A Short Thought on Fearing the Gift of Prophecy

There is often among the intellectually leaning Christians, a certain fear of the gift of prophecy. And it is not, I believe, un-earned. This gift does indeed have a great potential for damage, and many of us have seen and been victims of its destructive powers. 


But I don't think risk is ultimately an accurate determining factor of His will. The very calling to follow Christ itself is promised to be full of discipline, peril, and sacrifice. And this is not an ultimate factor for many areas in the rest of our lives. Take for example the destructive power of driving a car: you get into a two-ton death machine and drive at high speeds down a road, mere feet away from others in similar machines, some even going just as fast in the opposite direction. At any given point, you are one distracted moment or one slight movement of the arm away from the injury or death of many people. Yet is this a reason not to drive? No, it is simply a reason to make sure you do it right, learn correctly, and follow the rules of the road. The benefits far outweigh the risk most of the time, and therefore we drive every day. 


In the same way, we cannot let the risk associated with this gift hinder us any more than the potential for sinning against each other prevents us from gathering as a Body. We have to assume, no matter what our background or experience is, that if God designs something a certain way, that the benefits are far greater to everyone and everything involved than if it functions any other way. Hence, we must trust that the 1 Cor 14 service is of much greater benefit to the entire body if we follow His design than if we don't.


In short, when God designs something a certain way, the risk associated with it should not prevent us from doing it, but should merely help define how we do it. When it comes to Prophecy, we have to learn correctly and obey the rules of the road.

The Mercenary Motives of the Prosperity Gospel

There was once a woman who married a very powerful, influential man. This man loved her with all his heart, even though she held no status or money herself. After a few years, she began to get frustrated and disillusioned. When he asked her what was wrong, she replied, "Don't you love me?" He replied, "Of course I do!" She cried, "Then why haven't you given me more money? Why haven't you gotten my boss to give me a promotion? Why am I stuck driving an older, used car?" Taken aback, the man replied, "I've given you a house, food, transportation... everything you need to live your life." She shook her head and said, "No... I want more. I want more money, power, recognition... if you truly loved me, you'd give me these things. I thought that was why you married me!"

When put into this context, I imagine that most everyone reading this is probably a bit disgusted with the woman's behavior. Such is the behavior of those subscribing to the Prosperity (or "Health & Wealth") gospel. It is the behavior of a mercenary.

But we all instinctively know that if a relationship is truly based on love, then the reward for pursuing your spouse IS your spouse. We have a modern-day, pop culture term for people who pursue someone for more than just themselves: "Gold diggers."

Christ did not die to give you treasures that most & rust destroy. He died to give you Himself.

Not Every Hindrance is Sinful

Hebrews 12:1 - "Therefore... let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely..."

Not every hindrance is inherently sinful. Indeed, the enemy is often most able to hold us down with things that we consider harmless. This is why everything has to go ("sell everything and follow Me"), not just things that are inherently sinful. These things can be especially dangerous, because unlike blatant sin, we believe that we're OK, or that it's even helpful. What we don't see is how we take it to excess, or how God has been trying to get us to surrender it completely, but we tell ourselves, "there's nothing wrong with X". We are hindered and the hindrance is fully justified in our minds because we are focused on ourselves, not God.

We must guard against these things, because the hardest cancer to heal is the one that we don't believe is cancer.

On Numerical Growth in Churches

Let's say that there was a great invasion happening, and in the midst of the invasion, you are introduced to the general of the defending army. Let's say you asked him how the battle was going, and he replied, "Well, we're getting more and more new recruits, so we must be doing something right." Wouldn't you be a bit confused at his answer? What does the number of recruits have to do with how it's going on the battlefield? What does it have to do with whether or not the general is making the right decisions?

Is this not a close analogy to the priority we've put on numerical growth within the church? Indeed, numerical growth and maintenance is not only a priority in most churches in western culture, but it has become a gauge of victory. We consider our churches successful if they are growing or large in numbers, and we consider it a failure if it starts shrinking.

But when we turn to Scripture, this doesn't seem to be a priority for God. Let me give you two examples:

John 6:60-71 - To a church leader that thinks numbers are important, this ought to be a confusing passage. When the multitude starts grumbling about how Christ's teachings are hard to understand, does Jesus try to placate them or "keep the peace", as it were? No. He effectively (and almost literally) turns and says, "You think THAT was offensive? Well wait until you hear this...." He then watches as all but Twelve turn away from following Him. In our typical church, this sort of behavior would be scolded as inciting and divisive. But Christ is not concerned with the multitude... He is concerned with the small number of truly dedicated believers.

Revelation Ch. 2-3 - This is where the Lord addresses the seven churches, which many think are symbols of various states of Christianity in the world. But whatever the case, the seven churches are commended or warned of impending doom based on their actions. Their numerical size is not mentioned even once in the two chapters. God doesn't seem to concerned with their size, but with their actions.

Indeed, God doesn't care about the size of a group, but its heart and actions. It doesn't matter how many people are in your church: what is it doing? Your church's numerical growth is not a sign of success, any more than the rate of recruitment in an army is a sign of victory on the battlefield. In the same way, we can be encouraged that the shrinking of numbers in a church does not necessarily mean that it is failing or doing anything wrong... indeed, it may even be a sign that it is doing the right thing (such as in John). The church was created for a purpose, and we must ask ourselves if we are, as a church, fulfilling that purpose, not simply growing in numbers.

God is passionately concerned with a church's obedience and heart, not with its popularity as an institution.


PS - I do not mean to paint a cold, heartless image of the church. We ought to mourn those who leave, and rejoice with those who stay, but our priority MUST be obedience to His word at whatever cost. Far too often we hold back from leading people toward full obedience out of fear that they will not like it, or will even abandon us altogether. Preaching what people want to hear, or in the way they want to hear it, is not loving them, nor is it merciful. Indeed, withholding God's truth or refusing to lead them in His perfect way is, perhaps, the most merciless thing you can do to someone. It is akin to a shepherd who will not take his sheep through an unpleasant and rocky path to escape a pack of wolves.

Our Insatiable Appetite For The New & Exciting

I have long struggled with a certain aspect of my personality. I enjoy new things tremendously. New music, new styles, new technology, new movies, the ever-changing aspect of my job... I love them all, and get bored with things all too easily. I am fully aware of the downfalls of such a personality, and the dangers of shallowness that it carries with it. I am not defending it, per sei.

But as I thought about this trait, and how it is prevalent (to varying degrees) in every single human being, I began to think that perhaps this is not merely because of the Fall, but is part of His design for us.

My reasoning goes something like this: we were created to enjoy God, and God is infinitely interesting, giving us new revelations of Himself for all eternity. Therefore, in order to enjoy an infinitely interesting being, we were created to have an infinite appetite for new and exciting things (Him).

It is the Fall that twisted us. In our sinful natures, we turned our voracious appetite to fashion, inventions, possessions, and people. But in the end (usually sooner than later), we are bored with whatever new thing draws our attention. This is because we are attempting to satisfy an infinite hunger with finite things. Fashion, gadgetry, new friends, new hobbies.... none of these things can satisfy because they are all limited, and we were not ultimately created to enjoy limited things.

I think this is why Solomon lamented in Ecclesiastes, "There is nothing new under the sun." In the modern day, he could have had a new car every single day, a new woman every night, a new set of clothes for every meal, and a new song written for him every time he wanted new music. But in the end, he was only disappointed, disillusioned, and bored... none of it could satisfy his never-ending hunger.

Indeed, even the finite things we truly enjoy, we enjoy them because of what they say about God. I enjoy my wife because of what marriage says about our relationship to God, just as we enjoy a wedding ring because of what it symbolizes, or the smell of food because of what it means to our hunger.

And so if we are to truly enjoy any finite thing, we must treat it as it is: a passing smell that causes us to think about food. Thus, we can learn how to praise an infinite God with finite things, and learn how to let them go. There is nothing wrong with enjoying the smell of food, but it would be ridiculous to choose the smell over the food.



Side Note: This also further confirms the untrustworthiness of the "Prosperity gospel". We should never trust someone who demeans Christ's work, saying or implying that He died so that we could have the mere smell of food.

How Does The Armor of God Protect a Marriage?

Ephesians 6:10-12 - "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places."

Something I can almost perpetually guilty of is forgetting about the fact that our marriage is taking place in the middle of a massive war, and that everything that happens within our marriage is part of that war, helping either the enemy or our King. And my forgetfulness only contributes to the enemy's ability to turn my thoughts toward myself, thus damaging my marriage every day.

Make no mistake. When a marriage is focused on itself, it is the devil's playground.

The enemy will always, always be working tirelessly to bend your thoughts and heart toward yourself. It was the first sin, and it is what Lucifer is concerned with: his own desires and self. So whenever a spouse is concerned first with themselves, the enemy's job is easy, if not done. Some marriages... many marriages... are so self-focused that I'm afraid the enemy need not do very much at all to keep it steadily heading away from each other and God.

But covenant love spurs us to put on the armor of God within our marriage. When we forgive, it is a blow to all the enemy's efforts to divide us and spur resentment. When we are patient, it thwarts the enemy's efforts to keep us a small step away from anger and inflicting pain. When we are thankful for the trials in our marriage, we disarm the enemy in all his efforts to use them for his purposes. When we rejoice in the truth, we are protected from his lies.

That passage (1 Corinthians 13:4-7)... that same one we see cross-stitched next to cute animals on arts & crafts, and see quoted in Christian romances, and see written in cursive on various feminine accessories... is actually a list of brutally effective weapons in the fight to defend our marriage. They are battle commands, and you are fully enabled to carry them out by wearing the Armor of God.

The Armor of God, though it protects you, is not worn selfishly. It is taken up in the manner that a father might take up a gun to stop an invader in the night from reaching his children. It is in this manner that we must dedicate ourselves to wearing it in order to protect our marriage from the purposes of the enemy, and even from ourselves. How does it do this? Here are a few examples:

The Breastplate of Righteousness. A breastplate's primary function is to protect your heart. What the enemy doesn't want you to see is that following God with everything you have is the greatest protection your heart can have. We often do things within our marriage to protect ourselves from hurt, but following God and loving your spouse wholly without reservation is a realm protected by God. If you love the Lord with all your heart, what can man do?

The Shield of Faith. Our faith in God's control and sovereignty protects us from so much. When we feel discouraged about our spouse's behavior, our faith in God gives us hope. When we want to yell and scream, taking a moment to remember that He is in control and it is all happening according to His will may stop you from sinning any further and causing more damage. When your spouse does the absolute worse thing they could possibly do toward you, it is your faith in God that will enable you to trust in His sovereignty, healing, and give you a heart of forgiveness. Nothing but faith can do any of these things.

The Sword of the Spirit. The degree to which we can spiritually protect our marriage from the enemy and drive him away is in direct correlation with our knowledge and heart for Scripture. It is what enables us to overthrow lies, realize what's important, keep our eyes on Christ and remember what He's done for us, and tread our way through the darkest of times without permanent damage. Like in Psalm 1, your marriage's health and strength is based on how deeply rooted it is in Scripture (side note: If you engage in marital activities before you are married, what will hold you together? Your foundation of strength changes from the protection of being in His will to the degree of which you are benefiting from the relationship. When your relationship starts to become unpleasant and less beneficial to you, your commitment waivers and eventually collapses, and is often fully justified in your mind all along.)

The Sandals of the Gospel. We are not married for marriage's sake. We are married as part of His plan to share His love and truth with the world. Think about it. If both spouses are fully focused on the Gospel and spreading it, they are focused outward and upward, not inward. It is focusing inward that builds resentment and inflates insignificant things into real problems. A Gospel-focused couple will even find that they love and forgive each other more.
A practical example of this might be a husband forgiving his wife for forgetting to remove trash from his car because the presence of trash in his car does not hinder the spread of the Gospel or the furtherance of the Kingdom. He is more forgiving because he realizes they are at war, and perhaps those pieces of trash are not crucial to the victory or defeat of the Kingdom. Perhaps if he's irritated at something as small as this, his priorities are just a little out of line (not that this is a real-life example or anything...).

These are just a few of the ways the Armor of God is necessary for marriage. The true applications are infinite. Husbands and wives must learn how to take up arms and defend each other, not themselves. This is what Christ did for us: He gave Himself up totally in order to protect us, forgive us, and bring hope to the world. Our marriage's success or failure is wholly dependent on the degree to which we make this our priority as well.

What Has Marriage Been Replaced With? (Part 1)

Lately I have begun to see the world wondering why anyone would get married. They say, "The divorce rate is getting higher and higher... why would we even bother?" The result of this attitude is an increasing habit of moving in together before marriage.

Let me tell you what I've realized. Paul told us that marriage is a model of Christ & the church. Christ saved us "while we were still sinners." He didn't enter a relationship and make a covenant with us based on merit, and he doesn't keep it because of how we serve or worship Him. He simply did it because He is love.

In the same way, marriage is a covenant love that is maintained by the seriousness of the covenant itself... the commitment to unconditional love, that other relationships do not have. It's what marriage is: a covenant to love each other no matter what... not because they love you back, but because you've committed to love them no matter what.

Therefore, marriage, as a covenant, is based on grace and mercy. It was designed to reflect Christ's unwavering, all-forgiving love for us... love that never stops, and never fluctuates no matter how far we fall. Marriage, therefore, is based on a covenant... not based on being in love, or romance, or some moral ideal... it is based on the grace and mercy of the covenant between you. This covenant offers a protection you will not find anywhere else.

Let me ask you: when you move in with your significant other, why not just marry them first?
To test things out? To see if you can live together, or are "sexually compatible"?
Just in case?

But let me ask you this, then: why would it not work out? Why would you break up? Obviously, the only reason it would not work out is sin. You break up because they won't listen, or because of unfaithfulness, or lies, or foolishness, or selfishness, or any number of things that ultimately boil down to sin. You keep one foot out because you're fearful that one day they'll do something or reach a point that is just too sinful to deal with... or you will eventually do something to drive them away.

But a relationship based on a Godly covenant protects against abandonment. It protects you in mercy, in forgiveness, in grace. They continue to sin, but you have committed to them. See, the other way is ultimately selfish: if it gets unbearable, you can just leave, whereas a covenant would compel you to rely on Christ for the strength to remain with them, no matter what. The thing you do to protect yourself leaves you more open to harm. You've been sold a bill of goods... you've been sold a Styrofoam shield and been told it would reflect arrows and swords. Covenant love leaves you more freedom to be who you truly are, because without it you might finally do the one thing (or long culmination of many things) that drives them away, or vice versa.

At this point many might say that we see the same thing happening within marriages, so what's the difference?

The difference is in what you're pursuing. I'll continue this thought in the next post.