Experience the Impossible: Simple Ways to Unleash Heaven's Power on Earth (3 page)

It is illegal to enjoy the presence of the Lord and not conquer something.

W
hen Isaiah was before the Lord, beholding Him upon His throne, he was overwhelmed by what he saw. He beheld things that were beyond description. He then heard the Lord ask a question: “Whom shall I send?” Isaiah responded, “I’ll go, send me.”

Worship is the ultimate ministry. But I run into people often who consider themselves to be great worshipers, but do nothing else outside of that activity. I question the experience of anyone who says he has encountered the Lord, but is not willing to serve. What authenticated Isaiah’s experience in the throne room was the quickness with which he volunteered to answer God’s search for a willing vessel. It is nearly impossible to see His heart and then turn a cold shoulder to His search for a volunteer.

I believe in the beauty of worship. In fact, it is
the great
privilege
for the believer to be invited into the throne room of God to minister unto Him. It is not to be taken lightly. But to minister to Him and not serve shows that in our worship we have not seen or encountered His heart. It is easy in a worshiping
culture to lose focus and actually worship
worship
—that is to love the music, the atmosphere, the joy of being together as the people of God, but never actually encounter the face of God. It would be like enjoying the party of a wealthy friend. Your friends are there, there is great food, great music and a very enjoyable atmosphere in the room. You look across the room and acknowledge the host, but never go over to him, never even express your thanks for the event, his kindness and who he is in your life. It is easy to enjoy the benefits of our Friend, but seldom actually encounter Him.

All who consider themselves abandoned worshipers of God must ask themselves this question: Is my passion for His presence measureable outside of the expression of worship? If not, changes must be made. Jesus did not do all He did so we would do nothing. Our love for God is measured by our love for people. The unseen realities in our lives (our love for God) must be measurable in the seen (our love for people). Our lives have the hope of eternal impact. Jesus made this possible, and probable.

Great love for God looks for ways to display His love by opposing or hating the things He hates, namely those things that seek to kill, steal and destroy people’s lives. This is the honored assignment given to Jesus by the Father and passed on to us in the Great Commission. One of Jesus’ final statements of commission was given in John 20:21: “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” Lovers of God have the privilege of enforcing the victory won at the cross against all the enemies of humanity. This, in fact, is a part of our worship expression.

The Spirit of God who comes upon us in a unique way during worship longs to be seen through us outside of our work, devotion or worship expressions. Worship truly comes full circle when we embrace His heart for people and work to see His name exalted through the victories afforded to us by the redemptive work of Jesus.

Prayer

Thank You for giving me the privilege of entering Your throne room as a worshiper. Please help me never to lose sight of why I was given this great privilege. I also ask that You help me always to connect with Your heartbeat that I may always carry Your passion for people.

Confession

I have been favored of the Lord to come before His face in worship. Because of this favor, I have the hope to be able to express His heart wherever I go, that He may be exalted in the earth.

It is hard to have the same fruit as the early Church when we value a book they did not have more than the Holy Spirit they did have.

F
ew statements I make cause as much grief as this one. And I understand why. In reading between the lines one could think I do not value, or have little value for, the Scriptures. Some accuse me of trying to devalue the place the Bible has in our lives. Nothing could be further from the truth. If that were the case, the strong reactions would be deserved. But it is not the case—and neither is it what was stated. We must maintain the value of Scripture, while increasing our value of the Holy Spirit. It is not either/or. It is both/and. If we truly love God, that love must have expression toward the Holy Spirit, too.

We are privileged to have the complete canon of Scripture—the Bible. So many people in history paid the ultimate price to make that possible.
I love the Bible!
I am constantly
in the Word
, as many would put it. And I am constantly working to get that Word into me. This process is one of my greatest joys and treasures. But the point remains:
It is
hard to have the same
fruit as the
early Church when we value a book they did not
have more than the Holy Spirit they did have.

Jack Taylor addresses the issue this way: “It’s not Father, Son and Holy Bible!” He states it well. For many, the Bible has taken the place of the Holy Spirit. And He is the author!
It
is not to replace the
He
. There is potentially a brilliant partnership of heaven and earth when we learn how to listen to, and work with, the Holy Spirit in our study of Scripture, and in our living out the biblical mandate to live as Jesus lived—invading the impossible.

The fear ultimately is that we will emphasize experience over and above Scripture. Such concern is legitimate. Great errors have entered the Church during those seasons. But the opposite is a much more common, and an even greater error: It is
faith without experience
. Some have made this a virtue. And anything we label a virtue has permission to stay, no matter how inconsistent with biblical standards it might be. It becomes the new norm. As a result, those without experience begin defining what the Bible says.

We would never let someone without the experience of being born again teach what it means to be born again. Teaching out of experience is not only acceptable; it is necessary. It is only when experience contradicts Scripture that we must be concerned.

We are much more privileged than the early Church because we have the completed canon of Scripture readily available. This wonderful gift—the written Word of God—gives us an advantage that the early Church did not have. Yet, if in their lack they
turned the world upside down
, then we are without excuse. For we have the Bible, and the Author lives inside us! It was the Person of the Holy Spirit who empowered them, directed them, gave them understanding of what they were to do with what they were facing. He spoke life into every part of their lives, for He was their life. This great gift of heaven made it possible for them to illustrate the life of Jesus accurately not
only in character and compassion but also in miracles, signs and wonders. This passionate love for God must now be demonstrated toward the One who inspired the book—God’s Word.

Do not listen to anyone who devalues the written Word of God. But also be careful around anyone who does not model a life of tenderness toward the Holy Spirit. The Word and the Spirit give us the great advantage. Perhaps this is why Scripture says, “The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former” (Haggai 2:9).

Prayer

Father, let this day be a day of increased awareness and fellowship with the great treasure of heaven—the Holy Spirit. I want to celebrate Him as You do. And I want to live by His power, fulfilling the commission given in Scripture. I long for the Spirit of wisdom and revelation to rest upon me that I might learn continuously what is written in Your Word. Let this day truly be for the glory of God.

Confession

I declare that I was born for this purpose, and am thoroughly equipped to face this day living in partnership with heaven and earth. I embrace, with great joy, the privilege of being the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit.

Faith is what sticks to us from encountering the “faith-fullness” of God.

E
very person has been given a measure of faith. When that faith is used to enjoy God and His wonders, our confidence in Him increases. Well-stewarded faith increases faith itself.

Worship is one of the most profound activities for the believer in that change happens with us simply because of the effect of His presence upon us. Giving God praise, as an expression of faith, gives us access to the
more of God
.

He is faithful, perfectly faithful. Encountering the One who is faithful draws us into a relationship of trust and risk. Seeing the One who is perfectly faithful does something to us. Imagine hugging someone who is wearing way too much cologne. You walk away carrying the scent of her cologne. Similarly, drawing near to the One who is faithful results in my increase of faith. To describe it more literally, who He is sticks to me by leaving its mark on my heart and mind. Faith is really nothing more or less than being confident in who He is. The result is increased faith. When we encounter Him, we discover who He is and what He is like. Faith is anchored in His nature and character.

This pattern is seen in the lives of those known for their great faith. They discovered through experience what many already knew in their theology, that God is true to His Word. Such faithfulness is His cologne, so to speak. Faithfulness on Him becomes faith on us—faith is the residue.

Many make the mistake of trying to grow their faith through striving and self-determination. This always leads to disappointment and frustration. It can also lead to presumption, which is counterfeit faith—and devastating. Use the measure of faith you have to discover Him for the sake of knowing Him. Increased faith is the result.

Prayer

Father, help me to discover the unending treasure of Your faithfulness in this next season. I choose to place my attention on who You are, and will resist the temptation to focus on my level of faith. Please let this be unto the glory of God!

Confession

I serve the One who is faithful and true. He cannot lie. This will be a day of great discovery of who He is, beyond all I could imagine or think. He is the joy of my life! I am a believing believer, who lives to bring Him glory.

Jesus did not perform miracles to show us what God can do.

T
he amazing displays of power and glory in the Old Testament already gave a brief glimpse of the wonders that God is capable of performing. Creation of the world by the spoken word certainly sets a high-water mark for signs that make one wonder. Jesus came to reveal something else, something quite unexpected. He came to reveal what
one
man
could do who was rightly related to God. This revelation is meant to create hope for a purpose-filled life.

Jesus Christ is God, eternally God. Never in His earthly existence did He take a vacation from His divinity. In other words, He is and was always God. But His earthly life was equally natural in that He was also fully man. The very fact that angels came to strengthen Him testifies to this fact, as God would not need such strengthening. This is one of the great mysteries of all eternity. Jesus was fully God and fully man. But Jesus spoke of Himself as the Son of Man. He lived as the Son of Man.

This point is absolutely essential for us to understand, because it affects the way we live. If Jesus did miracles of healing, deliverance, multiplying food and raising the dead as God, I am
still impressed—but it is not something I can duplicate. I am a spectator, which I am very happy about if that is my divine assignment. But when I realize that He did what He did as a man yielded to God, then I am compelled to follow, discovering that is my real assignment! And I might never do well the things He did. But I am unable to stay where I am because Jesus set a standard for life that can be followed and imitated.

There were two things that made His humanity supernaturally effective: He was without sin, and He lived completely under the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. Those two qualifications—our righteousness in Christ and our living empowered by the Holy Spirity—become the necessary ingredients for every man, woman and child alive who longs to accept the compelling invitation that Jesus’ life gives. “Follow Me” now takes on new meaning.

Jesus did not go through all His sufferings so we could go to church; He did what He did to atone for sin. And by doing so He made it possible to raise up a new breed of world changers, those who could maintain the standard He set in love, purity and power. This reality is one of the great prophecies that Jesus spoke: “Greater works than these shall you do because I go to the Father” (see John 14:12). Not only does Jesus’ life compel us to follow the miracle worker, so do His promises.

The blood of Jesus, then, qualifies us for the first part of this equation. As a forgiven son, I am justified, cleansed, washed clean. This is a greater reality than my sinful past. I now stand before the Father, in Christ. He sees me as He sees His Son, Jesus. So only one qualification remains. How much under the influence of the Holy Spirit am I willing to live?

Prayer

Father God, I give myself to You in a fresh way today. I want to represent Jesus accurately. Thank You for the blood of Your Son that
makes me free from sin and qualifies me for the impossible. I am so hungry to see the authentic Gospel lived more fully in and through my life. I invite the Holy Spirit to come upon me more and more until Jesus is what people see when they look at me. Make this dream a reality for Your glory!

Confession

I declare that I was created to be part of the “greater works” generation. I embrace this call of God upon my life, that the name of Jesus might be held in highest honor all over the earth!

A powerless Church has little for the devil to counterfeit.

I
n some Christian circles, the Good News of miracles and transformed lives does not bring excitement; it brings warning. God has been absent so long that when something powerful happens, they think it is the devil. Thus, any of us who see a miracle and declare the Good News to others often receive a pile of warnings in return about the possibility of false signs and wonders. That is a legitimate concern, as the Bible warns against them, too. But we need to remember that there has to be something real to counterfeit, as the devil is not a creator. He has no creative ability whatsoever. Instead, he is a distorter of what already exists. The very fact that the Bible warns against false signs and wonders and false prophets implies there are real ones to compare them to.

Much of the Church lives with little or no power. Believers sit comfortably with the notion that they are okay because they do not face spiritual opposition. But if I do not run into the devil now and then, I might be going the same direction.

It is true that a legally parked car breaks no laws. But this
car
was designed to go places and accomplish things. The fear
of making mistakes and not doing a particular ministry well has paralyzed many believers, and that is a tragedy. They fail to see that perfectionism is religion (form without power). Excellence is Kingdom. Saying yes to the King is the first step in discipleship. And being driven by love makes it impossible to remain stationary.

One of our greatest honors in life is to represent Jesus accurately. This is done through love, purity and power. Often what we value here on earth has little value in heaven. Believers, for example, often place their highest value on a church without mistakes (the legally parked car). Heaven values a church that has impact.

People in banking systems are trained to spot counterfeit money. Their training, however, has nothing to do with counterfeit money. They spend enormous amounts of time studying the real so that the fake becomes obvious. Counterfeit miracles become easier to spot when you live in the midst of the real. False prophets stand out in a crowd of real prophets.

Many think that a false prophet is uncovered when a prophetic word is inaccurate, but that is not necessarily true. Study the prophecies of Agabus in the book of Acts. He was a true prophet of God, as acknowledged by the Holy Spirit, but not all the details of his word to Paul were accurate. For this reason, the believer is given the assignment to judge the word, not the prophet. The false prophet and false miracle worker are easy to spot among real because the “supernatural realm” they walk in directs the attention of the followers to themselves and not the Lord. They live to build their own kingdoms, have their own followers and entice people to live for them.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, help me to represent Jesus well today. I commit myself to His standard of love, purity and power. Let these realities be increasingly evident in and through my life, all for the glory of God.

Confession

I declare that I was born for this purpose, and that it has already been decided that I should carry Jesus’ presence and purpose to the world around me. I will demonstrate His love daily, and give Him thanks in advance for what is about to take place! I do all of this for the glory of God.