Faithful on Fridays Blog

It isn’t a surprise to God when His Church, for two thousand years, has fallen into disorder but He did warn and encourage us that He would keep us strong along the way.

… so that you are not lacking in any gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Cor. 1:7-8

Paul was convinced by the Holy Spirit that His gifts would be the glue that holds the Church together, consequently, He didn’t want any of the charismata, the spiritual gifts, to be neglected. The Greek indicates that not even one gift be excluded; we need them all. Even though the Corinthian Church had made mistakes, probably operating in the flesh more than the Spirit, Paul continued to teach us how important the gifts remain.

He loves analogies and the human body is his pinnacle teaching. Our body has many parts: neck, torso, arms, legs, or inner organs; Paul declared the essential nature of each part is unity. We are one. Paul knew that people would have wrong perspectives, be offended or hurt, and even boastful but he encouraged the parts or members to work in synergy: the whole is greater than the individual parts.

When people work together in a combined effort the impact is tremendous but when there are divisions it’s like tearing a cloth into pieces; the full impact is lost. Paul pleads with us:

… that all of you agree and there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind, and the same judgment. 1 Cor. 1:10b

The variety of the spiritual gifts were given to uphold unity, to have similar perspectives and ways of thinking (same mind) and be in agreement with our opinions (same judgments) but all must be based on scripture; that’s how God arranged it.

But God arranged the members in the body, each of them, as He chose. 1 Cor. 12:18

Paul began this teaching in 1 Cor. 12 by stating that He didn’t want any of us to be unaware or misunderstand the spiritual gifts and nowhere does he leave any out: they’re ALL vital to the body. The eye simply cannot say to another part, “I don’t need you.” We are to be united which means we fit together like a knitted garment or net, with a perfect fit and no unraveling.

Is everyone going to be an apostle, a prophet, or a teacher? No. Will all work miracles, or possess gifts of healings? No. Will everyone speak in tongues or interpret? No (1 Cor. 12:27-30). But we should not invalidate or think we don’t need all of the gifts. They are chosen by God, empowered by the Spirit, and valuable to the Body. As we wait for the Second Coming let’s not come up short in any gift but recognize our need and allow the Holy Spirit to fill it.

Finding Jesus in Nahum

Americans use a phrase when they are particularly delighted: this is too good to be true! While shopping we find just what we’re looking for and it’s on sale! Our daughter is finally dating someone and he has a job! I think you get the picture. Sometimes the news is so good that we’re even afraid that it’s too good to really be true. The prophetic book of Nahum is like that. In three short chapters God reminds us of His all-powerful character and yet His love and mercy.

Nahum’s name means comfort and consolation, however, as we read his message he uses words like vengeance and desolation. God declares the future destruction of the Assyrian Empire but promises restoration for Israel. This a book of contrast: Assyria has no comfort, no relief, no easing of the grief that is coming. Israel, on the other hand, is given good news: too good to be true news. That’s where we find Jesus.

Look! A messenger is coming over the mountains with good news! He is bringing a message of peace. Celebrate your festivals, O people of Judah, and fulfill all your vows, for your wicked enemies will never invade your land again. They will be completely destroyed! Nahum 1:15 NLT

In the New Testament we read about the gospel of Jesus Christ (Mark 1:1). The word gospel means good news, so good in fact, ‘too good to be true’. Jesus was that messenger that Nahum spoke of and His offer of eternal life, unconditional love, and forgiveness of sin seemed too good to be true. Nahum’s name reminds us that the Holy Spirit was sent by Christ to serve as a source of comfort in our disappointment, loss, or grief, consequently, He alleviates our emotional ups and downs in life by the constant encouragement in His Word. Read Psalms 3, 31, or 96 as a few examples of God’s messages of encouragement.

While reading Nahum we also don’t want to miss the command to ‘celebrate your festivals’ as previously read. Every time the Jewish people celebrated Passover, (we know it as Holy Communion), the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost), and Tabernacles (the final gathering of the nations) the reminder was present and should be for us as well. He is returning to fulfill every word He has spoken through the prophets.

Nahum’s message therefore is one of destruction as well as hope; it just depends on which side you’re on. If you’re reading this then I’m guessing that you interested in the Word of God or at least sense His drawing to know Him better. Similarly, you may have been a Christian your whole life but sense that magnetic draw to better understand His ways. I encourage you to open the Bible and spend some time with Him as you read the book of Nahum. It’ll take you about six minutes but now you have a good reason to read it: it’s almost too good to be true news.

This series has been based on the assumption that we cannot fully comprehend the depths of God (Rom. 11:33) and that His ways are super-natural because He is a super-natural God. There are dimensions of the Holy Spirit, deep things, that only spiritual people can understand. How do I know that?

1 Cor. 2:9-12 tells us God has prepared ‘things’ for those He loves, things unimaginable yet He reveals them through the Spirit; only the Spirit fully searches those deep places. Paul wants us to look at ourselves as spiritual people, pneumatics, driven by the Spirit, in order to understand more of these ‘things’ that are freely given to us.

And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. 1 Corinthians 2:13 ESV

So … my premise is that God wants us to seek Him through the Holy Spirit personally, expecting revelation, but also understand that these ‘spiritual things’ are for the whole Body of Christ. Let’s delve into 1 Cor. 12 again.

What do we know? Paul cautions us not to misunderstand or be unaware of the spiritual realm and gifts (which can also be translated spiritual things) and then he lists the charismata, grace-gifts. Paul desires us to see the variety, the wonderful differences that God has chosen to freely give His Body so they can reach out to others as His extended Hand. Every gift is valuable because it comes from the same supernatural source: God, the Holy Spirit.

Look at the amazing variety of gifts, services, and activities available to those will receive His empowerment (1 Cor. 12:4-11), like an electrical current energizing you, giving hope and encouragement to His people. When the Spirit shows up it’s manifested or brought out into the open for all to view. The Spirit’s empowerment, given to each one individually as He wills, gives us the opportunity to help each other. Words of wisdom or knowledge spoken at the right time, building up of faith when faith may be faltering, gifts of healing for those suffering, working of miracles to give evidence of God’s power, prophecy (God’s perceived words), the ability to recognize spirits other than the Spirit and know what to do. He lists various kinds of tongues and their interpretation: get over it, it’s super-natural. All of these spiritual things were needed when they were written and they’re vital to the Body today.

Can you understand them all? No. Should you deny their existence due to your lack of experience or understanding, I think Paul would agree: no.

It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have. 1 Corinthians 12:11 NLT

It seems to me that if we’re not aware of the realm of the Holy Spirit and allow Him to be Who He is then we’re missing a dimension of His character and nature.

Finding Jesus in Micah

“Who is like God?” That’s the question that was on the mind of the prophet Micah for his entire life since that’s the meaning of his name. It’s formed as a question but it’s really a declaration of God’s sovereignty, His superiority, or His position in the mind of man. Micah spent four of his seven chapters describing God’s authority in one particular way: eschatology … the study of the end times.

His first words speak to His people but also to the earth (vs. 1-2); the LORD is coming with such power that nothing and no one will be able to stand against Him. He is the Breaker (2:13) that goes before us: He is the King. Micah, filled with the power of the Spirit (3:8) stated that his words will come to pass in the ‘latter days’ (4:1) or the end times and the Second Coming of Christ with the establishment of His Kingdom on earth.

In the midst of Micah’s warnings that the Assyrian Empire will conquer northern Israel (Samaria was the capital) Micah concentrated on the souther kingdom (Jerusalem is the capital). He assured them that they will go into captivity but a remnant, a small group, will return and be restored. It’s also apparent today as the nation of Israel fights to keep her national independence and prosperity.

Micah’s message included Messiah’s first coming in Bethlehem (5:1-4) but focused his attention, as his name indicated, on the kingship of Jesus when He returns. On that day nations will be punished (5:10), boundaries will be extended (7:11), and all of creation will fear the LORD our God (7:15-17); that’s where we find Jesus in the book of Micah.

This anointed prophet of God ended his book with some wonderful promises for us, ones that need to be repeated again and again. Jesus came the first time to be our substitute and die for our sin; He gives those with faith in Him a pardon from sin and guilt. What other god of yesterday or today does that? What other God becomes like us so that we can become like Him? Micah asks, “Who is like God?” Who not only forgives and wipes us clean but then throws all those sins (7:19) into the ‘sea of forgetfulness’? If you remind yourself of your former sins before you came to Christ then you are alone. The sign on your heart should read NO FISHING ALLOWED: He has forgotten them, so should you.

If that wasn’t enough God promised to return as King and give those of us who follow Him the original place of authority and dominion that we had in the Garden! Who is like our God? No one.

Clearly, God’s promise to give the whole earth to Abraham and his descendants was based not on his obedience to God’s law, but on a right relationship with God that comes by faith. Romans 4:13 NLT

Paul taught on the spiritual gifts (charismata) in Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, and 14, however, he began in Romans 11:33 reminding us that no matter how hard we try God’s ways are beyond our ability to discover and comprehend. That mystery led Paul into one of his explanations of the gifts of the Spirit (Rom. 12:3-21) in which he stressed love. Why?

It’s essential that the driving force for operating in the gifts be love. He’s crystal clear on that motivation; your passion for God leads to love for others. Love, agapao, is the unselfish, expecting nothing in return, seeking a person’s highest good kind of love and it’s always a decision of your will.

We love because he first loved us. 1 John 4:19 ESV

Jesus called it the first and greatest commandment (Mark 12:28-34) and Paul tells us love is faith in action (Gal. 5:6); it’s serious business to them. So when I explained the gift of prophecy, speaking God’s words to build someone up, encouragement, and comfort, it’s obviously needed in the Church today. We don’t have to label it in order to draw attention to ourselves but we’re instructed to not willfully ignore (1 Cor. 12:1) or misunderstand it.

If that wasn’t enough Paul completed his thoughts in chapter twelve by commanding us to ‘earnestly desire the higher gifts’. What does he mean by ‘higher gifts’? The Greek word indicates gifts that have the greater importance and widest application; they help the most people.

Chapter 13 follows as an explanation of love, a higher gift; its not just a wedding passage but a teaching on the wide scope of love. You may speak in heavenly languages (tongues) or give a prophetic word to someone (vs. 1-3) but if it isn’t motivated by love Paul says its just noise. He isn’t discounting supernatural gifts because he knows God is unsearchable and unfathomable, however, clarification is needed.

He dives into Chapter 14 by telling us to pursue, like a hunter chasing his catch, the higher gift of love and be eager to possess the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit, making prophecy a higher gift. Paul used the word ‘especially’ which indicates a comparing of better to good; he wants us to prioritize the gifts. All of the gifts are valuable but some have a greater degree of importance: love and prophecy top the chart.

… since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church.
1 Corinthians 14:12 ESV

God chooses from a wide variety of grace-gifts to empower His people for the purpose of reaching out to others on His behalf. We are to speak His words, proclaiming His message as we listen to His voice with passionate love for Him and for others.

A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’. Matthew 22:39 NLT

Finding Jesus in Jonah

Charisma, now there’s a word that has various meanings, especially in the Church. Yet charisma, the gifts of grace, is how a believer operates in life. Our entire Christian doctrine is based on a correct interpretation of this word: God’s sovereign, undeserved favor given to a person. It’s the Holy Spirit Who disperses these grace gifts (Rom. 12; 1 Cor. 12, 14; Eph. 4) to strengthen and encourage: not to divide. The spiritual gifts, speaking in tongues, planting churches, teaching and preaching God’s Word, delivering a miracle or healing, and many other Spirit-empowered gifts, are given by God and you don’t choose, the Holy Spirit does. His divine plan may include you, it’s surely a privilege, but get over yourself, you have little to do with it.

With that said, let’s look at the prophet Jonah. His assignment from God was unusually specific and no other prophet was given this mission: go and preach, using his spiritual gift, to a foreign nation. For a Jew, that was blasphemy! Iraq? Seriously? Jonah’s answer was seen in he fact that he ran away, got on a ship, was thrown overboard, and swallowed by a big fish. God used Jonah, the lower story, as a foreshadow to what was coming. That’s where we find Jesus.

The theme of this book, even though most people only remember the story of the big fish and his dinner, is that salvation was not to be limited to the Jews. Jesus reminded his followers of Jonah in Matt. 12:39-31 when He compared Jonah’s experience in the fish (3 days/nights) to His own death that was approaching. He would prove His authority over Satan, rise again, and offer grace, charisma, to those who responded to His calling. Jonah’s eventual obedience to preach salvation to a Gentile nation was the lower story; the upper story was that God’s plan of redemption included the Gentiles all along. Jonah was a sign, Jesus said, that mercy and grace would be offered to any repentant heart.

This is clearly seen with Peter in Acts 10. God gave him a supernatural vision to show that Gentiles were no longer to be considered unclean. It caused quite a stir but unlike Jonah, Peter responded immediately; the gift of the Holy Spirit fell on the Gentiles as well. After that revelation the leadership of the newly formed Church agreed that God had ‘granted repentance that leads to life’ (Acts 11:18) for all people: Jew and Gentile alike.

One last point. Jonah’s name means ‘dove’ which is significant since the Spirit of God is likened to a dove at Jesus‘ baptism. The spiritual gifts are necessary to the Church, Paul tells us, or God would not have given them. We are to use them (Rom. 12:6) to live the higher life in Christ until He comes again. Don’t neglect your gifts, unwrap them and allow God to flow through you to help others, hopefully quicker than Jonah!

Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. 1 Corinthians 12:1 ESV

After spending a lot of time teaching on grace the natural flow is to spiritual gifts, spiritual things, or the realm of the spirit, more accurately. So let’s get informed and not misunderstand these gifts. The grace-gifts, charismata, come out of God’s desire to fellowship and communicate with His people. What’s most important in a relationship? Answer: Communication, that’s how God designed us.

The Holy Spirit is our Director of Communications and He lives in you, therefore, you can expect Him to speak into your heart: it’s called prophecy. His desire is to impart His will, His thoughts, or direction and He has chosen to use the Body of Christ to relay that information. It’s sometimes misdirected, inaccurate, or simply ‘in the flesh’ (a Cor. 14:52) but He continues to work with us fine-tuning this gift.

Dr. Wayne Grudem wrote this about prophecy, “it’s telling something that God has spontaneously brought to mind.” It’s not foretelling or predicting the future; that’s for prophets. Not everyone who prophesies is a prophet but all believers can and should desire to prophesy.

Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. 1 Corinthians 14:1 ESV

Why? Because God wants to communicate with His Body and He uses supernatural methods to do so. Does it stretch your faith? You’d better believe it but the Spirit of God is supernatural and wants us to operate in the realm of the Spirit: the upper story.

Paul said ‘especially’ that you may prophesy for a reason.

… the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation.
1 Corinthians 14:3 ESV

Building people up is vital to our relationships; it’s as if you’re constructing a home, one block onto another. Our church relationships should be like that; we edify and equip one another helping them to stand as a strong edifice.

Encouragement is a call by the Spirit to stand close beside someone giving motivation and inspiration to keep going. Consolation is more intimate, speaking closely with someone with tender words. Those three aspects of prophecy are essential; remember, we’re not talking about foretelling but forthtelling. When the Spirit speaks to your heart and you formulate those words for another person you’re prophesying. It’s not magical, scary, or irreverent but it’s supernatural when God communicates with you.

Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; Romans 12:6 ESV

The word proportion is the same as our word analogy. We believe and trust God, that’s faith, to move us from His thoughts into our words. We’re re-creating in words or phrases what we hear from the Spirit and it will always build up, encourage, or console. That’s how the Holy Spirit works in us and He expects us to use these gifts.

Finding Jesus in Obadiah

Have you ever noticed that some weaknesses, even sins, seem to run in families? It’s true and it’s Biblical. Consider our Father of Faith: Abraham. He was caught lying to the Egyptian pharaoh (Gen. 12:13) about his wife and that sin of lying continued to his son Isaac; he did exactly the same thing (Gen. 26:7)! And let’s not forget the next generation, Jacob. He lied to his father concerning his brother Esau in order to steal the firstborn inheritance. Stay with me because next in line we have Jacob’s sons, continuing the generational sin and lying about Joseph.

One last example is King David who surrendered to his sexual weakness and in the next generation we have his son, Amnon, who raped his sister Tamar. There’s a variety of sins available to be passed down: anger, fear, addictions, rebellion, depression; I’m sure you see them in your family as I do.

How do generational sins impact our view of the book of Obadiah? This prophet was called by God to prophesy to the nation of Edom. Biblically, Edom is the land of Esau. Remember the story of Jacob and Esau mentioned earlier, Esau had a murderous spirit (Gen. 27:41). Generational sins or curses can be passed down through four generations, scripture tells us (Ex. 20:5, 34:5-7; Num. 14:17-19; Dt. 5:9-10) unless someone does something about it. Interestingly, we know that King Herod, the ruler who ordered the murder of male Jewish babies in Bethlehem hoping to eliminate Jesus, was an Idumean, also called an Edomite. Coincidence? I don’t think so. It’s generational sin.

God is declaring judgment on Edom, Israel’s enemy, because of the way they treated His chosen people. God is crystal clear: you harvest what you plant (vs. 15) and Edom’s seed was rebellion. God promised restoration for the house of Jacob but for the house of Esau there was imminent destruction. If Edom represents all of Israel’s enemies, therefore God’s enemies, then a change is needed in the way they view and treat her. That’s as true today as it was in Obadiah’s day.

Where do we find Jesus in Obadiah? First, we find Him in the closing verse indicating that on That Day, Jesus will return and set up His Kingdom. That’s the good news. The bad news is that nations who continue to oppose her will have no survivors (vs. 18).

We also find Jesus within our hearts prompting us to recognize any generational sin apparent in our lives, confess it, and receive His deliverance and forgiveness. True repentance is the cure. The effects of ‘family sins’ may be obvious or hidden away in our hearts but destructive, nonetheless. God desires us to be free and promises that He will remember His covenant with the family of faith, as sinful as we are, and pour out His grace.

For from His fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. John 1:16 ESV

Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways! Romans 11:33 NLT

Spending time contemplating the Spirit of God is time well-spent, therefore, we’re going to spend a few weeks looking at the grace-gifts of the Spirit as Paul taught them. He was overwhelmed with the depth of God’s character and went on to write:

For who can know the Lord’s thoughts? Who knows enough to give him advice? And who has given him so much that he needs to pay it back? Romans 11:34-35 NLT

God is the gift-giver, we’re totally dependent on Him, and every good thing about us springs from the Holy Spirit operating through us. I think Paul is setting us up as he prepares to explain why the gifts of the Spirit are vital to the Body of Christ.

For from him and through him and to him are all things. Romans 11:36a ESV

So this subject is all about Him, not about us. It’s about the abundance of spiritual riches we have in Him, in fact, our word plethora comes from the Greek word for riches. The Spirit desires to communicate with us, to impart a plethora of gifts to an individual but also, and more importantly, to the entire Body of Christ: the community of faith. Synergy, the whole is stronger than the individual parts, is how the Church was designed to operate.

Paul completed his thoughts on the mystery of divine election in Romans 11 in order for us to admit our inadequacy to comprehend His ways and accept His gifts without question. He is good and everything He gives is good, whether we understand it or not. That’s how Paul approaches his sampling of the gifts of the Spirit in Romans 12.

Paul desires that we present ourselves to God (Rom. 12:1-2) without preconceived opinions of the Holy Spirit and His grace-gifts. We’re reminded that our personal perspectives, he uses the word think three times, may have become skewed by the world. We shouldn’t think that way. Phroneo is the word Paul chose for think in these verses; it means, in essence, how we size things up. What we think about the gifts of the Spirit should not be based on our personal opinion but on what God’s Word actually says.

God is teaching us through Paul’s words (verse 3-4) not to allow opinions about ourselves or others to dictate our thinking. We are not to act high-minded, lacking in humility and a true sense of reality but always remembering that God is the gift-giver; it has nothing to do with you.

So let’s enter into this teaching with that sense of humility that we don’t understand the ways of the Spirit but stay in balance acknowledging that He operates in us and for us in spite of ourselves. To Him be glory forever.