Everyone's a perfectionist

Everyone has a perfectionist streak in them, no matter how laid back they may appear.  It's not just the perfectly accessorized coworker who has every hair in place that most would label as a perfectionist.

I remember several street beggars in New York before the time of Mayor Giuliani, when they were allowed to congregate on the sidewalk in front of our church and would often demand handouts, then angrily accuse us of hypocrisy when they disapproved of the amount we gave.  They'd even quote scriptures with the vehemence of a fire-and-brimstone preacher.  They had the lowest standards for their hygiene, warmth, health and safety, but when it came to handouts, they were consummate perfectionists. If you didn't live up to their expectations, you'd get an earful! 

One thing for certain is the Bible holds us all to high standards in so many aspects, that none of us can afford to assume that we have attained perfection in any of them. A friend who prods you on to improve is truly a friend, no matter how uncomfortable that may be.  She is keeping you from becoming complacent, and complacency kills faith.  Be thankful for the wounds of a friend.

But ask yourself, are you one of those friends who usually does the prodding, but is completely blind in other areas yourself?  Maybe you need to be on the receiving end.  Maybe you don't just need a prod, but shock treatment! Just like the beggars in New York, you can even use the Bible to justify why your version of perfection is the best.  Are you perfect in one or two minuscule areas, and even humble about the areas you're not so strong in, making you even more perfect?  

I can list for you the things that I am imperfect in, and for many of my friends, those areas are a breeze for them.  I need to prod myself and truly improve - I know.  But one of my frustrations is that in the areas where I have a strong perfectionist streak, few seem to even care about those things, or even notice that they are an issue. They are often brushed off as not worthy of effort, meanwhile I can see how incredibly important they are to being effective in the way we help others.  If I speak up, I become offensive, but if I remain silent, I stifle a very living urge inside of me to see this thing done well.  Foolishly, I have just remained silent for too long and didn't realize how much could have been done about it.

This is my challenge now, to do more than just speak up and be heard, but to be an example of how doing things right actually works. There is no better teacher and no better encouragement for others to follow your lead, than concrete results.  Meanwhile, I'll be working on all the stuff I've been prodded to do, and trust that God will use me to bless others as I prod them with my example.  Of course, if people want to hear what I have to say, I'd be more than happy to give them an earful!

So you think you know God's voice?

God won't lead me somewhere that is awkward or uncomfortable. God respects my tastes and likes.

If I can just save one soul. just one, it will be worth it as long as it fits into my lifestyle.

On the other hand, if I could save thousands and tens of thousands yet be required to sacrifice the things I like… Anyway, if I can just save one soul…

I have sacrificed and given God so much, He wouldn't ask anymore from me now.

These things in my past used to be my idols, but now I use them to reach others, so God would never ask me to give them up.

Abraham was Abraham, and Moses was Moses.  God is so much nicer these days.

God wants me to live an abundant life, so I should keep doing the same old thing I've always done to get out of my poverty.

I love being radical, but only when it's safe.

Restoring Respect and Awe for God

"When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” He was afraid and said, “What an awesome place this is! This is none other than the house of God. This is the gate of heaven.”

This has to be among the top ten favorites stories for me in the Bible.  This happened when the conniving, scheming Jacob ran away from his furious brother because he had stolen his blessing of the firstborn.  But God saw in Jacob the con artist, a heart that hungered for His blessings, and so He graciously gave him a dream of angels climbing and descending a staircase to heaven.

When Jacob awakes in the middle of the wilderness, he is a changed man.  He is filled with awe and reverence, and sees the vast wasteland around him as a holy place, the house of God, the gate of heaven! From that moment on, Jacob is a man of faithfulness to God, a man of honesty and a clean heart.  A man filled with reverence for God, is a man that God can empower to change the world.

God renamed Jacob, Israel, who fathered the 12 tribes of the nation of Israel, from where our Savior and Lord Jesus came to save the entire world.  That alone shows the power that comes from a life of sincere reverence for God.

What people commonly consider to be "reverent" means walking around with a long face, speaking in religious sounding terms and basically being a boring snob.  Of course the devil would love to paint the most powerful attitude of submission to God in that light, so no one would be attracted to it.  But reverence can take on many forms.  God is the inventor of all pleasure and joy, as CS Lewis has noted in his Screwtape Letters, but there is no true joy without utter respect for God as God.  There can be no pleasure without a hatred and disgust for sin.  There can be no power without a total surrender and willingness to serve, merely because He deserves to be served.  But with respect and awe, come joy, pleasure, power, victory, peace, and all things good that come from our Father above.

The Temple of God in the Bible was a constant reminder that sin is evil and that His people need to live in a constant state of repentance.  How about now?  Too many people that I have come to know repent only when they are caught red-handed.  But people who live in the power of God, are constantly repenting and constantly reminding themselves that they are weak, and the God who loves them is strong to deliver them.

The Temple was also a constant reminder that the presence of God is so awesome that when anything defiled or evil approaches Him, that thing is burned up and destroyed.  Not because God is cruel and has no love, but because God is such a pure and powerful love, that evil cannot exist in His presence.

When you kneel down to pray, or even pause in the middle of your day on your job, do you realize that you are in the presence of an awesome and fearful God?  When you walk into your church every week and see the same bulletin board, the same kids class teachers, the same seats and carpeting, do you remind yourself that you are actually stepping inside the very house of God? The very gate of heaven?

Watch this video and think about how we need to recapture that sense of holy awe for the God who has given His life for us.

Disrespecting God and revering demons

I know that no true Christian would willingly honor or revere the devil.  Even so, the devil will steal as much credit as he can get, no matter how he gets it.  A sincere Christian who inwardly blames God for the suffering he goes through, is honoring the devil.  He's letting Satan and his demons get off, scott free.  He becomes ever so slightly embittered towards God.  He reasons that if God, who is all-powerful, doesn't remove this injustice, then God must want him to suffer. Therefore, God is cruel.

He may not know that God is requiring him to fight against it, to rebuke evil in his prayers and to persist (like the Bible teaches) until God's justice shines through.  And most Christians do try somewhat hesitantly, unsure if it's God's will or not of them to pray in such an audacious way.  They may see God mercifully answer right away, but often when there's real demonic resistance to their attempts, the answers don't appear as soon as they'd like, and they give up discouraged.  Of course they would never  outwardly blame God, but in the back of their minds a thought grows - God let them down. It gradually eats away at their faith so that any future spiritual battle is already lost.

Christians who don't even try anymore are the saddest and most defeated.  They find themselves in the worst position of being a poster child for the devil's campaign called: God Doesn't Care.  God's people are rendered impotent.  They may be good and kind, but they have lost the will to fight.  Meanwhile the devil is basking in his glory.

For God to be given true honor and glory, His children need to be unrelenting warriors in prayer, and in determination to see His Kingdom advance.  If it's fighting for the spiritual freedom of someone who is lost in addictions, or fighting their own fleshly desires, or fighting for the salvation of their cities and towns, God's Word needs to be taken seriously.  If He promises victory, we need to insist on victory, and if that means we need to change for Him, to purify our hearts more, to become more humble or more courageous or more whatever it is that He wants, we have to be stubborn in our pursuit to do so so He is honored.  Christians who fail to do this, by default, disrespect God's promises and honor demons.

Read the next post coming up:  Restoring Awe and Respect for God: the New Temple of Solomon

What to do about deliverance and demons

The expected answer should be obvious, but the true answer for most individuals is the opposite.  Just look at the typical American Christian.

Deliverance from demon possession is not common here.  Some churches don't want anything to do with it.  Their doctrines state that the moment someone repents of their sins and accepts Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, all evil in their lives is spontaneously defeated.  No point in making deliverance prayers for the saved if demons can't affect them any more other than just tempt them to sin.  And why go through the fuss of deliverance for those who are not saved, if all they need is to answer an altar call, repent and say the sinners prayer?  Get them baptized, give them a certificate, and once they're teaching Sunday School and know the appropriate lingo, they are as good as gold. Nope, no demons there!

Yet other churches do have deliverance prayers.  They acknowledge that even though people are sincerely seeking God, have accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior, something very evil continues to work in their lives.  They may suffer depression or the trauma of childhood abuse.  They sincerely want to follow Christ, but struggle with addictions, anger or self-hatred.  Just reading the Bible isn't enough, and so a deliverance ministry is formed to help them.  But what do most deliverance ministries entail?  A group of very concerned people, under the leadership of a minister or deliverance counselor, who gather in private to respect the very delicate nature of the person who is in suffering.  With great sensitivity, they gather information about their past, deduce what might be going on, lead the person in a sinner's prayer, go through a process of helping them repent and forgive their abusers or those who have hurt them, and then begin the mysterious process of the casting out of demons.  Much singing, speaking in tongues and waiting around for God to give words of revelation goes on in these sessions.  Demons do manifest, speak, fight and react, but it can last for hours, sometimes needing breaks to reassemble another day when all are worn out.

So we have one set of churches that gives no credence to demons, just teaches the basic gospel truths of salvation, while the other group gives an honored place to the process of deliverance.

Church type A, doesn't know what to do with the alcoholic father who leads the choir and coaches the kids softball team.  He's such a great guy… when he's not drunk.  Rehab hasn't changed him, prayers of repentance haven't changed him, he's eager to help and so friendly but is a real embarrassment when  he's locked up in jail for public disturbance.  They don't know what to do about the gossip that is rampant in their church, the bickering between the church committee members, how to stop the teenagers from getting pregnant and so on.  Keep teaching people to repent, and hope that they change.

Church type B, may be very involved with deliverance, or may just allow a traveling deliverance ministry to come through and set up a series of sessions that are not held during the normal services.  Cleansing Stream and others like that, provide specialized demon-casting-out services so that pastors can continue their regular functions and not have to get all messy with the business of deliverance.  As they say in their website, "The thought of a church of people equipped and functioning in such a manner [doing deliverance] can be scary for many pastors." Pastors scared of the devil.  Go figure.

It's very convenient for the pastor who doesn't want to get his hands dirty, like calling in a plumber when Drano doesn't do the job anymore.

There are other churches that are more hands-on, where the pastors incorporate deliverance into their regular ministry of preaching, teaching, discipling, evangelizing, healing and community outreach.  These churches are few and far between.  And even those I have come across, the prevailing attitude towards dealing with demons is a sense of awe and gravity.  Nothing like Jesus and his disciples.

So it all comes down to two general categories: denial of demons, or awe and respect for demons.  Both of course, are just fine as far as demons are concerned.

Coming in my next post:

The great deception:
How God is disrespected in the American church, while demons are revered

Watch this video about our first deliverance meeting in Brazil for this trip beginning January 17th.

The Kingdom of God is not a democracy

If Jesus is Lord, like so many people casually say, that would mean that those who serve Him, truly serve Him.  "Lord" and "King" imply that we are dealing with a monarch, an ultimate ruler who not only expects obedience, but demands obedience as protector of His realm.

But what American has the least concept of living under a true and absolute monarchy?  Isn't that what we fought our revolution to be freed from?  We think of absolute rule as equivalent to tyranny, dictatorships, injustice, virtual slavery.  It's in our blood to reject the thought of giving anyone absolute power over us.

As wonderful as it was, the independence we won in 1776 has had an unexpected by-product over two hundred years: the loss of respect for our true King.  We have become a people that has an innate sense of cynicism towards leadership of any kind, and feel it is our duty to "punish" leaders who do not conform to our wants.  This of course is the bedrock of democracy, a great right that we will defend to the end.  But try to transfer that attitude towards God and you destroy your faith, breaking the bond with the Lord you claim to serve.  The Kingdom of God is not a democracy - it's an absolute monarchy.

A true subject treats his King with unwavering respect.
The wishes of the King are not to be questioned, but obeyed.
Whatever his King requires, he gives, and considers it a privilege.
If an enemy threatens the Kingdom, a true subject considers that enemy his own.
Sacrifice, servanthood and even death for the sake of His King is a high honor.

I know… these statements make you squirm, right?  They smack of injustice, don't they?  But that's because we have never known a GOOD King, who loves us and who is PERFECT!  It makes complete sense to obey God without question, because He is good and perfect.  He is God, and will never fail us or harm us, even when we don't understand what is going on at the moment.  If it feels we are blindly following Him into the dark and over the edge of a cliff, we can trust that He will not only catch us, but lovingly lift us to a higher plane.  But we'll never get there without obedience.

Is there any equivalent to that form of extreme servitude that exists in our modern culture?  Nothing close, which is why (in my opinion) modern Americans have no idea how to live out their claims that "Jesus is Lord."  Church goers have no sense of shame to worship God on a Sunday morning and then indulge in gossip and backstabbing when they get home, as if the wishes of their King are meaningless.  Promises made by their Lord to protect and heal them if they live in submission to Him, are disregarded because they feel that submission is too demeaning.  To add insult to injury, they then criticize their "Lord," accusing Him of not caring because their demands aren't fulfilled to their satisfaction.

Jesus proclaimed, "The Kingdom of Heaven has come!"  The question is, do you want to live in His Kingdom?  Then serve as His subject.  The Kingdom of God is not a democracy.  Get used to it.

  

Brutal faith

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.  But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. (2 Timothy 4:3-5)

Paul wrote this to Timothy 2000 years ago, but I'd say that we're living in that time right now.  Conventional wisdom demands that we never tell anyone to break out of their comfort zone, it's so insensitive.  Never rebuke, challenge, or even suggest sacrifice.  It's just not politically correct.

God's principles state:
Spiritual forces manipulate this world, and fallen angels that were cast out of heaven millennia ago, are still at work on this earth today in real and tangible ways.

Conventional wisdom dictates:  Healing and the casting out of demons "were for then, not for now."  We live in a modern world.  Any talk of demons is silly and medieval.  If we stretch our imaginations to believe that it may exist today, it must exist on a very philosophical level, nothing concrete as our daily lives.

God's principles state: My Word is living and active.

Conventional wisdom dictates: The Bible is negotiable.

God's principles state: Lose your life, sacrifice yourself to God, become His slave, and you will find it.

Conventional wisdom dictates:  Believe, but don't lose yourself.

God's principles state: Unless you hate your own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, and even your own life—you cannot be My disciple

Conventional wisdom dictates:  Family first.

God's principles state:  The honor and worship of tradition over the honor and worship of God is idolatry.

Conventional wisdom dictates:  Anyone who breaks traditions, especially those cloaked in religious overtones, is being hateful and such a person is tantamount to a reprobate.

Anyone who says that Jesus is all about love and kindness, knows only half the story.  The love and kindness of God is only fully available to those who are ready to wage war against evil - even at the risk of losing their family or their lives.  The path to God's love and kindness begins in loneliness and sacrifice, but the power and authority that is imbued to those who go through it is priceless.

True Christianity is radical Christianity.  True faith is brutal.  And the true results are love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control.