The Origin of Temptation

I want to preface this post with a short story that came to my understanding prior to hitting the Publish button.

Back in April, we attended the Global Prayer and Empowerment Center (GPEC) Summit in Waco, TX where Robert Henderson commissioned us as GPEC Hub Leader in addition to our Global Reformers Hub Leaders commission.  The training on what it means to really be a 'House of Prayer' established a new understanding in us.

While in Waco, we received a cancellation notice for a conference we had previously committed to which opened the door to attend a region meeting hosted by Christie Moore.  At that meeting, there came a word about opening the old wells in the state and renewing what had gone dormant.  As we were in Declo for the meeting, there was mention of a prior healing move that occurred there and then there was mention of Roland Buck's visions in Boise.

To open old or dormant wells, you first need to understand what they were so it set me on a path to discover the old wells.  I've been slowly reading, maybe more studying, Roland Buck's Angels on Assignment.

In the chapter titled, He Tasted Death, on page 94 (Angels on Assignment), he starts with, "He is not giving us a new Word. He is taking the Word, the Bible, and turning a light on the inside of it, making it alive!"

He goes on the the following paragraph, "That question ran over and over in my mind, "God, what is the heart of the message that you want the world to have at this hour?...The very core, the very center of God's message to us is THE SACRIFICE OF JESUS!"


Is that the secret that is revealed to open the dormant wells.  In this day and age, to many "New Words" coming where we cannot locate at the core THE SACRIFICE OF JESUS so there is no life in them.  Do we need to return to the core, the very center of God's message to re-dig the wells and make the Word alive - cause it to live again?

I believe we do.

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Now let's look at how temptation originates.  Does Satan spend time thinking up things to tempt us with?  Does God create ways to tempt us as a test?  James has the answer to these and perhaps some other questions that you may have about temptation, so let's get started.

James 1:13 is the starting point of our answers:

"Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone."

There is the answer to the second question we started with - God does not tempt anyone.  If you don't agree, take it up with James - or as the inspired Word of God, you'll have to take it up with God Himself.

So what is the origin of temptation, let's continue in James 1:14:

"But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust."

Oops, the origin of temptation isn't Satan either it would seem.  The origin of temptation is US - it is our own lust.  Being it starts with our own lust, perhaps we should understand what lust is.

Most people think of lust in the sexual sense - while that is true, it is only part of the issue.  Lust is a strong desire for something or someone.  How about that cool, new car?  Make it a fast sports car.  What about that promotion or new appointment?  Make it one that includes increased power (real or perceived).  What about wanting to get credit  - for something God did?  What about wanted to be esteemed (worshiped)? What about just wanting to feel important?

Might the lust for such things cause us to get carried away and be enticing.  Now we have set our own trap in James 1:15:

"Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death."

Peter warns us about conceiving lust in 1 Peter 5:8:

"Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour."

Peter is telling us to be sober and alert that we not conceive lust because Satan is prowling around seeking where he can bring a temptation.  Satan is not omnipresent so he does not have the time to just try stuff.  He is looking for places where we have conceived lust and then he brings the temptation in that place so that we give birth to sin.

In Romans 6:23, we are told, "the wages of sin is death." When we sin, something of ours must die.  We have stepped onto Satan's trading floor in our sin, while we may have received what we have lusted for - that is not the wage.  On his trading floor, Satan now gets to bring death to some area of our life.  Having accomplished the sin (the trade), it brings forth death.

Ever feel like no matter how hard you try nothing seems to work out.  No matter how many different ways you try, success eludes you.

Is there a lust that you have conceived that the enemy is using to give birth to sin, over and over again, that allows him to bring forth death to what you are trying to accomplish?

It's time to repent, step off of Satan's trading floor, and return to the foundation and heritage of the saints.

The Mouth Speaks

As the Lord continues to prepare us for this next season - a season where we move from learning to 'see' to a season of 'speaking' what we see; a season of declaring what we see in a new and powerful way.  In this preparation time, He is not only teaching us when and what to speak but also when not to speak.

He is also teaching us the depth and implications of what we speak and; the measure of how much what we speak reveals about us.  This is truly a year where we must remain humble and teachable before the Lord and the clock is ticking.

Tomorrow, we start the second quarter of our calendar year (2019) - what did He teach you in the first quarter? while that may not create any sense of urgency in you - "I have three more quarters to get it."  Maybe this will kick something in...

Tomorrow, we start closing in on the third quarter of the Hebraic year (5779) - oops, half the year has gone, so same question - what did He teach you in the first half of the year?  Clock is ticking. Tic.Toc.

Does that create a sense of 'despair' - time is running out; or a sense of 'hope' - a new season is upon us?

Everyone loves to quote Jeremiah 29:11, "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."  Now which do you choose? The clock is ticking!

Or as you walk through your day, through your daily labors is it more like Ecclesiastes 2:20, "So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun."  Which have you chosen in reality?  The clock is ticking!  
Only six months to God's new season..Tic.Toc!!

Or is it like 2 Corinthians 1:8, "We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself."  But do we speak despair - we are being taught how to speak - the clock is ticking!

Is it bad to feel despair?  I suppose it might depend on where and why we feel despair.

What if despair enters our heart?  How might that impact how we speak and what we speak?

Matthew 15:18 teaches us, "But the things that come out of a person's mouth come from the heart, and these defile them."  Oops - When we allow despair to enter our heart, what we speak defiles us.

By definition, when we allow despair to enter into our heart, we have a complete loss or absence of hope, according to Mr. Webster.

Perhaps the breakthrough you have been praying for is defiled by what you are really speaking from your heart.  Or is it even deeper than that...

Is despair actually the ultimate form of self-worship?  Does it carry at it's root a perception that you have the capacity to truly mess up, to take the world's destiny and His plans for you (Jeremiah 29:11) out of the Creator's hands and sabotage His plans?

Here is a foundational truth that may take you by surprise --

There is not a thing you could do to halt His plans even for a moment!

True - you need to take responsibility for your deeds and clean up your mess.  But when all the dust settles, you are exactly in the space where you were meant to be.

Let that sink in and...

"Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen."  Ephesians 4:29

Speak "HOPE".

A New Level Of Christ-Likeness

As we continue in this year of preparation, a year of being humbly teachable, a year where we learn to see more clearly as our 'crooked paths' are straightened, I believe we are being given a new revelation of what it means to be a Christian.

What we generally have been taught, understood and largely operated in is milk, but God wants us to get to the meat of being a Christian.  We have operated from a mindset that being a Christian is about how we treat others and how we act.  Do we keep His commandments?  Do we love our neighbor as we love ourself?  Yes, that is part of it!

We observe these commandments and principles because...? He says so...we get favor if we do...we will be blessed if we do...on and on.  Is it about what we receive from God?  Sure, that is part... there is a reward.

However, we are being prepared for a new season and a new level of Christ-likeness.  Christ said in Mark 10:45, "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”  There is a new level of serving that we need to understand - a new level that will require a different mindset of what it means to be Christian.

The Father did not send the Holy Spirit when Christ was raised, so we could just be better at receiving favor and blessing.  He sent the Holy Spirit so we could become more like His Son, so we could be taught to serve rather than be served.  He sent the Holy Spirit so He could anoint us - which is what the Holy Spirit did to Christ - 'the anointed One'.

Acts 10:38 says, "You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him."  If we fully embrace what it means to be Christian, to be Christ-like, then we must come to a new understanding that God has anointed us with the Holy Spirit and power - not so we can have more favor and blessing - but so we can be Christ-like and go about 'doing good and healing'.

Jesus told us when He 'opened their minds to understand the Scriptures', in Mark 24, that we receive that same power:

"And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” Mark 24:49

We will be entering a year where our voice will carry new power for deliverance.  (I talked about this in detail earlier this year.)  It is an active part of the new wine that is being released and, we will not be those that say, "The old is good enough."

When Christ was reading in the synagogue in Luke 4:17-19, it says,

17 And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written,

   18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor.
He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives,
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set free those who are oppressed,
    19 To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.”

As we gain a deeper understanding of what it means to be Christ-like, we see even Christ quoting Isaiah and declaring - the Spirit of the Lord (Holy Spirit) has anointed Him - as He anoints us - for a purpose.  Again, we don't see anything here that says we are anointed so we have more favor or blessing.

In this new season, we 'stay in the city until' we are trained to speak deliverance in a great and new way - a way that 'eye has not seen and ear has not heard'.  A way that:

• proclaim(s) release to the captives, and
• recovery of sight to the blind
• set(s) free those who are oppressed.

This is a new level, a new mindset of what it means to be Christ-like.  This is not just about leading a Bible study or attending a worship service or preaching the good news.  It is about moving beyond that to

• proclaiming deliverance in the Bible study
• proclaiming healing in the worship service and 
• setting the oppressed free with the preached good news.  

It will no longer be about big ministries but about individual Christians.
It will no longer be about methods but it will be about results.
Results that 'eye has not seen and ear has not heard'.

God is Ever Present

As I was preparing the message for this week, I asked the Lord, "What do you want me to tell Your people?"
He said, "Tell them I love them."
My first reaction was - that will not fill 2 hours (OK - 45 minutes) so I asked again, "Lord, what do You want me to tell Your people?"
Again He replied, " Tell them I love them."
Finally I set it in my heart and agreed, so

God says, "I Love You!!"

Once I agreed and set my heart, He downloaded an amazing message of revelation, so here is an encapsulation of the message from this week.

As I have been speaking since the beginning of this Hebrew New Year, we are in the last year of a decade (5779) of learning to see clearly and being prepared for a new decade (5780) of speaking forth what we see.  At the same time, with our secular New Year, we are in a year (2019) of being "called out" that our "crooked paths will be made straight" that we would be prepared for a year (2020) where there will be a new dawn of deliverance - a year of "eye has not seen and ear has not heard."

Amazingly, this week we have two celebrations that are not part of the biblical feasts but are overwhelming pictures and celebrations of deliverance.

In Genesis, it says, "male and female He created them."  This week we celebrate the deliverance of two nations, one nations by a male and one nation by a female.

In Romans, it says,"For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him,".  This week we celebrate the deliverance of two nations, one nation by a Gentile (Christian) and one nation by a Jew.

While in neither story is there necessarily a direct reference to God, even in the Book of Esther, you can see that God and His abundant grace underpin and provide the foundation for such an amazing deliverance of these two nations.  And we get to celebrate and remember both in the same week.

First we celebrate St Patrick's Day today.  We celebrate a young man of 16 years old born some say in Wales, Scotland or Britain, 100 miles south of Hadrian's wall (depending on the story), born to parents of some wealth, and kidnapped by Pagan pirates.  He was sold into slavery in Ireland and remained there of six years before escaping.

Rather than being bitter, he learned to love the Irish, their customs, traditions and the country in general.  So much so, that after receiving Christ and a period of preparation, he was designated an apostle to Ireland by the Catholic church and returned to bring salvation to an entire nation.

The second celebration is Purim which begins Wednesday evening through Thursday.  A time when the Scroll (Book) of Esther is read twice, once Wednesday evening and again on Thursday morning in the Jewish tradition.  It is so good to know that Psalm 139 tells us that even as Esther days were recorded and ordained in a book (scroll) so all our days were recorded and ordained in a book (scroll) before time.  And, we can read both.

With Esther, we celebrate a young woman who lost her mother and father, was taken in by her cousin, and selected to be the wife of the king.  She spent twelve months in preparation before she was presented to the king and became his favorite.  While learning and following the protocol of the court, she saves a nation.

As we celebrate and remember, Esther and St Patrick, we learn that there is a period of preparation before our speech is ready to carry a level of deliverance that will effect an entire nation.  IT IS - what we are being prepared for - there will be those that humbly submit to God's preparation and will carry a level of deliverance that "eye has not seen and ear has not heard."

Let us not take the preparation lightly or believe it is as good as it gets.  Let us not sacrifice the great for the good.  Let us not be of those spoken of in Luke 5, "... no one, after drinking old wine wishes for new; for he says, ‘The old is good enough.’”

Let us not say, "The old is good enough."  Submit to your preparation that you will carry a sound that not only brings individual deliverance but deliverance to entire families, entire bloodlines, entire cities, entire regions, and entire nations.  Stay humble and do not despise your time of preparation.

Join us in reading the Scroll (Book) of Esther Wednesday evening and Thursday morning.