Where is Satan’s throne room?

I was talking with Dan Bohi the other day and he made this statement: “Satan’s throne room is wherever a lie is believed.” You may not like that answer, but I have to agree with it. The only real power that the enemy has over our lives is that what we give him. When you believe a lie you empower the liar. Jesus said of the enemy, “he does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44). 

How much do you want to see?

A prayer that has captured my heart and is prayed almost daily comes from the words of Paul in Ephesians. He asked that the “God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him” (Eph. 1:17). That is a profound request that I hope will consume your prayers. The word revelation (apokalupsis) is really a triple compound word. The root word (kalupsis) means to conceal or to hide, but the prefix to this word actually means to steal. This word is translated as “veil” in the New Testament and it refers to how the enemy steals or blinds the minds of unbelievers (see 2 Cor. 4:3-4). Satan desires to keep God’s people in spiritual darkness; to blind their eyes to the truth of the gospel. Revelation means to remove the veil and to expose the truth. Without divine illumination we would remain blind and ignorant to spiritual things and the word of the cross would sound foolish to us (see 1 Cor. 1:18).

We are a busy people, no doubt. We’re able to accomplish more things in one day than our grandparents did in one month. Modern conveniences promise to save time when in reality they have increased activities. So to narrow our check list of duties down to “one thing” might prove to be challenging. Yet I’m convinced that if we don’t do the “one thing” then we will never effectively accomplish the other things. I suppose that we could argue over what should take precedence in our lives, but against the myriad of options that we could discuss, the Bible describes someone, two people actually, who found the one thing.

What is more real: your circumstances or the Word?

Last week we looked at the power of the Word and our need to trust it. I want to continue that thought this week by looking at a story in Luke. Jesus was teaching the multitudes from a boat, and when He finished He turned to Simon Peter and said, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch” (Luke 5:4). It’s interesting to note that the word deep (bathos) describes something more than depth of water. One expositor says that this word indicates a profound depth in the things of God. In other words, Jesus was inviting Simon into deeper things spiritually. He wanted Simon to experience a depth of God that he wasn’t aware of at the moment. Let me suggest that obedience to the Word always brings us into deeper experiences with God.

How much do you trust God’s Word? Let me ask this another way: how much do you trust His Word when circumstances are contradictory to what His Word declares?

No power is greater than His Word. Isaiah said that when God’s Word is dispatched from His mouth it will not return to Him empty (Isa. 55:11). That literally means that His Word will always carry an effect; it will never be dispatched in vain.

Are you walking in step with the Holy Spirit?

I was sitting in an airport waiting for my next flight when I saw a man and his little daughter together. She was about two years old and she was just learning to walk. Her father held her arms up and she placed her little feet on top of his feet. Each step that he took his daughter walked in step with him; she was walking on top of his feet as he balanced her. Watching that made me think about walking in step with the Spirit and so I want to talk about that in this week’s blog.

What is released from your life?

I think about that question when I read the story in Acts chapter three. Peter and John were going to the temple to pray one afternoon. On the way, they encountered a man at the gate of the temple who had been crippled for forty years. He sat and begged alms from those entering the temple and on that occasion he looked to Peter and John for help. Peter said to him, “I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene—walk” (Acts 3:6). What did Peter have? The verb “have” (echo) means to possess, to hold, or even to wear. One expositor says it means to possess something that possesses you. Peter had the Holy Spirit; He was possessed with the presence of Jesus. In other words, Peter possessed Jesus and Jesus possessed Peter, so when a crisis confronted the apostle he gave away what he had.

Sometimes nothing sets you up to suffer more than when you really love someone, especially someone who doesn’t reciprocate your love for them. Last week’s blog dealt with the subject matter of agape love, I want to continue with that same thought. This kind of love describes God because God is agape (1 John 4:8). Love such as this is sacrificial in nature. Rick Renner said, “when you love with this kind of love, it is impossible for you to feel hurt or let down by the response of the recipients of your love.” Love is never about you, and if we have the same attitude in us which was also in Jesus, then we will give our lives away to others just as He did (see Phil. 2:5-8). This particular passage in Philippians has been called “the emptying,” because Jesus “emptied” (kenoo) Himself, taking on the form of a servant, and gave Himself to us (Phil. 2:7). Jesus loved you and me regardless of our willingness to return His love; He was compelled to love us.

Recently many of us from across the country were on a conference call with Dan Bohi, and he was expounding on the topic of biblical love. I want to continue in that line of thinking in this week’s blog. The Bible states the following about love: Love is the greatest commandment (Matt. 22:37–39), love is the distinguishing characteristic of being Jesus’ follower (John 13:35), love is the sweet-smelling fragrance of Christ (Eph. 5:2), love is the bond of perfection (Col. 3:14), and love never fails (1 Cor. 13:8). After Paul described a supernatural culture where the Holy Spirit manifested for the profit of the entire body of Christ, he transitioned into a chapter that has affectionately been called the “Love Chapter.” In 1 Corinthians 12:31, Paul began his discourse as he wrote to the Corinthians that he was going to “show [them] a more excellent way.” Suffice to say that the “more excellent way” that Paul talked about was a description of something that is beyond comparison or beyond measure. It was not a lifestyle void of the supernatural gifts, but a supernatural lifestyle expressed in the most excellent way. If the manifestations of the Spirit are going to make the greatest impact, they must flow from a person who is becoming love.

One day Jesus’ disciples requested something of Him that I believe is very essential. They said, “Increase our faith” (Luke 17:5). That’s an excellent request, isn’t it? Don’t we all have room for more faith in our lives? On the heels of their request, Jesus likened their faith to a mustard seed (see Luke 17:6). In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus used the idea of a mustard seed again. He said, “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; and this is smaller than all other seeds, but when it is full grown, it is larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches” (Matt. 13:31-32). Faith, much like the kingdom, must be sown to produce something extraordinary; without works, faith is dead (James 2:17). Yet, when we sow what God has given us—putting our faith to work—there will always be an increase.