early church was purified by the shocking, sudden deaths of two members (Acts 5). Fear of God, or the absence of it, can determine our destiny.

Prophets know the fear of God. They sense God’s glory more quickly than other people. They tremble at His Word. Isaiah had an encounter with God that affected his life forever. He saw a vision of God seated on His throne with angels crying out, "Holy, holy, holy!"

A few years ago, as I was waiting to preach before my Sunday service, I began to see in my spirit this throne-room scene which is described in Isaiah 6. I was provoked to worship more intensely and began to say aloud, "God, You’re so holy!" As I said this, I heard God clearly speak to me and say, "Yes, and I’m humble, too."

Instantly, repentance was given to me. Convicted by the light of His grace and glory, I began to cry out, "God, I’m not like You!" The contrast between my sinfulness and His holiness, my pride and His meekness, was more than I could bear. God had disclosed Himself to me. It changed my perception of Him.

God is holy. That means He is set apart. He is "other-than", not like this present world nor like our fallen human nature. God is not contaminated with sin or impurity. His thoughts and ways are high above ours. He dwells in a lofty place, but also with those who are meek and tremble at His Word. His holiness is accompanied by humility, therefore His power is never arbitrary or capricious. He is gentle in His love for His people, even while His holiness upholds His justice.

I wondered how God could be humble. This was such a new thought. Could it be true? Immediately I thought of Moses, the meekest man on earth. God said concerning Moses that He revealed Himself to ordinary prophets through dreams and visions. But not so with Moses. This humble man had face-to-face encounters with God. That’s how much God values humility. I remembered the New Testament Scripture that said God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6). Humility attracts grace. Pride is incompatible with God. I thought of Jesus, who said, "Take my yoke upon you, for I am meek and lowly of heart." Yes, God is holy and He is also humble. This revelation of God’s nature caused me to fear Him in a fresh way.

How will the fear of God affect our lives? The first thing it will do is to cause us to turn away from sin. "The fear of the Lord is to hate evil" (Prov. 8:13). I know God is perfectly just and that He will cause me to reap what I sow, therefore, I fear Him. The holy fear of God is not the same thing as being afraid. I am not scared of God, but I fear Him. I am sustained by His unchanging love, but I am not casual about encountering His holy presence. The fear of God is clean. It is healthy for us. It is not a condemning, controlling, paralyzing fear.

The primary way the fear of God is shown in our lives is not with emotions, like being scared, but with obedience to His Word. In this way, the fear of God sanctifies us. Therefore, two forces drive us to obey God. Both are appropriate. They are fear of God, and love for God.

Jesus said, "If you love Me, keep My commandments" (John 14:15). We treat God’s Word the same as we treat God. Either we respect it or we despise it. To ignore God’s Word is to have no fear of the Lord.

The fear of the Lord is not a feeling, but a decision that leads to submission to God. The Scripture says, "Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ" (Eph. 5:21 NIV). The fear of God results in us respecting and receiving one another. This is a mark of Christian humility. It is a characteristic of living in community, of being in God’s family.

In addition, all those called to leadership are to "be submissive to those who are older... clothe yourselves with humility toward one another..." (1 Peter 5:5 NIV). Humility has a profound affect on our lives. It connects us in righteous relationships. It causes us to submit to the spiritual authority of those the Lord has set over us in the church. Real humility honors God’s authority.

After crossing the Jordan, Joshua encountered the Lord (Josh. 5:13). The Captain of the Lord of Hosts had showed up on the battle field with a drawn sword. Joshua bowed low and removed his shoes. He offered the salute of submission, awaiting the orders of his commander-in-chief. Because of Joshua’s reverence, he was given a strategy to take the fortified city of Jericho. That strategy involved respecting holy things, God’s offerings (Joshua 6:19). Joshua had the fear of the Lord.

The fear of the Lord gave the early church a respect for God’s offerings as well. Revival was the result. A couple in the church lied about their offering (Acts 5). Peter said it was lying to the Holy Spirit. They died for their sin. Great fear came on the whole church.

The next thing that happened? An awesome wave of healing power broke out. Many people were saved and added to the church. Peter’s shadow became an instrument for healing the sick in the streets (Acts 5:15). Miracles happened. God’s glory is always manifested when His people worship Him in reverence and walk in the holy fear of God.

© 1998 by Ron Wood. Ron and his wife, Lana, have been pastors more than 30 years. He has served as a State Coordinator for the U. S. Strategic Prayer Network. Ron is best known for his prophetic writing ministry. Ron & Lana are a ministry team. They are members of Reconciliation Ministries International led by Bishop Joseph Garlington. Ron & Lana were sent to Africa to help equip emerging apostolic leaders in the developing church. If you wish to copy this article for free distribution, permission is hereby granted to duplicate it provided there are no changes or omissions made to this article and this byline is included. The author asserts his moral rights of ownership. For more information or helpful literature, visit our web site at touchedbygrace.org, or e-mail us at ron@touchedbygrace.org.

Leaving Organized Religion

1998-09-13T16:56:00.000-05:00

Idealism and perfectionism can be a cover-up for lawlessness. We can say, "I won’t join a church until I find the perfect one." With that prideful attitude, we’d better not join it, for then it would no longer be perfect! We overlook the beam in our eye and see the mote in everyone else’s eyes. We remain disconnected, justifying our isolation by finding fault with leaders in the church. Our independence can be fanned into flame by our desire to see renewal. Then, our criticism takes on a prophetic tone: "You’ve fallen short! Everyone else but me needs to repent!"

A dear friend of mine was blessed with the return of his wayward daughter. After a few months of once again being a participating member of the family and their wonderful church, she complained, saying, "I feel like I am losing my independence." Her gracious father said to her, "If you haven’t lost your independence, then you don’t understand the kingdom of God."

There never will be a perfect church. Why? Because it is made up of people being saved from their sin and selfishness. Consider the material God has to work with. What if the best he has to utilize is no better than you or me?

There is always a tension between the ideal model and the best that we can do with the current level of grace or understanding we now have. For example, our human family is never perfect, yet we strive for the best. Do we throw away the family because it isn’t perfect? Of course not! We know we are walking out God’s ways with imperfect human beings, so we always need to be trusting, forgiving, even tolerant.

We need to see the ideal and then conform our lives to its pattern, knowing in advance we will always fall short and need grace from God. Tension exists as we struggle to bring the actual into line with the ideal described in the Bible. That means reformation is needed.

I am a reformer. The prophetic grace on my life gives me no choice. I walk in the steps of men and women who pushed back the frontier and paved the way for others to follow. I count myself among the pioneers, not the settlers. Therefore, I understand the frustrations people feel with the status quo, with the current state of affairs with organized religion.

Some folks have come to the conclusion that they want nothing more to do with the organized church. I have reacted in a similar way in times past. I have even been proud of how disorganized or non-institutional I was. I once even equated being disorganized and impulsive with being anointed! This posture made me judgmental of the historic church. For that attitude, I have deeply repented. God has since given me a great love for all of his church.

In my radical posture, I thought I was being prophetic. Instead, I was just comparing myself with others, approving myself and judging them, and becoming arrogant in the process. I have discovered that much of my reaction was in the flesh and was very unloving. It was zealous, but immature. That isn’t to excuse the carnality or blind traditionalism of the historic church. It needs reformation and renewal, desperately and urgently.

There is a new paradigm of church, based on a old model. It is radical in the sense that God is taking us back to our roots. The word radical refers to a root. We can’t cut ourselves off from our lineage and pretend it doesn’t exist. Our history can’t be undone, only denied. Yes, the organized church is part of our heritage. But thank God, a new era has dawned. God is changing his church.

God is pouring out the Holy Spirit on millions of Christians worldwide, stretching the wineskins with new wine. He is also changing the authority structure of the church. Apostles and prophets are emerging, thus offering an alternative to independence or denominationalism.

Yet, in the midst of all this renewal, the historic church stands at a crossroads. Many are joining in the flow of the river of God. Others are watching from the banks, critical and doubtful. We need to be patient and intercede in prayer, not be quick to shoot our skeptical brothers. God hasn’t given up on the organized church. He loves all of his family, but he doesn’t want any of us trapped in ignorance and powerlessness due to substituting man’s tradition for God’s word.

Some factors should be kept in consideration. Here are points to consider:

1) Don’t Sink the Ship Yet!

The organized church is still the main "salvation station" for millions of souls, and dis-organized religionists are not doing very well at missions, evangelism, or discipleship. The fact is, God is not the author of confusion, but of order. There can be no peace apart from order. The larger any work grows, the greater is the need for some degree of order, policy, protocol, and yes, even revised tradition. God wants good government in his house. Good government is a blessing from God. To some Christians who have an independent spirit, any authority at all feels like a spirit of control. This is a wrong reaction.

There is good authority in leaders appointed by God which should not be resisted. There are, in God’s kingdom, captains of tens, captains of fifties, captains of hundreds, and captains of thousands. The leaders with larger spheres, like Moses of old, have to delegate responsibility in order to better care for the people. This is natural and ordained of God. I am delighted to report that it is possible to be anointed of the Holy Spirit and be organized at the same time. Both are aspects of Christ’s kingdom.

2) The Church is Changing

The church is in transition and in a state of flux. We don’t yet know what it will look like. Like a chick still in its shell, we can only guess at its final appearance. We hope we will resemble the church in the Book of Acts. We should be charitable in the way we judge it in its formative stages. Have enough faith to believe that God will complete what He has begun. We will emerge from our limitations and traditions and look more like the Son of God, only corporate.

God has spoken to several prophetic people that the church as we know it will not be the same, either in its function or its appearance, and that this transformation will occur in our day. I believe this.

3) The Shape of Things to Come

When God has finished with his reformation, we will not be lawless, prideful, or independent. God’s nature and Christ’s likeness will be in us. That means persevering prayer, faith to be obedient to all of his word, and grace-based evangelism abounding. We will recognize leadership, be fitted into the body, and walk in covenant love. The end result of the Spirit’s outpouring is not just independent believers displaying charismatic gifts, but true community.

The true church is more than a gathering of believers around a water cooler at work or over a coffee table at home. It must be organically connected to its Head, even Jesus, and to his apostles. This connection to Jesus is first by the Spirit, with no mediators. But it is also relational, through Christ’s appointed leaders–apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. (Eph. 4:11-16).

Jesus said that if we don’t receive those he sends, then we don’t receive him. Relationship is a reality. God is ending our isolation from one another. Apostolic networks are emerging. The Holy Spirit is inspiring covenant connections with these new circles. There really is a difference between a home Bible study and a church. One is set order in order; the other is embryonic or dislocated, or worse, perhaps even lawless.

Jesus only used the word "church" two times. First, he referred to the universal church (Matt. 16:18), saying he would build it himself. It was to be built on a rock, overcome hell’s gates, and have authority. The second time, he referred to the local church (Matt. 18:17). Here, he taught about forgiveness, reconciliation, and church discipline. He had an expectation of righteous behavior by church members.

Jesus builds the universal church. His apostles build local churches. They are the "wise master-builders" like Paul and other workers named in the New Testament.

Because some people have been wounded by man-made church systems, or been scalded by abusive authority, we have to recognize that reformation will not be without effort. Thank God for wise counselors and patient instructors who can help us walk through the re-organization of the church! Their experience is worth a gold mine.

If we are not careful, we can easily go beyond fighting traditions and start wounding the Body of Christ or fostering a state in which "every man does that which is right in his own eyes."

Jesus loves the church and gave himself for it. We should not take part in anything that further fragments or disintegrates the church which is Christ’s body. God hates those who cause discord or disunity. The church is his temple, his dwelling among his people. If anyone destroys it, he will destroy them. This is a solemn warning by the Spirit (1 Cor. 3:16-17). We need to discern the body of Christ in all of its wonderful variety and handle one another with love and honor.

An attitude of humility helps us see that God isn't through with the church. In fact, we may be called on to sacrifice our comfort in order to help finish its reformation. When Jesus is finished investing himself in his own church, then it will truly be a "church without walls," whether or not it has elements still standing of organization or traditional structures.

Refiner's Fire

1998-09-13T16:51:00.000-05:00

Many years ago in an early period of ministry, I went through a painful experience connected with my work. I was called on to give up my salary, find secular employment, and help our pastoral team cut back on expenses so we could afford to build on our property. With the best of intentions, laying down my privileges out of sincere love for the church, I unknowingly entered into a season of intense personal suffering.

That season lasted five years. I remember saying, as I struggled to support my family doing things I was not trained to do, "How could God love me and let me suffer like this?" During those years, I preached just once, I worked among sinners, I felt useless, and I lost everything when the oil business went bust. I also lost a big part of my pride. God dealt ever so wondrously with me. He spared no detail in seeing to it that I was thoroughly humbled, completely crucified, totally emptied out. I came out of that season a changed man. A yoke had been put on my neck. My will had been exchanged for God’s will. I found myself loving the church more than I loved the fulfillment of my own calling.

A different kind of perseverance had been worked into me. I came out of it as his servant, not his co-director. I learned submission by obedience while suffering.

The Bible has a great deal to say about suffering. If Christ Jesus was not immune to suffering, then Christians are not either. Read 1 Peter 1:3-9 in the New Testament, and then examine verse seven. The New International Version says, "These (trials) have come so that your faith–of greater worth than gold which perishes even though refined by fire–may be proved genuine, and may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed." The idea of suffering is associated with glory. No suffering; no glory–they go together.

There is something about our human experience, I suppose our carnality while we are yet earthbound, that is unable to handle God’s glory apart from experiencing suffering. Suffering while maintaining a right attitude, that is with thanksgiving and without complaining, uncovers the eternal deposit in us of God’s grace and glory. Suffering polishes the tarnish off the treasure.

Suffering does not mean God does not love us. Often, it means just the opposite. In fact, the Bible lists the names of men and women in faith’s Hall of Fame (Hebrews 11) and says "God is not ashamed to be called their God." Their faith during adversity brought divine approval of their lives. They are an example for us all.

Suffering, however, must be handled righteously. If we cast off our faith in the middle of our trial, if we become bitter and start accusing everyone around us, then we have wasted the experience. Now, we have to repeat that grade again. As my coach in seventh grade used to say, "Take another lap!" When we endure trials without turning to God, when we are persecuted and begin to hate our enemies, when we take our eyes off Jesus in the midst of the storm, then we forfeit the grace we were inheriting.

Trials mold our character. We don’t come to Christ fully formed. If we are to walk as Jesus walked, then we have to be shaped into his image. Modern Christians want to bypass character and get straight to charisma. We want the power without the cross. We want the fame without the flame. But there is no escaping the refiner’s fire. Those who refuse the dealings of God, who reject discipline, who resist the hand of the potter as the clay is molded, will find themselves crumbling under pressure further down the road. Indeed, it is our Father’s great love that forces us into the fire.

The experience of redemptive suffering is not just for ourselves alone, but for the sake of the whole body of Christ. At first, we are rolling stones, not fitted stones. Until we learn obedience, we are rowdy, unfruitful, useless to God. And, we are not very pleasant to be around. Godly character enables us to become corporate. We learn to fit in. Christianity is not an isolated experience of God. It is lived in community, not on an island. It is walked out in a context of relationships, of honor, of submission, of serving. This shapes us. We grow in faith, hope, and love while we endure testing.

The fact is, Jesus endured suffering. He learned obedience through the things he suffered (Hebrews 5:8). His suffering was not at all due to the consequences of sinful choices, like so much of our suffering, but his was vicarious, or in behalf of others. He suffered for our sins, he took our punishment. In this regard, his suffering was unique. None of us can suffer for the sins of others. Jesus has already done that once and for all. However, we can suffer in order to submit and learn obedience. We can suffer while enduring hardship in behalf of the church. We can suffer for righteousness’ sake. And we can suffer while resisting temptation and overcoming evil.

Suffering can be used of God. It is God’s way of proving our faith. Peter said that faith must be proved to be genuine. Faith that has not been tested is not acceptable to God. Until faith is tried by fire, it cannot be declared trustworthy. This word in 1 Peter 1:7 is translated in the KJV, "trial;" in the NIV, as "proved genuine;" and in the NASB, as "proof." This word carries the idea of an assayer who puts ore to the test to see if it is really gold. He certifies that it is genuine and not fool’s gold. Apart from the test, how will anyone really know? The fire proves our faith is authentic, the genuine article, the Jesus-kind of faith.

This whole concept of enduring trials so that our faith can be approved is a major theme in portions of the Bible. Endurance is not pleasant, but it is necessary. No one ever matures apart from endurance. Do you know what a biblical definition of endurance is? Try this: "A long obedience in the same direction." Biblical endurance can’t be practiced overnight. Endurance involves a season, not an event. Endurance means continuing to do what is right, overcoming internal weaknesses, resisting external opposition, remaining doggedly in the battle until you are the last one left standing.

Why does suffering come our way? Can we avoid all suffering? I don’t think so. In my studies on suffering, I have found three direct sources. Of course, there is another indirect source, and that is simply the fact that we live in a fallen world. When the tower of Siloam fell and killed people, Jesus said it was not because they were more sinful than anyone else. When a blind man was brought to him, he said the disease wasn’t due to sin done by the man. Some suffering occurs simply because the world we live in has been subject to evil ever since Adam’s fall. This is a world of weeds, rust, disease, sin, crime, corruption, decay. Devolution and disorder reign, apart from salvation in Christ.

There are three sources of suffering. First, we suffer because of our own sinful actions and choices. Some pain we invite by foolishness. The prodigal son suffered in a pig pen because he made stupid choices. We understand that kind of suffering, don’t we? If we drive recklessly and have an accident, we shouldn’t blame it on God.

The second kind of suffering doesn’t come from our actions. In fact, we can be minding our own business and behaving well, and suddenly, become the target of harassment. This happened to Job. If you read his story, you will discover that Satan made a target of Job and tried to destroy his faith. We do not live in a morally neutral universe. There is a prowler loose, not yet caged, whose goal is to devour, steal, and destroy. Prayer and watchfulness are called for to avoid needless troubles.

The third kind of suffering comes from God. This is trouble that can’t be rebuked. This is the refiner’s fire, the master craftsman’s method of putting his work to the test. God never builds anything without examining it. This is true of our own house of faith as individuals. It is also true of the house of God’s dwelling, the community of faith we call the church. God puts our relationships to the test. He puts the fire to ministry teams. He lets churches go through times of trouble. Will we walk in love? Will we keep the unity of the Spirit? Is there covenant between us? God tests everything he builds. He wants it to last and he doesn’t want it to fall apart and hurt people.

I may not like tribulation, but I can’t escape it. What do I have to gain if I endure testing? After Job passed the test, God gave him back twice as much as he had before. Vindication was sweet. When God brought Israel through the wilderness for forty years, their stubborn and rebellious nature was dealt with. He used wilderness trials to "humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not." (Deuteronomy 8:2) If I endure testing by God, I will earn his "well done." And, I may lose some more of my sinful pride.

Do you feel like you are in the wilderness? Have you found yourself experiencing a fiery trial? Do you feel like your faith is being tested? Under the pressure of a shakedown cruise, every system is subjected to more stress than it will normally ever see. Let endurance have its complete work.

When God has finished with the test, He will fill you with more of his glory. He will qualify you for the next level of responsibility. He will certify you as trustworthy, able to bear weight, worth following, a faithful model of the kingdom message. You will be a workman who has been approved. That "well done" is truly worth enduring the fire!

© 1998 by Ron Wood. Ron and his Lana have been pastors more than 30 years. He served as State Coordinator for the U.S. Strategic Prayer Network in Arkansas. They are members of Reconciliation Ministries International led by Bishop Joseph Garlington and have been sent to Africa to help equip emerging apostolic and prophetic leaders. Permission hereby granted to duplicate without any changes or omissions with byline intact. Visit our web site: touchedbygrace.org or e-mail us at ron@touchedbygrace.org.

Hope for Healing

1997-09-13T16:55:00.000-05:00

My wife had been suffering with carpal tunnel syndrome plus painful arthritis in her hands. She couldn’t grip the steering wheel of the car to drive. She couldn’t type on the computer. Worst of all, she couldn’t play the piano, something she loved to do both for personal enjoyment and for worship to the Lord.

Then she received healing. It occurred suddenly, but only after she met certain conditions. She put herself in a position to be touched by God’s grace.

Healing, like all of God’s free gifts, is bestowed by grace. Jesus paid for your healing by His stripes on the cross. Jesus wants you well. Healing is not something you have to earn. You don’t need to be good enough to qualify. Like forgiveness of sins, it comes by grace, through faith, by asking God and trusting His Word. Healing was offered to people by Jesus as part of the good news of His kingdom.

Ultimately, sickness and suffering are due to Satan and the curse of sin on humanity. But your sickness may not have a cause you can identify, so don’t blame yourself for being sick.

Instead, take action to get well. Do everything in your power to obtain healing. It pleases God to undo the effects of sin or sickness and it glorifies God for you to be made well.

Learn about God’s plan for healing you. Permit God to heal you as a sign of His great love for you. Put yourself in a position to receive healing from God by learning to humbly trust Him.

If you need increased hope for your healing, this pamphlet was written especially for you. Read it thoughtfully. Prayerfully consider these ideas.I wanted to be a doctor before God called me to preach. I have been pastor to many dedicated physicians. I know that good medical care and the ministry of Christian healing complement one another. There is a natural alliance between medicine and prayer. Both are of God.

Healing from God can occur immediately through prayer by the Holy Spirit’s power. Or, healing may occur as a gradual process over time. Healing is certainly accelerated when we do those natural things that are in our power to promote wellness.

Some of these are proper rest and exercise, healthy lifestyle choices, and eating right. Good nutrition, neglected for years, causes sickness. A pill can’t undo what years of reckless eating has caused. Fruits and vegetables are better for you than foods loaded with fat and calories. Most people don’t drink enough water. These simple things increase our body’s immunity and well-being.

There are some other things you need to know if you want to improve the likelihood of your recovery through spiritual avenues, that is, by means of prayer or the laying on of hands. Let’s examine some aids to recovery–things, based on my opinion and my experience, that augment good medical care.

Cooperate with Doctors

Receive your medical treatments as instruments of mercy sent by a loving Heavenly Father. Remember Dr. Luke in the Bible? He wrote the gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts. He traveled with the apostle Paul. Paul called him "the beloved physician."

God likes doctors! Doctors are servants of God. They hate sickness and give their lives fighting it. God may use your doctor or surgery or medicines they prescribe to help cure your disease. Be thankful for their help. Pray over your treatments. Expect to get well.

You can affect the outcome of your treatment. Often medical treatment depends on your cooperation. Use your will to choose positive thoughts and attitudes. Decide for life and against death.

Face your disease as an enemy. Ask God to help you get well. Don’t believe the evil thoughts that say you are not worth God’s love. Don’t believe the lie that you somehow deserve this sickness. Give yourself permission to recover.

You are valuable to God. Yes, you are! Jesus died for you. Your life matters to God. He has a plan for your life. Agree with the Bible about your case, that God wants you to have overflowing life.

Set the Stage for Healing

Check your emotional environment, your associations, and your expectations. Some people live in such a negative world that they seem to create their own bad luck. Don’t permit fear or despair to rule your thoughts. As a human being with dignity, you are a creation of great worth. Determine to influence your surroundings with words of peace, love, and blessing. Fill your time with happy people and good ideas that build you up. Embrace positive emotions and affirming relationships. Focus on good things. Laughter is beneficial. A positive attitude can’t hurt. Begin to expect the best every day. After all, you have the right to exercise hope. Why? Because you have God on your side, you have good medical care, and you have praying friends standing with you. Every day, say to yourself, "Today, I’m going to get better!" Hope says, "Why not me?" If you are actively seeking God for recovery, then such thoughts are not presumptuous but instead they are evidence of faith.

Get to Know Jesus

Jesus is the Son of God. He is our Savior who died on the cross to atone for our sins. He was raised from the dead and has all power. He loved people and cured them. He is still the Great Physician. The Bible is filled with accounts of suffering people whom Jesus healed. It seemed that Christ delighted in taking away pain and infirmity. Believe in Him and receive His Spirit into your heart. Trust Him to save you from your sins and give you eternal life. Simply talk to Him in prayer.

Meditate on Truth

The Bible is God’s Word to mankind. It is reliable and trustworthy. It not only tells us the story of God’s Son, but it also gives us lessons on how to live. It tells us how to overcome our failures and how to resist the attacks of our enemy, the devil, and his forces that hurt us.

Let the Bible’s ideas feed your faith and inspire your hope. Faith based on God’s Word releases power to overcome impossible situations. Faith isn’t magic or new age nonsense. It is heartfelt trust in God’s love and truth.

Let God speak to you through the pages of your Bible. Consider its truth. Take its words seriously. As you read it, pray to Jesus and ask Him to speak to you. You’ll be surprised at how the Scriptures will come alive.

There are many Christians who will pray for you in a spirit of love. You will know these kinds of believers because they seem to exude mercy and humility. Ask them to pray frequently and fervently for you. It is not a bother to them. Many Christians have a charisma of the Holy Spirit, a gift of grace, that gives them great satisfaction in praying for someone who is suffering. These are called "soaking prayers" in that they are unhurried. Surprising results happen as Christians pray in faith, persistently.

A simple way to receive prayer is for someone to take your hand or gently touch you while they ask the Lord to give you the gift of healing. A restful, trusting attitude is helpful. Sometimes you can sense God’s peace or feel God’s power through the presence of the Holy Spirit.

Ban Negative Feelings

It is important that any hindrances to healing be completely removed. The greatest barrier to healing is unforgiveness. This is usually manifested in bitterness and anger. Do you know someone whom you need to forgive? There is often an invisible connection between ailments and attitudes. We don’t understand it completely, but it is so common that it is worth studying. Examine your heart. Do you have a wounded spirit, that is, a deep offense toward someone? Or, as you think of someone who hurt you in the past, do you still feel anger? It is important that you get rid of these emotional poisons. Make a decision to be free. Tell God you forgive them. Give the person who wronged you something they don’t deserve, your forgiveness. When you do that, God will give you His undeserved favor as well. He’ll give you the gift of Jesus’ healing love and power.

What if Sickness Lingers?

Sometimes, despite our best efforts, we are forced to live with physical limitations. Even if you do not experience complete recovery from your physical problems, you can certainly experience an inner healing that will be permanent and life-changing. You can come to know lasting joy, satisfying peace, and quiet confidence born out of your new relationship with Christ. Bitterness, loneliness, and resentment can be cured 100% of the time! Our physical life is temporary, but eternal life is forever!

I urge you to make the most important decision of your life and choose Jesus Christ as your Savior. When you do, God will begin the healing of your soul–the greatest miracle of all!

Want to Stay Well?

After your recovery, change your lifestyle so that harmful actions are dropped off. It is foolish to revert to negative attitudes or hurtful addictions that destroy your peace. It’s not worth it! Turn away from sin and unbelief and learn to love and follow the Lord.

Once you start understanding God’s Word, you can choose happiness and things that make for wholeness. In fact, you may very well become a channel of God’s healing love to other people. Won’t that be wonderful? The fact is, people who walk in God’s love and give it away to other people are healthier, live longer, have better relationships, and have a richer life than those who choose to live apart from God’s love.

© 1997 by Ron Wood. Ron and his wife, Lana, have been pastors more than 30 years. He has served as a State Coordinator for the U. S. Strategic Prayer Network. Ron is best known for his prophetic writing ministry. Ron & Lana are a ministry team. They are members of Reconciliation Ministries International led by Bishop Joseph Garlington. Ron & Lana were sent to Africa to help equip emerging apostolic leaders in the developing church. If you wish to copy this article for free distribution, permission is hereby granted to duplicate it provided there are no changes or omissions made to this article and this byline is included. The author asserts his moral rights of ownership. For more information or helpful literature, visit our web site at touchedbygrace.org, or e-mail us at ron@touchedbygrace.org.

Trusting in the Grace of God

1997-09-13T16:52:00.000-05:00

The grace of God is foundational to our faith. If we bypass grace, then we have missed the Spirit of God altogether and are doomed to struggle with self-effort. Many Christians are frustrated because they fail to understand God’s grace. So let’s examine the Scriptures and at least gain an introduction to this grace in which we stand.

Titus 2:11-12 says, "For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us..."

This verse says that grace has appeared. That means you can see it, that it has become manifest. How did it appear? In our Lord Jesus Christ. He embodied grace. By His life and His atoning death, He revealed grace. But today Jesus isn’t walking among us as a visible model of grace. So how can people see God’s grace in action? By the members of his body, the church.

If we fail to be gracious, we hinder Christ’s testimony. One way we fail to show grace is when we refuse to forgive. Failure to forgive means we criticize or judge others. You can’t judge the world and love the world at the same time. Another way we fail to show grace is when we don’t do good works or practice prayer. Empty of grace, our light grows dim and we don’t reflect Jesus.

This verse also says that grace brings something to us, something deposited into our lives which has a transforming, liberating effect. It is payment of sin’s debt and it is power to live for God. That something is called salvation. Salvation includes everything which Jesus purchased for us on the cross. That’s so much broader than simply forgiveness of sins. Salvation has eternal results but also has temporal effects. Saved people act differently–we’re a new creation in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17). Saved people associate with new friends–they re-orient their relationships to live in Christian community. Saved people have a new motivation–to do God’s will. Saved people have a new destiny and a new destination–to become like Christ and to live with Him eternally, escaping hell and gaining heaven. All this happens because the grace of God brings salvation to us.

And grace teaches us. If you are following the Lord Jesus, you can enroll in the school of grace and be taught. That’s why we need to be patient with each other... we haven’t graduated yet! If you’re willing to learn, grace will actually instruct you to adopt a lifestyle pleasing to God. It’ll show you the way and it will empower you to do it.

You see, grace is more that just a cover-up for sin. If that were all, it would be no better than Old Testament mercy. Nor is it just a declaration of undeserved favor. It is much more. Grace is God’s active help continually made available to anyone who seeks Him. Grace is actualized favor, realized blessing, and available power, all obtained by faith, as an undeserved gift through Christ’s loving sacrifice on the cross.

From this one verse in Titus 2:11, you can see why we are touching "surpassing riches" whenever we deal with the topic of grace (Eph. 2:7). By grace we are saved (Eph. 2:8). By grace we are called (Gal. 1:15). By grace we receive gifts (Rom..12:6). All of our access to God is by grace. All of our ministry for God is by grace. This rich doctrine of grace is not just theological theory, but is a necessary truth for all believers.

In the New Testament there is one particular story which illustrates the reality of grace–the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32). Take time to read this story and you will see grace in action. The faithful father showed grace by giving an inheritance prematurely. The wayward son experienced grace when he came to his senses in the pigpen. The father showed grace again when the son returned in shame and was received without being judged. And the whole household showed grace when they celebrated over the prodigal’s return. That is, all except one person–the older brother. He didn’t have any grace.

The older brother is an example of "Performance Orientation." He had lived in the same household, been loved by the same father, but he didn’t know his father’s heart. Rather than rest in his father’s love, he felt like he had to earn his father’s favor every day. He kept trying harder. He had an inaccurate image of his father that wasn’t true.

This is a common problem when people don’t understand their relationship with God’s authority. People with "PO" attempt to please by keeping all the right rules, by conforming to the standards of conduct for the group, by putting on a fake smile and pretending everything is okay. The symptoms are anxiety, insecurity, and being a man-pleaser.

Do you know where this problem is often found? In churches! Religious pretense can easily replace a real relationship with God. Listen to this: Failure to understand the Father’s heart puts illegal pressure on immature saints, producing performance rather than rest through believing. The father in this story appealed to his oldest son, saying, "All that is mine is yours." But the oldest son had been living beneath his privileges, not really knowing how much his father loved him.

Sometimes us fathers make it hard on our firstborn offspring. After all, we’re practicing at being parents, aren’t we? But God’s kind of love is never deficient, never arbitrary or capricious. It never stops giving, loving, accepting. You may say, "But I don’t deserve it." And you’re right. That’s why it’s called grace. Grace is always given, never earned. If you earned it, then it wasn’t by grace. In fact, working at it harder will only frustrate the grace of God. The flesh has nothing to boast about in God’s kingdom. Grace comes only by trusting.

The opposite of grace is works, or law-keeping. The letter of the law, even if that letter is scripture, can never obtain grace for believers. Only faith in the One who gives grace, the Lord Jesus, can bring deliverance to us since "the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life" (2 Cor. 3:5). Living by the law misses the mark.

This problem is called legalism, or reverting to law rather that walking in faith. Legalism isn’t new. Paul saw it in the Galatian churches and said they would fall from grace if they reverted to rules in order to be saved (Gal. 2:21). Religious people must fight the temptation of trusting in works, because law-keeping doesn’t bear fruit. Only being joined to Jesus enables us to bear fruit (Romans 7:4). In other words, a relationship with Jesus gives rest. Real faith results in grace to keep God’s laws from the heart, with joy, without striving.

Legalism is a perversion of the gospel. It is a "polite" form of backsliding that disqualifies us from God’s favor. This is a serious problem. The Apostle Paul said, "Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?" (Gal. 3:1-3 NIV). That’s the problem in a nutshell–trying to become perfected by religious self-effort.

Legalism is trying to be righteous by keeping regulations. These Galatians weren’t committing fornication or some other blatant sin. But they were turning to the law. Paul sternly rebuked them for it. He says they were bewitched. They couldn’t see straight. Legalism replaces regulations for the power of the cross. The cross is the gateway to God’s grace.

People blinded by legalism forget God’s judgment on their old nature, that a rebel lives inside us. We think our flesh can work harder and thereby please God. We don’t realize the cross has to work in our own lives, an experience of death to sin and self, so we can live toward God.

Let me testify to you about grace. As a youth I wrestled with the fear of losing my salvation. Why? Because I wasn’t grounded in faith and grace. I had equated being saved with being perfect and I knew I wasn’t. Then God showed me something about the cross. He showed me that even if the devil lied to me, or tempted me, or covered me up with accusations, one thing would stand unchanged–the cross upon which Jesus died. It became an anchor for my faith.

What Jesus did on the cross can not be undone. It has been forever settled– Jesus hung on the cross and suffered in my place. The price has been paid. My faith can be tested, sin may momentarily overwhelm me, but the work of the cross can never be erased. Christ invaded human history, split the calendar in two, shed His holy blood, declared the saints righteous, and wrote our names down in glory. Hallelujah, it is finished!

When I saw this truth, I quit looking at myself and started looking at Jesus instead. I put my eyes on Him. That’s when I began to walk in victory.

You can know this victory as well. God intends for you to reign in life, defeat the devil, and have lasting peace. How? Put your faith in Christ’s finished work on the cross. Enjoy a new relationship with God because of Christ’s grace.

By God’s doing, we are liberated from sin’s control. Romans 6:14 says, "For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace."

The cross is still there for you. It is the fountainhead of God’s love revealed in Christ. It is the historical landmark that affirms God’s covenant of grace. It is the key to receiving God’s gifts by faith instead of works.

Keep looking to Jesus. He had you in mind when He hung on the cross. He paid the price to put sin to death and enable you and me to become a new creation in God. You can have rest in your soul through believing! Let nothing obscure His cross from your sight.

Prophets and Prophecy

1997-09-13T16:50:00.000-05:00

All through the history of God’s dealings with his people, he has used spokesmen called prophets. These anointed individuals were used of God to bring God’s word to his people. The fact that we now have a Bible does not replace our need for this ministry. In fact, the Bible predicts prophetic ministry will increase.

The apostle Peter quoted the prophet Joel on the Day of Pentecost when he said, "In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy." (Acts 2:17-18 NIV). God promised that the outpouring of his Spirit in the last days would result in people prophesying, especially young people.

What is prophesying? Is it valid today? If so, how does it occur? What are the biblical safeguards surrounding this gift? These are questions that must be answered in order for us to proceed in faith and wisdom.

What is NOT Prophecy

First, let me address what biblical prophecy is not. It is not preaching, and it is not predicting the future. Preaching may have prophetic elements mixed in it, but not all preaching is prophesying. Most preaching is simply exhorting or teaching. Prophecy may foretell the future, but its primary purpose is usually forth-telling. It speaks a "now" word from God by revelation.

Preaching involves studying the Scriptures then declaring them in an expository manner. Sermons are the product of presenting biblical truth in an orderly way. Preaching is a wonderful gift, for it is by this anointed act that God calls men to be saved.

Prophesying, on the other hand, is speaking words that God brings to mind in a spontaneous manner, often with no forethought, preparation, or knowledge of what you are going to say. Prophecy, like speaking in unknown tongues, is inspired utterance given by the Holy Spirit. But prophecy comes forth in a language known to the hearers, with immediate application and relevance.

Prophecy may have within it a word of wisdom or knowledge that unfolds something hidden or future events known to God, but not always. Normally, the pure gift of prophecy is limited to words that edify, comfort, exhort, or stimulate the faith of the person listening to draw nearer to the Lord and fulfill God’s call on their life. Also, don’t confuse prophecy with fortune-telling. That’s a counterfeit gift, sometimes called channeling, which comes from the activity of Satan to deceive the gullible. It is an idolatrous sin and a snare to any who get involved. People should seek counsel from the Bible, from pastors, and through prayer, not greedy new age gurus who have familiar spirits and clever deceptions.

The Office of the Prophet

It is important to distinguish the office of the prophet from the gift of prophecy. In the Old Testament, God’s primary spokesmen were people who stood in the office of the prophet. Their words carried powerful authority. They themselves were a sign to God’s people.

Often, these prophetic people predicted the future. How were they able to do this? They did it by being sensitive to the Spirit of Christ within them. For this ability to see by the Spirit, they were often called "seers." They called God’s people to repentance. They sometimes had words of judgement as well as future blessings to those who would turn from idolatry and obey God. They were agents of the covenant who carried divine authority.

In the New Testament, the office of the prophet is still being filled by Christ as he appoints and prepares people for this ministry. The office of the prophet is mentioned in Ephesians 4:12, in 1 Cor. 12:28, as well as numerous other passages. Prophets are one of the five "Ascension-Gifts" of the resurrected Lord. Prophets play a vital role in encouraging local churches and in strengthening apostolic teams. They are invaluable to the body of Christ for their sensitivity to the Spirit. Often they are the first to get wind of God’s directions or to uncover concealed sin. When joined to apostolic ministry, they are part of the foundation ministries of the Church.

The Gift of Prophecy

The gift of prophecy is distinct from the office of the prophet. Not everyone who prophesies is a prophet. The ordinary gift of prophecy is one of the nine charismatic gifts mentioned in 1 Cor. 12-14. It is the premier gift when it comes to public ministry in the church. Why is this so? Because prophetic utterance, when spoken by a pure vessel with a heart full of faith, serves as a catalyst to stir up and release other gifts. Prophecy has tremendous power to build up the body of Christ. It can’t replace teaching. Nor can it replace good pastoral care, but it can stimulate, electrify, and replenish believers’ faith in God’s power, wisdom, and love. For this reason we are told, "Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy." (1 Cor. 14:1 NIV).

Not all Christians will have the gift of prophecy. There are many other serving gifts listed in Romans 12. The Holy Spirit divides gifts according to his own will and purpose. Yet, we are told to covet the best gifts, especially prophecy. Often the desire for a certain gift is a signal that God wants to give it to you.

It is important to understand the way these gifts function. They do not operate at the discretion of the recipient alone, but according to the will and enabling grace of God. Our role is to stay in close communion, yielded to God, available for him to utilize us as a channel of his grace any time he wishes. Then, when the anointing for that gift comes, if we will step out in faith, that gift will be manifested and many will be blessed.

The Spirit of Prophecy

The spirit of prophecy is another manifestation of God’s grace that operates in believers’ lives. "For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." (Rev. 19:10 NIV). When this anointing, this spirit of prophecy, is upon someone, they will bear witness to Christ in a remarkable way. The character and glory of Jesus will shine through believers who have this anointing. This spirit can even rest upon a whole congregation for a brief period, producing a powerful effect upon sinners... "the secrets of his heart will be laid bare. So he will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, ‘God is really among you!’" (I Cor. 14:24-25 NIV). Everyone at some time may prophesy when the Spirit of God rests upon them to grant this ability. It is often manifest when someone initially receives the gift of the Holy Spirit (see Acts 19:6). We should all be open to the Holy Spirit using us at times in this manner.

Some will be graced with a more powerful or frequent manifestation of prophetic utterance or insight and we can discern over time that they have the gift of prophecy. The fruit of their ministry of this gift, its timeliness, its accuracy, and its uplifting effect will confirm it. Some will be set apart by the Lord and called to become prophets in the church. You can’t call yourself to this office; it is Christ’s choice alone. This is an awesome burden and whoever is invited to wear this mantle will be sorely tested, brought through faith and humility, and purified. Thank God for those the Lord is calling, equipping, and sending into the church with this ministry today.

Governing Prophetic Ministry

God has built-in safeguards that should guide the operation of these gifts in our churches. Every believer should be accountable to the spiritual authority of the elders in his church. Being answerable is a safeguard from pride, independence, or even divisiveness. (A heretic is a factious person, self-willed and opinionated.) Everyone who has the genuine spirit of prophecy will manifest Christ’s gentleness and submission. They will cooperate with the government of the church and not produce discord. They will submit to the written Word of God as supreme. Prophetic ministers should be judged for the fruit of their individual lives, their families, and their ministries, as well as the accuracy of words they bring. No one, not even those who say, "Thus says the Lord," is above spiritual authority in the church. They will love the church, honor its leadership, and work for its unity.

We are in a change of seasons in the body of Christ. Many denominations have stalled right where they were fifty years ago, settling for old traditions. But God is restoring the prophetic gifts and the prophetic office in our day in a remarkable way. If the leaders of the church will understand what God is doing, then they will have no fear of the changes that are occurring. The new wine needs new wineskins. The new wine is the outpouring of God’s Spirit. The wineskins are the authority structures of the church. Flexibility and humility will help us embrace these changes in the church. We are all learners in matters of the Spirit.

People are hungry to taste and see God’s goodness and the powers of the age to come. Reality is breaking in on our complacency. God is causing prophecy to spring forth. Our task is to understand it, relate to it properly, and rejoice at God’s loving provision for his people.

Women on the Team

1996-09-13T16:54:00.000-05:00

"And many women were there looking on from a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to Him" Mt. 27:55. (see Mark 15:40-41, Luke 8:2-3)

Women played a vital role in the ministry team that surrounded Jesus. They also were valuable members of the apostolic company that traveled with the apostle Paul. Half of our church membership is women. We can’t keep half of our membership sidelined. This frustrates the women and hurts the work. We need to consider how we should relate to women in ministry.

Two variables affect the way we view this topic–our biblical world view and our cultural traditions. Both of these shape our opinion. These viewpoints give us a framework by which we pre-judge situations and adopt certain positions. Sometimes we have not thought out our position completely, we just feel that our way is right. We may resent women doing certain things but can’t say why we feel that way. God is requiring us to think through the way we do things, to become Christ-like in our attitudes and clear in our theology. Our behavior needs a biblical basis. Many of us have already faced issues of racial prejudice or class envy. Now, we need to admit to our prejudices and examine our gender bias.

Examining our preconceived notions is not easy. I grew up with southern traditions. My childhood frame of reference was that the man worked outside the home, the woman kept house and raised the kids, and women participated in church but did not lead. During my life, I have watched American culture change. After World War II, many women entered the work force.

Today women share equal rights in civil law and have greater economic power. For instance, the number of female-owned businesses in the U.S. has gone up 78% in the last nine years so that one-third of all businesses are now owned by women, employing 26% of all workers. Women’s roles have changed in American society. Most families are now dependent on two incomes. Child-rearing has become a complex issue and the increase of fatherless families has produced grave social ills.

We believe the church has the answers for how men and women should relate to one another and how parents are to handle the responsibilities of raising children. These answers are found in the Bible. These answers transcend culture and they are timeless. We also believe the Bible has answers for the proper roles for women serving God in the ministry.

A common phrase that is often repeated is "Women in ministry, but not in government." This cliche is an effort to capsule a teaching about male headship in the home and the church. As such, it is inadequate. Often the delineations between ministry (serving) and leading (headship) are blurred, both in the Bible and in real life.

In Genesis, God created Adam and Eve and entrusted them with the responsibility of procreation and dominion. It is quite clear that the image of God is completed in both male and female, but not in either one alone (Gen. 1:27). It is also clear that the command to be fruitful, to multiply, to subdue the earth, was given to both sexes, not just to the male (Gen. 1:28). The pronoun is "them," which implies their dominion over the earth was to occur as a team. They jointly shared authority. This concept is illustrated in the family by parents having government together over children. To use the analogy of a body, if the husband is the head, then the wife is the shoulders. Government is always broader than just a single head. In families or in churches, God uses teams of men and women. In our own experience, my wife and I view ourselves as full partners, as a ministry team.

In analyzing the concept of "team," we see two important features: unity and headship. Sports teams or business teams must have unity. They stay on track because they have a common goal, to succeed. That motivation keeps them united despite their diversity. In the case of husband and wife, their unity is safeguarded by a covenant. Another quality a team must have is headship. Unlike a committee, a team has a leader, a head, someone who embodies the team’s vision. That head (coach, captain, supervisor) has authority to lead. They gather the resources or the people to get the job done. They take responsibility for the team’s success or failure. In the case of Adam and Eve, the husband’s headship was established by God when He created Adam first and gave Eve to him as his wife. (I Tim. 2:13). Headship is a part of everything God creates in His kingdom. This is God’s idea, not a cultural accommodation. Headship must be honored wherever we see God establish it. This concept of headship is repeated in the New Testament. (1 Cor. 11:3) The Greek word for "man" and "husband" are the same. Therefore, we understand that not all men are head over all women, but rather, a woman submits to her husband as her head when she marries him. Headship is a function of a divinely ordered relationship. It is not due to inherent male superiority. Domination is always wrong..

In ministry teams, it seems clear that God delights to include women, but always in the context of being accountable to and associated with headship (a senior pastor or an apostle). There were no female apostles appointed by Jesus. Not that God cannot do this or has not done it in the history of the church, but in the Scriptures, our examples of headship over ministry teams (apostolic companies or local presbyteries) are predominately male. God may depart from this pattern, but we may not force it for cultural reasons. This pattern preserves the doctrine of headship and preserves the equality of women in ministry. (Galatians 3:28)

How much room does this leave for women in the ministry? In view of the Holy Spirit’s outpouring, a woman can do anything God anoints her to do. (Acts 2:18) The Holy Spirit doesn’t discriminate. For us male leaders, our task is to respect the anointing and the calling of God and make room for it. A woman’s task is also to honor the place of her husband and her apostolic covering in their supervising roles. This preserves biblical order. Proper headship liberates women to fulfill their ministry in Christ without fear.

Paul’s apostolic team included many women. These women traveled with Paul on his apostolic team. When local churches emerged, some members of the mobile team settled down and became leaders in the local church. (Acts 18:19) Scripture references include Romans 16:1, 3, 5, 7, Philippians 2:25 and 4:1-3. Paul called Phoebe a deacon. One couple, Priscilla and Aquila, were key players on his team. Of the several times they were named, the wife was listed first most of the time, giving her preeminence. Paul says that Priscilla and Aquila had a church in their house, meaning that she was likely the pastor. He also says that this couple are his "fellow workers," a term which he specifically used for partners on his apostolic team, like Epaphroditus, an apostle. (Phil. 2:25)

He lists another woman, Junias, as "outstanding among the apostles." (Rom. 16:7) He says "older women" (the feminine form of presbuteros, elder) should teach younger women. (Titus 2:3)

We also see where Paul depended on a woman, Lydia, a dealer of purple cloth, to anchor a developing church in Phillipi (Acts 16:11-40). The pattern of starting a church in a city in one home was the same pattern Jesus had taught (see Mt. 10:11). Here, the worthy individual happened to be a woman. The word worthy is the Greek word axios meaning "suitable, or drawing praise." Like an axle, things revolved around this person. They can bear weight and be respected as a role model in the community for the seedling church. Lydia fit this pattern.

The pattern for male-female roles seems clear as long as we remove artificial restrictions and keep fatherhood in view. From the Trinity, we have the Father’s ultimate authority, all the way down to the microcosm of God’s kingdom, the family. We also have the church, with the same pattern of unity, covenant love, and fatherly care. In the context of having a father in the house, women have true liberty in Christ.

(For a more complete examination of this topic, see my book entitled, Women on the Team, which analyzes this issue from the perspective of the restoration of apostolic teams which include women.)

© 1996 by Ron Wood. Ron and his wife, Lana, have been pastors more than 30 years. He has served as a State Coordinator for the U. S. Strategic Prayer Network. Ron is best known for his prophetic writing ministry. Ron & Lana are a ministry team. They are members of Reconciliation Ministries International led by Bishop Joseph Garlington. Ron & Lana were sent to Africa to help equip emerging apostolic leaders in the developing church. If you wish to copy this article for free distribution, permission is hereby granted to duplicate it provided there are no changes or omissions made to this article and this byline is included. The author asserts his moral rights of ownership. For more information or helpful literature, visit our web site at touchedbygrace.org, or e-mail us at ron@touchedbygrace.org.

Elijah Battles Jezebel

1995-09-13T16:45:00.000-05:00

John the Baptist came in the "spirit and power of Elijah." (Luke 1:17) In this way Christ described John’s prophetic mantle, the powerful anointing that dared to challenge religious rebellion and prepare the way for the Lord. John the Baptist was a forerunner of Christ. His mission from God was similar to Elijah’s in that he confronted religious idolatry and called the people to repent and to return to God’s covenant.

Malachi said this Elijah ministry would reappear in the last days. (Mal. 4:5-6) Jesus said, "Elijah is coming and will restore all things." (Mt. 17:11) This Elijah anointing turns the hearts of fathers to their children. It affirms fatherhood. It denounces anything that attacks a man’s moral fiber or the makeup of the family. It restores God’s divine order. In John the Baptist, as in Elijah, this anointing confronted religious idolatry.

If the Elijah spirit can appear on God’s servants in the last days, then its evil counterpart, the Jezebel spirit, can also affect people. In fact, the book of Revelation describes a church that tolerated the Jezebel spirit and faced God’s anger as a result. "But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel..." (Revelation 2:20)

So the Jezebel spirit is quite at home within a New Testament church, even prophesying and having influence over the leadership. The Jezebel spirit will continue to work unrecognized, creating confusion, resisting God’s purpose, until God raises up an Elijah-like voice. Elijah was one of the greatest prophets of biblical history. He was a hero of epic proportions. He, along with Moses, appeared with Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration to encourage Jesus before His crucifixion. (Mark 9:4) Not many prophets had the rank to fill that role, did they? Both Moses and Elijah worked miracles of nature. Moses was a writer. Elijah never wrote a book, yet he singlehandedly turned Israel back from idolatry. Elijah faced down the great enemy of all prophets, Jezebel. By so doing, he saved Israel from extinction.

That extinction was nearly caused by one woman, Jezebel, who was brought into Israel by the sin of one weak man, Ahab. Ahab formed an unholy alliance with a foreign nation by marrying that king’s daughter. When she came to Israel, she brought with her the terrible worship of Baal. Baal worship involved false religion, the sacrifice of children, and acts of immorality by male and female prostitutes in the Temples of Baal built by Jezebel. As a result, Israel backslid. This Baal system turned people away from worshiping Jehovah and brought God’s people to their lowest point in history.

The Prophet of Faith

Elijah was a courageous man who typifies genuine faith. (James 5:16-17) Elijah prayed and the rain stopped for three and a half years. He prayed again and the rain resumed. Prayers offered in faith have power. Elijah also prayed and called fire down from heaven when he confronted the prophets of Baal. (I Kings 18) Obedience and boldness characterized Elijah’s ministry. He confronted King Ahab, challenged Israel to follow God, taunted the false prophets of Baal, and then saw to it that they were executed. Then he ran for his life from Jezebel. Why did he flee from this one woman? Because he knew Jezebel’s true nature. She embodied an evil demonic principality. She was a killer. She had already killed hundreds of God’s prophets and Elijah was next on the list.

Don’t be naive about this spirit. It is a master of accusation. It won’t stop at slander or ministry-murder to get its way.

The Jezebel Spirit

This spirit is still at work today, devastating churches, deceiving women, and weakening men. It accuses and undermines God’s appointed leaders. The spirit of Jezebel delights in displacing the true worship of God with idolatry. In churches today, Jezebel robs the praise and worship of its freedom. She desires to steal the money due God’s genuine servants. Jezebel daily fed 450 false prophets from her table, a significant financial investment by Israel’s queen. Thus she thwarted God’s program. It matters where the money goes!

Jezebel emasculates fathers, husbands, and pastors. She controls them by intimidation or manipulation. With one glaring look Jezebel stifles a man’s voice. She neutralizes any initiative besides her own. She is a woman whose head is uncovered. She is out from under God’s authority. (1 Cor. 11:3-12) She is out to conquer, not compromise. Any yielding on her part is only feigned obeisance in order to gain advantage.

Her manipulation may be in the form of religious bondage or it many be as a seductress, appealing to sinful lust. However she can do it, she is after one thing–control. Anyone who resists her ambition becomes her target. She makes peace only with hirelings, those who can be bought. She especially wants to kill the prophets because they have an anointing to expose her lies, confront her idolatry, and pull down her false system. How? By calling God’s people to repent. Jezebel hates the prophetic office and wants to destroy it.

This spirit is similar to witchcraft. Witchcraft bewitches people. (Galatians 3:1) It casts a spell so people can’t see Christ and his kingdom. Anytime there is a contest for control, for power, for leadership, there is usually a spirit of Jezebel working somewhere behind the scenes, accusing God’s servants, sowing discord, deceiving the saints. Behind many bitter splits in families and churches, there lurks this wicked spirit.

Anti-Authority

This spirit hates God’s government and rejects divine order. It seeks to dominate a man until he surrenders headship to his wife. Remember, "It takes an Ahab to have a Jezebel." While a husband must be sensitive to his wife, he can’t renege on his responsibility to fulfil his role as head of his family. Neither can he be dominating, dictatorial, or abusive.

Acting macho has nothing to do with being masculine. (Being strong doesn’t make a woman a Jezebel, either. This relates to usurping rightful headship, not being strong in personality.) Men should not default on their duty to lead. Biblically, a man should submit to other men in Christ, but never to a controlling spirit (1 Tim. 2:12). (For more on male-female roles and women’s ministry, see my book "Women on the Team")

Men lacking in moral fiber don’t stand a chance when they’re up against a Jezebel spirit. Ahab sulked and even gave control of government affairs to his wife. He acted like a spoiled child being led around by his mother. It was no wonder Jezebel ran right over him. The antidote to Jezebel’s influence is for men to have godly character, be strong in faith, and be submitted to God’s word.

If this spirit can’t control a man by intimidation, then it will try to do so by manipulation through sensuality. That’s why this spirit, although it may operate through a man, often uses a woman. It attacks men by outright seduction or by injecting unclean thoughts. As Jesse Penn-Lewis has said, "The battlefield is in the mind." This power of pornography defiles a man’s imagination and makes him feel disqualified so he never comes forward into leadership in the church.

Men who are condemned and defeated in their minds hang back from worship or spiritual battle. They’re neutralized. Another way of saying neutralized is neutered. The Jezebel spirit wants men to be good geldings, with bit and bridle, broken and tamed to do her will.

Jezebel’s Power-Play

In the church, Jezebel wants to disqualify God’s appointed leaders. Here, her chief weapon is her tongue and with it she fashions clever accusations. (Isaiah 54:17) Unlike those who fear God, she doesn’t hesitate to accuse God’s servants. (Romans 8:33) Any error or mis-step she discovers is an excuse for not obeying or submitting.

She plants subtle hints that sow discord and create criticism of the leader. She is a master at forming factions. Her goal is to undermine legitimate authority and supplant it with her own will. Intercessors may adopt her "concerns," projecting her will in prayer and taking up her complaints against leaders.

Jezebel desires for others to see her as the one with the best answers for the church. She appears to be spiritual and pious, but inwardly she has no allegiance to leadership and is not submitted to it, especially if that leadership is clearly masculine or anointed to govern.

Jezebel looks for the first sign of a leader faltering so she can flow into the resulting power vacuum. She may use her religious knowledge, force of personality, or even pity due to her ailments, all as a means to get attention and eventually to gain control. She uses guile instead of brute force to do this. Usurping control away from God’s authorized and anointed servants is always her goal.

What can we do if we discern this stronghold in our church? What if this spirit is found disrupting our families?

The answer is always repentance. God gives time for repentance before final judgement. Jezebel, once confronted, must repent or be removed. There can be no compromise with this spirit. Here, tolerance is not a virtue. It is literally a battle to the death. This spirit is alien to the kingdom of God and contrary to God’s system of divine authority.

In the Bible, Jezebel was unrepentant until the last. God sent Jehu to have her killed. (II Kings 9:21-10:17) Her fate pictures God’s attitude and ultimate actions toward this strong lawless spirit and those who embrace it.

The Spirit of Rejection

1995-09-06T12:00:00.000-05:00

Alienation, isolation, and rejection are paralyzing the church. Loneliness is like a plague on the land. The ties that knit our lives together seem to have unraveled. Covenant love has grown cold and casual contacts canÂ‚t replace them. The tapestry of society is like a mass of individual threads, no longer woven together. Broken homes from divorces provide a vivid picture of our inability to stay in meaningful relationships. (In Cuba, where I have ministered, the divorce rate is 78%.) Ask any modern school teacher how many children in their classroom still have the same original parents. The answer is always, "Hardly any." The feeling of abandonment hurts. These kids usually suffer from rejection.

Even if you can't explain it, you can describe it. It is a reality in our souls. What is rejection and what does it do to people?

Rejection affects adults as well. Many people have come to full age still carrying the scars of emotional, physical, or sexual abuse. These men and women look normal but inside they are filled with terrible insecurity, anger, or fear. Others are sitting on a ticking emotional time-bomb of resentment and rebellion, just waiting to boil over into rage. These scars, if left unhealed, will render a person incapable of entering into committed, wholesome, long-term relationships.

One particular problem is very common. It undermines the confidence of many Christians and interferes with true fellowship between friends. It is a lying spirit from our enemy called a spirit of rejection. Rejection is the worst pain the human spirit can suffer. Anyone who has been abandoned, suffered abuse, or endured discrimination can relate to this kind of anguish. LetÂ‚s examine this assault from Satan so we can recognize this form of mental oppression.

The Mind-Set of Rejection

First, the spirit of rejection refers to the mind-set ingrained into us which tells us that we are unloved, unwanted, or will never be good enough. This may start in childhood. This mind-set makes us strive to earn our acceptance. It makes people feel driven to perform in order to be approved. This mind-set makes people feel they are loved for what they do rather than for who they are. It is demeaning. It robs people of peace. The sad thing is that no amount of achievement is ever enough to satisfy it.

In other people, the injustice of being treated unfairly or rejected or disrespected makes them boil over in anger. They quit trying to fit in, rebel against everyone, and try to break out of the box being forced on them. In refusing to be a victim, they may victimize others. Resentment covers their soul like a dark shroud. They wind up in an emotional prison of their own making.

The mind-set of rejection is the result of having believed a lie. It is a syndrome of self-talk that comes from being programmed with falsehoods. Having been told a lie often enough, victims begin to say, "Yes, itÂ‚s true." The lie becomes accepted when the victim agrees with the accusations. They become their own accuser. They have internalized the venom. The deceit becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. The victim begins to expect to be rejected and thus sabotages their own relationships.

This mental stronghold of rejection is powerful. It will be torn down only when we find GodÂ‚s Word about our case and choose to believe the truth instead of a lie. Only GodÂ‚s truth can set us free. The truth will connect us to GodÂ‚s love. GodÂ‚s love will cure our wounded souls.

The Wounds of Rejection

The spirit of rejection also refers to the residue within our personality of being deeply wounded. This mental or emotional scarring can occur due to being neglected, abandoned or abused. It can also come from being betrayed, being shamed, or being made to feel unloved. Racial discrimination often leaves scars of rejection. Children who were abused sexually suffer cruelly from this inner hurt. Divorce can also leave a lingering, festering wound. The fear of being rejected can make a person run from relationships. They reject others before they themselves are rejected. They spiritually "stiff-arm" those who try to get close.

Just like you can be injured in your flesh and form a bruise or a scar, so you can be injured in your inner man and develop a sensitive place or perhaps a hardened area like a scab on your feelings. When that irritated place gets touched, a reaction occurs. The Bible speaks of having a "wounded spirit." One symptom of having a wounded spirit is that you feel absolutely nothing, like you are dead inside. Another symptom is that you are hypersensitive in that area and can explode at the slightest provocation. GodÂ‚s unconditional love, realized and received, can cure this wound.

A Lying Spirit called Rejection

The spirit of rejection is also a specific lying spirit, a demonic messenger from Satan. This spirit whispers to people that they are unloved, not wanted, or are being ridiculed. The devil inflames insecurities and fears. This demon seeks to undermine the ChristianÂ‚s true standing before God as a saved, cleansed, redeemed child of God. He does this by lying and attempting to deceive the believer regarding GodÂ‚s love, the atoning work of the cross, and our righteousness before God.

This lying spirit comes between family members and divides brothers and sisters and makes them feel isolated. The spirit of rejection pours gasoline on the fires of racial hatred. This demon is very successful in splitting up marriages, churches, and partnerships. These are vital relationships which the Holy Spirit wants to establish between friends. These relationships are necessary in the Body of Christ in order for GodÂ‚s work to be done. Disunity, like divorce, often has this lying spirit as its agent provocateur.

The Spirit of Adoption

To understand the spirit of rejection, we need to understand its opposite, which is the spirit of adoption. In the Bible, Romans chapter eight speaks of GodÂ‚s antidote to the spirit of rejection. This cure comes from our Heavenly Father, through the grace of our Lord Jesus, and is born witness to by the Holy Spirit. It is called the spirit of adoption. This is the Holy Spirit telling us that God the Father loves us and Jesus accepts us.

Sin and suffering cause people to be cut off from God and mistreat one another. Many unsaved adults are mad at God or are so deeply hurt that they blame God. This resentment keeps them from feeling GodÂ‚s love. Their image of God is wrong so they refuse to accept Him. GodÂ‚s grace offers us pardon even while we are angry and sinning. God knows we need to be healed of the consequences of our sins and the injuries of sins committed against us by others, even our parents. The spirit of adoption comes from heaven'‚s throne. It can also be mediated by unconditional acceptance through other Christians. When we accept one another in Christ, relationships in ChristÂ‚s body are formed. The Holy Spirit connects us together and affirms our self-worth. We are empowered to appreciate each other.

God'‚s merciful provision for our healing comes by ChristÂ‚s atonement on the cross. It is made real and effective in our lives when we confess our sins and receive His forgiveness. Then the Holy Spirit comes into our heart and testifies that we have become God'‚s child. He does this by bearing witness in our spirit that we are adopted by God. This is the spirit of adoption.

The spirit of adoption goes beyond believing that God loves us; it is the actual felt love of God, so that we are enabled to know that God loves us. It ends loneliness, literally forever!

This marvelous work of affirming who we are in Christ is the work of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth. He only bears witness to what is true. He testifies in our spirit that we are truly loved by God. The Holy Spirit uses the Scriptures as well as the affirming voice of God to tell us the truth about ourselves. GodÂ‚s voice will cause us to know GodÂ‚s thoughts toward us. Those thoughts, always in agreement with the Scriptures, will reprove us of our sin and will affirm us as His children, but will never condemn us or drive us away. God will always tell us the truth in a merciful way. Our response is to believe what God says. Believing the truth about what Jesus did for us and believing the truth about who we are in Christ sets us free. We need to believe both aspects of the truthÂˆ about Jesus and about ourselves.

The truth is, God likes us! His love toward us is tremendous. He wants us to really know Him and He wants to dwell in our hearts. God wants us to have fellowship with Him without condemnation. He accepts us into His family by virtue of ChristÂ‚s work on the cross. He gives us a new identity as His sons and daughters.

Unlike some earthly fathers who failed us, our Heavenly Father will never abandon us. He will not cast away His children. God maintains a relationship with His offspring so that we need never fear being rejected by Him. His love is steadfast. It is covenant love.

Recovering From Rejection

God understands rejection and knows how to remedy its pain. Christ was rejected when He came to His own people and they would not receive Him. "He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him." (John 1:11). He endured rejection when He bore our sins. "He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not." (Isaiah 53:3).

In other words, he specifically included in His suffering the substitutionary pain which was required to relieve us of our rejection. He bore it so we donÂ‚t have to. On the cross, He felt the pain of being cut off from his heavenly Father. "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Mt. 27:46).

God understands your feelings. Therefore, He can be touched with your pain and is ready to heal you. "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are-- yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." (Hebrews 4:15-16).

Diagnosing Rejection

Here'‚s how to diagnose if you suffer from the spirit of rejection. Three areas to examine are circumstances, emotions, and thoughts.

Let'‚s start with your circumstances. Did you have an alcoholic parent? Were your parents divorced? Were you abused? Have you been abandoned or betrayed in marriage? Have you suffered from discrimination? Have you had to break away from a controlling relationship? Have you been repeatedly de-valued as a person? If you fit any of these categories, then you could be a victim of the rejection syndrome.

Now let's consider your emotional hot-buttons. Do you have great difficulty receiving correction? Do you take it personally and get offended? Do you resent all authority? Do you get angry for no apparent reason? Or, Do you have an unnatural need for everyone to like you? Does the need for approval control your decisions? Does insecurity sweep over you? Are you plagued by chronic self-doubt? Do you wrestle with chronic bouts of loneliness? At times, do you despair of life, or are you tempted to take your own life? If so, then you probably battle rejection.

In addition to these diagnostic questions, ask yourself this about your thought life. What kind of thoughts run through your mind when you are with a group of people? Would you characterize these thoughts as mostly negative or positive? The spirit of rejection inserts these kinds of thoughts: "These people donÂ‚t love me." "They wonÂ‚t talk to me." I'‚m not worthy to be here." "I know they are judging me." "They donÂ‚t really want me here." This is mental torment that typifies the spirit of rejection.

Inner Healing & Deliverance

If these questions point to your problem as the spirit of rejection, then you need to take it to God in prayer. If the problem persists, get someone to pray with you for deliverance. But first, realize this, rejection often carries with it unforgiveness toward those who have offended you. We might have been an innocent victim, but we have to take responsibility now for our reactions. We canÂ‚t do away with our will and our choices or our reactions. We can be sinned against, begin to cherish a grudge, and as a result, begin to sin against our oppressors. Unforgiveness is itself a sin.

God'‚s grace will enable you to make a choice, to give forgiveness to all those for whom you hold grudges. This is important! Freedom won'‚t come without this vital step of forgiving others. In this case, your forgiveness must be explicit, by name, and it must be spoken aloud even if it is only to God, and even if it is for someone who is now dead. That does not matter. God is the judge of the living and the dead. DonÂ‚t make any exceptions.

Don'‚t allow any resentment to remain in your heart. Healing begins with a decision to repent and to give undeserved forgiveness. Give away grace and God will give grace to you. Repent of all bitterness and hatred.

When forgiveness is totally accomplished, it paves the way for successful inner healing. Inner healing is the actual curing of your soul of the wounds and traumas you have suffered and accumulated. The finger of God touches the sore spots and makes them well. This is the transformation of the inner man, the end to unrighteous reactions and automatic defenses. It is being at peace in Christ.

Inner healing must accompany deliverance. The place where damaged emotions have given way to this mind-set of rejection must be torn down, or else deliverance will be merely temporary.

The house of your thought life must be swept and cleaned, then occupied with God'‚s reassuring truth and love. Determine to think God'‚s thoughts. This is a decision you must make in order to be free. Automatic judgements, racial prejudices, and defensive reactions need to be removed.

Take all negative thoughts captive. Don'‚t let them rule over your mind. Replace them with words and images of faith that come from your heavenly Father. Take GodÂ‚s thoughts, God'‚s attitude, God'‚s will as your creed, not the words of this sinful world.

Repeat what the Scriptures say until they replace the lies you'‚ve heard. Soak in GodÂ‚s word and let it renew your mind. Meditate on the Scriptures until faith, hope, and self-acceptance fills your personality. This takes time but it is something you can do for yourself.

Renounce the spirit of rejection and stand against it. To renounce means to take a stand against something that you had previously been identified with or had claim to. Like renouncing your citizenship, it is a legal action that has power to affect your status. Pray aloud and say with your own words that rejection will not rule over you.

Instead, ask God for His fatherly affirmation. Ask God to give you the spirit of adoption. Every child needs to hear their fatherÂ‚s voice saying, "YouÂ‚re mine and I love you!"

After you'‚ve prayed against rejection, read the Scriptures, especially the epistles of the New Testament. They teach us our new identity in Christ, to "lay aside the old self" and "be renewed in the spirit of your mind." (Eph. 4:22) Replace Satan'‚s lies with GodÂ‚s word. Soak your thoughts in the truth of who God is, what He has done for you, and who you are in Christ. Banish all self-doubts. Tell yourself the truth until you truly believe it. Find new friends in Christ who affirm you and love you with GodÂ‚s love. "See how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the children of God." I John 3:1.

Recovering in Community

God loves us so much He accepts us just as we are! Yet, He loves us too much to leave us like we are. This tension between acceptance and transformation is the balancing act of divine love. God tells us the truth about ourselves so that He can build us up, not put us down. God'‚s love is full of light. It illuminates our hurt areas then it heals them. Having the light hit our injured heart may seem painful at first. But Biblical repentance always leads to restoration. Why? Because that'‚s the nature of our wonderful Lord. He is a true redeemer.

Our Father in heaven knows we cannot change ourselves. So, He credits us with the worthiness of Christ while He works in us and on us to conform us to Christ'‚s image. Here is where we learn to believe the right thing, and a result, to have the right feelings, and to behave properly. The cross is our exchange post. At the cross of Christ we exchange our sins for His righteousness, our failure for His success, our guilt for His holiness. And all the while, God wants to surround us with other transformed believers who can help us make the journey.

One part of our Father'‚s plan is the community of believers. Here is where we learn to belong in the body of Christ. God wants to plant us in a place that will help us stay well. Here, we experience God'‚s love through human hands. "Now hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." (Rom. 5:5 NAS). God'‚s kind of love constantly believes the best. It is always filled with hope and encouragement. God'‚s love has a vertical dimension, between God and us. It also has a horizontal dimension between us and others.

The essence of Christian community is our acceptance of and acceptance by our brothers and sisters in Christ. "Wherefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God." (Romans 15:7) Unfortunately, some churches are sick with legalism. Some groups emphasize individualism so much that no one ever thinks to love one another or to build Christian community.

It is important for Christians who are recovering from a spirit of rejection to belong to a church which is not contaminated by an atmosphere of criticism. That error results in an emphasis on law instead of grace. According to Romans 7, this defeats the purpose of grace and aggravates our failures. Instead, we need to walk in the grace that sets us free by virtue of ChristÂ‚s complete atonement and His indwelling presence in our lives. The church should be a place where it is safe to be a sinner on the way to being saved, where we feel loved even when we know we are still weak and imperfect.

God's Word prevails over the spirit of rejection. The FatherÂ‚s mercy, poured out by the Holy Spirit in the church, affirms for us God's love and acceptance.

God wants to heal us of the internal strongholds that have been hidden inside us. Only then, with Christ's love and authority and truth, can we be prepared and strengthened to pull down the external or heavenly strongholds that damage society and enslave humanity.

©1995-2005 by Ron Wood. Visit us at touchedbygrace.org. Feel free to duplicate this article for distribution as long as it is unchanged and this byline and attribution of authorship remains complete. Touched by Grace Inc. is a ministry devoted to equipping emerging leaders in the developing church. Write TBG at P.O. Box 12749, Wilmington, NC 28405 USA.