Expect The Victory

Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. 2 Corinthians 2:14

God is a winner, and when you stay close to Him, following His ways, you will be a winner too. Do not start anything without an assurance of God’s victory. Victory is not a matter of chance but of covenant and choice. Why would you start a fight that you knew you were going to lose!?

Victory is all about God’s presence. Joshua experienced good success in his ministry, not because he was inherently better than the person next to him. No, he enjoyed God continuing presence. God was with him as He was with Moses.

No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you. Joshua 1:5

He advanced knowing that God had already won the victory. The land was his already. He simply had to follow the steps outlined for him. He was not fighting to gain the victory, he already had it! Today, in Christ, it is no less, only better. In Christ we already have the victory. He is the conqueror; and we are more than conquerors, because of what He has done.

Embrace The Cross

 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. Matthew 16:24-25 

Everything of value comes with a price. Jesus has paid the ultimate price, dying on the cross for all mankind. Any minister is not above His master and in some way will have to pay a price. Before the crown comes the cross. Something always has to be denied. Every minister of excellence has to forsake the things that weigh him down: maybe appetite, or personal ambition, arrogance, anger, or even ambiguity. Every life must come to a point where that which blocks the door to your future must die. Only God can truly focus on those hidden issues and give you the courage to endure the shame.

Enlarge Your Own Heart

And God gave Solomon wisdom and exceedingly great understanding, and largeness of heart like the sand on the seashore. Thus Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the men of the East and all the wisdom of Egypt. 1 Kings 4:29-30

Solomon had been chosen to lead the nation and he asked for wisdom and got so much more. His humility enlarged his capacity to receive from God all the things he needed as king. He excelled going way beyond His peers, thus bringing God glory in the eyes of the world.

Your passion determines your provision, and what you ask for speaks about your heart. As a minister of excellence, ask for things of eternal value.

Eliminate Presumption

Now when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia. After they had come to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them. Acts 16:6-7

In an age of instant and sometimes overwhelming communication, good ideas from other ministries can sway you to pursue some form of ministry with God’s permission. Good ideas or not automatically God ideas and time must be taken to process the dealings of God. The Holy Spirit has veto rights to your zeal. What God has anointed someone to impart to His people, their part, may not be your part too. Envy and competition can be deadly introducing confusion and every evil thing.

For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. James 3:16

We are taught to examine ourselves to see whether we are in the faith. You cannot presume that everything you feel capable of has God’s stamp of approval. He has a place and purpose for everything and any ministry must fit into the bigger picture of His strategy.

Enrich And Equip the People

And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,… Ephesians 4:11-12

God is committed to reproducing Himself in His children, bringing them to maturity through the gifts He positions in the body of Christ. Ministry is all about raising up God’s people to reach and function in their greatest potential. The ministry gifts are there for the people, not the other way round. Ministry is about laying down self for others. The measure of ministry is whether people are enriched, edified and equipped for their part in glorifying God.

Excel In All Things

But as you abound in everything–in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all diligence, and in your love for us–see that you abound in this grace also. 2 Corinthians 8:7

No part of the minister’s life is his private domain. Jesus is either Lord of all or not at all. The excellence of Christ must be found in all parts of our lives: family relationships, eating habits, preaching, entertainment and recreation activities, giving, and even physical exercise. It has been said that Jesus should be given the keys to every room in your house. After all, nothing is hidden from His sight, so why not let Him into your innermost thoughts, and allow the good work He has begun to diffuse through to everything. He will bring His excellence to everything so that His abundance can overflow in and through your spirit, soul and body.

Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.

3 John 2

It will show in your life and ministry.

            But know this, that in the last days

            perilous times will come:

            For men will be lovers of themselves,

            lovers of money, boasters, proud,

            blasphemers, disobedient to parents,

            unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving,

            slanderers, without self-control, brutal,

            despisers of good, traitors, headstrong,

            haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than

            lovers of God, having a form of godliness

            but denying its power. 2 Timothy 3:1-5

Perilous times are here. We now live in the last days where even the church is not exempt from the influences of this spiritual environment. Churchgoers will have a ‘form’ of godliness, but in reality when all the pomp and circumstance is taken away, their lifestyle is in opposition to God.

As the Lord positions His leaders for the challenges of the 21^st century, the time for playing’ church is over. In fact there has never been such a time. Leaders need to be keenly aware of the immediacy of these perilous times and have the courage to conform to God’s pattern of servant leadership. The church is being called to account with greater urgency, and God has begun the process with His leaders. He is shaping a new breed and is turning the hearts of these ‘spiritual fathers’ towards their ‘children.’

Change in God’s kingdom starts at the ‘top.’ The new generation of leader will lead God’s people into His purposes for these end times. As the pace of life accelerates, these leaders’ adaptability and sensitivity to changing circumstances will carry them further than their predecessors. The new breed is captivated with a vision of the glorious church spurring them to pursue Christ likeness as never before.

Their newfound zeal is directed firstly towards changing self. They are not prepared to hypocritically demand change in their followers without first being submitted to the Lord’s dealings in their own lives. A keener sense of the calling to serve is being breathed into the church as leaders respond the Holy Spirit’s purity.

            You know that the rulers of the Gentiles

            lord it over them, and those who are great

            exercise authority over them.

            Yet it shall not be so among you;

            but whoever desires to be become great

            among you, let him be your servant….

            just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve… Matthew 20: 25-28

The Challenge

God is issuing a fresh challenge for His leaders to conform to His standards in leadership. He is commanding them to take up the towel and serve. It requires change. 

The body of Christ will not rise above its leadership and the call is stronger than ever for leaders to conform to a level of servant hood that will see the church fulfill her glorious calling.

The lifestyle of humility and repentance will keep the door open to spiritual growth.

He overcame disappointment by developing a trust in the integrity of God’s word despite the immediate circumstances. He knew that God would come through and watch over His covenant word. As the word works in our own lives, we will be able to share God’s faithfulness with conviction and authority.

The servant-leader will recognize that the closer we get to the Lord’s return, the more ministries will begin to overlap, cross-pollinate and flow together, bringing their own resources together like tributaries to the mainstream. There is a level of corporate unity that the Lord wants to establish in His body.  To establish this, leaders will have to be prepared to ‘let go’ of the control they exercise in ‘their’ territories. In order for the Holy Spirit to lead the body to glory, the spirit of control has to be broken off leadership first.

Unity will be founded on love. Perfected love casts out fear. Love will see things from God’s perspective, for He is love. Fellowship centered on truth, honesty and genuine faith will not be characterized by defensiveness. So many ministries are ‘owned’ by leaders fearful of losing the identity they worked so hard to attain. The thought of losing one’s identity in the body has caused different denominations to miss out on what God has been trying to restore to His body as a whole.

The end-time church will be led by servant-leaders consumed with a passion for the Lord and His pure purposes. Led by and in submission to the Spirit it will not tolerate ritual and meaningless religious activity that draws it away from a simple devotion to Christ. Like Queen Esther it will be received into the presence of the King to rule with Him and fulfill its destiny.

In serving the Lord there is a temptation to miss the better part and be busy with the work of the Lord to the neglect of a vital devotion to the Lord of the work Himself. God saved us for His pleasure and seeks worshippers first, not workers. We are saved from a life of striving. He wants us to learn to sit at His feet first, so we can then go out in the strength of that intimacy and truly carry His grace to those who have no real knowledge of His love.

Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.” And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha , you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”

Luke 10:38-42

Martha was distracted with much serving. Maintaining a balance between ministering to the Lord, one another and the lost is something we are responsible for. The Lord will allow you to overwork, just the same way as He will allow you to overeat. Imbalance is not His fault. It is ours. He has given us His word and expects us to attach the proper weight to our worship that He demands. Jesus showed that the good part that Mary chose, to sit at His feet in devotion, would not be taken from her. He implied that work would someday be taken from a person, but not worship. He thus set a priority in ministry. Worship first, work second. We are expected to minister out of the overflow of our intimacy to the Lord, bringing the warmth of fresh bread straight from the heart of God. Remember God first breathed His life into Adam, then Adam breathed out. This is the divine pattern of ministry. Breathe in, then breathe out. Daniel learnt that in order to do great exploits we must first know God.

…the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits. Daniel 11:32

Know God and make Him known. That is our mandate. The apostles learnt the danger of improper balance and focus early on in their ministry. A situation arose when they labored at the tables to the neglect of their ministry to the Lord in prayer and the word. So they met and instituted deacons to help them attain a balance to their ministry.

 Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a murmuring against the Hebrews by the Hellenists, because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution. Then the twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples and said, “It is not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables.

Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business; but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” Acts 6:1-4

Later on, we see that Paul and Barnabas were sent out together on their apostolic ministry in an environment of ministry to the Lord. The leadership of the church at Antioch were given to worshipping the Lord, praying and fasting together.

Now in the church that was at Antioch there were certain prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, “Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Then, having fasted and prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them away. Acts 13:1-3

They ministered to the Lord and fasted. God wants any and all ministry to be birthed in worship and prayer. He is the source of ministry. Not our own zeal.

“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”  Mark 10:45

The heart of leadership is service: making God’s dream come true in the lives of those you minister to. Although the leader is out front breaking new ground, he is also a follower. Jesus called men to follow Him, and promised to make them fishers of men, that is, lead others in turn to follow Him too.

Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”  Matthew 4:19-20 

Leaders influence, respond earlier than others to challenges, carry the weight of responsibility and discover vision and purpose. They are moved by conviction rather than settle for convenience and comfort. They dare to be different and manifest more strongly the ‘dominion drive’ that is found in all people as revealed to us in the book of Genesis.

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” Genesis 1:26

Leaders of excellence will submit this drive under the Lordship of Christ and use their ambition to further God’s kingdom purposes and not their own agenda. They will recognize that we are called to have dominion over creation and not one another. Through Jesus, the way back to God is open for all men to draw near as kings and priests for themselves in what is called the “individual priesthood of the believer.” Leadership is never to usurp the privilege we each have in approaching God, rather it is to encourage and equip the saints in their walk with the Lord. Jesus is the only mediator, and no leader should stand in the doorway blocking a person’s way to God. Unfortunately, history is full of leaders who have used their influence to manipulate God’s people for their own advantage rather than to stimulate them to walk in the freedom that comes from knowing God personally through Christ.

True leadership involves equipping believers to be and do all they are called to. Leaders that stimulate their followers are characterized by a desire to impart faith in God through a practical presentation of the word, and a focus on building internal conviction and trust in God alone. Their ministry appeals to a person’s position in Christ. The positive response to this kind of leadership is increased illumination of God’s true purposes and a strong unwavering identification with His cause. The followers are energized to be equipped and activated by the Holy Spirit into fruitful ministry.

In contrast, manipulative leadership is characterized by fear, is externally based on duty and practice, condemnation, and drive their people from behind. In time, most people will respond to this kind of authoritarian leadership negatively. They will rebel, recoil or robotically resign themselves to a religious treadmill that sucks the life out of the purity and simplicity of their relationship with God. These followers see their leaders as their source of inspiration, not God Himself. Sooner or later they are let them down in some way and drop away to some low level of church life and expectancy. The leader of excellence must always see and place Jesus and His power preeminent in all areas of their service.

Instead of berating the sheep to do what they can and should, the leader is called to stir up the Christ within each believer so that they live life from the inside out, thus provoking or stimulating the call.

“And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works,…” Hebrews 10:24

It seems as if some people because of ignorance or neglect spend their lives cultivating insignificant lives in a vain attempt to evade a multitude of sorrows. The world is largely mired in mediocrity and so much potential is wasted as days drag into weeks and weeks into months and years of aimlessness.

In God’s kingdom things are and ought to be different! God’s ministers, if they are to accurately represent the God of excellence, must go over and above the ordinary and manifest God’s majesty. God did not send an average person to do an average job in saving an average people destined for average things. No, He gave us Jesus, His best, so that we could live a life of excellence that brings Him glory. Thank God, He is different, and sets such a high standard. If He did not, He would not be supreme and we would continue sinking into lower and lower states, having nothing to look up to!

It is always a joy to purchase a product that is well engineered and constructed. It works exactly as it was made to, and keeps on working. You have no twinge of regret for paying what you did after years of flawless use. The ‘product’ in ministry, is the gospel. The channel through which it flows is your ministry. The gospel is the most excellent message ever, and each generation faces the challenge of cultivating a ministry that reflects the excellency of our God.

They shall see the glory of the LORD,The excellency of our God. Isaiah 35:2 

The definition of excellence is to be “over and above, to surpass or go beyond the ordinary or mediocre.” This in itself is not a bad thing. But in God’s economy, His person and character is the standard. Let me explain.

In the ways of the world, excellence will be comparative and competitive in nature. ‘I am richer, faster, and smarter than you.’ As a result pride is unavoidable. For pride gets no satisfaction or pleasure in having something, only in having more of it than the next person. Pride is a character matter in God’s eyes. Yet the world rewards achievers even if they don’t have character.

What is highly esteemed amongst men can be an abomination with God.

 And He said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God. Luke 16:15 

Status, prestige, power, possessions, impact and influence are highly valued amongst man. Yet a morally impeccable person may be considered a failure if he makes no public impact. In contrast, a person whose personal life is riddled with moral failure is often still able to make a public impact at least for a while. Hitler, Stalin, Napoleon, all showed all showed determination, skill, resourcefulness, and were decisive. They were leaders and stood out, but unfortunately they stood out above the average in evil. Excellence must have a moral component.

Then too, God’s ways are not the ways of ordinary man. He is extraordinary in all His ways and thoughts.

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,

Nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD.

Isaiah 55: 8

God measures everything in terms of calling, gifting and function. All things are of Him as the source, through Him as the process, and to Him for the glory, leaving no room for competition and its cousin, pride. Every minister has a unique position and function in Christ, and eternal rewards are given out in the light of the minister’s response to his call. Not someone else’s. We are all unique, and our place cannot be filled by someone else. If we realize this, we can be delivered from insecurity, competition and pride to pursue our calling with passion and excellence. Of course, the challenge is then to pursue excellence alongside some ministers still trapped in their unrenewed world view of excellence.

Outlined you could look at it this way

The standard of excellence is God’s pure character, and not how well we are doing compared to someone else. The model of excellence is Jesus Christ Himself, making the goal of excellence becoming like Him. Character development is thus the focus of excellence, and finally the motive of excellence is to glorify God. No room for personal glory there. It’s all wrapped up in God, not self! How big your ministry is, how much you have done for the poor, is not at the heart of the Bible view of excellence. Rather it is who you are. What you do must be rooted in who you are in Christ, and without Him we are nothing.

Does that mean that ambition is improper for the minister of excellence? No. There is both godly and ungodly ambition. Ambition or the desire or aspiration to succeed, when properly focused on bringing God glory is a good thing. The need for man’s acceptance and acclaim is closely linked to ungodly ambition. We should serve God with excellence out of gratitude for the love and acceptance He has already lavished on us, and not because of the standing and acclaim we can earn amongst men. We are ‘complete in Christ’ and excellence in any good work should start with that assurance.

  …and you are complete in Him,… Colossians 2:10 

The antidote to selfish ambition is to adopt a new mindset of service towards others.

Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Philippians 2:3-4 

To be highly motivated is not as important as being motivated by high things!

(Excerpts taken from my soon to be published book entitled: ‘The Peter Syndrome: From Shifting Sand to Solid Rock’.)

Introduction 

More and more manifestations of the glory of God are being reported as the end of this age draws closer. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit is being received by literally millions of people on all continents in an unprecedented way. The twentieth century saw the former and latter rain beginning to fall together in a season of great harvest. Reports of signs and wonders from the four corners of the world indicate that God is moving mightily on the hearts of His people. There is acceleration in the tempo of events worldwide, and it is as if you can’t keep up with the flow. God is doing more than we expected and more quickly too.

He is on the move and increasingly there is a need for His people to walk in the spirit of discernment. Where God moves, so does the enemy in counterfeit. So the plumb line of God’s word is being proclaimed more boldly from pulpits across the nations to ensure that we are not drawn aside into the false. The church is learning to discern more accurately between the true and the false.

The ‘Peter Syndrome’ equips believers to walk in the spirit of true discernment. The Apostle Peter’s walk with the Lord provides us with practical insight into discernment. Simon Peter’s pathway to maturity shows us how to move from our own ‘shifting sand’ of uncertainty, to the ‘solid rock’ of God’s revelation.

 It is any Christian leader’s responsibility to walk in discernment for themselves, and also to teach their people the same skills.

The Peter Syndrome 

When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” And Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on  earth will be loosed in heaven…”From that time Jesus began to show to his disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the leaders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!” But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”Matthew 16:13-19, 21-23  

Jesus asked His disciples the question: ‘Who do men say that I, the Son of Man am?’ Peter spoke up after the others had their turn in answering Jesus. His Holy Spirit inspired answer prompted Jesus to bless Peter in front of the others. The revelation was heaven sent.

Jesus then makes the powerful statement that the church will be built, not on Peter himself, but on the ‘rock’ of revelation knowledge that He, Jesus, is the Christ – God’s ‘anointed one.’ It is on this revelation that the church stands or falls. Peter received the revelation first.

Jesus then commands the disciples not to tell anyone, probably wanting to avoid any premature excitement amongst the Jews and even His followers. Peter is standing by, basking in the light of his revelation and probably itching to tell everyone what he got from God. Jesus then begins to talk about His need to go to Jerusalem and be crucified. The anointing was going to bring Him into opposition with the authorities and result in His death!

Peter takes it upon himself to pull Jesus aside and rebuke Him! He totally misunderstands Jesus’ mission at this time and his presumption earns him the sharp rebuke he got from the Lord: ‘Get behind me Satan.’

Peter’s new ‘revelation’ now comes from Satan whose interests are not God’s but his own, and Peter does not even know the difference! His limited understanding and discernment was rooted in his temporal and carnal expectations and hopes. Like any self respecting Jew, Peter was looking for the Messiah who was to conquer the hated enemies of Israel: the Romans. He had now found the Messiah and he was in on the great deliverance campaign right at the start! So he was shocked to hear Jesus’ rebuke at his perfectly reasonable advice – so he thought.

This first incident illustrates the ‘Peter Syndrome.’ One minute on the ball, the next off the wall! One minute he heard from the Lord, the next from Satan! What bewilderment he must have felt. The surprise on Peter’s face as the stinging rebuke came from Jesus, must have only outdone those of the rest of the disciples. They too, must have been shocked by the rebuke.

Today, many believers’ experience a roller-coaster type ride in their spiritual life. They find themselves in the spirit one moment and then totally in the flesh the next. The Lord wants His people to walk consistently in the Spirit. God wants to move His church on in its journey towards spiritual stability and maturity. His voice must be heard with clarity in these end times because so many voices are speaking lies contrary to the truth. To hear God speak clearly into our circumstances is not an option but vital if we are walk in victory.

Definition of Syndrome

A set of concurrent things (emotions, actions, reactions) that form an identifiable pattern and characterize a particular abnormality.

The Warning 

Now the Spirit expressly says that in the latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons… 1 Timothy 4:1

The Spirit of God has spoken a clear warning: there will be those who depart from the faith in the latter times. Having started well they will end up departing from the faith. Deceiving spirits and false doctrine will lead the unsuspecting astray.

Discernment in this environment becomes absolutely vital in the defense against deception. Jesus instructed the disciples that the key to avoiding temptation was to ‘watch and pray.’ (Matthew 26:41)

Being alert and watchful is necessary for guarding the treasure of faith. Christians cannot afford to be ignorant of the enemy’s strategy. The hidden works of darkness have to be recognized for just what they are. They are hidden from view and have to be discerned! The ‘eye’ has to be trained in discernment.

This book is intended to help equip believers to recognize the importance of walking in discernment in a perilous spiritual climate. What makes the times so perilous is that Satan is more sophisticated when dealing with those in the faith. He resorts to twisting and perverting the truth by introducing small amounts of leaven to the whole lump of revelation. In time the small error he introduces, grows to have a large effect. He silently and secretly works amongst believers by subtly introducing the false which always appears real. Being solidly grounded in apostolic doctrine and practice provides the believer with a measuring rod against which false doctrine and practice may be accurately judged.

Discernment is needed to tell the difference between:

Live and dead works

Profane and holy

Spirit and flesh

True and false worship

Genuine and counterfeit miracles.

If the difference were obvious there would be no need for discernment. Things are not always as they seem on the surface. It takes the Spirit of God to cut through the externals and get to the real substance of a matter. Fortunately God has provided for the Christian’s every need through His precious promises and so what remains is for the child of God to discover and walk in this provision through His word.

Discernment Defined 

To discern means to ‘perceive by sight’ or some other sense. It involves being able to ‘recognize as different’ or to ‘discriminate or distinguish.’ It implies an ability to recognize the essential elements of a situation and accurately observe differences.

In the church world today things are not always clear at first and it takes a discerning eye to ‘see through’ the smokescreen of deceit in much religious practice today. The enemy is full of guile or craftiness and practices deceit or the ‘art of concealment.’ He camouflages his true intentions we need to have discernment operating in his life to survive and prosper in a wicked and perverse generation.

Satan is the master tactician of misinformation. Our decision making process must therefore be founded on discernment. Our ability to discern is based on our ‘word level.’

We are instructed to examine and investigate all things. The truth must be separated out from a web of untruth: the precious from the vile. Notice that the precious must be separated from the vile, not the vile from the precious! There is a difference in focus. As Christians we are to focus on the good and not spend so much time focusing on the vile.

Discernment involves God’s supernatural insight and is not based purely on a study of background, circumstances and external evidence alone. Of course the senses can be trained to discern according to Heb 5:14, but this level of discernment is not the same as the supernatural gift. The gift of discerning of spirits recorded in 1 Cor 12:10 is divinely given and constitutes one level of discernment available to the believer.

Another level of discernment involves the prophetic office where God empowers and gifts His prophets to ‘see’ into His prophetic purposes in a supernatural way. This ability to see is supernatural and not achieved through human effort or study for example. The prophet is able to discern things by means of the Spirit of God.

This does not mean that the Christian having the Spirit of God resident in him will not be able to read the signs of the times and recognize things God is doing prophetically. The scripture teaches that the Holy Spirit will show us things to come, but this does not make everyone who ‘sees’ something prophetically is now a prophet. However when a prophet does speak to the body of Christ and the prophet is received, his reward is also received. The reward is that those who hear his message will ‘see’ things the way the prophet sees them. The body is thus equipped according to the purpose of the 5-fold gifting listed in Eph 4:11-12. The ‘eyes’ of the body, the prophets are conveying information to the body as a whole in much the same way as the eye of the natural human body conveys information to the body via the brain.

Every believer therefore fits somewhere in the spectrum of discernment:

General level of discernment applicable to anyone who has the Holy Spirit within.

Specific and supernatural gifting of the discerning of spirits.

The prophetic office where special prophetic revelation is given to help discern current and future situations.

All of the above levels are subject to the written word of God as the final standard. All revelation and discernment must be ‘filtered’ through the general framework of God’s word. God and His Word are one and He will not reveal anything to someone that contradicts that which He has already revealed in His word.

Condition of the Church 

…that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things… Ephesians 4:14-15

The overall condition of the church may be likened to that of a child that has not yet grown up into full maturity. Of course there are individuals and pockets of the Church that are mature in the Lord and not subject to being tossed to and fro. The future and hope is that we will be presented to the Lord as the glorious church and fulfill our destiny. The Holy Spirit is not finished with us yet!

However, at present much of the church is:

Unstable and gullible

Able to handle only milk and not meat

Fractured in it’s relationships

Knowing His works but not His ways

Carnal and divided into camps

Trapped in extremism

Busy with its own programs and agenda.

In many cases the church is largely untrained and ignorant of the exceeding greatness of God’s power available to it. Its power is relatively untapped and often lacks focus. It is in this spiritually anemic environment that the enemy gains an advantage.

The Carnal Corinthians 

For example, the Corinthian Church was highly gifted, and operated in the supernatural with childish abandon. The power was mismanaged and they were even divided into camps: one of Paul, the other of Apollos etc. They were not open to the whole counsel of the word coming through the variety of gifts that God had provided. They were locked into their favorite teacher-preacher and had not focused on the Lord. Caught in their carnality, they lacked discernment as to the true purposes of the body, communion and the gifts.

They knew how to operate in God’s works, (the gifts) but did not know His way of love. They had been caught up in the periphery without firmly having grasped the core of God’s purpose. They partook mostly of His power, but still had to enjoy the fullness of His love nature.

God could not trust them with the meat of the word and they needed apostolic correction to bring them to maturity.