Experience the Impossible: Simple Ways to Unleash Heaven's Power on Earth (12 page)

We often celebrate the ones who humble themselves under the mighty hand of God, but despise the ones He exalts.

W
e have a theology for humility. And rightly so. Jesus both taught it and displayed it. We have room for those who lay down their lives for others day after day, living sacrificially for the sake of the Gospel. We often celebrate them when they are in that position.

But what happens if God does what He says He will do in their lives? The apostle Peter declared, “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time” (1 Peter 5:6). We have a theology for humility, but we lack one for blessing and promotion. Is it possible for God to exalt people, also for the sake of the Gospel? I obviously do not mean into positions of pride and independence. But I do mean positions that allow them to influence the mind molders of this world. Until we can settle some of these issues of the heart, we will never step fully into our purposes.

One of the reasons this subject is so hard for the people of God is an issue that none of us wants to own up to—jealousy. Straying
from love leads us right into this sin. It is a cancer that devours the heart and can cause otherwise good people to fall under the spell of their own judgment of others. In order for this evil trait to exist in the heart of a believer, we have to give it a noble name.
Discernment
,
intercessory burden
and
God told me . . .
are all expressions used to give this destructive influence a hiding place. Let’s face it: It is challenging to watch someone else get what you have been working and praying for, or at least desiring in your heart.

Once again, the apostle Paul teaches us: “Love . . . is not jealous . . . does not seek its own” (1 Corinthians 13:4–5). Until you can celebrate and take part in the promotion of another, you cannot be certain that you are free from the influence of jealousy. The enemy works hard at stirring up this feeling, as it disqualifies so many from their own destinies. And the powers of darkness fear our coming into our destinies.

Self-promotion is a destructive influence, especially in ministry.
Does not seek its own
is addressing this issue. God is interested in our promotion. In fact, He is more interested than we are. But when we advance through self-promotion, we have to continue to promote ourselves to keep the position. It is exhausting. And it leads to jealousy. We must repent of it the moment we see it.

Learning how to celebrate the promotion of another is often the prerequisite to our own promotions. It is called stewarding another person’s possessions. When we do well with what belongs to another, God makes sure that we receive what belongs to us. This is part of the reason we are called to rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. We must temper our own hearts that we might partner with the experience of the others we are with for their benefit.

Prayer

Father, help me to celebrate the promotion of Your children the way You do. Help me to see Your hand in their promotions so I do not
fall for the trick of fighting Your will for their lives. I want only the advancement in my own life that You deem me ready for, knowing that too much at the wrong time could affect my passion to please You in everything. I pray these things that You may be glorified in all the earth.

Confession

God exalts people at the proper time. He is the only One who knows what the proper time looks like. Because I love the will of God, I position myself with readiness to honor those whom God is honoring. I do this that the name of Jesus will be held in highest honor in all the earth.

Our minds are either renewed or at war with God.

B
ecause the renewed mind is of such great importance to God, I think it is safe to say that all of God’s dealings with His people have, in some way, the renewing of the mind as a primary target. We know that faith does not come from the mind; it comes from the heart. Yet the renewed mind enhances faith. It gives faith a context for divine reasoning.

The framework for the renewed mind is the nature and promises of God. Living aware of and out of that reality is how the renewed mind is shaped. The renewed mind, for example, honestly sees the potential for a child’s lunch to feed a multitude.

This kind of thinking does not come easily. The disciples struggled with it—and they saw the unlimited display of God’s goodness flowing through Jesus every day. Yet they still struggled with believing that having no more than one loaf of bread in their boat was okay for the journey (see Mark 8:14). And that embarrassing reaction followed two occasions when they saw small amounts of food multiply to feed large crowds.

The word
repent
means “to change the way we think.” This is not a mind-over-matter issue. If that were true, then only
the highly disciplined could repent. Repentance is a gift from God. It is godly sorrow over sin that enables a person to shift her perspective on reality—the superior reality. Repentance is seeing from God’s perspective.

This, then, gives us a clue about the renewed mind: It is the way of repentance. Either I see from God’s perspective, or I need to repent. “The mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God” (Romans 8:6–7). The mindset of the flesh is death, and it is hostile toward God. There is no middle ground, thus the need for the Holy Spirit’s work in the renewing of our minds.

Because repentance is often thought of as self-abasement and self-criticism, many miss their chances at the renewed mind. They get too caught up in themselves, as though becoming introspective could bring about a transformed way of thinking. In reality, introspection robs people of their moments in God to truly see as He sees. Even when God is convicting us of sin, we hope in His mercy. In other words, we must at some point shift our focus from our failure to His ability and desire to forgive.

The really sobering part of this equation is that the unrenewed mind is at war with God. Hostile toward God, it is incapable of producing good fruit. Simply realizing that truth helps us to produce the much needed “godly sorrow.” Without it, there is no repentance.

If you are prone to fall into self-criticism as an expression of your sorrow over sin, quickly recognize that even that posture must be repented of. Somehow we must learn to see the error of our ways without making it all about us. Only as we see the surpassing greatness of His love and mercy for us will we be able to see clearly what He convicts us of without falling into the trap of self-centeredness in the name of repentance.

Prayer

Help me to see clearly. Help me to stop limiting You to what seems reasonable to me. I want to see through Your eyes and live from Your nature and promises. Thank You for settling every issue ahead of time at Calvary that I might believe for the best because You are good. Thank You for Your unending goodness!

Confession

My mind is being renewed by God’s unending grace. I am being changed from glory to glory, all because God is good and is fully committed to my transformation. I am confident that He will complete what He started.

The Church’s obsession with avoiding disappointment has given the seat of honor to the spirit of unbelief.

H
ope is one of the most important Christlike attitudes and values we can have in this life. It must be nurtured continuously if we are truly to discover His heart. Without hope, it is impossible to live life to its potential. God does not require blind hope, in the sense that it has no reason for being. Nor is this brand of hope mere positive thinking, pretending “all is well with the world” when all is not well. In reality, this hope is the joyful anticipation of good. It comes from discovering His nature of perfect goodness by encountering Him and His perfect promises.

Hope is anchored in the revelation of God’s goodness and
bubbles up
from our hearts in a way that affects our perspectives, attitudes and countenances. Since His goodness is the greatest absolute in existence, it is what our hearts must be tethered to for us to remain unwavering in this Kingdom reality called hope.

As I pastor, I know this challenge well. We often become fearful of creating expectations that might go unfulfilled. And
there is not a decent pastor on the planet who wants to frustrate God’s people with more unfulfilled promises. We face impossible situations almost on a daily basis—and none more difficult than standing with family and friends who face a great tragedy and ask why. As a result, I often hear pastors expressing concern about creating hope that will only go unfulfilled—again.

I understand the reasoning, in that we have often been left to help pick up the pieces of broken and unfulfilled lives. Hype in ministry is one of the biggest culprits. It is really good at creating expectations it is incapable of fulfilling. None of us wants to be involved in that fruitless activity. But trying to compensate for that abuse by embracing the absence of hope is absolute foolishness. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy—we get exactly what we expect: nothing. Protecting ourselves from disappointment is ultimately embracing unbelief.

Many of us have been given an impossible assignment: to make sense out of a crisis or tragedy. While answers are often sought, they seldom help, at least not immediately. It is the heart that is hurting, not the brain. And while we try hard to offer comfort, the only real answer is the peace that passes understanding. Generally, we have to give up our right to understand in order to get that kind of peace. Putting it practically, we must become friends who love, serve, refuse to judge or condemn, all while carrying an unwavering trust in the goodness of God. People who have experienced great loss might question everything we believe and stand for. But as friends, we stay true to the revealed nature of God’s goodness, while staying in a loving role that brings comfort and peace to those in crisis. That position brings such safety into their world that eventually peace becomes their possession forever.

I have watched as many try to insulate themselves from disappointment. That is an expensive choice, as they have to remove all sense of hope in order to be successful. It is a disastrous way to live. Where there is no hope, you will not find faith.

I remember several years ago one of the young men in our church was called to be a possible juror in an upcoming trial. While waiting in the room with a hundred or so potential jurors, he noticed a man in a wheelchair. He went to him and asked if he could pray for him to be healed.

The man’s response was honest, asking, “What if I don’t get healed?”

Our young man responded, “What if you do?”

That simple shift in focus helped this gentleman return to hope. Within moments, he was out of his wheelchair giving thanks for his miracle. Hope is the beginning of the life of miracles, for it joyfully anticipates our perfect heavenly Father to display who He is—in, to and through us.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, with Your help, I will not protect my heart from possible disappointment. Instead, I will give myself to protect what I know of Your goodness and always believe for the best. Your Word anchors my heart in the reality of what Jesus has accomplished for me. By Your grace, I will display this hope in an infectious way, that others will place their hope in the wonderful name of Jesus.

Confession

Just as I have given myself to live in love, I have devoted my life to being filled with hope. Jesus is the reason for such hope, which makes my hope stable and glorious. I will live this way so that God will be glorified and so that people will find salvation in the name of Jesus. And by God’s grace, I will face each day with the joyful anticipation of good—God’s goodness revealed.

Passionless leaders cost everyone who follows them.

O
ne of the more sobering truths in Scripture is the discovery that our mistakes and sins never affect only us. The greater the responsibility in a person’s life, the greater the impact on those who follow behind. This is an inescapable truth. And it does not help to say each person is responsible for his or her own choices, as though the fallen leader has no responsibility. It happens. And it has consequences. This principle applies to everyone though, not just those with a title. (It is also important to note that the costly right decisions by a leader release great benefit to those who follow. It works both ways.)

This issue applies to much more than moral failure, as tragic as that is. It applies to how a person leads. Parents, take note here as well, as true leaders are not just those with titles. There is a great story in the Bible about Elisha and a king (see 2 Kings 13:14–25). Through a series of events, Elisha was at a place to define the destiny of King Joash and the impact of his leadership on the nation, but he needed to put his heart to a test. Elisha asked the king to strike the ground with arrows. Joash did so, but struck the ground only three times.

Elisha became angry, saying that if only he had struck the ground five or six times, Israel would have annihilated her enemy. But now Israel would have only three temporary victories. Think about it. Israel, as a whole nation, was destined to have three temporary victories over an enemy because the king responded without passion to the prophet’s command with the arrows. Token obedience is disobedience.

The issue at hand is love. Real love is not casual, and it is not convenient. It is very disruptive in nature. A person who falls in love loses all sense of focus and seems to abandon his usual priorities. This love is measured by the word
passion
, which is that fiery burning of the heart for another. The believer should have this kind of heart for God. It is called our
first love
.

This love is evident in the way we relate to people. When Jesus cleared the Temple, His disciples remembered the Scripture that says zeal for His Father’s house would consume Him (see John 2:17). We are that house! Jesus’ passion is aimed at the house of God, His people. Are we to be any different? Our passion is recognized by the way we approach our God-given assignments in life. Everything we do is to be unto the Lord. We all have arrows in our hands, and others are watching what we do with them. My intent here is not to promote fear of man or raise an unhealthy awareness of responsibility. But neither do I want us to ignore the fact we affect people’s lives in a profound way.

The hardest test we face is not the one we know we are taking. When someone tells me he is being tested by God, I want to tell him, “It’s an open book test—those are the easy ones!” The hardest tests by far are the ones we face, but never even realize it was a test until it is over. Such was the case for this king. If you are anything like me, you wonder why the prophet did not tell him it was a test. I would be asking to take the test over because now I know what he is looking for. The problem is, though, the prophet already found what he was looking for. He found what was in the king’s heart without prodding and preparation.

I have to admit that I have not always done well with these kinds of tests. In school, I was really good at studying hard right before the test, but did poorly if I did not know in advance what was required. This is not a heaven or hell issue. It is a test to see how much of what we have asked for we can handle without it destroying us.

The good news is that our passion helps to ignite the hearts of others. The people who look to you for direction or inspiration are powerfully affected by your simple act of striking the ground with the arrows. Living in love with zeal for His house is the privilege of every follower of Jesus. Strike the ground until those around you come into their greatest victories!

Prayer

Heavenly Father, I know I need Your help once again. I want to live this life with passion. But I cannot fake it. I need You to show me Your heart for Your house. I need to see Your eyes of fire that are focused on me, not for my destruction, but to ignite my heart to burn like Yours. This is my desire, that I might honor You in ways I have yet to discover. These things I pray for the glory of God.

Confession

My heart burns for God. I know that this is more than mere enthusiasm and shallow zeal. My heart burns for Him because His heart burns for me. I love Him because He loved me first! At best, I can only mirror what He has in His heart. And it is to this end that I commit my life—to display the passion of God.