In 2008, God spoke to Cindy and me about re-digging the wells in the Holiness movement. While that is our calling, I believe that all of us should be involved in bringing renewal and revival to the Church. The biblical basis of this is found in Genesis 26. God appeared to Isaac and told him to sojourn to a specific land, and while there God said that Isaac would be blessed and prosper because of his father’s (Abraham) obedience to His laws and statutes (Gen. 26:3-5). Sure enough, Isaac sowed in the land and reaped a mighty harvest that made him and his family very wealthy.

Have you ever felt like a spiritual orphan?

The sense of being an orphan must have been a concern that Jesus had for His disciples. He said to them, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you” (John 14:18). Adam Clarke wrote, “This word (orphan) is derived from a word that means obscure, or walking in darkness; from the Hebrew, it means to strip or make bare, despoil, because such a child is destitute of comfort, direction, and support, and is a prey to misery, disease, sin and death.” Jesus promised to come to His followers and His promise still stands to this day. He will never leave or forsake us. In fact, He promised to be with us to the end of the age (Matt. 28:20).

What is your position when confronted with evil?

You realize, don’t you, that evil is all around us and the enemy never takes a day off? Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, Paul said, but “against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12). That means we don’t battle against people. If we don’t recognize this fact, we will see people as the enemy and fall prey to hurt, offense, and disunity. Therefore, our battle is against the work of darkness. This battle is not a match for human strength, either, but for God’s power.

How is your walk with God?

Last week we discovered that we’re made alive in Christ, raised up and seated with Him in the heavenly realm (Eph. 2:5-6). Our Christian experience with Christ begins, and is sustained, by being seated in Christ. This position is a posture of intimacy and rest. In this blog I want to address the subject matter of walking with Christ. However, keep in mind that we cannot effectively walk with Christ if we don’t learn to rest in Him. Being seated in intimacy enables us to walk with consistency. Watchman Nee wrote, “The Christian’s secret is his rest in Christ. His power derives from his God-given position. All who sit can walk, for in the thought of God the one follows the other spontaneously. We sit forever with Christ that we may walk continuously before men.”

Don’t you love the Apostle Paul’s blunt honesty?

In describing the condition of the believers in Ephesus prior to their redemption through Christ, Paul said that they were “dead.” He didn’t describe them as going through a rough season, struggling just a bit, or having made a few mistakes. No, Paul said, “You were dead in your trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1). The word dead describes a corpse; someone who is totally incapable of spiritual or moral thought. This describes our condition outside of the intervention of Jesus Christ. We were “by nature” children of wrath, Paul wrote; people prone to live in the lusts of our flesh and indulging the desires of our flesh (Eph. 2:3).

Last week we examined two ways that God can speak to His people. First, we explored God speaking with His own voice in ways that we hear Him either audibly or within our hearts. Second, we discovered that God communicates through the guidance of the Holy Spirit by leading us into all truth. Let’s look at three more ways that God can speak to us that are often considered “supernatural” methods.

Have you heard God speak to you?

Author Steve Thompson once said, “The fact that God is the Word reveals that He is a communicator.” If we learn to position ourselves before the Lord to listen, and we learn to walk in intimacy with Him, most certainly He is going to speak to us. Everyone who is born again has heard the Lord speak; otherwise, we wouldn’t have been born again (see John 6:44). The question, however, is can we learn to hear the Lord speak on a consistent basis? If Moses was so intimate with God that he spoke with Him “mouth to mouth,” can’t we learn to live that close to God (see Num. 12:6-8)?

Travelling across this nation allows me the opportunity to see and experience systemic, corporate blessings that are occurring in our churches, but it also affords the opportunity to see corporate, systemic needs. A growing concern that has surfaced is the need for a culture of honor to rise within our churches. Until recently, I only recognized the need for honor, but rarely taught on the subject. I'm hoping to change that fact beginning with this blog and other future lessons. In the New Testament, the word “honor” (time) means to esteem or hold in great respect, or to place value on a person. One expositor said honor means to ascribe a high price on someone to the point that we give them preference over our own life.

Are you standing firm against the schemes of the enemy?

Dressed to Kill, by Rick Renner, is one of the best books on spiritual warfare that I’ve read. In chapter 15, Renner discussed the five types of swords that a Roman soldier could use. The most deadly sword, however, was called a machaira sword. In Ephesians 6, the apostle Paul identified seven pieces of armor that we are to use so that we may stand firm against the enemy. Note what he wrote concerning the machaira sword in Ephesians 6:17, “And take up…the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”