Prophecy

February 15, 2019March 19, 2019

Two Common Myths about Spiritual Gifts

I may not have made it through Seminary without my friend who had the spiritual gift of encouragement. Encouragement? Yes, that is a spiritual gift (Romans 12:8). Sometimes people believe the myth that spiritual gifts are only things that are dramatic and spectacular, but there is more to spiritual gifts than miracles.

Certainly things like healing can be gifts of the Spirit, but the New Testament describes many different spiritual gifts (Romans 12:6—8; 1 Corinthians 12:8—10, 27—28; 1 Peter 4:8—11; and perhaps Ephesians 4:7—11).

Ordinary Gifts

Giving is also a spiritual gift–anyone can give (and all the pastors said, “Amen”), but the Spirit enables some people to thrive when they are giving. I see the gift of serving present in people who regularly and cheerfully stay behind after a church event to stack chairs and mop the floor. I see people using the gifts of helping, mercy, administration, leadership, and hospitality at the community center my church has started.

None of these gifts sound all that supernatural. In fact, they sound quite normal. But these spiritual gifts are all supernatural in the sense that the Spirit is involved. The Bible affirms, “All these are the work of one and the same Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:11).

Hidden Gifts

Sometimes people aren’t aware of the gifts the Spirit has given them. After all, when people have the gift of administration, or any other less dramatic gift, they don’t start shaking, talking funny, and speaking like the King James Version of the Bible–“thus saith the Lord.” Instead, they just serve with excellence as enabled by the Spirit.

I hope this will be encouraging to some of you who thought you had no spiritual gift just because you don’t have a more noticeable gift, like prophecy or speaking in tongues. Perhaps you thought you didn’t measure up to those whose gifts were more dramatic.

We don’t all have the same gifts, and that is the way it is supposed to be. The Scripture says, “We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us” (Romans 12:6).

Gifts Galore

You can find a lot of spiritual gifts in the New Testament. There could be even more. Some people from church history have claimed to have the gift of prayer, tears, and visions.^[1]

It is evident from looking at the lists in the Bible that none of the biblical authors intend to provide a list outlining what all the spiritual gifts are. For example, teaching and prophecy appear in three of the passages, whereas encouragement only shows up in Romans 12, and healing only in 1 Corinthians 12.

Instead of providing an exhaustive list of spiritual gifts, the biblical authors simply explain some of the many ways the Holy Spirit works through people. And the Spirit clearly works in both dramatic ways, and in ways that we might even say are ordinary.

In addition to believing the myth that spiritual gifts are only dramatic activities, many people in Pentecostal-Charismatic circles define the spiritual gift of prophecy too narrowly. When they say someone “prophesied over” them, they usually mean that someone told them something about their future. This shows that they belief the myth that prophecy is only about the future.

More than the Future

Prophecy can refer to much more than the future. In fact, when Paul mentions prophecy in his discussions of spiritual gifts in Romans and 1 Corinthians, he doesn’t mention any predictive element.

Furthermore, when we look at the content of prophecy in the Old Testament, we find that prophecies were generally more concerned with contemporary events than with the future. Their message was usually something like, “Turn from your evil ways and your evil practices” (Zechariah 1:4).

Prophecy, then, can also occur when someone speaks up when they see a problem of sin. Moreover, Paul added that prophecy takes place when “the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging and comfort” (1 Corinthians 14:3).

Everyday Prophecy

I once had a student sitting in my office, slouched over on a chair. He was feeling worthless and insecure about his abilities as a student, though I could see he was doing good work. I could tell by the marks on his arms that his depression had plagued him previously in life.

As I spoke with him I encouraged him and reminded him of his identity as a child of God and as someone who is made in the image of God. I did not shake or speak in a strange voice, which many people seem to think is a necessary marker of prophecy.

I never told the student I was prophesying. Yet when the student left, I was certain God had used me to prophesy to him. I had a sense of the Spirit’s presence, and I knew the words I shared were not something I had come up with on my own. And my experience fit well with Paul’s description of prophecy occurring spontaneously when “a revelation comes to someone” from God (1 Corinthians 14:30).

Prophecy is not always about the future. And like the other gifts of the Spirit, it might not always appear so dramatic and spectacular. That’s no myth!

*This is an edited excerpt from, Simply Spirit-Filled: Experiencing God in the Presence and Power of the Holy Spirit, by Dr. Andrew K. Gabriel, © 2019 by Emanate Books, an imprint of Thomas Nelson. Used by permission of Thomas Nelson.

[1] Yves Congar, I Believe in the Holy Spirit, vol. 2, He is Lord and Giver of Life, trans. David Smith (New York: Crossroad, 1983), 165, 173.

February 11, 2019February 11, 2019

God’s Wisdom and You (Part 2)

Daniel answered and said, “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever: for wisdom and might are His. He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings, and sets up kings.

He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who know understanding; He reveals the deep and secret things. He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with Him.

I thank You, and praise You, O God of my fathers, Who has given me wisdom and might, and has made known to me now what we desired of You”¦.”
– Daniel 2:20-23

In our last post, we began looking at what this passage teaches us about living prophetically. We talked about God’s desire to transfer to us the wisdom and might He possesses. We also saw that God is the changer of times and seasons in our lives and how being aware of that helps us to flourish. Let’s continue.

He gives wisdom and understanding to those who already have it.

Remember the parable Jesus told of the ten pounds, in Luke 19:11-26? A rich man entrusted equal amounts of money to each of ten servants, intending that they would gain more through investing. They accomplished varying levels of increase, but one man did nothing with the money he had been given. He just hid it. His master was angry, and gave a surprising directive:

He said to those who stood by, “Take from him the pound, and give it to him who has ten pounds.”

The other servants objected, “Lord, he already has ten pounds!”

The master answered, “I say to you, that to everyone who has shall be given; and he who has not, even what he has shall be taken away from him” (verses 24-26).

Things work a lot differently in God’s kingdom than we might expect. The Lord wants to give more to those who appreciate what He has already given them. If you are a child of God, you have an open offer of wisdom from Him. He promises it to us in many places in the Bible. If you value wisdom, you will seek Him for more – because we never have all we could have. He will gladly give it, for “”¦ He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6).

If you don’t value wisdom, you’ll be lackadaisical about seeking it – and your contentment to stay at your present level will hinder you from receiving all the wisdom and understanding God really desired for you to have (which is much more than you currently possess). We can never have too much wisdom, so go after the Lord for more. He’ll be happy to give it to you.

He reveals the deep and secret things to those who want to know.

This goes along with our previous point. God’s secrets aren’t reserved for a few hotshot prophets. He will share them with anyone who is serious about being His friend – whoever takes time to read His Word and ask Him about it; whoever inquires, “”What’s on Your heart, Lord? I want to know Your concerns. What do You want to talk about?” (and then listens for His response).

“”¦ His secret is with the righteous.” – Proverbs 3:32

“The secret of the LORD is with those who fear Him”¦” – Psalm 25:14

You are righteous in Christ. You qualify to hear His secrets. He loves sharing them with you.

He knows what’s going on in darkness, and light dwells with Him.

In context, “He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with Him” is continuing to speak of God drawing out the deep and secret things and revealing them to us. However, I see an additional application we can make.

Recently, I was upset about a wacky teaching an influential prophet was disseminating. (Praying for the American Church is a major focus of mine, so when I see error going on, it really bothers me.) But the Lord reminded me from Daniel 2:22 that He is very aware of what is going on, and I can leave it to Him. I don’t have to get worked up about the dark things. Instead, He wants me to fasten my attention on Him, to lift my eyes to where He is, in the light. In due time, He will take care of it, just as He says about the tares and wheat in Matthew 13:24-30. I can pray for the Church to be delivered from deception, but I should do it from the place of gazing on the Lord of light, not fuming about the stuff of darkness. It changed my perspective, for sure!

If we’re going to be overcomers in our tumultuous times, we must refuse to focus on the darkness around us, get our eyes on the Lord, and have confidence that He is on top of things.

Let’s sum up the lessons we can learn from Daniel 2:20-23:

1. Believe that the Lord delights to impart His wisdom and understanding to you. Seek Him for more of it.

2. Ask Him to share His deep secrets with you, because He wants to.

3. Don’t focus on the darkness. Instead, keep your eyes on Jesus, in the light.

4. When life seems to be shifting uncomfortably, remember that He is the One Who changes times and seasons. Stay close to Him, and move with Him.

By doing these things, we stay safe in His care while growing in His wisdom and knowledge.

Growing in the Prophetic,
Audio Teaching by Lee Ann Rubsam

The Spirit-Filled Guide to Personal Prophecy,
by Lee Ann Rubsam

February 9, 2019February 25, 2019

Two Common Myths about the Spirit-Filled Life

Many Christians believe the myth that ‘Spirit-filled’ or even ‘spiritual’ must indicate something or someone a little strange. Depending on how much exposure people have had to the Pentecostal-Charismatic movement, they might associate the words ‘Spirit-filled’ with people who claim to be inspired by the Spirit to bark like dogs, scream, or roll around on the floor. Such people exist–I’ve seen them!

Eccentric Prophets

Some people try to justify their conclusion that it is spiritual to act strange by pointing to the eccentric behavior of prophets in the Old Testament. For example, Isaiah walked around naked (Isaiah 20:1—4)–some scholars say, wearing only an undergarment–and Ezekiel lay on his side for 430 days (Ezekiel 4:4—6). Some also point to Saul, who “changed into a different person” when the Spirit of the Lord came upon him and he prophesied (1 Samuel 10:6, 10).

These examples, however, don’t prove that one should expect to act strangely if one is to be truly spiritual. First of all, Saul might have just “changed into a different person” in the sense that “God changed Saul’s heart” before he prophesied (v. 9).

The Frantic Prophets of Baal

Furthermore, when you read about the prophets in the Old Testament, you don’t get the sense that the prophets were usually ecstatic and acting strangely. To illustrate the point, when Elijah had his standoff at Mount Carmel, it was the prophets of Baal who “danced around the altar they had made,” shouted, slashed themselves with swords, and engaged in “frantic prophesying,” while they endeavored to get Baal to send fire on their sacrifice (1 Kings 18:26—29). By contrast, when Elijah called on God to send fire on his sacrifice, he merely “stepped forward and prayed” (v. 36).

Strange or out-of-the-ordinary things might happen when people experience the Spirit–like speaking in tongues, dreams, or visions (Joel 2:28)–but such experiences are not the primary indicator of spirituality. That is a myth!

Spirit with Hardships

Another myth some Christians believe is that people who are really Spirit-filled will always experience victory. This belief is a cousin to the idea that if you have enough faith you will always experience health and wealth.

Just as faith doesn’t guarantee a life free of disappointments and hardships, the Spirit-filled life is not a life free of disappointments and hardships. Jesus is the epitome of spirituality, but he never became an earthly king. Instead, “through the eternal Spirit [he] offered himself unblemished to God” so his death might give us life (Hebrews 9:14).

In the Bible, “the one who is victorious” (Revelation 2:11) may suffer and face poverty (v. 9). Their victory is that they resist their culture’s anti-Christian values and are “faithful, even to the point of death” (v. 10). And their “victor’s crown” is eternal life, not achieving success in the eyes of the world around them (vv. 10—11).

Spirit-Filled “Success” and “Failure”

The Spirit’s empowerment may at times lead to great successes, but it doesn’t guarantee them. Barnabas, for example, “was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith” and through his ministry “a great number of people were brought to the Lord” (Acts 11:22—24).

By contrast, Stephen, who was also “a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 6:5 and 7:55), was stoned to death when he preached the gospel (7:58). Similarly, Peter and Paul both had their lives threatened and were imprisoned on account of Christ, but they continued to preach the gospel because they had power and boldness from the Holy Spirit. Today the Spirit continues to inspire people to stay committed to Christ in the face of adversity, even to the point of martyrdom.

Spirit of Hope

Aside from the fact that those we minister to can “resist the Holy Spirit” (Acts 7:51) and, therefore, our Spirit-empowered ministry is not always well-received, we live in a fallen creation that is yet to “be liberated from its bondage to decay” (Romans 8:21). As a consequence, even though we “have the firstfruits of the Spirit,” we “groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies” (v. 23).

However, as we long with hope, God does not abandon us, for the “the Spirit helps us in our weakness” (v. 26). As James Dunn observes, the Spirit is not only present “in the heights of spiritual rapture,” but also “in the depths of human inability to cope.”[1] This means that if we find ourselves outside of some experiences of victory, this is not necessarily a sign of a lack of spirituality–in fact, at those times the Spirit might be particularly active in our lives. And that is no myth.

Click here to read Chapter 1 and order Simply Spirit-Filled.

[1] James D. G. Dunn, Romans 1—8, Word Biblical Commentary, vol. 38 (Dallas, TX: Word, 1988), 479.

February 1, 2019February 1, 2019

God’s Wisdom and You

Daniel answered and said, “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever: for wisdom and might are His. He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings, and sets up kings.

He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who know understanding; He reveals the deep and secret things. He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with Him.

I thank You, and praise You, O God of my fathers, Who has given me wisdom and might, and has made known to me now what we desired of You”¦.”

– Daniel 2:20-23

Daniel was giving thanks to the Lord for revealing to him Nebuchadnezzar’s dream and its interpretation. Less familiar portions of the Bible can have gold nuggets hidden in them, and so it is here. There’s a lot of treasure for prophetic people in this short passage, so let’s take a look at what God has for us.

God desires to share His wisdom with us.

Daniel starts out by extolling God for His wisdom and might. He mentions that these two qualities belong to the Lord: they are His. He ends with thanking and praising the Lord, “Who has given me wisdom and might.”

Isn’t it amazing that the Lord of the whole universe delights to bestow on us what He possesses? Paul says in Romans 8:32, “He Who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” He also stated, in 1 Corinthians 3:21, 22, “”¦All things are yours, whether ”¦ the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours.” We so easily take the gifts of God for granted, but if we would think about them more deeply, our hearts would be inspired to overwhelming awe.

All true wisdom originates with the Lord. We cannot get it anywhere else. We should not even attempt to glean wisdom from so-called wise men who do not worship the true God, nor should we attempt to use their techniques for achieving peace or revelation. In Christ alone “are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3). Furthermore, “Beware, so that no one spoils you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ: for in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:8, 9).

Now, the Holy Spirit might enlighten us to a portion of His wisdom through another person. He does that through sermons, godly counsel, and the word gifts mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12:8-10. We should also expect to receive wisdom directly from the Lord. But there is no other source of wisdom besides Him, and we get ourselves into a mess of deception if we go looking for it outside of Him. We can have confidence that, if we ask Him, He will be eager to give it, because He has already promised, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, Who gives to all men liberally and does not upbraid [reproach], and it shall be given to him” (James 1:5).

God changes the times and seasons.

Whether it is what is going on in our personal lives, or in our nation and the world, we need to stay keenly aware that God has specific times and seasons for things. When His season is up, He moves on. We must stay attuned to Him, so that we don’t miss His shifts from one thing into another. When He is breathing life into something, it continues, increases, and thrives. But when He is done with it, it’s dead. You can enthusiastically kick that horse all you want, but without the Lord’s life in it, it’s not going anywhere.

Most of us like staying put in what is familiar. Change is disconcerting. Jesus commented on this tendency, when He likened the old and new covenants to wineskins. He said, “No man also having drunk old wine immediately desires new: for he says, ‘The old is better’” (Luke 5:39).

When upheaval is happening in our personal lives or in the nation or world, it is often because God is preparing a new thing. If we understand this, we will not let what we observe in the natural make us afraid. Keep your eyes on Jesus, Who does all things well (Mark 7:37), and be ready to move with Him – even quickly. There is blessing for the person who is open to the new works of God.

Lately I have been praying, “Lord, help me to recognize when You are shifting the seasons, give me Your understanding of how to respond, and help me to keep up with You!”

There are a few more lessons we can learn from Daniel 2:20-23. We’ll continue with them next time.

More at Out of the Fire

May 4, 2014May 4, 2018

You’re Possessed, Now What?

“When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he says ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’

“And when he comes, he finds it swept and put in order.

“Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first.” Luke 11:24-26

Demonic spirits are constant – their existence does not change just because the times we live in have changed. While many Christians may believe that demonic possession is not possible for them and may not even be a reality for others anymore, the forces of darkness still continue with their rampage through the earth to take as many souls as they can before Jesus comes again. Instead of burying our heads in the sand, we should arm ourselves with GOD’S Word and remain vigilant because our LORD is fast approaching.

In warfare, it is advisable that each side learns as much as they can about each other. Many a time a spy will be sent to learn secrets that could have one gain advantage over their enemy. With the gleaned information, they can launch an attack that will either defeat their opponent or at least temporarily put them out of action. Based on Scripture, we know that, as Believers, we are in open warfare against “… principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph 6:12). Some Christians may say that this Scripture is not as relevant today as back then, but they would be in error. In Matthew 24:3-28, Jesus speaks of the Last Days. He tells us that wickedness will increase upon the earth in various ways, whether it will be a lack of love, false prophets etc. 2 Timothy 3:1-7 also describes these Last Days, how the condition of man will be and what to watch out for. What is behind this wickedness? Do you think that it is just man taking greater liberties in deciding what is right and wrong and even blurring those lines? Perhaps this Scripture will give you an idea: “We know that we are of GOD, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one” (1 John 5:19). Did you catch that last part of the sentence? The world is under the influence of the wicked one, the wicked one is Satan.

Seeing as how the world is being influenced by Satan, how is he doing it? Fallen angels, beloved, demon spirits. Their handiwork is open to your viewing pleasure, just check out the latest movies, the decrease in morals, the increase of hatred (especially towards Christians), popular music and their artists… they are everywhere! Still in doubt? Just go to Youtube and check out what is going on- people are constantly posting about the influence of these fallen angels. Some may not be credible, but I assure you that there are many truthful videos available. Make sure to pray about what you are watching, you wouldn’t want to be deceived into believing the wrong things now would you?

These demons are affecting the world through people. Demonic possession does not always mean that you’re going to levitate in the air, change your voice, become supernaturally strong etc. It just depends on the situation really. These demons are intelligent- they have been around far longer than you have (obviously), and they have been studying mankind all of this time. They have been essentially monitoring you-possessed or not. Being possessed is different with all people because each person is different. It still all boils down to the same thing really, but the circumstances are always individually influenced. Some people do not realize that they are possessed, they may feel something odd about themselves, but other than that they just don’t know.

There are demons for everything! Lust, hate, addiction, covetous, idolatry, adultery, murder, destruction, witchcraft, unbelief, death- you come up with the rest. Not only are there demons for everything (of an evil nature), but through these demons, you can receive counterfeit gifts. You know about the gifts of the Holy Spirit, right? Prophecy, healing, wisdom… read 1 Corinthians 12 to find out what the others are (by the way, each Believer has a gift/s, it’s a matter of prayerfully finding out what they are). The dark kingdom also has their version of these gifts, thus counterfeit gifts. Remember when Paul and the other disciples had that one girl following them around and proclaiming them as servants of God (Acts 16:17)? The Scriptures tell us that she had a spirit of divination and earned her masters a living by fortune telling. This would be a counterfeit gift of prophecy. Well, Paul became quite annoyed with her and eventually commanded the spirit to come out. Boy, were her masters mad!

The counterfeit gift of tongues is often mistaken for the true one in many churches. Instead of communing with GOD, they are uttering curses down on the church. It’s sad really, this kind of atrocity can be prevented if only people adhered to John’s words in 1 John 4:1-3 and Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 14:27.

Let’s tackle a more taboo subject among Christians: demon possession of a Believer. You might say: Oh come on now, Steph, that’s not possible! When we accepted Jesus, those evil spirits had to go! Okay then, perhaps they did, but did you close your doorways? Doorways are the openings that you give the demons to dwell within you in the first place. Some doorways are through your own sin, some come about through dreams, others through traumatic events (eg rape, molestation etc) and others are hereditary.

Okay, you’re born again now. You have been freed from bondage to sin and the works of the devil. Perhaps for a few weeks, everything is okay, but suddenly all hell breaks loose. What could have happened? Read Luke 11:24-26 again. That demon/ s that were cast out of you, they roamed about, looking for somewhere to dwell. Well, they couldn’t find anything and decided to come back to you, just to see if they could try their luck. It turns out that you’re available and there is ample room for them to bring in seven more demons, more wicked than the first lot. Now your situation is worst off than when you began. They came into your house (your body), through the door (your doorway). This doesn’t mean that you’re no longer Christian- salvation doesn’t work that way. It is by grace that you have been saved, not through what is going on with you. But guess what? According to Luke 10:19, you’ve got power and authority over these spirits and you can rebuke them and cast them out of you. If you’re not certain about doing it yourself, rather find true Believers to help you. Repent of the sin, ask for forgiveness from GOD, and finally, close that doorway in Jesus’ name, praying the blood of Jesus to seal up that door.

Some Believers are probably up in arms because of this, but I’ll explain this demonic possession a bit further- with Scripture of course. Look to Ezekiel 8:1-18. There were abominations in the temple of GOD, while the glory of GOD was there! So how does this fit in with us? We are the temple of GOD (1 Cor 3:16 & 1 Cor 6:19), the Holy Spirit dwells within us. So, if the abominations could dwell in the sanctuary of GOD while He was there, why wouldn’t a demon dwell within us if we commit a sin that opens a doorway for them or, through lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6), we neglect to close the doorways already present? Instead of shying away, examine yourself. Were you involved in the occult? Did you dabble in occultic games? Were you raped, whether as a child or adult (please, I am not seeking to lay blame on rape victims, but this doorway is a major one), had an abortion? There are others, but I would advise you to please pray about this and get others to be in agreement with you. You are a child of GOD, you do not have to suffer alone. You can walk around, pretending that everything is okay, or assume that whatever problems are befalling you are trials sent by GOD. Often times certain sicknesses have demonic origins, some traumatic events happening (losing a loved one) have been caused by demons- there are just so many things caused by them because of their possession of you. And they have the right to- you didn’t close the door. Throughout the Scriptures, examples of spiritual laws are given- how the spiritual world operates, etc. That is why GOD has commandments in place, they are to protect you! When He says do not do something, He is keeping you from harm.

I’m not saying that all sins lead to demonic possession, of course not! But there are sins that do and you need to be aware of them. Please, study the Scriptures- the Word of God is the sword of the Spirit. It is mighty indeed. There is life in the Word of GOD, and you need it amidst all this evil.

Ending Thoughts: “If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, and He will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death. There is sin leading to death, I do not say that he should pray about that. All unrighteousness is a sin, and there is a sin not leading to death” (1 John 5:16-17).