Part 1
I'd like to start by sharing a story about when the prayer-school leadership core decided to get together and go fishing.
The boat left very early in the morning and all of us brought our thermos full of coffee. The boat pulled about 300 feet from shore and anchored so that we could fish. They had a great time fellowshipping and fishing. But as the morning wore on, the coffee began to work it's way through our systems. The captain of the boat came out to announce that the restroom on the boat was out of commission.
After a while, the coffee had worked through Elvi Glass's system. So she said, "Excuse me, brethren", put down her fishing pole, climbed over the rail and walked on the water to shore. She went behind a bush, did her business and came out looking very relieved. Then she walked back across the water to the boat, climbed over the rail, picked up her pole and continued fishing.
I stood there with her mouth hanging open for a few minutes and then turned to Paul Gaskin and said, "Did you see that!! Elvi walked on water, just like Jesus did!"
Paul shrugged his shoulders as if that were no big deal and we all concentrated on fishing for a while. Pretty soon the coffee worked it's way through Paul's system. He said "Excuse me brethren", laid down his pole, climbed over the rail, walked on the water to the shore. He disappeared behind a different bush but came out looking just as relieved. Then he walked back on the water to the boat, climbed over the rail, picked up his pole and resumed fishing.
My mouth fell open again. I muttered something about Jesus walking on water and Peter walking on water and now Elvi and Paul were walking on water. I asked Rodney Hogue if he'd seen that. "Yes," he replied, as if it was no big deal.
After a while, the coffee had so worked through my system that I simply could not wait any longer. "Well," I said to myself, "Elvi did it and Paul did it. I guess I can do it too."
So I said, "Excuse me, brethren", put down my pole and climbed over the rail. My feet hit the water, but instead of being able to walk on it, I sank rapidly to the bottom. As I was going under, I heard Rodney turn to Elvi and say, "Next time, do you suppose we should tell her where the stepping stones are?"
Ok, I confess -- this is a joke, not a true story. But I bet you can relate with the experience. From time to time we all notice a discrepancy between what we see in the Bible and what we see in our own lives. Yet when we try to step out in faith, we seem to sink.
For some of us, that discrepancy comes from lack of victory over besetting sins. We read in the Bible about how Jesus overcame sin and death and has given us power and victory. We see how people in the Bible are transformed by the indwelling Holy Spirit to be holy and victorious. Yet we struggle with that same besetting sin over and over again. Each time we fall, we feel truly sorry and sincerely repent, promising to never do that sin again. But we seem powerless to keep that promise and keep falling into it over and over again, feeling worse about it each time.
For others of us, the discrepancy between what we see in the Bible and what we see in our own lives comes in the area of the Fruit of the Spirit. We read about how we are to be filled with love, joy, peace. We even see it happening in some other Christian's lives. But this does not seem to happen in our own life. We find ourselves constantly worrying about the various stresses and problems of day-to-day life. Or we find ourselves feeling depressed or struggling with rejection. We see the blatant discrepancy between how the Bible says we should live (full of faith and hope and joy and patience and love) and how our lives are actually turning out. We desire so much to have the fruit of the Spirit manifest in our lives and pray for it and hope for it, but it just does not seem to be happening. Or if it is happening, it is happening much too slowly for us.
Some of us read the Scripture where it says "My sheep hear My voice and they know Me" and they wonder how come they don't know how to recognize the Lord's voice. We see folks in the body operating in prophecy and word of knowledge and such -- clear evidence that it really is possible to hear His voice. Then we wonder why we can't hear it like they do. Is it that God does not care to speak to us, or is it that we're simply no good at hearing Him or is it something else? Surely it must be possible to hear His voice like the Scripture says. How come it is so hard?
And there are many other areas where we may notice a discrepancy between what the Bible says we should be like and what our lives are really like.
Why is this? What is missing?
I believe that the root of the problem comes from the fact that many of us never gave Jesus Christ full and unchallenged Lordship in our lives.
Many Christians learn to accept Jesus as their Savior with no clue about His Lordship. They truly believe in Jesus and are grateful that He has redeemed them. But they go about their day-to-day lives in pretty much the same manner they did before. Oh, they make some adjustments here and there to attempt to honor God. They come to Church faithfully on Sundays and they have a 20 minute or so quiet time each day for Bible-study, devotions and prayer. But they continue being the boss of their own lives; they continue to live for themselves.
Why?
In many cases its simply because no one told them that Jesus wants to be in control of their life. No one told them that our goals and motivations are to change, and that we are to be doing what the Father is doing instead of doing our own thing.
Jesus is not satisfied to be merely our Savior. Yes He gives us eternal life, He saves us from the consequences of sin. But in return, He demands that we give our lives fully and unreservedly to Him. He wants Lordship in our day-to-day lives. He calls for a radical commitment to Him, including total obedience.
In my own case, I had considered myself a "committed Christian" for 18 years. I did daily devotions and prayer and I even memorized a lot of scriptures. I watched my language and tried to behave in a "Christian manner" including appropriate behavior and strong morals. I shared my faith from time to time and occasionally led people to the Lord. I was doing everything I knew to do to be a "good Christian." But, despite all my efforts, it was a very frustrating time for me.
I read about the fruits of the spirit, but did not see them manifesting in my own life. I read about the victory that He has given us over sin and over all the power of the enemy; yet I keep falling over and over in besetting sins and could never seem to gain the victory. I read about the peace that passes all understanding, but rarely experienced it. I read how His sheep know His voice but had no clue what His voice sounded like.
Then one day I found this tiny little verse hidden in one of the gospels. When I grasped what it really meant, that tiny verse revolutionized my entire life. That little verse is tucked away between some incredible promises of victory, power and answered prayers.
Look at John 14:12-18:
12 "Most assuredly I say to you, He who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these because I go to My Father. 13 And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 "If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.15 If you love Me, keep My commandments. 16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever-- 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you."
Incredible promises, eh? Yet tucked away in this passage is the key to all of this -- the key to victory and power and abundance in our walk with the Lord. It is stated so simply that it took me 18 years before I realized it was there.
Did you happen to find it as we read the passage? Which verse was it?
The answer is verse 15, which says, "If you love Me, keep My commandments." Another translation puts it this way: "If you love Me, then obey Me."
And obedience was the missing ingredient in my life. I was not intentionally disobedient, I just did not know any better. They had told me to receive Jesus as my Savior. No one told me He had to be Lord and boss of my life. No one had told me that if I wanted to see His power and His victory in my life, I had to be committed to obey Him and to do all things His way.
Once I discovered that and began to give Him Lordship in my life, things began to change. Besetting sins stopped besetting me. I started seeing the fruit of the spirit manifest in my life and I began learning to with some clarity and accuracy. The missing ingredient in my life, the thing that held me back from being successful in Him, was a lack of commitment to His Lordship.
What about you? Has your experience been similar to mine? Have you done your best to live a godly life but find yourself failing? Do you find the power and victory and joy missing from your day-to-day walk? Perhaps you need to deepen your commitment to His lordship as well. I will talk about that in the next lesson.
The Lordship of Jesus Christ in Our Day to Day Lives
(Part 2)
Our last lesson talked about John 14:15 and how we must make a commitment to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in our day-to-day life. We must obey what He commands because we love Him.
What does that mean? How could that little verse be the turning point to victory in our Christian walk? I believe that Jesus is saying point-blank that He wants Lordship in our lives if we are to walk in His power and authority and victory.
He puts it another way in Luke 6:46-49:
46 "But why do you call Me 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do the things which I say? 47 "Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like:48 "He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundations on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock.
49 "But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great."
In other words, if we want a solid foundation in our lives -- if we want a Christianity that stands firm when hardships and trials come our way; we must make Jesus our Lord and we must do the things He tells us to do. We must start living for Him and stop living for ourselves. We need to be totally committed to obey Him and to honor Him in all we do and say, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
"Yea, sounds great. But how do I get there? What does it mean in my day-to-day walk?" I started asking those questions years ago. What I found is that it is a process and He continues taking Lordship in more and more areas of my life over time. And as this occurs, I started seeing more victory and more power in my Christian walk.
I began to ponder what it meant to make Jesus Lord...
What about my relationships with other Christians? Am I obligated to love them and to try and get along with them -- even the ones who are not giving Jesus Lordship in their own lives? Have I given up my right to complain about someone to my friends or to try to avoid that person who is so unpleasant to be around if Jesus tells me to reach out to him in love? I guess I have.
What if He tells me to do something I don't want to do -- like maybe to share my faith with that grouchy man who always sits next to me on the subway? Did I give up my right to debate this command with Him? Did I give up my right to try and ignore Him when He tells me to do something I don't want to do? I guess I did.
What about those little sins I enjoy? Am I willing to give them up and to invite Him to shine His light and His presence into that part of my life? What about my eating habits -- can the Lord really impact what I eat and drink and the way that I take care of my body, which is supposed to be the temple of His Holy Spirit? Will I obey Him if He tells me to stop eating sweets because it is unhealthy for my body? Do I really want Him that involved in my day-to-day life?
Well, what about my finances? If He is Lord of my finances, then He gets the right to dictate how my money is spent. Hey, wait a minute! I already tithe. Does that mean that Jesus gets to call the shots on the 90% that I get to keep? I guess it does. If Jesus is really Lord of my finances, He has the right to tell me to give $100.00 cash to someone in need. Hey, wait a minute -- that kind of gift is not even tax deductible! Can Jesus really spend my money any way He wants to? I guess that He is not Lord of my finances until I can answer "yes" to that question.
Well, what about my leisure time? I go to church on Sundays and I do devotions every morning. Does Jesus really have the right to come into my leisure time and tell me how to use it? Does He have the right to say, "Forget going to that football game. I want you to go baby-sit for your next store neighbor so they can see Christian love in action"? Does He have the right to tell me to stop watching shows on TV that are violent or sexually explicit or that teach new age philosophy? What does His Lordship in my leisure time really mean? What about those Science Fiction and Fantasy books I love to read. What if Jesus does not like me reading them? Am I willing to stop and to get rid of my book collection? Gee, this is sort of stepping on my toes. His Lordship can hit pretty close to home.
Giving Jesus Lordship in my day-to-day life really impacts me and makes it "expensive" to be a Christian. Why on earth would anyone want to pay such a price? Why should we make such a radical commitment to Him?
There are a lot of reasons. One is because Jesus expects to be Lord, not just Savior. He gave His life for us, so it should not be surprising that He wants us to give our lives to Him. That is the main thrust of Gal 2:20, which says, "For I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me."
Then there is John 14:15 -- "If you love Me, obey Me." That little verse is sandwiched between incredible promises of power and victory. If we want to be someone who prays with power and authority, Jesus must be our Lord, not just our Savior. Of course, I want to walk in that type of power and authority and to be able to pray effective prayers. Don't you?
And then there was that parable Jesus taught about the wise man building a foundation under his house. That foundation is a firm commitment to allowing Jesus to really be Lord in every area of one's life. If we have sincerely made Jesus Lord, then our faith will not be shaken when the severe trials come. We will be able to stand firm on the foundation of His Lordship in our life. I'd sure like to have a firm foundation, wouldn't you?
But the best part is the intimacy with God, that close fellowship that comes from giving Him total Lordship. Feeling His presence, seeing the fruit of the spirit in our lives, learning to discern His voice from "not His voice" and being enveloped in His love. It is only after we give Jesus Christ Lordship in our lives that we truly begin to experience that Peace and Joy that is born out of a deep fellowship with God.
Some of you might be thinking, "OK, sounds good. But how do I get started?"
There are probably many ways to get started, and I'd like to share two of them. One comes from the book, In His Steps, by Charles Sheldon. The pastor of a prestigious church invited the people in his congregation to an experiment in giving Jesus Lordship in their lives. He was talking radical commitment to the Lordship of Jesus in every detail of their lives. How did they do it? They made a commitment that for a one year period they would ask themselves the following question -- "What would Jesus do in this situation?" Then they would do what they believed Jesus would do, no matter how costly it was for them. God turned the lives of the people in this story around drastically as they began walking out the Lordship of Jesus Christ in their lives. Most of them went through some trials at the beginning. A few gave up, but the others pressed on to incredible victory. What was their secret? They asked the Lord to show them what He would do in their situation and then did it. They asked themselves the question "What would Jesus do in this situation?"
My own approach was not so eloquent, but it seems to work...
I got started by simply telling Jesus that I wanted to give Him lordship in my life, but had no clue how to walk that out. I invited Him to come and show me how. I also committed that I would obey Him as best as I could and gave Him permission to touch whatever part of my life He wanted to. I also asked Him to help me with my commitment to obey Him, because I figured I was too weak to do it on my own.
Now there are many areas in My life where Jesus has moved in and taken Lordship, and He has done a really good job. There are also some areas that still need to go under His lordship -- I am learning that giving Jesus Lordship is a process, not a one-time event. We make our initial commitment and He starts to move in, but He takes one or two areas of our life at a time. When they get under His Lordship, then He reaches down and takes another area. We can be successful in this only because He is the one that does the work and transforms us as we cooperate with Him.
Think about your life. What parts of it are already under the Lordship of Jesus Christ? Are there any parts that are not under His Lordship? Are you willing to give Him Lordship in those areas?
What about the areas of your life where you're constantly experiencing defeat? Would you like to have His victory in those areas? You know He can and will give you the victory, but it comes with a price tag -- the cost is that you must give Him lordship in that area of your life?
Maybe you are at that place of just discovering that Jesus wants Lordship in your life. I'd like to encourage you to silently review your life with Him and then to consider offering an area of your life where He does not already have Lordship to Jesus. Realize that this is both the best decision and also the most expensive decision that you can make.
Select an area of your life and lay it on the altar as a gift to Jesus. Invite Him to come into that area of your life. In doing so, you will be giving up your rights to control that portion of your life. But Jesus will bring His beauty and His victory and His glory into that area as He actively takes Lordship over it. Realize it is a process and that you may find yourself trying to take back control until He reminds you that you've given Him the driver's license in that area. If you will commit to giving Him Lordship, He will commit to walking it through with you and will continue to bring His presence and His victory into it.
Once you've chosen an area of your life to give Jesus Lordship in, go talk to Him about it. Tell Him that you are giving up all your rights in this area and invite Him to come and take lordship of it. Ask Him to teach you how to walk out His lordship of this area of your life in your day-to-day walk.
If Jesus has only been your Savior up to now, it is time to start making Him your Lord.
Faithfulness in Finances
This is a touchy topic for many. But God expects us to be faithful to Him in the area of our finances. This means the sometimes dreaded "T-word" (tithing). But it is more than that. God wants Lordship over your purse strings, and He will undoubtedly test you in this area. Jesus Himself said, "If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon (money and finances), who will commit to your trust the true riches?" (Luke 16:11).
If you want to be an effective intercessor, God must know that His Lordship in your life is more important to you than your finances. He desires to trust you with the true riches of the kingdom -- His power and authority to do with the Father what the Father is doing. He wants you to realize John 14:12-14 in your life: "12 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in Me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in My name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14 You may ask Me for anything in My name, and I will do it."
The tie between faith and answered prayer is obvious. But you may be wondering how faithfulness in finances enters into this. It really is simple. Tithing is showing God that you trust Him to make your tithed 90% go further than 100% would go without His anointing. If you can't trust God to do that with your finances (a relative simple task,) then how can you trust God with some of the bigger issues of intercession?
John 14:12-14 talks about an authority in prayer where we expect to regularly have our prayers answered. God desires to give us this type of authority in intercession and in our day-to-day Christian walk. But there is a condition attached to this promise. Look at verse 15, the verse immediately following the promise: "If you love Me, you will obey what I command."
Now, God knows that for most of us, the area of finances is one of the most difficult to turn over to Him. So this is an area that He tests and grooms His effective intercessors in. He will sometimes ask us to give money, sometimes even large sums of money, to something He wants rather than what we want. Sometimes this does not even make sense to us. Let me share a brief story to illustrate.
I had only recently committed to walking out God's Lordship in every area of my life, and asked Him to teach me how. One of the first "lessons" He gave me was in the area of finances. My friend Lenora had recently become engaged to a young minister who lived by faith rather than taking a salary from his small church. God spoke to me one day and said, "Teresa, Raymond does not have enough money to buy an engagement ring for Lenora. I want you to give the money to him and to tell him it is from me." The ring Leona wanted was over $2,000 dollars, and was nicer than my own engagement ring. Well, I had the money, I'd been saving it towards something I wanted for myself. I spent a few days making sure it was God's voice and not the enemy's. The hardest part of obeying God on that was not giving up the thing I'd been saving for; it was that I'd be paying for Lenora to have a nicer engagement ring than the one I had! I struggled for a bit then God said, "I want you to do it this morning."
It was Saturday, I took the money from the bank and went to Raymond's house and gave it to him, telling him it was from God in answer to his prayers. He did not look inside the envelope to see how much was there. He did not invite me in. He simply said "Thank you," and closed the door, leaving me standing on the doorstep, feeling stupid. But the next day I attend his church and heard his side of the story as he shared it in a sermon.
He had been on his face praying when I knocked at the door. He was considering calling off the wedding. Yes, Raymond had faith for himself to live "on faith" but how could he ask his bride to do this? He could not ask Lenora to live this way. He complained to God that he did not even have the money to buy her an engagement ring. And he might not have the money to meet any of her other needs in the future. So he was going to call off the wedding. Right then his prayer was interrupted by a knock on the door. It was me, handing him an envelope. After he closed the door, God spoke to him and said, "Raymond, if you trust Me, I will take care of both you and Lenora. See, I have already provided you with the money for the engagement ring. Open the envelope and look."
God used that little test of my obedience in finances to speak to Raymond in a powerful way, to build his faith and to keep him from calling off the wedding. (By the way, that was many years ago and they are still happily married.)
I was wow-ed and amazed by what God had done. I began to realize that God had a "big plan" and purpose, and that if I wanted to participate big time in it with Him, I would not be able to hold back any area of my finances.
Of course, intercessors need to be tithing if they want to be effective in intercession. This is laid out in the Old Testament in Malachi, but Jesus confirms it in Matthew 22:21, Mark 12:17 and Luke 20:25. He is asked if people should pay taxes. He asked them to show him a coin. They He said, "Who's picture is on it." They replied, "Caesar's." Then Jesus said, "give to Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and give to God the things that are God's."
From this we see that effective intercessors are to pay taxes and be in right relationship financially with the government. But even more so, we are to not withhold anything from God, not even our finances. That belongs to Him. Have you made a commitment to give Jesus Lordship in every area of your life? If so, you have given Him Lordship over your finances. Do not be surprised if He moves in and takes Lordship in that area. Be surprised if He does not, because if you want to walk with Him in power and authority, He must be Lord of your finances.
Also, there will be times where God asks us to give as a prophetic gesture (or a prophetic acting out) in our intercession. I have had this happen many times to me. Let me share one such story with you, from June of 1995.
Sunday, June 4, our pastor shared that finances were way down because people were not tithing and that if a financial miracle did not happen soon, he would have to take a drastic measure (like `across-the-board salary cuts' for the Church staff or lay someone off). He did not make a big plea for money or pressure anyone to give, but he did inform us of the financial situation. He mentioned that only about 25% of the Church was tithing.
The previous Sunday, I was in Toronto and Jack Deere had preached on tithing and it's relationship to our release into spiritual authority. He mentioned that we spend our money on what we value and if we are unwilling to obey God and tithe; we are telling God that we don't think He is very important. He also demonstrated from Luke 16:10-12 how God uses our financial rightness with Him (e.g., obedience in tithing) to determine whether or not He could trust us with the true riches of His authority. Jack explained that healing authority and the miraculous and even an authority in intercession all fall under the category of "true riches".
At the end of that Sunday morning service in Toronto, Paul Cain (also present in the meeting) prophesied that God was going to heal some of the people with terminal cancer as a sign that Jack's message on tithing was really from Him. And many people were healed.
While they were praying for people with cancer, The Lord spoke to me and said, "Teresa, your Church is not tithing."
Now, the following Sunday, our pastor announced from the pulpit that we were in financial trouble because we were not tithing. I prayed about this when I got home from service. I figured that I already tithed, so I was "in the clear". But I started praying for a release from the things that kept the people in our Church from tithing. I also prayed that the Lord would forgive us for our disobedience as a Church and would restore our authority.
Then the Lord spoke to me again and told me to "put my money where my mouth was." He told me to give a freewill offering of ten times my regular tithe above and beyond tithing. His voice was so clear that I did not have to seek Him for confirmation.
So the next day I called the Church office and talked with the person who handles the finances. I mentioned that the Lord had instructed me to give a certain sum of money and that I hoped this would help defer any salary cuts or other drastic measures. I had to come to Church for a meeting on Tuesday night, so I dropped the check off. (Ten times my normal tithe is a lot of money to me, but I was so confident that this was the Lord's will that I never gave it a second thought. I felt good about obeying the Lord on this but did not think about it very much.)
When I got home that night and went to bed, the Holy Spirit fell on me and it was as powerful very powerful. I was filled with extreme joy as soon as my head hit the pillow. God's presence was very tangible in the room and my spirit was full of His delight. There did not seem to be any great purpose in this visitation, and the Lord didn't really speak much of anything to me. It was more like He was playing with me. I can't give a detailed description of what happened, but it happened for about three and a half hours. I felt full to overflowing and it was so good just to be in His presence. I do remember telling Him that I wish we could do this all of the time.
When I woke up the next morning, I wondered why the Lord fell on me so powerfully that night. It wasn't until much later that He showed me that this was a blessing because of my obedience in giving the offering He told me to give.
That Thursday at work, my boss walked into my office and handed me a check for twice the amount of money that I'd given to the Church! It was a totally unexpected bonus. It did not even occur to me that this was because I had given an offering to my Church. I figured that the offering was an "intercessory act." I truly did not expect anything back from God; I was just obeying what He told me to do.
The next day, the Lord spoke to me and told me about the relationship He said that He is eager to demonstrate to His kids that the principles that He laid down in the Bible really do work just the way He said they would.
When we Lordship of our finances to God, He is well able to take care of us!
Now it is time to do a spiritual checkup with God in the area of your finances. If you are not tithing, you need to have a discussion with God about that. But, beyond tithing, are you really willing to let Him be Lord of Your finances? If you are willing, stop and tell Him so, and ask Him to empower you to obey Him when He tests you in this area.
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