The Captivity Of Thoughts

Thoughts are powerful things: they can be liberating and empowering, or limiting and demoralizing.

A common story told regarding the captivating power of thoughts is that of the training of elephants. As it goes, young elephants are taken and using heavy chains are tethered to stakes driven deep into the ground. The young elephant continually pulls and struggles against the chain, eventually giving up and “learning” it cannot get free. Once this has happened, even as a full-grown elephant, it can be tethered with a rope and stake because the elephant “believes” they cannot get free.

We find the same process happens in our lives when God sends us illumination of His kingdom and it’s power. We have a series of thoughts that affect how we process this illumination; unfortunately, many times these thoughts limit what God desires to do with in us.

What is the source of these limiting thoughts? They are from the traditions of men. Speaking of the effects of the Pharisee’s’ teachings, Jesus said they were “nullifying and making void and of no effect [the authority of] the Word of God through your tradition, which you [in turn] hand on” (MK 7:13 AMP). They were nullifying the authority of the Word of God. Now how can that happen? Isn’t God’s word all-powerful? Yet they were rendering it useless. The key to grasping this is in the word “traditions.”

The word used for traditions is paradosis and means “giving over, giving up, surrender.”* It derived from paradidoomi which according to Thayer’s means: “to give into the hands (of another),” “to give over into (one's) power or use.” This word is used 121x and in 100 of them it us used in the negative sense of taking or handing over into captivity.

So the principle here is that the traditions of men create thought processes that take us into captivity. This captivity of thoughts, prevent us from see the truth or illumination of the Word of God, thus limiting its effectiveness in our lives.


*For more about the definition of tradition see blog “What Stops Us From Being Apostolic?” our book Apostolic Authority, Every Believer’s Privilege.

Entitlement or Empowerment

"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day;

teach a man to fish and you feed him for life"

"You can give a person a handout or a hand up"

We have entered 2009 - yeah! There is something about a new beginning, a fresh start. Our president elect has promoted/promised change and many are anxiously awaiting his inauguration. Yet what are we expecting? Entitlement? Empowerment? One creates dependency the other independence.

The entitlement mentality is one where we look to someone else and expect them to supply us with what we are lacking. Is an attitude that what I need is owed to me and I am not the one responsible for it. This mentality creates an individual that will never live up to their potential. They will never discover what lies hidden with in them.

It is unfortunate, many times this attitude creeps into our spiritual lives. We present ourselves at church on Sunday expecting to be chilled and thrilled with a spiritual show and hold back our involvement until we have been sufficiently "moved". Our relationship with Jesus is one that we expect him to be our doctor, lawyer, banker, grocer or magic genie. We search the word of God as a cookbook, looking for that right recipe that will fix our current dilemma.

Now please do not get me wrong here - I am not saying that Jesus does not, at various times, work in our behalf to alleviate traumatic situations of our lives

What I am getting at is that this entitlement mentality fails to acknowledge the giftings and power that He has placed in us to use for His Kingdom. It is when we see the truth of His word and how it applies to our lives that we can become empowered to reveal His nature where it counts - in a hurting world.

Empowerment is living out, or expressing that divine DNA that has been placed in us with our born again experience.

• We are told that we would receive power with the Spirit infilling, then we are to GO and do something with it - make disciples.
• We are instructed to cleans ourselves from the filthiness of the flesh and spirit.
• We are able to excessively above all we can ask or think - if we use the power that dwells with in us.
• We have been given authority over the power of our enemy and we are to walk on the things he throws against us.
• We are to lay hands on sick and expect them to recover.

It is when we stop expecting entitlements and choose to express His power that we will begin to see the miraculous in our lives. As we walk in His empowerment we will produce fruit which will result in a life that is lived to it's fullest potential.

till next time-
martin

PURPOSE = PASSION = POWER

You cannot make it as a wandering generality, you must become a meaningful specific. - zig ziglar

I had an interesting encounter yesterday. My wife and I were at the Laundromat doing our laundry (that is another story) and I noticed this other gentleman who came in. Now what was noticeable about him was how he was dressed and how he carried himself. He was out of place for a typical laundry in our area. He was dressed in slacks and a dress shirt. There was the “aura” about him; he possessed a subtle yet commanding presence, he walked with a confidence and purpose.

Now I did not really intrude or attempt to follow up, but it put some thoughts in my mind: How powerful it is when we know our purpose in life. Thus the title for this posting:


PURPOSE = PASSION = POWER

PURPOSE
Understanding our giftings, how God has created you will begin to focus you on your purpose. Knowing the arena in which you should operate these gifts further clarifies your purpose.

PASSION
When you know the authentic DNA you have been created with and how it is to be expressed, it will ignite within you a fire. Knowing who you are and what you are about, is something that no situation of life, nor person, or environment can extinguish. You have come alive with passion.

POWER
Now that you know what you are about and allowing that fire to burn in you it does something very important – it will cause you to focus. Now some things that you used to “just do” become irrelevant. You begin focus on the steps that will allow you to achieve your purpose. This is where the power now happens. Your passion is now FOCUSED on the steps that will achieve your purpose; much like diffuse light is focused to a laser and can cut.

More than ever, in these times we are in, we need to be focusing on our purpose. Let it ignite the passion in your spirit. Let others see the fire of a life on purpose burning bright in everything you do. Make your plans to fulfill this purpose.

“Set yourself on fire and the world will come watch you burn”

Apostolic Notes

Just released latest edition of Apostolic Notes, an ezine that we publish about monthly. The topic of this one is "Send It On Down." It deals with the attidude that we are waiting for God to pour out on us some special anointing and we will become instantly powerful, walking in apostolic authority.

However, the biblical truth is we are to walk led of the Spirit in us and by faith demonstrate what we are being shown by the Spirit. Check it out at: www.apostolicmissions.org/senditondown.html

Traditions

Tradition it is the act of giving over, giving up or surrender. It has the same etymology as the word treason. Jesus said, “Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men,” (Mark 7:7-8). Jesus declares the results of these traditions in verse 13, “Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition.” According to Thayer’s “Making of none effect” is one word meaning “deprive of force and authority.”

Man’s traditions affect our faith by creating predetermined paradigms that hinder our ability to walk in apostolic authority. A paradigm is: “A set of assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that constitutes a way of viewing reality for the community that shares them.” American Heritage Dictionary (Dictionary.com). These traditional paradigms create a filter we view the Lord, His purpose and our spiritual lives through.

During my time of practice, occasionally, there would be a patient who would come in exasperated or frustrated and say,“Just do something.” I would explain that to help them, we needed to undergo a diagnostic process to determine WHAT the true SOURCE of their problem was. In the church today, many pastors and leaders are like these patients. They know something is wrong and they are frustrated. They look to do something, by grasping the latest church growth program, big name evangelist or that one special conference. I know, I have been there. It is my desire to help us walk in apostolic authority. This Apostolic Notes and the next one, are a diagnostic process to assist us in determining WHAT the true source of our problem could be.

A review of the modern church reveals some of the developed characteristics of man’s traditions. Along with these traditions I have also given food for thought about an apostolic approach.

A traditional church is a church that….

…preaches a “bless me” gospel
This gospel and its message is an attempt to alleviate man’s discomfort and pain. The Bible is seen as a cookbook with recipes to fix our current problem. This is a “self” focused gospel. Much of modern preaching is about how we are to be "healthy, wealthy and wise."

The apostolic church is a church that...

….preaches the Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven
Jesus’ first message and that of the disciples was the gospel of the kingdom of heaven (Matt 4:17, 4:23, 9:35; Lk 9:60, 10:9). He did not come preaching how wonderful we are, He came declaring the reality of a Spiritual Kingdom. We are to be ambassadors of this kingdom. Our blessings are a by-product of obedience to His purpose.

The purpose of the apostolic church is to demonstrate and reveal our King and His kingdom. In the next couple of posts I will give more examples of man's traditions that have affected the modern church.

Till next time
Martin

Is The Battery Good?

I do not know if you have had the opportunity to look inside many pulpits. You know, many of big older ones have cabinets or shelves in them. It is amazing what you will find. This space is a convenient one to quickly slip something after you have finished using it for the service.

The other day, I looked inside the one we have and I noticed along with everything else, two 9v batteries that we use for our cordless mic, lying on the shelf. Naturally, my next thought was: “Are they any good?” “Do they have any power in them?” How could I tell? They were just lying there. They looked in good shape; they looked like a battery should. Yet the only way to find out was to put them to use.

This illustration can be used of many of us in Christianity. We can have the appropriate look; say the right things and project the typical Christian image. Yet – how do we and the world know we have the power we speak of? How do we prove to the world that we know Jesus and He is as wonderful and powerful as we declare? The answer is the same as the batteries – we must be put to use!

Throughout scripture, Jesus is recorded as empowering people. Within this empowerment, there is either an explicit or implied command to go and do something with the power. (Matt 10:1, 28: 18,19, Mk 3:15, Lk 10:19). It was in the actions, the power was demonstrated.

Each one that is born again of the water and the Spirit is like a spiritual battery. Within us, God has placed a gifting and method for the gift to operate. As we are put to use, we will see the power placed in us revealed. This is the way He has chosen to reveal His kingdom to this world.

till next time
martin

The Real Deal

(this is our most recent Ezine, Apostolic notes)

One day, while at my favorite office (Starbucks) I overheard a conversation of two acquaintances discussing church and youth. There are those who state we live in pre-Christian culture today: the majority of society understanding very little about Christianity. A lack of Bible knowledge has led to a bag of mixed behaviors, many contradictory, all under the label of Christian. The result of these behaviors has produced a generation of young people who are cynical.

When you say to our youth of today, “you need to come to church,” their response is often “why?” Now the older generation would think this is a rebellious attitude. However, it is a sincere and honest question that needs to be answered. Why would they want to come to your church?

Let’s look at the reason for the question. Today's youth have a very good reason to be cynical. They are the product of a generation who’s goal was the acquisition of material things. Subsequently, these families suffered a higher divorce rate, these young people were “latchkey kids” overlooked by their parents as wealth and power were sought. The material things failed to fulfill the need of the young people for love and acceptance. Also, this generation has witnessed the failure of prominent individuals in society. In almost every arena; ministry, government, business, sports and entertainment, we see the fall of those that were considered role models. These figures, who previous generations would look to, have let down the younger generation. Therefore trust is severely lacking.

So this generation has a right to ask Why?

How does this apply to the church? First, the church is not a building, organization or even a local assembly. The church is people: those who have been called out of darkness to reveal a spiritual kingdom and it’s King. This translates into the fact that for the church to be attractive to this generation, WE must act in a way that reveals we are DIFFERENT.

This difference is not in our music style, how we dress for service, how the facilities are decorated or any other cosmetic aspect. This difference must be demonstrated in our DAILY LIVES.

1. How much do I act like Jesus?
2. How much power do I exhibit?
3. Do I resist the temptations of this world?
4. Do I tell the truth?
5. Do I take a stand even when the crowd is going in another direction?
6. Do I exhibit a love and acceptance of people like Jesus did?

Jesus’ first message was: “Repent : for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt 4:17). The original text for kingdom means “royal power, dominion, rule” (Vine’s/Thayer’s). Jesus’ first message was that there is a dominion or rule from heaven that has come near. But He just didn’t preach about it, He demonstrated it: “And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people” (Matt 4:23). Jesus did not have a problem attracting people to his ministry. He did not use the latest fad or marketing program. He demonstrated what He preached. He demonstrated the power that was within Him.

I submit to you that the answer to the cynicism of today’s young person is the demonstration of the “dominion, rule and power” of heaven in our daily lives. Let’s make Jesus real.

Food for thought:
How do I demonstrate Kingdom dominion in my life?

Order your copy of
Apostolic Authority, Every Believer’s Privilege
$12.00 from www.apostolicmissions.org

His First Message

Yesterday I began reading the Gospels again, this time from a specific mindset: I wanted to see beyond what I believe is a typical mindset. It seems that the common view of theses book is to present the story of Jesus coming, death, resurrection and how it can be made applicable to our lives. In short, it is about how He created a way of heaven for us. This concept simplifies it to the point that we are purchasing fire insurance or a ticket to some destination.

However, for a while now, I have felt there was more to it than just providing an escape for us. Some of my basis for this is the first message Jesus preached, found in Matthew 4:17. It states that" from that time (a point of beginning) Jesus began to preach and say 'Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Notice what He did not say: "repent, confess, believe or be born again and get ready to go to heaven."

The focus of His message was to change your thinking (look up the definition of repent) because the rule, dominion or realm (look up the definition of kingdom) of a spirit realm is here. Jesus first message was one of dominion, authority or power. He then proceeded to demonstrate this kingdom by manifesting it's power.

• Matt 4:23 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. 24 And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them.

Jesus proceeded to demonstrate the authority of His kingdom over the kingdom of this world. Further, in John 17:18, Jesus states that as he was sent into the world, he was sending us. We are to continue to fulfill the mission He started of calling others into His kingdom.

Till next time
martin