This month's Series is on The Gospel According to Matthew. On Monday, we began the section of chapters from Matthew that focus on Offensive Spiritual Warfare. The previous post covered Matthew 9:27-31. Here is the summary:
Matthew gave us yet another unique example of Offensive Spiritual Warfare. Jesus and the blind men did NOT state SPECIFIC Words concerning receiving their sight. Jesus stated a will that was that the blind men would get what they wanted...AND Jesus touched their eyes.
Jesus told these men to see that no one knows about this...yet, the men told everyone. WHY did Jesus say this?
Is it possible that Jesus was "famous enough" to get the result He eventually wanted...so He didn't want any more fame at this time?
However, Jesus ends up with more fame. Was it getting to be time for Jesus to "pull back" His fame?
MATTHEW 9:32-38
"32 And as they went forth, behold, there was brought to him a dumb man possessed with a demon."
(Here is another unique example of Offensive Spiritual Warfare. The man could not speak AND was possessed with a demon.)
"33 And when the demon was cast out, the dumb man spake: and the multitudes marvelled, saying, It was never so seen in Israel."
(This account jumps over the details. No explanation of the Words Jesus used. Obviously there were no Words by the person who couldn't speak. Did the people who brought the man state their faith? We don't know. It doesn't seem to be the point of this example. The point was that it appears the demon was the cause of the man not being able to speak.)
(It was stated that "It was NEVER so seen in Israel." It looks like this was the Ultimate example. As it turns out, it was the last specific example.)
"34 But the Pharisees said, By the prince of the demons casteth he out demons."
(In Matthew 12, Jesus handled a similar comment with an explanation of blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. At this point, Jesus' response, if any, was not recorded. The Pharisees just credited Jesus' ability via the Holy Spirit to the prince of the demons. Maybe the comment was abstract enough that Jesus let it go.)
"35 And Jesus went about all the cities and the villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of disease and all manner of sickness.
36 But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion for them, because they were distressed and scattered, as sheep not having a shepherd."
(The Offensive Spiritual Warfare section (Matthew 8 and 9) was concluded with a summary of the many instances of Jesus participating in Offensive Spiritual Warfare. At the conclusion, it says that Jesus had compassion because the people were distressed and were scattered AS SHEEP HAVING NO SHEPHERD. Apparently, one of the benefits of having a "shepherd/pastor" is people won't be distressed and scattered.)
"37 Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest indeed is plenteous, but the laborers are few.
38 Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he send forth laborers into his harvest."
(Notice, Jesus sees this as a harvest, not something these people needed value to receive. Jesus' focus was on the fact that He was just one Person...He needs more people to become leaders so they can help many more people!)
SUMMARY
Matthew chapters 8 and 9 presented unique examples of Offensive Spiritual Warfare. EVERY example followed the Profitable way to do Spiritual Warfare that was presented at the beginning of these two chapters from Matthew:
1. The participant made a Statement in which the object of the Spiritual Warfare was the subject of the Statement.
2. The participant stated a will for something that was unable to state a will or act apart from its nature.
3. The effectiveness of the Statement depended on the faith (understanding and experience) of the person making the Statement.
This section on Offensive Spiritual Warfare concluded with Jesus stating the people were like sheep without a shepherd. It was now time for us to cover a section of chapters that focus on presenting Jesus as Shepherd...
Next Post
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Friday, February 26, 2010
Matthew 9:27-31
This month's Series is on The Gospel According to Matthew. On Monday, we began the section of chapters from Matthew that focus on Offensive Spiritual Warfare. The previous post covered Matthew 9:23-26. Here is the summary:
Matthew again gave us a unique example of Offensive Spiritual Warfare. In this example, Jesus brought a damsel back to life because of the faith of her father.
Faith is built on Hope. Faith leads to Salvation...AND the PROOF of Salvation is Loving others!
Expectations lead to Unbelief...AND the PROOF is NOT Loving others AND actually Abusing others!
It is possible to NOT Love and NOT Abuse. We saw in the I John Series, that John can't speak to about these people. John only spoke about people walking in the darkness (making progress towards destruction) and people walking in the light (making progress towards creating). If a person does NOT Love AND they are being destructive (Abuse), then John (and us) can say for sure that these people are NOT believers. Please check the previous two links for specifics.
Jesus fame continued to grow. However, Matthew has another unique example of Offensive Spiritual Warfare...
MATTHEW 9:27-31
"27 And as Jesus passed by from thence, two blind men followed him, crying out, and saying, Have mercy on us, thou son of David."
(The two blind men made a statement of faith. It consisted of calling Jesus the Messiah ("son of David") and saying, "Have mercy on us".)
(The Greek Word for "mercy" in this passage is Strong's #1653 "eleeo" - "from 1656; to compassionate (by word or deed, spec. by divine grace):- have compassion (pity on). Strong's #1656 eleos - "of uncert. affin.; compassion")
(These men asked Jesus to have compassion/pity on them AND GIVE to them. We have seen that the non-contradictory definition of "mercy" in the Bible is "the time between the action and its equalling out with Justice". For instance, in cartoons when someone does something bad and instantly gets struck by lightning, this is an example of "no mercy". God gives us mercy (a time period between our bad acts and His punishment) SO THAT we have an opportunity to Repent/Repair. We have also seen it is merciful for God to punish someone if they have stated that they are NOT going to Repair/Repent. God NOT punishing would be unmerciful because He is allowing them to think they don't have to Repent/Repair. In this story, I believe the Bible accurately records what these men stated. Whether these men RIGHTLY meant compassion/pity or RIGHTLY meant for God to end their time of "punishment" or WRONGLY used the word, I do not know. However, it all still proves these men had faith that Jesus could heal them...but Matthew will prove this point even further.)
"28 And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They say unto him, Yea, Lord."
(This example of Offensive Spiritual Warfare is unique. Jesus got their SPECIFIC Statement of faith by asking them the Question: Do you believe I am ABLE to do this? I don't know if the blind men said something specific to receiving their sight that was not recorded or if their request for mercy MEANT receiving their sight. It also could be that their original request was NOT able to result in their getting their sight. Notice, Jesus didn't ask them if they believed Jesus WAS going to heal them. Jesus asked them if they believed Jesus was ABLE to healing them. Isn't this something LESS than asking if they will get healed? Are we out of line if we ask people whether they believe if they are going to get their request? Ought we to ask people if they believe if God is ABLE to grant their request?)
(Jesus SPECIFICALLY asked these men if they BELIEVED that Jesus was ABLE to heal them. They respond with, "Yea, Lord." Not only did they state they believed it; they gave a reason WHY! They call Jesus "Lord".)
"29 Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it done unto you."
(Jesus SPECIFICALLY touched their EYES. So, perhaps Jesus didn't need to SAY something specific because He ended up DOING something specific. Notice, NOTHING in this account mentions "restore sight", "cure blindness", etc. NOTHING refers to the SPECIFIC objective of the Offensives Spiritual Warfare UNTIL Jesus touched their eyes. Also, Jesus stated a will, however, this will was that the blind men's will was done. Clearly, this was another UNIQUE example of Offensive Spiritual Warfare.)
(Jesus spoke a will for them, however, the will He spoke was NOT, in and of itself, SPECIFIC to the objective. It was specific to THEIR will! Also, Jesus' statement of the will was QUALIFIED! "According to your faith..." One of the points that is consistent was that Jesus kept crediting the success of the Offensive Spiritual Warfare to the FAITH of the receiver of the benefit. We covered the HOW/WHY in detail in yesterday's post. In this example, THAT POINT was the Statement of the Will! It was almost like Matthew was showing us a more abstract version of Offensive Spiritual Warfare so that we can find out just how SPECIFIC we need to be.)
"30 And their eyes were opened. And Jesus strictly charged them, saying, See that no man know it."
(The Offensive Spiritual Warfare was successful! Jesus STRICTLY charged them to see that no man knows it. Notice, this was still stated as something TO DO ("See that"). This didn't say, "DON'T tell anyone".)
(Also, it was an unintentional pun (perhaps?) that Jesus said, "SEE that..." to two guys who JUST got the ability to SEE.)
"31 But they went forth, and spread abroad his fame in all that land."
(I don't get this. These guys did NOT obey Jesus. The result was that Jesus fame spread.)
(I want to pose this thought as a possibility: Was Jesus getting TOO famous too soon?)
(One of the concepts that will be covered in Modeling Church is balancing OUGHT and IS. Everyone does IS. Situations in reality sometimes require OUGHT and sometimes require IS. Most leadership mistakes are made by people who are experts at IS and are just learning OUGHT. We should learn OUGHT completely...and then relearn IS. This will prevent Abuse.)
(Jesus was balancing OUGHT and IS. I have told people that you are NEVER Leading people EXACTLY right at any moment. You are either undermanaging or overmanaging. You are either being too strict or too lenient.)
(Jesus' task was to fulfill the Law by getting killed Unjustly on a specific date. Here is an analogy: Imagine that you are trying to direct a person riding a bicycle on the road. You want them to ride on the center line. However, they are unable to see the center line. You would constantly tell them to turn a little right or a little left or go straight. Now, here is a subtle point: You are NEVER going to tell them to go straight WHILE they are on the line. Every time they come in contact with the line, they are going to overshoot it. If you get them aligned so that they end up on the line a mile down the road, it is only because they are currently off the line and will remain off the line for a mile. So, at any moment, you are EITHER undermanaging them (letting them go straight even though they aren't on the line) and they will eventually get farther from the line OR you are over managing them (telling them to turn) and they are getting closer to the line.)
SUMMARY
Matthew gave us yet another unique example of Offensive Spiritual Warfare. Jesus and the blind men did NOT state SPECIFIC Words concerning receiving their sight. Jesus stated a will that was that the blind men would get what they wanted...AND Jesus touched their eyes.
Jesus told these men to see that no one knows about this...yet, the men told everyone. WHY did Jesus say this?
Was it possible that Jesus was "famous enough" to get the result He eventually wanted...so He didn't want any more fame at this time?
However, Jesus ends up with more fame. Was it getting to be time for Jesus to "pull back" His fame?
Next Post
Matthew again gave us a unique example of Offensive Spiritual Warfare. In this example, Jesus brought a damsel back to life because of the faith of her father.
Faith is built on Hope. Faith leads to Salvation...AND the PROOF of Salvation is Loving others!
Expectations lead to Unbelief...AND the PROOF is NOT Loving others AND actually Abusing others!
It is possible to NOT Love and NOT Abuse. We saw in the I John Series, that John can't speak to about these people. John only spoke about people walking in the darkness (making progress towards destruction) and people walking in the light (making progress towards creating). If a person does NOT Love AND they are being destructive (Abuse), then John (and us) can say for sure that these people are NOT believers. Please check the previous two links for specifics.
Jesus fame continued to grow. However, Matthew has another unique example of Offensive Spiritual Warfare...
MATTHEW 9:27-31
"27 And as Jesus passed by from thence, two blind men followed him, crying out, and saying, Have mercy on us, thou son of David."
(The two blind men made a statement of faith. It consisted of calling Jesus the Messiah ("son of David") and saying, "Have mercy on us".)
(The Greek Word for "mercy" in this passage is Strong's #1653 "eleeo" - "from 1656; to compassionate (by word or deed, spec. by divine grace):- have compassion (pity on). Strong's #1656 eleos - "of uncert. affin.; compassion")
(These men asked Jesus to have compassion/pity on them AND GIVE to them. We have seen that the non-contradictory definition of "mercy" in the Bible is "the time between the action and its equalling out with Justice". For instance, in cartoons when someone does something bad and instantly gets struck by lightning, this is an example of "no mercy". God gives us mercy (a time period between our bad acts and His punishment) SO THAT we have an opportunity to Repent/Repair. We have also seen it is merciful for God to punish someone if they have stated that they are NOT going to Repair/Repent. God NOT punishing would be unmerciful because He is allowing them to think they don't have to Repent/Repair. In this story, I believe the Bible accurately records what these men stated. Whether these men RIGHTLY meant compassion/pity or RIGHTLY meant for God to end their time of "punishment" or WRONGLY used the word, I do not know. However, it all still proves these men had faith that Jesus could heal them...but Matthew will prove this point even further.)
"28 And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They say unto him, Yea, Lord."
(This example of Offensive Spiritual Warfare is unique. Jesus got their SPECIFIC Statement of faith by asking them the Question: Do you believe I am ABLE to do this? I don't know if the blind men said something specific to receiving their sight that was not recorded or if their request for mercy MEANT receiving their sight. It also could be that their original request was NOT able to result in their getting their sight. Notice, Jesus didn't ask them if they believed Jesus WAS going to heal them. Jesus asked them if they believed Jesus was ABLE to healing them. Isn't this something LESS than asking if they will get healed? Are we out of line if we ask people whether they believe if they are going to get their request? Ought we to ask people if they believe if God is ABLE to grant their request?)
(Jesus SPECIFICALLY asked these men if they BELIEVED that Jesus was ABLE to heal them. They respond with, "Yea, Lord." Not only did they state they believed it; they gave a reason WHY! They call Jesus "Lord".)
"29 Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it done unto you."
(Jesus SPECIFICALLY touched their EYES. So, perhaps Jesus didn't need to SAY something specific because He ended up DOING something specific. Notice, NOTHING in this account mentions "restore sight", "cure blindness", etc. NOTHING refers to the SPECIFIC objective of the Offensives Spiritual Warfare UNTIL Jesus touched their eyes. Also, Jesus stated a will, however, this will was that the blind men's will was done. Clearly, this was another UNIQUE example of Offensive Spiritual Warfare.)
(Jesus spoke a will for them, however, the will He spoke was NOT, in and of itself, SPECIFIC to the objective. It was specific to THEIR will! Also, Jesus' statement of the will was QUALIFIED! "According to your faith..." One of the points that is consistent was that Jesus kept crediting the success of the Offensive Spiritual Warfare to the FAITH of the receiver of the benefit. We covered the HOW/WHY in detail in yesterday's post. In this example, THAT POINT was the Statement of the Will! It was almost like Matthew was showing us a more abstract version of Offensive Spiritual Warfare so that we can find out just how SPECIFIC we need to be.)
"30 And their eyes were opened. And Jesus strictly charged them, saying, See that no man know it."
(The Offensive Spiritual Warfare was successful! Jesus STRICTLY charged them to see that no man knows it. Notice, this was still stated as something TO DO ("See that"). This didn't say, "DON'T tell anyone".)
(Also, it was an unintentional pun (perhaps?) that Jesus said, "SEE that..." to two guys who JUST got the ability to SEE.)
"31 But they went forth, and spread abroad his fame in all that land."
(I don't get this. These guys did NOT obey Jesus. The result was that Jesus fame spread.)
(I want to pose this thought as a possibility: Was Jesus getting TOO famous too soon?)
(One of the concepts that will be covered in Modeling Church is balancing OUGHT and IS. Everyone does IS. Situations in reality sometimes require OUGHT and sometimes require IS. Most leadership mistakes are made by people who are experts at IS and are just learning OUGHT. We should learn OUGHT completely...and then relearn IS. This will prevent Abuse.)
(Jesus was balancing OUGHT and IS. I have told people that you are NEVER Leading people EXACTLY right at any moment. You are either undermanaging or overmanaging. You are either being too strict or too lenient.)
(Jesus' task was to fulfill the Law by getting killed Unjustly on a specific date. Here is an analogy: Imagine that you are trying to direct a person riding a bicycle on the road. You want them to ride on the center line. However, they are unable to see the center line. You would constantly tell them to turn a little right or a little left or go straight. Now, here is a subtle point: You are NEVER going to tell them to go straight WHILE they are on the line. Every time they come in contact with the line, they are going to overshoot it. If you get them aligned so that they end up on the line a mile down the road, it is only because they are currently off the line and will remain off the line for a mile. So, at any moment, you are EITHER undermanaging them (letting them go straight even though they aren't on the line) and they will eventually get farther from the line OR you are over managing them (telling them to turn) and they are getting closer to the line.)
SUMMARY
Matthew gave us yet another unique example of Offensive Spiritual Warfare. Jesus and the blind men did NOT state SPECIFIC Words concerning receiving their sight. Jesus stated a will that was that the blind men would get what they wanted...AND Jesus touched their eyes.
Jesus told these men to see that no one knows about this...yet, the men told everyone. WHY did Jesus say this?
Was it possible that Jesus was "famous enough" to get the result He eventually wanted...so He didn't want any more fame at this time?
However, Jesus ends up with more fame. Was it getting to be time for Jesus to "pull back" His fame?
Next Post
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Matthew 9:23-26
This month's Series is on The Gospel According to Matthew. On Monday, we began the section of chapters from Matthew that focus on Offensive Spiritual Warfare. The previous post covered Matthew 9:18-22. Here is the summary:
I believe Jesus did numerous examples of Offensive Spiritual Warfare. I believe Matthew documented the ones that were unique FOR OUR BENEFIT. This example of the woman with the issue of blood WIDENED the Doctrine of Offensive Spiritual Warfare.
It involved a case where the woman attempted to hide her objective. She did NOT SPEAK any Words to prove her faith...she THOUGHT the Words. She attempted to hide her presence, yet her actions PROVED she had faith. Spiritual Warfare consists of THOUGHTS and WORDS...and the success depends on faith. Jesus said, "Daughter, be of good cheer; thy faith hath made thee whole."
This "second story" is "hidden" within the "first story". In fact, everything about this story attempts to stay hidden. Jesus recognized this unique "manifestation" of faith and the resulting Offensive Spiritual Warfare was successful.
Today, we will conclude the "first story"...
The beginning of the "first story" in Matthew 9 was:
"18 While he spake these things unto them, behold, there came a ruler, and worshipped him, saying, My daughter is even now dead: but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live.
19 And Jesus arose, and followed him, and so did his disciples."
(This is a demonstration of faith by the ruler. He worshipped Jesus AND stated that he believed Jesus could bring his daughter back to life. On the way to the ruler's house, Jesus healed the woman with the issue of blood. That was the "second story" that we covered in yesterday's post. Now, we can pick up the rest of this "first story"...)
MATTHEW 9: 23-26
"23 And when Jesus came into the ruler's house, and saw the flute-players, and the crowd making a tumult,
24 he said, Give place: for the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn."
(These people laughed Jesus to scorn! In Mark's version of the "second story", the disciples appeared to think Jesus may be losing it when Jesus said, "Who touched me?". In that "second story", the woman is healed in front of people who are NOT drawing on God through Jesus. In Matthew's version of this "first story", the crowd was LITERALLY making a Statement of Unbelief!)
(Remember, the girl was dead, so it was NOT her faith that needed to help make this healing work. Her father made the statement of faith, so the faith of the father must have remained strong in the face of a crowd making a Statement of Unbelief. If faith is vital to Offensive Spiritual Warfare, how was Jesus going to be able to heal her?)
"25 But when the crowd was put forth, he entered in, and took her by the hand; and the damsel arose."
(Jesus put the UNBELIEVERS away from the scene of the Offensive Spiritual Warfare. In this version, we don't have the words that Jesus used. In Mark's version it is: "Talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, Arise." Jesus made a Statement of a will for the girl.)
(I want to take a moment here to discuss FAITH...)
(People have asked me how this healing works as it relates to Justice. Basically, HOW/WHY is this person getting healed? In order to answer this, we need to look at the relationship between Faith and Justice.)
(Faith is the belief in something that you can't see because it hasn't happened yet or is impossible to see. This faith is built on understanding and experience. It is proven in actions. In Modeling God's Wills, I write that another way of looking at faith is "giving BEFORE receiving".)
(Faith is giving a value through actions BEFORE the "benefit is enjoyed". Justice says that if you give, then you will eventually THROUGH JUSTICE receive a benefit you can enjoy. Faith is built on HOPE. If the benefit isn't received, the person who hopes is no better or worse off than they were before they hoped. If the benefit is received, the person who hopes is better off than they were before they hoped. HOPE results in a postive ("+") and no worse than a non-negative ("0"). This is VERY different than EXPECTATIONS...)
(We have covered Hopes vs. Expectations earlier during Jesus' Premiere Teaching. In that post, we saw: "A HOPE is recognizing the future event isn't currently accomplished and may never be accomplished. An EXPECTATION occurs when the person considers the future event as accomplished NOW.")
(A person with the Expectation "enjoys the benefit" BEFORE it is available. This NOT Faith. For example, what would you say if someone told you to buy a car you can't afford...and when you said you can't make the payments, they replied, "You need to have more faith."?)
(Buying that car and enjoying the benefit NOW when you aren't able to make the payments is NOT faith. Remember, the enemy gives the benefit immediately and you pay for it in the Long Term. God makes you pay up front so you can enjoy the benefit in the Long Term. What happens with Expectations relative to Justice?)
(The person with an Expectation enjoys the benefit NOW...they receive before giving. If the benefit does become available, there is no gain ("0"). However, if the benefit gets taken away, Justice says the person owes ('-"). We saw in the post explaining "Hope vs. Expectations" that Expectations results in a negative ("-") and no better than a non-negative ("0"). The negative situation leads to ANGER. EVERYTIME someone is angry it is because they had Expectations.)
(We have seen that "Love" according to Jesus, Paul, and John is "the giving of a value without expecting anything in return from the person to which the value is given". Expectations PREVENT Love! You have to have FAITH in order to Love! You have to be able to "give BEFORE receiving" in order to Love!)
(Notice, faith leads to Salvation...AND the PROOF of Salvation is Loving others!)
(Expectations lead to Unbelief...AND the PROOF is NOT Loving others AND actually Abusing others! It is possible to NOT Love and NOT Abuse. We saw in the I John Series, that John couldn't speak about these people. John only spoke about people walking in the darkness (making progress towards destruction) and people walking in the light (making progress towards creating). If a person does NOT Love AND they are being destructive (Abuse), then John (and us) could say for sure that these people were NOT believers. Please check the previous two links for specifics.)
(A person who has faith would NOT enjoy the benefits of Salvation NOW...they would CONSTANTLY be giving. They would NOT consider themselves to have attained the benefit yet. Paul wrote in Philippians 3:
"12 Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect: but I press on, if so be that I may lay hold on that for which also I was laid hold on by Christ Jesus.
13 Brethren, I count not myself yet to have laid hold: but one thing I do, forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before,
14 I press on toward the goal unto the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.")
(A person who has Expectations in place of their faith would attempt to enjoy the benefits of Salvation NOW. Calvinists attempt to get people to enjoy the benefits of Salvation NOW. They tell people there is NO WAY they can lose their Salvation, so they can enjoy these benefits NOW.)
(Back to the "first story"...the father's faith was a Hope...and it was Rewarded through Justice. This is WHY Jesus consistently attributed the CAUSE of these healings to the person's faith. Like we saw in yesterday's post: Jesus said, "Daughter, be of good cheer; thy faith hath made thee whole.")
"26 And the fame hereof went forth into all that land."
SUMMARY
Matthew again gave us a unique example of Offensive Spiritual Warfare. In this example, Jesus brought a damsel back to life because of the faith of her father.
Faith is built on Hope. Faith leads to Salvation. The PROOF of Salvation is Loving others.
Expectations are NOT Faith. Expectations lead to Unbelief. The PROOF of Unbelief is NOT Loving others AND Abusing others.
Jesus fame continued to grow. However, Matthew had another unique example of Offensive Spiritual Warfare...
Next Post
I believe Jesus did numerous examples of Offensive Spiritual Warfare. I believe Matthew documented the ones that were unique FOR OUR BENEFIT. This example of the woman with the issue of blood WIDENED the Doctrine of Offensive Spiritual Warfare.
It involved a case where the woman attempted to hide her objective. She did NOT SPEAK any Words to prove her faith...she THOUGHT the Words. She attempted to hide her presence, yet her actions PROVED she had faith. Spiritual Warfare consists of THOUGHTS and WORDS...and the success depends on faith. Jesus said, "Daughter, be of good cheer; thy faith hath made thee whole."
This "second story" is "hidden" within the "first story". In fact, everything about this story attempts to stay hidden. Jesus recognized this unique "manifestation" of faith and the resulting Offensive Spiritual Warfare was successful.
Today, we will conclude the "first story"...
The beginning of the "first story" in Matthew 9 was:
"18 While he spake these things unto them, behold, there came a ruler, and worshipped him, saying, My daughter is even now dead: but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live.
19 And Jesus arose, and followed him, and so did his disciples."
(This is a demonstration of faith by the ruler. He worshipped Jesus AND stated that he believed Jesus could bring his daughter back to life. On the way to the ruler's house, Jesus healed the woman with the issue of blood. That was the "second story" that we covered in yesterday's post. Now, we can pick up the rest of this "first story"...)
MATTHEW 9: 23-26
"23 And when Jesus came into the ruler's house, and saw the flute-players, and the crowd making a tumult,
24 he said, Give place: for the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn."
(These people laughed Jesus to scorn! In Mark's version of the "second story", the disciples appeared to think Jesus may be losing it when Jesus said, "Who touched me?". In that "second story", the woman is healed in front of people who are NOT drawing on God through Jesus. In Matthew's version of this "first story", the crowd was LITERALLY making a Statement of Unbelief!)
(Remember, the girl was dead, so it was NOT her faith that needed to help make this healing work. Her father made the statement of faith, so the faith of the father must have remained strong in the face of a crowd making a Statement of Unbelief. If faith is vital to Offensive Spiritual Warfare, how was Jesus going to be able to heal her?)
"25 But when the crowd was put forth, he entered in, and took her by the hand; and the damsel arose."
(Jesus put the UNBELIEVERS away from the scene of the Offensive Spiritual Warfare. In this version, we don't have the words that Jesus used. In Mark's version it is: "Talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, Arise." Jesus made a Statement of a will for the girl.)
(I want to take a moment here to discuss FAITH...)
(People have asked me how this healing works as it relates to Justice. Basically, HOW/WHY is this person getting healed? In order to answer this, we need to look at the relationship between Faith and Justice.)
(Faith is the belief in something that you can't see because it hasn't happened yet or is impossible to see. This faith is built on understanding and experience. It is proven in actions. In Modeling God's Wills, I write that another way of looking at faith is "giving BEFORE receiving".)
(Faith is giving a value through actions BEFORE the "benefit is enjoyed". Justice says that if you give, then you will eventually THROUGH JUSTICE receive a benefit you can enjoy. Faith is built on HOPE. If the benefit isn't received, the person who hopes is no better or worse off than they were before they hoped. If the benefit is received, the person who hopes is better off than they were before they hoped. HOPE results in a postive ("+") and no worse than a non-negative ("0"). This is VERY different than EXPECTATIONS...)
(We have covered Hopes vs. Expectations earlier during Jesus' Premiere Teaching. In that post, we saw: "A HOPE is recognizing the future event isn't currently accomplished and may never be accomplished. An EXPECTATION occurs when the person considers the future event as accomplished NOW.")
(A person with the Expectation "enjoys the benefit" BEFORE it is available. This NOT Faith. For example, what would you say if someone told you to buy a car you can't afford...and when you said you can't make the payments, they replied, "You need to have more faith."?)
(Buying that car and enjoying the benefit NOW when you aren't able to make the payments is NOT faith. Remember, the enemy gives the benefit immediately and you pay for it in the Long Term. God makes you pay up front so you can enjoy the benefit in the Long Term. What happens with Expectations relative to Justice?)
(The person with an Expectation enjoys the benefit NOW...they receive before giving. If the benefit does become available, there is no gain ("0"). However, if the benefit gets taken away, Justice says the person owes ('-"). We saw in the post explaining "Hope vs. Expectations" that Expectations results in a negative ("-") and no better than a non-negative ("0"). The negative situation leads to ANGER. EVERYTIME someone is angry it is because they had Expectations.)
(We have seen that "Love" according to Jesus, Paul, and John is "the giving of a value without expecting anything in return from the person to which the value is given". Expectations PREVENT Love! You have to have FAITH in order to Love! You have to be able to "give BEFORE receiving" in order to Love!)
(Notice, faith leads to Salvation...AND the PROOF of Salvation is Loving others!)
(Expectations lead to Unbelief...AND the PROOF is NOT Loving others AND actually Abusing others! It is possible to NOT Love and NOT Abuse. We saw in the I John Series, that John couldn't speak about these people. John only spoke about people walking in the darkness (making progress towards destruction) and people walking in the light (making progress towards creating). If a person does NOT Love AND they are being destructive (Abuse), then John (and us) could say for sure that these people were NOT believers. Please check the previous two links for specifics.)
(A person who has faith would NOT enjoy the benefits of Salvation NOW...they would CONSTANTLY be giving. They would NOT consider themselves to have attained the benefit yet. Paul wrote in Philippians 3:
"12 Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect: but I press on, if so be that I may lay hold on that for which also I was laid hold on by Christ Jesus.
13 Brethren, I count not myself yet to have laid hold: but one thing I do, forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before,
14 I press on toward the goal unto the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.")
(A person who has Expectations in place of their faith would attempt to enjoy the benefits of Salvation NOW. Calvinists attempt to get people to enjoy the benefits of Salvation NOW. They tell people there is NO WAY they can lose their Salvation, so they can enjoy these benefits NOW.)
(Back to the "first story"...the father's faith was a Hope...and it was Rewarded through Justice. This is WHY Jesus consistently attributed the CAUSE of these healings to the person's faith. Like we saw in yesterday's post: Jesus said, "Daughter, be of good cheer; thy faith hath made thee whole.")
"26 And the fame hereof went forth into all that land."
SUMMARY
Matthew again gave us a unique example of Offensive Spiritual Warfare. In this example, Jesus brought a damsel back to life because of the faith of her father.
Faith is built on Hope. Faith leads to Salvation. The PROOF of Salvation is Loving others.
Expectations are NOT Faith. Expectations lead to Unbelief. The PROOF of Unbelief is NOT Loving others AND Abusing others.
Jesus fame continued to grow. However, Matthew had another unique example of Offensive Spiritual Warfare...
Next Post
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Matthew 9:18-22
This month's Series is on The Gospel According to Matthew. On Monday, we began the section of chapters from Matthew that focus on Offensive Spiritual Warfare. The previous post covered Matthew 9:14-17. Here is the summary:
Jesus said that you can't put new Doctrine into a person with an old Doctrine mentality...it would burst them.
Sinners are more flexible (new wineskins) than people who are convinced they are righteous (old wineskins). Sinners are more accepting of new Doctrine. Jesus said He came to reach the sinners, not the righteous.
Jesus consistently reinforced His goal from the beginning of His Premiere Teaching: WIDEN Doctrine.
The following section is a "nested story". Matthew began to tell of one example of Offensive Spiritual Warfare, however, before that story finished, a second story about Offensive Spiritual Warfare is told from beginning to end...before finishing the first story. I will only cover the second story in this post...then follow up with the first story in tomorrow's post.
MATTHEW 9:18-22
"18 While he spake these things unto them, behold, there came a ruler, and worshipped him, saying, My daughter is even now dead: but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live.
19 And Jesus arose, and followed him, and so did his disciples."
(This is the first story. The second story begins WHILE they were on their way to finishing the first story...)
"20 And behold, a woman, who had an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the border of his garment:
21 for she said within herself, If I do but touch his garment, I shall be made whole."
(First, the woman demonstrated her faith with an IF/THEN statement. The woman stated her will by actually touching Jesus' garment. Notice, this statement of her will was done WITHIN herself...no Words were spoken. However, the effects of her faith (actions) PROVED that she did have faith.)
(Second, we need to understand the significance of "the border of his garment". I have two options here, I can give a Big Picture explanation and wait for Dave Taube to give a much better explanation in the comments section OR I can just let Dave Taube give the explanation now. Here is Dave's explanation...)
DAVE TAUBE EXPLANATION
Numbers 15
"37 And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying,
38 Speak unto the children of Israel, and bid them that they make them fringes in the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of each border a cord of blue:
39 and it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of Jehovah, and do them; and that ye follow not after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to play the harlot;
40 that ye may remember and do all my commandments, and be holy unto your God."
Let's look at this passage from the Complete Jewish Bible (CJB)
"37 ADONAI said to Moshe,
38 Speak to the people of Isra'el, instructing them to make, through all their generations, tzitziyot on the corners of their garments, and to put with the tzitzit on each corner a blue thread.
39 It is to be a tzitzit for you to look at and thereby remember all of ADONAI's mitzvot and obey them, so that you won't go around wherever your own heart and eyes lead you to prostitute yourselves;
40 but it will help you remember and obey all my mitzvot and be holy for your God."
"tzitziyot" is plural for "tzitzit" (tassel).
This passage is talking specifically of the tzitzit on the corners, not just the tzitzit running along the entire edge. There are tassels running along the entire hem of the garment, but it is just on the corners where the blue thread is tied into the tassel and is longer than the rest of the tassels.
The purpose of these tassels:
1. A physical reminder reminder of the law. It is there for you to look at SO THAT you remember AND do all the commandments of God; also so that you won't go around following YOUR heart and eyes, selling yourself to the world.
2. A statement of your will to the world, by a physical representation, that you are a son of God, (this can also be looked at as "living the text"; which is what Jesus did, are we not to model Him?) set aside, as the people of the "law".
There are about 80,000 words in the Hebrew language, compared with about 600,000 words in the English. So, a lot of times, Hebrew words would have multiple meanings; for example: using the CJB, it is more specific as to where the tassels (tzitzit) were located; the corners.
One meaning for the corners where the tassels were located was as described in #'s 1 and 2; and this is a physical representation.
The other meaning is spiritual; and means wings. When one followed God's law, He was under His wings. When one is under the "wings" of God, they are being provided with safety, protection, and blessings.
Said another way, the corners (tzitzit) remind us of the law AND to obey the law, they (the tzitzit) are physical, we can see them. They remind us of our statement of our will to be set apart from the world; to keep close together our "say" and "do". This being a cause, the effect would then be that we would be provided with safety, protection, and blessings; because, our words and sentences match our actions; which puts us under the "wings" of God.
If we don't obey the law, we lose that protection, safety, and blessing. So when we see the tzitzit, it reminds us of the law (physical) and encourages us to be obediant, so as to get back under the "wings" of God (spiritual).
The tassels on the corner (tzitzit) are a statement they are Jews AND that they are following the law. (This is totally lost in our English translations.) Let's look at some examples...
I Samual 24
"1 And it came to pass, when Saul was returned from following the Philistines, that it was told him, saying, Behold, David is in the wilderness of En-gedi.
2 Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and went to seek David and his men upon the rocks of the wild goats.
3 And he came to the sheepcotes by the way, where was a cave; and Saul went in to cover his feet. Now David and his men were abiding in the innermost parts of the cave.
4 And the men of David said unto him, Behold, the day of which Jehovah said unto thee, Behold, I will deliver thine enemy into thy hand, and thou shalt do to him as it shall seem good unto thee. Then David arose, and cut off the skirt of Saul's robe privily."
Now in the CJB:
"1 When Sha'ul returned from pursuing the P'lishtim, he was told that David was in the desert at 'Ein-Gedi.
2 Sha'ul took three thousand men chosen from all Isra'el and went searching for David and his men on the cliffs where the mountain goats are.
3 Near some sheep pens along the way was a cave, and Sha'ul went inside to relieve himself. It happened that David and his men were sitting in the recesses at the back of the cave;
4 and David's men said to him, "Look! The day has come that ADONAI told you about when he said to you, 'I will turn your enemy over to you, and you will do to him whatever seems good to you.'"Then David stole over unobserved and cut off the corner of Sha'ul's cloak."
(ASV) "Then David arose, and cut off the skirt of Saul's robe privily."
(CJB) "Then David stole over unobserved and cut off the corner of Sha'ul's cloak."
The first thing to be noticed is the specificity of what David cut off. The "skirt" vs the "corner". In the CJB, we now know the corner is specific to the tzitzit, and we know the importance of the physical and spiritual represantation of it, based off of the passage from Numbers.
Second, the verse preceding tells a story also. David was told "Look! The day has come that ADONAI told you about when he said to you, 'I will turn your enemy over to you, and you will do to him whatever seems good to you.'" Davids' immediate response was NOT to kill him!...but to instead show him that he COULD have, by cutting off his tzitzit with Saul being unaware! This appears to be the right thing to do, but, surprise!!!! David immediately feels guilty!
(ASV)
"5 And it came to pass afterward, that David's heart smote him, because he had cut off Saul's skirt.
6 And he said unto his men, Jehovah forbid that I should do this thing unto my lord, Jehovah's anointed, to put forth my hand against him, seeing he is Jehovah's anointed."
(CJB)
"5 But after doing this, David felt remorse over cutting Sha'ul's garment.
6 He said to his men, "ADONAI forbid that I should do such a thing to my lord, ADONAI's anointed, as raise my hand against him! After all, he is ADONAI's anointed."
the fact that David feels guilt immediately shows that David did something wrong. David did not though in fact put forth his hand to Saul. He simply cut off the tzitzit (physical object), which were apart from Saul. david also could have justified his guilt immediately by repeating what God had told him would happen, instead though, he immediately reckonizes what he did was forbidden!
It was commanded of the Jews to have these tzitzit on their cloaks at all times. WHY? Because it was a physical reminder to obediance of the law which results in the safety, protection, and blessings; under the "wings" of God: spiritual. It was a statement of who you are in relation to God.
Who is David to judge wether or not Saul is under Gods' wings or not?
Once one is not under Gods' safety and protection, this could certainly mean death, right?
David could say, because Saul was actively trying to kill him, that Saul was not following the law anyway, right?
And by cutting off Sauls' "tzitzit" (physical), David in essence has just, "clipped his wings" (spiritual). Is this Davids' job to perform, against Gods' annointed?
Without a Jewish account (corner vs skirt) and a Jewish persepective (physical and spiritual meaning behind an object we don't even realize is there) the real meaning behind this text is completely lost.
"16 After David had finished speaking to Sha'ul, Sha'ul said, "Is that your voice, my son David?" Then Sha'ul cried out and wept;"
The physical description of WHY Saul cried out and wept is listed in the text. However, from a Jewish perspective, it goes much deeper. Saul realizes what has been done to him. He has in fact had his wings clipped, and he weeps; but does he confess and repent?
MESSIANIC PROPHECY
Malachi 4
"2 But unto you that fear my name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in its wings;"
(CJB)
"2 But to you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings;"
This is messianic prophecy. Picture how the Jewish people see this...
They are reminded, when seeing the tzitzit, to obey the law. By obeying the law they are protected and blessed; they are under the wings of God. Knowing this text, they also believe that obeying the law, keeps you under the wings; and the wings (of the sun of righteousness) will have healing in its wings; which is the tzitzit, which is the corner, which is the hem of the messiah's garment (which has no meaning to us without a Jewish background and perspective).
Let's look at Luke's account of the "second story"
Luke 4
"43 And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, who had spent all her living upon physicians, and could not be healed of any,
44 came behind him, and touched the border of his garment: and immediately the issue of her blood stanched."
(CJB)
"43 a woman who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years, and could not be healed by anyone,
44 came up behind him and touched the tzitzit on his robe; instantly her hemorrhaging stopped."
Two points:
1. This woman KNEW the scripture!!!!!!
She knew their wasn't healing just in any tzitzit, but in the tzitzit of the Messiah only!
2. This woman was INTENTIONAL and DIRECT!!!!!
She went right after it, in a crowd, KNOWING that if she just touched the tzitzit of Jesus she would be healed.
3. She was making a Messianic statement by her actions, proving Jesus was the Messiah. WHY? Because by merely touching his tzitzit, she was healed; and this is what the scripture taught! (So this is actually another account of Jesus fulfilling prophecy! He had healing in his "wings"!)
(Thanks to Dave for that explanation! Now, we let's conclude this "second story"...)
"22 But Jesus turning and seeing her said, Daughter, be of good cheer; thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour."
(I have written about this before: the explanation in Mark's Account describes Jesus asking, "Who touched Me?" because Jesus felt virtue flow out of Him. Let's look at Luke's account...)
("45 And Jesus said, Who is it that touched me? And when all denied, Peter said, and they that were with him, Master, the multitudes press thee and crush thee.
46 But Jesus said, Some one did touch me; for I perceived that power had gone forth from me.
47 And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling, and falling down before him declared in the presence of all the people for what cause she touched him, and how she was healed immediately.
48 And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace.")
(In Luke's account, the woman was trembling. WHY? Trembling comes as an effect of finding out she was NOT hid. So, she was attempting to hide herself, but was still found. WHY did she want to hide herself?)
(Her having an issue of blood would make her unclean. Her touching ANYONE in the crowd would make them unclean. The thought here is that she was probably trying to hide herself because people wouldn't let her near the crowd (or Jesus) if they knew about her problem.)
(The Offensive Spiritual Warfare was successful. We have seen that Offensive Spiritual Warfare requires faith on the part of BOTH the person doing the Offensive Spiritual Warfare and the person receiving the benefit. This passage states that the woman did her part intentionally, EVEN THOUGH she didn't SAY any Words outloud AND tried to stay hidden. EVERYTHING she did was an attempt to PREVENT others from knowing. How did Jesus do His part WITHOUT being aware of it?)
(Jesus MUST have ALWAYS been WILLING to do His part! What SPECIFICALLY is "His part"?)
(During this Series, we paused to get background on Spiritual Warfare. At the end of the post concluding this background on Spiritual Warfare, we saw that what we ought to be practicing is drawing on God through others AND having others draw on God through us. This is what Jesus did here. Jesus was completely open to people drawing on God through Him ALL THE TIME. After all, He is PERFECT. Jesus got Himself out of the way, better than anyone who ever lived, so that God could flow through Him COMPLETELY. According to Mark, Jesus was specifically aware that virtue had flowed from Him.)
SUMMARY
I believe Jesus did numerous examples of Offensive Spiritual Warfare. I believe Matthew documented the ones that were unique FOR OUR BENEFIT. This example of the woman with the issue of blood WIDENED the Doctrine of Offensive Spiritual Warfare.
It involved a case where the woman attempted to hide her objective. She did NOT SPEAK any Words to prove her faith...she THOUGHT the Words. She attempted to hide her presence, yet her actions PROVED she had faith. Spiritual Warfare consists of THOUGHTS and WORDS...and the success depends on faith. Jesus said, "Daughter, be of good cheer; thy faith hath made thee whole."
This "second story" is "hidden" within the "first story". In fact, everything about this story attempts to stay hidden. Jesus recognized this unique "manifestation" of faith and the resulting Offensive Spiritual Warfare was successful.
Tomorrow, we will conclude the "first story"...
Next Post
Jesus said that you can't put new Doctrine into a person with an old Doctrine mentality...it would burst them.
Sinners are more flexible (new wineskins) than people who are convinced they are righteous (old wineskins). Sinners are more accepting of new Doctrine. Jesus said He came to reach the sinners, not the righteous.
Jesus consistently reinforced His goal from the beginning of His Premiere Teaching: WIDEN Doctrine.
The following section is a "nested story". Matthew began to tell of one example of Offensive Spiritual Warfare, however, before that story finished, a second story about Offensive Spiritual Warfare is told from beginning to end...before finishing the first story. I will only cover the second story in this post...then follow up with the first story in tomorrow's post.
MATTHEW 9:18-22
"18 While he spake these things unto them, behold, there came a ruler, and worshipped him, saying, My daughter is even now dead: but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live.
19 And Jesus arose, and followed him, and so did his disciples."
(This is the first story. The second story begins WHILE they were on their way to finishing the first story...)
"20 And behold, a woman, who had an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the border of his garment:
21 for she said within herself, If I do but touch his garment, I shall be made whole."
(First, the woman demonstrated her faith with an IF/THEN statement. The woman stated her will by actually touching Jesus' garment. Notice, this statement of her will was done WITHIN herself...no Words were spoken. However, the effects of her faith (actions) PROVED that she did have faith.)
(Second, we need to understand the significance of "the border of his garment". I have two options here, I can give a Big Picture explanation and wait for Dave Taube to give a much better explanation in the comments section OR I can just let Dave Taube give the explanation now. Here is Dave's explanation...)
DAVE TAUBE EXPLANATION
Numbers 15
"37 And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying,
38 Speak unto the children of Israel, and bid them that they make them fringes in the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of each border a cord of blue:
39 and it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of Jehovah, and do them; and that ye follow not after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to play the harlot;
40 that ye may remember and do all my commandments, and be holy unto your God."
Let's look at this passage from the Complete Jewish Bible (CJB)
"37 ADONAI said to Moshe,
38 Speak to the people of Isra'el, instructing them to make, through all their generations, tzitziyot on the corners of their garments, and to put with the tzitzit on each corner a blue thread.
39 It is to be a tzitzit for you to look at and thereby remember all of ADONAI's mitzvot and obey them, so that you won't go around wherever your own heart and eyes lead you to prostitute yourselves;
40 but it will help you remember and obey all my mitzvot and be holy for your God."
"tzitziyot" is plural for "tzitzit" (tassel).
This passage is talking specifically of the tzitzit on the corners, not just the tzitzit running along the entire edge. There are tassels running along the entire hem of the garment, but it is just on the corners where the blue thread is tied into the tassel and is longer than the rest of the tassels.
The purpose of these tassels:
1. A physical reminder reminder of the law. It is there for you to look at SO THAT you remember AND do all the commandments of God; also so that you won't go around following YOUR heart and eyes, selling yourself to the world.
2. A statement of your will to the world, by a physical representation, that you are a son of God, (this can also be looked at as "living the text"; which is what Jesus did, are we not to model Him?) set aside, as the people of the "law".
There are about 80,000 words in the Hebrew language, compared with about 600,000 words in the English. So, a lot of times, Hebrew words would have multiple meanings; for example: using the CJB, it is more specific as to where the tassels (tzitzit) were located; the corners.
One meaning for the corners where the tassels were located was as described in #'s 1 and 2; and this is a physical representation.
The other meaning is spiritual; and means wings. When one followed God's law, He was under His wings. When one is under the "wings" of God, they are being provided with safety, protection, and blessings.
Said another way, the corners (tzitzit) remind us of the law AND to obey the law, they (the tzitzit) are physical, we can see them. They remind us of our statement of our will to be set apart from the world; to keep close together our "say" and "do". This being a cause, the effect would then be that we would be provided with safety, protection, and blessings; because, our words and sentences match our actions; which puts us under the "wings" of God.
If we don't obey the law, we lose that protection, safety, and blessing. So when we see the tzitzit, it reminds us of the law (physical) and encourages us to be obediant, so as to get back under the "wings" of God (spiritual).
The tassels on the corner (tzitzit) are a statement they are Jews AND that they are following the law. (This is totally lost in our English translations.) Let's look at some examples...
I Samual 24
"1 And it came to pass, when Saul was returned from following the Philistines, that it was told him, saying, Behold, David is in the wilderness of En-gedi.
2 Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and went to seek David and his men upon the rocks of the wild goats.
3 And he came to the sheepcotes by the way, where was a cave; and Saul went in to cover his feet. Now David and his men were abiding in the innermost parts of the cave.
4 And the men of David said unto him, Behold, the day of which Jehovah said unto thee, Behold, I will deliver thine enemy into thy hand, and thou shalt do to him as it shall seem good unto thee. Then David arose, and cut off the skirt of Saul's robe privily."
Now in the CJB:
"1 When Sha'ul returned from pursuing the P'lishtim, he was told that David was in the desert at 'Ein-Gedi.
2 Sha'ul took three thousand men chosen from all Isra'el and went searching for David and his men on the cliffs where the mountain goats are.
3 Near some sheep pens along the way was a cave, and Sha'ul went inside to relieve himself. It happened that David and his men were sitting in the recesses at the back of the cave;
4 and David's men said to him, "Look! The day has come that ADONAI told you about when he said to you, 'I will turn your enemy over to you, and you will do to him whatever seems good to you.'"Then David stole over unobserved and cut off the corner of Sha'ul's cloak."
(ASV) "Then David arose, and cut off the skirt of Saul's robe privily."
(CJB) "Then David stole over unobserved and cut off the corner of Sha'ul's cloak."
The first thing to be noticed is the specificity of what David cut off. The "skirt" vs the "corner". In the CJB, we now know the corner is specific to the tzitzit, and we know the importance of the physical and spiritual represantation of it, based off of the passage from Numbers.
Second, the verse preceding tells a story also. David was told "Look! The day has come that ADONAI told you about when he said to you, 'I will turn your enemy over to you, and you will do to him whatever seems good to you.'" Davids' immediate response was NOT to kill him!...but to instead show him that he COULD have, by cutting off his tzitzit with Saul being unaware! This appears to be the right thing to do, but, surprise!!!! David immediately feels guilty!
(ASV)
"5 And it came to pass afterward, that David's heart smote him, because he had cut off Saul's skirt.
6 And he said unto his men, Jehovah forbid that I should do this thing unto my lord, Jehovah's anointed, to put forth my hand against him, seeing he is Jehovah's anointed."
(CJB)
"5 But after doing this, David felt remorse over cutting Sha'ul's garment.
6 He said to his men, "ADONAI forbid that I should do such a thing to my lord, ADONAI's anointed, as raise my hand against him! After all, he is ADONAI's anointed."
the fact that David feels guilt immediately shows that David did something wrong. David did not though in fact put forth his hand to Saul. He simply cut off the tzitzit (physical object), which were apart from Saul. david also could have justified his guilt immediately by repeating what God had told him would happen, instead though, he immediately reckonizes what he did was forbidden!
It was commanded of the Jews to have these tzitzit on their cloaks at all times. WHY? Because it was a physical reminder to obediance of the law which results in the safety, protection, and blessings; under the "wings" of God: spiritual. It was a statement of who you are in relation to God.
Who is David to judge wether or not Saul is under Gods' wings or not?
Once one is not under Gods' safety and protection, this could certainly mean death, right?
David could say, because Saul was actively trying to kill him, that Saul was not following the law anyway, right?
And by cutting off Sauls' "tzitzit" (physical), David in essence has just, "clipped his wings" (spiritual). Is this Davids' job to perform, against Gods' annointed?
Without a Jewish account (corner vs skirt) and a Jewish persepective (physical and spiritual meaning behind an object we don't even realize is there) the real meaning behind this text is completely lost.
"16 After David had finished speaking to Sha'ul, Sha'ul said, "Is that your voice, my son David?" Then Sha'ul cried out and wept;"
The physical description of WHY Saul cried out and wept is listed in the text. However, from a Jewish perspective, it goes much deeper. Saul realizes what has been done to him. He has in fact had his wings clipped, and he weeps; but does he confess and repent?
MESSIANIC PROPHECY
Malachi 4
"2 But unto you that fear my name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in its wings;"
(CJB)
"2 But to you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings;"
This is messianic prophecy. Picture how the Jewish people see this...
They are reminded, when seeing the tzitzit, to obey the law. By obeying the law they are protected and blessed; they are under the wings of God. Knowing this text, they also believe that obeying the law, keeps you under the wings; and the wings (of the sun of righteousness) will have healing in its wings; which is the tzitzit, which is the corner, which is the hem of the messiah's garment (which has no meaning to us without a Jewish background and perspective).
Let's look at Luke's account of the "second story"
Luke 4
"43 And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, who had spent all her living upon physicians, and could not be healed of any,
44 came behind him, and touched the border of his garment: and immediately the issue of her blood stanched."
(CJB)
"43 a woman who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years, and could not be healed by anyone,
44 came up behind him and touched the tzitzit on his robe; instantly her hemorrhaging stopped."
Two points:
1. This woman KNEW the scripture!!!!!!
She knew their wasn't healing just in any tzitzit, but in the tzitzit of the Messiah only!
2. This woman was INTENTIONAL and DIRECT!!!!!
She went right after it, in a crowd, KNOWING that if she just touched the tzitzit of Jesus she would be healed.
3. She was making a Messianic statement by her actions, proving Jesus was the Messiah. WHY? Because by merely touching his tzitzit, she was healed; and this is what the scripture taught! (So this is actually another account of Jesus fulfilling prophecy! He had healing in his "wings"!)
(Thanks to Dave for that explanation! Now, we let's conclude this "second story"...)
"22 But Jesus turning and seeing her said, Daughter, be of good cheer; thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour."
(I have written about this before: the explanation in Mark's Account describes Jesus asking, "Who touched Me?" because Jesus felt virtue flow out of Him. Let's look at Luke's account...)
("45 And Jesus said, Who is it that touched me? And when all denied, Peter said, and they that were with him, Master, the multitudes press thee and crush thee.
46 But Jesus said, Some one did touch me; for I perceived that power had gone forth from me.
47 And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling, and falling down before him declared in the presence of all the people for what cause she touched him, and how she was healed immediately.
48 And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace.")
(In Luke's account, the woman was trembling. WHY? Trembling comes as an effect of finding out she was NOT hid. So, she was attempting to hide herself, but was still found. WHY did she want to hide herself?)
(Her having an issue of blood would make her unclean. Her touching ANYONE in the crowd would make them unclean. The thought here is that she was probably trying to hide herself because people wouldn't let her near the crowd (or Jesus) if they knew about her problem.)
(The Offensive Spiritual Warfare was successful. We have seen that Offensive Spiritual Warfare requires faith on the part of BOTH the person doing the Offensive Spiritual Warfare and the person receiving the benefit. This passage states that the woman did her part intentionally, EVEN THOUGH she didn't SAY any Words outloud AND tried to stay hidden. EVERYTHING she did was an attempt to PREVENT others from knowing. How did Jesus do His part WITHOUT being aware of it?)
(Jesus MUST have ALWAYS been WILLING to do His part! What SPECIFICALLY is "His part"?)
(During this Series, we paused to get background on Spiritual Warfare. At the end of the post concluding this background on Spiritual Warfare, we saw that what we ought to be practicing is drawing on God through others AND having others draw on God through us. This is what Jesus did here. Jesus was completely open to people drawing on God through Him ALL THE TIME. After all, He is PERFECT. Jesus got Himself out of the way, better than anyone who ever lived, so that God could flow through Him COMPLETELY. According to Mark, Jesus was specifically aware that virtue had flowed from Him.)
SUMMARY
I believe Jesus did numerous examples of Offensive Spiritual Warfare. I believe Matthew documented the ones that were unique FOR OUR BENEFIT. This example of the woman with the issue of blood WIDENED the Doctrine of Offensive Spiritual Warfare.
It involved a case where the woman attempted to hide her objective. She did NOT SPEAK any Words to prove her faith...she THOUGHT the Words. She attempted to hide her presence, yet her actions PROVED she had faith. Spiritual Warfare consists of THOUGHTS and WORDS...and the success depends on faith. Jesus said, "Daughter, be of good cheer; thy faith hath made thee whole."
This "second story" is "hidden" within the "first story". In fact, everything about this story attempts to stay hidden. Jesus recognized this unique "manifestation" of faith and the resulting Offensive Spiritual Warfare was successful.
Tomorrow, we will conclude the "first story"...
Next Post
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Matthew 9:14-17
This month's Series is on The Gospel According to Matthew. On Monday, we began the section of chapters from Matthew that focus on Offensive Spiritual Warfare. The previous post covered Matthew 9:9-13. Here is the summary:
In this short passage, we get the story of HOW/WHY Jesus called a disciple (Matthew) who was seen as a sinner from the Jewish perspective...and Jesus invited Questions and used the opportunity to teach Doctrine.
MATTHEW 9:14-17
"14 Then come to him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not?"
(John the Baptist was a Semikah Rabbi. John's students were asking Jesus WHY John's students and the Pharisees fast, yet Jesus' students DO NOT fast. Jesus' students did not fast. They did not APPEAR to be religious and other religious people wondered about this. However, John's students ASKED JESUS, instead of bad-mouthing Jesus' students...like the Pharisees did. When people bad-mouth others AND rationalize WHY they don't need to get understanding from the people they are bad-mouthing, these people are proving they are Pharisees...they are NOT believers.)
"15 And Jesus said unto them, Can the sons of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then will they fast."
(Jesus, in true Semikah fashion, answered the Question with a Question...then told John's students that His students will eventually mourn and fast. It's as if Jesus was TEACHING John's students a lesson on Justice: "NO ONE gets away with anything.")
(Also, Modeling God's Wills focuses on this and other verses that allude to the Meaning of Life. Jesus is the Bridegoom. The Church is the Bride...we make up the Bride. The Church spends eternity being married to Jesus. Jesus called HIMSELF the Bridegroom. Again, Jesus WIDENED the Doctrine...this time to point us to the Meaning of Life.)
"16 And no man putteth a piece of undressed cloth upon an old garment; for that which should fill it up taketh from the garment, and a worse rent is made.
17 Neither do men put new wine into old wine-skins: else the skins burst, and the wine is spilled, and the skins perish: but they put new wine into fresh wine-skins, and both are preserved."
(Jesus was speaking SPECIFICALLY about DOCTRINE!)
(The old wine was old Doctrine.)
(The new wine was new Doctrine.)
(The wineskin was the person...)
(Old wineskins were more rigid than new wineskins. Old wine was fermenting at a slower rate. Wine is not a static beverage. There are chemical reactions occurring all the time. The rate of these reactions slow down over time. New wine is changing at a great rate.)
SUMMARY
Jesus was saying that you can't put new Doctrine into a person with an old Doctrine mentality...it would burst them.
Sinners were more flexible (new wineskins) than people who were convinced they were righteous (old wineskins). Sinners were more accepting of new Doctrine. Jesus said He came to reach the sinners, not the righteous.
Jesus consistently reinforced His goal from the beginning of His Premiere Teaching: WIDEN Doctrine.
Next Post
In this short passage, we get the story of HOW/WHY Jesus called a disciple (Matthew) who was seen as a sinner from the Jewish perspective...and Jesus invited Questions and used the opportunity to teach Doctrine.
MATTHEW 9:14-17
"14 Then come to him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not?"
(John the Baptist was a Semikah Rabbi. John's students were asking Jesus WHY John's students and the Pharisees fast, yet Jesus' students DO NOT fast. Jesus' students did not fast. They did not APPEAR to be religious and other religious people wondered about this. However, John's students ASKED JESUS, instead of bad-mouthing Jesus' students...like the Pharisees did. When people bad-mouth others AND rationalize WHY they don't need to get understanding from the people they are bad-mouthing, these people are proving they are Pharisees...they are NOT believers.)
"15 And Jesus said unto them, Can the sons of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then will they fast."
(Jesus, in true Semikah fashion, answered the Question with a Question...then told John's students that His students will eventually mourn and fast. It's as if Jesus was TEACHING John's students a lesson on Justice: "NO ONE gets away with anything.")
(Also, Modeling God's Wills focuses on this and other verses that allude to the Meaning of Life. Jesus is the Bridegoom. The Church is the Bride...we make up the Bride. The Church spends eternity being married to Jesus. Jesus called HIMSELF the Bridegroom. Again, Jesus WIDENED the Doctrine...this time to point us to the Meaning of Life.)
"16 And no man putteth a piece of undressed cloth upon an old garment; for that which should fill it up taketh from the garment, and a worse rent is made.
17 Neither do men put new wine into old wine-skins: else the skins burst, and the wine is spilled, and the skins perish: but they put new wine into fresh wine-skins, and both are preserved."
(Jesus was speaking SPECIFICALLY about DOCTRINE!)
(The old wine was old Doctrine.)
(The new wine was new Doctrine.)
(The wineskin was the person...)
(Old wineskins were more rigid than new wineskins. Old wine was fermenting at a slower rate. Wine is not a static beverage. There are chemical reactions occurring all the time. The rate of these reactions slow down over time. New wine is changing at a great rate.)
SUMMARY
Jesus was saying that you can't put new Doctrine into a person with an old Doctrine mentality...it would burst them.
Sinners were more flexible (new wineskins) than people who were convinced they were righteous (old wineskins). Sinners were more accepting of new Doctrine. Jesus said He came to reach the sinners, not the righteous.
Jesus consistently reinforced His goal from the beginning of His Premiere Teaching: WIDEN Doctrine.
Next Post
Monday, February 22, 2010
Matthew 9:9-13
This month's Series is on The Gospel According to Matthew. On Monday, we began the section of chapters from Matthew that focus on Offensive Spiritual Warfare. The previous post covered the beginning of Matthew chapter 9 (Matthew 9:1-8). Here is the summary:
Jesus successfully performed Offensive Spiritual Warfare, He showed that He had AUTHORITY to forgive sins, and the MULTITUDES were AFRAID AND glorified God BECAUSE they recognized that God was the source. Jesus continually made sure people knew God was the source, NOT Him.
This unique and complex example had Jesus performing Offensive Spiritual Warfare TWICE and teaching the Torah Teachers and multitudes that Jesus had AUTHORITY to forgive sins.
MATTHEW 9:9-13
"9 And as Jesus passed by from thence, he saw a man, called Matthew, sitting at the place of toll: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him."
(This is a strange verse from the standpoint that Matthew was writing about himself. Tradition says Matthew worked for his dad who was a tax collector. "place of toll" means "tax collection booth". Matthew was handling money which would make him ritually unclean according to the Jewish religious leaders of the time. The money had Caesar's image on it and Caesar was seen as a god. So, handling Roman money would be seen as idolatry.)
"10 And it came to pass, as he sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with Jesus and his disciples."
("publicans" were "tax collectors". So, Matthew invited his work friends when Jesus and His disciples came over to eat.)
"11 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Teacher with the publicans and sinners?"
(The Pharisees were focused on appearance. The Pharisees asked the Question of Jesus disciples. Notice that the Pharisees refer to Jesus as "Teacher"...even the Pharisees recognized Jesus as a Rabbi!)
"12 But when he heard it, he said, They that are whole have no need of a physician, but they that are sick."
(Jesus answered the Question. Jesus was introducing Doctrine with His response. Jesus called Himself a "physician" AND recognized the people He was eating with were "sick". Again, Jesus didn't come to do away with the Law or deny the condition people were in. Jesus came to fulfill the Law. Jesus came to fulfill the promise of the dispensation of the Law...of helping people. In fact, He was going to "help" the Pharisees next...)
"13 But go ye and learn what this meaneth, I desire mercy, and not sacrifice, for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners."
(Hosea 6:6 says: "6 For I desire goodness, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt-offerings.")
(I wrote about this in Modeling God, so here is the short version: Sacrifice means "to kill flesh". It is possible to be "good" through stop doing the bad things because the hope is that only good things can come out. However, the best way to be "Righteous/good" is grace...having God flow through you...being at Fellowship with God...which is KNOWING God.)
(Notice, Jesus was telling the Pharisees that they ought to go and LEARN WHAT THIS MEANS before giving them the Scripture. Then Jesus linked the Scripture with His reason (WHY) for what He did (HOW) by eating with the sinners: Jesus came to call the sinners!)
SUMMARY
In this short passage, we get the story of HOW/WHY Jesus called a disciple (Matthew) who was seen as a sinner from the Jewish perspective...and Jesus invited Questions and used the opportunity to teach Doctrine.
Next Post
Jesus successfully performed Offensive Spiritual Warfare, He showed that He had AUTHORITY to forgive sins, and the MULTITUDES were AFRAID AND glorified God BECAUSE they recognized that God was the source. Jesus continually made sure people knew God was the source, NOT Him.
This unique and complex example had Jesus performing Offensive Spiritual Warfare TWICE and teaching the Torah Teachers and multitudes that Jesus had AUTHORITY to forgive sins.
MATTHEW 9:9-13
"9 And as Jesus passed by from thence, he saw a man, called Matthew, sitting at the place of toll: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him."
(This is a strange verse from the standpoint that Matthew was writing about himself. Tradition says Matthew worked for his dad who was a tax collector. "place of toll" means "tax collection booth". Matthew was handling money which would make him ritually unclean according to the Jewish religious leaders of the time. The money had Caesar's image on it and Caesar was seen as a god. So, handling Roman money would be seen as idolatry.)
"10 And it came to pass, as he sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with Jesus and his disciples."
("publicans" were "tax collectors". So, Matthew invited his work friends when Jesus and His disciples came over to eat.)
"11 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Teacher with the publicans and sinners?"
(The Pharisees were focused on appearance. The Pharisees asked the Question of Jesus disciples. Notice that the Pharisees refer to Jesus as "Teacher"...even the Pharisees recognized Jesus as a Rabbi!)
"12 But when he heard it, he said, They that are whole have no need of a physician, but they that are sick."
(Jesus answered the Question. Jesus was introducing Doctrine with His response. Jesus called Himself a "physician" AND recognized the people He was eating with were "sick". Again, Jesus didn't come to do away with the Law or deny the condition people were in. Jesus came to fulfill the Law. Jesus came to fulfill the promise of the dispensation of the Law...of helping people. In fact, He was going to "help" the Pharisees next...)
"13 But go ye and learn what this meaneth, I desire mercy, and not sacrifice, for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners."
(Hosea 6:6 says: "6 For I desire goodness, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt-offerings.")
(I wrote about this in Modeling God, so here is the short version: Sacrifice means "to kill flesh". It is possible to be "good" through stop doing the bad things because the hope is that only good things can come out. However, the best way to be "Righteous/good" is grace...having God flow through you...being at Fellowship with God...which is KNOWING God.)
(Notice, Jesus was telling the Pharisees that they ought to go and LEARN WHAT THIS MEANS before giving them the Scripture. Then Jesus linked the Scripture with His reason (WHY) for what He did (HOW) by eating with the sinners: Jesus came to call the sinners!)
SUMMARY
In this short passage, we get the story of HOW/WHY Jesus called a disciple (Matthew) who was seen as a sinner from the Jewish perspective...and Jesus invited Questions and used the opportunity to teach Doctrine.
Next Post
Friday, February 19, 2010
Matthew 9:1-8
This month's Series is on The Gospel According to Matthew. On Monday, we began the section of chapters from Matthew that focus on Offensive Spiritual Warfare. We concluded Matthew chapter 8 by covering Matthew 8:28-34 in the previous post. Here is the summary:
Matthew had given us another unique example of Offensive Spiritual Warfare that fits the three-step model!
1. Jesus made a Statement concerning the demons.
2. Jesus stated a will for the demons.
3. The Statement was successful because of Jesus' faith and the faith (exhibited by the request) of the demons.
Matthew chapter 8 is an example of what happens to Christians as they grow in maturity. They are in demand until they demonstrate all their ability...and then they are shunned. Jesus was NOT getting people to shun Him by being evil or doing ANYTHING wrong. Jesus showed us the ULTIMATE way to get shunned was to be Profitable...to be Excellent. Don't miss this HUGE lesson. If you don't get this point, you will miss out on what Jesus was doing for the rest of His Ministry.
Matthew chapter 8 gave us straightforward examples of Jesus doing Offensive Spiritual Warfare. We have also looked in detail at the enemy's method of Spiritual Warfare, and the Armor of God. Now we can begin Matthew chapter 9 and look at more complicated examples of Spiritual Warfare...
MATTHEW 9:1-8
"1 And he entered into a boat, and crossed over, and came into his own city."
(Remember, Jesus was asked to leave at the end of Chapter 8. So, Jesus left. In fact, He went to HIS OWN CITY.)
"2 And behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, be of good cheer; thy sins are forgiven."
(This is Offensive Spiritual Warfare. Jesus saw their faith and Jesus had faith. Jesus made a statement of His Will FOR the sick person.)
"3 And behold, certain of the scribes said within themselves, This man blasphemeth."
(Remember, "scribes" means "Torah teachers". These people said this WITHIN themselves. They judged Jesus as a blasphemer.)
"4 And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?"
(Jesus KNEW their thoughts...sounds like He could see the trees in their brain. Then Jesus asked a question and it focused on THINKING evil in your HEART.)
"5 For which is easier, to say, Thy sins are forgiven; or to say, Arise, and walk?"
(Jesus followed up His Question that reached a conclusion with a REASON ("For...")...and this REASON was still presented in Question form. Jesus was illustrating that if it was harder to Physically heal someone than forgive sins, then if He healed this man, He MUST be able to forgive sins!)
"6 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath authority on earth to forgive sins (then saith he to the sick of the palsy), Arise, and take up thy bed, and go up unto thy house."
(Jesus gave a REASON ("But that ye may know...) to the previous Question! Then Jesus AGAIN performed Offensive Spiritual Warfare. Jesus stated His Will for the sick man.)
"7 And he arose, and departed to his house.
8 But when the multitudes saw it, they were afraid, and glorified God, who had given such authority unto men."
SUMMARY
Jesus successfully performed Offensive Spiritual Warfare, He showed that He had AUTHORITY to forgive sins, and the MULTITUDES were AFRAID AND glorified God BECAUSE they recognized that God was the source. Jesus continually made sure people knew God was the source, NOT Him.
This unique and complex example had Jesus performing Offensive Spiritual Warfare TWICE and teaching the Torah Teachers and multitudes that Jesus had AUTHORITY to forgive sins.
Next Post
Matthew had given us another unique example of Offensive Spiritual Warfare that fits the three-step model!
1. Jesus made a Statement concerning the demons.
2. Jesus stated a will for the demons.
3. The Statement was successful because of Jesus' faith and the faith (exhibited by the request) of the demons.
Matthew chapter 8 is an example of what happens to Christians as they grow in maturity. They are in demand until they demonstrate all their ability...and then they are shunned. Jesus was NOT getting people to shun Him by being evil or doing ANYTHING wrong. Jesus showed us the ULTIMATE way to get shunned was to be Profitable...to be Excellent. Don't miss this HUGE lesson. If you don't get this point, you will miss out on what Jesus was doing for the rest of His Ministry.
Matthew chapter 8 gave us straightforward examples of Jesus doing Offensive Spiritual Warfare. We have also looked in detail at the enemy's method of Spiritual Warfare, and the Armor of God. Now we can begin Matthew chapter 9 and look at more complicated examples of Spiritual Warfare...
MATTHEW 9:1-8
"1 And he entered into a boat, and crossed over, and came into his own city."
(Remember, Jesus was asked to leave at the end of Chapter 8. So, Jesus left. In fact, He went to HIS OWN CITY.)
"2 And behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, be of good cheer; thy sins are forgiven."
(This is Offensive Spiritual Warfare. Jesus saw their faith and Jesus had faith. Jesus made a statement of His Will FOR the sick person.)
"3 And behold, certain of the scribes said within themselves, This man blasphemeth."
(Remember, "scribes" means "Torah teachers". These people said this WITHIN themselves. They judged Jesus as a blasphemer.)
"4 And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?"
(Jesus KNEW their thoughts...sounds like He could see the trees in their brain. Then Jesus asked a question and it focused on THINKING evil in your HEART.)
"5 For which is easier, to say, Thy sins are forgiven; or to say, Arise, and walk?"
(Jesus followed up His Question that reached a conclusion with a REASON ("For...")...and this REASON was still presented in Question form. Jesus was illustrating that if it was harder to Physically heal someone than forgive sins, then if He healed this man, He MUST be able to forgive sins!)
"6 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath authority on earth to forgive sins (then saith he to the sick of the palsy), Arise, and take up thy bed, and go up unto thy house."
(Jesus gave a REASON ("But that ye may know...) to the previous Question! Then Jesus AGAIN performed Offensive Spiritual Warfare. Jesus stated His Will for the sick man.)
"7 And he arose, and departed to his house.
8 But when the multitudes saw it, they were afraid, and glorified God, who had given such authority unto men."
SUMMARY
Jesus successfully performed Offensive Spiritual Warfare, He showed that He had AUTHORITY to forgive sins, and the MULTITUDES were AFRAID AND glorified God BECAUSE they recognized that God was the source. Jesus continually made sure people knew God was the source, NOT Him.
This unique and complex example had Jesus performing Offensive Spiritual Warfare TWICE and teaching the Torah Teachers and multitudes that Jesus had AUTHORITY to forgive sins.
Next Post
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Matthew 8:28-34
This month's Series is on The Gospel According to Matthew. On Monday, we began the section of chapters from Matthew that focus on Offensive Spiritual Warfare. We covered Matthew 8:23-27 in the previous post. Here is the summary:
Matthew 8 begins the section of chapters dealing with Spiritual Warfare.
Remember, the Profitable way to do Offensive Spiritual Warfare is:
1. The participant makes a Statement in which the object of the Spiritual Warfare is the subject of the Statement.
2. The participant states a will for something that is unable to state a will or act apart from its nature. This involves illness, weather, and animals.
3. The effectiveness of the Statement depends on the faith (understanding and experience) of the person making the Statement.
So far in Matthew 8, we've seen Jesus deal with illness in all types of people:
-the Israelite leper
-a non-Israelite (centurion's servant)
-a relative of one of His disciples (Peter's mother-in-law)
-numerous people of various illnesses until the multitudes were overtaking Him
In yesterday's post, Jesus did a different type of Offensive Spiritual Warfare...He spoke to the weather. All that is left is Offensive Spiritual Warfare involving animals...
MATTHEW 8:28-34
"28 And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gadarenes, there met him two possessed with demons, coming forth out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man could pass by that way.
29 And behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?"
(The men with the demons asked Jesus Questions!!! Notice, the demons mentioned that Jesus is the Son of God in their Question. They were NOT speaking a Truth because it was NOT a Statement. It was a Question. They were stating a fact. The reality was they knew Jesus is the Son of God, however, they had already been judged and couldn't change their nature.)
(What was Jesus going to do? Was He going to torment the demon? Was He going to extend mercy? Was He going to silence the demon like He did in every other example? Was He going to talk to the demon?)
"30 Now there was afar off from them a herd of many swine feeding.
31 And the demons besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, send us away into the herd of swine."
(The demons besought Jesus that they would be sent away into the herd of swine. What an odd statement. Were they bargaining with Jesus? Did they think Jesus would do what they asked? WHY couldn't the demons just go into the swine themselves? Notice, they posed this fact with an IF. Spiritual Warfare is done with Words and Sentences. Don't lose the lesson by ignoring HOW the information was being exchanged!)
(It looks to me like demons have a preference...they can make choices...however, they could NOT make this choice happen...they were unable to go into the swine. In fact, it looks like they were unable to leave the man's body...otherwise, they could have left and gone into the swine on their own. I believe these demons were unable to do something apart from their nature because they had been judged. It was NOT in their nature to NOT torment someone...to leave someone willingly.)
"32 And he said unto them, Go. And they came out, and went into the swine: and behold, the whole herd rushed down the steep into the sea, and perished in the waters."
(The demons stated their will AND were unable to accomplish it. They needed Jesus' help. Jesus agreed with the demons by stating GO. AGAIN it was a statement of the will over a demon that made up Offensive Spiritual Warfare.)
(Two quick thoughts: First, there must have been a lot of demons to inhabit a herd of swine. Second, either the pigs didn't want to live with unclean spirits in them or the pigs' death allowed the spirits to be free to roam in the same country. I don't think I have enough information to state a definitive answer. Also, Jesus could state a will that involved the swine because animals don't have a will.)
"33 And they that fed them fled, and went away into the city, and told everything, and what was befallen to them that were possessed with demons.
34 And behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus: and when they saw him, they besought him that he would depart from their borders."
(This chapter traces an interesting story arc...this chapter shows Jesus practicing Offensive Spiritual Warfare over illness, weather, and animals...the entire range. The chapter began with Jesus being in demand AND GROWING IN DEMAND throughout the chapter...UNTIL the last example. Then Jesus was being shunned! Notice, when Jesus was successful at Spiritual Warfare, observers got in fear.)
"18 And as he was entering into the boat, he that had been possessed with demons besought him that he might be with him.
19 And he suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go to thy house unto thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and how he had mercy on thee.
20 And he went his way, and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him: and all men marvelled."
(Jesus dissuaded someone from following Him. In fact, Jesus told him to tell everyone what the Lord had done for him...and the man did it. He PUBLISHED his story and ALL men marvelled. This was the first instance, that I'm aware, of a person publishing his story of how he overcame his personal struggles with the help of the Lord.)
SUMMARY
Matthew has given us another unique example of Offensive Spiritual Warfare that fits the three-step model!
1. Jesus made a Statement concerning the demons.
2. Jesus stated a will for the demons.
3. The Statement was successful because of Jesus' faith and the faith (exhibited by the request) of the demons.
Matthew chapter 8 is an example of what happens to Christians as they grow in maturity. They are in demand until they demonstrate all their ability...and then they are shunned.
Jesus was NOT getting people to shun Him by being evil or doing ANYTHING wrong. Jesus showed us the ULTIMATE way to get shunned is to be Profitable...to be Excellent. Don't miss this HUGE lesson. If you don't get this point, you will miss out on what Jesus was doing for the rest of His Ministry.
Matthew chapter 8 gave us straightforward examples of Jesus doing Offensive Spiritual Warfare. We have also looked in detail at the enemy's method of Spiritual Warfare, and the Armor of God.
Tomorrow, we will begin Matthew chapter 9 and look at more complicated examples of Spiritual Warfare...
Next Post
Matthew 8 begins the section of chapters dealing with Spiritual Warfare.
Remember, the Profitable way to do Offensive Spiritual Warfare is:
1. The participant makes a Statement in which the object of the Spiritual Warfare is the subject of the Statement.
2. The participant states a will for something that is unable to state a will or act apart from its nature. This involves illness, weather, and animals.
3. The effectiveness of the Statement depends on the faith (understanding and experience) of the person making the Statement.
So far in Matthew 8, we've seen Jesus deal with illness in all types of people:
-the Israelite leper
-a non-Israelite (centurion's servant)
-a relative of one of His disciples (Peter's mother-in-law)
-numerous people of various illnesses until the multitudes were overtaking Him
In yesterday's post, Jesus did a different type of Offensive Spiritual Warfare...He spoke to the weather. All that is left is Offensive Spiritual Warfare involving animals...
MATTHEW 8:28-34
"28 And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gadarenes, there met him two possessed with demons, coming forth out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man could pass by that way.
29 And behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?"
(The men with the demons asked Jesus Questions!!! Notice, the demons mentioned that Jesus is the Son of God in their Question. They were NOT speaking a Truth because it was NOT a Statement. It was a Question. They were stating a fact. The reality was they knew Jesus is the Son of God, however, they had already been judged and couldn't change their nature.)
(What was Jesus going to do? Was He going to torment the demon? Was He going to extend mercy? Was He going to silence the demon like He did in every other example? Was He going to talk to the demon?)
"30 Now there was afar off from them a herd of many swine feeding.
31 And the demons besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, send us away into the herd of swine."
(The demons besought Jesus that they would be sent away into the herd of swine. What an odd statement. Were they bargaining with Jesus? Did they think Jesus would do what they asked? WHY couldn't the demons just go into the swine themselves? Notice, they posed this fact with an IF. Spiritual Warfare is done with Words and Sentences. Don't lose the lesson by ignoring HOW the information was being exchanged!)
(It looks to me like demons have a preference...they can make choices...however, they could NOT make this choice happen...they were unable to go into the swine. In fact, it looks like they were unable to leave the man's body...otherwise, they could have left and gone into the swine on their own. I believe these demons were unable to do something apart from their nature because they had been judged. It was NOT in their nature to NOT torment someone...to leave someone willingly.)
"32 And he said unto them, Go. And they came out, and went into the swine: and behold, the whole herd rushed down the steep into the sea, and perished in the waters."
(The demons stated their will AND were unable to accomplish it. They needed Jesus' help. Jesus agreed with the demons by stating GO. AGAIN it was a statement of the will over a demon that made up Offensive Spiritual Warfare.)
(Two quick thoughts: First, there must have been a lot of demons to inhabit a herd of swine. Second, either the pigs didn't want to live with unclean spirits in them or the pigs' death allowed the spirits to be free to roam in the same country. I don't think I have enough information to state a definitive answer. Also, Jesus could state a will that involved the swine because animals don't have a will.)
"33 And they that fed them fled, and went away into the city, and told everything, and what was befallen to them that were possessed with demons.
34 And behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus: and when they saw him, they besought him that he would depart from their borders."
(This chapter traces an interesting story arc...this chapter shows Jesus practicing Offensive Spiritual Warfare over illness, weather, and animals...the entire range. The chapter began with Jesus being in demand AND GROWING IN DEMAND throughout the chapter...UNTIL the last example. Then Jesus was being shunned! Notice, when Jesus was successful at Spiritual Warfare, observers got in fear.)
"18 And as he was entering into the boat, he that had been possessed with demons besought him that he might be with him.
19 And he suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go to thy house unto thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and how he had mercy on thee.
20 And he went his way, and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him: and all men marvelled."
(Jesus dissuaded someone from following Him. In fact, Jesus told him to tell everyone what the Lord had done for him...and the man did it. He PUBLISHED his story and ALL men marvelled. This was the first instance, that I'm aware, of a person publishing his story of how he overcame his personal struggles with the help of the Lord.)
SUMMARY
Matthew has given us another unique example of Offensive Spiritual Warfare that fits the three-step model!
1. Jesus made a Statement concerning the demons.
2. Jesus stated a will for the demons.
3. The Statement was successful because of Jesus' faith and the faith (exhibited by the request) of the demons.
Matthew chapter 8 is an example of what happens to Christians as they grow in maturity. They are in demand until they demonstrate all their ability...and then they are shunned.
Jesus was NOT getting people to shun Him by being evil or doing ANYTHING wrong. Jesus showed us the ULTIMATE way to get shunned is to be Profitable...to be Excellent. Don't miss this HUGE lesson. If you don't get this point, you will miss out on what Jesus was doing for the rest of His Ministry.
Matthew chapter 8 gave us straightforward examples of Jesus doing Offensive Spiritual Warfare. We have also looked in detail at the enemy's method of Spiritual Warfare, and the Armor of God.
Tomorrow, we will begin Matthew chapter 9 and look at more complicated examples of Spiritual Warfare...
Next Post
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Matthew 8:23-27
This month's Series is on The Gospel According to Matthew. On Monday, we began the section of chapters from Matthew that focus on Offensive Spiritual Warfare. We covered Matthew 8:18-22 in the previous post. Here is the summary:
I realize this is a short segment. The Monday post showed Matthew 8 had the first three examples of Jesus Offensive Spiritual Warfare Ministry. Tuesday's post is meant to help you take a moment to realize that in the midst of these amazing Offensive Spiritual Warfare examples, Matthew took the time to share with us Jesus' perspective while His fame was increasing.
Jesus did NOT enjoy the benefits of His fame.
Jesus did NOT recruit people.
Jesus got tougher and MORE uncomfortable with people.
MATTHEW 8:23-27
Matthew 8 began with Jesus healing people, which is Offensive Spiritual Warfare. In the middle of this chapter, we saw in the previous section that Jesus made it difficult for people to follow Him. Now, we are ready to get back to examples of Offensive Spiritual Warfare.
"23 And when he was entered into a boat, his disciples followed him.
24 And behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the boat was covered with the waves: but he was asleep."
(A multitude wanted to follow Jesus. Instead, He got in a boat and left the multitude. A great storm came over the boat endangering everyone's lives.)
"25 And they came to him, and awoke him, saying, Save, Lord; we perish."
(Apparently Jesus was a deep sleeper or He wanted to test His disciples. Either way, the disciples woke Jesus.)
"26 And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm."
(In Mark 4, it gives the WORDS Jesus used: "peace, be still". Again, Jesus made a Statement of the will FOR something that didn't have a will (inanimate object and weather) and it happened. Jesus also showed this example of Offensive Spiritual Warfare involved faith because He Questioned the FAITH of His disciples. Remember, Matthew saw Jesus as a Rabbi teaching His students.)
"27 And the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?"
SUMAMRY
Matthew 8 begins the section of chapters dealing with Spiritual Warfare.
Remember, the Profitable way to do Offensive Spiritual Warfare is:
1. The participant makes a Statement in which the object of the Spiritual Warfare is the subject of the Statement.
2. The participant states a will for something that is unable to state a will or act apart from its nature. This involves illness, weather, and animals.
3. The effectiveness of the Statement depends on the faith (understanding and experience) of the person making the Statement.
So far in Matthew 8, we've seen Jesus deal with illness in all types of people:
-the Israelite leper
-a non-Israelite (centurion's servant)
-a relative of one of His disciples (Peter's mother-in-law)
-numerous people of various illnesses until the multitudes were overtaking Him
In today's post, Jesus did a different type of Offensive Spiritual Warfare...speaking to the weather. All that is left is Offensive Spiritual Warfare involving animals...
Next Post
I realize this is a short segment. The Monday post showed Matthew 8 had the first three examples of Jesus Offensive Spiritual Warfare Ministry. Tuesday's post is meant to help you take a moment to realize that in the midst of these amazing Offensive Spiritual Warfare examples, Matthew took the time to share with us Jesus' perspective while His fame was increasing.
Jesus did NOT enjoy the benefits of His fame.
Jesus did NOT recruit people.
Jesus got tougher and MORE uncomfortable with people.
MATTHEW 8:23-27
Matthew 8 began with Jesus healing people, which is Offensive Spiritual Warfare. In the middle of this chapter, we saw in the previous section that Jesus made it difficult for people to follow Him. Now, we are ready to get back to examples of Offensive Spiritual Warfare.
"23 And when he was entered into a boat, his disciples followed him.
24 And behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the boat was covered with the waves: but he was asleep."
(A multitude wanted to follow Jesus. Instead, He got in a boat and left the multitude. A great storm came over the boat endangering everyone's lives.)
"25 And they came to him, and awoke him, saying, Save, Lord; we perish."
(Apparently Jesus was a deep sleeper or He wanted to test His disciples. Either way, the disciples woke Jesus.)
"26 And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm."
(In Mark 4, it gives the WORDS Jesus used: "peace, be still". Again, Jesus made a Statement of the will FOR something that didn't have a will (inanimate object and weather) and it happened. Jesus also showed this example of Offensive Spiritual Warfare involved faith because He Questioned the FAITH of His disciples. Remember, Matthew saw Jesus as a Rabbi teaching His students.)
"27 And the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?"
SUMAMRY
Matthew 8 begins the section of chapters dealing with Spiritual Warfare.
Remember, the Profitable way to do Offensive Spiritual Warfare is:
1. The participant makes a Statement in which the object of the Spiritual Warfare is the subject of the Statement.
2. The participant states a will for something that is unable to state a will or act apart from its nature. This involves illness, weather, and animals.
3. The effectiveness of the Statement depends on the faith (understanding and experience) of the person making the Statement.
So far in Matthew 8, we've seen Jesus deal with illness in all types of people:
-the Israelite leper
-a non-Israelite (centurion's servant)
-a relative of one of His disciples (Peter's mother-in-law)
-numerous people of various illnesses until the multitudes were overtaking Him
In today's post, Jesus did a different type of Offensive Spiritual Warfare...speaking to the weather. All that is left is Offensive Spiritual Warfare involving animals...
Next Post
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Matthew 8:18-22
This month's Series is on The Gospel According to Matthew. Yesterday, we began the section of chapters from Matthew that focus on Offensive Spiritual Warfare. We covered Matthew 8:1-17 in the previous post. Here is the summary:
Jesus first act of ministry after His Premiere Teaching was to heal people...through Spiritual Warfare.
Matthew recorded three unique examples of Offensive Spiritual Warfare.
However, Matthew was not done...
MATTHEW 8:18-22
"18 Now when Jesus saw great multitudes about him, he gave commandments to depart unto the other side."
(Remember, Jesus just healed people. Matthew documented three unique examples. This was WHY the multitudes were GREAT about Him. Jesus' response was NOT to capitalize on His being in increased demand. Jesus did the OPPOSITE.)
"19 And there came a scribe, and said unto him, Teacher, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.
20 And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the heaven have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head."
(The "scribe" was a Torah teacher. This shows us that even people who had "arrived" were willing to start over. We saw at the beginning of Jesus' Ministry that Jesus RECRUITED two sets of brothers. This Torah teacher was trying to get Jesus to agree to be his Rabbi. Jesus didn't say , "no". (think about the implications if He did...they aren't good for Jesus.) Jesus "weed killered" the potential student. Jesus blatantly pointed out the uncomfortableness of following Him. Again, Jesus was doing the OPPOSITE of what most people do when they are in demand. Jesus didn't say "no" AND He didn't point out the benefits.)
"21 And another of the disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.
22 But Jesus saith unto him, Follow me; and leave the dead to bury their own dead."
(Again, Jesus responded through weed killer. He stated "Follow me" and then made the person (and the reader) uncomfortable by saying let the dead bury the dead. If anything, this was an example of Offensive Spiritual Warfare because Jesus was stating a will that would have benefited someone else and was in line with what they were SAYING. However, the implication was that these people did NOT follow Jesus. IF they did NOT, it would be due to their DO not being in line with their SAY. These people would have lacked faith.)
SUMMARY
I realize this is a short segment. The previous post showed Matthew 8 had the first three examples of Jesus Offensive Spiritual Warfare Ministry. Today's post is meant to help you take a moment to realize that in the midst of these amazing Offensive Spiritual Warfare examples, Matthew takes the time to share with us Jesus' perspective while His fame was increasing.
Jesus did NOT enjoy the benefits of His fame.
Jesus did NOT recruit people.
Jesus got tougher and MORE uncomfortable with people.
Next Post
Jesus first act of ministry after His Premiere Teaching was to heal people...through Spiritual Warfare.
Matthew recorded three unique examples of Offensive Spiritual Warfare.
However, Matthew was not done...
MATTHEW 8:18-22
"18 Now when Jesus saw great multitudes about him, he gave commandments to depart unto the other side."
(Remember, Jesus just healed people. Matthew documented three unique examples. This was WHY the multitudes were GREAT about Him. Jesus' response was NOT to capitalize on His being in increased demand. Jesus did the OPPOSITE.)
"19 And there came a scribe, and said unto him, Teacher, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.
20 And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the heaven have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head."
(The "scribe" was a Torah teacher. This shows us that even people who had "arrived" were willing to start over. We saw at the beginning of Jesus' Ministry that Jesus RECRUITED two sets of brothers. This Torah teacher was trying to get Jesus to agree to be his Rabbi. Jesus didn't say , "no". (think about the implications if He did...they aren't good for Jesus.) Jesus "weed killered" the potential student. Jesus blatantly pointed out the uncomfortableness of following Him. Again, Jesus was doing the OPPOSITE of what most people do when they are in demand. Jesus didn't say "no" AND He didn't point out the benefits.)
"21 And another of the disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.
22 But Jesus saith unto him, Follow me; and leave the dead to bury their own dead."
(Again, Jesus responded through weed killer. He stated "Follow me" and then made the person (and the reader) uncomfortable by saying let the dead bury the dead. If anything, this was an example of Offensive Spiritual Warfare because Jesus was stating a will that would have benefited someone else and was in line with what they were SAYING. However, the implication was that these people did NOT follow Jesus. IF they did NOT, it would be due to their DO not being in line with their SAY. These people would have lacked faith.)
SUMMARY
I realize this is a short segment. The previous post showed Matthew 8 had the first three examples of Jesus Offensive Spiritual Warfare Ministry. Today's post is meant to help you take a moment to realize that in the midst of these amazing Offensive Spiritual Warfare examples, Matthew takes the time to share with us Jesus' perspective while His fame was increasing.
Jesus did NOT enjoy the benefits of His fame.
Jesus did NOT recruit people.
Jesus got tougher and MORE uncomfortable with people.
Next Post
Monday, February 15, 2010
Matthew 8:1-17
This month's Series is on The Gospel According to Matthew. In January, we covered the first seven chapters of Matthew.
Matthew chapters 1-2 showed the Jewish reader the prophetic background to Jesus' birth
Matthew chapters 3-4 showed how Jesus began His ministry
Matthew chapters 5-7 presented Jesus' Premiere Teaching...
This Teaching established to the Jewish reader HOW/WHY Jesus was EXPANDING Doctrine from the Tanakh. Jesus was NOT doing away with the Law. Jesus was fulfilling it personally AND widening it to cover dealing with people outside community (Non-believers).
Before we continued with chapter 8, we spent two weeks covering background information. The first week we covered applications of Jesus Premiere Teaching and the Unaware Brain. Last week we covered Spiritual Warfare because the next section of chapters that we will cover from Matthew deals with Spiritual Warfare.
We are now ready to cover the section of chapters that deal with Spiritual Warfare.
This chapter immediately follows Jesus' Premiere Teaching...
MATTHEW 8:1-17
"1 And when he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him.
2 And behold, there came to him a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean."
(Remember, the Profitable way to do Spiritual Warfare is:
1. The participant makes a Statement in which the object of the Spiritual Warfare is the subject of the Statement.
2. The participant states a will for something that is unable to state a will or act apart from its nature.
3. The effectiveness of the Statement depends on the faith (understanding and experience) of the person making the Statement.)
(The Unprofitable way is:
1. The participant is the object of the Statement.
2. The participant states their own will.
3. The participant makes a Statement by someone else's faith (understanding and experience).)
(The demonstration of faith (#3) was by the leper conditionally (with an "if").)
"3 And he stretched forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou made clean. And straightway his leprosy was cleansed."
(The Statement of a will was by Jesus (#2) for the leper (#1).)
(Notice, the leper made an IF Statement! The IF was whether Jesus willed. Jesus' addressing the IF first actually served as a way to increase the faith of the leper. The leper was essentially saying that he had the faith to be healed IF Jesus willed it. THEN Jesus made the Statement of a will ("be thou made clean") after He fulfilled the leper's "faith requirement".)
(The Bible is the Ultimate authority on Spiritual Warfare. This was just ONE example of Profitable Offensive Spiritual Warfare.)
"4 And Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no man; but go, show thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them."
(Jesus healed a leper AND kept the Law...fulfilled specifically what Moses said to do. This would have been Leviticus 14:
"1 And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying,
2 This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing: he shall be brought unto the priest:
3 and the priest shall go forth out of the camp; and the priest shall look; and, behold, if the plague of leprosy be healed in the leper,
4 then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two living clean birds, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop:
5 And the priest shall command to kill one of the birds in an earthen vessel over running water.")
(Back to Matthew 8...)
"5 And when he was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him,
6 and saying, Lord, my servant lieth in the house sick of the palsy, grievously tormented.
7 And he saith unto him, I will come and heal him."
(Notice, Jesus was making a Statement of His Will. Again, this was serving as fulfilling the centurion's IF. There was a reason WHY this story occured immediately after the previous story: it was similar to the first...but not the same.)
"8 And the centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof; but only say the word, and my servant shall be healed."
(The centurion said, "Lord...only say the word..." The centurion GOT Spiritual Warfare. First, he recognized Jesus' authority by calling Him "Lord". This was against Roman Law. Second, the centurion knew it was made up of WORDS and SENTENCES! The centurion stated that Jesus only needed to say the Word! The next part was the demonstration of faith (#3) by the centurion:)
"9 For I also am a man under authority, having under myself soldiers: and I say to this one, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.
10 And when Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel."
(Demonstration of faith (#3): by the centurion (to the extent that it caused Jesus to MARVEL!).)
"11 And I say unto you, that many shall come from the east and the west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven:
12 but the sons of the kingdom shall be cast forth into the outer darkness: there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth."
(The demonstration of faith was great enough to cause Jesus to prophesy! The term "sons of the kingdom" refers to the Jews...God's people...the people God originally intended to make it to Heaven. Again, this was a reference that clearly referred to the kingdom after Final Judgment...what the other Gospels called "Kingdom of God/Jesus".)
"13 And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And the servant was healed in that hour."
(Statement of a will (#2) by Jesus.)
(Object of the Statement (#1): the centurion.)
(Notice, this statement of a will was NOT stated for the person being healed. The centurion had the faith (in fact, it was an example of faith that made Jesus marvel.) Jesus stated a will FOR the centurion: the centurion was the subject of the Statement. This was consistent with other healing Spiritual Warfare examples that involved people speaking, the will was spoken for the person that was PRESENT...that demonstrated faith.)
(This story was yet ANOTHER unique example of Spiritual Warfare!)
"14 And when Jesus was come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother lying sick of a fever.
15 And he touched her hand, and the fever left her; and she arose, and ministered unto him.
16 And when even was come, they brought unto him many possessed with demons: and he cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all that were sick:
17 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying: Himself took our infirmities, and bare our diseases."
(Peter was married! Another proof that Peter was older than the other disciples.)
(Isaiah 53:4 states, "Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.")
(This story was yet ANOTHER unique example of Spiritual Warfare!)
(The Words (if any) weren't recorded by Matthew. All we have was that Jesus touched her hand and she was healed.)
SUMMARY
Jesus first act of ministry after His Premiere Teaching was to heal people...through Spiritual Warfare.
Matthew recorded three unique examples of Offensive Spiritual Warfare.
However, Matthew was not done...
Next Post
Matthew chapters 1-2 showed the Jewish reader the prophetic background to Jesus' birth
Matthew chapters 3-4 showed how Jesus began His ministry
Matthew chapters 5-7 presented Jesus' Premiere Teaching...
This Teaching established to the Jewish reader HOW/WHY Jesus was EXPANDING Doctrine from the Tanakh. Jesus was NOT doing away with the Law. Jesus was fulfilling it personally AND widening it to cover dealing with people outside community (Non-believers).
Before we continued with chapter 8, we spent two weeks covering background information. The first week we covered applications of Jesus Premiere Teaching and the Unaware Brain. Last week we covered Spiritual Warfare because the next section of chapters that we will cover from Matthew deals with Spiritual Warfare.
We are now ready to cover the section of chapters that deal with Spiritual Warfare.
This chapter immediately follows Jesus' Premiere Teaching...
MATTHEW 8:1-17
"1 And when he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him.
2 And behold, there came to him a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean."
(Remember, the Profitable way to do Spiritual Warfare is:
1. The participant makes a Statement in which the object of the Spiritual Warfare is the subject of the Statement.
2. The participant states a will for something that is unable to state a will or act apart from its nature.
3. The effectiveness of the Statement depends on the faith (understanding and experience) of the person making the Statement.)
(The Unprofitable way is:
1. The participant is the object of the Statement.
2. The participant states their own will.
3. The participant makes a Statement by someone else's faith (understanding and experience).)
(The demonstration of faith (#3) was by the leper conditionally (with an "if").)
"3 And he stretched forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou made clean. And straightway his leprosy was cleansed."
(The Statement of a will was by Jesus (#2) for the leper (#1).)
(Notice, the leper made an IF Statement! The IF was whether Jesus willed. Jesus' addressing the IF first actually served as a way to increase the faith of the leper. The leper was essentially saying that he had the faith to be healed IF Jesus willed it. THEN Jesus made the Statement of a will ("be thou made clean") after He fulfilled the leper's "faith requirement".)
(The Bible is the Ultimate authority on Spiritual Warfare. This was just ONE example of Profitable Offensive Spiritual Warfare.)
"4 And Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no man; but go, show thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them."
(Jesus healed a leper AND kept the Law...fulfilled specifically what Moses said to do. This would have been Leviticus 14:
"1 And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying,
2 This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing: he shall be brought unto the priest:
3 and the priest shall go forth out of the camp; and the priest shall look; and, behold, if the plague of leprosy be healed in the leper,
4 then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two living clean birds, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop:
5 And the priest shall command to kill one of the birds in an earthen vessel over running water.")
(Back to Matthew 8...)
"5 And when he was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him,
6 and saying, Lord, my servant lieth in the house sick of the palsy, grievously tormented.
7 And he saith unto him, I will come and heal him."
(Notice, Jesus was making a Statement of His Will. Again, this was serving as fulfilling the centurion's IF. There was a reason WHY this story occured immediately after the previous story: it was similar to the first...but not the same.)
"8 And the centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof; but only say the word, and my servant shall be healed."
(The centurion said, "Lord...only say the word..." The centurion GOT Spiritual Warfare. First, he recognized Jesus' authority by calling Him "Lord". This was against Roman Law. Second, the centurion knew it was made up of WORDS and SENTENCES! The centurion stated that Jesus only needed to say the Word! The next part was the demonstration of faith (#3) by the centurion:)
"9 For I also am a man under authority, having under myself soldiers: and I say to this one, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.
10 And when Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel."
(Demonstration of faith (#3): by the centurion (to the extent that it caused Jesus to MARVEL!).)
"11 And I say unto you, that many shall come from the east and the west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven:
12 but the sons of the kingdom shall be cast forth into the outer darkness: there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth."
(The demonstration of faith was great enough to cause Jesus to prophesy! The term "sons of the kingdom" refers to the Jews...God's people...the people God originally intended to make it to Heaven. Again, this was a reference that clearly referred to the kingdom after Final Judgment...what the other Gospels called "Kingdom of God/Jesus".)
"13 And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And the servant was healed in that hour."
(Statement of a will (#2) by Jesus.)
(Object of the Statement (#1): the centurion.)
(Notice, this statement of a will was NOT stated for the person being healed. The centurion had the faith (in fact, it was an example of faith that made Jesus marvel.) Jesus stated a will FOR the centurion: the centurion was the subject of the Statement. This was consistent with other healing Spiritual Warfare examples that involved people speaking, the will was spoken for the person that was PRESENT...that demonstrated faith.)
(This story was yet ANOTHER unique example of Spiritual Warfare!)
"14 And when Jesus was come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother lying sick of a fever.
15 And he touched her hand, and the fever left her; and she arose, and ministered unto him.
16 And when even was come, they brought unto him many possessed with demons: and he cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all that were sick:
17 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying: Himself took our infirmities, and bare our diseases."
(Peter was married! Another proof that Peter was older than the other disciples.)
(Isaiah 53:4 states, "Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.")
(This story was yet ANOTHER unique example of Spiritual Warfare!)
(The Words (if any) weren't recorded by Matthew. All we have was that Jesus touched her hand and she was healed.)
SUMMARY
Jesus first act of ministry after His Premiere Teaching was to heal people...through Spiritual Warfare.
Matthew recorded three unique examples of Offensive Spiritual Warfare.
However, Matthew was not done...
Next Post
Friday, February 12, 2010
Spiritual Warfare: The Harry Potter Series
This month's Series is on The Gospel According to Matthew. In January, we covered the first seven chapters of Matthew.
Before we continue with chapter 8, we are spending last week and this week covering background information. Last week we covered applications of Jesus Premiere Teaching and the Unaware Brain. This week are covering Spiritual Warfare because the next section of chapters that we will cover from Matthew deals with Spiritual Warfare. The previous post was an overview on Worldviews as they relate to Spiritual Warfare. We specifically covered "The Chronicles of Narnia". Here is the conclusion:
CS Lewis stated that he wanted to write children's books in order to introduce kids to some of the more difficult to digest concepts of Christianity (e.g., sacrifice on the cross) so that when these children became adults they would be more likely to embrace the Christian Worldview. It looks like CS Lewis understood the Unaware Brain and "priming"!
However, what does the Unaware Brain ACTUALLY conclude from reading these books? Contradictions and an inability to understand the HOW/WHY. In the time since CS Lewis has written these books, "Christians" understand LESS about the HOW/WHY behind their Worldview!
My point is this: In tomorrow's post, I want to look at a Series of books that presents a Worldview. However, I want to state that ANYONE who states the Series that is being covered tomorrow is wrong BECAUSE it doesn't present Jesus at all OR BECAUSE it deals with WITCHES, is a person that is performing the enemy's method of Spiritual Warfare. This person is a DECEIVER. They are actively priming the Unaware Brains' of others to embrace a Worldview different than what is presented in the Bible.
If the person is also a supporter of "The Chronicles of Narnia", then they are a hypocrite....and hypocrites don't make it to Heaven. I have heard a lot of opposition to the Series presented in tomorrow's post and NONE of it has been anything except the enemy's method of Spiritual Warfare...DECEPTION. This is a sad commentary on "Christians".
Take a look at yesterday's bonus question one more time: Would you be more interested in Offensive Spiritual Warfare if it was real OR fantasy?
Today, we will cover the most influential Worldview presentation to youths...
THE HARRY POTTER SERIES
The Harry Potter Series is BASED ON OFFENSIVE SPIRITUAL WARFARE!
If you believe that people think this topic (Spiritual Warfare) is boring, embarrassing, not taken seriously, or not discussed, you are NAIVE and OBLIVIOUS. Where have you been? Do I need to list the sales statistics for the books and the movies?
"As of June 2008, the book series has sold more than 400 million copies and has been translated into 67 languages, and the last four books have consecutively set records as the fastest-selling books in history." (This is not counting the seventh and final book in the series.)
"The series also originated much tie-in merchandise, making the Harry Potter brand worth £15 billion."
"The Harry Potter film franchise is the highest grossing film series of all time when not adjusted for inflation, with over $5.4 billion in worldwide receipts. As of 2009 the series consists of six motion pictures, all of which (unadjusted for inflation) are on the all time list of 25 highest-grossing films worldwide, with the first, fifth and sixth films among the top ten." (The seventh book is being made into TWO movies.)
There is NOT a message that is more influential among today's youths...AND at it is based on Offensive Spiritual Warfare!
Again, if you believe The Harry Potter Series is "bad", take a moment and write down your reason WHY. Look to see if you violate your reason WHY with "Christian" series that you encourage others to read. (For those who support "The Chronicles of Narnia", read yesterday's post.)
My point is that stating "Harry Potter is a bad series for kids" may be a Right WHAT. However, we have repeatedly seen that God is focused on the HOW/WHY. We saw Jesus' Premiere Teaching (Matthew 6) was COMPLETELY about how a Right WHAT with a Wrong (or no) HOW/WHY is "bad". Be careful...stating a Right WHAT without a Right HOW/WHY is DECEPTION. This is important, take the time to let your Unaware Brain know WHY your conscious brain believes "Harry Potter" is bad...otherwise, you are LUKEWARM.
Let's look at the model for Offensive Spiritual Warfare that The Harry Potter Series presents:
1. Offensive Spiritual Warfare is done with WORDS and SENTENCES.
Harry Potter agrees with the Bible.
2. Offensive Spiritual Warfare is done according to the faith (Understanding and Experience) of the individual.
Harry Potter agrees with the Bible.
3. The statement of the will has to be done over things that don't have a will AND THINGS THAT DO HAVE A WILL.
Harry Potter opens up the scope of Offensive Spiritual Warfare to include operating against the will of PEOPLE. The Bible does NOT agree with this. (Hint: Here's a Right WHY to be against The Harry Potter Series...but "The Chronicles of Narnia" stated the same thing as The Harry Potter Series. Be careful. Being against Harry Potter AND for Narnia leads to hypocrisy...and hypocrites don't make it to Heaven.)
4. Offensive Spiritual Warfare is initiated by UNIQUELY GIFTED PEOPLE ONLY.
According to The Harry Potter Series, EVERYONE is NOT able to do Offensive Spiritual Warfare...ONLY people who are born with this ability AND these people are able to initiate Offensive Spiritual Warfare.
Harry Potter opens up the scope of Offensive Spiritual Warfare to say PEOPLE can initiate Offensive Spiritual Warfare, BUT contracts the scope to a group of people who DID NOTHING TO GET THIS ABILITY. The Bible does NOT agree with this. The Bible states EVERYONE is able to do Offensive Spiritual Warfare AND Offensive Spiritual Warfare is initiated by the Holy Spirit...not people. However, the individual must choose to meet the requirements of being able to do Offensive Spiritual Warfare. (Notice, "Christians" who believe they can initiate Offensive Spiritual Warfare ACTUALLY agree with The Harry Potter Series!)
5. The enemy's method of Spiritual Warfare is a more powerful (and "darker") version of Offensive Spiritual Warfare.
Basically, the "good" people do magic (Offensive Spiritual Warfare) and the enemy does "dark" magic, which is the SAME type of Offensive Spiritual Warfare. The Bible does NOT agree with this.
The Bible states that the enemy's method of Spiritual Warfare is DECEPTION and requires us to willfully choose to accept it.
The Bible states the defense against the enemy's method of Spiritual Warfare is NOT Offensive Spiritual Warfare. The defense is The Whole Armor of God.
The Bible states that Offensive Spiritual Warfare can only be done by "good" people because it is initiated by the Holy Spirit.
I've got a couple of questions for you to state your will on before we go on:
1. Is discussing The Harry Potter Series "important"?
2. Should I ignore The Harry Potter Series because it is "make-believe"?
Take some time to state your answers out loud or write them down so your Unaware Brain can reconcile with your conscious brain...and you remain healthy.
Harry Potter Observations
1. Popularity - This is the most popular CHILDREN and YOUNG ADULT Series in history. The numbers of people that this Series has affected (both directly and indirectly) is overwhelming. How many "Christian" kids (and adults?) who don't read The Harry Potter Series AND don't get Biblical explanation of Spiritual Warfare end up believing The Harry Potter Series' version of Spiritual Warfare because of friends and/or the culture?
2. Understanding - This Series continues to PROVE that Christians do NOT understand Spiritual Warfare and that we are continuing to raise generations of people who do NOT understand Spiritual Warfare. We are embracing imaginary and counterfeit examples of Spiritual Warfare.
3. Without Excuse - Christians who are afraid or ashamed to discuss Spiritual Warfare have NO EXCUSE. The general public is glorifying, emulating, embracing, and encouraging others to glorify, emulate, and embrace Spiritual Warfare.
4. Imagination - There are some who say that The Harry Potter Series is good BECAUSE it helps kids develop their IMAGINATION. I agree that The Harry Potter Series ENGAGES the imagination, however, it is actually planting WRONG information into the kids' imagination. It is causing kids' imagination to serve an Unprofitable Thought Process. Wasn't THAT the goal of the enemy's method of Spiritual Warfare?
Here was point #5 from the post: "Overview of the Enemy's Method of Spiritual Warfare":
"The result is that our understanding and experience (faith) are weakened so that eventually our imagination and memory (conscious brain) serves the enemy."
"The ultimate way the enemy wins is for us to allow our faith to deteriorate to the point that we don't use understanding (WHY) and experience (HOW) to think...and the result is we consciously choose to focus on the enemy. The conscious brain then leads the Unaware Brain to destruction. Deception occurs..."
Don't forget, embracing "Narnia" and demonizing "Harry Potter" results in hypocrisy...and hypocrites don't make it Heaven.
5. Anti-christ - The book glorifies the Ultimate Example of EVIL.
Remember, your Unaware Brain works according to the four God-given principles. Your Unaware Brain is reaching conclusions that you may be years away from realizing in your conscious brain. Your Unaware Brain is observing your conscious brain.
When someone reads The Harry Potter Series and embraces Harry and the rest of the wizards...or even imagines and/or wishes to be like one of these wizards, what is the Unaware Brain thinking?
The Unaware Brain looks at this as REALITY. The Unaware Brain does NOT know the difference between REALITY and MAKE-BELIEVE. If you involve one of the five senses, you can intentionally put information into the Unaware Brain by IMAGINING and/or REMEMBERING...both of which are controlled by the conscious brain. Talking to friends, acting it out, etc. tells the Unaware Brain what you consciously think about the "good" characters in The Harry Potter Series.
Besides people giving a contradictory explanation of Spiritual Warfare, what is the Unaware Brain realizing and observing that we may not have consciously realized yet?
The Unaware Brain sees an account of select people who have lived among us for hundreds of years. These select people are born with supernatural gifts that they didn't make any effort to obtain. Instead of feeling a responsibility to help others with this ability, these select people INTENTIONALLY keep the "non-select" people from knowing about this ability. While six million Jews are being killed, these select people take abilities (e.g., flying brooms) that could have saved these people and used these abilities in games (e.g., quidditch) for the ENTERTAINMENT of their private, select community. Instead of using these abilities to lessen suffering in the world, these select people used these abilities to hurt other select people with this ability. Instead of righting injustice that SURROUNDED these select people, these select people used a significant portion of their resources (people and ability) to ACTIVELY keep the "non-select" people from finding out about these abilities.
What would you say if I told you they opened up a museum to glorify Nazi's?
What would you say if I told you they are making a series of movies that would make people want to be Nazi's?
Who is MORE EVIL, a Nazi or the wizards from The Harry Potter Series?
I posed this issue to a group of people in this fashion:
"Imagine a group of people during the Holocaust who had the ability to save the 6 million Jews who were murdered, but decided to use these resources to compete with each other in order to entertain the rest of their community."
"However, let me take this up one more notch...and again, focus on the question without adding anything to it:"
"What if these people THROUGH NO EFFORT OF THEIR OWN, were born with the ability to help people and chose NOT to help people, but use this ability to fight with others who have this ability and compete in a forum in order to entertain the rest of their community? ALL of their effort to better their God-given gift is spent on fighting with others AND competing with others in order to entertain the rest of their community. In fact, a significant portion of the effort exerted by the community is to PREVENT the rest of us from knowing they have this God-given ability."
"These people would have a God-given super ability and feel NO RESPONSIBILITY to use it to help people that were suffering."
"Are these people "the best"?
"Are these people we ought to admire and celebrate?"
"Are these people good or bad examples for our children and our childrens' Unaware Brains?"
THAT is the result of presenting a contradictory explanation for Offensive Spiritual Warfare...the participants become evil incarnate.
The conscious brain embraces these characters from Harry Potter that are committing Ultimate acts of evil...and the Unaware Brain is learning the conscious brain of the individual DESIRES to be like these people who commit Ultimate acts of evil.
The Bible says that the masses will willingly embrace the Anti-Christ...the embodiment of EVIL.
Most people would state with their conscious brain that they would NEVER do this.
However, most people already have with their Unaware Brain...
IS IT REAL OR MAKE-BELIEVE?
Our society is ready to accept the Ultimate Evil (with their Unaware Brain) and rationalize their choice away (with their conscious brain) by saying "this isn't important" and "it is only make-believe"
Is this important?
My final question: Which would you rather know more about and talk about: ACTUAL Spiritual Warfare OR FANTASY Spiritual Warfare?
Imagine a person who is enthralled with The Harry Potter Series, yet refuses to learn about the REAL process.
Your WORDS and ACTIONS will PROVE your beliefs...
Is reading Harry Potter "wrong"? Notice, this is a WHAT. Jesus judged "wrong", NOT by the WHAT, but by the HOW/WHY...
The Right HOW in reading Harry Potter (and The Chronicles of Narnia) is to state out loud that you don't want to become like the characters in either book, so that your Unaware Brain doesn't actively begin looking for opportunities to be evil and Unprofitable...to pervert Spiritual Warfare.
The Right WHY in reading Harry Potter (and The Chronicles of Narnia) is to BETTER Understand WHAT you believe...to GROW in Understanding!
I believe our inability to do the Right HOW/WHY as it relates to Spiritual Warfare has prevented us from experiencing Offensive Spiritual Warfare in the church today...or as most "Christians" call it: signs and wonders.
SIGNS AND WONDERS IN CHURCH
As you have seen, doing Offensive Spiritual Warfare is something we progress towards. There are three STAGES.
STAGE ONE: Recognize The Enemy's Method For What It Is - ABUSE
-We need to realize the enemy's method is NOT the same as the Holy Spirit's method
The reason most people don't RECOGNIZE the enemy's method is that we think it is the same as our goal: the Holy Spirit's method! We think the enemy's method is the same as what is presented in books, movies, and tv. It is NOT.
KEY POINT: God's method of Offensive Spiritual Warfare is done THROUGH an individual for the benefit of others. The enemy's method of Spiritual Warfare is done BY an individual to the detriment of those who state their will to accept the enemy's method of Spiritual Warfare...and is possibly for the benefit of the one doing the Spiritual Warfare.
SOLUTION: We need to be able to identify the enemy's method and point it out.
This method is being used by people both intentionally and unintentionally. We need to point it out when it happens. Not having definitions for Words. Not explaining a HOW/WHY for WHAT we believe. EVERYONE does this method! We need to point it out in ourselves and each other. People rationalize the use of this method! We rationalize the use of this method! We need to point out when we and other people rationalize the use of this method.
STAGE TWO: Practice The Armor of God - Be a modeler
-We need to ask questions of people doing the enemy's method of Spiritual Warfare
Abusers need to define the words they use. Abusers need to supply the HOW/WHY.
KEY POINT: The response to the enemy's method of Spiritual Warfare is The Whole Armor of God, NOT Offensive Spiritual Warfare.
SOLUTION: We need to intentionally do the four God-given principles in our conscious brain. God wants us to be a Modeler.
I have said this for years, so I'm going to restate it once more: Atlas Shrugged is the best resource to observe practical examples of Spiritual Warfare...both Profitable and Unprofitable. The Bible is the Ultimate source of explanation for the CAUSES of Spiritual Warfare. No other book explains it in a non-contradictory manner. Atlas Shrugged presents the greatest number of EFFECTS of Spiritual Warfare. If you need to see practical examples, read Atlas Shrugged. (Ayn Rand did NOT realize what the Bible states: Spiritual Warfare is done with Words and Sentences. She thought the spiritual was something less tangible than Words and Sentences...AND she considered Words and Sentences to be as tangible as a table or a chair. Like many "Christian" authors, Ayn did NOT understand the CAUSES, so she wrote in terms of EFFECTS (Experience). Atlas Shrugged gives exhaustive examples of ALL THREE types of Spiritual Warfare. It will make you realize that you ACTUALLY deal with this EVERY DAY.)
STAGE THREE: Offensive Spiritual Warfare - Holy Spirit led
-As we have seen, the Holy Spirit INITIATES Spiritual Warfare. Taking this fact WITH the stories from the Bible leads to being able to specifically identify examples of Spiritual Warfare.
KEY POINT: This is only done by Green Light People: They have a PROFITABLE thought process and are able to improve.
SOLUTION: Know your doctrine and the importance of Words.
Actually, the SOLUTION also involves the question: What does Spiritual Warfare LOOK LIKE? If I was to IMAGINE and/or REHEARSE Spiritual Warfare, WHAT am I SEEING?
The answer in its most Big Picture form consists of two steps:
STEP ONE: People FIRST draw on us (others initiate)
STEP TWO: We RESPOND by allowing God to flow through by the Holy Spirit
So, here is a made up example...
You are walking into a Starbucks. A person walks up to you and says, "Could you heal my daughter?" (STEP ONE)
You focus on getting yourself out of the way so that God can flow through you by the Holy Spirit. (STEP TWO)
If nothing comes out, either God is NOT initiating this OR you are blocking it. However, EVERY instance would look roughly like this:
SOMEONE initiating an attempt to draw on God through you AND you getting out of the way so that God could flow to them. (Remember this as we cover the next section of chapters in Matthew.)
Recall, every instance of Offensive Spiritual Warfare would be for the benefit of OTHERS, not ourselves. That's WHY we don't initiate it. There is NO WAY we can be selfish in this process. We don't initiate it and the ONLY way this works is if we humble ourselves and let the Holy Spirit do it through us. (Remember this as we cover the next section of chapters in Matthew.)
Getting people to draw on us (STEP ONE) is NOT in our control. There is NOTHING we can do about this...AND there is NOTHING we OUGHT to do about this. This OUGHT to happen naturally.
What we can work on is STEP TWO! (Getting out of God's way)
Here are some ideas on what to work on:
1. Practice and recognize people drawing on God through us
Remember, the ideal situation is "Three Way Fellowship". This consists of: an individual drawing on God directly, an individual drawing on God through another person, and another person drawing on God through the individual. Lately, I've been talking about this and interrupting people to point this out while it is happening. There is a big difference between you pulling on God through someone else and someone else pulling on God through you.
I have shared that I see myself squeezing down into my shoes the second I feel someone pull on God through me. I see myself telling God that it is His responsibility to answer the person's question. I get to learn BECAUSE of the questions people ask of me! That is WHY I invite questions. This is exactly how I have responded to questions in the comments section of this blog. Readers PULLING on God through me get the revelation out, NOT MY effort. I appreciate the comments. It is something that is getting easier for me to do as I practice becoming aware of it in the moment and try different things. This leads to the second thing...
2. Work on your process
We are all unique. God flows through us differently. THAT manifestation of God through you is YOUR spirit. How well do you know YOUR spirit? Your flesh is telling you to do something short-term. Your spirit (because of the Holy Spirit) is telling you to do what God wants you to do. Your mind/soul makes the decision by using your brain. Your goal OUGHT to be to work on your brain because it is the tool through which your mind/soul operates your flesh.
So, knowing YOUR spirit means you are learning HOW/WHY YOUR spirit operates best. This means you have to try different things by yourself and with others. My friends (Nathaniel and Joel) and I have been calling this "your process". The first thing is to identify the activities, times, circumstances that BEST allow you to hear from God. I have said that morning walks, driving a car, and cutting the grass are the BEST times for me to hear from God. Then, you OUGHT to do these activities and focus on familiarizing yourself with your spirit. Are there things that quench your spirit while you are doing the BEST things? Are there things that amplify your spirit while you are doing the BEST things?
3. Understand Words and Sentences
I feel like I'm preaching to the choir here, but don't stop doing this. EVERYONE I'm in Fellowship with already understands their Words and Sentences AND causes others to be able to explain their Words and Sentences. It is awesome! Let's never stop doing this. Spiritual Warfare consists of Words and Sentences!
Taking these three points together...
I believe Jesus operated in a continuous state of being open to people drawing on God through Him. In the next section of chapters from Matthew, we will see the story of the woman who touched the edges of Jesus' garment PROVES Jesus was in this state constantly AND aware when someone was drawing on God through Him!!!!!
There is one more point I feel needs to be made...
Angels are actively trying to help us. They help us according to the SAME PRINCIPLES as Spiritual Warfare. They cannot overtake our will. They have to express their will over animals, inanimate objects, and the weather. We would like to think that EVERYTHING these angels do instantly appears positive to us. However, that is only HALF of the tools they have. In fact, since we respond more often to things that appear bad; positive appearing signs are a lot less than HALF of the angels' tools. Let me give a practical example to illustrate this...
If I have enough money to pay my bills, I may decide to enjoy that fact and focus on other things...more comfortable things. However, an angel can see that there is an opportunity for me to learn doctrine, witness to someone, and get blessed if I was to apply to work some overtime. Ideally, I would be open to hearing from God to work overtime. However, this scenario has nothing to do with my Salvation (God initiating grace). So, the only way I would hear from God on this issue is for me to be initiating grace with God and asking Him what I ought to do. However, I'm focusing on other things.
The angel would like to help me. The best way the angel could help me is to cause an expense. For example, the angel could damage my refrigerator. Now, I would need to get a new refrigerator and I don't have the money for it. I ought to ask God how to get the money and He would lead me to working overtime. Or, I may just work overtime because it is my only recourse. Either way, the angel would have reached me FOR MY BENEFIT.
However, what if damaging my refrigerator causes me to beat my wife? What if the angel knew from Understanding and Experience (FAITH?) with me that I was going to do something destructive when I encountered a disappointment? The angel COULD NOT help me by using this method!
In effect, I have limited the angel's ability to help me because I don't handle disappointment well!
The Bible REPEATEDLY states that the most mature believers handle disappointment with excellence. (This was the culmination of Jesus' "levels of maturity" presentation during the Sermon on the Mount!)
The Bible REPEATEDLY shows that the signs and wonders follow the most mature believers.
So...
4. Handle disappointment well
We ought to help each other with this. We ought to glory in our trials. We ought to share and help each other grow in this area. This is Fellowship. This is humility. This is Love. This is the OPPOSITE of focusing on APPEARANCE.
Why don't we see more signs and wonders?
We are actively avoiding handling disappointment well.
UPDATE: Another reason we don't operate well in the Supernatural (signs and wonders) is that we don't understand the Natural. In fact, when we refer to the Supernatural, we actually use Unnatural examples! The Bible presented Supernatural events. These fantasy fiction novels present Unnatural events. Click this link from 9/29/12 if you want to understand Supernatural.
We now have all the background we need to look at the section of chapters from The Gospel According to Matthew that deal with Spiritual Warfare.
On Monday, we will begin looking at Matthew chapter 8...
Next Post
Before we continue with chapter 8, we are spending last week and this week covering background information. Last week we covered applications of Jesus Premiere Teaching and the Unaware Brain. This week are covering Spiritual Warfare because the next section of chapters that we will cover from Matthew deals with Spiritual Warfare. The previous post was an overview on Worldviews as they relate to Spiritual Warfare. We specifically covered "The Chronicles of Narnia". Here is the conclusion:
CS Lewis stated that he wanted to write children's books in order to introduce kids to some of the more difficult to digest concepts of Christianity (e.g., sacrifice on the cross) so that when these children became adults they would be more likely to embrace the Christian Worldview. It looks like CS Lewis understood the Unaware Brain and "priming"!
However, what does the Unaware Brain ACTUALLY conclude from reading these books? Contradictions and an inability to understand the HOW/WHY. In the time since CS Lewis has written these books, "Christians" understand LESS about the HOW/WHY behind their Worldview!
My point is this: In tomorrow's post, I want to look at a Series of books that presents a Worldview. However, I want to state that ANYONE who states the Series that is being covered tomorrow is wrong BECAUSE it doesn't present Jesus at all OR BECAUSE it deals with WITCHES, is a person that is performing the enemy's method of Spiritual Warfare. This person is a DECEIVER. They are actively priming the Unaware Brains' of others to embrace a Worldview different than what is presented in the Bible.
If the person is also a supporter of "The Chronicles of Narnia", then they are a hypocrite....and hypocrites don't make it to Heaven. I have heard a lot of opposition to the Series presented in tomorrow's post and NONE of it has been anything except the enemy's method of Spiritual Warfare...DECEPTION. This is a sad commentary on "Christians".
Take a look at yesterday's bonus question one more time: Would you be more interested in Offensive Spiritual Warfare if it was real OR fantasy?
Today, we will cover the most influential Worldview presentation to youths...
THE HARRY POTTER SERIES
The Harry Potter Series is BASED ON OFFENSIVE SPIRITUAL WARFARE!
If you believe that people think this topic (Spiritual Warfare) is boring, embarrassing, not taken seriously, or not discussed, you are NAIVE and OBLIVIOUS. Where have you been? Do I need to list the sales statistics for the books and the movies?
"As of June 2008, the book series has sold more than 400 million copies and has been translated into 67 languages, and the last four books have consecutively set records as the fastest-selling books in history." (This is not counting the seventh and final book in the series.)
"The series also originated much tie-in merchandise, making the Harry Potter brand worth £15 billion."
"The Harry Potter film franchise is the highest grossing film series of all time when not adjusted for inflation, with over $5.4 billion in worldwide receipts. As of 2009 the series consists of six motion pictures, all of which (unadjusted for inflation) are on the all time list of 25 highest-grossing films worldwide, with the first, fifth and sixth films among the top ten." (The seventh book is being made into TWO movies.)
There is NOT a message that is more influential among today's youths...AND at it is based on Offensive Spiritual Warfare!
Again, if you believe The Harry Potter Series is "bad", take a moment and write down your reason WHY. Look to see if you violate your reason WHY with "Christian" series that you encourage others to read. (For those who support "The Chronicles of Narnia", read yesterday's post.)
My point is that stating "Harry Potter is a bad series for kids" may be a Right WHAT. However, we have repeatedly seen that God is focused on the HOW/WHY. We saw Jesus' Premiere Teaching (Matthew 6) was COMPLETELY about how a Right WHAT with a Wrong (or no) HOW/WHY is "bad". Be careful...stating a Right WHAT without a Right HOW/WHY is DECEPTION. This is important, take the time to let your Unaware Brain know WHY your conscious brain believes "Harry Potter" is bad...otherwise, you are LUKEWARM.
Let's look at the model for Offensive Spiritual Warfare that The Harry Potter Series presents:
1. Offensive Spiritual Warfare is done with WORDS and SENTENCES.
Harry Potter agrees with the Bible.
2. Offensive Spiritual Warfare is done according to the faith (Understanding and Experience) of the individual.
Harry Potter agrees with the Bible.
3. The statement of the will has to be done over things that don't have a will AND THINGS THAT DO HAVE A WILL.
Harry Potter opens up the scope of Offensive Spiritual Warfare to include operating against the will of PEOPLE. The Bible does NOT agree with this. (Hint: Here's a Right WHY to be against The Harry Potter Series...but "The Chronicles of Narnia" stated the same thing as The Harry Potter Series. Be careful. Being against Harry Potter AND for Narnia leads to hypocrisy...and hypocrites don't make it to Heaven.)
4. Offensive Spiritual Warfare is initiated by UNIQUELY GIFTED PEOPLE ONLY.
According to The Harry Potter Series, EVERYONE is NOT able to do Offensive Spiritual Warfare...ONLY people who are born with this ability AND these people are able to initiate Offensive Spiritual Warfare.
Harry Potter opens up the scope of Offensive Spiritual Warfare to say PEOPLE can initiate Offensive Spiritual Warfare, BUT contracts the scope to a group of people who DID NOTHING TO GET THIS ABILITY. The Bible does NOT agree with this. The Bible states EVERYONE is able to do Offensive Spiritual Warfare AND Offensive Spiritual Warfare is initiated by the Holy Spirit...not people. However, the individual must choose to meet the requirements of being able to do Offensive Spiritual Warfare. (Notice, "Christians" who believe they can initiate Offensive Spiritual Warfare ACTUALLY agree with The Harry Potter Series!)
5. The enemy's method of Spiritual Warfare is a more powerful (and "darker") version of Offensive Spiritual Warfare.
Basically, the "good" people do magic (Offensive Spiritual Warfare) and the enemy does "dark" magic, which is the SAME type of Offensive Spiritual Warfare. The Bible does NOT agree with this.
The Bible states that the enemy's method of Spiritual Warfare is DECEPTION and requires us to willfully choose to accept it.
The Bible states the defense against the enemy's method of Spiritual Warfare is NOT Offensive Spiritual Warfare. The defense is The Whole Armor of God.
The Bible states that Offensive Spiritual Warfare can only be done by "good" people because it is initiated by the Holy Spirit.
I've got a couple of questions for you to state your will on before we go on:
1. Is discussing The Harry Potter Series "important"?
2. Should I ignore The Harry Potter Series because it is "make-believe"?
Take some time to state your answers out loud or write them down so your Unaware Brain can reconcile with your conscious brain...and you remain healthy.
Harry Potter Observations
1. Popularity - This is the most popular CHILDREN and YOUNG ADULT Series in history. The numbers of people that this Series has affected (both directly and indirectly) is overwhelming. How many "Christian" kids (and adults?) who don't read The Harry Potter Series AND don't get Biblical explanation of Spiritual Warfare end up believing The Harry Potter Series' version of Spiritual Warfare because of friends and/or the culture?
2. Understanding - This Series continues to PROVE that Christians do NOT understand Spiritual Warfare and that we are continuing to raise generations of people who do NOT understand Spiritual Warfare. We are embracing imaginary and counterfeit examples of Spiritual Warfare.
3. Without Excuse - Christians who are afraid or ashamed to discuss Spiritual Warfare have NO EXCUSE. The general public is glorifying, emulating, embracing, and encouraging others to glorify, emulate, and embrace Spiritual Warfare.
4. Imagination - There are some who say that The Harry Potter Series is good BECAUSE it helps kids develop their IMAGINATION. I agree that The Harry Potter Series ENGAGES the imagination, however, it is actually planting WRONG information into the kids' imagination. It is causing kids' imagination to serve an Unprofitable Thought Process. Wasn't THAT the goal of the enemy's method of Spiritual Warfare?
Here was point #5 from the post: "Overview of the Enemy's Method of Spiritual Warfare":
"The result is that our understanding and experience (faith) are weakened so that eventually our imagination and memory (conscious brain) serves the enemy."
"The ultimate way the enemy wins is for us to allow our faith to deteriorate to the point that we don't use understanding (WHY) and experience (HOW) to think...and the result is we consciously choose to focus on the enemy. The conscious brain then leads the Unaware Brain to destruction. Deception occurs..."
Don't forget, embracing "Narnia" and demonizing "Harry Potter" results in hypocrisy...and hypocrites don't make it Heaven.
5. Anti-christ - The book glorifies the Ultimate Example of EVIL.
Remember, your Unaware Brain works according to the four God-given principles. Your Unaware Brain is reaching conclusions that you may be years away from realizing in your conscious brain. Your Unaware Brain is observing your conscious brain.
When someone reads The Harry Potter Series and embraces Harry and the rest of the wizards...or even imagines and/or wishes to be like one of these wizards, what is the Unaware Brain thinking?
The Unaware Brain looks at this as REALITY. The Unaware Brain does NOT know the difference between REALITY and MAKE-BELIEVE. If you involve one of the five senses, you can intentionally put information into the Unaware Brain by IMAGINING and/or REMEMBERING...both of which are controlled by the conscious brain. Talking to friends, acting it out, etc. tells the Unaware Brain what you consciously think about the "good" characters in The Harry Potter Series.
Besides people giving a contradictory explanation of Spiritual Warfare, what is the Unaware Brain realizing and observing that we may not have consciously realized yet?
The Unaware Brain sees an account of select people who have lived among us for hundreds of years. These select people are born with supernatural gifts that they didn't make any effort to obtain. Instead of feeling a responsibility to help others with this ability, these select people INTENTIONALLY keep the "non-select" people from knowing about this ability. While six million Jews are being killed, these select people take abilities (e.g., flying brooms) that could have saved these people and used these abilities in games (e.g., quidditch) for the ENTERTAINMENT of their private, select community. Instead of using these abilities to lessen suffering in the world, these select people used these abilities to hurt other select people with this ability. Instead of righting injustice that SURROUNDED these select people, these select people used a significant portion of their resources (people and ability) to ACTIVELY keep the "non-select" people from finding out about these abilities.
What would you say if I told you they opened up a museum to glorify Nazi's?
What would you say if I told you they are making a series of movies that would make people want to be Nazi's?
Who is MORE EVIL, a Nazi or the wizards from The Harry Potter Series?
I posed this issue to a group of people in this fashion:
"Imagine a group of people during the Holocaust who had the ability to save the 6 million Jews who were murdered, but decided to use these resources to compete with each other in order to entertain the rest of their community."
"However, let me take this up one more notch...and again, focus on the question without adding anything to it:"
"What if these people THROUGH NO EFFORT OF THEIR OWN, were born with the ability to help people and chose NOT to help people, but use this ability to fight with others who have this ability and compete in a forum in order to entertain the rest of their community? ALL of their effort to better their God-given gift is spent on fighting with others AND competing with others in order to entertain the rest of their community. In fact, a significant portion of the effort exerted by the community is to PREVENT the rest of us from knowing they have this God-given ability."
"These people would have a God-given super ability and feel NO RESPONSIBILITY to use it to help people that were suffering."
"Are these people "the best"?
"Are these people we ought to admire and celebrate?"
"Are these people good or bad examples for our children and our childrens' Unaware Brains?"
THAT is the result of presenting a contradictory explanation for Offensive Spiritual Warfare...the participants become evil incarnate.
The conscious brain embraces these characters from Harry Potter that are committing Ultimate acts of evil...and the Unaware Brain is learning the conscious brain of the individual DESIRES to be like these people who commit Ultimate acts of evil.
The Bible says that the masses will willingly embrace the Anti-Christ...the embodiment of EVIL.
Most people would state with their conscious brain that they would NEVER do this.
However, most people already have with their Unaware Brain...
IS IT REAL OR MAKE-BELIEVE?
Our society is ready to accept the Ultimate Evil (with their Unaware Brain) and rationalize their choice away (with their conscious brain) by saying "this isn't important" and "it is only make-believe"
Is this important?
My final question: Which would you rather know more about and talk about: ACTUAL Spiritual Warfare OR FANTASY Spiritual Warfare?
Imagine a person who is enthralled with The Harry Potter Series, yet refuses to learn about the REAL process.
Your WORDS and ACTIONS will PROVE your beliefs...
Is reading Harry Potter "wrong"? Notice, this is a WHAT. Jesus judged "wrong", NOT by the WHAT, but by the HOW/WHY...
The Right HOW in reading Harry Potter (and The Chronicles of Narnia) is to state out loud that you don't want to become like the characters in either book, so that your Unaware Brain doesn't actively begin looking for opportunities to be evil and Unprofitable...to pervert Spiritual Warfare.
The Right WHY in reading Harry Potter (and The Chronicles of Narnia) is to BETTER Understand WHAT you believe...to GROW in Understanding!
I believe our inability to do the Right HOW/WHY as it relates to Spiritual Warfare has prevented us from experiencing Offensive Spiritual Warfare in the church today...or as most "Christians" call it: signs and wonders.
SIGNS AND WONDERS IN CHURCH
As you have seen, doing Offensive Spiritual Warfare is something we progress towards. There are three STAGES.
STAGE ONE: Recognize The Enemy's Method For What It Is - ABUSE
-We need to realize the enemy's method is NOT the same as the Holy Spirit's method
The reason most people don't RECOGNIZE the enemy's method is that we think it is the same as our goal: the Holy Spirit's method! We think the enemy's method is the same as what is presented in books, movies, and tv. It is NOT.
KEY POINT: God's method of Offensive Spiritual Warfare is done THROUGH an individual for the benefit of others. The enemy's method of Spiritual Warfare is done BY an individual to the detriment of those who state their will to accept the enemy's method of Spiritual Warfare...and is possibly for the benefit of the one doing the Spiritual Warfare.
SOLUTION: We need to be able to identify the enemy's method and point it out.
This method is being used by people both intentionally and unintentionally. We need to point it out when it happens. Not having definitions for Words. Not explaining a HOW/WHY for WHAT we believe. EVERYONE does this method! We need to point it out in ourselves and each other. People rationalize the use of this method! We rationalize the use of this method! We need to point out when we and other people rationalize the use of this method.
STAGE TWO: Practice The Armor of God - Be a modeler
-We need to ask questions of people doing the enemy's method of Spiritual Warfare
Abusers need to define the words they use. Abusers need to supply the HOW/WHY.
KEY POINT: The response to the enemy's method of Spiritual Warfare is The Whole Armor of God, NOT Offensive Spiritual Warfare.
SOLUTION: We need to intentionally do the four God-given principles in our conscious brain. God wants us to be a Modeler.
I have said this for years, so I'm going to restate it once more: Atlas Shrugged is the best resource to observe practical examples of Spiritual Warfare...both Profitable and Unprofitable. The Bible is the Ultimate source of explanation for the CAUSES of Spiritual Warfare. No other book explains it in a non-contradictory manner. Atlas Shrugged presents the greatest number of EFFECTS of Spiritual Warfare. If you need to see practical examples, read Atlas Shrugged. (Ayn Rand did NOT realize what the Bible states: Spiritual Warfare is done with Words and Sentences. She thought the spiritual was something less tangible than Words and Sentences...AND she considered Words and Sentences to be as tangible as a table or a chair. Like many "Christian" authors, Ayn did NOT understand the CAUSES, so she wrote in terms of EFFECTS (Experience). Atlas Shrugged gives exhaustive examples of ALL THREE types of Spiritual Warfare. It will make you realize that you ACTUALLY deal with this EVERY DAY.)
STAGE THREE: Offensive Spiritual Warfare - Holy Spirit led
-As we have seen, the Holy Spirit INITIATES Spiritual Warfare. Taking this fact WITH the stories from the Bible leads to being able to specifically identify examples of Spiritual Warfare.
KEY POINT: This is only done by Green Light People: They have a PROFITABLE thought process and are able to improve.
SOLUTION: Know your doctrine and the importance of Words.
Actually, the SOLUTION also involves the question: What does Spiritual Warfare LOOK LIKE? If I was to IMAGINE and/or REHEARSE Spiritual Warfare, WHAT am I SEEING?
The answer in its most Big Picture form consists of two steps:
STEP ONE: People FIRST draw on us (others initiate)
STEP TWO: We RESPOND by allowing God to flow through by the Holy Spirit
So, here is a made up example...
You are walking into a Starbucks. A person walks up to you and says, "Could you heal my daughter?" (STEP ONE)
You focus on getting yourself out of the way so that God can flow through you by the Holy Spirit. (STEP TWO)
If nothing comes out, either God is NOT initiating this OR you are blocking it. However, EVERY instance would look roughly like this:
SOMEONE initiating an attempt to draw on God through you AND you getting out of the way so that God could flow to them. (Remember this as we cover the next section of chapters in Matthew.)
Recall, every instance of Offensive Spiritual Warfare would be for the benefit of OTHERS, not ourselves. That's WHY we don't initiate it. There is NO WAY we can be selfish in this process. We don't initiate it and the ONLY way this works is if we humble ourselves and let the Holy Spirit do it through us. (Remember this as we cover the next section of chapters in Matthew.)
Getting people to draw on us (STEP ONE) is NOT in our control. There is NOTHING we can do about this...AND there is NOTHING we OUGHT to do about this. This OUGHT to happen naturally.
What we can work on is STEP TWO! (Getting out of God's way)
Here are some ideas on what to work on:
1. Practice and recognize people drawing on God through us
Remember, the ideal situation is "Three Way Fellowship". This consists of: an individual drawing on God directly, an individual drawing on God through another person, and another person drawing on God through the individual. Lately, I've been talking about this and interrupting people to point this out while it is happening. There is a big difference between you pulling on God through someone else and someone else pulling on God through you.
I have shared that I see myself squeezing down into my shoes the second I feel someone pull on God through me. I see myself telling God that it is His responsibility to answer the person's question. I get to learn BECAUSE of the questions people ask of me! That is WHY I invite questions. This is exactly how I have responded to questions in the comments section of this blog. Readers PULLING on God through me get the revelation out, NOT MY effort. I appreciate the comments. It is something that is getting easier for me to do as I practice becoming aware of it in the moment and try different things. This leads to the second thing...
2. Work on your process
We are all unique. God flows through us differently. THAT manifestation of God through you is YOUR spirit. How well do you know YOUR spirit? Your flesh is telling you to do something short-term. Your spirit (because of the Holy Spirit) is telling you to do what God wants you to do. Your mind/soul makes the decision by using your brain. Your goal OUGHT to be to work on your brain because it is the tool through which your mind/soul operates your flesh.
So, knowing YOUR spirit means you are learning HOW/WHY YOUR spirit operates best. This means you have to try different things by yourself and with others. My friends (Nathaniel and Joel) and I have been calling this "your process". The first thing is to identify the activities, times, circumstances that BEST allow you to hear from God. I have said that morning walks, driving a car, and cutting the grass are the BEST times for me to hear from God. Then, you OUGHT to do these activities and focus on familiarizing yourself with your spirit. Are there things that quench your spirit while you are doing the BEST things? Are there things that amplify your spirit while you are doing the BEST things?
3. Understand Words and Sentences
I feel like I'm preaching to the choir here, but don't stop doing this. EVERYONE I'm in Fellowship with already understands their Words and Sentences AND causes others to be able to explain their Words and Sentences. It is awesome! Let's never stop doing this. Spiritual Warfare consists of Words and Sentences!
Taking these three points together...
I believe Jesus operated in a continuous state of being open to people drawing on God through Him. In the next section of chapters from Matthew, we will see the story of the woman who touched the edges of Jesus' garment PROVES Jesus was in this state constantly AND aware when someone was drawing on God through Him!!!!!
There is one more point I feel needs to be made...
Angels are actively trying to help us. They help us according to the SAME PRINCIPLES as Spiritual Warfare. They cannot overtake our will. They have to express their will over animals, inanimate objects, and the weather. We would like to think that EVERYTHING these angels do instantly appears positive to us. However, that is only HALF of the tools they have. In fact, since we respond more often to things that appear bad; positive appearing signs are a lot less than HALF of the angels' tools. Let me give a practical example to illustrate this...
If I have enough money to pay my bills, I may decide to enjoy that fact and focus on other things...more comfortable things. However, an angel can see that there is an opportunity for me to learn doctrine, witness to someone, and get blessed if I was to apply to work some overtime. Ideally, I would be open to hearing from God to work overtime. However, this scenario has nothing to do with my Salvation (God initiating grace). So, the only way I would hear from God on this issue is for me to be initiating grace with God and asking Him what I ought to do. However, I'm focusing on other things.
The angel would like to help me. The best way the angel could help me is to cause an expense. For example, the angel could damage my refrigerator. Now, I would need to get a new refrigerator and I don't have the money for it. I ought to ask God how to get the money and He would lead me to working overtime. Or, I may just work overtime because it is my only recourse. Either way, the angel would have reached me FOR MY BENEFIT.
However, what if damaging my refrigerator causes me to beat my wife? What if the angel knew from Understanding and Experience (FAITH?) with me that I was going to do something destructive when I encountered a disappointment? The angel COULD NOT help me by using this method!
In effect, I have limited the angel's ability to help me because I don't handle disappointment well!
The Bible REPEATEDLY states that the most mature believers handle disappointment with excellence. (This was the culmination of Jesus' "levels of maturity" presentation during the Sermon on the Mount!)
The Bible REPEATEDLY shows that the signs and wonders follow the most mature believers.
So...
4. Handle disappointment well
We ought to help each other with this. We ought to glory in our trials. We ought to share and help each other grow in this area. This is Fellowship. This is humility. This is Love. This is the OPPOSITE of focusing on APPEARANCE.
Why don't we see more signs and wonders?
We are actively avoiding handling disappointment well.
UPDATE: Another reason we don't operate well in the Supernatural (signs and wonders) is that we don't understand the Natural. In fact, when we refer to the Supernatural, we actually use Unnatural examples! The Bible presented Supernatural events. These fantasy fiction novels present Unnatural events. Click this link from 9/29/12 if you want to understand Supernatural.
We now have all the background we need to look at the section of chapters from The Gospel According to Matthew that deal with Spiritual Warfare.
On Monday, we will begin looking at Matthew chapter 8...
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