ANOINTED TO BE A KING

ANOINTED TO BE A KING

                Speaking in tongues is not a badge of honor, but a badge of humility. It is like God is saying, “ “When I try to speak to your mind you always pre-empt my message with your own conventional thinking and opinions, so I have to speak directly to your spirit in hopes that you will be transformed without putting up such a mental fight.”

                This is also why God communicates with us in visions and dreams. He has to catch us while we are asleep, or again we try to put words in His mouth. Paul tells us in 1 Cor. 2:9-14 where he has been speaking about the hidden mysteries of God which if the rulers of this world had understood them, they would never have crucified the Son of God. Then he goes on to say:

                “Things which eye has not seen and ear heard and which have not entered into the heart of man all that God has prepared for those who love Him. For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things even the depths of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. Now we have received  not the spirit of this world but the Spirit who is from God that we might know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak not in human wisdom, but those taught by the Spirit combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. But the natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him and he cannot understand them fore they are spiritually appraised.”

                There are entire denominations out there that preach against and warn against the gifts of the Spirit, especially the gift of tongues. They prefer to relate to God only with the rational mind and so they settle into tradition and pound away at their doctrines having no fresh revelation from the Spirit of God, for God speaks to the spirit of man more than to the brain of man. We can study the Bible and learn many facts but in reality it is the things that God imparts to our spirit that transform us, otherwise we remain proud of our own understanding.

                When we are born again the Holy Spirit quickens (makes alive) our spirit and we become new creatures. We may look at a born again Christian and not see it in the eyes of the flesh, but God sees it because God is Spirit and He sees His Spirit in us as we have been restored spiritually into His image.

                So we are left with a choice… we can begin to grow in the Spirit seeking spiritual thoughts and spiritual gifts and fruit, or we can settle into conventional thinking as we begin to live by the traditions and the religion of man.

                A perfect example of this in the Bible is reflected in the story of King David and King Saul. Saul was anointed to be a king. He received the same anointing as did David, but Saul sought after conventional wisdom sometimes even disobeying God because he thought he knew better how to run the affairs of state.

                So Saul’s army was in the trenches quaking in fear at the giant that faced them. They warmed themselves by their fires, but the fire was not in them. And Saul, in his conventional wisdom tried to weigh David down with his own conventional armor, but David looking naked and small from the outside, was nevertheless charged with the Spirit of God and the Name of the Lord of Hosts and so casting the conventional armor aside he picked up five smooth stones, (Five being the number of Grace) and he went out to take on Goliath, not in his own strength, but in the strength of the Lord.

                Each one of us that has received Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord has received the Spirit of God. We have been anointed to be kings and priests. And as we know from the story of David, he did not go directly to the throne after Samuel anointed him. He had much to learn. He was in God’s training camp. He had to endure the conventional thinking of a king Saul. He had to endure the wrath of a king who had once been anointed by God but who had rejected the Spirit of God in favor of his own ways.

                David could have joined the rest of the army that sat quivering behind enemy lines, placing his faith in this king who was no longer living by his anointing… or he could choose to live by the Spirit of God and to enter the battle in the name of the God of Israel.

                Goliath was also a part of David’s spiritual training. Goliath has always represented the seed of Satan, the god of this world, the power of leviathan that animates the power brokers of this world. In our day we are now seeing Goliath in the form of the coming antichrist and all of those that are rising up to form his coming global kingdom.

                Today large parts of the church are joining Saul’s army… lining up under the Pope, seeking  peace and security in numbers… selling their souls to the coming New World Order before the actual battle even begins. As they join Saul’s army, they have to leave aside the things of the Spirit… true repentance…the blood of Calvary… the cross of Jesus Christ in which we enter by faith into His death and resurrection… the new birth by which we die to Satan’s kingdom and are born as adopted sons and daughters into a new kingdom, the Kingdom of God’s dear Son. They are abandoning the fundamentals of the Gospel and the Spirit of God in order to find their security in the god of this world. They are even beginning to shy away from the name of Jesus in favor of the more generic term of God that can be embraced by any religion.

                Paul identifies this as the great falling away or apostasy that makes way for the coming of antichrist… the ultimate king Saul, anointed but no longer by God, he is joining forces with Goliath to rule the world. 2 Thess. 2:3, 4

                We are watching this very specific falling away taking place in our day as Satan prepares to rule the world in the place of Christ in Jerusalem and much of the church is helping him build his kingdom instead of discerning the spirit of Goliath that operates in this coming global kingdom.

                Friends, if we could only see into the spirit realm and to perceive the real battle that is taking place between Christ and Satan, we would drop everything and seek the Spirit of God like never before. Instead we choose to live in the flesh most of the time remaining spiritually blind because we are not participating in the mind of Christ. We are not seeking the Spirit of God and even when we do, we still place our conventional human thinking in front of what God may be saying to us. The things of the Spirit still remain foolishness to those who live in the flesh.

                What was the difference between David and Saul? David continued to live by his anointing. He grew in his anointing. He learned the lessons that God was teaching Him. He continually renewed himself and strengthened himself in the Lord. He maintained a humble heart of worship and praise. Even when he had a chance to kill Saul, he refused to act in the flesh, choosing rather to allow God to take him to the throne in God’s timing, not his.

                David waited upon the Lord and renewed His strength in the Lord. And even though it was a long and arduous journey from the trenches to the throne, he became a man after God’s own heart and became the greatest king that Israel ever had… and it was through his line that the Messiah came to deliver all of mankind from Goliath… all who will receive Him and trust in His name and live by His Spirit.

                There are many gifts of the Spirit and much fruit to be borne in our lives by that same Spirit, but the question remains: are we living by the spirit of Saul or the spirit of David?

                Yesterday I shared my personal experience, my encounter with God that changed everything in my life and it was wonderful and tangible and real… but the truth is, I am still in the trenches learning to be a David instead of a Saul, learning the schemes of Goliath… studying everything I can about God’s agenda for the last days… crying out of God for more… seeking to move beyond conventional wisdom of men to pierce the veils and to know the mind of God.

                In this church I am surrounded by the people of God, some of whom know how to battle in the realms of the spirit more than I do. I am called to be a teacher, but I am also called to be a student… to learn and to apply the things I learn. As God’s people we need each other even as David was surrounded by his mighty men. Conventional thinking is not enough these days, we need to be trained in the ways of the Spirit if we are to do spiritual battle.

                Now I have been asked to teach a Sunday school class and a part of me wants to say: “Who… Me? But another part of me knows that this is a part of God’s training course for me on the way to becoming a king and priest. Our armor must be tested and our reliance on God needs to be tested and for that reason, the Lord doesn’t always choose to keep us in our comfort zone, warming our hands far from enemy lines. Whatever our Goliaths are, we need to learn to fight them in the name of the Lord. We are being trained to reign.

                What about you? Do you live with the awareness that you are royalty in training? That you are a son or daughter of God and that He is preparing you to rule with Christ and to judge the nations?  (Rev. 2:26) When challenges face you do you see them as opportunities to learn how to overcome by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of your testimony, or do you hunker down in the trenches and wait for someone else to do what you have been called to do?

                The Body of Christ has become weak in the world today and we are being overtaken by the enemy. Did you know that Wicca is growing faster in America than is the church? Did you realize that idolatry is becoming a way of life in America just as it was in Israel in biblical history? Did you realize that the whole world is preparing to wonder after the Beast and that the principles of his coming antichrist kingdom are already ruling the nations… that they are already actively planning to do away with Christianity, both through infiltration and mass slaughter? Do you know where we are in time and are you learning to use the weapons of our warfare?

                How are you doing in learning to live by the Spirit rather than by the flesh? Do you know how to prevail not by might nor by power but by My Spirit saith the Lord? Are you satisfied just to maintain your traditions or are you learning how to take on life in the Spirit. Are you still arguing doctrine with people, or are you learning how to carry on the work of Christ by the power of Christ. Are you bringing people to the foot of the cross or are you simply trying to win them to your conventional thinking? In other words, are you inviting people into David’s army or Saul’s army… and which army are you training in?

                I may write some mighty words as the Lord gives me what to say, but in truth I am in training just as you are and in truth flesh is our greatest foe. Pride often keeps us from doing the “foolish” things of the Spirit and so we fall short of the miraculous things that the Lord desires to do through us. We think we are being timid… God calls it pride.

                We need the Spirit of David as we face the great Goliath that now looms ahead of us. .. And by all means we need to move beyond human wisdom to understand the things freely given to us by God… those things taught by the Spirit of God combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. 1 Cor. 2:9-14

                “For who has known the mind of the Lord that he should instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.” 1 Cor. 2:16