Hi all,
Last
week I shared 2 examples of God's presence causing (Adam &
Abraham) to fall into a 'deep sleep'. What I'll do today is compare more
scriptural examples of how a person reacts to the presence of
God against how a demon treats a person. Once we see the differences we
can rightly discern when someone near us in a service acts a certain
way.
Foundation - God always leaves you in control.
God
will never make you be out of control of your body. When Paul is
writing to the Corinthians he provides social advice on how to act in
mixed company as a guest in someone's house. You may recall that the
founding of the Corinthian church consisted of Jews, Greeks, and Romans
all meeting in the Roman man Justus' house. Acts 18:7-8
So
Paul writes them in I Corinthians 14:26-32 about such things as taking
turns, and if you have a word from God but there is no opportunity to
share it, just keep it to yourself (you have not sinned). He also said
that if you have a word to share and the person next to you also has a
word, let them go first - in other words, manners and politeness are
required in home based gatherings of the church.
He
also says anything you say will be judged, meaning just because you
claim you have a word from God doesn't mean it has to be 100% accepted
by everyone else that it is from God - if you speak out it may be
challenged, accepted, or rejected. No one has the right to violate
personal space and all retain the right to refuse any 'word from God'
for them anyone thinks they have. Love and politeness are guidelines.
And then Paul sums it up with this: "For the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets." (v32)
In
other words - anything you have from God will always leave you in
control. In these verses he is emphasizing things being done decently,
in order, in politeness, and with an awareness you are a guest in
someone's home - therefore your spirit is subject to you - whatever you
think you have from God, it can wait for its turn, or not at all. What
you have from God is still subject to you!
God will never cause you to be out of control, but by contrast look at the demonic:
"And
a man from the group cried out, saying, 'Master, I beg you to look at
my son, my only child. A spirit takes him and he suddenly screams, and
throws him into a convulsion...And when the boy was coming it threw
him to the ground in a convulsion, but Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit
and healed him, and gave him back to his father." Luke 9:39-42
"And
there was in the synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried
out...And Jesus rebuked him saying, 'Hold your peace and come out of
him.' And the unclean spirit shook the man violently and came out of him
with a shriek." Mark 1:23-26
God
will always have a person be in control of themselves as scripture
says, yet the devil is just the opposite. The sad fact is, many leaders
today don't know a demon manifesting when they see it. They don't know
to tell their people the difference between the flesh (many love the
attention they get when they shake and convulse), the devil, or God.
Casting it out from across the platform
I
was on staff at a large church and was required to host a team of
revivalists who wanted to do a series of meetings to bring their
'revival' to Tulsa, complete with all the shaking and convulsing and
yelling and screaming that the Toronto, Brownsville, and Smithton
revivals were known for - and I won't ID where this team came from other
than it was one of those.
As
I stood on the platform, some 30 feet away (9.5m) a young lady who was a
student at the school where I was the Director, came down front for the
altar call and started shaking violently. I immediately knew it was a
demon, but the 'revivalist' guest speaker approached the woman and told
her God was all over her, and to just yell out to Him.
I
kept thinking they were going to cast the thing out, but they only kept
urging her to yell to God all the more, mistaking a demon manifesting
for the Spirit of God on her to 'bless her' or something - never
realizing the poor lady had a spirit that needed cast out.
As
I was the host I knew the lines of authority in the Spirit, that I was
in charge of the meeting over and above the guest ministers, but so as
to not embarrass the guest speaker nor the young lady, I spoke up barely
above a whisper as I looked at the woman now convulsing violently: "I
take authority over that spirit and command you out of her right now in
the name of Jesus!" No one else heard me but the demon.
Immediately
she fell limp to the floor, seemingly passed out or asleep for a few
moments. I made my way across the platform and off to that side while
the guest speakers continued paying for others at the front, and when
she was awake, offered to pray for the young lady, which she readily
accepted.
She
described the torment she had undergone while the minister kept urging
her to cry out to God, a war of voices inside her that was tearing her
apart. On the one hand she heard hatred for God and screaming while she
argued back she loved the Lord and wanted free - and this is what struck
me - she kept wanting the minister to set her free, but they did not.
Then
suddenly the thing left her she didn't know how, and she was at peace
once again but feeling rather empty. I told her how I had cast the thing
out of her and to forgive the ignorance of the speaker because they
didn't know better, and then laid hands on her for a fresh in-filling of
the Holy Spirit - and immediately the Spirit of God was all over her;
her hands went up, tears of joy ran down her face, and she said she felt
such peace she hadn't known, but had come to the front for exactly
that.
The
particular demon and how it got into her years earlier before she had
known the Lord are not important here, but she had just been born again
that summer and decided to go to Bible school to learn more.
Again - look at scripture and how our bodies and the Spirit of God
In
John 18:5-6 the authorities come upon Jesus in the Garden of Gethsamane
and the text says this: "Jesus said to them, 'Who are you looking
for?' And they said, "Jesus of Nazareth." And He said to them: "I AM"
and when He had said to them 'I AM' they moved backward and fell to the
ground."
That is
a case of being 'slain in the spirit', where the power of God is so
strong the human body loses its strength and simply falls to the
ground, for 'I AM' is the one who appeared to Moses in the burning bush.
Jesus stated at His arrest that He is the I AM with power to cause His
captors to fall backwards to the ground because He wanted to make the
statement He was going voluntarily to His fate, as He casually waited
for them to recover themselves, dust themselves off, and arrest Him.
Jesus
claimed to be I AM in Matthew 14:27-28 for as He came walking on the
water to the boat He said: "Take courage, I AM, now stop being afraid."
To which Peter replied; "Lord, if you are (the I AM), command me to come
to you on the water." Immediately Jesus said, 'Come'."
He also claimed to be I AM in John 8:58: "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM."
And John would later report in Revelation 1:17
that he was 'in the Spirit' and saw the Lord in glory, with His voice
as a trumpet and face and hair pure white light and eyes as flames, and
he says "I fell at His feet as a dead man." And the Lord touched him and
told him not to be afraid.
That
would appear to be a case of being 'slain in the spirit' as being
afraid was separate from the act of becoming as a dead man upon seeing
Him.
A whole lot of shaking going on
In
scripture as seen above, the body's reaction to the presence of God is
to lose strength, described through the centuries as fainting, or as
scripture so bluntly states, becoming like a dead man. But there is no
example in scripture where a person lost control of themselves in
convulsions, only demons take over a person's body so that they lose
control.
Next week, what the Argentinean's asked me...until then, blessings.
John Fenn
www.cwowi.org and email me at cwowi@aol.com
New CD/MP3 Series
The
Bible describes 'energy' gifts, elements of our personality that are
part of the Lord's personality He created us with, which motivate and
fulfill us. While most of church culture doesn't even recognize these as
gifts, the Lord does, and there is a lot in scripture that describes
them. Things like the ability to work with your hands, sewing, woodwork,
organizing, serving, giving, and even being motivated to show
mercy, are as much a manifestation of the Holy Spirit as a prophecy or an being an apostle.
Learn why you are the way you are, why you are fulfilled when flowing
as God made you, and confidence in the fact you are mightily gifted. (2 cd/MP3, $12/set or MP3 $10)
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar