Tag: spiritual powers

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Ascension Day

“Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.” Acts 1:11 NIV

Today is the day that those who are followers of Jesus celebrate His ascension into heaven, when He was taken up into the clouds, alive, right in front of the disciples. Christians and churches all over the world celebrate this event today. 

This event, the ascension, is important to our faith, the Christian faith.  For us to believe that the ascension meant anything, we have to first believe that what Jesus did on the cross is real and true.  We have to believe that Jesus went willingly to the cross, to not just take our sins and pay for them, but to actually bear our sins as if He had committed each and every one of them. 

After paying the ultimate and final price for our sins, so that we could have a relationship with God, the Father, Jesus was placed in a grave and remained there for 3 days.  After those 3 days, Jesus rose from the grave, not as a spirit, not as a ghost, not as a zombie, not as anything other than a live human being.   He defeated the one thing that every human has to face in their life, He defeated death.

After spending time with His disciples, Jesus was taken up to heaven, not by dying again but in the very body He had been walking around in – His glorified body.

The Ascension marks the exaltation of Jesus to His rightful place as God, sharing the heavenly throne with His Father.  The ascension of Jesus happened right in front of a lot of witnesses, it was visible for everyone to see, it was physical – He was lifted into the clouds to heaven. This very visual, very physical occurrence is just one more thing that skeptics could not explain.  They tried using their limited earthly knowledge and there was no other explanation than that Jesus had risen from the grave and 40 days later rose into the clouds in front of a large crowd of people.

It is important that people saw this, just like when He rose from the grave.  It was important for people to see Him, touch Him, eat with Him, talk with Him, walk with Him.  The witnesses needed that physical reassurance that He was no longer dead.  Not ascending right after the resurrection made it hard for the unbelievers, the pharisees, to be able to say that the resurrection was made up.  The same is true for the ascension, if there had been no witnesses to it, those who opposed Jesus would have said that it was all made up too.  That His followers were not letting go of what they believed and were willing to tell lies to continue with their claims.

I am sure that the unbelievers and the pharisees did that anyways, but those who saw Jesus physically and were with Him when He ascended, they had the physical and visual experience of watching Him ascend that probably stayed with them for the rest of their lives.  Others could say that they were lying but they knew they were not.

It is important to us that Jesus ascend because it showed that He had finished what He came to earth to accomplish. Now that His objective was completed, He was returning to heaven.  Jesus needed to return, to ascend, so He could take His rightful place at the right hand of God the Father.

Hebrews 1:3 says “The Son is the shining brightness of God’s glory. He is the exact likeness of God’s being. He uses his powerful word to hold all things together. He provided the way for people to be made pure from sin. Then he sat down at the right hand of the King, the Majesty in heaven.”

In returning to His rightful place beside God the Father, Jesus is able to do a few things on our behalf. First, He is able to mediate for each believer. Pleading our case so that God will continue to forgive us because we are righteous through Jesus. Second, He went to prepare a place for us there so we would be at home with Him.  He promised His followers that He was going to prepare a place in His father’s house of many rooms.  He is preparing a home for us so that we will be comfortable with Him in heaven.  Heaven, where there is no war, no death, no pain, no tears, no hate, but instead there is peace, eternal life, love and joy. Where we are able to spend eternity with God and with Jesus.

Every heart that is troubled, every mind that is filled with regret and guilt, every person who believes the lies that the devil has told them about being too far gone to be saved, every one of us is able to come to Jesus and be saved.  I pray that if you have not accepted this gift, that you will reconsider your decision today.

Below are some questions that you can answer. Again, I would love to hear your responses if you are willing to put them in the comments section. If you don’t want to leave them where others can read them, you can private message me on my Facebook page ‘For His Honor.’

Have you accepted the gift of salvation that God planned and Jesus carried out?

What do you picture heaven to look like?

What do you imagine the disciples were feeling as they watched their friend, the Messiah, float up into the clouds and out of sight?

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Using our gifts

“Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.” 1 Peter 4:10 NIV

God is gracious to us, everyone of us. He has given each of us at least one gift, if not more, that we can use in our lives. Our choice is if we use it to serve Him or if we use it to serve ourselves. When I say we are given a gift or two, I mean that God has placed in each person a natural ability to do something. That natural ability is not present for all the things we can do, but typically for the specific gift that God has graced that person with. I am not saying that the natural ability means that you don’t have to learn things, work at things but the process of learning what you need in order to use your gift, is not typically difficult.

For example, someone who has the gift of teaching, still has to learn the material, how to present the information to others and how to prepare the material in a way that the desired amount can be covered. However, as they are learning those skills, they may not have many challenges in learning it, it may seem as if it just comes naturally to them.

Some examples of other gifts are the ability to play music, encourage others, lead, preach, provide comfort to others. This is not an all inclusive list, but only a few of the many gifts that God has graciously giving to people throughout time. Sometimes we struggle to figure out what our gift or gifts are. You would think it would not be a hard thing to figure out since I believe we have some natural ability to do it, but we don’t always want to acknowledge what our gift is and that can happen for a few different reasons.

Sometimes we just don’t want to use the gift that God has given us. For example, a person who is naturally musical may not want to be recognized as having this gift because they don’t want to play the instrument or sing in front of others. Another way to look at this is to think of the person who has the gift of hospitality and is amazing at it, but doesn’t want to do it because maybe they want to teach. At this point, our desires sometimes influence our decisions about whether we will or will not use our God-given gift.

There are challenges we may face if we try to pursue using a gift that God has not given us, and that is that we may not be very successful at it. Not accepting that God has given us a certain gift is one issue that we face as human beings. Another other issue is the idea of wanting a gift like someone else has. This is not just wanting to have a different gift and trying to pursue it, but I am referring to wanting a different gift because you have seen what having that gift looks like for someone else.

God has given us the gifts that He has deemed to be the perfect gift for us to use to further His kingdom. If we are willing to stop and remember that God is perfect and knows best always, then we should be willing to submit to His guidance and pursue using the gift He has given us.

We need to each figure out for ourselves what our gift is from God. There are assessments that can be completed to help us figure out what gift we have and the assessments are pretty accurate. When we do figure it out, then we should pray asking God to show us how we can use it. It is a gift from God and can be used to further God’s kingdom.

If you don’t know what gift you have been given by God, here is a link to an assessment that can help point you in the right direction. https://gifts.churchgrowth.org/spiritual-gifts-survey/

This is only one of many that are available on the internet. I pray that you are using your gift or gifts to being others to Christ and if you don’t know what your gift is, that you explore the many tools available to determine it.

Below are some questions that you can answer. Again, I would love to hear your responses if you are willing to put them in the comments section. If you don’t want to leave them where others can read them, you can private message me on my Facebook page ‘For His Honor.’

Do you know what your gift is?

Do you know if you have more than one?

How are you using your gift?

How would you like to use your gift?

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Witnesses in Jerusalem

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8 NIV

Easter was a few weeks ago. During the time after Easter, after the resurrection, many people saw Jesus in His glorified form. Not fully glorified because He had not ascended to the Father yet, but glorified none the less. Jesus ascended 40 days after the resurrection and during those last days with His disciples, He was giving them final pieces of instruction.

In this verse Jesus tells them that they will receive power from the Holy Spirit. I can’t imagine what they may have been thinking as they heard that they were going to receive power through a spirit. They knew that Jesus was the Son of God, and they knew that He had given them the power to perform miracles in God’s name because they had done it while they were with Jesus.

In Luke 9:1-6, we read “When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, 2 and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. 3 He told them: “Take nothing for the journey—no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no extra shirt. 4 Whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave that town. 5 If people do not welcome you, leave their town and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.” 6 So they set out and went from village to village, proclaiming the good news and healing people everywhere.” Luke 9:1-6 NIV

Jesus had empowered His disciples to spread the great news of the Gospel. The difference between what happened in Luke, before the crucifixion and what was happening, after the resurrection, was that Jesus was not going to be with them in person any longer. He did not go with them in Luke when He sent them out, but they were able to come back to Him when they were done. Now He was not going to be physically here on earth with them any longer.

As they traveled with Jesus, they went wherever Jesus went, they did not go alone very often. However, the idea of being witnesses is what was intended all along. Jesus had been preparing them for this very moment, when they would be without Him. He had prepared them for this the entire time they walked with Him. After Jesus was gone, the disciples continued to follow His instructions so they could be the witnesses He wanted them to be.

In Acts chapter 2, the disciples receive the Holy Spirit at what we now call Pentecost. This is the beginning of them spreading across the world, as they knew it, becoming the proclaimers of the great news of Jesus and God’s love. The act of being witnesses for Jesus did not end with the disciples, but continues today with each one of us who have a personal relationship with Jesus. Many people think that you have to be a missionary or a pastor to be a witness for Jesus. That is not true, everyone of us who has that personal relationship with Jesus can witness about what He has done for us in our lives, what He has meant to us and the changes we have made thanks to His indwelling power. Our everyday lives, how we handle situations, the language we use, how we treat others, those are all ways that we are witnessing either for Jesus or for the devil. I pray that it is for Jesus.

Below are some questions for you to think about and answer if you wish. If you want to leave a comment with the question and your answers, I would love to hear from you.

Do you consider yourself a witness for Jesus and what He has done in your life?

In what ways does your witness demonstrate the love of God?

In what ways have you seen the Holy Spirit at work in your life since you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior?

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First or last?

“So the last will be first, and the first will be last.” Matthew 20:16 NIV

This is a very vague statement that is made by Jesus when He tells the parable of the workers in the vineyard. This is the last verse for that parable. There are several interpretations of this statement. All of these interpretations have one thing in common and that is that they are all based on the individuals Jesus is talking about having accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

Some people believe that the statement is meant to let everyone know that regardless of what we, as humans, have decided is worthy of reward, that in the end it is up to God and His grace. He will decide who gets what rewards, and who gets those rewards first and who gets them last. Those who we believe are the least deserving of rewards in the kingdom of heaven, may actually be first to receive God’s grace because God chooses to give it to them first. Others who we believe are the most deserving of rewards may be last to receive them. It is all God’s decision.

Other people believe that Jesus is telling those who are poor, by the world’s standards, that they will be rich in heaven and those who are rich, by the world’s standards, that they will have less riches in heaven.

The third interpretation that some people believe is that Jesus is telling the Israelites that even though they were the first to be included in God’s family, they were among the last to come to faith through Jesus. Gentiles believed in Christ as the Messiah before the Israelites came to believe in Jesus and who He was.

It is all up to interpretation and could mean all three of them. Only Jesus knows what He meant when He said it. No matter what it means, the only way we enter heaven is through believing in Jesus, accepting His gift of salvation and declaring Him to be our Lord and Savior.

So have you done that?

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Choices

“As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, your sister Sodom and her daughters never did what you and your daughters have done. “Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen.” Ezekiel 16:48-50 NIV

In this chapter of Ezekiel, God is addressing the Jewish nation and how they have been treating Him. In these verses He is comparing them to the city of Sodom, where sin and disregard for God were plenty. The Jewish nation had done worse things than the occupants of Sodom and God rained down fire on the city of Sodom as punishment.

In the city of Sodom, the ground was fertile and this resulted in the residents being very successful in the area of agriculture. They residents of the city who were involved in the wealth of the agricultural business had an abundance of everything, the city was an independent city, not needing assistance from other areas. However, there were some among them that had little and those who could share their abundance, did not. The people of Sodom did not worship to the One True God, they worshipped many idols.

The Jewish nation is being accused of worse things than not providing for their poor and needy, which God takes very seriously. As the chosen people of God, the Jewish people knew God and what He expected, the laws that they were to keep. The crime that they committed was to see what the citizens of Sodom were doing, know it was wrong, but do it as well.

God counted this against them, essentially twice. First, when they committed the same wrong acts as the citizens of Sodom. Second, that they knew what was right and what was wrong and chose to follow their fleshly desires and go down the wrong path anyway.

As we draw closer to Christmas and then to the beginning of a new year, I encourage everyone to take some time today and think about the choices you have made over the past week, month and year. Are they the choices you wish to continue making or are they choices you wish you could go back and change? Either way, I pray that you would allow God to be part of your decision making process because He wants to be there with you each step of the way. Have a great day.

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The Sword of the Spirit

“and take the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God.” Ephesians 6:17b

The sword is the one piece of armor that can be used to attack as well as defend. The sword that a soldier carried was large and heavy and the soldier needed to practice with it so he could get used to it’s weight. If he didn’t practice with his sword, a valuable piece of armor would be useless in battle and may even be an advantage for the enemy.

As the sword is paired by Paul with the word of God, we are able to learn from the soldier that we also need to know how to handle this piece of our armor. Knowing God’s word and using it are different. Many people can memorize scripture, but if they do not use it to promote or defend God’s kingdom, then having that knowledge is not very helpful.

By knowing scripture, it becomes easier for us to draw on it when we are feeling unloved and need to remember that God loves us, when we are scared and need to remember that God is in control. We don’t have to only use it in times of need, we can also recite scripture and talk about scripture with others to spread God’s word. Knowledge is power and action based on knowledge is even more powerful.

I pray that if you are not already grounded in God’s word, that you take action and dive into scripture. God is waiting for you.

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The Helmet of Salvation

“Take the helmet of salvation ” Ephesians 6:17a

The helmet that the Roman soldiers would have worn in Paul’s time would have been made of metal and covered their necks along with their heads. The helmet would have come across their cheeks leaving the nose and mouth exposed. As the design was to provide as much protection to the soldier as possible, it would have been made custom to fit each man.

When thinking about how a helmet can protect the brain, mind and head of a soldier, it seems appropriate to link the helmet to salvation. Protecting our brain and ultimately our minds from what the world tries to inundate us with is a large task. In Romans 12:2 it is written “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

The devil knows our weaknesses and for most of us, those weaknesses have to do with our thoughts. If our minds are distracted, injured, or we lose focus, then our minds are on us, not God. That is the state that the devil wants us to be in because when we focus on ourselves we tend to follow our own logic which can lead to us behaving in ways we wouldn’t if our minds were focused on God.

Our salvation is directly connected to God, that is who gave it to us, so not keeping our thoughts in line with what He wants is dangerous for us as Christians. The helmet of salvation reminds us that we are saved by Jesus and that our thoughts are to be on Him and His will, not on what we think we should do. God has a plan for us that is far above and beyond anything we could ever imagine.

How do we keep focused on God and keep our thoughts from take us away from God? By capturing our thoughts as they happen and evaluating them. Do they line up with what God has said in His word? Are they leading us towards God or away from God? As we put on the helmet of salvation, we should ask God to help us with our thoughts so that we can free our minds from the thoughts that distract us from God and instead we can focus on God and His will.

Have a wonderful day.

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The Shield of Faith

“In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.” Ephesians 6:16 NIV

The shield was a great defensive weapon. It was usually a large rectangular piece of wood with several layers of animal skins attached to it. The shields were usually large enough that the soldier could crouch down behind it to protect their body. The animal skins were kept wet so that the fiery arrows from the enemy would be extinguished when they hit the shield. A dried up shield would be dangerous to the soldier because it could crack and provide a weakness that the enemy’s arrows could penetrate.

A new soldier had to trust or hope that the shield he was carrying was going to protect him. His faith in the shield grew as he used it and took care of it and experienced it protecting him over and over again in battle. The soldier only knew that the shield could protect him, when cared for, because he experienced it happen in battle, but the first time he used it, he was going on faith that he would be able to block the fiery arrows with it.

Our faith, like the shield, can protect us as well. We need to take care of our faith for it to grow and be effective in deflecting the arrows that the enemy sends our way. The devil’s main goal is to shoot enough fiery arrows of doubt and suspicion at us that we become discouraged and neglect caring for our faith. We care for our faith by being in God’s word and trusting God that His plan is far better than anything we could ever dream of or ask for. When we neglect our faith, it can become dried up like the neglected shield. Once our faith is not cared for, the enemy finds the weak spots and begins sending his arrows to those spots. His arrows can be thoughts of doubt that you can be loved by God, that you can be forgiven by God. These are the devil’s primary weapons to weaken our faith.

If you are facing situations where you are doubting that God loves you or that God will forgive you, please don’t let your faith dry up. Pick up the bible and read God’s promises, begin spending time with God in prayer and find scripture that speaks to you so you can proclaim it over and over again. My cousin was telling me about Psalms 56:3 “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.” and how that scripture, the promise of knowing that God is trustworthy, was how she had walked through some very hard times in her life. Her faith was renewed as she repeated that scripture and believed and had faith that God was walking beside her through those times.

Unlike a shield, faith isn’t a tangible object that we can see and touch but it is just as real and just as effective in protecting us as a shield is in protecting a soldier in battle. I pray that as you go about your day that you use your faith the same way a soldier would use his shield, to deflect the arrows and schemes of the enemy. Take care of your faith, don’t let there be any cracks where the devil can to begin to pick away at the faith you have. Have a great day.

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The Shoes of the Gospel of Peace

“and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.” Ephesians 6:14c

The Roman soldier’s shoes were not shoes like we know shoes, they were spiked on the bottom and laced up over the calf with leather underneath the lacing to protect their legs as much as their feet. The spikes were for defending themselves if they fell on the battlefield, as they could kick the enemy. The spikes also served as traction while they were upright on the battlefield.

So knowing that the shoes were a weapon that could cause harm, it was surprising to me at first that Paul used them as the piece of the armor that talks about peace. I believe that he did so because as much as the shoes were for battle, they could also be wore by those who are bringing good news and peace to those around them. In Isaiah 52:7, Isaiah was talking to the leaders of Jerusalem and Judah when he proclaimed “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace”.

The good news that both Paul and Isaiah were talking about is Jesus. Those who were bringing the news of salvation and the peace that only Jesus could give to the people of Israel was a large task.

It is a large task now as well, but thankfully the church now is much larger than the church in Paul’s time. Salvation is the only way to have peace, the gospel brings the news of salvation to everyone. We need to make sure that we are carrying the good news and peace to those around us, even the ones who we find hard to be peaceful with. Everyone deserves the chance to choose for themselves if they want to follow Jesus or not, but they can’t really make that decision without having the information.

Who can you tell about Jesus today? Can you walk in peace with others today demonstrating God’s love? You can if you lean on Jesus. He will be there for you, He always is. Have a great day.

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The Breastplate of Righteousness

“with the breastplate of righteousness in place,” Ephesians 6:14b

The breastplate was a part of a soldier’s armor used to protect the soldier’s heart, lungs, kidneys and spine, all vital organs to survival.  Also, in Jesus’s time, the heart was considered to be the center of a person’s character, so if your heart was good, you were good. No matter how it was looked at, the heart was an organ that needed protected. Our hearts need protected as well, both physically and emotionally.

When we love someone, we don’t say “I love you with all my mind”, no we say “I love you with all my heart.” When we talk about believing something to be true, we don’t believe it only with our thoughts or mind, but we know it to be true when we believe it with all of our heart. As a child, we feel loved by our family and a sense of belonging to them in our heart, not just as a fact that we know.

I believe Paul used the breastplate for the concept of righteousness because knowing that we are the righteousness of God through Christ is one thing, but feeling it in our hearts is something that is on a deeper level. The devil also knows that we carry our feelings in our heart and if he wants to attack us then he comes after our heart. When we have negative thoughts about ourselves and how imperfect we are, we can dismiss them easier when they are only thoughts, but when we put emotion to those thoughts, it becomes very hard to stop feeling those emotions. We need to protect our heart from all the arrows of lies that the devil will shoot as us in an attempt to have us doubt how much we are loved by God. He would love for us to believe that we are too far gone to be forgiven.

We should put on the breastplate of righteousness every morning to protect ourselves, our hearts, from the enemy who sneaks around only wanting to steal our peace, kill our hope and destroy our eternal life. Don’t let the devil win, make sure and wear your breastplate of righteousness today.